Complete Power Failure: Carnival Pride March 23-30, 2014 w/Pictures

[kybluecruiser]

The issue I see with this ship, is that Carnival had it scheduled for drydock this past february to update this ship. However, because they were leaving Baltimore in Oct of this year, they pushed back the drydock date. If they had kept the original schedule maybe none of these issues would have happened, as their original determination was the ship needed the work in february. However, they pushed the envelope and decided to put the drydock off. Now its coming back to bite them.

 

Really? Do you even know what consist in an average dry dock?

[chengkp75]

The issue I see with this ship, is that Carnival had it scheduled for drydock this past february to update this ship. However, because they were leaving Baltimore in Oct of this year, they pushed back the drydock date. If they had kept the original schedule maybe none of these issues would have happened, as their original determination was the ship needed the work in february. However, they pushed the envelope and decided to put the drydock off. Now its coming back to bite them.

 

Well, lets see. The Pride was last drydocked in 2010, so she is not required to drydock again until 2015. The fact that she was originally scheduled for upgrading in 2013, and then pushed back to 2014, means nothing when talking about mechanical issues. The 2.0 upgrades is a business decision, and could be accomplished without drydocking, just a period at a shipyard. The company would take the opportunity to do some maintenance work at this time, just because the time is available, but most of the major maintenance of electrical systems and propulsion systems is done every 5 years, per the manufacturers' recommendations. Many cruisers confuse amenity upgrades and refurbishments with mechanical repairs during these times out of service, but I would not say that pushing this drydock date back had any significant causative effect on the failure of the electrical system for an azipod.

[EZ4]

Really? Do you even know what consist in an average dry dock?

 

Do you? Because, you know, none are ever exactly the same. Even on the same ship from one drydock period to another. :p

Edited April 6, 2014 by EZ4

[BattyL]

 

Also, I bought FTTF for the 4/27 sailing (first cruise in 20 years, so wanted to be on ship as early as possible) - based on what I am reading, I am starting to wonder if it was a good idea, since it seems Pride is embarking later and lare

 

I bought it for that cruise also and was wondering the same thing. Don't want to hurry anybody off the ship, but I just can't wait! :) lol. Looking forward to reading more of your review.

Edited April 6, 2014 by BattyL

[Breadman54]

i am very familiar with baltimore and recently retired from the baltimore city police department. as far as the HIE stadiums hotel it is fine for doing what you are doing park and cruise. especially if the lot is secured inside a fenced area. if it wasn't fenced in i might think twice about it. as far as walking to the inner harbor as a solo female don't attempt it, take a cab. you are really not close enough to walk safely to anything. the hotel is located on russell st which at that location is pretty much a highway. once you get through the light it turns into 295 a highway connecting baltimore and D.C. between the hotel and the inner harbor there are stretches of isolated roads that are between and through some tough neighborhoods. you don't want to get confused and lost in the wrong area. everywhere you want to go is probably a 10 minute cab ride. but a sketchy long 45-60 minute walk. just research ahead of where you want to go and take a cab. closest bar area is federal hill. you also have power plant live in downtown baltimore which is a location with numerous bars within an area that is grouped together. a longer cab ride would be canton square which is the go to area these days for young adults 25-35yrs. and also fells point which is like canton but not as popular now. and of course the actual inner harbor pavilion. all these locations you should not have a problem catching a cab back. just be aware of your surroundings even the actual inner harbor has had its share of problems with groups of kids causing havoc especially on weekends(i assume you are staying on a saturday since carnival cruises on sundays out of baltimore) i will be cruising on the pride apr 13 and can't wait.

Great info, Splintz!!! Any problems with Best Western on O'Donnell? That is where I will be staying for my Pride cruise on 5/4.

[itsrikkig]

Welcome to our cruise review. This was my 8th Carnival cruise and my first during the Spring Break season. It was also the first cruise for my girlfriend, who can only cruise during school breaks as she is a school teacher.

