Carnival Pride Review- December 10th, 2017

[amrgirl95]

 

These steps were also on deck 10 I think, leading down to deck 9

 

 

 

I met up with my mom in the atrium for the menorah lighting. We’re not Jewish, but we wanted to see what it was. I ended up stepping away togo up to deck 10 to take pictures of the sunset. When I got back to the atrium, my mom had gotten us seats on deck 2 and made friends. Soon after, the crew had put out some latkes, sour cream, and applesauce. The latkes were actually very good, in my opinion. The “Let It Snow” event consisted of Christmas carols, Santa hats, jingle bells, an ugly sweater contest, snow, and Santa himself. My mom and I each ended up with a Santa hat, and she got a jingle bell too. After we saw Santa come down the glass elevator, we headed back to the room and got ready for dinner.

 

 

 

[amrgirl95]

Some more atrium pictures

 

 

The latkes

 

 

Snow on a cruise

 

 

Santa in the snow

 

 

This statue was in the atrium, off on the port side I think, close to the elevator bay

 

[amrgirl95]

We were again given a pager for dinner a bit after 7:00. We were told that it would take about 20 minutes to be seated, but we were called 3 minutes later. I still wasn’t that hungry at dinner, and my mom wasn’t either, so we didn’t order much. I just had two appetizers for my meal, the vegetable spring rolls and the flatbread with “Cajun shrimp, corn, and pineapple.” I think my mom had the leek and potato soup and maybe the shrimp cocktail. I don’t have pictures of anything else she ate, besides the soup, so I’m assuming that was the other thing she had. My mom did order dessert this night, and she got the hot Jamaican coffee, and something…chocolate. I can’t find it on a menu and I have no idea what it is. It may have been something like a tres leches, because I know it had enough milk in it that I didn’t try any. I got the fresh tropical fruit plate. The variety of fruit on it was pretty nice. I’m not a big fan of honeydew or cantaloupe, and this dessert had none of that.

 

My mom's dessert

 

 

My dessert

 

 

After dinner, we went into the shops before going over to the theater. By this point, my mom had befriended the woman who worked in Cherry On Top, the candy store. We had a nice conversation with her, and found out her husband also worked on the ship, as a bartender, possibly in the Alchemy Bar. It may have been at a different bar though. We then went to the theater. The Fun Times said that the “Pre-Show Fun” started at 9:00, but the doors to the theater were closed until a few minutes after that.

 

Jawbreakers outside of Cherry On Top

 

 

The show was called “Getaway Island.” The “pre-show fun” featured a guitarist singing a couple of songs, then some skits that I think involved the audience a bit. The actual show was pretty good but this type of show isn’t really my thing. The description of it in the Fun Times said that it featured songs by “Jimmy Buffet” (his name is spelt with two Ts at the end, for anybody that doesn’t know that), but they only played maybe two of his songs. My notes say to sit in the center of the theater for the show, but I’m not sure why. We sat up on the balcony and could see clearly. The show lasted about 40 minutes. We then went back to the room to go to bed, in preparation of our first port the next day.

 

"Pre-show fun"

 

 

A look inside one of the shops

 

 

So I got this day done surprisingly fast. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m going out of town for the next two nights, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on anything until I get back. I’ll try to check in when I can to answer any questions anybody may have. Thanks for all of the comments!

[somewheretropical]

I'm loving this review and your pictures! You take such beautiful photos. Nice work!

[pacruise804]

We were again given a pager for dinner a bit after 7:00. We were told that it would take about 20 minutes to be seated, but we were called 3 minutes later. I still wasn’t that hungry at dinner, and my mom wasn’t either, so we didn’t order much. I just had two appetizers for my meal, the vegetable spring rolls and the flatbread with “Cajun shrimp, corn, and pineapple.” I think my mom had the leek and potato soup and maybe the shrimp cocktail. I don’t have pictures of anything else she ate, besides the soup, so I’m assuming that was the other thing she had. My mom did order dessert this night, and she got the hot Jamaican coffee, and something…chocolate. I can’t find it on a menu and I have no idea what it is. It may have been something like a tres leches, because I know it had enough milk in it that I didn’t try any. I got the fresh tropical fruit plate. The variety of fruit on it was pretty nice. I’m not a big fan of honeydew or cantaloupe, and this dessert had none of that.

