octcruise10

Crusin Karen...wow 2 weeks...great! I want to do the 11 day in November.

Bevlawyer-Yes, the Pride is a wonderful ship...maybe you will see me in October..that is when I usually cruise.:):)

I hope I am posting this correctly...please forgive me if I am not.:):)

After exploring the ship and resting we got ready for dinner. I have to say this was our first time ever doing late dining and I liked it in some ways but not so much in others. Late dining was good because you didn't have to rush during the day and take advantage of the time in the sun and relaxing during the day but I felt it also shortened our night time activities. Only because I am a early riser early to bed kind of person. I also felt that sometimes I was just too tired to go to the show at night.

By the way...I thought the shows were shorter than I remember and with less entertainers and less pizzazz then I remember from my last time on the Pride.:confused:

Anyone else agree??

...come sail away...come sail away...come sail away with me. We always watch sail away from our balcony with a drink of course. Under the bridge YAY we made it! After this we explored the ship a bit and then back to the cabin to rest. We had late dining so we had plenty of time to get ready. Traveling as a group of 7 women was hard to make sure we were all ready to go at the same time. Sometimes it worked...other times not so much : )

Type A personality but quickly realized to relax my expectations.

Up to the Lido we went. Had some lunch and a few drinks. Buffet is not my favorite but they always have a great selection and it is always good for buffet food. After eating and drinking a bit we went to our rooms to check them out. My friend had an extended balcony which was nice but she only had one chair and a small table. I told her to ask about it since they had 3 in their cabin but she didn't mind. Our cabin was just a few away from hers and we had 2 chairs on our balcony and a small table. One of our chairs reclined which was nice! I have been on the Pride before and did not have that. I guess it is the luck of the draw? I had also purchased the decorations for both rooms as a surprise and they were ready with snacks as well from the Fun Shops. Everything was what I ordered and delivered the time I ordered it to be delivered. Thank you Fun Shops!

Once we received our sail and sign cards the assistant pushed my mom on board and I took over from there. Whew...the ramps going on board are a bear! We were on board by 12:40. We were told the rooms would be ready at 2:30 but we went up to ask if we could put our carry on luggage in the room and the room attendant said it was ok...extra tip for him!! BY THE WAY he ...was fantastic room 7275.

We arrived in Baltimore at 12pm -our scheduled time 12-1. My mother was wheelchair(we provided the wheelchair) assist --- I set up weeks before with guest services.....special needs. They emailed me a form and I emailed it back and they assured me they would help with embarking and debarking. Which they did. They only thing negative thing I would say about this is.... once we got to the port I asked several people when does the wheelchair assist start and how to go about it. I received several different answers. In the end we basically had to park and then wheel my mother into the building and through the security check and then they took over after we got our sail and sign cards. Still a very easy process.

WOW...what a great ship! A little background: I was cruising with my mom who is in a wheelchair, my daughter and her friend both 13 and in another cabin my friend and her daughter 22 and niece turned 21 on cruise. We were celebrating a few things on this cruise.

1st my mom had a massive heart attack last year and was on life support. It was a long recovery and I promised if she made it through I would take her on a cruise. She remembered nothing but the fact I promised a cruise. She made it through and I made good on my promise!

2nd My daughter who is home schooled aced a test to get into a very prestigious high school.

3rd My friend turns 50 this year...enough said!

4th her niece turned 21...enough said!

5th my friend's daughter graduated college.

AND SO THE CELEBRATION BEGINS.......:) more to follow

My mom has MS and it is the same - long distance walking and such. We always bring her lightweight wheelchair, but it is hard to push up the gangplank.

 

If I may ask, you say you signed up for wheelchair assist. Where did you do that? I have not seen a place to sign up for that. We can usually do it ourselves, but my parents are terrible about carrying on everything and the kitchen sink and that makes it hard to have a dedicated pusher without my DH and I carry a ton of stuff!

 

Thanks!

