This was my first time sailing with Carnival. I've always traveled with Royal Caribbean, so some of my comments may be a result of being "used to" a different cruise line.
Embarkation -
We arrived on time and the line through security moved fairly quickly. However, once we got through it, we waited almost an hour before starting to make our way onto the ship. I would have preferred to use this time at the hotel instead of lying around on the seats in the terminal