This was my 3rd cruise, second time with Carnival. This was also my boyfriend's first cruise. We made the short drive from Pittsburgh to Baltimore the day before sailing and stayed at the Wingate by Wyndham as they offered a park and cruise package that was EXTREMELY convenient. For about $45 more than parking at the port, we were able to arrive the day before and relax without the stress of traveling to port the morning of sailing. We purchased the Faster to the Fun package which was WELL worth the money. We arrived at the port around 1:30 and the line was extremely long outside of the terminal. We we able to go straight to the front of the line and into the terminal to be screened by security. After being quickly screened, we were ushered to the priority counter where we received our sail and sign cards and had our photos taken for ship security purposes. Then we were off to the gangway, again being ushered to the front of the line! We were on the ship in less than 25 minutes of getting off the hotel shuttle!!!! We then went straight to our room to drop off our carry ons. Needless to say that since it only took us 25 minutes to get to out room our luggage had not yet arrived. Not a big deal for us as we had everything we needed in our carry on bags. Our luggage ended up arriving several hours later though, NOT priority like the FTTF package promised. We had a balcony cabin on the 8th floor mid ship. Just a note that some of these rooms are located directly beneath the service pantry in the Mermaids Grill. At times there were loud noises from the kitchen but we weren't bothered by this. If you are a light sleeper, spend a lot of time in your room, or this would otherwise annoy you, I would highly recommend staying on a different floor. Also, the staterooms and their decor are very outdated. Our room had a picture tube TV. Those updates would have been nice as I am picky LOL but since we didn't spend much time in the room and got a great deal on this cruise we were able to easily overlook this. Next we were off to purchase the Cheers beverage package at the lobby bar and get some frosty beverages in our hands ASAP! Food everywhere on the ship was overall very good. We ate in the MDR 4 nights and also enjoyed the Chef's Table dinner. We HIGHLY recommend the Chef's table with Chef Dev. It was an AMAZING experience and the best meal I have ever eaten. Do yourself a favor and look into it, trust me!! Guy's Burgers, the Blue Iguana, The Deli and the Pizza Pirate were also very good. If you cannot find something to eat on this cruise then something is wrong. I also ordered room service early one morning but it took over 1 hour to arrive. In regards to shore excursions, we booked our own kayaking tour with Adventure Kayak of Cocoa Beach. For $30/pp we had a 2 hour guided kayak tour of the Thousand Islands area. Great value for the money and it was alot of fun! Be ready for ALOT of paddling though! When in Nassau, we purchased the Discover Atlantis Beach Day w/ lunch. The beach and ocean were amazing. It was also fun to walk around the resort, shops, and casino. The only down side was that not all of the restaurants that we were given a voucher to have lunch at were open on the day we were there. Since the resort is so large we wasted a lot of time walking around to find a place to eat. In hindsight, we should have skipped lunch at the resort as it just wasn't worth the extra money or the hassle. In Freeport, we were only in port from 7am - 1pm. We just got off the ship and did some quick shopping right at the port. Now for the onboard activities...we spent a little time at the Serenity Pool which was very enjoyable. It was nice having a child free area for adults to enjoy. We also spent time in the casino which was fun, playing bingo, and checking out the different bars. We also attended the Lionel Ritchie concert presented by Carnival Live which was an UNFORGETTABLE experience. We really enjoyed the EA Sports bar and the bartender Sandor who was great. Service on the ship was excellent. The staff members were very friendly. Other notable employees were our room steward Yasa and Dirk the bartender at the Serenity Pool Bar. The ship was also VERY clean. There was always someone cleaning the floors, tables, windows, brass railings, everything! Debarkation also went very smoothly. With the FTTF, we had the option of carrying our luggage off the ship before other guests or have our luggage picked up the night before and then being the first group called to get off the ship. We chose to have our luggage picked up the night before. Just a note to those of you with the FTTF...if you chose to set your luggage out the night before, ask guest services if you can still get off the boat ASAP in the morning. We waited for our number to be called (which was #1) but we think we might have been able to get off the ship sooner. We would definitely sail on the Pride again and would recommend this cruise to others. Thank you Carnival for making our first cruise together so AMAZING!!!!!