Swodog94's Eastern Caribbean Cruise on PRIDE 23-30 Oct 16: A Review and Pictures

[swodog94]

Enjoying your review. Great writing style.

 

Thank you! Appreciate the follow!

[SailorGirl42]

Great review so far!! my family will be on the Pride in January. We were wondering if the pizza has Pizza Pirate Plus? (being able to get Lasagna, meatball subs, etc from the pizza place at night)

[TrqoisWtrs]

Great review! I'm sailing on Pride for a Journeys cruise in January to the Panama Canal, so looking forward to more. :)

[swodog94]

Great review so far!! my family will be on the Pride in January. We were wondering if the pizza has Pizza Pirate Plus? (being able to get Lasagna, meatball subs, etc from the pizza place at night)

 

I don't know. We never ventured up that way in the later hours.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[DCCruiser1013]

The steakhouse is one of the venues that you have to pay extra for, I think it's $35pp. But it is totally worth it!

 

 

Question re: David's. Do they still bring the steak cart out to the table to show you all the cuts, or have they stopped doing that?

[swodog94]

Question re: David's. Do they still bring the steak cart out to the table to show you all the cuts, or have they stopped doing that?

 

Yep, they still do the cart!

[pusywillow]

Question re: David's. Do they still bring the steak cart out to the table to show you all the cuts, or have they stopped doing that?

 

Yes, unless you ask them not to. I have heard some people don't like it.

 

Sue

[pusywillow]

Great review so far!! my family will be on the Pride in January. We were wondering if the pizza has Pizza Pirate Plus? (being able to get Lasagna, meatball subs, etc from the pizza place at night)

 

I don't think they do. I never went up there late at night though.

 

Sue

[maldenmusic]

Enjoying the review. I have cruise #11 booked for December and #12 May 2017.

[BellaSweet]

I don't know. We never ventured up that way in the later hours.

 

I know this answer.. No, they only ever had pizza and Caesar salad. We often went up there at night :)

[swodog94]

Enjoying the review. I have cruise #11 booked for December and #12 May 2017.

 

Thanks for the follow! Enjoy your upcoming cruises...I'd cruise again tomorrow, but my wife won't let me! :D

[swodog94]

The weather that night was poor and the ship was rolling due to beam seas. It didn't bother me too much, but my wife said the rolling was causing the closet door to swing open and turn the light on and off. I did eventually have to get up and lock the safe, because that door was banging a bit. We awoke to grey skies, heavy winds and 3-6 foot seas.

 

 

The winds didn't get any better, even after we made the turn to the west. Strong headwinds and seas ensured that not too many people were hanging about topside. After coffee and some breakfast I headed around the ship to take some photos.

 

 

 

[swodog94]

We weren't due in Nassau until 1pm, so we had some time to kill. Mostly we just lazed about our balcony and read. By noon, we were ready for some lunch. Back to the Lido for another Guy's Burger!

 

 

By the time we were done eating it was about 20 minutes to 1:00, and no Nassau in sight. As we got on the elevator, we bumped into Cruise Director Steve, and he confirmed that the winds and seas were delaying us. The Captain estimated we would get there around 1:40 now. By 1:30 the island was in sight.

 

 

Shortly after that the Pilot's Boat came alongside and we embarked the Pilot.

 

 

We started our transit in, but winds and seas were still not calm. Looks like it won't be a good beach day!

 

 

Pride has azipods and bow thrusters, which means she can pretty much manuever herself into almost any berth. But with winds blowing her off the pier, there were two tugs standing by to help.

 

 

[swodog94]

As we headed towards our berth, my worst fears were realized. We were not the only cruise ship in town today. As a matter of fact, we were number 4!

 

 

Also in port was Carnival Ecstasy, Norwegian Gem, and our fellow Baltimore-based ship RCCL's Grandeur of the Seas. We braced ourselves for a crowded time ashore.

 

When we visited Nassau in 2013 we had spent the first few hours on the beach at the British Colonial Hilton.

 

 

A day pass costs $60pp, but $45 of that is a food voucher. Waiters will come to your chairs on the beach, take your food and drink order and run it back out to you. The beach is quiet and relatively private. There are covered chairs as well as palm-thatched palapas to sit under. There's a pool too, if you prefer that, along with showers and changing rooms. It worked out great and we had decided to do the same again this time. But by the time we were tied up and had the brow across...

