7-15 Pride Review: Mostly Great, a few not so great.

[Calicruiser101]

Well, we just got off the Pride yesterday, (Sunday July 22) and we all had a great time. I am writing this review in parts and by day, so I may not get to all of it in one day. It is my hope to give a balanced review, most of the time we all were very pleased w/ our vacation, but there are a few things that need some improvement or just didn't work for our family.

 

Here is a little background on who was sailing. My DH and DD (age 10) and myself, we have cruised 2 other times and this was our second time on the Carnival Pride. My parents and my sister's family have never cruised before. My family was in a Cat 8 on the main deck, my parents were in a Cat 11 on the main deck, and my sister's family, which includes a DH, DD age 12, and DS age 10 were in a Cat 7A on the upper deck.

 

My family and my sister's family drove to the port the night before and my parent's flew in. My parent's stayed at the Queen Mary, the rest of stayed w/ friends. On Sunday we met my parents and went over to early check-in. This was about 10:00am, there was no line and we were all done in about 10mins. We decided to check out my parent's room and wander around the QM for a bit. They had a very nice room. After staring in awe at the Pride we headed over to get in line. At 11:00 my parents got in line at the VIP and we got in our line. All I had time to do was buy a soda and look at one of the kiosks that sells purses, sunglasses etc. and it was time to board. I can't believe how fast things went. My parents boarded at about 11:15 and were on the Lido deck by 11:30. The rest of us were on board by 11:45. We stopped and made reservations for David's Supper Club and headed to the Lido Deck. We met my parents and ordered the DOD, yummy. We were at the middle pool and they had the roof covered, it was way too warm there, so we moved one pool down. We bought our fountain cards there too. The kids had worn their suits and they were swimming, can't get much better than that. We each tipped the server an extra few bucks, he was great and just kept the fluids coming. His name was Kiwi, not sure how to spell it, but that is how he pronounced it.

 

They said our rooms would be ready by 1:30. We ate a quick lunch from the grill, I remembered how good the burgrs and fries were from the last time and I was not disappointed. We then headed to our rooms. Our rooms were beautiful and very clean. I can't believe how beautiful the Cat 11 suites are. My parent's had the wrap-around one, oh my goodness what an enormous balcony. After that we just hung out on our balconies and waited for muster. By now the weather was getting warmer, it had been a little over-cast, great just in time to put on those lovely vests. We warned the kids to not put the whistle in their mouths, yuk.

 

Muster went fine, only about 25-30min. Didn't see any late people. It was funny though, my DD says to me "why do we have to jump off the boat for muster, can't we just pretend?" After explaining that we are not going to jump into the water, things went rather well.

 

We then met back at my parent's room and drank some champagne that they had ordered. We also met our room steward, Anthony. My parent's paid him a hefty tip to see if he could acquire some extra chairs for their balcony. The chairs were there when we arrived after dinner.

 

After our toast and sail away we all returned to our own rooms in search of our luggage. It was there waiting for us, we changed and headed to dinner. We had the early seating and had a nice round table for our family of nine. Our waiter was devoid of any sort of personality. :( He never smiled, never learned our names and was very slow. This went on for the entire week. He had been on another ship for 10 years and this was his second week w/ this ship. I can understand him being confused and a little slow, but unfriendly no. The bar waitress was wonderful, she knew our drinks by the second night and had them waiting for us every night after that. The kids really enjoyed that. They did do the team announcements during dinner and sang a song. Our waiter did not perform any night. The reason I comment that he was a little slow is it seemed that most people were leaving when we were still eating or ordering dessert. We were always on time and ready to order when he came by. Oh well, the food was very yummy that night and the melting cake was an enormous hit w/ our family.

 

That night we hung out in the casino and the sports bar and then called it a night. I won a lot of quarters that night that kept me busy until the last night where I managed to donate them once again to the casino.

 

This is all for now, I will write again later about the rest of the days. Any questions, just ask.:)

[Wennfred]

Our waiter was devoid of any sort of personality. :( He never smiled, never learned our names and was very slow. This went on for the entire week. He had been on another ship for 10 years and this was his second week w/ this ship. I can understand him being confused and a little slow, but unfriendly no.

