vamartha

It is under your Booking & Order Detail. Keep scrolling, it will be located down the page, below your cruise companions. It shows internet, soda or cheers packages, dinner specialty reservations or anything else that has been ordered for your cabin. It is actually called Activities and Services Order History. 

8 minutes ago, staceyglow said:

Talk about role reversal - We were on the same ship, and I got a picture of men on a cargo ship taking pictures of the Pride! 

This is great!

There is a funny story about the driving I saw in Panama. First of all, there will be an intersection coming up in maybe the next group of pics after these. We sat in the Canal a long time over this particular intersection. My biggest observations were that everyone sped up into the curves and no one took the curves on the correct side of the road. And there were arrows painted on the road so I knew which side was which.

The locals would just stop in the middle of the road to get out and wave at the cruise ship. That is what the white car below is doing.

The workers you saw in the previous set of pics were amazing. They waved at everyone, even the officers. It was 85 degrees and the humidity was at least that, if not more. Every single person on that entire canal was wearing a mask, even if they were working alone.

2 hours ago, JaniceB said:

Is there any narration by the ship going through the canal?

Yes, there was but I didn't get to hear much of it. You couldn't hear it on the balcony over the equipment running and it was hard to understand him when I could hear it. A lot of people made their base the Lido area as it was so wet and rainy and you could hear it well in there.

6 minutes ago, 80sGal said:

Can you elaborate on the note about vibration?  We're booked for Europe in the summer on her so that concerns me!  

Its not constant. Its not like a shudder. Its not necessarily even bothersome. It just is.

Maybe someone else can explain it better. The Legend did it too.

Sorry for the occasional fingernail getting in the way. This day was a huge bucket list item and I spent it walking back and forth on this balcony! My cell phone battery died twice and I used an external charger to boost it back up twice - and I've got great battery life usually! But I was also running a weather radar app and Marine Traffic in addition to the camera full time.

I was more fascinated by the boats assisting us than I was the train cars.

And on the other side when we were coming back through (which I've mistakenly already shown you most of) the sounds of birds was astounding. The only other place I've been that rivaled that sound was the rainforest in Dominica.

This pic is where the Canal splits and the big ships have to go to the left and the smaller vessels go to the right. Before this portion opened in 2016 the larger ships still had to go around Cape Horn. 

2 minutes ago, vamartha said:

The Spirit Class of ships (Pride, Legend, Spirit and Miracle) all have these balconies. They are just plain extended balconies and aren't really billed as anything special. You have to be someone who pores over deck plans (or pays serious attention over the years on CC) to know that they are special. I'd been drooling over them for twenty years. It was a once in a lifetime experience for us!

But I don't want you to be mislead. There are only one of these exact balconies on each of those ships. There are two more that are close but I don't think they are as deep. I just didn't want you to think that all extended balconies were like this. There is a website that shows you various deck plans that is very detailed. If you are a flyer, think of it as Seat Guru for cruise ships.

I can't tell you the name here but you might want to use the three keywords that we are talking about here: cruise and then the second one: deck and then the third one: plans and string them together and add a .com and see what you get. 

26 minutes ago, stephanieelena said:

I'm doing the Panama canal trip Nov 28th-12th. So excited. Wish I had a room with a balcony like this one. Fabulous. Is it a premium Vista balcony? Junior suite? Love reading your review. I'm so excited.  Sailing out of new Orleans on the carnival Glory.

The Spirit Class of ships (Pride, Legend, Spirit and Miracle) all have these balconies. They are just plain extended balconies and aren't really billed as anything special. You have to be someone who pores over deck plans (or pays serious attention over the years on CC) to know that they are special. I'd been drooling over them for twenty years. It was a once in a lifetime experience for us!

13 hours ago, JessicaOfVA said:

 

This scares me about being under the Lido deck. I like my quiet and we can be light sleepers at times.

What part of Virginia Jessica? That is what the va part of my userame vamartha stands for.

It was a bit disappointing to have not seen the coast of Columbia since Santa Marta and Cartagena were supposed to be our ports instead of Aruba and Curacao, but Panama more than made up for it. 

We're the circled blue ship on the Marine Traffic map. Purchasing our position was worth the money for this trip. I can usually get it from a weather map but I wanted to be able to see all the shipping traffic. 

