Pride review 11/7 - 11/14

[michelle2]

My family and I just returned from a wonderful week on the Pride. My two girls (6 and 9 years old) had great time. This was their first cruise. My husband and I took a Royal Caribbean 3 day cruise to Mexico about 13 years ago. I took a 3 day cruise on Sun Princess last May. This was our first experience with Carnival and our first week long cruise. Let me tell you - we are hooked. We all loved the Pride. We are all a little sad to be home.

 

Embarkation: We stayed at the Coast Long Beach Hotel the night before. It was very convenient. We arrived at the terminal about 10:15, checked our bags with the porters, and did the early check-in at the Queen Mary. There was no line at all at the Queen Mary. We lined up at the doors to the terminal and were on the Pride by about 12:45. Our room was 8230 (Panorama deck). We booked a balcony guarantee. We loved the extended balcony. The room was bigger than I expected. My girls loved their bunked beds.

 

Food: The food was great. The Lido buffet was wonderful. We ate breakfast and lunch there every day. There was so much great food on the buffet that we didn't even try any of the hamburgers or sandwiches. The pizza was probably the best I've ever had. Dinners in the dining room were perfect. Our wait-staff gave our girls special attention.

 

Bingo: Bingo games changed as the cruise progressed. The cards are always $10 for 1 or $20 for 3. But, the number of games you get to play with those cards changes. On the first day you only get 1 game. On the last day of the cruise you get 7 games. The jackpots also change.

 

Spa: The spa discounts their services towards the end of the cruise. They also have special deals on port days.

 

Camp Carnival: I wanted my girls to stay together. That meant my 9 year old would have to stay in the 6-8 year old group. I had heard that you could do this. It was a little harder to do than I expected. I explained the situation to two of the Camp Carnival Counselers. Both of them were very negative. They said usually the child needs to try their own age group first before moving. They also claimed they didn't want to do it because of security reasons and overcrowding. There were 250 kids on our cruise. In the summer they have 900. I finally had to explain it once more to the head of the Camp Carnival program and she approved it. It was not a big deal, but it just wasn't as easy as I thought it would be.

 

Ports:

In Puerto Vallarta we went to Paradise beach (booked thru the ship). In Mazatlan we did Randi's Happy Horses (booked independently). In Cabo we just walked around and did a little shopping.

 

Debarkation: We were the very last color tag to be called. It was kind of cool to be one of the last people on board. They had a great comedian in the Taj Mahal. He entertained us for about 2 1/2 hours. It sure made the time go by fast. We actually didn't want our color tag called. We were off the ship at about 11:45. We got thru customs and on our shuttle back to the Coast Long Beach hotel. We got to our car about 1:00.

 

Overall: The ship is gorgeous. It was much nicer than I expected. The decorating is beautifully done. I felt very comfortable and welcome throughout our cruise. The staff was very friendly. It was a great experience and I can't wait to go again.

 

I am more than happy to answer any questions.

[WendyD]

Glad to hear you had a good time. My DH and I are going in Feb on the Pride. I also booked a balcony guarantee, it would be great to get an extended balcony.

 

I have a few questions, hope you don't mind. I am in the process of looking for a hotel in Long Beach for the day before our cruise. Would you recommend the Coast Long Beach Hotel? How did you get from that hotel to the pier?

 

Also, how did you like Paridise Beach? I am debating on going on the sunset catamaran and trying to go to the beach during the day.

 

How was the ship for motion, did you feel the ship rock alot?

 

Thanks

 

Wendy

[michelle2]

I would recommend the Coast Long Beach. We paid $140 for the night. The room was average. We did not have an ocean view, but as we walked into the breakfast buffet we have a good view of the Queen Mary and the Pride. The breakfast was good. Hot items as well as cereal, fruit, yogurt etc. You get 2 free breakfasts with the room. We had to pay for our kids. The hotel provides a shuttle to the pier. You tell them what time you want the shuttle when you check in. It was about a 5 minute drive over. We called the hotel when we got back and they sent out the shuttle to pick us up.

 

 

Paradise Beach was really nice. We took a air-conditioned bus over to the resort. The beach is nice and big. They have those little thatch roof things to shade the beach chairs. The water was very warm. They have 2 big pools with waterslides. One pool is the "loud" pool with games and music. The other one is the "quiet" pool. We had a nice time. We felt like we could use any of the facilities.

 

The ship did not rock very much at all. We never felt sick. The ocean was a little rougher on the last day.

[OCruisers]

michelle2 .... Really nice to read such a happy review!

 

Would love to know what your girls liked best about the cruise? Really, interested ... when they are happy, so are you! :p

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[michelle2]

I just asked my girls what they liked the best about the cruise. Here are their answers:

 

1. Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan (this was one of my favorite parts too)

2. The waiters in the dining room.

3. The water slide.

4. Passing the Spirit. (we got a really good close-up look at her)

5. The towel animals each night.

6. Camp Carnival

 

My 9 year old asked me this morning, "When are we going on our next cruise?" They had a great time.

[ciship]

Was your cabin forward, midship or aft??

[michelle2]

We were in room 8230 Panorama deck. I booked a balcony guarantee. That is aft just below the buffet. It was a great location. We took the stairs right outside of our cabin one flight up to go to breakfast. We never heard any noise from upstairs.

[OCruisers]

michelle .... Thanks for your time to respond on what your girls enjoyed! :)

[bluejeans]

Michelle, could you tell me how long after leaving the ship till you arrived at the destination to start with Randi and her horses. And was the beach crowded at the end of the ride? We are going to book with Randi, and wondered how long on the beach you actually got to enjoy? Thanks.

[kaylahszoo]

We stayed at the Coast Long Beach before our Dec Paradise cruise. It was great- we paid $79 through AAA. Thinking about using priceline for that hotel for our June 12 Pride cruise. It is the only 3* in Long Beach- at least on the biddingfortravel website- and can probably get it for cheaper. I heard nothing about free breakfast, but at $10 a person it's still cheaper than other prices. Now none of us really need breakfast because we know we'll eat so much lunch we won't be able to move.

 

Anyway- the hotel was fine- we actually walked over because the day was so nice. Took all of 10 minutes- then we had to ask what to do because we rather came in the back door-so to speak- but were also on the ship by 12:30. In our staterooms by 1:30- and taking my first afternoon nap of the cruise by 2:30.

Like I said- plan to stay the night before the Pride and several nights after. Can get anywhere we want on Long Beach by either the Aquabus or the Passport shuttle. Will fly into Long Beach airport again- is so easy.

[michelle2]

bluejeans -

 

Randi met us as we got off the tram from the ship. She was waiting with a little sign. The other group of 4 people had already met her, so we left right away. Randi used her radio to get the taxi to pull up and pick us up. He was already in the area just waiting for her call. The taxi took us to the water taxi which we immediately boarded and were on our way to Stone Island. So, I'm not really sure exactly how long it took from ship to horses, but it went very quickly. We never waited for anything. The beach at Victor's is great. There were almost no people at all on the beach. We had quite a bit of time on the beach. My kids and husband played in the ocean. We ate. We just sat around and relaxed in the hammocks. It was a very relaxing afternoon. I think we got back to the Pride around 2:30 or 3:00.

 

Michelle

[michelle2]

bluejeans -

 

I thought about your question about time on the beach some more. I should probably post a more concrete answer. I would say we were on the beach at Victor's for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

 

Michelle

[bluejeans]

thank you michelle. We hope to do Randis one day, but not this cruise. But it sounds so nice. thanks again.