Mexican Riviera cruise review on Carnival Pride, Feb 22 - Mar 1. Ports of call, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas.
This cruise was planned for our kids to sail with us for the first time. Son age 14 and daughter age 17. DH & I cruised twice before with the last trip on the Spirit (Pride's sister ship) last April. Daughter wasn't interested in cruising but wanted to swim with dolphins and son didn't want to get off the ship and complained when we "made" him swim with dolphins. Lol. This cruise was a lot of fun and a great memory for my kids. Some of my comments might seem critical but just explaining for people that are considering Carnival, the ship or the itinerary. Overall assessment is it was a great cruise, great value, with room for improvement.
TEEN CLUBS: Well son had a great time on the ship and was in heaven. He met several kids from Circle C even though there were not many kids on our trip. We traveled during school so he said there weren't very many kids in the Circle C. When I'd see him in Circle C playing video games, I usually only saw about 5 or 6 kids. My daughter was at Club 02 meet & greet the first day and there were 3 teens in there just sitting around & talking. She didn't seem to want any part of it. She's very mature for 17 and most people thought she was 19 or 20. The teen director said there were 16 teens on the trip but only a few were involved in the club. She hung out with her father and I mostly but she did participate in a couple of the club activities toward the end when she got bored hanging out with her parents. Teen clubs were okay but I'm sure they would have been a lot better if we sailed when kids are out of school. Spring break or summer would be better for kids to enjoy the teen activities. Video arcade was expensive. About $1/game and they only had a few machines. Air hockey was $1.25/game. Free activities onboard are basketball, mini-golf and ping pong so kids seemed to do that the most. Circle C had dodgeball competitions and son really loved that. They also had Wii & Guitar Hero competitions.
Cabin 4194 had a view between lifeboats and was a guiet room on deck 4 aft. Close to aft elevators.