~ * * Everything About the Pride * * ~

[bluehenfan]

I've been on the Pride a number of times and one of my favorite things is afternoon tea time on sea days. It's usually served on upper level of the MDR and you can catch the exact time in your daily Fun Times. Casual dress is permitted and you will see everything from shorts and tee shirts to little girls in their little sun dresses. Last time I had tea there was a mother and two little girls about 6 and 7 and all 3 wore tiaras and boas. So cute. Everyone gets a pot of hot water and there is a nice selection of tea bags. Of course the usual cream and sugar are on the tables. Tea sandwiches are served as well as delicious scones with cream filling, fruit tarts, chocolate desserts,etc. Really good. Piano music playing. Very relaxing and a lot of fun.

Another hint about the Pride - when booking obstructed cabins, I believe some of the life boats are taller and therefore are more obstructed view than others. I'm sure someone here on CC whose more knowledgable about this than me can tell you which are which, or you can check on the "cabin selection" board. I love this ship and hope you will too.

[Irish_Rose]

I've been on the Pride a number of times and one of my favorite things is afternoon tea time on sea days. It's usually served on upper level of the MDR and you can catch the exact time in your daily Fun Times. Casual dress is permitted and you will see everything from shorts and tee shirts to little girls in their little sun dresses. Last time I had tea there was a mother and two little girls about 6 and 7 and all 3 wore tiaras and boas. So cute. Everyone gets a pot of hot water and there is a nice selection of tea bags. Of course the usual cream and sugar are on the tables. Tea sandwiches are served as well as delicious scones with cream filling, fruit tarts, chocolate desserts,etc. Really good. Piano music playing. Very relaxing and a lot of fun.

Another hint about the Pride - when booking obstructed cabins, I believe some of the life boats are taller and therefore are more obstructed view than others. I'm sure someone here on CC whose more knowledgable about this than me can tell you which are which, or you can check on the "cabin selection" board. I love this ship and hope you will too.

 

I love the Pride and will be on her again soon!! I am sailing with my mom and my sisters this time (a girl's cruise). We are definately going to make it to tea time this trip. We are all tea drinkers, and I am so glad to hear it is a great time. Thank you.

[Silent Penguin]

We're taking our first Carnival cruise in September on the Pride. It will be just dh and me, no kids this time. We chose assigned dining. Is it likely that we we will be seated at a table with others at dinner? If so, would it be the same people every night?

[bluehenfan]

We're taking our first Carnival cruise in September on the Pride. It will be just dh and me, no kids this time. We chose assigned dining. Is it likely that we we will be seated at a table with others at dinner? If so, would it be the same people every night?

 

While there are tables for two, chances are you will be seated at a table with others and you'll be at that table with same waitstaff and fellow diners every night. If this is a problem you can go to the MDR, find your assigned table and if it's not what you want, you can request a table for two after boarding. (time for doing this is listed in Fun Times that will be in your room 1st day.) They will take your request and let you know by noon 2nd day and ask that you go to assigned table the 1st night.When we did reg. dining before " Anytime Dining" was an option, we would sometimes request a table for two when we booked our cruise and usually got it. If you know you want a table for two you can put in a request now throught travel agent or Carnival PVP. Depending on who I was traveling with I've also met some very interesting fun people at traditional dining with others. We use ATD so we can decide night by night if we want to sit alone or if we want to sit with a group. Hope you have a great vacation.

[ladytonya]

I absolutely love assigned dining! We've done late seating on two cruises on Carnival, Freestyle dining on NCL, and something similar to anytime on RCL (both seatings were full when we booked so we had no choice). I personally prefer the assigned dining because you get to know your waitstaff and if you're not at a table for two then your fellow diners. On our first cruise, we were at a table for 6 with two other couples. One of them ate one meal there and we never saw then again the other couple were hit and miss, it was a 4 night cruise and they ate dinner there 3 nights. It really is hit or miss, some people are very friendly and enjoyable to dine with and some are insufferable bores. I'm hoping we get assigned a couple that we get along with, wouldn't mind having someone to hang out with from time to time on board!

 

 

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[Paratina]

Pride dates finally open for rest of 2013. Just booked for after dry dock and upgrades. Soooo excited!!

[luv2gocruzin]

I'm curious about Sept 2013, but the dates only go through August.

[bmore cruiser]

I asked John Heald about the rest of the itineraries for the Pride this afternoon and this was his response."There is more coming today mate. Cheers and let me know If you have questions after. Cheers"

[reno3]

Pride dates finally open for rest of 2013. Just booked for after dry dock and upgrades. Soooo excited!!

Just got off the Pride...loved it :D

Can you tell me when the dry dock is?

[lynz421]

We decided to just spend a little more than usual and stay at one of the Inner Harbor hotels. We're driving and we're going to the Oriole's game Saturday afternoon and just wanted to be able to walk to Camden Yards. We didn't think about it being Memorial Day weekend and a lot of hotels being full.

