Carnival PRIDE Cruise To Nowhere Review (And PICTURES) 11-2-12

[valancy1]

Hi all,

 

I am back from my very first solo cruise--a Cruise to Nowhere from the Carnival Pride.

 

I will be posting LOTS of pictures for those of you interested in seeing the ship. I have to upload them in order to post them here, so please bear with me over the course of the next couple days. This is a placeholder more or less from which to start. I hope you're looking forward to seeing it...

 

I look forward to sharing this all with you!

[kimmyg726]

I wanted to go on this cruise. It was a great deal and I live 20/25 minutes from the port. I just couldn't take off more time after the storm.

 

I'm looking forward to reading your review!!

[jobell]

Welcome back! Look forward to your review and seeing the pictures of the Pride.

[dmarie1623]

Hi all,

 

I am back from my very first solo cruise--a Cruise to Nowhere from the Carnival Pride.

 

I will be posting LOTS of pictures for those of you interested in seeing the ship. I have to upload them in order to post them here, so please bear with me over the course of the next couple days. This is a placeholder more or less from which to start. I hope you're looking forward to seeing it...

 

I look forward to sharing this all with you!

 

I'm looking forward to your review. I will be sailing on the Pride next month.:D I've been reading about about her for months now.

[dockedinmd]

I'm looking forward to your review. I will be sailing on the Pride next month.:D I've been reading about about her for months now.

 

This was my first Carnival cruise and I thought it was fine. A few minor issues (I did notice the lack of water and hot water on Saturday morning) but overall I had a great time! I took my 9 year old daughter who referred to it as the "naked ship"! I didn't research quite enough before booking but we both had a ball!

[wrigley80]

Anxiously anticipating your review....we were on the Pride in 2009 and we loved it

[jaw070701]

This was my first Carnival cruise and I thought it was fine. A few minor issues (I did notice the lack of water and hot water on Saturday morning) but overall I had a great time! I took my 9 year old daughter who referred to it as the "naked ship"! I didn't research quite enough before booking but we both had a ball!

 

I agree with you. It was a good cruise. There were a few issues (bar service being the biggest for me) but we still had a good time. My dad liked the simpler menu, the shows were good (the singers and dancers work hard) and the cabin (4k?) Was spacious for 2. I saw and experienced nothing that would take Carnival off my list of possibilities for future cruises.

 

JW

[Anung Un Rama]

Hey Debra! Sorry we didn't see each other but hopefully we'll get to meet on the Breeze.

[Keith Esposito]

I was on the boat with my five year old daughter and we did encounter a few of the problems mentiond here(no water). On Saturday night we did "your time" dining in the Normandy and never got beverage service even after asking twice. Easily the most annoying problem was our phantom flush toilet. Press the button and hope for the best. Hope that these were just some bugs from being vacant for four days while Sandy blew through. This was our second time on the Pride and the whole family has a week booked in Jan.

[MrFunInTheSun]

Hi all,

 

I am back from my very first solo cruise--a Cruise to Nowhere from the Carnival Pride.

 

I will be posting LOTS of pictures for those of you interested in seeing the ship. I have to upload them in order to post them here, so please bear with me over the course of the next couple days. This is a placeholder more or less from which to start. I hope you're looking forward to seeing it...

 

I look forward to sharing this all with you!

 

Welcome back and congratulations on your first solo! Aren't they a ton of fun?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk. Please excuse any typographical errors.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Yea i would think you would need more than 2 days on a cruise line to make a good judgement. Especially on an older ship.

[valancy1]

Gosh, I haven't even gotten my first paragraph typed and my review is being hijacked! :)

 

I'm trying! I'm trying! An actual review is coming. If you want to post a review for yourselves, I encourage you to open a new thread and do that. :)

[valancy1]

I heard from a friend there was a Cruise To Nowhere out of Baltimore. I live 2 hours away, so I figured why not! Friends were trying to arrange to go and couldn't, so I ended up being a solo cruiser for the first time. My husband had a commitment that he needed to keep, so ...

 

We are very close to Platinum status, so I am working toward getting 10 cruises before the end of the year (more on this later on in the review).

 

I drove the easy 2 hours from the Eastern Shore on Friday morning up to Baltimore. NOTE: There is a *PORT OF BALTIMORE* and then there is a *CRUISE TERMINAL PORT*. You want the CRUISE TERMINAL PORT. Port of Baltimore is on the Inner Harbor off PRATT ST. The Cruise Terminal Port is right off I-95. Literally.

 

Normally we cruise out of Miami. We are Carnival cruisers (not cheerleaders), but I've asked my husband if he wants to try something else and his answer is, "We like what we get from Carnival--why would we try something else?!" so I'm perfectly content for now to stay with Carnival. We get there and sit and wait for seeming hours to get the ball rolling.

 

The cruise terminal in Baltimore was different. When I drove in, they barked at me: LUGGAGE? I'm like, HUH? They got irritated with me that I didn't understand what they meant by a one-word sentence! Evidently, they wanted to know if I was "checking" luggage. Once I said YES, they told me where to drive, where I stopped, someone lifted the gate on my truck, took my bag (I didn't even get out of the car!) and then they told me where to go next. There were probably 5 stops before I got to my parking spot. Each stop someone barked. (I didn't find them to be the friendliest individuals.)

