This was our first cruise, so we have nothing to compare it to. Embarkation was a fairly easy process; much easier than we had imagined it would be. We got off our Mears bus at around 11 am, went through all of the lines, and were actually inside the ship with a drink in our hands, sitting down to eat in the Red Sail Room before 1 pm.
Our ship had over 3300 passengers, with over 1300 of them under the age of 21. (Carnival announced this like they were pleased about it!) It was spring break, and many families were onboard, thus, many unsupervised teens taking over the public areas at times. Although many people left dirty dishes all over the ship, including right on the stairs, the crew were pretty quick about removing them. It was usually not possible to sit at the bars and have a drink because of all of the kids sitting there drinking pop. (Note to Carnival: Set up one or two areas where kids can buy pop so they do not take over the bars. Not only does it set a bad example to have under-age kids sitting at a bar, but people who would like to sit at a bar and have a drink or two, can get a seat.) Most of the public areas were clean and well kept. Crew in these areas always had a smile and a greeting when they saw us.
Our cabin was a port-side balcony room with a king-size bed. There was a lot of closet and drawer space to put everything, because that is exactly what we packed! The room was kept clean, ice was in our room nightly, and the two anniversary gifts that family had ordered prior to our trip, were waiting for us in our room before we arrived. It was nice to have a balcony and get a breath of fresh air whenever we wanted to, instead of having to go out on deck. We will never cruise without a balcony. We will stay on a higher level from now on so that we don't have cigarette butts and spit sailing past our heads from the balconies above us! It was great to have a TV channel dedicated to information about the ship: location, temperatures, speed, wind speed, etc.