My Pride review (9/20/15)

[peekinglemer]

Just back of the GORGEOUS Carnival Pride out of Baltimore for our 7 day cruise to Port Canaveral and the Bahamas.

 

I got some great information from other reviews that I thought I would try and return the favor with this review.

 

HOTEL BEFORE THE CRUISE: We live in NYS so we drove up to Baltimore the day before the cruise. We rented a room at the Best Western Hotel and Conference Center which was about 10 minutes away from the port. This hotel offers a park and cruise package. We paid $50.00 to park for the week and $10.00 per person for the roundtrip shuttle to the port. It worked out great.

 

The hotel also offers a free shuttle to the Inner Harbor so we took advantage of that. Had a great time at the Inner Harbor. So much to see and do. We felt completely safe at the hotel as well as at the Inner Harbor.

 

The hotel also has a comedy club upstairs. We took advantage of the club and got to catch a great show Saturday night. I would HIGHLY RECOMMED this hotel for people that want to drive (or fly) to the port a day early.

 

THE CRUISE: As for the cruise itself, it was probably one of my favorite ships/cruises/crew so far. The only other ship I liked more was the Dream. For reference, this was our 9th cruise. The décor on this ship is beautiful. Very classic and old school. Muted colors, renaissance artwork, subtle lighting. The details on this ship were amazing.

 

Since I follow cruise critic I read a thread on here a few days before our cruise titled "Fire on the Pride". Talk about giving me a heart attack! I am happy to report that there was no fire on the Pride, just a generator that needed to be replaced/repaired. However, because of this repair, a few people at our hotel that was also sailing on the Pride received calls from Carnival saying that boarding was going to be delayed by 2 hours. I never got a call and neither did the other members traveling with us.

 

We had originally scheduled our shuttle from the hotel for 10:15, but the shuttle company contacted us and told us there was going to be a delay in boarding and they changed our time to 11:15. The shuttle was great and we arrived at the port around 11:30.

 

EMBARKASION: We had faster to the fun and getting through security and getting our boarding passes was a breeze. Baltimore really has this down pat. We did notice that they were checking beverages being brought on board VERY CAREFULLY, and there was a nice stack of prohibited items being collected. They were even opening up sealed 12 packs of soda and checking all the cans.

 

We were checked in and seated just before noon. Everyone was handed a flier that explained the delay in boarding and we were advised we would not start boarding until after 2. We settled in for a long wait....that lasted half an hour. YEAH!!!! We actually started boarding at 12:30 and were having our first drink 15 minutes later. The ship was empty!

 

Our first stop was a drink in the atrium. We loved the singer/guitar player Jake, and Anton and Gabby (bartenders) were GREAT! We spent a lot of time here. Since we had faster to the fun, we finished our drinks and went to check out our room. We booked this cruise late and there wasn't a lot of rooms left. We ended up on deck 1 room 1110. We usually like to be as close to Lido as possible and thought we would be disappointed in this location. WRONG! This location ended up being perfect for us.

 

We were right next to the Butterfly Lounge where they had the comedy club. One floor down from the casino, our dining room and atrium and 2 floors down from the shops. She ship is small enough were you never had far to walk, and the elevators were always quick. The view from our window was awesome. We were so close to the ocean. I missed our balcony but this was a great room.

 

GIFT CARDS: I know that gift cards are very popular with CC folks and this was my first time using them on my cruise. I wanted to add them to my sail and sign account to use for on board spending. I tried to enter my gift cards at the kiosk and they wouldn't work. It kept coming up feature not available. I finally went to Guest Services and they added them to my account easy peasy. After we had spent down all of the gift card money, whatever was left got charged to the credit card I put down. It worked out great. And....you don't have to put all the gift cards down at once. I held some back in case I didn't need them all to use on our next cruise. Once that amount was gone I added the rest on the last sea day.

 

CHEERS! - We decided to NOT do the CHEERS program this time as we never know if we will feel like doing a lot of drinking or not. Our last cruise on the Glory we didn't get Cheers and added up our bar bill and came out ahead. This time pretty much broke even. Our bill came to $805.00. Cheers is $804.00. However, I included our son's drinks when figuring out the total so in reality I guess we were probably a little ahead of the game again.

 

My folks traveled with us and CHEERS really worked for them. It all depends on what you drink and how often. For reference, I typically had a few mimosas at breakfast, a few frozen drinks on the deck in the afternoon, we did a few shots at night and got wine during dinner. My husband was drinking Jameson and ginger ale, buckets of Guinness and maybe a few other mixed drinks. We figured our total was going to be WAY higher.

