seal13il, I want to Welcome you to Cruise-Chat as well!
You are going to get spoiled on the Pride! It is in my opinion one the nicest ships of the Carnival fleet. I always think if is a first time cruise to ports it is better to use the ship excursions.
vacationbound gave you some great advice about reading the FAQ section of Carnival.com. For a link about the pier and parking click
here.
Congrats and hope you have a great one!
Dwayne