Carnival Pride vs Royal Caribbean (A REVIEW!)

[aflyingbuttress]

 

Never mind I see someone beat me to it. :)

 

I got your answer in my email. Also very helpful. Thanks.:)

[TIMNANNA]

After that we went to go lay out. The middle pool was again closed as the men in construction-ish outfits were working on it. Rumor was that the pool is closed for the winter. Womp womp.

 

Closed for the winter? Really? Where did you hear this?

 

I have a cruise booked for December, but if one of the pools is going to be closed, I might consider switching to another cruise.

 

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to reading more.

[Adge01]

Joining along. Loving your review.

[xadidas20x]

So I screwed up at the end of my last post. Nothing exciting happened overnight. It is this next night, from Day 4 to Day 5 that the excitement happened. So, hopefully I drew some of you in to continue the review, just to completely let you down. But hey, now you got the next post to look forward to!

 

Today, we woke up and grabbed breakfast. Our friends did the room service for breakfast and we later learned it never did come in the time it was suppose to. There was a big miscommunication between us and them and we never was able to meet up, get off, and enjoy the island with the four of us. So, it was a day with just the wife and I. Before getting off of the boat we went down to Guest Services because when we got in late last night, our stateroom door was difficult to open. When it opened we heard a sucking noise coming from our balcony. I knew with 100% certainty it was completely closed when we left. So, I went over to the door and it was locked, but apparently not completely closed. Almost closed, but not quite all the way. I turned the lock to unlock it and it popped open some. Tried slamming it shut and it would not stay shut without actually locking it close. But even then, it would not fully close, causing that annoying wind sound that was loud enough. So, we told Guest Services this and they said they'll send someone up. With that, time to get off the boat.

 

We got off at 9am, plenty of time after we docked and people had already gotten off, so we were able to walk right off no problem. As soon as we got off we're on the dock and you see BEAUTIFUL water and a nice beach with 100's and 100's of chairs already set up. We made our way right to the beach. We got some chairs, which we were pleasantly surprised as we're used to having to pay a small fee for chairs on a beach when it's not the cruise line's island, but cost absolutely nothing. The water was gorgeous, it was a beautiful day, and it felt amazing to get in for a swim. After some time in the water we got out and went to our chairs. We happened to be right by the entrance to the pool of Margaritaville and saw people coming back with delicious looking drinks. We figured before settling in we'd walk over and see what it's all about.

 

Once getting back to the pool I knew this was where I'd want to go. The pool was huge and winded all around, going under walking bridges and everything. Had a section overlooking the FloRider (for those that don't know, it's basically a contraption that slopes down and water continually shoots up it, allowing you to surf on it) and also had a pool bar. I walked into the water and over to the pool bar to see the drink prices before I made a determination to move over to the pool. Well, I was shocked, but the drinks were the same prices as on the ship.. Well, at least the ones I'd probably drink such as the Pina Colada were the same. I asked my wife and she was all for it as she loves the water, but could do without the actual beaches and sand. We got our stuff and somehow scored great seats at the section over looking the FloRider. I got my Pina Colada, my wife got one in a big souvenir clock that only had 5 for all the numbers on the clock with "It's always 5 o'clock somewhere."

 

We spend the rest of the time relaxing at the pool, inside of the pool, drinking our drinks, watching the participants of the FloRider, and connecting to some WiFi. I usually don't like to touch cell phones or anything when I'm on vacation, especially on a cruise, but my wife's graduate program started the Monday of this cruise (day 2) so she wanted to get into her class online and do some posting. Overall, it was a GREAT day and we really enjoyed both the beach and Margaritaville. I have no idea how much it cost to do an hour on the FloRider but they have it on the Freedom of the Seas, Oasis of the Seas, and Allure of the Seas with Royal Caribbean which I've been on. But it was fun watching people who obviously was doing it for the first time and you could see how much fun they were having. But, after all that relaxing time, we got up, walked around the few shops by the dock, and got back on the boat.

 

Our friends ended up doing a 2 mile walk to George's Beach. It's right where that abandoned ship is right down from where the beach at the dock is. They did say the walk to and the beach area itself was a little seedy, but there were very few people there and they said the snorkeling was great with plenty of fish. They snorkeled for a couple hours straight.

 

My wife and I went up and found that the Serenity had some open spots. So we hung out there for a little bit and then went to Guy's Burgers for lunch. Met up with the friends and caught up on the days' events. We learned that the green slide was opened today and that they went on a it a few times. They said it was fun and scary. Apparently the male friend screamed so loud going down that people were looking over when he got out, wondering what that was! We then went back to our room and took a nap. That sun took it out of us! And when we got back, whatever was wrong with our balcony door was fixed. And Guest Services did a great job following up with us to make sure everything was fine.

 

Dinner. We strayed from the dining room and went to the buffet. The Hasbro Game Show was at 8:15pm, right when our dinner time was, and since we hadn't seen many of the shows, we wanted to get to that. We almost did Bonsai Sushi. Their prices seemed quite reasonable and looked pretty good. But when it came to it, not all four of us was feeling sushi so we went to the buffet. I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich from the deli and a four cheese pizza. For some reason, the stuff at the buffet, just like the entire week, didn't really look appealing to me. The sandwich was as good as a grilled ham and cheese can be, and the pizza was really good, just extremely greasy. I'd choose the pepperoni over the 4 cheese. As far as the buffet, everyone else had various things and they all said it was very very good.

 

At this time, we made our way over to the Hasbro game show. On the way to it, passing by the middle pool that has been closed the entire time this week, looked like it was open for the movie that was playing on the screen. It has seats and a table in the corners and people were sitting in there. I got excited wondering if it was actually going to be open.

 

We went to the Hasbro show and they do two different games, two teams of four for each. So, 16 guests total get picked for the show. They do various quickfire games to choose the guests for the team and unfortunately, no one in my party of four were chosen. But it was definitely entertaining to watch. At the end of it, they said the last at sea day will be another show, so we knew we'd come back hoping to be able to participate.

 

I'm a little off with my timeframe for this day but either before or right after Hasbro, my two friends we were with played Bingo and won the first game, worth $72. One of the lower prizes of the week but hey, money is money. They did play at least three times through the week.

