Amanda's Birthday Family Cruise on the Pride, May 28-June 4: A Trip Report w/ Photos

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Great review so far and nice pics! Going on the Pride in 3 weeks for the 5th time, can't wait for the rest.

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Great review so far and nice pics! Going on the Pride in 3 weeks for the 5th time, can't wait for the rest.

 

 

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Thanks Jimbo! Quite a compliment, coming from you.:)

Thanks Jimbo! Quite a compliment, coming from you.:)

Thanks, while I do enjoy doing reviews, they are just OK.

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Enjoying your review!!! Your boys are so cute!! I love the Pride it is my favorite Carinival ship. My family and I got off the ship the day you boarded.

Looking forward to my Birthday cruise on July 16th

Loving your review and pictures!

Day Eight: Saturday, June 3: Final Day at Sea

As mentioned in the teaser that ended my last segment, today was a little bit of a mess. It all started when I realized that I wouldn’t have enough diapers to get us through the rest of the trip for our youngest. With all of the planning and preparing that Idid, you would think I would have meticulously counted out the diapers and made sure we had enough. We even packed oneENTIRE suitcase of nothing but diapers, pull-ups, and swim diapers. Alas, we had nothing left for AJ. It was a pretty pitiful mom moment. In a total panic, we went down to guest services to see if there was any place onboard to buy diapers. We had checked in the shops the night before,and of course, that was a no. The lady at the desk asked if we had checked with Camp Ocean. Duh! Why didn’t I think of that? I hadn’t, for whatever reason. Thanking her profusely, we ran up to Deck 5 and alllllllll the way to the front of the ship. Much to our dismay, Camp wouldn’t be open until 10:00, and it was only shortly after 8. I figured the measly swim diaper he had on would have to do, but just then, a Camp director came around the corner and so graciously took pity on us and allowed us to come in and peruse their diaper selection! Yay yay yay! There wasn’t a big selection, and the ones we selected were a size too small really,but hey, they would work! The kind woman told us to take as many as we needed and would not let us pay or even give her a cash tip. We were floored. Carnival really made an impact on us here. They helped us when they didn’t have to, and for free! AJ’s little bottom was ever grateful, too. ;)

We had reservations for the Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast at9:45 so we were walking around, playing bag toss, and people watching until then. AJ started to get sleepy so Andy decided to take him back to the room for a quick nap. The rest of my family, me, and Drew went to get in line for breakfast. My brother had purchased the social media internet package to use iMessage and SnapChat to stay in touch with his girlfriend at home. While we were waiting in line, he told me that he had just received a message from my mother-in-law, and that it wasn’t good news. Of course, my heart and stomach instantly dropped. You just never want any kind of terrible news when you’re in the middle of the ocean and helpless. Andy’s dear, sweet grandpa, Ed, had just passed away after a long illness. We knew before traveling that he was ill, of course, but we had no idea that he was terminal at that point in time. I then faced the unfortunate task of going back to the room to tell my husband and help him process this news. Both of us are very close to our grandparents and I knew it wouldn’t be an easy thing for him to deal with. I texted back to my MIL briefly and then sent the rest of my family in with Drew to get started on breakfast while I trudged back to the cabin.

Without sharing all of the personal details, Andy was understandably devastated and very frustrated with being stuck on the ship and unable to help his mom or family at home. I took AJ back to the dining room and Andy used the in-cabin phone to call home and talk to his family members. He eventually joined us at the breakfast, but wasn’t in a mood to eat. We were all very somber that morning. The kids really enjoyed the breakfast and it was very well done. The décor was so sweet and Carnival really thought of every detail right down to the menus and table coverings. My kids had the waffles and pancakes, my mom and I had the scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns, and my dad and brother had the steak and eggs. No one was brave enough to try the Green Eggs and Ham, I guess! After about 45 minutes, the characters started to arrive. They stayed for 5-10 minutes each, allowed for photo ops, and then left so a new one could come in. We were there about an hour and a half total. It was well worth the $5 per person charge,in my opinion!

