Carnival Pride September 3rd 2017- Family Cruise - Our First Time on The Pride.

Hello All!

Obviously we have not sailed yet, but this is my first time writing a review so I wanted to get it set up and figure out how to post photos and such. Since we booked this cruise back in April, I have become obsessed with reading reviews of Pride cruises. So I am eager to contribute my own.

We set sail on Sunday, September 3rd out of Baltimore. Hoping all this hurricane and tropical storm activity does not affect our itinerary, but if it does, we'll roll with the punches and just be glad we are on vacation. I will post an intro shortly... And then you'll have to wait until we return on the 10th to see how our trip went!

INTRODUCTION

To start, I'm Amber. 30-something, wife to Steven, mother to Xander. We live in Newark, DE, little over an hour from the port of Baltimore. I'm the administrative assistant for a local real estate company. I'm as normal as they come. Pretty boring really. My life revolves around being a good wife and mother, which I can proudly say I am. I'm originally from the Louisville, KY area and have only been on the East Coast for about 4 years. I like it here, but Kentucky will always be home. This will be my 4th cruise, so I am no where near a pro, but I have a good idea of what to expect. I have been researching the Pride and our Ports of Call extensively, so I feel like I know the ship like the back of my hand, even though I have never stepped foot on her. Looking forward to see if she lives up to all the hype. I'm pretty laid back and am not bothered by much, so I expect I'll have a fabulous time.

My husband is Steven. Also 30-something, father to Xander, and works in the IT field. He has been very hands off when it comes to the planning, and only this week asked me where we were actually going. He's just along for the ride. Also pretty normal and boring... Although pretty laidback, he's a little more reactive to things than I am. This will be his second cruise.

Our son, Xander, is 4 years old and full of life, love, and personality. He will probably make friends with everyone on the ship. He is most excited about "kids camp", water slides, and ice cream.

We will also be traveling with my In-Laws. This will be the first cruise for both of them! They will be coming all the way from Texas.

We've been talking about this cruise for quite some time. My husband and I took a cruise for our honeymoon in October 2012. Even though that trip was a bit bumpy and extended due to Hurricane Sandy, we enjoyed it so much we said we would go on another cruise for our 5-year anniversary and invite our families to join us. So here we are 5 years later and about to set sail. Unfortunately my family was not able to join us, but we are happy to have Steven's mom and step-dad in tow.

I shall continue this review after we return from an amazing vacation. BTW, our ports of call will include Grand Turk, HMC, & Freeport.

Hello All!

Obviously we have not sailed yet, but this is my first time writing a review so I wanted to get it set up and figure out how to post photos and such. Since we booked this cruise back in April, I have become obsessed with reading reviews of Pride cruises. So I am eager to contribute my own.

 

We set sail on Sunday, September 3rd out of Baltimore. Hoping all this hurricane and tropical storm activity does not affect our itinerary, but if it does, we'll roll with the punches and just be glad we are on vacation. I will post an intro shortly... And then you'll have to wait until we return on the 10th to see how our trip went!

We're on this sailing also, 6th time on Pride. The current systems, Harvey et. al should not have much if any impact on our sailing out on Sunday and down the Bay. However, and not to be a donnie downer at all, Tropical Storm Irma has formed out in the Atlantic. So far it's tracking south west towards south america but of course could change. Regardless, if we saw any impact at all, it would be closer to the end of next weeks sailing. We're not concerned, have the same attitude of we'll roll with it...make better use of the Cheers package and cruise on!! But better to be aware I think.

We're on this sailing also, 6th time on Pride. The current systems, Harvey et. al should not have much if any impact on our sailing out on Sunday and down the Bay. However, and not to be a donnie downer at all, Tropical Storm Irma has formed out in the Atlantic. So far it's tracking south west towards south america but of course could change. Regardless, if we saw any impact at all, it would be closer to the end of next weeks sailing. We're not concerned, have the same attitude of we'll roll with it...make better use of the Cheers package and cruise on!! But better to be aware I think.

Yes, I'm keeping an eye on Irma, but fingers crossed she doesn't affect us! Enjoy your cruise!

Hi Amber! Happy cruising, and a very safe return! I will be on the Pride in December! It will be my 3rd time on this ship! I'm also from Delaware! Looking forward to reading about cruise once you get back!

