Pride 7/24/09- Incredibly detailed review

[Sax_Player]

Hello! To start this review I wanted to provide all of you with additional information about myself so that you may better analyze and understand my point of view about certain things that I cover in this review. I have been on two other cruises not counting this one. Both were with Carnival. My first was on the Liberty when it had just come out and my second was on the Pride. Therefore, this is my third cruise. Also, you should know that I am currently fourteen years old, so I was therefore eligible to partake in the events hosted by “Circle C” onboard. Lastly, before I actually initiate the first part of my review, I wanted to say thanks to anyone who added to the content of this site. I got excellent tips beforehand from here, and these tips helped to greatly improve my experience onboard the Pride. And now to begin the actual review…
On July 24, I woke up early (too early) and drove to the Port of Baltimore with my family. I greatly preferred driving to flying. We arrived at the port at around noon, but sat in the car for approximately one hour before getting out and realizing that people had been boarding ever since we had arrived! We waited because we had read online that nobody could board the vessel until 2:00 pm at the earliest. Do not make the same mistake as we did. Despite this unnecessary wait, embarkation was about as good as embarkation can be. The lines were not too long and the entire process seemed to flow rather smoothly. Compared to the embarkation for my first cruise on the Liberty, the embarkation for the Pride was very nice. We got on the boat by around 2:15 pm and went straight to the Lido deck to eat lunch, since no staterooms were ready until 3:30 pm. The lines for lunch were minimal, and even though we got on later than we could have, we seemed to still be one of the first families to arrive onboard. After lunch, I went to the Normandie Dining Room to look at where my family’s table was and if we needed to have it changed. I strongly recommend doing this even if you do not care whether or not you sit in chairs or booths, as you will not have to search all around for it later. The matre’d was standing in the dining room with almost no line to talk to him to ask about seat changes. If you’d like your seat changed, do so early when there is no line! After doing this, I met my family back in our rooms on the Empress deck (deck 6). We had balcony staterooms. After relaxing for a very brief time in our rooms, it was time for the muster drill. The muster drill was excellent! We were out by the lifeboats for a total of fifteen minutes, compared to a whopping forty-five minutes on our previous cruises. My grandmother was able to take an elevator down with no problem. The crew was very friendly and helpful during this drill. Now comes the part of the first night that I was not thrilled about. Everyone was forced to do the open seating dining for that first night, even if you had the 6:00 dining like my family did. I did not enjoy this at all, as I like to know my waiters. I also feel that the service is better when you have the same waiter for a week. Dinner was still very good, but I was rather surprised about one thing. On each of my previous cruises, you ordered a starter, a salad, an entrée, and a dessert. It appears that Carnival had done away with the salad and simply annexed the salads to the “starter” list. Nevertheless, I wanted a salad in addition to a starter, so I simply ordered a Caesar salad along with my starter. This was fine with the wait staff and was clearly allowed, which was alright. After dinner, I went to play trivia while my mother got me a “Circle C” Capers. I then read the capers and was dismayed at the fact that just about every Circle C activity perfectly conflicted with another non-Circle C activity that I wanted to do more. The first night, the Opening Disco for Circle C was at the same time (and had the same duration) as the Welcome Aboard Show. With me being the kind of person that I am (not caring about “hanging out” with people I will never see again after a week), I forsook the opening event and hit Battle of the Sexes (which I was forced to be a team captain of), Game Show Mania, and then the welcome aboard show. I am glad I skipped all of the Circle C activities that night, since I got a ship on a stick for participating in Game Show Mania. I thought that the welcome aboard show was excellent. Danny and Matt, in my opinion, were entertaining and quite funny at times. The rest of the entertainment staff was awesome, as well. The welcome aboard show finished slightly early, so I figured that I would go to the Circle C disco for a while. After searching for about a half an hour to find the Circle C lounge, I walked up the stairs to Circle C… and immediately walked back down and out of the Sunset Gardens. To my surprise, everyone was actually dancing (in the past people just sat and talked at “dances”). I despise dancing. I also could not stand the music being played. I do not enjoy rap or “party music,” and guess what was being played? Party music. At this point it was almost midnight, and I was tired from getting up so early. I then went back to my stateroom and went to bed.
The next morning I woke up at about 10:00. I ate breakfast on the Lido Deck. I was quite content with a ham and cheese omelet, a plate of bacon, and a croissant. After this, I glanced at the Circle C capers in dismay. The so called “highlights” consisted of (I think, since I ripped this page out of my capers) a bean bag toss tournament and something about a card game. I know that I did not go on a cruise to toss bean bags or play cards, regardless of whatever else everyone my own age may be doing. So, I skipped all Circle C things until later on that night. I ended up playing trivia and attending the shore talk. Both were a lot of fun. I also went to one of the raffles at the jewelry shop. You do have to sit through a sales pitch beforehand, but you never know what you might win.
