Surely nobody who has sailed on Carnival would characterize such a cruise as a "luxury" vacation. You get someone else to make your bed and prepare your food; that's about it. Any delusions you may have about being on a "luxurious" vacation certainly vanish the moment you hit the Lido deck for meals at the cafeteria-like "Mermaid's Grille." For us, any such delusions vanished at the point of embarkation. The line looked very much like that at an airport for the coach passengers boarding in the post-9/11 era of add-on fees, rude airline employees, and harsh TSA handling. Except that the people in line to board the Pride looked more like those you'd see waiting to board a Greyhound bus.

We'd sailed on Carnival before (but most recently about ten years ago). The line has gone down. There's less effort taken to make passengers comfortable and keep them entertained. There are fewer (and less appealing) on-board activities, less nighttime entertainment, and poorer-quality shows and entertainers. The quality of the food is underwhelming, to put it politely. If you aren't expecting to be impressed with what's on offer and know how to have yourself a good time, certainly you can do so on a Carnival ship. But that good time will be due largely to your own efforts.

Embarkation: If you live within a couple of hours of Baltimore (we're closer than that), it feels wonderfully convenient to be able to drive there and park just yards from the cruise ship. What's not so nice: being charged $15 per night, to be paid in full upon entering, in order to park your car. There are no practical alternative methods of transportation to the port, and the Port of Baltimore takes full advantage of this. Read more