Just off the PRIDE, WARNING about aft cabin shaking

[jetta8300]

I wanted to make sure when I got home I wrote about our experiences with our cabin, it was an Ocean Suite 5293 on the Pride, to possibly save someone else's vacation.

 

First, we are not prone to motions sickness. Before I left I was aware from many postings that there is a bit of "vibration" back there, and read many different opinions on it and what it felt like. Most people described it as a minor "vibration" and that it put them to sleep, kind of like a humming or steady vibration. My husband that I sleep with a sound machine, and we would not have minded some vibration.

 

Well once we boarded, we found our cabin and it was definitely shaking, not vibrating. It was more like slow rumbles, and we thought, "I hope it's not like the the whole time..." and boy were we in for a much WORSE experience than that.

 

So it was definitely NOT vibration. It was similar to being trapped inside a paint shaker. it was violent shaking/rattling. Like teeth rattling shaking. The ENTIRE time. Not just pulling into ports. Each night before bed, we had to ask our room steward for extra washcloths to stuff inside every light fixture, in the ceilings, between the drawers and cabinets, etc. to muffle all of the rattling noises going on in our room from the violent shaking. Everything was moving, we had to get rid of all of the glasses, put books all around the TV to stop the rattling and keep things from squeaking. it was AWFUL. The noises in the room from the shaking was almost worse than the actual shaking itself. You could see they had stuffed pieces of wood in certain parts of the ceiling to calm the rattling noises.

 

We paid a lot of money for this suite and ended up avoiding it like the plague. We only went in there at night, and we were sick from the shaking. It was scrambling our brains and making us ill. Thank god we had Zofran with us. After the second night we would have traded anyone with an inside cabin for our suite just to stop the shaking. The boat was sold out though.

 

Anyway, I wanted to describe this just so people can see another point of view. I can also say that we stayed aft on the Allure of the Seas and experienced no vibration, actually no movement anywhere on that ship, so it may just be these spirit class ships are the worst. I can tell you the whole boat really shook. Even when we were in the Mermaid Grill up on deck 9 mid ship, we felt the shaking even then. (not nearly like in our cabin, but there was still shaking, and people commenting on the shaking there.) The dining room shook badly.

 

We had a good time otherwise, feel free to ask any other questions!

[kublaieod]

I wanted to make sure when I got home I wrote about our experiences with our cabin, it was an Ocean Suite 5293 on the Pride, to possibly save someone else's vacation.

 

First, we are not prone to motions sickness. Before I left I was aware from many postings that there is a bit of "vibration" back there, and read many different opinions on it and what it felt like. Most people described it as a minor "vibration" and that it put them to sleep, kind of like a humming or steady vibration. My husband that I sleep with a sound machine, and we would not have minded some vibration.

 

Well once we boarded, we found our cabin and it was definitely shaking, not vibrating. It was more like slow rumbles, and we thought, "I hope it's not like the the whole time..." and boy were we in for a much WORSE experience than that.

 

So it was definitely NOT vibration. It was similar to being trapped inside a paint shaker. it was violent shaking/rattling. Like teeth rattling shaking. The ENTIRE time. Not just pulling into ports. Each night before bed, we had to ask our room steward for extra washcloths to stuff inside every light fixture, in the ceilings, between the drawers and cabinets, etc. to muffle all of the rattling noises going on in our room from the violent shaking. Everything was moving, we had to get rid of all of the glasses, put books all around the TV to stop the rattling and keep things from squeaking. it was AWFUL. The noises in the room from the shaking was almost worse than the actual shaking itself. You could see they had stuffed pieces of wood in certain parts of the ceiling to calm the rattling noises.

 

We paid a lot of money for this suite and ended up avoiding it like the plague. We only went in there at night, and we were sick from the shaking. It was scrambling our brains and making us ill. Thank god we had Zofran with us. After the second night we would have traded anyone with an inside cabin for our suite just to stop the shaking. The boat was sold out though.

 

Anyway, I wanted to describe this just so people can see another point of view. I can also say that we stayed aft on the Allure of the Seas and experienced no vibration, actually no movement anywhere on that ship, so it may just be these spirit class ships are the worst. I can tell you the whole boat really shook. Even when we were in the Mermaid Grill up on deck 9 mid ship, we felt the shaking even then. (not nearly like in our cabin, but there was still shaking, and people commenting on the shaking there.) The dining room shook badly.

