Beagle's Wild Ride On The Pride!! (2017 Review w/Pics)

Hello CC Family! It is great to be back and writing another review because that means I finally went on another cruise.Yeah Me! No sense in adding my two previous reviews to my signature because I ruined them by moving the pictures into a different folder in Photobucket.Oops. Here goes my third attempt...

A little background on us. DH is a seasoned cruiser but the Destiny in 2008 was my first time. We were married at the first port in St. Thomas. Carnival handled all the arrangements and it was amazing. I was officially hooked on cruising right from the start. My in-laws and our best friends were on board that cruise, but since then we haven’t had too many people accompany us on our adventures. This time we put the word out to our broke friends that we were willing to try sailing out of Baltimore to save on airfare. I know it sounds rude to call them broke but every cruise we have asked and they all said "sorry we are broke!" Once we talked one couple into going, it snowballed to 20 people! I was so excited. Well I was excited about the friends but not Baltimore. I am very prone to motion sickness and I’ve turned green on the ships a few times. I’ve used the seasick patches and they make me feel lousy. This time I purchased a pricy wrist band that sends pulses through your body. Can’t wait to tell you if I wasted my money or not. I also took along the patches and ginger pills just in case.

Our itinerary was two sea days and then Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Freeport and a final sea day. Grand Turk and HMC sounded fun but Freeport not so much and we had very limited time there. The gang wanted to do at least one excursion so I suggested we do one in Freeport since I considered it a lousy port stop. Most of our gang were newbies and so I jumped in with my advice like I’m an expert. Then the anxiety of letting everyone down crept into my brain about two weeks before we sailed. I just wanted everyone to have the best time ever so if my ideas/decisions fail, I’ll be crushed. I found a great dolphin swim for $60 bucks per person but then I called. Turns out, Carnival bought all the spots and were selling them for $149.99. GRRRR!!! So I moved onto Pat & Diane Snorkeling. I spoke with Diane several times and she assured me they could accommodate my large group and not to read the internet. That unnerved me. It sounds like they are going out of business, or at least shutting down for several months because of what Hurricane Matthew did to their business. I could have gone through the ship for an identical excursion but had booked this months before based on the amazing reviews about how well they took care of their customers. So, I rolled the dice and hoped all would be well!!! More on that later.

I am proud to announce I lost 10.5 pounds in the hopes of fitting into my bathing suit, cocktail dresses, and cute shorts. The weather forecast called for low 50’s and rain on embarkation day. My enthusiasm was deflated knowing I’d have to dress in a parka and would probably miss sail away trying to keep warm inside. Yep, I’m that girl that freezes in the Caribbean. Not only that, but I freeze in the dining room, freeze in the comedy club, and freeze at the Atrium bar. So why did I bother losing weight? Your right, I should have packed on 10 pounds, it would have been smarter!!

Ok, onto the review...

Embarkation Day

We all choose the 1pm check-in time but when I printed my paperwork it clearly stated boarding time was 2pm-4pm. I called my PVP and he suggested getting there at exactly 1:30 and getting in line. It sounded like we will be waiting in a long line. All I could do was hope that we would not be stuck outside in the rain. If so, I knew I’d be on that boat sooner or later with a Fun Ship Special in hand. It is our tradition to grab that delicious drink as soon as we walk into the Atrium.

Well much to our disappointment, we all got emails saying the boat would be two hours late. Apparently, there was a medical emergency the day before. One friend in our group was already in Baltimore and suggested we all come to the Inner Harbor since we were sitting home ready to go. We weren’t sure where we would meet up, but they would find a place and text the rest us. Well, once we were on the road, they changed their mind and headed to the Aquarium and said see ya on the boat. Yikes, we ended up taking a long ride thru the scary section of Baltimore and never did find anywhere to park at the Inner Harbor. One friend had to get dropped off at the Port early and was not allowed in so he went to World of Beers located less than a mile from the Port.

It was in a nice area with lots of parking and shops. We tried the bloody Mary’s and they were excellent. We split an appetizer of sausages stuffed with jalapeno and cheese.

Our friends had nachos and said they were very good. The only thing they didn’t have were domestic beers. It’s a great spot to hang out if you are stuck at the port area with no where to go for a while.

Embarkation Day - Continued

We packed up and headed to the port around 2:30. The line to park seemed like forever but it was only about 15 minutes. There was no difference between cash or credit. The hold-up appeared to be where they take your luggage. Once we got to the line we could see people were backed up into the parking area. Thankfully the forecast for rain had changed.

