Pride September 13, 2015 Photo Diary

[Danacat222]

Greetings from Richmond, VA where our first day of our cruise vacation began on September 13, 2015.

 

Sailing will be myself, 46, and my Mom, 74. This is my 10th cruise, 6th on Carnival, second time on Pride, which was my first Carnival cruise in 2011. This was Mom's 4th cruise on Carnival.

 

I took well over 1500 photos on 2 cameras and a cell phone. I took photos of as much info as I could, including of some drink menus with prices, and of the ad for the photo packages and internet packages

We booked Early Saver well over a year ago, initially booking a 4K inside with french doors. Later upgraded to a standard balcony, eventually getting into an extended balcony 7196. I was checking rates every day twice a day, that's how I found the extended balcony, really lucked out on that one.

 

Last year on Liberty we purchased Cheers, it was at the temporary lower rate at that time and we were glad we had the opportunity to do so, we tried a lot of drinks we might not normally have tried. We decided to NOT get Cheers this time because we drank so much last time that #1 we now know what we really like that we don't need to experiment, #2 drinking booze is filling, last year we did not enjoy eating because we were always full from drinking. We wanted to enjoy the food venues and not feel stuffed all the time.

 

So, here we go.

 

 

We live about 2 hours and 20 minutes from the Port of Baltimore. The last time I cruised on Pride I was in a relationship with someone who lives about 6 miles from the port and we had taken a taxi over at noon and it took about 10 minutes to get on the ship after we were dropped off. Since Mom and I are driving from Richmond this time, and the unpredictable traffic around the DC/Baltimore area, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. We had Faster to the Fun (FTTF) and also reserved a cabana on Half Moon Cay, so we wanted to get on board as early as possible in hopes of being able to pick out the cabana of choice.

 

 

We pulled into the line of cars waiting to be allowed into the parking lot at 10:10am. For those wanting to know how that works...of you are parking, they direct you to line up in rows until the lot begins to clear out of the departing cruisers. The attendants use traffic cones to control the flow. We were in row 3 of 4 rows, the let cars on first come, so the left row goes in first, but they block off a section of the cars with the cones to allow fair flow of the cars. Row 2 goes, row 3, then row 4. Then they release more cars into row 1, then 2, 3 and 4. You enter the parking, you get in a 2 row line of cards to unload luggage. Then you pay to park, there were a few lines for this, the line furthest to the right was cash and it was fast. We were parked at 10:45am

 

We parked, and went into the terminal, went through security, they were heavily scrutinizing everything, they checked our 2 bottles of wine very carefully. After security, we were walked to check-in and had no line for FTTF, got our sail and sign cards and were escorted to the seating area by the seating police, who was a very stern woman insisting no seat saving and no seats left empty between anyone.

 

There were several weddings on board, we saw at least 3 brides with their wedding parties. We were about to board at 12:18pm.

 

 

 

 

Once on board, we went directly to the excursion desk and booked our cabana, we got #10 which was my first choice! Cabanas 11-15 were already taken, so we got lucky with that.

 

We set up cash accounts at Guest Services, we had no wait, but it was slow going and once we finished there was quite the line.

 

With that all taken care of, we headed to the room to drop off our carry-on bags and to check out the balcony.

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Happy happy another review! Can't wait to see all your pics - maybe we'll be in one!

 

We were in cabana #13. I would pick that cabana again - loved it!

 

 

Kim

[MysticMiss]

You are off to a great start! Looking forward to your review!

[khrivnak]

subscribing. We sail 10/18. Cant wait!

[Delta Dear]

Goody, another Pride review.

[Danacat222]

So we are on board, let's take a look at the cabin. 7196....and some observations and opinions about the room and such...

 

This was a pretty great and convenient port side location....it was quiet for the most part, a few nights we could hear some thumping music from the lido deck, but nothing disruptive. One night a group of 4 little girls were running up the hallway rambunctiously. Other than that, there are inside cabins across the hallway but their doors are on the starboard side, so no door noise from that.