This takes me to one of the only things (aside from Circle C) that I was disappointed with for the duration of our cruise. This was the amount of advertising going on. As much as I liked our cruise director, I really did not appreciate his voice coming on every hour advertising things. I understand that this may have been helpful for some people who did not read their capers, but it was not helpful at all (in my opinion) the way that it was done. Instead of saying, “Trivia is at [time], calypso music on the lido deck at [time],” the only things that were ever advertised on the loud speaker [aside from the big shows on certain nights] were the things you had to pay extra for. I did not appreciate hearing to go play bingo, or go to the spa, or go to the casino, or book a shore excursion, or go buy jewelry every hour and a half. Sadly, this continued throughout the remainder of the cruise. The worst instance of this was during the towel folding demonstration on the last day. During the 30 minute demonstration, we were asked to buy Carnival’s towel folding book a total of three times. Also, it appeared that the only reason the Galley tour was held on the last day was to get you to buy a set of cook books for $29. This annoyance was rather minor and I still loved our cruise; I just do not ever remember this occurring on any of my previous cruises. Now onto more positives
I went back to our stateroom around 3:30 to shower and get changed for dinner (6:00 seating). Before dinner was the Captain’s Cocktail party, and the jazz band there was excellent. Then came dinner. It was elegant night, and I was rather shocked that the people wearing blue jeans were allowed into the dining room, but that doesn’t really bother me since it does not directly apply to me. The food and our waiters were absolutely excellent. Our bar waiter was wonderful, too. After dinner, I went and listened to karaoke and then saw the main show (I forget what this was at this point). Then, I decided I should try to go meet people at a Circle C dance. I talked to a few nice people, but didn’t meet up with anyone ever again throughout the duration of the cruise. I left about half way through because everyone my age had left and because the music was displeasing me more and more. I then went back to karaoke and off to bet at about 12:30.
I realize that so far I seem to be stressing the negatives more so than the positives. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great vacation and would go back in a heart beat. None of these negatives were terrible, since they were all optional. I did not and did not have to attend any Circle C activities. I could simply tune out all of the ads on the loudspeaker. I truly was having a great time
The next day was the 26th, our second day at sea. I got up late again, ate breakfast, and went to play trivia. I also went to the Love and Marriage show. I loved it and I laughed hysterically at some points. I strongly encourage anyone to go to this. Danny did an excellent job hosting it. He picked three couples out of the audience- newlyweds, people married between 15 and 20 years, and people married 50 years. They sat back to back and had to answer questions that Danny asked them. At the end, he read their answers to each of the questions. It was a blast. I ate lunch on the lido deck (I did so every day, just forgot to mention it). I loved the food at the deli. I thought that the turkey on a country roll was excellent and I had that almost every day. After doing some more activities (not with Circle C), it was time to get ready for dinner. Dinner was excellent as usual and our service was commendable. Karaoke was good, and the karaoke hostess, Donna, was the best karaoke hostess out of the two others that I remember having. Then, I went with my family to the family friendly comedy show. It was very funny. I would recommend going to that in a heart-beat. Then, it was time for the deck party. The music was mostly nice calypso music, and there was some music similar to that being played at the Circle C events. It was still much better than the Circle C events in my opinion, and the music they chose to play seemed to feature some real instruments (drums and vibes) and was not all computer-generated. The Mexican buffet was good but not great. I went to bed that night at about 1:00 am.
The next day was Monday the 27th and we were at Grand Turk. I got up early so that we could get to our excursion on time. I went in the nice, warm, clear water for a while and then my family and I attended our shore excursion. This was ultimate snorkel. This was a wonderful excursion. We were able to view many tropical fish and the incredibly deep drop off. I would recommend this excursion to anyone. Once the excursion was over, we went to Margaritaville and then got back on the Pride.
**Word count now at 2,067, so in the future just assume that I played trivia, went to jewelry raffles, and watched other entertainment in the hours before dinner. I’d recommend doing these things as they are a lot of fun and not too crowded.**
Dinner was excellent as always. So was the show and karaoke. Around 11:00, I went to Circle C’s movie night. I had already seen the movie. Unfortunately, the instructor made the mistake of giving kids glow sticks before the movie, so about half way through I was sick of the smell of broken glow sticks. It was getting late and I was parasailing tomorrow, so I left and ate some burgers on the lido deck. This is another tip. The only thing open at around midnight upstairs is the pizzeria and the burger area. Don’t go up there expecting a sandwich at 12:30. Also, every night I did this only a few other people were there. It was a very relaxing atmosphere at this time of night and I would recommend eating a cheeseburger at this time.
The next day was Tuesday and we were in Half Moon Cay. I went parasailing with my mother. It was an absolute blast! If you are hesitant about doing this excursion, don’t be. It is not in any way scary, and it is very gentle up in the sky a few hundred feet. We were the last people who got to do it, since the wind was blowing at 19 knots. Then it became 20 knots, and they had to stop. I feel so fortunate that I was able to get parasailing in, and it was truly one of the highlights of this trip.