 

Thanks for your review, this is not a normal thing for a Waiter since they are the most cheerful and around the public the most. You need to write Carnival with this info so they can pull this Waiter from the Dining Room, I surely do not want to be stuck with this person. Just wondering what Country was he from?

 

We had a waiter like him on the Pride also, he was from India.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Fred

[JGB]

we are on the Pride in 5 weeks. thanks for the "tip" on the extra chairs. we also have a wrap around and would like to invite other family members to join us.

do you rememmber the name of the slots that you played?

JGB

[Calicruiser101]

Thanks for your review, this is not a normal thing for a Waiter since they are the most cheerful and around the public the most. You need to write Carnival with this info so they can pull this Waiter from the Dining Room, I surely do not want to be stuck with this person. Just wondering what Country was he from?

 

We had a waiter like him on the Pride also, he was from India.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Fred

I was really surprised by his personality too. The last time we cruised on the Pride we had the best waiters, they were so friendly and made such a fuss over our DD. This time he could have cared a less about our DD or the other 2 children travelling w/us. It was really too bad because other than myself, DH, and DD no one else had been on a cruise before. My brother in law owns a restaurant and was amazed by him. His name was Allen and he was from Australia. We all mentioned him in our comment cards, should we still let Carnival know?

[shawilson]

Great review, keep it coming! We will be on Pride for the second time in March. I would be so disappointed if we had a surly waiter, I would have to have my table changed or at the very least, complain to the maitre'd after the second occurrence. I understand with such a large party, changing tables may not be an option.

 

What Cat 11 did your parents have? We have our first one in March, so we are looking forward to it. Doesn't sound like VIP boarding has much advantage? Any pictures of the Cat 11?

 

The last time we were on Pride, in November 2005, the roof was never closed, I think it may have been broken. Is that why the kids were able to swim on embarkation day, or just because it is summer?

 

Looking forward to your next installment. Have to disagree with you on one tiny point. I think Santa Cruz County is one of the best places to live, LOL.

 

Sharon

[Calicruiser101]

Great review, keep it coming! We will be on Pride for the second time in March. I would be so disappointed if we had a surly waiter, I would have to have my table changed or at the very least, complain to the maitre'd after the second occurrence. I understand with such a large party, changing tables may not be an option.

 

What Cat 11 did your parents have? We have our first one in March, so we are looking forward to it. Doesn't sound like VIP boarding has much advantage? Any pictures of the Cat 11?

 

The last time we were on Pride, in November 2005, the roof was never closed, I think it may have been broken. Is that why the kids were able to swim on embarkation day, or just because it is summer?

 

Looking forward to your next installment. Have to disagree with you on one tiny point. I think Santa Cruz County is one of the best places to live, LOL.

 

Sharon

They had the aft Cat 11 wrap-around balcony, room 4228. I think someone else on here had that exact room and posted some really great pictures, as soon as my mom loads her pictures I will try and attach some so you can see them. We were pretty close to the front of the line when general boarding started so that is why we got on so quickly. If you do not do early check-in or get to the front of the line, then being a VIP would get you on faster. Not sure why the roof was closed the day of boarding, it was over-cast that day but I don't think that is why it was closed. It was very hot in there and so that is why we moved.

[Calicruiser101]

