Tell me about the Pride and Carnival in general

[StephPS79]

We're booked on the Pride to Bermuda for September 2025, will be the first time on the Pride.  I'm actually pretty excited after reading some of these comments (I was excited before, but more so now)!  First time to Bermuda too, with 2 overnights, so really looking forward to this cruise.  Too bad I've gotta ride this excitement out for another 549 days lol.

[ninjacat123]

21 minutes ago, StephPS79 said:

We're booked on the Pride to Bermuda for September 2025, will be the first time on the Pride.  I'm actually pretty excited after reading some of these comments (I was excited before, but more so now)!  First time to Bermuda too, with 2 overnights, so really looking forward to this cruise.  Too bad I've gotta ride this excitement out for another 549 days lol.

DH and I will be on Pride this September for Bermuda and I’ll be by posting a LIVE review👍😁

[StephPS79]

15 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

DH and I will be on Pride this September for Bermuda and I’ll be by posting a LIVE review👍😁

 

Great - I'll look forward to following along!

[vswan]

Just got back from my first Carnival cruise ever and thought I'd give a small review here.

 

Before I forget, I think someone asked about who the Maitre D is. Currently Diago Estibeiro is, but he will be ending his contract in the next couple of months and they haven't told him who will be replacing him.

 

We had a great time, of course.

 

The ship

 

I was prepared for the decor after reading posts here on CC. I found the atrium area spectacular and the over the top decor was fine with me. Our cabin was 8204 and just a couple away from the atrium area. The music coming up was fantastic. We had a wonderful trio of strings that played there often, music you wouldn't expect and the echoing was stunning. The music overall was fine, but the trio was spectacular.

 

We are not big bar people, but they had a great assortment and many had live music on some type most nights. I did like the Red Frog Tiki Bar and made my way through the "Pig" beers to find my favorite. I liked the red the best but was only available on tap and was looking to buy a bucket of beers for the cabin (which I did, but would have liked the red).

 

Was traveling with a 14 year old so couldn't spend a lot of time in the serenity area, but would have liked to. It was spring break after all and it was nice to have an adult only area.

 

The pool areas areas and seating around them were sparse. Two pools in the center of the ship and one hot tub filled with kids almost all the time. But you make it work!

 

Went to a couple of shows which were okay. I like live music and the male lead was very good. There were times that you could see the dancers working through the moves to be sure they were going the right direction - and I found it noticeable which I found distracting. Game shows are not my thing and I only caught the end of one.

 

Food

 

We went to the MDR every night. Food was actually better than I expected, but some nights the menus were not very appealing. Several nights we ordered the everyday menu items and one night I upgraded to the filet which was good. Was given the choice of medium rare or medium well for beef dishes. The medium rare was good, the medium well was like shoe leather.

 

Had my Guys Burger. It was fine, but didn't feel the need for more than one. My grandson had many! I didn't try the Blue Iguana, but my daughter loves it.

 

The lido was okay, nothing special. Breaking up into sections seems to disperse traffic, but most of the sections offered the same offerings. They did have a pizza station, deli, and Chopsticks section. Had three omelette offering which became tiring after a week - but I won't eat the watery scrambled eggs and am not a pancake, French toast or waffle eater. One major downfall I've noticed on all cruise lines lately is the breakfast sweet roll offerings. Just pathetic.

 

Excursions/ports

 

Did two excursions through the ship.

 

In Belize we did a Mayan cooking/spiritual healing tour which was supposed to have a pool also. The pool pump was out so all the people on the tour were hot and in their swimwear ready to get in the pool and no pool. The shaman was interesting and my daughter and I compared and we both had a very different experience.

 

In Roatan went to Maya Key (think that's the name of it) with the pool, beach, lunch, fake ruins and monkeys, etc. It was fine, but nothing special. Would probably have enjoyed the free beach by the port just as much.

 

Pre-booked Paradise Beach in Cozumel online. Was good. Beach is rocky, pool is great.

 

Traveling with a 14 year old

 

It was spring break. He went to the kids club on night 1 and met a group of kids he hung out with all week. They played video games, basketball, went to shows together and just had a great time!

 

His packing was questionable. His mother laid out some clothing choices for him and he put some of it in his suitcase. LOL We ended up buying a few pairs of athletic-type shorts, and 2 shirts before we even got on the ship. He had one swimsuit along and we discovered only had 2 pair of underwear once we got on the ship - so ended up buying more at considerable expense in Roatan. We did take advantage of the laundrette onboard.

 

Would I do Carnival again? Yes. The crowds seemed well behaved, I didn't smell any pot, got sniffed by a dog, and there was a lot of security. Would I go on spring break again? Only if I was going with someone who could only go on that week.

 

 

 

 

[ninjacat123]

@vswan great review!! Thanks for taking the time writing and posting it.  I had to giggle when you mentioned the "packing" issues.  I still remind my DDs (21 & 23) to pack certain items like "elegant night" wear. Sounds like you all had a great time!!

 

PS I hope you were given some sort of compensation not having access to a pool in Belize when it was listed as part of the excursion.  Sorry that happened.

[JMAE]

Thanks for the review.  I hope Ken returns to the Pride after his vacation, we have sailed many times with him, and it appears he likes the Baltimore sailings.  As a Martire'd, Ken is one of the best!  

[vswan]

Couple more things I forgot to mention. Someone asked about the terminal, I'm assuming you mean the cruise terminal, not the airport terminal, but hope this covers what you want to know.

 

We flew in from MSP on Sun Country airlines which is a smaller airline based in Minneapolis on the Friday evening flight. The cruise was Sunday to Sunday. We rented a car at the rental center at the airport. They have several terminal buildings and we had to take a tram/train to baggage, but all was marked well and had no issues. Then had to take tram/train to car rental center. We had reservations at the Sirata Beach Resort in St. Pete for Friday and Saturday nights. Not the newest hotel, but sufficient and the outdoor areas were fantastic. Two separate pool areas, beach front, two restaurants, hammocks and plenty of chairs to sit in looking out at the beach.

 

I had booked a 12:30 - 1:00 boarding window knowing we would be in no hurry to leave the beach and not interested in fighting the crowds. When we returned the car we walked over to the public transit area and called a lyft - $20. Our driver managed to get lost and we had close to an extra hour getting on the bridge back to St. Pete's with no place to turn around, traffic jams at the port, etc. We figured it wasn't a big deal, since we had a $20 price. Nope. The charge came up as $38 on our phone after she had already left. Tried to figure out how to dispute the charges but it wouldn't let us do it online. We were ready for a drink!

 

Ended up getting to the port closer to 1:30, so of course everything went quickly since there were very few people there. There were two ships leaving that day and the traffic near the ships was crazy and being directed by cops. Still think it's easier than Miami.

[TxTeach79]

Posted a LIVE on my 12 night Pride post-drydock in Europe last summer if anyone is interested...