I just got back from cruising on the Carnival Victory from Feb 22 to March 1. I usually book through an internet agency. Some background on me.....This is my fifth cruise in the past 8 years & my third cruise with Carnival. We had 12 people in our group. Ages ranging from 10 to 71. We fly into San Juan a day before the cruise just in case the weather got bad in Colorado. We stayed at the Comfort Inn. Not a bad hotel for a one night stay. I booked directly online w/Comfort Inn. Paid $160 per room. We could not take a chance booking with priceline (I book with priceline frequently) because we wanted to be sure there were 2 beds in each room. Priceline only guarantees that the room will accommodate 2 people, so we couldn't take the chance.
Left the hotel at 11am, got to the cruise port about 11:20am. Here's some pre cruise tips....Pay $2 for the guys to take your bags from the taxi to the ship. It is worth it. I saw many people lugging their own bags from the taxi to the cruise X-ray machines. It was crowded & a mess. Trust me $2 per bag is a small price to pay. We went upstairs & checked in. It took us less than 5 minutes to do this. We did not board the ship until about 12:30pm. There is a duty free liquor store in the area where you wait. You CAN take a bottle of your favorite liquor & some soda on the ship. They just suggest that you pack the liquor/soda in a bag. Carnival just does not want to see it out in the open.
We boarded the ship around 12:30pm. We headed to the Lido deck for lunch.