Should we jump ship?

[CruisingSoon88]

I need some advice about deciding to change our upcoming New Year's cruise. We are currently booked on the Pride in a 9B cabin. I have heard that these are great cabins. The dilemma is that I have now received an offer for a Premier Casino Cruise for the Splendor for the same dates. I have always wanted to do one of these cruises, but the dates have just never worked out.

 

We will be driving to either Miami for the Splendor or Tampa for the Pride. The driving time difference is less than 2 hours for us so this is not really a factor. I know that the Pride is doing a big dry dock a few weeks before our cruise and will get the 2.0 upgrades. Splendor does not have 2.0, but it does have the spa with the T-pool and that is something that we enjoy.

 

I can book a spa balcony for about the same price as the 9B on the Pride. Obviously this will be a smaller cabin, but will come with spa privileges. We are booked ES so we will lose $200 because there are 4 of us. The upside is that I get $300 casino cash and the drinks on us cards from the first day of our cruise.

 

Would you change ships? Why or why not? BTW, the itinerary is not really a factor in our decision, either. Please share any experience with either of these ships or with a Premiere Casino cruise. Thanks in advance!:)

[k2excursion]

I can't speak to the casino thing, because I honestly don't have any clue what that even means. But in regards to the ships, I do believe that the Splendor is a much better ship. The Pride is a less crowded ship with less activities going on, and is very appealing to a more sedate demographic. If this fits you, you might prefer to stay. Splendor will have more going on. The people who want the peace & quiet will still have plenty of places to find that, but the more active people have what they want too. Plus, since you would be in a spa room, that's a great spot to find peace. I had a spa room on Magic, and the thermal suite (fancy saunas) rooms were really nice. I think you would really enjoy that. Speaking to the ships & rooms alone, I would take the more fun Splendor with the spa over the sedate Pride with a balcony.

[golfadj]

I can't speak to the casino thing, because I honestly don't have any clue what that even means. But in regards to the ships, I do believe that the Splendor is a much better ship. The Pride is a less crowded ship with less activities going on, and is very appealing to a more sedate demographic. If this fits you, you might prefer to stay. Splendor will have more going on. The people who want the peace & quiet will still have plenty of places to find that, but the more active people have what they want too. Plus, since you would be in a spa room, that's a great spot to find peace. I had a spa room on Magic, and the thermal suite (fancy saunas) rooms were really nice. I think you would really enjoy that. Speaking to the ships & rooms alone, I would take the more fun Splendor with the spa over the sedate Pride with a balcony.

 

agreed especially if they will take advantage of the free drinks

[Lovefuninthesun]

It's such a personal decision, depending on what you like/want, etc. But, since you asked....

IMHO, prefer the Pride because:

- 2.0 upgrades (we are not spa people, so this would trump it for us)

- love the Spirit class ships for their layout and ambiance

- hate POM! Love Tampa as an easy port, plus it is closer

- per previous poster, I would prefer the "more sedate" crowd, but that's me

 

Either way, sounds as if you will have a great cruise!:)

[patz]

We were on a Premiere Casino Cruise in August. We had a blast...cocktail party the first night, travel mugs, chocolate covered strawberries, dozen cookies, champagne, plush beach towels, separate free slot tournament (I won a free cruise for two up to 8 days!), drink card, snowball raffles and the Casino Manager even bought us dinner in the Steak House (with a bottle of wine). We just got another offer in the mail yesterday but we are already booked on a b2b in January going to Hawaii and then Mexico (the free cruise I won).

[CruisingSoon88]

Thank you for all of your responses. I am seriously leaning towards changing to the Splendor. I know cruising out of Miami can be a pain, but we haven't really had a terrible experience there. We do prefer the bigger ships with the Breeze being our favorite so far. Honestly, we enjoy the spa very much and we find that it saves us money because it keeps us out of the casino. My kids enjoy watching movies on the big screen so that is another plus. We are just not laid back and relax kind of people and that worries me with the Pride.

 

I will miss the 2.0 food upgrades, but we will be back on the Breeze just a couple of months after this cruise so I can wait that long for my Guy's burger. We were also considering buying the Cheers package so we would not have to do that if we both get the drink card from the beginning of the cruise. Most of our drinking is done in the casino anyway.

 

I just wanted to gather some ammunition from you guys to try and persuade my DH to agree to change. I also wanted to know if there was some reason that I wasn't aware of that we should not change ships. I know that ship preference is very subjective, but I appreciate hearing others' input. Thanks again!

[Davey Wavey]

Feel free to call Carnival to ask if they can transfer your booking over to the Premier Cruise. You may not have to lose that deposit. Of course, the ship size thing is your preference. I really liked the premier cruise (especially since I practically live in the casino the whole cruise) and am actually on the Splendor at the same time as the Pride offers the premier cruise. The price difference was just too high to make it worth it.

 

One extra perk I enjoy about premier cruises is I don't have to carry cash or get travelers cheques for my roulette budget. Regular cruises have a 3% fee to charge chips to your S&S card. That is waived on premier cruises. I can charge chips and get all the cash I need with no fee AND earn reward points (5% for travel expenses) on my credit card for all of it...all without having to do the slot machine trick.

[meanjean80]

Normally I love the Spirit class and would chose that over anything, however from what you described I would go with the Splendor. The reason? You mentioned Pride will only be a few weeks out of dry dock. It's not been unknown for a ship's dry dock to get extended, or for things not to be working perfectly immediately afterwards. In this instance, I would consider the Splendor the safer bet.