Carnival Pride 8/21-8/28. Good, OK, Bad, ang Ugly

[dvond]

Just off the Pride, the Good, OK, Bad, and UglyWe just got off the hurricane induced Pride. We have been on this boat previously as well as 6 other Carnival cruises and a variety of others but we were struck by how the food and entertainment has gone downhill over the past few years so here is our review;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good;

 

The captain did a great job keeping us out of harms way, while the boat rocked it was not an issue at all.

 

 

 

They still provide free Lemonade, Iced Tea, Ice Cream and Yogurt, all are nice treats.

 

 

 

Cabin service was solid, towel animals every night.

 

 

 

Embarkation and Disembarkation was quick and solid

 

 

 

Waiters and Waitresses by the pool were solid as well.

 

 

 

The outside grill was convenient

 

 

 

The bed and pillows were surprisingly comfortable

 

 

 

The Asst CD Eric was a nice guy and worked hard.

 

 

 

The casino host was very personable and nice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The OK;

 

 

My son is 8 and a very experienced Camp Carnival veteran but he thought there was something missing with the activities. They seem to lean on all electronic games and system for hours at a time which used to not be the case. There were no pajama parties and the 2 after hour parties they had , needed to be prepaid if if your kid only stayed an hour, nothing different or special was really done other some cheap small gifts. They played the same movie throughout the week even though the kids asked for something different. My 15 DD was in the Club O, few activities were planned and ones that were was not enjoyable, thankfully she made friends the 1st night but did get bored as there were no dance or music parties etc. They both had good cruises but have had better on Carnival and others.

 

 

 

Dinner was very hit or miss with the new menu. Always something to eat and you did not go hungry but there is no wow factor anymore, we used to say Carnival had the best food bit that is no longer the case, very average, somewhat tasteless but not the treat it used to be. The meat was OK but not as high end as it used to be, now the lobster is also the size of a jumbo shrimp, very disappointing and a chore to get more than 2 plates.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The entertainment by the pool was boring. One or 2 trivia contests, a hairy chest contest, and only the same reggae band with 2 guys playing the same songs every single day, would have been nice to have variety in taste and music and there was none at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The comedians were up and down, Michael Macy was fantastic but the other guy ran out of material and had to lean on his disability over and over. Eric the asst CD had to fill in and he tried but that is not his job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sat in one night with guy in piano bar and he seemed solid

 

 

 

 

The Bad;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cruise director Brett was invisible you only heard him and rarely saw him around the ship.

 

 

 

The night time shows were the same ones that Carnival has had for years, why not change it up a bit.

 

 

 

If you buy the soda card no free thermos, yes a small thing but it yells cutbacks.

 

 

 

Not enough variety on breakfast buffet

 

 

 

We had bunk beds in our room but for some reason they didn't put them back in the morning to a couch anymore, very odd.

 

 

 

There has to be a way to keep 30 kids in the hot tubs at once, looked unsafe and very uncomfortable.

 

 

 

They only served the Corona in the plastic bottles one afternoon.

 

 

 

The dinner waiters were very cold, did not bother to chat or get to know our kids as they have on every other cruise, basically take order, drop and move and not even a smile, they have stopped making you feel special

 

 

 

The Ugly;

 

 

 

The lunch buffet was uneatable, you had to stick with Pizza, Sandwiches, overcooked hamburgers, or nachos

 

 

 

They need one security guard by the pool, kids were unruly and acted like animals and since parents do nothing at times there should be help.

 

 

 

Freeport is the worst stop on any cruise, terrible place and should be dropped

 

 

 

 

 

We still had a good time overall and for the price it is a fine cruise but you can see and feel the cutbacks as many on the boat could be heard discussing and if prices are equal we probably will shy away from Carnival unless some things change

[trainerdude]

Every time I read reviews like this I get worried. Is it really bad? Was it just how someone perceived it? I have only been on one cruise which Was amazing. But did someone get off that cruise and hate it? I am going on the pride in November and worry I got spoiled doing Celebrity first. Especially when I read reviews like this. Maybe I should stop reading them.....lol.

[dvond]

It was not bad as any cruise is better than staying home but as an experienced cruiser I can compare the way it was or is on ther ships, just want to give future cruisers a point of view. Thats why I said the Good, OK, Bad, and Ugly

[ShakyBeef]

Dvond, Thank you for your very balanced review!:)

 

I was worried about y'all on this one, running ahead of the storm. A couple of CC friends of ours are finally on their delayed and shortened Pride cruise now. I'm glad to hear you were kept safe.