You can apply for wheelchair assist on line when you are setting up the online check in. They email you a form to fill out and then you fax or email it back to them. I believe you can also call Carnival and they will put it in the system for you and email you the form.:)

I am bringing my mom and she has her own wheelchair and we signed up for wheelchair assist for embarkation and debarkation. We are also driving to the port and there are 7 of us traveling together. Does anyone have any suggestions to make this go smoothly? This is the first time traveling with my mom needing a wheelchair. She is not wheelchair bound but needs one for long distance walking. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Aww, you are my new best friend now after those comments.

 

Actually....

 

I JUST BECAME GRANDMA AGAIN YESTERDAY. :eek:

 

My youngest son just became a daddy (which is why him and his fiance were not able to sail with us this time around). 36 hours of labor, 18 hours without an epidural and then in the end had to have a c-section. :( This grandma got 1 1/2 hours of sleep the entire weekend and I'm exhausted still after sleeping last night. So I'm a grandma of 5 now. :o The baby had some complications, but all is good now.

OH my goodness...CONGRATS!! Glad all is well that is a long time to be in labor these days. Back in the day (sounding like a grand mom now) they let you go that long but now they are usually quick to do a c-section.

Anyway, maybe this is the reason to go on your next cruise...hehehe (the newest addition needs to go too):D

Thanks for coming along with us yet again!! We thought that Ryan might be a little bored because he's in that in between age. Boy were we wrong!! :D

I would highly recommend the Pride to everyone, but try to avoid that "other" itinerary.

How old is Ryan? How old do you have to be to drink on the ship? My niece is going with us and she is 18 and has dual citizenship Italy/US...in Italy she can drink...not here and I am assuming not on the ship!

The lower numbers are closer to the restrooms. Go for #'s 1 to 3.

 

Thanks for reading our reviews. I think Mitsugirly and I covered just about everything. :)

Thanks. I think so too...and I feel like my cruise already started by reading the reviews! Hope to cruise with you and your family some day:):)

Jamman54--- I know you were in cabana 9 at the pool in Grand Turk....is that close to the rest rooms? I am traveling on the Pride 5/24 and I will be with my mother who has a hard time walking long distances. We rented a cabana and I want to pick something close.. to the restrooms. Love the review. I am reading mitsygirl for 2nd time then I will reread this one as well! :):):)

Hello all. This will be my April 5th-12th Spring Break review and pictorial from our Carnival Pride cruise to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport out of Baltimore. I hope you enjoy it.

 

 

A little about "me" (us). I have been cruising since the 80's & 90's off and on and "full time" (hehe) since 2010. We try to take at least 2 cruises a year but have been fortunate enough to cruise 3 times last year and I'm hoping it will be the same for this year.

 

We normally cruise with NCL...I don't know, it was the first cruise line we ever cruised with and I kinda stuck to it with buying the future cruise certificates and getting great deals with the kids/family sail free specials. However, I tried Carnival for the first time in 2013 on the Dream and LOVED it!!! I vowed to do Carnival again in the future and I'm very sorry to say I am just now getting around to it again. Although this was only our 2nd Carnival cruise, once again, it will NOT be our last!!! The only other line I have been on is RC and that was back in the 90's. I hope to sail with them again, I just need a raise to do so...a huge raise. (wink wink).

 

So since this is my second Carnival cruise, I will not bore you with comparisons between the 2 lines (Carnival vs NCL) since I did that in my first review (located in my signature line) of the Dream. However, I will throw in a few things here and there with both lines when I feel the need. Fair enough?

 

I have been to many ports (some several times) in the Caribbean and hopefully have helped a lot of you cc people out with my detailed reviews, suggestions and answers on the ports of call sections. I try to be as detailed as possible and I'm a picture FREAK! I'm a visual person and have to see things in detail to get a better feel for what I'm looking at. I'm a research fanatic and will spend months and months reviewing, searching and asking questions over and over before making a decision. So many of you cc cruisers have helped me out in the past and I love to give back to the community as much as I can. I will not sway a person one way or the other but like to give MY honest opinion...and we all know that opinions are VERY different between people and just because I may or may not like something by no means determines whether or not you will be the same. I only give MY experiences and hope that you will dig deeper into whatever interest you.