 

My wife and I went to the casino. As much as we don't gamble, every now and then when we are in a casino I put $5 or $10 on red for roulette. I either double what I get or lose it, and that's it, I'm done. Well, my wife encouraged me to put $10 on red so I started with $10, it was red and I won $10. I decided to keep going and put $5 on red or black, don't remember which one, thinking I"ll still be ahead $5 if I lose, or ahead that much more if I win. Well, I lost. So, instead of doing the proper thing and walking away while ahead, I wagered the remaining $5 that I was ahead on a 3 to 1 odd bet, and won! So, I was $15 ahead and had enough. I'm not much of a gambling man. My wife played $5 worth of quarters on the quarter machine and ended up winning another free cocktail drink coin and ended up $5 ahead. So, we left the casino $20 richer with a free cocktail coin that as I said before, I value at $9 or $10. Not too bad!

 

Just when I thought the night was getting late, they had the QUEST, an adult gameshow/scavenger hunt late that night. I was surprised because with Royal it's usually towards the end of the week, and when it's a sea day the next day. So, surprised that it was extremely late with a port day following. But, that didn't stop us. It was hilarious! My wife and I were at the side of the stage at the front. They did teams of 4-6 so we didn't participate. Our Friends didn't end up coming. There was a team of six next to us and a team of four behind us. I just helped out with them if I could. But it was hilarious to watch. The Cruise Director, Steve, did a great job with it. I don't know who came up with this game first, Carnival or Royal Caribbean, but they were equally as good.

 

Now, it was late, and I had to get up early. My plan was to get back to the gym and then wait in line to get a good tender number to get to Half Moon Cay. And, now, it is this overnight that the "excitement" happened.....

 

[oncruisecontrol]

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to more. I mostly cruise Carnival, but last year went on my first Royal Caribbean cruise. We had a great time on Liberty of the Seas. The production shows were amazing! In fact the entertainment blew Carnival's out of the water. However the food on Liberty was several notches below Carnival's (and I am NOT a fan of Carnival's food). I found myself eating at Johnny Rockets more times than I would have liked due to the disappointing main dining room food. So, I am very curious what you thought, in general, of Carnival's food vs. Royal's food?

[xadidas20x]

Last entry for the night. I have a busy week ahead starting Wednesday so I got to get as much in as I can. So, without further ado, start with the overnight excitement.....

 

Well, okay, it wasn't that exciting. In fact, I basically slept through it all. For those that have seen other posts, there was apparently a fire (today I'm reading it was just thick black smoke, no fire) that occurred in the Engine/Generator room? Sometime around 2, give or take, I remember vaguely waking up to an announcement calling some sort of emergency code. I've heard many of those in multiple cruises and just assumed in my state of basically being asleep, assumed it was some medical thing. It never occurred to me at that moment that up to this point they haven't been doing announcements inside of the stateroom, and here we are with an announcement in the middle of the night, in the stateroom. Like I said, I was asleep. Well, I finally woke up to the announcement saying everything was clear, the fire is out, no crew or guest was injured. The announcement did say that we will now be an hour behind getting to Half Moon Cay. I was awake after that.

 

It's funny, because later in the day talking to other people, there was a woman and her husband who were on the Grandeur out of Baltimore when they had the big fire. They said when they woke up to the announcement in the middle of the night, they immediately used the restroom, gathered their personal items and grabbed their life jackets, waiting for them to call us all to the muster stations. Then, on the other hand, you have my wife. She didn't believe me when I told her in the morning what had happened. So, she slept through it all!

 

Well, I somehow mustered the energy to wake up and get to the gym. Did my workout and was up at the mid pool that was closed this whole time, to see that the midpool looked like it would be open. But I was up here just prior to 730am to stand in line for the 8am issuing of tender tickets. I was the 4th or 5th person there. But there was no line. No indication which side of the stage this would be happening at. This whole think ended up rubbing me the wrong way. You would think doing this every week, or every other week, they would have this down by now. But as 8am creeped closer, a ton of people made their way up there and people were just sitting/standing wherever. Well I was hanging out by the one side of the stage and my friends were hanging out on the other. This way we have both sides covered at the front because I did not wait there before everyone else, just to get pushed aside by people that just walked in. Well, 8am came and went. About 7 minutes past 8am the lady crew member came over to the table at the side I was on and sure as I was, people that literally came in behind her and came in 30 min after me bum-rushed the table. Well I immediately went over to the table and after handing out some tickets the lady started yelling for people to form a line. I was almost to the table and I told her I was one of the first ones there and have been waiting well over thirty minutes. She just said well she doesn't know that so start forming a line (with quite an attitude at that). The lady next to me said she was also waiting for about a half an hour and was one of the first ones there, and again the crew member stated she doesn't know that, get into lines. Then a guy behind me who was definitely there before me stated he's been up there for about an hour and was the first one waiting and again the crewmember stated she doesn't know that. So I remembered him being there first so I pulled him to get in front of me as he deserved being at that table first and he was able to get his tender tickets. I then was able to get my way up to the front of the table and got my tender ticket for the first tender (group 1) and walked away. The crew member was incredibly rude about the whole thing. I don't know if a line ever formed but I didn't stay to find out. It just really rubbed me the wrong way.

 

I got back to my stateroom, got my wife, and we grabbed breakfast. Mmmm breakfast burrito. We then got our stuff ready and it was getting close to 10 am so we made our way to deck 2 forward to await to be called for the tender. Remember, originally we were suppose to dock at 9 but the fire delayed it for an hour. Again, lack of communication and they still hadn't done any guest tenders as it was approaching 1030. Those on excursions have been lined up for awhile at the stairs, you can tell people are getting anxious because we only have limited time on the island, and tender numbers got up to the low 20's. So if it's 1030 and we haven't even gotten to 1, how long would it be until they could get off? I feel like there should have been some sort of communication from the Carnival people, but there wasn't. Finally about 1030 they started loading the tender, which we were able to get on and got to the island.

 

My favorite beach location is Orient Beach at St Marten. I thought Grand Turk came close to it as far as how great the beach was. Well, Half Moon Cay pretty much blew them out of the water. The beach and water was unreal. The four of us found a great spot next to the pirate ship bar that at that time, had shade. We enjoyed the water. It was a super hot day and the water was perfect. You could look down in the water and see the fish swimming around your feet. We got out of the water and decided to walk around. My friends had their own snorkel gear and wanted to find a snorkeling spot. We ended up walking to the Stingray Excursion where people were in. It was enjoyable watching that, to include watching them feed the stingrays. We then walked back over to the beach, on the way stopping at the island buffet. We weren't hungry so my wife had a little bit of chips and salsa and I had a cookie. We went back to the beach, our friends went to a different spot to snorkel. We went in the water to cool off and then laid out. Well, that shade was definitely gone by then and I think it took a min to start napping and that nap lasted a total of 5 min. It was so hot that I was sweating like crazy and my wife who normally braves it out because she loves to lay and tan also couldn't get comfortable and suggested getting back in the water. So, we went into the water for quite some time before deciding to get out and walk back to the boat. We found the little bit of shopping where the tenders were, looked around, and got right onto a tender and back to the boat.

