Pride Review (9-25 thru 10-2) (GT, HMC, and Freeport) lots of pics

[cruzinblondie]

Enjoying the review and all the pictures! Thanks so much for sharing.

Congratulations on your engagement!!!

[T C 2]

Chris & Cass, loving the review!

 

Congratulations on the engagement, how romantic to propose on a cruise! :) and the ring is BEAUTIFUL!

[mattmdv]

Congrats on the up-coming wedding!!!

Loving your review and the pictures, we will be on the Pride next April!!!!

 

Matt

[floatingaway2525]

Ahhhh Chris and Cass, GREAT review and congratulations to you guys!!! Can't wait to sail with yas!!!:D

[ardnassac79]

Congrats! Great review so far. I'm on the Pride...same itin...in April. Leaving DH and the kids at home and taking my mom instead (surprise Christmas present for her)...DH is sick of cruising...can you believe that. I Can't wait! We live @ 20 minutes from port, but have never cruised out of there. We drove to FL for 4 of our 5 cruises and to NY for our last one. Looking forward to getting up and casually making our way to the ship. I'm aiming to get there around 11 like you guys did. I love the full 1st day on the ship. I just read about your lunch in the MDR...do you happen to know if there are different menus each time the MDR is open for lunch or is it the same every day? Thanks!

 

Yes it is really nice to be able to wake up and finish packing/getting ready! We will be doing Miami for our next 2, so it will be a whole new experience! The lunch menus are different every day - this link should take you to the current breakfast and lunch menus (even though tit says Spirit, it was correct for the day we went too). Great link to remember the names of what we ate! http://www.zydecocruiser.net/CarnivalSpirit/Hawaii/Menus/Menus_B_L.htm

 

*cough* Conch fritter *cough* :p

 

LOVING the review so far!!

 

hehe!! Yeah none of that fiasco this time! Thanks Manda, hope you feel better soon!!

 

Chris & Cass, loving the review!

 

Congratulations on the engagement, how romantic to propose on a cruise! :) and the ring is BEAUTIFUL!

 

Thank you so much - I think between the camera and my phone I took about 50 pics of my hand last week! :o

[ardnassac79]

Enjoying the review and all the pictures! Thanks so much for sharing.

Congratulations on your engagement!!!

 

Thank you!

 

Congrats on the up-coming wedding!!!

Loving your review and the pictures, we will be on the Pride next April!!!!

 

Matt

 

Thanks! You'll have a great time, it's a wonderful ship.

 

Ahhhh Chris and Cass, GREAT review and congratulations to you guys!!! Can't wait to sail with yas!!!:D

 

Thanks Floatie!! The Breeze cruise is gonna be Epic!

[ardnassac79]

Well, was hoping to get the rest of Grand Turk day up, but work is pressing right now... hopefully this afternoon. Have a great day everyone!

[cruisinsly]

Great review! Congrats on your engagement.

[keewester]

You've got me all teary eyed again just sitting here next to you reading this!

 

I love you too <3

 

 

I don't know you people, I just stumbled on to this post cause we are in Cabin 7180 on Oct 30 and I wanted to see if anyone had any reviews on it.

 

I just wanted to say Thank you for an awesome review - also, thank you for making me cry at my desk at 4:00 in the afternoon with my employee's streaming in and asking "OMG what's wrong!?"

 

I love a romantic story!!

 

Congrats :)

 

Tangee & Allen Wilson

[Irishlinny]

Chris and Cass,

CONGRATS!!!!!:D:D:D

The review is great so far, too! I love Spirit class ships...my favorite! We'll all have lots of exploring to do when we sail the Breeze together!:D

[ardnassac79]

I don't know you people, I just stumbled on to this post cause we are in Cabin 7180 on Oct 30 and I wanted to see if anyone had any reviews on it.

 

I just wanted to say Thank you for an awesome review - also, thank you for making me cry at my desk at 4:00 in the afternoon with my employee's streaming in and asking "OMG what's wrong!?"

 

I love a romantic story!!

 

Congrats :)

 

Tangee & Allen Wilson

 

Aww, thank you!! I'm glad I put the room number in that one post, because I did the same thing prior to this cruise! You'll like the room - it's in between the Forward and Middle elevators, and seemed really quiet. The extended balcony is the best!

 

Chris and Cass,

 

CONGRATS!!!!!:D:D:D

 

The review is great so far, too! I love Spirit class ships...my favorite! We'll all have lots of exploring to do when we sail the Breeze together!:D

 

Thanks Linny!!! The Breeze will be a blast! No wedding on it though, I really wanna go back to HMC ;)

 

Great review! Congrats on your engagement.

 

Thank you!

[ardnassac79]

Whew, okie dokie... after a looong day at work, then a post-vacation grocery shop, I finally have dinner simmering on the stove and have some time to finish up Grand Turk!

