Chrissandra's 2012 Carnival Pride Review May 27 - June 3 (lots of pics)

[Anung Un Rama]

We had a bit of a wait for dinner (theme for the entire cruise). Anytime Dining must be getting very popular as we'd only had to wait once in our previous 4 cruises.

 

I loved the old style chicken finger that they had on previous cruises as they were lightly breaded and not heavy at all. The ones they had for today's app were pretty much the same they have on the Lido grill during lunch. They're not bad, just not nearly as good as the other version.

 

 

Cass had the Heart of iceberg lettuce with the vinaigrette

 

 

For our main courses I had the Braised Beef Brisket (delicious) and Cass had the Chicken Ala Greque (she loved it, one of her favorites for the cruise)

 

 

 

For dessert we shared the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. You don't need me to tell you how good it is.

 

 

Went back to the room and found the dreaded Vajayjay Monster waiting for us. I think it's supposed to be a Seal, but seriously.

 

[Safetyal]

 

 

 

 

Went back to the room and found the dreaded Vajayjay Monster waiting for us. I think it's supposed to be a Seal, but seriously.

 

 

:D:D I have been telling my wife that is what it was for years now!

 

Good to know I am not alone

[Anung Un Rama]

We had been gearing up for the Piano Bar with a playlist of popular songs. So we headed up there shortly after it opened and grabbed a seat at the bar.

 

 

It took a while for it to get going but there were 20 or so people in there at one point. Then I'm guessing the other shows dragged them away as little by little our crowd dwindled to just a few of us. It was pretty obvious around 11 that this was just not the night for the Piano Bar.

 

 

 

Decided to go back to Serenity and relax for a while in the hammock where we started our day before grabbing a slice of pizza and calling it a night.

[Anung Un Rama]

OK, I think my PS3 just died :(. I need to go troubleshoot some 'hopeful' fixes. I'll turn it over to Cass for day 2.

[vacruizer]

Great review! Am living the cruise I didn't get to take on her two weeks ago through you! :)

 

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your furry baby. We lost our 19 year old kitty two years ago in July and then lost our 17 year old almost exactly a year later - the night before we were supposed to leave for a long weekend anniversary trip. We almost didn't go but it ended up being really good therapy. It's painful no matter what, though.

[alreadypacked]

We had a bit of a wait for dinner (theme for the entire cruise). Anytime Dining must be getting very popular as we'd only had to wait once in our previous 4 cruises.

 

I loved the old style chicken finger that they had on previous cruises as they were lightly breaded and not heavy at all. The ones they had for today's app were pretty much the same they have on the Lido grill during lunch. They're not bad, just not nearly as good as the other version.

 

 

/quote]

 

Ugh! I saw a picture of the MDR chicken tenders in someone's Freedom review earlier today and was immediately suspicious that they were no longer the lightly breaded ones I've enjoyed for so many years.

 

That poster reported that they tasted good--better than the Lido tenders, but after reading your comments, I suspect they'd never had the lightly breaded ones you and I are referring to.

 

Ugh! Another cutback.

[alreadypacked]

BTW, forgot to say great review! :):)

[ardnassac79]

Hey Chris and Cass! Its been awhile and look at this..you guys went on another cruise! But, I am so sorry to hear of the circumstance. I have a 14-yr old cat, Tom, that I cherish dearly.

 

Cant wait to see more!

 

Hey Deb!! Yeah Chris understandably took it hard.. pets really are cherished loved ones!

 

Wow. I feel like I just finished reading (studying) your Liberty review and here you are on another cruise so soon! Quite jealous (I think we need to move closer to a port. But then I'd never have a job because I'd be cruising all the time).

 

So sad for your loss. We had to put down our dog, Karen, the day before our Oasis OTS cruise last year. She had a tumor. It was a painful time but the cruise helped ease the pain some.

 

(We leave for an RCI Alaska northbound cruise in 18 days so I'm being a bit of a hypocrite about y'all cruising so soon!)

 

Yeah we definitely had a hard time going back to work today (but gotta make more $$ for more cruises! :D) Nice! Have a great time on your Alaska Cruise! Chris's parents took one a few years ago on Princess and absolutely loved it! I'll have to remember to peek into the RCI thread in a month or so if you're gonna do another review!