September 3rd, 2017. Embarkation Day!

I should start by saying I planned on taking a ton of photos to share on this review. But as it turned out I was so busy enjoying my cruise, I often forgot to take photos, or took them after I already started eating, etc. I purposely did not take a lot of photos of the ship, as I feel there are plenty of those out there to see. But you will see a lot of food photos and activity photos.

We left the house at 8:30 and headed to breakfast before making the drive to Baltimore. I had planned to be at the port by 11:30. We are from Newark, DE, just about an hour from the port so we had plenty of time. Breakfast ended and we ran to the drug store for a couple last minute items before hitting the road around 10 am.

It was a quick and easy drive. No traffic, and we even made a pit stop at the Chesapeake House rest area. I believe when we pulled into the parking lot at port it was 11:12. We were able to enter the lot right away, headed over to unload luggage and then entered the line to pay for parking, which was very short. We were standing in line waiting to check in right at 11:30. I should mention we had a 12:30 check-in time and did not purchase FTTF.

The line was pretty long, but didn't seem to bad. It extended out to the corner of the building. I noticed several people (including ourselves) were confused about which line to enter, since there was no signage that far out. Turns out the line on the left side was for priority. Anyway, this line ended up taking a whole 3 hours to get through. We boarded the ship right around 2:30. Once in the atrium, we made our reservation for the Dr. Suess Breakfast and then headed right up to Lido to find food. It was understandable crowded and finding a seat was difficult. I explained to my in-laws who were first time cruisers that this would not always be the case. My husband went right for the Guys Burgers and I got some shrimp tacos from Blue Iguana. I believe we also got a pizza for my son.

Embarkation Day Cont...

Once we finished lunch, we went to our room to drop off carry-ons. Turns out 2/3 bags had already been delivered. We took a quick look at the room and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of space and storage we had. We had an Oceanview Room on Deck 1 (1-140). The pullman bed was already set up for my son which saved a lot of space, and he thought it was totally awesome!

I had previously ordered a couple gifts from the Fun Shops. An anniversary cake for the husband, and a backpack, bottle, and gummies for the son. They were both waiting for us when we got to the room. The cake was excellent, but we didn't get a chance to eat much of it.

In my pre-cruise research, I saw many people recommend you bring a pop-up hamper. I can not agree more! This little $3 hamper made our room so much neater and packing back up was a breeze. My son made a fun toy of it until it was put to use.

We then headed out to Camp Ocean to get his wristband and check in with the staff prior to our Muster Drill. He was very excited about getting to attend "Kids Camp". Muster Drill came and went pretty quickly. They only thing unpleasant was the horrible stench of sewage. Not sure if it was coming from the ship or the port area, but it reeked on the outer deck as well as in the halls. Luckily it did not last after the ship deported. It was also at this time that the captain informed us that due to Hurrican Irma, we would not be going to Half Moon Cay or Grand Turk, but instead would be going to Charleston, SC and Nassau in addition to Freeport. This was definitely a bummer since we had planned on lots of beach time and exploring some new ports. Many of the people were booing and shouting their frustrations loudly. My family and I decided to roll with the punches and make the best out of the trip we were given. We knew we'd have a great time regardless. We did find it interesting that they waited until AFTER everyone was on the ship to make this announcement... My son was getting pretty tired at this point so we decided to wake him up with an ice cream cone on Lido and then a few holes of mini-golf prior to dinner.

Nice start to your review. Looking forward to more.

Embarkation Day Cont...

Then it was dinner time! We chose early dining time due to having a 4-year old and a MIL who likes to eat early. Husband and I would have been better off with late dining because we usually weren't super hungry by 6, but somehow we still managed to eat a ton of food. As you can tell, we both enjoy eating, and we like to try different foods. So we often ordered multiple dishes and shared. The kiddo is pretty picky about food, despite our endless efforts to get him to try new foods, so he stuck to PB&J and chicken nuggets mostly. He did dine with Kids Camp a couple nights. No idea what or if he ate anything. I had done some research and pretty much knew the menus before we even got on the ship. Most nights I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to try.

