Pride review 4/3 - 4/10. Perspective from a first-timer!

[rlthomas7]

Thanks! I'll do my best to be done on Friday!

[BettyPC]

Great review - you have a great style of writing & a handsome family.

 

thanks for taking the time to share with us who are landlocked.

[lidodeckbound]

moving on to david's. I was unsure if this would be worth it for us since paul is pretty limited in what he can eat. After posting on cruise critic and showing him the menu, we decided to give it a try. Here's my original post when we were trying to decide whether to do it. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1134380

 

we had a reservation for 7:30 because camp doesn't open until 7:00 and they only take reservations on the half hour. Earlier in the day i stopped in to see if we could get there closer to 7:15 since every minute counts when kids are in camp and you never know when that phone might ring! They said that many people come early and 7:15 would be fine. So that's what we did!

 

We were seated on the upper level of the restaurant, overlooking the downstairs. The decor is beautiful with a pink glow while the sun is still out. The only detraction for some might be that you can hear the music from the second floor atrium very clearly. I think they were doing karaoke that night or something. We didn't mind the music at all, but it didn't exactly mesh with the high-end decor!

 

We were given our menus and our waiter brought out a cart that showed the cuts of beef. Paul found this a little distasteful since he doesn't eat red meat, but hey, he went to a steakhouse. We placed our orders and sat back to enjoy the most relaxed meal we've had in three years!

 

The waiter arrived with a small bite "compliments of the chef." it was supposed to be some sort of cheddar soup for me and steak tartare for paul, but of course paul asked to switch them. I was taking photos of the sunset during this time, so i missed the explanation, but this is how i ended up with steak tartare to try. I took a small nibble, but it wasn't for me. Paul said the cheddar thing was good, but he wasn't paying attention to what it was. This is why he's not writing the trip report...

 

On to the appetizers! I chose lobster bisque and paul chose the grilled portabella mushroom dish. The waitress mentioned that it was served cold, which he wasn't prepared for, but he said it was excellent. I was not overly impressed by my bisque - i didn't find any large chunks of lobster in it and it was pretty thin, in my opinion.

 

 

paul said his portabella was excellent.

 

 

 

on to the salads! I got the heart of iceberg lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette and paul got the baby leaf spinach and fresh mushrooms with bleu cheese (no warm bacon bits, which they usually include).

 

Here's mine, which was delicious:

 

and here is paul's, which he said was also very good:

 

 

now, for the main courses! I had the surf and turf and paul had the chilean sea bass.

 

Here's mine, which was amazing. The lobster was excellent, but the best part was the melted butter for dipping which had an orange taste to it. I've never tasted anything so good. And the filet mignon was delicious. I've never had such a good piece of steak.

 

 

and paul's chilean sea bass was excellent too. I had a bite and it was very good.

 

 

dessert to come in the next post!

yummy!

[rlthomas7]

Our last dinner was a high for Paul with his eggplant and zucchini stacked thing that he raved about:

 

 

But I was not impressed by my panko-crusted shrimp. And HOW do you get shrimp to be shaped like this? The curly fries were good though, but not to the level that previous meals had been. Remember, I ate actual BROCCOLI on this ship!

 

 

 

But the warm chocolate melting cake hit the spot, as it had all week. And I even figured out the recipe to make at home. Just what I need. But the recipe is perfect - and it's not the main one you find online with six eggs.

 

 

 

We had to get photos with our fantastic wait staff, Cyrus, Oktavia and Gregorio.

 

 

Adam and Oktavia exchanged a tearful goodbye after the waiters' song.

 

 

And with that, we left our new friends behind and went out to enjoy our final night on the ship.

[rlthomas7]

We went down to the bar on the second floor to see the Pride band because I figured Adam would want to dance. And boy, did he want to dance. But of course our timing was off and we only caught the last two songs. He told me that he really liked the music, so I told him he should tell the band that. So I walked him up to the lead singer and he said "that was REALLY fun!" and she said thank you. Then he said, "but it was a little too loud..." So she told him to blame the musicians.

 

We thought we'd hang out in the seats and wait for the band to come back, and met the most amazing waiter. His name was Hery and he actually remembered Adam's name from running into him earlier in the day. He kept coming over to talk to him and even made him an origami-type boat out of a copy of the Fun Times!

 

 

And while we were there, we encountered everybody's favorite guy...

