PHOTO REVIEW! Just off the Pride through the Panama Canal [partial transit].

[Bostonjetset]

Hi fellow cruisers.  I just returned from the Pride's 8-night cruise through a partial transit of the Panama Canal and wanted to share my thoughts.  The trip left from Tampa and visited Limon, Costa Rica and Grand Cayman in addition to transiting the historic [or "old"] locks of the canal.  We also spent two nights in Orlando, pre-cruise, at Walt Disney World so I will include that in the review for those who are interested in perhaps doing something similar when sailing from Tampa.  I usually post reviews in a diary style format so you can read my thoughts as I wrote them during the trip.

 

BACKGROUND:

I sailed on this trip with my mother.  I am 41 and she is 70.  My mom loves to travel and my father does not so that coupled with the fact that I get a lot more PTO than my husband means I can escort mom on a couple trips each year.  My mother's cousin and her husband [both late 60s] also joined us on the cruise but not at Disney.  Neither mom nor I had been to the Panama Canal before.  We went to Costa Rica back in 1991 when I was a kid to visit family [my paternal grandfather was from Costa Rica] but did not go to Limon so it was a new port for us as well.  We'd been to Grand Cayman once about ten years ago.

 

We had not sailed Carnival since 2014 and I was apprehensive about it.  The times we've sailed with them we've had nice trips but they are usually not the aesthetic I prefer; I find their ship decor to be a bit on the tacky side TBH [at least on the older ships I've sailed] and they typically seem to attract a rowdier clientele.  Also, I cringe at "sexy legs" and "hairy chest" contests and dancing waiters at dinner.  That said, the Pride had the best schedule for a partial Panama Canal transit that went through the old locks as most partial transits are at least 10-11 nights and go through the new locks.  Eight nights was the perfect length for us as I've several other trips already planned this year.  We tend to sail with Holland America Line the most as we like the mid-size ships, their aesthetic, and their service, but we are not married to any line and usually pick based on itinerary, cost, and dates.  I will admit up front that I was pleasantly surprised by what I found on Carnival this time and I may start looking at them again for future trips if the itinerary is right.

[hurricane0226]

we done the same Itinerary twice, we liked the pride and had a great time on it. 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 1: Walt Disney World [3/14/2024, 9.45pm]

 

We've just returned from a fabulous dinner at Artist Point here at Disney's Wilderness Lodge.  Not only was the food delicious, especially the braised pork stand and the mushroom bisque, but the whole character interactions was so much fun.  Snow White, Grumpy & Dopey all come around to the table to chat and take photos and then we went up to meet the Evil Queen for "portraits".  It was really a lot of fun.

 

This resort is gorgeous.  Our room on the 4th floor [4020] is just a standard view with 2 queen beds but we have a perfect view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony.  The decor of the room is tasteful and elegant in an upscale national park lodge theme with small but cute Disney touches like a Bambi picture about the coffee maker and Chip & Dale hidden in the wallpaper.  The lobby of the resort is stunning with soaring ceilings and totems along with a multi-story stone fireplace.  We got to spend a couple hours in the pool today as well which also had lovely theming with waterfalls and stonework.  We capped off the night with the electrical water pageant; so kitschy and fun!

 

The only negative today was the drive from Tampa airport.  It took two hours due to some crazy traffic.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Bostonjetset

[Bostonjetset]

Day 2: Walt Disney World [3/15/2024, 11.50pm]

 

A magical day at the Magic Kingdom!!  Having the boat transportation from Wilderness Lodge to MK is wonderful; so relaxing and much better than taking a bus.

 

Since we go to the park for rope-drop at 7.30am I was able to ride Space Mountain with only like a 10 min wait.  Mom still won't ride it though!  The new Tron: Lightcycle Run ride was LOTS of fun but it's quite short.  I ended up just paying the $20 for the individual lightning lane so I could get right on at 8.05am with no wait and no hassle of a "virtual queue".

 

We headed to Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary Resort for lunch.  It was a nice break from the park and the food was good.  The "bacon and eggs" starter [pork belly with an egg and grits] was simply amazing!!  The burger was terrific too though not quite as amazing as the bison burger at Geyser Point yesterday. 

 

For dinner we tried Liberty Tree Tavern back inside the park and it was really enjoyable.  It's a lot of decent food [the pot roast and turkey were especially good] at a reasonable [for Disney] price.