 

FOOD: Food on any cruise ship is plentiful and the Pride is no exception. Like 95% of the people on here, we LOVE Guy's Burgers for lunch. We also had a lot of meals at the Cantina. The breakfast burritos are to die for. And never a wait no matter what time we stopped there. My favorite breakfast by far. We also did the Green Eggs and Ham breakfast on the last sea day. For $5.00 per person it was a great deal. They had a great breakfast menu and the atmosphere was so cute. We got some great pictures with Sam-I-Am, Thing 1 and Thing 2 and the Cat in the Hat. We also did a meal in the Steak House. That meal was the best by far. And the area was breathtaking.

 

Most dinners were eaten in the dining room and our dining crew were top notch. We were disappointed that the American Table menu roll out got pushed back, but the food was very good and you could always find something.

 

We also tried the taste bar before our meals and a few nights we had a snack at Bonsi Sushi. My husband loves sushi and he said this was very good and a great deal for what you get. Typically $5.00 for something that would cost us a fortune back home.

 

We also ate at the deli and pirate pizza. Both were very good. The only issue with the pizza place was that instead of having a bunch of pizzas made and ready, they were doing them by order. So on a crowded night, you could be waiting a long time for pizza as most people walked away with the whole pie and not just a few slices.

 

CASINO: My folks and I spent a lot of time this cruise in the casino. My dad was hitting it very lucky. $900.00 on the first night, $300.00 on the second night, and he probably hit for a few hundred the rest of the cruise as well They came home way ahead. I hit for $300.00 (thanks Dean Martin machine) but the rest of the time was a miss for me. Sometimes your lucky and sometimes...not so much. The casino is pretty small but it never felt too crowded. However, the smoke in there was almost unbearable some nights. My sinuses kept swelling up from the smoke It also permeated into the EA Sports bar which was right next door. To each there own where smoking is concerned, but I wish the cruise lines could find a better way to vent some of the smoke.

 

BARS: We loved the Red Frog on the lido deck and would start most morning there with Sean the bartender. The bar opens at 8. Sean makes a mean mimosa and a very spicy Bloody Mary. The bar was never overly crowded and we always managed to get a seat.

 

We also spent a lot of time in the Red Frog Pub on deck 2. My son loved the shuffleboard and got pretty good by the end of the cruise. The atmosphere there is very laid back and fun.

 

We also did a night at the piano bar. Steve at the piano was one of THE BEST piano bar players we have encountered, and we have been to a lot. He really knew how to work the crowd and get everyone into the act. When my son showed up a few minutes after we did Steve got him to do a "Sponge Bob" song with him. Priceless!

 

POOLS/WATERPARK: We were holding our breath because we had heard that the Green Slide and the Main Pool had been closed at times during the last few cruises for repairs. Both were open and running great. The water in the maid pool was pretty warm as far as cruise pools go. It was never very crowded. We didn't use the other pool that was more towards the back.

 

We encountered NO chair hogs this cruise and we never had a problem getting a chair on the lido right by the pool. And, for the most part, the weather was nice and sunny.

 

The waterpark on this ship is a blast. My son was nervous about doing Green Thunder but said he would go if I did. OMG! Talk about a rush. When the computer starts counting down and then the floor drops....We must have road it a dozen times. The crew member working that slide said it was closed for awhile because it wasn't fast enough and people were getting banged up going down. They did something to increase the speed and have had no additional issues. I can attest to the fact that it is SUPER fast! DO IT! You won't regret it.

 

INTERNET PACKAGE: We got the $60.00 internet plan on this cruise. My son brought his tablet and he loved getting internet access at night. My husband and I also used it to send emails and check on our pets at home. This package is a great deal, and the internet speed was great for being on a ship. You can buy one package and use it on multiple devices. However, only one person can be using the log-in at a time. It was well worth the price

 

MISC: This cruise we also played ping pong, bingo, went to an art auction (don't bother), played games in the card room and did trivia, did the comedy shows, watched a few movies and took a few dance lessons. If you can't find something to do on this cruise you just aren't really looking. We were always busy, and when we weren't, it was because we were enjoying our down time at the Atrium Bar.

 

PORTS: This cruise did Port Canaveral, Nassau and Freeport. We didn't do shore excursions for any of the ports.

 

In Port Canaveral we paid for a shuttle to take us to Cocoa Beach. Round trip was $12.00 per person. I had read on CC that there was a free shuttle that took you to Ron Jon Surf Shop but when I asked about it I was told they stopped doing that years ago. It's possible they just wanted me to pay to use their taxi service, but since we really just wanted to get to the beach we didn't pursue it.

 

Cocoa Beach is beautiful, and where they drop you off is practically deserted. The waves are HUGE and we had a blast playing in them. We then decided to walk down to the pier for a drink. The pier is probably about 1/2 a mile from where you get dropped off.

