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

[fair-winds39]

Again, really enjoying your review of the Pride. As I mentioned previously, we've been on the Pride a number of times, but I actually laughed when I saw your pic of the Ivory Bar. Believe it or not, I don't think we were ever in the Ivory Bar. I must have passed by it though. It's funny, even on a smaller ship, no matter whether you've been on it before, there are still venues you can miss.

 

What a lovely photo of both of you on Elegant Night!!

[swodog94]

Again, really enjoying your review of the Pride. As I mentioned previously, we've been on the Pride a number of times, but I actually laughed when I saw your pic of the Ivory Bar. Believe it or not, I don't think we were ever in the Ivory Bar. I must have passed by it though. It's funny, even on a smaller ship, no matter whether you've been on it before, there are still venues you can miss.

 

What a lovely photo of both of you on Elegant Night!!

 

I know what you mean...three times on Pride and I have yet to ever step in Camp Carnival (probably because I don't have kids and they frown on grown men lingering near children!:eek:). Anyway, we didn't go to the bar while the piano player was performing this time, but we did three years ago and it was fun!

 

And thank you for the compliment! I only posted it so I could brag to everyone about how beautiful my wife is.:D

[DCCruiser1013]

Really enjoying this review. We miss the Pride and are more than excited to be back in the next couple months. When exactly was your 2013 Pride cruise because we probably just missed each other on that one?

[swodog94]

Really enjoying this review. We miss the Pride and are more than excited to be back in the next couple months. When exactly was your 2013 Pride cruise because we probably just missed each other on that one?

 

21-28 July 2013. I had planned on doing a review for that one, too, but never got around to it.

 

You're doing a New Years Cruise! Sooooo jealous. Enjoy!

Edited November 4, 2016 by swodog94

[Crusin Karen]

GREAT review. We have been on Pride twice, for 2 weeks each cruise and love the spirit class ships. We used to sail from Manhattan which is just 20 minutes from us, but CCL dropped the winter/spring cruises, so we are lucky Baltimore is not too far away. Researching another cruise on her now. ;) One thing: I don't see a picture of you and your DW on formal night. :confused::confused:

[swodog94]

One thing: I don't see a picture of you and your DW on formal night. :confused::confused:

 

You will...I'm going to post the review and pics for 1st Sea Day/Elegant Night later today. Thanks for following!

[Crusin Karen]

Again, really enjoying your review of the Pride. As I mentioned previously, we've been on the Pride a number of times, but I actually laughed when I saw your pic of the Ivory Bar. Believe it or not, I don't think we were ever in the Ivory Bar. I must have passed by it though. It's funny, even on a smaller ship, no matter whether you've been on it before, there are still venues you can miss.

What a lovely photo of both of you on Elegant Night!!

 

You will...I'm going to post the review and pics for 1st Sea Day/Elegant Night later today. Thanks for following!

LOL.....this is why I remarked about the photo. Looking forward to it and more! Thanks for sharing your cruise with us! ;)

[DCCruiser1013]

21-28 July 2013. I had planned on doing a review for that one, too, but never got around to it.

 

You're doing a New Years Cruise! Sooooo jealous. Enjoy!

 

We decided we missed cruising too much and didn't want to wait until next summer, and my wife is a teacher so the time she gets off is limited, so we bit the bullet and booked the most expensive cruise we could find :)

 

By the way, I am all too familiar with crafting PowerPoints to pitch vacation ideas to my wife. Glad I'm not the only one!

[Jamman54]

GREAT start to your review and great photos! Looking forward to the rest and thank you for your service!

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Great review! We love the Pride also. Maybe sailing her again in 2017 - not sure yet. Thank you for taking the time to write your review and share your pictures.

 

 

Kim

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[swodog94]

The knock from Room Service came way too early at 0830, but I was up (barely) and grabbed the coffee, tea and pastries that I had ordered. Room service is one of the best kept, open secrets on Carnival. It's free! Yep, all you have to do is tip the server. There are some items that incur an additional costs, such as hot wings or hot sandwiches, but otherwise, it is gratis. We order coffee and tea every morning so we can wake up on our balcony and then I'll venture to the Lido to get some breakfast and bring it back to the stateroom. Today I got some pancakes for the wife, and a breakfast burrito for me. The breakfast burritos are the best thing since sliced bread, ouchless band-aids and the internet put together! Did I mention they rock? 'Cause the do! I had a breakfast burrito on 4 of the 7 days.

