Pride - 21 day, not really a review

[wickedhangover]

I hope Carnival offers this pair of Journey cruises again. I thought 21 days would be too long but it turned out to be perfect. I also turned diamond on the first cruise which was cool, I had 189 points and the first of the B2B was 11 days to put me right at 200.

 

The island selection was also very good. I'd only want to see some time changes, stay in Curacao until 11pm like Aruba and Bonaire. Stay at the rest until 6pm instead of 5pm, one hour could not possibly affect the ship's ability to make the next port.

 

As for a review, the Pride is my new favorite ship, Miracle is the other. I prefer the smaller ships and have written somewhat negative reviews on the Dream and Breeze. I'll be honest in saying that the Dream class ships are just not for me. I did like the Breeze but I will not go back on it again or that size ship for that matter.

 

I was in cabin 5299, aft-extended. Nice room, just a few flaws. Both the bathroom and balcony doors squeaked a lot but the room steward hit them with WD40 and all was fine. Plastic panels on the lights rattled a lot but I jammed a couple of the many postcards we got from the art auction in there to shut them up.

 

First time with American Table, not a fan. Not looking to start a whole argument on it, just going to say I liked parts of it but mostly did not care for the selections. I also absolutely hate dining without table cloths.

 

Lido buffet is great on this ship in terms of layout. Separating salad bar from the hot food in genius and should be replicated on all the ships.

 

Steakhouse was very good. I always try and book a couple nights there to get away from the MDR. I really wish they would overhaul the appetizers and salads. But still have to admit that the rosemary bread and homemade ice cream are my favorite parts. My only complaint about the steakhouse is that you hear the crappy guitar music from the atrium a little too loudly. So I would recommend booking dinner at 6:15 which is about the time they stop until about 7:15 when they start back up. So at least you get about an hour of a nice, quiet dining experience until you get to hear the acoustic jam packed with tired hits of the 90's.

 

The greatest feature of this class of ship is that both levels of the dining room let out onto promenade style decks. My biggest gripe against the Breeze is that the aft dining room, both levels, let out to elevators and nothing else. If you're a people watcher, nothing more entertaining than sitting near the alchemy bar and watching how poorly some people dress walk by.

 

Serenity deck with a pool is also great. Granted for the two cruises I could probably have counted all the kids on one hand, it was still nice to have an adult only pool.

 

Getting on/off the ship in port was always so painless. No lines or anything like I experience on the other ships.

 

Baltimore is a great port to leave out of. We drove and parked at the overpriced pier but would do the same again. I did know about the park/cruise options but preferred having the car right there when we got off. We arrived at 10:30 and were on the ship by 11:30. Everything from dropping off luggage to getting our room keys was painless. The VIP area was about the worst I've seen so far but they are building a whole new area for VIP waiting to rival the one in Miami (at least that's what the staff said).

 

Leaving the ship was also painless. We met at the bar at 9:45am for zone 1, by 10:00 we were led down and customs took all of 2 minutes to get through. The luggage thing was a little bit of a mess. You had to get all your bags before a porter would help you, there was very little room to gather the bags since they wouldn't let you gather them where there was room. So I imagine when there were many more people there, it might have been bad or not, don't really know.

 

The B2B process in Puerto Rico was interesting. About 850 B2B guests for this one and I think it went really well. I think the entire process (from when we arrived to getting our new keys) took 45 minutes, even with a screw up where we all were waiting for someone who was already there. I didn't bother with the champagne after. Given that on B2B cruises with 10 people it has taken longer than 45 minutes, I'm still impressed. but customs did not board so there's a good chance that we just got lucky.

 

Getting off the ship and back on in Puerto Rico was also painless. We could have bought more wine to bring onboard without confiscation for the second cruise but we had plenty so we did not bother.

 

In any event, I want to try and book my next cruise on the Pride and I really hope Carnival does this B2B Journey cruise again. I would book this every year if they did.

[WinnipegCruiser]

Wonderful to read.

