Carnival Pride review, Sep 3-10, 2017

Sep 3-10-2017: This was the 5th cruise on the Carnival Pride for the DWand I. We wanted to give a quick review,so here goes:

We arrived at the port at 10:30am by way of a hotel shuttle(Best Western Elkridge Md.) and quickly learned that the doors would not openuntil noon, so a bit of a wait. Whilewaiting in line, a family arrived that appeared to be mother, father,grandfather, younger son, older son (adult) and another couple. The older son soon after arrival made hispresence known by having a very loud argument with the Grandfather andfather. At one point he yelled that itwas their fault he was there and if they pi**ed him off again he would justjump overboard and swim with the sharks. It appeared that he may have some sort of mental disorder/issue (more onthis person later).

Once the doors were opened the line was pretty long butmoved fairly quickly. We were walkingaboard ship by 1:15pm.

Once aboard, we went to our cabin, 4241 aft facing, and weretold that the rooms were still not ready however we dropped off our carryonstuff and left. We returned to the roomabout 2:15pm. Once inside we beganunpacking our carryon stuff and realized that the refrigerator was filled withthree plastic bags of food; one had breakfast type pastries, another milk andyogurt cartons and the other, well we believe it was food but it was impossibleto determine exactly what it was. Wetook it all out and found a room steward to give it to. It was obvious that the room had not been“cleaned” thoroughly. Luggage arrivednot to long after and we put everything away and went for muster.

After returning to the room we went out onto the balcony toenjoy sail away and realized that the balcony was in dire need of scrapping andpainting and that at some point someone had varnished the railing and drippedvarnish all over the balcony glass and didn’t bother to clean it up. A sure sign of poor workmanship andlaziness. At first I actually thoughtsomeone had spit tobacco all over the glass but no it was varnish. The balcony deck was stained and dirty andthe rust was plentiful. Our room stewardcame by mid morning the next day and introduced himself and stated that we hadto choose either morning or evening room service. We chose morning and requested that he atleast stop by each evening and fill the ice bucket. Each evening of the cruise we filled glassesin the buffet, with ice, and took to the cabin. Room steward never came by at night. By far, not the best room steward.

This cruise was suppose to have two sea days before arrivingat Grand Turk but during muster it was announced that because of hurricaneIrma, the first stop would be at Charleston South Carolina. Not exactly a Caribbean cruise if you don’tgo anywhere near the Caribbean but understandable due to weather. We were also informed that we would leaveCharleston and depending on weather attempt to make Freeport and Nassau. We did indeed make both ports with Freeportbeing Freeport and Nassau being Nassau boarded up. So the question to Customer Service was;since we didn’t make it to Grand Turk, therefore saving all that fuel, wouldthere be a refund of the cruise fare? The answer was, “we don’t know”. Well final bill had no refund, so.

Impression of the ship is that it is old, tired and in needof some tender loving care. Furnishingare the same as when we first sailed on her five years ago. The sofa in our cabin had stains and marks onit, desk/counter was chipped and switches on the lamps next to each side of thebed did not work, lights on desk/counter only worked on one side of the mirror,the small table did not work (was suppose to have a lever to raise and lowerit, no lever) and the mattress needs to be replaced.

One good thing was that we found the food in the buffetbetter than it has ever been. And thesalad bar was exceptional. Delisandwiches were very good as was the pizza and Guy’s Burger. The “soft serve”, well, if you are as old asI am you will remember when your parents couldn’t afford “real” ice cream andwould come home with “ice milk”. Prettymuch the same.

The crew was very friendly. We had planned on going to the production show, twice, but both times itwas announced that the lead performer was “under the weather” and therefore theshows were cancelled. Saw one comedianwho played to about 30 people and it just wasn’t very good.

One other thing that the DW and I were somewhat upset aboutwas the young man I mentioned in the beginning. As I said before, this young man appeared to have some type of mentaldisorder and during this cruise, day and night, would walk around the shipyelling and screaming at “someone” who wasn’t there. He would hit himself in the chest, place hishands around his neck as though someone was choking him, while screaming hewould throw air punches. Several timeshe would be walking up behind elderly women and just start yelling at thisphantom person, scaring these ladies. You could be in one part of the buffet and hear him coming from the farend of the buffet. We wondered where hisfamily members were and why they weren’t with him. They were never seen with him. Twice Security officers were seen followinghim but never once approached him and apparently did not confront his family. It was a real shame and the family should beashamed of themselves for not having any consideration for other passengers (mypersonal opinion). The cabin next to uswas occupied by at least one person who was not able to understand all thewritten and spoken rules and warnings about smoking in cabins and onbalconies. I just don’t understand whypeople believe that the “safety” rules don’t apply to them. I don’t care if you smoke one right after theother, or for that matter if you get drunk every day, but you don’t have theright to put me and my family in danger to satisfy your addiction. Hence forth, will be going right tosecurity.