 

And I FINALLY got to see a full fireworks shoes from inside the park!!  "Happily Ever After" was a really well done show with great music to go along with it.  I'm so glad nothing went wrong this time. Oh, I also got my silhouette done as there wasn't a crazy wait like there was at Disneyland last time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Essiesmom]

Just a comparison…the Spirit class of Carnival and Vista class of HAL are the same tonnage and are built on the same vista hull.  EM

Gatun Locks pics

 

Edited March 26 by Essiesmom

[sauna director]

We're on New York harbor. So, we have our choice of cruise lines. We haven't sailed Carnival in years. But, tried the Venezia (fun Italian style). We also are considering Carnival again. They have improved!

From the gym, in the locker room, they have a sauna and a stress reduction tub and rinse.

All quite nice. 

Service, food and entertainment...all improved.   

[Bostonjetset]

Day 3: Carnival Pride Embarkation Day [3/16/2024, 10.40pm]

 

We concluded the Disney World portion of our trip this morning with a fabulous breakfast at Topolino's Terrace atop Disney's Riviera Resort.  Not only was it a fun character breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Daisy in their artist outfits but the food was phenomenal!  The steak & eggs with polenta was outstanding.  And that sour cream waffle!  And the cinnamon muffins!!  Well worth the $49pp.  

 

Once arriving to Tampa we dropped off the rental car and took an Uber to the port.  Check-in was a breeze here; perhaps because the Carnival Pride is a smaller ship?  About the ship now: she has a lot of that loud, tacky, colorful decor that is typical of older Carnival ships.  That is not my taste.  However, our stateroom [#4132] was a good size, had a huge floor-to-ceiling window, and is sold at an inside stateroom price due to the view being blocked by a lifeboat.  But our particular room is between the two lifeboats so we do have a little view and plenty of natural light.  A great deal!

 

Also, dinner in the uncharge steakhouse was wonderful!  The smoked oyster starter and the pork belly were both terrific.  The ribeye steak was tasty with the fried mushrooms and red wine sauce, and the apple tarte tartin...FABULOUS!  Service was REALLY slow though; 2.5 hours to finish.  I think the waitress may have been new.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 4: Sea Day [3/17/2024, 10.43pm]

 

Today was the first of several full sea days and we started with brunch in the main dining room.  The food was very good but the chicken that came with the chicken and waffles had bones in it even though the waiter said it didn't when I asked.  In fact, the food on this ship has been very good so far, including tonight at dinner.  We haven't eaten in the Lido buffet yet though so I can't speak to that.

 

The show tonight was "80s Pop to the Max" which was loads of fun for me since I was born in the 80s and so many of the songs of my childhood were part of the show.  The male singers were better than the females of this cast though all were decent dancers.  I donated $40 to the casino today but both mom and G have won so far this trip.

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 5: Sea Day [3/18/2024, 9.45pm]

 

Just back from an evening swim in the adult's only "Serenity" pool.  I'll admit that Carnival does these adult areas right.  They are free, 21+, and have so far been enforced that I've seen.  Some cruise lines charge extra for these types of areas or they don't really enforce the age limit.

 

Lunch today was at Blue Iguana Cantina.  The burritos are quite good.  The food int he buffet has look fairly mediocre, at least judging by the selection, but I tried a slice of pizza which was delicious.  The buffet cakes were fairly bland and not worth the calories though they looked pretty.  However, the food in the MDR has been consistently good; tonight they had a nice beef Wellington with roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts.

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 5: Limon, Costa Rica [3/19/2024, 10.53pm]

 

Limon, Costa Rica was disgustingly hot!  It was about 90F with super high humidity.  I just can't imagine living in this sort of climate.  That said, it was nice to visit Costa Rica again.  My paternal grandfather was born in CR and the last time I was in the country was to visit him in 1991 when I was just 9 years old.  He moved back there after my grandparents divorced and stayed there for the rest of his life.

 

We took a train and banana plantation tour through Carnival which was quite pleasant and worth the $70pp.  At the plantation we saw a sloth in the wild which made the day; he was just hanging out in a tree snacking on leaves.  The train trip through the jungle was cool but it was a tad long and it was not air conditioned.  Also, howler monkeys make the most dreadful sounds!

 

Dinner tonight was delicious.  There was an Emeril special of blackened sea bass with andouille sausage and grits.  FABULOUS!  One thing that has been bugging me about the service however is that they only set the tables with one fork and don't replace silverware between courses as is proper.  I don't want to use my salad fork for my dinner!  Each course should have its own flatware.  Oh, and the dancing waitstaff is still a thing on Carnival.  Not my vibe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26 by Bostonjetset

[Megan_Strick]

15 minutes ago, Bostonjetset said:

Day 5: Limon, Costa Rica [3/19/2024, 10.53pm]

 

Limon, Costa Rica was disgustingly hot!  It was about 90F with super high humidity.  I just can't imagine living in this sort of climate.  That said, it was nice to visit Costa Rica again.  My paternal grandfather was born in CR and the last time I was in the country was to visit him in 1991 when I was just 9 years old.  He moved back there after my grandparents divorced and stayed there for the rest of his life.

