Carnival Pride 09/11/11 Review with Pics

[Name Of The Game]

This was my seventh cruise overall, my sixth on Carnival, and my fifth cruise in the past 3 ½ years. I am a 24 year old male (Dan), cruising with my mother in her 40’s (Kim) who I have always cruised with previously, and our good neighbor and friend Terry, who after hearing us talking about our vacations, wanted to join us. This was his first cruise. We were more than happy to have him travel with us, as he was good company, and made our vacation more enjoyable.

 

 

We flew to Baltimore on Saturday, September 10. The flight was about an hour and a half late, so good thing we weren’t traveling on the same day. We stayed at the Days Inn in Glen Burnie which had a free shuttle to the cruise port. We boarded the Carnival Pride on Sunday, September 11. Our itinerary was as follows: Monday- Sea Day, Tuesday- Sea Day, Wednesday- Grand Turk, Thursday- Half Moon Cay, Friday- Nassau, Saturday- Sea Day.

 

 

The weather overall was pretty good. I can’t really complain because we didn’t have to miss any ports or have our vacation cut short in any way, so I am grateful for that. On Monday it rained most of the day, and was pretty rough seas, and the last day Saturday was really rough for a few hours coming back. I knew it was real rough out there so I went out on Lido to see exactly what it was like out there, and it was chilly, rainy, boat was rockin’, and extremely windy. So it was actually kinda cool to be out there for about 15 minutes on Lido. But like I said, our vacation stops went on as planned, the weather didn’t have to change the direction of the boat so I am very grateful for that.

 

Exploring the ship after we boarded:

 

 

Serenity Deck

 

 

 

Approaching the bridge.

 

 

 

To be continued....

[Name Of The Game]

All right, I’ll just break this down into a few categories describing the ship and the experiences we had:

 

 

Food- Of all the ships that I have been on this was overall the best food experience I had. The food was really, really good. Our dining room staff was very good, pretty much all the entrees I ordered were very good, I mean I didn’t have to send any back, I ate the food that I ordered. Highlights of food are: the carrot cake from the café that you buy, really good; the chocolate cake from there is good but not as good as the carrot cake. The bacon mac n’ cheese from the last night, that was awesome. The California roll from lunch on Monday on the dining room that mom and I ordered was awesome. I always like the Pumpkin soup. Steaks were very good. Pastas were very good. The lido deck for lunch is always really good; it has been from all my previous cruises, and it was good again this time as well. The fish is always extra good for lunch on lido. From that lido deck lunch, someone tell me if you all had this before it was called: Banana Caribbean Rum Cake. It was shaped like a muffin, with a little chocolate frosting on, the frosting was pretty good, but the banana cake was awesome in there. Just awesome. And the chocolate muffins for breakfast, orange flavored muffins for breakfast, and stewed bananas I really like as well. The only meal in which we did not like was when we went to Lido for dinner on Thursday, because we were all running late for dinner in the dining room because of a laundry problem. The Thanksgiving style meal for Thursdays dinner in the Lido was not good. The flat iron steak was so tough we couldn’t cut it (but was fine in the dining room) and turkey was under done. But one bad meal is no big deal. I found the food all week to be really good and it must have been since I gained 16 pounds and my mom gained 11! :eek:

 

Sorry no food pictures though...

 

 

Shows- Alright, here are the list of main shows they had: Sunday- Welcome Aboard Show, Monday- Wonderful World, Tuesday- Ron Joseph, singer/entertainer, Wednesday- Jazzin’, Thursday- NO SHOW, Friday- Vroom, Saturday- Carnival Legends Show

 

The Welcome Aboard show wasn’t really that good to be honest with you IMO. Our CD Brent didn’t really do anything to make this an extra funny show. In all the previous cruises we have been on this was my least favorite welcome aboard show. Not really too funny, and not much to it really, not much to talk about once it was over. And the comedian the last ten minutes of the show I didn’t really find funny.

 

Monday- Wonderful World- very, very good, entertaining show. The different set changes, music, songs, dancing, representing all the different parts of the world, just awesome. And the lasers at the end at the penguin dancing were personal favorite parts of the show. Really entertaining and colorful show.

