Just off the Pride-Review

[johnaricka]

Hi all, We just got home from our seven day Mexican Riviera cruise on the Pride. It was great! Now I received so much info from all the review I read, so I am pay it forward. I have to warn that I am going to be brutally honest. So please don't take anything personally. This was my opinion of the trip. Use it to educate and to prepare.

Now, I am really tired and haven't uploaded, scanned, downloaded all our photos. So I am going to do this in installments.

I am also going to be posting my 14 year old daughter's review. It should be interesting.

 

Check in:

My family took a cruise on the Pride leaving June 17th, 2007. It was myself, my husband and our two youngest children, ages 10 and twelve. This was my second cruise and my husband, son and daughter's first. We drove to the Long Beach Terminal from our home three hours away. We arrived around 11 am and parked in the parking structure. Note to those new to cruising, you will pay 12 dollars a day to park your car. From our car, we walked to the dome. It wasnt that bad. Once you come close to the dome, you will see porters that will take your luggage to be checked in. It is customary to tip them. The we walked into the Queen Mary for early check in. The line was completely wound around the terminal inside. It seemed like forever but we timed it to 12 minutes for waiting in line. When it was our turn, we showed our tickets, ID's for both adults and birth certificates for all. We opted to not apply for passports for this cruise since it was not needed. It also cut down on the cost and wait. We do know that we will need them for next years trip. Check in took two minutes once we showed all our documents. Sail and Sign cards are issued. You can provide a credit card for them or you can wait and apply cash to them once you are on board. We decided to do cash. We budgeted it all out and managed to only spend 147 dollars over my estimated budget. Then we walked over to the dome and stood in a line to enter the dome. We waited there for about ten minutes. It didnt bother me. The weather was sunny and there was a nice breeze. There are terminal empoyees walking the line the entire time making sure you are where you belong. There is a 'bar' set up right next to the line and the majority of the line was starting their vacation early. This included my non-drinker husband whom enjoyed a rum and coke and a slush puppy for our son. Once the line started to enter the building, it all happened fast. No opened drinks are allowed into the dome. There was a trash bin for water bottles and cups from purchased drinks. You walk into the building, go through metal detectors, and the vacation begins! A photographer is set up to take your boarding shot. After that, you proceed to the plank, take another picture and cross the plank to the ship. You will use your sail and sign card to enter the ship. They will take a picture of you that is displayed every time you swipe your card to get off the boat or reenter the boat after each port. After that...you are a guest on the Pride. Let the Party begin!!

[moxie07]

Hi all, We just got home from our seven day Mexican Riviera cruise on the Pride. It was great! Now I received so much info from all the review I read, so I am pay it forward. I have to warn that I am going to be brutally honest. So please don't take anything personally. This was my opinion of the trip. Use it to educate and to prepare.

Now, I am really tired and haven't uploaded, scanned, downloaded all our photos. So I am going to do this in installments.

I am also going to be posting my 14 year old daughter's review. It should be interesting.

 

Check in:

My family took a cruise on the Pride leaving June 17th, 2007. It was myself, my husband and our two youngest children, ages 10 and twelve. This was my second cruise and my husband, son and daughter's first. We drove to the Long Beach Terminal from our home three hours away. We arrived around 11 am and parked in the parking structure. Note to those new to cruising, you will pay 12 dollars a day to park your car. From our car, we walked to the dome. It wasnt that bad. Once you come close to the dome, you will see porters that will take your luggage to be checked in. It is customary to tip them. The we walked into the Queen Mary for early check in. The line was completely wound around the terminal inside. It seemed like forever but we timed it to 12 minutes for waiting in line. When it was our turn, we showed our tickets, ID's for both adults and birth certificates for all. We opted to not apply for passports for this cruise since it was not needed. It also cut down on the cost and wait. We do know that we will need them for next years trip. Check in took two minutes once we showed all our documents. Sail and Sign cards are issued. You can provide a credit card for them or you can wait and apply cash to them once you are on board. We decided to do cash. We budgeted it all out and managed to only spend 147 dollars over my estimated budget. Then we walked over to the dome and stood in a line to enter the dome. We waited there for about ten minutes. It didnt bother me. The weather was sunny and there was a nice breeze. There are terminal empoyees walking the line the entire time making sure you are where you belong. There is a 'bar' set up right next to the line and the majority of the line was starting their vacation early. This included my non-drinker husband whom enjoyed a rum and coke and a slush puppy for our son. Once the line started to enter the building, it all happened fast. No opened drinks are allowed into the dome. There was a trash bin for water bottles and cups from purchased drinks. You walk into the building, go through metal detectors, and the vacation begins! A photographer is set up to take your boarding shot. After that, you proceed to the plank, take another picture and cross the plank to the ship. You will use your sail and sign card to enter the ship. They will take a picture of you that is displayed every time you swipe your card to get off the boat or reenter the boat after each port. After that...you are a guest on the Pride. Let the Party begin!!

