Chris and Cassandra's Quickie on the Pride

[Anung Un Rama]

Get your minds out of the gutter people ;). So with Hurricane Sandy wreaking havoc all along the East Coast, the Pride’s 10-28 sailing was cancelled (let me say how sorry I am for all those that had been looking forward to sailing on that cruise). That Sunday we saw that they were going to do a quick 2 day cruise to nowhere the following Friday. Now we’re pretty strapped for vacation days (as you can see by the laundry list of cruises we have booked….yes we are in fact cruise addicts), but we could not pass up a chance to have a nice little weekend getaway on our favorite ship. We had actually just said how it was unfair that there were no short sailings for us up in the north. She immediately called and booked us for an Ocean View. No need for a balcony on this one. We were mid ship port side in room 1180. I was a little worried about not looking at the floor plans knowing that deck 2 is the main deck but we were lucky to be under a little used part of the casino and it was very quiet.

[Anung Un Rama]

After getting pounded with wind and rain for 2 days wondering when the power would go out, we finally realized we had come through it unscathed. Not really sure how/why but we were very fortunate after losing power for 5 days last year due to Irene. The four days flew by :P and before we knew it, we were packing. With it being such a short cruise I knew I could get by with just my normal carry on. Cass on the other hand is a woman (guys you know what I’m talking about), and instead of sleeping on the couch this week I’ll just say she came well prepared. We had a very active roll call for such a short notice cruise and set up an impromptu meet and greet for 2pm Friday.

[cruisecrazy82]

LOVE your reviews!!!! :D

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

[Anung Un Rama]

We left the house around 10:30 and were at the port before 11. Even though this was our 5th time on the Pride, it's still exciting to drive up 95 and see the Whale Tail in the distance. Cass of course had to get a picture as we were pulling up.

 

 

Embarkation was the fastest yet. We had no wait to get through security though they were the most thorough in checking luggage for liquor (probably because it was still really slow). No line to get our room keys and we were on board shortly after 11. Our rooms were ready as soon as we boarded which was great because virtually everyone just brought on carry ons. Same size as every room we've previously had.

 

 

 

We also got our first VIFP pins and a free drink coupon that could be used at breakfast or lunch in the MDR on our sea day.

 

After quickly unpacking we walked the ship a bit and grabbed the day's Fun Times. They had virtually the same slate of activities that they do the normal first day (Cass will scan and post them later).

 

 

We met the new pianist, Sam from England (he's only 19!) and told him we'd see him later that night. We met a couple from our roll call (Mike and Kim) and chatted with them briefly before going to get our first DOD

 

 

[Anung Un Rama]

We had lunch at the Mermaid Grill and just relaxed until it was time to head to Serenity. They had a lot of Halloween stuff that they did not get to use so I had some nanananananananana Bat Cake

 

 

It was chocolate cake with a hint of mint. One of the best pieces of cake I've had on the ship. Cass had some caramel cheesecake that was also delicious!

 

Went back to the room to make a drink and then headed to the meet and greet. It was quite chilly up there but we saw Mary Jo (emjay) who we had cruised with last year. Ended up staying up there until almost 4 while we were waiting for the call to muster. Muster was quick and painless (the shortest that we've had since the Concordia). We were both tired from an early morning and decided on a quick power nap before dinner.

 

Cass watching us sail away

 

[Anung Un Rama]

LOVE your reviews!!!! :D

 

Thank you! This one will be a little different since there won't be a lot of pictures of the ship (I think we have enough of those in the other reviews).

[beachbride91011]

Great review.

[Anung Un Rama]

Walked through the casino on our way to the MDR and it was already packed (a common theme for this entire cruise). It was only about 6:15 and there was no wait for ATD. The menu was the standard menu from a normal Sunday (first day).

 

 

The food was very good but we were more excited for dessert.

 

 

When we were leaving around 7:30, the line was at least 20 people long. ATD can be very hit or miss depending on what time you show up.

[Anung Un Rama]

Headed back to the room to make a drink and get some cash for the casino. The first thing that we noticed was that there was no towel animal....... or so we thought

 

 

Cass convinced me to get a picture with it. At least this monkey couldn't pee on me :o

 

 

It was kind of sad seeing the disembarkation info already but I guess that's the price you pay for a 2 day cruise.

 

A quick photo before heading out for the night

 

[laumicmah]

Ha...posted my review too. We had a long painful embarkation at 2:00 (in April I cruised the Pride and got to port at 11am and had the same long painful embarkation...longer even). We were in that long line for ATD on Friday at 7:30 ish. We got a pager and sat at that bar by the art room.

