New to Cruising/Carnival Pride

[ctsharpie05]

Hello! I am in the early stages of planning a Bahamas trip on Carnival's Pride. My hubby and I will be taking our children who are 10 and 7. Please show me pictures of the ship and tell me everything I need to know (or post links). I am a newbie to cruising an know next to nothing.

[stargate fan]

Hello! I am in the early stages of planning a Bahamas trip on Carnival's Pride. My hubby and I will be taking our children who are 10 and 7. Please show me pictures of the ship and tell me everything I need to know (or post links). I am a newbie to cruising an know next to nothing.

 

Hello.

 

Google Carnival Pride. Click on "images" rather than "all" under the Google bar and you'll see lots of pictures.

We've sailed Pride once and are doing so again in May 2016 with our youngest son, his girlfriend, our oldest son, our daughter-in-law, and her mom.

She's a Spirit class ship, which is my favorite.

 

Enjoy.

[JMAE]

Welcome to cruising! :)

 

We started when our children were that age. The Pride is a nice ship and our favorite class, sailing again on 2/14/16. The kids will enjoy the activities in Camp Ocean (formally Camp Carnival). They have many activities. As you board or at muster drill you will be greeted by one of the counselors and your children will be given an wristband which IDs your assigned muster station. There will be a meet and greet for Camp Ocean. You will be given a daily list of activities. On our first cruise the kids started slow, after reviewing the activities with them they picked one or two. Well, they went to the first activity and when we returned to pick them up they asked to stay for the next activity. The Pride was recently upgraded and has a very nice water park and two water slides (the slides have size restrictions). They have Dr. Seuss breakfast and activities. A build a bear activity, mini golf and many other things.

 

I have to say the staff always addressed my kids needs, which made us happy.

 

A few quick things:

 

• When you get off the ship at the ports make sure you bring your Sail-n-Sign card and ID
  
• In the MDR you will have your choice of assigned (6pm or 8:15pm) dinning or your time dinning (5:45 to 9:30pm). I wish they had your time dinning when my kids were small since it is flexible.
  
• Depending on your stateroom will have a king size bed and an upper and lower (bunk style beds)
  
• As you get on the ship and throughout your cruise they will be selling drinks in unique glasses, you can get the drink in a regular glass, which cost less and you don't have to figure out how to get the unique glass home.
  
• Enjoy and relax, don't try to do everything
  

I can go for a long time, how about some questions.

[cb at sea]

You cannot get OFF the ship without your card.....but do bring ID for the adults...you should always have ID on you!

[djyellowsub]

The main dining room (Normandie) restaurant is included with the cruise, and you can order as many appetizers, main meals, and desserts as you want. Room service has many free items and some paid items. Guy's Burgers and The Blue Iguana (like Chipotle's) are also free and located at the end of the Lido buffet where the main pool is. This is also where the 24 hour frozen yogurt machines are.

The Pride is an easy ship to navigate through because the main decks go all the way through from one end to the other.

Cruising is basically a cashless situation which means you set up an on board account which covers the cost of alcoholic drinks, sodas, on ship shopping etc. You can get drink packages which are explained on the Carnival site. The water on the ship is fine to drink and tea, coffee, and lemonade is included in the price. Carnival does sell bottled water on their website for a good price, so that's an option. If you order room service, have dollar bills handy as tips. About $2 per plate. You will see a lot of advice about tipping in general. They are many, many opinions. Do what ever you feel comfortable with and don't worry about what others do and don't do.

My best tip is keep reading all the Cruise Critic posts that apply to you. It's fun and so helpful! There are many great Pride reviews with tons of pictures. You will have a great time especially if you go with the attitude that, even if something doesn't go perfectly, you will basically love cruising.

[ctsharpie05]

How do you know what shows/events are for the week? How do you know what the MDR is serving?

[ctsharpie05]

Since I have never cruised I wanted to run my cost by you and see if it is reasonable:

1 stateroom w/ a balcony (8th level).

7 day cruise from Baltimore

Ports are Cape Canaveral, Nassau, Freemont

2 kids and 2 adults

Cruise is $4000

RT flight is $1000

[pirate4me2]

How do you know what shows/events are for the week? How do you know what the MDR is serving?

 

You will get a Funtimes each evening that tells you the next days events.

Pride was our very first cruise, and now I'm addicted! We sail on her again in March, and I can't wait!

[singbluesilver1]

That seems expensive but maybe your traveling at peak time?

[sparks1093]

Hello! I am in the early stages of planning a Bahamas trip on Carnival's Pride. My hubby and I will be taking our children who are 10 and 7. Please show me pictures of the ship and tell me everything I need to know (or post links). I am a newbie to cruising an know next to nothing.

 

There is a link to my review of the Pride in my signature and if you click on my flikr link and click on albums you can select the album for the CCL Pride. I think you and your family will have a great time!

[crusinpsychRN]

cruisedeckplans is loaded with info about deck plans, room amenities etc.

[Jana60]

Since I have never cruised I wanted to run my cost by you and see if it is reasonable:

1 stateroom w/ a balcony (8th level).