 

After changing back at our stateroom we figured we had so much sun and water that we weren't going to go layout. But we were hungry at that point so we grabbed some lunch. Guy's burger, tuna sandwich from the deli, and some DELICIOUS shrimp rangoons. We walked by the mid pool and it was confirmed, it was opened for business for the rest of the cruise.

 

We walked down to the Red Frog Pub and was going to grab two drinks. Well, they had $2 off of the Rum Runner or whatever it was called, in a fishbowl. So, it was $20 including gratuities. So, since it was the cost of two drinks anyways, we decided to try it. I won't say how many, but wow the bartender put A LOT of shots of liquor in it. And it tasted very good. So, my wife and I were enjoying that, playing some checkers, and we noticed people coming in with cornhole (The bean bag game where you toss it onto the board and try to get it into the hole). Well, apparently there was a scheduled tournament there at that time.

 

So, we decided to move down just to watch, no plans to participate. The person threw 5 bean bags, on the board was 1 point, in the hole was 3 points. So total you could get was 15 points. The person with the highest would sit in the winner's chair. They would be de-throwned if a person either tied, or got more points then the person in that chair. Well, as the game was going on, people kept coming in and joining, so eventually I decided to add my name on the list. There was probably 20-25 people that played. They ended up doing two rounds. I was the last person to go and when it was my turn that second and last round, the person in the winner's chair had 10 points. So, I don't know at this point if drinking that fishbowl helped or hindered my game! But I saw the trophy. The gold Cruise ship that said Carnival Pride (I'm guessing it's that famous ship on a stick I saw people talk about on here?). It is extremely cheap but I really wanted it. So, I do my first throw, didn't even touch the board. Whoops, there goes my chance! Second throw, it hit the board. Yay, one point. Third throw through the hole. Fourth throw through the hole. I'm at 7 points and if I can do this last one in the hole, I'll win. Apparently the pressure did not get to me because I threw it and it went straight into the hole and I won. I do feel bad because he lady that was in the winner's chair didn't realize it at the time that I won, but she was not happy when she learned it. She wasn't happy because we technically tied in points but they told her that has been the rule since the beginning that tie or higher takes the chair. I mean, I agree with this woman because we did tie. I almost asked if we could have a sudden death round, but the selfish, little bit drunk side of me thought I really did want that trophy. So I was a little selfish and kept my mouth shut and got the trophy! A couple people that were hanging out there asked if I saw that woman because she was visibly not happy. But asked in a way like they think she was being ridiculous. They immediately said to not feel bad at all about it. I still kind of do but I think I'll be able to move on.

 

We then walked around the ship for a little bit to see if we could find our friends since we left each other when they went snorkeling. No luck. So between the sun, the long day, and now the fishbowl of alcohol, we went back and went to take a nap. Tonight my wife and I ate alone as our friends ended up sleeping the entire evening and night after getting back from Half Moon Cay. I marked in my notes that the service was exceptionally fast today and the food was rather disappointing. But, dinner was done and it was the Love and Marriage game show.

 

The show was done slightly different then how we've witnessed it on all the Royal Caribbean ships. But it worked out and was pretty funny. My wife and I definitely enjoyed it. It was right there in the middle of the funniest one we've seen and the worst one we've seen. So, average.

 

After, we walked over to the casino and took a look at the quarter machine. We put $5 in quarters in the machine and got 2 drink coins out of it. So, not a bad win at all. We're doing pretty good at the casino. But, it's now scaring me, my wife keeps gravitating towards the roulette table. She's really getting into it and trying to learn it. This might get scary. It was busy and she doesn't want to try playing when it's so busy. I reminded her when I had played on this cruise, I did make a fool of myself because I don't know what I'm doing, especially when it comes to table games. Luckily there were two other guests playing that were very nice and more than happy to help me out. I felt dumb when I took the betting $1 chips to the cashier to cash out. Oh well, you have to learn somehow!

 

Anyways, after watching people play for awhile and win lots of money, we went to bed to prepare for Freeport in the morning.....

[xadidas20x]

Closed for the winter? Really? Where did you hear this?

 

I have a cruise booked for December, but if one of the pools is going to be closed, I might consider switching to another cruise.

 

Thanks for the review. Looking forward to reading more.

 

The bad news, I really don't remember where I heard this. Don't know if it was just rumors around from other guests, or someone was told from a crew member. I actually think our friends were told by a crew member but I don't remember for certain.

 

Either way, the good news, if you read my day 5 review, which I greatly encourage you to do because it took me forever to write it, you'll see that the information was false as the pool was open and remained open for the rest of the week!

 

So, now worries about having to switch your cruise.

[xadidas20x]

Enjoying your review. Looking forward to more. I mostly cruise Carnival, but last year went on my first Royal Caribbean cruise. We had a great time on Liberty of the Seas. The production shows were amazing! In fact the entertainment blew Carnival's out of the water. However the food on Liberty was several notches below Carnival's (and I am NOT a fan of Carnival's food). I found myself eating at Johnny Rockets more times than I would have liked due to the disappointing main dining room food. So, I am very curious what you thought, in general, of Carnival's food vs. Royal's food?

 

Thank you.

 

My favorite Royal ship is Freedom of the Seas, the sister ship to Liberty. I'd like to say you're right about the production shows being better on Royal, but I guess it would be unfair to say that because I didn't watch any of the production shows on the Pride. I've read enough reviews that were consistent in the not so great quality of them that we didn't try to work our schedule to make sure we made them.

 

However, Royal's bigger ships, the Freedom Class and Oasis Class (I know nothing of the new Anthem class) really do have first class shows. Broadway caliber. To include actual Broadway shows on Oasis and Allure. We make sure to hit every one of those.

 

I hear different opinions on food on the different ships for Royal. Personally, I've yet to have any disappointing food on any of my Royal Caribbean cruises. Carnival is shaping up to be a little different. I'd give my nod towards Royal over this Carnival Pride cruise, but with some caveats. I will definitely hit on those after I do the day by day review.

[ptcounselor]

Can't wait to read more. I'm excited to hear about the excitement! Lol

[Danacat222]

I'm enjoying your review, i was also on this cruise.