 

I think I saw your wife last night. Was she in the casino bathroom with a bad case of hiccups? Did you guys get the most out of last night like we did? Usually on the last night we call it a night pretty early as we need to pack and get up early to disembark, but with this 2 day trip we went wild and didn't call it a night until 2am. I am paying for it today though.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

[laumicmah]

Oh yeah...did you happen to go to the family friendly comedy show the 1st night? Got a little crazy in there. The CCL staff handled it really well.

[cruisecrazy82]

Thank you! This one will be a little different since there won't be a lot of pictures of the ship (I think we have enough of those in the other reviews).

 

No worries about the pics, we were the last cruise on the Pride before yours!;) I just love reading the way you guys both write your reviews and you both are always so happy, it's very refreshing!

[agc291]

 

 

We met the new pianist, Sam from England (he's only 19!) and told him we'd see him later that night. We met a couple from our roll call (Mike and Kim) and chatted with them briefly before going to get our first DOD

 

 

 

So jealous. I was SO excited to get some more DOD glasses last week but the Glory didnt have any :( They said since they were going into dry dock 2 weeks later Carnival didnt give them more to add. Same went for stuff for the gift shop that was destination oriented.

[Anung Un Rama]

The first trivia of the cruise was comedy movie so we knew we'd have a shot. I got 25 of 30 but of course someone else got 26 :rolleyes:. Oh well, we went more for the practice for the upcoming Breeze cruise where we really want to win.

 

We didn't last long at the Let It Ride table and headed to the Ivory Piano Bar around 10. It was great to see it packed as you just never know from cruise to cruise. Sam said hi as we walked in and we saw quite a few people from the roll call that we had already met.

 

 

 

The bar was a lot of fun but Sam wasn't feeling well. His voice was obviously going but he hung in there until a little after midnight.

 

There was a deck party this night (yeah, they were really cramming a lot into these 2 days).We decided to skip the deck party and go up the the Mexican buffet to help absorb the booze that we had had a little too much of. It was all really good and we called it a night around 1.

 

For some reason the ship was changing it's clock back Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. Not sure why but it gave us an extra hour of much needed sleep.

[LHP]

Great review...see y'all on the Breeze!!

[jobell]

Welcome back! Enjoying your review and glad you guys had a nice little getaway. :)

[retiredgram]

Enjoying your review.

[Steve8]

Hey guys, another great review! We had a blast on the cruise and a great time last night. Or maybe I should say this morning.

[ardnassac79]

Ha...posted my review too. We had a long painful embarkation at 2:00 (in April I cruised the Pride and got to port at 11am and had the same long painful embarkation...longer even). We were in that long line for ATD on Friday at 7:30 ish. We got a pager and sat at that bar by the art room.

 

I think I saw your wife last night. Was she in the casino bathroom with a bad case of hiccups? Did you guys get the most out of last night like we did? Usually on the last night we call it a night pretty early as we need to pack and get up early to disembark, but with this 2 day trip we went wild and didn't call it a night until 2am. I am paying for it today though.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

 

Oh yeah...did you happen to go to the family friendly comedy show the 1st night? Got a little crazy in there. The CCL staff handled it really well.

 

 

Haha yeah that was me in the bathroom by the casino trying ridiculous ways to get rid of those hiccups! I think I was laughing too hard! :o

 

We missed all the comedy on this little getaway - sounds like we may have missed something! :eek:

[ardnassac79]

Great review...see y'all on the Breeze!!

 

Thank you! Only a few more days now!

 

Welcome back! Enjoying your review and glad you guys had a nice little getaway. :)

 

Thank you!

[ardnassac79]

So jealous. I was SO excited to get some more DOD glasses last week but the Glory didnt have any :( They said since they were going into dry dock 2 weeks later Carnival didnt give them more to add. Same went for stuff for the gift shop that was destination oriented.

 

That stinks! I guess it makes sense but bummer on not getting the glasses.

 

Enjoying your review.

 

Hey there! Thank you!

[ardnassac79]

Hey guys, another great review! We had a blast on the cruise and a great time last night. Or maybe I should say this morning.

 

Hey Steve!! OMG we had a ball last night - so much fun! Glad I remembered to set my alarm because that wake up call came way too quick this morning!:o Say Hi to Cindy for us! Tell her I'm still laughing over our attempts to cure my hiccups LOL.

[Steve8]

Hey Steve!! OMG we had a ball last night - so much fun! Glad I remembered to set my alarm because that wake up call came way too quick this morning!:o Say Hi to Cindy for us! Tell her I'm still laughing over our attempts to cure my hiccups LOL.

 

She is still laughing about that too. With all your upcoming cruises I see a few more visits to the craps table coming for both of you. We probably stayed there another hour after you left last night. Cindy was rolling for a long time and then other people started asking her to roll for them.

[ardnassac79]

Ok well I had a whole post typed out and hit backspace and it cleared everything...

 

Basically was just going to say they did a good job trying to pack a lot of activities into these 2 days, but I'll just let the Fun Times speak for themselves...