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The Prides final two cruises in Pictures


Emperor Norton
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In my opinion the final cruise ended with a whimper (from the Pride herself). There was some disappointment with the way Seattle handled certain things, and then the realization that the replacement will carry three times as many passengers. Small ships only via strange cruise industry definitions.

 

Like other cruises there were things I liked, things I didn't like and things that didn't interest me. I will be mentioning these at some point.

 

The important bit I guess is that overall I had a great cruise. (hopefully there's no confusion on this bit this time around). I got to meet some interesting people on both segments - a pity that some I met on the first weren't on for the second.

 

 

As usual I have a pre-cruise ritual of visiting the Buena Vista Cafe for certain libations to ward off the wee beasties before each cruise.

 

As I would be crossing the Atlantic for the first time I took an extra precautionary measure and asked the bartender to put a shamrock on my Guinness.

 

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New this time around was an excellent Bloody Mary (sadly what was on the ship just couldn't compare - even when Stewart used his magic). Hot climates call for hot (spicy) drinks.

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Finally the Irish Coffee - something that again isn't quite the same on the ship.

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After vaccinating myself against the wee ones I had an insane day to get through. After surviving (barely) that it was off to the airport for the first of my two flights to St. Thomas.

 

For the first time I was able to avail myself of the TSA-Pre program (yay!). From self check in to the "safe" side of security was about 3 minutes. If only it were always that easy. I'll just say that at 10pm there's really nothing interesting to do in SFO. The United lounges here tend to be beyond underwhelming so I just waited at the geek area (this terminal has massive tables with power outlets so you can use/charge all your devices/laptops).

 

Eventually my flight was called and we boarded and were off to super exciting Newark, New Jersey. I had enough time in Newark to wish that some of the nearby vendors would open. From Newark it was around a four hour flight to St. Thomas. This time passed relatively quickly.

 

Upon arrival in St. Thomas I thought we'd somehow gone back in time. There was no jetway! Instead we had the rather archaic jet-stairs. I can't recall the last time I had to use those for a jet (thinking back was it maybe Amsterdam?). Due to construction you went down the jet-stairs then walked around the exterior perimeter of the airport, past a rum stand and out to the front where you waited about 35 minutes for your luggage to come rolling out (they do have luggage conveyor belts).

 

It took a bit to get a taxi to Crown bay where the Pride was docked. It seems drivers all wanted to go with the bigger groups and longer distances. Eventually a driver was found and I was on my way. Once pierside it was the usual Seabourn - bag off, fill out the "no Im not carrying the plague" form and onto the ship (I should film this whole process. Once.)

 

The nice thing about this whole process was that even before I was out of the taxi I could recognize crew members I'd met before. Richard, Leoni and Justin were outside.

 

Once inside the ship it was straight to the Magellan lounge for check in. As I arrived later in the day than most passengers there was no line. Awesome. After checking in I was escorted to my room where I was told to wait for my stewardess. Knowing what I learned on my first cruise, I just dumped my gear and went up to the Sky bar. Unlike last time there was no surprise as to who the bartender was. I took a seat at the bar and ordered a nice ice cold beer from Nelson. I just bided my time at the Sky bar until it was time for the muster drill.

 

This drill went mostly ignored with people drinking, texting, and yapping on their cell phones. Thankfully it was over quickly and then it was back to the shade of the Sky bar and watching sail away.

 

Dinner that night was in the Restaurant (I had dinner every night save one in the Restaurant this time around. The different venue was the Observation lounge).

 

The menu introduced the chefs

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The seared carpaccio made a nice appetizer

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The rest of the meal was nice but the dessert threw me for a loop. I ordered strawberry cheesecake. I guess I was expecting strawberries in the batter, or a strawberry sauce, not this

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Dont worry - the number of plated food shots will drop dramatically

Edited by Emperor Norton
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Our first stop was St. Maarten - the French side (I should've arranged transportation to the Dutch side).

 

Breakfast was Eggs Benedict (eggs were cooked perfectly, the hash browns showed none of the excessive grease as on my London to Lisbon cruise. The only dings were the Hollandaise wasn't as tart as I like and the muffin - for some reason cruise ships cant seem to toast things to save their lives).

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One of the Prides two tenders (unlike the above mentioned cruise, both were working this time around).

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After exiting the tender eager to explore this side of the island I was immediately faced with a shrine to the goodness of the local cuisine.

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Er, wait a minute...

 

Ignoring the chain I found there was a local market adjacent to the dock

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Very many thanks for your posts during the last two sailing on the Pride and the photographs that brought it very much alive. You made the comment above " There was some disappointment with the way Seattle handled certain things" could you elaborate as we are considering the last crossing on the Spirit next year - Thanks

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In no particular order "issues" that were brought up were:

  • The President/board weren't there to retire the ship
  • The President/board weren't there to thank the loyal passengers
  • The President/board weren't there to thank the crew for making Seabourn what it is
  • There didn't seem to be much in the way of extra activities for the final cruise
  • Final Season merchandise had been sold out before the actual final cruisers boarded
  • Passengers had been told by Seabourn over a year ago the cruise was fully booked and a single room was available (we sailed with 127)
  • Some passengers let a pricing cat out of the bag which was less than thrilling news to those who had paid much much more

 

Im probably forgetting things, but those were the bigger issues. Of course the President/board not showing up could also be a blessing in disguise if their presence turned the cruise into a dog and pony show.

