Pride September 9-16 ~ Our First Carnival Cruise

[Silent Penguin]

It's been five days since we returned from our first Carnival cruise. I've been dying to tell someone how much fun it was, but for the most part, everyone around here is so busy that once we get passed the perfunctory, "how was your cruise?" to which we answer, "It was great!", the subject changes. What's with that? Isn't a blow by blow account of what we did, saw, and ate just as enthralling to listen to as it is for us to tell it?

Apparently not, so thank goodness for the Carnival board on Cruise Critic, the only place on earth where people want to hear how someone's cruise went and actually ask to see the pictures. So, if you're ready to hear another first-time Carnival cruiser give a trip report keep reading.

 

 

 

Day One

Morning -Leaving our worries behind – The in-laws arrived to stayed at our house to look after our kids while we were away. Our children are 17, 15, and 11. It was to be light duty for the grandparents since the kids were busy with school most of the time and had a duty roster listing which kid was to cook, do the dishes, and complete the other household chores on any given day.

 

 

 

Afternoon – Embarkment – Easiest ever

 

 

 

This was our first cruise that didn't involve a car trek from Maryland to Florida before hitting the departure port. We left the house at 11:30 and were on the ship by 1:30.

• Drive time 1 hr. 15 minutes.
  

• Other 45 minutes – time it took us to: turn the car keys over to oldest DS so he could take the car home, give our bags to the porter, walk through the security check, make our way through the check-in procedure, sit in the waiting area until called to board, stand in line for the security picture taking and finally head to the ship's gangway. I won't lie and say the lines were short. At that time of the day, none of them were, but even though the line to check in was as long as it could possibly could have been and not spill past the roped area, it moved quickly!
  

• The Port personnel – I've read mixed reviews. Some say they're nice, some say they're unpleasant. In our limited experience, they were helpful, mannerly and friendly.... until someone broke the rules. They were all business and brusqueness when a passenger several feet from the front of the line tried to stroll past the security checkpoint, when a women started snapping pictures in the check-in line, and when one traveling group started getting vocally irate when they thought another traveling group had “butted” the line.
  

 

 

Afternoon – Before the Safety Drill

• Mini-tour of the Pride – Wow, this ship is beautiful, much more attractive than the Disney ships, and so clean! One thing, on the Disney ships, people play the game of counting all the hidden Mickeys in the décor. I think the Carnival Pride version is counting all the pairs of naked breasts. I'm no prude, but I found the glass sculptures in the stairwells more aesthetically appealing.

  
   
   
   
  

• Lunch – Thank you Cruise Critic members for preparing us to be underwhelmed by the food on the buffet. Dh's pizza – meh. My Chinese – bleh! On the other hand, the fresh fruit, especially the melons, was fantastic! The Caesar salad was good, too. I took pictures of our food, but I'm guessing a picture of a piece of pizza or a bowl of cut melon is about as interesting as a photo of my Colgate toothbrush with or without toothbrush on it.

  
  

• Checking out our balcony stateroom - Wow, this was room was perfect! It was slightly smaller than a Disney balcony stateroom but the bed was right next to the balcony door where I like it. Also, the twin closets and ample storage space and lighting tip the scales in favor of Carnival. While the bathroom doesn't have an attractive frosted glass enclosed shower like the Pearl or a split bathroom like those on DCL ships, the offset faucet in the sink and plentitude of shelves makes up for it. Although I expected it, nothing was stained, threadbare, skuffed, or chipped. I found the lighting and interior decorating choices soothing and the furniture comfortable. As soon as I get a handle on how to post pictures that aren't so huge, I edit in some photos of our room while it was freshly cleaned and empty of our luggage.

  
  

 

Afternoon – 3:30pm - safety drill. It was no different than any other we've attended in that the 15 minutes seemed like 45 as we stood motionless, bored, and baking waiting for the latecomers to finally arrive. At least we didn't have to wear our life vests during that interminable quarter of an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening – 6pm Dinner. Cruise Critic expectations : a limited menu, so-so food, good service, and tablemates who could be, based on the many threads about tablemates, anything from rude, crazy, interesting, forgettable or our new best friends. Here's how it went.

• Limited menu – I agree.

