swodog94

Great review so far! The changed itinerary sucks...Grand Turk and HMC are two of the best ports Carnival offers. Guess it gives you an excuse to book the same cruise again!

Love it!:D We opted for self-assist this year for the first time - debarked at 9:10 (sorry, son does 24-hour clock, not us;p) and were on the road by 9:25. Thanks for a great review.

Thanks for sticking with it! We would do self assist if we had to fly or drive anywhere, but since we live so close, it's usually not a big deal.

Debarkation Day (Cont.)

Soon we had cleared Customs and were looking for our luggage. If you put your luggage out the night before and have it taken off the ship, they put it in a big warehouse looking area. There it's grouped in accordance with the luggage tag you affixed the night before. We were in Group 2 so our luggage was in that area. We found our bags and headed out to our car.

We loaded our luggage and headed out. There was a line of cars waiting to get in to the aprking lot for the next cruise. It was 1048, and our vacation was over.

Well, It's taken me way too long to finish this review. If you're still reading, thanks! I hope you enjoyed it or were able to learn something useful from it. It's September 2017 and we're already looking for a cruise to Bermuda next fall...see you there!

Debarkation Day (Cont.)

The first folks off the ship were the Self Assist folks. We, in the Luggage group, did not expect to be called until around 1030. Sadly we had to be out of our staterooms no later than 0900. We found our room steward, thanked him profusely and tipped him handsomely, grabbed out carry-on's, and headed for the Lido. Time for one last Blue Iguana burrito!

We managed to find a table by the pool and camped out. After I ate I headed up to deck 10 to take photos of the folks leaving the ship. Someone was getting the VIP treatment!

Unfortunately, anothe one of our shipmates was leaving in an ambulance.

We headed down to our group's muster area around 1000 to prepare for our departure. We had been told that we would be called no earlier than 1030, but the Self Assist process went very smoothly, and we were told we could debark early. Shortly before 1030, we were headed down the gangway.

We got in line to wait to clear Customs and Immigration.

Debarkation Day

By the time we woke up it was light and we were close to Baltimore. We were cruising up the Patapsco River.

We shortly passed Fort Carrol and then we were steaming under the Key Bridge.

We were supposed to moor by 0900, and we were quickly macking our approach to the cruise terminal.

Moored! Shift colors! And we're even early...it's 0851 and we are moored and the gangway is in place.

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We headed back to our room and found that our towel critter was recycled from the night before. Oh well.

We closed up our suitcases and placed them out in the hall. You have to get them out there no later than 11pm for them to be picked up. By now the lights of Virginia Beach were getting closer.

Soon we were embarking the Maryland Pilot who would guide the ship upthe Chesapeake and into Baltimore.

I stayed up until we crossed over the northern tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and then I went to bed. When we woke up in the morning we would be cruising up the Patapsco River into Baltimore.

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening packing and relaxing, until it was time for dinner. I stopped at Alchemy and grabbed a martini to take into the MDR with me.

Two of our tablemates were there and we enjoyed one last meal with them. I ordered the beef carpacio app, while my wife got the caprese salad. We split a flatbread also.

For entrees I got the hanger steak and she ordered the ravioli.

I'm sure we split a dessert but I didn't get a picture of it so it must have gone quick!

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

I headed back down and poured myself a scotch, grabbed a cigar, and headed back topside for a leisurely smoke. Very few folks were on the Lido at this point and I had a couch pretty much to myself.

That killed a good hour and after that I headed down to check what the damage was on our expenses. You can go to the Guest Services Desk to do this, but there are also a few kiosks on the ship where you can check you balance and pay with cash. I had a few bucks left from gambling so I cashed out in the casino and dumped it towards our S&S balance.

The Taste Bar is right next to thsi kiosk so I wandered over to try the sample being served. It was some stuff fromm the Blue Iguana, and it was yummy.

By now we had rounded Capa Hatteras and were headed for the mouth of the Chesapeake. The weather started to improve.

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We went back to our room to start packing. The previous night we had received our luggage tags and debarkation instructions. There are two methods to debark: self serve, and traditional. Self serve is just that: you hold on to all your luggage and are responsible for lugging it all off on your own. The trade-off is that you will get to debark first. Self serve folks will start to debark as soon as the ship is moored and the gangway is open; each deck is called in order. If you're in a hurry to get off because you have an early flight to catch or have a long drive ahead of you, self serve may be the way for you.

