Pride European cruisers, tell us all about it

[kwokpot]

4 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

Glad that most of you are enjoying the Pride this year.  We will be on her next May/June 2023.  Some on that other social media group are complaining how run down the ship is.  Broken A/C, broken toilets,  rusted balconies, dark and dingy decorations, etc.  I think she will be going for a refurbishment in early May, just before our cruise.  Hope these problems are fixed then. 

With regards to the condition of the Pride let me first say that the ship is very,very,very clean and the staff is constantly cleaning every inch. The main public areas look ok, dated as hell but are in ok condition. The cabins are worn but especially the bathrooms look very old, worn, rusted. The lavatory faucets are pitted things need to be replaced.

The worst part about the rooms are those with balconies. The balcony floors are filthy (I don't use that word lightly) and everything about it is grungy. I fir one don't feel comfortable hanging out on the balcony because of it's condition.

Before anyone goes on about being out in the ocean I just spent 14 days in April on the MardiGras and the balconies we're spotlessly clean. I actually saw them clean the balconies on the MardiGras. I've been on the Pride for 17 days and no one has cleaned the balconies even once since I've been onboard. This cruise is currently my 96 cruise on various cruiselines and I've never seen balconies as in poor condition as on the Pride. Definitely due to deferred maintenance.

Before anyone mentions having been shutdown because of the pandemic Carnival did find the MONEY AND TIME to renovate the casino on the Pride. The casino has all NEW slot machines, table games, new furniture. 

The ship IS COLD temperature wise. For those who get hot easily you'll enjoy the Pride, otherwise make sure you bring sweater, hoodies, sweatshirts etc. Average guesstimate temps are 64-69 degrees. 

 

[80sGal]

23 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

With regards to the condition of the Pride let me first say that the ship is very,very,very clean and the staff is constantly cleaning every inch. The main public areas look ok, dated as hell but are in ok condition. The cabins are worn but especially the bathrooms look very old, worn, rusted. The lavatory faucets are pitted things need to be replaced.

The worst part about the rooms are those with balconies. The balcony floors are filthy (I don't use that word lightly) and everything about it is grungy. I fir one don't feel comfortable hanging out on the balcony because of it's condition.

Before anyone goes on about being out in the ocean I just spent 14 days in April on the MardiGras and the balconies we're spotlessly clean. I actually saw them clean the balconies on the MardiGras. I've been on the Pride for 17 days and no one has cleaned the balconies even once since I've been onboard. This cruise is currently my 96 cruise on various cruiselines and I've never seen balconies as in poor condition as on the Pride. Definitely due to deferred maintenance.

Before anyone mentions having been shutdown because of the pandemic Carnival did find the MONEY AND TIME to renovate the casino on the Pride. The casino has all NEW slot machines, table games, new furniture. 

The ship IS COLD temperature wise. For those who get hot easily you'll enjoy the Pride, otherwise make sure you bring sweater, hoodies, sweatshirts etc. Average guesstimate temps are 64-69 degrees. 

 

Just wondering about the temp in the cabin.   Are you not able to adjust this individually in each cabin?  Traveling on her in July ... DH is ALWAYS cold, even when I'm sweltering.  😞

Edited June 5, 2022 by 80sGal
Typo

[kwokpot]

12 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

Just wondering about the temp in the cabin.   Are you not able to adjust this individually in each cabin?  Traveling on her in July ... DH is ALWAYS cold, even when I'm sweltering.  😞

Yes, you can adjust the cabin temps. We're on a b2b2b, and had to switch cabins for the 2nd cruise. Our first cabin was too cold and never sent warm air even after turning it all the way to hot. On day 2 we asked for maintenance to check it out,and indeed it was malfunctioning. They fixed it and we were able to make the cabin a little warmer ( we even received an apology letter for the thermostat malfunction,so that was a nice gesture!) As a point of reference, here's a pic of our thermostat setting of our room on the Pride. As you can see, we definitely don't like cold air blowing on us, lol. 

Edited June 5, 2022 by kwokpot

[charliesdad63]

10 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Having a great time on the cruise . It's Day 18 of 31 for us. Today is Bilbao,Spain. New City for us,yay!

My best recommendation for Pride cruisers in Europe - DO YOUR PORT OF CALLS RESEARCH.

Even in Europe there are many places the ship docks where we're not right at the city center and one would need to take some kind of

transportation 20-30 minutes to get to the city center. Today's port stop, Bilbao, the cruise terminal is actually 25 minutes away from the city center. The Guggenheim Bilbao isn't walking distance from the ship pier.

