Grannycb

I can suggest two balconies to avoid.

7246 - There is a pop out of cabins right next to it. The view is cut off and there was hardly any sea breeze. Sound echoed off that pop out section too.

8152 - There is a HUGE overhang which let in sun only in the very early morning or late afternoon, depending on which way the ship was facing. The other problem was sound of deck chairs being moved and rolling sounds during cleaning in the early morning.

We've had obstructed balconies on three cruises and like those the best. The view is only partially obstructed and you get more cabin space. I'm not even going to look for any other category when booking the next cruise.

They have been gone for years. I keep thinking they might have been repaired over the years, but no.

Yes, Majesty makes a great first cruise. I recommended it to a friend. She went and is now hooked on cruising.

i was going to change our 6 PM seating to My Time Dining for our April cruise. Guess that won't be necessary. Any ideas on how they will do the gratuities? Will they be added to final payment or daily during the cruise? I'm really curious to see how this is going to work.

We usually are willing to pay between $500-800 pp per day, inside cabin, for a 10 night cruise.

 

 

Gwen :)

That's one expensive vacation! Must have been a typo!

We used the BOGOHO sale back in June for two cruises. April on Oasis in an ocean side balcony for $133 pp per night. November on Grandeur in an ocean view for $82 pp per night. Both were final cost. It's nice to get under $100 a night, but I'll pay more for a better or different experience.

Yes, the phone will read Carnival.

Has anyone tried to offer less than Carnival is offering? What happens to any OBC if you take the up sell? Do you keep it or does it go away? These are things I wished I'd asked. The call came out of the blue so I hadn't thought of the questions yet. They did say our FTTF would be reimbursed. I said no thank you as the price was too high.

Booking within the last three weeks before sailing saves lots of money. We haven't had any problem getting a good cabin. It's our preferred method of booking.

As others have said, March isn't the best month for sailing unless you have kids or are a teacher.

Just saw your most recent post. Have you considered sailing out of San Juan? Have a look at Carnival Valor or Liberty. They do 7 day cruises with one sea day and lots of great ports.

We were pleased with the overall cruise experience and wouldn't hesitate to recommend cruising on Pride to anyone. As for the ship being dirty, it wasn't. There may have been a thing or two that needed touching up in our cabin, but the ship was almost spotless otherwise. Everything was working well. I don't think you will be disappointed in your cruise right before the dry dock. I'd be back on Pride again in a heartbeat if someone wanted to pay my way. :D

A big batch of luggage went into the water at the Brooklyn terminal at the start of a transatlantic cruise. Six days without luggage is a bit difficult.

Never been to the steakhouse. I don't see the sense in paying extra when I enjoy the food that MDR offers. This is one thing that Carnival will not make extra off of me from.

DH had the same thoughts until I gave him a dinner at David's Steakhouse for his birthday. We book the Steakhouse on every cruise now. It's that good.

Well I found this very interesting. Well if anyone out there has played Walmart Bingo I think we all could have won it. I also had Jordan, Reynaldo, and Camilo. They were fantastic in your time dining. 5 star servers. Where were there metal salt shakers? We had ceramic ones on our table. :cool:

Our salt shakers were white ceramic. I don't use table salt so can't say what they were like in the Mermaid Grill. Most of my meals were Asian and didn't require any extra salt/soy sauce.

I don't remember if the show we watched was Wonderful World or Beautiful World, but the show itself was very entertaining. It was the first time we had seen it.

As for fellow passengers, we thought they were wonderful. Not once did we run into anyone who acted less than a professional on vacation. We even exchanged contact info with some. My only passenger complaint was the neighbors who used a bungee cord to keep their door open at night. It messed up our cabin temperature.

It took at least 6 minutes to download my email. Sending email is very slow and you need to check your outbox or sent box to make sure it finishes the sending process. Add a couple more minutes per sent email. We bought by the minute thinking it would be cheaper. We should have gone with the cheapest package.

OP - Did you get to the piano bar? What did you think? We were there for only a few minutes before finding something more entertaining to do.

Thanks for the review. It's always interesting to read what other people thought of the same sailing. We had some of the same experiences, but some different ones too. I hope you don't mind if I share some here.

Cleaning wasn't perfect in our cabin either. There was trash from a previous occupant under our bed and the bunk bed ladder was left out between beds. (I found it with my foot, which is now black and blue.) I wasn't impressed by the cabin steward. This is the first time we didn't tip extra at the end of the cruise. Maybe he had too many cabins?

The food I had was great. Lunch was at the Chopstick section of the Mermaid Grill almost every day. They have toned down the hot spices since our last trip on Pride. It's the first place I intend to go back to next time we are on the ship. Love that food! The steakhouse was outstanding as usual. MDR food was pretty good. Service was terrific in the Any Time section. Jordon, Reynaldo, and Camilo were outstanding with their service. Loved the comedian stopping by different tables to perform magic acts. The little kids loved it, adult kids too.

We went to the first performances of the first two shows. The dancing and singing were very enjoyable. We didn't see anyone fall or go off their music. The dancing was strong and full of energy. We must have gone at different times from the OP.

We took advantage of the mini martini tasting. The price was $17 for 4 martinis. There were a total of 8 different flavors we could try. We wanted to try them all but discovered 8 drinks for 2 people was more than enough. Some flavors we enjoyed, others were too sweet.

The Comedy Club was a real treat for my DH. He wanted to be there for every show. The adult comedy was pretty good without been filled with dirty words or filth during the shows we attended. I'm not a big comedy fan but enjoyed it anyway.

