Carnival Pride Review- December 10th, 2017

Hi everybody! So a couple of weeks ago I got back from a cruise on Carnival Pride. I’ve been meaning to write a review of the trip and post some pictures, but I keep getting distracted. I’m starting training for my first full-time job tomorrow, so I’ll have to write around that, but I at least wanted to get an introduction up before I completely procrastinate this thing.

So a bit of background first. I’m Anna, and I’m 22, and I live in northern Virginia, about an hour from Baltimore. I’ve been cruising with my family since I was 5 years old, but the last couple of cruises have just been my mom and me. I graduated from college about a year ago, and I’ve been looking for a full-time job since then. I recently quit my part-time job from a shoe store that I had been at for years, so I had some time to relax at home before starting something new. I photograph concerts for fun, so that’s why my pictures will be at odd angles sometimes. I also uploaded all of my pictures on my facebook page, so that’s why my watermark is on all of them. I can remove that if necessary.

My family had originally planned to take a vacation in January,but my mom changed it to the holidays since my brother didn’t want to miss school. I found some cruises we’d be interested in taking, but they were all out of Florida and my dad said that’d be too expensive to fly to. My mom then said we could take a cruise over my brother’s spring break. I was a bit concerned about that, since I didn’t know if I’d be able to take the time off from my new job right away. I also only found one cruise that week out of Baltimore or NY/NJ, and it wasn’t anything that interested that us. Just out of curiosity, I looked up cruises leaving from Baltimore before the holidays really started. I found one and said “hey Mom, what are you doing in three weeks?” A couple of minutes later, I had convinced my mom that we needed to goon this cruise, leaving in less than three weeks from that day. We brought it up with my dad and brother, and they didn’t mind us leaving, and I booked the cruise on Thanksgiving, 17 days before we left.

Typically, we cruise with Royal Caribbean. We did one Carnival cruise years ago, in 2003. Last winter, my mom and I went on Shiprocked, a chartered music cruise, focusing on rock music. That was on Carnival, and, while it was different from a regular cruise, we didn’t really find another we didn’t like on that trip. The cruise I found for us was on Carnival, and we didn’t have any qualms about booking a cruise on a line we don’t normally go on. So this review will contain some comparisons between the two companies.

I’ve written out a bit of some pre-cruise information, so I’ll put that up next. Let me know if there’s anything you want to know. I took pictures of nearly everything, but I obviously won’t post them all. If there’s something you’re looking for, let me know, and I’ll try to post a picture of it. Thanks for reading!

I don't want to have a post with no pictures, so here's a shot of Carnival Pride in Princess Cays. I hope the picture shows up for everybody, so let me know if it doesn't.

Nice start! Will be following along.

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Pre-Cruise

Before I get into the first day of our trip, I want to talk a bit about the planning of this trip. I’m a major planner, and booking this trip a bit more than two weeks before it was very odd for me. The day after we booked, I did our online check-in. I then bought my Internet package for the whole trip (the Value Plan), since it was discounted a bit when you book online. The total for the week long cruise was about $71. I also bought the 12 water bottle package so they’d be in our room when we arrived. I get dehydrated easily, so I always have a water bottle on me. I’d prefer to bring Powerade and water bottles of my own on the ship, but I lived.

Normally, I’d spend a lot of time researching the ship and itinerary. We were going to Nassau, Freeport, and Princess Cays. We’d been to Nassau a couple of times. It isn’t our favorite place, and we planned to do some shopping right in the port area. I read that Freeport has a port shopping area right off the ship, and that was our plan for that day. Princess Cays was obviously a beach day. My mom and I are the type of people who cruise just to cruise, so we don’t end up doing much in port when it’s just the two of us.

I tried to read reviews and learn the ships layout as much as I could before we left, but I didn’t have much time. I think I went to four concerts in the last 15 days before our trip, and I photographed two of those, so a lot of my time was spent editing those pictures. I think about a week and a half before we left I packed all of my clothes, then I finished everything else a day or two before.

When we booked, we got one of the last available rooms on the ship. Our only option was an inside guarantee room. My dad’s convinced that if you call the cruise line and book over the phone, they can give you a discount, but every time we’ve done that, it comes to exactly the same price as what I saw online. This time, my mom made me make the phone call. I hate talking on the phone, but I was worried the cruise would sell out by the next day, so I did what I had to. The guy I booked with made it seem that was had a good shot of getting our room upgraded from a typical inside room, since we booked so late. I wasn’t getting my hopes up, since I figured we’d end up with an inside room in a bad location. Since we wouldn’t have a room number until we got to the pier, the man on the phone said that we could leave our bags with the porters, and the port staff would somehow get the room number to them.

So that’s about it for now. These reviews always end up way more wordy then I want them, so I’m sorry about that. I’ll start posting more pictures once I get started with the review. I’ve started writing the first day of the trip, so I’ll have that up whenever I finish it. I don’t know what my training schedule will be like exactly, since it’s online, but I’m pretty sure I’d have time to write after I’m done each day. I’ll try to write more today, but I just got my new work laptop and phone delivered, so I have to set those up today. I’m going to Philly for a concert that I’m photographing on the 12th, so I’ll try to have most of this done by then. Thanks for reading!

Here's a picture of Carnival Pride in Nassua.

Nice start! Will be following along.

 

 

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Thanks!

Looking forward to more! We are traveling on the pride in feb

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We were on the Pride on the 24th so it will be interesting to see how our experiences match (or not).

can't wait to hear more about your trip on the Pride.

I ❤ Carnival Pride. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Thanks for the report.

Enjoying your review, thanks!

Great posts. I am enjoying them.

Keith

Looking forward to your review--great start! Thanks!

Following along!

GREAT start to your review! Looking forward to the rest! :cool:

Great start to your review! Looking forward to the rest - we are sailing the same itinerary next month.

Looking forward to reading more about your cruise!!

Enjoying the read...Going on Pride in February. Have sailed Carnival but never on Pride.

Looking forward to more of your journey!

anxious for more on the pride. maybe it will melt the snow in lower DE.

Can't wait to hear more!

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Just booked the Pride for April. Looking forward to the rest of of your review!

Following- will be cruising on the pride in February

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Following will be on pride in June 2018

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Thanks for all of the comments! I'm working on the first day of the review, and it's coming out to be way more wordy than I expected. I'd prefer to have the whole day finished before I post it, so I'll try to get it done tonight.

We are sailing on the Pride out of Baltimore in April on a back-to-back. We are also from northern Virginia. Like you I've sailed on other lines. I have found Carnival's biggest weakness to be upkeep and maintenance on the ship compared to other lines. What was your opinion on how well-maintained or run-down and dated the ship looked? I am sure I will have fun no matter what, but I'm hoping for the former rather than the latter!

We are sailing on the Pride out of Baltimore in April on a back-to-back. We are also from northern Virginia. Like you I've sailed on other lines. I have found Carnival's biggest weakness to be upkeep and maintenance on the ship compared to other lines. What was your opinion on how well-maintained or run-down and dated the ship looked? I am sure I will have fun no matter what, but I'm hoping for the former rather than the latter!

I actually didn't see any issue with how run-down the ship was. The only outdated thing I can think of was the big box TV in our room. The decor was nice, and my mom kept remarking how she thought the ship's decor was classy. The ship seemed to be pretty well maintained. I'll talk about this later in my review, but they did shut the AC off one day when we were in port for a few hours, so they could work on it. I don't know if it was scheduled maintenance or if something was wrong, but that was really the only issue on something like that. Does that help to answer your question? I hope you enjoy your trip!