TalesFromTheCrib

I might have bought some liquid IV at target today in preparation for my cruise next week.  I need some tips on when I’m supposed to drink it to not be hungover!

Been following since the beginning.  Hope you aren’t hung over today, I know I would be!

57 minutes ago, nycruise1 said:

They probably still will get credit for all 14 days and their status will not change.  In the past when cruises were shortened for hurricanes, everyone got credit for the full unshortened days.

That happened once already on board though right?  Not shortened ahead of time?

guess we will find out in a few hours when they board.  That would be a pleasant surprise if they were still credited!

9 minutes ago, kdr69 said:

I have no words for this.  I cant believe the number of "I'm Platinum" posts I've seen by people that have absolutely no clue as to how things work on cruises.  Also I'm pretty darn sure that a PCR CT value will not indicate "where" you got COVID. 

Yes a CT value alone cannot tell you very much about the viral history, let alone where you contracted the virus.  All of that is speculative on her part

My parents are leaving in this cruise today and understandably disappointed about not going to Panama but decided to go anyhow.  They are just happy to be cruising.  I think what they are most disappointed about though is that they were supposed to turn platinum on this cruise, but now that it’s being shortened to 10 days they won’t.  I think that’s the biggest blow for them haha.

They are getting an extra $800 OBC ($300, plus $250 a person in port fees), plus refunded cruise far for 4 days and the gratuities for those days too.  Combine that with the bonus OBC that they had from a previous Covid canceled cruise and they have effectively had the cost of their cruise cut in half in the form of OBC.  Now just to find a way to spend it all… 

12 hours ago, tw67 said:

What is the Legend going to do for the additional 4 days in port at Baltimore after this cruise until the next cruise? 

My mom (who is going on the cruise) asked me this as well.  They won’t be able to stay at the dock for that long and will have to go back out in the bay at least.  But I assume actually “out to sea” since they  can’t really anchor anywhere in the Chesapeake to wait it out.  

Great to hear about the snorkeling. We purchased the Beach Party excursion that comes with snorkel gear and the paddleboat. Which snorkel mask did you purchase from Amazon and what was the price?

 

 

 

Also, how much for the Build a Bear turtle that you purchased for your son? My daughter is much older than your son, but I think she will enjoy it--but for a reasonable price.

I don’t know if links are allowed or not, but this is the mask I purchased. Snorkel Mask Teal S/M https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01L3FHZQM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_t9vFsLVmUC9MQ

My parents just went on another cruise and my dad ended up buying the same one as well and was pleased with it. I have a small head and did the P S/M size. P for this brand stands for panoramic, not petite as some people seemed to think. It really was a great, full face panoramic view

As for the build a bear I just threw out the receipt last week, but I was to say it was $25. Not horrible but more than for average stuffed animal. Steer clear of the outfits and accessories if you can, as those are what really drive up the price

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We made it to our first port day! We were definitely looking forward to Princess Cays as it was to be our only real beach day. Before we went to bed the previous night, we all made plans to grab an early breakfast on our own and then grab the early tender with our Faster to the Fun.

B, G and I went to the buffet to get breakfast, which was pretty good. French toast, bacon, fruit, and some really good hot chocolate were our go to. Plus we grabbed boxes of cereal for B to snack on later. I like that they still have those little boxes, and the hot chocolate is seriously very good. My parents ordered room service and my dad didnt feel he had enough to fill him up and wished he had gone to the buffet as well.

Once we finished up breakfast, we packed up the rest of our beach bag (aka double checked what I packed the night before), and watched the tender boats line up. They were right outside our room, so that was exciting for B

Since we had faster to the Fun, that meant we were able to get on a priority tender and be one of the first people off the boat. The night before we received a notice in our room telling us this, and that we should meet in the butterflies lounge at 8 am (I think that was the time) if we wanted to take advantage of it. The notice said that if you had am excursion to disregard, as the excursions would be the first off. However I dont think some people read this as they came to the butterflies lounge with all their stuff for an excursion, and then eventually ended up leaving and Im assuming getting to the correct place. If you didn’t have faster to the fun or an excursion, then starting at 7:15 you could pick up a sticker to assign you to a tender. I have no idea how many tenders they sent off first thing in the morning, but I saw people with the number 20 wandering around. That doesn’t mean they were on tender 20 though, as I saw people with 3’s on our boat. There wasn’t too much instruction in the butterflies lounge as to what as going on, but there were crew members there that I could has asked if needed. Once all the excursion people were on their way though, so were we. There had been announcements for people to not line up in the stairs waiting for the tenders, but of course they did and had to move out of the way to let our group through.

