This was our first cruise, so we decided to book a room on the Queen Mary the night before embarkation. The Ship has lots to see and we decided to have dinner at Chelsea's restaurant. The dinner was nice and had a beautiful view of Long Beach. Staying on the Queen Mary the night before is extremely convenient because the check in for Carnival is on the Ship. I would suggest heading for early check in at 9:00. We were 3rd in line so we were lucky! After we checked in, we went back to our room on the Queen Mary and packed our luggage and headed to the Carnival parking garage so they could take them to the ship. We were walking around the port, when we bumped into a porter who suggested that we take one of the free shuttles to long beach for a couple of hours. The Pride was undergoing a Coast Guard inspection, so embarkation was a little delayed. That had to be one of the best suggestions! We had lunch at Chili's, walked around for a while and when we got back, everyone was in line waiting to check in. Because we checked in early, we bypassed all of the lines. I would say we were standing in line for about 30 minutes. Not a problem. Getting onto the ship was a breeze, our stateroom was ready, and we were greeted by our Steward Randall. Who was great by the way. Shortly after we got to our stateroom, we did our muster drill and the ship left the port.

The ship is absolutely beautiful, squeaky clean and has lots of unique artwork. The Pride accommodates well over 2000 people and no matter where you went, you didn't have to wait long for anything. There's plenty of seating and friendly staff to help you out.

We didn't do any activities, but we did attend the towel folding class on the last day which was fun. They sell the book too which will help you keep up on what you learned in the class. Service The service was great! Our steward Randall was very nice, and it was refreshing to come back to our room and have it nice and clean. The first night we came back after dinner and found some decadent treats waiting for us. Besides you never know what little towel critter will be waiting for you. Read more