 

 

This is an extended balcony cabin...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have to be super careful when going in and out of the balcony...

 

 

 

The view directly looking down from the balcony...(fuel barge while still in Baltimore)

 

 

 

We met out stateroom steward not too long after getting into the room, she came and brought us this card to fill out...we checked both the morning and evening service, and we chose to get robes, and checked the mid-voyage linen change. We asked for ice, and we left the card in the room. Later on we returned to find the robes folded on our beds and the ice bucket was there filled and was filled twice daily. We had about 18 hangers, which was plenty for the two of us.

 

I don't know if I like the card thing...we had no pen on the desk, no room service menu, the robes she brought were not in good condition, one had a hole in it, the other robe's belt was about to fall apart. My guess is that they don't want to pay to replace the aging robes, so they are instead trying to conserve and ask if you want one or not to save $.

 

We have ALWAYS established a great rapport with stateroom stewards, but after meeting ours this cruise, we only saw her 1 more time, the morning of Sunday when we were leaving. That was a huge disappointment for us. Also, we are used to going to breakfast and returning to a made up room, but that was not the case, she would come well after we had packed up for a day by the pool or had left for port. Because of that, we felt kinda bad that we asked for morning and turn-down, because she probably had very little break between the two since she was coming so late for the morning refresher.

 

 

 

 

I was excited to find this port side cabin because #1 good views while in port, #2 the outside smoking areas are mostly starboard and I have asthma and did not want to get anyone's smoke while sitting on the balcony. One night I smelled pot, and i said out loud pretty loudly "I smell pot" and perhaps whoever was smoking pot on their balcony heard me, I never smelled it again, but i am sure I smelled cigar smoke another night.

 

 

 

Smoking areas on Pride...**I am posting this not to debate, just for info, so do not hijack my diary by criticizing or passing judgement on my observations/opinions please.

 

Deck 3 (midship and aft, starboard side)

Deck 9 (forward, starboard side)

Deck 10 (forward, starboard side)

 

Smoking is permitted while playing at designated slot machines and table games and designated area of the bar

 

Beauties Night Club - Upper level; Smoking is not permitted on the dance floor

Edited September 22, 2015 by Danacat222

[Danacat222]

Now that we have covered the stateroom, it's time to go check out the Red Frog Pub, and the changes and upgrades to the ship's Lido deck.

 

The Lido deck is super easy to get to from the cabin...

 

 

 

We were surprised to see the Lido main mid-ship pool under renovation, since it's a new pool and all. This definitely had an impact on the first few days, as you will see in future photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The newly renovated Lido area with Guy's and the Blue Iguana Cantina, new flooring, seating, was all very clean, and streamlined. It was just so unexpected about the pool. Also surprising is that we felt the non-updated areas were really starting to look neglected and run down. Before I get to that, how about some food porn from Guy's.

 

A few Fun Ship Specials and burgers...

 

 

The Ringer, fries, and onions...

 

[Danacat222]

After eating, we went walking to the other areas of Lido, including the Adult Only Serenity Deck. This is something we love about the Pride and Legend, having this in the back of the ship is great, the ships we have been on with Serenity at the front are way too windy.

 

 

One of the few times we would see the Serenity pool empty...

 

 

 

 

Mom on a clamshell...

 

 

Unkempt neglected flooring...

 

 

Cushions in dire need of cleaning...

 

 

 

The forward pool and hot tub...

 

[Danacat222]

 

Red Frog Rum Bar

 

 

 

Cars still coming in...the man in yellow sitting down directing cars to the luggage drop off...

 

 

The fuel barge leaving....

 

 

 

 

[Danacat222]

After touring around outside for a while, we went to check on our luggage, it was already at our door, the earliest ever with FTTF, so we put it in the cabin and went to go look around at the updates on the inside of the ship.