 

Now, who I cruise with...normally (well always) the hubby and my 6 year old...wait NEWLY TURNED 7 YEAR OLD (this weekend) BIG GIRL, Sakari. Sometimes my oldest daughter (Kendra, now 26), her boyfriend and my grandson (Brayden, who is the same age as my youngest but 3 months apart) will join us. Then my youngest son (age 20) and his girlfriend (21) have joined us twice now. I have yet to get my oldest son (28) back on a cruise since he was a teen. Some day...

 

This cruise, it will be myself, hubby, Sakari, Kendra and grandson Brayden.

 

We (well truth be known, I) scoured the Internet for the perfect cruise to add to our "collection" for Sakari's Spring Break. I knew I had wanted to come back to Carnival and it was a task to find the perfect cruise. I knew I wanted to try different ports this time around as well. I'm hoping this year will be full of different ports than the past (I'll be doing my first Bermuda cruise in 45 days from now). After polling the people on here between 4 different ships....I picked a totally different ship than the 4 I had posted...thanks to, once again, wonderful suggestions from people on here. The Pride it was. After a lot of research and interrogation from everyone I could, I found that it came highly recommended, had just had the 2.0 updates, Dr Seuss, water works, Guys Burgers, Blue Iguana Cantina and looked fabulous!

 

Now...just throwing this out there...but this is the MOST EXPENSIVE cruise I have EVER taken...like ever!! Like 2 1/2 times the amount I normally pay for any cruise. However, with the Pride cruising out of Baltimore, I would save what I would normally pay in air flight and that was the way I was able to justify booking it...to the hubby at least. Also, the ports we would be visiting would basically be "free" ports and we wouldn't incur additional expenses with these ports if we didn't want to. Cha-ching, another point checked off in my direction. Hubby agreed, we booked. (Now that I have to pull too many strings for him to want to cruise again lol). However, I bragged a little too much to Kendra about this upcoming cruise that she worked and saved every dime she could...and booked it too. But this time, she left the bf at home and it was just her and my grandson this time around. Now anyone who has read my reviews in the past, know my grandson is...um, well...a little terror to say the least. Constant reminding and threatening does not go a long way with him. I love him to death, but man does he strike a nerve when he can. Just saying...

 

So the Pride was booked and the planning had begun and I will tell more about that during the review.

 

As you can all tell by now, I'm a little winded with my reviews. Yes they are long. Yes they have a lot of detail in them. Yes, they contain a lot of pictures. If you are not prepared for that or like the short and sweet reviews, this one is probably not for you.

 

However, I can say this is the first time I have started a review and have ALL my pictures picked out, done and hosted. So all I have to do is type and insert pictures. It should go a lot quicker than most of my reviews. I know how people can get a little anxious waiting for more. I'll try to do my best. Hey, I want this over with as soon as possible too so I can continue making plans for Bermuda. ;)

 

So let the fun begin...

Love the review....this is my 2nd time reading through it. LOL I am on the pride in a few weeks. Sooo excited.

I can not believe you are a grand mom....you look so young. Great genes!

I am also a proud grand mom. Hope to cruise with you some day...you seem like a blast to hang with!:):)

Thank you...loving your review. Your daughter is so precious and full of life.

 

 

By this time I was hungry again and Guys Burgers it was.

 

 

CAN YOU ORDER MORE THAN ONE BURGER AT A TIME at GUYS?:)

As for your cabin, did you feel any movement and or vibration back there?

Seems like a personal question to me!!:):)

once upon a time i winter vacationed at an all-inclusive ski resort and got a really good price because it was 5 days with lift passes included and was part of a non-refundable package. Well' date=' i spent lots of money on some new ski equipment, bought some fancier ski duds and we flew into the nearest city, paid for transportation to the resort and chomped at the bit to get onto the mountain. Well, as luck would have it the winter winds started blowing and the ski lifts couldn't run, safely. Every morning we woke hoping for the best and every night we went to bed disappointed. After 5 days we packed up and headed home...never having used any of the new, fancy ski gear.