Doing prior research will avoid all kinds of heartaches and annoyances. 

 

Have any of the ports thus far provided free or inexpensive shuttles from the ship to town?

[sofiapotier]

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

There's no charge to use the spa facilities in the Pride. There's a hot tub/whirlpool in the middle of the gym that's complementary as well as access to the gym/spa locker rooms that have single sex steam and sauna rooms (NO, you don't need to wear clothing to use the steam or sauna, just a towel is fine bathing suit needed for the co-ed whirlpool) as well as stall showers with body sprays. 

This is really helpful! I was asking specifically b/c we like to sometimes use the facilities after visiting the gym so nice to know you don't need a day pass for that. 

 

 

[kwokpot]

5 hours ago, charliesdad63 said:

 

Have any of the ports thus far provided free or inexpensive shuttles from the ship to town?

Yes there have been some free shuttles which is the good news. The bad news is it's poorly communicated. The app is great for most things but not for ports of call information.

 

Carnival no longer prints outs sheets with Ports of Call information. And the current CD's morning announcements have been at best confusing and at worst incorrect (Today in Bilbao the CD announced that the free shuttle only goes from the ship to the beginning of the port entrance when in reality it went all the way to Bilbao City center 20 minutes away).

 

My advice is to get and confirm your own information at the Carnival Adventures Desk or Guest Services. 

[kwokpot]

I don't remember if I mentioned it previously but there's no longer printed breakfast menu hangtags to preorder breakfast room service. It now must be called in the morning you want it to be delivered. 

[Eli_6]

Thanks for the info on the balconies. I will be bringing some cleaner with me. 

[EllieinNJ]

11 hours ago, tallnthensome said:

Where did you see this refurbishment info for 2023? I don't see it anywhere as she was last updated in 2019. 

I thought someone mentioned it on FB.  The TA is 4/13 through 4/26 2023 and then no other cruises on Pride until our which is 5/28/23.

[maryann2]

7 hours ago, 80sGal said:

Just wondering about the temp in the cabin.   Are you not able to adjust this individually in each cabin?  Traveling on her in July ... DH is ALWAYS cold, even when I'm sweltering.  😞

 

6 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Yes, you can adjust the cabin temps. We're on a b2b2b, and had to switch cabins for the 2nd cruise. Our first cabin was too cold and never sent warm air even after turning it all the way to hot. On day 2 we asked for maintenance to check it out,and indeed it was malfunctioning. They fixed it and we were able to make the cabin a little warmer ( we even received an apology letter for the thermostat malfunction,so that was a nice gesture!) As a point of reference, here's a pic of our thermostat setting of our room on the Pride. As you can see, we definitely don't like cold air blowing on us, lol. 

 

My cabin was also very cool. One night the really cold air was blowing on the bed and even my hands were cold. I called guest services and they sent someone who tested the air above the motor of the fridge . I said no, check it on this side by the bed. It started dropping and he said I will send maintenance to check it out. Maintenance came, wanted to know how long the thermostat was on the highest setting and I told him since Tampa.  They provided two extra blankets to put on top of the duvet and the room did gradually warm up..

[maryann2]

7 hours ago, kwokpot said:

 

The worst part about the rooms are those with balconies. The balcony floors are filthy (I don't use that word lightly) and everything about it is grungy. I fir one don't feel comfortable hanging out on the balcony because of it's condition.

Before anyone goes on about being out in the ocean I just spent 14 days in April on the MardiGras and the balconies we're spotlessly clean. I actually saw them clean the balconies on the MardiGras. I've been on the Pride for 17 days and no one has cleaned the balconies even once since I've been onboard. This cruise is currently my 96 cruise on various cruiselines and I've never seen balconies as in poor condition as on the Pride. Definitely due to deferred maintenance.

 

I was in cabin 6309 and the balcony was clean and the floor was fine. They were washed one day when we were in port.

Sorry to hear that yours was grungy.

[nwcruiselover]

20 minutes ago, maryann2 said:

I was in cabin 6309 and the balcony was clean and the floor was fine. They were washed one day when we were in port.

Sorry to hear that yours was grungy.

My balcony was grungy too, in cabin 5151.  They did “clean” it once during the 14 day cruise, but it didn’t do much for the built-up grunge and rust.