 

Beware of jelly fish. We saw Tons of them washed up on the beach.

 

The pier was nice for a drink but probably NOT worth the walk. Next time I would just stay up the beach and play in the waves and get a drink in town which is just a short walk.

 

We also shopped at Ron Jon and Cocoa Beach Surf Company. We liked Cocoa Beach over Ron Jon. Great prices.

 

Nassau was kind of a washout. We planned to walk to Graycliff where they have a cigar factory tour and a chocolate tour and then we planned on going to the Bikini Tiki Hut for drinks and swimming. However, on our way to Graycliff the skies opened up and we got poured on. Neither the cigar tour of the chocolate tour had much going on. Don't expect Chocolate World in Hershey Park here. However, my husband met the general manager of the Cigar Factory and scored a lot of great cigars and some nice freebies. He loved it.

 

Because the weather was so iffy, and we were all soaked, we skipped the beach and headed back to the ship.

 

Freeport - Why bother? We were only there from 7 - 1. Got off the ship and walked around the shops. Some great deals at the shops farther away from the ship but really not worth the stop. Got back on the ship early and just enjoyed the lido deck.

 

TIPS: Here are my tips for anyone going on this cruise.

 

Muster drill - Don't hurry on down trying to be the first person at the muster drill. You will just wait in a long line of people out in the hot sun. We wait until the very last call for muster drill so we can just walk in, take a spot in the front with little waiting, and be one of the first people back out.

 

I'm not sure if they do it for every sailing, but one of our sea day mornings we were greeted by a towel animal invasion up on the lido deck. It was awesome. Everyone that walked on to the deck in the morning had a huge smile on their face. If they make an announcement about a towel animal invasion on deck 9 make it a point to go.

 

AND THE REST: There were two things that happened on this cruise that cause our ship to be delayed getting back to Baltimore. The first was a medical emergency involving one of the passengers on our last sea day. They needed to cut the engines on the ship and medevac the family off. So sad. My thoughts are with that family and I hope everything turned out ok.

 

The second issue was the weather. By 1:00 that afternoon the winds started to pick up and it got dark and cloudy. By 5:00 the waves were swelling at least 15 feet and rocking our ship like a drunken sailor. Mother Nature at her best. We had a table with a window in the dining room and we got quite the show. Kudos to the dining staff for managing to serve dinner and not spill a drop of my dad's soup. People were having a hard time walking around the ship, the evening production show was canceled, and we saw more then one person covering their mouth and running for the nearest restroom.

 

They cut the engines back and the ship and things got a little better. I slept like a baby that night though with the rolling of the ship rocking me to sleep.

 

DEBARKATION: We had an announcement in the morning that our docking was going to be delayed until about 10:30. They told us we could stay in our rooms and relax or enjoy breakfast on the lido. We relaxed in our room, got one last amazing burrito for breakfast, and then headed down to the Dining Room Annex where FTF self-assist were waiting. As promised, the ship docked around 10:30 and we were off the Pride and in our shuttle by 11:15. FTF is so worth it to us for getting on early, getting off early and the dedicated line at guest services.

 

Speaking of Guest Services....when I went up on the last sea day to add some gift cards to my account there were two other people up there with me ADJUSTING THEIR GRATUITIES! This made me sad. The cruise crews are some of the most gracious, hardest working people I have ever seen and they deserve every penny of the gratuities we pay. In fact, we frequently tip EXTRA to deserving staff.

 

One person had both of their kids gratuities removed because they were only 5 and 7, and then wanted to adjust the tips for the dining room because they only ate there 3 of the 7 nights. Sigh! I know this is a hot button topic but in my opinion you should figure the tip as part of the cost of the cruise. If you can't afford the tip then maybe you shouldn't cruise.

 

If anyone has any specific questions hit me up and I will try to answer if I can. This was a great vacation and we would do Pride again in a heartbeat.

[DaveRRT]

thanks, did you have old or new menu? and what time is the welcome aboard show on the first day.

[pirate4me2]

Thank you for your review! We sail on Pride in march for a Journey's cruise and I am so excited. We have sailed her once before and I can't wait to see her with her 2.0 additions.

[cruiser620]

thanks, did you have old or new menu? and what time is the welcome aboard show on the first day.

 

It was still the old menu. I think I read somewhere that the new menu got pushed back to November. The welcome aboard show on the first day was at 7:30 pm.

[pcvtmom]

I agree with you about the removal of gratuities. Don't people understand that, even if you don't eat in the main dining room AT ALL, the wait staffs are out and about working breakfast and lunch on the Lido?!! Cheap people...

