LIVE Journey to Greenland on the Pride 9/8/24

[rxlowry]

Last night we were invited to Al Fresco thanks to our table mates.  Very chilly but the blankets helped. 

[rxlowry]

Today on Carnival: I watched three old men pull their balls out of their bathing suits. 
 

Fun throwback activity although no women chose to participate. I remember playing this game in the pool on my very first cruise in 1983 on the Cunard Countess. It was slightly different back then because everyone played at the same time and you had to swim around to find the ping pong balls. I was only ten and didn’t have much places to put them back then but it was a fun memory to relive 

[jimbo5544]

16 minutes ago, rxlowry said:

Last night we were invited to Al Fresco thanks to our table mates.  Very chilly but the blankets helped. 

We LOVED the Al Fresco dinner, one of the highlights of our Greenland cruise,

[rxlowry]

4 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

We LOVED the Al Fresco dinner, one of the highlights of our Greenland cruise,

Was it qaqortoq day? No one really lingered over dinner for us! It was pretty chilly at 8pm when our seating was

[CabinBoy2020]

5 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

We LOVED the Al Fresco dinner, one of the highlights of our Greenland cruise,

Thanks, RxLowry, for the great posts.  Can you and jimbo5544 say more about the Al Fresco dinners?  Only on Journeys cruises?  By invitation - how does that work?  They sound super!

[jimbo5544]

29 minutes ago, CabinBoy2020 said:

Thanks, RxLowry, for the great posts.  Can you and jimbo5544 say more about the Al Fresco dinners?  Only on Journeys cruises?  By invitation - how does that work?  They sound super!

Will tell you what I know.  Ours was on a Journey cruise, and as far as I know only done on Spirit class ships.  They are by invitation only, I believe they were started by Ken Byrnes (the singing Maitre’d).  They are held outside on Lido, white linen and white glove service.  Pretty special evening.

[jimbo5544]

39 minutes ago, CabinBoy2020 said:

Thanks, RxLowry, for the great posts.  Can you and jimbo5544 say more about the Al Fresco dinners?  Only on Journeys cruises?  By invitation - how does that work?  They sound super!

Our cruise was much different, we never made it to Greenland (chased by 3 hurricanes, 2 going and 1 coming), but I am pretty sure there are some pics of the Al Fresco dinner.  Not trying to steal the thread.

 

 

Edited Monday at 11:26 PM by jimbo5544

[Jamman54]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Will tell you what I know.  Ours was on a Journey cruise, and as far as I know only done on Spirit class ships.  They are by invitation only, I believe they were started by Ken Byrnes (the singing Maitre’d).  They are held outside on Lido, white linen and white glove service.  Pretty special evening.

I don't think that the Al Fresco dinners are limited to just the Spirit Class ships. We were invited to one on our 15 day Journeys cruise on the Venezia last year. Agree that it is a very special evening.

 

 

 

 

[rxlowry]

Even more special…

[DanJ]

Just joined reading this thread as we are talking about this one for the Aug 17-31 next year. Baltimore is drivable for us from southern Ontario (did it in 2009 for Pride's first season there). Was debating Alaska, might still consider it, it's a bigger journey for us, even though this cruise is obviously longer. Total dollars wise, this isn't too much more for 14 days compared to 7 day Alaska plus flights plus a couple days pre-cruise in Seattle touring/ball games. Like that this one ends on a long weekend so we have a day to recover before back to work on the Tuesday as well. I would imagine the ship is a lot less crowded than when we sailed it last time, with almost 1000 kids and total passenger count pushing 2700. 

[cyntil8ing]

1 hour ago, DanJ said:

I would imagine the ship is a lot less crowded than when we sailed it last time, with almost 1000 kids and total passenger count pushing 2700. 

We were on the August 18th cruise. There were 20 kids in Club O2, ages 13-17. Our son, age 18, was allowed to join them as he had just had a birthday and is still in high school. Very few children overall. No idea of overall passenger count, but there were more walkers and scooters than I have ever seen! I imagine most cabins were double, or even single, occupancy. 

 

That said, I have been on Pride many times in the summer and even at Christmas, at full capacity, and it has never felt overcrowded to me.

[rxlowry]

I think there might be like ten kids under 18…maybe 3 babies, 4 elementary age and like three teens maybe …

Scooter are abundant! I’ve been old quite a few older demographic lines but this is the most I’ve seen and the most who really struggle with mobility. Our excursion in Greenland was tough for some. The 50 steps with no rail was a challenge but DH and the guide helped some. Even in the afternoon on a very short walk to restaurant, the guide took two breaks and the 8 steps to enter restaurant was hard on some. 
I’m thankful I’m doing this “young” plus you never know what the next chapter will be or when it’s the last you write. 

