Carnival Pride Review - August 14 to 21 (long)

hi. here's our review of the Carnival Pride, August 14 to 21.

some background: it was just me and DH ... we're in our mid-40's. we don't have kids, so i'm not able to provide any reviews of camp carnival or the general swimming pool area (crowds!!). this was our first cruise as one of the VIP guests .... we finally became platinum after 10 cruises. wooo hooo! (all of our cruises have been with carnival).

instead of a day-by-day review, i'll touch on the topics people usually wonder about. also, i'm not going to post individual pictures here because it takes so long to download and takes up so much space, so if you'd like to see my pictures on photobucket, just click on http://s621.photobucket.com/albums/tt298/Barbados799/Carnival%20Pride/?albumview=slideshow&track=share_email_album_view_click also, i have a lot of other pictures not posted on the photo album, so if you're interested in seeing anything in particular (food at the steakhouse, VIP goodies, etc.) let me know and i might have it.

Embarkation: we live maryland, so the drive to the port of baltimore was a breeze. (45 minutes). we arrived at the port around 10:30 a.m. (i know ... wayyyyyy too early!) and drove right in to the lot. people were still coming off the ship. a nice man unloaded our luggage and we pulled ahead and paid for our parking with our credit card. ($105 for the week). we found a parking space and walked up to the terminal. the entire process took maybe 10 minutes ... if that. we went through the VIP entrance and was directed to the VIP waiting area which was just a roped-off area next to all the passengers. we waited there for about 30 minutes and then were checked in and then directed to another roped-off area at the other end of the terminal. we sat in this area until about 1:30 p.m. and then they boarded the wedding party. after that, the boarding process began. we were on the ship and eating lunch around 2 p.m.. Our luggage arrived in our cabin sometime between 4:30 and 5 p.m. ... while we were at the muster drill. going under the FSK and Bay Bridges was cool ... if you're in to that kind of stuff. it literally looks like the ship is too tall to go under the bridge.

Main Dining Room: the food quality is the same as it always is .... it's good. the food rarely arrived more than luke-warm, but i understand they're feeding 2,000 people, so i don't expect my food to be hot. there wasn't anything that wasn't unacceptable .... everything we had was good. of course, they had some of our favorites .... onion soup, lobster bisque, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, surf and turf, prime rib, bread pudding (omg! delicicious!!) and DH's favorite ... chocolate melting cake. LOL. One thing that amazed us was our head waitress recognized DH from our previous cruise on the Valor this past February. she said to him, "i saw you on the valor in the winter, didn't i?"

Buffets: basic buffet fare. nothing new. nothing exciting. pizza. salad. sandwiches. the regular stuff. but one thing we noticed is that it's just as fast to go to the main dining room for breakfast than it is to stand in line for food and then hunt for a seat in the Mermaid Grille dining room. and, in the main dining room, breakfast arrives hot and fresh. We never went to the MDR for lunch because we didn’t want to have to get dressed (they don’t allow swimwear in the MDR.)

David's Steakhouse (Supper Club): there's only one word ..... amazing! definitely worth the $30 per person. even if you're not celebrating anything special, this is one thing i highly recommend to do. we always do the steakhouse supper clubs on the ships we've been on and this particular experience ranks in the top two. the food is soooooo much better than the main dining room and the service is outstanding ... we gave our servers an additional $20 tip, although it's not expected or even asked for. the $30 is the price. period. but we enjoyed ourselves so much, we decided to add on a tip.

Soda Fountain Cards: DH and i are big soda drinkers and we always purchase a soda fountain card for each of us. (we have no idea why they call them soda fountain cards since the soda comes from a can. lol.) the cost is $6.00 per day per person. $42 for the week for each card. definitely worth the cost for us. but, here's something new .... instead of them giving you a separate 'fountain card', they applied a sticker to our sail & sign cards which indicated we paid for our fountain cards. it was so much more convenient than having to worry about a separate fountain card and our sail & sign card. so, for those of you who 'share' your fountain cards, you might not be able to do it as easily in the future because they questioned DH when he used my s&s card. (she questioned the 'female' name on the card.)

Entertainment: i know these young men and women work their tails off .... they dance and sing and put on shows three or four nights a week, therefore, i'm leary about saying anything negative about them. the size of the 'cast' has dwindled to just a handful (maybe a dozen) compared to the big elaborate shows carnival used to have and maybe their experience and ability levels aren't the same as the previous types of shows, but there is definitely some room for improvement in this area. however, like a previous reviewer wrote .... this isn't vegas or broadway and we're not paying anything extra for the shows, so in that case, the shows were acceptable and they did provide entertainment for the evenings. the comedians were boring .... the ventriloquist was great!!