 

We took a train and banana plantation tour through Carnival which was quite pleasant and worth the $70pp.  At the plantation we saw a sloth in the wild which made the day; he was just hanging out in a tree snacking on leaves.  The train trip through the jungle was cool but it was a tad long and it was not air conditioned.  Also, howler monkeys make the most dreadful sounds!

 

Dinner tonight was delicious.  There was an Emeril special of blackened sea bass with andouille sausage and grits.  FABULOUS!  One thing that has been bugging me about the service however is that they only set the tables with one fork and don't replace silverware between courses as is proper.  I don't want to use my salad fork for my dinner!  Each course should have its own flatware.  Oh, and the dancing waitstaff is still a thing on Carnival.  Not my vibe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touching on the silverware. That's odd because I have always had my forks changed out. I cruised last in Sept 2023 so it may have changed since then.

[Bostonjetset]

1 hour ago, Megan_Strick said:

Touching on the silverware. That's odd because I have always had my forks changed out. I cruised last in Sept 2023 so it may have changed since then.

I've never seen anything like it on other cruise lines, or on Carnival in the past for that matter but that was ten years ago when they still had tablecloths so much has changed since then.  It was really weird.  They would obviously bring new flatware if asked but the point is that one shouldn't have to ask; proper dinner service should have new utensils for each course.  Another oddity is that they brought all the starters together instead of pacing the courses.  For example, the salad, soup, and appetizer were all brought at once instead of as separate courses which is not only incorrect from a service standpoint but it clutters the table and makes it difficult to eat.  This happened every night with different servers so is clearly the way they do things on Carnival [or at least on the Pride].  It's not a deal breaker or anything but it was pretty strange.

[Bostonjetset]

Day 6: Panama Canal [3/20/2024, 11.43am]

 

We just got through the third set of locks at the Gatun Locks and are now floating around Gatun Lake in the middle of Panama.  Going through the canal this morning was really quite interesting.  It's amazing how tight of a fit it is; mere inches it looks like.  I'm glad we went through the old, original locks from 1914 as well.  It was cool to see the "mules" guide the ship and watch the huge lock gates swing inward to close.  It's drizzly out which is keeping the temps down at least,

 

 

[11.11pm]

 

Finally got some time in the hot tub this evening.  I went around 8pm and must have gotten there before the twenty-something couple who love it as an evening makeout spot.  After my soak and some swimming, I did a few laps around the promenade deck before donating a few bucks to the casino.

 

I really enjoyed sailing through the Panama Canal.  I loathe the heat so the tropics are not usually my first choice but this is a really interesting destination.  I would actually consider doing a full transit in the future if I can find an itinerary with interesting ports.  Also, thus far Carnival has been a pleasant surprise.  We picked this ship for the itinerary and the smaller ship size but things have been great from the food to the service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kdr69]

8 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

For example, the salad, soup, and appetizer were all brought at once instead of as separate courses

Interesting, when we were on the Pride to Iceland in August they were all brought separately.

[Bostonjetset]

1 minute ago, kdr69 said:

Interesting, when we were on the Pride to Iceland in August they were all brought separately.

Maybe it’s because we had anytime dining and they want to get people in and out more quickly? It was really strange. A minor annoyance but something I definitely noticed. 

[kdr69]

7 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

Maybe it’s because we had anytime dining and they want to get people in and out more quickly? It was really strange. A minor annoyance but something I definitely noticed. 

I always have anytime dining.

[Bostonjetset]

Day 8: Sea Day [3/21/2024, 9.40pm]

 

Just finished another evening swim.  It's the best time for swimming as the Serenity pool is always basically empty after dinner.  It was the second "formal" night tonight but very few dressed formally; mostly just business casual as seems the norm on most cruise lines these days.  We just go with the flow now.  I like to dress nice but rarely lug a suit anymore.

 

It was the first night of the cruise where my entree disappointed.  The "everyday" strip steak was gristly and had too much fat; and I disliked everything not he daily specials menu for mains.  My starters were good though.  Excellent corn chowder and mushroom soup!

 

As it was a sea day we didn't do much other than hang around.  We played Crazy 8s for a couple hours on deck before lunch and then I continued reading my book that I brought along.