 

My mom's dessert

 

 

My dessert

 

 

After dinner, we went into the shops before going over to the theater. By this point, my mom had befriended the woman who worked in Cherry On Top, the candy store. We had a nice conversation with her, and found out her husband also worked on the ship, as a bartender, possibly in the Alchemy Bar. It may have been at a different bar though. We then went to the theater. The Fun Times said that the “Pre-Show Fun” started at 9:00, but the doors to the theater were closed until a few minutes after that.

 

 

So I got this day done surprisingly fast. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m going out of town for the next two nights, so I don’t know if I’ll be able to work on anything until I get back. I’ll try to check in when I can to answer any questions anybody may have. Thanks for all of the comments!

 

Thanks for fitting your review in - loving the pictures and descriptions. I hope you only had one day of seasickness and were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise.

 

Both of those desserts look really good. If tiramisu was on the menu that might have been your mom's dessert.

 

I think we will have to try the tea - it sounds like a nice break.

 

Safe travels!

[amrgirl95]

I'm loving this review and your pictures! You take such beautiful photos. Nice work!

 

Thank you!

 

Thanks for fitting your review in - loving the pictures and descriptions. I hope you only had one day of seasickness and were able to enjoy the rest of the cruise.

 

Both of those desserts look really good. If tiramisu was on the menu that might have been your mom's dessert.

 

I think we will have to try the tea - it sounds like a nice break.

 

Safe travels!

 

Thanks! I did feel better after the third day of the trip, probably because the seas were smoother. I don't think my mom's dessert was tiramisu; she isn't a big fan of it. I still can't figure out what it was.

 

The tea was nice. If you have the time, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

[adam3313]

Great review so far! I feel like since I'm from VA I need to get myself on the Pride someday soon!

 

About your $12.22 refund, it's possible that could've been for a port fee. I feel like every cruise I've been on there's always a random amount of refundable credit on my account right when I get on. I think sometimes the port fees change, and you get the difference back. It very well could've been for the late start, but just another thought on what it could've been.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review!

[bluehenfan01]

I was on the same cruise as you! I took my father with me. We were in 6333 Aft. I had such a great time......i also went to the lighting of the Menorah too, and i'm not Jewish either. On the first sea day, i thought Saffie was annoying....ONLY because (and i know it wasn't her fault) i was having breakfast with dad on Lido and during the morning show on the big screen, her microphone was soooo overmodulating, it was hard to hear and understand. After that, she was fabulous. Very energetic and just a nice person! I was going to post some pics too, but mine are too big....once i figure out how to resize them, i will post! :-)

[amrgirl95]

Great review so far! I feel like since I'm from VA I need to get myself on the Pride someday soon!

 

About your $12.22 refund, it's possible that could've been for a port fee. I feel like every cruise I've been on there's always a random amount of refundable credit on my account right when I get on. I think sometimes the port fees change, and you get the difference back. It very well could've been for the late start, but just another thought on what it could've been.

 

Looking forward to the rest of the review!

 

Thanks! You definitely should try a cruise on the Pride, since I'm assuming you're about as close to Baltimore as I am.

 

That's a good point. I'm pretty sure I've heard about that before. I wonder if I could have clicked on the charge in the HUB app and it would have told me what it was for. I don't think it said what it was for on the bill we received at the end.

