Carnival Pride Review- December 10th, 2017

I'm going to try to post day eight of the review before going to bed. I wrote this really quickly, so I apologize if I left something out. Also, the font on here is coming up weird for me, so sorry if the formatting is weird.

Day Eight

So here we are, at the end of our trip. We had received papers telling us two different times for when we had to be out of our room. One said 9:00, and the other said 9:30. We planned on getting up at 7:30, so we could be play it safe and be out of the room around 9:00. We ended up leaving our room a bit after 9:00. We checked the room, and I went with all of our bags out into the hallway while my mom checked everything. We said goodbye to our room steward and tipped him, and slowly made our way to breakfast in the buffet.

One last shot of our (messy) room

We were scheduled to get off the ship at 12:45, since we had luggage tag number 22. We told my dad to get there between 12:00 and 12:15, since he always runs late. As we were getting ready, I noticed that we had slowed down, going to 6 then 2 knots per hour (I think. I need to check my notes). I checked the navigation screen on the TV, and saw that we had come to a complete stop, before 9:00 I think. The self-disembark people were allowed off soon after, over an hour ahead of schedule. I was worried that we’d get off too early, so I called my dad and let him know.

When we were getting on the ship, I had my huge backpack on me, my camera bag looped over my neck one way, and my over-the-should purse on my other side (normally I can get it to fit in my backpack, but that didn’t happen this time). On our way off the ship, I had all of those bags on me, as well as a tote bag in my hand. I also had to carry my thick jacket and my leather jacket. I think I hung one of those over one bag, and the other draped over another bag. My mom just had her little clutch purse, a big tote bag, and her thick jacket. I was able to walk, but not as fast as I normally do.

Eventually, we made it to breakfast. We found a table right away, and condensed our stuff in case somebody wanted to join us. Somebody put their stuff on a chair for a few minutes then left, but we did have another man eat with us for a bit. The buffet was more crowded than normal, but not extremely full. I ate more pastries than normal today, since I love those raspberry ones but I can only find them on cruises now. We ate slowly, and went to the bathroom near the buffet. It only had three stalls, and had a bit of a line. Around 10:15, we got bored of the buffet, and moved to the theater, which I swear was supposed to be an organized waiting room. We passed a bunch of people sitting along the Via Veneto Upper Promenade.In the theater, there were two of the ship’s entertainment staff. They were relaying messages to the passengers. They also had something like America’s Funniest Home Videos showing on some projection screens to the side of the main stage.

In the buffet area by the drinks/desserts

My pastries

My mom's pastries

A window blind in the buffet

A fish in the buffet

Yep, you just eat the whole thing. I put the whole kumquat in my mouth at once, so I didn't see what it looked like inside. They sort of popped in my mouth like a grape, if that makes sense. I liked them.

 

The artwork on ships is all so nice. Thank you! I found the water to taste weird on the ship this trip, so I also probably wasn't drinking enough too.

 

 

 

What did you think of the menorah lighting?

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The hours that the shops were open for the week

Soon after we got settled and found places for all of our bags, the staff up front said that the theater was closing and announcements wouldn’t be made there anymore. Right after that, an announcement came on the PA system asking everybody to leave the theater and go elsewhere. We grabbed all of our bags and moved to the Sunset Gardens area. They were calling the luggage tags numbers by now. My dad had to drop my brother off at work before heading up to Baltimore, and he was on the Beltway now, so he wasn’t too far, but he wasn’t super close yet either.

Looking off the port side of the ship. The ship had docked on her starboard side

We sat and read for a bit. I went to the bathroom again and, before long, our number was called to get off the ship. At 11:38, I texted my dad, saying we were about to get off. At 11:40, he said that Google Maps said he was 36 minutes away. We slowly gathered our things and walked over to the atrium. Fortunately, we were already on deck two, because I don’t know if I would have made it down a flight of stairs with all my bags. A long time ago, maybe when I was 8, we were coming back from a muster drill on a cruise. This was back when you had to wear life jackets to the drill. We were walking down a crowded stairwell, and little me totally wiped out down the stairs. I don’t think I was injured, but I’m definitely still traumatized by the fall.

