Onboard the Pride now.

[davy jones]

We are onboard the Pride this week.  The surf internet package works reasonably well in our cabin, so here I am.  The cruise is living up to my expectations for a Carnival cruise.  It's great to be back onboard a cruise ship.  Very relaxing, which is exactly what we are looking for this week.

 

I will try to answer questions from our observations and experiences this week, along with a few random musings.  Please note that we do not take very many pictures and probably couldn't upload them if we did, so photos are out.  I have the paper daily sheets, but uploading them would be even more difficult.  Suffice it to say that they are pretty much spot on with the sheets that were posted from a recent sailing.

[chocolate melting cake]

We're sailing in 2 weeks (the repositioning cruise). When you can reply could you let us know how well  the crew are enforcing the mask rules in the halls, elevators and showrooms? Also, is Ken Byrne still singing each evening in the dining room? Thanks for the info.

Edited October 19, 2021 by chocolate melting cake

[bar1068]

 

Hopefully Mr. Jones will come along with a more current update on the mask enforcement, however we sailed on the Pride on the 9/26 sailing, I did not witness any enforcement of the mask rules in the areas you mentioned. There were reminders throughout the cruise to wear masks in the showrooms, comedy club etc but I never saw any enforcement. Most complied with the mask rules, even the person who had an N95 mask on once when we got on an elevator, who felt compelled to tell us he and his wife "worked in healthcare" and could tell us in all certainty that masks do not good. We went with, ok then, have a good evening.

 

Ken Byrne was on our sailing, but I could not tell you if he was singing, he's not "my cup of tea"...

Edited October 19, 2021 by bar1068
spelling

[retiredgram]

So you are able to get the daily planner papers.  My daughter n law said she could not during her Oct 3 cruise.  I do not want to have to carry my phone with me every where while onboard for our  cruise.

 

If you get a chance, could you see if the laundry rooms are open.  We are doing the the 14 days and then going to disney world for 5 days.  Would like to do wash myself rather than the ship do it.

 

Enjoy your cruise. We are patiently waiting for ours. 🍹🍷

[bar1068]

4 hours ago, retiredgram said:

So you are able to get the daily planner papers.  My daughter n law said she could not during her Oct 3 cruise.  I do not want to have to carry my phone with me every where while onboard for our  cruise.

 

If you get a chance, could you see if the laundry rooms are open.  We are doing the the 14 days and then going to disney world for 5 days.  Would like to do wash myself rather than the ship do it.

 

Enjoy your cruise. We are patiently waiting for ours. 🍹🍷

The Fun Times...or daily planner papers, are no longer delivered to your cabin. Abbreviated copies are available at guest services...or at least they were when we were on the 9/26 cruise....something we did not notice until half way into the cruise, but those were never that important to us and carrying a phone was not a big deal for us last month. No clue if the laundry rooms were open.

[pogoism9]

7 hours ago, bar1068 said:

Ken Byrne was on our sailing, but I could not tell you if he was singing, he's not "my cup of tea"...

 

Mr. Byrne was in fact singing on the 9/26 sailing

[IntrepidFromDC]

12 hours ago, davy jones said:

We are onboard the Pride this week.    Very relaxing, which is exactly what we are looking for this week.

Great to hear how things have/will have changed from our 9/12 sailing.  If you eat at David's, please share your experience because ours was horrible and I've heard a mix of impressions since.

 

If you're in an aft balcony, please don't poot in the bed in case it's ours.  😁 🏴‍☠️

 

Please share more and more and we hope you have an awesome cruise!!!

[davy jones]

Good Morning.

 

Looking at HMC from your balcony on a sunny morning is a good start to any day unless you work there.

 

Cruise tip of the morning:  If the lido breakfast opens at 7, go between 7:10 and 7:15 to avoid the initial rush.

 

Now on to the questions, starting with the easy answers.

1.  Yes, there is a gray haired gentleman working in the MDR who sang the last two nights .  He sings in a Sinatra style and is quite good.  We are using MTD, on the upper level, so we did not hear his name.

2.  Fun Times can be picked up each day on paper.  They can be found at guest services or near the coffee bar on deck 2 where the daily puzzles are kept.

