Carnival Pride 7/2-7/9: A First Cruise to Bermuda!

[nybumpkin]

This was the first elegant evening. A few months earlier, DH had taken youngest son for a tux rental for his high school prom. DH has lost weight, and he decided it was as good a time as any to invest in (a) a new business suit and (b) new formal wear. Since he had made this investment, the new formal wear came along with us on this cruise. From what I could see, most people dressed well for dinner – although I’m not one who really cares what other people wear. We took advantage of DH’s new duds to take some formal pictures.

Family Portrait Elegant Night by baxted, on Flickr

Family portrait.

024 Boys first formal night by baxted, on Flickr

Boys at our table.

028 Normandie Dining Room ceiling by baxted, on Flickr

Dining room ceiling. The Normandie was the flagship of Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (the French Line) from 1935 until 1942, when she burned at Pier 88 in NYC when being converted to a troop transport. If you look at photos of the lighting in the Normandie's dining room, you can see Joe Farcus' inspiration for this space.

031 Normandie Dining Room Stairs by baxted, on Flickr

Dining room staircase

 

 

 

Tonight was the American Feast menu (i.e., tablecloth and lobster night). I really don’t care about the tablecloths,but if it makes a difference to you don’t miss American Feast. After dinner we spent some time at the Red Frog Pub, enjoying some Thirsty Red on tap for me and diet Coke for DH.

025 Waiters dancing by baxted, on Flickr

Dancing

[nybumpkin]

Tuesday7/4: Happy Independence Day!

Another fun day at sea. For those who want to know how Carnival celebrates July 4, there were two deck parties – one at noon and one at 9:45. They also scheduled the military gathering for this day. While we didn’t go, from what we head it was well attended and very appreciated. I tried my hand at two trivia games: NameThat Musical and Slogans. The musicals in the first game were just too recent for me, but I managed 17/20 in Slogans. Not good enough to win, mind you – there were 5 people who got 20/20 and went to a runoff.

 

After trivia, as I walked aft toward our cabin I saw that they were getting ready in the atrium for the Dr. Seuss Parade, so I stopped to watch. There were a lot of excited kids, all of whom were given props to carry in the parade – banners, pompoms, noisemakers, etc. As I stood there, one of the social hosts handed me a pompom and noisemaker, saying “you’re in the parade.” Well, I’ve always liked Dr. Seuss – my mom taught me to read with Dr. Seuss and the other “I Can Read” books, and all three of our sons read them. So why not? The parade was fun, going from the atrium, through the casino, past the coffee stand and into the main theater. There, they collected all the props and invited the kids up to the stage to listen to Saffie the Cruise Director read “The Cat in the Hat.” She also had two kids to play the boy and girl home alone; a mom to play the fish; and a dad to play the Cat in the Hat. It’s been a long time since I’ve listened to a reading of Cat in the Hat, and this was fun.

 

Some photos out and about the ship:

018 Pride Builders Plate by baxted, on Flickr

Ship's builder's plate. Three cruises and I haven't found the ship's coin, though.

Mini Golf Pride by baxted, on Flickr

Mini Golf. The older son was playing basketball.

032 Sunset Garden Deck 3 by baxted, on Flickr

Sunset Garden, Deck 3. I love the outdoor promenade on Spirit-class ships, since you can walk around the entire deck (Sunset Garden is the forward portion, which is enclosed).

022 Aft wake by baxted, on Flickr

Aft wake

 

Today also was the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet. It was held in the small dining room near the main dining room, and Saffie the Cruise Director, Brittany the Entertainment Director, the Hotel Director and several other staff attended. We had a great time talking with them. Saffie noted how much the crew was looking forward to Bermuda – with 2 ½ days in port, they would have more free time than usual. Interestingly, one of the crew’s least favorite ports is Half Moon Cay – yes, that place so many of us love. Most crew members don’t get any free timethere – they’re serving food, bar tending, helping with the tenders, etc. In fact, on the Grand Turk/HMC/Freeport itinerary, the only port that really allows any free time is Grand Turk – and even then, the port time is limited.

[watermelonqueen99]

You will love this cruise! My joke is that with this cruise, we've completed all the ports in the chorus of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo": Aruba (Breeze 2015), Jamaica (Conquest 2005), Bermuda (Pride 2017), Bahama (too many times to count:D), Key Largo (Breeze pre-cruise 2015), Montego (Conquest 2010).

 

This is actually our goal! LOL :D Enjoying your review!

