Carnival Pride

[Mtady1989]

My Fiance and I booked a 7 day cruise with Carnival Pride. I was just wanting to get some comments on peoples experiences with this ship. any ideas or pointers on what to expect and what things we can look forward to doing on this cruise line? this is both of our very first cruises!! 

[waterwatcher]

We have only sailed on the Pride because we can drive to port.  We love it!  Not too big, not crowded, easy to learn your way around. Everyone is friendly and hospitable.  You will love it.  What ports are you sailing to?

 

[Mtady1989]

That’s why we are going out of Baltimore we are from Pittsburgh! But our ports are grand Turk, half moon cay, and Freeport it’s a 7 day cruise 

[cdnmr]

• Staff are great,
• dining room food is much better than the buffet,
• Guys burgers, burrito place good, deli is hit or miss and pizza is decent and consistent
• Red Frog bartenders were a lot of fun
• parts of the ship were in pretty rough shape cosmetically last month.  Steam room, sauna, hot tubs all out of order for part or all of our 14 day cruise.
• service in dining room for anytime dining was unbelievably slow.  We skipped desert most nights, and skipped the dining room completely on a couple of nights because we didnt want to spend 2 hours eating.  Believe they cut staffing levels but not sure.
• cabin stewards are normally great, make special requests on first/second day (ice buckets, extra pillows etc) and they will hopefully deliver for the rest of the cruise.  They have lots of cabins to do....our last guy looked so tired every day.
• comedians are usually pretty good, comedians change mid cruise
• hot tub in spa area is nice, if they are working there are free steam rooms and saunas in locker rooms

I could go on but its new years eve and off to party!

Enjoy.

[stellarose]

did pride in june -

70 year old grandparents loved it

teens- loved it

hubby mid 40s loved it.

 

blue iquana- awesome breakfast burritos

 

comedians - great

 

80s glow party awesome

 

seeing a movie (black panther) on the deck was cool. 

[waterwatcher]

Grand Turk:  Pride will dock and you just walk off and down to the island.  Has gotten very crowded at the beach with vendors.  Lots of shops to browse.

 

Half Moon Cay:  Carnival's private island.  You will need to take the shuttle boat to get to the island.  Very nice beach.  Carnival has a cook out there for everyone. It's a favorite of a lot of people.

 

Freeport:  Not much there when you get off the boat, mostly straw market and some small shops.  You would have to book a tour if you want to go to beach or anyplace else.  We always just stay at the port where the boat docks.  

 

Enjoy the comedy club on the Pride but get early to get a seat.  When ordering dinner, order as much as you want. 24 hour pizza is great.  You will love it.

 

[minni323]

I have been in the Pride three times and love it. Everything the previous posters wrote is exactly how I feel about this ship. You will have a great time

[Troopwife1]

Just got back from a Pride cruise.  It's my 8th cruise.  I also bring motion sickness pills...I have to take them the entire time.  If you don't know how you are going to be bring some.  Agree with the breakfast burritos...if I ate breakfast I ate them.  Main dining room you can order as much as you want I would get 3 appetizers and a main.  My husband got 4 lobsters on that night and a fish dish they had.  Lol!  We would get 2 mains and multiple appetizers also.  So good.  They have so much stuff going on it's hard to say what you will into.  We always got to the comedy show at least 20 or more minutes early to get a decent seat.  Sometimes we just sat there in between show and read or chatted.  🙂

[rocket29]

I just left the Carnival Pride for a Christmas cruise with my girlfriend, daughter, parents and nieces (8 of us total).  We had 3 stops in the Bahamas.

 

This is my 5th Carnival cruise and 8th overall.  Some observations:

 

-Guy's Burgers are outstanding.  One of the best burgers I have ever had, hands down.

-Comedy club is fun, but arrive very early, seats fill up.

-Rooms are a bit old, and slightly musty if you have sensitive allergies.  My gf's allergies were pretty bad so bring meds.

-We took a 2 stop snorkel excursion.  Weather was overcast and a bit windy so they said they would refund us at the port.  We decided to do it anyway, big mistake.  The sea was very rough and I am an excellent swimmer.  The kids were struggling to stay afloat let alone see fish.  People were vomiting all over the boat.  DO NOT DO a sea excursion sea if the weather is bad, get a refund.

-Dining room staff is great, the head waiter sung every night.  Most of the food was very good.

-You can bring cans of soda on board.  I think its one case per person,  do this instead of paying for soda.

-My gf and I got the drink package.  Its a must if you plan on drinking more than 7 beers per day or 5 mixed drinks.  Alchemy Bar was our favorite (always is on Carnival), Nicholae and Inga are great bartenders.

