My sister and I decided to take our first cruise together. We decided to do the Carnival Fascination because we heard it would be a good one for first time cruisers. We did all our boarding pass documentations online through the Carnival website.
We arrived in Miami via USAir. Unfortunately half of our luggage was lost by the time we arrived in Miami. USAir was not very helpful or apologetic. Would avoid using them again if possible. The Carnival representatives were right at the airport waiting for us and escorted us to the waiting Greyhound bus to take us to the embarkation point. The luggage handler we had after departing the bus at the Carnival terminal was quite rude. He basically threatened us that if we did not properly tip him our luggage may not arrive safely in our rooms. Bad first experience with Carnival! Once in side the terminal the lines went very quickly and we were treated very professionally and politely and we were soon onboard.
Our first stop was the Purser's desk to report our missing luggage. The clerk there was very helpful and encouraging and kept in contact with the airlines for us until it was delivered to our stateroom the following day.