[nybumpkin]

7/4:The Chef’s Table

 

We last did the Chef’s Table in 2009 aboard Carnival Miracle, and we figured it was time to try it again. We reserved our places online before we sailed, and our reservation was scheduled for the sea day after elegant night. It appeared there were two other Chef’s Table dinners scheduled, both for the nights we were docked in Bermuda. Since we had other plans for those nights, I was glad we were scheduled when we were. We met in the atrium at 6:15, where we were greeted by sparkling wine or water. Executive Chef Porvin Gama then led us to the galley, where the table was set for our appetizers and we could see the galley in action for early seating. Photographs were allowed, as long as they were good ones!

037 Chef Table Galley by baxted, on Flickr

Appetizer set-up in the galley. Along with the appetizers we were served sparkling wine or water.

038 Chef Table appetizer by baxted, on Flickr

Appetizer 1: Mango Sphere, Rosemary Biscuit

040 Chef Table Appetier by baxted, on Flickr

Appetizer 2: Salmon Tartare Cornets, Sesame Seeds

043 Chef Table Appetizer by baxted, on Flickr

Appetizer 3: Beef Carpaccio on Air Pillow, Chocolate Bacon, Apple Ribbons

044 Chef Table Appetizer by baxted, on Flickr

Appetizer 4: Double Cooked Lamb, Tapoca

046 Chocolate Melting Cake by baxted, on Flickr

Chef making Chocolate Melting Cake

[nybumpkin]

The Chef's Table - Main Courses

After the appetizers, we did a tour of the galley, after which we were led to our dining table in the Beauties Night Club. We posed for a photo with our chefs and we had place cards at the table for our seats. We had unlimited red and white wine to accompany our meal.

Chefs Table by baxted, on Flickr

The Chef's Table Portrait

047 Chef Table bread plate by baxted, on Flickr

Bread plate: Popover with blue cheese and flatbreads

049 Beet Blanket by baxted, on Flickr

Beet Blanket, Spiced Grpe Tea. I'm usually not a fan of beets but this was enjoyable.

050 Crab Stack by baxted, on Flickr

Crab Stack.

052 Duck Textures by baxted, on Flickr

Duck Textures. The duck was cooked perfectly/

054 Tomato Bisque by baxted, on Flickr

Bisque Our Way. Red and yellow tomatoes, three types of basil, and crisped brioche.

[nybumpkin]

More Chef's Table Dishes

 

In between the smaller courses, the magician visited to do a couple of card tricks. The first one worked out perfectly, but he picked DH for the second one - and he knew from the start that it wouldn't work. Nope, it didn/t.

 

055 Sea Bass by baxted, on Flickr

Sea Bass with Chorizo Crust

 

056 Wagyu Beef by baxted, on Flickr

Wagyu Beef with Bone Marrow Souffle. Maybe I've had too many supermarket cuts of beef, but I thought the wagyu was a bit too fatty.

 

057 Chef Table Dessert by baxted, on Flickr

Dessert. Sea Salt Praline Chocolate, Raspberry Mojito, Key Lime Cake.

 

058 Chef Table End by baxted, on Flickr

A thank you to our chefs.

 

After dinner we waddled back to our cabin. We were done for the night.:D

[jimbo5544]

Great Pics, we, actually I , have done 5 CT's, 4 on Carnival ships (one on the Pride as well) and one on Royal. What a great evening they are.

[Crusin Karen]

Have never done the CT and don't plan to. I'm not adventurous enough. Gained 10 lbs just looking at pictures, tho! :eek: Thanks a lot!! :p I read another review and the chef tried to fool them into thinking that mango appetizer was actually an egg yolk! :o Did a "test" to see who was brave enough to eat it before telling them the truth! Wonderful formal picture with your handsome men.

[LynnB]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We will be back on The Pride next month, can't wait! We also have the aft ocean suite booked, deck 6 though. Was wondering how you liked the location. I have read reports of heavy vibrations in the aft cabins on pride. Thanks!

[Sneezykevina]

Thanks, We sail soon on the Pride and can't wait. We also booked the Chef's table on line. It's also fun to see someone post a review from upstate. We will drive from Binghamton, just not looking forward to the construction on 81S.

[cruise_everywhere]

Any word on when the new Chef Table's menu will appear on the Pride? I saw it from Vista and some other ships I believe and couldn't find on when it might make the appearance on the Pride. Great review!

