First, let me begin by saying we have never sailed with Carnival Cruise Lines before due to all the negative and horror stories the media hypes up. However, looking for a change of pace from sailing with RC, Norwegian, Celebrity, and Cunard, we decided to give the Carnival Pride a chance.
To our suprise, overall, this was by far the most FUN cruise we have ever taken. The amount of activities available throughout the morning, noon, and night were incredible. We actually found ourselves trying to figure out what to skip in order to do something else we wanted to do. The choices really were endless. Another thing that made this so much FUN is the fact that the cruise director, Leigh, (who previously came from another cruise line we won't mention), made everything enjoyable from beginning to end! The choices from actual Hasbro life-size games, to trivia, to Scattegories, to, of course, Quest, were so much FUN!
Departing from Baltimore was chaotic to say the least. There didn't seem to be anyone in charge or who appeared to know what they were doing from teh moment we arrived in line for the parking lot, to checking in. Lines...Lines...Lines...and More Lines! The check in agents were forgetting to stamp our boarding passes, but were actually very pleasant. We realize the port is being renovated, but YIKES!...what usually takes about 10-15 minutes on average of boarding on other cruise lines, took almost 2 hours until were were on board.
The cabin was a nice size and we did have a nice size extended balcony that allowed for plenty of stretching out. The bed, however, honestly felt like we were sleeping on a box spring...there was no support, and it was rock hard! Worst of any cruise ship.
Plenty of "usuable" storage space everywhere! Had a sofa, coffee table, desk, and king size bed.
Beautiful blue water, however, rocky, sandy beach area.
Beautiful private island. Warm, crystal clear blue water you could see down so far it was amazing! Nice, powdered sugar sandy beach.. Biggest complaint is there is not alot of places to get out of the sun unless you sat under the eating pavilion areas, but that meant you couldn't see the water.
Typical island port stop. Run down, dirty. Took a taxi downtown on our own for $20 roundtrip for two. Visited Port Lacaya Marketplace, which consisted of some high end stores, nice, expensive restaurants, and the same old stands you see any port. Bottle of Neutrogena Sunscreen cost $22.50 - so beware if you need any sundries.
In their defense, they are renovating...so for now, our opinion was this was a terrible port to leave from.