pammat

Finally managed to get our cruise review written, which includes my review of Fran's Travel and Tour, posted in this forum separately. I don't want to repeat posts, but this 4 hour car rental was perfect for us. Aisha (hope that's not misspelled), our driver was fantastic. A little confusion in the beginning (which I think now was more of a cultural difference not a service issue), but would definitely recommend this!

No problem! If you don't have the Carnival Hub app downloaded yet, also recommend that too. It is the easiest way to see it all in one place!

This review is of our Carnival 7 day cruise to the Bahamas (Princess Cays, Nassau, and Freeport) from Baltimore. We’ve cruised 5 times previously on Carnival and Royal Caribbean. We’re a family of 4, and range in age from 50 to 21 (myself, my husband, and our 2 girls, ages 25 and 21). We are balcony snobs, not heavy drinkers (although there was much alcohol consumed on this cruise!), and are pretty easy to please, as we’re on vacation, how bad can it be, there’s always something else to do, see, or eat?! We cruised December 17th-December 24th, 2017. We had booked an Ocean Suite but 3 days prior to the cruise received a call from the upgrade fairy with what we thought was a very good offer, and decided that with there being 4 adults we should go for all the space possible. Overall we had a great time, and we’d definitely do it all again with Carnival or another cruise line.

Port of Baltimore: This was by far the easiest port we’ve been in and out of. We were scheduled to arrive between 12:30 and 1, arrived at 12:15, and were on board by 1pm. We did have priority boarding because of the suite, so keep that in mind, but getting into the port, parking and all the people we encountered were nice and helpful. We decided we would check to see if the doors were open and we could drop off our carry-ons in our room, the doors were open, there was a room steward floating around, we asked and she said sure. We then headed to lunch. One thing I was so glad I did beforehand. I ordered 2-12 packs of water, and 2 – 4 packs of beer, and they were all there waiting on us. Very easy! Also we packed 2 – 12 packs of soda in a suitcase, and carried on 3 bottles of wine.

The ship: Some comment on The Pride showing her age. I actually really didn’t notice this. Again, we’re on vacation, it was wonderful. Everyone we dealt with was friendly. Everything was clean. The beds were comfortable. The drop down bed was pretty interesting, we actually left it down all week in case my daughter wanted to take an afternoon nap, and had no problem not bumping our heads! The amount of storage in the grand suite was tremendous. We each had our own closet, and plenty of drawers. Loved the extra vanity outside the bathroom, with 3 girls, my husband was thankful. It took us 3 days to figure out how to work the lights, which ones were which, and press and hold to dim….. sometimes! The balcony was amazing, and we enjoyed several sunsets from our 2 full size lounge chairs, and 2 upright chairs.

