We booked our cruise on the Nov 9, '05 sailing of Carnival Legend. I should preface this by saying that we were newlyweds on our honeymoon, and this was the first cruise we had ever been on, so we were probably in better spirits than other cruise veterans.

The embarkment process was very tedious - there was a mass of people when we arrived, some waiting to get on, some from the previous cruise who were waiting for their luggage, and some not knowing what the heck they were waiting for. I heard that part of the problem was that recent hurricanes damaged some of the facilities they use to disembark the previous cruisers so we were all jumbled together. It seemed very disorganized, with Carnival employees and Port Security getting into shouting matches, whistles blowing, horns being honked, and general mayhem. Having never cruised before we weren't sure what to expect, but in talking to other passengers waiting to board it sounded like our experience was not normal and Carnival doesn't have the best reputation in this arena.

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