Swodog's E. Caribbean Adventure: Carnival Pride 23-30 July 17

[swodog94]

Absolutely loved your review!! We're sailing the Pride the end of Oct (after our sailing on the Breeze was cancelled last week) and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about her and seeing your pics. Thank you!!

Sorry to hear about your cancelled cruise. :( Thanks for following along and I'm glad you're enjoying the review. We sailed on Pride the last week of October last year...I think you'll have a blast!

[Crusin Karen]

We experienced our lst "invasion of the towel animals" on Pride. The crew do such an amazing job. I am wondering if anyone has ever seen them work on this. I have always hoped they are sitting on Lido in the wee hours of the morning with a couple buckets of beer and assembling them and having a jolly time! :cool:

[pacruise804]

Embarkation (Cont.)

 

I'll also take this opportunity to show you a hand wash station. There are several of these on the Lido Deck and they supply soap, water and a blow dry, all-in-one. Those, along with Purell dispensers at every buffet line, are there to try and reduce the chance of spreading any communicable diseases. Use them! That's my PSA for today.

 

That is nice to see. I much prefer actual washing to sanitizer, so this will be nice on our February Pride cruise.

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day

So our last sea day was upon us. This is the day that traditionally can get a little hectic. You know you have to pack sometime that day and get ready to get off the next day, but you don't want it to end. Seems to me folks try and do too much. We slept in and the I went down to get some breakfast. Burrito again...shocker, I know.

 

 

 

 

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

After I are we headed down play some Game of Thrones trivia. Trivia on the ship can get pretty competitive, and GoT was no exception.

We came within one point of winning, and there was a three way tie for the win which required a bonus question (it was tough and I would have gotten it wrong). After that we headed up to the Lido.

Today was Chocolate Extravaganza. Many people really look forward to this event. An entire buffet line is given over to a chocolate fountain, as well as fruit, cookies and other things you can dip in the chocolate. It's not really my bag, but it looks good.

 

 

 

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We went back to our room to start packing. The previous night we had received our luggage tags and debarkation instructions. There are two methods to debark: self serve, and traditional. Self serve is just that: you hold on to all your luggage and are responsible for lugging it all off on your own. The trade-off is that you will get to debark first. Self serve folks will start to debark as soon as the ship is moored and the gangway is open; each deck is called in order. If you're in a hurry to get off because you have an early flight to catch or have a long drive ahead of you, self serve may be the way for you.

Th other option is to put your luggage out in the hall that night for the crew to pick up and take off the next day. Your luggage tags will have a number. That is your debarkation group number. Your instruction sheet will also direct you to a muster area where you will wait with your group until you're called. We were in group 2 and we were directed to muster in the Red Frog Pub.

It was around this time that the weather started to close in. The day had been nice up until then, but it was obvious that we were headed into a squall.

I headed to the Lido mid-afternoon for lunch. This would be my last chance to have a Guy's burger, and I didn not pass up the opportunity.

 

By now it had started to rain and chased everyone out of the pool and under cover.

 

It was raining hard, too! There was a lot of water coming down in a very short amount of time. It quickly became obvious that the ship had some water intrusion issues becasue the light fixtures began to leak!

 

Things got ugly real quick and lighting began striking all around the ship. One bolt seemed to hit the lightning arrestor on the mast; it was a huge CRACK immediatelly follwed by a BOOOM! Little children started screaming and crying...it was pretty dramatic. The storm was in full swing and visibility was down to about a mile.

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

I headed back down and poured myself a scotch, grabbed a cigar, and headed back topside for a leisurely smoke. Very few folks were on the Lido at this point and I had a couch pretty much to myself.

 

That killed a good hour and after that I headed down to check what the damage was on our expenses. You can go to the Guest Services Desk to do this, but there are also a few kiosks on the ship where you can check you balance and pay with cash. I had a few bucks left from gambling so I cashed out in the casino and dumped it towards our S&S balance.

 

The Taste Bar is right next to thsi kiosk so I wandered over to try the sample being served. It was some stuff fromm the Blue Iguana, and it was yummy.

 

 

By now we had rounded Capa Hatteras and were headed for the mouth of the Chesapeake. The weather started to improve.

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening packing and relaxing, until it was time for dinner. I stopped at Alchemy and grabbed a martini to take into the MDR with me.

 

Two of our tablemates were there and we enjoyed one last meal with them. I ordered the beef carpacio app, while my wife got the caprese salad. We split a flatbread also.

 

 

 

For entrees I got the hanger steak and she ordered the ravioli.

 

 

I'm sure we split a dessert but I didn't get a picture of it so it must have gone quick!

[swodog94]

Last Sea Day (Cont.)

We headed back to our room and found that our towel critter was recycled from the night before. Oh well.

 

We closed up our suitcases and placed them out in the hall. You have to get them out there no later than 11pm for them to be picked up. By now the lights of Virginia Beach were getting closer.

 

Soon we were embarking the Maryland Pilot who would guide the ship upthe Chesapeake and into Baltimore.

 

I stayed up until we crossed over the northern tunnel of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and then I went to bed. When we woke up in the morning we would be cruising up the Patapsco River into Baltimore.