  
  

• So-so food – If you average a lackluster salad, a horrible entree and a delicious dessert, the result is a score of “so-so”. Dh and I both chose the pot roast. Weirdly rubbery yet slimy and bathed in a salty gravy. I couldn't finish it. At least that left me with room for a melting chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Like they say, it's not how you begin, but how you end. Great ending!

  
  

• The service -excellent! Our serving team included Ferdinand, Innocente, and someone whose name I forget.

  
  

• Our table mates....never showed. Dh and I had a table for four to ourselves. We sat side-by-side contentedly talking to each other or watching the couples and families all around us enjoying their first dinner at sea.

  
  

 

 

 

Evening Entertainment . If you made it this far, you are now 95% finished reading about our first day. Try as we might, dh and I were too tired to do much after dinner. Not wanting to go to bed on a full stomach, we did the following.

• watched the 9:00 show in the Taj Majal. (A lovely, sparkling spectacle of a place. Unfortunately, none of my photos capture its enchantment.) The show was Game Show Mania. It was pretty good. We laughed. If I remember correctly, it was family-friendly. Dh finished a beer, but I left most of my Mudslide untouched. It looked like it should be delicious but it tasted like the candy wax lips I would buy when I was a little girl.

  
  

• Took a stroll on the upper decks, snapped a bunch of pictures and played a fun but futile game of miniature golf before returning to our room for sleep in our comfy white cloud of a bed.

  
  

The end of Day One

[Charxu]

Thank you for doing a pride review. I have been on her sister ship the legend and plan on the pride for May 2013. We are recently off the fascination and prefer the spirit class ships so I am really looking forward to hearing more about your cruise.

[amillard222]

Yay! A pride review. We will be taking our 3rd cruise 2nd on the Pride in February. Can't wait for more pictures

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying the review, looking forward to the rest of the story. Thanks for taking the time to write and post it.

[vivavegas]

Looking forward to reading more of your review. Thanks for sharing!:)

[chipq]

Anxiously waiting for the rest of the cruise, thanks for sharing.

 

 

http://luv2cruise.blogspot.com

[acallahan]

Can't wait to hear more. We will be on the pride in 70 days

[Room Service!]

I'm enjoying it too! :)

 

acallahan - Got ya' beat! Only 35 to go ! :)

[lnm6170]

good review .. WE only have 16 days till we board the pride :):):) woohooo

[sparks1093]

22 days and can't wait, great review so far. Quick question, what was your cabin number location?

[simba_o]

Thanks for posting your day 1 review. I am looking forward to hear about the rest of your trip. We board the pride in 8 day! :)

[PhightingPhillies]

Great first day.... we leave on the Dec 30th new years crusie and it is our first carnival compared to loads of celebrity and rccl..... hope to see more pride pictures love the room pics as we have a balcony room booked also. cant wait to hear what the rest of the experience was for another first timer to carnival

[Paratina]

28 more days for us. First time on Pride. Thanks for taking the time to write a review - looking forward to the rest!

[Silent Penguin]

22 days and can't wait, great review so far. Quick question, what was your cabin number location?

 

 

We were in 8126. That's forward port side.

[Silent Penguin]

Thank you for the encouragement to continue. Settling down to write is difficult tonight. The stink bugs have returned, and I find the drone of their buzzing wings very distracting. Maybe, dipping into one of the 12 bottles of duty-free liquor we bought would help?

 

 

Day Two – First At Sea Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

Morning – How Early is Early Enough?

• Sleeping In. Like most anyone who's spent her entire life waking up early for school, work, or kids, my mind wanted to sleep in late, but my body wouldn't let it. By 7:30am, my sneaker-shod feet were taking me past the handful of smokers on aft side of deck 9 to jogging track on deck 10.
  

• Walking a mile in my own shoes. Deck 10 at this time of the morning is empty except for the stacked loungers and the handful of walkers & joggers who, out of guilt or habit, are awake and exercising first thing in the morning. As I passed the stacks of loungers, I counted them. There are roughly 400 lounge chairs on deck 10. After a mile, I'm bored, my back hurts (the bed wasn't as cloud-like as it seemed), and I'm hungry.
  

• Breakfast. Dh joins me up at the Mermaid Grille. I choose oatmeal, a breakfast burrito, potatoes and mushrooms. I also have coffee on my tray for both of us. Dh comes to the table with a breakfast burrito, an omelet, a couple pieces of each of the breakfast meats, a bowl of melon chunks and a cup of mango juice. By now it's about 8:00am. There is virtually no lines at the buffet and plenty of open seats.
  