 

We chose this particular cruise because of the close proximity of the Port of Baltimore (a 7-hour drive for us) and the ease of getting in and out of Baltimore vs. trying to park in New York. We had originally planned on cruising out of Florida, but with it being Spring Break season in Ohio, airfare was in excess of $500 per person to all of the ports in Florida, as well as to Texas or New Orleans. By process of elimination, we chose the Carnival Pride 7-night sailing to Port Canaveral, Nassau, and Freeport.

 

Before I go any further, I will address the title of this thread. Yes, the Carnival Pride did experience a "complete power and propulsion failure" early in the morning of Monday, March 24 while sailing South off the East Coast of the United States. The ship lost all power, including lighting, elevators, toilets, and propulsion for approximately two hours between 9:00am and 11:00am ships time. I will go into more detail later, but the Captain and Cruise Director did a great job of keeping us updated on the situation, with announcements every 10-15 minutes. By 11:00am, some ships systems were restored, starting with elevators and toilets, and then lighting and propulsion.

 

It is important to note that since the Carnival Triumph incident in February 2013, the Carnival Pride, and I believe all Carnival ships have been equipped with emergency backup generators that can power major hotel systems (toilets, elevators, etc.), as well as reduced speed propulsion to get the ship back to port in the event that the ship loses all main power. The Pride does indeed have one of these generators and while it was available and working (they conducted their normal weekly test of the emergency generator system on Wednesday when we arrived in Port Canaveral), they were able to get the main generators running again before it became necessary to use the emergency generator. It was just nice to know that it was available if we needed it.

 

Here is a picture of the emergency generator installed on the Pride. Newer ships, including the Carnival Breeze, have a secondary generator room installed below decks with fully redundant power systems, but all of the older ships in Carnival's fleet have received these deck-mounted emergency generators until they can have a more permanent system installed.

 

 

I have over 400 photos to sort through and plenty of notes from our trip, and look forward to sharing our full review of the trip over the next few days.

 

we were on the cruise after this one

Edited April 6, 2014 by itsrikkig

[lar42]

We were on the cruise before this and had no issues. It was a little rough the day we left thanks to a snowstorm but otherwise a smooth trip once we headed south.

[kybluecruiser]

Do you? Because, you know, none are ever exactly the same. Even on the same ship from one drydock period to another. :p

 

How do you know?

[splintz]

Great info, Splintz!!! Any problems with Best Western on O'Donnell? That is where I will be staying for my Pride cruise on 5/4.

the best western on o'donnell st is part of the travel plaza(24hr truck stop) it used to be the greyhound bus terminal also but i think best western kicked greyhound out of the complex to make the hotel bigger. i want to say the truck stop is across the street and not attached to the hotel. as far as wondering i don't think there is anywhere to walk too because it is off 95. if they offer park and cruise they should have some kind of extra security for the lot. the hotel should be fine the only thing that i would worry about would be my car getting broken into but that could happen at any hotel anywhere no matter if your in a city or nice suburbs. but you are very close to the port the shuttle should be very short.

[NCTribeFan]

OK, I apologize for dragging the thread semi-off-topic with my comments about the hotel.

 

But maybe an already-existing thread about Pride (I know there are already a couple) and the electrical issues, or the one about the back-up generators, would be a better place for the drydock argument. ;)

 

OP, sorry. Please continue!!!

[ItsAllAboutTheSass]

March 22, 2014 - Pre-Cruise in Baltimore

We departed Ohio on Saturday, March 22 and drove to Baltimore via I-70 and I-68 through West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. I-70 is more direct, but the tolls in Pennsylvania are outrageous and the road was in very poor condition during my last trip to Washington D.C. in 2011. Taking I-68 avoids most of the tolls and only adds 20 minutes to the trip.

 

The weather for our trip to Baltimore on Saturday was partly sunny and in the 50's, making for an enjoyable drive. We left in the late morning and made a few stops along the way, arriving in Baltimore around 7:00 local time.

 

I reserved the Park and Cruise package at the Holiday Inn Express Baltimore at the Stadiums based upon reviews here and on TripAdvisor. The hotel was about $20 more expensive than the other park-and-cruise hotels in the area, but it is also 5 miles closer to the port than most of the other hotels offering the package.

