Carnival Pride Review - July 11-18

[cbpanda]

Thank you so much for the pictures of the stateroom. We are cruising on the Pride on 8/29 and I love to have pictures to look at too. We aren't in a suite, but an extended balcony room, but we are on the Empress deck. At least I have a little idea of what the bathroom will look like.

 

My pleasure. There are also additional pictures of the stateroom in my photo album (which you can access through my signature). Probably your balcony will be the same size as well.

[cruise514373]

Thanks Claire - your review was fun and informative as well. After many, many cruises over the past 35 years we are at about the same level of activity on a ship as you were. It is very relaxing to not worry about trying to cram in too much activity.

 

I notice that you have also cruised Princess several times. Princess is our favorite line and we have been on Carnival only a few times. I am curious how you would compare the lines . For example,how do you think the Pride compares to the Crown (aside from the Crown being larger and having a piazza)?

[cbpanda]

Thanks Claire - your review was fun and informative as well. After many, many cruises over the past 35 years we are at about the same level of activity on a ship as you were. It is very relaxing to not worry about trying to cram in too much activity.

 

I notice that you have also cruised Princess several times. Princess is our favorite line and we have been on Carnival only a few times. I am curious how you would compare the lines . For example,how do you think the Pride compares to the Crown (aside from the Crown being larger and having a piazza)?

 

Thanks. We like to visit new places, but sometimes relaxing is higher on the agenda. :)

 

Personally, we both prefer Princess. I think the Princess ships are beautiful and are a bit more upscale in the decor. I've not been on the Crown, but have been on two of her sister ships -- Caribbean and Ruby. Both of those ships are much larger than the Pride, and seem to have lots of space for all the extra passengers and they never seem crowded (except for embarkation, tendering and disembarkation, of course). That said, Pride, as I mentioned a number of times, was not crowded at all. As a matter of fact, at times it seemed empty, even though we sailed full. Also, as I mentioned, Pride's Rennaisance Art decor was a bit over done.

 

To us, each line has its own appeal. We love Princess and their ships; but Carnival offers us the opportunity to cruise at extra times due their slightly lower fares and proxmity to us (Carnival departs from NY, Baltimore, Norfolk which we can drive to).

[TheCalicoCat]

Thanks for the great review. We are sailing on the Pride in November - December. This will be our first time on Carnival & our son's first cruise.

[mdcruzer]

CBPanda, I really enjoyed your review. We live in Upper Marlboro, MD and would like to take a cruise out of Baltimore July 2011. Right now there are only 2 options; Pride and RCCL Enchantment of the Seas.

Did the Pride dock near any beaches? Should we look at the Enchantment because we don't want to have to take an excursion or long cab ride to get to the beach? Beaches are a must for our island stops.

[cbpanda]

Thanks for the great review. We are sailing on the Pride in November - December. This will be our first time on Carnival & our son's first cruise.

 

I'm sure you'll love it. Our first cruise was on Carnival (Victory out of NY) and my son (10 at the time) loved Camp Carnival.

 

You'll be sailing just after dry dock.... she'll be all spruced up by then! :D

 

Enjoy!

[cbpanda]

CBPanda, I really enjoyed your review. We live in Upper Marlboro, MD and would like to take a cruise out of Baltimore July 2011. Right now there are only 2 options; Pride and RCCL Enchantment of the Seas.

Did the Pride dock near any beaches? Should we look at the Enchantment because we don't want to have to take an excursion or long cab ride to get to the beach? Beaches are a must for our island stops.

 

mdcruzer: We took the Bahamas itinerary. At Port Canaveral, Cocoa Beach was a 15 minute ride away. In Nassau, there were lots of beach excursions and a few beaches that were reachable by taxi. Also, Atlantis is walkable, but its better to take the water taxi. Apparently, for fee (I really don't know how much) you can sit on their private beach. At Freeport (the island is small), 15 minutes in a taxi will take you to Port Lucaya beach. This is also where the shopping was.

 

But, Pride also does an Eastern Caribbean itinerary, which goes to HMC, St. Thomas and Grand Turk. On this trip you will find beaches just off the ship. Half Moon Cay (HMC) you tender right onto the beach, Grand Turk the beach is immediately to the right when you get off of the ship and St. Thomas, lots of beaches to choose from with 15/30 minutes away (depending on traffic).

 

We looked at Enchantment also, and the reason we didn't choose it was that RCCL was offering a 5 day cruise for the week we could go and Carnival was offering the 7 day for just $30 more. We got two extra sea days on the Carnival trip (we love sea days!).

 

Either one you choose, you'll have lots of beach options.

 

Hope you get to go. Sailing out of Baltimore was very easy and really fascinating down the Chesapeake.

[cbpanda]

Finally, I took the time this afternoon to scan all of the FunTimes from my trip. Rather than post them all in this thread, I'm posting a link to the webshots album where I uploaded them. That way you also have the option of downloading them.

 

I hope they are helpful.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/578334846BPYjcH

 

Enjoy!

[sgatling7]

thank you for the menus

[going to see the world]

what a great review! :D Looks like you put a lot of time into it. My boyfriend and I went on this cruise December 13, 2009. It was absolutely amazing. It was his first and my second. I've been trying to talk him into doing the same one again since we had some pretty bad weather. The decks were closed most nights and we didn't get to dock in Freeport. Glad you had a wonderful time as well!!

 

 

 

[nameless666]

Awesome review. Thank you so much for sharing the capers.

[cbpanda]

what a great review! :D Looks like you put a lot of time into it. My boyfriend and I went on this cruise December 13, 2009. It was absolutely amazing. It was his first and my second. I've been trying to talk him into doing the same one again since we had some pretty bad weather. The decks were closed most nights and we didn't get to dock in Freeport. Glad you had a wonderful time as well!!

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the nice words. Hope you do get to go again. The Pride is a great ship!

 

Did you have just cold weather? Or was it rain/snow yuckiness that caused the upper decks to close?!

[cbpanda]

Awesome review. Thank you so much for sharing the capers.

 

My pleasure!