Loved Pride..week flew by

[bluehenfan]

Just got home yesterday from the 6/6 Pride sailing out of Baltimore. Can't believe that for years I avoided Carnival because I'd heard so much negative about "the Party cruise line". I've been on 11 or 12 other cruises. Mostly Disney, RCCL and NCL. When my DGrD graduated from high school this year I decided a cruise out of Baltimore would be a great gift. I included her best friend to make it even more fun for her. I booked a week's trip on NCL to Bermuda, but the more I read about the ship I changed over to CCL Pride which also was sailing from Baltimore a day earlier. A short background - I work at a job at the Univ. of Delaware that is especially stressful in May. I am usually always ready for a vacation in June to unwind. I have always cruised with my DD and DGrD, but this year DD was unable to get off work in June. DGrD was celebrating graduating and being accepted into her college of choice -Univ.of Maryland,College Park. Her BF's mom grew up friends with my DD and their daughters have been friends since they were toddlers. We all live 45 mins. from port of Baltimore. Loading 7 pcs. of luggage into DGrD's little car and headed towards the port. It seemed odd to not even leave home until 11:30 !! We're usually waking up somewhere in Florida and leaving our hotel for the port earlier then this. Port was extremely easy to reach and as noted in other reports, you are parked right next to the Pride. You are asked "parking or drop off"? and given a sign to put on dashboard. Then both pull up to loading carts and luggage is removed. Those dropping off head out of the lot and those parking are directed into a general area and told to just find a spot to park. I have had knee surgery in the last 6 months and still get a little sore on long walks. This was a piece of cake- we were right there. People were still leaving the ship. I told the girls it was easy to tell who was coming and who was going - just look at the expressions on peoples faces. For a brief moment I remembered that all too soon I would be one of those walking slowly towards the parking lot with a "can't believe it's over" look on my face.

More after I grab a cup of coffee.

[vkramer]

Thanks for posting!! We cruise on Friday June 26th. We can't wait. I had some questions about embarkation, and you answered them.

 

I would like to hear some more.

 

vicki

[bluehenfan]

The line inside the terminal was pretty long, but moved quickly. The building itself was nothing to write home about, but was clean and staff was friendly enough. When we got to the actual check in desk I was asked for notarized letters from parent/parents of both girls. GrD's friend's dad is a doctor currently serving in Iraq so her letter just had her mother's signature on it. This was not questioned, so I am assuming you only need okay from one parent. slips gave girls permission to go and gave me permission to make medical decisions. I was told to carry letters with me anytime we left the ship, which I did, but was never asked about them again. We next showed out S&S cards to another attendent and were given a card with 21 on it. Within minutes they began calling #s to board and it seemed like it took forever to get to 21, but actually was probably no more then 15 mins. We we stepped into the ship I must admit I didn't get that "wow factor" I got with 1st look around DCL or RCCL ships. The Pride's style sort of grows on you. It was very clean and shiny but just didn't give me the 1st impress other ships have. Don't get me wrong - I was excited and anxious to get this show on the road.

Have to go to my Godson's BD party - more later.

[kevinandrenay]

Thanks for the report. I would love to hear more. We are on our first Carnival cruise, Sept 15, 2009. I have always been a little leery of Carnival but all the reports I see are positive. I am also glad to see what you wrote about the port. Both of my parents work there and I know everyone works very hard. It may just be a warehouse building but things seem to run smoothly. They did get an award for port of the year from RCCL last year.

 

Thanks again,

Kevin

[Weeziblu]

Looking forward to reading more!!! Thanks for taking the time to post - this time next week, I'll be on the Pride myself!

[10XCRUISE]

We, same as Bluehenfan, just got off the Pride and as described the embarkation went well; arrived at 11:45 am and got on the ship at 1:15.

 

Balcony cabin was standard fare but with a surprisingly large shower and plenty of storage througout. Cabin steward was excellent. Shampoo & body wash in the shower but I recommend bringing your own bar of soap.

 

Dining was better than expected (our 20th cruise, 6th Carnival). Food was very good but the selections are more limited than before. Dress on elegant night was not as fancy as you would expect; only an hand full of tuxedoes on the men, mostly suits & jackets but many wearing a dress shirt only. Casual night saw lots of jeans and shorts.

 

Ports were ho hum but we knew that when we booked so didn't expect much. Grand Turk nor Freeport offer much but Half Moon Cay was very decent. 3 very hot days but the water was wonderful.

 

Entertainment was middle of the road other than a very cool comedian (Tommy Drake?)

 

Debarkation has something to be desired since Carnival attempts to stuff 2600 people on deck 3 and call groups starting at 9:45am. Rather slow & combursome.