Boarding the tender itself was fairly easy, even with the swell of the waves. The crew were very helpful in getting people on and off if they needed it. They can pack these things pretty full, but made sure that everyone had a seat ( and thus a life jacket, I’m assuming) before they would take off. The ride was pretty and the day starting to clear and warm up a bit.

Once docked there was a mad rush to get off the tender boat, but basically the island was still pretty empty. We ran into M&S from the Meet and Mingle by the map board and we all pondered a minute how to get to the quiet side. We split up, with my family doubling back by the tender and them continuing around the corner. All roads apparently lead to the beach though, as they showed up a few minutes after us and took chairs nearby. Again, being one of the first groups off has its advantages as we were able to grab a group of chairs by a couple palm trees to get some shade. They had clam shells for rent, to put over two chairs. The price was reasonable, but I didnt think we needed one. Our spot was nicely located near the food, but not too far from the bathrooms or bar either.

After everyone was sunscreened up, we took B down to the water and needless to say he had a blast!

The water was a bit cold at first, but not unbearable. It felt good as the day got hotter! You definitely want water shoes on though as the shoreline is very rocky and will cut up your feet otherwise. We had fun showing B some periwinkles (snails) and hermit crabs we found, and one other little girl was very excited when we pointed out the crabs to her. There were small fish swimming by too that we tried to point out to B, but I dont know if he ever saw.

G and I went snorkeling a bit later in the morning, and the snorkeling was really great! I bought one of those weird new one piece snorkel masks off Amazon, and I have to say it worked great. We saw alot of different fish and found sea biscuits and conch shells to keep. There is a life guard and at one point he and G were chatting about the fish, when we told G to “wait a minute”, went off and got a hot dog from the buffet and then threw it down into the water below him in a rocky area. We were pleased to see a grouper come out and snatch the hotdog pieces as they came floating by. He must hang out there a lot since the lifeguard new about him and was nice of the guard to share that trick with us. I got some good video and photos with my goPro that I will try to share later.

As we were coming back in from snorkeling, something glittering in the sun caught my eye in the shallows. I reached down and picked up a wedding band! I asked around to the people who were nearby and no one had lost it. Looking at it closer I noticed some encrusting on the band from some sort of coral or algae, so it likely had been in there a little while and not from someone on our boat. I turned it in to Carnival guest services on the ship, and hopefully the rightful owner was able to claim it. I was surprised with how shiny it was that no one had found it earlier, but it was probably just uncovered again with the movement of the waves/tide

Once we finished snorkeling, we dried off a bit, grabbed a couple bud light limes from the bar, and had lunch. Lunch was typical cookout foods; burgers, hotdogs, salads, fruits, and some underwhelming desserts. It wasnt bad by any means, but nothing to write home about either. B was getting a bit tired after lunch, as you can see from the photo, so we snuggled him up in a towel to try to get him to nap a bit.

By early afternoon we decided we’d had enough and started making our way back to the tender area. G and I had a quick look through some stalls set up just outside of the private area, and you need to have your sign and sail card to get in and out of there. I ended up buying a license plate, as its the souvenir I get from every country we visit. Getting back on the tender was a little more chaotic as they scanned all of our bags and checked everything at the dock, rather than on the boat. I did see a couple people have conch shells taken away from them, but they looked like they still had an animal in them, where as our conch and sea biscuits were very clearly long dead. Maybe that was the difference? In any case we werent hiding the shells and they definitely saw them.

Once back on board we put B down for a nap for a bit and all just relaxed. While he was napping and G was in the shower, I was standing at the window watching the tender boats come in. I must have been staring pretty hard at one spot, because all of the sudden a girl waved at me. I was momentarily caught off guard, but waved back. Her mother then noticed her waving and must have asked what she was doing, because the girl pointed to my window. I waved at the mom, who waved back. So let this be a warning to anyone who has a 1st floor, mid boat, starboard side window; you are very close to the tender boats and your windows are not tinted.

At 4:15 they were doing a Build A Bear workshop, and I thought it would be fun for B. He was a little late getting up from his nap and still tired, so he wasnt all that enthralled by it at first. He did enjoy the cookie though (yes they had snacks)

He picked out a turtle to make which was really cute. The shell actually comes off like a backpack. For those that are interested in doing this, they have snacks and music, and you simply put your name on a list when you get there. They they call up about 5 kids (or adults!) at a time to make their bear so that the stations don’t get too crowded. There are coloring pages to keep the kids occupied as well while they wait. Its expensive for a stuffed animal, but you are paying for the fun experience really. We opted not to purchase any clothes for our turtle, but he came with a birth certificate as well as a little backpack that B could wear to carry him around. The ships photographer was there to take a photo.

More later on dinner, the show, and the rest of the evening!