3.  I can say from personal experience that the laundry room on deck 7 is open.  I used it on Sunday evening at 10PM to iron a wrinkled pair of pants.  (Yes, we're just party animals on the first day.)  There were 2 washers, 4 dryers and one iron and was very empty, as could be expected at that time.

[davy jones]

Masks:

I believe that the situation is similar to that described by bar1068.

 

Overall compliance in indoor areas appears to be quite high in places like the lido buffet and walking through corridors.  It was quite high (90% ish) in the theater last night for the early show.  It is near 100% in the comedy club.

 

Compliance in bars and lounges is not as high.  In a way, drinks make this a gray area at best, but there are people without food or drink who seem to use it as mask respite. 

 

I am seeing very little active enforcement.  The comedy club host give many reminders that masks are required and that does seem to get people to mask up because they do stand out.  It is also the least distanced place, so the proactive approach is good and appears to be working.  I have not heard any announcements in the theater or lounges.  They must be hoping that people follow the signs.

 

I will update if I see anything different.

[davy jones]

I googled Ken Byrne.  The picture confirmed that he is the man who sings in the MDR.

[davy jones]

4 hours ago, IntrepidFromDC said:

Great to hear how things have/will have changed from our 9/12 sailing.  If you eat at David's, please share your experience because ours was horrible and I've heard a mix of impressions since.

 

If you're in an aft balcony, please don't poot in the bed in case it's ours.  😁 🏴‍☠️

 

Please share more and more and we hope you have an awesome cruise!!!

We have a midship extended balcony.  You are safe.

[2Shoes2Go]

Thank you for the good report of experiences on Pride! We’re on, end of Nov, out of Tampa. Looking forward to catching up with an old friend, Rob T., the solo guitarist, who believe is on now. Can you confirm? We haven’t seen him in a few years! Mellow style that we love! 

[alleghator]

We're big piano bar fans and are sailing on Sunday. Have you been to the piano bar? Anything to report in that regard?

[bstel]

1 hour ago, alleghator said:

We're big piano bar fans and are sailing on Sunday. Have you been to the piano bar? Anything to report in that regard?

I was on the 10/3 sailing and i don't remember the piano bar being open that much, but i could be wrong.

[bstel]

18 hours ago, retiredgram said:

So you are able to get the daily planner papers.  My daughter n law said she could not during her Oct 3 cruise.  I do not want to have to carry my phone with me every where while onboard for our  cruise.

 

If you get a chance, could you see if the laundry rooms are open.  We are doing the the 14 days and then going to disney world for 5 days.  Would like to do wash myself rather than the ship do it.

 

Enjoy your cruise. We are patiently waiting for ours. 🍹🍷

laundry rooms are open.  I used the Deck 6 room which is way forward.  It had 2 washers and 4 dryers.  1 washer was broken and appeared to have been broken for quite some time, but I didn't see anyone else using the machines so no issue with crowding.

[bdrmeister]

Have you been told at what capacity you are sailing?

[mjktg99]

How was embarkation in Baltimore?  We are sailing the Legend in a month and I am curious how Baltimore is handling it.

[retiredgram]

6 hours ago, davy jones said:

 

3.  I can say from personal experience that the laundry room on deck 7 is open.  I used it on Sunday evening at 10PM to iron a wrinkled pair of pants.  (Yes, we're just party animals on the first day.)  There were 2 washers, 4 dryers and one iron and was very empty, as could be expected at that time.

  Did you happen to see if washers took coin or your sea pass card?  Thanks for all info and enjoy the cruise.🍹

[davy jones]

4 hours ago, bdrmeister said:

Have you been told at what capacity you are sailing?

I believe that the Matrie D said 1551.

[davy jones]

7 hours ago, alleghator said:

We're big piano bar fans and are sailing on Sunday. Have you been to the piano bar? Anything to report in that regard?

We have not been to the piano bar.  Ithas been open the last two nights, but does not appear to be open tonight.  The performer is Gilbert.  He did a 30 minute "pre show" prior to performances of 88 Keys (nice touch by the way).  He seemed like a good piano bar performer.

[davy jones]

8 hours ago, 2Shoes2Go said:

Thank you for the good report of experiences on Pride! We’re on, end of Nov, out of Tampa. Looking forward to catching up with an old friend, Rob T., the solo guitarist, who believe is on now. Can you confirm? We haven’t seen him in a few years! Mellow style that we love! 

