Carnival Pride Review 8/12-8/19

We are trying out various cruise lines with the family to see what fits our vacation style best. We needed a last minute summer vacation with the kids and since we live so close we wanted to try cruising out of Baltimore. The Carnival Pride fit the bill since their pools looked nice and I saw they had some water slides. We knew going in that it was an older ship and not the most exciting out there for kids. This was our first Carnival cruise with kids (9 and 11). With these expectations in mind, we had a great cruise.

Dining

MDR food was great. My husband rated it higher than Disney and I would rate it as just below but better than RC (Anthem). One night we had free steakhouse selections from my husband's casino activity and while it was OK, we were glad we did not spend the extra $20 on it. The Sea Day brunch was great - good variety, good food. Buffet breakfast was OK but crowded as usual - we only did this on port days when the MDR closed early for breakfast. Buffet lunch was below average and there is no kid food - no nuggets, no mac and cheese, no hot dogs, no good fruit selections for the kids, no plain pasta. My kids mostly ate at Guy's burgers for lunch which was very good but if my kids had been 3-6 when they ate less variety it would have been challenging at lunchtime. I enjoyed the tacos as well for lunch most days.

Your time Dining - since we booked late it was Your time or the 8:30 seating so we chose Your Time. The first night we showed up at 5:50 (opens at 5:45) and walked right in. Super fast seating. As the cruise went on it seemed many people were arriving early. We would get here at 5:30 and wait in a long line (long people wise, but it went fast once they started seating people). Dinner was slow, which we expect on cruises but one night we hit 2 hours without yet seeing the dessert menu so we left early that night - most nights we were done within the 2 hours timeframe. For some reason this felt extra long on this cruise - maybe because we have mostly done Disney where there is a lot of entertainment during dinner and RC anytime dining really got you in and out a lot faster so they could seat the next people waiting. The Your Time sections filled up pretty quickly and then everyone after that had to wait for tables and with dinner taking 2 hours, it was little different than the actual 5:30 and 8:30 seatings. If you wanted an 8PM seating maybe it would work out but don't show up at 6:30 and expect a table in less than an hour. Also the 2 hours dinner made it difficult to make activities at 7/7:30PM.

Kids

The kid's clubs were as expected for an older ship not really built for families/kids. My kids did enjoy some of the more structured activities - theme nights, parties, a magic show, specific arts and crafts etc but they often were places other than Camp Ocean, probably due to space constraints (like Circle C, when the teens were elsewhere or Beauties nightclub which both my kids found super boring).

Other family activities my kids enjoyed - karaoke, the Seuss story was fun, Seuss brunch was cute (but not necessary for my kid's ages), PG comedians (the 2 earlier shows are PG), pools, movies at night.

Pools are saltwater which my kids were not thrilled with but it certainly didn't hold them back from using them as much as possible. They were much less crowded on port day afternoons (we would spend a few hours in port then come back on and go right to the pools - except for Freeport day the ship was crowded) and in the evenings. They had lifeguards who did regulate no jumping in and no splashing (bunch of teens). Our room steward left us fresh beach towels each night that ours were used and I often traded in up on deck for fresh ones as well - very easy, no lines, towels are big and soft (much than RC's on the Anthem).

Other

Bar service seemed slow but they were rarely so crowded that it made much of a difference. Overall service was great. Everyone was cheerful and greeted you. Dinner service was slow but did not seem to be the fault of the servers. Some drink servers at dinner were more attentive than others.

We did enjoy the public areas of this ship. The lounges and bars were spacious. There were great ocean views from many of them.

The only show we managed to see was the 80's Pop Show we which we all enjoyed very much. I had read some rather negative reviews on the shows but we were very entertained. I mean it wasn't Broadway nor did it have the production value and $ behind it of the Disney shows but it was certainly worth our time and next time I would go the see the others.

Grand Turk - there was a lot of seaweed in the ocean which was a big turn off for the kids. There was really not much beach to play on for the kids because of the locals setting up numbered chairs in front of the cruise terminal chairs and wanting you to pay for them. We only spent about 30min at the beach before heading up to Margaritaville. The pool there was great but finding a chair where we could see our stuff from the pool was difficult (we did get there later, probably would have been better if we were off the boat earlier and went straight there, or if I had something to secure our cards/$).

HMC - Best sand and ocean we have ever been to, hands down. I could have been in that water all day (except for the fact that I burn super easy). I suggest looking a map etc before getting on the ship. They did not hand them out the night before like I was expecting so we just went to the beach we could see from the tender (very easy, got numbers after breakfast and they called us before we could even sunblock up). Lunch was OK but nothing special, we got it before leaving and should have just eaten back on the ship - nothing special but fine if you are staying all day. Did not see where to rent a clamshell and there is no shade otherwise. Stayed about 2.5 hours which is pretty much the limit for us in the sun.

Slides/Waterworks - the yellow slide was super slow when we tried it and then closed the next day so maybe it wasn't working properly? My husband did the green slide and said it was fun, definite adrenaline rush but knew it was too much for our kids. The kids played a bunch in the waterworks area which was small but had some fun things for them.

Cabin 8K 8165

Deck 8 is right below the Lido deck and we definitely heard some noise throughout the night and early morning. The nights of the deck parties you can hear the bass until about midnight. You can hear the deck chairs being moved around. Now if you are the type that are out late, it would be less disruptive. I would not recommend if you have kids that still need naps or go to bed at 8PM since the noise is disturbing even through a white noise machine. This was not the noisiest room we have been in but it took some getting used to and definitely was not ideal.

The balcony was great and we had reclining chairs thanks to the extra space out there. We enjoyed the extra overhang from Deck 9 that kept us in the shade on sunny days (I know some people complain about this but for us it was a plus).

Bed was very comfortable. It had the newer/slimmer TV. For a family of 4 there was more than enough closet/shelf/drawer/bathroom shelf space for a summer cruise. If the weather were colder it might have been a little tighter with more pants/sweaters etc. I was worried about space for clothes from pics but we had enough space in this cabin. They did leave the bunk beds set up the whole time but that also worked for since it was comfier when the kids wanted some downtime to relax.

It certainly is an older ship and the fabrics/carpet etc are looking worn, but it was comfortable and clean. Only rated poor due to noise and lack of sleep, which is usually the best of my life on a ship.

I do have all my fun times and debarkation info that I will try and scan in and post below.

Thank you for your review. I am going on the Pride in October. Probably my 4th or 5th Pride cruise and I noticed last year it is getting worn down. We love sailing out of Baltimore. I am happy you had a chance to do a quick vacation with your kids. From experience, it all goes so fast so every time you can make a memory it is a treasure.

Thanks for your review.. we cruised on her once before and while the interior is a bit old, we enjoyed it. We'll be on her again in June..after she goes into dry dock so maybe it will be a bit more freshened up.

I think the hot dogs are at the deli now

Thanks for the review! We sail in January and I'd love to see your fun times if you get around to it!

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Good review and I totally dragged my 15 year old to the Suess breakfast in July .... Not the 1st time either lol, likely won't be the last :)

I like to see reviews on Pride.

Was on 3 x this year and going back in 2 weeks.

I really like the ship!

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for the review. Hope to sail on the Pride some day.