The Pools / Chair Hogs: since we don't have kids, we stayed away from the main Lido Deck pools, giving the families more room. we found our safe haven wayyyyyyy in the back of the ship on the Lido Deck .... our oasis .... the 'adults only' pool. even though there were a few teenagers, it was mostly adults in the area. we didn't encounter any chair hogs or people leaving their belongings on chairs unattended for any length of time in the adult area. it never got too crowded. unfortunately, i think it was a completely different story in the main Lido Deck areas .... we'd walk through that area at 8:30-9:00 a.m. and almost every chair was 'reserved' with an unattended beach towel.

Cruise Director/Assistant Cruise Director: Danny was ok .... his voice seemed to get on my nerves after about the fifth day, but i think ALL cruise directors get on my nerves after the fifth day. LOL. the assistant cruise director, Matt, was a blast! he was much younger than Danny and seemed to give that 'balance' between the more experienced cruise director and the hip/young assistant cruise director. Matt will make a great cruise director someday!

Ship Decor: i'm not sure what the big deal about the 'naked body' artwork is all about. yeah, it's tacky. yeah, it's dark and dreary. but, i didn't think it was 'horrible' or 'unacceptable'. we took lots of pictures of the Statue of David (in all his glory) standing about two stories tall in front of David's Steakhouse. lol. honestly, the overall decor made me think of "Phantom of the Opera" with all the candles and darkness. i will admit, DH and i would make jokes about 'babies, boobies and doggies' when we were in the elevator alone. there are a lot of cherubs (babies), naked women (boobies) and doggies (yes, dogs) on some of the elevator doors.

Our Cabin: we were in 7333 ... a category 8C. just a regular balcony cabin ... nothing special. the cabin was kept clean, the bed was turned down each night, the towel animals appeared, bathrooms kept cleaned and stocked and the cabin steward was very friendly and greeted each of us in the hallway by first name every time we passed.

Ports of Call: (we're not excursion people ... we like to do our own thing in each port)

Grand Turk: we enjoyed the pool at Margaritaville much more than the beach. although we are truly beach lovers, there were so many HUGE rocks in the water on the beach, you could barely walk into the water without twisting your ankle or stubbing a toe. after 30 minutes of weaving our way through the water, we gave up and went to the pool at Margaritaville. even though it was packed with people and we couldn't find a lounge chair, we just sat our stuff down behind somebody else's chair and went into the pool. after about an hour, the other ship docked in Grand Turk (Princess) was leaving, so the pool cleared out nicely. we went to Jimmy Buffett's store and bought our obligatory shot glass and baseball cap and then headed back to the ship.

Half Moon Cay: we woke up to pouring rain, dark gray skies and rough seas. (remnants of tropical storm ana). we were told the tendering process was going to be delayed and all excursions were cancelled. as the skies cleared, you could see the beautiful island in the distance! they started tendering to the island around 10 a.m. .... the tender boats were various sizes, holding a couple hundred people each. we figured since all the excursions were cancelled, that meant everybody was going to be headed to the beach, so we took one of the first tenders over to the island and got a clamshell. in less than an hour, the sun was peeking through the high clouds and it stayed a bit overcast most of the day. thankfully, otherwise, it would have been unbearably hot. in addition to the clamshells, you could purchase inner tubes and floating loungers. ALOT of people did this because being in the water was the only place to stay cool. Carnival provided a free buffet lunch on the island for a few hours ... i think they called it the "Island Barbeque". it was a very nice selection of barbeque items (hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, all kinds of salads, fruit, dessert, lemonade and water.) soft drinks and bottled water were extra. you can use your sail & sign card for your drinks and clamshells/floaters on half moon cay. You can also use your fountain card on HMC.

