Pride Review - 6/21/15 with Pictures, Fun Times and Other Shenanigans

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Loving your review!!! I did a B2B cruise on the Pride in May and will be sailing it again in October!!!

[allthatroz]

following...looking forward to the rest of your review...:)

[WahooFan]

Enjoying the review and pictures. We leave in 81 days for my second cruise on the Pride and hubbys first. I cant wait to see the 2.0 upgrades.

[gapearl]

Great review! I'm considering the Pride for a cruise next year and looking forward to seeing more ship pictures. Like you, I prefer to be seated at dinner at large tables with others. It's disappointing to miss out on the good conversation you have with new friends. On my last cruise, we had your time dining and only had a large table with others twice. We should cruise together so we know we're guaranteed to not have an empty dinner table! :p:D lol Looking forward to the rest!

[Storm0075]

Loving your review! I can't wait to sail on her in September. Different itinerary, but the tidbits about the ship are always a help!

[PinaCarada]

Love your review and pictures!! We are on the Pride in August. Just wondering what type of camera and lens you used? Great pictures and I'm looking for a new camera for our holiday.

 

Thank you, Bale! I'm so jealous that you'll be on the Pride soon. And thank you for the compliments on my photos. My underwater digital camera is a Polaroid iF045. AJ got it for me for Christmas a few years ago off woot.com and it was really cheap. It takes pretty good photos but the sun glare off the LCD screen is problematic on bright days. The batteries also die really quickly, but it takes AAAs so it's easy to pack extras. For an inexpensive underwater camera though, it's clutch!

 

And for all the non-water photos (which is like 95% of them), I'm a little embarrassed to say that I used my iPhone 6. I haven't retouched, cropped or filtered any of them, so I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

[PinaCarada]

Great review! I'm considering the Pride for a cruise next year and looking forward to seeing more ship pictures. Like you, I prefer to be seated at dinner at large tables with others. It's disappointing to miss out on the good conversation you have with new friends. On my last cruise, we had your time dining and only had a large table with others twice. We should cruise together so we know we're guaranteed to not have an empty dinner table! :p:D lol Looking forward to the rest!

 

GAPearl! Thank you for your nice words and I'm so honored that you're following along. I LOVE your reviews and have followed all of them religiously. It's obvious from them that you're tons of fun and I would be totally honored to cruise with you someday. Our dinner table would be awesome - just think of how many cute dresses there would be between you, me, and AJ ;)

[PinaCarada]

 

 

 

[PinaCarada]

AND ... from this day on, I have all of the tear-offs! Praise the cruising gods and John Heald!

 

 

 

[roseshayit]

AND ... from this day on, I have all of the tear-offs! Praise the cruising gods and John Heald!

 

 

 

 

Is trivia on Carnival a big thing? Seems like it, especially compared to Royal.

[zippyjet]

Your style rocks! I'm from Baltimore (life long resident) and if I'm 30 minutes from the port, I'm driving little old lady style or there is carnage on the Interstate or a Car B Que. Been on 5 cruises all Carnival all out of Miami and am cruising on the Breeze out of Miami this September 12. I work for the big airline out of BWI. So, with my vacation schedule and friends in the sunshine state that's where I roll (onto the ship). If you ever cruise out of Baltimore I can give you some other cool places to check out for food etc. BTW one of my favorite bar-b-que sauces is Dinosaur sold at Wegmans which is popular in your area. ;)

[PinaCarada]

Thursday, June 25 - Half Moon Cay

 

It's Half Moon Cay day! I'd been looking forward to today for MONTHS. I couldn't wait to find out if Carnival's private island really was as beautiful and perfect as all of my favorite reviewers had said.

 

We grabbed an early breakfast and picked up our towels, sunscreen, and my sweet raft from the room before heading to the Butterflies Lounge around 8:45 a.m. to meet up with the rest of the FTTF, Platinums and Diamonds for the early tenders. We waiting briefly before we were ushered to the first tender of the day, and we were officially on our way to paradise.

 

 

It was packed! The priority guests took up a small portion of the tender, so if you're not one, don't despair! The boats were huge and if you're rearing to get to the island early, you have a good chance o getting on that first tender.

 

 

It was a quick, smooth ride from the ship to the island. The sky was dotted with clouds but the water was turquoise and sparkly, and the sun was shining in full force. After leaving the tender, we were greeted by a small shopping area and the Half Moon Cay welcome sign:

 

 

We immediately headed towards the beach to try to stake out the perfect spot. After telling AJ 500 times that the clamshells weren't free (thanks, Cruise Critic!), we settled down in a spot right in front of cabana #7 and villa D. We were right near the restrooms, incredibly close to the Captain Morgan "On the Rocks" Bar, and the Island BBQ was just a small jaunt away.