• 
  
  • Expections: I will enjoy my selections but the hot food will be slightly warm to cold, we will hate the coffee, Dh will have waited ages in line for the omelet (possibly due to someone butting the line or ordering for their whole family), the breakfast meats will be greasy and cold, the melon will be delicious.
    
  • Our experience: We enjoyed the eggs, potatoes and mushrooms, we both HATED the coffee, dh didn't not have to stand in a line, the breakfast meats were greasy, cold and not worth finishing after a couple bites, the melon was delicious.
    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, no places to go, no people to see. Being the boring people that we are, dh and I decide we would rather lay around and read than participate in the many activities listed in the Fun Times. Dh prefers to do his sitting and reading on our balcony, but I prefer the deck 10. Since the morning was not particularly sunny or hot, and dh is the world's best husband, he agreed to go with me to the sundeck.

• 9:30am – We have our pick of deck chairs. On all the decks, they're mostly empty – no people, no towels, no flip flops, no paperback books.
  
• 10:00am – Most of the deck chairs are still empty. A couple deposits their towels on chairs near us and leaves.
  
• 10:30am – Our first sighting of the chair hog “police”. Here's a picture.
  

• 11:30am – Fun in the sun is in full swing! There are a few single, empty chairs here and there. One of them is next to me and the other is next dh. A couple of ladies walk by us obviously trying to find two together, so I tell them we'll scoot down. It was unsettling to me how shocked and appreciative they were. I guess courtesy is not commonly practiced where they live?
  

• Lunch - at noon we give up our prime real estate on deck 10 to a young couple who are thrilled to be in the right place at the right time to go get lunch.
  
  • Lines – yes, of course. But, the wait wasn't long. No stateroom bathrobes or bare hairy chest sightings yet.
    
  • The food - another so-so meal. Tomato & ginger soup and a reuben sandwich for dh and another shot at the Chinese food for me and a salad. Dh's soup was salty and spicy but not flavorful. The reuben was bland. My salad was fine. You can't mess up salad. I didn't like the bleu cheese dressing. I'm pretty sure if I tasted it blindfolded, I wouldn't know what kind of dressing it was supposed to be. Personally, I prefer Gorgonzola or bleu cheese crumbles on my salad, but neither was available. Once again, I found the Chinese food way too salty. To boot, it was barely warm. I didn't finish it but had an ice cream cone instead. Again, it's not how you begin, but how you end.
    

• Afternoon – Going our separate ways - Once again, dh and I opt for our own version of fun over what's offered in the Fun Times. Everything listed was something we ordinarily would enjoy, but for some reason, on this cruise, we just wanted to chill. So, dh stayed in the room to read and take a nap while I grabbed my Scrabble game and Scrabble dictionary and headed for the card room hoping for a pick-up game of Scrabble.
  

 

 

 

• finding good coffee- I hung around the vicinity of the card room for a half-hour or so, but I had no takers, so I packed up my game and dictionary and went to nearby Piazza Cafe for a coffee. I read that this place had god coffee. They do. The barista was manic about me not taking the little pitcher of cream away from the counter, but since I read Cruise Confidential, I know it's very possible she wasn't lying when she begged me to not take the pitcher away from the counter because it was the only one she had.
  

• Finding Scrabble buddies – I took my coffee to the nearby seating area where I had an agreeable time conversing with an older couple about the good coffee, where we all from, and other cruise-type chitchat. Then, I decided to try the card room one more time. There I encountered a couple playing a game with letter tiles that was not Scrabble, but I figured if they like word games, they probably play Scrabble. So, I asked them if they would like to play Scrabble. It turns out they were waiting for the couple they were traveling with to play Scrabble, but they invited me to stay and play Bananagrams, which I had never played before, with them. I spent the rest of the afternoon playing Banagrams and Scrabble with my new friends. In my book, this is the perfect at-sea afternoon.
  

• Dinner – The perfect meal follows a perfect afternoon - It was elegant night, so Dh and I put on our dress-up clothes and headed to dinner both hoping and not hoping our table companions would show up this time.
  
  • food – finally, a good dinner! I ordered the steak and lobster. Dh ordered the lobster ravioli. For dessert, we ordered the melting chocolate cake with ice cream and cappuccino. The lobster was cooked perfectly, and so was the steak. I think the cappuccino was good, but I'm not connoisseur of cappuccino.
    
