Proud Pride Cruisers!! (Feb 8th-Feb 15th Western Review)

[bev.pearce]

English cookies are hard, small and crunchy !

I always find American cookies soft and stale tasting !

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[almendrada]

We just booked on Pride last night, and so now I'm obsessively reading reviews, naturally.

Alright, here we go! Hopefully, my sense of humor actually comes across in text.

So... you're actually really funny. I'm looking forward to the rest of this review!

Also, let me just go ahead and get this out there: We loved this cruise. Between the ship itself, the fact I actually researched the ports for this one versus what we usually do in just winging it at each port, and the fact we took 2 people that had never cruised before, we had a blast. I'd definitely recommend the research aspect, even if you don't pre-book excursions.

I tend to go overboard (Ha!) with the research, so this bodes well for me.

 

Day 1 (Sort of) - Driving to port Tampa, boarding, and first day!

 

The cruise departed out of Tampa, and the 4 of us all live in Atlanta, so we decided to drive down. We left the Saturday before departure day, but couldn't leave until 5PM EST because of the other couple and their silly plans about some birthday for their child. They definitely didn't have their priorities straight.

:D:D:D

We were lazy and stopped in some random side of the road motel in the middle of nowhere Florida. America's Best Value Inn or something? No pictures and not even sure where the motel is or its actual name, but believe me, you aren't missing much. I woke up at 2AM to a tow truck idling in the parking lot with the driver walking car to car to check VIN #'s. I was treated to a very entertaining show of someone getting their Lexus towed, was pretty cool. Not to mention what had to be 50 thread count sheets on the bed. Mistakes were made not going to the next exit.

 

We woke up around 8AM, enjoyed our luxurious breakfast of pre-sealed muffins, and got out of there as quickly as possible. IT WAS CRUISE DAY AT LAST!

 

We got to the port area around noon EST. Making the last hour or so of the drive was painful because some people in our facebook group were already aboard posting first drink pictures. Jerks. But let me say, FIND YOUR CRUISE CRITIC AND FACEBOOK GROUPS!

Here's a question: CC doesn't allow advertisement of facebook groups... so how does one find the facebook group corresponding with one's cruise? I would absolutely love to connect with my fellow cruisers.

It adds so much to the cruise experience. Even if you don't pal around all week (which we didn't), having some familiar faces on board is really nice, especially if you aren't with a huge group.

 

From our groups, we found out about Parking Doctors in Tampa. Port of Tampa parking is $17 a day (I think) with no shuttle. Parking Doctors is $8 with an air conditioned shuttle that drops you off at the front doors of the check-in terminal. Great choice for parking, lot felt safe, easy to find, etc. Also, they do online reservations, so no risk of them being full. Only issue was post-cruise, and it was a very small one which I'll talk about at the end.

 

Day 1 TBC (To Be Continued)

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this!

[almendrada]

I'm still reading posts in our cruise group's facebook group about people landing in their home city in -15 weather. That isn't where humans should live people.

 

Yup, that's us. It was -30 below with windchill this week here in Minneapolis. Dreaming about cruises is a very essential coping mechanism for us frozen northern folk!

[Artemus]

I loved that video of the Carnival Pride and seeing the upgrades.

[carol TC]

Not sure if this was asked but was it the new American Table in MDR or the old menus

[birdlgs]

Almendrada-go there and put in carnival pride cruisers and click events. It will be there.

[PTAngel]

I just found this thread tonight (having trouble with internet). We are booked on the Pride on March 2016 for a 14 day Caribbean cruise. It will be our first time on a Carnival ship. So this was extremely interesting to me. I tend to do a lot of research but my hubby doesn't want to hear about it until we are actually on the way. I've almost finalized my plans for May of this year for Bermuda. Then I have a 10 day Western Caribbean to plan for. Then I can start the Pride cruise, although I've already done some research.

Thank you so much for taking the time for this review. Every time I read something new, I'm less nervous about it. I'm already on the roll call & I'm surprised about how much activity is on there.

[almendrada]

Almendrada-go there and put in carnival pride cruisers and click events. It will be there.

 

Thanks! I'll try that.

[almendrada]

OK, so this review is outstanding so far! My husband and I have both been very entertained. We're going to the Bahamas on the Pride, so the ports will be very different, but the ship looks incredible.

