Just got on the Pride and not impressed so far

[Old Fart Cruisers]

17 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

 I was saying that since that is the only ship that CCL has in Europe, it would be better to choose an European based line or at least one from this side of the pond that sends multiple ships over there such as Princess or Celebrity.

 

You don't know everyone's reasons for choosing to sail on this ship,so you can't say it would be better to choose an European based line as a general statement.

 

[CruizinSusan70]

1 hour ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

 

You don't know everyone's reasons for choosing to sail on this ship,so you can't say it would be better to choose an European based line as a general statement.

 

I can type whatever I wish since it's my opinion.  You may disagree with it if you wish.  I've cruised on Carnival 22 times and currently have 7 more booked, all on Excel Class.  

When it comes time for my first cruise across the pond, it will certainly not be on Carnival.  Their expertise is in the North American market and I will choose a line that specializes in Europe or possibly a US based line that has a larger footprint in Europe than Carnival has with one lone ship. 

 

 

 

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

 

  No matter which one you choose across the pond, it would be an upgrade over the Pride.

If money isn't a concern.  

[luv2trvlnow]

5 minutes ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

I can type whatever I wish since it's my opinion.  You may disagree with it if you wish.  I've cruised on Carnival 22 times and currently have 7 more booked, all on Excel Class.  

When it comes time for my first cruise across the pond, it will certainly not be on Carnival.  Their expertise is in the North American market and I will choose a line that specializes in Europe or possibly a US based line that has a larger footprint in Europe than Carnival has with one lone ship. 

 

 

 

Yes it is your opinion and you have every right to it.  I am very happy for you being able to choose whatever cruise you would like.  I looked at Celebrity and Princess (and I have been on both) for a cruise that included the Greek Islands.  I ended up choosing a B2B on the Pride next year.  My 19 days will cost the same as a 7 day Celebrity cruise or a little less than half the price of the Princess cruise (this is a 22 day cruise).  And then there's the airfare from the middle of the US.  It is currently not too bad.  But it probably will back up to costing us over $3000 for the 2 of us by next year.  And that is for the cheap seats.  

 

So we decided we would rather go on the Pride and have the extra money to spend on the excursions. We will have 13 port stops and only 4 sea days.  We will have so little awake time on the ship and so much to see when in port.  That is where we will spend our money.  Each person or family has decide what is best for them.  I mean that almost $5000 more for the Princess cruise would sure get you a lot of very nice private excursions when in port when on the Pride.  And you might still have some money left over.  And Yes, like BlerkOne said, money is a concern. 

[BlerkOne]

2 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Fully aware of the varied lines that are part of the Carnival Corporation and the three lines that are based in Europe.  This thread is about the problems on the Carnival Pride and I was saying that since that is the only ship that CCL has in Europe, it would be better to choose an European based line or at least one from this side of the pond that sends multiple ships over there such as Princess or Celebrity.

The thread is technically about a Carnival Pride British Isles cruise and has been hijacked enough.

[CruizinSusan70]

29 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

If money isn't a concern.  

The MSC Grandiosa is cheaper and embarks from a real port (Southampton) instead of Dover, where the Pride embarks from.

[CruizinSusan70]

7 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

The thread is technically about a Carnival Pride British Isles cruise and has been hijacked enough.

I wasn't hijacking a thing.  The OP was complaining about all of the problems that her and her family have been subjected to and it all could have been avoided by embarking from Southampton instead of Dover.  It all started badly and went down hill from there.  There are other cheaper choices such as the MSC Grandiosa or you can spend a bit more to avoid the problems that obviously are on the Pride.

[travelplus]

Thanks for this my Parents and I will be going on the Pride on August 12th. We are leaving London at 8:15 AM and have a 11:00-11:30 Appointment time. We scheduled a private transfer from our hotel.

 

On the return how is Customs?  Do they use the Biometric system?

Edited July 29, 2022 by travelplus

[travelplus]

On 7/24/2022 at 3:05 PM, fuddrules said:

 

As a backup to your backup - try Uber as a last resort.   Just out of curiosity I priced the Uber cost before we boarded our train and it was about $155 euros.   Even less than the Carnival transfer.   

 

I'm not sure it would have actually filled the request (although Uber has never failed me) as I didn't go through with the booking but something to consider in a worst case scenario.

I booked Twelve Transfers for my Parents and I from our Hotel on High Street Kensington to Dover and then back t o Gatwick for our Paris flight. It ended up being  around $200 for a MPV van and if we took the Carnival Transfer it would cost more with a taxi to Victoria Station. We have a 8:15 AM transfer and a 11:00-11:30 checkin time.