Xander with his PB&J. These were very good btw! It came with 2 cookies, and after he ate those our waiter, Iron Man (his actual name was Inyoman, pronounced Newman, but he said we could call him Iron Man) brought him 4 more and he ate ALL of them. Iron Man and Krisman, and another guy (who's name I can't remember) were AWESOME! They always remembered our names, had our drinks of choice waiting, remembered dietary restrictions, and were very interactive with our son. He got excited to see Iron Man's magic tricks everynight, and even started showing off his own renditions.

I started with the calamari and chicken quesadilla. Both were decent, but not too exciting. Husband had the cesar salad which he wasn't fond of since it had a strong anchovey taste. MIL had the strawberry bisque, which they bring seperately from the bowl. You can see her look of disappointment when her almost empty bowl arrived. She thought it tasted like a melted milkshake but enjoyed it. For our entrees I had the fried shrimp with fried rice, which was very good, and he had the brisket which he said was decent. For dessert I had the melting cake, which I just feel is okay, and husband had butter pecan ice cream, which he got often throughout the cruise.

Everyone was pretty satisfied with their dinner. Afterwards we decided to go to the first round of bingo and then the Welcome Aboard Show. We were unlucky at Bingo and the Welcome Aboard Show was fun to watch but hard to listen to. Only a couple of the singers were good, but we always enjoyed watching them dance. Xander ended up falling asleep mid-show so afterwards we went to the room and got ready for bed. This was the earliest we went to bed all week.

I will continue with day 2 tomorrow...

so did CC change how we see reviews? I used to be able to click carnival pride and saw everything... help...

Thanks for sharing.

Day 2- Sea Day

Knowing how bad the chair hogs can be, I had planned ahead of time to wake up at 7 am to go get us some seats right by the pool. Unlike some, I planned to stay with the chairs the whole time and enjoy some peaceful alone time before everyone else woke up. Turns out that wasn't quite necessary. I was the only person out in the chairs that early. So I sat my stuff down and went to grab a light breakfast from the Lido before returning to my chair to watch the sunrise, people watch, and read my book. I enjoyed this time so much I vowed to do it again before the trip was over. It was around 9 am when the rest of the family came rolling in. They all grabbed breakfast from Lido and then joined me by the pool. My son was anxious to swim and try the water slides! We spent all morning out here and although all the seats were eventually claimed, it never got very crowded. At the welcome aboard show the night before, our cruise director mentioned there were around 250 kids onboard for this trip. He said that's 500 less than the previous week. Even though I was one of those who brought my kid, I sure was glad we were not on this cruise!

This is what my breakfast looked like alot of days. I'm not a big fan of heavy breakfast foods. The chocolate muffins were delicious and the fruit was consistently good. Especially watermelon from Blue Iguana!

AAAAHHHHH!!!!! Peace and quiet!

He made lots of friends in the pool over the week. This kid never met a stranger.

After swimming and sun bathing for awhile, we ate a little lunch and then headed to the sushi demonstration. This was interesting and the samples were tasty. I believe we then went to check out power hour at the arcade, but I found several of the games not working. We played a couple games of air hockey and then took Xander to camp so we could attend the FB meet and greet and slot pull. Honestly, this was horrible. We ended up with around 80 people signed up, so it took forever to get everyone signed up, and then like 3 hours to get everyone their turn. Luckily I was near the beginning, so I stayed until my turn was up and then let the FIL stay to collect whatever we won. Which ended up being $2 less than the entry fee. I had to go pick up Xander because I really wanted to make sure he got a nap so he would be able to stay up and attend the night owls party. But it never failed that my husband and I would end up napping too. After naps, we got ready for the first elegant night. I will say that I paid absolutely no attention to what anyone else was wearing, and therefore did not notice any shorts, hats, t-shirts, sandals, etc. I simply enjoyed my evening and only thought about what I wore.