[ledelstein]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. We are going to Bermuda in September so I'm looking forward to hearing about what you did those 2 1/2 days.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[nybumpkin]

Have never done the CT and don't plan to. I'm not adventurous enough. Gained 10 lbs just looking at pictures, tho! :eek: Thanks a lot!! :p I read another review and the chef tried to fool them into thinking that mango appetizer was actually an egg yolk! :o Did a "test" to see who was brave enough to eat it before telling them the truth! Wonderful formal picture with your handsome men.

Thaks so much, Karen! Eight years went by before we tried Chef's Table again and I suspect it will be some time before we try it again.

[nybumpkin]

Looking forward to the rest of your review! We will be back on The Pride next month, can't wait! We also have the aft ocean suite booked, deck 6 though. Was wondering how you liked the location. I have read reports of heavy vibrations in the aft cabins on pride. Thanks!

We had no problems with vibration on Pride, and we've also sailed her in a deck 6 Vista Suite. As you will see in my review, the last day we ran into some heavy seas and we did feel motion then - but I can't peg that to the ship.

[nybumpkin]

Thanks, We sail soon on the Pride and can't wait. We also booked the Chef's table on line. It's also fun to see someone post a review from upstate. We will drive from Binghamton, just not looking forward to the construction on 81S.

The construction is bad no matter which way you travel. Just after we crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge the four-lane I 95 was down two two lanes. Of course, our Upstate joke is that there are two seasons: Winter and Construction.:)

[nybumpkin]

Any word on when the new Chef Table's menu will appear on the Pride? I saw it from Vista and some other ships I believe and couldn't find on when it might make the appearance on the Pride. Great review!

Thanks! I didn't hear any mention of a new menu. Of course, since the last time we did Chef's Table was 8 years ago this was a new menu to us.:)

[nybumpkin]

7/5:Welcome to Bermuda!

 

We awoke to sailing off the shore and docking at the Royal Naval Dockyard. Smaller ships can dock in Hamilton, the capital, but the larger ships dock at Kings Wharf or Heritage Wharf. We were in port with Norwegian Breakaway,sailing from New York, which had arrived only a short time before us.

009 Doug and Kathy by baxted, on Flickr

On the Dock.

006 Norwegian Breakaway by baxted, on Flickr

Norwegian Breakaway

148 Dockyard port entrance by baxted, on Flickr

Harbor Entrance, Dockyard

 

I had booked an island tour with Heidi Cowen of Bermuda Byways. Heidi is a 6th generation Bermudian; her family tended the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse at one time. She offers a tour that visits some of the more out-of-the-way places to visit, accompanied by her dog Buddy, who is blind. Aside from the four of us, there were two other couples and a friend of Heidi’s who lives in Hamilton. Heidi had given us clear instructions on finding her when we disembarked – but no sooner did we leave the ship than we were caught in a heavy downpour! We waited under a tent, then saw Heidi drive up. We looked like a bunch of drowned rats.

 

 

Nomatter. Heidi said the locals were happy with the rain. You see, Bermuda has no natural freshwater. There are desalination plants but they prefer not to have to rely on them. Instead, houses in Bermuda are constructed in a manner to collect rainwater from roofs and store it in tanks. This rainfall was perfect to help fill the tanks.

122 Near Alexandra Battery by baxted, on Flickr

Bermuda roofs. The tiered construction lets the rain funnel into a gutter that takes it into storage tanks. We actually do something similar with our barn - we have a gutter system that feeds into a cistern.

[nybumpkin]

Our first stop was the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. Heidi wanted to visit early,before the tour buses arrived. The climb up the stairs isn’t the easiest, but there are places to rest along the way and you’re rewarded with wonderful views at the top.

069 Gibbs Point Light by baxted, on Flickr

Gibbs Hill Light

062 View from Gibbs Point by baxted, on Flickr

View from the top of the lighthouse

063 Gibbs Point looking toward Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Looking towards Dockyard

068 Map at Gibbs Point by baxted, on Flickr

Map at Gibbs Hill

[nybumpkin]

We then drove along the coast past Horseshoe Bay to Jobson’s Cove, where we stopped to see the beach. It decided to rain on us again, just for a change.

079 Jobsons Cove by baxted, on Flickr

Morning Glories

078 Jobsons Cove by baxted, on Flickr

Bayonet plant. Pretty but don't get too close.

075 Jobsons Cove by baxted, on Flickr

Jobson's Cove

010 Jobson's Cove by baxted, on Flickr

Beach at Jobson's Cove.

009 Jobson's Cove by baxted, on Flickr

Boys, beach at Jobson's Cove

 

 

We then took a detour to see the silk spiders. These spiders spin orb webs that are extremely strong, and are also known as hurricane spiders for their habit of dropping close to the ground when a storm is coming.

