This was my fourth Carnival Cruise, my first on the Pride and with this itinerary. Overall this vacation was great and one that I won't soon forget.

EMBARKATION - We arrived at the Long Beach Terminal about 12:00 p.m. We got off the bus that was provided by Carnival (transfer from LAX) and handed our luggage off to a porter. We then proceeded over to where the embarkation was to take place. I was terrified by reading the prior reviews of the horror story embarkations that other passengers seemed to have endured. I had small children traveling with us (2&8), and I was concerned the long lines and heat would cause them to become irritable. Well the heat was not an issue because the majority of the embarkation process took place inside that giant white orby thingy. The lines were long, and the entire process did take about 45 mins which was not bad compared to the hours that others have spent in line. Obtaining the fun pass in advance certainly does not save you ANY time and does not expedite any time in line. There is not even a specific line for fun pass holders although there is an arrow that says that it is. I think what happened is more people began obtaining the fun pass than what Carnival thought so the fun pass was longer than the non fun pass line. One tip, especially traveling with kids: Keep all your travel documents extremely handy during embarkation(passports, licenses, cruise documents, etc) as you will be asked for either about 100 times before you get on the ship. Put them somewhere where they will be accessible to you quickly. Once you get on board, a lot of passengers had purchased a lanyard to wear their sail and sign card around their neck. GREAT CHOICE!!! I was always digging for it in my purse and you're ALWAYS asked for that to get on and off the ship, for purchasing anything!! It's like your LIFE for seven days that darn card!! Anyway, back to embarkation. So that line moves fairly quickly and once that was done you take the ramp to the ship where you get a beautiful view of the Queen Mary. Great Photo Op!! Once aboard the ship, our rooms were not ready until 1:30 so we went up to the Lido Deck to eat.

STATEROOM - was a little on the small side but we made it. We had two beds pushed together for my husband and myself and my son slept on the couch that they make into a bed for you. Everything that the past reviewers have said about the comfort of these beds is true. I LOVED coming back to the room getting in these feather comfy beds with this wonderful bedding. Our room steward AGUS was the best. He knew all of our names the same day!! The room as ALWAYS immaculate and the towel animals each evening were one of the highlights of our cruise. We had a balcony room and I enjoyed it very much. This was my first balcony room and now is the only way to go for me!! We stayed next door to my sisters and we had them at the pursers desk open up the balconies so that we could share. That was amazing!! My two year old sat out there in the chair and just stared at the water and would say "OOOCEAN"!!!! It was great. I enjoyed waking up every morning we were in another port and watching the land come into view. For 3 days we woke up and were in a different part of Mexico, wow!! I was concerned at first about the balcony and my two year old, but it wasn't much of a problem because someone was always with him out there. He is a bit of a climber and I was scared he was climb up on the deck chair and try to get a better view of the ooooccean! LOL!! He never did, though. He was soooo in awe of the beautiful water he just sat and looked everytime. Read more