I am a 28-year-old female, who booked this cruise to get away. This was my 6th cruise (5th on Carnival.) I will never go on a different cruise line. There are so many things that I like about Carnival Cruise Lines (plus I want to reach Platinum status - I am halfway there). I booked this cruise on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore because it was going to three ports of call that I had not been to yet. We flew down to Baltimore from Chicago the day before the cruise. We were originally going to drive but about a week before the cruise. I found airfare real cheap so it was an easy decision to choose to fly. We usually go on our annual cruise vacation in January or February but I wanted to wait a little longer this year for different ports of call. We stayed at the Microtel Inn and Suites in Linthicum Heights, MD the night before the cruise. This was a nice hotel with a nice breakfast. We left the hotel on Sunday morning around 11:30 am in order to get to the cruise ship on time for debarkation. We arrived at the Port of Baltimore by 12:00 pm. Debarkation was a joke. We got checked-in pretty quick but then we sat in the terminal waiting for our number to be called. We didn't get onboard until 2:30 pm so the wait was a little too long (this was only the third sailing out of Baltimore so they are still trying to work out all of the kinks). This will only improve with time. As we were walking to our seats in the terminal a fellow passenger asked me, "We're you on the Carnival Victory last year in April." We were I said back to him. He remembered me from the Sports Trivia contests on the Carnival Victory. The weird part of this whole story is that they live only 45 minutes from us - it is a small world.The Carnival Pride was a beautiful - my Dad thought the decor was a little distasteful but you got used to it. My favorite hang out spot was the Perfect Game Bar - I am a sports buff and they had Sports Trivia everyday in there. A big shoutout to my guy Steven (a Carnival Pride Social Host). That was a lot of fun!! I won two "24 Karat Ships on a Stick." Anytime I can beat the guys at sports trivia is fun for me. The Carnival Pride production shows are not to be missed - the singers and dancers were amazing. I can't believe that someone has that much energy. It is people like these singers and dancers that will keep me coming back to Carnival. We ad dinner every night in the Normandie Dining Room. Our waiters Raolo and Narcisso were amazing and Christina had my diet coke waiting for me every night when I went in to dinner. They knew you by name after the first night. We had a Balcony Cabin on Empress Deck in the Aft part of the ship. It was nice having a balcony again because we spent a lot of time out there relaxing and watching the ocean go by. What a way to spend a vacation!!! I can't wait to go again next year!!!