Carnival Pride 7/2-7/9: A First Cruise to Bermuda!

Really enjoying your Bermuda Pride review. We did this itinerary a few years back but we were delayed a day and so we only had 1 day and a few extra hours in Bermuda. We were so disappointed. Hopefully I can do this again in the future and see some of the sites you saw.

Enjoying your review!! Getting excited to cruise the Pride in October. It will be our first time out of Baltimore and on the Pride.

Really enjoying your Bermuda Pride review. We did this itinerary a few years back but we were delayed a day and so we only had 1 day and a few extra hours in Bermuda. We were so disappointed. Hopefully I can do this again in the future and see some of the sites you saw.

Enjoying your review!! Getting excited to cruise the Pride in October. It will be our first time out of Baltimore and on the Pride.

Thank you both! With two days we barely scratched the surface of what Bermuda has to offer. Pride isn't my favorite ship (I think Breeze wins on that score), but she has a lot of nice features and sailing out of Baltimore on a Sunday works well for us.

7/6:Bermuda, Day 2.

It was odd, waking up on a ship already tied to the dock for the night. The last time we experienced this was in Cozumel 2005, when we skipped Grand Cayman and docked the day before we were scheduled due to Hurricane Dennis. Some passengers had a hard time believing that there was an “open gangway” – all that mattered to the gangway staff was that all were back aboard on 7/7 at 11:30.

Bermuda July 6 by baxted, on Flickr

We booked Hartley’s Helmet Diving for this morning’s activity. Greg Hartley’s dad started this tour back inthe 1940s. Essentially it’s akin to putting an inverted glass into the sink; if held steady, it won’t fill with water. This involved a helmet weighed down at the collar, with compressed air pumped in, placed over your head. It’s really easy – you don’t even need to know how to swim. The dive is about 12 feet deep and Greg guides you the entire time. On the bottom, you get to see all the fish that recognize Greg (he has food in tow) and some really neat reefs. This was probably one of the most unique tours we’ve ever taken, and I highly recommend it. There were a total of 15 of us diving, so we were divided into groups of 8 and 7. Eack dive was about an hour.

135 Rainbow Runner after dive[/url] by baxted, on Flickr

Hartley dive boat, Rainbow Runner

Family Hartley Dive 3 by baxted, on Flickr

Kathy and Steve Hartley Dive 2 by baxted, on Flickr

This snapper was particularly friendly.

Doug and Kathy Hartley Dive 2 by baxted, on Flickr

Kathy and Steve Hartley Dive 1 by baxted, on Flickr

Some photos from Rainbow Runner on the way back to Dockyard:

137 Snorkel Beach Park by baxted, on Flickr

Snorkel Beach. The mini golf is to the right.

141 Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Dockyard walls

144 Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Commissioner's House

147 Hamilton Ferry, Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

This one is from our balcony on Pride. This is the Hamilton Ferry arriving at Dockyard.

Sunset Sail

After the dive we went back aboard the ship for lunch and a shower. We had a quick dinner in the dining room (we told the staff we had a tour booked after dinner, so they sped up our service),then we met out on the pier for a Catamaran Sunset Sail with Restless Native. Another great tour – we sailed around the Great Sound. Unlimited Rum Swizzles and freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. A great time!

155 Boys aboard Restles Native by baxted, on Flickr

The boys opted to sit up forward. DH and I opted for the aft cabin.

152 America's Cup Headquarters by baxted, on Flickr

Some remnants of the America's Cup headquarters, which concluded abut 10 days before. America's Cup gear was on sale in the gift shops for 50% off.

160 Restless Native Sail by baxted, on Flickr

Under sail.

166 Dockyard from Restless Native by baxted, on Flickr

Pride and Breakaway

018 Catamaran Sail by baxted, on Flickr

All of us on deck

016 Catamaran Sail by baxted, on Flickr

Sunset from Restless Native

This is on my bucket list! Love all your pictures!

Just a short thanks for taking the time to post.

Cheers.

This is on my bucket list! Love all your pictures!

Just a short thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Cheers.

Great review, we are doing this trip in October. It will be our 10th trip on the Pride. First time going to Bermuda.

7/7Farewell to Bermuda.

This morning was Carnival’s Towel Animal Invasion, when the towel animals take over the Lido deck. We’ve seen this over the last three years and each year the stewards get more inventive with their displays.