 

To be honest...i never ever thought of asking for compensation even though i had paid a bundle since the lift passes were part of the deal and helped defray the costs of very (for me) expensive rooms and amenities. Instead of skiing we swam in the indoor pool (i even had to buy a bathing suit) sat on the deck and drank some luscious hot drink concoctions, danced into the wee hours, went to a couple of movies (both which we had seen before), played cards and board games and met a lot of wonderful, enthusiastic people.

 

We got nothing from the resort in compensation...but you know, the rest of the trip was so much fun that we could of cared less and a few years later we went back and skied for days and days. How is this different than a cruise line vacation that has weather problems...don't know.[/quote']

 

 

well said!!!:):):)

I really didn't come here to get into it with strangers, but everyone holds strong to their convictions, and I'll do the same. I simply saw dissatisfied customers, felt for them and shared my experience I had on the cruise.

It seems to be tastelessly implied that I am ungrateful for getting out of that storm safe and unharmed. It's a little sick to assume I take my own well-being for granted.

I believe 100% weather is something that happens and is one of the few things we can't control. It comes just as fast as it goes, acts as powerful as it does gentile and can be as beautiful as it can be ugly. Blaming anything on nature is like blaming a fish for needing water. Many cruises were effected by the hurricane but we know why. Getting mad at something we have the answers to is a waste of time, however I hope this is becoming clear to see. The lack of important information is what caused most of my frustrations and the inability to get an explanation is what lead to my anger. If there was no way of getting home early tell me that, explain to me what's going on and help me understand our situation. We were not asking for the combination to the casino vault, we simply wanted to know when we should expect to reach home. Is general idea of the day the captain is anticipating based on current weather? Are their variables that can effect his choice of rout? Considering the majority of the people on the ship were from New York I hope it's clear why they were so eager for answers. Imagine being left to wonder if you're going to arrive home in time to collect essential supplies and prepare for a state of emergency. Perhaps some readers expect those facing the need to prepare for an emergency at home to wait for the almighty Mother Nature to share her insight and intentions since we weren't getting it from Carnival.

The people who think that other peeps are in agreement with them and that a cruise line should be boycotted because of a weather ARE indeed in for a rude awakening. Most people have enough common sense not to waste their time eating at a restaurant that delivered horrible food, why waste your time with a company that delivered horrible customer service?

Most peeps have enough common sense to understand that a company offering subpar customer service does not deserve more of your hard earned money and maintaining good service isn't the customers responsibility. Fool me once...or well you get the drift.

I think we all can agree here that we were disappointed. I also feel that we should be able to agree that the Captain and crew of these ships did their very best to get everyone home safely for which I am truly grateful for. In regards to the customer service aspect...I m sure the did what they could with the information they had a t the time. I don't think anyone(Carnival...Captain..Crew) would intentionally keep the passengers in the dark. They are the experts and I think we should cut them some slack and realize they did their job to the best of their ability with the knowledge they had throughout. Blessings to all and let us all be happy we are safe. If you received 20% off or 50% just be satisfied that you are home safe and sound!:):):)

 

I'm sure we all had an unpleasant experience because of this hurricane, I'm not sure what it was like on the other 2 ships but I just feel like we got the short end of the 3 ships at topic.

 

Miracle was supposed to:

Leave NYC on at 5pm Sunday Oct 21,

2 days at sea Mon Oct 22 and Tues Oct 23,

San Juan Weds Oct 24,

St. Thomas Thurs Oct 25,

Fri Grand Turk Oct 26,

2 days at sea Sat Oct 27 and Sun Oct 28,

get back to NYC 9am on Mon Oct 29.