 

Just an FYI, for those of us who booked an excursion at Half Moon Cay, we had priority tendering and don't need a tender ticket. Same with Faster to the Fun, Diamond, Platinum. We all had instruction to meet in the Taj Mahal to be escorted to the tender.

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Enjoying reading about the cruise from another point of view. And happy your wife didn't wake up during the fire/smoke announcements - I never went back to sleep after that!

 

We had a cabana at HMC which I'm very thankful for. It was sooo hot that day and I was sooo tired from not going back to sleep! I did alot of floating around on my yellow mat.

 

Kim

[TIMNANNA]

The bad news, I really don't remember where I heard this. Don't know if it was just rumors around from other guests, or someone was told from a crew member. I actually think our friends were told by a crew member but I don't remember for certain.

 

Either way, the good news, if you read my day 5 review, which I greatly encourage you to do because it took me forever to write it, you'll see that the information was false as the pool was open and remained open for the rest of the week!

 

So, now worries about having to switch your cruise.

 

Thanks! I just finished reading day 5 and was relieved to see that the pool repairs were finished. Looking forward to reading more.

[xadidas20x]

Woke up after a late night and grabbed some breakfast. When we were on deck 9 we looked out and saw that Freeport looked deserted as the shops weren't open. We docked at 7am and it was close to 8am. So, not being in too big of a hurry, we ate our food and left. As we walked through the mid pool area we had a huge SURPRISE. Towel animals everywhere! I actually felt like a giant kid because I could not stop smiling. It was pretty cool. Every deck chair, every counter, every nook and cranny had towel animals. But there were so many different kinds of towel animals. I've never seen most of them done before and there was such a variety. There were small ones, towel animals inside towel animals, and there were giant towel animals chilling in chairs and floating in the pool. It was a very nice touch and I give the nod to Carnival for that. For some reason it just made a good start to the day.

 

After that, it was around 830am and noticing that shops were starting to open, we decided to get off the ship. Now, I want to preface this as the research I did on Freeport, it wasn't necessarily an island I was looking forward to. With stuff my wife and I had going at home and coming up, we just wanted to relax which is why we enjoyed the beach and water of the previous two islands. So, we decided we'd get off at Freeport since it's an island we have never been on, walk around the dock area with shops, and get back on. Well, we ended up walking around for about 2 hrs. There were a good amount of shops with a variety of all the vacation trinkets and clothing. We didn't end up getting anything but it was nice to walk around. There were places to eat and grab a drink and the locals around there seemed pretty nice. The nice thing was, right outside the shops at the port was free WiFi. I like turning my phone off at the start of the cruise and not turn it on until the end. But I knew my wife would like to check on stuff for her schooling so it was nice to catch up on personal and work email while we enjoyed the still decent weather. But, after that, we got back on the ship.

 

I was surprised about the amount of people that were still on the ship. The very few times we spend only a short amount of time on a stop and get back on the ship, it's usually a ghost town. I don't know if it's Freeport itself or a lot of people have been there already and didn't bother, but there were a good amount of people. It was not busy enough that when we went to the pool area and the Serenity, it was no issue grabbing any seat/chair/hammock that we wanted. So, we grabbed a hammock and since it was getting towards the end of our trip decided while I had the nerve worked up, let's do the Green Slide!

 

Well, I was worried it was closed because no one was in the area but as we got closer we saw the crew member at the top and so we made our way up the many, many steps. My wife had me go first so I got into the tube. The tube closed. It was happening. I knew the floor dropped out beneath you and I watched people go FLYING through the thing, so I was preparing myself. The female voice starts counting down from 3. Do I keep my feet in front of me or back it all the way to the back so it is comfortable after I drop? Guess I'll be finding out because here we go "3....2...1.." WEEEEEEEE. You drop, feels like a free fall. Now I've gone skydiving so I know what free falling feels like. But it was a smooth transition from dropping to feeling the connection of the actual slide. And the ride itself was smooth. Most slides, to include the other one on this cruise, I feel the thump thump thump on my back from where the tubes connect to each other, and it usually just is not comfortable for me. Well, with this green slide, I felt none of that. You shoot straight down and my biggest concern as I felt myself flying down was water was going up my nose so I tried to open my mouth to breath but water would go into there so I just sucked it up until I got to the bottom. In no time I was at the bottom and as I got out I couldn't help to have a huge smile on my face and kind of chuckle. Chuckle at how fun it was and anticipation on how my wife was going to do. She came down and said she really liked it. So, we decided since there was no one at all in the area, we went straight back to it. This time my wife went first and then I got into the tube. As soon as I heard the countdown I took a deep breath so I didn't have to worry about trying to breath with water splashing around. Went down, felt like faster than the first time and decided before the thrill wears off, we were done. It was a lot of fun though.

 

After that we went back to our hammock and a short time later figured since I was wet from the water slide let's get into the pool. This was our first time in the Serenity Pool. Our friends we were with on this cruise had been in it a few times and always came back with stories of people they talked to. I just figured they were much friendlier then we are. Don't get me wrong, my wife and I are really nice people, we just aren't very outgoing with meeting people. I don't have a shortage of things to say as you can see with my longwinded review here, but until I get to know you, I am not that talkative. Any ways, so the second our feet touched the water this nice guy began talking to us. He started talking about sports and we had a good conversation for quite some time until his wife came over and got him. At the end of the conversation of talking about sports then our vacations we have taken over the years, he asked what we did for work. So we talked a little about that. The second he left, a couple a little bit older than my wife and I pretty much continued where the guy left off. The woman of the other couple worked very close to where I did and with people in my profession. So, we talked with them for a while. So, I guess it's just the other people that hang in the Serenity Pool (maybe how small it is helps some) are just very friendly. So, after our good conversation and good time in the pool, we grabbed some lunch. I had a delicious chicken/shrimp burrito.

 

After pool time and eating, we decided to walk off some of our food. We ended back to the casino and of course, to the quarter machine. I think we put in $5 and got, yet again, another free cocktail coin. Put in $10 more dollars since we have had good luck. And there was a $1 coin that my wife believed was winnable. Even though that was nothing when we would get more quarters then that to drop down at once. But, happy wife happy life. So, we did that and went through that $10 extremely quickly. We were about to walk away when a waiter came over asking if we'd like drinks. We said no thank you. He said, they're complimentary. WHAT? Sure, we'll each have a drink. Well, it got us to spend like another $5 on the quarter machine while we waited. We got our drink and I think this is when I played about $5 on slots to try the penny machines. After that, we were feeling good and pretty cool because we don't gamble much and never have earned the right or was approached by anyone with an offer for free drinks. Especially since we don't spend that much money. This is the most we played and lost at one time, but between the drink coin and the two free drinks, we came out about even.

