First let me say that this was only my second cruise so I can only relate to a cruise I took several years back on the Celebrity Mercury. We left on July 25th out of Long Beach. Our 4 teenage children ages 20,19, and two 18 year olds, along with my wife's sister, her husband, and their two kids, and my wife's 2 brothers and of course mom and dad. Fourteen of us all together.

Embarkation was relatively smooth with the online easy check in procedures. I would recommend that if you are close to L.A. then use the parking garage and just pay the fee. Ten dollars a day. We flew and had some difficulty trying to get our van back to the airport. We should have just driven the 6 hours from where we live. Oh well, live and learn. Having said that I think the Pride is an absolutely beautiful ship and very large. It was laid out nicely as far as deck plans and floor plans. The renaissance art throughout the ship was for me, nice to look at however, I can see how some people could find it too ostentatious and even offensive but I liked it.

It was comfortable and plenty of quiet places to sit, relax, and listen to music. There was a 3 person jazz band that was great in one sitting area, a piano man in the main atrium area, and a country singer in the casino who was my personal favorite. His rendition of friends in low places was outstanding. The casino was booming most of the time and it was a quite enjoyable place to be. All four kids quickly learned of the joys of blackjack...and the sorrows. We had a very sweet waitress from Romania named Mioyaura who was very pleasant and always there when we needed a refill. A+ for the casino services. On Celebrity they had a casino but that casino excitement just wasn't there. Read more