Got bit by the "love bug" on the Pride.

[ryanpatricksmom]

What I find really odd was how at early evening they seemed to move on. I don't remember the exact time, but it was awhile before sailing that I noticed our balcony had very few, where earlier, every surface had been covered.

 

Btw, I agree regarding the serenity deck. It didn't work for us either. I did think that there were alot more twenty-somethings on this cruise than usual, so maybe that created more log jams on deck than is typical, but during the day deck 10 was more crowded than any cruise I've been on in awhile, which I attributed at least in part to the diminished capacity.

 

Also, kudos to the new area for platinum debarkation....worked way better than Starry Nights.

 

One noticeable cutback for me was the Lido buffet at lunchtime. I missed having the Rotisserie as an alternative to Taste of Nations. I also was disappointed that Taste of Nations did repeats instead of a different cuisine each day.

[sharecruises]

 

One noticeable cutback for me was the Lido buffet at lunchtime. I missed having the Rotisserie as an alternative to Taste of Nations. I also was disappointed that Taste of Nations did repeats instead of a different cuisine each day.

 

Thank YOU. I was on Valor on May 1 cruise and this was a big change for me....2x Italian, 2x "American", 2x Caribbean, and 1x French. This was (to me) a pretty big cutback. I see others posting about the "Indian" or "Greek" buffet....that info is from cruises in the past, now it is all the same food pretty much (at least on Valor)

 

I was also disappointed that they used the cheap Newlywed game as a night's entertainment in the main theater

 

I did enjoy the cruise, ports, my friends and the food was good just not as much variety. But yes, cutbacks are noticable

[cschultz]

Thank YOU. I was on Valor on May 1 cruise and this was a big change for me....2x Italian, 2x "American", 2x Caribbean, and 1x French. This was (to me) a pretty big cutback. I see others posting about the "Indian" or "Greek" buffet....that info is from cruises in the past, now it is all the same food pretty much (at least on Valor)

 

I was also disappointed that they used the cheap Newlywed game as a night's entertainment in the main theater

 

I did enjoy the cruise, ports, my friends and the food was good just not as much variety. But yes, cutbacks are noticable

 

I asked the assistant CD why they don't have the comedians in the main show lounge.

The main show lounge sits empty, yet people are standing in the small lounges to watch the comedians. It makes no sense to me.

[Brentonsmom]

I grew up in the Tampa/ Brandon area in the 70s and 80s. The lovebugs were horrible then. Luckily they do only last a few weeks and some areas of the state have them worse than others. I currently live in North Fl and we do not have them as bad. They are the worst when you are driving on the interstate or in rural areas in all parts of the state. You will actually just drive thru patches of them and you can hear them hit your windshield. And the stink of them on your hot car when you are washing it is awful! Nothing can be done about them though--just a part of Florida. I'm not sure what other states get them but I guess its just the deep southern area.

 

Tina

[JaniceB]

I asked the assistant CD why they don't have the comedians in the main show lounge.

The main show lounge sits empty, yet people are standing in the small lounges to watch the comedians. It makes no sense to me.

 

CSchultz,

 

Do you know if can get the free drinks at the game tables too?

 

What were the shows in the main lounge? Sounds like they didn't have one every night, is this a new on Carnival?

 

Thanks for giving us some new info on the Pride.

 

The love bugs were in Orlando the last week of April, they have been hanging around for a while.

[crusinpsychRN]

Car washes here advertise "love bug specials." Scrubs your windshield and front end a bit harder for these windshield/grill seeking missles whose only purpose is to mate and make money for car washes and repaint places.

[cschultz]

CSchultz,

 

Do you know if can get the free drinks at the game tables too?

 

What were the shows in the main lounge? Sounds like they didn't have one every night, is this a new on Carnival?

 

Thanks for giving us some new info on the Pride.

 

The love bugs were in Orlando the last week of April, they have been hanging around for a while.

 

The tables work differently than the slots. My husband and kids played blackjack all week.

My son did very well, up about $700 at one point. He asked about getting rated, so he could get free drinks/casino gifts at embarcation, etc. They told him that to get rated at the tables, he would have to consistantly bet at least $25 a hand. The pit boss would get him a drink occasionally, but that was about it.

 

As far as the shows go, I go to very few of them. I have been on 13 Carnival Cruises, and the shows are basically all the same from past years. This year in the show lounge, I went to see a juggling comedian. My family went to the legends show, where guests sing trying to imitate famous personalities. They had the newlywed game in the showroom, same questions and answers as before. They have comedians in the small lounges, several times each night, one show family oriented, the later shows for adults only. They have the welcome aboard show the first night. New cruisers will enjoy the shows, but when you can

spit out verbatim what the cruise director is going to say before he says it, you know that you have watched the same show too many times.