 

Great review. Keep them coming. Our cruise is getting close (July1)

[leavingparadise]

We too are leaving on the Pride, July 1. Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

[johnaricka]

Heres some more:

Room review:

So we made it on the boat! This being my busbands first cruise, he was amazed by the mass of the boat. We made it to our rooms so we could drop our carry on items. Our room was ready for us which made it nice. I had done alot of researching for this room and had drawn a blank on finding pictures of how it looked. I was originally concerned if it would be big enough for the four of us. It was perfect. When you open the door, you walk into a vanity area. There is a nice granite counter top and cabinets below it. In this vanity is the safe, frig and the drawer that contins your hair dryer. On the same wall as the vanity is closet and then you walk into the bathroom. It is a small bathroom but efficient. There is another granite vanity, toilet and a granite standup shower. We brought a small basket to fit our shampoos and soaps in. This helps since there is little storage in the shower. There is no plugs to get ready in the bathroom except for one in the ceeling for shavers. The free samples in the room were a couple disposable shavers, toothpaste, and a sample for dove body wash. I wasnt expecting more or less. The room is set up like a perfect square with a pull down bed on one wall with the couch made into a bed below it. The set up made it look like bunk beds. Right across from my bunk beds was the main bed. It claims to be a king but we have a king size at home. This was more like a queen. The bedding is soft. It isnt a good thread count but is very comfortable. The balcony is extra big. They had just delivered new chairs that still had the packaging to be removed.

I have to tell you that this is a bigger than standard room. It was perfect.

Vanity

Bed and tv

bunks

bed with mirror behind

balcony

[zebramatie1]

Can't wait to hear more of your trip. We leave in February. What cabin did you have?

[sirlostalot]

By chance did you hear anything from the staff what might be happening to the Pride in 2009

[bunnkins]

Thanks for the great review! We leave on July 15th and hearing about your fun times is helping pass the days! looking forward to hearing more!

Marion:)

[johnaricka]

Can't wait to hear more of your trip. We leave in February. What cabin did you have?

 

 

I'm sorry...I forgot to tell you. We had 7301 which is a 9A

[johnaricka]

By chance did you hear anything from the staff what might be happening to the Pride in 2009

 

They will be going with the Pride and the Splendors staff will be coming with them. That is the way it was put to us.

[PanAnna]

They will be going with the Pride and the Splendors staff will be coming with them. That is the way it was put to us.

 

Going where though? Did they offer any info on her future location?

[johnaricka]

Going where though? Did they offer any info on her future location?

 

No clue. Where is the Splendor now? Is this a new ship? There was talk on the boat that there will be a new cruise called the "california rivieria" which will stop in my home beach of Avila and Santa Barbara. Dont know details.

[sirlostalot]

No clue. Where is the Splendor now? Is this a new ship? There was talk on the boat that there will be a new cruise called the "california rivieria" which will stop in my home beach of Avila and Santa Barbara. Dont know details.

Splendor is a new ship and will be taking over the Prides old route in 2009, I was just hoping that the crew might have heard something. Good review by the way

[Kurbanfan]

No clue. Where is the Splendor now? Is this a new ship? There was talk on the boat that there will be a new cruise called the "california rivieria" which will stop in my home beach of Avila and Santa Barbara. Dont know details.

 

That sounds interesting....maybe the Pride will stay and travel up the coast.....

[sirlostalot]

That sounds interesting....maybe the Pride will stay and travel up the coast.....

Maybe out of San Diego so they can stop at Ensenda for the foreign port or San fran. and Ensenda could be the last stop. what do ya think

[Kurbanfan]

Maybe out of San Diego so they can stop at Ensenda for the foreign port or San fran. and Ensenda could be the last stop. what do ya think

 

Please not another Ensenada stop:eek: Maybe a longer cruise that will stop in Vancouver:D

 

Or maybe they can sail out of San Francisco.........

[johnaricka]

The Ship:

After we loaded up our room we decided to go explore the ship. Second floor is where the purser is. We loaded up our cards with some money. The casino is bigger than the last ship I was on (Paradise). Taj Mahal is where all the shows are at. There is a disco bar on the second floor. The third floor had the photos and the shops. We managed to buy about 100 dollars in photos. Normally I wouldnt but they are so catchy. The shops were lacking in my opinion. There wasnt the deals that I had hoped for. My husband forgot his flaps and picked up a pair for about twenty dollars. Fourth floor, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth are all rooms. There is an arcade on the fifth (maybe fourth) and the club carnival (which I will talk about later). The pools are all on the nineth, tenth and eleventh. There are three pools all in a row. The one on that back of the boat has a big neon sign that it is for kids, but they redesignated it for adults. The middle pool had a stage and a band played most of the day. Most of the 'pool games' were at this pool. We stayed at the pool closest to the front of the boat. It was more family oriented. That is not to say that there werent families at the other pool but there were less singles there.