 

The thermostat in my cabin worked fine.  I could always get it to a comfortable temperature.

Edited June 6, 2022 by nwcruiselover

[ew101]

11 hours ago, nwcruiselover said:

My balcony was grungy too, in cabin 5151.  They did “clean” it once during the 14 day cruise, but it didn’t do much for the built-up grunge and rust.

This is a good Chengkp75 question.  You can certainly deep clean a balcony floor/deck any time, but is there a way to remove rust or even topcoat with deck or topside paint in a few hours on a turnaround day?    That paint can be slow drying and or stinky.  The guest expects access to the balcony.  

[michelleveade]

The balcony situation is pretty bad. I was so excited to have one of the extra long balconies, but it is a hot mess. I don’t find the internet all that bad, tho. 

[jimbo5544]

On 6/5/2022 at 8:04 AM, tallnthensome said:

Where did you see this refurbishment info for 2023? I don't see it anywhere as she was last updated in 2019. 

I had seen it also but looked and could not find.  My memory (which has its moments….) was that it was originally supposed to get done either late 2021 or 2022 and was put off till 2023 when the decisions on the Med they changed it to 2023.  

[jimbo5544]

I would be interested in hearing how and whenyou got tested for the flight back to the US.

[jsglow]

27 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

I would be interested in hearing how and whenyou got tested for the flight back to the US.

One more topic vote.  We're sailing Pride out of Rome this Fall. Know the ship well and absolutely love her. But our one big question remaining is regarding the as of now pre-flight test when returning to the US.  Has Carnival made any arrangements, even if for a fee?

[nwcruiselover]

8 minutes ago, jsglow said:

One more topic vote.  We're sailing Pride out of Rome this Fall. Know the ship well and absolutely love her. But our one big question remaining is regarding the as of now pre-flight test when returning to the US.  Has Carnival made any arrangements, even if for a fee?

Carnival is not doing post-cruise testing on the ship, even for a fee.  In Barcelona they were offering testing at the port, after getting luggage and passing through customs/immigration, for a “convenience fee” of $100.  Another option is testing at the airport, which I did at BCN.  With an advance appointment the testing went quickly, and I was there only about 20 minutes start to finish.  People without appointments were waiting 2 hours and some missed their flights.  I didn’t want to do a proctored test because the internet on the ship was “iffy.”  

[michelleveade]

This was the letter we got in our cabins. 

[let's go cruising]

2 hours ago, michelleveade said:

The balcony situation is pretty bad. I was so excited to have one of the extra long balconies, but it is a hot mess. I don’t find the internet all that bad, tho. 

What am I missing here?

[Joe817]

38 minutes ago, let's go cruising said:

What am I missing here?

A Fun Ship special? 

[nwcruiselover]

3 hours ago, michelleveade said:

The balcony situation is pretty bad. I was so excited to have one of the extra long balconies, but it is a hot mess. I don’t find the internet all that bad, tho. 

This balcony looks pristine compared to the one I had in cabin 5151

[Grandmaanne7]

1 hour ago, let's go cruising said:

What am I missing here?

I wondered the same thing.

[Eli_6]

4 hours ago, jsglow said:

One more topic vote.  We're sailing Pride out of Rome this Fall. Know the ship well and absolutely love her. But our one big question remaining is regarding the as of now pre-flight test when returning to the US.  Has Carnival made any arrangements, even if for a fee?

Yes.  There is info on this on John Heald's Facebook page. You can test at the port for $100 per person coming off the ship.  There should also be information on it during your cruise. 

 

There is also testing sites at the airports. 

[EllaDuChien]

8 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I would be interested in hearing how and when you got tested for the flight back to the US.

 

7 hours ago, jsglow said:

One more topic vote.  We're sailing Pride out of Rome this Fall. Know the ship well and absolutely love her. But our one big question remaining is regarding the as of now pre-flight test when returning to the US.  Has Carnival made any arrangements, even if for a fee?

 

We stayed one extra night in Barcelona because of flight schedules but we tested at the airport.  Made an appointment ahead of time for 30 euros.  There were some SNAFU's as the system went down on Monday for about 2 hours so there were no tests being given but once the system was back up, it went very quickly.  Our flight was at 1:30pm and we made an appointment for 10:30am.  That was plenty of time.  

 

https://flycovidtestcenter.com/test-rapido-de-antigenos/

 

This is where you make the appointments.  Walk ups are risky.  Several people in that line could not make their flight.