One last Sunset Gardens shot. It was so pretty in here. I wonder if all of the tiles, like in this picture, were hand painted

Anyway, after one last walk through the atrium, we had our S&S cards scanned one last time, and we were officially done with our vacation, at 11:43. It had snowed the night before, and some of it was still on the ground, welcoming us back. Around 11:47, we got in line to go through customs. Last time we cruised out of Baltimore, there was no line for customs at all. This time, we waited a bit more than 15 minutes, but it felt much longer due to my heavy bags. Going through customs was really easy. We never got a declaration form in the cabin. I had the receipt for our rum and the paper they handed us when we got back on board handy, but nobody asked for it.The agents just looked at our passports, and we were on our way. Nobody asked about alcohol or any other purchases we had made.

Ew, snow. What a great welcome back home

All of the supplies being loaded on the ship. There was more not pictured here. It was an impressive amount

While getting off the ship in Baltimore is relatively quick and painless, I just really don’t like how it works once you get your luggage. The last time we got back in Baltimore on a Royal Caribbean cruise, it was 50 degrees and raining, and my mom had a broken foot. Once we got our bags, we were sort of just deposited at the pick-up waiting area. That was just a little bus shelter. We had to leave our bags out in the rain while we stood under the shelter for like an hour until my dad finally showed up. This trip, it was winter, so we were not expecting to be happy waiting. That’s why we told my dad to come at an earlier time (that didn’t happen). This time, we got our suitcases and I think we were slowly making our way outside, maybe hesitating before dragging the bags, and a port employee told us we had to go. I said we were waiting on a ride, and she said we had to wait outside. That could be fine, if we were in Florida and not Maryland in the winter. There are a ton of seats you pass on the way out, but I just hate how you’re forced outside in Baltimore. It happened to us on both cruise lines, and that’s my main issue with the port.

Anyway, we stopped in the hallway thing right before going outside, in order to put our jackets and gloves and everything on. We went outside at 12:11, and my dad said he was 8 minutes away. We didn’t want to go to the pick-up shelter area, so we stopped on a bench right outside the exit. I actually wasn’t freezing out with my three jackets on, so we settled in with our suitcases, and saw when my dad pulled up. By 12:26, we were pulling out of the parking lot and heading to Little Italy for take-out.

So that’s it for the review! I want to post a summary of my final thoughts of the trip, but if you have any questions, let me know. Thanks for reading!

Great review, thank you. We sail in 22 days...

Thanks! Enjoy your trip!

Loved the menorah lighting. And going again this coming December

 

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That's good, I hope you enjoy that trip just as much as this one!

No more declaration forms in Baltimore! Makes it easier for everyone

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Thanks for the detailed review.

Your disembarkation experience was a lot quicker than mine and gives me hope for my November sailing!

No more declaration forms in Baltimore! Makes it easier for everyone

 

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It definitely does!

Thanks for the detailed review.

Your disembarkation experience was a lot quicker than mine and gives me hope for my November sailing!

Yes, like I said, it just seemed to take longer than it did. Based on when I texted my dad, we were only in line for about 15 minutes. I hope your trip goes smoothly!

Thank you for posting all the wonderful pictures of your cruise. We are also in room 4150 sailing on April 1st! :)

So here's my conclusion that's probably too long. It's just my final thoughts on everything, so you can skip it if you don't care.

Conclusion

Embarkation

Embarkation took forever. It was due to a variety of different factors. I don’t know if there was anything that could have been changed to help, except maybe us getting our room number earlier. If free water/drinks/snacks had been readily available, that may have made it better. The port staff worked as quickly as they could, given the circumstances.

Food

For the most part, the food was great. There were a couple of dishes that we weren’t impressed with, but it’s a cruise, so it’s not like we went hungry. We were super impressed with Blue Iguana Cantina. The tea time was a nice touch too. I actually never had lunch from the buffet, expect for one spring roll and a bunch of desserts. I had a sandwich from the deli that was really good. My mom enjoyed the pizza that she had. Brunch in the MDR didn’t do much for me, but my mom liked it. I liked my breakfast pastries in the buffet. The chocolate muffins are reason enough for us to cruise with Carnival again. The chocolate buffet was good too. While I wasn’t always thrilled with the food options in the MDR for dinner, I always found something to eat. We never waited too long for a table with YTD, expect for one night where our pager got messed up. We received great service each night in the MDR. We always had a table for two, and the service was always pretty quick. We had different wait staff on two nights, but then requested the same staff from the first night for the other nights. On RCCL, I like how you can make reservations for each night in the MDR, and they automatically try to seat you with the same wait staff each night. Those differences aren’t something that would deter us from sailing with Carnival again. The waiter we had the most nights, Vladimir, was adorable. All of the wait staff went above and beyond to help make sure that we were satisfied. My mom said that this was the best food overall she had had on a cruise in at least ten years.