 

We had a good time otherwise, feel free to ask any other questions!

 

Wow sorry about your shaking, but you still had a good time, which is all that matters. Last June we booked an aft-extended on the Dream and it wasn't constant but for long lengths of time it would do that shaking/vibrating and it honestly didn't bother me, but my wife said she was not a fan and wants this to be the last aft room we book.

[jetta8300]

Wow sorry about your shaking, but you still had a good time, which is all that matters. Last June we booked an aft-extended on the Dream and it wasn't constant but for long lengths of time it would do that shaking/vibrating and it honestly didn't bother me, but my wife said she was not a fan and wants this to be the last aft room we book.

 

 

Yes thanks :) We did have a good time, though many nights we felt like sleeping in the lobby. We dreaded going back there. I truly think this is an issue with either just the Pride, or possibly all of the Spirit class ships because we did not experience anything like this on the Carnival Freedom either. I've never felt anything like this.

[Sixtytwo]

Just curious if you reported this to the ship's crew or to Carnival?

[splintz]

i have been on the pride 4 times and love the ship. but she always seemed to have a very strong vibration in the aft of the ship. i have never stayed in a cabin in the aft of the ship but i cruise with a group usually 8 people and always get the large tables in the back of the dining hall for dinner. and some dinners it shakes so bad you think the glasses are going to fall over. you can hear the silver ware clanging on the table. on one cruise they had a propulsion problem and the vibration was real bad.

[jetta8300]

Just curious if you reported this to the ship's crew or to Carnival?

 

 

We did discuss it with both Guest Services and our room steward.

 

The first evening we tracked down our room steward to ask if this was normal, and if it would hopefully get better. His response was basically, "haha (laughing at us) yes, back of boat shake. You pick back of boat you get shake and motion from ocean. You pick front of boat you get motion from ocean. You pick middle you get none. You will shake whole time. Next time pick middle of ship, K?" Haha.

 

Guest services response was the same. "Yes, back of boat shake bad...K?" We asked after the second night to please let us know if any regular balcony rooms opened up, but after a few more nights I would have given anything for an inside cabin. Never got a call. And it's not like they could really help the problem of the shaking.

 

i have been on the pride 4 times and love the ship. but she always seemed to have a very strong vibration in the aft of the ship. i have never stayed in a cabin in the aft of the ship but i cruise with a group usually 8 people and always get the large tables in the back of the dining hall for dinner. and some dinners it shakes so bad you think the glasses are going to fall over. you can hear the silver ware clanging on the table. on one cruise they had a propulsion problem and the vibration was real bad.

 

 

Yes I would compare this to some form of Chinese water torture. Lol. Put it this way, if someone offered me a free cruise to stay in that cabin again, I would not take it. There had to be some sort of propulsion problem, but then again the room steward said it always shakes... I don't know. I can't imagine them selling rooms like that though and putting people through that torture knowingly.

[jetta8300]

i have been on the pride 4 times and love the ship. but she always seemed to have a very strong vibration in the aft of the ship. i have never stayed in a cabin in the aft of the ship but i cruise with a group usually 8 people and always get the large tables in the back of the dining hall for dinner. and some dinners it shakes so bad you think the glasses are going to fall over. you can hear the silver ware clanging on the table. on one cruise they had a propulsion problem and the vibration was real bad.

 

 

Yes everything in the dining room was banging around. One couple behind us left the dining room because she said it was making her sick. But like I said it was vibrating so badly that you could even feel it midship on the lido deck buffet. Literally there wasn't anything in our room NOT making noise. The safe door had to be open, all drawers had to have washcloths in them, the air ducts in the ceiling were the worst, rattling and squeaking, someone's items in the next room vista suite were banging up against the wall right by our headboard. NIGHTMARE.

[tea4ular]

That really sounds horrible to me! I've never had a bad cruise but I'll tell you what the OP has described would make me cry! Seriously - I'm so sorry to hear this. Terrible really.

[winddawn]

I wanted to make sure when I got home I wrote about our experiences with our cabin, it was an Ocean Suite 5293 on the Pride, to possibly save someone else's vacation.

 

First, we are not prone to motions sickness. Before I left I was aware from many postings that there is a bit of "vibration" back there, and read many different opinions on it and what it felt like. Most people described it as a minor "vibration" and that it put them to sleep, kind of like a humming or steady vibration. My husband that I sleep with a sound machine, and we would not have minded some vibration.

