Pride review - 7/3 sailing

[Sromanmd]

Just got off the Pride this morning and thought I would post about it. My DH and I went w/o our kids to celebrate his 50th birthday. I have cruised once before - on RCI last summer and this was my DH first cruise.

 

Keep in mind these are my personal experiences. Your mileage may vary.

Overall:

 

Pros (or Ups!)

:)Sailing out of Baltimore - we live about 35 minutes from the port and we figure we saved about hundreds of $$ not having to fly.

:)Pretty ship - very clean and nice looking all over.

:) Great staff - everyone was friendly, helpful and professional.

:) Food - as someone else said here previously - the food was good and much of it was very good.

:)Entertainment - we went to almost every show in the main theatre (Taj Mahal) and really enjoyed nearly every moment.

:)Good excursions - we went on 2 sponsored by Carnival and one on our own. The 2 ship sponsored ones were Disney World (Magic Kingdom) and Blackbeard's Cay beach break. We have a very good time at both.

 

Cons (or the Downs!)

-There were a fair number of large groups of kids roaming the ship unsupervised. Some groups were in the 14-16 year range, others in the tween 11-12 year old range. They were very annoying and we left several areas because of them to avoid them. No one seemed to intervene with these roaming bands of kids until the last night of the cruise when one group broke one of the ice cream machines around midnight. An officer (??) rounded them up and started phoning parents (I assume) through a nearby phone. He made all the kids stay with him until the parents started showing up.

-Our cabin was fairly noisy. We were on the Riviera deck (1) near the middle but there was a loud mechanical noise most nights we were in the cabin. I bring earplugs (DH snores LOUD) so I was not overly bothered by this but I could imagine light sleepers would NOT want our cabin.

 

Overall we had a very good time and would go back in heartbeat! I'll post more details for anyone interested in a bit.

[puggylicious]

Thank you for posting about your cruise. Sounds like your family had an overall good time. I did want to ask you about the Disney World excursion. How much time did you actually have in the park? I figure it must take about 1 hour each way. And then you probably had to meet the bus by a certain to time for the return trip. So how much time would you say was left to enjoy the park?

[Mskala]

I am sorry to hear that your cabin was so noisy. Might I ask what your cabin number was?

[cathyoo]

I would love to hear about your ports of call and any other tidbits you can share. I'll be there in 114 days.

[andychris]

Sounds like you had a good time-thanks for the review

[Sromanmd]

Embarkation/Debarkation - Both went smooth for us. We were on the ship in about 40 minutes after arriving. We were off the ship by 10 a.m!

 

We did hear about an issue - leaving Baltimore there was some kind of security issue that occured after we were in the terminal and folks in line to go through security got held there for a while behind whatever it was.

 

Also in Nassau - we were delayed for over an hour clearing customs. It didn't hold us up but many were getting rather restless up on the Lido deck waiting to be let off!

 

 

Ship decor - I think I kind of liked the decor actually. It was sort of Busch Gardens amusement park style Renaissance.

 

David's Supper Club - We did eat dinner there one night and the food was very very good. I had the lobster tails - yum! I had the apple tarte and it was a little disappointing. I'll stick to chocolate in the future. A curious thing was only here was the iced tea fresh brewed real tea - not the powder mix.

 

Mermaid grille - I liked pretty much everything I had - hamburger, Indian food, Asian food, pastrami sandwich, breakfast - hash browns, sausage, bacon (I noticed the bacon police were not out on the breakfast station on the pool deck itself so go there to get your pound or two of bacon at a time.) The Iced tea and lemonade were OK - not great. The diet desserts - a different cake each day - were yummy. Better than some of the regular desserts. Came in coconut, lemon, mango, banana, chocolate.

 

I found the Mermaid grille set up to be very confusing. You had to wait for every station so if you wanted more than 1 station, it took a long time to get your meal. RCI Windjammer set up was way more efficient.

