Proud Pride Cruisers!! (Feb 8th-Feb 15th Western Review)

[brad09821]

Great review so far. I love your humor throughout the review so far (French word for four). You have me cracking up. We are sailing on the Pride Sunday so I am definitely following your review.

[tropicaledrink]

Really enjoying your review so far. I can't wait for the rest since I am doing a B2B in May on the Pride!

 

we're on you second half! Yay!

 

 

 

Thanks for the review Viscus! Helping count down those days! :D

[Viscus]

It is so very interesting to me that this is often the case. One person is 'involved' with CC, where the other just doesn't understand.

 

Great review. My DW and I are on the Pride for the 14 day repositioning cruise next month.

 

Very jealous. 14 days on the Pride sounds heavenly, a great ship.

[Viscus]

Really enjoying your review so far. I can't wait for the rest since I am doing a B2B in May on the Pride!

 

Take me with you?

[Viscus]

Loving your review!!!! We are so looking forward to sailing on Pride in April...can't wait to finally see some sun and warm weather :D

 

I'm still reading posts in our cruise group's facebook group about people landing in their home city in -15 weather. That isn't where humans should live people.

[Viscus]

Looking forward to the rest of your review & pictures. We too are sailing on the Pride repo cruise next month.

 

Would love to go too, Southern Carib is the only itinerary we haven't done yet. :(

[Viscus]

Thank you for your hard work in doing this review. It is excellent, and very helpful to those of us who will be new to this ship.

 

Kathy

 

You should love it. It was our first time on the ship as well, easy to figure layout, great crew, and the 2.0 upgrades are great on the ship. Everything I wanted in this cruise.

[Viscus]

Enjoying your review!! We'll be back on the Pride for the 3rd time in April, but for the first time since the 2.0 upgrades.

 

The upgrades onboard are great. How on earth did you cruise without Guy's Burgers? That's blasphemy.

[Viscus]

Great review so far. I love your humor throughout the review so far (French word for four). You have me cracking up. We are sailing on the Pride Sunday so I am definitely following your review.

 

Well, with how long it's taking me to get through days, the phrase "I'll be here all week" will probably apply. Don't forget to tip your reviewer.

[Viscus]

we're on you second half! Yay!

 

 

 

Thanks for the review Viscus! Helping count down those days! :D

 

Please don't rub it in. Currently don't have another cruise booked, not sure when the next one will be. :P

[Viscus]

Well, now that I've spammed my thread a good amount, time to move on to Day 3, our first port day, and the most drunk I'd get on this cruise:

 

Day 3: Cozumel and Mr Sanchos, the Prelude to the Hangover of Doom

 

First, the fun times:

 

 

 

 

 

So, thanks to mitsugirly's reviews, we decided to head to Mr Sanchos this port day. The menu looked the best to us, we didn't mind if it was a little crowded (it wasn't), and had some other non-cruise critic people recommend it to us as well. We booked it through ShoreExcursioneer dot com . You can get the all-inclusive pass for $5 off pp, so $50pp for adults. Not a huge savings, but it pays for your tips and was the cheapest I could find for it.

 

We also had read that if their cabanas aren't all reserved for the day (Costs an extra $100 per 2 people to reserve them), they were up for grabs if you showed up early and requested them for free. Well, I had us all up at 7:30AM EST to eat breakfast and get ready to lower the boom getting off the ship. I was a little discouraged as there were 2 Celebrity ships and another Carnival ship (the Splendor) in dock offloading passengers, and our dumb selves were like the fat kid at dodgeball. Kind of lost hope at that point, but figured getting there early would allow me to drink away my sorrows of losing out on the cabana.

 

 

You forget you're on a "smaller" ship until it's parked next to a big sister.

 

The taxi stand has no signs posted for directions to get to it from the pier. We had to ask local vendors. At our pier, you get into the cruise village, turn left, keep walking until you can't, turn right, and eventually you'll run into taxi vans. It was $17USD total for the 4 of us to get to Mr Sanchos. Seemed reasonable as it was quite a drive. That said, our morning cabby was totally disinterested in talking to us or anything other than turning up his radio when we tried to ask him a question. Was the only non-friendly person we met that day.

 

[Clairescurtains]

Great review, we are also on the repo and your review is making me even more excited about it.:D

 

Is wife #2 camera shy?

 

I have never thought about trivia cheating......pooie on them.:(:p

 

Glad to know about the band but are us oldies going to like it?

 

Did they have any decent movies on the big screen?

Edited February 16, 2015 by Clairescurtains

[Viscus]

Mr. Rude Pants:

 

 

Well, we got dropped off out front, directed to the AI check in side, and paid the balance owed. They assigned us a waiter, whose name I can't remember, as I immediately asked him if a cabana was still available. At this point, it was around 9:15EST, and they had been open for ~15 minutes. Apparently, we were the 3rd group to arrive and they only had 4 of the ~10 cabanas reserved. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

 

ALL HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO, I DID IT, PRAISE ME PEASANTS!