 

Well once we boarded, we found our cabin and it was definitely shaking, not vibrating. It was more like slow rumbles, and we thought, "I hope it's not like the the whole time..." and boy were we in for a much WORSE experience than that.

 

So it was definitely NOT vibration. It was similar to being trapped inside a paint shaker. it was violent shaking/rattling. Like teeth rattling shaking. The ENTIRE time. Not just pulling into ports. Each night before bed, we had to ask our room steward for extra washcloths to stuff inside every light fixture, in the ceilings, between the drawers and cabinets, etc. to muffle all of the rattling noises going on in our room from the violent shaking. Everything was moving, we had to get rid of all of the glasses, put books all around the TV to stop the rattling and keep things from squeaking. it was AWFUL. The noises in the room from the shaking was almost worse than the actual shaking itself. You could see they had stuffed pieces of wood in certain parts of the ceiling to calm the rattling noises.

 

We paid a lot of money for this suite and ended up avoiding it like the plague. We only went in there at night, and we were sick from the shaking. It was scrambling our brains and making us ill. Thank god we had Zofran with us. After the second night we would have traded anyone with an inside cabin for our suite just to stop the shaking. The boat was sold out though.

 

Anyway, I wanted to describe this just so people can see another point of view. I can also say that we stayed aft on the Allure of the Seas and experienced no vibration, actually no movement anywhere on that ship, so it may just be these spirit class ships are the worst. I can tell you the whole boat really shook. Even when we were in the Mermaid Grill up on deck 9 mid ship, we felt the shaking even then. (not nearly like in our cabin, but there was still shaking, and people commenting on the shaking there.) The dining room shook badly.

 

We had a good time otherwise, feel free to ask any other questions!

Wow! Sorry this happened to you. Your experience is good information for others when choosing cabins.

 

I have sailed in aft cabins on several ships. I've noticed that vibration is worse on lower deck aft cabins, but not noticeable on higher deck aft cabins. I stayed in 7347 on Pride (aft wrap balcony suite) which is the aft cabin one cabin behind where you were, but 2 decks higher, and did not notice any vibration or shaking. On other ships in an aft lower deck cabin, I did notice considerable vibration, but mostly when the ship was docking or leaving port, and definitely not to the extent that you describe.

 

I'm booked on Pride again for this summer, but chose an extended balcony cabin mid ship this time.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us.

[guxu]

Yes everything in the dining room was banging around. One couple behind us left the dining room because she said it was making her sick. But like I said it was vibrating so badly that you could even feel it midship on the lido deck buffet. Literally there wasn't anything in our room NOT making noise. The safe door had to be open, all drawers had to have washcloths in them, the air ducts in the ceiling were the worst, rattling and squeaking, someone's items in the next room vista suite were banging up against the wall right by our headboard. NIGHTMARE.

I have been in a cabin (on different ship, Freedom I think) just like that. I know exactly what you are talking about. Everything, from ceiling to floor, were rattling and squeaking. We tried to put washcloths in the drawers and around the doors. But we gave up since we could do anything for the ceiling and walls.

[fair-winds39]

Wow, that's a shame. We've been in the suite on the main deck just below the cabin you had, on two cruises, and we never felt vibration or shaking.

[bjd2]

Hubby and I just booked on deck lower aft balcony with friends in the vista suite next to it. I've already told him it will be an adventure sailing from Baltimore in April. This should make it even more of an adventure. I'm surprised we don't hear more about this if it's that bad.

 

Oh well, I guess we'll have to exercise Cheers to the fullest before heading back there for bed :D

[fair-winds39]

Correction to my prior response, we were in a BALCONY, not the SUITE, on the main deck just below your suite, and one cabin over. Our balcony was the last cabin before the tiny hallway and the suites.

 

A few years ago, we were in a guaranteed suite on the Miracle, on the main deck, and it was the same location but one deck below your suite on the Pride, and never felt any vibration there either. Ever since then, we've always booked Aft.

[kteachcruiser52]

We will be in room 4122, a 4K French Door cabin, for 21 days in January. I hope we do not have vibration problems as 21 days is a long time.