I'm so glad we knew about the quiet side of Princess Cay. Looking forward to reliving it through your review

When I first started typing out this review I switched your initials since you are the one I "knew", but then I had to switch and put M first :)

And yes that was Vayla at the LSB finale. Wasnt she adorable? There were some cute and pretty well behaved kids on this cruise

Apologies for the long break, I have been traveling again! This past week I was in Seattle for work conference. It was my first solo trip since having baby B 2 years ago. In any case, here is my overview of our second sea day on the Pride!

I didnt make it up in time to work out today, but gave myself a pass. We once again hit up the sea day brunch. Our waiter this day was really great and an improvement from the previous day’s brunch. He gave us some good tips about the next day in Princess Cays (ie go to the right when you get off the ship for a quieter area), and was on top of our orders. I decided to try the “funnest french toast”, which was french toast coated with your choice of cereal. I opted for fruit loops and it was very good. Others in the party had eggs, bacon, fruit plates, and pancakes. The brunch was enjoyable and we liked it better than doing the buffet in the mornings.

There really wasn't a whole lot that sounded interesting to us in the morning, but we took B to play in Camp Ocean for a few minutes after brunch, and then to win another rubber duck. I should note that this game became addicting and once we got home, my parents took him to play a claw machine elsewhere and he was VERY upset to not get a prize, since the duck machine lets you play until you win.

We hit up the buffet for lunch and then I wanted to catch the lip sync battle auditions out by the pool. They had a really hard time getting contestants involved, and I was persuaded to join in as one of the 5 females. I was worried B would be upset to have me taken away from him, but he did alright. Basically they bring up 5 females and 5 males and whittle that down to 1 male and female finalist. The first round they had us showcase our superstar look by borrowing whatever items we could find to complete our “look”. I don’t have any photos of this because i was participating, but some were quite funny. One girl grabbed a large pepper off the blue iguana display and someone else had gotten a cane. I found a pink drink umbrella which was my only creative piece, plus a woman’s hat and sunglasses. Needless to say I was out in the first round. The next was I believe dancing, and then they didn’t actually have contestants lip sync until the final round. Both of the finalists were really good, but the one woman knew the dance moves to “single ladies” so she took the cake. The two male finalists, one was definitely better (in my opinion) but the other gentleman had quite a crowd following. At the last round he made it clear he didn’t want to win, so luckily the more deserving guy got it. I wish I had some photos from this, but since I was participating I didnt take any.

After lunch we wandered a bit until it was time for the Dr Seuss parade and storytime. We got to the atrium where they were preparing for the parade and decided we would skip that part and meet them in the theater for storytime. It seemed they would be going through the casino and we tried to avoid that as much as possible during the cruise due to the smoke. Story time was cute and Saffie did a good job handling the children participants even when they didn’t cooperate. The children (and parents) were encouraged to come sit on the stage if they desired and from the crowd some kids and parents were selected to be characters in the story. I can’t remember most of the kids involved but we saw “mayor Braden” several times after that, and one super cute little girl named Vayla was involved in some other things later on on the cruise as well. B did not want to go on the stage at first, but about halfway through the story we went up there and he mostly sat still for it. If you have young kids I would recommend this. It does keep them entertained for an hour or so.

After storytime we went back for a nap, and then my parents and I went to tea time. It seemed the second day the secret was out and it was much more crowded. I was a little disappointed since I had raved about it to my parents, but the pastry/dessert cart didn’t come around this time. We had the same sandwiches and I believe scones, but no special tarts or cakes. My parents still enjoyed it though, so that was good.

B woke up just in time for us to head to the CC Meet and Mingle, which was held in the Ivory Piano Bar. There was a large crowd there, much more that I remembered interacting with on our roll call. They had some cakes and cookies for us, as well as coffee water and tea. I didn’t get to chat to too many people as B was being a bit wild, but did meet a few people from the roll call, including one couple that we interacted with several other times throughout the trip (Hi M&S!). Despite talking for months ahead of time online, I still feel a bit awkward at the roll call. Saffie (cruise director) and a few other crew members were there. It was definitely one of the better attended roll calls I have been to

Tonight’s dinner was cruise casual, so we didn’t have to spend much time getting ready. We took B to the atrium to listen to the Liberty Trio again before dinner, since he liked having a little space to run and dance. I think this was probably our slowest night for dinner. I don’t know why, but it took forever. Again the same thing would happen and the table next to us would be ordering dessert when we got our appetizers, even though we all arrived at the same time. B wasn’t having it, and we had to resort to letting him watch Moana on G’s phone for most of the meal. I may come back and add in some photos of the menu and food, but as you can see from previous posts my photos arent the best.