 

Once I was fed and feeling human, I decided to go out and see what was going on. I'll be up front here and admit they I took almost no pictures on sea days. I just walked around, lazed by the pool or on the balcony, and had drinks. I started a book - The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins - it was a fast read and I finished it two days later. No spoilers from me, read it before you see the movie.

 

After a lazy morning doing very little, we ventured to the Lido for lunch. After perusing our choices, we settled on pizza!

 

 

A common complaint on CC is that the pizza's take too long. My take is that this is because every pizza is made to order, and the wait is worth it. The preparer takes a dough ball, spreads it out by hand, asks you what you want and then puts on the toppings by hand. He puts your pizza on a rack, and then someone else takes it to the back and bakes it. It comes out of the oven, is sliced and plated, and handed to you mouth-scorchingly hot! My wife if Italian and he's VERY particular about pizza...and she loved it! I have to agree (note this honey, I agreed with you about something ;)) it was delicious. She had the Margherita, I had the pepperoni.

 

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing about, and we both took serious naps (I'm talking like 2 hours!). As we got into the eveing, I poured myself a scotch (Laphroaig 10yr) and we watched the sunset from our balcony as we got ready for dinner.

 

 

 

[swodog94]

Tonight was Elegant Night. There are three things that are guaranteed to start a flame war on CC: smoking on balcony's, passports vs other documents, and dress codes. I'm not going to dive into the dress code morass...we like to dress up, and we take every advantage to do so. Elegant Night provide us with the chance to put on the dog. As a Naval Officer, I wear my Dinner Dress uniform (aka Mess Dress) and my wife matches me by wearing either a ball gown or long dress. The Funtimes also noted that there would be a Captain's Toast, with the CO and his Officers greeting passengers in the Atrium. I thought that would be cool.

 

 

 

 

We got dressed and headed down to the Atrium. Servers were circulating with trays of "Bellinis" for the CO's Toast. I took two and quickly found I had to pay for them. They were not good at all. Also, I made a poor assumption. I though there would be a receiving line where we would walk through and meet the Captain, shake his hand and the toast afterwards. It was a poor assumption. There was no formal way to meet the CO and his Officers, The Atrium was a madhouse, as folks (all dressed to the nines, at least) tried to get their formal pictures taken. Eventually, Cruise Director Steve introduced the CO and his staff the led the toast. It was disappointing. At least we got our picture taken.

 

[nybumpkin]

Tonight was Elegant Night. There are three things that are guaranteed to start a flame war on CC: smoking on balcony's, passports vs other documents, and dress codes. I'm not going to dive into the dress code morass...we like to dress up, and we take every advantage to do so. Elegant Night provide us with the chance to put on the dog. As a Naval Officer, I wear my Dinner Dress uniform (aka Mess Dress) and my wife matches me by wearing either a ball gown or long dress. The Funtimes also noted that there would be a Captain's Toast, with the CO and his Officers greeting passengers in the Atrium. I thought that would be cool.

 

We got dressed and headed down to the Atrium. Servers were circulating with trays of "Bellinis" for the CO's Toast. I took two and quickly found I had to pay for them. They were not good at all. Also, I made a poor assumption. I though there would be a receiving line where we would walk through and meet the Captain, shake his hand and the toast afterwards. It was a poor assumption. There was no formal way to meet the CO and his Officers, The Atrium was a madhouse, as folks (all dressed to the nines, at least) tried to get their formal pictures taken. Eventually, Cruise Director Steve introduced the CO and his staff the led the toast. It was disappointing. At least we got our picture taken.

 

A very nice photo! Thanks for doing a review - really enjoying it. We've sailed Pride twice (same itinerary you did) and are booked again for July - but Bermuda this time. Our oldest son is a SWO who is scheduled to end his second billet in about six months and return stateside, and we're hoping against hope that he'll be able to join us. We haven't vacationed with him since he graduated from high school in 2009. A friend of mine suggested that if he does get to come with us, he should wear his Mess Dress. He'd be engaged by the end of the cruise!

 

And as others have said, thanks so much for your 23 years of service.:cool:

[sparks1093]

Wanting to sail on Pride again even more after reading your review!

