My wife and I were on the February 22 Cruise with 2 days in Puerto Vallarta and 1 day in Cabo San Lucas.
We stayed at the Hotel Maya the night before using the Carnival corp code and got a great rate with parking for the cruise included. They also provided a free shuttle to/from the port which was great.
We had FTTF and check in was a breeze we were on the ship @12:45 and our room was ready by the time we got to it.
We were lucky to snag cabin 7258, which is an extended balcony and one of the "bowling alley" balconies. It was simply awesome!!! 3 loungers and several other chairs. We could have a party out there and had 30 people on our balcony. Look for these cabins on the Spirit class ships, same price as an extended but with 3x the balcony. I think there are only a few of them .. they are midship/aft and are easily spotted on a deck plan.