Embarkation was efficiently done and the whole process took 15 mins with lots of Carnival staff around to assist if required.
Firstly the good points to the cruise
The ship itself is as over the top as described, I suspect people will either love or loathe it - we loved the over the top craziness but thought that on a longer trip it would become tiresome.
5239 - We had an obstructed balcony where the lifeboat comes up to the floor of the balcony, it wasn't a problem at all as you could sit and see straight out and it provided some shelter from the wind. With some of the rougher conditions we had it was quite nice not to see straight down.