[swodog94]

We hung out in the Atrium until dinner and caught some of the live entertainment.

 

 

Dinner was very good! Started out with some tarts with crispy pork belly.

 

 

For her entree my wife had the Root Vegetable Tart. I tried it and it was a very hearty and flavorful dish!

 

 

I took advantage of the fact that you can order whatever you want off the menu and I asked for the Prime Rib...and the Lobster Tail!

 

 

[swodog94]

Needless to say, I waddled away from the dinner table fat as a tick! We headed up to our room and found that our room steward had left us this towel arrangement.

 

 

They also left us a nice dessert. We couldn't eat it of course, so we stuck it in the fridge for later.

 

 

I grabbed another scotch and a cigar and headed topside to the smoking area on deck 10. Then we changed out of our fancy rig and went to the late comedy show. This night it was a fellow named Kier, who incorporated a guitar and some funny songs into his routine. He was good, and funny to boot! After that my wife headed back to our stateroom and I went to the casino. Lady luck was not with me and I mostly lost, but was still up overall. I quit while I could and headed for bed. Tomorrow, another sea day awaited us!

[swodog94]

We had room service deliver coffee, tea and pastries again to start our day. I checked the Funtimes to see what was in store for today.

 

 

I saw that there was a Veteran's Gathering in the Butterflies Lounge. I though I'd go check it out.

[pusywillow]

Tonight was Elegant Night. There are three things that are guaranteed to start a flame war on CC: smoking on balcony's, passports vs other documents, and dress codes. I'm not going to dive into the dress code morass...we like to dress up, and we take every advantage to do so. Elegant Night provide us with the chance to put on the dog. As a Naval Officer, I wear my Dinner Dress uniform (aka Mess Dress) and my wife matches me by wearing either a ball gown or long dress. The Funtimes also noted that there would be a Captain's Toast, with the CO and his Officers greeting passengers in the Atrium. I thought that would be cool.

 

 

 

 

We got dressed and headed down to the Atrium. Servers were circulating with trays of "Bellinis" for the CO's Toast. I took two and quickly found I had to pay for them. They were not good at all. Also, I made a poor assumption. I though there would be a receiving line where we would walk through and meet the Captain, shake his hand and the toast afterwards. It was a poor assumption. There was no formal way to meet the CO and his Officers, The Atrium was a madhouse, as folks (all dressed to the nines, at least) tried to get their formal pictures taken. Eventually, Cruise Director Steve introduced the CO and his staff the led the toast. It was disappointing. At least we got our picture taken.

 

 

Strange, but I didn't have to pay for the champagne toast in the Atrium. I was on the ship in Sept and Oct.

 

Sue

[swodog94]

I headed down to the Butterflies Lounge and got there a couple of minutes late. I arrived while everyone was standing to honor our flag while someone sang the Star Spangled Banner acapella.

 

 

Cruise Director Steve MC'd the event and did a great job. He was up front about being a native Canadian, but expressed great admiration for military veterans regardless of nationality.

 

 

The turn out for this event was strong. The Butterflies Lounge was basically full.

 

 

Steve had the service song for each service played and asked that veterans of that service rise and be recognized while their song played. One gentleman rose twice...he had served in the Army and the Coast Guard! That dude is my hero! Steve then asked that all spouses, moms, dads, and family members of veterans rise and be recognized. In my opinion, these were the most important folks in the room, since none of us can succeed if we don't have a strong support network. I've worn the uniform for 27 years, and for 24 of those years my wife has been by my side (21 of those married). I could not have succeeded in all my sea tours and deployments had she not been my rock (I love you honey!).

 

After that Steve opened up the floor to anyone who wanted to say anything. Many folks got up and spoke from the heart, but I was especially touched by the Vietnam era vets. Our country treated them horribly as they returned from war, but they have benefited from the respect and love our military has experienced the last 15 years. They expressed their heartfelt appreciation to Carnival for hosting the event and providing the opportunity for folks to recognize veterans for their accomplishments and contributions. It was very emotional, and several folks who spoke were in tears. But I was also heartened by one veteran who rose and introduced his young nephew who was scheduled to report to Army boot camp in two weeks. I'm very near retirement, and I'm always encouraged that young people continue to be willing to step up and place their lives on the line to defend our nation.