 

:D:D I have been telling my wife that is what it was for years now!

 

Good to know I am not alone

 

LOL no, you are most certainly not alone! We both thought that the first time we saw it!

[ardnassac79]

Ugh! I saw a picture of the MDR chicken tenders in someone's Freedom review earlier today and was immediately suspicious that they were no longer the lightly breaded ones I've enjoyed for so many years.

 

That poster reported that they tasted good--better than the Lido tenders, but after reading your comments, I suspect they'd never had the lightly breaded ones you and I are referring to.

 

BTW, forgot to say great review! :):)

 

Yeah those lightly breaded ones were excellent! Sadly I think they may be gone forever. :( And thanks!!

[carnivalcruiser10]

I love review!!

 

Have ya wonder on cruise!

[ardnassac79]

I love review!!

 

Have ya wonder on cruise!

 

Hi Taylor! Thanks!!! :D

[ardnassac79]

5/28/12 – Day 2 – Day at Sea

 

 

Monday found us waking up a little after 8 am – Chris wasn’t feeling too well from all the carbonation from his Captains and Dr. Peppers the night before (we usually let them go completely flat for him here at home). I felt unusually motivated for the first morning waking up on a ship and decided to take advantage of it and headed off to the gym. Packed. I can’t run on treadmills on the ship – I’m clumsy enough as it is – trying to run on something stationary while a ship is swaying has “twisted ankle” written all over it. So I waited a few minutes and an elliptical machine opened up. My plan was to do 45 mins on it, but they have them locked to a max of minutes… when 15 minutes passed by, I noticed there were less people there an no one waiting, so I restarted the program for another full 30 mins and got my full workout in. I’ll mention this about the ellipticals on the Pride – they aren’t as nice as the ones on the Liberty – I wasn’t able to access the TV stations from the machine panel, unfortunately. That left me with my iPod and the ocean view, but I suffered through. :p

 

We didn't get any pics of the gym this time, but here's some shots from our previous Pride trips:

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some loungers at the back of the gym for relaxing, or I guess to camp out on for a nap?

 

 

Chris took advantage during that time to hunt out some OJ from the Lido deck and helped himself to an apple from our gift basket. He also took that time to type out notes for the review from Embarkation day on his Kindle Fire. He has an app that was free one day from Amazon which is essentially an MS Office program with Word – he found it extremely useful on both this trip and on the Liberty to be able to type up notes throughout the trip (and it gave him something to do while I was “wasting time” with girlie activities like hair and makeup :rolleyes: )

[Crusin Karen]

Just went back and read your Liberty review. Don't know how I missed it the lst time! We are like you~we live about 20 minutes from our doorstep to Manhattan cruise terminal so have been cruising from here the past few years to keep costs and "aggravation" down. Miracle is going out west next year and Splendor will be replacing her, so we are booked on her and excited to be sailing on a "new ship!" LOVE the pics of Guys Burgers in your Liberty review. Wondering (hoping! :rolleyes:) the Splendor has that dining option. Thanks for sharing another cruise. :)

[Anung Un Rama]

Just went back and read your Liberty review. Don't know how I missed it the lst time! We are like you~we live about 20 minutes from our doorstep to Manhattan cruise terminal so have been cruising from here the past few years to keep costs and "aggravation" down. Miracle is going out west next year and Splendor will be replacing her, so we are booked on her and excited to be sailing on a "new ship!" LOVE the pics of Guys Burgers in your Liberty review. Wondering (hoping! :rolleyes:) the Splendor has that dining option. Thanks for sharing another cruise. :)

 

Trust me, I missed Guy's Burgers from day 1. We got extremely spoiled with the 2.0 upgrades on the Liberty. So many times I just wanted some tacos from Blue Iguana or a burger from Guy's :(. I honestly don't think we'd cruise the Pride again until after the 2.0 upgrade late next year.

