Pride Review 7/29-8/5

Finally getting around to review our recent sailing on the Pride. Overall we had a great time, just a bit different than our usual cruise routine.

My husband and I sailed to celebrate our anniversary, just the two of us. We are used to cruising with our son, we were looking forward to our week of date nights! This was our second time on the Pride and chose it again because of the convenience of the port. Our plan was to sleep, read, eat, and drink so the ports were not a huge draw for us. We just wanted a relaxing vacation, again, just the two of us. We booked a balcony room on the 7th deck and about a month after booking received an upsell e-mail for an extended balcony for just $14. We took it and were able to stay on the 7th deck. I'm fairly picky about cabin location when booking. We like to be 2 decks down from lido and not too close to the elevators/stairs. We purchased Cheers and FTTF about a week or so before sailing and were ready to go!

We live about 2 hours from the port, but it's on I95 so traffic can be a nightmare. We left home at 8:00, got in the Baltimore area around 10, killed 30 minutes at a Starbucks and headed to the port around 10:30. We were turned away and told to come back at 11:00. We headed over to the shopping area across from the port and just hung out for a while. We headed back over to the port and were let in to drop off luggage at 10:50. Luggage dropped, parking paid and strolling into the terminal by 11:20. Check in was a piece of cake - no lines, no waiting. We waited in the FTTF area for about 40 minutes and it was time to board the ship!

Once aboard we headed right to our cabin thanks to FTTF. We dropped our carry on, wine, and soda and headed to Guys for lunch. Guys was perfect and hardly any line at this point. We headed over to eat by the Red Frog Rum bar and grabbed a Red's Rum Treasure, which ended up being my favorite drink of the week. After lunch we ran back down to the cabin to unload a few things then we headed off to explore. Our Muster Drill was quick and painless with Dr. E. After the Muster Drill we headed back to the cabin where we found our luggage, so unpacked and hung on the balcony to watch sail away.

We had My Time Dining which overall was OK. We're a party of 2 and were seated quickly each night. We ate early and the line to be seated usually moved quickly. The only night we didn't eat in the MDR was the last night and I'd say 3 out of our 6 nights in the MDR we had great service. The first Elegant night our service was TERRIBLY SLOW as was one other night. One other night service was faster, but service was unorganized (my app came out 10 minutes after my husband, bread came out with entree, my husbands dessert never came out, but mine did). Bar service in the MDR was terrible. We learned this the 2nd night, so just got out drinks at the bar right outside the MDR. We are both over the menu. We've sailed with Carnival the last three years and the menu has not changed at all. It would be nice to have some new options.

We spent a LOT of time on the serenity deck. It is really a great spot and we were traveling without the kiddo, so we really wanted to be without all kiddos. We'd eat breakfast out there each morning and just stay put for the day reading, drinking, taking a dip here and there, and eating. They did a great job of monitoring reserved chairs by tagging them with stickers. We saw a few people ask to have the items removed because the time had expired.

We enjoyed the comedy shows quite a bit. We usually went to the 2nd PG show and most of the adult shows. We had planned to enjoy the Seaside theater, but none of the movies interested us. We did also enjoy the piano bar one night and the Red Frog Pub had live music every night. The Lip Sync Battle on the last night is not to be missed. The Fun Squad really does a great job and Dr. E. is so much fun.

As far as ports, we enjoyed a day at Grand Turk. We walked quite a ways down the beach to find some chairs. We paid $20 for two nice chairs and umbrella and spent the day lounging, people watching, and swimming. Well worth it. When it came time to head back to the ship, I rolled my ankle on a rocky area right in front of Margaritaville and fell. It hurt my ankle quite badly and it was cause for a trip to the medical center. The medical staff was very attentive. The doctor checked it out and determined it was not broken, thankfully. I was given an ankle brace and offered crutches, but given the fact I could put weight on it, I decided not to take the challenge of crutches.

Unfortunately, my ankle was hurting so badly we decided not to get off the ship in Half Moon Cay or Freeport. I was completely disappointed that we missed HMC. I was really looking forward to it. We have another cruise booked that will visit there, but I was crushed that I wasn't going to be able to experience it for the first time on this cruise. We never had plan to get off the ship in Freeport so that wasn't as disappointing. We did enjoy the empty ship at both other ports. The serenity deck was really serene those days until people started boarding. We had the buffet, bars, and pools to ourselves pretty much. The bar staff was great at keeping my ice pack filled for my ankle, too! The ankle was a huge disappointment, but we still managed to make the most of our days.

Our last sea day we ate breakfast in the MRD and the vibration was so bad glasses were constantly being pushed back from the edge of the tables. We attended the Morning Show with Dr. E and Bendy Blake and the Q and Awesome, which was fun. The rest of the say we played trivia and games, packed, ate one last guys burger, hung out on the balcony and just relaxed.

It was a great cruise, even with the ankle injury - I'm still healing!! It fit the bill for what we wanted for our anniversary cruise - easy, convenient, and relaxing.

Any questions, I'll do my best to answer!

We were on the same cruise!!

FYI if you ever go back to Grand Turk, walk to Jack's Shack. The chairs are free and they make the best jerk chicken and cracked conch. plus your far away from the madness at margaritaville.

Sounds like my version of the perfect cruise (except for the ankle)! But that reminds me of my last vacation when I broke a toe! So been there, done that too. Lol

What time were you able to get off the ship on the last day?

What time were you able to get off the ship on the last day?

We were pulling out of the parking lot just before 10:00. We carried our own baggage and had FTTF.

enjoyed reading the review.thanks.

Nice review.

I'm going back on the Pride in 4 weeks.

I LOVE when everyone gets off the ship and it's almost empty!

Hope your ankle is better,,,,:)

Thanks for the review! I hope your ankle is better:)

We are sailing the same week as sgttami and plan a similar cruise as yours.

It's disappointing to hear MDR service is still hit or miss, but good to hear that Serenity at least is monitoring chairs.

I was less than thrilled with the menu last cruise, so maybe this will be the cruise I lose weight on;p

Thanks again for the feedback. I'm glad you had a good time despite injury:cool:

Thanks for the review.