Pride Partial Panama Elite Cruise Review - February 5-13, 2022

[obx_fintoo]

Took a bit to get my act together, but here finally is my mini-review of our Pride Partial Panama Canal/Elite Cruise...

 

Background - This was our 50th Carnival cruise.  We have only sailed on Carnival and have been Diamond since our Thanksgiving cruise last year. Hubby and I both like to gamble and have done Getaway and Premier cruises in the past.  He got an Elite offer last year before cruising opened up again, and since the Panama Canal part was a bucket list thing, we booked it right away.

 

Tampa Port - We drove in, taking 2 days to get there.  Stayed in Jacksonville Friday night and left there before 7am.  295 to 301 to 75.  It was overcast and/or raining off and on the whole way and since I was the navigator, I wasn't able to take many pictures of the Tampa sights on the way in.  Getting to parking was an event in itself.  There were folks out holding up signs for parking, but that is not the official Port Parking.  We circled around a bit and finally got to where we needed to be.  Parking was $15/day.  Once we were parked with a view of the ship, we grabbed our bags and walked the couple blocks to the port.  We were not impressed with the port itself.  Most of our cruises have been through Jacksonville or Port Canaveral.  Those places have it down.  Tampa, not so much.  First, we got there a few minutes past 10:00 when our checkin time was 9-9:30, mostly due to weather and traffic issues.  We got chastised by a security guard for being "so" late. 🙄

 

There is no dedicated entry/area for Diamond/Platinum, just all line up for security.  Some of the workers were ok, but the majority just didn't seem to want to be there.  Not what we are used to seeing.  Once we got through scanning, we had to have vax stuff and boarding passes checked, then we went to the big desks for final check in.  There was our first dedicated line and went pretty smoothly.  We were A2 and by the time we were checked in, they had called A1.  We sat for a couple minutes, then it was our turn to jump in line.  

 

More to come....

 

One cool retro pic from 301 and our Milestone card! 

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by obx_fintoo

[firefly333]

Hi did you do any excursions? I booked thru carnival Panama for 2024 lol. Cant see any excursions. Do you remember what it cost to see the locks and other excursions? I'm dying to know what excursions are and approx price. 5 new ports for me so I cant wait to hear. I did see out of tampa might be a partial where the ship does the locks ..not like mine to colon Panama where I have to buy the excursion.

 

Following..

[peteandpris]

Nice start can't wait for more.

[obx_fintoo]

2 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Hi did you do any excursions? I booked thru carnival Panama for 2024 lol. Cant see any excursions. Do you remember what it cost to see the locks and other excursions? I'm dying to know what excursions are and approx price. 5 new ports for me so I cant wait to hear. I did see out of tampa might be a partial where the ship does the locks ..not like mine to colon Panama where I have to buy the excursion.

 

Following..

We did not do any port excursions and yes, the partial out of Tampa does not offer the lock excursions, so I can't report on that.  It is a really cool experience though.  You'll have fun planning! 

[kwokpot]

3 hours ago, obx_fintoo said:

my mini-review of our Pride Partial Panama Canal/Elite Cruise

 

3 hours ago, obx_fintoo said:

There were folks out holding up signs for parking, but that is not the official Port Parking.  We circled around a bit and finally got to where we needed to be.  Parking was $15/day.  Once we were parked with a view of the ship, we grabbed our bags and walked the couple blocks to the port.

First thank you for writing up a trip report. We'll be on the Pride in Europe for a B2B2B, so I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about the ship.

 

I'm assuming Carnival picked up the Parking fees since you're on an Elite Offer (Our Europe cruises are Elite offers as well). How does it work when you take free parking instead of free Private transfers? 

[obx_fintoo]

The Pride - There are many great pictoral reviews of the Pride.  I recommend @Jamman54's for really good pictures and in depth tours.  This is not that kind of review.  We have mostly done Fantasy class and a couple Conquest class and of course, the old-school Celebration.  Once we got used to this layout, we really liked it.  The ship seems dark and of course, there are nudes around every corner, but it's a nice ship.

