Saturday, September 23, 2006 - my friend Rebeka & I met at Pearson International Airport at 8 am for our flight to Los Angeles. The flight was uneventful; however, I still find it weird to have to take my shoes off to go through flight security! Once at LAX, we took the "Super Shuttle" from the LAX airport to the Best Western Long Beach. The Super Shuttle was $17 per person, which was a darn sight cheaper than taking a taxi ($60!!), and quite efficient. Re: the hotel - the cliche of "you get what you paid for" is true - the hotel was approx $70 USD for the night (internet rate), however, it was in a less than stellar location. The room itself was quite clean (except for the blood stains on the sheets - yuck), but all the buildings in the immediate area had bars on the windows. The hotel was located at 17th Avenue and Long Beach Boulevard. Rebeka & I walked all the way down to 3rd Avenue to go to a great Seafood Restaurant - the return walk at about 6 pm was a bit scary, but we enjoyed stretching our legs. The afternoon front desk staff at the hotel was very nice & professional, however, the evening shift ignored us for at least 5 minutes while he chatted on a personal call - needless to say, we weren't favorably impressed!

Sunday, September 24, 2006 - we enjoyed the breakfast continental buffet at the hotel. The breakfast was high on carbs and low on protein, but it was cool to have "make your own waffles" available! Cream cruise on a bagel certainly isn't my favorite, nor my best breakfast, but it filled the hunger. The hotel had a complementary shuttle to the Long Beach pier, where the ship was docked, which we took at 11 am. We waited in line until approx noon when we were herded like sheep into the cruise check-in line. The lines were a bit frustrating, but overall, we were on the ship at about 1:30 pm. We headed up to the buffet and had a light lunch.

The Carnival Pride is an astoundingly beautiful ship!! The renaissance-style artwork was exceptionally classy and beautiful!! We checked out our cabin & were pleasantly surprised at how much cupboard & shelf space it had!! We were in a balcony cabin (we were upgraded 4 categories from what we paid for!), on the 7th deck (cabin 7210). The dEcor in the cabin was very pleasant golds, whites, creams, etc., and was very restful and calming. My suitcase came quickly, and Rebeka's suitcase & my "carry-on" arrived well before 6 pm. We enjoyed dinner & the first evening's show, and were asleep by 8 pm!! We were exhausted! Read more