 

 

The hotel isn't in the best neighborhood, but it does have a fully gated and fenced parking lot and security in the lobby. The hotel itself is very nice for a Holiday Inn Express and met or exceeded my expectations. Check-in was a breeze (less than 90 seconds from counter to elevator), and the room itself was clean and appeared relatively new.

 

The only cons to this hotel are the tiny outdoor pool (still closed during our stay), which is located essentially in the middle of the parking lot, and the construction currently going on across the street for the new casino. My understanding is that work starts very early during the week, and the hotel has signs about noise kits and two free sets of ear plugs in every room. At least they are trying to provide some relief and acknowledging the temporary noise problem from the construction next door.

 

Upon check-in, the front desk staff had us select a time slot and reserve our seats on the shuttle to the Cruise Maryland port for the next day. Earlier in the week Carnival sent out an email and automated phone call letting us know that boarding would be delayed until 3:00pm to 5:00pm due to "systems testing". I called the hotel in advance and asked how late the shuttles ran and explained the notice. The person that answered the phone told me that this was normal and they do it every week to try to spread out the crowd and we could still get to the port early and they would let us on the ship by lunch time. She went on to state that the shuttles would run at their regularly scheduled times between 10:00am and 12:30pm and that the last shuttle we could take would leave the hotel at 12:30pm.

 

Upon arrival at the hotel, the shuttle story had changed and the hotel had pushed back the shuttle reservation times to between 2:00pm and 4:00pm. The earlier shuttles were already filled, so we selected the 3:30pm shuttle. They also informed us that since we had the park-and-cruise package, we had automatically received a free late checkout time of 3:00pm so we could sleep in and relax in our room until it was time to go to the port. We were very happy with this service.

 

Around 1:30 on Sunday afternoon, we received a call letting us know that the shuttles were running ahead of schedule and we could come down any time we wanted and they would have shuttles running every 30 minutes for us. We wanted to have lunch before heading to the port, so we opted to wait until 3:00 to check out of the room and head down to the shuttle. By the time we got to the lobby, they informed us that we were the last two waiting to go to the port and they would take us as soon as the shuttle came back around. We only waited about 10 minutes for the shuttle to return and were on our way to the port even before our 3:30 scheduled time. We were the only two on the shuttle!

 

The trip to the port was quick and we were unloading our luggage and headed to security less than 10 minutes after we left the hotel.

 

Up next: Embarkation

 

Glad to hear this hotel seems to have gotten better since out stay there a few years ago. We had a prostitution bust and drug raid in the same night.

[EZ4]

How do you know?

 

Used to work in the industry. And you?

Edited April 7, 2014 by EZ4

[p_mori7]

Oy !

[Coolcruise02]

Can't wait for more of your review!

[MommaBear55]

the best western on o'donnell st is part of the travel plaza(24hr truck stop) it used to be the greyhound bus terminal also but i think best western kicked greyhound out of the complex to make the hotel bigger. i want to say the truck stop is across the street and not attached to the hotel. as far as wondering i don't think there is anywhere to walk too because it is off 95. if they offer park and cruise they should have some kind of extra security for the lot. the hotel should be fine the only thing that i would worry about would be my car getting broken into but that could happen at any hotel anywhere no matter if your in a city or nice suburbs. but you are very close to the port the shuttle should be very short.

 

DH and I stayed at the Best Western. Staff was lovely, shuttle to and from the cruise port was easy and efficient. They also have a free shuttle to the Baltimore waterfront. We really enjoyed our evening down on the harbor. The cars get parked to the side of the hotel. It felt reasonably safe.

 

The only odd thing for us was that the hotel had lots of empty public spaces, so it felt somewhat empty despite the fact all the rooms were occupied. We had to walk through empty banquet/ convention space to get to our very nice, well appointed room. It was a bit eery to walk through the echoing halls. This would not keep us from going back.

[Gailerina]

I know a retired cop replied, just wanted to add my two cents. That area is not too bad compared to other parts of the city. I have always passed the hotel when going to the grey hound. The only real issue would be anyone who books the hotel for the night for certain illegal type things (which happens in most hotels really).