 

 

...it was 3pm. We debarked and headed out, but we were "parked" at the furthest pier and by the time we left the port area, it was 3:30! Looks like the beach plan is out the window!

 

We decided to just walk around the downtown area and do some shopping. We wanted to buy some local rum...Watlings, if we could find it. We eventually found some, bought a bottle and then hit a few shops. We walked until we found ourselves in from of the Government House.

 

 

By now it was almost 5pm and we decided to catch a cab and head for Paradise Island!

[swodog94]

Atlantis is the huge resort on Paradise Island. We had actually considered a stand-alone vacation to Atlantis, but the cost put us off a bit. Still, we were looking forward to walking around in the resort and maybe hitting the casino there for a bit. Atlantis is a very distinctive place.

 

 

The "bridge" penthouse suite is immediately recognizable. But there are several more towers that form more of the resort.

 

 

We took a taxi, which costs us about $14US. Our driver was a very informative fellow, and after we mentioned that we originally were going to Freeport he told us that his wife was from there, and the island had taken a crushing blow. He said it was pretty bad. After he dropped us off at Atlantis we walked through the shops. There are some high end shops there, but I was looking for one in particular. On our previous visit I had found there was a cigar shop there with a large walk-in humidor, and I wanted to buy a box of Cuban cigars. Sadly, the shop seemed to be gone! We asked around and were told that the cigars had been moved to the casino, so we headed there next. The shop had been reduced to just a kiosk! There was no walk in humidor, and the cuban cigars they did have were ridiculously overpriced, so I walked away without buying any. :(

 

We sat at a bar for a bit having a drink and then we hit the slots in the casino. My wife was with me and brought be luck, and I hit a nice little win. Not enough to get me back even overall, but hey, it's something!

 

By the time we were done it was getting late and we decided to head back to the port area. I wanted to hit Senor Frogs and get a tshirt!

 

 

We headed back to the ship since it we were supposed to be back on board by 8:30 for 9pm sailing. Pride was all lit up!

 

[swodog94]

We decided to skip dinner in the MDR this night and just get something on the Lido. With all the choices, we loaded up a couple of plates with a mix and match selection from several venues. And we got a pizza!

 

 

After dinner we headed back to our room and found that a third party would be joining us in bed that night!

 

 

Our room steward had warned us he was going to do this, and he did a great job. Rommel (pronounced Roh-mel, not Rom-mel like the WWII German general) was a superb room steward. He made sure our stateroom was cleaned twice a day, kept the ice bucket full and was invariably friendly and cheery. If he saw me in the hall he always asked if my wife needed anything. He was great, and we made sure we really took care of him when we left. Here he is with his creation!

 

 

We got underway at 9:00 sharp and headed to sea. The next day was supposed to be a sea day, so we looked forward to a day of relaxing. We were headed north...good bye Nassau!

 

[swodog94]

Our 3rd sea day dawned nice and sunny. The ship was heading north along the Florida coast and I headed to the Lido for a breakfast burrito. I arrived to find that towel animals had taken over! Unfortunately, I arrived after they had already started to take down the display, so I didn't get all of them. But many of the towel creations were pretty impressive!

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was pretty quiet. We relaxed and read. For lunch we decided to take it easy because were supposed to go to the Chef's Table that night for dinner, and we had been warned to go hungry! So we had a couple of tacos.

 

 

After lunch we went to see the Getaway Island show in the Taj Mahal theater. Now on the previous cruise on Pride the shows had been really bad, so we didn't expect too much. Our expectations were exceeded! The performers sang some old rock-n-roll songs and danced...it was cheesy, but in a fun sort of way! I thought they did a good job.

 

We got back to our room to find that the towel-man Rommel had made for us the night before had somehow procreated!

 

[swodog94]

Now we've come to what, for me, was the highlight of this cruise, the Chef's Table dinner. It costs $75pp, but it is totally worth it. Tonight was the secodn Elegant Night of the cruise, and while we dressed up some, we didn't go fully formal again (I juts wore khakis and a blazer, while my wife was in a skirt and acute top).

 

We had received our confirmation for the dinner when we got on board, and it instructed us to meet up at 6:15 in the Atrium. We arrived, checked in with the attendant, and she poured us some champagne.