**Skips on to evening**
Dinner was great. Show was not. If you need to miss a show, miss Jazzin’. I will evaluate all of the shows in detail further along. I then watched more excellent karaoke with my family and had a lot of fun. That night at 11:00, there was **supposed** to be karaoke for Circle C. I figured that I would go and watch it, since regular karaoke was about to close. I came promptly at eleven, and nobody was there. I was mildly annoyed at this point, so I watched adult karaoke/listened to Ronnie at the piano (who is absolutely fantastic, by the way) until 11:30. I then decided to go to Circle C karaoke, figuring that they were bound to have started by this point. Boy was I wrong. Still nobody there. At this point, I was absolutely furious with the Circle C program. Being more than 30 minutes late for a pre-scheduled activity is ridiculous in my opinion. The coordinator really needs to get their act together. This tardiness was certainly not unique to only this event, either. I noticed this pattern for other events as well. Off to bed… with no karaoke.
Yay! It’s Freeport day, my absolute favorite port of call . And this was also the best excursion I have ever done out of any of my three cruises- Swimming with the dolphins. We took a 25 minute bus ride to the company’s building and then took a 15 minute boat ride to where the dolphins lived. You got to go in the water with the dolphins and get several pictures taken with them. You could also play with them by diving down under water. They will dive down right by your side and surface the same moment that you do. Dolphins are such remarkable, intelligent creatures and I absolutely loved this excursion. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who is a decent swimmer. Also, you should know that there were two other dolphin excursions available. One, called “Dolphin Encounter,” let you stand with dolphins on a platform (those people were within my eyesight during the excursion). There was supposed to be an excursion where you were out in the open ocean (not a confined area), except the company does not do that excursion on Wednesdays for some reason. All Pride voyages will be in Freeport on a Wednesday, so sadly that one is out of the question. Moving on…
This was the second elegant night. Dinner was again wonderful; the food absolutely ambrosial. Tonight my family and I went to some karaoke before the main show (we always went to the early seating show). To my surprise, karaoke was terrible that night. There were many drunk people acting inappropriately. For example, there was one man who brought a snorkel mask he bought from the shore excursion desk to karaoke that night. He lied down on the center of the floor, right in front of the singer, and he put the snorkel in his mouth. He then started to “swim” across the floor. I was absolutely appalled that nothing was being done about this, so I left for the show. The show was excellent that night (again, will be evaluated at the end), and afterwards my family and I went back to karaoke. It still seemed as though all of the participants had consumed far too much alcohol, so we ended up going to the Ivory Piano Bar and listened to Ronnie sing and play songs on the piano. He was excellent as usual.
It was now Thursday, our last day at sea. On all of the cruises I have been on, I have always been too lazy to get up and go to breakfast in the main dining room, so I thought I would give it a try today. I am definitely glad I did. The food was much better and more diverse than what was being served on the lido deck each morning. It was not crowded, and I sad at a table with other people for once! At dinner on all of my previous cruises, I have never had any table mates other than my own family. The food at breakfast was phenomenal. After that morning’s Eggs Benedict, I have decided never to eat breakfast on the lido deck again. I am dead serious. This sure beat the long lines on the lido deck, and I didn’t have to spend ten minutes hunting for a table. That day I played trivia, went to raffles, listened to music, and watched shows. The two calypso performers on the lido deck were wonderful. After I found a seat, I was so relaxed (and the music was so loud) that I couldn’t hear the two people yelling, “IS ANYONE SITTING HERE OR CAN WE?” right next to me. That is how I like my vacation . On the last day, they had two special events. I attended both. The first was a question and answer session with Danny (cruise director) and Matt (assistant cruise director). I learned quite a lot about ship life, and they both made it funny and entertaining, as well. The second was a tour of the galley. This was alright, but not excellent. All you did was walk through the galley. The tour literally lasted 5 minutes, and then we were just asked if we wanted to buy a $29 set of cook books.
Dinner was great as usual. Unfortunately, because of the legends show, there was no karaoke that night. However, for the first time all week, the ship’s jazz band was playing in one of the lounges! I attended this and had a great time. I knew most of the songs, and the musicians were excellent jazz players. I went to a show called Liar’s Club, and it was hilarious. I recommend going to that (in fact, as you may have noticed, I’d recommend going to all of the shows!).
Gee, what a surprise! The closing Circle C dance conflicted with the Carnival Legends show! I went to the first 30 minutes of the disco. Nobody I had talked to was there (even if they were, I still would have gone to the legend’s show). I watched the show (evaluated further down), and then came back since the show finished early. I got bored, so I went to the piano bar for about two and a half hours. This time, a man named Doug was playing classic rock songs and singing. He was wonderful as well, so I sat in the piano bar until 1:30, when he finished. I then went to bed.
The next day, I was happy since I learned that there was a sit down breakfast in the Normandie Dining room. I went there. Then, it was time for debarkation. For debarkation, it was not horrible. We did the general debarkation, so we did have to wait about an hour and a half. I was content to listen to some music and sit there. It was easy to find our luggage and the debarkation process it self was simple. I had a wonderful time on this cruise and would sail the Pride again in a heart beat.