[ardnassac79]

I got back to the room, had a banana from the fruit basket for breakfast (we both thoroughly enjoyed having this in the room – we munched on the grapes and almonds all throughout the cruise – made for good healthy snacking instead of a late-night trip to the pizza bar!), and we got ready for the day. We donned our bathing suits, packed up the backpack with tanning essentials, and headed out to scope out our sunning spot. We knew it was probably pointless by this late in the morning, but did a pass-through of Serenity – yeah already packed – mostly people – very few chair hogs as there were also folks in the Serenity pool – so we headed directly to our favorite quiet spot – Deck 11 by the funnel. To get there, you have to go up to deck 10, head towards the funnel, then go inside and up the stairs – there’s a door leading to the another set of open-air stairs that will take you up to this awesome secluded spot.

 

 

On the first sea day, it’s usually deserted – we lucked out and had our own private tanning deck.

 

 

 

 

 

We did get some passer-bys of people out scoping out all the nooks and crannies of the ship, and by the 3rd or 4th day it’s not quite as deserted – but still always a guaranteed spot to get a chair. It also helps that on days when the ship is sailing, there’s quite a good bit of wind – so you stay relatively cool even without a pool. We did invest in some chair clips prior to the cruise this year (do a google search for Boca Beach Towel Clips) and they work great for keeping your towel where it should be!

 

After about an hour and a half, we had each had enough (neither of us are real sun-worshippers – we like to get enough to make it look like we were on vacation – but I burn easily and Chris can only take so much sun). So we headed back down to the room to drop off our stuff and the to the Lido buffet for lunch.

 

We took some random shots of the shops and the areas on decks 2/3 Forward as we were heading back to the room.

 

Stairs by the sports bar and Starry Nights lounge (karaoke and smoker-allowed lounge) on 2 leading up to level 3 where the Piano Bar, Chapel, and Internet Cafe is:

 

 

The coffee bar next to the stairs... we never opted to buy the specialty coffees here, but I was tempted a few times. I'm sure it beats the Lido Deck coffee (which wouldn't be too hard!):

 

 

[Captain Carnival]

Great review (my sense of humor too)!!!

Just curious, how long does it take to go from the Port of Baltimore until you clear the Chesp-Bay Bridge?

[ardnassac79]

Still feeling healthified from my gym session that morning I went to the salad bar and Chris went in the opposite direction to the grill for a cheeseburger. This was the first time I tried the salad bar, and while the veggie selections were great, I was disappointed there was no protein like cold chicken or turkey cubes. This would be a welcome addition! There was a section next to the salad bar with cold cuts of deli turkey and cheese, so I grabbed a few slices of that instead. Met up with Chris who wanted a Funnel Cup, so I got the DOD in a regular cup as well.

 

 

We wandered the ship for a while to kill some more time before our CC Meet and Greet.

 

Hallway on Deck 3 going toward the shops:

 

The Sports Bar (also beside the stairs shown in the previous post):

.

 

 

 

 

Then off to the Ivory Piano Bar at 2pm for our Meet and Greet. We felt bad because Tammy (NYTammy) was apparently not feeling too well and wasn’t able to make it to the M&G. Her husband was there to make sure we were on the list and gave us our wrist bands Tammy got just for the event. It was nice – snacks were laid out (chips and goldfish crackers) and they had a waitress coming around with mixed drinks (similar to what they pass at the Past Guest parties – Rum Punch, Blue Margaritas, and Amaretto Sours). We met a lot of great people that were friends throughout the cruise including Alexis and Ray (JustUs2Finally), Tara and John (tarajs81 & johnws1976), Tonya and Tim (ladytonya), and also caught back up with fellow CC’ers we met the previous day – Karen and Brian (goofydust), Tara and her hubby (never got his name! (taragl), and Jeannie and Connor (lotusbogardi). Unfortunately we didn’t get to introduce ourselves to others there – sorry! The hour went quick, and a few rum punches later we were all getting kicked out for another function.

 

We kicked ourselves later for not getting more photos during the M&G, but here's one of Jeannie, Connor (shout out for Skyrim!), and Tara:

 

 

It was then time for the first of 4 Super Trivia rounds for the week, and some of our fellow M&G’ers came with us to Rapahel’s lounge for the first round.