 

Had a wonderful week, put on 3 pounds and got a great tan. Would go again.

[Glassrobinson]

Thanks for a great review so far looking forward to more. Can you tell me what time you arrived and what time you boarded? We are going in Oct and live in DE.

[green eyed lady]

We'll be on the Pride for New Years this year...can't wait.

 

Just want to say hi to Bluehenfan...my son is a junior at Udel...go Blue Hens!

[eric813]

I too just got offt he Pride 6/6 sailing. A couple comments regarding the above...You can get a bar of soap from the cabin steward. Also, for debarkation, we went to deck 9 by the pool and it was nearly empty. Tables and chairs availalbe from the time we got up there until we got off the ship adn we got up there somewhat late.

Eric813

Future Cruises -1

Pride of America (NCL) - November 7-14, 2009

Past Cruises - 10

Carnival Pride (CCL) - June 6-13, 2009

Holiday (CCL) - March 3-8, 2007

Jewel (NCL) - July 2-9, 2006

Explorer of the Seas (RCI) - November 6-13, 2005

Imagination (CCL) - June 12-17, 2000

Inspiration (CCL) - July 14-21, 1996

Britanis (Chandris) - December 1985

Rhapsody (Paquet) - December 1983

Festival (CCL) - December 18-25, 1982

Norway (NCL) - December 1980

[bluehenfan]

Thanks for a great review so far looking forward to more. Can you tell me what time you arrived and what time you boarded? We are going in Oct and live in DE.

 

What a great welcome home I got. A/C broke and our internet provider had problems so couldn't post more about our trip. I live in North East Md. which as you know is a stone's throw from DE. We left my house at 11:30 and it was perfect time.

[bluehenfan]

We'll be on the Pride for New Years this year...can't wait.

 

Just want to say hi to Bluehenfan...my son is a junior at Udel...go Blue Hens!

 

I love my Blue Hens. It broke my heart that my only grandchild chose MD over UD for college. I think it's a great school and as an employee we take a lot of pride in our campus and facilities. I wish your son lots of luck and great memories during his years at UD. I work in athletics area and I can tell you our football team is going to do us proud this year. Great bunch of guys.

[bluehenfan]

Looking forward to reading more!!! Thanks for taking the time to post - this time next week, I'll be on the Pride myself!

You are in for a great time. As I said at begining of my report, I've been on DCL, RCCL and NCL and this was my favorite. Have a great time.

[singbluesilver1]

im going on the valor in oct..lol but i do live in delaware!!

[bluehenfan]

We made our way up to the Lido deck which was really crowded. I was starting to wonder if we'd spend the week at breakfast and lunch waiting in long lines and then having to search for a table, but this day was our only experience with this problem. Girls got soda cards at a bar out by the adults only pool. Don't think they drank $30+ dollars worth of soda, but they kept ordering Shirley Temples with extra cherries, so they may have eaten their moneys worth of cherries. It was around this time I noticed our S&S cards had us listed for 6 p.m. dining. I had originally asked for and been confirmed for late dining. When "anytime dining" was offer I switched and was confirmed for it. I even had printed out confirmation the day before we sailed. How I ended up with 6 p.m. I don't know. I waited in a long line at Pursers desk to straighten it out but was told dining problems were handled in the dining room. So if you have a problem with dining time, skip pursers desk and go to the dining room. They were very gracious about it and asked us to keep the 6 p.m. time for 1st night. Said we'd hear from them by noon the next day if change was possible. Sure enough, on Sunday at 11:45 a.m. a note was delivered stating we now had anytime dining. This was a red letter day for me as it was the 1st time I got to try the Warm Choc. melting cake. Yummy. Had one every night.

I loved the food by the way. I really didn't care for it on Disney or NCL. Thought RCCL was okay but was going down hill last cruise we took with them. Oh yeah, the "atomic toilets" (as my DGrD use to call them because they were so loud when flushed they sounded like an atomic bomb) on CCL were not as loud as DCL. Room was ample but smaller then I thought it would be (until I started thinking about the last one we had on NCL) . The extended balcony still didn't seem as large as reg. one on DCL, but it had 2 semi reclining chairs, 1 upright chair and a small table. We were all able to sit out there without feeling crowded so it was fine. We were in cabin 7160. We had great view of ports from here.

[bluehenfan]

I live in MD but grew up in DE and spent most of my life there . I thought I'd meet a lot of people from DE on our trip, but most I met were from PA or Ohio... lots of Ohio folks.

