Having sailed on the Legend last spring I was looking forward to the Pride. Finally a newer Carnival ship on the West Coast!

I am sad to say it was a disappointment. At least from our standpoint, which may be different than yours. This was our 20th cruise, so maybe our expectations are just higher....

The good: We have cruised the Mexican Riviera at least once a year for the last ten years and it is still one of our favorite routes. We have our own tried and true shore activities and repeat them year after year. If you book category 11 or 12 (as we did) you check in through the "Skipper's Club" and it relieves you of lines (my elderly parents accompany us every year and standing for any great amount of time is a problem). The Asian buffet line is absolutely the best! This is out pit stop for lunch every day. Then we check out the international line... a different country every day...usually fabulous and sometimes exotic! The bad: Breakfast in-room service. Sometimes you got what you ordered, sometimes you didn't, one morning we got nothing and was advised to just call room service....and the hold time was something that should be listed under 'ugly'. Room cleanliness....we had a suite...huge stains on the carpet, stains on the bedskirt, broken light fixture in the dressingroom, very, very visible dust on the glass shelves. If the obvious cleanliness isn't there, what is hiding in the corners? For this we paid how much? Dining room service was rushed and sloppy. The wine list was a farce....out of the 5 bottles of red wine I ordered only 2 were available (mid-range price...they tried to convince me that the cheap stuff from Chile was good.....was it all they had?)They did have lots of the icky white Zinfindel my parent drink....is there a lower class of cruiser on the West Coast or is that in their imagination? And your choice beef doneness.....medium-well or medium-rare only.....for someone who enjoys their beef luxuriantly rare I was mortified! Entertainment was poor...the glorious Butterfly Lounge was used only for the "Art Auction" and Karoke.....on the Legend they had a super band for great dancing (40's for us older folk). One lounge on the Pride with live dance music....a really great group who could play anything....but when they had a few dancers on the floor they would go on and on for 10 minutes on that piece (or until we all sat down again!) The shows were run of the mill with the 'expected' T&A and noise. And if you did stay in to watch a movie, they rewound the same 8 or 10 over and over throughout the trip. Read more