All in all, it was a cruise; was it the worst we’ve had, no;but it wasn’t that great either. Thoughwe like the convenience of traveling to Baltimore, 3.5 hours away, we won’t bedoing it again until Carnival either rehabs the Pride and or is able to getother ships into the port (one port employee told us that the port was beingdredged to allow for other ships, another port employee told us that was nothappening).

Thanks for the review. We're on the Pride for our honeymoon so I hope it will be fun.

Thanks for the review. We're on the Pride for our honeymoon so I hope it will be fun.

Honeymoon and Cruise, sounds great!!!

So sad to hear the Pride is in disrepair and the lack of quality control.

The Pride used to be a really nice ship to sail on.

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So sad to hear the Pride is in disrepair and the lack of quality control.

The Pride used to be a really nice ship to sail on.

 

 

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Agree and that is why we have gone back 5 times but, it is just time for Carnival to spread the love over to the Pride!

We were also on the Pride for this cruise. We were not informed of the itinerary change until the muster drill was completed. No emails, no phone calls, nothing prior to boarding. Just an announcement from the captain about 20 minutes before the ship pulled away from port. We arrived in Charleston and I witnessed numbers of people carrying luggage off the ship. Later, we were informed by other passengers that Carnival was giving full refunds if you decided to leave the ship in Charleston. There was no announcement about this, and no communication from Carnival that this was even an option. Apparently you had to show up at guest services and request a refund before they made you aware of it.

We arrived in Freeport 4 hours late due to ocean currents, which put us there at 4pm. Anyone who's been to Freeport knows that this is a terrible time to arrive, as there is really nothing to do at the port itself. Also, most of the shops were closed in town, as were the beaches. So about every excursion was canceled. The only thing open was the port shops and restaurants.

The ship made it to Nassau on time, but the city was a ghost town. The public beaches were closed and all of the shops closed at noon due to storm preparation. Again, many excursions had to be canceled. So three ports of call in a row (Not much to do in Charleston) where there was basically no activities to enjoy off the ship besides walking around. The ship headed back to Baltimore quickly due to heavy seas from Irma, so we spent our last sea day cruising up Chesapeake Bay at 4 knots.

On our bill, we did receive about $22 in refunds from Port taxes and fees, but there was nothing else. I inquired about any refunds or future cruise discounts at guest services and was told that due to these changes being made because of weather, there would be none and that I should have gotten off the ship in Charleston if I wanted a refund (again, this wasn't communicated to the passengers as an option). I think this is pretty ridiculous considering the cruise currently on the way to Canada was given the option of a 100% refund if you decided to cancel or a partial credit towards a future cruise if you wished to keep the cruise, and the itinerary change to Canada was made because of weather. Not to mention the 4 days of notice to make a decision versus those of us on the Pride last week getting about a 20 minute notice.

I understand the complexity of making decisions because of hurricanes. Also, Carnival should be commended for keeping the crews and passengers safe in these situations. However, I feel they should be consistent in the decision making regarding refunds and credits. Yes, we made the decision to cruise during hurricane season. Unfortunately for some, vacations can't be scheduled in the most perfect time of the year because of work, family availability, etc.

We were also on the Pride for this cruise. We were not informed of the itinerary change until the muster drill was completed. No emails, no phone calls, nothing prior to boarding. Just an announcement from the captain about 20 minutes before the ship pulled away from port. We arrived in Charleston and I witnessed numbers of people carrying luggage off the ship. Later, we were informed by other passengers that Carnival was giving full refunds if you decided to leave the ship in Charleston. There was no announcement about this, and no communication from Carnival that this was even an option. Apparently you had to show up at guest services and request a refund before they made you aware of it.