 

As for the OK, the bad, and the ugly in your review, I have experienced some of the same and was beginning to suspect some of the rest. By reading honest reviews like yours, at least I won't be too terribly surprised and disappointed with the cutbacks and changes for the worse when I board the Pride for the third time this January.

 

Did you dine in David's at all this cruise? If so, how did the service compare? I've been starting to think we might have to choose that venue to get the service we used to get in the MDR. But maybe the unfriendly wait team you got in the MDR was just a fluke (hoping:o)?

[trainerdude]

It was not bad as any cruise is better than staying home but as an experienced cruiser I can compare the way it was or is on ther ships, just want to give future cruisers a point of view. Thats why I said the Good, OK, Bad, and Ugly

 

I get that. It just fascinates me how different an experience it could be for different people on the same ship. Maybe it's a disadvantage having cruised carnival before ? Would you have enjoyed the food more not knowing ahead of time what to expect?

 

Like I said, I loved my food experience on the eclipse except for 1 night, Which was qsine ( the specialty restaurant) yet the reviews for it are all glowing. I preferred the food in the mdr or even the buffet really. But maybe someone else on my cruise who had sailed celebrity many times hated the food and was surprised how bad it's gotten. I am glad it was good overall.

[dvond]

Shaky we did not dine at David's, we have 2 kids and that extra expense is not worth it wiht them while we also hate to give another $120 when we should get good meals.

 

Trainer, we were just on Carnival 18 months ago and saw a downgrade and it just has continued, but you have a point for those who have never cruised or maybe a few times recently everything would probably be close to perfect but we remember how it used to be

[MsTabbyKats]

 

The dinner waiters were very cold, did not bother to chat or get to know our kids as they have on every other cruise, basically take order, drop and move and not even a smile, they have stopped making you feel special

 

 

Carnival cuts back to keep prices low...and your not happy that your servers just serve and don't chat with your kids or make you feel special!

 

I'm not a cheerleader....but...really....I think you have Carnival confused with Disney...or another, more costly cruise..where you can pay more and get individual attention.

[dvond]

Kats

 

That was just a small part but one we noticed that is no involved as part of the "cruise experience", not a big deal but very noticeable as tey used to get thios attention on our previous Carnival cruises

[trainerdude]

Carnival cuts back to keep prices low...and your not happy that your servers just serve and don't chat with your kids or make you feel special!

 

I'm not a cheerleader....but...really....I think you have Carnival confused with Disney...or another, more costly cruise..where you can pay more and get individual attention.

 

I don't think how much you pay for a cruise = if your serving staff talk to you or not. Or I certainly hope not.

[happy cruzer]

I thought your review was balanced. Thanks for posting.

 

Did you try changing tables in the dining room? A different wait team may have helped. What did you miss from the old menus? They seem very similar to the new ones, just the duck, lobster bisque, and every night shrimp seemed to dissapear. Just wondering about the no wow factor?

[lovesonny]

I appreciate your candid review. We are sailing on the Pride next May - surprising our two kids (10 & 6). I have been on 10 cruises before and after my last one - last October - I felt disappointed myself. Too many kids in the hot tubs - no parental supervision - boring entertainment, crappy food, etc. I'm hoping since I'm taking my kids for the first time - I will find other things that keep me interested in cruising. I hate to hear that about Freeport - I know it's not appealing to me either - especially with the kids going this time - no Yellowbird party boat for me!!!

[T. Advisor King]

Thanks for the balanced post. I think it says a lot about the experience overall -- i.e., it is a good, solid, enjoyable vacation, but not something I'd want to spend my rare vacation days and rare vacation dollars on at every opportunity -- maybe once every 3-4 vacations.

 

I will comment specifically on the following observations:

 

"Cabin service was solid, towel animals every night." - they are separated by a comma, not a period, so I assume these are connected thoughts, which I find amusing, as if the quality of the cabin service is a function of whether there is a towel animal. The towel animals are cute and give me a chuckle, but they'll never be a factor in assessing the quality of the cabin service.

 

I think your comments about the kids' activities are spot on: they rely too much on video games, but kids who are outgoing just use the kids club to meet new friends, then they spend most of their time on their own with the friends, not in the club. Of course that doesn't work for younger kids.

 

"a chore to get more than 2 plates" - In general, I find the food on Carnival more than adequate, but I'll admit to being more "meat and potatoes" and not really being a foodie. Feed me. Does it taste good? Am I full? I hope the reference to "more than two plates" wasn't that you were ordering three main courses. I'm not sure if it would be worse that you ate all three or that you didn't eat all three.