Very relevant to us.

 

We did the 14 day reposition cruise last March, and will be doing a 14 day Journey cruise this March.

 

I agree that the Pride has almost everything on my list. Now if they would get the BBQ joint, it would be perfect.

 

Thank you

[almendrada]

Thanks for this post! I'm about to leave on my very first cruise, and we're sailing on the Pride, so some of this info is very useful.

[Crusin Karen]

We did a B2B on Pride last May and will also be doing the 14 day Journeys cruise in March. We love the ship and the spirit class is our favorite. Only thing I would like is for Guy's Burgers to offer regular fries as well as the seasoned fries. I may be in the minority, but I am not a fan of the seasoned fries. :confused::( OP, you said you turned Diamond when you boarded the ship the lst time which is what will happen to us. I booked David's Steakhouse because it says on the CCL website that Diamond members get free dinner at the steakhouse. Did you take this option?

Thanks for a straightforward review and happy sailing to you.

[richstowe]

Great write up. :) I was amazed that you had 850 guests doing a back to back . Perhaps there were a bunch of B2B2B's as well .

 

Love the Pride . You never forget your first . :)

[Coopie]

We knew a couple who did both legs and we had family that flew to San Juan for the leg back.

 

Being zone 1 when returning we have never had problems gathering our luggage. Husband finds it while I just stand still and he brings them to me and goes back for others (4 pieces all together). We were never asked to move out of the way on any of our trips out of Baltimore. I do know what you mean about the porters. As far as the price for parking I can only guess you having sailed out of NY. Now that is over priced!

[wickedhangover]

OP, you said you turned Diamond when you boarded the ship the lst time which is what will happen to us. I booked David's Steakhouse because it says on the CCL website that Diamond members get free dinner at the steakhouse. Did you take this option?

 

Yes, I booked twice. The first I used me free Diamond dinner. I don't want to get anyone in trouble but I was supposed to have some sort of letter from Carnival. Turns out it arrived in my email box while onboard and since I "go off the grid" I did not have it or access to even know it was there. In any event, they honored my free dinner without any questions asked. I would say that the experience in the steakhouse on the pride was so good it prompted me to book again. The wait staff were really amazing.

 

Something I did not know (failed to pay attention) is that if you book the steakhouse on the first formal night, the wines in the list are half price. I'm a wine snob but not a sommelier or anything of that caliber. But I buy enough to know prices and have to say that with half off, the wines in the 75-150 range end up being close to the price in the liquor stores in CT. Next trip I will be buying off the reserve wine list. But this trip I brought some nice bottles for the steak house.

 

When I do B2B, it usually means 4 trips to the steakhouse, the only reason we only did 2 is that in Aruba and Bonaire we ate dinner off the ship at some really nice restaurants and we really had our fill of steak. But I would have loved to have dined in the steakhouse more nights if they offered more non-steak/non-seafood options.

[wickedhangover]

Great write up. :) I was amazed that you had 850 guests doing a back to back . Perhaps there were a bunch of B2B2B's as well .

 

Love the Pride . You never forget your first . :)

 

There were 7 passengers taking this week's cruise. 3 couples, 1 solo from what I heard from Maitre'D.

 

That's quite a trip, except for going to Grand Turk twice, it really is a way to have seen almost all the caribbean offers east of Aruba.

[wickedhangover]

One last thing I can add. Ken is really a great Maitre'D and his Sinatra is really very good. He's quite an entertainer. But unfortunately he is leaving the Pride in March and is heading for the Vista. I don't know if he will be off before the 14 day Journey or not, I did not get into specifics.

[wickedhangover]

As far as the price for parking I can only guess you having sailed out of NY. Now that is over priced!

I know, $280 for the 8 day cruise. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that if you park at the pier in NYC they cap the price. So if you did b2b there it would still cost $280.

 

I heard this from a passenger this past trip and cannot confirm if that is true.

