Pride Halloween 2021 Panama Canal Review

[vamartha]

13 hours ago, JessicaOfVA said:

 

This scares me about being under the Lido deck. I like my quiet and we can be light sleepers at times.

What part of Virginia Jessica? That is what the va part of my userame vamartha stands for.

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stephanieelena]

On 11/16/2021 at 2:57 PM, vamartha said:

I've not done a review in a very long time so bear with me as I try and get my Sea Legs going again.

 

We just completed the 14 day partial Panama Canal crossing beginning on Halloween 2021, embarking in Baltimore and debarking in Tampa. We're home now and I will probably not do my usual step by step review but do more of a general musings type of review.

 

We like this style of cruise, the fares are usually low even pre-Covid. I suppose it is because people like to drive to port or because they like round trip airfare but we've found that repositioning cruises offer some of the best fares. Having said that, our longest prior was 11 days and by the end of 14 days we found that we were more than ready to go home. I think that 8-11 days is perfect for us.

 

We also aren't social butterflies and don't hang out in the bars or at the pools or attend many events. We like our balcony and we like to sort of hangout with ourselves. You won't see us in the MDR every night, we greatly prefer the relaxed casualness of the Lido (but we have sailed the Mardi Gras already and have two more booked and the fact that we never even saw the MDR on that ship and still had amazing food on that ship in cargo shorts and a set of skorts will weigh heavily on future booking decisions).

 

We have cruised Halloween cruises before and we love them. This one was a bit understated because it was embarkation day but we still participated and had a good time. We missed the elaborate costumes of cruises past but we already have 2022 booked and are looking forward with high anticipation! If you haven't cruised a Halloween cruise you probably don't know what a good time you are missing!

 

We stayed at Staybridge Suites in Baltimore. Nice room, no complaints from us but it can get loud as Larry Flynt's Hustler Club butts up to it in the same block and no I'm not kidding! I didn't have any idea that those still existed but then again I'm from the country and we don't get out much!

 

Pics will be a challenge. I haven't quite figured out how to get them from the phone to my laptop yet. I was way better at this when everything was on SD cards - not totally tech challenged but it does require a bit more thought than it used to!

 

The Pride is a very ornate ship. I thought the Atrium was a bit too dark while going up and down the glass elevators but maybe they are trying to mute some of the more spicy drawings! 😅 She is in decent shape for a ship that is 20 years old, shows age in some places and not in others. Her cabin hallways could stand a bit of attention as they are a bit rough around the edges but all in all she is sturdy and we didn't have any power issues or electrical issues. We've sailed the Legend before and knew pretty much what to expect. We prefer the Dream Class but since they wouldn't fit through the original locks in the Canal, here we were. We were not disappointed by the ship. She vibrates, but we knew to expect that. (DH was entertained by the mermaids on the Lido ceiling and was tall enough to feel them up a time or two! He's such a bad boy!)

 

 

 

 

I'm doing the Panama canal trip Nov 28th-12th. So excited. Wish I had a room with a balcony like this one. Fabulous. Is it a premium Vista balcony? Junior suite? Love reading your review. I'm so excited.  Sailing out of new Orleans on the carnival Glory.

[vamartha]

26 minutes ago, stephanieelena said:

I'm doing the Panama canal trip Nov 28th-12th. So excited. Wish I had a room with a balcony like this one. Fabulous. Is it a premium Vista balcony? Junior suite? Love reading your review. I'm so excited.  Sailing out of new Orleans on the carnival Glory.

The Spirit Class of ships (Pride, Legend, Spirit and Miracle) all have these balconies. They are just plain extended balconies and aren't really billed as anything special. You have to be someone who pores over deck plans (or pays serious attention over the years on CC) to know that they are special. I'd been drooling over them for twenty years. It was a once in a lifetime experience for us!