[winddawn]

Yes everything in the dining room was banging around. One couple behind us left the dining room because she said it was making her sick. But like I said it was vibrating so badly that you could even feel it midship on the lido deck buffet. Literally there wasn't anything in our room NOT making noise. The safe door had to be open, all drawers had to have washcloths in them, the air ducts in the ceiling were the worst, rattling and squeaking, someone's items in the next room vista suite were banging up against the wall right by our headboard. NIGHTMARE.

I wonder if Pride is having some kind of mechanical issue causing this? It just doesn't sound normal or typical to me.

[Jdfireman]

Sound like cavitation ..

[Cushing985]

Any ship with props on the aft end (all of them) will experience vibration or shaking. I've never understood why these cabins are so popular. I guess the view? Personally I'd get an amidship cabin and walk aft to gaze at the wake.

 

It is possible one of the props may be out of true causing the shaking/vibration issue to magnify.

[meatloafsfan]

We will be in room 4122, a 4K French Door cabin, for 21 days in January. I hope we do not have vibration problems as 21 days is a long time.

 

I was in 4201 (more aft that you will be) for the 14 night repositioning. No real vibration in the cabin. My parents were in 4207 and there was some vibration but not as severe as what is being reported in the suite farther aft.

 

The dining room was a completely other issue. Lots of nights there was really severe vibrations. We didn't feel them up in the buffet though.

[jetta8300]

We will be in room 4122, a 4K French Door cabin, for 21 days in January. I hope we do not have vibration problems as 21 days is a long time.

 

I would hope that if this is a mechanical problem or issue, it will be fixed by then. It was so bad that I can't imagine Carnival wouldn't get multiple complaints and people asking for some sort of compensation or to even LEAVE the boat. We absolutely could not have stood one more night of the rattling. They HAVE to be aware of it. Again using the term vibration is so inaccurate that that's like saying sleeping through a tornado was some "light wind".

 

 

I wonder if Pride is having some kind of mechanical issue causing this? It just doesn't sound normal or typical to me.

 

For previous posters to be saying there was no shaking on deck 4 right under our cabin, there has to be some sort of current mechanical problem going on. There is absolutely zero possible way that You would not think this is an issue. Which actually makes me sort of mad because of how unpleasant it made our vacation. Again, we still had a good time, but we would have loved to sleep, and relax in the suite with the large balcony that we paid for.

 

We have a baby who is not yet 2, we were trying to get away for some R&R while grandparents stayed with him, (our baby still does not sleep well) and instead we were BEGGING to get back to our bed at home. We will not be able to take another vacation for probably another few years, which is why we went "all out" with a suite. And it was the suite from hell.

[NCTribeFan]

I posted in the All Things Pride thread (at least I think I did) and did a full review of my Pride sailing from last May in 4232 (aft balcony).

 

I had had 4230 on Miracle and while there was some vibration, I never would've considered it "shaking."

 

Pride was a different story. It was worst on the last night, returning to Baltimore. I've wondered whether it was the slow speed in the bay, because it wasn't that bad any other time. And this was shortly after there were reported Azipod problems.

 

It was literally as though someone was grabbing me by the shoulder and shaking me awake.

 

Over and over and over and over all night. :mad:

 

As I was solo and had a 6-hour drive home, I was in bad shape the next day.

 

I'll never get another aft cabin on a Spirit-class ship.

Edited April 30, 2015 by NCTribeFan

[retiredgram]

In our experience, their has always been vibration in the aft section of the ship. We always book a mid ship cabin and have, so far, never had any problem.

 

I have never understood why cruisers on the Pride have said they love the aft cabins. Apparently they have never noticed the vibration. I am assuming, from eating in the back of MDR, that if I felt the vibration, the cabins had to be vibrating.

 

We do love the ship though.

[jetta8300]

Hubby and I just booked on deck lower aft balcony with friends in the vista suite next to it. I've already told him it will be an adventure sailing from Baltimore in April. This should make it even more of an adventure. I'm surprised we don't hear more about this if it's that bad.

 

Oh well, I guess we'll have to exercise Cheers to the fullest before heading back there for bed :D

 

The two ships we have sailed previously on we experienced zero vibration. We had an aft cabin on the Allure of the Seas, no vibration. We had a midship cabin on the Freedom and again no vibration in the room, but we did not experience it at all anywhere on the boat either.

 

I have heard many people reference a "vibration" and there have been a few posts about it being much worse. But it's definitely not the majority, which makes me think the Pride is experiencing issues.

