Past pride cruisers-please respond

[peg3632]

I'm traveling on the Pride on 3/8/09 and interested in hearing your experiences and tips THE GOOD, BAD, AND UGLE. I am especially interested in hearing about your excursions. We don't know if we should schedule with CCL or on our own. Thanks, this site is wonderful.

[Jsme]

We had an amazing time on the Pride and it is now my favorite ship. I found the ship easy to navigate and loved the formal feeling of the ship.

 

We hung out with our group at the Aft (adult area) on sea days and late at night at that bar. We also loved the Atrium bar and the Martini area bar, the bar near the 2nd level Nomardee Diningroom.

 

In PV we had a wonderful couples massage at Krystal's. The resort is nice and we had no problems finding, entering or staying at the pool after the massage. We also did a City and Tequila Tour. I will not post the tour company's name due to it being such a huge following but let me say we were sadly disappointed in the tour. We did have a nice time but felt the van was too small and the air did not work well for those in the back of the van making it for a long journey.

 

Mazatlan, OMG I love Mazatlan. We had a prearranged tour lead by one of the group who has been to Mazatlan over 30 times. We took taxi's (the ones we took look like the Flinstone's car). We had 6 of them and they took us first to Pacifico Brewery for beer. You can purchase beer there and put ice over the beers in the box and have them for your tour. We had a blast. Each driver was excellent but I loved our driver. They took us everywhere you could imagine and were had a great knowledge of their city. We stopped at El Cid for drinks and a dip in their pool. Once again we had no problems going for drinks and enjoying their pool without paying for a day pass or anything. Matter of a fact they seemed to enjoy the group being there. After we went to this amazing restaruant on the beach. Sorry I can not remember the name of the place but it was amazing. Rob had set up reservations for 20 and we had a great view. Some of us walked down to the water, the water was amazingly warm and clear. Lunch was awesome. Rob had each of us a coupon for a free beer or margarita. He said the margaritas might be watered down and not as strong so I opted for the beer.

 

In Cabo, we just shopped and the did the death march to Medano beach. Do not try to walk there. Take the water taxi. You can get them down to $2 a pp. Well worth the money too. PS ... We found a bar near the end of the walk way area at the port that had 5 beers for $10. This is the best deal we found and the 6 of us enjoyed 2 buckets. We also went to Cabo Wabo and had margarita's there. If you go to Medano be careful of the prices. We found after ordering that they offer BOGO beers so we had to talk to the waiter and make sure we got this price. The water iw wonderful there. It is the Sea of Cortez so it is clear and very warm.

 

We had friends to do the Sea Lion Swim with Carnival and they loved this experience. I also have friends that were on Disney's last repo cruise and they did this as well and loved it.

 

Hope this helps.

[MrPete]

The Pride is one of my favorite ships. Never found one thing ugle about it.

[Agocruisin]

Hi,

 

also just off the Pride. I love the spirit-class ships and the Pride was especially beautiful.

 

Our shore tips:

 

1- did the Dolphin encounter on our own at sealife park Puerto Vallarta; great deal ($62 for dd4 and I) and we loved it. The park was empty, we had a lot of time for sliding/swimming, great area for kids and daredevil adults. Taxi was under $20 there and $16 back

2- Mazatlan we went to Stone Island on our own; loved the beach, restaurants were disappointing IMHO.

3- took a taxi to Medano beach Mango Deck in Cabo. Beautiful water, nice nachos and margaritas, and a lovely beach - gorgeious clear water. taxi land or water was $7 for the 3 of us.

[neverpar]

We did a tour with Mazatlan Frank, it was a City tour, with a trip to the Beach and the best lunch ever! Shrimp, Lobster and rice...the beach he took us to was so beautiful, not crowded at all..

In PV we did the Las Caletas tour with Johan and Sandra..it was so much fun. All inclusive, drinks, lunch, snorkeling and a beautiful beach.

Cabo we went to a little bar called Tequilla Treasures...and then shopped. Went to Cabo Wabo and the Hard Rock too..just for souvenirs to bring home.

 

I loved the Pride! She is a beautiful ship and our cabin steward was wonderful..the food was very good! Not a complaint on anything here...:D

[Bearfoot Cruisers]

Obviously form our past cruises, the Spirit Class is our favorite. Very easy to navigate. We will be back on board this afternoon. As far as excursions go, in PV, the Rhythms of the Night Excursion, only available through the ship, is a great one for couples - very romantic. In Cabo, check out the whale watching, you will be at the end of the season. When we were there in February, we booked on the pier for half of the price.

[klfrodo]

I'll give an "Ugly". Not really that bad, just not to our liking. Wouldn't stop us from trying again.

 

1. Temperature - COLD

Sunny Southern California, Beach Boys, sand surf and wind,,,,,NOT

Sailed over the 4th of July. Temp in Long Beach,,low 80's. A little further inland,, 100's. Temp at night , at sea, north of San Diego,,,60's

Never had this problem sailing out of Florida or New Orleans. Bring a sweater, hoody, or jacket.

