BackgroundI cruised the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore on 07/24/2009 with my husband and two kids ages 7 and 9. My family has cruised several times, 3 previous times on Carnival and most recently on Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas in 2008. The Royal Caribbean cruise was our favorite due to the ports of call (Southern Caribbean, only one sea day). We also prefer the dEcor of RC ships to Carnival but for us itinerary and price are a more important factor. We live in Northern Virginia and were excited when we found out that Carnival was home-porting a ship in Baltimore year-round. The port is only about an hour and a half drive from our home. When I looked at the itineraries I wasn't too thrilled (too many sea days) but the prospect of not having to deal with airports, paying airfare, etc. was very attractive. So we decided to give the Pride a try and booked back in December 2008. EmbarkationWe arrived at the dock at noon. The baggage drop-off and parking were very quick and easy. It was so cool to park right next to the ship. Some people from the prior cruise were still leaving the terminal building as we walked in. The people working at the check-in desk were very friendly and helpful. We were seated in the VIP boarding section by 12:40pm. It would have been faster but there was a problem with our Sign & Sail cards since our cabin had been changed just the day before (more on that below) and they had to reprint our S&S cards. There were already hundreds of people waiting to board in the main waiting area and the VIP waiting area was pretty much full. A big wedding party (or parties) got to board around 1pm, followed by a large group of travel agents taking a tour. Finally around 1:40 they started VIP boarding. My sense from talking to others onboard is that if you show up at the suggested time of 2pm you will wait in lines to drop your luggage and park. I would rather do what we did which is arrive early and spend our waiting time sitting in the terminal. CabinWe originally were booked in connecting cabins (balcony plus inside) at the very front of the ship. Long story short, on the day before the cruise I received a call from Carnival offering an upgrade to a Category 12 suite and they would refund part of what we paid. We'd lose the 2nd bathroom but we'd be mid-ship with a larger balcony. Plus we'd get priority boarding which was a big deal for me because I knew I wanted to try to get a cabana in Half Moon Cay which is hard to do if you don't get on early. So I checked with my husband quickly and he agreed that we should take the suite and the refund.Our suite was #6217. The cabin was great: a king sized bed, sofa that converted to lower bed and upper that came out of the ceiling. There were 3 big closets, 2 chests of drawers plus another set of shelves in one of the closets. There was much more storage space than we needed. There was a dressing area outside the bathroom with a sink, mirror and vanity stool. The bathroom was huge for a ship with 2 sinks, tub/shower combo and bidet (waste of space!) The step up into the shower was difficult because the side of the tub was so high. I'm 5'10" so my legs are long but even I got a nasty bruise on my knee from my first attempt at getting in and I had to help my kids in and out of the shower. I wouldn't recommend this room for anyone with physical limitations because it's too hard to get into the shower. The balcony was bigger than normal balconies and had 2 lounge chairs, 2 normal chairs and a small table. I spent a lot of time reading out on the balcony. There was minimal wind when seated. The windows were so big that even from the bed or sofa you got a great view of the ocean. Our room steward Yevhen from the Ukraine and his assistant were great. The room was serviced twice per day, kept very clean and we had all the towels we could need. DiningWe ate a couple breakfasts and lunches at the Mermaid Grill on the Lido deck but much preferred the dining room. At peak dining times the buffet lines were long and tables were scarce. The food was okay (especially liked the Chinese and Taste of Nations; salad bar could be better) but we hated the crowds. My son loves pizza and Carnival's pizza is great but need to crank it out faster at lunchtime. The layout was odd too. The food stations stretched between two different rooms plus the grill which was out on the pool deck. If you wanted, say, some salad, some Chinese food and then a hamburger for your child you had to stand in 3 different lines in three different areas. We were never offered drinks in the Mermaid Grill (compared to Royal Caribbean where there were waiters always refilling drinks and bar waiters circling for sodas/etc.)Our experience in the dining room was good. We did the traditional dining, early seating. The first night's dinner is open seating. Service seemed slow on the first night but starting on the 2nd night when we got to our regular table the service was great. Our servers were Anthoney from India and Vernon from Guyana. They were polite and efficient. They seemed busy so there wasn't a lot of chit chatting (fine with us) but they were great with the kids. The food was mostly good. I usually ordered fish. I had salmon two nights