[vamartha]

2 minutes ago, vamartha said:

The Spirit Class of ships (Pride, Legend, Spirit and Miracle) all have these balconies. They are just plain extended balconies and aren't really billed as anything special. You have to be someone who pores over deck plans (or pays serious attention over the years on CC) to know that they are special. I'd been drooling over them for twenty years. It was a once in a lifetime experience for us!

But I don't want you to be mislead. There are only one of these exact balconies on each of those ships. There are two more that are close but I don't think they are as deep. I just didn't want you to think that all extended balconies were like this. There is a website that shows you various deck plans that is very detailed. If you are a flyer, think of it as Seat Guru for cruise ships.

 

I can't tell you the name here but you might want to use the three keywords that we are talking about here: cruise and then the second one: deck and then the third one: plans and string them together and add a .com and see what you get. 

[vamartha]

Sorry for the occasional fingernail getting in the way. This day was a huge bucket list item and I spent it walking back and forth on this balcony! My cell phone battery died twice and I used an external charger to boost it back up twice - and I've got great battery life usually! But I was also running a weather radar app and Marine Traffic in addition to the camera full time.

 

I was more fascinated by the boats assisting us than I was the train cars.

 

And on the other side when we were coming back through (which I've mistakenly already shown you most of) the sounds of birds was astounding. The only other place I've been that rivaled that sound was the rainforest in Dominica.

 

This pic is where the Canal splits and the big ships have to go to the left and the smaller vessels go to the right. Before this portion opened in 2016 the larger ships still had to go around Cape Horn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[vamartha]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[80sGal]

On 11/16/2021 at 3:57 PM, vamartha said:

I've not done a review in a very long time so bear with me as I try and get my Sea Legs going again.

 

We just completed the 14 day partial Panama Canal crossing beginning on Halloween 2021, embarking in Baltimore and debarking in Tampa. We're home now and I will probably not do my usual step by step review but do more of a general musings type of review.

 

We like this style of cruise, the fares are usually low even pre-Covid. I suppose it is because people like to drive to port or because they like round trip airfare but we've found that repositioning cruises offer some of the best fares. Having said that, our longest prior was 11 days and by the end of 14 days we found that we were more than ready to go home. I think that 8-11 days is perfect for us.

 

We also aren't social butterflies and don't hang out in the bars or at the pools or attend many events. We like our balcony and we like to sort of hangout with ourselves. You won't see us in the MDR every night, we greatly prefer the relaxed casualness of the Lido (but we have sailed the Mardi Gras already and have two more booked and the fact that we never even saw the MDR on that ship and still had amazing food on that ship in cargo shorts and a set of skorts will weigh heavily on future booking decisions).

 

We have cruised Halloween cruises before and we love them. This one was a bit understated because it was embarkation day but we still participated and had a good time. We missed the elaborate costumes of cruises past but we already have 2022 booked and are looking forward with high anticipation! If you haven't cruised a Halloween cruise you probably don't know what a good time you are missing!

 

We stayed at Staybridge Suites in Baltimore. Nice room, no complaints from us but it can get loud as Larry Flynt's Hustler Club butts up to it in the same block and no I'm not kidding! I didn't have any idea that those still existed but then again I'm from the country and we don't get out much!

 

Pics will be a challenge. I haven't quite figured out how to get them from the phone to my laptop yet. I was way better at this when everything was on SD cards - not totally tech challenged but it does require a bit more thought than it used to!

 

The Pride is a very ornate ship. I thought the Atrium was a bit too dark while going up and down the glass elevators but maybe they are trying to mute some of the more spicy drawings! 😅 She is in decent shape for a ship that is 20 years old, shows age in some places and not in others. Her cabin hallways could stand a bit of attention as they are a bit rough around the edges but all in all she is sturdy and we didn't have any power issues or electrical issues. We've sailed the Legend before and knew pretty much what to expect. We prefer the Dream Class but since they wouldn't fit through the original locks in the Canal, here we were. We were not disappointed by the ship. She vibrates, but we knew to expect that. (DH was entertained by the mermaids on the Lido ceiling and was tall enough to feel them up a time or two! He's such a bad boy!)