By the time,we made it inside building where we had cover, it was 4pm. At that point, DH had enough and abandoned our dear friends. He is Platinum so we walked to that section and we were the only ones to go through and bing bam boom, we were onboard in 7 minutes. Amazing!!! We could or maybe SHOULD have left everyone sooner but we were trying to be good friends. LOL Isn’t if funny how over an hour in line and you can bail on your friends.

We immediately went to our cabin and it was ready.

View from the balcony. I see the line is shorter. We should have waited!!

Then we sprinted off to the serenity Deck for that first Fun ship Special!!! Oh, it tasted fantastic and was worth the 2 year wait. We had already prepaid for the cheers package so they put the sticker on our S&S cards once we ordered the first drink.

It was windy and chilly out on Deck so we decided to go inside and look around.

Oh my word! This was the same cruise we were on. And I fear, I know exactly what the title is referring to. Yes, it was one WILD ride! Looking forward to hearing your input on this cruise

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We found the Red Frog Bar that is located on Deck 9 and can be enclosed which it was at the time. That was nice for a chilly day in Baltimore.

We logged into the Hub App and it was nice to see everyone linked to our party was listed. Once they logged on, we could text each other and it worked good all week. You must keep the app open on your phone and sometimes it would not notify you of a new text but I never had any issues. I never cruised with a large group and this Hub App was exactly what we needed to stay in touch.

After we all found each other up on Deck 9, it was time to head to the muster drill. I’m not exactly sure what time that was. They made an announcement that 6pm seating for dinner would be exactly after muster and we got to our table at 7:10. We were eating our appetizers by 7:30 and sailing away by 7:41. (So much for me worrying about being on deck and cold during sail away) Our wait staff was Pedro Ceaser and Alfredo. Two very hard working guys that we just loved.They took excellent care of us and even took pictures with us on the last elegant night. Our group of 20 had two tables by a window and almost everyone came to dinner each night. A couple of our newbie friends said they were just going to attend dinner the first night and see what it was like. They loved it. Our meals were excellent and served quickly so we changed the minds of the “buffet” people, or I should say Carnival did.

I believe this is a picture of the Red Fish or Red Snapper. I also saved room for the chocolate melting cake. It was worth losing 10 lbs for this...

After dinner, we all met back at the Red Frog Bar on Deck 9 but they were showing the Dive-In movie and that just wasn’t where you want to sit and have a drink.

That’s when we found the Red Frog Pub on Deck 2.

I wish I had taken better pictures of this Pub. It was awesome and had a great band playing. I can’t say enough good things about the Alterr Band. They blew us away with the music they played. Looks are deceiving because at first sight, you do not expect these guys to play classic rock from the 70’s – 90’s. We went back night after night to listen to them and play shuffle board.

At some point I went back to room and found this guy and our luggage had arrived. I didn’t bother to unpack. I figured I could do it later but by the time we walked in from the Red Frog Pub it was 1am and I had this pizza to split with DH. After pizza time, he went to sleep but like a blood hound on a mission, I went to find ice cream. It didn’t take me long to fine the machines behind the Guys Burger Station. After all that pre-cruise dieting, I over did it on the calories for the first day, but I was so glad that I did. Things were about to take a turn for the worst… Next Up: A Wild Ride On The Pride!!!!!

Can't wait to see how wild this ride was, pass the popcorn please.:cool:

Looking forward to reading the rest, but kinda nervous as we're cruising the same week next year on the Pride.

Darn, I shouldn't be reading this hungry. Lava cake picture - great incentive to get me walking at least 2 miles every day until our cruise in August.

Can't wait to read more.

Curiosity is killing me as I will be taking this cruise in July

Enjoying your review!

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Great start to your review! I love the Pride and will be back on her in 18 days!!!!

Loving your review so far. I live in NYS, and Baltimore is a short 5-6 hour drive. We have thought about cruising out of Baltimore, but just never attempted it.

What was the deal with that long a$$ed line getting into the terminal? Was that due to the medical delay?

That is one long line!! Is there no place to line up indoors? Looking forward to your review and especially the photos!

Enjoying your review! Pride is our favorite ship. We've sailed her 3 times. Really like sailing out of Baltimore.

I'm really enjoying the review. Can't wait to read more!!

Great review so far! I love the Pride, so thank you for taking time to post this.

Thanks for doing a review, can't wait to read more...

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Oh you can't stop now. We leave on Sunday.

Please continue! I did this cruise last year, and will again on 6/18!

Enjoying the review and especially the photos.:)