 

 

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Call the Brookshirehttp://www.brookshiresuites.com/ they offer a park and sail with a Breakfast and Towncar service to and from the port for a reasonable price(170?) 2 blocks from the inner Harbor and Camden yards. We stayed there in 2010 and we have it booked for Sept 2012.

[novinha]

I'm a little (but just a little concerned). Seems the Pride threads with reviews lately have stated that chair hogging is a problem. We last sailed Pride 11/2011 and it was a bit of a problem in the Serenity area on sea days. We just went up one deck and were fine, even if it was a bit windy. I guess I just got used to the cushy seats in Serenity. Since this is a Pride thread...has anyone else had recent experience? Is it better, worse, the same since the last time you sailed Pride?

[TrinaLC]

Chairs are hogged, not sure if better or worse. We found it usually relatively easy to get one of the chairs closer to the bar area, and move it into the sun, than to snag one of the loungers.

 

By early afternoon a vigilent eye will usually be rewarded.

[drafterdw]

I want to know too. We're getting married on the pride in September and want to know everything there is to know and more!

we are on the Pride in September also....what week?

[tcowgs21]

Going on the pride oct 7th, could anyone tell me if it has the large screen tv on the lido deck? I think its called the seaside theatre.

[drafterdw]

LOTS of naked statues and pictures.

 

 

you dont notice them as much towards the end of the week as you do the beginning.

 

Grand daughter loved them.

 

Best balcony on this class of ship is

6232 fo 4 people

or 7258 or 8232 for 2 people

 

http://www.travelingnuts.com/2011cruise/images/DSCN0188.JPG

 

 

try the banana split one night for dessert after dinner- Not on the regular

menu but it is a kids menu itme and can be had each night.

 

 

Comedy show is UBER crowded and you should be seated about 45 minutes before a show to get a seat.

Needless to say-- we only saw the family friendly version

YEAH we are in 8232!!! very excited

[reno3]

Call the Brookshirehttp://www.brookshiresuites.com/ they offer a park and sail with a Breakfast and Towncar service to and from the port for a reasonable price(170?) 2 blocks from the inner Harbor and Camden yards. We stayed there in 2010 and we have it booked for Sept 2012.

We just stayed here one night before our Pride cruise last week. I thought they were over priced and the transportation to and from the ship was a taxi. The sofa bed was old and worn and very uncomfortable. Staff was friendly and breakfast was good.

[Scrapenthusiast]

We just stayed here one night before our Pride cruise last week. I thought they were over priced and the transportation to and from the ship was a taxi. The sofa bed was old and worn and very uncomfortable. Staff was friendly and breakfast was good.

 

Since you were recently on the Pride, I was wondering if you did YTD by chance? I can't decide if I want to do reserved dining or YTD. Last year on the Conquest the service seemed to be lacking in the YTD section for us, whereas the friends of ours who had reserved dining had great experiences.

[bluehenfan]

Since you were recently on the Pride, I was wondering if you did YTD by chance? I can't decide if I want to do reserved dining or YTD. Last year on the Conquest the service seemed to be lacking in the YTD section for us, whereas the friends of ours who had reserved dining had great experiences.

 

I'm not the person you asked about this, but they had just started YTD my 1st time on Pride and it seemed like the dining room staff were still a little confused and working out the bugs in YTD. We had it the following two times on Pride and each time service seemed to run smoother and really had no complaints. I do find some servers are a little better than others and on our 3rd trip the 2nd night we really liked the waiters we had. We got their names and even though we had YTD we had same excellent waiters nightly as we'd request them by name when checking in for dinner. We just love YTD so we'll be doing it again in Sept. If we come across waiters we really like we'll request them nightly.

[reno3]

Since you were recently on the Pride, I was wondering if you did YTD by chance? I can't decide if I want to do reserved dining or YTD. Last year on the Conquest the service seemed to be lacking in the YTD section for us, whereas the friends of ours who had reserved dining had great experiences.

No we have never tried the YTD.

We had the 6:00 dining time. We did see a long line one night for the YTD at 6 and thought it was our line. Then I asked and was told it was the YTD line. We realized we were on the wrong deck so we went up one deck and walked right to our table :D You could enter on deck 2 and 3 one of them was for YTD only (I don't remember which was which). One other thing...we alway go to the maitre d and check out table assignement. They had us (three adults) at a table for two:mad: They told me to go and look at the table before I asked to change it. I pointed to a table next to me and asked if that was the size of the table and waas told yes. I told them it was not going to work for three adults. The maitre d even told me that I had booked the cruise 11 months earlier and I should not have been put at a table for two. I could see if I booked at the last minute and everything was already assigned. He was ever nice about it. He said he would do what he could. Before dinner we received a card in our room, we had a booth :D I noticed they did have three women at a table for two. They only came to dinner two or three times, is looked very uncomfortable :(

[woodmews]

I'm not the person you asked about this, but they had just started YTD my 1st time on Pride and it seemed like the dining room staff were still a little confused and working out the bugs in YTD. We had it the following two times on Pride and each time service seemed to run smoother and really had no complaints. I do find some servers are a little better than others and on our 3rd trip the 2nd night we really liked the waiters we had. We got their names and even though we had YTD we had same excellent waiters nightly as we'd request them by name when checking in for dinner. We just love YTD so we'll be doing it again in Sept. If we come across waiters we really like we'll request them nightly.