024 Towel Animal Invasion by baxted, on Flickr

023 Towel Animal Invasion by baxted, on Flickr

022 Towel Animal Invasion by baxted, on Flickr

A downside of Carnival’s itinerary is that the ship sails at noon, so back onboard time is 11:30. We decided to take this day as our “Shop-at-Dockyard” day. We disembarked and walked over to the Clock Tower, where many of the shops were located. We bought our souvenirs then went back aboard the ship. While there were some stragglers, we still sailed on time at noon.

150 Pride at Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Pride at Dockyard

173 Leaving Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Dockyard

A note about Lido deck dining: On Spirit-class ships, when you have everyone back on board at lunch the seating is impossible. We’ve experienced this before, though, so it didn’t surprise us. There was no place to sit for lunch – we tried the restaurant, the open decks, Serenity – nothing. We ended up with DH getting some sandwiches from the deli and me getting drinks from the bar and bringing them back to the cabin so we could eat out on the balcony.

We sailed away, waving to the folks on Breakaway who would follow us a couple of hours later. (The advantage to not needing 8 hours to sail up the Chesapeake.) Then we sailed up along the coast past St. David’s and St. George’s, out into the open sea and back to Baltimore.

178 Norwegian Breakaway by baxted, on Flickr

Farewell to Breakaway

180 Leaving Dockyard by baxted, on Flickr

Leaving Dockyard

196 St. Dvid's Llight by baxted, on Flickr

St. David's Light

200 St. David's by baxted, on Flickr

St. George

206 st. David's by baxted, on Flickr

Goodbye, Bermuda. We'll be back.

This evening was the second formal night. We also tried the PG comedy of Joe Marlotti. It was fun.

Doug and Kathy Portrait 2 Elegant Night by baxted, on Flickr

Second formal night

7/8Last Day at Sea.

I awoke early in the morning to feeling the ship really moving in the seas. It was rough, and we really didn’t run out of it until late in the day. Most of the deck sports were closed. We decided to use our Platinum drink coupons at the sea day brunch, which we visited close to lunchtime. (Yes, the popovers are to die for!) The aft dining rooms on the Spirit-class ships are known for movement,and when the seas are rough it’s noticeable. I saw one server catch herself before she lost an entire tray of food on a passenger. In the afternoon I went to a Q and A with Saffie, which was enjoyable. The Platinum and Diamond party was this day as well; it was well attended, and they had some trivia games – name the ship and name the officers’ shoulder insignia among them.

Some photos of our towel animals during the week...

027 Towel Animal by baxted, on Flickr

212 Last towel animal by baxted, on Flickr

Last night's animal, who thanked us for sailing and asked us to leave our cabin by 8 a.m.

168 Towel Animal by baxted, on Flickr

132 Towel Animal by baxted, on Flickr

026 Formal night towel animal by baxted, on Flickr

As we were off the coast of Virginia, we encountered a strong storm. Lightning and thunder to make up for anything we might have missed on July 4!

029 Full Moon by baxted, on Flickr

Moon off Virginia - before the storm hit.

7/9Debarkation.

When we awoke we had already sailed under Bay Bridge. Breakfast was on the Lido deck, after which we gathered our belongings to disembark. For the first time we decided to do self-assist, since that would have us off the ship around 9:30 (as opposed to 10:30 for zoned bags) and get us on the road home. This had to be the easiest debarkation we’ve ever done: We met in the Captain’s Club (deck 2 aft) at 9:00, we were led off the ship at 9:10, and were through Customs and in our car going home by 9:25. Total travel time home to Upstate NY (with a gas and a bathroom break) was four hours, 45 minutes. Wow.

215 NS Savannah by baxted, on Flickr

N.S Savannah, the first commercial nuclear-powered ship. She's been berthed in Baltimore in 2008.

217 NS Savannah by baxted, on Flickr

Another view of Savannah.

220 Fort McHenrey by baxted, on Flickr

Fort McHenry. Back to where we started.

Thoughts on Pride and Bermuda.

This was our third time on Pride, but first since her 2.0 changes. While there are things I like – the game room and the deck 3 exterior Promenade I mentioned earlier come to mind – overall I’m not a great fan of the Spirit-class ships. I don’t like having to walk through the casino to get to the forward lounges – the smoking area is right along the walkway. Remember the Dr. Seuss parade? Yep, right through the smoking in the casino. I’m also not crazy about the Lido seating for lunch. The day we left Bermuda everyone headed for Lido and we couldn’t find seats to have our lunch. We ended up taking our lunch back to our cabin and eating on our balcony. To the Lido restaurant’s credit, however, thel ines for food were minimal every time we were there. I prefer the Conquest- and Dream-class ships. (Not crazy about the placement of the casino on Vista, either – I’m not anti-smoker, but I had to hold my breath walking through that casino.) Breeze is probably my favorite ship when it comes to layout – I love Ocean Plaza and the deck 5 outdoor seating area. However, I’ll happily book a cruise on a Spirit-class ship if she’s sailing where I want to go.