 

I can also tell you that the boat ROCKED even in very calm seas. We sailed on the Carnival Freedom during a tropical depression in 2011 trying to stay ahead of a hurricane, and I will say that the Pride rocked almost that much throughout at least 2/3 of the cruise. I would look out and think, it's not rough seas, man this ship MOVES. Because we didn't really experience that at all on the Freedom after we got out of the storm, or at all on the Allure. I don't know what was going on. But the movement didn't bother us, just the shaking. The room steward told us the boat does usually rock more in the Atlantic.

Edited April 30, 2015 by jetta8300

[beauty1492]

I'm so sorry you had a issue. We were on your sailing and on the one last year with the propulsion system breakdown. The Pride being older does has some shaking going on. Last year she was really rockin and rollin as we missed a port and slowly creeped up the coast. We noticed the shaking in the dining room but no worst than the Legend in the North Sea. Guess you could use this as a learning experience-- always book mid ship on the pride?

[birdlgs]

I wanted to make sure when I got home I wrote about our experiences with our cabin, it was an Ocean Suite 5293 on the Pride, to possibly save someone else's vacation.

 

First, we are not prone to motions sickness. Before I left I was aware from many postings that there is a bit of "vibration" back there, and read many different opinions on it and what it felt like. Most people described it as a minor "vibration" and that it put them to sleep, kind of like a humming or steady vibration. My husband that I sleep with a sound machine, and we would not have minded some vibration.

 

Well once we boarded, we found our cabin and it was definitely shaking, not vibrating. It was more like slow rumbles, and we thought, "I hope it's not like the the whole time..." and boy were we in for a much WORSE experience than that.

 

So it was definitely NOT vibration. It was similar to being trapped inside a paint shaker. it was violent shaking/rattling. Like teeth rattling shaking. The ENTIRE time. Not just pulling into ports. Each night before bed, we had to ask our room steward for extra washcloths to stuff inside every light fixture, in the ceilings, between the drawers and cabinets, etc. to muffle all of the rattling noises going on in our room from the violent shaking. Everything was moving, we had to get rid of all of the glasses, put books all around the TV to stop the rattling and keep things from squeaking. it was AWFUL. The noises in the room from the shaking was almost worse than the actual shaking itself. You could see they had stuffed pieces of wood in certain parts of the ceiling to calm the rattling noises.

 

We paid a lot of money for this suite and ended up avoiding it like the plague. We only went in there at night, and we were sick from the shaking. It was scrambling our brains and making us ill. Thank god we had Zofran with us. After the second night we would have traded anyone with an inside cabin for our suite just to stop the shaking. The boat was sold out though.

 

Anyway, I wanted to describe this just so people can see another point of view. I can also say that we stayed aft on the Allure of the Seas and experienced no vibration, actually no movement anywhere on that ship, so it may just be these spirit class ships are the worst. I can tell you the whole boat really shook. Even when we were in the Mermaid Grill up on deck 9 mid ship, we felt the shaking even then. (not nearly like in our cabin, but there was still shaking, and people commenting on the shaking there.) The dining room shook badly.

 

We had a good time otherwise, feel free to ask any other questions!

We had a Vista Suite 6329 on the Pride in August of 2013 and it was just as bad! We have been on 6 cruises and I NEVER was sick before but on this cruise it was awful!!! :eek:

We will never stay aft again...it's midship for us! :)

[jetta8300]

I posted in the All Things Pride thread (at least I think I did) and did a full review of my Pride sailing from last May in 4232 (aft balcony).

 

I had had 4230 on Miracle and while there was some vibration, I never would've considered it "shaking."

 

Pride was a different story. It was worst on the last night, returning to Baltimore. I've wondered whether it was the slow speed in the bay, because it wasn't that bad any other time. And this was shortly after there were reported Azipod problems.

 

It was literally as though someone was grabbing me by the shoulder and shaking me awake.

 

Over and over and over and over all night. :mad:

 

As I was solo and had a 6-hour drive home, I was in bad shape the next day.

 

I'll never get another aft cabin on a Spirit-class ship.

 

Yes it was just like that. But every single day and night. I actually think it was the absolute worst for the first day, then days 4-7. It was pretty bad also when the ship was just idling in port. But the room items and fixtures didn't really get rattling until we pulled out. And stayed that way. I actually took a video of it, but it's kind of hard to tell what's shaking, because my hand was shaking along with the fixtures in the room. So it's hard to tell what's what.