We ordered room service and it arrived on time, however, they forgot the most important item, coffee. He said he would run down and get it and be back soon. It took him about 15min and then he didn't have sugar or cream w/ him. 10mins more and he was back w/ the sugar and cream. Was really wanting my coffee by that time. Coffee is nothing to write home about, bland tasting, needed lots more sugar than usual. The rest of the breakfast was fine, toast, muffins, yogurt etc. they also for my DH's smoked salmon, but we didn't call them back for it. He was pretty confident he would find more food later on.:D We headed up to the Lido deck, the weather was cold and over-cast, sad. The kids swam a bit though. We went to the Sports Bar, again, and played poker. The bartender in there is so nice and such a pleasure to talk to. He learned my whole familie's name and even bought my dad a DOD the last day of th cruise. Needless to say he received an extra tip from each of us. He truly epitomized what wonderful service is truly about. His name is Kris, not sure where he was from, maybe India. Then we went back to the Lido deck, ran into Kiwi and ate at the buffet. Had a tasty sandwich from the deli. Everyone else had a good lunch too, no complaints. We watched the hairy chest contest, always a good source of amusement. It was formal night so we rested after lunch and prepared for dinner. We took the photos before hand, I was thinking they wouldn't turn out that great. Last time we cruised we didn't do the formal pictures, I didn't know what I was missing. I had no idea they posed us and how professional it was. We ended up spending $300 on pictures, not to mention my parents spent that much and so did my sister. So they made almost $1000 of our family. It was sooooooo worth it though. So off to dinner we went. Allen the waiter was his grouchy self, we were hoping he was just having a bad first night, nope. We didn't let him bother us though, we're a fun group that laughs a lot so his surly attitude was forgotten the moment he walked away. The dinner was fabulous, I had lobster and it was very good. Being from Monterey where some of the best lobster is served they did a great job. My dad ordered 2 lobsters and the prime rib, my mom about fell off her chair when she heard what he ordered. My neice even ordered a second lobster. A very fun night that once again ended w/ the melting cake and cheese platters. My mom and her cheese.

 

For the most part everyone looked wonderful, did see a few not as dressed up, but I saw a lot of people dressed to the nines. However, one kid about 14 was wearing a jersey, most nights, w/ a baseball cap on sideways. He did this on all nights. Whatever, I didn't have to be at his table.

 

We went to the show, can't remember what the name of it was. Had dances from around the world. It was ok, my DD enjoyed it so that is good. The lead female singer is not that impressive in my opinion. Oh well. Then we listened to music in the casino bar, he is very talented and played a lot of good music that the crowd was loving.

[Calicruiser101]

Let me just say,Camp Carnival was not very good this time around. Both the 10year olds were so bored there. The activities did not seem as interesting this time. A lot of board games and trivia, they can do that at home. The activities they did go to some of them were not done. For example my DD wanted to do the candy art and mini olympics, both of these were not done that night. She said there was a lot of time spent sitting on the carpet waiting to go to the next location. They were very disappointed. At least they were older and could go swimming w/ the 12 year old and go to the arcade. My DD is pretty easy going and so if she is not happy then there was something wrong. Several times I came by to get her and she was indeed sitting waiting and the counselors were chatting amongst themselves. I also commented on the comment card about this. I suggested more arts and crafts and actually following the schedule they put out. So the kids swam, used the water slide, hung out w/ us, went to the arcade and watched movies in the room when we went out for the night. They all had a great time they just were let down about Camp Carnival.

[Wennfred]

We all mentioned him in our comment cards, should we still let Carnival know?

 

Heck ya, Contact Guest Relations and let them know he isn't happy on that ship or in that postion.

 

 

 

Fred

[JGB]

thank you for the great info.

do they have dollar,2 dollar and 5 dollar poker in the sports bar.

JGB

[Calicruiser101]

This day was also over-cast and not very warm. It was sort of funny, my sister and BIL head to the adults only deck because the sun had popped out. They got about 30mins of sun, I showed up to soak up the sun. I was there not 5mins and the sun left again. So we ordered a drink and tried to stay warm, it was windy and chilly. Just about the time we are to meet the kids the sun comes out again. Oh well, what can you do??? It was nice to be around only adults. Didn't see many kids around there, although one lady and her DD aged about 8 were in the adults only pool. Nobody said anything to them, probably because the weather sucked and not very many people were in the pool or laying out. Just can't believe some people who believe the rules do not apply to them. Our day was pretty much the same as one before. We bought our pictures from the night before, this took quite awhile as we had taken so many. We ate lunch at the buffet while my parents ate in the dining room. They liked te food much better in there. Once again we rested before dinner, not sure why though it wasn't like we were all that busy. We ate in the Normandie and once again it was wonderful. However, I ordered the pasta that night and it was not very good, so I ate my DD's burger. She was going to Camp Carnival (she hadn't given up on it at this point) to make pizza so she didn't feel like eating. I had a really tasty egg roll that night that was one of the best things I have ever eaten. Had I known it was so good I would have ordered more of them. My DD and I ordered the Ceasar salad each night, she loves salad. They were good each night. Later we went to the casino and the Sports bar. We also watched some of the Karoke, which is always fun. Some very good talent out there and of course some not so good. I usually like the not so talented the best.:D

 

My dad said he was a little bored during this day. They usually fly to Europe for about 3 weeks each summer and they are used to getting up, touring, and pretty much being on the run the entire time. I explained to him that this is a relaxing vacation and so it was going to be different. He was fine w/ the first sea day but was ready for land by the second day. It wasn't that he was unhappy, he just wanted some more activity.

