Swodog94's Eastern Caribbean Cruise on PRIDE 23-30 Oct 16: A Review and Pictures

[WendyCn]

Etski, we are on your cruise too & are doing the Chef's Table. We booked online ahead of time. It is my understanding that it fills up quickly. I also did some research ahead of time & they do accommodate those with allergies just let them know when you book it. I am a picky eater so I am hoping that I will be able to at least taste each item.

[ETski]

Etski, we are on your cruise too & are doing the Chef's Table. We booked online ahead of time. It is my understanding that it fills up quickly. I also did some research ahead of time & they do accommodate those with allergies just let them know when you book it. I am a picky eater so I am hoping that I will be able to at least taste each item.

I am thinking it may be too late to book online now. This is a girls cruise for me. Traveling with my Mom (89) and my sister. Not sure if my Mom would be interested in doing this, but my sister and I are. They are flying in on Thursday and will find out then. Will pop over to the Carnival site and see if it still can be booked. Thanks for the heads up on the allergy info.

[swodog94]

Enjoying your review. I do have a few question regarding the Chef's Table. Did you book onboard or prior to boarding? Interested in doing this but have some food allergies and need to find out if they can accommodate me. I have done Chef's table on another line and it was a wonderful experience. Thank you again for doing this review. Can't wait to board this coming Sunday.

 

I requested the reservation the week before we sailed, and received confirmation the next day. However, we didn't know what day we would be doing it until after we were already on board. We got a letter delivered to our stateroom on the first sea day confirming our reservation and informing us that we would be doing it on Friday, 28OCT.

 

They are very accommodating on food allergies. Just let them know, they'll make something else for you. Enjoy!

[BigAlexC]

Great review Swodog94. I don't even have a cruise booked on the Pride but am following along nonetheless.

 

First and foremost, Thank You for Your Service! Second, We are HUGE fans of the Chefs Table and try to book it every time we can. $75 may seem like a big expense to some but the quality of the food, the generosity of the wine/champagne and the chance to see "behind the scenes" in the galley make it a great value IMHO.

 

Thanks!

[swodog94]

Great review Swodog94. I don't even have a cruise booked on the Pride but am following along nonetheless.

 

First and foremost, Thank You for Your Service! Second, We are HUGE fans of the Chefs Table and try to book it every time we can. $75 may seem like a big expense to some but the quality of the food, the generosity of the wine/champagne and the chance to see "behind the scenes" in the galley make it a great value IMHO.

 

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the follow! I agree that the $75pp is well worth it. I'm not sure we'll do the Chef's Table again, though, if the menu doesn't change.

[ButterflyGirly]

I am enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I will be on the Pride in March for the first time. I am also from Odenton, MD!

 

And this is my first post!!

Edited November 9, 2016 by ButterflyGirly

[swodog94]

The last sea day is always a bittersweet experience for me. While you still have one full day on the ship, you also know that sometime that day you will need to start packing and preparing to debark the next day. I've always felt folks pack as much as they can into this day, hustling about in a frenzied, quiet desperation. Sadly, we did the same.

 

Room service delivered our morning coffee and tea, and I headed to the Lido for a breakfast burrito. I brought it back to enjoy it on my balcony because it was an absolutely gorgeous day!

 

 

The ship was located just south of Cape Hatteras and I thought things would get cooler as we came north, but the temperature was very warm, there was no wind to speak of, and the sea was calm. I wish we had experienced this weather in the Caribbean! Oh well, there was nothing for it but to lay out and enjoy it while reading a book.

 

 

We also started to encounter some traffic as we rounded Hatteras.

 

 

We usually play several of the trivia challenges, trying (fruitlessly so far) to win the coveted Ship on a Stick. We saw that this morning's trivia would be "Game of Thrones"! Hooray, we know that stuff! We got every question right except we missed part of the last question...and someone else had it 100% correct. Curses, foiled again! Oh well, time for lunch.