There was weather all around us.

Our approach started off dark, then foggy, then flat our monsoon to driving rain to wet and damp and typical Panama and stayed that was all day. Except dark and foggy. The rest of it was wash, rinse and repeat! 

One of these days I'm going to spend an afternoon in that pool. 

Curacao is still just the most beautiful and picturesque port. It was too hot for me to tackle the floating bridge but the views are just stunning from the ship.

My friend in NC kept sending me messages on Messenger asking why we were at the Hospital? I kept saying, no we're on the ship!

Pretty sure this shows why she kept asking! 

The Oceana Insigna was in port with us but didn't have passengers. I believe that their first cruise is right before Christmas and then it has a sold out 180 day world cruise. I could feel the luxury from where we were! 

I did edit this pic as I took it from the ship and then flipped it.

This is the area that you walk out. Last time we just walked up the street on the right but this time you actually have to walk down the sidewalk and through the green security gate building.

Daytime and nighttime views. Or visa versa.

All my pictures are taken with a cell phone and there isn't any editing other than the rare crop here or there when a fingernail got in the way. But a lot are in some sort of zoom, just because my phone is a Samsung S20 Ultra and sometimes I think zoom is better than not.

After a cloudy start, there were blue skies while we were at the dock in Amber Cove. 

The weather was an interesting thing. For some people I'm sure it was perfect, for some it was probably awful but for me it was the perfect mix of everything. Certainly not the best weather we've had and the weather leading up to the Canal was awful (but I had done my research and knew to expect that). Roatan was a bit of a wash out until almost time to depart. Cozumel too was a rainy dreary morning with bits of sunshine mixed in. Aruba and Curacao were hot blazing messes of beautiful sunshine. Pretty, but I just love overcast days!

No, I haven't given up on this review! I was just having issues with photos and trying to use a laptop for the first time. And finding an external drive with a ton of room. Issued resolved, I think! Here's some pics and I'll try and keep them in some semblance of order but no promises!

They must have gotten a discount on this particular inflatable because I've seen it show up on almost every ship! While they took all the other decorations down they did leave the black and orange colors looped over the lower public decks. That might have been to discourage people from gathering there to listen to music too, who knows?

And you may have seen those costumes before. This wasn't their first cruise and likely won't be their last!

Bear with me as I figure out the spacing again! I feel like I'm twelve and I've never posted a pic on CC before!

11 hours ago, JessicaOfVA said:

 

This scares me about being under the Lido deck. I like my quiet and we can be light sleepers at times.

We were under the sides, sort of like the port side entrance from Serenity Deck. It didn't bother me at all but you could hear things all night. After I take an Ambien I don't hear a thing so I didn't have an issue with it at all. DH who for some reason has decided that retirement means living vampire hours said it was annoying but a decent trade for the balcony.

I felt sorrier for the people below us. Everything both of us picked up both weeks, we dropped. Remote, deodorant, can of soda, if we put our hands on it the poor people below us knew it. I made sure to leave an apology note on their door the last night.

First pics in Baltimore. I didn't hate this terminal. It was almost a bit nicer than I had been led to believe. I'm not so sure I would be its biggest fan on a snowy January day but 65 degrees was not bad and once we actually entered the terminal, we never sat down again until we were on the Lido.

If I have this figured out, the pics will be out of order. But it means I have the Google Pics thing figured out and I'll move to a desktop tomorrow and try to put things back in chronological order. So technically, this is a test.

9 minutes ago, RoperDK said:

It sounds like you had a great itinerary.  I love the partial Panama Canal cruises.  The passage always amazes me.  We now just avoid the crowds and sit on our balcony to enjoy the view.  We have also stayed in cabin 8232. Amazing!!!  The overhang is a plus for us.  Weather doesn't get in the way.  Have to admit that I slept a night or two on the lounger out there.  We did have a small amount of nighttime lido noise, but certainly not a no go for us. We also avoid the MDR now.  Been on too many cruises with the same menu and like the flexibility of the buffet.  Sure do miss the choices from back in the day.             

