May 24th - Quick comments on the Pride

First time on Carnival (have sailed on Celebrity and NCL). My wife and I are "suite" people and tend to travel a little more upscale than many. I say this only to give you a little perspective on my comments. I was very skeptical about Carnival, but we did it because we had a big group of 20-somethings with us and this trip was for them, not us.

Bravo, Carnival! I'm now a true believer in Carnival. :)

Surprised at how good the food was.

Chef's Table - awesome.

Vista suite - great deck, enough for 6 of us to hang out. Would do it again.

Comedy routines - very good

Musical productions - really disappointing (middle school quality at best)

Crew, stewards, bar and dining staff were fantastic.

Off topic - probably should have bought drink packages.

Any questions?

Awesome to hear some good feedback on Pride! We sail her next March for our second cruise on her, first time on her since her upgrades. What deck was your suite on? Did you notice any of the reported aft vibrations, other than the normal that is to be expected on a ship?

Would you remember what time the welcome aboard show took place?

First time on Carnival (have sailed on Celebrity and NCL). My wife and I are "suite" people and tend to travel a little more upscale than many. I say this only to give you a little perspective on my comments. I was very skeptical about Carnival, but we did it because we had a big group of 20-somethings with us and this trip was for them, not us.

 

Bravo, Carnival! I'm now a true believer in Carnival. :)

 

Surprised at how good the food was.

Chef's Table - awesome.

Vista suite - great deck, enough for 6 of us to hang out. Would do it again.

Comedy routines - very good

Musical productions - really disappointing (middle school quality at best)

Crew, stewards, bar and dining staff were fantastic.

 

Off topic - probably should have bought drink packages.

 

Any questions?

We were on the Pride for two weeks in March. Agree with all including how bad playlist production shows were.

Awesome to hear some good feedback on Pride! We sail her next March for our second cruise on her, first time on her since her upgrades. What deck was your suite on? Did you notice any of the reported aft vibrations, other than the normal that is to be expected on a ship?

We were on 8 (terrific views). Vibrations were quite strong all the time. Probably a flaw in the hull/prop design causing cavitation. I don't think it is fixable. Sailed on an NCL ship last year in an aft suite and do not recall the vibration to be nearly as strong. That said, it was acceptable to us and became background noise. You mostly noticed it when placing a glass or bottle on a table and it would vibrate loudly.

Would you remember what time the welcome aboard show took place?

There was a welcome show? ;) We must have missed it - too much to see and do. Leaving Baltimore so late (around 4:00) makes for a bit more chaos the first day.

There were very few announcements on the Pride. It would be easy to miss events. Also, late seating in the dining room for us meant we missed a bunch of evening entertainment.

We were on the 4/26 sailing. It was our 3rd time one he Pride. I love that ship, so easy to find things, food was good- we always ate in the dining room. Loved Guy's burgers, and we like the pizza too. We enjoyed the 80's shows and thought they did very well. We also did the behind the fun tour and that was interesting. Met the captain at the end of the tour and he answered questions for quite awhile. Always impressed with the staff and our room steward, our dining room servers were awesome! My only complaint would be with the itinerary, so tired of Nassau and Freeport. Hasn't even been a month and I am ready to go again :p

Awesome to hear some good feedback on Pride! We sail her next March for our second cruise on her, first time on her since her upgrades. What deck was your suite on? Did you notice any of the reported aft vibrations, other than the normal that is to be expected on a ship?

I was also on the 5/24 sailing last week. Our table (for two) vibrated so badly, we had to change tables. After moving, Ken, the MD, had a crew member go over and video the vibrating table.

One thing I noticed on my cruise last week vs my cruise on The Pride last October was there are no longer trays on the buffet or anywhere that I noticed. Instead of the round ceramic plates from before, they now use a larger oblong heavy plastic plate. Almost a platter size plate.

