My husband and I just returned from a 7-night Bahamas cruise on the Carnival Pride, which was an excellent cruise. This was our third cruise, second on Carnival, but our first cruise since December 2012 (nothing against cruising, we were just busy doing other kinds of vacations). Two of the main reasons chose the Carnival Pride was because of its departure port of Baltimore (only an 8-hour drive from our house so we didn't have to fly anywhere) and the size of the ship (we had previously been on Carnival Dream and felt it was hectic and crowded all the time). Overall it was an excellent cruise, and I will discuss some of the features we liked, as well as a couple of things we felt could have been improved.
First I will talk about the ship in general. Of course with the ship being a little older, there were some areas that seemed a little run down. The outside of the boat needs a new paint job (especially when we saw it next to the new Norwegian Breakaway when we were in Nassau). But despite that and a few signs of wear and tear (some cracked tiles in the buffet area), the ship is in good condition. What's more, is that everything is very clean! The hardworking staff was everywhere I was, always cleaning and keeping things looking very tidy. I was very impressed with the cleanliness of the common areas.
Now to some specifics of our sailing. We sailed from March 11th-18th, having two sea days, followed by a day at Princess Cay, Nassau and Freeport. Then one sea day home and getting in around 8:30, although we didn't get off the boat until close to 11:30 because there were only 2-3 customs agents at any given moment which was ultra aggravating, but not Carnival's fault. We also chose to park at the port since we had such a long drive back, and this was the absolute best decision since most other people who did a park and cruise situation with a hotel nearby seemed to have to wait even longer.
Our stateroom was also in good condition considering the ship's age. There are typical signs of use, although I really saw it in the bathroom (scratches on the wall, stains in the sink). The only complaint I had was in the door to the balcony. It looked worn, and at first, I had a hard time opening it. On our second sea day, the wind happened to be hitting the door at an exact spot that was causing the door to make a thunderous whistling sound. We brought it to the attention of our room steward and by the time we got back from dinner the door had a tight seal of duct tape over it. We thought that might have been the solution, which we could have accepted. But by the next morning, we wanted to feel the warm air on our balcony and tore it off anyway, only to find that it was just there to prevent us from opening the door to give time for the new door seal to adhere. The new seal worked well, and we didn't have any other issues with the door for the rest of the trip. The bed and the sofa were about as worn as I would except for a ship of this age, but it wasn't anything I'd complain about. The bed was pretty comfortable.