Since our meal took forever, we thought we might be late to the show. We still managed to get there a few minutes early and grab seats down on the floor to the left of the stage. B didnt seem to enjoy this show as much as previous ones, but I thought it was very cute. The show was called Getaway Island and has alot of good beachy songs (Jimmy Buffett, Beach Boys, etc). It also has a story and isn’t just a bunch of singing. There are some adult jokes hidden in the show/preshow fun, but if your kid get’s them, then they are probably old enough to. At one point they bring out a bartender (who I assume is an actual bartender on the ship), who does some impressive tricks with bottles and cups. I did think this went on a little too long, but maybe just because I was trying to wrangle B. It also seemed rather obvious in this show that there were more male performers than female, as all were coupled up except for one young man.

After the show, we were tired! My parents hit up the casino and comedy shows again, but G, B and I hit the hay early. We wanted to be nice and rested for our fun day at Princess Cays (coming soon)!

Hi everyone! Sorry for my absence, I’ve been traveling again for work. I’m actually in the car now riding to another conference. I’m going to finish the review, I promise and hope to have day 3 up later today

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how much was the cruise the vineyards package if I could ask?

It was around $115 (plus tip) for the basic package for 5 bottles. There are two higher tiers as well

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The last of day 2

Once the show ended, we went out to the atrium lobby where the Liberty Trio were playing. If you havent had a chance to catch these ladies, make it a point to! The do amazing strings covers of popular songs. We heard everything from Guns and Roses to Metallica, to Michael Jackson and Coldplay. It was great and became our go to spot most evenings. I had a glass or two of wine, G had a beer, and B got his own special smoothie drink as well.

B was getting tired despite all the sugar in his drink, so G took him to get ready for bed. I stayed to finish my wine with my parents and ended up playing "Name that Motown trivia". This was my only late night on the cruise, but it was a fun one! We werent especially good at the game, but it was fun. There were two winners, one who got the most answers right (bottle of champagne), and one with the most beads (4 free drinks). Lets explain the bead thing. When it was time to tally up scores, Saffie asked for a representative for each team to come to the center. There they would identify the song, play it and "Naughty Neal" from the fun squad would reward enthusiastic cruisers with beads for their dancing and excitement. Saffie also would hand off the mike to anyone wanting to sing and then we would vote by round of applause how many beads they would get. We sent my dad up as our representative and despite his attempts Neal did not think his dancing was bead worthy. So I went and took his place halfway through and soon was rewarded with some beads of my own.

I was standing next to a really nice man named Maurice and his wife. Maurice it turns out owns a catering company called Reese's catering in the DC area (@ReesesCateringServices on FB). In any case, it turns out Maurice was quite the singer. I forget the first song he sang, but he closed out the game with the final song, Marvin Gaye's Lets Get It On. He sounded great! When I introduced my dad later, he remarked that Maurice sounded just like Marvin Gaye. Due to his impressive pipes and dancing, Maurice was accumulating quite a large number of beads. Saffie announced there would be a winner for the person with the most beads as well, and *plot twist* we could pass off our beads to another player! I quickly removed the 8 or so I had and put them on Maurice and began counting what he had. I lost count several times as people kept coming and adding more. He ended up winning with I believe 76 (or maybe it was 67) sets of beads. Second place was a charming 16 year old girl who had something in the 50s and they posed for a photo together. Maurice's prize with 4 free drinks for him and his friends at the bar. Maurice informed us that he didn't drink but treated his wife (of course), two other friends, and me for counting the beads to his winnings. As we were chatting at the bar and I was telling him about G and B we realized the other friends were the women seated next to B at the show! One pulled out her phone and showed everyone a video she had taken of B standing in his seat dancing and clapping along. I claimed a spicy pineapple martini as my prize and it was very good! Not too overwhelmingly spicy, but a nice kick. After that it was bedtime for me, and casino time for my parents.

Today’s fun times

Tomorrow is another sea day with more tea time, Dr Seuss story time, and of course, lots more fun!

Day 2 continued- Lobster dinner, Heart of Soul show, and Guess that Motown song fun

I realize my review is becoming quite lengthy and I apologize for that. It helps to serve as a memory for me that was as well though.

Now back to dinner. Its lobster night! Once again my menu photo is blurry (note for next trip: take still photos with a phone, not gopro). There was the lobster with shrimp, prime rib, and seared striped bass, and really a bunch of good sounding items tonight. I had a shrimp cocktail and baby spinach salad, while G had Italian wedding soup. B was acting up by the time our entrees were served, so I took him out in the hall for a bit. Unfortunately that meant my lobster was cold by the time I ate it, but was still good! G had the striped bass which he said was “excellent”. B had chicken nuggets, but doesnt appear he ate them. We asked for a kids menu the first night, but they never brought us one, instead just telling us what was on it. I don’t know if there actually is a physical menu or not.