 

I have no idea how the casino construction is going, it could be later in the day then most due to the area. You should be fine though.

 

Overall, being in a gated guarded area is good. Just take a cab to downtown.

 

I'm sailing Pride on 5/4. I booked the HIE Stadiums based on someone's recommendation in the "All Things Pride" thread. And then I started to 2nd-guess that decision because of things I'd read about the neighborhood. I'm a solo female, and will probably want to venture out that evening to go into the Inner Harbor area, so that's a concern to me. But then I read fairly good recent reviews on Trip Advisor.

 

Plus, thanks to that recommendation, I booked the cruise parking package through Stay123 and got the room for considerably less than the hotel site price.

 

I doubt I'll want to use the pool, but thanks for including that info. So, I'm assuming that construction noise isn't an issue on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, right? Or is that a poor assumption to make?

 

I don't understand why the shuttles start so early when Pride NEVER boards super early. I'm Platinum, and want to board as early as I can, but I'd rather relax and sit around the hotel than in the port terminal. If she doesn't even dock until 9 am, why would I want to be there before 10:30? They can't possibly begin boarding for a couple more hours, can they?

 

I'm not too worried about power issues. As long as I can board the ship, I'll be happy. Well, I won't be happy if we miss HMC (missed it last try for the first time after 5 successful visits).

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review. Post lots of photos, please! :D

[Gailerina]

Actually the travel plaza is now a night club. They lost their liquor license not too long ago because of a shooting inside the club on the dance floor. Looks very trashy (the night club).

 

My only experience with the hotel is the conference my company has had there. We have never had a problem and the staff have always been very nice.

 

Though....there is no way I would be parking my car there for a week while I am out of the country. The area is not the worst, but is far from the greatest.

 

I believe not too far from this area the construction will begin for Amazon and Coca Cola warehouses are to be built. Sometimes construction can bring the wrong kind if people around. Metal, especially copper are huge items to steal.

 

the best western on o'donnell st is part of the travel plaza(24hr truck stop) it used to be the greyhound bus terminal also but i think best western kicked greyhound out of the complex to make the hotel bigger. i want to say the truck stop is across the street and not attached to the hotel. as far as wondering i don't think there is anywhere to walk too because it is off 95. if they offer park and cruise they should have some kind of extra security for the lot. the hotel should be fine the only thing that i would worry about would be my car getting broken into but that could happen at any hotel anywhere no matter if your in a city or nice suburbs. but you are very close to the port the shuttle should be very short.

[kybluecruiser]

Used to work in the industry. And you?

 

Lol ok.......

[Breadman54]

OK, I apologize for dragging the thread semi-off-topic with my comments about the hotel.

 

But maybe an already-existing thread about Pride (I know there are already a couple) and the electrical issues, or the one about the back-up generators, would be a better place for the drydock argument. ;)

 

OP, sorry. Please continue!!!

 

I also apologize as well for getting this thread a little side tracked. Can't wait to read more of your review!!!!!

[chengkp75]

I also apologize as well for getting this thread a little side tracked. Can't wait to read more of your review!!!!!

 

Me, too. Just wanted to clarify some facts. Anyone wanting to debate the worth of the extra generator sets, feel free to flame me on the thread I started as to whether they were connected or not.

 

Back to the cruise review.

Edited April 7, 2014 by chengkp75

[mommy2jack]

Looking forward to more of your review! We sail on the Pride in May and I can't wait! :D

[poppadevan]

Can you tell me who is performing in the Ivory Piano Bar? Roger has been great on past cruises on the Pride.

[brilliantseas]

Before we get too off track, back to the review!

 

Sunday, March 23, 2014 - Embarkation Day

 

Two days before the cruise, we received an email and an automated phone call from Carnival letting us know that due to routine systems testing, embarkation would be delayed until 3:00PM to 5:00PM and that we should not arrive at the Cruise Maryland terminal before 3:00PM as there is limited seating available and we may have to wait outside. I've seen similar notices before asking you not to arrive at the port before ____ time, but usually they don't state a specific reason. Since Carnival gave a specific reason and we already knew that the Pride is notorious for late arrivals into Baltimore, we decided to just wait it out and plan our arrival in the 3:00 to 5:00 window.

