Carnival does not compete with Holland America and Cunard for their type of passenger, but having enjoyed numerous HAL cruises my wife and I dared each other to cruise on Carnival.

Having done that, we have continued to be pleased at the excellent experiences onboard Carnival ships - Liberty, Spirit, and Valor before Pride.

The Pride is a wonderful ship, with public areas that seem to facilitate traffic flow very well.  The decor is, well, Carnival - with all of the neon and glitz that this entails.  However, in our experience, no competitor in their price range [NCL/Royal Caribbean] provides...