My kids did not like the decor. The nude sculptures and paintings were not appriciated by them. Immaturity, maybe. I didnt mind the decor. The ship was very clean!

After wandering the ship, we grabbed lunch in the Mermaids Grille. We kept it light since we had the early seating for dinner. You can find your basic rotiserry chicken, sandwiches, picnic variety of food, hotdogs, hamburgers, french fries, pizza, and whatever the ethnic variety was for the day at the Mermaids.

Our ship didnt leave until close to six that night.

We attended dinner in the dining room that night. Our server was Rey. He was amazing. He knew our names at each dinner and engaged in conversations with us. The food was good. My only complaint about the food is that it was really high in sodium. We are pretty careful about the food that goes into our bodies and this food did not sit well with us. My entire family was bloated and swollen the entire trip. I had to take off my wedding rings.

We bought soda cards. One for us adults and one for the kids. My son was more interested in the endless supply of fruit punch he could get without the card (again he doesnt get it at home so it was great to him). I didnt like the water on board. It didnt taste good and didnt make good coffee or ice tea. The juices were really strong. I ended up watering them down.

We didnt catch a show but attended the Camp carnival meeting after dinner. My son (ten) made a friend at the first day and they tended to hang at the pool, arcade or the basketball hoops. He did attend the late night party. He had a blast. I highly recommend camp Carnival for this age group. My daughter didnt care for it. The age group for her is 12-14 and she felt it was too big of an age difference between herself (14) and the 12 year olds. She tended to just hang with the friends she made on board. This brings me to tell you about the youth on our ship. WOW! We had the highest population of kids on our ship ever. It was crazy. There was a problem with under aged drinking. There were fights on board. And it wasnt that there were 'problem' kids on board. There were just a lot of them and they all seemed to be feeding on each. I cant say that they parents were not trying to keep an eye on their kids.

[johnaricka]

Please not another Ensenada stop:eek: Maybe a longer cruise that will stop in Vancouver:D

 

Or maybe they can sail out of San Francisco.........

I would pass on Endenada too. They are calling it California Riveria so I would venture that it wouldnt include Mexico. Maybe Montery.

[sirlostalot]

I would pass on Endenada too. They are calling it California Riveria so I would venture that it wouldnt include Mexico. Maybe Montery.

It would need one port in another country, but I did like kurbanfan suggestion of Vancouver

[Cyn874]

I'm enjoying your review, keep it coming.

 

So, I'm not the only one that thinks the water on the ship tastes funny. I suppose its because its from whatever filter treatment they use on it. I remembered from the last cruise that I thought the coffee was terrible. I'm a big coffee drinker but I really dislike whats on the ship. I made it tolerable by mixing it half and half with their hot cocoa. I also noticed some swelling after about two days, but I didn't think of it being from the food. I thought it was because I'm used to drinking tons of water at home but wasn't drinking it on the ship, I had been drinking the (superstrong) fruit punch and lemonade. I switched back to water after day 2 and the swelling went down, but its probably a combination of everything.

[guerita219]

Can't wait to hear more of your trip. We leave in February. What cabin did you have?

 

 

What date are you going in Feb? Myhusband and I are also going in Feb 08 with the kids on Feb. 24. Our second cruise on the Pride. I CAN'T WAIT!!

 

 

Dawn

[johnaricka]

I'm enjoying your review, keep it coming.

 

So, I'm not the only one that thinks the water on the ship tastes funny. I suppose its because its from whatever filter treatment they use on it. I remembered from the last cruise that I thought the coffee was terrible. I'm a big coffee drinker but I really dislike whats on the ship. I made it tolerable by mixing it half and half with their hot cocoa. I also noticed some swelling after about two days, but I didn't think of it being from the food. I thought it was because I'm used to drinking tons of water at home but wasn't drinking it on the ship, I had been drinking the (superstrong) fruit punch and lemonade. I switched back to water after day 2 and the swelling went down, but its probably a combination of everything.

Cyn874, the water was disgusting!! And the juices were too strong. We did smuggle water on board with us but ran out after four days. I stuffed water in every suitcase. I had a case of water and it wasnt enough. Next time I will take at least two. I too, mixed the coffee with hot cocoa! It was the only way to do it. I did buy one of their coffees from the 'starbucks' and it was good. I just couldnt justify buying a couple a day.

We were on the same cruise and I dont think we had bumped into each other. Shame!