We had an aft balcony on deck 6.  Our steward was Bisma.  Once we boarded, I left hubby on Lido with food and bags, while I ran down to check if the room was ready.  It was just after 11 and it was almost ready.  He gave me our keys and some Elite info and said to come back after 11:30.  He was super nice and always wanting to chat when we saw him in the hall.  We had evening service and everything was well taken care of.  

Other notable crew - Yasa at the small coffee bar on deck 9.  This is at the rear of lido buffet area and only open in the mornings.  Yasa makes a great hazelnut latte!  There is another larger Java Blue on deck 2 forward, but we didn't make it there.

Ambrosio and Reyes - we first met Ambrosio serving drinks on 10/11 for Red Frog.  We had anytime dining and hit a (late for us) dinner craving at 8:30 one night and were seated at Ambrosio's table.  He was our head waiter and Reyes was his assistant.  They took amazing care of us and we say both of them many times around the ship.  Reyes worked Lido buffet every day as well.

Sharon - Winner's Club casino host.  We sailed with her friend Noma on the Elation in November and December, so Sharon knew we were coming. She does a wonderful job of making everyone comfortable and took great care of us.

 

Reyes dancing during dinner...

[obx_fintoo]

Some room pics...  The weather in Tampa was grey.

[obx_fintoo]

22 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

 

First thank you for writing up a trip report. We'll be on the Pride in Europe for a B2B2B, so I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about the ship.

 

I'm assuming Carnival picked up the Parking fees since you're on an Elite Offer (Our Europe cruises are Elite offers as well). How does it work when you take free parking instead of free Private transfers? 

Yes, parking was comped.  We paid up front, then at the Elite meet up at 12:30, we took the reciept to the cashier's in the casino and were reimbursed.   More on the Elite stuff coming soon!

[obx_fintoo]

Elite stuff - We were contacted a couple of weeks before the cruise to fill out our requests.  We chose to drive, so parking at the Port Tampa Bay Parking deck was complimentary.  If we flew in or lived in the Tampa area, transfers would have been arranged from the airport, hotel or house and back.

 

Each guest is allowed to select one bottle of alcohol and mixers which are in the room upon check in.

Each guest may select one excursion or spa treatment.  The excursions were a rainforest tour in Limon and a ruins tour in Costa Maya, but the weather was iffy and we weren't sure about either.  The spa certificate was for $149 each and it included tip.  We each booked a swedish massage and they put us in the couple's massage room.  It was one of the best I have had on a ship and they did not try to sell us a bunch of smelly goo during or after! 😉

 

Elite gifts we got during the cruise:

• Personalized door decoration
• fruit, cheese and wine basket on day 2
• free room service for upcharged items ( we had to remind them each time we ordered)
• Cookies (4 chocolate chip and 5 macadamia nut) day 3
• Elite logo Day in the Sun kit and round beach towel day 5
• Elite logo travel bags (2) day 7

We also got some $$ for Seafood Shack and for Pixels, but I think those were just from Sharon, not necessarily part of the Elite event.

 

Our loot...

[obx_fintoo]

Our free booze and room service options - wings and shrimp, cheesesteak and quesadilla.  Not pictured - our 6:30am breakfast sandwiches on Panama day as I was not awake enough to take a picture.  More on Panama and other ports to come...

Edited March 13, 2022 by obx_fintoo

[obx_fintoo]

More Elite stuff - I completely forgot to mention two other perks that are part of the Elite cruises.  Drinks On Us all over the ship for both guests and Complimentary Social WiFi Packages for both guests!  I can't believe I forgot these, because we made LOTS of use of both.  

 

Typically, I get the Social Package to keep in touch with family at home, but hubby doesn't.  This time he used the Social and What's App to keep up with family and I upgraded to the Value plan for I think $24 which allowed me to check work emails.  

 

DOU everywhere was great as well.  We typically have free drinks in the casino, so it was liberating to be able to get free drinks anywhere.  I got adventurous and tried the Alchemy Bar out for my first time.  It is located in the aft area on Deck 2 and suprisingly was rarely crowded.  