The food and drink: Awesome and terrible! First the good. All the food and service we had from venues other than the dining room was great. Plenty of options, and all very tasty. Especially loved the Blue Iguana, Guys Burgers, and the made to order pizza and omelets. We ordered room service a couple of times, including on the mornings prior to outings, and it was prompt, correct and exactly what we wanted. If you do bagels, order additional cream cheese. Of course, how can you go wrong with soft serve ice cream, love this! Now to the bad. By far this was the worst dining room experience we’ve ever had. Our head waiter was nice, he really did try. The two assistants, not so much. One of them continued to call our daughters by the same name (wouldn’t you think that was weird?). We tried to help him politely, but by the third night, just gave up. It became a joke for us while we were out and about. The other just wasn’t friendly at all. The first night I requested tea, using my manners, “May I please have…” and it seemed like it was an inconvenience. Didn’t think much about it, but then the second night, she said with a little attitude, “Do you want tea, again?” My daughter swore she rolled her eyes when I said yes please. Kudos for remembering I wanted tea, but I’m not sure exactly what I did to make her mad, lol. All of this we could have easily dealt with, well actually we did, for 4 nights, but the food was way below average. The meats were the biggest issue. Shrimp rubbery, chicken overcooked, red meat hugely inconsistent. Each night at least one of us had red meat. The first 2 nights we would order “medium”, and it would come out purple and cool. We didn’t send it back, we ate it because we know if you send it back, it will come back to you like leather, and you upset the kitchen staff. We didn’t comment to anyone, but the third night we decided ok, this is how they cook things, so we’ll order “medium well”. Guess what, lol, we got one purple, and one leather. We skipped 2 nights, then went for the second formal night because they were having filet and we thought, how could you ruin that? We thought we had a plan, two of us went medium, two went medium well, my husband is perfectly ok with rare, we’d play musical plates to accommodate everyone! The only one happy that night was my husband. We got one rare, and 3 well, well dones! Needless to say we didn’t go back the last night. Here’s where I’ll take some heat, and I’ve never done this and felt bad while doing it. We generally leave tips in place, and then additional tip those who went above and beyond. This cruise I went to guest services (actually dealt with one of the nicest people we encountered on the entire cruise, Christian) and adjusted tips. Left tipping in place for the 4 nights we were there, then refunded the 3 nights we weren’t. Took that amount and distributed it to the places we did enjoy, and made sure to share with Christian that we were disappointed in the dining room on this cruise.

Other entertainment: Oldest daughter had a $200 art credit on her account (she’s been on one more cruise than us), and decided to do the art auction, and convinced her sister and I to come along with her for free champagne. She’s 25 and wanted “a nice piece of art”. She pre-bid at $185 on a nice piece. Ended up “winning” and it cost her $20 to have the piece shipped to her because it was not a “carry off the ship” piece. She was happy, but it was an extremely high pressure sales pitch for $400 worth of framing, and additional insurance. She said no thank you, many times, at her, “pick up” appointment. I’m not an art connoisseur; I’m a classic Thomas Kinkade, pretty picture kind of person, and it doesn’t have to be an “original” kind of person. I was floored at the amount of money some people paid for pieces!

We attended several shows including our favorite love and marriage show. They were all entertaining and enjoyable, many great laughs! The Dive in Movies looked like fun, we were going to go for Dunkirk but ended up staying in our favorite place for the trip, The Red Frog Pub, and enjoying The Beasts from the East. Actually, we practically lived here every night, which is probably why we ended up drinking more than we usually do on a cruise, lol. The staff was awesome, and we loved the band. It was something that all 4 of us really enjoyed together! (Thank you to Emma, Jack, Ashley, Frederico, Powie, Chris, and Diana) (and for anyone still upset about my tips above, we tipped everyone here very well including the band! :)

Princess Cays: What a wonderful beach day! We were on the first or second tender of the morning, turned right when we docked, walked over the bridge, and kept walking until the chairs ran out. There we set up for the next 5 hours, and enjoyed the peace, quiet, beautiful sand and water. There was a man near us with full snorkeling gear, and said the snorkeling here was great. It probably was as when we walked out waist deep to cool off, we saw several fish nearby. There was coral and we had water shoes, but didn’t use them as there were “strips” of sand between the coral where we walked, it was easy to see. Perfect beach day!

Nassau: We’ve been here before, and previously had done a glass bottom boat tour with the cruise line, a tour of Atlantis and the aquarium, and a walk to the Queens Staircase that my daughters didn’t remember. This time we decided to leave the ship early and do a walking tour on our own, ending at the straw market. (see photo in link). This was actually really fun, never felt rushed or unsafe. The Queens Staircase was awesome, but our favorite was the Distillery. The pina colada sample when entering was the best ever, so much so that when we completed the tour we had to stay and relax in the garden to enjoy one, and bring a bottle of rum home with us! The straw market was somewhat disappointing, as it was nothing like we remember it. Everything was made in China, and all looked the same. Our memory was a variety of local stuff and knick knacks with little old women trying to persuade you to look at their stuff. It used to be fun, now not so much…. But still a great day