 

I do have to say that we geek out in a similar way when it comes to the Mayan ruins. DH used to work at a science museum that had an exhibit about the Mayans; so interesting. We recognized a lot of the stuff that we saw on our honeymoon in Chichen Itza.

 

Oh yeah... we went to Chichen Itza on our honeymoon. It was crazy cool--except that it was literally the hottest I've ever been in my life.

 

 

Also, DH wanted me to tell you that he's very jealous of your "for Science!" t-shirt.

[almendrada]

In addition, and more importantly: I want a breakfast burrito from BlueIguana in the mouth part of my face RIGHT THE F NOW. Your pictures are simultaneously breathtaking and torturous.

[yesornocruising]

Did you post the last part yet? I don't want to miss it! :D

 

 

I might have lied. Got called into work early and will probably be here late. Ahhh, the life of a supervisor the week after a 7 day vacation.

 

Also, it's 15 degrees outside in Atlanta, this time last week, I was complaining because it was 90 degrees and 100% humidity in Honduras. I think I'd prefer the latter right now.

[OttawaCountess]

Hope you're ok?!

 

Still waiting ...

[jg51]

Dear O.P.,

Thanks for all the great photos, etc., that you have posted.

 

If you have the final "Fun Times" (that of Saturday), could you please show that to us? The last one that you posted, above, was from Friday.

 

Much obliged.

[Shaybear]

Did you post the last part yet? I don't want to miss it! :D

 

Can't wait for the last part of your review...You have done an awesome job...

Hope your not still sick!

[Cyber Kat]

 

 

We're sailing on the Pride out of Baltimore June14th - we were doing the Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay, Freeport itinerary. We've been to GT and HMC before - Freeport is new.

 

I'm enjoying your review and the pics, because although we've been on the Legend and the Miracle, this will be our first time on the Pride - first time with 2.0 upgrades.

 

I picked this post to reply to because of the Splendor pic. We were on the Splendor in 2013 - had the cabin right over the R in Splendor - 6485 - awesome room. Aft wrap with a huge balcony.

 

Looking forward to my first Guy's Burger!

[Cyber Kat]

If you're looking for pink houses and really clear water, you should check out a cruise to Bermuda. Place is awesome!

 

We did a sailboat ride with swimming and snorkeling. The boat was anchored in a little cove with a small beach. My husband can't swim, so he was still on the boat and I was in the water. He wanted me to swim to where I could stand so he could decide if he could float his way over there.

 

I kept dunking myself under and the bottom was not even close. He kept saying - but I can see the bottom! I said, well I can't stand on it!

 

Here's a pink house for you ...

 

This photo was taken from a plane ...

[jg51]

Topping, in case O.P. lost track of the thread ...

[yesornocruising]

Yes, hoping he comes back and tells us what happened the last day!

[jerseycandyman]

The wives headed up to the Serenity Deck and were able to find a couple of loungers for a few hours. Husband #2 and I went down the Green Thunder slide 10-15 times each...k, maybe not that many times, but that thing is a blast. You get into a chamber, the employee closes it, locks you in, and a countdown from 3 happens. When it hits 0, the floor drops out from beneath you, and you go flyyyyyyyying through the enclosed tube out above the sea, around and into a splash runway. Really cool, and since the cruise wasn't full of kids, no line all week. No pictures of the slide since I don't have a waterproof case for my iPad, but it's a blast.

 

Serenity deck on sea days:

 

 

Husband#2 and I also went from the slide to the Lido main pool area for the first cornhole tournament. This is where I won my first Ship on a stick (only one trivia trophy, we'll talk about that later :P), was really fun.

 

 

(I love the guy in the background of this pic. I'll let you look for him yourself, see if you see what I'm talking about ;) )

 

After some shopping, we headed down for cornhole tournament #2.

 

 

A beautiful watch I'd love to add to my collection, but they wanted $2100 for it. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE!

 

 

They had cornhole in the Red Frog Pub throughout the cruise other than 2 games on the Lido deck. Was a really odd choice of venue since the ceilings were so low, but I guess they didn't have a ton of space to choose from.

