We set sail on October 7 after spending the night at the Coast Hotel in Long Beach. Price for the hotel was $209 which included lodging, breakfast, transportation to and from the ship and parking for our vehicle as we drove in from Phoenix. Hotel was good except that we didn't get our balcony room that we reserved. To accommodate us, they included breakfast for 3 extra people in our party. Very friendly staff and aimed to please.

Embarkation onto the Pride was not a problem. We did early check in at the Queen Mary and then toured it while waiting to board the Pride.

This was our 8th cruise and our 2nd with Carnival. I swore I would never cruise Carnival again, but due to logistics, we decided to try it again. Read more