[bluehenfan]

I think my only real disappointment was our itinerary. I didn't care for beach at Grand Turk. Half Moon Cay was okay, but I got eaten alive by mosquitos. My tip for the day- Take an industrial size can of OFF with you. I have bites everywhere. They did sell repellent on the island, but I didn't realize how many bites we had until we returned to the ship. The girls did the Stingray adventure here and enjoyed it. For the price it was a pretty good deal. We spent over 3xs that much to swim with the rays on Grand Caymen but snorkling was better. This was fine for 2 girls who just wanted to experience touching a Ray. In Freeport the girls just wanted to shop while I sat in the shade. Then they begged to get a cab and go to another shopping area. It was exactly what I told them it would be - more of the same brickabrack and straw items. The difference was this place had no benches and no shade. So while grandmom sat on a sunny curb inhaling bus and cab fumes, trying to remember the 1st signs of a heat stroke, my two darlings bought every tacky item they could carry. As soon as we got back on board the Pride I stood out on our little deck and poured the ice bucket over my head while the girls were busy getting HOT showers. In case anyone who was there wonders if they met me that day, I was the fat lady with the bright red mosquito bitten face mumbling,"water..." dragging behind two package ladened teenage girls.

[bluehenfan]

I must tell you, the worst thing that can happen to you is to win big (for me $300 was big) the 1st night in the casino. Your first thought is, if I do this again 5 more nights , I can sail again in a couple weeks. Let me just say I felt like I had paid for a certain 25cent Wheel Of Fortune slot machine by the end of our cruise. I should have been allowed to load that machine on a cart and wheel it off the ship with me. Luckily it was their money I lost back, but when I got down to having lost all but $20 of the $300 back, I put that 20 in my wallet and walked out of that casino with my head held high.

I think the debarkation was the best I've ever seen. We had a nice breakfast in the regular restaurant and then sat out on the lido deck on lounge chairs sunning ourselves. The girls shared their gossip magazines with me and we all ate strawberry fat free yogurt ice cream cones. I not only felt guilt free about the cone, I learned everything I could ever want to know about Jon and Kate and their marital problems. There must have been an awful lot of luggage toting passengers who got off first because that seemed to take quite a long time. By the time they got to us luggage hogs with lots of suitcases that we weren't about to move ourselves, they had us off the ship in no time flat. By waiting where we did it was like we got to extend our cruise just a little longer. I will end this now by saying I envy all of you who will be soon sailing on this wonderful ship. If you find yourself agreeing with me about the ports of call, pls. mention it on your comment card, which you'll recieve at the end of your cruise and BON VOYAGE.

[green eyed lady]

Blue Hen,

My son is a sport management major and works at all the football games as well as some soccer, lacrosse and softball games...I wonder if you two know each other :D He loves it there...what a great campus ;)

[bluehenfan]

Blue Hen,

My son is a sport management major and works at all the football games as well as some soccer, lacrosse and softball games...I wonder if you two know each other :D He loves it there...what a great campus ;)

 

If he's ever in the Bob Carpenter Center, I'm sure our paths have crossed.

[peacefrog]

I'm in 7162 in August. How did you like the location?

[pcvtmom]

What a great, humorous review! Thanks for taking the time to post. We are considering the Pride for our summer 2010 cruise. We're from VA, so it would be a nice drive to the port! At least it beats the 14 hour drive we'll be taking to get to Tampa for this summer's cruise!

[bluehenfan]

I loved it. The only noise we heard was on a morning when they were replacing the carpet in the hallway in front of our room. The room was close to the Taj Mahal for the shows. It was a bit of a walk to the buffet and Normandie restaurant but that was good. The walking we had to do made us feel less guilty about the chocolate melting cake. My DGrD and her friend had a running joke going with the boy in 7162. Every time they'd order room service, they'd sit the tray outside in the hall closer to 7162 then to our room. He would do the same to them. By the way, I was impressed by how quickly these trays would be collected. Never saw one sitting out there for more then 20 minutes. Have been on other cruises where you'd see a breakfast tray sitting in the hall still at dinner time.

Also we were facing Grand Turk and Freeport on our side. I liked watching the dock activities from our balcony.

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

im going on the valor in oct..lol but i do live in delaware!!

 

singbluesilver1:

A quick off topic... Is that Simon LeBon in the pic?

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

Thanks for the great review, Bluehenfan!

I am 96 days out from my PRIDE cruise, and not waiting very patiently...

 

BTW... My brother has a place in Red Point. Just up the street from you! I'll be there for the 4th!

[Jakeplays]

Thank for the humor...I found myself laughing out loud...I would have had fun with you on the cruise..you seem like my kind of gal! we are leaving 6/26 for our first cruise with our 4 kids (8-16) we told them we were driving to Balt/DC to look at national monuments and battlefields....going to drive up to the port and they will be floored! thanks again maybe see you on another ccl