Rob is onboard, appearing primarily in the atrium.  Last night, he did 30 minute sets in the theater before the performances of Getaway Island.

[davy jones]

4 hours ago, mjktg99 said:

How was embarkation in Baltimore?  We are sailing the Legend in a month and I am curious how Baltimore is handling it.

Embarkation was pretty good.  It took around 30 minutes from arrival at the port to onboard.  You drop off luggage, park, go through the passport check, the boarding pass check, the vax and covid test check, security screening, and final check in.  Then you board.

 

We arrived around 12:45PM, and boarded the ship around 1:15.  Rooms would not be open until 2, so we had lunch and went to the cabin at 2:00 and our luggage was already there.  

 

The muster check in is fast and easy.

[winslow050]

On 10/19/2021 at 4:10 PM, chocolate melting cake said:

We're sailing in 2 weeks (the repositioning cruise). When you can reply could you let us know how well  the crew are enforcing the mask rules in the halls, elevators and showrooms? Also, is Ken Byrne still singing each evening in the dining room? Thanks for the info.

We are on the Pride also they do announce about wearing masks and if you are in any venue they tell you this is a MASK UP venue and if your not they will tell you to mask up.  the casino staff are making announcements every 20 - 30 minutes walking around reminding everyone. There are signs in hallways and in elevators to mask up seems like everyone is doing their part. So far great cruise. 

[davy jones]

We just docked in Bimini.  It appears to be a pretty basic dock, without shops or tourist traps.  However, we are docked, so we will be able to walk on/off and not have to deal with tenders.

 

We were going stay on board, but decided to get off and look around.  That will keep the step counters happy and provide a change of scenery.  We'll likely be back onboard for lunch, before the sun take atoll on us.

 

The ship has not been cleared yet and we are not in a hurry.  Here are a few random musings.

 

1.  We chose morning cabin service because we're used to 1x / day service in hotels.  Everything is fine and the ice bucket is filled.  We are pretty low maintenance.

 

2.  We have open dining.  MDR service is friendly and generally efficient but it is a bit unrefined by cruise ship standards.  It's more like the local casual restaurant than a cruise ship.   You order everything at the beginning, even dessert.  You have to ask for coffee/tea after dinner.  It appears that most do not get any.  Perhaps the general desire for it has dropped off drastically and I just didn't notice until now.

 

3.  Entertainment - Typical Carnival entertainment.  The onboard musicians are good.  The comedians are hit and miss.  We have never quite warmed up to Playlist productions.  They are just OK.  

 

4.  Running at reduced capacity gives a wonderful uncrowded feel.

 

Overall, very happy with cruise so far.

 

Just cleared the ship.  Time to get ready to go.  Feel free to ask more questions

[davy jones]

 Sometimes the best plan is no plan.  We had no concrete plans for the Freeport stop.  We got up when the CD announced that the ship was cleared.  Below we could see people disembarking into very overcast conditions.  It is now raining and it looks like there could be off and on showers all day.  Besides, you have to be back onboard by 1:00, so we are perched in a comfortable sheltered spot for the time being.

 

We survived the great power outage.  Our perilous tale is actually pretty boring.  Here is the short version, with one embellishment. 1,  We were napping and did not even know that we had left the dock.  2.  DW woke up and noticed a silence never encountered on a ship before.  3.  She went to bathroom and the lights and toilet both worked.  4.  Captain's announcement awakened me.  5.  I said to DW that there was no problem now, but it could be in three hours when people realize that they haven't eaten in 3 hours and inside rooms got hot.  6.  The captain announced that things were fixed.  7. We never knew that we had left the dock until we saw it posted on CC.  Apparently, the wifi worked throughout the outage.   8.  Power outage joked immediately started throughout the ship.  It was gold for the comedians.  9.  Negotiations for a massive future cruise credit and OBC are proceeding slowly.

 

Current conditions.  Light rain.  We are perched in a sheltered area on the lido.  Quiet on board except for the crew members in life jackets heading to muster stations (and the ship's horn, which can wake the dead).  It's a safety drill, so don't start any internet rumors.  If this were a real emergency, I would just disembark at the gangway.

 

We saw a crew member in the talk to a maskless man in the comedy person and hand him a mask.  I don't think he put it on though.