My boyfriend and I took the 5-night Bahama cruise from Charleston, SC and it was a blast! I had never cruised with Carnival before and did not know what to expect, so I was very pleasantly surprised. It was my boyfriend's first cruise, I've cruised with Royal Caribbean before. We spent the night in Charleston with friends who drove us to the port on Monday. That maze of concrete barriers was fun, LOL. Based on some things I'd read earlier, we decided to arrive a little late. I'll explain why in a bit. We got there around 1 p.m., got the shuttle bus over to the ship around 1:30. Yes, there was a line of people, but I doubt we waited longer than 15 minutes before reaching security.

If you've never been through airport security (and there were some there who obviously had not), remove everything from your pockets, take off your watch and belt, remove your jacket, place it all on the belt for the X-ray machine. Don't muck up the process by trying to just walk on through. You are allowed one bottle of wine per person over 21. You can also bring bottled water. Alcohol is otherwise a no-no. However, and I'm just sayin'... a plastic bottle of alcohol that is still sealed and wrapped in a bunch of your clothes will most likely make it through the baggage process for your CHECKED bags (not your carry-ons) if you arrive late. Why? Look around, there's hundreds of people with 2+ bags per person and they don't have time to scrutinize it all by that point in the day. We did just fine, saved a ton of money on drinks onboard. Early birds will have their plastic water bottles shaken, so if you think you can sneak vodka in that way, think again. They can tell the difference and will toss them.

At $7.50 a pop for a watered-down drink, if you don't bring anything with you, opt for wine. They can't do much to weaken that. If you do pack alcohol and they find it, you'll be paged to come to the naughty room and they will tag it for you to pick up when you return home. No loss. If you try to put it in water bottles or Listerine bottles as some told me they tried, they will toss it. Glass bottles will be spotted right away. Early birds got everything searched and another reason not to arrive too early is that your cabin may not be ready and you'll be stuck lugging your carry-ons around deck with you. Nobody even looked in our bags at security, with wine, champagne and bottled water in our bags, we sailed right on through. They will ask for your passport (or you can bring a notarized birth certificate and driver's license) and then issue your sign and sail card. DO NOT lose this. It's your entry onto the ship, you need it when you exit the ship, and it's your key to your cabin. It's also how you buy things on board. Be sure to take a photo ID with you whenever you exit the ship, they will ask to see it. Read more