 

 

Our group was a party of ten, and once everyone got there we headed for the Galley to start our tour. One of the Sous Chef's was our host for the evening. He talked to us about how the food service operation was set up and showed us some of the food prep areas.

 

 

 

Keep in mind were in the Galley while Early Seating dinner was in progress. There was a constant line of servers comeing to get the dished for their tables. It was controlled chaos!

 

 

 

[swodog94]

We remained in the Galley for the next portion as well. They had a large table set up for us and this is where we started the tastings. First up was a mango sphere on a rosemary biscuit.

 

 

Looks like an egg yolk, huh? You put the entire thing in your mouth and it explodes in a burst of mango juice (you have to do it all in one bite...one of our fellow diners tried to bit into it and it exploded all over his shirt!). Next was a cornet filled with salmon tartar.

 

 

My wife doesn't do raw fish, so I got to eat two of these! After that, there was beef carpacio on an air pillow with chocolate bacon and apple ribbons. Yep, it's as good as it sounds, and since carpacio is raw...I got two of these as well!

 

 

Last but not least, there was a double cooked lamb with tapioca.

 

 

 

[swodog94]

While we digested the appetizers, one of the pastry chef's stopped by for a demonstration. Carnival's iconic dessert it the chocolate melting cake, and he was going to show us how it's made. He assembled the ingredients...

 

 

...and showed how they are combined...

 

 

He made it all look so easy! At the end of the night we received a signed copy of the recipe for Chocolate Melting Cake!

 

 

Once the demo was done we were escorted out of the Galley and into the night club, where they had set up a table for the rest of our dining experience.

 

 

[swodog94]

Each of us had a spot with a name card and a scroll.

 

 

The scroll turned out to be there menu.

 

 

The head chef stopped by to introduce himself and wish us a good evening. Then he went right back to work!

 

 

Dinner comes with red and white wines...our wine glasses were never empty!

 

 

These rolls were amazing, and I could have just had a basket of these and called it night!

 

 

But we still have seven courses left! It's gonna be a long night.

[swodog94]

First up was the beet blanket with spiced grape tea. The plate comes with these beet squares

 

 

Then they pour the spiced grape tea almost like a soup. The combination of the two makes for an interesting mouth feel!

 

 

Next was the crab stack...

 

 

...followed by the duck textures, which had both duck breast and confit. I love duck, so I was in heaven!

 

 

Of course my wife wasn't thrilled that the duck breast was medium rare, so I got most of hers...oof, I'm starting to get full.

 

The next course was the bisque. They brought the plate out...

 

 

...then pour the two bisques separately to make a unique visual presentation as well as flavor.

 

Edited November 8, 2016 by swodog94

[swodog94]

By this point we've been eating and drinking for two hours. Time for a break! Unfortunately, this is the only part of the Chef's Table dinner that isn't great. They bring in an entertainer...this guy.

 

 

Turns out he's a magician who thinks he's a comedian. Sadly, the only guy he cracked up was himself...and his card tricks were lame, too. That's 20 minutes of my life I'll never get back!

 

Ok, back to the food! The next course is a chilean sea bass.

 

 

It was good, but I'm really getting full at this point and we have one more course to go. It is, in my opinion, the best thing we ate all night: Wagyu beef with a bone marrrow souffle! The beef is so tender you don't need a knife.

 

 

The final course is dessert. The pastry chef has assembled some of his greatest hits!

 

 

They are delicious, but my wife has thrown in the towel...she asks for her dessert to go. We put it in our fridge and have it the next day, and it's just as good.

 

Overall, the experience has been amazing. The food is delicious, the presentation flawless, and the wait staff make sure we want for nothing. I highly recommend the Chef's Table.

 

We waddle away from the table and I go topside for a cigar and a scotch. We get back to our room to find this guy waiting for us.

 

 

We sat in the sports bar and watched game three the World Series so we could digest for a couple of hours. We went to bed knowing that tomorrow will be our final sea day.

[ETski]

Enjoying your review. I do have a few question regarding the Chef's Table. Did you book onboard or prior to boarding? Interested in doing this but have some food allergies and need to find out if they can accommodate me. I have done Chef's table on another line and it was a wonderful experience. Thank you again for doing this review. Can't wait to board this coming Sunday.