I'll try to keep this as painless as possible and at least semi-organized for those of you who just want to know about one or two things.
Travelers: Myself (twenties) + mom (old enough to be a mom of someone in their twenties). We're both married; I'm a medical student and she is a salon owner. This was my fourth cruise and her fourth or fifth or sixth (??) since late 80s. We've collectively traveled on RCCL, Princess, HAL, Admiral (now defunct) and Carnival. I'll say it now- we're both kind of picky and have really high expectations- I wish I could say that I think a bad day on a cruise ship is better than a good day at work but I don't feel that way. So when I say I liked something.... I really, really liked it.
Embarkation: We arrived at Tampa airport at 9:30 and were at the pier by 10:15- we waited in line for 45 minutes or so while they processed a wedding party and then we started our processing. It took a while to start calling boarding groups but we were group 1 and we were the third and fourth ppl on the ship after some wedding parties. It was all fine.