You sound like our soul mates! 🤣🤣

There was one dessert that was fantastic. It was either Gluten Free or Sugar Free, I don't remember nor do I remember the name of it but it was the only dessert that was tasty to me. A chocolate cake full of nuts and I got it only because it was pretty and it was fabulous. I think that their desserts went down hill years ago and I still have that feeling. They are all beautiful and the decoration far exceeds the satisfaction. In general, most things are just lacking that final taste factor, I can't really name what it is but then again I'm not a chef and my cake staple is Pepperidge Farms.

I have to comment on the Lido buffet music. It was Classic Vinyl on SiriusXM. Not really, but it was exactly the same! I wanted the volume control on a few occasions. It was fabulous. Perfect for our demographics and I was loving it! 

The duo at the Atrium bar was terrific. I mostly experienced them on elevator rides and trips into the photo area but her voice is great and they took really great songs modern rock anthems like Creep and made them ship appropriate. Good job!

We drink a lot of Soda. We didn't purchase Bottomless Bubbles or Cheers. We had about $115 total invested in soda and water at the end of the cruise. Bottomless Bubbles was almost $300 with the 10% discount if we had prebooked it. Nope, not my style. I placed my first order from home, for a case of water at $4.95 per 12 pack and several six packs of soda at $10 per six pack plus the 18% delivery fee. My first order was about $45. Here is an interesting tidbit. Ginger Ale comes in 10 oz cans. NOT a good deal. But Sierra Mist comes in 20 ounce plastic bottles. GOOD deal. I evened myself out on that one by the end. Then I placed a second soda order, just like I was at home using the Fun Shop while I was onboard. You might be able to get this as well from Cherry On Top or room service but I have never tried it that way. I always just log onto the internet and order it as a gift for myself just like if I was at home. And a third the same way. Both of those were about $35 each including delivery. And I found the water on the Lido extremely drinkable and since I was only 50 steps away I used that far more than usual. Corkcicle Tumblers for the win. Not a paid ad but a product that I find  worth its weight in gold. 

Alcohol. Again, not really my style. I had three drinks on a 14 day cruise if that gives you an idea. DH isn't a huge drinker, he's more of a five a day person than a fifteen a day person. But he's discovered roulette and he earned drinks on the house by about day 5. I think it takes 1500 points in slots to earn that and I walked out day 14 with under 300. I gave up smoking after 47 years but I do vape a Vuse which has zero smell and I resent being stuck in the smoking section in the casino. The games on the Pride in the smoking section were less than desirable compared to the non smoking section so I pretty much blew my $20 a day for less than an hour and wandered back to my cabin. I like flashy slots and they were on the wrong side so that was their loss and my gain for my pocketbook.

Lets discuss food, shall we?

I'll get a ton of people who disagree with me and that is OK right from the start. Food is subjective a topic and I've got a few opinions of what I experienced on the Pride.

Keep in mind we aren't MDR people. For years I really didn't give DH a choice. He was eating in the MDR at night and he didn't really have a say in it. I've given into him over the years and I've become a Lido person too. It doesn't require forethought, just show up and grab a plate. MG didn't have prosciutto on the Lido, Pride did. That was a huge plus!

We did eat Sea Day brunch once and it was good. We also did MDR on the Captains Gala night. It was another lobster night and it was fantastic!

But for us, Lido was hit and miss. The pasta was usually good. The Asian (Chopsticks) was generally very good. Anything mashed (red skinned or regular potatoes) was great. Steaks or chicken were very dependent on what time you went. Near the beginning of the pan, most were good, near the end of the pan it could go either way. There was a Mexican night that was pretty bad and I like Mexican usually. I think that was the busiest night that the Seafood Corner had. Everyone who ate there that night raved about how good it was. Salad bar was always there and had a lot of choices. Radishes were not a staple but made a few appearances but sliced carrots were there almost every day.

We also ate at David's Steakhouse. It was good. Not the best Steakhouse I have ever experienced but it was not bad. It was tasty, the presentation is still wonderful. I still hate those little tables for two, they aren't crammed in on top of each other like they used to be but they still get under my skin and are a huge part of why we stopped eating in MDR in the first place. I was extremely disappointed to be seated at one in the Steakhouse.

Like I said, food is subjective. I was so craving a Chick-fil-A when we got off. Disappointed as it was Sunday and you all know how that worked out for me!  🤣