[Calicruiser101]

thank you for the great info.

do they have dollar,2 dollar and 5 dollar poker in the sports bar.

JGB

It is a quarter machine, but you can bet as much as 10 quarters at a time. My family had the best time playing these machines, we would all be lined up in there.

[JGB]

sounds like a jolly good ole time!

by the way did you leave on time on sunday i.e. 4pm.

JGB

[Calicruiser101]

sounds like a jolly good ole time!

by the way did you leave on time on sunday i.e. 4pm.

JGB

yes, we left pretty much on time give or take a few minutes. Once on board I pretty much stopped looking at my watch. But I know that after muster we went to put away our vests, I looked out the balcony and we were moving.

However, getting off the ship was a different story. We did not get off the ship until 12:40. Way mad about that. Not sure what happened but I was glad my parents had their suite because we spent 4 hours waiting to get off. I felt bad for those waiting to board, they looked very annoyed as we were leaving the ship. My parents did the self assist as they were flying back to Monterey and we were picking up the rest of their luggage to bring it w/ us. Deck 4 for self assist was not called until 10:10 and she said it took about 30mins to get off. By the time we got to baggage claim it was almost empty. I think people got mad that it was taking so long and just got off the ship when they started calling the first color. At 10:30 they called deck 8 black and gold tags and then they didn't call any more colors until 11:45. The cruise director didn't even got on the loud speaker and explain what the delay was. They announced in the morning that all the 950 staff members had to go through customs that morning. My friend who works at the other port said she doesn't think they normally do that. She was going to try and find out what happened. All I know is that by the time I was getting off the ship at 12:40 last week I had already been on the ship for almost an hour.

[Pischina]

Thank you so much for this review, keep it coming!!! :D

 

I am leaving on the Pride in less than two weeks so I'm very happy to read all this (so far!). I'm happy to hear your embarkation went so well... but debarking is quite worrisome, we have a 2:30 flight home that may give me a stroke, heh. :o

 

So, the coffee... I'm a big coffee drinker and have been spoiled by our local Starbucks. Should I bring my french press and some beans? Or will I survive the ship coffee? :p

 

I'm going to be on the lookout for waiter Allen, that's for sure!

 

Now keep it coming! Can't wait to hear about the excursions!

[Calicruiser101]

Thank you so much for this review, keep it coming!!! :D

 

I am leaving on the Pride in less than two weeks so I'm very happy to read all this (so far!). I'm happy to hear your embarkation went so well... but debarking is quite worrisome, we have a 2:30 flight home that may give me a stroke, heh. :o

 

So, the coffee... I'm a big coffee drinker and have been spoiled by our local Starbucks. Should I bring my french press and some beans? Or will I survive the ship coffee? :p

 

I'm going to be on the lookout for waiter Allen, that's for sure!

 

Now keep it coming! Can't wait to hear about the excursions!

My parents had a 2:00 flight and they made it in time. However, they did the self assist so they got off a little faster. It was still after 10:00 when they called their deck and my dad was about ready to lose his mind. He said if he hadn't heard anything by 11:00 he was going to the purser's desk, I doubt he would have made it that long though. You can buy coffee on the lido deck, for about $3.00 so we did that a couple of times, it was worth it to us. It was sort of like a starbucks and I am sure you will enjoy it much better than the free coffee. We had the good stuff about every other day. The coffee that is served in the dining room is much better at least it was at night w/ our dessert. Yes, if you have Allen request a change right away, he was most unpleasent.

[pooh99]

Thanks for the review. We'll be on the Pride on the 2nd September and we are really looking forward to it. Did you/your family any excursions at the ports? Where did you book them?