 

We headed to the Lido for lunch. Yep, you guessed it, another Guy's burger for me.

 

 

We got some soft serve ice cream for dessert. I don't think I previously mentioned it, but there are soft serve machines on the Lido that operate 24/7 and you can get a free ice cream whenever you please. Needless to say, these are very popular!

 

[swodog94]

One of the things people seem to look forward to is the Chocolate Extravaganza. This is where they will take one of the buffet lines on the Lido and turn it into a dessert line.

 

 

They set up a chocolate fountain...

 

 

...and put out some fruit and other sweets to dip in the chocolate.

 

 

 

Frankly, I fail to see the appeal, but I appear to be in the minority because there were a lot of folks lining up for this!

[swodog94]

As the afternoon wore on we headed down to the Taj Mahal for one of our cruise favorites - Bingo! Yep, having been raised good Catholics, Bingo-ing is in our blood. :D

 

 

Unfortunately the young man calling the bingo (one of CD Steve's interns) wasn't very good at it. And we didn't win any money...but it did kill an hour or so. Oh well, may as well head up to our room for a nap.

 

Nap complete, I rose and fetched our bottle of champagne (one of the bottles we brought on board with us.

 

 

I sat on the balcony and read my book, sipping champagne until it got close to sunset. One last beautiful sunset at sea before we get home!

 

 

 

[swodog94]

I am enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to write it. I will be on the Pride in March for the first time. I am also from Odenton, MD!

 

And this is my first post!!

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic, neighbor, and thanks for the follow! I hope you'll enjoy Pride as much as we have.

[swodog94]

Soon it was almost time for dinner. One of the things that I always enjoyed on the old menu was the "Didja Ever" section. These included things that you might not eat normally, but might be adventurous enough to attempt while on a cruise. That section did not translate to the American Table menu, but these are still some adventurous choices offered every night. Tonight I chose the frog legs!

 

 

My wife kept it simple and ordered the caprese salad.

 

 

For our entrees I had the hanger steak (medium rare) while my wife ordered the ravioli. Both were very good.

 

 

 

Dessert was quite good...it was some sort of banana and chocolate thing.

 

 

We returned to our room to find our final towel animal of the cruise.

 

 

[swodog94]

Now it was time to pack. :( I always dislike this part because it is the one sure sign that your cruise is coming to end. Once you put all your clothes is a suitcase and stick it outside your door, you have crossed the Rubicon and there's no going back. We had received our luggage tags that morning, along with a sheet of instructions for debarkation the next day.

 

There are two options for debarkation: self service, and debarkation by group. You can only do self service if you are taking all your luggage off with you, the advantage of that being that you can be one of the first off the ship. Some folks prefer this, while others are driven to it by necessity because they booked early flights (never recommended, BTW). If you put your luggage outside the door for the porters to collect, then you automatically will have to wait for your debarkation group to be called. We were going to be amongst the latter. We packed our suitcases and put them outside the door. Our tags had us in Group 3.

 

With that sad duty complete, we headed off to the Butterflies Lounge for one last comedy show. Tonight it was Tim Cavanaugh, and let me tell you he did a great show! He was funny, and pretty talented too - he wound up escaping from a straight jacket while singing a Frank Sinatra song! :eek: It was a good way to wrap things up. We headed off to bed and set the alarm, knowing when we woke up we would be arriving at our berth in Baltimore.

 

[swodog94]

We awoke the next morning and the ship was cruising up the Patapsco River, heading towards the Cruise Terminal.

 

 

Despite it being early on a Sunday, there was traffic!

 

 

We passed Fort McHenry again...

 

 

...and the Canton Marina (no Dragon Boats to be seen!)

 

 

Look, it's a veteran on WWII!!!

