This was our first cruise with Carnival, and we have already planned another with our parents for next year.
We flew into Houston Saturday night and rented a car. Because we were traveling with 2 friends, it was about the same cost to rent a car for the week and park for free at the Hilton in Galveston as it would have been for taxis or shuttles (we came in on Christmas Eve).
The Hilton provided a complementary shuttle to the port on Sunday morning. We arrived around 11:30am. Our luggage was collected by Carnival and we proceeded inside. There was a short line, we were processed through, and found ourselves on the boat drinking complementary champagne by 12:30pm.