[piggs]

We had Anthony too! We were in 4221-4229 on the July 1st sailing. He was very frindly and was employee of the month, he was great with all the kids.

 

We had Nat (prnounced not) in the dining room and on the review of the July 1st sailing I talked about him. We had the same problem in the dining room. We were at one of the very aft tables, 420 if I remember correctly, and the service was terrible. Like you it didn't even put a dent in our cruise experience but having that for a first time cruiser is such a bummer.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

Now I am getting worried. Carnival assured me Iwould have no problem with a 12:35 flight. One of my daughters has to be back on Monday for school and we live in Indiana. This means we have to get an early flight to get out that day. Did not want to do self assist but may have to. Looking forward to more postings from you.

[Calicruiser101]

Ok, here is what our plan was supposed to be. Catch a Van Taxi and head over to the Mismaloya Resort and get massages on the beach. We then were going to take another taxi to another beach area where we could eat and rent water toys. I.e. jet ski or banana boat ride.

 

However, things did not work out this way. It was raining when we got off the ship, not horrible. So we decided to still go check out the Mismaloya, we found a van taxi and off we went. Our driver, Marcos Hernandez Ramos was fantastic. We negoiated a price of $17 per person and he would take us wherever we wanted for the whole day. We decided this was a good idea because of the rain and we wanted to be able to leave if we wanted to. He suggested going to a different resort as you have to pay to use the Mismaloya. We went w/ our plan though and as it turns out Marcos was right. They were not doing beach massages because of the rain and we couldn't get an appointment until 3:00. It was only 10:00 in the morning. The day prices there are $25 to use the pool and their private beach etc. and $50 for all inclusive which included food and alcohol. If it had not been raining we most likely would have stayed. It was beautiful and the food smelled very good. However it was not worth the money since it was raining and we didn't want to lay on the beach or around the pool.

So we leave there and Marcos suggests a tequilla factory. This was cool, didn't take very long and you got to sample several types of tequilla. They showed how it was made and then it was sample time. Our group ended up buying a bottle per family. They were $25 a bottle. Then Marcos said he had a great restaraunt that was on the beach and you can rent water toys there. Since we had no idea what to do w/ourselves once our Mismaloya plans were changed we decided to let Marcos be in charge. He took us to a place called Spiaggia. It was some of the best food we have ever tasted. We had fish tacos, flautas, quesadillas, and some sort of avacado and shrimp thing. Forgot what it was called. The margaritas were perfect and very strong. The kids played in the water and collected shells. The place was right on the beach so we could see them. People came by selling things, we bought a blanket because we forgot towels. I got mine for $12 and then my 10 year old nephew talks the guy down to $10 for his blanket. It was very funny and then my nephew hung out w/ the guy chatting w/ him. We bought Marcos' lunch and the guacamole was the best. Our bill ended up being about $30 per person. We just divided the bill by 8, my DD shared my lunch so we didn't include her. I thought it was pretty cheap considering how much we ate and yes drank.

 

After about 3hours we left and decided to see a bit of the downtown and do some shopping. We only shopped for about 45mins as it was muggy and we were ready to get back to the ship. We ended up having a great day and enjoyed ourselves so much. Down below I am going to give the website for the restaraunt and an email and phone number for Marcos.

 

www.spiaggiapv.com

 

Marcos

Cell # 322-294-9304

phone # 322-299-0327

email ussmexico@pvnet.com..mx

 

If you have any questions about our day let me know. It was so much fun.

[Calicruiser101]

 

 

Here is a picture of the restaraunt and how close it is to the water.

[truecruiser]

 

 

Here is a picture of the restaraunt and how close it is to the water.

 

how cld you ditch the twins?????:p i miss them.:( :p

[truecruiser]

i didn't realize b/4 that this thread was your review. haven't gotten a chance to read it all, but welcome home, and i hope you had a good time.

[JGB]

I took a look at their menu WOW!

How long did it take(or would it take) to get from the dining to the ship?

JGB

[Cupcake2685]

Mismaloya, The day prices there are $25 to use the pool and their private beach etc. and $50 for all inclusive which included food and alcohol.

 

Do they have a website? We are going in January and this sounds fun. How far is it from the port?