Background: I sailed with my wife, father, mother, brother, and sister. My wife and I are in our late 20's and this was our third cruise, second with Carnival.
Hotel: We arrived a day early and stayed at the Holiday Inn at the Port of Miami. I thought the hotel was in a very convenient location and suited our needs well. It was clean and the staff was friendly. We left the hotel the next morning and arrived at the port at 11:30 am
Embarkation: This went smoothly and we were on the ship 45 min after getting to the port.