 

Once I got parked, I took my carry-ons and through process of elimination, figured out where I was supposed to go. Got in there, and the first thing I had to do was go through security. These people were also such "gems"... my computer bag strap got caught in the rollers and they stood there watching me struggle to get it unstuck and literally just stood there and looked at me without lifting a finger to help. (rolling eyes)

 

More stops... I swear, I had to make 13 stops in the car and in the terminal--most of them inconsequential. BUT I finally made it to the customer service person. THE STOPS WERE NOT BECAUSE OF LINES. There were NO LINES.

 

From the time I left my car to the time I got on the ship was about 7 minutes. That was AWESOME.

 

Unlike Conquest class ships that board on Atlantic deck (3), the Pride was boarded on Deck 2.

 

Atrium lobby:

 

 

Hallway... our rooms were ready because there wasn't a cruise before ours.

 

 

I dashed to my room. My first inside cabin! The rooms were ready, no waiting--again! I loved that whole no waiting thing!

 

I was pleasantly surprised. It was cozy and comfortable. I don't know that I would choose an inside now each and every time, but I didn't think it was a bad choice for the weekend.

 

I've never seen one of these on a Carnival ship--I already had the name of my steward...

 

And for those of you who've never cruised, here's a picture of the bathroom:

[valancy1]

Now that I dumped off my computer and my tote bag, it was time to go get lunch and explore! I was on my own, and so I could do whatever I wanted. Taking pictures of the ship is one of my favorite things to do!

 

 

 

This is a sculpture outside of Butterflies lounge (Riviera, Forward). This is where the Comedy Club was:

 

 

[valancy1]

I wanted to say that I got my luggage before 1 pm. I was unpacked in less than 1/2 hr. Time for more exploring!

 

Lido Venus Pool:

 

David's Steakhouse (named after Michelangelo's David sculpture--there is a real-life replica in the steakhouse) has a GLASS staircase that juts out OVER THE 10-story atrium from 10 down to Lido (9). I was on the staircase before I realized that it was glass and out over the atrium. That was my only foray on that staircase. I still get the willies thinking about it... SCARY!

 

 

 

I loved the chairs on the Lido deck:

[valancy1]

Dancing the Macarena:

 

Sunset, Night One:

 

 

More in the main lobby:

 

[valancy1]

Serenity deck (located on Lido all the way Aft):

 

 

 

Swimming mermaids on the ceiling on the Lido buffet...

 

Another glance up toward's David's Steakhouse:

 

The lobby:

[valancy1]

Another view (I couldn't get enough of all these Renaissance paintings):

 

 

My lunch:

 

 

A view on the main Atrium lobby from above:

[Meari]

Thanks for your review so far! The Hubs and I are new to cruising but are thinking that Baltimore might be a potential port for us (Norfolk is less than 30 mins away). The Pride looks beautiful! Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[valancy1]

I love how the glass for David's Steakhouse is part of the funnel:

 

 

 

The inside of Butterflies Lounge:

 

 

 

If you cruise on Pride, it's worth watching the short little documentary where Mr. Farkus talks about how he decided on the design of the ship... he explains some of what is in Butterflies Lounge, as well as the other common, public areas.

[valancy1]

 

 

Muster was muster. If you have not cruised before, you have to do a Safety briefing that is required in order to leave the port. They put you on an ugly deck ewith the lifeboats and show you how to put on your life preserver.

 

Time for sailaway! They sounded an incredibly loud horn (more than half my cruises didn't use the horn) and we were starting to sail away.

 

I was hoping to see the ship go under the Bay Bridge, but it was pitch black when that happened and so I didn't see it--leaving or coming back. I hope the next time we cruise on Pride, we get a chance to see it. There was another bridge, though we cruised underneath on our way out to sea:

 

 

And WBAL came by and hovered, waving at us as we made our way out to sea:

[valancy1]

The first evening's dinner and dining room (an RCI cruiser described this as the "garrish" dining room... they haven't been on some of the other Carnival ships!)

 

 

 

For the first time I was not happy with where we were seated. We were seated in an annex behind the dining room called the "Captain's Club". Away from the action, and it showed. While the people that took care of us were pleasant enough, I was still eating dinner the first night at 10:30. Just TOO LONG. The bar lady told one of the people at our table when she failed to bring his drink that she was "just too busy" and she forgot completely about it. Not Carnival's typically wonderful service.

 

 

Dining room ceiling:

[seeshore]

I'm enjoying your review and especially all the pictures. Thank You!

[valancy1]

Thanks for your review so far! The Hubs and I are new to cruising but are thinking that Baltimore might be a potential port for us (Norfolk is less than 30 mins away). The Pride looks beautiful! Looking forward to the rest of your review!

 

I would say it is definitely a possibility to get up to Baltimore. It's nice to have several alternatives!

 

If I can answer any questions for you, I'd certainly be happy to help!

[lovestocruise19]

I love the Pride! She was my very first cruise and will always hold a special place in my heart! :D