 

First stop...the Alchemy Bar...we LOVED the Alchemy Bar on Liberty, and the upgrade on Pride was BEAUTIFUL! There is some lovely new seating areas nearby, very nice and classy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Danacat222]

After touring around outside for a while, we went to check on our luggage, it was already at our door, the earliest ever with FTTF, so we put it in the cabin and went to go look around at the updates on the inside of the ship.

 

First stop...the Alchemy Bar...we LOVED the Alchemy Bar on Liberty, and the upgrade on Pride was BEAUTIFUL! There is some lovely new seating areas nearby, very nice and classy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[mykindaparty]

Saving my place

[Danacat222]

Next we stopped by the Red Frog Pub. What a neat space. They have a lot of games, some pub specific drinks and beer, but the main attraction was the live entertainment by the band The Ooh La Las. They were fun, engaging, and played a very broad range of music. Check'em out on their facebook page, search OohLaLaMusic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will likely post re-visit photos again, since we were going through fairly quickly since Muster Drill was coming up soon....

Edited September 23, 2015 by Danacat222

[Danacat222]

Next stop was the main show place / theater Taj Mahal. Since I cruised on Pride back in 2011, I can't really remember much about this area, I'm not much into shows but my Mom enjoys them and we actually loved the shows on Liberty last year. I'm not sure but I don't think they did any updates to it, but it is an attractive area of the ship. Unfortunately we did not like the Playlist productions, we missed the live show band, what a loss!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

on the return from the theater, we stopped at The Taste Bar. We never actually went there when it was open, though...

 

 

Edited September 23, 2015 by Danacat222

[Danacat222]

I know a lot of people are looking at photo prices and the new photo packages that are being offered on the Pride...we don't buy many photos, but last year on Liberty the backdrops and photographers were awesome, we had a lot of fun having portraits taken. This was a big disappointment on Pride, the"ProPortraits" backdrops were not great, the photographers were disinterested and not fun or engaging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only part if the Internet that i participated in was the Social Networking, I did buy this twice to just check in at home, one of our family dogs died unexpectedly on Labor Day and my sister was at home keeping an eye on the other pets to make sure they were doing OK. It worked great, no problems at all, $5 for 24 hours, so I would buy it at 9pm, check in, check in in the morning, and again at like 8:30pm the next night before the 24 hours were up. I did this Tuesday and Friday.

 

 

 

 

 

[Danacat222]

So it was getting to be about that time...Muster Drill! The FunTimes said to report at 3:45pm, and the captain made an announcement to report "at this tine" (it was right at 3:45pm), and we made a point to get there on time, only to be turned away. That was very annoying. Last year Mom and i went to the "Special Needs" muster because she had fallen a few times the year before while on vacation before boarding Victory, and after Victory's drill she was almost knocked down at the end, thankfully she has not had a fall in over a year so she felt safe not going to special needs but the whole thing felt super long and drawn out after showing up on time and having to wait before allowed to our stations. This was taken at 4:30!!!

 

 

 

[crazycruzer68]

Sailing on October 4th, love this review! I noticed the cover over the lido main pool. Did it stay this way all week?

[Danacat222]

It's time to sail awayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

 

 

 

 

 

Fort McHenry

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Danacat222]

Video!!!!

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Fort Carroll, next to the Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland

 

 

 

 

Leaving it all behind us....

 

 

Edited September 23, 2015 by Danacat222

[cruisenanny]

Loving this! Thank you! We sail Pride on Halloween:D

[angiegal]

We are sailing November 30th. Can't wait to read more of your review :)

[retiredgram]

We sail in 4 days. Can't wait to see the updates.

 

Loved your video of the Key Bridge. Keep the photos coming.

Edited September 23, 2015 by retiredgram

[Danacat222]

Thanks for following along, I'll return tomorrow to finish up Sept 13 and cover the sea days, I'm getting my photos sorted now. If anyone has any questions about anything I'll do my best to answer.

[crazycruzer68]

What time were you do back to Baltimore and what time did you get off the ship?

[Pandot]

Danacat - we met you on Half Moon Cay! We were that crazy family next to you in Cabana 11 :). Thanks for the great review!