 

From here, we met our wives for trivia. I just realized I didn't take pictures of the full schedule tear out, so I have no idea which trivia this was. We did a ton of them, so I can't keep them straight.

 

 

So, here's where I need to take a moment and be a sore loser. As I said, this was an older cruise. Older people do not like to lose trivia to us "whippersnappers" in our 20's. That said, my wife and I take our trivia seriously. Several times throughout this cruise, they'd ask for people's scores, we'd yell out ours, be the highest number, then after about 10 seconds, someone would inevitable yell out a score 1 higher than ours. They'd receive the trophy, we'd all clap and go our separate ways (unless there was another trivia there right after).

 

I'm not saying there was rampant trivia cheating on this cruise...but there was rampant trivia cheating on this cruise. GRRRRR! You stole my ships on a stick! You fiends!

 

From here, it was some ship exploration and relaxing before dinner.

 

My arcade picture is blurry, but I wish I could share it. It's tucked up on deck 4, and you have to go down to deck 3, walk along the exterior promenade, then up some very steep steps to get to it. I'm surprised anyone can find it unless they're looking for it.

 

From here, it was off to dinner and more food porn.

 

Was waiting for the day when my daughter would get into someone pic and wind up on cruise critic glad you had a great time hope you got to meet my wonderful daughter Nicole 7 more days and she will be home for 2 months cant wait to see her again

[Viscus]

Okay guys, I'm not dead. When I got back from the cruise, I was extremely busy with work, and actually ended up with bronchitis. Then, as I was starting to feel better, we had to move into a new apartment (no emergency, just expiring lease and wanting to get out of our old complex). Those reason coupled with general laziness has lead to the lapse in the review.

 

BUT FEAR NOT! I am here to answer some of the questions that have come in in my absence, then finish this puppy off! Plus, Day 7 will start with the only real issue of the cruise, so there's that to look forward to. :P

[Viscus]

English cookies are hard, small and crunchy !

I always find American cookies soft and stale tasting !

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

If I want something small, hard and crunchy, I'll eat a cracker. Cookies are supposed to be warm and soft. Crazy Brits. ;)

[Viscus]

We just booked on Pride last night, and so now I'm obsessively reading reviews, naturally.

 

Glad I could be of service!

 

So... you're actually really funny. I'm looking forward to the rest of this review!

 

Please, if you don't mind, I'm going to put your quote on my business cards. Maybe then people will get me, man.

 

I tend to go overboard (Ha!) with the research, so this bodes well for me.

 

I guarantee you, unless you just function on a different wavelength from me, knowing the information about the port you're visiting you can find by doing research before hand only enriches the port experience. Knowing how that port handles taxis, major tourism spots, places to avoid, etc.

 

:D:D:D Here's a question: CC doesn't allow advertisement of facebook groups... so how does one find the facebook group corresponding with one's cruise? I would absolutely love to connect with my fellow cruisers.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this!

 

The best way is to just type in your ship name and sailing date into the facebook search bar. Even non-Carnival sailings usually have groups. Happy hunting!

 

 

...

[Viscus]

Yup, that's us. It was -30 below with windchill this week here in Minneapolis. Dreaming about cruises is a very essential coping mechanism for us frozen northern folk!

 

My life feels empty right now since we don't have a cruise booked. As soon as I see a decent deal on carnival, I'll be remedying that.

[Viscus]

Not sure if this was asked but was it the new American Table in MDR or the old menus

 

As of our February 8th sailing, they were still the old menus on the Pride.

[Viscus]

I just found this thread tonight (having trouble with internet). We are booked on the Pride on March 2016 for a 14 day Caribbean cruise. It will be our first time on a Carnival ship. So this was extremely interesting to me. I tend to do a lot of research but my hubby doesn't want to hear about it until we are actually on the way. I've almost finalized my plans for May of this year for Bermuda. Then I have a 10 day Western Caribbean to plan for. Then I can start the Pride cruise, although I've already done some research.

Thank you so much for taking the time for this review. Every time I read something new, I'm less nervous about it. I'm already on the roll call & I'm surprised about how much activity is on there.

 

Glad I could be of some help! I think you'll love the ship unless you just have to have a rock climbing wall to have fun. Out of the ships me and my wife have been on, the Pride was our favorite by a mile.