I have no photo of the dessert menu for this night, but I know it was good! Some kind of Chocolate cake with sauce for me, and I cant remember what G had unfortunately. We also had the Kathy Lee Gifford Rose as our wine that night and both enjoyed it. We actually ordered it a second time later in the cruise

After dinner and all our photos were finished we headed over to the early showing of Heart of Soul. My parents were seated in the 4th row and there was room for us to join them and plenty of room otherwise as well. Surprising to me considering other (Royal Caribbean) shows have been packed. The rest of the week we found it to be the same. Some were more crowded than others, but you could always find a seat. We all found this show to be enjoyable, especially B! He was up in his seat dancing with the lady next to him for most of it. She and her friend got a kick out of him. The cast of the show consists of 3 girls and 4 guys. I thought this was odd all week that their weren't even numbers, because they did often pair up to dance and one guy was always left on his own. There is one guy and girl that are the main singers, then another pair who often sing as well. The rest are background singer/dancers. There is one guy and one girl that really stood out to me for the dancers, but everyone was really good.

We have been on cruises in the past where the talent is exceptional, but the show itself not entertaining, and thus we left. I thought all the shows this week were really well done and entertaining enough that even if (keyword IF) the cast wasn't as talented you would still find it enjoyable. I thought all the performers were good though.

Day 2 - Sea day brunch, tons of trivia, rubber ducks and tea time!

We all slept well the first night on board, though I woke up fairly early at about 5:40 Since I have been working out religiously at home, I was hoping to continue my routine on the ship, but not beat myself up if I didn’t. This morning at least, I woke up early enough to go to the gym before waking everyone else in the room. The gym is set up interestingly, with three tiers. The first (bottom) consists of all the cardio equipment, towels, water, and the scale if you wish to see how much you gained over the course of your cruise (the answer is four pounds). The second tier is rather small, with a hot tub and a couple weight machines. The third (top) tier is all the weight machines, the fitness studio for classes, and then a small area to the starboard side with dumbbells and benches. My workouts consist of some cardio moves combined with weights (ie lunges, pushups, squats, etc), so this little area is where I hung out. It was fine for what I needed, but I felt like I was in the way. I pretty much took up the whole area, and while no one came over looking to grab weights while I was there, as soon as I left someone did. That feeling, combined with the fact that it was hard to arrange time and the rocky boat later in the week meant that I only went to the gym one other time. C’est la vie.

I came back to the room after that and B & G were awake. I took a shower and we decided to take B up to the open play time at Camp Ocean (under 2 time) for a bit before we met my parents for Sea Day Brunch. Side note – G and I both agreed that the shower on the Pride seemed larger than those of our previous cruises on Royal. B really enjoyed playing in Camp Ocean. They had a ton of toys we dont have, as well as a play kitchen which is one of his favorites at day care. Since he seemed to be doing so well, we opted to leave him there so we could enjoy brunch. Some of the under 2 times are for babysitting ($) only, and others you can stay with your kid or have babysitting. So we were with him for ~30 minutes and then left him from about 8:30 -9:30. He didn't notice we were gone.

Sea day brunch was very nice and enjoyed by all. I ordered a mimosa which I didnt get until well into my meal, so I opted to not get one of those again (especially considering the almost $10 price tag)! I had the bagel breakfast which included cream cheese, onions, capers and smoked salmon. Yum! The rest of my family got french toast, eggs, bacon, pancakes – all the typical breakfast foods. Everyone enjoyed the food, minus the eggs which were powdered.

After brunch we picked up B and took him to the arcade to win his first duck of the week. Someone had told me previously about the ducks and I was looking forward to getting one. Its a claw machine and costs $1, but its a “play till you win” game. B got a mardi gras themed duck. Keep an eye on the fun times throughout the week for arcade “power hour”. During this time all games are 1/2 price, so a duck only costs you 50 cents. All games are charged to a sign and sail card, so if you’re leaving a child in here on his/her own, I would do so with caution!

Being a sea day, there were tons of activities going on, including lots of trivia! B was taking a late morning nap so G stayed with him, while I went off with my parents. We love trivia of all sorts, so parked ourselves in the Piazza Cafe for about 2 hours to play Friends, One Hit Wonder, and Harry Potter trivia, as well as trivial pursuit. We weren’t very good at most trivia’s, but when it came time for Harry Potter it was my time to shine! G had showed up with B by then, and was able to participate. G and I are huge Harry Potter fans and have read all the books and seen all the movies multiple times each. Well, I won! I should say we won, as G provided a crucial answer about the Hogshead Pub. And really we tied as there was a guy named Brian who got the same (perfect) score as us. If you ever go to do this trivia, be aware that the answers are based on the books, not movies so can be a bit different.