 

 

He was on his way somewhere else, but we ambushed him in the hallway because, frankly, Adam would have attached himself to Freddy's leg and been dragged along if he tried to keep going. Did I mention that the kid loves costumed characters?

 

So we got him his own Freddy, who is still sleeping in Adam's bed every night, almost a month later.

 

 

And while we were spending money, we bucked up for two souvenir photos. I was only interested in the cheesy shots, and I think we succeeded.

 

 

 

We went back to the room, finished packing and got our suitcases outside in the hallway. We don't travel light, especially with the little packrat pictured above, so there's no way we could do self-debarkation!

 

The next morning we woke up, finished packing our stuff and headed up for breakfast. We were zone 20, so we figured we'd have a pretty long wait. And we did. It took a very long time. We had charged the DVD player so that Adam could watch a movie at a table, but that didn't last long. So we started walking him all around in his stroller. We even let him check out the serenity area because, seriously, what would they do to us, kick us off the ship? I suggested he pose in front of the sign and stick out his tongue.

 

 

We finally were called around 11:30-ish. My memory is a little fuzzy now. I will say that once we were called it didn't take long, but the wait to be called took forever. We breezed through customs, found our suitcases easily and were home by 2:00.

 

Our final thoughts were that cruising was perfect for where we are in our lives now. There's no way Adam could have handled a plane ride at this stage of his life, and it was a great way to get to a warm climate without having to fly. And the price for the three of us couldn't be beat!

 

On the other hand, I don't know that we'll be anxious to cruise again. I know that to cruise properly you need to think of the ship itself as the destination, not the ports, and I just kept thinking of the ship as transportation TO the destination. Our idea of a perfect vacation is to fly to an island, park it in a hotel and totally relax some days and really explore the island on other days. Not to knock cruising, I'm glad we tried it and there were some parts we really enjoyed, but I think that in a few years we'll try to fly Adam to Curacao or someplace and do an all-inclusive with a kids club. And of course in about five years we'll have to do Disney.

 

Thank you to everybody who helped me plan this trip - especially packing. If not for this board, we would never have thought about a power strip, battery-operated night light, shoe holder (to hold small toys, shoes, etc.) and other secrets that made our trip so much easier.

[PAcruiser25]

Really enjoyed reading your excellent review and seeing your photos. Wish we were on the same cruise so our kids could play! Have sailed Pride before and booked on her again soon - can't wait!!!! I think I liked all of your husband's food choices too. Liked reading about the Camp Carnival activites on different days and which ones your son went to and enjoyed. We have had very smooth seas sailing out of Baltimore previously - sorry to hear you hit rough weather. The cruise director said it is bad in Jan - Feb. We were thinking of booking earlier in the spring so I'm glad we waited. Take care!!

[jnmcruise]

thanks for doing the review and pics... nice job

[Jenmi736]

Wow, I absolutely LOVED your review...and your photos! It looks (and sounds) like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing!!! :D

[01 Cobra]

Thank you for sharing your experience. What a wonderful read. I was so engrossed...that I hit my head on a cabinet (and I think it left a mark!)...that's what I get for reading on my laptop in the kitchen. Dangerous place to multitask.

Anyways...loved your review. My son started cruising at about 4 so I can relate to many of your experiences. Adam is adorable! Loved, loved, loved his pictures!

I think I need some ice for my head...LOL!

[JaniceB]

Really enjoyed your review of the Pride, your food porn and pictures of Adam.

[melanie1877]

Thanks so much for the great review!! We traveled on the Pride last May with our 3yo son, and your experience was very very similar to ours!! Adam lasted longer in the kid's club than our DS though....he only lasted 35 minutes, and refused to go back!!! I love reading reviews with other parents experiences....makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one dealing with packing the house, meltdowns, crazy food schedules, etc...:) We are heading back on the Pride on Sunday to try out the Grand Turk, HMC, Freeport itinerary. We are definitely going to get day passes to the Radisson in Lucaya. I took my son to the store to let him pick out a bunch of little toys to take along on the cruise, and he made me get two of everything, in case he makes a "buddy". Too bad Adam won't be on the ship.....:)

[MrsBlair]

Great job! I loved all the pics of your son!!!

[Matt&Carolyn]

Thanks for this review! I know it's been awhile since your cruise now, but we're planning ours for February with kids 2 (just about 3) and 5 and it's great information. :)