This was our 16th cruise, all with Carnival. We started cruising in 2004 with a 5-day Canada cruise, just to see if we'd enjoy cruising. We got hooked. Before this cruise started we had 94 sailing days so we were Platinum before VIFP and we're still Platinum. I'll talk about VIFP throughout the review.

Sailing were me (52), DH (51), and two of our three sons (16 and 12). Our oldest son is a senior at the US Merchant Marine Academy, and while we were sailing on Pride he was sailing on a three-week internship on USS Wasp. He had 9 Carnival cruises with us when he went away to school and now he's talking about a couple of cruises during school breaks this year with several of his classmates. We had originally hoped he would be able to join us on Pride for this cruise, but the Navy won. In his place was my 17 YO nephew, a first-time cruiser. Once we realized oldest son wouldn't be able to cruise with us, we thought about who could take his place -- and nephew came to mind pretty quickly. He's always gotten along well with our two younger sons.

We're limited to sailing between (roughly) July 1 and August 15, thanks to my work schedule, DH's teaching schedule (he teaches at a community college) and sons' school schedule. However, we make it work. Read more