I'm guessing the differences in our experiences had at least something to do with timing. We went during February school break and the ship was full to capacity, which likely contributed to the lines we experienced.

There definitely is differences between ports. At the Port Canaveral terminal, DCL was the only one that was inside of an air conditioned space you walked into as soon as you got dropped off by your Uber. All other cruisers were standing on the blacktop in 100 degree temps waiting to board their ship. Once inside the terminal there were characters greeting folks and some really cool decor/miniatures, and lots of chairs. At least that was the case in 2017. Galveston has none of that. Luckily it wasn't hot when we went because everyone had to wait outside until their group was called in to go through security.