Recap of my 1st Cruise on the Pride

this is just an overall of my first cruise on Carnival Pride 8/29..

Embarkation - arrived at 1pm for 2 o'clock boarding... avoided long security lines and ticketing lines... boarded on deck 2 where it was very crowded, moved up to deck 9 where they were serving lunch... got our room around 3pm... phone didn't work but guest services quickly took care of it.  If you are depositing cash, you need to go to Guest Services to give them the $$$, it was a quick and painless process. We aquanted ourselves with the ship but should have attended the Embarkation Show with the Cruise Director, Kirk, at the Taj Mahal as there were alot of inside jokes that we didn't get.  Dinner was "no assigned seating" that night only

Day 2 at Sea - got up early, went to the pool, found some seats and lounged..there are SEVERAL Servers that will be pushing the drink of the day and bar service.. went to some of the trivia games and bingo, attended the opening show..Dinner was fabulous in the Normandie, our server Nat was the best and every night he had everything we needed.. bottled water, ice tea...

Day 3 at sea - pretty much same as day 2...

Day 4, Gran Turks, - rained in the morning but stopped around 11am... the rain scared alot of people away.. the beach is very rocky, went in it once and found some shells but stayed most of the time at the pool at Margaritaville... they had a DJ, dancing, food, drinks..

Day 5 - Half Moon Cay - most beautiful beach EVER... the tendering was quick and efficient.. got the clam shell, too hot inside, used regular beach chairs... rented floating matts, GREAT IDEA by hubby, $11/day... we sat in the kiddie area where the kids climbed the floating animals... a good walk to the Bar-b-que... food was ok...

Day 6 - Nassau - you will be hounded by hair braiders and cab drivers... took the water Taxi to the Ferry where we had made an excursion to swim w/dolphins at Blue Lagoon thru their website... water taxi was $3 to the ferry ... not bad, the ferry will point out highlights (stars homes) on the ride over.

Day 7 - Freeport, you are in the industrial section of town, I personally did not get off the boat but family did, took a taxi ride for $5/person around to the other side of the island.. said it was pretty dumpy.

Day 8 at sea on the way back-- attended the Dis-embarkation .. very important...

Day 9 back to Baltimore - we opted for the Self Dis-embark... we were off the ship and in our car by 10:30.

My suggestion is to pay the extra to get the soda card and to attend all the shows at night... they were very pleasant... Bingo gets cheaper as the days go on up to 1/2 price.. Dress Elegant nights (2) there was every thing from gowns to dress slacks for ladies... Great Fun, Will definatly go again!

Let me know if you need me to answer any questions... Happy Sailing

Never been to those islands yet, but nice review.  Sounds like you had a great time...