 

 

My throne room for the day. With a cabana, you get the bed with the canopy and a double table with an umbrella, set up about 50 feet from the ocean on the beach. Great set-up if you can get one.

 

 

After we unloaded everything, me and husband#2 went exploring. We headed for the buffet area that also had the strongest wifi to catch up on some things. This is where we ran into our first island bird. These guys were a blast, had to keep an eye on your food or you'd be down a bird sized bite of food.

 

 

 

 

View from the buffet area.

[Viscus]

Great review, we are also on the repo and your review is making me even more excited about it.:D

 

Is wife #2 camera shy?

 

I have never thought about trivia cheating......pooie on them.:(:p

 

Glad to know about the band but are us oldies going to like it?

 

Did they have any decent movies on the big screen?

 

I think you'll love it. As far as wife#2, she's all of 4ft10in, so she gets lost in the crowd sometimes, but yes, she wasn't feeling great the first couple of days, pregger issues, so she was in no mood for pictures.

 

And I might be just a sore loser, but I SAW 2 groups cheat by writing answers after the review part, but losing by 1 point over and over, a couple of times with the trivia host walking over to give us the trophy, it made us frustrated.

 

And the band had the oldies in the pub dancing every night. I'll post some pictures later, but as far as I could tell, the Pub was the place to be for the best music on board.

 

And we didn't do any onboard movies, they line-up seemed fine, but the wife and I are movie fiends, and we'd seen the ones we'd want to see before, some of them a few times. I think the fun times had the lineup daily, not sure.

[petesweet]

My throne room for the day. With a cabana, you get the bed with the canopy and a double table with an umbrella, set up about 50 feet from the ocean on the beach. Great set-up if you can get one. Good for you - you saved a lot of $$$)

 

This is where we ran into our first island bird. These guys were a blast, had to keep an eye on your food or you'd be down a bird sized bite of food. They are very unselfish, though - they will usually leave you something in return!:eek:

 

 

Keep it coming. Thanks.

 

Kathy

Edited February 16, 2015 by petesweet

[Viscus]

Back to the drunken debauchery:

 

Our waiter for the day was Carlos. The place should be called Mr. Carlos'. He was great. By the time I'd finish one drink, he'd be walking up with the next one, and we were at the very end of cabanas, as far from the wait staff bar as possible. The man was there to keep us happy, and he definitely did that. My wife said she started feeling jealous during the day because I never say such nice things about her. Once she starts bringing me fish tacos and alcohol non-stop on a beach, that'll change.

 

 

Excuse the finger in the picture, we were all a little bit gone by that point in the day (picture was taken before we left). Seriously people, ask for Carlos if you can, the man was the bomb. He made us a special concoction that wasn't on the menu that tasted just like Monster energy drinks. Mmmmmm.

 

Anyways, enough swooning, it was time for drink #1 of many.

 

The menus (you ignore the prices on the all-inclusive side, and you can order as much and as many times as you want):

 

 

 

 

Husband#2 and I's Dos Equis'. My wife loved the Pina Colada, my favorite drink was the Long Island, the husband#2 loved the Mr Sanchos' special. Wife#2 was still pregnant, so she enjoyed a lovely array of bottled water and virgin daiquiris. :P

 

 

Restroom and locker area. The lockers are included, but we didn't use them as someone would be with our stuff at all times. Bathrooms were kept very clean, and the area that's roped off is where they're doing stonework in preparation for a new AI section that was supposed to open in March.

 

 

The AI swim up bar area. The wives loved this part, and spent a good part of the day in there. Was a great spot, got a little crowded by mid-late afternoon, but wasn't ridiculous. And I had read reviews that said people got a little loud and crazy at Mr Sanchos. I never found that to be the case, and that's not because we were the loud people. :P

 

People were respectful of others' spaces, and everyone kept it as a nice beach day.

[Viscus]

Keep it coming. Thanks.

 

Kathy

 

Thanks! I don't think the other 3 knew how lucky we had it with the cabana, they weren't research nuts like me.

[Viscus]

 

Couldn't find anyone to take the picture that early, so I had to resort to an awkward beach selfie. :(

 

 

From here, husband#2 and I went over to join the employees in a game of beach volleyball. I shouldn't have to excersize that much on vacation. I think I gave the locals a good laugh clumsily flopping around in the sand going for shots. I gave up, went back for more booze, but husband#2 stayed to show off. (He's good at it for some reason :P )

 

 

They also had a mariachi band walking around after around 11AM EST. Was really good for ambiance, and they were pretty good. They also had a guy walking around with 2 Macaws, but they never made it out to our cabana. Oh well, animal holding was scheduled for another port, we were there for drinks and sun!