Once you're south of San Diego, it gets much better.

 

2. Water - Since the water temp is much warmer in the Caribbean, along with that goes the beautiful turquiose water. Sailing your route, just the deep blue of the cold cold pacific ocean.

 

3. Wake up in the morning at a new exotic destination. Throw open the curtain in our aft balcony, what do I see in Puorto Viallarta (My spelling sucks),,,,, A HUGE SAMS CLUB/WALMART,,what the help??? did I already return to the States?? I think it was PV anyway.

 

Like I said, not really Ugly,,,just different.

[neverpar]

I didn't wake up and throw open the curtain......I was up watching us dock in PV...but we had a beautiful view (port side) of PV......yes there was a Wal-Mart on the other side but we weren't there to look at that...no big deal to us.

Las Caletas was a great tour...good for the whole family. When we got back from the tour we took a taxi to go see the Cathedral....very pretty..

 

It was very windy and chilly when we left, we sailed October of 07..but the next day it was perfect..and was perfect everyday after that. The water isn't anything like the Caribbean..it's the pacific. But it was pleasant and nice while we were in PV, Mazatlan and Cabo..not the pretty blue as the Caribbean but beautiful in it's own way...nor was the water cold..

I would do a Mexican Riviera cruise again in a heart beat.

[momofzeke]

Pride was our first cruise, and my favorite ship so far......LOVED it!

 

Spirit class rocks! Love the layout, easy to get around, a little smaller than Conquest class and felt less crowded to me. Love the decor ~ I thought Pride was a gorgeous ship.

 

Yes, the Mexican Riviera is different than Caribbean ports for sure, but it is still quite nice. The water is definitely a deeper blue, but still beautiful. The beaches are more of a compact, grey colored sand instead of the white fluffy sand of the Caribbean. We only did beach/water things in Mazatlan and Cabo. The water in Maz was warm......water in Cabo was COLD on our snorkeling excursion (not many fish either).

 

Long Beach was chilly at the end of March, but once we got out to sea it was better. The ports were all fantastic and warm, sunny, beautiful!

 

In Puerto Vallarta we did a Carnival Tequila Factory tour, which was fun. Nothing too exciting, but interesting and you got to taste lots of yummy flavors of Tequila and buy if you wanted (we got tangerine and coffee flavor...yum!)

 

Mazatlan, we just taxied to the Golden Zone and hung out on the beach. Very nice day.

 

Cabo, we did Carnival Snorkel excursion. As I said, water was COLD (not just chilly.....freezing cold and I am pretty tough). Not many fish, but since it was my first time snorkeling, I was in heaven just to see a few black and grey fish (no colored ones like Caribbean). We then went to a resort to have lunch with friends who were there on a land vacation. The water near the beach was much warmer, but the surf was rough.

 

The Mexican Riviera is different from Caribbean, but it is still a lot of fun. Pride is a great ship. Have fun! :)

[CruizBlooz]

Pride, nice ship, nothing negative, really, except nasty tasting water. Bring some bottles, and clean ship. Gawdy as all get out, but that's Carnival. Decent sail.

[CacheBrat]

Pride was awesome visually. It's all done up in Renaissance/Baroque period which some I overheard said looks too "goth" or "dark" but I thought it was really elegant. There is art from Raphael, Boticelli, Michelangelo everywhere printed on the walls in the hallways. The navigation was easy except around the theatre area which kind of threw me off a few times. The Taj Mahal theatre was awesome with sparkly tiles on the walls!

 

Take the Tequila Tasting Tour Excursion in Puerto Vallarta. You get to see more than the touristy part of Mexico, going into villages and even a whole other STATE in Mexico! And if you think you don't like tequila, or know you hate tequila, I swear this excursion changes your opinion and even the guide says JOSE CUERVO is the most AWFUL thing Mexico exports! :D We ended up buying 4 bottles of peach, almond, and CHOCOLATE tequila!! The bus ride to the different tequila haciendas takes you through villages you'd never see if you just stayed close to port! After you're through you get the option to stay on the bus to return to ship or get off in the middle of town. GET OFF! It's awesome and the beach is a block away from where you get off the bus! I'm not sure what the poster above mentioned about a van...I guess we got lucky since we had a bus and a cool tour guide named Amigo Raul! I wasn't disappointed by this excursion really....and at one of the places this lady makes the awesomest and interesting tacos filled with whole pinto beans and this yummy cheese with homemade salsa. They didn't make me sick at all like I suspected they might and I ate 4 of 'em! Note: I think there are 2 tequila tours...the one we took was NOT the city walk & tequila one. It was Old Factory Tequila or something along those lines.

 

In Mazatlan we took the Old Town Walk Excursion which was fun and informative. Again you get to see things you'd never see if you just stuck around port. Our guide took us to a lady's bakery/house and this lady lets you go INTO her house! The cookies are way good too! We also got free beer and chips n' salsa at a cafe as part of the tour...a perk that definitely wasn't mentioned anywhere in the excursion info ;)

[CacheBrat]

I made a separate post about my experience on the actual ship, not the ports, the ports were fun, the ship....definitely not a "FUNship" as advertised....