Freeport: ok, i'm going to be harsh here. ..... this is the third time i've been to Freeport in the past five years and i still have to say i have no idea why carnival (or any other cruise line) would take their ships to this port. it was like being back in baltimore with all the shipping/cargo ships. we got off the ship, walked through the 'shops' and looked at each other and said at the same time, "each of these shops have the same s**t for sale." so, we went over to where the taxi's were lined up thinking maybe we'd go into the town or to the beach. we were looking at the sign which lists all the taxi fares to each location and one of the drivers came up and said, 'i take you where you want to go, but list is wrong. i tell you what i want you to pay." ummmmm, excuse me, i don't think i'm going to get into your cab. so, DH and i just got back on the ship and spent the day on the Lido Deck watching the rain come and go. (as DH said, "if you don't like the weather in the tropics, wait five minutes. it will change." and, he's right. it will rain for five minutes and five minutes later, the sun will come out.) and, after talking to our dinner table mates and others on the ship, everybody had the same conclusion.

Conclusion: as you can see, we're not picky people and we know what to expect and what not to expect. it's always amusing to stand in the adult pool and listen to what people complain about and what they had expected. it's vacation ... it's what you make it. There were a few instances when I wanted to say to my ‘neighbor’ in the pool … ‘if you're only going to complain, then save your money and stay home.’ lol. or, ‘if you're going to come on a carnival cruise and constantly compare everything to 'when i'm on royal carribbean i get this and i get that', do us all a favor and stay with royal carribbean. they call these FUN SHIPS for a reason. :D we're all here to have fun ... that's what vacation is all about. (big smile). but, since i'm a good girl, i kept my mouth shut and went back to my lounge chair and put on more sunscreen. LOL.

feel free to let me know if you have any questions ... i'll be glad to answer.

Thank you for posting your trip review! I appreciate all of the input. We are thinking about cruising the Pride next June and are very excited to find out everything we can about the ship. Also, beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Ave

Wow.. Awesome review and great pictures. Your direct and to the point. Loved it...

We're sailing carnival for the first time on the pride Nov 1st.

Loved seeing your aft pool pix. Love the open space where you can sit back and enjoy the open seas. Small ship charm.

Thats where we'll most likely be as we're traveling without the kids .

We're already booked for the supper club and cannot wait. I have to ask you .. what did you and your husband have for your dinner there?

They have so many choices.

we both had the onion soup. DH had a regular tossed salad with ranch and i had the spring salad with balsamic vinegarette. for main course, DH had prime rib and i had the surf and turf. for dessert, DH had a chocolate sampler and i had the cheesecake. yummmy!!!

hi. here's our review of the Carnival Pride, August 14 to 21.

 

Freeport: ok, i'm going to be harsh here. ..... this is the third time i've been to Freeport in the past five years and i still have to say i have no idea why carnival (or any other cruise line) would take their ships to this port.

Freeport is further north than most other ports, thus allowing the ship to make it back to Baltimore in the scheduled 43 hours.

I would prefer some other port - perhaps Charleston, SC.

Thanks for the great review!!

Freeport is further north than most other ports, thus allowing the ship to make it back to Baltimore in the scheduled 43 hours.

I would prefer some other port - perhaps Charleston, SC.

Charleston, that would be a great port. I wonder if Carnival knows how many people dislike Freeport?:confused:

great pictures and review isnt there a casino in freeport?

Thank you so much for your review and wonderful pictures! Looks like you were lucky enough to visit with Ana! Hopefully, she didn't cause too much trouble!

great pictures and review isnt there a casino in freeport?

Yes, the Isle of Capri Casino. It's across the road from the Lucaya Marketplace, and beside the beachfront hotels. Our taxi from the port dropped is here instead of the taxi stand at the marketplace.

Thank you for posting your trip review! I appreciate all of the input. We are thinking about cruising the Pride next June and are very excited to find out everything we can about the ship. Also, beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing!

 

Ave

Great Idea..Join us..we are going June 20, 2010..and I can't wait..especially after reading this review.

Heidi

I never been on a cruise yet! But I live in Maryland too! I passed by baltimore yesterday and was hoping to see a ship..NOPEE! lol! Everytime I go there I never get to see it! maybe one day! But i'm glad you had a wonderful trip!

Good job glad you liked the Pride, I live in Maryland also and I was on her May/June 29th - 6th. We had a ball and are going back on her next August.

We sailed with you that week and loved it also....especially Half Moon Cay. It was our second sailing on the Pride, the first being in May (the second sailing from Baltimore). I think that Charleston would be an outstanding idea. We are trying to book again in December, but so far the prices haven't dropped to my satisfaction. The Bahamas itinerary ends up being a cruise to nowhere for us, and with the cooler weather, I want to see prices in the low $500s for balconies before I'll book. Now, if they were going to Charleston instead of Freeport, then maybe I'd go a little higher.