Th other option is to put your luggage out in the hall that night for the crew to pick up and take off the next day. Your luggage tags will have a number. That is your debarkation group number. Your instruction sheet will also direct you to a muster area where you will wait with your group until you're called. We were in group 2 and we were directed to muster in the Red Frog Pub.

It was around this time that the weather started to close in. The day had been nice up until then, but it was obvious that we were headed into a squall.

I headed to the Lido mid-afternoon for lunch. This would be my last chance to have a Guy's burger, and I didn not pass up the opportunity.

By now it had started to rain and chased everyone out of the pool and under cover.

It was raining hard, too! There was a lot of water coming down in a very short amount of time. It quickly became obvious that the ship had some water intrusion issues becasue the light fixtures began to leak!

Things got ugly real quick and lighting began striking all around the ship. One bolt seemed to hit the lightning arrestor on the mast; it was a huge CRACK immediatelly follwed by a BOOOM! Little children started screaming and crying...it was pretty dramatic. The storm was in full swing and visibility was down to about a mile.

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

After I are we headed down play some Game of Thrones trivia. Trivia on the ship can get pretty competitive, and GoT was no exception.

We came within one point of winning, and there was a three way tie for the win which required a bonus question (it was tough and I would have gotten it wrong). After that we headed up to the Lido.

Today was Chocolate Extravaganza. Many people really look forward to this event. An entire buffet line is given over to a chocolate fountain, as well as fruit, cookies and other things you can dip in the chocolate. It's not really my bag, but it looks good.

Last Sea Day

So our last sea day was upon us. This is the day that traditionally can get a little hectic. You know you have to pack sometime that day and get ready to get off the next day, but you don't want it to end. Seems to me folks try and do too much. We slept in and the I went down to get some breakfast. Burrito again...shocker, I know.

Absolutely loved your review!! We're sailing the Pride the end of Oct (after our sailing on the Breeze was cancelled last week) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her and seeing your pics. Thank you!!

Sorry to hear about your cancelled cruise. :( Thanks for following along and I'm glad you're enjoying the review. We sailed on Pride the last week of October last year...I think you'll have a blast!

Freeport (Cont.)

I had the french onion soup as an appetizer, but my wife chose to skip that course. We both passed on the salad, although I've had their caesar salad in the past and it is fantastic (they make the dressing fresh).

When it comes to our entrees, we are creatures of habit when we dine at David's...I always get the Kona coffe rubbed strip steak, and my wife gets the lobster tail.

For some reason I didn't photograph them, but we ordered the whipped potatoes and creamed spinach as sides. It was a lot of food, and we were stuffed and considering asking for our desserts to go. But Carnival knew it was our anniversary, and they sent over a special dessert with their complimets.

Wow! It was delicious and we ate every bite. We still asked to take our desserts to go and the staff was kind enough to wrap up two huge slices of New York Style cheesecake, which we put in our fridge for later. When we got to our room we found this guy waiting for us.

We stayed up for as long as we could to try and digest some of that huge meal. I probably smoked a cigar and then went to casino...but I'm not sure. Tomorrow would be our last sea day.

Freeport (Cont.)

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading. We skipped lunch and just had a snack mid afternoon because we had reservations that night at David's!

Every cruise, I like to have dinner at the steakhouse at least once. While it costs and extra $35pp, it is totally worth it, in my opinion. For your $$ you get and appetizer, a salad, an entree and dessert. Plus the wine list is superb! The steakhouse is named after Michaelangelo's famous statue of David...and there is a reproduction of that work of art in the restaurant!

Now, many of you will note that it is not a true reprodution...Carnival has added a fig leaf to protect his modesty. Before the dry docking in 2014, David did not have a fig leaf and his...errr..."meat" was on display in the steakhouse. I guess some prudish, puritanical, stick-up-butt types took exception, and since we can't have anything "trigger" people in this day and age, Carnival caved.

Tonight was the second Elegant Night, and while we dressed up a little, we didn't put on our formal duds again.

I picked a decent Italian red to go with our dinner.

The chef sent out an amuse bouche - bisque in a hollowed out baked potato.

Freeport (Cont.)

I soon headed back to the ship because I didn't want to get caught it the mad rush at the end to get on board. Folks are supposed to be back at 1pm for a 1:30 sailaway. Last time we were here, some folks didn't show up until 1:45! But this time it went pretty smooth. The line to get back on was pretty long at 1:00.