[Eli_6]

On 7/25/2022 at 5:19 PM, freeholdfriends said:

I am the one who said boarding was easy. It did take a long ride from London but the boarding was the fastest I’ve ever had and we didn’t have vetifly. The traffic congestion was not Carnival’s fault.

It was fast only because you arrived late in the day due to traffic.  For those of us with a 10, 10:30, 11 am, etc.  boarding time,  we were put in a warehouse and had to wait without a place to sit for 2+ hours...after walking over a mile with luggage in tow to the dock.  That's a lot for young children and the elderly.   Thank God I didn't have my elderly Mother (who was supposed to come on this cruise) with us! 

 

Not having a contingency plan for where to put people in the event of a late debark/embark was Carnival's fault.  At the least, when it became clear that they were not going to be able to disembark at their normal 6 am, they could have sent out a text or email.   We didn't leave our hotel until our taxi told us they couldn't reach us due to traffic.  A text or email even as late as 8:30 would have prevented us from even heading up there...and prevented a lot of other people doing the same.  Carnival was capable of doing this for pushing the final boarding time back to 9 or 10 pm. Why couldn't they have done this to avoid several hundred people being stored in a hot warehouse with many of us not even having a place to sit?  

 

Regardless,  for anyone reading this who is boarding on Sunday: Just be prepared.   I hope it will be better.  I hope the traffic will not be so bad.  Unfortunately,  I don't know if it will be or not because the UK has already issued an advisory and the rail system will be shut down due to strikes. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Eli_6

[Eli_6]

The tender issues has not been a huge issue for us thus far because we have a suite. I think it is much more of an issue for people who are not diamonds,  plat or staying in a suite.  I think they need more tenders.  At the first port, Edinburgh, they had extra tenders and it went much faster. Extra,  larger tenders would fix this problem.   Every time they have to swap out tenders, it kills time and the ones they had in Edinburgh were bigger so it went better.  

 

My only slight complaint re the tenders and priority is that they make us go down to deck 1 at the front of the ship to get our tender zones like an hour or so before they actually start running them.  And everyone in the party has to be there. You can't bring their lanyards and have 1 person go.  Getting kids out of bed and dressed at 6:30 am just to get a ticket (and then kill an hour or more until you actually board) seems a little unnecessary.  And I imagined the mobility impaired at the aft of the ship don't like this either.  I haveseen a lot of people with canes and walkers.  In general,  the age of the cruisers is older on this sailing. I wish they would just put the tender tickets in the mailboxes for platinum,  diamonds, and suites.  This is a minor thing, though. 

 

As for the tenders for embarking the ship, they had extra tenders at the first port so it went better.  The second tender port (I think Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides but they are running together on me) was about a 1 hours wait if you arrived in the last hour or so. Yesterday,  we only waited maybe 20 to 30 minutes....BUT we also were earlier in the day so it might have gotten worse as the day went on. 

[tallnthensome]

I've sailed many lines including Princess and Holland to Europe. I have the Pride booked for August 2023 for the 12 day Iceland ..... Carnival certainly would not be my first choice to Europe after sailing the others. However, being budget conscious more now than ever and having two kids in tow Carnival was the obvious choice when including the costs of flights. 4 people in an extended balcony for 12 days at $3500. Similar itineraries, length, and cabin types on all other lines were in the $8k to $10k range so there was no hesitation in choice for me . 

[Velvetwater]

As a European that has done European cruises with Carnival and also with other lines all have been comparable. My fellow brits also enjoyed Carnival. Carnival's issue is they have no presence or advertising here and other lines have dominated for so long it's now quite hard to make their presence known. Prices have always been great though.

 

People forget that Carnival Corp know this cruising area well through their other lines. They simply pass that on to Carnival cruises but don't really mind having 1 ship here because all their other lines are plentiful in these parts.

 

MSC are still trying to win over English speaking cruisers while keeping some of their  med flair. Great prices there too.

 

I avoid P&O and Marella personally. I live in the UK so don't need overtly British cruising experiences.

 

If anyone is really worried about transfers my advice is to book a last minute overnight in Dover. Not the best seaside of the UK but enough to peek at in the morning before boarding. An acquaintance of mine lives a few towns over from Dover and has reported much reduced queues but still delays which is to be expected.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Velvetwater

[M&A]

7 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

The MSC Grandiosa is cheaper and embarks from a real port (Southampton) instead of Dover, where the Pride embarks from.

Or you can sail from Dover on higher priced ships like the Seaborun Quest, Hurtigen and Disney Majic, they all use Dover.  