Show reviews:
Both comedians did an excellent job in their family friendly shows.
The welcome aboard show was spectacular. It was very entertaining and funny.
Wonderful World was as good as it was the last two times I saw it. It has not changed any, but was still nice to watch again.
Jazzin’ I thought was the worst of the shows. It was supposed to be about the history and evolution of jazz. It was supposed to go through all of the different styles of jazz in a chronological order. However, it did not do that, and it was not coherent. For example, I believe it started off with Dixieland jazz. It then went to swing, back to Dixieland, to bebop, back to swing, and then to… I really don’t know what. The last quarter of the show featured music that was in no way jazz. Most of the songs in the last quarter did not even have a swing rhythm; straight eighth notes were being played. It was an ok show, but it was not what I had expected it to be.
Vroom was probably the best of all of the shows. It went through Rock n’ Roll chronologically. It was coherent and very entertaining. Great job to all of the dancers and singers .
The Carnival Legends show was the best legends show that I have seen. Most of the people could sing decently, and some could sing quite well. I think that they ran out of people, so the karaoke hostess and one of the members of the entertainment staff ended up doing one of the groups. Overall, it was a very fun show.

Overall, I would give this cruise an 8.5 out of 10 (ten is the highest). -1 for Circle C and -0.5 for all of the advertising going on. Even though I did not like Circle C, I would recommend that every teen eligible at least give it a chance. I am sure that some people on the boat loved it; I did not. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion(s). All departments of staff were wonderful. Most of the music was great as well. I hope that this review is of some help to you all, and any comments are greatly appreciated!
-Sax_Player