 

We have previously done Super Trivia on the Liberty, so we knew what to expect… or at least thought we did! This time, instead of 5-6 teams of 6-8 people, the teams were split Men vs. Women for a Battle of the Sexes style game. It made for an interesting twist (and also encouraged newcomers to join throughout the week) but we wondered how it would work out come finals at the last round and the winning prizes. That would make for a lot of champagne and ships on sticks… Chris was nominated the “captain” of the Men’s team and had a lot of fun trying to figure out which answer to give from 8-10 people all giving different suggestions.

 

They unfortunately dominated and the men ended up 31-18 after the first round. Oh well... there was still hope for the ladies with 3 more rounds to go. We stayed for the sports trivia next, where Chris ended up in 3rd place. After getting the “pity” ship on a stick during our last Pride cruise, he really wanted to earn one this time around.

[ardnassac79]

Great review (my sense of humor too)!!!

 

Just curious, how long does it take to go from the Port of Baltimore until you clear the Chesp-Bay Bridge?

 

Thanks!! We think it's roughly about 2 hours from sail away until you reach the Bay Bridge... give or take 15 mins or so.

[ardnassac79]

We then went up to hang out on the Serenity deck before it was time to get ready for Elegant Night (Chris’s favorite).

 

Some more shots of the boat...late afternoons before the first elegant night makes for a deserted Lido Deck:

 

 

We got dressed and took the obligatory "fancy" shots. Chris had a big grudge against the photo ops they have set up all around the ship - he can't stand "posing" for photos - so this is all I have for us all dolled up:

 

 

 

We still look good hehehe.

 

We went to check in for dinner around 6:45 – ahead of us a couple was trying to check in, and we couldn’t help but notice the guy was in shorts and flip flops… and the hostess told him he would have to change… he took his inebriated self off in a huff. Normally we don’t pay much attention to what people wear to dinner, but shorts and adidas filp flop slides for formal night? C’mon – go to the buffet. We then checked in and were given a pager to wait (we had the option to take a shared table, but declined…). We went out to Raphael’s to wait and around 7:15 were paged for a seat. They gave us a seat by the window and we were treated to a lovely sunset that night. It was actually a pretty slow night for service as well – took about 20 minutes to get our order taken, and another 20 to get the appetizers. I’m sure it was busy due to being the first formal night (not to mention Lobster Tail night) but Carnival could really look into expanding the areas and staff they have dedicated to the Anytime Dining – I’m sure it’s’ becoming a much more popular option (we’ve certainly noticed an increase since our first cruise!)

 

 

[ardnassac79]

For the appetizers, I ordered the Pumpkin Soup – one of my favorites on the ship, and didn’t disappoint again this time – and Chris had the Minestrone Soup, which was good.

 

 

 

For the main course, Chris had his favorite BBQ Ribs (again same complaint as always that they should really serve this on a different day!) and I had the Lobster and Shrimp. Chris loved the ribs, same complaint for the corn on the cob - practically inedible... I don't think it's awful, but he doesn't even bother giving it a chance anymore.

 

 

My lobster was much better than I had a few months ago on the Liberty, so I was happy. Shrimp was great, and I love the mashed potates.

 

 

Chris’s Ribs were super-meaty and he was stuffed so he declined dessert. My lobster and shrimp were good, but I still had a little room for dessert, so I ordered the Diet Coconut Cake. I know I can always order double-portions of the lobster, but I was glad I didn’t and saved room – the cake was delish (anyone out there that like coconut should give this a try at least once!).

 

 

As mentioned above, we were treated to a lovely sunset as well:

 

[ardnassac79]

After dinner we headed back to the room to make more drinks and headed to the casino for a little before the first Adult Comedy at 9:45. Mike Macy was the comedian, and he was hilarious. One of the best we’ve seen on Carnival!

 

Then… off to the Piano Bar! We took over the section along the back wall by the piano and had a ton of fun that night (not to mention a ton of adult beverages!) Roger, the Piano Bar singer was great – he’s from the Philippines, and can belt out the tunes just like the best of them (you could close your eyes and swear Elton John was really there).

 

 

He was tons of fun and even let people come up to give it a shot at singing every once in a while. I tried my hand at Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen…. I’ll say it’s a lot harder to sing without having the lyrics scroll across the screen ala Rock Band style. Luckily I was fueled up on enough Carnival Cruisers to not care :o!