Karaoke was surprisingly good. One of the comedians dropped by to sing with the passengers. He had a wonderful voice. On the topic of music, we really enjoyed the Beatles and MoTown trivia. Pickles was filled with enthusiasm that added to the fun. I couldn't believe how well versed some passengers were on their music!

We had FTTF. Arrival at the port was at noon. We boarded at 12:30. The later arrival worked out very well. Our cabin was ready and one of the suitcases was waiting. It took a little longer for the second one to appear. FTTF worked great for the tender port at Half Moon Cay. We were on the first tender and able to get a clamshell in our preferred location. Debarkation was fine. We waited in the Auxiliary Dining Room until called at 10:45.

Sailing into Baltimore had the added advantage this time with the Tall Ships in town for the anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner. We went past several with their sails billowing. I wish I'd had my good camera instead of the iPod to take pictures.

Carnival Pride, cabin 8152

The temperature during the day was 70 degrees. At night, when our neighbor used a bungee cord to keep their balcony door open, the temperature rose to 75 degrees and became very stuffy. The bungee cord was within sight but out of reach on our side of the balcony divider.

Just of the Pride today. It was a wonderful cruise! Want to see images of Pride? Google "Carnival Pride Images." I don't know what it will look like after dry dock, but will say it's an easy ship to navigate. Food is great, saw two new (to us) shows that were very good, and visited the Comedy Club every night there was someone performing there.

Security in Baltimore is very tight. Don't even think about sneaking anything. Both our carry on bags were searched. Soda cans individually examined for tampering. No cameras or cell phones are allowed out while in the terminal.

I am a woman, and yes I will be packing dresses, and some shoes, but can it all go in one back pack? I really dont want to tote a big old suitcase through airport, bus etc. Oh, and I still have to pack the "stupid bear"-but what can I not take so that this is do able?

We met a couple who each had a backpack only. They did a transatlantic and planned a moth of backpacking in Italy after the cruise. The woman took one black dress, one pair of dressy black pants, a dressy top, two pair hiking pants, t shirts, light rain jacket, boots, sandals, and a bedroll. Everything was wash and drip dry fabric. She always looked nice.

The link was great! Thanks for posting it. It brought back lots of memories, like when the ship rocked, the pool would overflow onto the promenade. Those covers didn't really prevent a good drenching of those strolling on the deck below. We were caught more than once.

We did a 7 day Carnival Pride cruise followed by a 7 day Caribbean Princess cruise this spring. The food on Carnival was much better than on Caribbean Princess. David's Steakhouse is wonderful on Pride. Crab Shack was good but not in the same league. Cabins were nicer on Pride. The fun factor went to the Pride as well thanks to a great CD. Entertainment on Caribbean Princess was better, but the Comedy Club and piano bar on Pride are excellent. We will be back on the Pride again tomorrow.

There's nothing new or unique about asking for a good review. It has been going on as long as we have been cruising, 30+ years. It happens with almost every type of service you can imagine from car dealerships to doctors and insurance companies.

I rarely give anyone less than a 10 out of 10 unless the service is truly subpar, then I write an explanation. Anything less than a 10 is detrimental to the employee.

IMHO, a 30 second request for a good rating isn't worth complaining about.

I have a question. We purchased the Faster to the Fun so we could board the ship earlier. My mother has difficulty walking steps. I know they have the safety drill before the ship sails. What deck number do you report to for the safety drill? We want to make sure we are on that deck before they have the drill and shut the elevators off. Our staterooms are on deck 4 called Main.

Everyone assembles under their assigned lifeboat on deck 3. Instructions will be playing on the television when you get to your cabin.

We did the 19 day cruise on FairStar leaving from Sydney to Fiji, Tonga, American Samoa, Western Samoa, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and maybe some other islands. It was our first cruise experience.

well, we'll know 100% for sure starting this Sunday how satisfied we'll be with our balcony guarantee on the Pride, but I'm 98.99% certain we'll like it just fine based from a past Pride cruise in an extended balcony cabin 3 down from the one we'll be in next week.

 

What I am over 100% satisfied with are the price drops we've received over the last couple of weeks. We booked next weeks Pride cruise back in January, originally in a 4K, ES rate, which we've also stayed in previously. Last month, the prices on balconies dropped enough to where I was willing to give up our 4K and....this is the fuzzy part.....upgrade to a balcony guarantee....for to us what amounted too pennies, but, was told we would keep our ES "status". But then, prices started dropping...contacted Carnival who told me, no, we gave up our ES rate when we moved to the balcony guarantee during a "Pack and Go" sale.....um..whatever....anyhow...PVP I am now working with helped us get 4 price drops, the most recent 2 nights ago. The funny part to us is that each time he put in the price drop, we had to return to the "guarantee pool" and wait each time for a cabin to be assigned, however, each time, we were assigned the same cabin we were originally were given from the initial switch to a balcony guarantee.

 

So as we sit waiting for Sunday, we now have an extended balcony for less than the 4K (though those are much lower now also) we originally booked, and a nice chunk of OBC to help further enjoy the Pride next week.

Similar story with us on the same cruise. We booked 7A and ended up in 8K after several returns to the guarantee pool. Love the OBC and the nicest cabin we've ever had. Another 100% satisfied customer.

Carnival called yesterday. They had a grand suite for $700. No thanks. We started out in an obstructed balcony cabin, went to guarantee and landed in an 8k midship plus OBC. I'd rather take the money and book another cruise on the ship.

My phone said Carnival for the offer. When customer service calls it's the 305 number.

OP, have fun on your cruise.