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Carnival Pride Trip Report - LIVE UPDATES - June 10, 2022 - Norwegian Fjords from Dover

ScratchTheRat

By ScratchTheRat,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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Hello everyone!

 

This will be my first live Carnival trip report after just writing one for the MSC Virtuosa.

 

For those who know me, hello! For those who don't, a bit of background.

 

This cruise will be my 13th and I am also booked on the Carnival Celebration's 14 day Transatlantic Inaugural in November.

 

You may know me from YouTube where I host a weekly Vlog series called Kascapades (www.YouTube.com/kascapades).

 

I am Kas, I am from the UK, Cardiff in Wales specifically and I am in my 30's. I travel as much as I can on cruises and caught the bug in 2010 when I was taken on a cruise by my family. I thought I'd hate it and I couldn't imagine anything worse than being stuck on a boat, but boy was I wrong and I got hooked! 

 

This will be my final GOLD cruise on Carnival as I will turn Platinum after and ready for the TA! I'm really looking forward to seeing how things go and what things I love/hate. 

 

So let's talk about this trip and what led to the booking. Back in 2020, we were due to do this cruise on the Legend, then rebooked for 2021 which again got cancelled and so third time's the charm! We'd always wanted to do the Fjords and we love Carnival so it seemed a no brainer!

 

The ship will be sailing out of Dover on the 10th June 2022 and the night before we will be driving from our home in Cardiff Wales, staying at a hotel an hour away (just to remove the stress of cruise morning traffic issues!) then driving to Dover in the morning with a cruise boarding time of 11am.

 

We are having our COVID tests done at a Cardiff clinic with DAM Health on the morning of the 9th so we have plenty of time to get our results. We used the same clinic last year for our Norwegian Getaway cruise and they were great.

 

This cruise will be a 9 day cruise with 6 port stops, 2 sea days and fjord sailing evenings. The itinerary is as below:

 

image.png.3b2f4ee9f9032c9911358e3b3915c89b.png

 

We do not have any excursions booked as we're keen to explore on our own but we may change our mind onboard and book something if we feel like it. For those interested in the ports, I've made a series of videos on my youtube channel for each of them!

 

We had originally booked an Interior cabin but since we're celebrating a birthday, when I got a call offering an upgrade I took it and got an extended balcony - perfect for views of this beautiful landscape.

 

We're not party types or big drinkers so we didn't opt for the CHEERS package and only really take drinks packages if they are bundled in as a deal or there's a discount. Instead, we will each take a bottle of wine onboard and have 1-2 drinks a day from the bar, likely a cocktail from Alchemy Bar and a glass of wine at dinner.

 

Stay tuned for updates throughout the trip and feel free to ask any questions! 🙂

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EllieinNJ

EllieinNJ

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So glad you are doing this review.  We will be on the same cruise in June 2023.  I have been following your roll calls here and on the other site and have gotten a wealth of knowledge.  I will be sure to check out your you tube videos.

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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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41 minutes ago, EllieinNJ said:

So glad you are doing this review.  We will be on the same cruise in June 2023.  I have been following your roll calls here and on the other site and have gotten a wealth of knowledge.  I will be sure to check out your you tube videos.

Thanks Ellie and glad to hear the videos and posts have helped you!

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SpainAlien "Live from...." Rare

SpainAlien

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We are on this cruise with you. Last September we were on NCL Epic shortly after you and we have also booked our first MSC cruise so we were interested to read your review on Virtuosa. I feel like I have been stalking you for a while lol

 

My son has just got of Pride after a 10 day Mediterranean cruise so I have been given the low down on how it is at the moment. I sailed on Pride in 2018 so I am familiar with the ship and the CD Felipe was on our Sunrise cruise in November I think. 

 

My son did tell me to attend Felipe's port guide talks because he gives lots of useful information, I assume he will be doing them for our cruise too

 

He also raved about two things: Guys burgers and chocolate melting cake

 

See you on board,

 

Gail

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erinmarie424

erinmarie424

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I'm excited to meet you and all our other new friends in five days!! 

I'm also a DIY traveler, and only scheduled one excursion to the stave church through Carnival, and another to the Atlantic Road with a local company. And some ambitious museum and church itineraries for the others with visits to the local Vinmonopolets worked in 🙂

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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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UPDATE ONE - 48 Hours til Embarkation.

 

The car is packed (Between 3 of us (all males 25-40) we have 2 large suitcases, 2 carryon cabin cases and a backpack. This is way more than we would take on a normal cruise but as Carnival has 2 elegant nights, this means more shirts, trousers, smarter shoes, suit jackets etc!

 

As one of us still needs to work tomorrow, we're leaving halfway through the day. We're due to get our COVID tests at DAM Health, a small clinic that do LFT's and then upload your results and certificates to an app on your phone within 2 hours. We got the results within 30 minutes last year so happy to use them again!

 

After our COVID tests tomorrow, we are going to IKEA for a Scandinavian lunch (I know, I know, IKEA is Swedish not Norwegian but it's close enough!) of Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy with Lingonberry Jam and of course Almond cake! This is not high cuisine but it's a taste of where we're headed and I don't want to wash any dishes before we go!

 

I'll be back tomorrow to update you on the day and how things go as we head off on the first leg of the trip. I am so excited that it's finally here!

 

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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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UPDATE TWO: 24 Hours before Embarkation.

 

We got our negative test certificates and headed to IKEA for Meatballs for lunch! Now just had a lovely bubble bath and going to be heading out in an hour to drive to our first stop, a big shopping mall in Bristol called Cribbs Causeway where we will do some shopping and have dinner!

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Clairescurtains

Clairescurtains

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I would love to hear more as well.

I would particularly like to know about disembarkation at the various ports and on the return to Dover.

I know he ship is supposed to return at 5:00 but when were you able to actually get through customs to the bus/taxi departing area. 

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sofiapotier

sofiapotier

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Bumping this to the top again in the hope @scratchtherat comes back with an update! 😉 I've seen some pics online from the ship and some of the excursions - looks a little cooler, rainy, and absolutely awesome!!

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ScratchTheRat "Live from...." Rare

ScratchTheRat

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Sorry for the delay! What was supposed to be "LIVE" will in fact now be a review. I will post reports of each day as we go, starting tomorrow! 

 

I didn't end up getting the wi-fi package and so I just took a LOT of notes and content for YouTube! 🙂

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