[Eli_6]

Tenders this morning were a mess.  I typed out all the details and then decided to delete because frankly i don't want to have someone call me names again because I talk about my experience.   Suffice it to say, a carnival worker laid his hands on my 8 year old child and both of us are nothing short of traumatized.  I don't know if I will be cruising carnival again after this experience.  I may just eat the $ paid on future bookings.  No amount of savings is worth this.  

Edited July 29, 2022 by Eli_6

[ninjacat123]

20 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

Ugh, so tenders this morning were a mess.  The letter I got said to go to the butterfly lounge between 7 to 8 am for priority debark at Dublin.  We got there at 7:50.  Every other day we have been there at the earliest time, but I was just taking my boys (via the train) to see The Book of Kells and the Trinity Library.  No one was at the lounge so we asked GS.  They said just to go down to the first floor and show then our guest suite sticker.  We stand in line and finally get up there. At this point,  it is an hour later and we have a noon appointment at The Book of Kells.  If we miss it, that is it.  I studied this in school so I really want to see it and my kids to see it.  We finally get up to the front of the line.  They have this large, aggressive man taking the zone tickets.  The guy is super rude and starts screaming at me I need a zone tag even if I am priority when we are up there. They are way past boarding priority.  They are zone 12 and priority is zone 1 to 6.  I tell him the people upstairs at guest services just told me to come down there.  The guy says i am lying.  Then another lady a few people behind me hears this and jumps in and says she was told the same thing and also doesn't have a zone ticket.  (Only she is also trying to make a shore excursion with carnival. )  They start arguing. I step away from him and tell my kids to come off to the side because i see this guy is not helpful and I figured i just needed to talk to someone else. Plus, he and this other lady are getting into it.  The worker GRABS my son and physically restrains him from going with me.  My son just turned 8.  He is a child.  This was a very physically large man.  My son started crying. I started crying.   Another passenger stepped up (a stranger) and told the worker he needed to take his hands off my child and he finally let him go.  I have never in my life anywhere had this kind of experience.   

 

We took off.   It has been a couple of hours and I am still shaken. Definitely will be talking to guest services as this guy needs to be fired.  They are clearly hiring people who do not know how to behave or interact with passengers.  I don't know if I will be cruising carnival again after this experience.  I may just eat the $ paid on future bookings.  No amount of savings is worth this.  Not on vacation.   

That is awful!  I'm so sorry you and your child experienced this.  I hope you can talk to someone who is in charge and can take care of this.

[tallnthensome]

1 hour ago, Eli_6 said:

Tenders this morning were a mess.  I typed out all the details and then decided to delete because frankly i don't want to have someone call me names again because I talk about my experience.   Suffice it to say, a carnival worker laid his hands on my 8 year old child and both of us are nothing short of traumatized.  I don't know if I will be cruising carnival again after this experience.  I may just eat the $ paid on future bookings.  No amount of savings is worth this.  

Can you elaborate on what this worker did? 

[Grandmaanne7]

8 minutes ago, tallnthensome said:

Can you elaborate on what this worker did? 

See quote in post above yours.  It's all there.

[tallnthensome]

11 minutes ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

See quote in post above yours.  It's all there.

Thank you as I skimmed right past it. That is awful and that's definitely a huge issue . Maybe even legal issue. 

[maryann2]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

Tenders this morning were a mess.  I typed out all the details and then decided to delete because frankly i don't want to have someone call me names again because I talk about my experience.   Suffice it to say, a carnival worker laid his hands on my 8 year old child and both of us are nothing short of traumatized.  I don't know if I will be cruising carnival again after this experience.  I may just eat the $ paid on future bookings.  No amount of savings is worth this.  

I'm so sorry that this happened to you .

[skywalkr2]

The Pride when it was in Baltimore was amazing. I do not like hearing what is happening here.

[CruizinSusan70]

5 hours ago, M&A said:

Or you can sail from Dover on higher priced ships like the Seaborun Quest, Hurtigen and Disney Majic, they all use Dover.  

At three times or more than what you pay for the Pride.  But as usual, you get what you pay for.

[CruizinSusan70]

4 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

 Suffice it to say, a carnival worker laid his hands on my 8 year old child and both of us are nothing short of traumatized. 

SMH.... condolences for what transpired.  Did you report the incident?

[Deathloks]

5 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I typed out all the details and then decided to delete because frankly i don't want to have someone call me names again because I talk about my experience.

I, obviously, am nothing to you but I've been following this thread with great interest.  Please keep coming back and express yourself the way you want.

 

Anybody having cruised in the last year understand so many things are different at this point.  I'm one of those that believe that if those things are not mentionned, there is no way for them to get better.

 

Enjoy the reste of your cruise.

[rrraydon]

Yeah, I’d be ticked too.