[rxlowry]

Throwback dinner was another winner for us! The only disappointment for some was the coq au vin which seemed to have no vin. I thought a bit odd to have pickled onions on it as well. I’d recommend the Beef Wellington or the lobster.  Everyone ordered two entrees tonight ant our table. We also met our other table mates who are both professional gamblers, one taking his first cruise. Apparently, the one only dines on elegant nights in the MDR. 
We were able to attend the Captain’s cocktail party at 6:30 since dinner service really moves! Had a couple mini Manhattans and enjoyed a few dances on stage. 
We tried to hang in piano bar with Rodney but he is an assault to my ears. The adult comedy was at 9:30 tonight and Frank Lucero was better than his first set. 
The day ended perfectly with the Northern Lights from our balcony! 

[jimbo5544]

8 hours ago, DanJ said:

Just joined reading this thread as we are talking about this one for the Aug 17-31 next year. Baltimore is drivable for us from southern Ontario (did it in 2009 for Pride's first season there). Was debating Alaska, might still consider it, it's a bigger journey for us, even though this cruise is obviously longer. Total dollars wise, this isn't too much more for 14 days compared to 7 day Alaska plus flights plus a couple days pre-cruise in Seattle touring/ball games. Like that this one ends on a long weekend so we have a day to recover before back to work on the Tuesday as well. I would imagine the ship is a lot less crowded than when we sailed it last time, with almost 1000 kids and total passenger count pushing 2700. 

For purs last year I cannot remember more than a handful of kids.

[geovet]

At what point in the journey do they do the Al fresco?

 

 

[jimbo5544]

3 minutes ago, geovet said:

At what point in the journey do they do the Al fresco?

 

 

For us it was about half way thru, think it was day 6 or 7 of 14 day cruise.  On our cruise they did this for at least two  evenings.  While I know there were Diamond guests there, there were also others who were not, I do not know the reason for that.

Edited Tuesday at 03:17 PM by jimbo5544

[WhiteOptima]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

For us it was about half way thru, think it was day 6 or 7 of 14 day cruise.  On our cruise they did this for at least two  evenings.  While I know there were Diamond guests there, there were also others who were not, I do not know the reason for that.

Our friends were invited (not diamond) when we did our Pride cruise several years ago.  They ate in the MDR most nights and we did not.  They came to their dinner table and invited them.

[n6uqqq]

On 9/16/2024 at 9:44 AM, rxlowry said:

Today on Carnival: I watched three old men pull their balls out of their bathing suits. 
 

Fun throwback activity although no women chose to participate. I remember playing this game in the pool on my very first cruise in 1983 on the Cunard Countess. It was slightly different back then because everyone played at the same time and you had to swim around to find the ping pong balls. I was only ten and didn’t have much places to put them back then but it was a fun memory to relive 

We may have to apply a NC-17 rating to cruise critic now 🤣

[N7786W Flyer]

6 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

For us it was about half way thru, think it was day 6 or 7 of 14 day cruise.  On our cruise they did this for at least two  evenings.  While I know there were Diamond guests there, there were also others who were not, I do not know the reason for that.

My wife and I were on this cruise with you. 

 

Even though we and our traveling companions had 400+ days each, none of us were invited to this dinner...we didn't even know it had occurred until our Maitre'd told us (he didn't realize we were diamond) about the dinner that was taking place on deck.

 

When I told him we were diamond as well, he jokingly remarked that only the 'special' diamonds were invited.  I joked back, that I guess the changes to the VIFP program had finally arrived...Carnival had created a new tier within the program!

 

While dining out on deck is nice, we really didn't mind not getting the invite.  The Dining Room is fine for us.

 

Garnett

Edited Tuesday at 09:40 PM by N7786W Flyer

[jimbo5544]

51 minutes ago, N7786W Flyer said:

My wife and I were on this cruise with you. 

 

Even though we and our traveling companions had 400+ days each, none of us were invited to this dinner...we didn't even know it had occurred until our Maitre'd told us (he didn't realize we were diamond) about the dinner that was taking place on deck.

 

When I told him we were diamond as well, he jokingly remarked that only the 'special' diamonds were invited.  I joked back, that I guess the changes to the VIFP program had finally arrived...Carnival had created a new tier within the program!

 

While dining out on deck is nice, we really didn't mind not getting the invite.  The Dining Room is fine for us.

 

Garnett

Not sure what the criteria was/is.  We did know the Maitre’d fairly well.  The weather on the night was actually fairly balmy.  I would think that they would have known your status…. There is no confusing the dining rooms…..(as there is only one).  Interested to know, where you assigned or YTD?

[rxlowry]

9 hours ago, geovet said:

At what point in the journey do they do the Al fresco?

 

 

I think it’s offered multiple times bit ours was day 8

[rxlowry]

Tonight’s dinner in MDR. We had Chef Table which was delicious 

[notscb]

I love the shot of the northern lights from your balcony! What a unique experience that not many get to enjoy.

[N7786W Flyer]

3 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Not sure what the criteria was/is.  We did know the Maitre’d fairly well.  The weather on the night was actually fairly balmy.  I would think that they would have known your status…. There is no confusing the dining rooms…..(as there is only one).  Interested to know, where you assigned or YTD?

We were assigned dining.

[jimbo5544]

10 minutes ago, N7786W Flyer said:

We were assigned dining.

Thanks