We headed back to the room to suit up for our last day by the pool and water slides. At some point, Drew wanted to go play mini golf of course. Andy took him up to play while I stayed by the pool with AJ. I left the baby with my parents and went up to see the guys, and got there just in time to see Drew trip on the edge of the edging surrounding the green and whack his eye on the rock. I freaked out but Drew insisted he was ok and wanted to keep playing golf. Luckily there was no damage to the eye itself, just some bad cuts on his eyelid and below the eye. I think we ended up explaining the accident about 100 times throughout the rest of that day and evening. After taking a lunch break and then swimming a little more, we took the kids back to the room for naps. Andy stayed and napped with them while I went to my massage appointment. I don’t normally get massages at home, and view them as a special vacation treat! I usually wait for a“deal” to pop up but I wasn’t overly impressed this time. My husband finally convinced me to go ahead and get one regardless of the cost, so I booked at the “Twilight” price of $99for a 50 minute Swedish massage. I arrived right at 3:15, filled out my paperwork, and waited for about 5 minutes before Joy arrived to escort me to the massage room. She was excellent and I must say, this was easily the best massage I have had, on land or at sea. I knew to expect the sales pitch at the end,so I just politely declined, and went on my way, feeling very refreshed after an emotionally draining day.

We headed to dinner at 6, and enjoyed our last night with the wait staff and their performance of “Leaving on a FunShip.” That’s always the worst one to hear! Even though we didn’t LOVE our dining experience this time, we would still miss the crew and their smiles. The Heart of Soul show was at 8:15, and we thought it was well done. I never dreamed we would end up attending thePlaylist Production each night, but the kids really took to it and Drew looked forward to it every night! I am glad that we went and we cannot complain about the entertainment. We decided that in order to get home to our family as soon as possible, we would self-debark. Having FTTF would also help us out with that,but the luggage thing was going to be rough. So, after putting the kids to bed, Andy and I tried to pack as much as possible and get things situated for a quick exit from the Pride. We fell asleep pretty early, anticipating along day of travel ahead.:rolleyes:

Next up: Debarkation and the trip home

Enjoying your review!!! Your boys are so cute!! I love the Pride it is my favorite Carinival ship. My family and I got off the ship the day you boarded.

Thank you so much! The Pride was just perfect. :hearteyes:

Looking forward to my Birthday cruise on July 16th

Enjoy it and happy (early) birthday! :D

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Loving your review and pictures!

Thank you so much!:)

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Is there a write up to go with the pics for Freeport day? (If I'm being dense not finding it, I apologize).

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Is there a write up to go with the pics for Freeport day? (If I'm being dense not finding it, I apologize).

 

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Wow, that's strange! I can't find it either. I definitely wrote about that day and I sure thought I posted it. I will now. Thanks for pointing that out to me!:)

It was brought to my attention that the Freeport section has disappeared! I apologize! I will re-post it here:

Day Seven: Friday, June 2: Freeport

We didn’t have anything planned for today’s visit to Freeport, except for finding a certain souvenir. Starting on our Honeymoon in 2013, and then returning with our first son in 2015, we had purchased small beach-scene paintings done by a man on the street outside the port area in Nassau. Having never been to Freeport, I assumed that the vendors were very much the same and we would be able to find a similar painter to make us a personalized picture that would go with our collection at home. More on that search later! Oh, and I almost forgot: we also needed to find my husband’s beloved Goombay Punch, which was another honeymoon discovery turned Bahamas tradition.

Our port stop today was from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. So the plan was simple: breakfast, get off the ship early, look around and do some shopping, then back onboard for lunch,swimming, and naps! We made it up to Lido for breakfast at about 8, and much to my boys’ surprise, there were towel animals all over the place! I knew this was coming, and wanted to make sure we got up there to see it. Drew was fascinated. AJ is too little to care of course, but he liked to look at the creatures anyway. My family all had a little debate going regarding the towel animal takeover, and maybe someone here can shed some light on this. Our question is, are the towel animals all made up and stored somewhere to be brought out each cruise, or are they made “fresh” for every sailing? Of course, I thought that they were made and then left intact in a storage room somewhere. I saw tape on some of the animals and they looked a little ragged. However, then I got to thinking: it would take a LOT of storage space to keep them all somewhere, and my dad said he saw workers deconstructing the animals and re-folding the towels as normal! I cannot imagine the time commitment there.