 

Tuesday Ron Joseph- mom and I saw him a couple years ago on the Victory, so we did not see the show that night. Personally that’s not my type of music he sings, R&B, soul type music, and to us he was just okay back then, so we decided to not see the show that night. He is a good entertainer for a lot of people just not our cup of teas sort of speak, so we felt we didn’t have to see him again.

 

Wednesday- Jazzin’- Another good show, not really as colorful as Wonderful World, but still, really good singing and dancing. I didn’t really like the first song of the show, and I was a little worried because a few trips ago we saw a show called “Jazz Hot” that we did not care for and I thought it may be another version of that. But this was a much better show. And our friend Terry got pulled up to dance in the aisle in the middle of the show. So that was pretty cool. We didn’t like it quite as much as the other two production/dance shows this cruise but still real good.

 

Thursday- No Show- All right, I was disappointed that there was no main show tonight. In all the cruises I have been on there has always been a main show and there was none. There were no comedians that night as well, for me I really like most of the shows on the ships, and it was too bad they didn’t have one. It would have been cool if they would have had a magician or juggler on a night, but oh well.

 

Friday- Vroom- another really good singing, and dancing type show. I thought it was going to be more about motorcycles as the first song they had bikes on the stage, but it was more about rock and roll bands throughout history which I liked more. A lot of different types of music and variety in the show so I really enjoyed it. The lead male and female singer on this ship were both really good, better than on previous ships.

 

Saturday- Legends Show- I enjoyed this Legends show more than some in the past. Singers were mostly pretty good, and overall was an enjoyable show. Overall, the singing, dancing, stage shows they has were all really great.

 

Entertainment- I found only one of the three comedians to be funny. The funny comedian was Percy Crews II. The other comedian, Eric Brouman, who was also the assistant cruise director, I found to be very unfunny; he did an impressive magic trick though and should probably stick to magic. He is a really nice guy though, talked to him for a little bit, as he is from Cleveland like I am. The other comedian, Jim Brick, I didn’t care for. Personally I like comedians who have a routine, and stories to tell; Jim Brick would mainly just talk to the some people in the audience and pry things out of them until he found something to make fun of. Those are not my favorite types of comedians personally; Percy Crews was much better. For Percy Crews adult show, it was adult, but not way over the top like some adult shows are. Personally I don’t really care for many adult only comedy, but I decided to see his since I enjoyed his family version, and I enjoyed his late show.

 

To be continued...

[Name Of The Game]

Some random thoughts on the entertainment/activities:

 

 

There was kind of a gap in the entertainment on Thursday as there was no shows and no comedians as well. Instead they just had games in the main lounge. I enjoyed the bean bag toss throughout the week, and the laser tag. They had a good Beatles trivia which my mom and I won with a perfect score - we‘re unbeatable at Beatles trivia! The hairy chest contest is always good. As for pools and hot tubs, only went in the pool once, was fine, as you all know there pretty small; the waterslide I didn’t go down this time. The water slide, basketball, and mini golf, were closed on the upper level a lot throughout the week because of high winds. The casino, I only played roulette a few times, the only time I was doing pretty good is when I started off with 20 dollars, played for 35 minutes and got my 20 bucks back. I can’t play any slot machine, too boring for me. And Bingo, we never won, only played a few times, almost won that last Bingo, the cover all for $1000, but were a couple numbers short. I won three ships on a stick, one for Beatles trivia, and two for bean bag toss. I gave Terry a ship on a stick.

 

 

Hairy chest winner

 

 

Mom with towel animal

 

 

Right before my last Lido lunch

 

[Name Of The Game]

Ports- All of us, myself, Mom, and Terry, all stuck together at the ports. Grand Turk we just went to the beach at Margaritaville. The water was beautiful. Terry and I, then my mom and I played catch in the water, hung out at the beach, and then just bought a key chain for a souvenir as I like to have a least a little something at each place we go to.

 

Grand Turk photos

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty sunset

 

[Name Of The Game]

At Half Moon Cay, it was more of the same really, but even hotter than the day before. We just went to the beach there and played a little catch; Terry was giving me a little swimming lesson, and hung out there for a couple hours. It was really hot; mom just found some shade inside the bar there while Terry and I were in the water.