 

 

 

 

Can you elaborate on the note about vibration?  We're booked for Europe in the summer on her so that concerns me!  

[vamartha]

6 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

Can you elaborate on the note about vibration?  We're booked for Europe in the summer on her so that concerns me!  

Its not constant. Its not like a shudder. Its not necessarily even bothersome. It just is.

Maybe someone else can explain it better. The Legend did it too.

[JaniceB]

Was there any narration by the ship going through the canal?

Edited November 19, 2021 by JaniceB

[staceyglow]

11 hours ago, vamartha said:

Its not constant. Its not like a shudder. Its not necessarily even bothersome. It just is.

Maybe someone else can explain it better. The Legend did it too.

Concur.  We were on the same cruise and it did not bother us a bit - and our cabin was on Deck !, where I would assume it would be the worst.

[vamartha]

2 hours ago, JaniceB said:

Is there any narration by the ship going through the canal?

Yes, there was but I didn't get to hear much of it. You couldn't hear it on the balcony over the equipment running and it was hard to understand him when I could hear it. A lot of people made their base the Lido area as it was so wet and rainy and you could hear it well in there.

[Travel Bear]

These pictures are amazing. We are on the journeys one to the canal in January. Thanks for posting these.

[stephanieelena]

12 hours ago, vamartha said:

Sorry for the occasional fingernail getting in the way. This day was a huge bucket list item and I spent it walking back and forth on this balcony! My cell phone battery died twice and I used an external charger to boost it back up twice - and I've got great battery life usually! But I was also running a weather radar app and Marine Traffic in addition to the camera full time.

 

I was more fascinated by the boats assisting us than I was the train cars.

 

And on the other side when we were coming back through (which I've mistakenly already shown you most of) the sounds of birds was astounding. The only other place I've been that rivaled that sound was the rainforest in Dominica.

 

This pic is where the Canal splits and the big ships have to go to the left and the smaller vessels go to the right. Before this portion opened in 2016 the larger ships still had to go around Cape Horn. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love this so much. I'm so excited to get to see it for myself.  Husbands bucket list item. And I already ooked up deck plans on the carnival website.  It looks amazing.  Going to try and get one sometime to anywhere,  lol 😆 thank you so much 

[vamartha]

There is a funny story about the driving I saw in Panama. First of all, there will be an intersection coming up in maybe the next group of pics after these. We sat in the Canal a long time over this particular intersection. My biggest observations were that everyone sped up into the curves and no one took the curves on the correct side of the road. And there were arrows painted on the road so I knew which side was which.

 

The locals would just stop in the middle of the road to get out and wave at the cruise ship. That is what the white car below is doing.

 

The workers you saw in the previous set of pics were amazing. They waved at everyone, even the officers. It was 85 degrees and the humidity was at least that, if not more. Every single person on that entire canal was wearing a mask, even if they were working alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[staceyglow]

Talk about role reversal - We were on the same ship, and I got a picture of men on a cargo ship taking pictures of the Pride! 

[vamartha]

8 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

Talk about role reversal - We were on the same ship, and I got a picture of men on a cargo ship taking pictures of the Pride! 

 

This is great!

[JessicaOfVA]

On 11/18/2021 at 6:43 PM, vamartha said:

What part of Virginia Jessica? That is what the va part of my userame vamartha stands for.

 

Sorry for the late response. For some reason I'm not getting notifications. I live in the southern coastal region of Virginia, aka Hampton Roads.

[DCDragonfly]

On 11/19/2021 at 2:25 PM, vamartha said:

 

This is great!

We were also on this cruise, and you’d have thought nobody there had seen a cruise ship in forever.  Well, with the pandemic, maybe they hadn’t!