 

Seating was scarce in Mermaid Grille for both Breakfast and Lunch. It didn't seem to matter when you went. There just wasn't enough seating. For Breakfast, we gave up after the first day and just got on the elevator and took our food to the cabin. There simply wasn't anywhere to sit most of the time. So unless you enjoy balancing your food tray as you stand or sit perched on a lounge chair, consider going to the Normandie for those meals if you have the time.

 

Dining room - Entire staff were fabulous. All of our meals were good and many - lobster, turkey, ribs - were really great. I guess DH and I are not coffee afficionados because we thought the coffee was good too. The dessert selection was just so-so but I liked the Chocolate melting cake so I usually ordered that.

 

Excursions - We booked two through the ship.

Port Canaveral -Disney - This was expensive - $150 per person. We tried to see if we could do it cheaper on our own but weren't very successful. Single day tickets are $75 (unless you have a yearly pass, Florida resident etc.). We emailed Cocoa beach Shuttle. They wanted $85 a person for a roundtrip. So we just booked the ship's excursion. It was easy to do and we were at the park itself from 10 am to 4:30 pm. Probably too much money for the amount of time but hey - we really wanted to go.

 

Nassau - Blackbeard's Cay beach break - nice beach but nothing to see snorkeling wise. My DH wanted some time just to lay on the beach so he enjoyed this. We had a ship board credit from our travel agent and so booked our beach excursion through the ship to use part of it. No biting sand flies, no peddlars on the beach hawking stuff (although some selling at the location itself), time to eat lunch on the ship before you go. Very relaxing and I would recommend for families. The water was shallow a fair ways out and the swimming area was roped off. Jet ski rental was available. Two other excursions ride along with you - Sting Ray and the Treasure Hunt ones.

 

Freeport - We booked the Sanddollar Cruise on our own. This is the thing to do in Freeport! The ship one was 2 1/2 hours for $52 - snorkeling only. Sanddollar was $45 for 3 hours (really was $55 though because you must pay for transportation to Port Lucaya - $5 each way). Snorkeling, Sanddollar diving/hunting and a short sail out were included. All the Bahama mamas you can drink were included (or water). I rated this a 10 out of 10, my husand a 12! (He drank lots of those Bahama Mamas!!) There were 12 of us on the catamaran - very nice and uncrowded.

 

Staff - We found the staff to be just terrific from our wait staff to our room attendant to Kirk the cruise director. Just excellent.

 

Cabin - Room 1230 Riviera deck (1) - Nice room. We had plenty of room for our stuff. The bathroom was way more roomy than the one on the RCI ship I was on last summer and the shower was great (lots of hot water, water pressure etc) - unlike RC where the water could be cold in the pre-dinner shower time period. I expected some noise (talking, music) but was surprised by the loud mechanical sounds. There was no interior cabin across the hall so we actually heard very little people sounds (yelling, tv, music etc).

 

In some ways this room was very convenient - just down the stairs from the Normandie, elevator just around the corner to zip up to the center of the Mermaid Grille, you do self disembarkation first. Maybe pick a room further up the corridor. Don't pick forward though because Butterflies is there and they do have the doors to it open and you can hear music all night in the hallway (and I assume nearby rooms). Unless of course you're out dancing up a storm yourself!

 

We had a great cruise!

[sallyb]

Wow! Only 2 posts and a great review. Thanks so much, we are anxiously awaiting our turn and your review was very helpful.:)

[Dave85]

Enjoyed reading your review -- thanks!

[BeachyLisa]

We were on the sand dollar cruise with you!! It was me, hubby 2 kids and my mom. I agree it was the highlight of our trip. The water and marine life there are amazing!!

I agree with your review and yes the roaming gangs of teens were annoying and my kids were part of them but we did make them check in with us often. There aren't many structured activities for the older kids like with the young ones. I know my kids didn't even get in the pools because they were pretty much taken over by little ones-a downside to cruising in the summer. Glad you had a good time - we did too!

[thomarvin]

Hey , we were neighbors. We were in 1224 and 1226. Did you see my white board? At least the 1st couple of days. It was a great idea while it lasted. Got the idea from CC. We would write notes to the boys letting them know where we were and what time to meet for dinner. Until someone STOLE IT!! That really bothered me. Not the 3.99 that it cost. but that someone would do that.

