Travel to Port of Embarkation: We took a local taxi service to the port and found them to be just fine. Unfortunately, the van we were in broke down on the way to the port. Nevertheless, the taxi service had another van there within 5 minutes and off we went to the port.

Hotel Info: Stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites at the blue lagoon area. A decent hotel that was clean and met our needs. Pool area was small but relaxing. Breakfast buffet was terrible.

Embarkation: We were VIPs with Carnival Liberty. Carnival's Miami embarkation process sucked! Last time we sailed Carnival Glory out of Fort Lauderdale and the process was very smooth and professional. In Miami, being a VIP customer gets you to the gang way quicker than non-VIP customers, but not on board ship any quicker. There was no VIP line to board the ship so we waited another 30 minutes to gain ship access. The Carnival employees at the VIP station were rather uninformative about the process. They just asked for your VIP paperwork and told you to wait. There were ~ 30 people told the same as we were told and had no idea when they would get their sail pass. So after a few minutes I went up and ask the ladies at the counter. They said they would call you over when you paper work came to the top of the stack. They just yelled your name out and if you didn't hear your name, you could just be sitting there for hours. I told everyone you have to listen for your name to be called. Nobody was happy with this experience. Essentially, all VIPs who were boarding the same time we did (noon) were herded like cattle. Read more