Staff and crew – Absolutely no complaints whatsoever. Everyone, from Captain Galotto on down, was friendly and professional. I liked that they gave crew extra liberty once we reached Bermuda.

Shows and lounges – We saw two comedy shows, one family-friendly and one adult show, Joe Marlotti and Ronnie Bullard. Both were good but I think I prefer the family-friendly show. Just me, though. The Butterflies Lounge is an excellent venue for comedy – much better than the comedy theater on Vista. We also spent some time in the Red Frog Pub with Alterr and I spent a night at the piano bar with Russell Blues. He reminded me of a young Yul Brynner with a much better voice.

We didn’t go to any of the production shows. I’m not a big fan of Playlist Productions, so I’ve always found other activities. However, I did find Saffie’s discussion of Playlist at her Q and A to be interesting. Back when they did the lavish production shows with large sets, they would have to keep shows in place on a ship for about 10 years, given the cost of changing out the shows. People who sailed the same ship multiple times complained (and I’ve seen those complaints here on CC). With Playlist shows, they can swap out shows faster. Some of the first set of Playlist Productions (like Latin Nights, which I panned in a review of a 2014 Glory cruise) are already being retired.

Activities– There were plenty of things to do. I played trivia a couple of times. Lots of people participated in the “Clue” game, which started on the first sea day and ended on the last sea day. Several deck parties. And all the usual, like hairy chest, ice carving, bingo, art auctions, etc.

Club O2 – This would be the last time one of our sons would participate in a club. He turns 18 in February, so next year he’s on his own. I pre-registered him before we sailed, then went with him the first sea day to make sure his registration was okay. He had a good time and made several friends – one of whom is sailing on the same Horizon cruise we’re sailing next summer. Our sons have enjoyed the clubs over the years – this youngest son first started with Camp Carnival's 2-5 group in 2004.

Bermuda– With 2 ½ days, we had one of the longer port times. It still wasn’t enough to do the island justice. There is so much more to see –DH said he could have spent more time wandering the side streets in St.George. We never made it to Front Street in Hamilton. We never suited up and went to a beach. But as you can see from this review, we certainly filled our time. I think we’ll be back.

I’d happily sail on Pride again. However,our next cruise is Carnival Horizon – 8-day out of NYC stopping at Grand Turk,San Juan, and Amber Cove. Lots of time at sea. I think we’ll try to make up for some of the things we didn’t do on our Carnival Vista Mediterranean cruise last year – with only 2 sea days out of 10 and really intensive ports, we missed a lot the ship has to offer. And we haven’t experienced a New York sailaway since 2012. It’s time.

Too bad. We did CT on Pride back in October and had the exact same dishes. We're on Pride again this Sunday but decided to skip CT this time...glad we did, because the menu (while excellent) is not worth doing twice, IMHO.

Wonderful review!! Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation and photos with us. Makes us wish we were doing Bermuda on the Pride this year!! :cool:

Wonderful review!! Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation and photos with us. Makes us wish we were doing Bermuda on the Pride this year!! :cool:

Very nice review, loved all the pictures and the information you shared.

Very nice review, loved all the pictures and the information you shared.

Very nice review, we would like to do the Pride or Horizon to Bermuda. Thanks for doing it and nice pics.

Very nice review, we would like to do the Pride or Horizon to Bermuda. Thanks for doing it and nice pics.

DH's grandparents docked in Hamilton. Today the Veendam still does. Dockyard isn't bad, though, and there are regular ferries to both Hamilton and St. George.

Just got off the Veendam and docking in Hamilton was the best!

I love reading your review, especially the historical aspect of it. We have done one cruise on the Pride and will be doing another in January. Thanks for posting.

Just got off the Veendam and docking in Hamilton was the best!

 

I love reading your review, especially the historical aspect of it. We have done one cruise on the Pride and will be doing another in January. Thanks for posting.

Thank you for your review. Sailing on the Pride in November from my home port. We usually fly to Miami and it will be a nice change to drive one hour and get our vehicle and go straight home.

I want to sail to Bermuda but no one I know will go with me!