Service

The service we received everywhere was great. We never had to go to guest services. My mom made friends with the woman who worked in Cherry on Top, and the other shop employees were really nice as well. I assume the service that my mom received whenever she went to any bars was good.

Cabin (4150)

The stateroom was a lot better than when expected that we would get when we booked an inside guarantee. It was bigger than the inside stateroom we had on Carnival Victory, and we had more than enough storage. I always bring my over-the-door-shoe organizer, with plans to split the space with my mom, but she never ends up using it. That happened again, so at least I had space for all of my little things. I didn’t bang any elbows in the bathroom, and the shower temperature was fine once I figured out how to work it. I think I couldn’t get the shower head to go high enough and stay at the right angle, so I had to step back closer to the wall than I would have preferred. I’m also 5’11”, so that wouldn’t be a problem for most people. We did hear the people in the room next to us on a couple of nights. I could also hear music when I was in the bathroom sometimes. I don’t know if it came from another cabin or a public area, but we could only hear it in the bathroom occasionally, so it wasn’t a problem. Even though there was basically no view from the French doors, it was still nice to have a bit of sunlight and fresh air when we needed it. The cabin could sleep four, probably comfortably, but the storage might be a bit tight. I lied down on the couch once, and I sort of hung off when I laid perfectly straight, so it might not fit a taller person. The cabin did have an old box TV, but I’ve heard that the stateroom that have the newer TVs are pretty random. We both thought that the beds were comfortable. Our room steward brought us ice each day, and we got a daily towel animal. We always saw him in the hall. He and all the other room stewards we walked by were always friendly. The fridge in the room kept my water bottles reasonably cold. The 12 pack of bottles I had pre-ordered were waiting in the room when we got there. We had no complaints with the room.

Entertainment

I didn’t go to many of the shows, but I liked the ones that I went to. The sound was just a bit too loud for me. I have earplugs that are moderately good quality, since I go to a lot of concerts, and I started carrying those around. I noticed that the vocals could have been turned up a bit more during one of the shows, but I was also wearing the earplugs. I really liked the comedy shows, but I wished that the lounge they were held in was bigger. I’m not much for organized activities on ships, but the ones I did go to were entertaining. Saffie, our cruise director, seemed nice. We just passed by her walking around, but she always looked put together and she was entertaining when she was on stage.

Casino

I forgot to mention this during the review, but I want to say something quick about the casino. We only walked through the casino I think twice. It wasn’t too smoky. Neither of us are gamblers, so we didn’t spend anytime here. At one point, we did find a penny slot machine. We had never tried gambling on a ship, and didn’t know what to do. We put my S&S card in the machine. It definitely read my card, since my name popped up, but we pressed a button and nothing happened. We took my card out and left. That was our experience with the casino on the trip.

Wi-Fi

I had pre-ordered the Wi-Fi package before getting on the ship, for about $71 for the Value package. As soon as I got on board, I was able to sign in to the Wi-Fi via the HUB app. I just had to enter I think my birthday and my folio number each time I wanted to log on. I would log on a couple of times a day on my laptop, so I had to log out from my phone each time I wanted to do that. I was able to get most sites to load well enough. I don’t think I had any problems messaging from Twitter, Facebook, or WhatsApp. I tried a couple of times to call my dad or brother via WhatsApp. I heard my brother say “hello” but then the call would drop before he could hear us say anything. I don't know if I wasn't supposed to make any voice calls, but at least I tried. The HUB app was pretty nice, since I could see the dinner menus a couple of days in advance for the MDR, see what was open, find out what was going on, and look a tour charge account. The charges would show up almost immediately after the card was scanned. I noticed that we were overcharged at the arcade one day, but it was fixed automatically. When we were sitting in the theater on the last day, my mom was kicked out of the app, since the cruise was over. Probably like half an hour later, I was kicked out of the app. I think I was able to use the Wi-Fi up until that point, but I’m not sure if I wasn’t able to use the Wi-Fi after that. My laptop is old and the Wi-Fi connectivity is basically shot on it, even with an adapter, so the Wi-Fi didn’t work all the time in my room on my laptop. I opened the door a couple of times and stood with my laptop near the hallway, and that helped. During breakfast the last few days, I took my laptop with us to the buffet. I sat at a booth right next to the deli area, because I noticed that there was a Wi-Fi router right there. That definitely helped. While the Wi-Fi obviously isn’t as good as what I can find on land, it wasn’t that bad.

