Background on me: I went with my boyfriend, and our two friends. We are all between the ages of 25 and 29, and none of us have kids. We booked with the "Early Saver" through Carnival and got the cheapest room available, on the Rivera deck, in connecting rooms (R41 and R45). Having sailed on Carnival two other times (Victory and Miracle), being in a balcony room is obviously nicer (and makes it easier to know what time it is), but staying on Rivera also had its perks-you can more easily disembark, and I found the hallways to be less crowded and surprisingly quiet!

We flew out of Newark, NJ to Jacksonville, and easily found a taxi service to JAXPORT. We never received tickets in the mail, and I never completed my funpass registration, yet embarkation was pretty painless. There is kind of a weird set up with 3 different lines and waiting areas, but overall, it was pretty easy and we were onboard in about 30 minutes.

We did not check any luggage, which made waiting for our room a little more annoying, having to lug around our carry ons, but we managed. We grabbed lunch on the Lido deck at the Coconut Grove Bar and Grill and waited until 1:30 for the rooms to be ready. Read more