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Carnival Pride February 24-March 3

rafinmd

By rafinmd,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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I'm in Baltimore now preparing to board the Pride tomorrow. As I've done with most of my cruises, I'll be providing updates here on a daily basis. I am primarily a narrative person, but will have a companion blog at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com. I cruise a lot, mostly Crystal, Cunard, and HAL, and now desire to cruise more than I can do with them. My last time on Carnival (Fantasy) was my first cruise in 1993, and I've sailed Enchantment of the Seas 3 times out of Baltimore.

 

I'll do my best to answer any questions you have although it may take a little while. I'll also be doing a comparison of the 2 ships after I get back home. For tonight I'm at a local hotel and will spend the evening with the Baltimore Symphony. I'll head for the ship after church tomorrow.

 

Roy

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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Thank you mlbaron, wettoes, cruisebug1970 and samasquatch. I’ve been following the Pride on AIS this morning and it looks like it will arrive just a bit early.

 

With Baltimore Symphony reservations, I had decided to go early and spend the night in Baltimore, rather than travelling on embarkation day. My church mens group meets for breakfast the last Saturday of each month so I left home about 7:30 for the breakfast at the Columbia Mall. I'm hoping to do this entirely on public transportation, and used my local transit system to go from there to BWI airport where I transferred to the Baltimore light rail system into the city. It was about a 4 block walk to my hotel, the Rodeway in, and I arrived late morning. The room was not ready, so I walked and rode to Fort McHenry where I was hoping to watch the Pride come in Sunday morning. It looked iffy that I would be able to get past the gate for a view of the ship at the appropriate time so I abandoned the idea.

 

The Rodeway is near Baltimore's Washington Monument, about a 10 minute walk from the Joseph Myerhoff Symphony Hall. It was somewhat less expensive than the Quality Inn Downtown where I stayed before my Enchantment cruise, but the difference in price was more than justified. The Rodeway seems quite dilapidated, and being on the 4th floor with a 40-pound backpack and no elevator was not much fun. No real problems but a lesson learned.

 

My Pops Concert was "Ashley Brown's Broadway", a nice assortment of Broadway tunes. It ended about 10, and I was in bed about 11:30.

 

As my first parting shot, here's a bit of a carryover from my Enchantment Cruise. The last night I watched the Super Bowl and soon after it wrapped up we passed the Pride on it's way out to sea. When I walked back to the hotel tonight, the Washington Monument was still lit in a beautiful shade of purple. Congratulations Ravens.

 

Roy

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whitecap

whitecap

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I'm in Baltimore now preparing to board the Pride tomorrow. As I've done with most of my cruises, I'll be providing updates here on a daily basis. I am primarily a narrative person, but will have a companion blog at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com. I cruise a lot, mostly Crystal, Cunard, and HAL, and now desire to cruise more than I can do with them. My last time on Carnival (Fantasy) was my first cruise in 1993, and I've sailed Enchantment of the Seas 3 times out of Baltimore.

 

I'll do my best to answer any questions you have although it may take a little while. I'll also be doing a comparison of the 2 ships after I get back home. For tonight I'm at a local hotel and will spend the evening with the Baltimore Symphony. I'll head for the ship after church tomorrow.

 

Roy

 

May will be our first time on the Pride. Can you tell me if she has a Guy's Burger and the Red Frog. I found a couple of post that said no and a couple that said yes.

Thanks

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garyf3

garyf3

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May will be our first time on the Pride. Can you tell me if she has a Guy's Burger and the Red Frog. I found a couple of post that said no and a couple that said yes.

Thanks

 

Sailed the Pride last October, no Guys Burgers or Red Frog on the Pride.

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nutucruise

nutucruise

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I'm in Baltimore now preparing to board the Pride tomorrow. As I've done with most of my cruises, I'll be providing updates here on a daily basis. I am primarily a narrative person, but will have a companion blog at http://getawaysfrom21044.wordpress.com. I cruise a lot, mostly Crystal, Cunard, and HAL, and now desire to cruise more than I can do with them. My last time on Carnival (Fantasy) was my first cruise in 1993, and I've sailed Enchantment of the Seas 3 times out of Baltimore.

 

I'll do my best to answer any questions you have although it may take a little while. I'll also be doing a comparison of the 2 ships after I get back home. For tonight I'm at a local hotel and will spend the evening with the Baltimore Symphony. I'll head for the ship after church tomorrow.

