This was my first Carnival cruise and the first time I embarked from NYC. I have been on Celebrity's Galaxy and Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas.
When my family and I arrived at the port we had to wait about a half hour, having to listen to a lady that kept screaming at everyone to sit in "rows". We were then put on line after line, this took about an hour and a half.
When we arrived on the ship you walk into the main lobby, which my father thought was extremely nice. I thought it was strange and at first it made you very dizzy. I don't understand why Carnival would choose urns as a main decoration. Everywhere you can possibly imagine they toss in an urn. Odd.