7 day cruise from Baltimore

Ports are Cape Canaveral, Nassau, Freemont

2 kids and 2 adults

Cruise is $4000

RT flight is $1000

 

 

You can get that cruise on the Pride out of Baltimore Maryland for as little as $2,600 or as much as $4,400 for a balcony cabin on the 8th floor depending upon whether you are traveling during peak season or not. All of the cruise dates during the time that children are not in school are the price that you quoted above so if you are traveling during these peak times when children are not in school the price you list is fair. You would have to take your children out of school to get a lower price. The lowest price if you don't want to take your children out of school is for the May 29th sailing of the pride and would cost you $3146.96 for a balcony cabin on the 8th floor.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Jana60

[stargate fan]

Since I have never cruised I wanted to run my cost by you and see if it is reasonable:

1 stateroom w/ a balcony (8th level).

7 day cruise from Baltimore

Ports are Cape Canaveral, Nassau, Freemont

2 kids and 2 adults

Cruise is $4000

RT flight is $1000

 

We paid $1,800 for two in a balcony cabin, mid ship, deck 7, for our May cruise.

For the ship and itinerary, $4000 for four in one cabin seems a little high. Third and fourth persons, your kids, should cost a portion of the first two, the adults, in the cabin. When is the cruise?

 

How do you know what shows/events are for the week? How do you know what the MDR is serving?

 

Every night your cabin steward will leave Fun Times on the bed. There are also separate Fun Times for the kids' activities, based on age.

 

Daily menus are posted outside the main dining room. Your kids can order anything from the adult menu and the adults can order anything from the kids menu. I love the banana split available on the kids menu for dessert.

[jocko4279]

Pride is a great ship, we went March 2015, and as soon as I got back I booked for July 2016. Peak times, but no choice with kids!

[ctsharpie05]

That seems expensive but maybe your traveling at peak time?

 

I am traveling in June

[ctsharpie05]

You can get that cruise on the Pride out of Baltimore Maryland for as little as $2,600 or as much as $4,400 for a balcony cabin on the 8th floor depending upon whether you are traveling during peak season or not. All of the cruise dates during the time that children are not in school are the price that you quoted above so if you are traveling during these peak times when children are not in school the price you list is fair. You would have to take your children out of school to get a lower price. The lowest price if you don't want to take your children out of school is for the May 29th sailing of the pride and would cost you $3146.96 for a balcony cabin on the 8th floor.

 

Thank you so much!!! I changed to the 28th and got the price down to $3100

Edited December 30, 2015 by ctsharpie05

[singbluesilver1]

Anytime kids are off school it will cost more

 

And be busier

[ctsharpie05]

Thank you so much for all of your help!!! Next Question : ) My flight will arrive in Baltimore at 1:10pm. The ship leaves at 4:30pm. Will this allow me enough time to get to the port?

[singbluesilver1]

I wouldn't risk it what if your flight is delayed or cancelled? You'd miss the ship

 

Everyone has a diff opinion but we always go in the day before just in case

[ctsharpie05]

I wouldn't risk it what if your flight is delayed or cancelled? You'd miss the ship

 

Everyone has a diff opinion but we always go in the day before just in case

 

Thank you! I think that is what we are going to do. How do you get to the port the next day (taxi etc). Also is there a good hotel you can recommend?

[stargate fan]

Thank you so much for all of your help!!! Next Question : ) My flight will arrive in Baltimore at 1:10pm. The ship leaves at 4:30pm. Will this allow me enough time to get to the port?

 

Though the ship leaves at 4:30, passengers need to be on board one hour before.

 

Let's say the plane lands at 1:10, it has to taxi to a gate. (We just experienced a delay - we waited on the tarmac for 20 minutes because there was no open gate for us.)

Then the luggage wait begins, which might be a while. (Same flight - our luggage corral changed twice and we waited close to half an hour before the first bags came off.)

Now let's say about an hour has passed and it's 2:00.

Then there's catching a taxi and getting to the port. (When we sailed Magic out of Galveston last year, we flew in the night before the cruise. On embarkation day, there was a big accident on the bridge that connected Galveston to the "mainland." The bridge was closed. I wonder how many people missed the cruise because they could not get to the ship.)

 

I suggest you book an earlier flight or even fly in the day before if you're able.

[jandb6266]

If you book a hotel near the airport they will have a shuttle to pick you up

and most have a shuttle to take you to the cruise terminal. You just have

to do a little research to find out the hotel that has a shuttle. We have been

on the PRIDE four times and you will have a blast. HAPPY SAILING!!!

[Jana60]

Thank you so much!!! I changed to the 28th and got the price down to $3100

 

I hope you mean the 29th since the pride doesn't sale on the 28th! I'm not a travel agent in fact I'm actually a family physician but I enjoy looking up this stuff so if you feel comfortable telling me where you're flying from I would be happy to see if I can find any information on flights and hotels for you. I agree with others who have said it's not a good idea to fly in close to the time of your cruise. The Cruise Line recommends that you land no later than 12:30pm if arriving the same day as the cruise.

[KPfromCT]

Thank you! I think that is what we are going to do. How do you get to the port the next day (taxi etc). Also is there a good hotel you can recommend?

 

Can't help but notice your screen name.:o

Are you from CT?

If so, we were on the Pride back in 2012, and we took Amtrak from Berlin, CT. It was super cheap and just a 6 hour ride.

We also went in the day before, and I can't remember for the LIFE of me which hotel we stayed at.

Always best to go in a day early.

 

Have a great cruise!!!:D:D

 

P.S. If you are NOT from CT, disregard the train info.:D

[singbluesilver1]

If you go to the roll call for your sailing there will be people to ask about a hotel

 

There are many that do shuttles to the port for a fair price

 

I'll be on the pride 11 day southern Caribbean cruise next month on the 17th