My fiancee and I went on our very first cruise on 12/29/2008 en route to Catalina and Ensenada. We've never been to either of the cities.
A bit of background: We're from the Bay Area, in our mid-20s and both working professionals. We cruised out of Long Beach on Monday, would return on Friday. We wanted to do something fun and different for New Year's, so we figured we'd go on a cruise. My family lives in Southern California, so we decided to cruise after visiting them for the holidays.
Embarkation: Handed off our two big pieces of luggage to the porters, handed him $4 for his trouble. Carried on meds (I have type-I diabetes) and electronics.