Apparently I forgot to take some pictures, but I know I started with the shrimp coctail, mushroom soup, and spinach salad. They were all delicious. For our mains, we had prime rib and the lobster. Prime rib was decent, not the best but not the worst I've had. But the lobster was actually delicious. Probably the best I've had and not a bad size either. The shrimp that accompanied the lobster was also very good. My baked potato had several bad spots, but I was too full to eat it anyways, so no big deal. After dinner we too Xander to camp and then enjoyed the Playlist show which was rock and roll piano something or another. Can't remember the name but it was pretty entertaining. Then we went to the comedy club and actually enjoyed the PG show better than the adult shows. I'm no where near a prude, but dont think comedy is about trying to fit as many f-bombs into a sentence as possible.After comedy we all turned in for the night. We came in to find a Happy Anniversary note written on the mirror from our steward Troy. Tomorrow we would be in Charleston!

keep the reviews coming

Loving your review. We will be on the Pride in January with our grandson who will have just turned 4. If there are any tips you can give, it would be appreciated. He sounds just like your son, he has never met a stranger. Talks to everyone.

Day 3- Charleston, SC

We docked in Charleston around 7 am. We decided to grab breakfast in the MDR before checking out Charleston. Breakfast wad kind of a mixed bag. Some stuff was good, other stuff was terrible. I don't remember exactly what everyone got, but I know I had French toast and it was really good. We enjoyed a lovely sunrise while we ate.

After breakfast we went to the atrium to debark. There was no line and we walked right off. We oticed several people getting off with all their luggage. They were off the ship for good, which seemed a little crazy to me. I wasn't thrilled about the changed itinerary, but knew it was a risk when I booked. I for one would much rather hitch a ride on the Pride that have to drive myself back to Baltimore. But, to each their own... Charleston, as expected, was a very nice stop. There were tons of little shops and seafood restaurants just a block from the port. We also enjoyed a very large open air market with hundreds of vendors selling some very nice goods. I am told the beaches were very nice as well and could be access by a very short cab ride. Charleston was by far the nicest port we visited, but the one people seemed the most upset about.

After enjoying the town of Charleston, we decided to save some money by having lunch back on board the ship. Today I tried the Caribbean food and salad from the buffet. Guys Burgers and the salad bar were lunchtime favorites among our group. I usually checked out chopsticks as well and always found something tasty. My son usually enjoyed a hot dog or grilled cheese from the deli.

The afternoon consisted of naps and then dinner in David's Steakhouse. Originally we were booked for a couples massage this afternoon, but since it was a port day, I moved it to a sea day. Between the massage and David's I was looking forward to a day of total indulgence, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Still a nice day though!

I wish my review of David's was better, but we just weren't that impressed. The best thing about the experience were the appetizers. Everyone enjoyed their appetizers. I had the crabcakes, husband & FIL had the escargot, and MIL had the shrimp cocktail. The worst thing about the steakhouse, was unfortunately, the steaks. I ordered the surf and turf. Lobster was chewy, and the filet which I ordered medium, was closer to well done. Hubs had the ribeye, and although not bad, it wasn't great. MIL had the same as me, and FIL also got the ribeye. The service was mostly good. The waitress gave us some attitude when we had to correct her when she brought moscato instead of merlot. Drink refills were also hard to come by. There was another server who was delightful, and other that the wine incident, our main waitress was fine. They did surprise us with a special anniversary dessert which was a nice touch. It was the hazelnut cheesecake, and we all enjoyed it. After such a heavy meal, we enjoyed the light dessert which wasn't too sweet.

Compliments of the chef: chicken biscuit.

Later this evening we enjoyed some more comedy before picking Xander up from kids camp and then heading to bed. We usually ordered room service of BLT's and PB&J's, which were both delicious, but tonight I was in the mood for the veggies. I also headed up to the late night lido buffet and grabbed a chicken sandwich and some brownies to try.

Stay tuned for Day 4-Freeport

It is a delight to read your trip report. I love how positive you are about the itinerary change as opposed to the many who have grumbled and complained about it! The pictures are great! I look forward to reading more.

I have eaten at David's on the Pride also found the lobster not as good as the main dining room. Whenever we eat in the steakhouse I do not order surf and turf. The steaks have always been good in my experience.

Enjoying your report and your positive attitude about the itinerary changes. I would love to go to Charleston one day.

Day 4-Freeport

We weren't scheduled to be in Freeport until noon so we got in no hurry getting up today. I got up around 8 and went to save seats by the pool for everyone, and then they joined me around 9 for a relaxed breakfast on Lido. Today was towel animal extravaganza and every seat and empty space was filled with a towel animal. We enjoyed the pool for a couple hours and then around 10:30-11 the captain announced that due to currents, we were running late for our arrival in Freeport. We would now be getting in at 4 pm, and they were working to secure a later departure. Obviously many of the excursions were cancelled. There was some grumbling from folks, but since we had no plans for Freeport, we were not too bothered. More time to enjoy the pool!