 

[PinaCarada]

I broke the internet by trying include this Half Moon Cay map picture at original size. Here's the next lowest size, and hopefully you can still see the details.

 

 

This is totally not as good as the original size, but it didn't set your computer on fire, so that's a plus.

 

Edited July 24, 2015 by PinaCarada

[PinaCarada]

AJ didn't really have much shade at our chairs in front of cabana #7, but there were trees nearby for him to run to and my raft had a lot of room to stretch out, so the boss made the decision to stay.

 

 

The view from our spot was GORGEOUS. The water couldn't have been more clear, and even as the day wore on, the crowd down at our end of the beach was sparse.

 

 

As you moved closer to the tender area, it got a bit more crowded, but there is plenty of space for everyone. The following photo was taken at 12:04 p.m., and it shows just how spread out and uncrowded the whole beach was, even at a peak time.

 

Edited July 24, 2015 by PinaCarada

[PinaCarada]

I started to blow up my sweet raft and was feeling a bit unmotivated, so I offered to go get us drinks at the pirate ship bar and left AJ to finish the dirty work.

 

 

 

I ordered him his usual strawberry daiquiri and I got a pina colada. I decided to go with the mini yard size because it seemed like a great deal. Upon review of our Sail and Sign (or, what I like to call, our "bar tab + one night at the steak house") printout, these two drinks were a grand total of $33.34. Holy Half Moon inflation, Batman!

 

By the time I got back to camp, my sweet raft was blown up (finally!) so we headed out into the water. It was starting to get a little cloudy, as you can see in this photo of my sweet raft and me:

 

 

The rain lasted no longer than 15 minutes.

 

 

The storm passed quickly and the sun came back out with a vengeance. This meant it was time for AJ to head for cover and reapply his SPF 2500 while I lounged in the gorgeous, clear water with my pina colada. It was a tough life.

 

[Weeziblu]

Made my day to wake up to a new installment!! Really looking forward to the rest of your review!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PinaCarada]

Is trivia on Carnival a big thing? Seems like it, especially compared to Royal.

 

I have no cruises on other lines to compare to, but Carnival definitely has a ton of trivia offerings. They always draw a good-sized crowd and even though you'll see some familiar faces at different games, there are always new ones too. I love the variety and they give exciting indoor options to those who may not be going ashore or don't want to sit in the sun.

 

[PinaCarada]

Your style rocks! I'm from Baltimore (life long resident) and if I'm 30 minutes from the port, I'm driving little old lady style or there is carnage on the Interstate or a Car B Que. Been on 5 cruises all Carnival all out of Miami and am cruising on the Breeze out of Miami this September 12. I work for the big airline out of BWI. So, with my vacation schedule and friends in the sunshine state that's where I roll (onto the ship). If you ever cruise out of Baltimore I can give you some other cool places to check out for food etc. BTW one of my favorite bar-b-que sauces is Dinosaur sold at Wegmans which is popular in your area. ;)

 

Thanks for tuning in, Zippy! You will LOVE the Breeze and I hope you have a blast in September. Thank you for offering to recommend some restaurants in Baltimore - we will definitely take you up on that in the future.

 

I'm glad you like Dinosaur BBQ sauce and patronize Wegmans. Wegmans is based here and is somewhat of an institution around these parts. We live within walking distance of one and I am there pretty much every other day. Funny story - on our way down to Baltimore the day before the cruise, we had to pee pretty bad and told ourselves we'd get off the next highway exit and use the bathroom at the first store/gas station/etc. that we saw. We got off 83 at Shawan Road and low and behold, the first thing we see is a Wegmans. Needless to say, when we walked in, we knew EXACTLY where the bathrooms would be. :p

[PinaCarada]

We hit up the island BBQ for lunch. It was a short walk from our spot on the beach and there were plenty of covered pavilions and picnic tables to go around. There were several buffet lines that moved smoothly and quickly, and you could choose from an assortment of salads, hot meats, rice, and condiments.

 

 

 

There was a drink station with water, iced tea and lemonade, and the Half Moon Cay Bar was next to the food pavilion and served sodas and alcoholic beverages that could be purchased with your Sail and Sign card.

 

 

The prices were a little bit marked up from onboard pricing, but it was nothing extremely unexpected.