 

 

It was a fun night for everyone and we closed the place down. I STILL have "Alice? Who the ..... is Alice?!" in my head!

 

 

We decided we should probably call it a night as well and headed back to bed around 1:30am.

 

This little guy was waiting for us as well:

 

 

We’re gonna take a break for the rest of the night, but we should be back tomorrow for Day 3 and another Day at Sea!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to write and post a review of your cruise. Glad you had a good time, great pictures.

[pomm1972]

After dinner we headed back to the room to make more drinks and headed to the casino for a little before the first Adult Comedy at 9:45. Mike Macy was the comedian, and he was hilarious. One of the best we’ve seen on Carnival!

 

Then… off to the Piano Bar! We took over the section along the back wall by the piano and had a ton of fun that night (not to mention a ton of adult beverages!) Roger, the Piano Bar singer was great – he’s from the Philippines, and can belt out the tunes just like the best of them (you could close your eyes and swear Elton John was really there).

 

 

He was tons of fun and even let people come up to give it a shot at singing every once in a while. I tried my hand at Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen…. I’ll say it’s a lot harder to sing without having the lyrics scroll across the screen ala Rock Band style. Luckily I was fueled up on enough Carnival Cruisers to not care :o!

 

 

It was a fun night for everyone and we closed the place down. I STILL have "Alice? Who the ..... is Alice?!" in my head!

 

 

We decided we should probably call it a night as well and headed back to bed around 1:30am.

 

This little guy was waiting for us as well:

 

 

We’re gonna take a break for the rest of the night, but we should be back tomorrow for Day 3 and another Day at Sea!

 

Great review again guys. So glad you enjoyed the piano bar. I discovered it on a cruise many years ago and we went every night, it was soo much fun. Unfortunately, I haven't had as good an experience since. However, we are in for the piano bars of all piano bars with Ron Pass on the Breeze!

 

I love the Alice song, my favorite Irish pub here in Tampa, Four Green Fields, has an Irish singer who plays this song every time and it never gets old. He also likes to play "sit on my face and tell me that you love me" from Monty Python.

 

Can't wait to read more.

[ardnassac79]

Great review again guys. So glad you enjoyed the piano bar. I discovered it on a cruise many years ago and we went every night, it was soo much fun. Unfortunately, I haven't had as good an experience since. However, we are in for the piano bars of all piano bars with Ron Pass on the Breeze!

 

I love the Alice song, my favorite Irish pub here in Tampa, Four Green Fields, has an Irish singer who plays this song every time and it never gets old. He also likes to play "sit on my face and tell me that you love me" from Monty Python.

 

Can't wait to read more.

 

Hey Pomeee!! Yeah after hearing everyone excited for Ron, we were determined to make sure we checked it out. Unfortunately later in the cruise something happened that kind of turned us off from it for the rest of the trip (no fault of Roger - let's just say people should take advantage of the 2000+ rooms on board, or at least a dark secluded corner) but we'll get to that later on in the review. LOL that other song sounds great. I don't think we heard that one. We got this one called Lucille I think it was? That one had a great chorus line too :p

[Tahmay]

Around 6 Cass wanted to go back to the room to see if her luggage had been delivered. Nope. But there was a letter in our box asking us to come down to customer service........uh-oh!!!

 

 

So Miss Smarty Pants decided to try to smuggle some pocket shots (cleverly rolled into her socks :rolleyes:). We waited for about 5 minutes and they called us into the naughty room. We had used the TSA locks so she had to open up (I guess they don't have TSA keys) and when they asked if we had any liquor, Cass said yes. She pulled out her 6 little bottles and then the person checked our Febreeze :confused:. We got a little worried at that point but then she told us we could close up and go. Cass had 2 bottles of Shambooze filled with Stoli that they didn't even check for :D. We breathed a sigh of relief, unpacked, and headed to dinner (with drinks in hand)

 

Speaking of, time for dinner, but we'll be back.

 

How in the world did they catch the shots in her socks? That kind of scares me cause that's usually where I put my rum runners! :(