As a seasoned cruiser, I have been on Regent Seven seas, Holland America, NCL, Costa, Royal Caribbean, Homelines, Carnival before, celebrity and mostly Princess; 20 cruises in all. I love Holland America but can usually get a balcony cheaper on Princess because they have bigger ships with more balconies. So I am happy to report I have been spoiled by cruising.
My husband and I decided to take the Christmas cruise because we can afford to be away easily during the holiday week. We are so blessed now to have a cruise terminal in Baltimore, so we booked the Pride. I was so surprised that the ship is similar to the Crown, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald of Princess. We decided to book an aft balcony cabin. We had been upgraded to one years ago and really enjoyed it. The one before was three times the size of ours on the Pride, but it was big enough. A great choice. Just know that 5297 and 5299 are regular size balconies, just off the back of the ship.
We were concerned about all the children that were to be on board. I found out later that there were 700, we never saw them after the first day. Carnival does a great job keeping them occupied.
Cabin 5297, aft balcony. The cabin itself was large. We opted for our beds to be together and it is a king not a queen. We also had a sofa and table in the cabin. Closet had plenty of space. Bathroom usual size. Balcony view is awesome. The balcony itself was regular size but the balcony to our left was huge. Conditioning Shampoo was lemon and my hair was wonderful. It is in a dispenser on the wall along with the shower gel. You are given French soap or the wash basin and the shower. Towels are large and soft. Bedding was very nice with duvet comforters. Small frig, does not keep things very cold, but stocked with sodas and miniatures that you can use and be billed for. I was over billed for an additional bottle of water but I was not going to stand in line to get a credit for $4.54.