This was mine & my DH's second cruise. We cruised Royal Caribbean last summer so I really only have RC to compare to Carnival. We did the 6 night cruise out of Norfolk, to the Bahamas. We were in Nassau 2 days and Freeport 1 day. I will try and cover everything I can think of because I know i always find these reviews helpful to me when trying to pick my vacation destination!

First off, embarkation: This was a total disaster. Our cruise documents told us to arrive between 3:00-5:30pm. We arrived right after 3:00 and the line to even get into the Half Moon building was rediculous. We waited in line until about 5:00 and I think we finally boarded around 5:15. Last year we ended up getting there earlier than planned, so we had no problems. We only waited in line about 30 minutes last year, so in the future I think if it says we can board at 3:00, we will be there by 2:00 atleast! Other then the long lines, everything went smoothly. We didn't have any problems getting our sail & sign cards and getting onboard.

I had read in another post that some terminals have computerized self-check ins but they did not have this in Norfolk. Read more