 

"The entertainment by the pool was boring" - this may be true, but I don't go on cruises to "be entertained". While the "hairy chest contest" is an amusing diversion, I'd hate to have any more of that kind of stuff.

 

"The cruise director Brett was invisible you only heard him and rarely saw him around the ship" - you have this as a complaint, but I consider this a bonus. I find those guys like to think of themselves as the star of the show, but I'd prefer that they keep to making announcements when necessary and otherwise just stay out of the way.

 

"The dinner waiters were very cold, did not bother to chat or get to know our kids as they have on every other cruise, basically take order, drop and move and not even a smile, they have stopped making you feel special" - Other than "cold", this also sounds ideal. I go on cruises to spend time with my family. The older my kids get, the more valuable I find dinner time as a chance to reconnect from a day of activities and just chat. Our last cruise had a waiter who seemed to want to try to become our new best friend. It's not that I don't like making new friends on a cruise ship and, if so, I don't have any bias as to whether they are passengers or crew. But he just seemed to be in our face all the time. Very friendly and conversational, but really, we would have just preferred if he had taken our order, and moved on without trying to make me feel "special".

 

"kids were unruly and acted like animals and since parents do nothing at times there should be help." - I agree they should have more supervision, but I very rarely find kids misbehaving. I do find kids acting like kids, laughing, running, jumping, but not in a way that physically imposes itself on other passengers.

[richstowe]

This is not meant as a slam dvond but as others have suggested, maybe it's time to explore other cruise lines.

Perhaps the expression ,familiarity breeds contempt, fits.

 

BTW what did you mean by "The lunch buffet was uneatable"? Was it too crowded?

[serene56]

Is Brett a fill in while the real CD is on vacation? I try real hard to avoid sailing with the CD on vacation.

Kirk was great and kept us busy. His crew was fabulous-trivia was many times every day and was over crowded so that says something there.

 

Did you have anytime dining?

 

We cruised in fbrury and had no problems with food but I see they changed to the new menu

[dvond]

Happy Cruzer, no we did not change tables, the actual service was OK but just little interaction, did mnot want to bother, the new menu was not a major factor but both my kids missed the shrimp every night, we missed the bisque and having Ribs as we would not on formal night. We remember few years ago saying thinsg that this meal is great and being "Wowed", it is fine and eatable but not fine dining which we hope for on a cruise.

 

Lovesonny; Our kids have been on 10 plus cruises so they compare as well and thought this one was missing some things as well.

 

King: I meant the room service was solid an dmeant tio day my 8 year old really like getting towel animals every night, a small treat.

 

For the kids stuff I was more talking about my 8 tear old who does not have freedom to roam the ship and loves to play games and interact with kids

 

We are foodies no not 3 entrees, it was an issue on lobster night, as the lobsters were really the size of jumbo shrimps and we like that treat on a cruise so I like many tails and with that size wanted many tails, they have never had an issue but seemed to delay on purpose.

 

We like to be entertained at times and like live bands, very tired of same 12 songs by reggae band day after day and I do like to people watch so some events are amusing for me.

 

Just a different expectation, we have had some that were very memorable, this one just seemed to leave everything to the ACD.

 

As for the waiter we are just different, I work from home and spend tons of time with my wofe and kids every day but we do like the little interaction, ask about our day etc just a smle and being friendly and the 2 waiters were not but the drink guy was very nice and socialable so my wife and daughter will remember that.

 

The kids were animals, when it is this crowded there is no room for splashing contests, jumping and running all around and over people, my kids would never think about acting like this.

 

RichStowe: We have and wll go on other cruise lines, we usually try the best deal so if price is close we will go in another firection. As for lunch, what I mean is the hot food was dry, tasteless and almost unchewable, you expect long lines it was the quality so I stuck with sandwiches, pizza and nachos which were solid

[dvond]

We ate at 6 because of the kids, he was on this boat when we were on it 2 years ago as well

[Tio Marco]

"If you buy the soda card no free thermos, yes a small thing but it yells cutbacks."

 

What "free thermos" are you referring to??

[happy cruzer]

dv, thanks for taking the time to answer all our questions; you handle the internet very well where sometimes it's hard to get the right tone in comments. I do understand about not wanting to bother changing, however, you do bother to mention it as a bad thing. Personally if I don't try to address something as bad, I typically don't report it as bad. Maybe it was really an ok, I know splitting hairs but your review is so helpful that I really wanted to understand your observations.

 

Thanks.

