We sailed the Carnival Victory on 7/20-7/24 to Canada. It was the first cruise for both my husband and myself, and our 1st time away without kids, so we were psyched. We're both in our late 30's. We were very pleasantly surprised with Carnival.
It's important to note that we had a change of itinerary due to Tropical Storm Beryl. We were literally going to follow her path, so instead of Halifax, we went to St. John instead. Although I was disappointed, I'd rather be safe and not deal with a serious storm. Our trip back to NYC was very rocky 12 ft. seas/rain - on the way back. Lots of unhappy/sick people. Again, not Carnival's fault - that's the weather!
Embarkation: It was a breeze. Enough said. We left port about ½ hour late, and I suspect this was partly due to the storm because we were following behind it to not make the ride up too rocky.