[CruizBlooz]

I made a separate post about my experience on the actual ship, not the ports, the ports were fun, the ship....definitely not a "FUNship" as advertised....

 

I didn't think it was too bad. It was some of the passengers that scared me like the dickens. :eek:

[CacheBrat]

Ha, yeah....I went to singles night which equated to 2 drunk women in their late 40s and a pack of 3 men of the same age "hooking up". I'm 29 so...yeah...definitely scary!

[momofzeke]

Take the Tequila Tasting Tour Excursion in Puerto Vallarta. You get to see more than the touristy part of Mexico, going into villages and even a whole other STATE in Mexico! And if you think you don't like tequila, or know you hate tequila, I swear this excursion changes your opinion and even the guide says JOSE CUERVO is the most AWFUL thing Mexico exports! :D We ended up buying 4 bottles of peach, almond, and CHOCOLATE tequila!! The bus ride to the different tequila haciendas takes you through villages you'd never see if you just stayed close to port! After you're through you get the option to stay on the bus to return to ship or get off in the middle of town. GET OFF! It's awesome and the beach is a block away from where you get off the bus! I'm not sure what the poster above mentioned about a van...I guess we got lucky since we had a bus and a cool tour guide named Amigo Raul! I wasn't disappointed by this excursion really....and at one of the places this lady makes the awesomest and interesting tacos filled with whole pinto beans and this yummy cheese with homemade salsa. They didn't make me sick at all like I suspected they might and I ate 4 of 'em! Note: I think there are 2 tequila tours...the one we took was NOT the city walk & tequila one. It was Old Factory Tequila or something along those lines.

 

Oh, my gosh, Amigo Raul is still doing that tour!?! We had him on our Tequila Factory tour in March 2004! He was so awesome, wasn't he? Sounds like that tour is pretty much exactly the same as it was when we took it, right down to the homemade tacos. Brought back some nice memories for me. :)

[cathyz]

I didn't think it was too bad. It was some of the passengers that scared me like the dickens. :eek:

I think I'll take that as an insult!

[glrounds]

Most definitely my favorite ship of my favorite class of ship . . . and we're losing her soon. :(

She heads to Baltimore next year.

Enjoy your cruise. :)

[CruizBlooz]

I think I'll take that as an insult!

 

You can take it for what you want, that's your own paranoia.

[Payd]

I'm traveling on the Pride on 3/8/09 and interested in hearing your experiences and tips THE GOOD, BAD, AND UGLE. I am especially interested in hearing about your excursions. We don't know if we should schedule with CCL or on our own. Thanks, this site is wonderful.

 

We enjoyed our Pride cruise. The only surprise for us was the feel of the weather on the ship during the sea days...a little cooler than we expected.

 

We did a zip line in PV (privately booked), a horse back riding trip (privately booked) and a glass bottom boat trip to lovers beach (a deal at the pier). All excursions were great, very active and just what we wanted. We are very comfortable booking on our own.

[CruizBlooz]

We enjoyed our Pride cruise. The only surprise for us was the feel of the weather on the ship during the sea days...a little cooler than we expected.

 

We did a zip line in PV (privately booked), a horse back riding trip (privately booked) and a glass bottom boat trip to lovers beach (a deal at the pier). All excursions were great, very active and just what we wanted. We are very comfortable booking on our own.

 

Weather definitely has a play in it depending on which time of year you go. December through February, not warm sea days and ocean water cold.

[cathyz]

You can take it for what you want, that's your own paranoia.

Hmm, kind of serious aren't we? It was a JOKE!

[CruizBlooz]

Defnitely would have to say that the Pride is a much nicer ship than her sister, the Spirit. Been on both and I'd sail the Pride over the Spirit if I had to again.

[pkrchkr]

Defnitely would have to say that the Pride is a much nicer ship than her sister, the Spirit. Been on both and I'd sail the Pride over the Spirit if I had to again.

That's good to hear since we have been on the Spirit and were not impressed.

[CruizBlooz]

That's good to hear since we have been on the Spirit and were not impressed.

 

They are the exact same layout, but I just think the Pride is nicer, still gawdy, but nicer.

[SmooCruise]

Defnitely would have to say that the Pride is a much nicer ship than her sister, the Spirit. Been on both and I'd sail the Pride over the Spirit if I had to again.

 

What is it about the Spirit you don't like? I loved the Pride....and am sailing the Spirit in a couple of months. I was hoping to like the Spirit as much as the Pride!

 

As for the original question....I LOVED the Pride. I have a whole website about her. You can get the link in my signature. My review is there (along with some other reviews that people sent me about the Pride) and it has all the things we did in the ports. I loved the Marigalante pirate ship out of Puerto Vallarta. The evening excursion....we had a blast! You can read more about it in my review.