 

 

The SS John W. Brown is a Liberty ship, one of two still operational and one of three preserved as museum ships. As a Liberty ship, she operated as a merchant ship of the United States Merchant Marine during World War II and later was a vocational high school training ship in New York City for many years. Now preserved, she is a museum ship and cruise ship berthed at Clinton Street Pier 1 in Baltimore Harbor in Maryland. John W. Brown was named after the Canadian-born American labor union leader John W. Brown (1867-1941). The ship was built in Baltimore and entered service in September 1942.

 

And now the Cruise Terminal comes in to view.

 

[swodog94]

As I stated earlier, we had placed our luggage outside our door the night before, so we knew we would be getting off as soon as we moored and cleared Customs. CD Steve came on the 1MC and told us that if we weren't doing self service, the earliest we could expect to be called would be 10:30. But we also had to be out of our stateroom no later than 0900. We thanked Rommel profusely for all his great service during the week, tipped him heavily, then grabbed our carry-on's and headed for the Lido. We found a table to sit and enjoy some coffee and a little breakfast.

 

The self service passengers were disembarking.

 

 

It's not even 10am yet and already cars are lining up to get into the port for that day's sailing!

 

 

The sheet of instruction we had received the night before had directed us to report to the Butterflies Lounge at 1000. I think thats where all the Diamond, Platinum, FTTF and Suite passengers are mustered because they will be the first group called after the self service folks are all off. The self service debarkation is called by deck.

 

We arrived in the Butterflies Lounge, and it was pretty full.

 

 

There were some refreshments provided for us while we waited.

 

 

 

Sure enough, right around 1030 they announced in the Butterflies Lounge that they were ready for us all. We grabbed our carry-on's and walked off the ship. Next we stood in line to clear Customs. We had filled out one form for the both of us, but really didn't have much to declare except the rum we'd bought in Nassau. We breezed through.

 

Now the number on the luggage tags you are given is not just your debarkation group, it's also the group in which you luggage will be placed. After you get through customs you enter a large warehouse with luggage stacked stacked in its corresponding group. There are large signs on the walls designating each luggage area. We easily found ours and headed out of the cruise terminal. We walked across the parking lot, found our car, loaded our luggage, and drove away.

 

And just like that, our vacation came to end.

[swodog94]

That concludes the review. I hope you enjoyed it, or at a very minimum, found some useful nugget of information buried within. It turned out to be a bit more work than I anticipated, and if you stayed with me through to the end, you either adored my writing style, or, more likely, are a glutton for punishment. :eek:Either way, thank you for your comments so far. I know there are things on the ship I did not mention, and it's probably because I neglected to include them - but it's also possible I did not make use of these services. I welcome more comments and any other questions you may have. And yes, I'm already looking for my next cruise!:D

 

[bumbles]

What an awesome review! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all the photos and information! We will be cruising the Pride for the first time in January.

[swodog94]

What an awesome review! Thank you so much for taking the time to post all the photos and information! We will be cruising the Pride for the first time in January.

 

Thanks for the follow! I think you'll have a great time on Pride...enjoy!

[pghsteelerfan]

I'd been following along and just now finished reading your review. We live in VA so we're only about an hour and a half from Baltimore (in non traffic hours) and a cruise on Pride, on your "original" itinerary (GT, HMC, Freeport), has been on our radar for some time now, so I always enjoy reviews. We've been to HMC and GT, which we loved and would love to get back to. We need to just book it and go. For some reason when we go to book cruises (usually May - would have to be a warmer month out of Baltimore for us), Pride has been more expensive than those out of FL or even San Juan (which we love), so the overall cost is the same. But not having to deal with the airport check-in/security lines and having to worry if check-in luggage is overweight would be worth it.

 

I'm really sorry your original itinerary was changed and ports were missed. That's where I'd have the perfect excuse book another. :D I really enjoyed your review and love your style of writing and pictures. You got some really nice pictures and I love the one of Pride at night while in Nassau. Thank you for taking the time to do a review and thank you for your service.

