We live in Dallas, so we drove down Friday and stayed at the Super 8 in La Marque for the night. Old but clean. Saturday morning we drove to an off site enclosed parking lot that shuttles to the pier. Sorry, I can't remember the name even though we have used them twice now. Our shuttle driver Doug was Great, very informative about the cruise industry in his town.
Embarkation was very different this time. For the most part it went fairly quickly and when it came time to sit and wait, there were actually chairs to sit in. Nice.
TIP: Don't bother bringing bottled water with you, they confiscate it unless it is canned.
Our cabin was directly underneath the Guest Services desk. I did hear someone walking in high heels a time or two or a chair scrape the floor, but it was early morning and we are early risers so no problem. We enjoyed watching the waves and spray flying past. We had plenty of room to stretch out and for all our stuff. The bed was okay. Not bad, but I was glad to be home in my tempurpedic. Very conveniently located. It was a bit warm during the day, but we weren't in it enough during the day for that to be a major complaint. At night it was comfortable. I would choose this cabin again.