018 Silk Spider by baxted, on Flickr

Silk spider (upper center)

[nybumpkin]

Our next stop was Palm Grove Gardens. This is a private garden owned by the Gibbons family; Sir David Gibbons is a former premier of Bermuda. It’s gorgeous. The highlight is a pond shaped like Bermuda.

082 Moongate, Pal Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Entrance to the gardens. This is a Moongate, and there are a number of them in Bermuda (there is one at Dockyard). Walking through the Moongate is supposed to be good luck for a newlywed couple. I hope it's lucky for the not-so-newlywed as well.

022 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Moongate and garden arbor

024 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

022 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Garden flowers

030 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Lily pond

034 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Another lily pond

027 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

More flora

[nybumpkin]

More Palm Grove Gardens

 

Six photos in a post just don't do these gardens justice!

 

092 Palm Grove Gardens Wishing Well by baxted, on Flickr

Wishing well at Palm Grove Gardens. The well calls for pennies - no more, no less. Fortunately I had enough in my purse for everyone.

 

093 Palm Grove Gardens Wishing Well by baxted, on Flickr

The well.

 

100 Beruda Map Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Bermuda map lily pond

 

103 Bermuda Map Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

DH and me in the middle of Bermuda

 

097 Palm Grove Gardens by baxted, on Flickr

Palm Grove Gardens

 

095 Palm Grove by baxted, on Flickr

Lily pad

[nybumpkin]

Lunch and Caves

 

We stopped for lunch at Flatts – fish sandwich on raisin bread, a local favorite. It was very filling. We ate in a park across from the aquarium, where they had some rescued sea turtles outside.

050 Boat Launch, Flatts by baxted, on Flickr

Our lunch spot

056 Flatts by baxted, on Flickr

Flatts

057 Flatts by baxted, on Flickr

Flatts

109 Bermuda Aquarium rescue turtles by baxted, on Flickr

Sea Turtles

 

 

Ournext stop was Grotto Bay Cave. This cave is on a resort property, but is open to visitors. The resort is gorgeous. We just made it back to our van when the heavens opened up (yet again) as we drove to St. George.

116 Grotto Bay Cave by baxted, on Flickr

Grotto Bay Cave

058 Grotto Bay Cave by baxted, on Flickr

Grotto Bay Cave

Edited July 20, 2017 by nybumpkin

[nybumpkin]

St. George

 

We had about 35 minutes to spend in St. George. We visited St. Peter’s, the Anglican church that has been on the same site for 400 years, and the replica of the Deliverance, the ship Sir George Somers built to complete his mission to the Jamestown colony.

071 Alexandra Battery by baxted, on Flickr

Alexandra Battery

073 Angican Church St. George's by baxted, on Flickr

St. Peter's Anglican Church

074 Deliverance Replica, St. George's by baxted, on Flickr

Replica of HMS Deliverance, which deivered supplies to the Jamestown Colony

129 Matt, Deliverance Replica St. George by baxted, on Flickr

Matt aboard Deliverance

131 st. George Town Squarre by baxted, on Flickr

St. George Town Square

 

 

Onthe way back to Dockyard we stopped at Bailey’s Bay Ice Cream Parlor, acrossthe street from Swizzle Inn. The icecream is homemade and very good. It iscrowded, though.

We were back at Dockyard around 5:30. All told, we were out for about 8 ½ hours –longer than the 6-7 hours scheduled. As Heidi said afterward, she must have been having a good time with us! She also said she gauges her tours on the participants – for example, if she has people with mobility issues she skips Grotto Bay. No two tours are the same. And if there are particular things you’d like to see and do, she will do her best to accommodate.

[nybumpkin]

One more thing to do for the day....

 

This was a long day. However, there was one more thing I wanted to do that didn’t require too much traveling: the Fun Golf Bermuda right at Dockyard, next to Snorkel Beach. This is an 18-hole mini golf course with holes based on courses in Bermuda, Scotland and the United States. We headed out after dinner to play a round; it’s open until 10 p.m. It’s probably one of the most challenging mini golf courses I’ve ever tried, and we had a good time. (Sorry, no pictures. It was getting dark.)

[swodog94]

Thanks! I didn't hear any mention of a new menu. Of course, since the last time we did Chef's Table was 8 years ago this was a new menu to us.:)

Too bad. We did CT on Pride back in October and had the exact same dishes. We're on Pride again this Sunday but decided to skip CT this time...glad we did, because the menu (while excellent) is not worth doing twice, IMHO.