We arrived from England in Miami four days before the cruise and stayed in a place we picked out from www.vrbo.com. It was much cheaper and nicer than one of the many overpriced South Beach hotels.
The new Carnival terminal saw us line up for no more than 20 minutes, and in the queue we met three Canadian women, who we ended up spending most of our cruise with!
We quickly reached our room, which really surprised us. It was an outside window view room, and knowing the age of the ship we were expecting the worst. It was a pleasant surprise. Plenty of room and all the amenities we could ask for on a ship that we had paid so little for.