 

We arrived in Freeport 4 hours late due to ocean currents, which put us there at 4pm. Anyone who's been to Freeport knows that this is a terrible time to arrive, as there is really nothing to do at the port itself. Also, most of the shops were closed in town, as were the beaches. So about every excursion was canceled. The only thing open was the port shops and restaurants.

 

The ship made it to Nassau on time, but the city was a ghost town. The public beaches were closed and all of the shops closed at noon due to storm preparation. Again, many excursions had to be canceled. So three ports of call in a row (Not much to do in Charleston) where there was basically no activities to enjoy off the ship besides walking around. The ship headed back to Baltimore quickly due to heavy seas from Irma, so we spent our last sea day cruising up Chesapeake Bay at 4 knots.

 

On our bill, we did receive about $22 in refunds from Port taxes and fees, but there was nothing else. I inquired about any refunds or future cruise discounts at guest services and was told that due to these changes being made because of weather, there would be none and that I should have gotten off the ship in Charleston if I wanted a refund (again, this wasn't communicated to the passengers as an option). I think this is pretty ridiculous considering the cruise currently on the way to Canada was given the option of a 100% refund if you decided to cancel or a partial credit towards a future cruise if you wished to keep the cruise, and the itinerary change to Canada was made because of weather. Not to mention the 4 days of notice to make a decision versus those of us on the Pride last week getting about a 20 minute notice.

 

I understand the complexity of making decisions because of hurricanes. Also, Carnival should be commended for keeping the crews and passengers safe in these situations. However, I feel they should be consistent in the decision making regarding refunds and credits. Yes, we made the decision to cruise during hurricane season. Unfortunately for some, vacations can't be scheduled in the most perfect time of the year because of work, family availability, etc.

DaveG32; WOW! We were told at customer service on Monday that Carnival would make a decision about refunds on Friday, nothing was said about getting off the ship and getting a refund, NOTHING!!! The refund that shows on the bill was due to a reduction in port fees and charges that was known "before" the cruise ever departed. I know this because we get our bill every day and Sunday night when checking to see that our OBC was on the account, noticed the reduction. I am going to prepare a letter to Carnival and request a full refund for our cruise because had we been so informed of the option to get off the ship, we would have done so. We paid to go to Grand Turk and although Charleston is a nice town it wasn't Grand Turk and taking us to boarded up Freeport and Nassau was also a bad decision.

We arrived in Charleston and I witnessed numbers of people carrying luggage off the ship. Later, we were informed by other passengers that Carnival was giving full refunds if you decided to leave the ship in Charleston. There was no announcement about this, and no communication from Carnival that this was even an option. Apparently you had to show up at guest services and request a refund before they made you aware of it.

I'm assuming this was in the first 24 hours. These folks were probably invoking the vacation guarantee which is available to everyone.

From Carnival;

"The Carnival Great Vacation Guarantee™ is the greatest guarantee you’ll never need to use. If you’re not happy with any 3–14 day Carnival vacation you take to The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Mexican Riviera, Bermuda, Canada/New England or Alaska, just let us know within 24 hours of your departure. We’ll refund 110% of your fare and our Guest Services will get you back to your home, free of charge. With no hassles and no questions asked."

I'm assuming this was in the first 24 hours. These folks were probably invoking the vacation guarantee which is available to everyone.

 

From Carnival;

 

"The Carnival Great Vacation Guarantee™ is the greatest guarantee you’ll never need to use. If you’re not happy with any 3–14 day Carnival vacation you take to The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Mexican Riviera, Bermuda, Canada/New England or Alaska, just let us know within 24 hours of your departure. We’ll refund 110% of your fare and our Guest Services will get you back to your home, free of charge. With no hassles and no questions asked."

The ship rumor was (since as someone said, communication outside of the entertainment team was non-existent) that they were only offering a 5 day refund, and you had to get yourself home...even though they had this guarantee. No confirmation of this, other than a few guests who didn't take that offer, since as someone mentioned, all week guest services said that corporate would be deciding on compensation for those on board...and then no decision was made b/c they were all in the hurricane (funny that) - final word was "you'll get an email", so if anyone does, please post...no idea if people fought for and got the actual guarantee or figured they would off the ship once they spent more time complaining...

I'm assuming this was in the first 24 hours. These folks were probably invoking the vacation guarantee which is available to everyone.