 

Let's see, where were we....:D

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After taking pictures, we navigated over to Gibbs Cay, which is also another small uninhabited island, but with a good Sting Ray population. Here we were able to get back off the boat, and one at a time hold the Rays, give them a kiss, and get a massage from them. They are really soft and slick, and had really interesting eyes - yellow and black. Cute little guys in my opinion!

 

We took videos of our experiences, which can be viewed on YouTube:

 

 

 

 

When everyone had a turn with the Rays, they also offered anyone that wanted to lick the barb a chance! We both declined, and wandered away to see the other stingrays that were swimming around our feet. It was open water, and we were standing in water about 3.5-4 feet deep – there were a few rays just swimming around, and we really had to be careful where we stepped!

 

 

 

 

 

After that, they did a demonstration on how to get the conch out of a conch shell – kinda nasty, and even cleaned off and offered raw conch to anyone that wanted it. I took a piece, but after trying to bite into it and having it spring back like a rubber band, I tossed it into the water for something else to surely enjoy it more than I would have.

 

For anyone that would like to watch, we also got some video of that... watch at your own risk!

 

[ardnassac79]

All during this time, a huge storm was brewing back at the port – we could all see the dark clouds and storms across the water by the boat – so our guides had us wait about 10 minutes before heading back, and we just caught the edge of the storm as it was blowing back out to sea. Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures of the huge black clouds over the ship, but by the time we got back into port, the sun was shining again, and the temp was heating back up.

 

 

The excursion was great – we were on the fence between this one (Reef and Rays) and the Gibbs Cay Stingray Encounter, but were very happy we chose the Reef and Rays. The snorkeling was great – we saw the other tour when we made our way over to Gibbs Cay, and the other group’s “snorkeling” consisted of swimming in the shallow water right around Gibbs Cay. Ours was out in the actual ocean by the reef. I would also highly recommend the Oasis Divers – very professional, knowledgeable, and fun. I beleive they only take reservations through Carnival.

 

 

The excursion was over and we were back on the main shore by 11:30. We briefly glanced at Margaritaville, took some cursory pictures, and headed to the beach to walk down to Jack’s Shack.

 

 

As we were setting out, I stopped to grab a pic of this sign. I’ve seen the sign in other reviews, but thought it was hilarious that this time, the conch really was missing!

 

 

It was about a 10 minute walk, which was lovely with our shoes off and the sun shining.

 

This os one of my favorite pics from the trip (aside from the scads of ring pics I took :o ) - it's currently my laptop's wallpaper:

 

[ardnassac79]

When we got to Jack’s we were greeted by Topher, the GoldenDoodle (Retriever / Poodle mix who LOVES to swim).

 

 

 

We took a glance at the drink menu, and I had to try the Drink of the day – the Sandy Vagina :cool: - it was their own vanilla infused vodka (vanilla beans soaking in a bottle of Stoli), Coconut Rum, and Pineapple Juice. YUM. Chris was still kinda feeling the effects of the night before, so he kept it safe with a bottle of water.

 

 

We ordered some food – he got a cheeseburger, and I tried the chef’s specialty Jerk Chicken. The food came in about 10 minutes, and it was really good. Here’s a shot of the chicken with my drink in the back.

 

 

We were hoping to make use of free Wi-Fi at Jack’s via my iPhone, but it wouldn’t connect. By this point the sun was really starting to get hot, so we decided to pay up and head back closer to the port to relax and get in the water before it was time to get back on board.

 

 

[ardnassac79]

We set up shop on some beach chairs in the shade, locked up our valuables using the new PacSafe we bought, and headed out to the water.

 

 

It was a little tricky getting in, because the sand at the water’s edge gives way to some pretty slick rocks until you get a little further out. I would definitely recommend to new-comers to tread cautiously the first time going in the water, if you are close to the ship. After getting sufficiently cooled off, we went back to the chairs to relax for a bit until we decided to head back.

 

 

We poked around a few more shops, and made our back on the boat.

 

 

 

 

[ardnassac79]

We went back to the room and Chris took a nap while I relaxed on the balcony and got a few more shots of this gorgeous port. I would go back in a heartbeat!

 

In this shot, you can see Margaritaville in the foreground, and I beleive way off in the distance is Round Cay, where we did our snorkeling at.

 

 

 

Saying goodbye to Jack’s Shack!

 

At 4:30 we headed back down to Deck 3 to try our hand again in Sports Trivia, and stayed for the General Trivia afterwards. Still no luck. We were now 0 for 4. By this point, Chloe, one of the entertainment staff, was really rooting for us! She was great by the way – very entertaining and had the greatest British accent! I'm disappointed we never got a chance to take a picture with her!

 

We wandered around the ship, and were lucky enough to catch a really nice sunset. The huge cloud made the sunrays look absolutely exquisite.

