Overall we were very pleased with our choice of the Carnival Pride, and had a great vacation. Background - mid 40s, married, 3 kids aged 13, 12, and 8, second cruise after going to Alaska on NCL last summer. FLIGHT - We decided to book our flight via Carnival and I have to say it is something I would never do again. Our ship was due to leave at 4pm, and they advised us that due to federal regulations we would need to be onboard by 3pm. Then we received our flight details which did not have us arriving into LAX until 1pm on a flight that listed only 70% on time. I thought they had made a mistake and called to get a change only to be told that they reserved the right to book into LAX until 1:30pm and if I wanted to change I would not only have to pay $75 per person surcharge plus any additional flight cost, but they would charge me $75 per person JUST TO LOOK for alternate flights. In the end we decided to let them take the responsibility, and as it turned out if the ship had left on time, we would have missed it. CHECK IN - Flight arrived on time but the bags took forever to come through. The transfer staff at the airport showed no signs of either trying to speed things up or reassure us we hadn't missed our vacation. Arrived at the ship at 3pm to be met by a HUGE line for checking in. I have no idea what the issue was but one lady told me she had been in line for 3 hours. I understand that things happen but my advice for Carnival would be at least to advise people and maybe offer some refreshments - one woman in the line had to leave because she thought she was going to pass out! Anyway, on the ship and we obviously left late. I agree with previous reviews that the decor wasn't to my style but not an issue. ROOM - Our room was showing some signs of wear and tear but was actually very roomy and very comfy, lots of storage space. Two tips - there is no clock in the room so bring your own if you like to know the time, also the hairdryer is awful. Our cabin stewards were great. FOOD - Food was overall just OK. The breakfast was std fare. Fresh fruits and salads were very good, and there was a choice of juices. Cooked entrees in the buffet, especially in the evening, were very average. In the dining room the food was much better but not to the level we saw at Norwegian last year. However, we paid around $3K less for this trip, and the food was perfectly acceptable. Deserts were definitely a highlight, with the warm chocolate melting cake a big hit, also some sort of dark and white choc bread and butter pudding was excellent. Service in the dining room was very good, and we actually preferred assigned seating to the freestyle on Norwegian where we had to keep making restaurant bookings. Formal attire was absolutely not enforced on any night. The wait staff were very good and did some sort of song or dance every night to entertain which we really liked. LEISURE - I was disappointed in the pools which weren't really deep enough to swim in and were not heated (I don't know if this was by design or due to a heater failure) so my 8 year old took a lot of persuading to go in. The kids enjoyed the ping pong and also the crazy golf and the big water slide. The Card room was well stocked with games but interestingly no playing cards! We only did one show, the Mexican dancers and Mariachi band, and I enjoyed that. We were very disappointed in the shops, limited in size and not a great selection of goods. The gym was a bit of a disappointment, we had real trouble finding it (very odd route in) and it seemed to be full so you had to wait for equipment. My older kids refused point blank to go to the kids camp, but they mooched around the pools and looked after themselves. The 8 year old went a couple of times and seemed to have a good time. My only comment was that when we picked him up there were other kids there who were complaining of feeling unwell, but the parents didn't seem concerned about passing on germs but were more focused on when they could drop the kids off again! Of course it could just have been seasickness, but it was something I noticed. PORTS - Puerto Vallarta was a bit frenetic for us. The ship docks a 15 min or so taxi ride from the Malecon shopping area, cost was about US 15. We booked the Los Veranos Canopy tours online rather than through the ship. The office is located close to the center, so if you take a taxi into the town you are going in the right direction. PV runs one hour ahead of ship time so you actually arrive at 9am - be careful with timing if you book your own excursions. A bus picks you up at the canopy office and there is a 20 min or so drive to the lines. It's a very bumpy ride at the end! The tour was v well run, v safe, and a lot of fun. They did advise that minimum age was 8 years. Having done it I think it would be better for 12 and older - although my little one was fine it was a lot of work for him and he kept getting stuck on the lines because he wasn't heavy enough to carry to the end. We paid US300 for the five of us. They have a nice restaurant at the end, and a river for cooling off in although there wasn't much water when we went. Back in PV we found a nice market area by the river and spent a lot of time browsing there. You have to bargain though, and I thought most stuff was very overpriced even if you knocked them down. This was a really short walk from the Canopy office. PV itself we found a little harsh - concrete, lots of loud and smelly traffic, graffiti. However, we didn't really check out the beaches. Mazatlan - we didn't book anything here, just took one of the open air taxis to the golden zone and found a beach hotel. Again it's about a 20 min drive into town. The beach was lovely, and we the kids had a great time in the waves. Had lunch at the hotel and then headed back to the ship. There were beach vendors selling everything from hats to donuts, plus boogie board rental etc.. Cabo - definitely the prettiest place. We booked the Chileno Bay Snorkeling through Carnival and it was a great excursion. The catamaran was new and spacious, the crew was great. We had lots of room, free refreshments including drinks and fruit when we got on board. We had a 45 min or so trip to the bay, and then into the water to snorkel. The water was COLD, and actually my 8 year old and I got back on the boat quite quickly. The others said the snorkeling was fun. We had about 45 mins at the bay, then back on board to again free snacks (cookies, chips) and drinks including some alcoholic drinks. They played music and it was a cool trip, back exactly on time. Would certainly recommend this. We had then booked a Dolphin encounter with Cabo Dolphins. We booked this online since the ship didn't offer a time that allowed us to snorkel as well. This was a very short walk from the tender pier, there was a small mall there and a few restaurants and a craft market to browse in. They ask you to arrive 30 mins early and check you in to a waiting area. Although there were lovely seats to lounge in, there was no shade and no real reason to be there early so we basically baked for 30 mins! This is an expensive tour at around US179 pp for 30 mins, but we all agreed was worth it and unforgettable. My only complaint was that they did not allow any sort of photography other than their own. Once the session was over these photos were immediately available at a kiosk to buy, but they were US19 each for 3 x 6 which seemed excessive to me since I had already spent nearly US850! So it's a good job it was memorable without the photos. Cabo is a tender pier, and you need to head back quite early to avoid the rush. Disembarkation was much smoother and well run, although Carnival had again booked a flight I would not have taken and we arrived at LAX 5 hours before takeoff. Another disadvantage of this was that for some reason the airline (Alaska) would not allow us to preassign seats for the cruise flights. On the way out we got a 2 and 3 close together, but even though we arrived 5 hours early coming back, we ended up with one 2 and 3 singles all over. When we got on board, they had put two of my kids in the emergency exit aisle which wasn't allowed, so we ended up with a big mess having to ask people to swap which didn't go down too well. As I said, I wouldn't book flights with the cruise ship again. Overall we had a great time. Especially given the price we paid, it was good value. My only concern was that compared to Norwegian, I don't think as much emphasis was put on hygiene. In Alaska, we were asked to use had sanitizer each time we entered an eating area, and pretty much required to when we got back from a port. On this cruise there was no hand sanitizer supplied, and often the hand railings (especially in the elevators) were quite sticky. Both my son and I were ill on the last day of the cruise, and of course there is no way to show where we got sick but I didn't feel the emphasis was there like it was on NCL. I would certainly take this sort of vacation again - I think it was good value for money; rooms were great, and a nice relaxing vacation.