Matt

Age: 33
Occupation: Financial Manager
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Pride
Sailing Date: February 1st, 2004
Itinerary: Mexican Riviera

This was our first cruise and my wife and I will never travel any other way again.

Embarkation was smooth and easy. Its nice you get on the ship next to the Queen Mary and if you get there a little early you can tour a Soviet Submarine. We stood in line no more than 15 minutes to get on the ship, and we were eating on the lido deck almost immediately.

Service:
The service was phenomenal. If you wanted it they would get it for you. It was like we were royalty. Our room porter was awesome; if you called him he was there within 5 minutes. The wait staff in the dining room was very attentive and they performed some type of entertainment every night.

Food:
The main dining room food was extraordinary. Everything was prepared to perfection. And the best thing is if you want to try everything you can. They had a lobster night and you could order 2 or 3 or 4 or even 5 lobster tails, I did. The lido deck food was a little disappointing but that may be because the main dining room was so good. I recommend eating as many meals in the dining room as possible. At breakfast you are seated with different people every day so you get to meet lots of different people and even make friends. Dinner is seated with the same people every night, this is fun because you end up going over the day and sharing experiences. We even spent time at port with some of the people we met at meals.

I strongly suggest you try David’s Supper Club. The food was superb, the service was a notch above any restaurant I have ever been to. It is a worthwhile experience.

Ports:
We enjoyed all the ports. We didn’t do any excursions we just found our way around.

Puerto Vallarta was very fun we para-sailed, found a local restaurant that had an all you can eat taco bar and made their own tortilla’s right before your eyes. If you like tequila I suggest you ask directions to the “Casa De Tequila”. This is another taco bar restaurant but the front is a Tequila store. They have all types of Tequila and they let you try before you buy, I had to both try and buy.

Mazatlan:
We took a cab to the Golden Zone and just walked along the beach. We found a restaurant that had special of Steak, Lobster, and all you can drink Margarita for $16 American. The restaurant was right on the beach. On the beach there are several people there to take you sailing, para-sailing, or to rent jet skis. All are very reasonably priced. At the dock in Mazatlan are a shopping area and two bars. Lots of music and if you have had enough margaritas lots of dancing. Mazatlan was one big party.

Cabo San Lucas:
I strongly suggest you take a water taxi to lovers beach. We were able to see whales from the beach. It is very secluded so there is plenty of beach for the few people that are there. You can also rock climb, hike and snorkel near or on Lovers Beach.

The Ship:
Carnival Pride is a beautiful ship. The decor exudes class. From a replica of Michelangelo’s David, to replicas of famous paintings. The Taj Majal is quite impressive place to see any of the great shows. Make sure you go to the club called Butterflies. It is an intimate club and on karaoke nights you can meet lots of great people. If you go in February you may be in for a treat. We saw whales everywhere; the second day at sea we spent at least 3 hours watching whales all around the ship. We even got lucky and had one whale breach right outside our room. No need to pay for whale watching if you are lucky enough to see as many as we saw. The ship has an ATM machine but it runs out of cash by about the 4th day, so bring lots of cash for the ports. The entertainment was very good in the Taj Majal. The pools are small but Carnival does reserve one for adults only. We spent quite a lot of time on the Lido Deck. One work of caution though, there is a tops optional deck and if you wander up there accidentally you may be in for a shock, I was just wandering around and walked up to that deck with my wife.

Debarkation:
We went to breakfast and as soon as we were done they called our group so we were off the ship and through customs in less than 15 minutes.

All in all I would recommend everybody to take this cruise. It was the best vacation I have ever taken, and I will take it again.

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