 

Any other questions?

[mprince4]

My Husband and I were also on this cruise and I agree that those lovebugs were insane :eek:. We did the airboat and alligator tour and planned on going to the beach afterwards but decided against it after dealing with the bugs all morning. I also agree about the serenity area, we would go up right after breakfast around 8:00 and still couldn't find a seat. One morning a couple told us that they had been there for over an hour and several of the chairs were being reserved with a towel and that we should remove them. I personally couldn't do this but I think Carnival needs to enforce the no reserving policy a little better. Overall we enjoyed ourselves and I can't wait for our next cruise :).

 

 

I LOVE your cat picture!!!!

 

To be more on topic... we had a good bit of lovebugs on our cruise on the Legend. Luckily my car didn't get totally destroyed by them because we just drove to Tampa and didn't get any further south, but the Serenity deck was RIDICULOUS with them before we left port - they were flying around everywhere and jumping into our bucket of beer :eek:

[hancogran]

We just got off Pride yesterday too and I agree with the love bug problem!!:eek: We planned on spending the morning at Cocoa Beach but left after 5 minutes, as did many others. We just bought the $10 shuttle pass which goes to Cocoa, Walmart and then Merritt Mall. We got back on bus and stayed at the mall for an hour or so, then figured we'd just head back and sit on the balcony! Big mistake--by afternoon, the balcony was even worse than the beach. Our shuttle driver told us she wasn't sure why this year the love bugs were worse than normal.. I know they don't bite you but they sure were annoying so we spent most of the day inside the cabin.

 

We found the shows to be just so so...nothing spectacular. No complaints about the food and service..everything was A1. We were asked to vacate our cabin for two hours so they could replace the carpet. At dinner that night, we were told to choose a bottle of wine for the inconvenience.

 

Carnival seemed to go out of their way to make sure they kept people happy. We had anytime dining and on elegant night we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. The next day there were chocolates & fudge delivered to our cabin apologizing for the wait.

 

We also got the "drinks on us" card but it wasn't until the last night we reached the 1500 points needed.

 

All in all it was a wonderful cruise and as I mentioned, the love bugs were the only thing that put a damper on it. Nassau and Freeport were great but wished we had another port to make up for missing Port Canaveral. :)

[ryanpatricksmom]

I wondered why more people didn't take advantage of the Walmart shuttle to buy bug spray. I'm thinking that you could have sold it at a pretty high mark up. ;)

[hancogran]

I wondered why more people didn't take advantage of the Walmart shuttle to buy bug spray. I'm thinking that you could have sold it at a pretty high mark up. ;)

 

After returning to the ship and finding out the bugs were as bad there, I had every intention of returning to Walmart! :D Turns out my husband handed in the tickets when we got off the bus the first time..The driver was collecting them but I noticed a few people hung onto theirs in case they wanted to go back out. I guess they're afraid you'll pass your ticket on to somebody and they can use it for the rest of the day without paying. I didn't feel like paying another $10 just to visit Walmart :rolleyes:

[ryanpatricksmom]

I guess that they aren't allowed to use those chemicals on the ship...or maybe the yards sprays are useless on love bugs. We started walking on deck 10 around 8:15 am, and by 10 when we finished up it was becoming very unpleasant. I lasted about 1 1/2 hours on the Serenity Deck before giving up at noon. I never once saw anyone attacking the swarms, although I did see plenty of deckhands trying to sweep up the bugs that had died.

 

If the casino had been open I would have suspected a Carnival conspiracy. :D

[JaniceB]

The tables work differently than the slots. My husband and kids played blackjack all week.

My son did very well, up about $700 at one point. He asked about getting rated, so he could get free drinks/casino gifts at embarcation, etc. They told him that to get rated at the tables, he would have to consistantly bet at least $25 a hand. The pit boss would get him a drink occasionally, but that was about it.

 

As far as the shows go, I go to very few of them. I have been on 13 Carnival Cruises, and the shows are basically all the same from past years. This year in the show lounge, I went to see a juggling comedian. My family went to the legends show, where guests sing trying to imitate famous personalities. They had the newlywed game in the showroom, same questions and answers as before. They have comedians in the small lounges, several times each night, one show family oriented, the later shows for adults only. They have the welcome aboard show the first night. New cruisers will enjoy the shows, but when you can

spit out verbatim what the cruise director is going to say before he says it, you know that you have watched the same show too many times.

 

Any other questions?