 

From Carnival;

 

"The Carnival Great Vacation Guarantee™ is the greatest guarantee you’ll never need to use. If you’re not happy with any 3–14 day Carnival vacation you take to The Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Mexican Riviera, Bermuda, Canada/New England or Alaska, just let us know within 24 hours of your departure. We’ll refund 110% of your fare and our Guest Services will get you back to your home, free of charge. With no hassles and no questions asked."

We were on this cruise also, and I thought the same about the vacation guarantee, I'm not believing full refunds were being given out. Though not the best, we were provided a full 7 day cruise. Some compensation would be nice, but I'm not fretting over it. We were in Charleston on Tuesday, well beyond 24 hours.

Carnival's complete lack of communication is my biggest issue with this cruise. There were several instances of people calling Carnival 24-48 hours prior to sailing and was told no decision had been made, but if we were inside 24 hours and nothing was said, the original itinerary was going to be followed. So then they wait until everyone boards the ship and minutes before the ship pulls away, the captan finally says we are changing to different ports of call.

Then you get the fiasco of people getting refunds and allowed to disenbark in Charleston, and again Carnival not announcing this option but instead only making it available if someone asks. Following all of this is announcing our arrival to Freeport will be delayed 4 hours, and this announcement comes 30 minutes prior to the original arrival time. We had no business stopping in Freeport and Nassau, especially when these folks are trying to prepare for a hurricane and 90% of the tourist activities around these Islands were closed. It's one thing to try and make the port of call, but it's another to intrude on locals when they are trying to prepare for a disaster.

I doubt we see a refund of any type, but I think we are at least owed the 25% future cruise credit.

Carnival's complete lack of communication is my biggest issue with this cruise. There were several instances of people calling Carnival 24-48 hours prior to sailing and was told no decision had been made, but if we were inside 24 hours and nothing was said, the original itinerary was going to be followed. So then they wait until everyone boards the ship and minutes before the ship pulls away, the captan finally says we are changing to different ports of call.

 

Then you get the fiasco of people getting refunds and allowed to disenbark in Charleston, and again Carnival not announcing this option but instead only making it available if someone asks. Following all of this is announcing our arrival to Freeport will be delayed 4 hours, and this announcement comes 30 minutes prior to the original arrival time. We had no business stopping in Freeport and Nassau, especially when these folks are trying to prepare for a hurricane and 90% of the tourist activities around these Islands were closed. It's one thing to try and make the port of call, but it's another to intrude on locals when they are trying to prepare for a disaster.

 

I doubt we see a refund of any type, but I think we are at least owed the 25% future cruise credit.

Where is the solid proof people were given refunds, bigger question is why? We were provided a full 7 days cruise. I've not heard everything cruise related, but can't recall people being issued full refunds for a full 7 day cruise, again, whether the planned or modified itinerary. The people who had booked the Pride for this week are not being given full refunds for a 100% changed itinerary.

Having been to all of the ports that were planned last week multiple times, missing them was not a huge issue for us, we more or less were prepared for changes, though I agree, some form of compensation could be a decent gesture on their part.

Word was traveling across the ship about the refunds being issued for folks leaving in Charleston. Did I actually go to guest services and ask at the time? No, because for the time being, I assumed we were going to an open and functioning Freeport and Nassau. I've been to both of these ports more times than I'd like to count, but that doesn't mean I'm ok with paying the same amount for a Charleston, Freeport and Nassau itinerary versus Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport.

I did have a rep at guest services tell me on Saturday that If I wanted a refund, I should have left the ship while in Charleston. That is more confirmation to me personally that refunds were given. It may have not been 100%, but that was a rumor going around the ship.

Regarding the folks on the current cruise getting a refund, the news straight up said that if someone chose to cancel, they would get a full refund towards a future cruise at Carnival. If they kept the cruise, they would get a 25% credit towards a future booking.

Where is the solid proof people were given refunds, bigger question is why? We were provided a full 7 days cruise. I've not heard everything cruise related, but can't recall people being issued full refunds for a full 7 day cruise, again, whether the planned or modified itinerary. The people who had booked the Pride for this week are not being given full refunds for a 100% changed itinerary.

 

Having been to all of the ports that were planned last week multiple times, missing them was not a huge issue for us, we more or less were prepared for changes, though I agree, some form of compensation could be a decent gesture on their part.