 

We went from the casino to the Taj Mahal for a magic show. It was pretty good. The magician ranged from awkward moments to pretty funny. The magic itself was good. My wife and our friends were stumped with all of it. When I was much younger my brother got into magic and I was his "Assistant." I even did a little bit, for fun, myself. I was probably elementary/middle school age. However, my brother who was a few years older than me was actually pretty good doing some slightly advanced stuff. So, a lot of these tricks this guy did my brother or I had done in the past. But still done well and entertaining.

 

After that we walked around with our friends, hit the ship shops, and caught up for the day. They took a taxi to Lucya.... I don't know the name of that area of Freeport that it was. They did some snorkeling and eating. They said the snorkeling/beach was okay. They were obviously pretty spoiled by our last two islands. Plus the weather, although nice and warm, was pretty overcast.

 

We then separated and my wife and I walked around the ship, checked out the deck on the 3rd floor to watch the water go by. We then saw an odd sight. The water was extremely smooth. No waves, no whitecaps. Just looked like a completely smooth surface. It was a pretty cool sight as we've never seen that. It's the ocean. It should be wavy. But it also kind of worried me because it reminded me of the calm before the storm. Guess we will see what happens. It's now time to get ready for the second elegant night.

 

We went to dinner and the food was really good this night. We enjoyed Ken Singing and the sights of everyone else dressed up all fancy.

 

We had some time before the comedy show so we went to the casino. We were hoping, since I think I was right about the calm before the storm because the boat started swaying, that the quarter machine would drop a few more quarters because of the sway. Well, it worked in the past, but not this time. So, we didn't play any money, just checked out the quarters and then my wife did her roulette study. My friend went back to video poker and continued to lose money. It was almost time for the comedy show and since we had some drink tokens, we went to get a drink. My wife was lucky and after handing over her free cocktail coin, the bartender handed it back with her drink. Another free drink! Of course, when I went to order mine I wasn't so lucky with that. He kept my coin. Oh well!

 

Well, this is the comedy show with Macio that I told you about for day 3. As I said, I wrote my notes down for the trip at the end of the week so a little bit of this may be slightly out of order. So, to recap, wife and I didn't enjoy, felt he got too political without being comedy political. Just wasn't for us I guess. Either way, after the show, the ship was really rocking side to side. I don't really ever get sick due to motion, but I wasn't feeling that great so I figured it was time to bed. It was getting late anyways. Need to prepare for getting up early for one last gym day on our last full day on the Pride......

[My6Dogs]

More??? :)

 

Mike

[xadidas20x]

More??? :)

 

Mike

 

Of Course!

 

Sorry, my week and work got really busy as anticipated. And since I haven't had much reply I figured I didn't have much of a following to hurry on finishing. But, tomorrow morning I should be able to get the last day (at sea) and hopefully debarkation. Then I hope by Friday I can get my final thoughts on all the different categories that everyone really cares about (dining, bars, cruise director, staff, etc).

 

Thanks for following along!

[fair-winds39]

Great, looking forward to reading the rest of it. DH and I came off the Pride the week before you.

[WetToes]

Of Course!

 

Sorry, my week and work got really busy as anticipated. And since I haven't had much reply I figured I didn't have much of a following to hurry on finishing. But, tomorrow morning I should be able to get the last day (at sea) and hopefully debarkation. Then I hope by Friday I can get my final thoughts on all the different categories that everyone really cares about (dining, bars, cruise director, staff, etc).

 

Thanks for following along!

 

I'm here too, and looking forward to the rest. :)

[jimbo5544]

Nice review, love the Pride (sailed her 3 times trying to line up another) and Ken sure can sing.

[destiny217]

Of Course!

 

Sorry, my week and work got really busy as anticipated. And since I haven't had much reply I figured I didn't have much of a following to hurry on finishing. But, tomorrow morning I should be able to get the last day (at sea) and hopefully debarkation. Then I hope by Friday I can get my final thoughts on all the different categories that everyone really cares about (dining, bars, cruise director, staff, etc).

 

Thanks for following along!

 

Subscribed and waiting for the rest. It has been a really good read. And as of now, you have 3264 views.

 

We live in the White Marsh area and are sailing the Pride in November. Have sailed the Pride a few times but not since 2.0 upgrades and have never been to HMC which seems to be rated one of the best private islands.

[adkcruiser]

I had not posted anyhting but have been enjoying your review very, very much and am looking forward to reading the remainder! Thanks for taking the time for such a thorough review - it's a LOT of work!!

[xadidas20x]

First, thank you all for your wonderful comments. I didn't realize I really had anyone following. So, now that I'm a little more motivated to continue, let's get going.....

 

Now, I last left with going to bed to get ready to wake up and get one last day at the gym. Well, yeah, that didn't happen. The bed is just so comfortable. So, instead, we woke up and went to breakfast, where my goal was to get as much food in me on the last day as I could. Well, at least my favorite foods throughout the week. So, got my breakfast burrito and headed to our next adventure.

 

We went to Towel Animal Theater. We get to see what the towel animals do when we leave the stateroom. It was a kids show but it was fairly entertaining. They had a towel folding demonstration before that, that we missed, where they give you towels and teach you how to make them. But when this show was over, I was feeling a little queasy. Weather wasn't the greatest and the ship was moving back and forth. I think I stated before, I don't really get nauseous on cruises, but I was feeling it a little. So, we decided to walk around some. We went into the casino, gave a $5 deposit in the quarter machine, and I decided to try some penny slots. After not having luck, we continued walking around and went to enjoy some fresh ocean air.

 

On our way to the Serenity pool we ran into one of our friends eating by himself without his fiancee. Apparently she indulged herself in some spa special they had and would be gone for about 1 1/2 hrs. So, since he had nothing to do, he decided to join us. We arrived at the Serenity pool and I guess due to the cooler weather with gray clouds, the area wasn't that occupied. Seemed like a perfect time to get into the hot tub. We went and got our bathing suits and jumped right in. Just as I said before, people are very friendly in the serenity area and we had good conversation with people we met.