Ports

Princess Cays was pretty nice. It’s a private island, so as long as the weather’s nice, there’s not much to complain about. The tender boat ride over to the island was pretty rough, but nothing too bad. We never do much in Nassau, but the shops right off the ship always give us something nice to look at. We had never been to Freeport before, but we found more than enough to do right off the ship. If you took an excursion, I’m sure there’d be even more to do. When we booked the cruise, we weren’t that excited about any of the ports, but I think we would definitely do this itinerary again.

The Ship

The ship was nice overall. Though she is a bit old, we had no problems with her. I actually prefer an older ship like this compared to a newer one. We didn’t notice any signs of age. They did do maintenance on the AC that one day, but we had no big issues with that. Like I mentioned, our room had the big box TV, and that was really the only thing I saw that dated the ship. I really liked the layout of the ship, and how you could get from one end of the ship to the other without having to go up or down a deck.

Disembarkation

Disembarkation is always really quick in Baltimore, at least for us. The line for customers only took about 15 minutes, and we didn’t have to declare our alcohol or anything. The agents just checked passports. I just hate disembarkation when the weather isn’t perfect, because they do kick you out of the cruise terminal and force you to wait in the cold. I feel like a lot of people live locally for cruises out of Baltimore, so they may get dropped off, so a better pick-up waiting area would be very nice.

Overall

We definitely had fun on this trip. It was really nice for something we booked something last minute. It was cold when we were leaving and coming back to Baltimore, but it wasn’t that bad for too long. We would have to think and weigh the pros and cons before booking another winter cruise out of Baltimore. We do like sailing out of a port so close to us, though I hate how they force us outside during disembarkation. While we haven’t cruise Carnival that much over the years, we would definitely book with them again. We would also consider doing the same itinerary, if the price and dates were right. There were no major issues on our trip. Overall, we enjoyed the cruise and had a lot of fun. Except for very minor stuff, I can’t think of anything that really could have been fixed.

So that’s about it for my trip. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you want me to post pictures of anything specific. Thanks so much for sticking with the review over the past couple of weeks!

Thank you for posting all the wonderful pictures of your cruise. We are also in room 4150 sailing on April 1st! :)

I hope you enjoy your trip!

Enjoyed your review and your photos! We are going on our second cruise on the Pride in a couple of months - can't wait. Here's a request: can you post a photo of you and your mom just so we can put faces to your story? Thanks!

Enjoyed your review and your photos! We are going on our second cruise on the Pride in a couple of months - can't wait. Here's a request: can you post a photo of you and your mom just so we can put faces to your story? Thanks!

Thanks! Enjoy your trip! I only have a couple of pictures of my mom from this trip, since I generally don't take people pictures, and almost no pictures of me exist, but I can try to find a couple for you if you really want me to.

That's OK, I just thought you might have a photo from the ship's photographer possibly taken on elegant night or some other time. Thank you for your detailed review . . . we have the same type cabin booked and it was nice to get details.

That's OK, I just thought you might have a photo from the ship's photographer possibly taken on elegant night or some other time. Thank you for your detailed review . . . we have the same type cabin booked and it was nice to get details.

Oh no, I haven't had a ship's photographer take a picture of me in years. My mom had two taken of her this trip, one of which we couldn't find and the other we forgot to go back and consider buying. Have fun on your trip! If you need more pictures of the room, I definitely have those.

Thanks for sharing your trip with your mom. I enjoyed reading your review and the pictures were very nice.

Thanks for sharing your trip with your mom. I enjoyed reading your review and the pictures were very nice.

Thank you!

Great review! Hope you’re enjoying adult life at your new job!

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