 

Thank you Carnival for doing this!!!:)

[swodog94]

Following the Veteran's Gathering, I headed back to link up with my wife and we headed to the Lido to get something to eat. As much as I love Guys Burgers, I decided to get a burrito from Blue Iguana.

 

 

Allow me to digress a bit here. I want to talk about Pride's crew. They were outstanding. Regardless of what their responsibilities were, I saw crewmembers constantly working. Engineers were always out and about fixing things, deck crew were busy chipping, painting and preserving, and others were always cleaning things, preparing great food, or ensuring that there were plenty of plates, cups or towels available for their passengers. And above all else, they were invariable friendly, always with a cheery greeting. They are THE biggest part of why Pride is such a great ship and why folks love to cruise on her. BZ to her crew! And just a small demonstration of what they do, here's an example of their attention to detail: a carved watermelon on the dessert line.

 

[swodog94]

The rest of the afternoon went by quickly. I went a hung out by the pool at Serenity. Since I had lunch kind of early, I decided I needed a snack around 3pm. I headed for the Deli. Turns out, you can get a hot dog there, with sauerkraut or chili if you want. I got a plain dog and found some mustard, ketchup and relish to get on it. It was yummy! Then I headed back to our room for a serious nap.

 

Nap over, I rose in time to watch the sun set.

 

 

 

 

Dinner was coming up. However, tonight we were going to skip the MDR and go have dinner in the steakhouse, David's. We've had dinner there twice before, and it has always been awesome. David's is located on aft on deck 10. It's in the base of the funnel, and the outside windows are tinted red to bland in with that paint scheme.

 

 

There's a full size replica of the DaVinci's statue of David.

 

 

That last time we ate here, in 2013, the statue was still accurate to the last degree. Unfortunately, we have some true idiots in the US and their complaints forced Carnival to deface this great work of art...an olive leaf was placed over David's naughty bits. I've been fortunate enough to see the original in the La Academia museum in Florence, and it's a beautiful statue.

 

The rest of the restaurant is very nice.

 

 

The steakhouse is one of the venues that you have to pay extra for, I think it's $35pp. But it is totally worth it!

 

[swodog94]

We sat down for dinner and the place was half empty. They push reservations hard, but I've never seen it more that half full. Our server was very nice, she offered to take our picture.

 

 

One of the things I really like about David's is that the wine list is very good. They have some excellent high end wines to pair with your food. We went with an old stand by, Silver Oak cab. I mentioned that there's a surcharge to dine here, but that buys you the ability to order something off of every section of the menu. Of course, the chef sent out an amuse bouche to start off with.

 

 

We both chose a soup as a starter. I ordered the lobster bisque, my wife got the baked onion soup.

 

 

 

[swodog94]

After the appetizer you can order a salad. My wife passed, I did not...I got the classic caesar. It was very good and you could tell that the dressing was prepared fresh, with a strong anchovie flavor.

 

 

For our entree's I chose the 18oz spice rubbed rib eye and my wife got the surf and turf (6oz filet and a lobster tail). They were both amazing!

 

 

 

After all that food we were stuffed! Dessert is included, but we could not eat another bit. Luckily, the wait staff is very understanding and they packed us a slice of cheesecake to go. We put it in our fridge and had it the next day, and it was sooo good!

 

We went back to our room and found the latest towel creation.

 

 

My wife chose to stay in the room and relax. I unfortunately went to the casino and lost big time! :( I came back well before midnight and hit the rack because we were getting up at 0700 the next day for our 0800 arrival in Grand Turk!

 

[swodog94]

A very nice photo! Thanks for doing a review - really enjoying it. We've sailed Pride twice (same itinerary you did) and are booked again for July - but Bermuda this time. Our oldest son is a SWO who is scheduled to end his second billet in about six months and return stateside, and we're hoping against hope that he'll be able to join us. We haven't vacationed with him since he graduated from high school in 2009. A friend of mine suggested that if he does get to come with us, he should wear his Mess Dress. He'd be engaged by the end of the cruise!

 

And as others have said, thanks so much for your 23 years of service.:cool:

 

Thank you for your son's service. My greatest enjoyment is leading sailors at sea, and I'm glad he is doing the same; his generation is our future. If you do talk him into a cruise, I'm sure he'll enjoy it.

[swodog94]

Wanting to sail on Pride again even more after reading your review!

 

I know, we love this ship! Thanks for the follow!