 

 

After our lunch, we grabbed two Bud Lights from the bar to bring back to the beach.

 

[PinaCarada]

After lunch, we spent most of the rest of our day in the gorgeous water.

 

 

There were consistently fish swimming all around us and between our feet.

 

 

We even saw a small crab.

 

 

AJ started noticing that there was one little fish that wouldn't leave him alone. Anywhere AJ moved, the fish followed him.

 

 

This seems to be this little guy's mantra. When AJ left the water, he switched over to me, and when I got out, we noticed that he chose another friend to pester. If you're going to HMC soon and hang out in the water near cabana #7, be sure to look for our friend Labatt. Here's his extreme close-up:

 

 

 

[kimba9615]

I am still looking for us in your pictures. We were in cabana #7 the day you were there!

 

Half Moon Cay definitely lived up to the hype, it was paradise!

 

I am loving your review!

[SportsMomof4]

Incredible review....thank you! If I wasn't excited enough to leave on the Pride in 22 days, now I'm more excited! Can't wait!

[PinaCarada]

I am still looking for us in your pictures. We were in cabana #7 the day you were there!

 

Half Moon Cay definitely lived up to the hype, it was paradise!

 

I am loving your review!

 

Kimba, was your daughter my "twinsie" who was also wearing a bathing suit with black bottoms and an orange top? She was a riot!

 

Thanks for following along :D

 

[PinaCarada]

Here's another photo of me in my sweet raft. This was right before the giant paddle board monster attacked the Carnival Pride, reaching up to the upper decks and plucking unsuspecting chogs from their deck chairs. Thank goodness AJ and I were safe on the shore.

 

 

The last tender was scheduled to depart at 4 p.m., but we started packing up around 3 and lazily made our way over to the loading area. The near-side of the beach was still hopping at 3 p.m. ...

 

 

... but our section of the beach was nearly deserted.

 

 

I was able to snap a few more shots on the way out of the On the Rocks bar. DJ Goa had stopped his set by this point. He had played a good mix of the requisite Lido deck dance songs (Cupid Shuffle, the Wobble, etc.) and reggae-sounding pop hits (Buju Banton, Kevin Little, etc.) and I thought the volume was set to a good level. He had been set up on the left-hand platform and had a quite a congregation of enthusiastic dancers in the beach area in front of him all day.

 

 

Here is the "I Wish I Could Stay Here Forever" bar. We didn't order any drinks from here during the day, but it was only because we were so much closer to the pirate ship bar.

 

 

 

[PinaCarada]

We were on a tender by 3:15 and it was a quick, beautiful ride back over to the Pride.

 

 

 

 

It took quite a while to debark from the tender because it was filled to capacity and only one line was filtering off the boat and onto the ship. If you're on one of these last few tenders, be prepared to stand in line for a bit while you're waiting to get back on the ship.

 

Half Moon Cay is DEFINITELY the most beautiful place on Earth. I would choose another Carnival itinerary that calls here in a heartbeat. I've never seen water that is a deeper shade of turquoise and so clear that you can see straight down to your toes, even during a downpour. The sand on the beach is soft and powdery, and the sand once you're in the water is just as smooth and there are no rocks in sight.

 

You can be completely happy here without booking any additional excursions or add-ons, and Carnival runs fun free activities like tug-of-war and a sandcastle building contest. The free island BBQ is also tasty and sufficient. However, there's plenty of extras for those who want to do a little more physical activity, including paddle boats, paddle boards, and mini sailboats, plus a wide range of excursions including a stingray encounter, horseback riding in the surf, and jet ski rides.

 

The cabanas and villas also seem to be a great value and come with a lot of perks - loungers, snacks and non-alcoholic drinks, rafts and snorkel equipment, personal showers, and a hot tub (in the villas) - but most importantly, shade (right AJ?). He even suggested we book a cabana the next time we're in HMC as long as we have another couple to share it with.

 

I wanted to add one last note about snorkeling in HMC. We love to snorkel and own our own equipment that we bring on every cruise. Mitsugirly mentions a great place in HMC to snorkel in her review, but we didn't head down that way. We used our goggles and snorkels only in HMC, and though there wasn't a ton to see, having the goggles was a definite plus. Next time, if we're just planning to lounge on the beach again, we will leave our bulky fins on the ship and just worry about bringing our goggles and possibly the snorkels.

 

Here's one last gorgeous shot from HMC:

 

 

 

Edited July 25, 2015 by PinaCarada