First let me say that I am really glad that you enjoyed your cruise however, I for one, paid for a trip to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport; I received a trip to Charleston South Carolina, empty streets of Freeport and Nassau so therefore I did not get what I paid for; secondly, had the ship advised that because they could not provide passengers what they had paid for, they could depart the ship and receive a full refund, we would have accepted that option and re-booked for a later date. Did we cruise for 7 days, yes, did we get what we paid for, no.

Word was traveling across the ship about the refunds being issued for folks leaving in Charleston. Did I actually go to guest services and ask at the time? No, because for the time being, I assumed we were going to an open and functioning Freeport and Nassau. I've been to both of these ports more times than I'd like to count, but that doesn't mean I'm ok with paying the same amount for a Charleston, Freeport and Nassau itinerary versus Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport.

 

I did have a rep at guest services tell me on Saturday that If I wanted a refund, I should have left the ship while in Charleston. That is more confirmation to me personally that refunds were given. It may have not been 100%, but that was a rumor going around the ship.

 

Regarding the folks on the current cruise getting a refund, the news straight up said that if someone chose to cancel, they would get a full refund towards a future cruise at Carnival. If they kept the cruise, they would get a 25% credit towards a future cruise.

Well, in the face of all of this turmoil and unrest, the group of 8 I sailed with missed that rumor, but was that a true refund offered, or like this week, a credit for another cruise big difference in the 2.

I've prepared and sent a letter to Customer Care via an email address: guestcaremod@carnival.com

We'll see what they say.

I've prepared and sent a letter to Customer Care via an email address: guestcaremod@carnival.com

We'll see what they say.

I have also sent one, detailing both specific issues I had and the more general ones everyone had.

Thanks for the review and sorry that your cruise was affected by Irma.

Thanks for the review. We're on the Pride for our honeymoon so I hope it will be fun.

Ken Byrne, maitre'd, usually entertains during evening meals in the MDR.

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The guarantee sounds pretty clear that if anyone is unhappy with the cruise in the first 24 hours they have the right to invoke the guarantee, can't imagine how they can tell you no.

I don't know for sure about getting a full refund for an itinerary change since the cruise contract clearly states they don't guarantee it and can change the itinerary at their discretion. I guess you can ask but I wouldn't expect it to happen. Good luck though.

The guarantee sounds pretty clear that if anyone is unhappy with the cruise in the first 24 hours they have the right to invoke the guarantee, can't imagine how they can tell you no.

 

I don't know for sure about getting a full refund for an itinerary change since the cruise contract clearly states they don't guarantee it and can change the itinerary at their discretion. I guess you can ask but I wouldn't expect it to happen. Good luck though.

I do understand about changes in itinerary, especially due to weather however, in this case the weather was there before we left and the changes could have been to someplace other than Charleston, and a boarded up Freeport and Nassau. They gave that choice to the next cruise in plenty of time for them to decide what they wanted to do.

I do understand about changes in itinerary, especially due to weather however, in this case the weather was there before we left and the changes could have been to someplace other than Charleston, and a boarded up Freeport and Nassau. They gave that choice to the next cruise in plenty of time for them to decide what they wanted to do.

Exactly and I think this is the point that continues to be missed here. It's not as if we were given different ports of call that were open, and had excursions where you could really enjoy yourself off the ship. Both Freeport and Nassau were preparing for a hurricane, so nothing was really open. Not to mention, we felt extremely guilty even trying to have a good time while observing locals all around us pounding nails into plywood and stacking sandbags.

Thanks for the review.

I do understand about changes in itinerary, especially due to weather however, in this case the weather was there before we left and the changes could have been to someplace other than Charleston, and a boarded up Freeport and Nassau. They gave that choice to the next cruise in plenty of time for them to decide what they wanted to do.

Exactly and I think this is the point that continues to be missed here. It's not as if we were given different ports of call that were open, and had excursions where you could really enjoy yourself off the ship. Both Freeport and Nassau were preparing for a hurricane, so nothing was really open. Not to mention, we felt extremely guilty even trying to have a good time while observing locals all around us pounding nails into plywood and stacking sandbags.

Especially after learning that the next cruise was given 4 days notice of their itinerary change and options: continue with cruise and receive 25% off a future cruise or cancel and get 100% refund.

Hi gang,

I was also on this cruise. Thank you for the Guest Care email address. I'm definitely writing. With 177 days of Carnival sailings, I'm so perturbed about the way this cruise was handled that I may not make it to Diamond (200 nights).

Weather issues and itinerary changes are understandable; the way it was handled by Carnival was not.