 

Cschultz,

 

Thank you for the information. I thought Carnival changed the "big"shows more often. I personnally do not like the idea of the Legend show and I can't believe they are using the Newlywed game as evening entertainment.

My DH loves to play craps, but he usually doesn't bet $25 at a time. I gess he won't be able to enjoy any "free" drinks.

I guess my first cruise on Carnival spoiled me for life.

[rnvattes]

...Glad to hear you had a good time.

 

...I have to laugh about the lovebugs. Here in South Florida, we get these flying bugs this time of year. Last week, my daughter drove home from school (Florida State) in Tallahassee, through the Orlando area, and completed her trip home to Boynton Beach. Her car was ABSOLUTELY covered in these lovebugs. She said it was the worse she has ever seen going through the Orlando area! She had to stop at every rest stop (4 times) to scrap and wash her windshield. Luckily, the "lovebug season" lasts just a few weeks.

 

So THATS what those were!

 

My DH and I took a trip to FL about 11 years ago when we were dating -- at this very time of year. The day we went to Cape Canaveral/NASA, we drove into what appeared to be a WALL of black bugs that were so numerous it sounded like hail hitting the car. It was the most disgusting thing! When we arrived at NASA and got out of the car we were comforted(???) to see that our car was not the only one victimized. It was so gross!!

 

Not a one inland where we were staying though!

 

All this time I have wondered what the heck that was. Thank you for settling an 11 year mystery! :p

[Philly Steve]

Do Florida folks still drive with bug-catching nets on the front of their cars? We had nets in the 70's, and they caught most, but not all of the mess. :o

[deadmoney]

Not that I've seen.

Just got back from Cocoa beach yesterday and one of my first stops today is the car wash to get those little *#@&%$s off my car.

[hoop4321]

living in south florida since birth, and recently returned from a car trip to georgia i am having a good laugh at the love bug complaining.:D They are a part of life in florida, so we just shrug our shoulders and wash our cars every day for the month....no biggie. Not being able to enjoy a beach because of bugs.....really? The sun is shining, and the water is beautiful but the bugs are the focal point???? We sat at the lake house and chatted while every now and then swatting them away....they don't bite.....just make sure your drink is covered;)

[cschultz]

living in south florida since birth, and recently returned from a car trip to georgia i am having a good laugh at the love bug complaining.:D They are a part of life in florida, so we just shrug our shoulders and wash our cars every day for the month....no biggie. Not being able to enjoy a beach because of bugs.....really? The sun is shining, and the water is beautiful but the bugs are the focal point???? We sat at the lake house and chatted while every now and then swatting them away....they don't bite.....just make sure your drink is covered;)

 

Palmetto bugs are a part of life in Florida as well. I wouldn't want to see them either.

[lwilliams335]

I took it in stride, however there were some very unhappy cruisers. Many wanted to cancel their excursions to Cocoa beach, but Carnival would not offer any refunds. I guess Carnival has an excursion for something like $17 for an adult, less for a child, to basically transport cruisers to Cocoa beach. (My family used the Radisson shuttle, which used to be free, but now they charge $6 per person)

 

The lovebugs really were everywhere, to the extent that many people thought that this port should have been cancelled.

 

Hi - we are cruising the Pride on Sunday -- question about the shuttle for Cocoa Beach - are taxi's any cheaper to take since Radisson is now charging? We have a group of 24 going (some families of 2, 4 and 5) and we don't want to spend a fortune getting to a beach. What is the cheapest way??? Thanks for any repsonses

[hancogran]

Hi - we are cruising the Pride on Sunday -- question about the shuttle for Cocoa Beach - are taxi's any cheaper to take since Radisson is now charging? We have a group of 24 going (some families of 2, 4 and 5) and we don't want to spend a fortune getting to a beach. What is the cheapest way??? Thanks for any repsonses

 

We bought the $10 shuttle pass for the day which makes three stops, all day long..Cocoa Beach, Wal Mart and Merritt Mall. We stayed at Cocoa for five minutes, reboarded the bus and got off at Wal Mart for half an hour, then got back on the bus and headed to Merritt Mall to kill some time. I'm glad we got the bus pass due to the fact that the beach was a write-off due to the bugs. We spoke with a couple who got a taxi to Cocoa and it cost them $40 (return, I assume) and they were only at the beach for half an hour.

 

I'm just sorry we handed our pass to the driver when we got back to the ship. We figured we'd just chill by the pool so we wouldn't need them any more, but as others have said, it was just as bad on the ship. If we'd still had our passes, I would have headed back to the mall or something to kill some time. :) Lots of people planned on just having lunch on the ship, then heading back out shopping so they didn't bother turning their passes in when they got off the bus at the ship. :)