  • tablemates – Again, they didn't show. During dinner, we asked our server if we actually had tablemates. He reported back, yes, we do. The waiter must have told the maitre d we asked about them, because during dessert the maitre d came over to talk to us. I think he wanted to ascertain whether were happy or unhappy with the situation. We told him we were enjoying ourselves and it was unexpectedly relaxing to not have to be sociable.
    

• Evening entertainment
  

• early comedy show – You would think we would know better than to show up for the 7:30 comedy show at 7:15 and expect to find a seat. Surprise, we did! The room looked full at first, but we found seats in the back of the room. The second comedian, Rob Little, was very funny. We intended to return for his adult show, but we were too sleepy by then.
  

 

 

 

• Vroom - a music and dance revue (?) of popular performers of the different decades. Dh and I hadn't planned on watching this show, but we happened to be walking by the Taj Majal and heard the music, so we strolled in to give it a look. We were drawn in right away by the spectacular stage setting and the flashy costumes on the dancers. Since the singers were pretty good, we stayed. Certain songs, the male singer shouldn't have been attempting, and having female dancers dressed like the members of Kiss and even better, Michael Jackson, is just wrong. But, it was also too funny. I'm glad we stayed.

  
  

Too tired for more “Fun”, dh and I were back in our room and in bed by 11pm.

 

 

 

End of Day 2

[alreadypacked]

 

 

 

Day One

Morning -Leaving our worries behind – The in-laws arrived to stayed at our house to look after our kids while we were away. Our children are 17, 15, and 11. It was to be light duty for the grandparents since the kids were busy with school most of the time and had a duty roster listing which kid was to cook, do the dishes, and complete the other household chores on any given day.

 

 

 

Afternoon – Embarkment – Easiest ever

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our first cruise that didn't involve a car trek from Maryland to Florida before hitting the departure port. We left the house at 11:30 and were on the ship by 1:30.

• Drive time 1 hr. 15 minutes.
  

• Other 45 minutes – time it took us to: turn the car keys over to oldest DS so he could take the car home, give our bags to the porter, walk through the security check, make our way through the check-in procedure, sit in the waiting area until called to board, stand in line for the security picture taking and finally head to the ship's gangway. I won't lie and say the lines were short. At that time of the day, none of them were, but even though the line to check in was as long as it could possibly could have been and not spill past the roped area, it moved quickly!
  

• The Port personnel – I've read mixed reviews. Some say they're nice, some say they're unpleasant. In our limited experience, they were helpful, mannerly and friendly.... until someone broke the rules. They were all business and brusqueness when a passenger several feet from the front of the line tried to stroll past the security checkpoint, when a women started snapping pictures in the check-in line, and when one traveling group started getting vocally irate when they thought another traveling group had “butted” the line.
  

 

 

Afternoon – Before the Safety Drill

• Mini-tour of the Pride – Wow, this ship is beautiful, much more attractive than the Disney ships, and so clean! One thing, on the Disney ships, people play the game of counting all the hidden Mickeys in the décor. I think the Carnival Pride version is counting all the pairs of naked breasts. I'm no prude, but I found the glass sculptures in the stairwells more aesthetically appealing.

  
   
   
   
   
   
   
  

• Lunch – Thank you Cruise Critic members for preparing us to be underwhelmed by the food on the buffet. Dh's pizza – meh. My Chinese – bleh! On the other hand, the fresh fruit, especially the melons, was fantastic! The Caesar salad was good, too. I took pictures of our food, but I'm guessing a picture of a piece of pizza or a bowl of cut melon is about as interesting as a photo of my Colgate toothbrush with or without toothbrush on it.
  

• Checking out our balcony stateroom - Wow, this was room was perfect! It was slightly smaller than a Disney balcony stateroom but the bed was right next to the balcony door where I like it. Also, the twin closets and ample storage space and lighting tip the scales in favor of Carnival. While the bathroom doesn't have an attractive frosted glass enclosed shower like the Pearl or a split bathroom like those on DCL ships, the offset faucet in the sink and plentitude of shelves makes up for it. Although I expected it, nothing was stained, threadbare, skuffed, or chipped. I found the lighting and interior decorating choices soothing and the furniture comfortable. As soon as I get a handle on how to post pictures that aren't so huge, I edit in some photos of our room while it was freshly cleaned and empty of our luggage.