 

After being in the hot tub well past the recommended time, it was time for lunch. They had a whole chocolate fondue set-up where you picked from items that you wanted and they dipped them in the chocolate fountain for you. After going to that station and telling my wife I'll meet her back at the Serenity pool, I went off to get a double cheeseburger from Guys. But on my way, I saw a lady yelling something. I couldn't quite understand her but then I heard something about Doctor and CPR. Well, since I'm in the Public Safety field and up to date with all sorts of medical training, and was previously a Firefighter/EMT and have used many of that medical training outside of the classroom, I went over. Apparently there was a lady that was choking. A man started the Heimlich Maneuver. It wasn't much but I could hear slight breaths coming from the woman. Now, anything I say does not constitute training of any sorts or a manual of what to do (Last thing I want is to be sued because someone says they read my post and now know what to do), but you only do Heimlich when the person is choking, not breathing or coughing, but is still conscious. I started encouraging the woman to start coughing, which is what you're suppose to do so they can try to expel the object, and stop the Heimlich. The woman's friend said she tried to cough earlier but she could not, and could not breath. Well, I wasn't going to make a federal case about it but she was clearly able to now, to some degree. So, the gentleman continued the Heimlich. I figured at least I'm there so if she does lose consciousness, I can conduct CPR. The lady slowly started getting some coughing/hacking and was breathing a little more. IT still wasn't much but it was definitely an improvement. As this was happening, the gentlemen was clearly getting tired and asked if anyone else wanted to take over. I stated that she needs to just keep coughing and to stop the Heimlich. I started patting the woman on the back (which probably did absolutely nothing) and encouraged her to cough. At this time, the English entertainment crew member that I had a problem with for the tender numbers earlier in the week was just outside doing an activity and came in. She started telling everyone to move back and give the woman room. She clearly had no idea what to do but did state that this was called in. I'm thinking, that's great it was called in, but that doesn't take care of right now. So the crew member looked around and said, somebody get her water. Because when someone is choking and has something lodged in their throat with difficulty breathing, they need water (slight sarcasm). But, since she didn't want anyone helping, which I understand maybe liability issues but if that were me I'd want someone who knew what they were doing to help then to wait for someone that does, the woman was coughing a little more and could hear slightly stronger breaths and knew she'd be okay, I left. I got my double cheeseburger and met my wife at the pool.

 

After eating I decided to join my friend in the pool as his fiancee was back and in the hot tub. At this point it was starting to rain decently. But, I'm getting wet anyways, who cares. My wife covered herself up with a towel and took a nap. Right when we got out of the pool after awhile to join in the hot tub, it started pelting rain. Uncomfortably so, so we got out. It was almost time for the second Hasbro game show any how.

 

Got to the Hasbro game show and although I tried my hardest to get on, I was unable to. On the bright side, my buddy did on the second and last game. Their team one and he got to pull a card that had a random amount of points on it, and determined the big winner. He had the second highest points. Oh well. Time to stick around for Bingo. My wife and I do not play, but this was the 3rd or 4th time our friends did, and I enjoyed watching. During this, a lady won twice in a row. I thought after you win once you were done. I have no faith in this since it is all electronic. They can decide when and who wins. And in the case of the big prizes that aren't guaranteed a winner, decide if someone wins. I did not think they would allow for someone to win twice in a row, but I was proven wrong. Good for her.

 

Since it was the last day, we had to make it to the Red Frog Pub one last time. They had a ring game where it was on a rope and you had to swing it perfectly to catch on the stick that was holding it. It was so simple, yet kind of addicting. Did that, grabbed a drink, and decided to do the 12 duck scavenger hunt. 12 little ducks are hidden throughout the second and third floor. You find them, write their locations on the sheet, turn it in, and out of the people who have them all, one is randomly chosen for a prize. Well, it was a good workout running back and fourth. They were all fairly easy to find except that one duck that no one could find. I was thinking they purposely made one difficult to find to make it challenging. Well, nope, I was wrong. The one at the casino bar was either taken or had fallen somewhere. Whoops. But I was surprised since this seemed more geared towards kids and it's one thing to have these ducks in some of the bars that you walk through. But I was surprised it was at the bar in the smoky casino where kids aren't suppose to be. But anyways, it was 10 min early and the English crew member and the Cruise Director came for the box of submissions. So, we quickly threw ours in there. He picked one and it was for someone that was not present. He said, well, you don't have to be present for this, we'll take this to his room. Booooo. But then someone brought up a good point, it was 10 minutes until he was suppose to draw. And sure enough, a few people walked in to turn in their sheets and he said, oh too late. We said the winner wasn't present, he wouldn't know, it's only fair since there's still time, to let these people put in their submission and draw a winner when it is suppose to be drawn. The English crew member lady who was going to deliver the prize actually seemed fine with that, but the Cruise Director said, nope, sorry it's over. Then they left. I feel bad because we stuck around for a few minutes and after they left people were still coming in to submit their answers. They were not happy that it was already done. And I don't blame them. As much as we hustled back and forth to do this, I would not have been happy if I came back at the end of it and they said, too bad. Some people said they've been looking for almost 2 hours.

 

Since we were by the Future Cruise booking desk, I asked the lady about it. I had nothing set in mind since my wife was back in school, but knew my mom and aunt had talked about going on a cruise out of Baltimore and figured we may be coming back to this ship. It sounded like I could just pick out a date that was farther out to get the credit rewards, and then if and when we find a date/ship, we can just change that booking and still keep the benefits. Which I have no reason to question the validity to that because I know that was able to be done with Royal Caribbean when they used to run a similar promotion. But since I really wasn't sure of plans to come back, I did not partake.

 

Well, after a day of fun and excitement, it was getting close to our last dinner time. I ran to the fun shops jewelry store and the gentleman there was kind enough to remove a link on my Citizen watch that I actually purchased on my wife and my very first cruise together on Royal Caribbean. Very nice of him to do so. Now, dinner time.

 

It was very good. I think tonight was the crab cakes for an appetizer. My wife, born and raised in Maryland, is very picky and particular about her crab cakes. I know she does not think highly of the ones served on Royal Caribbean. But what a surprise, she REALLY liked this one. Who would have guessed. All I know is that for dinner, we all ordered a million things. Even my wife who weighs nothing had 3 appetizers and 2 or 3 entrees. And then of course, I topped my last meal off with the delicious chocolate melting cake. Oh how I'm going to miss those. And then we enjoyed Ken and the waiter's last performance. We really did look forward to listening to Ken sing. He was very good.