 

I was on the same cruise as you! I took my father with me. We were in 6333 Aft. I had such a great time......i also went to the lighting of the Menorah too, and i'm not Jewish either. On the first sea day, i thought Saffie was annoying....ONLY because (and i know it wasn't her fault) i was having breakfast with dad on Lido and during the morning show on the big screen, her microphone was soooo overmodulating, it was hard to hear and understand. After that, she was fabulous. Very energetic and just a nice person! I was going to post some pics too, but mine are too big....once i figure out how to resize them, i will post! :-)

 

I'm glad you had a good time! I don't think I saw her morning show anywhere, but we liked her pretty well overall. We didn't meet her anywhere but she seemed nice when she was announcing anything.

 

Have you tried uploading them on another website to post? I've uploaded mine on Shutterfly and I just copy them over here and they come up the right size. Hopefully you find something that will work for you.

[TalesFromTheCrib]

That duck claw machine sounds fun! I have a feeling it will be a hit with my LO next month

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chocolate melting cake]

I was on the same cruise as you! I took my father with me. We were in 6333 Aft. I had such a great time......i also went to the lighting of the Menorah too, and i'm not Jewish either. On the first sea day, i thought Saffie was annoying....ONLY because (and i know it wasn't her fault) i was having breakfast with dad on Lido and during the morning show on the big screen, her microphone was soooo overmodulating, it was hard to hear and understand. After that, she was fabulous. Very energetic and just a nice person! I was going to post some pics too, but mine are too big....once i figure out how to resize them, i will post! :-)

 

 

Most of my pictures are taken at 3 to 4 MB, but I use the MICROSOFT POWERTOY IMAGE RESIZER, a free download that works on my Windows 7 and Windows 10 computers and get them to about 150 KB. It's an easy to use tool that works on the picture by a right click-rather than a separate program.

[amrgirl95]

That duck claw machine sounds fun! I have a feeling it will be a hit with my LO next month

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

It was very fun! It was pretty loud though. We saw another family with young kids playing, and I think they said they won around 15-20 ducks this trip, and the same amount on a previous cruise, so it's definitely a hit with kids.

[1maggie1]

Did you see if the deli has the new menu?

[chipperberg]

Was the duck claw machine cash, card or both? Thanks! We are cruising in Feb with 2 little guys. I am preparing ahead. I know we will be there often!

[amrgirl95]

Did you see if the deli has the new menu?

 

I'm pretty sure they still had the old deli menu, at least when I was on the ship last month.

 

Was the duck claw machine cash, card or both? Thanks! We are cruising in Feb with 2 little guys. I am preparing ahead. I know we will be there often!

 

It only took the S&S card. I'm pretty sure all of the machines in the arcade only took the S&S card, but I didn't try any of the others so I'm not positive. Have fun on your trip!

[Laney219]

The arcade only took the S&S card. Makes it dangerous!

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

[holdon216]

Great review. Going this May so I'll be following this post.

[amrgirl95]

So I'm back, working on the review. Sorry I disappeared; I ended up going to my grandma's for a night as soon as I got back from Philadelphia, and yesterday I just wrote a bit and didn't have the effort to do anything I needed. But I'm working more on day four now, and I'll have it finished today, and I'll try to post it tonight. Thanks for continuing to read this!

 

The arcade only took the S&S card. Makes it dangerous!

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

 

It does! I'd imagine that could be worse for little kids.

 

Great review. Going this May so I'll be following this post.

 

Thanks! Enjoy your trip!

[bluehenfan01]

Most of my pictures are taken at 3 to 4 MB, but I use the MICROSOFT POWERTOY IMAGE RESIZER, a free download that works on my Windows 7 and Windows 10 computers and get them to about 150 KB. It's an easy to use tool that works on the picture by a right click-rather than a separate program.

 

Thank you for the tip......i am so technology challenged....the simpler, the better. lol I will check that out. My home computer is Windows 7.

[amrgirl95]

So I'm back for day four of the trip! Sorry it took a bit of time to post.

 

Day Four

 

So day four. Our first port day. We were tendering at Princess Cays on this day. My mom and I had never been to this port before, but generally a private island is a private island. If you haven’t picked up on it already, I am not a morning person, and we never get off early, so we were not lining up at 7:00 A.M. to get tender tickets to get on the island.