 

 

Edited March 28 by Bostonjetset

[Bostonjetset]

Day 9: Grand Cayman [3/22/2024, 11.02pm]

 

Before leaving on this trip I read online that 7-mile beach in Grand Cayman was damaged and eroded during the last hurricane and thus most of the beach clubs had closed.  As such, we just planned a downtown shopping day in port.  We browsed around the shops and had some beers and nachos at Sharkeez.  It was a pretty relaxing day and I got a nice silver & Larimar ring at one of the local jewelry stores.

 

The show tonight was quite good.  Titled "88 Keys: The Rock & Roll Piano Show", the same group of singers/dancers did hits from Billy Joel, Elton John, Little Richard, etc.  It was a lot of fun.  My mother's cousin won $500 on the Piggy slot machine with only a $1 bet!!  I think I've donated about $140 to the casino this trip and that's quite enough.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 28 by Bostonjetset

[Bostonjetset]

Day 10: Sea Day [3/23/2024, 10.26pm]

 

Today was the last day of the cruise as we disembark tomorrow morning back in Tampa.  The end of any cruise is always bittersweet for me as I always wish for more time away.  However, I'm starting to miss DH and the cat.  We will stay one more night in Tampa and fly home at 6am on Monday morning.

 

Dinner tonight featured a coffee glazed roast duck that wasn't great.  It was chewy and tough; one of only two disappointing entrees of this trip.  I got the braised brisket instead and it was much better.

 

Overall this was a wonderful cruise.  I had many reservations about Carnival as we hadn't sailed with them in about 10 years.  In the past I enjoyed my cruises with them but found lines like Holland America and Princess to be more my style.  Carnival was always louder and more of a party ship.  However, this trip shattered those ideas!  Maybe it was because it was over a week so attracted a different clientele but there were very few young kids or even teens/college aged people.  The service was great; I prefer twice daily cabin service but our steward was wonderful and always cleaned whilst we were out unlike my last NCL cruise where scheduling was a nightmare.  The food in the MDR has been mostly great...above my last HAL cruise.  This ship is also a perfect size with loads of elevator banks. I guess I can overlook the pinball machine decor. LOL.

[hurricane0226]

Thank you for the trip report, brought back memories of our trip down to the Panama canal, We have done two trips on the Pride,  and we love that ship, as we love the miracle also, hope to do a third Panama canal  trip

[pcvtmom]

Thanks for a nice, balanced review of your trip. We'll be on the Pride in 10 days, repositioning her from Tampa to Baltimore (or perhaps Norfolk,  due to the Key bridge disaster). We've enjoyed several previous cruises on the Pride, and find Spirit class ships, in general, to be our favorite size. 

[Bostonjetset]

10 hours ago, hurricane0226 said:

Thank you for the trip report, brought back memories of our trip down to the Panama canal, We have done two trips on the Pride,  and we love that ship, as we love the miracle also, hope to do a third Panama canal  trip

Thanks for reading! I would do another canal trip as well. Hopefully a full transit next time. Maybe through the new locks since I’ve been through the historic locks now and there are many more options through the new ones. 
 

1 hour ago, pcvtmom said:

Thanks for a nice, balanced review of your trip. We'll be on the Pride in 10 days, repositioning her from Tampa to Baltimore (or perhaps Norfolk,  due to the Key bridge disaster). We've enjoyed several previous cruises on the Pride, and find Spirit class ships, in general, to be our favorite size. 

Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed the review. Yes this ship size is great. I sailed on the Legend years ago and remember liking the Spirit class size. Have a wonderful cruise!

[kwokpot]

On 3/26/2024 at 1:18 PM, Megan_Strick said:

Touching on the silverware. That's odd because I have always had my forks changed out. I cruised last in Sept 2023 so it may have changed since then.

I sail Carnival regularly (Diamond) and ever since they instituted the American table dining room service (no tablecloths, polished wood table top, water carafe on table) silverware IS NOT changed between starter and main course in the MDR. This was on the Mardi Gras, Celebration, Pride(32 days B2B), Luminosa(30 days)

[Bostonjetset]

2 hours ago, kwokpot said:

I sail Carnival regularly (Diamond) and ever since they instituted the American table dining room service (no tablecloths, polished wood table top, water carafe on table) silverware IS NOT changed between starter and main course in the MDR. This was on the Mardi Gras, Celebration, Pride(32 days B2B), Luminosa(30 days)

We didn’t have a water carafe on the table at all throughout the trip so clearly consistency is lacking. That would have been nice to have. I don’t know why the silverware thing bothered me so much but it did. Not a deal breaker or anything but it stood out. At least they could set the table with two forks from the beginning if they don’t want to change them mid service. It just seems tacky to expect people to use one fork for salad, appetizer, and entree. 

[rjrpar]

Thanks for the report.  Can you comment on the Comedy Club?