Freeport: I’ve read so many reviews here and elsewhere that recommended that we stay on the ship, or that didn’t like Freeport. This was actually our favorite day in port. In October I contacted Brice from Fran’s Travel and Tour because of recommendations from another website. Against my better judgment (it just seemed like so much could go wrong) I prepaid with Paypal and booked a private car for 4 people for 4 hours. (We were only in port for 6) I traded a few emails with Brice and he confirmed that he received payment and we were good to go. We would work out our timing about a week prior to our departure. Making a long story short after a little trouble communicating with Brice prior to departure, and arriving at port and a mix up about which car we were supposed to have and what we were doing, we were placed with Aisha (Eye-eee-sha, hope I spelled it correctly) in a small 4 door car. Aisha was amazing. We told her what we wanted to do, “see a pretty beach”, “see the castle”, be at the Brewery at 10am, maybe a little shopping if there was time, and for her to just talk to us so we could learn something about Freeport. Aisha was absolutely amazing. She was originally from New York, but married a Bahamian man, so now lives there. She was perfect for us because she knew something about American culture and lifestyle so it was simple for her to share lots that we didn’t know. We saw a pretty beach, and she took pictures. We saw the castle and we learned it’s story. We did the Brewery tour (which was really fun, must try the Pink Rattler) and she stayed with us, we did a little local shopping, and were back at the port in plenty of time to board. I can’t recommend this highly enough. We learned so much, there was no big group of people, no rush, and again Aisha was perfect! If anyone decides to try this and see her, please make sure to tell her hello!! So glad we decided to try something different, can’t recommend this highly enough!

Debarkation: We chose to self debark, we arrived on time and were in our car no more than 40 minutes from leaving our room, most of that getting down to the lounge with all our luggage. Really like this port for ease.

Overall this was an great Christmas vacation, again how can you go wrong with beautiful blue water and 85 degrees in December?? I hope I was able to share something that helps someone else along the way, because so many people here have helped me over the years. If there’s something I didn’t talk about or that you want to know more about, please feel free to ask and I’ll try to help! Happy sailing! Menus are attached, and Fun Times are here: http://s950.photobucket.com/user/pammat/library/Carnival%20Pride?sort=3&page=1

MenuDay1Baltimore.pdf

MenuDay2AtSeaFormal1.pdf

MenuDay3AtSea.pdf

MenuDay4PrincessCays.pdf

MenuDay5Nassau.pdf

MenuDay6FreeportFormal2.pdf

MenuDay7AtSea.pdf

Update, received a phone call this evening, so we're all set, will report back after our cruise! :)

Just wanted to see if anyone here has used Fran's Travel and Tour in Freeport. I booked with them back in October for next Friday, based on reviews from another well known website (private car for 4 hours). At that time I received a confirmation from them and determined that we would be in touch to work out details a week or so before our arrival. On Tuesday of this week I emailed them, received no response, emailed again on Thursday, and received no response, then called them today and left a message. This is concerning to me as we leave port on Sunday and will have no access to email/phones so would really like to get the details worked out. I am completely understanding of "life happens" but wanted to reach out here to see if anyone here had experience with them to make me feel a little better. :) Thanks!

I really enjoyed ouir stop in Progresso. However, I booked a private tour guide ahead of time. He took us to Uxmal which we liked better than Chichen Itza or Tulum and then shopping in Merida. The downtown market in Merida was a great experience.

 

:)

dcikon2, would you mind sharing a little more information about your private tour guide? We (my family of 4) are going to be in Progreso in December and I'd really like to leave earlier than the 9 or 10am that I'm reading about with AutoProgreso. Maybe just a taxi? We'd like to do a little bit ruin and a little bit Progreso at the end of the day vs. the beginning. Can this be done?

If anyone else would like to chime in that would be great too. Thanks so much for all the helpful info you all offer here!