 

 

I think husband#2 was celebrating his victory in beach volleyball here. And remember people, she's 2 and a half months pregnant with their second kid, and she doesn't like her picture taken. Skinny jerkface.

 

 

I have some food porn pictures, and let me tell you, the food was deliiiiiiiiicious. But Cruise Critic has a 6 picture max, so new post it is!

[Pandot]

Sounds like a lot of fun was had by all :) Keep up the great work on your report! It is very much appreciated!

 

Andrea

[Viscus]

We ordered a little of everything on the menu. I had read the fish and shrimp tacos were good, and good is an understatement. I think me and husband#2 had like 8 plates of them between us. Tasted extremely fresh, was light enough to not make you feel bloated, and were bottomless. Mmmmmmmm.

 

 

Fish tacos

 

 

Shrimp tacos

 

My wife doesn't like fish very much, and wife#2 was avoiding fish this cruise, so they went the Quesadilla and nachos route. They were good, but they didn't compare to the seafood tacos.

 

 

Beef

 

 

Build your own chicken ones from the buffet

 

 

Pregnant wife was craving some nachos, and she said these hit the spot. They sure love their jalapeno's in Mexico.

 

After lunch, lunch #2 and after lunch#2 snack, me and husband#2 checked out some Kayaks. I don't have any pictures since I don't like replacing water logged iPads, but they're $15 to check out, and you get back that $15 when you bring back the kayak and paddle. Was a windy day that day, so it was a blast trying to drunkenly paddle out, flipping, and trying to clumsily jump back in. Again, though, too much excersize for a vacation.

 

I also bought my wife the fix pedicure they have on site. They allowed me to email myself a video they took of it, but I think I deleted the email.

 

Oops.

 

For $20, you get 15 minutes of your feet in the tank, then a 10 minute foot massage. Was a really great value to me. My wife also loved it, said it only tickled right at the start, and that her feet were super soft after. I got some good husband points there.

 

Oh, and husband#2 and I took their free tequila tasting tour. You have to walk out to their entrance, listen and see how tequila is made the old fashioned way, then the tasting begins. If you're like me, you hate high pressure sales tactics, so after the tasting, the inevitable sales pitch comes, and we snuck out from the group. Good tequila though. :P

[Viscus]

Sounds like a lot of fun was had by all :) Keep up the great work on your report! It is very much appreciated!

 

Andrea

 

Was a great day, and thanks!

[Viscus]

We decided to head out around 3:30PM EST, which gave us an hour to get back to the port. Well, we is a bit of an overstatement, wife#2 was the only sober one at this point, and she herded us like cats towards the taxis at this point. I don't remember taking this picture, but I do remember this taxi driver was very nice and funny.

 

 

 

Required "Pier picture with the ship in the background" picture. I don't even look that drunk, do I? Appearances can be deceiving. ;)

 

Husband#2 and I went up to deck 10 to watch sailaway and watch for pier runners while the wives went to shower and start getting ready for dinner. Sadly, there weren't any runners this cruise. :( But the view was great sailing out.

 

 

 

After hanging out for a bit, we stumbled back to our cabins to relax for a bit, shower up and get changed for dinner. Next up, day 3 food porn!

[Viscus]

Day 3 was a casual night, and the menu looked pretty great on the in room TV where you can check them. And it had my favorite appetizer, the sushi plate.

 

 

Sushi assortment: 10/10 I love me some sushi (sadly didn't do Bonzai sushi this cruise, just never happened, don't know why) and I miiiiiight have ordered 3 plates of this.

 

 

French Onion Soup: 7/10 Wife said she could've made it, but it was good.

 

 

Husband#2's 4 shrimp cocktails: 7/10 Standard fare

 

 

Fried Chicken: 6/10 Was a little greasy

 

 

Pork Loin I think?: 9/10 I don't remember the name of it, but I remember it was deliiiiiicious.

[Viscus]

 

The everyday Salmon: 8/10 Was surprisingly good, was a solid back up entree if nothing looked that great on the daily menu.

 

 

The New York Cheesecake: 10/10 My wife loved it. She got chocolate drizzle instead of strawberry as she doesn't like them, and she almost got 5 plates to go.

 

 

Fruit dessert for Wife#2: 8/10 Surprisingly tasty, fruit tasted super fresh

 

 

Fig cake with ice cream: 6/10 Tasty but dry.

 

 

WCMC, one of many: 7/10 Always tasty, but a smidge soupy this cruise.

 

From dinner, we did some relaxing on the top deck, then headed for an early bedtime. We had a very early day planned for the next day, our second port day and the day my nerd of a wife was the most excited for.

 

Belize!

[Viscus]

And here's where I'll stop for now, have to head into work early today because of weather and to catch up on some work. Thanks for reading everyone!