[swodog94]

Debarkation Day

By the time we woke up it was light and we were close to Baltimore. We were cruising up the Patapsco River.

 

We shortly passed Fort Carrol and then we were steaming under the Key Bridge.

 

 

We were supposed to moor by 0900, and we were quickly macking our approach to the cruise terminal.

 

Moored! Shift colors! And we're even early...it's 0851 and we are moored and the gangway is in place.

[swodog94]

Debarkation Day (Cont.)

The first folks off the ship were the Self Assist folks. We, in the Luggage group, did not expect to be called until around 1030. Sadly we had to be out of our staterooms no later than 0900. We found our room steward, thanked him profusely and tipped him handsomely, grabbed out carry-on's, and headed for the Lido. Time for one last Blue Iguana burrito!

 

We managed to find a table by the pool and camped out. After I ate I headed up to deck 10 to take photos of the folks leaving the ship. Someone was getting the VIP treatment!

 

Unfortunately, anothe one of our shipmates was leaving in an ambulance.

 

We headed down to our group's muster area around 1000 to prepare for our departure. We had been told that we would be called no earlier than 1030, but the Self Assist process went very smoothly, and we were told we could debark early. Shortly before 1030, we were headed down the gangway.

 

We got in line to wait to clear Customs and Immigration.

[nybumpkin]

Moored! Shift colors! And we're even early...it's 0851 and we are moored and the gangway is in place.

Love it!:D We opted for self-assist this year for the first time - debarked at 9:10 (sorry, son does 24-hour clock, not us;p) and were on the road by 9:25. Thanks for a great review.

[swodog94]

Debarkation Day (Cont.)

Soon we had cleared Customs and were looking for our luggage. If you put your luggage out the night before and have it taken off the ship, they put it in a big warehouse looking area. There it's grouped in accordance with the luggage tag you affixed the night before. We were in Group 2 so our luggage was in that area. We found our bags and headed out to our car.

 

We loaded our luggage and headed out. There was a line of cars waiting to get in to the aprking lot for the next cruise. It was 1048, and our vacation was over.

 

Well, It's taken me way too long to finish this review. If you're still reading, thanks! I hope you enjoyed it or were able to learn something useful from it. It's September 2017 and we're already looking for a cruise to Bermuda next fall...see you there!

[swodog94]

Love it!:D We opted for self-assist this year for the first time - debarked at 9:10 (sorry, son does 24-hour clock, not us;p) and were on the road by 9:25. Thanks for a great review.

Thanks for sticking with it! We would do self assist if we had to fly or drive anywhere, but since we live so close, it's usually not a big deal.

[HTwT]

Thanks very much for the excellent review, swodog94. We're departing on Pride this coming Sunday and I got a lot of useful info. We've sailed on Pride once before but it was 7 years ago.

[swodog94]

Thanks very much for the excellent review, swodog94. We're departing on Pride this coming Sunday and I got a lot of useful info. We've sailed on Pride once before but it was 7 years ago.

Glad you enjoyed the review. The interior décor has not changed, but the 2.0 upgrades have made her like a new ship. Have a great time!

[beachgoddess]

Following. on the Pride next spring!!

[mkaradus]

Wow.. what a great review! Y'all sound like such a fun couple! Good food, Good drink, Good beach... ahhh, good times! I love how appreciative you are of the staff. Thanks for taking the time to take us all on your vacation with you!

[h_blond2]

Great review...thanks for posting!

[swodog94]

Following. on the Pride next spring!!

Thanks for reading. Have a great cruise!

[swodog94]

Wow.. what a great review! Y'all sound like such a fun couple! Good food, Good drink, Good beach... ahhh, good times! I love how appreciative you are of the staff. Thanks for taking the time to take us all on your vacation with you!

Thank you, it's very kind of you to say that. Regardless of how much money you spent or what mega-ship or itinerary you booked, the crew can make or break your cruise...and we have been fortunate to always have great crews, from the Captain on down to the pool towel attendant!

[swodog94]

Great review...thanks for posting!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

[whisker2193]

May I ask since you’ve been on the Pride a few times, what has been the general arrival times? Have they been on time mostly? I need to make my air reservations soon and I am hunting down recommendations on return flight times. Thanks for all of the info!

[swodog94]

May I ask since you’ve been on the Pride a few times, what has been the general arrival times? Have they been on time mostly? I need to make my air reservations soon and I am hunting down recommendations on return flight times. Thanks for all of the info!

Well, we have never personally been late coming back, but the ship has had incidents in the past where they arrived late. Even if you plan self-service debark, the port area can get quite congested, traffic-wise, and you're a good 45 minutes from the airport even with moderate traffic. Also, TSA security at BWI can get backed up pretty bad, so unless you have pre-check, that's going to add to your headache as well. With a 10:00 am planned arrival, I wouldn't book any flight earlier that 3:00pm.

[tpiper55]

Thank you so much for this amazing review Swodog94!! I'm sailing the Pride (2nd time) this coming Sunday so as you can imagine these last few days before the vacation are torture. I'm also on the waiting list for a Cabana and hope I luck up like you did. Thanks for the reminder to print my email confirmation and take it with me. You two sound like a bunch of fun.