I thought I'd share my first time cruise experience.
This cruise was given to my wife and I as a honeymoon. We're in our mid-twenties, and neither of us had even been on a cruise before. We pictured laying out near the pool, drinking mai tais and enjoying the sun. Reality was quite different.
We arrived in Long Beach at 11:30 for early check-in, to be herded into an hour and a half long line on the Queen Mary. This annoyed me from the start. We were later told by a couple that we met on board that they arrived at 1:30 and got on the ship within 45 minutes.