Pride review August 14

[cheapseatsjr]

Just finished our cruise today ( 2nd with Carnival) and thought I'd give a quick review. We had a group of 7 people ( all adults 35-50) all but one seasoned cruisers.

Arrived at the terminal at 12pm. No lines for parking or dropping our bags.
It took less than 20 minutes to check in and be seated in zone 11. The waiting area in the terminal filled fast and at one point they stopped people from entering until they started making seats available by boarding the first zones. We had one member of our group was arriving from the airport. She reached the terminal around 1:30 but was stuck right at the gates for a half hour when all of the seats were filled. Her group I believe checked in and boarded almost immediately as she was seated next to us up on Lido deck before our first DODs arrived.

It was fun to travel down the bay. It is amazing how close you come to to the Key bridge. We guessed 6 - 10 feet) There was still some daylight when we passed under the Bay bridge.

We had 4 cabins Deck 8. (8168-8174) Since the cabins adjoined we asked for the balcony doors to be opened. This turned out to be a great feature as we had a wonderful private gathering place. The rooms were great. Appeared to be exactly like the ones we had on Liberty. Only problem was that there was quite a bit of noise from the Lido deck. Mostly noise from chairs and tables being moved by the crew in the AM and usually around 12:30 at night. 'Gusti' was our room steward and he was excellent. All staff went out of their way to be friendly and courteous.

Ship was nice and although we were sailing full it did not seem crowded.
Some of the "live" music was anything but. There was a guitar guy (Leon) that had everything recorded on his laptop including the words. He would start a song and then proceed to start talking to people when he should have been singing. Lucky for him that the vocals were also coming out of the computer. Completely a hack.
The bands that played up on Lido deck seemed to be pretty good. Only problem was that some of them played quite a few times and probably were a little stale by the end of the cruise. We didn't spend any time up there around the center pool. We were either at the aft pool, somewhere else around topside or on our balcony.
The comedian/ juggler was pretty good. His adults only show wasn't much of a shocker and not as good as his completely different show earlier in the week. We thought Vroom was a bit lame. Half of our group and a few others left. My opinion- the dancers were not up to snuff but the music and sets were pretty good.(especially for a free show)

Food - Since we had 7 people they gave us our own table in the MDR. We had the late (8:15) seating. This worked out well for us and it might have been an advantage on the first elegant night as we were offered a couple extra lobsters that probably had made their way up to the dining room and couldn't return.
Food quality was pretty good but the group felt was that it could have been more creative. We ate most dinners in the MDR. Breakfast was split between room service, MDR and Lido deck. All lunches on Lido deck. Davids was very good and highly recommended.


Grand Turk - We decided to see the island and found a cab driver that gave us a tour. Its pretty bleak except for the dock area. It was ravaged by a hurricane and hasn't recovered. We did not do any excursions although the water looked great. Diving or snorkeling should be awesome. The dock had quite a few shops and Margaritaville. We did stop in for a beverage. The pool is huge.

Half moon Cay - we arrived to a rainy morning. Lucky for us it cleared and turned into a great day. Place is perfect. It has something for everyone, great beach, plenty to do or not (depending on your preference). Definitely a big winner. All sand bottom not really any snorkelling off from the beach. I believe they do have some excursions that will take you around to another part of the island. If we had more time there would have been much more to see and do. No problems getting back and forth to the ship.

Freeport - we had a sail and snorkel excursion scheduled for 8 am so we were up and off only to find that we were cancelled because of rough water. They gave us the option to rebook onto a larger snorkel tour so we did that one. We had an hour to kill so we checked the few shops. (not much there) Our trip took us about 45 minutes to reach the snorkel spot. Water was sort of rough. Not good for beginners that day. The actual snorkelling was some of the best anywhere. The weather made the waves even larger and many of us had to retreat to the boat. As soon as we started our return trip we got hammered by a big storm. That made for a long rough trip but it was still a great time. Note : bring something ( bungee or string) that you can use to tie you bag to the boat. One lady had her camera(s) and bag hop overboard when we hit a wave.
We did get to experience someone almost left at the dock. We heard the PA announcement that the ship was looking for 2 individuals. We all knew that they were the only ones that hadn't returned. We were on Lido deck and watching the crew prepare to debark. They were making ready to cast off the ropes when a cab pulls up and 2 guys so trashed that they can't walk are leaning on each other, staggering back towards the ship. A couple of crew rushed out to "assist" them and they were dragged back aboard to the amusement of all of us watching. Seconds later we pulled away from the dock. They probably don't know how close they were to an extended vacation in the Bahamas.

Summary: We liked the ship.( better than Liberty). Rooms were spacious and very clean. Beds were good quality. Crew were very good.
Our personal staff were exceptional.
Freeport and Grand Turk were ok to good depending on what you did. Half Moon was great for everyone and made the whole trip a success by itself.
Food was good unless you are looking for extra creativity. No one in our group disliked any meal. They just were hoping to be "wow"ed a bit more. Davids dinner clubs was a standout.
Entertainment was available some was better than others.

We had a great time and will probably start planning again really soon.

[Cathy p]

Thanks for taking the time for the review. We will be on her next year.

[kates024]

Thanks for the review, we sail in 3 weeks!!

[flag fan]

Thanks for the review; I booked a deck 8 cabin (although in a slightly different location) and was concerned about the noise from the Lido deck. It's good to know what to expect.

[dunn48]

Thanks for the review - we leave on 8/29 and after reading all the reviews from those on the 8/15 cruise, we can wait!

[family cruisers]

Great review. Nov 1st for us.. can't wait.