I had not sailed on The Pride before she was put in dry dock and upgraded to 2.0, but what I see now...I love. I've sailed on 4 other Carnival ships previously and none of them made me remember the details of the ship the way the Pride did. The artwork and general decor of the entire ship are beautiful. Now with all the added features for 2.0 (Guys, Alchemy, Blue Iguana, etc.) it is my family's favorite ship. The port of Baltimore was very easy to get to, the luggage drop off was very easy and FTTF was well worth it.
We loved having "Donkey" as our cruise director. He truly made the trip a memorable experience. The American Table menu was a pleasant surprise in that we'd heard bad things about it, but all of my meals were fantastic. My 7 year old loved the Camp Carnival activities and staff. We also sailed on New Year's Eve. There were many opportunities across the ship to celebrate (watching the NYC ball drop, live music on Lido, kids activities, balloon drop in the atrium). I wish we could do this exact cruise every year!
We attended the Chef's Table for the 3rd time on Carnival. Still amazing, still worth every penny, still WAY too much food :) We will likely do it again a few cruises.
Our cabin was connected to an interior cabin and very close to the front of the ship as well as the kids club. We would pick this again for our family of 4 in a heartbeat. The balcony was very, very windy while we were sailing, but I don't think this was due to the location of the ship as much as the weather during our specific cruise. Plenty of room for 4 people to stand/sit out on the extended balcony.
Embarkation and Debarkation were very good
Great villa. Only thing missing was they never brought us any snacks that we were promised at the villa and had no idea who to contact about it.
We do this every time. Well worth the money for our family of 4 to be able to get out of the sun.