 

We did come back a day early and reached New York at 9am on Saturday and therefore could not spend the night in the port because 1. we didn't find out we were arriving a day early until 4pm Saturday night (less than a day before) and 2. because the ports were closing they pushed the Miracle cruise, departing the same day we were scheduled to come back (Monday October 29) up one day which subsequently added one day, which Carnival is paying for any parking and gratuities. So those passengers get a longer cruise, don't have to pay extra for anything and all they had done were port of call adjustments. They hurried us off the boat at 9am sharp and crew had already begun scrapping the salt residue off the balcony hand rails. So it was a giant slap in the face, it was like our cruise gave a whole day away to the other cruise.

It took us 2 days to get from New York City which much further north than Baltimore and Virginia, and we arrived in San Juan (which is much more south east than Grand Turk) on the third day at 3:00pm. There wasn't much to do, most of the excursions were in the late morning/early afternoon. We had 6 and a half hours in one place, perhaps that came into play. How long did the other 2 ships have to spend at sea before reaching their port, how much time did the others get to spend in their port of call and what time of day did they get there?

We also had (as far as I'm concerned) the stupidest captain ever. We found out that the tropical storm turned into a hurricane our first full day at sea. There was no talk to diverting our ship once during the cruise, they didn't even make an effort. Tuesday was our first indication that there was unsettled weather, the boat rolled and pitched most of the day but calmed down in the night as we moved east away from the storm. We were told at 930pm on Weds Oct 24 that we would have to turn around and go home, and we would be at sea for the next 5 days. The captain was going around the hurricane, way east to around Bermuda, he would then swing west in front of the hurricane to get us back to New York. Thurs Oct 25 was a bad day, high winds, over cast but we were going 25-30 knots, which made the ride bumpy but just a little worse than Tuesday. Thursday night all hell broke loose, the ship was pitched to the right most of the night and we had 20 foot waves and 10-15 foot swells. The wind was howling and it was impossible to open the door to my balcony. This is when we slowed to about 17-20 knots but there were points we were doing 25. Twice a day we would get an announcement from the captain about the weather, and our progress through it and how far we were from home. Not once did we ever get an answer as to when we would be getting to New York. By Friday we seemed to be out of the worst of it, but everyone had cabin fever and just wanted to get off the boat. We got an announcement at 9am Friday that we were 480 nautical miles from new york, we were going 17-20 knots and this is when I started to get really ticked. I did the math and given our speed and distance left to cover, as of Friday morning we should have been home in 27 hours, putting us in New York on Saturday morning. Even if we dropped to 15 knots we still would have made it by saturday night. But I just had this feeling from the second we found out it was going to take 5 days to get back home they were milking it. Trying to drag the time home out as much as they could so they wouldnt have to give us any actual refund. We spent 141 hours suck on a boat, thats about 6 days all together. 4 of those days were rain, wind, and crap. I was understanding until we couldn't seem to get answers to our questions. I told the cruise director my math equation and politely asked when we were getting home and if there was a factor preventing us from knowing, he then took out a picture of the hurricane and said "see this biiiiig hurricane? we have to go allllll the way around it" in the most condescending, patronizing voice, he spoke to me like I was a child asking him the same question for the 100th time. So thats about when I lost it, 2+2 doesnt equal 5 days at sea. We got a 50% off credit when, from what I've read others dont get anything for worse things happening, because their idiots! All we wanted were answers, all we got were twice daily announcements about how fast we were going, how far we were from getting there, our longitude and latitude, the depth of the ocean, the temp of the ocean (cus we were really going swimming in it or something) useless info which lead to anger, frustration, agitation and a bummer feeling all over the ship.

At the end of the day, I payed for 100% of a cruise and got 37% of it, because carnival doesnt seem to want to part with their money (i dont either and they have more of it than me...) I get to take another crummy cruise at half price. And we have no proof that we get 50% off, no discount code, didn't get an email, no phone call. So as far as I know until someone gets this discount in their hot little hands, dont put too much stock into it. Lets say of all 3 ships there were 3000 people who are pissed and wont sail carnival again. If they tell 2 people how much they hate it and dont recommend it, and they tell 2 people, and they tell 2 people, ect. Eventually some damage is going to be done. Dont sit around here wasting your time fighting with each other, talk to someone who can do something. We're the customer, and at the moment they may not think we're right, but in time they will see the hard way that we are.