We got OFF yesterday. :(:( We sailed 5/10 and 5/17, a B2B. LOVED almost everything about the ship and crew. Food was good. Some was very good, some was "all right" but we never went hungry! Only complaint was the ship was FREEZING all the time. They have snacks on Lido buffet 11:30-1am if you are hungry. Hot dogs, grilled ham and cheese and a HOT/SPICY chicken sandwich with cookies and brownies. They have the BEST honey mustard there. They don't offer it at lunch. Also, be aware of the elevators. Doors close quickly. Most of the time I would walk into the elevator with my arm out to make sure the doors stayed open. :eek: Crew were fantastic and Jase, Gary and Nick made it fun every single day. If you see Nick, tell him Karen with the sparkly clothes says hi! :p;) Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

One more thing: Ken Byrne the singing maitre d is a treat, but he did something very special for us last week. We heard a "rumor" that an RCI ship had gone aground. Our DS and his DW are on the Liberty of the Seas, so we were very anxious about this. Questioned the wait staff but noone knew what was going on. We had YTD and sat on deck 3, but at the railing so we could see and hear Ken Byrne. DH went to him and asked if he knew anything about the rumor. Ken said, go enjoy your dinner and don't worry. I'll find out what is going on. He left the MDR and 5 minutes later came up to our table with a copy of a notice that was sent to the ship that NCL Dawn had gone aground but all pax were safe. We were SO RELIEVED (and also keeping good thoughts of pax and crew on Dawn) and I thought it was VERY THOUGHTFUL that he did that for us. He went above and beyond IMO. :):)

We got OFF yesterday. :(:( We sailed 5/10 and 5/17, a B2B. LOVED almost everything about the ship and crew. Food was good. Some was very good, some was "all right" but we never went hungry! Only complaint was the ship was FREEZING all the time. They have snacks on Lido buffet 11:30-1am if you are hungry. Hot dogs, grilled ham and cheese and a HOT/SPICY chicken sandwich with cookies and brownies. They have the BEST honey mustard there. They don't offer it at lunch. Also, be aware of the elevators. Doors close quickly. Most of the time I would walk into the elevator with my arm out to make sure the doors stayed open. :eek: Crew were fantastic and Jase, Gary and Nick made it fun every single day. If you see Nick, tell him Karen with the sparkly clothes says hi! :p;) Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

Thank you so much for posting this! I have been asking repeatedly for MONTHS now in regards to the late night food and always get the answer "they haven't had that for years". I KNOW they had it a year ago because I was on board then and husband and I went EVERY night for a cheeseburger for him and a plate of fries for me. Have been trying to figure out what they have now since no more burgers other than guys. Happy to have an answer now :D Now I can let husband know and he can start deciding what he wants to replace his cheeseburger with in 20 days when we board!

One thing I noticed on my cruise last week vs my cruise on The Pride last October was there are no longer trays on the buffet or anywhere that I noticed. Instead of the round ceramic plates from before, they now use a larger oblong heavy plastic plate. Almost a platter size plate.

They did away with trays awhile ago.

Kind of a pain, used to be able to put silverwear on the tray and than go get ourdrink but now we have to put silverwear in pocket, put down the food and than go get drinks.

One more thing: Ken Byrne the singing maitre d is a treat, but he did something very special for us last week. We heard a "rumor" that an RCI ship had gone aground. Our DS and his DW are on the Liberty of the Seas, so we were very anxious about this. Questioned the wait staff but noone knew what was going on. We had YTD and sat on deck 3, but at the railing so we could see and hear Ken Byrne. DH went to him and asked if he knew anything about the rumor. Ken said, go enjoy your dinner and don't worry. I'll find out what is going on. He left the MDR and 5 minutes later came up to our table with a copy of a notice that was sent to the ship that NCL Dawn had gone aground but all pax were safe. We were SO RELIEVED (and also keeping good thoughts of pax and crew on Dawn) and I thought it was VERY THOUGHTFUL that he did that for us. He went above and beyond IMO. :):)

Wow that was very nice of Ken B.

Thank you so much for posting this! I have been asking repeatedly for MONTHS now in regards to the late night food and always get the answer "they haven't had that for years". I KNOW they had it a year ago because I was on board then and husband and I went EVERY night for a cheeseburger for him and a plate of fries for me. Have been trying to figure out what they have now since no more burgers other than guys. Happy to have an answer now :D Now I can let husband know and he can start deciding what he wants to replace his cheeseburger with in 20 days when we board!

The buffet they have the hot dogs, etc at is in the same "area" as Pizza Pirate which is open 24 hours so there are 2 options right there. And the Red Frog bar at the pool is also open until late and we saw many pax walk in with a fresh drink and sit down and have a snack! Just beware that the chicken sandwich was VERY SPICY! :eek: Choco chip cookies they have are my favorites and the brownies are really good. A bit of a cake type brownie. Have fun planning and a great cruise!

The buffet they have the hot dogs, etc at is in the same "area" as Pizza Pirate which is open 24 hours so there are 2 options right there. And the Red Frog bar at the pool is also open until late and we saw many pax walk in with a fresh drink and sit down and have a snack! Just beware that the chicken sandwich was VERY SPICY! :eek: Choco chip cookies they have are my favorites and the brownies are really good. A bit of a cake type brownie. Have fun planning and a great cruise!