[medianeh]

Thanks for the balanced post. I think it says a lot about the experience overall -- i.e., it is a good, solid, enjoyable vacation, but not something I'd want to spend my rare vacation days and rare vacation dollars on at every opportunity -- maybe once every 3-4 vacations.

 

I will comment specifically on the following observations:

 

"Cabin service was solid, towel animals every night." - they are separated by a comma, not a period, so I assume these are connected thoughts, which I find amusing, as if the quality of the cabin service is a function of whether there is a towel animal. The towel animals are cute and give me a chuckle, but they'll never be a factor in assessing the quality of the cabin service.

 

I think your comments about the kids' activities are spot on: they rely too much on video games, but kids who are outgoing just use the kids club to meet new friends, then they spend most of their time on their own with the friends, not in the club. Of course that doesn't work for younger kids.

 

"a chore to get more than 2 plates" - In general, I find the food on Carnival more than adequate, but I'll admit to being more "meat and potatoes" and not really being a foodie. Feed me. Does it taste good? Am I full? I hope the reference to "more than two plates" wasn't that you were ordering three main courses. I'm not sure if it would be worse that you ate all three or that you didn't eat all three.

 

"The entertainment by the pool was boring" - this may be true, but I don't go on cruises to "be entertained". While the "hairy chest contest" is an amusing diversion, I'd hate to have any more of that kind of stuff.

 

"The cruise director Brett was invisible you only heard him and rarely saw him around the ship" - you have this as a complaint, but I consider this a bonus. I find those guys like to think of themselves as the star of the show, but I'd prefer that they keep to making announcements when necessary and otherwise just stay out of the way.

 

"The dinner waiters were very cold, did not bother to chat or get to know our kids as they have on every other cruise, basically take order, drop and move and not even a smile, they have stopped making you feel special" - Other than "cold", this also sounds ideal. I go on cruises to spend time with my family. The older my kids get, the more valuable I find dinner time as a chance to reconnect from a day of activities and just chat. Our last cruise had a waiter who seemed to want to try to become our new best friend. It's not that I don't like making new friends on a cruise ship and, if so, I don't have any bias as to whether they are passengers or crew. But he just seemed to be in our face all the time. Very friendly and conversational, but really, we would have just preferred if he had taken our order, and moved on without trying to make me feel "special".

 

"kids were unruly and acted like animals and since parents do nothing at times there should be help." - I agree they should have more supervision, but I very rarely find kids misbehaving. I do find kids acting like kids, laughing, running, jumping, but not in a way that physically imposes itself on other passengers.

 

I agree 100% with your post. I feel the exact same way while on a cruise. :)

[Handsome58]

change the thread but......why can't the poster express how they felt about the cruise and what it meant to them without having to defend or go back and explain word by word what they meant? I love Carnival....have been on the Pride twice and loved both times out of Baltimore......I want people to be honest with their reviews not write a review that will be to my liking but their own thoughts and happenings through their eyes of their cruise. I am smart enough to know we are all not alike. Thanks

[trainerdude]

I agree 100% that people should post honest reviews and I applaud the OP for doing so. My fascination with this is simply how 2 people on the same cruise can view it so differently and how maybe being an experienced cruiser could and probably does alter how you view it. Would I as a first time cruiser on carnival noticed the same things the OP did? I guess when I read reviews I need to remember all of this. I am sailing the pride in November so I will post my review then :)

[dvond]

"If you buy the soda card no free thermos, yes a small thing but it yells cutbacks."

 

What "free thermos" are you referring to??

It used to be when you bought the soda card on the 1st day you got a free Carnival thermos, now the cost is $7, just a small thing but......

[dvond]

The actual service of food was fine and somewhat timely but we just missed the personal interaction, we looked around at other tables and it seemed similar so thats why we dd not move as well

[floodcasso2]

Thanks for the balanced review! So many on here will either be absolutely glowing or nothing but vitriol. I'm glad you guys had a good trip despite the hurricane swirling around the atlantic!

 

I certainly agree with you on one thing. Freeport. Why Carnival continues to bother sailing there is beyond me. The place is terrible.

[DonS]

The dinner waiters were very cold, did not bother to chat or get to know our kids as they have on every other cruise, basically take order, drop and move and not even a smile, they have stopped making you feel special

 

Not to argue, but to give another view of this: For me, and I don't mean AT ALL to sound snobbish, I'm not cruising to form relationships with my room steward or waiter. I prefer for my "servers" to be competent, professional, pleasant, available when needed and invisible when not. I don't understand people's need to make special friends out of shipboard personnel to the point of hugging and having pictures taken with them, etc.