and it was perfect both times. The tilapia and grouper weren't cooked as well. My son got the flat iron steak every night and it was very tender and juicy. My husband usually got pasta or chicken and enjoyed all his meals. The hot soups were good, Caesar salad was disappointing. My husband and I aren't desert eaters but my son loved the chocolate melting cake every night. It took a couple dinners to figure out who to order drinks from (sodas and glasses of wine are ordered from bar waiter while lemonade or bottles of wine come from food waiter.) We were happy that there was not as much singing and dancing in the dining room as on prior cruises. They danced by the tables two nights (one was Jai Ho, great fun!) and then on the final night the waiters sang a version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" which was sweet. We were glad not to have to sit through "The Macarena" or "Hot Hot Hot" which seem to be Carnival favorites.We ordered room service a couple times for an afternoon snack. It only took around 10 minutes. We ordered the veggie tray with dip (it's small so order 1 per person) plus asked for plates of potato chips and pretzels for the kids. It would have been great to get cheese and crackers but that's not on the menu.Ports of CallAfter our last cruise when I over-planned each day's activities, this time I really just wanted to relax so we didn't plan any excursions. In Grand Turk we hung out by the pool at Margaritaville. There were plenty of chairs (we were the only ship in port) and the pool never got too busy. We loved watching the people on the Flow Rider and just relaxing in the pool. We had lunch at Margaritaville which was expensive but good and service was very friendly.Half Moon Cay was wonderful. I went straight to the excursion desk upon boarding and was the 3rd person in line for the cabanas. Having VIP boarding was a huge help with this. If we hadn't had VIP I don't think we would have gotten one. We chose #7 (peach) which was a great location. #1 - 5 are too close to the busy area of the beach. If those were the only cabanas available, knowing what I know now I would probably prefer a clamshell farther down toward the high-numbered cabanas because there are just too many people on that beginning section of the beach. The cabana had 4 floats, snorkeling equipment, an ice chest with 2 bottles of water and 8 sodas of our choosing. We also got a veggie tray, fruit platter, big bag of Tostitos, salsa (fresh, not from a jar!), guacamole, dip for the veggies and sour cream. Those with cabanas get the first tender onto the island and that first hour before the masses arrived was just so relaxing and wonderful. We loved floating on those mats! We brought our lunch back to the cabana to eat but there was plenty of seating near the BBQ area.In Freeport we took a taxi ($5 per person each way) to Port Lucaya, walked through the Our Lucaya hotel and out onto their beach. We were offered chairs on the beach for $5 per person or for $10 we could use the pools and water slide. We paid the $10pp (cash only) and enjoyed lounging around the pool. Our kids had fun on the waterslide. Around 12:30pm some showers passed through and we headed back to the ship for lunch. On sea days the pool areas were super-crowded. But there were always lounge chairs available around the other decks, just not by the pool. I actually prefer being up on Deck 10 where I can look out at the water rather than at the sunburned revelers by the pool.OtherMy kids spent a couple hours each day at the kids club activities. They enjoyed the parties in the disco and the video games. My older son was in the 9-11 age group which had several "unsupervised" activities where they would run around the ship on scavenger-type hunts. I was nervous at first about letting him participate but it was a nice group of kids and they stayed safe.We didn't go to any shows so can't comment on that. My husband enjoyed the "Ship Life Q & A" run by the cruise director on the last sea day. I took the galley tour which was a waste of time (basically walking through the galley with no explanation of what you're seeing.)My kids enjoyed the mini golf. I tried the jogging track but it's pretty small and I noticed most serious joggers used Deck 10 where they could basically go around the entire ship. We poked our heads in the gym after breakfast on the first sea day; it was packed so we didn't stay.We tried the arcade one day but each game took 5 token ($1.25!) That's ridiculous and we didn't return. If they'd charged a more reasonable rate we would have visited more often.I had two great massages in the Spa from a lovely girl named Share (pronounced Sha-ree) from South Africa. DisembarkationSince we had the suite we had priority disembark which was fantastic. We elected to self-disembark (carry our own bags). We met in the assigned lounge for VIP self-disembarkers at 9:30am and by 9:45am we were in our car. It doesn't get any faster than that!!Overall we had a very nice time. We love hanging out as a family and we were able to have lots of relaxing family together time. Our next vacation will probably be an all-inclusive or Caribbean villa rental but I would consider doing this cruise again in a couple years if the price were right.