Another thing our captain managed to talk to abc news live from the boat while sailing us through a hurricane. Yeah awesome priorities, you would think Carnival has a spoksperson for that.....

 

I was on this same cruise Carnival Miracle and I don't feel people think you are acting like spoiled brats but what I feel you are missing is that it could have been worse. just look at the devastation on the East coast and the lives lost! I think if you look at the grand scheme of things you may realize that the CAPTAIN was NOT AN IDIOT but smart to return or WE could be the ones stranded out at sea like NORWEGIAN GEM or like the lost life of the BOUNTY. Please be thankful that we all got home safely and be glad that Carnival gave us what they did because they did not have to! I wish you well on any future cruise you may take! Blessings!!!:):):)

nikki bee

 

i understand your frustration but trust me you are wasting your breath on this thread. According to everyone on this thread that didnt go through this experience we are spoiled brats who are not the cruise type (stupidest thing I have ever heard). Being stuck on a ship which is rocking and rolling and full of people throwing up is wearing on you. Yes we booked during hurricane season, we were aware that storms can happen.

 

Our itin was 6 days with a sea day at each end, wed & thursday were full days in Nassau and friday was a day in freeport.

 

It was changed to

Monday -Norfolk

Tuesday -Sea day

Wednesday - 7 hrs in Nassau (we arrived late bc we had to return to norfolk for a med emergency on monday night)

Thursday- Sea day

Friday- Sea Day

Saturday- Norfolk at 11 am

 

It was also raining and windy for us the entire time and a lot of activities were cancelled.

 

We were in the dining room so the announcement that we would return a day early was made sometime after 6. After that announcement we were going 20 knots to make it back.

 

San Juan is a great departure port as someone mentioned earlier if you are interested. We did the Carnival itin out of there last year and it was fantastic. I am sorry you didnt enjoy your time in San Juan but there is a lot to do there in walking distance from the port.

 

 

As far as you not getting anything as proof for your discount... did you not receive a letter in your stateroom about your discount? We got ours delivered to your room and at the bottom there is a link for you to follow once you book another cruise. I am sure you can call the guest care dept and get the info from them. I checked out the site and it looks like you just enter your booking info from this cruise and the booking info for your next cruise.

I was on this same cruise Carnival Miracle and I don't feel people think you are acting like spoiled brats but what I feel you are missing is that it could have been worse. just look at the devastation on the East coast and the lives lost! I think if you look at the grand scheme of things you may realize that the CAPTAIN was NOT AN IDIOT but smart to return or WE could be the ones stranded out at sea like NORWEGIAN GEM or like the lost life of the BOUNTY. Please be thankful that we all got home safely and be glad that Carnival gave us what they did because they did not have to! I wish you well on any future cruise you may take! Blessings!!!:):):)

We were on the Miracle out of NYC. The cruise was reduced from 8 to 7 days and two ports (St. Thomas and Grand Turk) were cancelled. As compensation we received 50% off a future cruise (with restrictions and must be used by 10/2014). In addition, we received a refund of port fees for St. Thomas and Grand Turk, and a refund (coming within two weeks) of one day of the cruise fare. Our on board accounts were also credited for one day of tips. Carnival also provided free service on the in cabin phone on Saturday PM so that people could make alternate travel arrangements since we were arriving one day early.

 

We had no issue with the compensation offered - thought it was more than fair!! We also had NO PROBLEM with the decision to concel two ports and head back to NYC early. Made perfect sense to us as passenger safety has to be paramount!

 

Kudos to Carnival and their handling of the Miracle cruise.

I was on this same cruise Carnival Miracle and I must say the Captain and crew were fantastic. I felt they were more than fair and extremely helpful throughout this terrible ordeal. I am glad they made the right decision to head home early. KUDOS to the CAPTAIN AND CREW! Thanks for getting us home safely!

:):)