After I won my first (spoiler: only) ship on a stick, we decided to head to the art auction while my dad watched B. I’m sure there was some lunch in there somewhere, but I dont remember it! In any case the art auction was different than previous ones we went to, and much too long. They gave out glasses of champagne, but it was about an hour into the presentation. My mom won a free work of art in the raffle, and we left soon after that because G and I wanted to go to tea time. We had been there two hours at that point and they were still going strong.

Tea time on sea days is a lesser known treat. Its not listed under the activities on the fun times, and instead under the “hungry for more?” section of the food information. Its an hour long and in the main dining room. G and I were seated with two other couples, one from Dalgreen, VA and the other from Havre de Grace, MD and we all enjoyed chatting. I forgot everyone’s names promptly, but we saw the Havre de Grace couple several more times throughout the cruise. We were seated by a window and had a nice view off the stern of the boat of the pretty blue waters. Waiters came around with free teas (green, black and decaf) or a selection that you could purchase from for I think $2. Not outrageous, but we all stuck with the free. Next were tea sandwiches (salmon and cucumber), scones with cream and strawberries, and finally a dessert cart with a bunch of various tarts, cakes, and even an apple crumble. We really enjoyed it and planned to come back again next time.

After raving about tea time to my parents, we took B back and settled in for naps. Just as we were all drifting off to sleep there was a knock at the door. Oops we didn’t put up the “Snoozin'”sign! Luckily B stayed asleep as G answered the door. It was room service with a gift for us! My grogginess quickly dissipated as I jumped up to see what it was. John Heald had sent us a bunch of goodies! A bottle of champagne, chocolate covered strawberries, and then a ship on a stick and medal for B. G quickly claimed the ship on a stick though, saying he deserved it for the winning answer in Harry Potter trivia.

If you aren’t aware of who John Heald is, he is the head cruise director for all of Carnival. He blogs a lot and is quite active on Facebook. I left a comment on his page several days before our cruise telling him how excited we all were to be going on our first carnival cruise, and he responded that he would try to do something to make it even better. Awesome! Now, I didn’t ask him specifically for something (though I did leave my cabin number), but people do it all the time. I feel there is some varying opinions on this and some say he is probably annoyed by requests and its tacky, while others say he loves doing it and likes to hear he made someones day. So have whatever opinion you want on it, but I was glad I contacted him ahead of time. I made sure to thank him as well when we got home, as well as shout out a crew member I thought deserved recognition.

B slept a bit longer while G and I got ready for the first of two elegant nights. I know some people don’t like having to get dressed up, but I really enjoy it! We took some nice family photos after dinner in the atrium and met some new photographer friends that got a kick out of B for the rest of the week, taking lots of posed photos with/of him. This was also the first night we met Jennyfer, the crew member I mentioned to John Heald. She was vacuuming the stairs and B wanted to help her. After that we saw her everywhere; cleaning in the buffet at breakfast, collecting alcohol purchases after ports, then back cleaning the atrium in the evenings. I feel the crew must never sleep!

Yes I totally did do posed photos by myself

I hope to get the post about dinner/show/ evening fun posted tonight when I can access my gopro camera

Lovely review so far, looking forward to the rest.

 

Could I ask where did you buy the "cruise the vineyards" package and were you allowed to drink that wine in the MDR?

 

Many thanks

 

 

 

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We actually bought it in the MDR! I had read about it prior to the cruise, so we asked our server for some info about it the first night as it’s not something advertised on the table/menu. They gave us 5 vouchers to redeem at any point during the cruise and there are about 9 wines to choose from I believe. We always ordered ours in the MDR, but supposedly you can redeem the vouchers at most bars. If you don’t finish the bottle you can take it woth you, or else have them recork it and bring it back the following night

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you had FTTF. what time did you actually arrive in parking lot, to when you were on the ship?

We arrived to the parking lot a few minutes before noon. We got a parking tag and proceeded onward into a line of cars facing the side of the ship after that. They were holding people there so the last few off the ship could get in their cars. So we got “in” the parking lot around noon, but weren’t allowed to drop off bags, pay, and actually park until about 12:15. Hope that makes sense!

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Following. Great review so far. We're cruising on the Pride for the first time in two weeks, and learning all we can. We'd love to see your Fun Times if you kept any of them. Thanks for the review!

I do have them! I will try to take some photos (or scans since I’m not the best photographer)

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Day 1, continued

We were seated at a booth table toward the back of the restaurant on deck 2. We elected to have the early seating (6 pm) and actually that is later than we sometimes eat at home. Our waiters were Troy and Dennis, who was in training. I think our only complaint this cruise was to do with service, and I don’t even know if it was really their fault. I’ll go more into that later, but basically we would be the first table in our section to be seated, yet the last ones to be served.

