As first time cruisers we tried for weeks to navigate through the Carnival website for ship board itinerary and shore excursions in order to maximize our get-away. If we were signed into our Carnival account and clicked on "Activities" it gave us EVERYTHING Carnival offered. Hello.. I just wanted to know what was happening on the PRIDE! When we clicked on Spa Treatment we couldn't get the website to show us the different treatments it offered or pricing. We got a "Not Available" screen. We had a wish list, but we couldn't seem to properly prepare how exhausted we were willing to get or our method of recovery. The description of the shore excursions were lacking full description and we're in the internet age that seemed ridiculous. When we booked for David's Steakhouse the acknowledgement page indicated "an email has been sent" sent to whom? Apparently, it went to the cruise ship and during the middle of the night a confirmation of our dinner request was in our inbox.

Advice from friends: take a water bottle, a travel coffee mug and some Woolite to wash out the bathing suits. Pack a change of clothes and pj's in case the luggage doesn't arrive before you're ready for bed. Not to worry, it was delivered before we even left port.

Embarkation: Easy enough, we had all the necessary documents. Read more