Carnival_Brides

With the soda program...is it fountain soda or canned?

99% of the time you'll get a can. However, some of the bars (Red Frog) can use the "gun" for Coke and Sprite, so it's technically fountain.

We just bring our mugs with us. We wash and dry them really well when we get home and pack them inside our luggage for the next trip.

You may be fine as long as it's in the same cabin category. We grabbed a porthole cabin that suddenly became available when we booked our last cruise (three weeks prior to sailing). The original cabin wasn't in the most desirable location (very, very front of the ship), so when a different one closer to the mid-ship became available we jumped on it. We called the Carnival 800# and the customer service agent was able to switch us in at no cost (the rates had gone up between booking and switching) because it was the same cabin category.

This should show in your docs. It did for me, my sister and my wife--we all turned Platinum in the last five months.

My sister did have to call Carnival to make the change happen on her docs. If you call and explain the situation, they should be able to help you out. It would stink not to get your perks from the time you embark.

Just a follow-up

The Pride arrived late in to port yesterday due to undertow off the Carolinas and in the lower bay. It was a travel nightmare apparently for the embarking local guests driving in the day of and some did miss the ship. Debarkation started late and embarkation obviously was delayed. However, the ship did leave on time or close to on-time.

This is a picture of the ship that John Heald posted to his FB.

Has the Pride received the 2.0 upgrades yet?

Nope. They keep changing the date around and the latest one is that when the Pride leaves Baltimore next October it will go straight to dry dock to be all spiffy for the Tampa cruisers.

Anyone know if these are typical of local restaurants with the high gloss finish?

I'm not sure what you mean by local. I think it's been established that the no tablecloth look is available at xyz chain restaurant, but it's also becoming more prominent in nicer NYC and Vegas restaurants and steakhouses--Tom Coliccio's restaurants come to mind. Apparently, the decision to use table cloths has been a hot topic in the NY foodie scene for a while.

We did the snowmageddon cruise on the Pride four years ago. We were one of the first cars to the port. It is very much as PP have described when there is inclement weather only they will still allow shuttles and taxi around the gate to drop off passengers. If there is snow on the ground, they'll bring in plows to get the parked cars out and once they're mostly out, they'll finish plowing to make way for new cars. We were surprised by how efficient it was.

If you're concerned about inclement weather (bat crap crazy like we are) make sure you bring a shovel, snow brush and a small container of rock salt to leave in your car. It's handy for digging yourself out and you never know what you're coming home to.

Few years ago Pride had about two feet of snow on her. After that never consider cruising out of a Northern port.

That was my first cruise on the Pride. They closed our school for the week, so we booked the cruise on Saturday to leave on Sunday. It was wonderful!

This is from four years ago--not today!

You wanted the OP to hang out in this? :eek:

 

 

Bill

The Pride has a covered Lido midship--they wouldn't have been exposed to the elements. They usually close the cover when they're in Baltimore during the winter to free up public space.

I'm so mad that we did the five day on the Fantasy instead of booking this cruise (this was the week we wanted to go). We've left from Baltimore with several feet on the ground, but snow on the ship would've been awesome!

thanks for posting but still hard to read, maybe a word or two. I see beef brisket as an entree.

OP--This won't be helpful for people sailing soon, but maybe wait until you return and upload them to a third party site like Flickr and then post them over here. That way you can do it in a higher resolution.

Suite guests ONLY get priority embarkation--nothing else.

Here's the photo in question. It was posted to JH's FB and taken from the Bridge of the ship.

It is usually a case of supply and demand. There were several Canadian cruises last summer where it was the same price or less to book an OV instead of an INT.

We warned our wedding guests about most of the artwork before our wedding cruise on the Pride, just to prepare them. My 5yo niece has been on the ship twice and never noticed it, but my brother (her father) thought it was "interesting". He was amused by the massive mural of Titian's "Venus" right outside the dining room.

I linked to it, as not to "offend" anyone.

called Pack n Go rates although they may have discontinued using that name.

They're actually back to using that name.

OP, I'd book ASAP. At some point, they will start calling their local casino "high rollers" and give away the cabins just to sail full. When we booked 3 weeks before our last cruise there were at least 45 cabins available--three days later we were sold out. Cabins appeared from time-to-time, but the rates weren't as good.

How many sea days for diamond?..Was it 25 cruises before it got changed to sea days?

Diamond is a completely new level. 25 cruises is milestone, which is a completely different program. You can now have 25 cruises and not be Platinum, much less Diamond.

My niece had her sword confiscated in Nassau.

We hired a taxi when we went on the Pride. It was $30ish each way and our driver gave us his number when we wanted to be picked up.

Just so everyone knows... Carnival was told they were going to get hit with a huge increase in port fees (i.e., taxes) that were being imposed by the state. They made the decision to move out. Though I too will miss having Baltimore as a home port (since I live here), I do understand their reasoning behind this.

Port fees had nothing to do with their decision to pull out. It's pretty well-known (at least on this board) that they're leaving because of the EPA standards that are set to take effect soon. They thought they could get a waiver similar to other lines and the EPA DIDN'T blink--the governor even intervened on their [CCL'S] behalf.

Baltimore Sun Op-Ed

Baltimore Sun Article about the Announcement

I got the email for referrals earlier this week. It would've been nice to have a year ago when we had 11 new cruisers sail with us for our wedding.

Please forgive if this topic has been beaten to death, brought back to life and then re-beaten to death ad infinitum...

 

Why can't the free drink coupon be redeemed at ANY bar on the ship? I usually don't eat in the MDR during breakfast, lunch or brunch (dinner only...but you can't use it then....grrrr) so my coupon goes to waste every time.

 

I have one thing that may help. Brunch by far in my opinion on the dream was the best meal I have ever had on any cruise ship(never been to the steak house). I don't drink that early so I always order a beer unopened and save it for later. Or you could RAK it ( Random act of kindness) to someone.

 

Actually--you can't. To process the coupon they take down your folio number for tracking. Even our five year old niece has to show her card to get her Shirley Temple.

(Sorry if this has been asked or noted in this section)

 

Do families currently have to pay for children who are younger than 2? Most kids under 2 don't eat adult foods, or if they do, they definitely don't eat much of it. I could completely see them allowing kids under 2 to cruise for free, as long as they don't charge other guests extra. But otherwise, the kids rate should be the same as it is now, reduced as being the 3rd + passengers in the room.

Children under 2 do not have to pay gratuities, but they are charged full fare. This is mostly due to the fact that there is a limit to how many beds can be full on a given ship and that child under 2 is taken one of those spots. During the off season the third person rate isn't horrible, but during the summer and most holidays (Thanksgiving, Easter/Spring Break, and Christmas) the rate is jacked waaaay up. You'll never see Kids Sail Free during these times--it's they're bread and butter.

The fees fluctuate quite a bit. As a PP said they try to carefully estimate so that you're not left owing more (per the cruise contract) right before your cruise. We've had as much as $20 and as little as $.11 in fees refunded.

They will appear as an OBC when you get on the ship. Our refunded fees usually show up on the second page of our cruise docs (under OBC) about 24-48 hours before the ship leaves.

I've not heard of them opening the partitions for 4 cabins in a row.

Usually just 2 if any at all. Don't count on having a big ginormous balcony.

They did it for us on the Pride (sister ship to the Miracle). We had to send 4 people to GS to sign for it, but it was wonderful!