Okay, this was our first cruise so obviously this will be my first review. Short, but informative- that's the plan. Embarkation- we arrived at 3:30ish. no lines. quick and easy. people were everywhere telling you exactly what to do and where to go with a smile. excellent start to our cruise. BTW- we arrived just in time to drop our bags off at our room and head to the muster drill. Food- all together, the food was pretty disappointing. Others have said that the Lido deck was confusing and I agree, but it wasn't really a big deal. A few things we loved were the burgers, the calzones (at the 24hour pizza place- we didn't like the pizza, though), the sandwich bar (cold and hot), BLT's from room service, 24hour frozen yogurt (or ice cream, if you prefer). There were a few other items that were pretty good- the filet, Indian pumpkin soup, creme brulee, and the rolls(until about Friday, when they started tasting freezer burned). For breakfast, the omelet bar, french toast, and pancakes were pretty yummy. Now, I'm realizing after listing all these items that my first statement about the food doesn't seem to be true. However, at every lunch and dinner my hubby and I tried countless items only to take one or two bites and discard them. So in percentages, I would say we enjoyed maybe 20% of the items we tried. Obviously, we did not go hungry and we were always able to find something yummy to eat. One more thing, the "cheesecake" that is served in the MDR and the lido deck is NOT cheesecake. The cheesecake from room service is slightly better. On the last night we decided to buy a piece from the bakery- $2.25 for a HUGE piece that we shared and it was AWESOME! The bakery had tons of yummy-looking items that I wish we had tried. Entertainment- We didn't use the casino or participate in BINGO, but both were packed all of the time! Some of the game shows were funny, some were lame- I think it depends on the participants they get. The singing/dancing shows at night were pretty good- very talented group! Karaoke was fun, but there were about 6 people who sang like 4-5 songs every night (a piece!) and they were all slow-beer in my hand-sitting in the porch-lost my girl kind of songs....blaahhh. I sang my fair share of songs, too, so I don't really blame them for singing a lot if no one else is signing up. It was just the same type of songs, over and over. Jamie, the cruise director, and William, her asst. were fantastic. They were a lot of fun. Rooms and overall decor- Rooms were nice! Small, but plenty of closet and drawer space. Shower was tiny- hard to shave legs in..lol. I took a look in the spa showers and they are huge! I was never bothered enough to drag all of my stuff there, though. There is nudity all over the ship- it didn't bother me, but I wouldn't want to bring my 7,5, and 3 year old boys there! Gym- facilities were very nice. Never had to wait more than a few minutes for a machine. It was way too warm in there, though. I was breaking a sweat before I even started working out! Service- Service on the Pride was incredible all around! Everyone was super friendly and were great at their jobs! One funny story, at 5:55 one morning, we are awoken by a knock at the door. There is a worker there, insisting that she needs to change our pillow cases. I said "no thanks" but she just insisted stating that someone had sent her. I realized then that she was probably just at the wrong room so I said "we're not the ones that called you". She obviously couldn't understand me and wouldn't leave so I just gave up. I took the pillows out from under my sleeping husband's head and stood at the door while she changed each pillow case, one by one. And one by one I threw them on the bed. Finally she left but it was too late, I was up for the day. I wasn't mad, it was actually pretty funny. :) Debarkation- we did self assisted debarkation even though it was a struggle with all our bags. The whole process was smooth and fairly quick. We were in our car by 10:30. The moral of the story is- weather sucked, food was crappy, a lot of the shows were lame, but it didn't matter! We had decided that we were going to have a good time no matter what! We were on vacation! A week away from the kids! No work for him, no cooking, cleaning, wiping little butts and little noses for me! We were thrilled to have a week away from reality and we made our own fun! That would be my best advice for those still looking forward to their cruises, or any vacation for that matter. And will we cruise again? You bet!