We were on the Pride in August and agree with your review wholeheartedly! Great ship and staff :-)

[DaveRRT]

It was still the old menu. I think I read somewhere that the new menu got pushed back to November. The welcome aboard show on the first day was at 7:30 pm.

Thanks, trying to plan the steakhouse for next week,looks like the 3rd day.

[JennN]

I live in Bethesda, MD and have been traveling to NY (where I was raised) every 2 weeks for the last 3 months because he is getting married. And I am in it.

 

Annoying to go back and forth so much but I plan it so that I come out of the Ft. McHenry tunnel around 3pm so I can see the Pride!!! :)

 

I am glad you had a nice time and enjoyed the cruise - and p00 on those people with the gratuities!

[JMAE]

Glad you had a great time! We sail on 10/4 for our 4th trip on the Pride. Did you have movies on the lido deck ever night, if so which movies were playing? Did they play any football game on the lido deck?

 

What comedians did they have in Punchliners?

 

Thanks

[pantherpaw]

Thanks for the review. We're sailing on the Pride in May and I can't wait to experience this ship

[peekinglemer]

Glad you had a great time! We sail on 10/4 for our 4th trip on the Pride. Did you have movies on the lido deck ever night, if so which movies were playing? Did they play any football game on the lido deck?

 

What comedians did they have in Punchliners?

 

Thanks

 

They had movies on the Lido deck every night of the cruise. Some days they just did one family movie at 7:30. I can't remember all of them but one was Sponge Bob Movie and the other was the new Pixar movie about the characters that are your emotions....I can't remember the name. A few nights had more adult movies that started around 10:00 like San Andreas.

 

There was NO football on the Lido deck but in the Fun Times papers they had a schedule of what sports they were showing in the ESPN Sports Bar and that was what played on those televisions.

 

I can't remember the names of the comedians but there were two at the beginning of the cruise and then they picked up two new ones for the end of the cruise. Each comedian did a family show and an adult show and they did a repeat of the family show the next night swapping out the time with the other comedian so people with set dining times could see all the shows. Some were pretty funny and some fell flat. The family shows you could walk in just before it started and get a good seat. The adult shows had long lines waiting to get in before the shows started and they were SRO.

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Great honest review!!!! So glad you enjoyed the Pride. I love that ship especially with the 2.0 upgrades !!! I too dislike it when people remove the gratuities because the crew works so hard and I always give extra.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Ms. Fun Bunch

[TIMNANNA]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on Pride for New Years with our 2 sons and I know they are going to want to play the games in the Red Frog Pub. Any problem at all with your son in there? How old is he? Did he participate in any Camp Carnival activities?

[peekinglemer]

Thanks for the great review. We will be on Pride for New Years with our 2 sons and I know they are going to want to play the games in the Red Frog Pub. Any problem at all with your son in there? How old is he? Did he participate in any Camp Carnival activities?

 

My son is 9 and the Red Frog Pub was his favorite spot. No issues at all with him playing foosball, shuffleboard, or any of the games in the pub. He was always made to feel welcome.

 

He went to the kids club one night but there were not a lot of kids on board this time of year so he didn't go back. He spent a lot of time in the sports bar with his dad, and at the waterpark. We also go the internet package and he went to the computer lounge on a few occasions as well.

 

He had a blast. It is a very small ship and we gave him a little bit of independence this cruise.

[TIMNANNA]

My son is 9 and the Red Frog Pub was his favorite spot. No issues at all with him playing foosball, shuffleboard, or any of the games in the pub. He was always made to feel welcome.

 

He went to the kids club one night but there were not a lot of kids on board this time of year so he didn't go back. He spent a lot of time in the sports bar with his dad, and at the waterpark. We also go the internet package and he went to the computer lounge on a few occasions as well.

 

He had a blast. It is a very small ship and we gave him a little bit of independence this cruise.

 

Thanks. Mine are 13 and 10. Really looking forward to Pride!

[wa3hr]

Thanks for the review. What night is the first elegant dinner?

[peekinglemer]

Thanks for the review. What night is the first elegant dinner?

 

The first full sea day was the first elegant night. Lobsters!!!! Yum.

[crazycruzer68]

We have 6pm dining time, is the welcome aboard show worth missing the dining room for?

[peekinglemer]

We have 6pm dining time, is the welcome aboard show worth missing the dining room for?

 

Not to us. We did the dining room and then hit the casino!

[jamscckmc]

We were surprised that we got finished on time both in May and on the Sept 6th in time to go to the Welcome Aboard show. Both times there were still plenty of seats at 7:30.

[crazycruzer68]

Looking at the dining options on the Pride it's showing 2 different 24 hour pizza, is that correct?