 

After dinner we split up with our friends. We are walking off our own bags the next morning as we have a work thing for my wife at M & T Banks Stadium (Ravens Stadium) and wanted to make sure we were off on time to get picked up and head over there. Our friends had to finish packing and get their suitcases outside of their room for pick up. So, what do we decided to do? Walk back to the casino. Again, I don't know whether or not to be scared since we're not big gamblers, but my wife was loving it there (Aside from the smoke). Since I had a little bit of money on my card from the slot machine earlier, we found another slot to finish off with. This time it actually lasted a while, going up and down, so it provided some entertainment. While sitting there a random guy came up and asked my wife and I if we like to drink. I'm a very skeptical person but my wife got out a, "yeah a little," as I'm wondering where this guy is going with this. Well, he holds out two cocktail coins like the ones we've been winning all week and said, "Well here you go. I got a card for free drinks for the rest of the night so these won't do anything for me." Well look at that, weren't we lucky. Very nice of him. So, if anyone was keeping count, that adds up to 11 free drinks for my wife and I for the week. We've never been so lucky. After that, we hung around the casino, walked around some, grabbed us some free drinks with our cocktail coins, and went to the 1145pm Comedy show where we met up with our friends. The guy was okay. But a good portion of his show he brought up 3 people on stage and did some improv comedy with them and it was hilarious. It was the best part of his show by far.

 

After that, we still had one drink coin to use. But between the amount of food I ate, the alcohol drink I just had, and the continuous swaying of the ship, I could have no more. I gave the coin to my friend and then it was off to bed.

 

I wanted to get the Debarkation day done today but I've ran out of time so I will try to get that part done tomorrow. Stay tuned!

 

[WetToes]

Thank you! It's been very enjoyable.

I wanna' go. NOW!!! Lol

[orange6crush]

I really enjoyed reading your review... Thanks it made me anxious for my cruise on Pride in 2 weeks

[smyliecruising]

 

 

 

Here it is, Sunday Sept 13th. As I previously stated, I live about an hour away from the Baltimore port. We have two dogs so the night before we dropped them off at a friend's house. We then stayed at the In-Laws house for the night since they were close to the dog sitters and lived only 15-20 min away from the port. Woke up the next morning, not used to not being a hurry to catch a flight or in the case of when we fly in the day before, getting everything packed from the hotel room and figure out out transportation to the port, and was able to relax. I'm the guy that wants to be at the port as early as possible so I can get on that ship and get as much time on it as I can. After reading reviews for the Carnival Pride, I was conflicted on what time to get to the port. My understanding was it docks around 9-10am which is much later than I've experienced with the other Royal Caribbean ships. So I've read people getting there around 10 (which I believe is when they open the parking lot up to embarkation folks) but having wait quite some time for the doors to open. I've read people that just go in any time after 2pm and walk right through without any wait. Well, I decided to try to get there around 10:30 - 11am.

 

 

 

My sister-in-law and mother-in-law drove us to the port, which was rather easy to get to right of 95, and we were dropped off at the entrance at 10:40 am. Gave the luggage to the porters and stepped inside. No wait at Security! Stepped right through and was led straight to the counters to check in. Not a soul in line. Not used to that. Starting to think that my not getting the FTTF pass worked out. I got to the counter and asked the very nice lady if we missed the first 10am rush of people that drove there. She instantly laughed. She says it doesn't normally get busy until noon and that's the time that as she helps people she notices the line only gets longer and not shorter. So, she took our pictures and gave us our cards and told us we were zone 1 and should be one of the first ones on. We were led right to the sitting area where there were a handful of people already sitting (Maybe 50-100 people?? I'm horrible at guessing that kind of stuff). So, we got dropped off at 10:40 and by now it was about 10:45.

 

 

 

As we waited we saw quite a few wedding parties come through. They checked in a separate line and went straight through a door that leads to a hallway behind the counters. It was probably around 11:15 when the lines started getting long. It was very chilly inside waiting. The people next to us said they were told the doors would open about 11:45. I was unsure since I saw people leaving the boat when we arrived at 10:40 and figured the crew would need plenty of time to finish cleaning up and setting everything up for this cruise. Well, just prior to noon I saw through the open door that the wedding parties were going through, that they were walking towards the ship. Next, they open the doors for us and they got the Diamond/Platinum members and FTTF people through and then boarded us. So, if that was 12pm, I think we stepped foot on the ship no later than 12:05pm. It really was nice and quick walking through.

 

 

 

Finally, we stepped foot into the Atrium on floor 2. We were given a Fun Times schedule for the day as soon as we walked on. I went straight to Guest Services since I heard through the week the lines get really long (Spoiler alert, there were very few times I saw much of any type of line at Guest Services) so I could apply a $200 gift card to my account. I ended up with about $241 of onboard credit for the week. $200 gift card that I redeemed through my credit card rewards points. $25 given by the website travel agency that I used to book. And I forgot to ask but $8 and some change credit were given to both my wife and I for a total of $16 something that was already on the account when we arrived. Later confirmed that the friends we were sailing with also had it so I'm assuming it has something to do with port fees/taxes not being as much as we paid for. That happened on one of our recent cruises where the fees went down for whatever reason and everyone was given a credit. But, I'm not sure as one of the things I felt was lacking that I hope I'll remember to touch on at the end of my review, was communication. Anyways, before I get too sidetracked. At Guest Services we were told there are kiosks that I had heard about that I could use to apply the gift card, but it would be easier for them to just do it. So, they applied it to my account. I saw a tiny foldable map of the ship that I took, and started our adventure.

 

 

 

My wife and I were hungry and decided to go straight up and eat before it got busy. We decided to try Guy's Burgers. Oh the burgers and fries were so delicious. You can pick from a pre-set menu of what kind of burger you would like. But, they also had a station with all the toppings and sauces right next to the counter so I always just asked for a cheeseburger and fries (Or like on the last day a double cheeseburger) and went to the counter and fixed it up to my liking.

 

 

 

For those that don't know, Guy's Burgers and Blue Iguana Cantina (think Chipotle, only better) are on the Lido Deck, floor 9, mid ship where they have this really nice pool and the movie screen. Unfortunately, when we got there, the pool was closed and it had several men in construction-ish type clothing doing work on it. Smelling paint was wonderful. It didn't look like the pool would be open anytime soon and feared it was going to be closed the entire week.

 

 

 

After eating and still waiting for our friends to arrive, we decided to start from the very top floor and make away back to front, down floor by floor until we get to the bottom. It was obviously very helpful and we got to learn the ship very quickly and was able to navigate the ship easily after that first day. They have deck plans laid out on Carnival's website and other ones so I won't add to my rambling with that. However, I must say I really did like the layout of the ship. The most recent ship I've been on that is fairly close to size of the Pride, I believe, is Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas. I HATED the layout of that ship and just found Carnival Pride's layout to be much nicer.

 

 

 

Another disappointment and fear after reading reviews through this summer, that we discovered during our self-guided tour, was the green slide. It was closed. Oh how I hoped it would open back up some time this week.