We heard an announcement that the Dr. Suess Parade and storytime were about to begin so we made our way to the Atrium to join in on the festivities.They handed out props to all the kids and adults, and we loudly made our way to Taj Mahal for storytime. The kids got to go sit on the stage while Brandon, our cruise director read "The Cat in The Hat. He also chose some adults and a couple kids to play characters in the story. I was picked to be the fish and feel I gave an Oscar worthy performance! Everyone enjoyed and when it was over, we returned to Lido for lunch before naptime.

Great review so far! The changed itinerary sucks...Grand Turk and HMC are two of the best ports Carnival offers. Guess it gives you an excuse to book the same cruise again!

Day 4 Cont...

We caught a quick nap but made sure we were up and ready to leave the ship when we docked right around 4pm. And right at 4 they made the announcement that we could debark. Being on the first floor was convenient since we only had to go down one floor to reach the gangway. But there was a LONG line of people trying to get off. Seems everyone was in a hurry since we got there so late. After waiting in line for about 15 mins we made it off the ship. It was extremely hot and humid and as soon as we stepped off, we knew it wouldn't last long. Xander was already cranky from not getting a long enough nap. So we just walked to a few nearby shops and stopped in Del-Sol to buy some t-shirts, then we left the in-laws and headed back to the ship. This was their first time in the area and they both LOVE to shop so they wanted to look around a bit more. We were back on board around 5 pm. We took our loot to the room and then went exploring for a bit before dinner.

Some views of Freeport from right at the port area

You can see he's very sweaty.

Right at 6pm we saw Nana and Grandpa coming back on board, so Steven and Xander went to meet up with them while I went to the dining room and waited for everyone else to join. Dinner was pretty good tonight. I started with the fried shrimp and had the penne mariscos for my entree. And for dessert I wanted to try both the Bitter and Blanc and the Smore's parfait. The bitter and blanc was the best dessert of the entire week in the MDR. We all loved it. The smore's parfait was good too but by the time I ate everything else, I didn't have much room for it. Xander had the jello dessert from the kids menu, and it seemed more like a large fruit snack or gummie (very dense) and was served in some sort of custardy substance.

After dinner we were looking forward to 2 of our favorite activities. The Love and Marriage Show, and Carnival Quest. We dropped Xander off at camp and then had to kill some time while waiting for the show to begin at 9:30. We explored the top decks and the serenity area before deciding to check out the Crystal Card Room and played some Battleship. He won one game, and I won the next. Not too shabby.

The colorful lights and buildings make Freeport look prettier at night than during the day. Most people probably dont get to enjoy this view since ships are typically long gone by now. But since we arrived late, we had a 10:00 departure time.

By now, it was time to head to Taj Mahal for the Love and Marriage show. We wanted to make sure we got there early because my husband was determined to get chosen for the show. And we actually got close! We were among the last 2 in the running for the 5-40 years category. Brandon made us show that the love was still alive in our marriage in a very public display of affection. Husband took full advantage, but in the end, they let the wife from one of the other couples chose who got to participate, and she chose the other couple, probably because they were older. I can assure you we would have made the show much more entertaining than they did, even though it was still funny and enjoyable.

Next up was Carnival Quest. If you enjoy ADULT humor, and aren't embarrassed or offended easily, this is a fun event. Lets just say at one point my husband and several other men were on stage in nothing but their underwear, a bra, lipstick, ladies shoes, and carrying a purse.He takes competition very seriously. Sorry, no photos of this. But I promise its for your own good.

This pretty much concluded our evening. Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Great review so far! The changed itinerary sucks...Grand Turk and HMC are two of the best ports Carnival offers. Guess it gives you an excuse to book the same cruise again!

Thank you! I enjoyed reading your reviews prior to our sailing. I'm not nearly as thorough as I thought I'd be, but its a lot of work! So kudos to you and all the others who submit extremely thorough reviews.

Excellent photos, thanks!