 

We scheduled our hotel shuttle to the port for 3:30, but the hotel was running shuttles ahead of schedule and we received a call to our room stating that we could come down as early as 1:30 and they would get us on the next available shuttle. We opted to wait for our 3:30 shuttle time and enjoy lunch in Baltimore instead. We went down to the lobby around 3:15 to find that we were the last guests of the day to go to the port and we got a shuttle all to ourselves. From the Holiday Inn Express Baltimore at the Stadiums, it is just a short 7 or 8 minute ride to the port.

 

We arrived at the Cruise Maryland terminal and our shuttle driver pulled up between the rows of luggage carts, where our shuttle driver helped us to unload luggage. In less than two minutes, we were walking into the terminal doors.

 

For those who have not previously sailed out of Baltimore, the Cruise Maryland terminal is not a typical cruise terminal like you would see in Miami, Port Canaveral, Tampa, New Orleans, or any of the other major port cities. Instead, it is a converted cargo warehouse with a long covered walkway between the warehouse and the ship. While not "small" by any means, it is smaller than most of the cruise terminals and thus space is limited for guests who are waiting to board.

 

When we arrived at the terminal, the line for security was extending outside of the queues and all the way back to the terminal doors. They have two entrances and two queues, but both were equally full. There were probably 500+ people waiting to clear security at 3:00, but they did a great job of keeping the lines moving, and it only took about 40 minutes to make our way through the metal detectors and X-Ray station and into the secure check-in area.

 

I have used FTTF on the last two voyages, but knowing that we had plans in Baltimore the morning of embarkation and that the Pride is often late to board anyway, we opted not to purchase it on this voyage. Once we were through security, there was no line for check-in, and we received our Sail & Sign cards and were on our way onto the ship in less than five minutes. No waiting in the small seating area for us!

 

It was COLD on embarkation day, and the long covered walkway between the terminal and the ship is not heated with the exception of a few heat lamps hanging from the ceiling. I was glad that I kept my jacket on just for the short walk through the covered walkway and up the ramps to the ship. There was a short backup in the ramp-bridge as people were scanning their Sail & Sign cards to board, but we were on the ship within 2-3 minutes.

[brilliantseas]

An advantage to boarding so late is that our stateroom was ready when we boarded, so we went immediately to the room to drop off our carry-ons, and were surprised to find three of four suitcases had already made it to the room. I guess that 40 minute wait at security allowed Carnival plenty of time to get our luggage onto the ship and to our stateroom. Our last bag arrived about 30 minutes later.

 

We booked cabin # 7170 on the port side of Verandah Deck. I have had balcony cabins before, but this was my first extended balcony. The room itself is exactly the same size as a regular balcony, but the balconies are double the depth of a regular balcony. The extra space was nice, and it only cost us an extra $40 per person, but I'm not sure if I would upgrade again.

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Port Side Verandah Deck

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Port Side Verandah Deck

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Bathroom

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Bathroom

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Shower

 

Note that the clothes line is pulled across in the shower. The reel was broken and it would not retract, so being 6'4", I had to limbo under the clothes line for the whole week. I am assuming this is one of the small details that will be fixed during the dry dock in October.

[brilliantseas]

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Port Side Verandah Deck

 

We did not notice until looking at our photos after the cruise that one of our deck chairs has a reclining arm on the back of it, while the other was a fixed back. They are completely different heights and yet we never noticed while we were on the ship. I guess we were too focused on the beautiful ocean to notice small details like that.

 

Cabin 7170 - Extended Balcony - Port Side Verandah Deck

 

The little white spots on the deck are paint chips. On two different port days during our trip, they were working on painting the balconies on our side of the ship. In Port Canaveral, they painted the deck above us. In Freeport, they actually painted our balcony. They gave us advance warning to close our curtains, but we did have two Pilipino men standing right outside of our window at about 8:30AM on our visit to Freeport. They did clean up after themselves once our balcony was painted.