Choc chip cookies are awesome.

Also like that they have a red frog pub which is where the rock band plays

We got OFF yesterday. :(:( We sailed 5/10 and 5/17, a B2B. LOVED almost everything about the ship and crew. Food was good. Some was very good, some was "all right" but we never went hungry! Only complaint was the ship was FREEZING all the time. They have snacks on Lido buffet 11:30-1am if you are hungry. Hot dogs, grilled ham and cheese and a HOT/SPICY chicken sandwich with cookies and brownies. They have the BEST honey mustard there. They don't offer it at lunch. Also, be aware of the elevators. Doors close quickly. Most of the time I would walk into the elevator with my arm out to make sure the doors stayed open. :eek: Crew were fantastic and Jase, Gary and Nick made it fun every single day. If you see Nick, tell him Karen with the sparkly clothes says hi! :p;) Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

Do you happen to recall when the welcome aboard show is the first night? I'm trying to plan out our first day (I know, I know, vacation, but the first day is always hectic). We want to see the passing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, go to dinner, and see the show, but hoping it's not too rushed.

Do you happen to recall when the welcome aboard show is the first night? I'm trying to plan out our first day (I know, I know, vacation, but the first day is always hectic). We want to see the passing under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, go to dinner, and see the show, but hoping it's not too rushed.

I kept the Fun Times for every single day for the 2 weeks and on the last day as we were packing I opened the drawer and asked DH if he had seen them and he said, yeah, I threw them out. :mad::mad: Have never gone to a WA show, but as I recall it is later at night. Maybe 9?? 10?? But don't quote me. I am sure someone will know. I don't think the show is early. You will go past the Key Bridge by dinner time so no way you will miss that. Have a great cruise. Our favorite reviewer Jamman has been telling me to sail Pride for years and this is the lst time I did and glad I took his advice!!! :p;):)

I kept the Fun Times for every single day for the 2 weeks and on the last day as we were packing I opened the drawer and asked DH if he had seen them and he said, yeah, I threw them out. :mad::mad: Have never gone to a WA show, but as I recall it is later at night. Maybe 9?? 10?? But don't quote me. I am sure someone will know. I don't think the show is early. You will go past the Key Bridge by dinner time so no way you will miss that. Have a great cruise. Our favorite reviewer Jamman has been telling me to sail Pride for years and this is the lst time I did and glad I took his advice!!! :p;):)

Thanks! Jamman had a great review, I've been reading it over and over to prepare for our Pride cruise in 5 days!

Thanks! Jamman had a great review, I've been reading it over and over to prepare for our Pride cruise in 5 days!

You will have a BLAST! Just be sure to pack some long sleeve clothes. The public areas are so cold!!! Mitsugirly was on the same cruise as Jamman and posted a great review as did Wrigley80 if you want to check them out too!

Wow that was very nice of Ken B.

He is the real deal and a true proferssional and a big plus for Carnival.

Op, glad you had a great cruise, love the Pride....and Vista Suites.;)

I agree. Ken is the best. Love his singing.

You will have a BLAST! Just be sure to pack some long sleeve clothes. The public areas are so cold!!! Mitsugirly was on the same cruise as Jamman and posted a great review as did Wrigley80 if you want to check them out too!

Done and Done all had great reviews, love the pictures, I've been reading everything about the Pride I can get my hands on. :D

Done and Done all had great reviews, love the pictures, I've been reading everything about the Pride I can get my hands on. :D

Didn't think it was possible, but Pride is even better than the reviews, no offence to the great reviewers! :o:p

You will have a BLAST! Just be sure to pack some long sleeve clothes. The public areas are so cold!!! Mitsugirly was on the same cruise as Jamman and posted a great review as did Wrigley80 if you want to check them out too!

Temps were just right for me, but I do like it cold. (Might be a guy/girl thing...)

Crew were fantastic and Jase, Gary and Nick made it fun every single day. If you see Nick, tell him Karen with the sparkly clothes says hi! :p;) Have a GREAT WEEK!!!

While critical of the musical shows, I thought the crew was awesome and talented. Loved the piano bar... And, as said before, Ken the maitre d' was great - really enjoyed talking to him.

So we were on the same cruise? If you saw the "Love and Marriage" show, I was the embarrassed husband in the middle.