 

Purative Peach Cosmopolitan and Perfect Storm

[obx_fintoo]

Seafood Shack food - a pound each of shrimp and crablegs one night, then a bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder and the fried seafood platter another afternoon.

[obx_fintoo]

That's all for a bit.  Busy day ahead, so will likely be tomorrow before I get a chance to finish.  Will cover the ports of Limon and Costa Maya and then a longer part of the Panama partial transit and some other random thoughts and pictures.  Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer.

 

Cheers!

[obx_fintoo]

Ports

 

Limon - off the ship ~ 11:40am.  We did not have an excursion planned as the weather had been a little iffy and we were not looking to get soaked on a tour bus.  In hindsight, if we visit this port again, we would take an excursion.  There was a guantlet of people offering tours as you walk off the port, then even more folks offering to take you in their car to see the sights.  We were not comfortable so just kept walking.  There is a shopping area before you head out into town, then there are several souvenier shops and a couple restaurants and a park just outside of that.  One block past that and you are in a business part of town.  We bought a couple of souveniers, took some pictures in and around the park and the water and called it good.  

 

These are Magnificent Frigatebirds that escorted us into port...

[obx_fintoo]

And more Limon pics.

[obx_fintoo]

And finally for Limon - as I took this picture of this tree, a man walked up and said that there was a sloth in that tree that he would climb up and get if I wanted him to.  I told him, that was ok, just let it rest!  😉  More to come...

[obx_fintoo]

Ports - Costa Maya

 

We were supposed to port at Costa Maya around noon, but got delayed because of winds.  Just before 1pm, we arrived and had to wait for the Norweigan Breakway to leave so we could dock in her place.  We were parked by 2pm along with Adventure of the Seas and the mega-ship Oasis of the Seas.  That thing is big!  We waited a bit for the mad rush off the ship, since we had no plans but to stroll around.  

 

The port area is pretty nice with lots of shops, restaurants, bars, a beach and pool area and an aviary.  It was really threatening rain, so we did not climb up into the aviary bridges, but it looked pretty cool from the ground.  I would like to come back here sometime when we had plenty of time to explore and play.

 

 

[obx_fintoo]

More Costa May pics...

 

 

[obx_fintoo]

Still more...

 

[obx_fintoo]

Panama Canal partial transit!

 

As mentioned before, this partial does not offer the excursions where you get off the ship and explore the locks, then meet up with the ship again later.  They do bring on an expert who works for the Panama Canal authority who provides updates and information as you go into Gatun Lake.  We were warned by the CD the night before that this would be an early day.  He said we would be nearing the bridge at 7:15am, so we put out a room service order for 6:30am.  We were eating breakfast when we started to hear the expert with his annoucements. Now, we could not hear what was being said, so we rushed to finish eating and get ready and up to deck 10 we went.  

 

We spent the trip in around the middle of deck 10, watching the locks and the ships going out.  It takes approxiamately 30 minutes to go thru each lock and there are 3 going each way.  It is a slow process and fascinating to see up close.  They held a t-shirt and souvenier sale during this and it was the most unorganized thing I have seen in a while, but I did score a couple of cute tees.

 

After we went through, the expert was going to do a Q&A in the theater for a bit before getting off, but we wanted to go down to our balcony and get ready to watch us head back out.  We grabbed some lunch on the way down and settled in.   

 

Fair warning, there are about to be a lot of pics.  I took about 150 pictures which is a LOT for me.  Enjoy!

 

[obx_fintoo]

Heading in and the t-shirt sale...

[obx_fintoo]

Lighthouses - the white one is near the entrance and the black one is near the lake.  If you are a Stephen King fan, like me, the black one could remind you of a certain tower...

[obx_fintoo]

The first lock and a passing ship...

[obx_fintoo]

Pay attention to this building and our height related to it...  

[obx_fintoo]

This row boat goes out and catches the ropes as the ships come back out...