Carnival Pride and general questions

We are going on the Carnival Pride in February 2005. There is my mother, my husband, my son (14) and my daughter(11). We have booked two cabins side by side. One for three people and one for two people. The plan is to have my mom, my daughter and myself in one cabin, and my son and my husband in the other. What I was thinking though, was to let my mom have the two person cabin to herself, and the four of us would stay in the three person cabin. I know there is an upper birth, two twin beds and what looks to be quite a good sized sofa. I have questions:

1. Is this unreasonable to think 4 of use can sleep in a three person cabin. My husband and I on the twins, and my kids on the upper berth and sofa?

2. Our cabins are outside cabins on the Riviera Deck. Cabins 1145 and 1149. These are what we could afford. They are on the bottom deck, midship and seem to be below Legend's cafe. Has anyone stayed on this deck? Any problems you can report? Should I upgrade for a cost?

3. I am fairly new to cruising (only one other cruise on Princess) and have found this board extremely informative. I have read a lot about people being upgraded. How does that work? I have read that people have a guarantee? Can I expect to be upgraded?

For best information about a Carnival ship, you should post on the Carnival board here at Cruise Critic. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

We were in cabin 1149 on the Pride. We booked an inside guarantee, so this was an upgrade for us. There is two twins, a sofa and a pull down bunk. The sofa could be used as a bed. We had plenty of room for us and all our "stuff". I traveled with my Mom and my daughter(21)....and we overpacked....alot! You should be fine, especially with your Mom's cabin as an overflow for storage! The cabin was very quite and we never noticed any noise.