 

I believe we got up around 9:00 that morning, and went to breakfast in the buffet around 10:00. Around 10:45, they stopped calling the ticket numbers for the tenders. They stopped at number 35 or 36. We were still eating at that point, so that just meant we didn’t have to stop and get tickets. People did wear their tender number stickers all day. This was my first breakfast in the buffet, and I liked it. I can’t eat a lot in the mornings, so I just had pastries, and they were good. The chocolate muffins on Carnival are amazing.

 

My breakfast

 

 

A view of the island from the (dirty) window in the buffet

 

 

The buffet was pretty empty this morning, probably because everybody was already off the ship at this point. We were able to see the tender boats going back and forth from where we were sitting. After breakfast we stopped back at the room to grab our beach bags, then headed to get off the ship. The water was a bit choppy, so it was a tad bit difficult to get on the tender, but we made it. My problem was that the ramp connecting the tender to the ship kept moving up and down, and I had to really duck to be able to make it on without hitting my head.

 

I wanted to post these pictures earlier in the review, but I couldn't find them. This is looking out of our room's window to the right (forward)

 

 

And left (aft)

 

 

For whatever reason, we had to wait on the tender for about 15 minutes before we left the ship. I guess they wanted the tender to be full before going ashore, but waiting there was pretty boring. I noticed that there was a big, dark cloud getting closer to the ship while we were on the tender boat, and I regretted not bringing my umbrella with us. The cloud was gone by the time we reached land, and that was as close as we got to any rain all trip. We eventually started moving towards land. The water was rough, and the boat was moving around a lot. It didn’t bother me, and the ride was only a few minutes long (maybe 6 minutes based on the times on my pictures). This picture shows just how much the tender boat was listing.

 

 

We had sat on the top deck of the boat, and somehow I was the first person off, at 11:32. My mom was not. Somehow, she ended up letting a bunch of people go in front of her, so I stood around waiting. I noticed two singers and dancers getting off of our tender. My mom finally caught up to me, and we went to find a good spot for the day. We walked some, since a lot of the chairs were full at this point. We were the only ship in port that day, and it was never too crowded. We ended up finding two seats on the back of the beach, next to the main path. They were right by some bathrooms, and relatively near to one of the lunch buffet areas. We settled in for a relaxing day. I stayed at the seat for most of the day, since I hate sand and I don’t want to get it everywhere, and my mom walked around a bit. It was windy, but warm enough in the sun. Whenever the wind would blow and the sun would go behind clouds, I would be freezing. I was sitting there in my hoodie, with my mom’s towel around me (and my towel beneath me).

 

[amrgirl95]

The view from our seats

 

 

An airplane overhead. I'm pretty sure I heard that there's an airport somewhere on the island

 

 

We got to our seats around 11:45. I went to get food around 12:45. My mom wasn’t hungry then, but we knew that the food would end around 1:30, I think, so we had to get something then. I brought my food back to our seats, then my mom got hers. It was pretty good. The desserts didn’t do much for either of us, but we really liked the couscous and the jerk chicken. Also the German potato salad was very flavorful. There were so many bugs flying around, including tons of bees. I had put bug spray on, but they still liked me better than my mom. At some point, my mom got one of those special drinks in the big plastic cups. I think it was a Miami Vice. My mom thought there wasn’t much alcohol in it, and I agreed with her, because I actually thought it tasted good. After eating, I sucked it up and went into the sand to explore a bit. I went down to the water, then further down the beach, towards the cabanas. There was a little hut with a pathway that extended into the water. Also, there was a little look out tower type thing (I don’t know what it’s called) and I went up that to see more of the island. Behind it was a different section of the private island, but I don’t think it was connected to the main part of Eleuthera. I wonder if cruise guests could walk over there, but it probably wouldn’t be allowed.