 

Ruth Ann

[firefly4423]

thanks for sharing everything! Very good read!

[pickypeg]

great review. We will be on her in Oct.4 can't wait.:D

[Sromanmd]

Hey , we were neighbors. We were in 1224 and 1226. Did you see my white board? At least the 1st couple of days. It was a great idea while it lasted. Got the idea from CC. We would write notes to the boys letting them know where we were and what time to meet for dinner. Until someone STOLE IT!! That really bothered me. Not the 3.99 that it cost. but that someone would do that.

 

Ruth Ann

 

That's Terrible! Why would anyone do that! Yes we saw your board and we laughed at some of the messages! Cute!

 

I like the Riviera deck overall. I thought the OV cabin was nice.

[G3TSKG]

I am glad to see you did the Sand Dollar because I am very interested in the excursion but was concerned about it - I am going with my DH and two DD's. Is this appropriate for an 8 and 6 year old? How deep is the water? My 8 year old is a strong swimmer and I know she would love seeing the fish and hunting for Sand Dollars. My 6 year old just learned to swim and I would either get her a swim suit with built in life vest and let her float around by my side or stay onboard with her while DH and DD explore. Also, my husband is concerned that it is a booze cruise and may not be appropriate so any feedback would be great!!!

[BeachyLisa]

I am glad to see you did the Sand Dollar because I am very interested in the excursion but was concerned about it - I am going with my DH and two DD's. Is this appropriate for an 8 and 6 year old? How deep is the water? My 8 year old is a strong swimmer and I know she would love seeing the fish and hunting for Sand Dollars. My 6 year old just learned to swim and I would either get her a swim suit with built in life vest and let her float around by my side or stay onboard with her while DH and DD explore. Also, my husband is concerned that it is a booze cruise and may not be appropriate so any feedback would be great!!![/quote

It will be fine for your family-go and you will have a really nice time. They will give you life vest if you need one and the water is so salty that you float really easily. They do give you bahama-mamas but they are really weak-not a booze cruise at all. They take you out to a reef where the water is between 6 and 10 feet deep. Very relaxing and laid back!!

[G3TSKG]

Thanks! That is what I thought but wanted reassurance (for DH's sake). The depth is no deeper than a pool so that is also a plus! I will definately have to go. The excursion sounded like so much fun and I really did not want to pass it up.

[Sromanmd]

I am glad to see you did the Sand Dollar because I am very interested in the excursion but was concerned about it - I am going with my DH and two DD's. Is this appropriate for an 8 and 6 year old? How deep is the water? My 8 year old is a strong swimmer and I know she would love seeing the fish and hunting for Sand Dollars. My 6 year old just learned to swim and I would either get her a swim suit with built in life vest and let her float around by my side or stay onboard with her while DH and DD explore. Also, my husband is concerned that it is a booze cruise and may not be appropriate so any feedback would be great!!!

 

We really enjoyed the Sanddollar cruise and it's a good value. They sent someone to the pier to pick us up so we didn't have to hunt for a cab ourselves. It was $5 a person each way though.

 

The water was very gentle and I noticed no current. Another excursion joined us on the reef and they created more waves than the actual ocean itself! I think it's a nice excursion for families if the kids can swim. They do provide floatation devices for anyone who would like one. Sometimes its nice to have one of those so you can concentrate on the reef and not so much on the swimming.

 

Be aware though that the catamaran bobs up a down though so if anyone is prone to motion sickness they might prefer a beach/snorkeling experience.

[G3TSKG]

Thanks for the replies. I reserved my spot today with CAPT Tony and I am ready! One port down, one almost down, and two more to go for figure out with regards to excursions or activities.

[Handsome58]

First week of June...we had a ball....I am booked again for next August......Thank God most kids were still in school.......glad you had a great time...........I really think Carnival should say something like this during Muster Drill while all are captive "Please respect your fellow cruisers and remember the SHIP is not and has never EVER babysat anyone so please do not turn anyone 18 and under loose to roam"......it may not do any good but at least the seed has been planted.....