We sailed on the Carnival Inspiration on October 19. I'll try to offer advice for new cruisers in my review.
EMBARKATION - The process went quite smoothly. We chose to valet park for $85 and paid with our credit card. It would have cost $70 to park my car myself and it was worth $15 to have someone else deal with it.
Take with you the same credit card that you booked your cruise with. If you don't, the Carnival employee has to fill out a new credit card form and this will slow the check-in process by about five minutes.