I apologize for my blurry menu picture, hopefully the rest of the food/menu photos come out better. I had the “rare finds” Cured Salmon app, and G had the Strawberry bisque. It actually comes out as this tiny little strawberry puree looking bit in the middle of a huge bowl. But then the waiter comes by and pours the soup into it. It was good, in fact all of the food was! Dinner was the Fried Shrimp(me) and the Port of Call Beef Brisket for G. Warm Chocolate Melting Cake for me for dessert, which I repeated several times throughout the cruise.

Salmon appetizer

Strawberry Bisque

Fried Shrimp entree

Beef Brisket entree

G and I also purchased the “cruise the vineyards” package which was 5 bottles of wine for $114 or so. We thought that would be better for us than the Cheers package. The cost would have been over $800 for us, so we decided bottles of wine would be the better bet. I still would have a drink or two otherwise throughout the day, but we didn’t spend nearly enough to justify Cheers this time around.

G, B and I skipped most of the shows and events the first night, as we were all a little tired. The room got a bit cramped once B’s crib was put in, but it wasn’t too bad. My parents went to the comedy show and felt that the comedian’s style just wasn’t for them. They enjoyed several of the other comedians that week though! I had ordered 4 items from the Fun Shops ahead of time for my parents, and the last of them (chocolate cake) had arrived while we were at dinner.

The wine and popcorn I ordered were there when we first arrived on the ship, and a $25 cruise cash voucher was stuck in their mailbox shortly after. There was a note with that saying it had already been applied to their account, which was nice and meant they didn’t have to do anything to activate it. My father and I both activated the chat feature on the Hub app that night, and used it successfully throughout the cruise from then on. Messages will only be delivered if the other person has the app running, but it gives you a notice of “delivery failed” if it doesn’t go through. I appreciated that as my dad didn’t get my messages on a couple occasions, but I was aware of that instead of wondering why he didn’t answer. I have seen people complaining about the chat feature not working very well, but as I mentioned we didn’t have any problems and when messages weren’t delivered I was aware of it. The Hub app was also really nice to keep track of your bill. There was about $18.75 on each of our accounts in refunded port fees, which was quickly spent on drinks.

We thoroughly enjoyed our first day on the cruise, and were excited to see what was in store for the rest of it! Stay tuned for day 2, our first sea day and Elegant night!

It's been over a week since we got back from our 7 day cruise to the Bahamas! It was a lot of fun and I’m ready to go again. This was our first time cruising on a Carnival ship, and also the first time going on any cruise with a little one. So this entry will probably focus quite a bit on those two aspects; the perils of cruising with a not-quite-two year old, and our (ok, my) thoughts on Carnival. I have cruised with Royal Caribbean several times in the past and once with Celebrity. All of these were enjoyable, some better than others, and I pretty much feel that any cruise is going to be better than work! We had all heard the Carnival "rumors" , that everyone seems to spout about the company; "You get what you pay for" and "Carnival is full of drunks/partiers" being the two most common. After reading up on thing on CC, I pretty much felt that wasn't going to be the case, and I was right!

Briefly, I (Shelley) am 35 and my husband (G) is 40. We have a little boy (B), who is almost two. G and I both work in marine industries, and are used to being on boats and water. B, not so much yet. So I may have over-prepared getting kids Dramamine, Tylenol, extra diapers and clothes, etc all to avoid/help with being sick.

I plan to go through things day by day, and then at the end hopefully do a small summary of what we thought, what we loved, what we wish was different, etc. But until then, here's the start!

Pre-cruise and day 1 (embarkation day)

The Carnival Pride is based out of Baltimore, which is an easy trip for us. My parents live about 40 minutes from the port, so the plan was just to stay at their house Saturday and then the five of us (mom, dad, me, G, and baby B) would head out Sunday late morning to start our much needed vacation. My parents actually picked G up on Saturday morning from a dock pretty much right across from the cruise terminal, as that’s where his tugboat was moored up for the time being. B and I left Virginia around 9 or so and after a quick stop to drop the dog at the kennel and a break for a PB&J, we made it to my parents by about 1. We had a fairly relaxing evening, loaded up the car and then watched a few cruise review videos to get us in the mood. Its become a habit the last few months to watch cruise videos when we get together, but luckily there were some new ones to check out.

I don’t think anyone slept well Saturday night, but we were all ready to go and spirits were high Sunday! Mom and I took B to church, then came back and had a nice big breakfast of eggs and sausage. Our plan was to leave around 11:15, but we got on the road a bit before that actually. Drive was uneventful and I did NOT pass the cruise terminal this time (though that happened on a previous Royal Caribbean trip), so we got there I think right when they were letting people in to the lot. We waited a few minutes in a line before they actually let us into the parking area as there were a few stragglers coming off the ship, but other than that it was super quick! We dropped our luggage with the porters and chose a parking spot in an easy to remember location. The check in process was smooth and we were ushered to our FTTF (Faster to the fun) area and sat there MAYBE 10 minutes. It really wasn’t long at all. Then were were taken row by row to board the ship and up we went! All in all it took us an hour from the time we first pulled into the port until we were in room dropping off our carry ons. We had a ocean view room on the 1st floor and it happened to be right above a gangway and loading area. B had some fun watching the guys load the luggage below us.

