My husband and I cruised Carnival Valor on its Western Caribbean route - Grand Cayman, Isla Roatan, Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico. This was our 4th cruise (2nd on Carnival), and we cruised with two other couples who had never cruised before.
I booked the cruise through a Carnival Personal Vacation Planner (PVP) who was GREAT. I booked in February, and in the six months between booking and sailing, the price went down twice. Both times, he adjusted our price. Because we were past Carnival guests (1994, believe it or not), we were upgraded from an 8A to 8E. He upgraded our friends to 8D because they were cruising with us.
EMBARKATION: We had a rental car in Miami, so the agency took us to the port around 9:30 am. We did have to sit around for about an hour, but they checked us in and moved us to another waiting area. Long story short, we were on the ship by 11:00 and eating at Rosie's by 11:15.