[johnaricka]

First Sea Day;

We just walked around the ship on the first sea day. The weather was cloudy and not very warm. There were people at the pool and tanning on the decks trying to make the best out of it. Our kids made friends and were virtually gone. My son was in the Camp Carnival Program most of the day. My daughter wandered the ship and hung out in the pizzeria most of the day. This also your first formal dinner. The lobster was very enjoyable. We didn't buy the pictures from this dinner. We were not happy with them.

Second day at sea;

We awake to the most beautiful ocean. We live by the Ocean and this was a sight to be seen. There was no wind and no current. It was complete glass. Hubby wanted to launch our jet boat and get the kids on their wake boards! The day was sunny so we went to breakfast and grabbed seats by the pool. It was warm. Everyone was at the pool. My son swam all day with his new friends and my daughter hung in the pizzeria again. My kids were really liking the ice cream bar. I think my kids hold the record for eating ice cream cones in one day! I didn't manage to have one cone but they sure enjoyed it. We also saw hundreds of dolphins. It was such a sight! we stood at the front of the boat and watched for hours. We ate dinner at the Mermaids Grille since we were all wet from showering and didn't make our dinner seating. We watched flying fish (yes flying) while we ate dinner.

Later in the night we all headed up to the Lido deck for a Deck Party. It was amazingly warm. We must have been getting close to Puerto Vallarta. It was ninety degrees. The deck party was the best time. My kids danced and ate more ice cream.

We soon discovered that they were filming most of the festivities and bought any dvd that displayed our kids on them

Heres some more pics:

My son living in the pool (second day at sea)

Me at the pool

 

 

See what's free at AOL.com.

[johnaricka]

Puerto Vallarta!

The morning we woke in PV was the hottest of the whole trip. I don't have an exact temp but it had to be over 100 with full humidity. It was almost unbearable. We got off the ship bright and early and headed for the bus. You take a blue bus and tell the driver that you want to go down town. This was a recommendation of some friends that go there often. I didn't like the town. It was dirty. I didn't find much to buy. If you live outside of California you would look at all the artifacts and hand made items and probably want to buy them as souvenirs for family and friends. But we live in California and we can go the west side of town and find the same items. I did find some neat yard art. My daughter was getting sick from the humidity and we headed back to the ship. Once she was deposited back on board, my husband and son headed back out to the flea market in front of the ship. I found a couple silver jewelry items (charms for bracelets) and then we headed to Walmart. Yes, Walmart. We were interested in what we would find. It looked the same but in pesos! LOL When the heat got to us, we headed back and lay in the pool for the rest of the afternoon. That night, my husband and I went dancing in the disco.We had a great time!

I didnt take many, if any pics in PV. I should have.

This was taken from a taxi back to town. We paid ten for the four of us.

[johnaricka]

Mazatlan!

The second port was not as hot as the first one. The night before I was watching the Excursion TV (One of the directors explains all the attractions) and was interested in the Stone Island tour. The was it was presented, you would be taken on a thirty minute boat ride to this island that includes all your drinks, booze, lunch and activities. After hearing all that, I was in. We booked through the front desk. It was very expensive. About 300 for the four of us. They pack you on a ferry and drive you around the harbor. This is where it gets funny. We start heading back to the ship, cut across the small harbor to the hill across from the ship. My husband said we could have swam across the channel! Then you get off the ferry and on carts being pulled by tractors. I felt like we were at the fair. We drove through the most desolate area. For a while we were behind a trash truck. It was awful. Finally we are at the beach. The whole thing is a little misleading. Stone island is a peninsula not an island. Lunch is included but nothing that we eat. So we paid for some guacamole and chips. They were the best! The lunch was gross but the guacamole was great. The included drinks were not good. It was margaritas made out of sprite. I brought my own water afraid that the purified water was not going to be safe and I was glad. The kids rented boogie boards for the price we can rent them at home. The water was warm but you needed to be careful of jellyfish. It was early so my husband said that it would be safe to let the kids swim. But as soon as the tide starts to come in, the kids would need to be out of the water. They swam for a couple hours and then my husband rented atvs and they were off for an hour. Once they came back we were herded to the tractor pulled carts to go back to the ship. This was the interesting part. We didn't go back to the ship. We were let off at a flea market down the street and then put in the back of trucks and carted back to the ship. I wasn't too happy about it. We were all gross from being in the sand and sea water and wanted to get cleaned up, not go shopping.

Here are some pics:

My husband and son on atvs

My daughter posing on an atv

 

My son taking a hit at the pinata

[Kurbanfan]

That's crazy to pay that much for stone island....

We walked 3 blocks from the pier and took a water taxi for 50 cents a piece over to stone island. (about 5 minute boat ride)

Sorry you didn't see this on the ports of call boards:(

 

We just relaxed at a hole in the wall restaurant/bar and bought $1.50 Pacificos and they gave us chips and salsa free........