Pride - short review from Princess fan

[mjsable]

We just got off the Pride yesterday. I see someone else is doing a detailed review so I thought I'd just share some quick thoughts. This was our 13th cruise - 3rd on Carnival. Princess is our cruise line of choice but will sail others. We weren't going to take a cruise this year but changed our minds and booked 45 days out from sailing.

 

Embarkation: Got to the port around 11:30 and easily found the priority line (we were in a suite). Got right thru - waited 5 minutes to get checked in. Right after we checked in they were calling suite passengers to board so we had no wait. We couldn't have timed it any better and it was the easiest embarkation we've ever had.

 

Cabin: We booked a guarantee suite and received suite 7345. I was concerned that it wasn't on deck 6 with other suites but it was fine. The balcony was not deep but was long and had a lounger and 3 chairs (2 chairs would have been fine in my opinion). We loved the location toward the aft and two easy decks away from Lido.

 

Service: Our room steward was great. We had ordered items from bon voyage (captain morgan, coke zero and water). Yes it was expensive but my smuggling days are over and I'm too lazy to lug around sodas and water!! Noticing that we had soda and water our steward cleaned out the fridge to make some room without us even asking. He also gave us extra ice when my husband brought back a bucket of beer and continued to put extra ice in the empty beer bucket after that. Almost all crew members we encountered were very friendly.

 

Food: Well food is subjective... We only ate in the main dining room two nights. Had anytime dining and only waited a few minutes on elegant night and no wait the other night. The food was just OK - not bad just not great but I didn't walk away hungry! My husband and I both enjoyed Guy's and the Blue Iguana (ate breakfast there almost every day). The pizza was good but confusing if a lot of people were waiting as they made each pizza to order. Sometimes you didn't know who had ordered vs who was waiting to order, who was there first, etc. but the pizza was good. I wish the Blue Iguana had extended hours like Guys but I believe it closed at 2:30.

 

General: I hate to mention dress code as I know some are very passionate about it. I personally enjoyed the more relaxed dress code for the dining room. I know some prefer the more formal dress code but for us the relaxed dress code worked great (even though we still only went to dining room two nights). Serenity area was nice (we didn't get up early enough on sea days to enjoy it). We have done this itinerary before so stayed on ship in most ports and was able to enjoy the serenity area on those days. It seemed the crew was always cleaning and working on the ship. While it is an older ship and you see some wear and tear but overall I had a good impression. My only real complaint was one the two sea days and we were at the forward pool they had the morning show or some other port talk blasting over the speakers. Even with my earbuds in listening to music I found it annoying. It was probably 30 minutes to an hour but just too much for me.

 

I have to admit I've always said that Carnival was my least favorite cruise line but also believe it's hard to have a bad cruise! We really enjoyed this cruise and Carnival has moved up in the rankings for me because of it. I would not hesitate to sail the Pride again.

 

If anyone has questions I'll try my best to answer them.

[jamscckmc]

Thanks for your honest review. I'm platinum on Princess and Diamond on RC. Pride is the only Carnival ship I've been on. I'm booked on my third Pride in May so obviously I like her! Since I haven't been on any other Carnival ships it's hard for me to compare lines. Having been on Princess, RC and Carnival within about a year of each other I enjoyed the food best on the Pride. This is before Guys, which I am looking forward too. The best pizza and the 24 hr ice cream. The only thing I missed was the great CC cookies the other CLs have!

[jsmac3]

Thanks for the update . . . we have sailed on the Pride 4 times but not since her 2009 PC repositioning . . . we are booked on her March 15th repositioning to Baltimore.

 

She has always been one of our favorite ships.

 

Is the Pride MDR still serving from the old menus???

[mjsable]

Thanks for the update . . . we have sailed on the Pride 4 times but not since her 2009 PC repositioning . . . we are booked on her March 15th repositioning to Baltimore.

 

She has always been one of our favorite ships.

 

Is the Pride MDR still serving from the old menus???

 

Yes - still the old menus.

[jsmac3]

Yes - still the old menus.

 

Thank you.

[griz400]

We just got off the Pride yesterday. I see someone else is doing a detailed review so I thought I'd just share some quick thoughts. This was our 13th cruise - 3rd on Carnival. Princess is our cruise line of choice but will sail others. We weren't going to take a cruise this year but changed our minds and booked 45 days out from sailing.

 

Embarkation: Got to the port around 11:30 and easily found the priority line (we were in a suite). Got right thru - waited 5 minutes to get checked in. Right after we checked in they were calling suite passengers to board so we had no wait. We couldn't have timed it any better and it was the easiest embarkation we've ever had.

 

Cabin: We booked a guarantee suite and received suite 7345. I was concerned that it wasn't on deck 6 with other suites but it was fine. The balcony was not deep but was long and had a lounger and 3 chairs (2 chairs would have been fine in my opinion). We loved the location toward the aft and two easy decks away from Lido.

 

Service: Our room steward was great. We had ordered items from bon voyage (captain morgan, coke zero and water). Yes it was expensive but my smuggling days are over and I'm too lazy to lug around sodas and water!! Noticing that we had soda and water our steward cleaned out the fridge to make some room without us even asking. He also gave us extra ice when my husband brought back a bucket of beer and continued to put extra ice in the empty beer bucket after that. Almost all crew members we encountered were very friendly.

 

Food: Well food is subjective... We only ate in the main dining room two nights. Had anytime dining and only waited a few minutes on elegant night and no wait the other night. The food was just OK - not bad just not great but I didn't walk away hungry! My husband and I both enjoyed Guy's and the Blue Iguana (ate breakfast there almost every day). The pizza was good but confusing if a lot of people were waiting as they made each pizza to order. Sometimes you didn't know who had ordered vs who was waiting to order, who was there first, etc. but the pizza was good. I wish the Blue Iguana had extended hours like Guys but I believe it closed at 2:30.

 

General: I hate to mention dress code as I know some are very passionate about it. I personally enjoyed the more relaxed dress code for the dining room. I know some prefer the more formal dress code but for us the relaxed dress code worked great (even though we still only went to dining room two nights). Serenity area was nice (we didn't get up early enough on sea days to enjoy it). We have done this itinerary before so stayed on ship in most ports and was able to enjoy the serenity area on those days. It seemed the crew was always cleaning and working on the ship. While it is an older ship and you see some wear and tear but overall I had a good impression. My only real complaint was one the two sea days and we were at the forward pool they had the morning show or some other port talk blasting over the speakers. Even with my earbuds in listening to music I found it annoying. It was probably 30 minutes to an hour but just too much for me.

 

I have to admit I've always said that Carnival was my least favorite cruise line but also believe it's hard to have a bad cruise! We really enjoyed this cruise and Carnival has moved up in the rankings for me because of it. I would not hesitate to sail the Pride again.

 

If anyone has questions I'll try my best to answer them.

 

 

 

 

You say the iguana was open till 2 or so, how long was guys open ??? we sail the Pride in 2 weeks

[mjsable]

You say the iguana was open till 2 or so, how long was guys open ??? we sail the Pride in 2 weeks

 

I believe Guys was open until Noon until 6:00pm. Blue Iguana was open from 7:30 to 10:30 for breakfast and Noon until 2:30 for lunch.