 

 

Looking down the beach towards the cabanas and the walkway over the water

 

 

 

A water shot

 

[amrgirl95]

Some shots from the top of the tower

 

 

 

This is the opposite side from the beach. I don't know if anybody would be able to go over here

 

 

 

 

I got back to our spot and my mom went off to explore. The last tender was 4:15, and we wanted to head back long before that so we didn’t get caught in a long line. Before 2:00, the beach we were on began to clear out. My mom still hadn’t come back (she was talking to somebody. This happens everywhere we go), and I was getting a bit nervous, since I had wanted to leave our seats around 2:00 so we could do some shopping before getting on the tender. We ended up getting up around 2:30, by the time my mom came back. We tried to go to the ladies’ room by our seats, but an employee said it was closed. I don’t know why, since the island shouldn’t have been shutting down yet. We went down the path, towards the ship, stopping at stands if anything caught our eye. We both got a few small things. We went to the bathroom by the bar, and of course it was out of toilet paper.

 

The bar with the ship in the background

 

[amrgirl95]

A bathroom shot

 

 

Anyway, we finished in the bathroom. There was a band playing (Christmas songs) in the bar, which was a nice touch. We did a bit more shopping (everything was cash only, from what I saw), and then got back on the ship. There was just a little line to go through security (maybe four or five people before us). It would have been easier if people knew how to go through metal detectors. I think that slowed us down. We had our S&S cards and IDs out, but I don’t believe they checked them. We got on another tender and left shortly after. We were back on the ship around 3:10. We went back to our room to drop off our stuff. I think I stayed there for a few minutes, because I later found my mom on the pool deck with a drink in hand. She had the same yellow drink from the rum bar again. We were sitting by the main pool, and it was fairly empty, even though the time for the last tender was coming up. We got two lounge seats right next to the pool.

 

Our new friend in our room

 

 

A shot of the island

 

 

This guy was hanging out near Guy's

 

 

I was a tad hungry, and the only thing opened was Guy’s Burger Joint (and the pizza and deli). I haven’t eaten fast food in years, and I know that if I was to do that, it would bother my stomach. I was worried that Guy’s would be “fast food” enough that it would make me feel sick. I’m also not a big burger person, and I don’t like any of the “fancy” toppings they offer (bacon, cheese, onion rings), so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on much. My mom planned to try a burger, but never got around to it. This day, I did get us a plate of fries to munch on, and they were really good. I also got my mom some soft serve (I also don’t eat ice cream. I’m such a picky eater). This was the only time she had the soft serve on the trip. There were two machines. One was soft serve (chocolate, vanilla, and swirl on that day). The other, which had no line, was frozen yogurt (chocolate, strawberry, and swirl). I got my mom chocolate frozen yogurt in a cup. She liked it, but I found out that she’s a cone person. Oh well. This way, I didn’t make a mess of myself.

 

Our fries from Guy's

 

 

My mom's frozen yogurt

 

[amrgirl95]

After munching a bit, I left my mom relaxing, and went to walk around deck 10. This was the first (and only) time I made it up to the sports deck. There were quite a few people playing up there. When we were waiting in line to get on the ship, I noticed three or four kids with basketballs, and I guess they were using them here.

 

The relatively empty pool deck

 

 

Another empty pool

 

 

 

The mini golf course

 

 

These statues were on the sports deck. I wonder if they were going for sort of an Aztec theme

 

 

[amrgirl95]

 

Around 4:40, I looked and saw that we were moving. I went down to deck 3 and walked around the promenade deck a bit. That’s one of my favorite places on a ship, and my main complaint about Carnival is that they don’t do the promenade deck well. On Royal Caribbean, there are chairs out there, so you can sit close to the water. On Carnival, there are no chairs and it almost feels like you’re not supposed to be out there. I think I walked around a bit more, then went up to deck 10 to take pictures of the sunset.

 

 

The pool deck was still pretty empty, even once we were moving

 

 

The pool has a dolphin in it

 

 

From the promenade