Anyway, we were off the ship and in the bustling metropolis of Freeport by about 9. We all knew going in that this would not be a destination of much interest to us. I know some people had excursions, and that would be helpful, but the time issue sill remains- 7 to 1 is such a short and early visit. We likely would not have even gotten off of the ship if it weren’t for the souvenir hunt! In about an hour, we had seen all there was to see of the port area, and found no painters anywhere. To say we were bummed is an understatement!We ended up settling for a painted conch shell with our names and the year. We wanted personalized above all else, and it does look nice as our dining room table centerpiece. At only $8, we thought it was a steal,too. My husband found bottles of his beloved Goombay Punch and we were all set. We headed back to the ship to get changed and hit the pools. It was a pretty overcast day, and apparently some people had left the ship, so it wasn’t crowded at all. We all enjoyed Guy’s burgers for lunch and ate them poolside.

After naps, it was time to get ready for our second elegant night of the cruise. It would be back to the MDR for us, and of course I wanted another shot at a great family portrait, so everyone got ready and met in the Atrium at about 5. I am happy to report that our photos turned out really well that night,and we purchased several. Spoiler alert:I am glad that we ended up with good pictures that night, because starting the next morning, photo ops would look pretty different. Dinner was the American Feast menu, and I must say that I much preferred it to the first elegant night. Several of us, myself included, had the filet and short rib with green beans and whipped potatoes. Simply amazing, we thought! We had been promising Drew his very own chocolate shake all week long, so after dinner we headed to the coffee bar to get his shake and wait for the show to begin. Let’s just say Drew thought he was pretty big stuff with his monster black and white shake, made by the sweet gal at the coffee shop.

Tonight’s production was 80’s Pop to the Max. It was fun! The kids (of course) really liked the music and special effects. It kindof turned into a Michael Jackson tribute show near the end, which I am ok with because I adore his music, but it almost felt like it should either be an all-Michael show, or just have one or two of his songs. It just seemed odd to us. Two new comedians had boarded the ship with us in Freeport, so we wanted to check them out. My hubs took the kids back to the room and put them to bed while I headed to the 10:00 Ronnie Bullard adult show with my parents and brother. I even got called out and teased a little bit since we were celebrating my birthday, which was fun. After that, I returned to the room while my family stayed at our booth, and relieved my hubby, so he could join them for the 11:00 show by Derrick Eason. Teamwork makes the dream work! I think he snuck off to the casino a bit after the show, because I don’t remember him coming back in at all. I was sleeping soundly in those amazing Carnival beds!

Up next: A sad start to our final sea day

Thanks for posting the Freeport day - I thought I was going nuts! :)

Sorry about your grandpa and your little' guy's boo-boo, but he's still pretty darn cute!

Really enjoying the review/report!

Thanks for posting the Freeport day - I thought I was going nuts! :)

Sorry about your grandpa and your little' guy's boo-boo, but he's still pretty darn cute!

Thank you so much. I'm still not sure where that whole post went?? Lol!

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Really enjoying the review/report!

Glad to have you along! [emoji4]

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Great review, this is the first time I've been on a cruise where someone reviewed it. I was going to do it but my notes were terrible so I really appreciate you being a lot more organized than I was! As a side note - that black eye looks pretty painful, hope the little guy is ok and impressing the ladies with that thing!

Great review, this is the first time I've been on a cruise where someone reviewed it. I was going to do it but my notes were terrible so I really appreciate you being a lot more organized than I was! As a side note - that black eye looks pretty painful, hope the little guy is ok and impressing the ladies with that thing!

Thanks, Steve! Yes, I thought you said your partner would be doing a review. I've been watching for it! I hope next time to be able to comment more on the cruise itself in an objective way, rather than just tell my story. Ha ha.

Little man bounced right back and loved to tell the story of his mini golf injury to all the ladies onboard. [emoji8]

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