Edited November 10, 2016 by pghsteelerfan

[tandemcruzr]

Thank you for your review. Really enjoyed the photos -- especially the sunsets/ sunrises. My days are scheduled around those times. :D

 

We've sailed on the Pride when she moves to Tampa for the winter. Really excited about the Miracle coming to Tampa.

 

Also, thank you for your service. Just saw a 'Nam Vet' the other day at a fast food stop on our way home from VA. He had a ball cap on that said 'Viet Nam Vet' and had a Master Sergeant pin on the cap. I thanked him for his service and you should have seen the smile on his face. :)

Edited November 10, 2016 by tandemcruzr

[swodog94]

I'd been following along and just now finished reading your review. We live in VA so we're only about an hour and a half from Baltimore (in non traffic hours) and a cruise on Pride, on your "original" itinerary (GT, HMC, Freeport), has been on our radar for some time now, so I always enjoy reviews. We've been to HMC and GT, which we loved and would love to get back to. We need to just book it and go. For some reason when we go to book cruises (usually May - would have to be a warmer month out of Baltimore for us), Pride has been more expensive than those out of FL or even San Juan (which we love), so the overall cost is the same. But not having to deal with the airport check-in/security lines and having to worry if check-in luggage is overweight would be worth it.

 

I'm really sorry your original itinerary was changed and ports were missed. That's where I'd have the perfect excuse book another. :D I really enjoyed your review and love your style of writing and pictures. You got some really nice pictures and I love the one of Pride at night while in Nassau. Thank you for taking the time to do a review and thank you for your service.

 

Thanks for reading! I agree that Pride is more expensive in the summer...it's due mostly to the lengthy transit of the Chesapeake Bay. They are required to burn a better grade of gas while in US territorial waters (EPA rules) so it costs more to run those cruises. Conversely, in the fall and winter months, because it is likely to be too cool to enjoy topside spaces on the first and last days (at least), cruises from Bmore are cheaper. So in order to enjoy the convenience of a short drive to an embarkation port, you gotta pick your poison. I think we'll either just cruise from Baltimore in the summer, or pick a fall/winter cruise out of FL next time.

[swodog94]

Thank you for your review. Really enjoyed the photos -- especially the sunsets/ sunrises. My days are scheduled around those times. :D

 

We've sailed on the Pride when she moves to Tampa for the winter. Really excited about the Miracle coming to Tampa.

 

Also, thank you for your service. Just saw a 'Nam Vet' the other day at a fast food stop on our way home from VA. He had a ball cap on that said 'Viet Nam Vet' and had a Master Sergeant pin on the cap. I thanked him for his service and you should have seen the smile on his face. :)

 

Thanks for reading, glad you enjoyed it! I'm usually not up for sunrise most cruises (I tend to enjoy myself into the wee hours!) but sunset is another story. It's usually a great time to take a breath on my balcony and start getting ready for dinner.

[swodog94]

Great review! I'm sailing on Pride for a Journeys cruise in January to the Panama Canal, so looking forward to more. :)

 

Thanks for following! I've done the Panama Canal three times, twice southbound and once northbound (all on warships). I was the Officer of the Deck for my second southbound transit and it is a fascinating journey. Is the ship actually going to transit the canal? I've heard that you just anchor or moor in Cristobal and take an excursion to see the canal? Either way, I look forward to reviews from the folks who do these cruises.

[MisKaren1]

After dinner we strolled by the Atrium and listened to the live entertainment for a few minutes.

 

 

Michael!!! Thanks for the picture. He is awesome and totally made our first cruise "with kids" beyond enjoyable. He is sooo talented. What a treat when Michael and Brandon (who just met) jammed in the Atrium. If you are on the Pride, check out the atrium for the best music.

[bluemoon12]

Thank you for doing an awesome review! I enjoyed going along with you and your wife on your trip!! Thank you for your service also.

[swodog94]

Thank you for doing an awesome review! I enjoyed going along with you and your wife on your trip!! Thank you for your service also.

 

Thanks for following along! Glad you enjoyed it.