Well this was our 3rd cruise, 1st on Carnival, and we went with 12 other friends from our area. Arrived in Miami and stayed just across the bridge from the docks. Holiday Inn, Port of Miami is an excellent place to stay with much to do just across the street. Took an inexpensive cab ride to the port and began the embarkation process. Had read reviews of how long and tedious this would be but were pleasantly surprised how quickly we flew thru the process. Arrived in the Grand Atrium in just over 30 minutes.
We did arrive at the port early as well (about 1130 am). We quickly met our friends (all adults) many of whom this was their 1st cruise, and sat in the Atrium and had a few drinks. While we told we could not access our rooms until 3 pm, we all nonetheless went to our cabins about 1:30 and most of us were able to unpack or at least leave our carry-ons in the room. Spent the rest of the afternoon exploring this beautiful ship and sampling the food in the grill. As this was Super Bowl Sunday, most of us retired to watch the game as the ship left port.
The first day at sea was warm and sunny. All parties spent the majority of the on deck and continuing to explore the ship. The main pool deck was almost always very crowded daily but the live music made up for the crowd as they were quite good.