 

 

 

[ardnassac79]

We went to dinner, and I had my favorite drink of the week – Sex on the Beach. Last year I stuck with "The Cruiser" but I'm not a fan of the glasses they come in (like a wider wine glass with a long stem), so I switched it up this year. Chris is a fan of the Mai-Tai's and Long Islands. Since we are casino players, we like to order off the “Classic” drink menu so we can cash in our receipts for the $5 match play cards. By the last sea day we had accumulated 14 of them. I guess that's not too bad for 7 days between the 2 of us... :o hehe

 

 

For appetizers that night, Chris didn’t really see anything he liked, so he went with the Fruit Cocktail. I actually splurged and got both the Tom Ka Gai soup (a chicken soup with coconut and lemongrass) and the “didja” option – Shark and Langoustino Fire Cracker Rolls (we almost never get 2 dishes in the same course, it's just too much food, but I really wanted to try both).

 

The soup was great, but did have big chunks of mushroom in it, so I ate around those. The rolls weren’t what I was expecting (thought it would be more like sushi). They were OK but had a lot of filler.

 

 

 

 

For dinner, we forgot to take pics. I know… FAIL.

 

I had the Assorted Seafood, Newburg Style. It was good, but had more shellfish (oysters or mussels or something) and that kinda turned me off. The prawns and scallops were yummy though. Chris had the daily option of the Flat Iron Steak, which is always a good choice.

 

What I was most excited for this night was dessert – I have read so many reviews for the Bitter and Blanc, and never had it, so I was determined. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but still very good.

 

 

Chris got the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake again, and loved every bite.

 

That night, we were both exhausted, and knew we had another early day the next day, so we decided to call it an early night. It was slightly disappointing too, because we wanted to try to make the late-night Mexican Buffet that was going on that night, but it just wasn't gonna happen.

 

This little cutie met us when we went back to the room.

 

 

We filled out the room service tag for breakfast the next day and called it a night - and getting excited for Half Moon Cay the next day!!

 

 

All in all, Grand Turk was excellent. It was a great port, and I can't wait to go back on the Breeze cruise in Nov 2012!

 

Up Next: HALF MOON CAY!!

[Anung Un Rama]

Thursday (Half Moon Cay)

 

Well as we’ve said before, this was the port we were waiting for. We made sure to get a good night’s sleep and I had no booze the day before to make sure I was 100% for HMC. Room service arrived right on time and as we were enjoying a nice breakfast, the island started coming into view from our balcony.

 

Here are a few pictures from our balcony (I was very glad to be port side so we faced all of the islands when docked).

 

 

 

 

 

If I remember correctly the first tender was scheduled for 9 am and they told us to be down on deck 1 about 10 minutes early. Since we had an excursion we had priority tendering. I pushed Cass out the door about 20 til 9 and when we got down to deck 2, they asked us to show our excursion ticket so we could head down to where they were starting to line people up. This was our first tendered port so we were interested to see how it was handled. The line ended up curling down one of the hallways on deck 1 and there were several hundred people lined up by the time they started boarding the first tender. I’m glad we headed down early as there were only about 10 others after us on the first tender (I think they took a lot of crew and supplies on that one too). And please watch your head as the ramp leads up and it’s only about 4 feet high and I had to duck quite a bit but someone else didn’t and nearly cracked her head open. She shall remain anonymous but her name rhymes with Bassandra.

[Room Service!]

Ouch!

[ardnassac79]

Ouch!

 

I seriously felt like a cartoon character with little stars and birdies circling over my head!! AFTER I cracked my head on it, the guy helping people board goes "Watch your Head!" yeahthanks. :rolleyes:

[Anung Un Rama]

A few more pictures from the tender.

 

 

 

 

The Private Oasis

 

 

[Anung Un Rama]

We made our way off the tender to their little shops area which reminded me of a hassle free Freeport. The excursion desk was off to the left so I let Cass ask some questions while I got some photos before the masses arrived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to get our shopping done now before it got crowded and also since we'd be at the other end of the beach at cabana 12. We got a couple shot glasses, a travel mug for her, and a few other knicknacks. Cass also got a new pair of sunglasses to replace the ones she had just mashed into her noggin.

[Anung Un Rama]

By this point we were both itching to get to our cabana so we headed down the path with our friends which was an adventure in and of itself.

 

 

 

Bathrooms and lockers to the left before the first cabanas

 

 

A good shot of the ship in a gap between the foliage

 

 

The path behind the cabanas just off the beach.

 

[terri1020]

Congrats on your engagement and great review!

[Anung Un Rama]

The perfectly named bar

 

 

 

The Captian Morgan Rocks bar seen from the trail, this is in between cabanas 5 and 6. Our friends had cabana 5 and said that there was very minimul noise from the bar.

 

 

From the front