 

Beautiful clear water at Half Moon Cay

 

 

 

Mom was happier in the shade drinking a Miami Vice

 

[Name Of The Game]

At Nassau, the three of us walked around, bought a drink and a few souvenirs, and just took a bunch of pictures. Terry likes to take more pictures than we do; we are picture takers, but he probably took about three times as many pictures than we did throughout the cruise. So the ports were nice, just hung out at the beach and took some pictures, and enjoyed the nice really warm weather.

 

The huge Disney dream was docked next to us.

 

 

I thought this skull was cool.

 

 

Senor Frogs (didn't open until 11 AM)

 

 

Temporary straw market

 

 

Horse & buggy

 

[Name Of The Game]

Staff- The staff were all very friendly. Our servers in the dining room were all really good, got the food out quickly. Our room steward was very friendly, did his job very well. The rest of the workers were all very friendly and did not run into an unfriendly staff member. The fun staff of Louis, Chloe, Diane, and Eric were all good and made the activities fun; maybe they weren’t our favorite fun staff but for sure were not our least favorite fun staff we’ve had. On the last sea day we went to a Q & A session about life on the ship which was interesting.

 

 

Getting on and off the ship went very smoothly. The rooms of the ship were all were nice looking and clean. The décor of carnival ships are always nice. The complaints that I have are minor, and sure didn’t make my cruise where I didn’t enjoy it. I enjoyed my cruise with my mom, and our good friend and neighbor Terry. We will probably sail Carnival again soon.

 

Any questions let me know. :cool:

 

 

 

(Mom standing on something to boost her height)

 

 

Fruit display at the chocolate buffet

 

 

Never too old for towel animals!

 

[rainbowflag]

You don't look like you put on weight. Thanks for your review :)

[reno3]

Thanks for the great review. I will be cruising the Pride in April :D

[Name Of The Game]

You don't look like you put on weight. Thanks for your review :)

 

I was shocked that I gained that much weight too. My clothes were baggy to begin with so I didn't realize. Now I'm used to eating so much on the ship that I'm hungrier at home.

[nchikk]

Nice pics...

Love your "Special One" t-shirt...makes me wonder if you chose your name from a song title by the same band?

[Name Of The Game]

Nice pics...

Love your "Special One" t-shirt...makes me wonder if you chose your name from a song title by the same band?

 

Good guess. Name of the Game is one of the songs on "The Doctor" album by Cheap Trick. Beatles and Cheap Trick are our favorite bands. :cool:

[laumicmah]

Nice review...thanks. I love the miami vice picture!

[dmarie21]

Nice review! I love the HM water pics. Wow! Love how quickly you got your review posted :)

[dane225]

Great review!! Thanks for posting!!:)

[Perfect Stranger]

You're a good looking guy.

 

I like that you named all of the shows on your cruise.

[Room Service!]

Love your review. Pics are great, and really show the beautiful caribbean colors.

We sail the PRIDE Oct. 30. :)

[ATL2LAS]

Great pics and review. Thanks for posting.

[Name Of The Game]

Thanks! It was fun to relive my cruise with this review!

[RickyandLucy]

Thanks for sharing, loved your pictures....

 

Lucy

[Meyer2]

Great review & pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[nybumpkin]

Good guess. Name of the Game is one of the songs on "The Doctor" album by Cheap Trick. Beatles and Cheap Trick are our favorite bands. :cool:

I'm going to show my age here - "the Name of the Game" was a TV show from 40 years ago.:eek:

 

Enjoyed your review. We did this same cruise last year and are thinking of doing it again next year.

[Name Of The Game]

I'm going to show my age here - "the Name of the Game" was a TV show from 40 years ago.:eek:

 

Never heard of it and neither has my mom.

 

Enjoyed your review. We did this same cruise last year and are thinking of doing it again next year.

 

We really like the style of the Spirit class ships, also the flight was half the time and half the price of Florida.

[daydreams]

Great review! Thank you for sharing your experience with everyone. I love how you cruise with your Mom- wonderful. I hope when my daughter is in her 20's she'll want to cruise with me! ;)

[Name Of The Game]

She probably will. ;)

 

My mom and I have so many happy memories from our cruises.