 

With regards to the Final Season clothing I think Seabourn should have taken the Radisson approach to a special cruise. That is get the jacket/hat size for each passenger on the actual final voyage and toss in a final voyage jacket/hat (rather than final season). This would have guaranteed each passenger on the actual final voyage had at least a bit of logo gear.

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Once back on the ship it was lunch time. In the Caribbean your dining options for lunch are: room service, the Sky Grill (weather permitting) and the Verandah.

 

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Dessert was a chocolate and chambord shake by Nelson.

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This looks like it might be an industrial area

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versus the resorts

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After sailaway it was time for dinner followed by I'm still not sure what it was.

 

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This was a Grand Marnier souffle

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When entering my room I found this waiting for me

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Oops, I meant

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Some Grand Marnier and strawberries. It seems they forgot to furnish a dining companion however.:(

 

It was a nice gesture, I can't recall what it was for.

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Sad -the ship doesn't look like I remember; my memories of the baby triplets are so much sweeter, but this boat looks old and tired. Wonder if it's because SB stopped taking "pride" in it, or I'm now used to the newer ships which look, well, newer. I'll always have the memories -- so long as I don't look at photos of recent cruises on the outgoing ships.

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Thanks for the information Emperor Norton - I suspect the new management are quite happy to see the original ships go, less capacity to sell and they can concentrate or the uniform product of the new ships - sad but the world moves on.

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Pop-I,

 

I was on the Pride in November just before she went into dry dock and she looked great even then. No, a 25 year old ship cannot look brand spanking new but I guarantee you she was as sweet as ever.

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As Karl would put it there were some opportunities for improvement. One of them was the dress code. First night, or last night I don't recall ever reading that jean shorts, a halter and flip flops were appropriate attire for the Restaurant. Hence on the end of cruise survey I suggested that either they enforce their dress codes or drop them.

 

Our next stop was St. Johns Antigua. This was to be my first and only organized shore excursion of the trip. We were supposed to go snorkeling on a barrier reef and then off a sunken wreck. When we got pier side it was obvious that the wreck was out. Got to love advance notification.

 

We walked our way along the quay until we met up with our catamaran the "Falcon". I guess things have changed since the last time I went snorkeling in the Caribbean as not only would the rum punch not flow until after snorkeling (Im not knocking that change at all) but everyone had to wear what was essentially a life vest. On other snorkeling trips we could use vests that you could inflate/deflate if you wanted to dive down.

 

We were going to dive on a barrier reef. I think that translates to "not the colorful reef I was expecting".

 

The fish were fed to keep them around the group (eh...). While we were told we could either follow the group or drift snorkel those that tried the drift method were herded back to the cat.

 

Motoring out to our snorkeling location

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Everyone in the water

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Fish!

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We motored into a little bay and then up onto the beach. People had the option of hiking up to a fort a top a wee hill

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lounging on the beach

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or going for a swim

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This was (to me) a whole new way to stop a boat. Drop your anchor and see how far you drag it before you stop.

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Dinner tonight was special orders

 

Steak tartar

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Crepes Suzette

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And then for something completely different it was the first Rock the Boat Party (there were no block parties on either segment - Im not sure if they've been nixed or for whatever reason just didn't happen. There also was no on deck BBQ with suckling pig for either segment). I believe the flambe theme that night was bananas Foster.

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Edited by Emperor Norton
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Here's to trying something new! (as of 21 April 1629 @ -8 GMT YouTube claims the video is being modified - bear with it please). Yes it should be available in 1080P.

 

[YOUTUBE]

[/YOUTUBE]

 

Give this a few hours and hope it works. :x

Edited by Emperor Norton
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Our next stop was Terre-de-Haute. I slept in and had a wonderful breakfast after the Restaurant and Verandah were closed.

 

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I'd been to the Caribbean before. Oddly it was a cruise lines 'oops' that kept me here a few weeks longer than I'd anticipated (they messed up the reservation and had a much later departure date - once notified they said we could either leave on the original date or enjoy the extra time - on them. Hard choice that).

 

Rather than revisit another island I decided to play in the water. One of the sad things about the watersports platform is that there's no free swim (BOO!). They had the banana boat as well as the kayaks (there was no waterjet/seadoo type craft like Radisson had on the Diamond - sad).

 

There was a family on board that had some shall we say under 18 children. The banana boat pulls up and the exchange went something like this:

Kid: can you try to shake us off, please?

Driver: I didn't hear that question but if everyone agrees, sure

Kids Mom: Sure

Me: (spoilsport and go easy mode or go for it) Sure why not

 

About a minute later I got high sided into the water. Aside from my Pride (lol) the only thing that hurt was my head. Darn those helmets - wrong application IMO. After that the sun reminded me that Id picked up a gift in St. John that kept on giving, aka a sunburn. Back to the shade covered other parts of the ship for me.

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Stalkers!

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