 

 

 

After our ship tour it sounded like our friends would be on the boat soon, so we went to the Serenity Pool and found an open hammock. The Serenity pool area was FANTASTIC. It was the very back of the ship on deck 9 and had hammocks, big round chairs, some with clam shells for shade, and lots of deck chairs. There were tables and a bar as well. Of course it looked like a lot of room, but as we discovered through the week, there were very little kids on this sailing so this area, especially on the Seas Days, filled up rather quickly.

 

 

 

Finally, About 3:30pm our friends texted they were on the ship and we were meeting them at the Blue Iguana Cantina because they ran a 5k that morning and were starving. We met up with them and even though we already ate, we are on vacation, and had to try a burrito. So I got a Shrimp burrito and it was absolutely delicious. But, our friends told us they arrived at the port at 1:15 and the lines were so long it took them over 2 hrs to get onto the ship. So, it appeared my research and previous experience is maybe that assuming people all try to get on really early so arriving later may be easier, is false.

 

 

 

After eating it was immediately time for the muster drill. I'm quite disappointed how that is conducted. Again, I only have Royal Caribbean to compare it to, but feel like Carnival needs to catch up. We created multiple long lines on deck 3 and received instructions. I can get a little claustrophobic so I'm glad I was on an end with a door that we had to keep clear or I don't think it would have went very well for me, because it felt like we were out there for a very long time. Luckily, the weather was cool enough but I can only imagine how miserable that is either in the middle of the summer when it's extremely hot, or in these colder months when it's very chilly. We checked into no one, so we could have just stayed in our room and since there's no accountability to who came, would have gotten away with it. This is compared to Royal who either scans our seapass card electronically or has checked you off on a sheet so they know that you attended the muster drill. We also have always been inside in a lounge, gym, theater, etc that is next to the lifeboats. That is where you would meet in the event of an emergency and then get led to the lifeboats. So, that was that.

 

 

 

And don't fear, I do only have Royal Caribbean ships to compare this cruise with. However, as you'll see through this review, I really really really enjoyed this Carnival Pride cruise. And although I've done multiple cruises exclusively with Royal Caribbean, I'm not one who is going to compare everything on Carnival Pride to Royal Caribbean and how it's better on Royal Caribbean. I know that is a turn off for some and like I said, I really enjoyed this cruise, and there are definitely things I like better with Carnival and Royal Caribbean. So, just stay with me!

 

 

 

Finally time for sail away. We stood up at the top where miniature golf is located and watched us go under the Key Bridge. It was pretty cool to see, and man does it look like it is very close from the upper most part of the ship and the bottom of that bridge. After that we went to our room to unpack and get everything ready for out 8:15pm dining time, and just to relax.

 

 

 

So, we get to our room. The extremely obstructed balcony. Dun dun dunnn.. Well, we open up the door and was pleasantly surprised that the room itself seemed quite spacious. Not what we're used to compared to Royal's interior rooms. We eventually saw that our balcony was noticeably bigger than our friend's interior room, which I think was a little more bigger than Royal's interior rooms also. We opened the balcony curtain and there it was, a boat. It went to the top of our railing. So, if you were walking in our room, or sitting on the bed, or sitting on the balcony, you pretty much saw boat, with a little bit of water. However, when you were standing you could see out into the ocean. We came to not really sit out on our balcony through this cruise because of this, but it was nice to have that nice big window with natural light, and we did see some good views when we were hanging out in our room. So, I'm torn. We payed $180 more than our original interior room price. I'm still undecided if that was worth the price. I'm leaning more towards yes. I wouldn't want to pay much more without getting a better obstructed room or non-obstructed, but the room really was nice and I liked the extra space it provided.

 

 

 

Finally dinner time. We lined up about 8pm and were towards the front of the line. We did find out through the week that the line got extremely long, really fast. However, once the doors open, it's a straight walk through to your table so whether you got there early in the front of the line or later and got to the back of the line. Those doors opened, you got right in to your table. We ate at table 192. I did email Ken the Maitre'd prior to cruising to get us and my friends at the same table which he promptly replied that it was done. I did tell him we had no preference whether it was just the four of us at a table or the four of us with other people at a bigger table. Whatever would have been easier for him to get us together. It ended up being a table just for the four of us. Now, on every single of our previous cruises, the waiters/assistant waiters/head waiter/etc come by and introduce themselves and everything. This was not done. We just had several people give us bread, menus, take our orders, etc without any sort of introduction. Talking to other people through the week, no one else had that experience. However, don't get me wrong, the service was EXCELLENT in the dining room. They are absolutely amazing and I will always believe they are one of the most hardworking staff on any cruise. It was just odd that we got no sort of introduction. Of course, as the week went on, we got to know them a little better, and Roy, who I believe is a senior waiter, would come over and have great conversations with us as he served us. He was very personable. But aside from him, as my wife puts it, it was like staying at a hotel and going to dinner. Or a fine restaurant. Excellent service, but just wasn't personable like we are used to.

 

 

 

Dinner was good and unfortunately I didn't start writing down my notes until the end of the cruise so I don't remember all of the food that we ate. So, I will just give my opinion on the food in general at the end of the review. However, I did remember I had the Chocolate Melting Cake which I have been looking forward to since this cruise was booked. It was SO DELICIOUS. However, very rich and filling. After the 3rd or 4th day in a row of having it, I had to take a break until our last night. But definitely worth it.

 

 

 

After dinner we went down to the Butterflies Lounge on deck 1 for the adult comedy show. He was pretty good. A guy from West Virginia who I can't remember his name. There were four comics total throughout the week and we saw three of them, all with very different styles. With this first one, I wasn't too impressed at first but he grew on me.

 

 

 

Finally, since I was hopped on allergy medicine because I spent the previous night at the in-laws and they have cats who I'm allergic to, my head was going crazy and I knew I just needed a good nights rest to clear it up. So, it was an early night, and I think the earliest in the entire week. But my wife and I went to bed and woke up refreshed the next morning.....

 

 

 

Which I will try to get to Day 2 later today.

 

 

We love the bigger rooms but don't love sitting on the balcony so my dh and I always get the port hole room. It is considered an interior room so we usually only pay a few dollars more for a porthole than an interior room but we have the same layout and size of the balcony room plus we have the porthole window. I would rather spend the extra 150 or $200 on an excursion.

[momof3cruisers]

Very nice job! I appreciate when reviewers make their update fonts a different color so I can scroll through to the next update. Looking forward to your conclusions.