Since this is a new cruise ship and cruise line for us, it was time to explore! We made our way down to guest services where there was quite a line. Luckily we had FTTF, so there is a dedicated line for us (and other VIP guests). We only had to wait a few minutes, and then were helped. We wanted to switch around the people staying in each room, which he did very quickly. Then we asked about the crib for B and they told us it would be delivered after muster. Satisfied, we moved on. People were still boarding of course, but we signed up for the Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham breakfast, and then otherwise just made our way up and looked around floor by floor. It was quite cold out in the open air levels, and raining a bit but not too bad! On the Lido deck we opted for Guy’s burgers for lunch. I had the “ringer” which was supposed to include bbq sauce and an onion ring and was alright. I did add some extra bacon to it at the toppings bar. We had Guy’s one other time on the ship and just weren’t impressed. The second time my burger was supposed to have no sauce and it was still put on (and ALOT) so that I didnt even eat it. Our group pretty much all felt that Guy’s burgers was a take it or leave it meal, and from now on we will just leave it.

My first drink on board!

A nice empty pool area.

My "just-ok" Guy's burger

We wandered by the kids club where people were registering their children for the week for Camp Ocean. Unfortunately, B is too young to attend (by a month), but I had read they offered some babysitting hours for younger ones that I wanted to find out about. I couldn’t find this information at all ahead of time, but here is is for anyone who may be curious. Times of course will vary by the ship and itinerary.

After we finished exploring we headed back to the room to await instructions for the muster drill, which was supposed to begin at 4. We were hoping our luggage would be there, as priority luggage delivery is one of the perks of FTTF, but sadly only my moms had arrived. I swear I saw my bag being loaded just after 4, even though we should have been in the first luggage cart that was filled. Oh well. Muster was finally called around 4:30 and a bit chaotic. Since it was cold and rainy, the drill was being modified to occur inside. Our meeting place was to be the Taj Mahal theater. So when the alarm sounded, we headed out the door in that direction. One crew member told us to continue that direction, and then the next told us we had to turn around and go the other way. What followed was pretty similar to that; many crew members telling us to go one way, and then others telling us the opposite. When we ended up at the Taj Mahal we then were told to go outside instead. Everyone was standing around confused on the deck, until finally a crew member ushered us onward and then we ended up at the Taj Mahal again. Then they said we were wrong and needed to go to the Butterflies lounge, but then were corrected and sent back to Taj Mahal! All in all quite a mess. Looking back, I think they wanted us to go outside so that we could a) see where our life boats would be and b) to have everyone entering the theater from the same direction to keep things orderly. But none of that was communicated and everyone seemed rather confused. The muster drill itself was quick and uneventful and when we got back to our room a bit after 5 we were just leaving the dock! I think the boat may have had a few minutes delay leaving, but not much at all. Our bags did finally arrive around 5:30 so we quick scrambled to unpack a bit and change before we headed out to dinner at the Normandie.

We are in the same situation. We done it that way so only husband had to buy Cheers so he is booked with 18 year old kid and I am booked with 22 year old kid and now we have decided not to do cheers at all so we are booked that way for no reason now. Is it possible to call and have us switched now or is that not an option??

You can do it super fast on board, we switched around our rooms this past week with no issues

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You’re welcome. I figured you might have. Aren’t you glad you did?

Yes definitely!

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It started in January.

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1354/~/the-fun-shops-gift-orders

Ahh that would explain it. I ordered before then. Thanks!

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Yes they add on the 15% if you order ahead of time. Water, Cruise Cash, Internet, Cheers and B.B. not included (the last 2 have 15% gratuity added in already).

 

It started recently.

Interesting! I never caught that, I’ll have to look closer at my bill

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Considering they add on 15% BS “Delivery fee” to whatever you order from the Fun shops now with few exceptions, I would do general Cruise Cash. Then he can pick what he wants in the gift shops, Cherry On Top, etc. or he can use it for the casino or anything else onboard.

If you pre-order I don’t think that’s the case. I ordered some things online for our cruise next week and don’t see any delivery fee, just the item prices. But maybe I’m mistaken

FWIW, we did both. I ordered $25 bar cash, a bottle of wine, bon voyage cake, and some specialty popcorn and the total was around $75, which I thought was reasonable

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