Also, one thing that didn’t fit anywhere else were my thoughts on Fun ship Bingo. Bingo is a game that normally has the connotation of being played only by senior citizens. Well, you will find that that is certainly not the case on a Carnival cruise. Matt made it fun and enjoyable, with all of the “Yeah Baby!”s and “Oh ship!”s. It was a great cruise .

[pe4all]

What a well-written review, especially for a 14 year old! You are quite literate and "well-spoken." Glad you enjoyed your cruise, even if you didn't enjoy circle C as much as you could have.

[Wants to be rich]

Thank you for your informative review. I have not had the opportunity to sail on the Pride, but I have added her to my list of ships I would like to try. Your information about the ship, excursions, and shows has helped in that decision

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and found other things to do when Circle C didn't work out.

[Windy56]

Thanks for your interesting and detailed review. I was on the Pride a few weeks ago, and I had a great time too! By the way...has anyone ever told you that you sound an awful lot like Holden Caulfield?

[yogimax]

Wow - good work!

[rigldbrg]

OP - Very well done; great review. I think you have a future as a travel journalist.

[stepbrod]

I see a Pulitzer in your future. Good review.

[Sax_Player]

Thank you all for reading and for the positive comments. I did forget two things that I wanted to add.

1) I asked the steward about the Carnival Pride book in our stateroom and he said not to take it.
2) There were no past guest pins that said "Carnival Pride" with the invitations to the past guest party. A family member asked at the purser's/guest services desk and the person there said that they had been discontinued.

Thanks again for reading my review!

[pe4all]

I think getting the past guest pins is hit or miss, depending what ship you are on. We just got them last week on our Fantasy cruise. I asked our steward about the pins, and she said that Carnival is not re-ordering them for guests. When each ship runs out, that will be it.

[Handsome58]

got past guest pins on the Pride the first week of June. Maybe the supply has run out. I heard they were not ordering any more.

[bluehenfan]

I am very impressed with your review. Your vivid descriptions took me back to our Pride cruise in June. I had 2 teens with me. One loved the teen club and the other one didn't care for it at all. I don't know what your plans are for your future, but you really should consider something in the field of journalism. Thanks for an excellent review.

[recyclelady]

Are you sure you are just 14? I'm impressed. I was a teacher in an earlier part of my life and rarely saw anything written so well by anyone so young. You even know how to use a semi-colon!

[LisaDee]

Originally Posted by Sax_Player

It was now Thursday, our last day at sea. On all of the cruises I have been on, I have always been too lazy to get up and go to breakfast in the main dining room, so I thought I would give it a try today. I am definitely glad I did. The food was much better and more diverse than what was being served on the lido deck each morning. It was not crowded, and I sad at a table with other people for once!

Sax Player -- I believe my husband, two young sons and I had the pleasure of sitting with you and your dad for breakfast on our last sea day. You are such an impressive young man! We enjoyed chatting with you that morning and I wish you happy travels in the future!

Lisa

[DPurcell58]

Great review. FYI, we're on the Pride the end of Aug. and we're in Freeport on a Friday (it's an 8 night cruise).

[Sax_Player]

Originally Posted by LisaDee

Sax Player -- I believe my husband, two young sons and I had the pleasure of sitting with you and your dad for breakfast on our last sea day. You are such an impressive young man! We enjoyed chatting with you that morning and I wish you happy travels in the future!

Lisa

Wow! Yes, we did have breakfast on Wednesday. What a small world. I hope you enjoyed your cruise as much as I did!

The Personal Vacation Planner has responded via email saying that he is looking for pins, and when/if he finds them he will send them to us. That is good to know

Thanks again to everyone for reading and responding!