  
  

 

 

Afternoon – 3:30pm - safety drill. It was no different than any other we've attended in that the 15 minutes seemed like 45 as we stood motionless, bored, and baking waiting for the latecomers to finally arrive. At least we didn't have to wear our life vests during that interminable quarter of an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Evening – 6pm Dinner. Cruise Critic expectations : a limited menu, so-so food, good service, and tablemates who could be, based on the many threads about tablemates, anything from rude, crazy, interesting, forgettable or our new best friends. Here's how it went.

• Limited menu – I agree.

  
  

• So-so food – If you average a lackluster salad, a horrible entree and a delicious dessert, the result is a score of “so-so”. Dh and I both chose the pot roast. Weirdly rubbery yet slimy and bathed in a salty gravy. I couldn't finish it. At least that left me with room for a melting chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Like they say, it's not how you begin, but how you end. Great ending!

  
  

• The service -excellent! Our serving team included Ferdinand, Innocente, and someone whose name I forget.

  
  

• Our table mates....never showed. Dh and I had a table for four to ourselves. We sat side-by-side contentedly talking to each other or watching the couples and families all around us enjoying their first dinner at sea.

  
  

 

 

 

Evening Entertainment . If you made it this far, you are now 95% finished reading about our first day. Try as we might, dh and I were too tired to do much after dinner. Not wanting to go to bed on a full stomach, we did the following.

• watched the 9:00 show in the Taj Majal. (A lovely, sparkling spectacle of a place. Unfortunately, none of my photos capture its enchantment.) The show was Game Show Mania. It was pretty good. We laughed. If I remember correctly, it was family-friendly. Dh finished a beer, but I left most of my Mudslide untouched. It looked like it should be delicious but it tasted like the candy wax lips I would buy when I was a little girl.

  
  

• Took a stroll on the upper decks, snapped a bunch of pictures and played a fun but futile game of miniature golf before returning to our room for sleep in our comfy white cloud of a bed.

  
  

The end of Day One

 

 

 

Great start to the review and thanks for posting!

 

The first night's show was "Game Show Mania"? Was there no "Welcome Aboard Show"?

[Bashlin]

Awesome review!

 

The food on the ship will keep you alive.. Not sure why some people believe it should win awards vs best restaurants.

 

Having kids the same ages as you, know how good this vacation had to be for you both ;)

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[Silent Penguin]

Great start to the review and thanks for posting!

 

 

 

The first night's show was "Game Show Mania"? Was there no "Welcome Aboard Show"?

 

 

Yes, the Welcome Aboard Show was after the Game Show Mania.

[Silent Penguin]

 

The food on the ship will keep you alive

 

 

I'm not sure what a steady diet of the Chinese food would do to a person's life expectancy, though.

 

 

Having kids the same ages as you, know how good this vacation had to be for you both ;)

 

 

 

LOL, never a dull moment, is there? I never thought about it, but when dh and I cruise without the kids, we really are taking a vacation from them. Did I just say that?

[erewhon]

Enjoying reading your review.

Thank you.

[funinthesun1964]

I'm really enjoying this review. Anxiously waiting for the remainder of the trip!

 

We may consider leaving via Baltimore at some point; it would be about a six-hour drive for us.

 

Anyway, keep up the good work. I know you're busy; but please don't keep me waiting too long!!!

[jules815]

I'm not sure what a steady diet of the Chinese food would do to a person's life expectancy, though.

 

 

 

 

LOL, never a dull moment, is there? I never thought about it, but when dh and I cruise without the kids, we really are taking a vacation from them. Did I just say that?

 

I'm enjoying your review. And nothing wrong at all about taking a break from the kids! :D

[stargate fan]

Scrolled down, expected to see page 2. Silent Penguin, where are you?!?!

 

We sail Pride in two short weeks!

[sparks1093]

Scrolled down, expected to see page 2. Silent Penguin, where are you?!?!

 

We sail Pride in two short weeks!

 

Don't trip coming down the gangway when you disembark, I don't plan on slowing down;).

[katti michele]

Great review so far! Just wanted to say we were on the Conquest the week before you and Rob Little was on our cruise. He was HILARIOUS. Never got a chance to see his all-ages show, but his adult shows were a trip. We got a chance to hang out with him before he got off our boat onto the Pride and he was one of the nicest guys ever.