[Crusin Karen]

One last thing I can add. Ken is really a great Maitre'D and his Sinatra is really very good. He's quite an entertainer. But unfortunately he is leaving the Pride in March and is heading for the Vista. I don't know if he will be off before the 14 day Journey or not, I did not get into specifics.

Oh, yea, we LOVE Ken. I have NEVER paid attention to a maitre d, but he is a GREAT one. We did one of the inaugural cruises on the Dream when she did a few cruises from NY before going to FL and he was on that ship also. I am really hoping he will still be on the Pride for the 3/13 Journeys cruise. So you have to have a "complimentary dinner" letter for the steakhouse? Don't really understand what you are saying. I have a confirmation for our reservations. I booked for the lst night to get the complimentary bottle of wine. Unfortunately, they changed our sailaway to 6pm which is what time I made the reservations. :(

[wickedhangover]

So you have to have a "complimentary dinner" letter for the steakhouse? Don't really understand what you are saying. I have a confirmation for our reservations.

 

Sorry, I'll clarify. I booked the steakhouse while on the ship, I told them I had just turned diamond and wanted to book my complimentary dinner.

 

When we were done and they were going to prepare the check, I mentioned it. The waitress asked if I had the letter from Carnival. I said no, I honestly did not know and said I was only going by the list of perks on the Carnival website. Her response was simply, "that's ok" and I got the $0 balance check.

 

I really do not think you'll have a problem moving your dining time up, that's really cutting it close.

[Crusin Karen]

Sorry, I'll clarify. I booked the steakhouse while on the ship, I told them I had just turned diamond and wanted to book my complimentary dinner.

 

When we were done and they were going to prepare the check, I mentioned it. The waitress asked if I had the letter from Carnival. I said no, I honestly did not know and said I was only going by the list of perks on the Carnival website. Her response was simply, "that's ok" and I got the $0 balance check.

 

I really do not think you'll have a problem moving your dining time up, that's really cutting it close.

Okay, thanks! The 6pm is the lst time they have. They offer seatings "on the hour" I actually wanted 6:30, but they didn't have that option. But I had planned to change it once I was on the ship. We like to eat early. How long was your meal?

[wickedhangover]

90 minutes is a good average, you can move it quicker though. I base my time on having bread/wine, amuse bouche, appetizer, salad, dinner, desert and after dinner drink which I did walk out with.

 

When they take reservations, they figure 2 hours for table of two, 2.5 hours for four and 3 hours for more than four if that helps.

 

I will suggest that you don't get the french onion soup if you're in a hurry, it's like a little pot of lava and I'm pretty sure it took me 20 minutes to eat it, maybe longer.

[NoName]

I know, $280 for the 8 day cruise. I don't know if this is true, but I heard that if you park at the pier in NYC they cap the price. So if you did b2b there it would still cost $280.

 

I heard this from a passenger this past trip and cannot confirm if that is true.

 

I have parked at the pier in NY twice and my price was never "capped", I wish it was!

[Crusin Karen]

90 minutes is a good average, you can move it quicker though. I base my time on having bread/wine, amuse bouche, appetizer, salad, dinner, desert and after dinner drink which I did walk out with.

 

When they take reservations, they figure 2 hours for table of two, 2.5 hours for four and 3 hours for more than four if that helps.

I will suggest that you don't get the french onion soup if you're in a hurry, it's like a little pot of lava and I'm pretty sure it took me 20 minutes to eat it, maybe longer.

LOL!!! :eek::eek: Was thinking probably the lobster bisque, tho French Onion soup is a favorite! I can get that in the MDR.

[wickedhangover]

I have parked at the pier in NY twice and my price was never "capped", I wish it was!

 

that's good to know but I wish that guy was telling the truth. NYC is so easy :)

[Cruise Envy]

Thank you for posting! I just booked my second cruise on the Pride -- your detail helped me catch up with what has changed since my trip last time.

[JaniceB]

Thank you for sharing your trip with us. I love the Pride and Ken.