-Beauties Nightclub kind of sucked.  My gf and I love clubs but it was really dated and cheesy.  Plus it had an odd setup, you have to go downstairs to the dancefloor and the bar is upstairs.

-Guy at the Piano Bar plays a great piano but was not a great singer.

 

If you want more info, let me know!  Congrats on the engagement!

[belle331]

Looking for recommendations for a good hotel in Baltimore that we can leave the car for a week and get a shuttle to the port and back to the hotel. 11 of us are going in the Pride in March  and need to book 5 rooms soon to be sure we are all able to stay at the same place. Would like somewhere not too far from the port. Thank you.

Edited January 4, 2019 by belle331
Missed spelled word

[pusywillow]

Best Western on O'Donnell St.  Great Shuttle.  You can leave your car for up to a month.

 

[chocolate melting cake]

We leave on the Pride Sunday for a 14 day cruise. She goes into drydock for 2-3 weeks in Feb. so she should look "shipshape" when you board her. The Pride is our favorite of the 20 Carnival ships we've been on, mostly because of the crew. I'll leave a link to a photo "album" of our cruise of the same ports last year with our 12 year old granddaughter, it may give you an idea of the ports and some of the ship -- of course it will be refurbished before you board. Just click on the link and for any pictures you wan to see larger click on them---you can see all large if you keep clicking on the forward arrow. Please feel free to skip all of the "family photos". Enjoy your cruise!                           

 

OUR 2017 PRIDE CRUISE

[pusywillow]

Loved your pics!  Thanks for sharing.

[5000]

For the hotel and offsite parking, google  park and fly. ( Yes they cover the port of balt also.  last time we did it it was about $100 bucks for the room the night before, breakfast in the resturant, and shuttle to the port.  When you get back call the hotel and the shuttle will bring you back.  No problems . Several hotels to choose from.  ~ 10 - 15 minutes from port.

[GradUT]

If Dr. E is the Cruise Director on your Pride cruise, you are in for a treat.  He’s the best cruise director I’ve ever seen.  

 

Do...not...miss Dr. E’s Motown show or his 70’s/80’s show.  They are so much fun!

[tandemcruzr]

Be sure to visit the Serenity area, Lido Deck aft. There is a pool, spa and bar with places to sit in the sun or the shade. One of the best Serenity areas in the fleet (our opinion).  🙂

 

[JMAE]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:51 PM, Mtady1989 said:

My Fiance and I booked a 7 day cruise with Carnival Pride. I was just wanting to get some comments on peoples experiences with this ship. any ideas or pointers on what to expect and what things we can look forward to doing on this cruise line? this is both of our very first cruises!! 

We live in NE PA and it is an easy drive to the Baltimore pier.  Parking is right at the terminal and ship.  The parking lot opens around 11:30, but it depends on the debarkation of the previous cruise. It cost $15 a day to park, we always pay cash the line goes faster than the credit card line.  HMC is a tender port, you may want FTTF, which provide priority embarkation and tendering.  The staff is great and if Ken is the maitre d' you will have a nice experience in the main dinning room.  Both the adult and family comedy shows are always great!  You can each take one bottle wine (750ml) and 12 cans of soda.  If you drink a lot of water you can purchase bottles from CCL prior to sailing, it cost more if you purchase the water after you get on the ship.  Take a power strip, but it cannot be surge protected.  Bring asprin, tums, sun screen, etc. very expensive on the ship.  I would be glad to answer any questions we have been on the Pride 9 times, most recently this past Oct. 

 

Relax and enjoy your cruise.  

Edited January 6, 2019 by JMAE

[sparks1093]

On 12/30/2018 at 8:51 PM, Mtady1989 said:

My Fiance and I booked a 7 day cruise with Carnival Pride. I was just wanting to get some comments on peoples experiences with this ship. any ideas or pointers on what to expect and what things we can look forward to doing on this cruise line? this is both of our very first cruises!! 

We loved the Pride and have sailed her twice. There are links to my reviews in my signature. No bells and whistles of the bigger ships but still a load of fun (and being able to drive to the port is a big plus).

[stellarose]

loved the pride and hope to sail on her again very soon.

 

DH and I (mid 40's)loved it.

 

Grandparents (early 70s) loved it.

 

Teen boy and girl- (14/16)loved it. 

[CoolOne56]

OP,  I love Grand Turk!

 

FYI - There is no charge to use the pool, beach and loungers. Snorkel Equipment, beach floats and shade “clam shells” can be rented at the Beach Rental Hut on the beach. Private air-conditioned pool cabanas are also available for rent through your cruise line.

 

http://www.grandturkcc.com/port-information/faqs.aspx

 

Happy sails!