Carnival had a crewmember posted by the taxi stand to help herd people back to the ship.

Sadly, this is required becasue some folks, despite cutting it close getting back, would get off buses and taxis and head into the shops!

But the crew did a great job of pushing folks out and on to the ship, and by 1:30, everyone was accounted for, the cat-herder followed her flock onto the ship, and we could get underway.

Freeport (Cont.)

You can't go anywhere in the Caribbean and not find a Senor Frog's. I went in to buy a tshirt and decided to grab one of the local beers - Sands is brewed right there on the island.

The Frog is a favorite of college students (and high schoolers on spring break, for that matter!), but it seems to really be working to attract a younger demographic!

I guess it's never too early to start them off right!

Freeport (Cont.)

We headed off the ship and out into the port area. We walked through a few shops and did a little shopping for gifts.

There was a band playing and we headed over to Fat Tuesday for an adult slushy!

While we were finishing our drinks we met one of the denizens of the island.

I decided to head over to Senor Frog's and my wife went back to the ship.

Freeport (Cont.)

I'm going to take another opportunity to praise Pride's fine crew. While we were sleeping, lounging by the pool or headed out into Freeport to eat, shop and get our drink on...they were training and running an abandon ship drill. ["We'll lay off their largest cities and listen to their rock'n'roll...while we conduct...drills."] Sorry, couldn't resist the obscure quote...if you "heard" it in a certain accent, you know where it came from. Anyway, the crew spent the good part of an hour walking through the drill.

These stairs are only open during emergencys. Also, these lights coem on in the halls to guide you in case the lights go out.

Passengers were invited to participate and few did.

Plus, while all this was going on, some of the Deck crew was hard at work painting the sides (any BM's who remember doing this while the rest of the crew went on liberty?).

Freeport (Cont.)

I scanned the shopping area and immediately sighted something new (to me anyway) - Fat Tuesday!

Oh I am going there for sure! And of course, I'll swing by Senor Frog's for a tshirt and a drink.

There are all sorts of shops here, from jewelry stores to souvenir shops.

There are also lines of taxis, vans and buses to take people to the beach, Lucaya shopping center and other places on the island.

Ok, time to get some breakfast before heading out to the pier for our abreviated shopping trip. Hmmm...what should I have for breakfast? Just kidding...you know I'm getting a burrito!

Freeport (Cont.)

The reason Freeport is such a boring port is because the ship's berth is in an industrial area.

There is a bunch of shops and a couple of eating establishments that were built there at the pier just to support the cruise ships.

Supposedly Carnival is building a new pier and cruise center (similar to Grand Turk's) for thier ships, but that was just announced this year and is only in the planning stages. Who knows when that will be ready.

Freeport (Cont.)

Some of the towel animals were as simple as the critters they leave in your stateroom each night, but some are elaborate and huge!

Freeport

So this would be the second time in Freeport for us. The previous time (2013) we had headed over to Lucaya, done some shopping, eaten cracked conch and then came back early enough to do a walk through of the shops on the pier, plus a quick drink at Senor Frogs. As we approached this cruise, we were divided as to what we should do. My wife though we might try shopping again, and I thought I might not leave the ship at all. In HMC we talked it over and decided to split the baby...we would leave the ship, but just to do stuff on the pier. That would let us sleep in and have a mellow morning.

We slept until about 0900, and I got up and headed to the Lido, because I knew today was the Towel Animal Take-over and I wanted to get some good pictures. Sure enough, the crew had slaved throughout the night to create hundreds of towel animals, who then "take over" the pool area.

Hey folks, sorry I went sinker on ya! Work trip came up and then I got overcome by events. I'm going to try and wrap this up now.

Just wondering how the Tinder works for Half Moon Cay. We have faster to the fun passes but I have never been to this port.

Any suggestions, or ideas to help ??

Thanks

As FTTF you should get a flyer in your mailbox telling you where to go in the morning to catch the first tender. On Pride we were suite guests and had a cabana, so we were told to muster in the Taj Mahal at 0845. But we were also FTTF so we got another sheet of paper telling us to muster in the Butterflies Lounge at 0845. We asked which was better and were told neither...both groups were getting on the first tender.

Great review, by any chance did you happen the take a pic or see a sign with prices for the rentals???

No, sorry, I didn't think to take a picture of that. Thanks for following along!