 

Roy

 

 

Roy

 

Hope you have a great time and take care of the Pride for us. Bring her back on time next weekend as we will be getting on after you debark next weekend

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dcj1993

dcj1993

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Just off the pride today. The sushi is offered at a taste bar located just outside the casino near the entrance to the sports bar and at the buffet next to the salad bar. Tried it on the first night. Not bad. Just the same two rolls offered everyday.

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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Just off the pride today. The sushi is offered at a taste bar located just outside the casino near the entrance to the sports bar and at the buffet next to the salad bar. Tried it on the first night. Not bad. Just the same two rolls offered everyday.

 

That's the way it looked to me as well.

 

Roy

sushi.jpg.b74d3eea2a51d07ce7d10000e5d8c339.jpg

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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I get a digest of this thread by email. Once I'm off line, I'll look through the posts and respond as appropriate.

 

When I woke about 6, the Saturday's clouds and drizzle were a thing of the past. I left the hotel about 9:30 and took the Charm City Circulator Purple and Banner busses to Key Highway and Fort Avenue, and walked the remaining half mile to the terminal, It was a real relief to leave my heavy bag with the porters and continue on lightly loaded. The Circulator took me back to the inner harbor and Light Street Presbyterian Church where I was just in time for the 11AM service. After the service ended the Circulator took me back to Fort Avenue for some coffee and wifi at McDonalds, and then on to the ship. When I arrived at the terminal about 1:10 there was a substantial line for security.

 

On local cruises I normally use a NEXUS card for identification, They seem to be unusual in Baltimore and I've occasionally had some problems with security people not knowing what it is. No problems today although the person checking ID before security mentioned that it was only the second one he had seen. The line for security ran about 20 minutes.

 

The lines were all for security, actual checkin was quick. I drew the same clerk as I had a month ago boarding the Enchantment, she thought she remembered me and was sure when she saw the NEXUS card, she said it's the only one she had seen. 10 minutes after clearing security I was on board the Pride.

 

Once aboard it was time to test my preconceptions about the ship. I had heard about the dark colors and thought the decor actually was a bit depressing. I had heard that there was no solarium, and that may be technically true but the Pride is one step better. The center section of the Lido deck has a sliding glass roof, so even if not technically a solarium it has all the advantages of one and presumably will open when the weather cooperates.

 

Serenity looks like it may become one of my favorite spaces on the Pride. I'm not a fan of midship Lido buffets, I prefer the forward view on the Enchantment and also enjoy an aft restaurant with tables at the back. The Mermaid buffet itself seemed to be well laid out with lots of stations serving a good range of styles of food. Maybe I lucked out on the timing but I was impressed with the lack of waiting lines in Mermaid's.

 

I thought I understood that rooms would be available at 2:30 but never heard any indication that they were ready. I was exploring the ship when I looked at my watch and saw 3PM, so I just went down to the room and everything was shipshape, although no sign of my bag.

 

The call for muster drill came about 3:50. It was a bit chilly although the temperature was 56 and it was MUCH warmer than last month on the Enchantment. After the drill I registered for the internet, and saw that the ship was pulling away from the dock. On the way to the Key Bridge I divided my time between Serenity and the highest decks on the ship. We had close encounters as we passed a freighter almost exactly under the Key Bridge. On the way back to my room I noticed that luggage was no longer being delivered and my heart sank as there was no bag in front of my door. Relief came as the bag was right inside my door.

I unpacked for a while and went back on deck as we passed under the Bay Bridge about 6:30 with nice sunset colors. Once the sun went down and we started feeling sea breezes there was a definite chill in the air. Since I'd missed my early seating start I got an entree from Mermaid's and then went down to the Normandie Restaurant to join my tablemates for coffee and desert (Butter Pecan ice cream and a luscious Orange Cake). I am at a table set for 7, we had 2 empty seats and 2 pairs of women.

 

Most of the things so far have either met or exceeded my expectations. One thing that did not was having a round of essentially captive bingo before the welcome aboard, that seemed a bit crass. The show itself included the Carnival Pride Dancers, an audience game and an introduction of one of the comedians. The Master of Ceremonies was Cruise Director Troy Linton. The show ended about 11:30 and I pretty much called it a night.

 

Today's parting shot relates to my life outside of cruising. I work with my local Volunteer Fire Department, and one of my functions there is as liaison to the Scout units we sponsor. As I was standing at my muster station, our Cub Pack was meeting for their annual Blue and Gold dinner. All of these youth have been working to gain experience and maturity over the past year. Some of the older ones will now be transitioning into Boy Scouts. To the youth and leaders of Pack 737 Congratulations and best wishes for the future.

 

Roy

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