 

We did the same thing, requested the same waiter each night, he knew exactly what we liked to drink and really had a great personality.

[Scrapenthusiast]

I'm not the person you asked about this, but they had just started YTD my 1st time on Pride and it seemed like the dining room staff were still a little confused and working out the bugs in YTD. We had it the following two times on Pride and each time service seemed to run smoother and really had no complaints. I do find some servers are a little better than others and on our 3rd trip the 2nd night we really liked the waiters we had. We got their names and even though we had YTD we had same excellent waiters nightly as we'd request them by name when checking in for dinner. We just love YTD so we'll be doing it again in Sept. If we come across waiters we really like we'll request them nightly.

 

Thanks for your feedback. We eventually found a waiter that we really liked by night 3 and then requested his section for the rest of the week in YTD. I was just wondering about how people have liked YTD on the Pride. We were sat by ourselves each night at dinner which was fine, but it did feel like we missed out on what some people love about reserved dining which is meeting new people at dinner.

[Scrapenthusiast]

No we have never tried the YTD.

We had the 6:00 dining time. We did see a long line one night for the YTD at 6 and thought it was our line. Then I asked and was told it was the YTD line. We realized we were on the wrong deck so we went up one deck and walked right to our table :D You could enter on deck 2 and 3 one of them was for YTD only (I don't remember which was which). One other thing...we alway go to the maitre d and check out table assignement. They had us (three adults) at a table for two:mad: They told me to go and look at the table before I asked to change it. I pointed to a table next to me and asked if that was the size of the table and waas told yes. I told them it was not going to work for three adults. The maitre d even told me that I had booked the cruise 11 months earlier and I should not have been put at a table for two. I could see if I booked at the last minute and everything was already assigned. He was ever nice about it. He said he would do what he could. Before dinner we received a card in our room, we had a booth noticed they did have three women at a table for two. They only came to dinner two or three times, is looked very uncomfortable :(

 

We currently have 6pm dining time booked, but are still on the fence about changing to YTD. It will only be my husband and I, and if there's a huge wait he will not be happy(he's impatient:eek: ). The other thing we are kind of concerned about is being put at a table with how do I say this nicely......rude or weird people....lol. We have heard stories of couples being put together with another couple (table for four) and it being a very awkward week for dinner. We prefer to eat in the MDR each night for dinner, with the exception of when we're having dinner at David's but we don't want it to be weird all week.......:rolleyes:;)

[Mel1322]

Any thoughts on Hotels in Baltimore that offer shuttle service from airport and then to the port?

 

We did a park and cruise last Feb on our Pride cruise. I booked it through the web site stay123 dot com. The site also lists fly and park offers. You may have to call the hotel to make sure your rate would include both shuttles.

 

The hotel we booked was the Comfort Inn BWI airport, right next to a Sleep Inn (also listed on the park and cruise site). The price was reasonable, included a shuttle for all of us (two families of 4). The only problem was the wait for the shuttle to take us to the cruise. The shuttle was shared between the two hotels. You are supposed to be totally ready and in the lobby before you sign up for the shuttle. We had a lot of people get there before us since we were getting our group of 8 together. So our wait was about an hour for the shuttle. Our fault for not being ready earlier.

 

The shuttle ride wasn't too far. I especially didn't mind since we didn't have to pay for parking:). The wait didn't cause an issue in the end, since we had plenty of time to sit in the terminal before they let us all board.

 

They were right there to pick us up after the cruise, which was great. No waiting for them to show.

 

I did a lot of research to look into the areas for the hotels. So I would suggest doing that before you book. Baltimore has some areas that you might not want to leave your car. IMHO

[suzinva]

We currently have 6pm dining time booked, but are still on the fence about changing to YTD. It will only be my husband and I, and if there's a huge wait he will not be happy(he's impatient:eek: ). The other thing we are kind of concerned about is being put at a table with how do I say this nicely......rude or weird people....lol. We have heard stories of couples being put together with another couple (table for four) and it being a very awkward week for dinner. We prefer to eat in the MDR each night for dinner, with the exception of when we're having dinner at David's but we don't want it to be weird all week.......:rolleyes:;)

 

We had ATD on the Legend (and also on our upcoming Pride in August). We had little to no wait each night and each night, with the exception of one, we had the same wait staff and our own table. The one exception night, we were given the choice of sitting with another couple or waiting a few minutes for a private table. I think that you can specify which you would prefer, though you may have to wait a bit to get your preference.

[Scrapenthusiast]

We had ATD on the Legend (and also on our upcoming Pride in August). We had little to no wait each night and each night, with the exception of one, we had the same wait staff and our own table. The one exception night, we were given the choice of sitting with another couple or waiting a few minutes for a private table. I think that you can specify which you would prefer, though you may have to wait a bit to get your preference.

 

We never had a wait for the YTD on the Conquest which was nice. You'll have to let me know how it goes for you in August on the Pride!:D