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Wonderful time on the Carnival Pride Sept 16-23: Review, Pics + Comparisons to HAL


jenng1976
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Welcome to my review on the Carnival Pride from Sept 16-23 out of Baltimore! Overall we had a wonderful relaxing time and it was a great trip.

 

I plan to include lots of pictures, plus info on the hotels we stayed at pre/post cruise since I know that info is helpful for lots of people. I'll also throw in some comparisons to HAL since we did an Alaskan cruise with them last year on our honeymoon.

 

I know there have been quite a few reviews on the Pride recently, so hope you don't mind one more! :)

 

So here we go ...

 

Background:

 

About us - I'm Jenn, 35, this was my 6th cruise overall, 5th with Carnival, but first on the Pride. I went with my husband Jim who is 38 today (happy birthday honey!). This was his 3rd cruise.

 

An admission - I am a total plan-aholic - I love it. I get such a thrill about researching each and every detail of our cruise - from pre-cruise, choosing the best cabin/ship, finding great deals. It really doesn't end, lol. These boards have been tremendously helpful in planning our vacations (I would have done so many things differently had I found cc before my 1st/2nd cruise!). I'm sure many of you can relate!!

 

I will continue on with the initial stages of planning the trip in my next post - but first want will experiment with posting a pic from FB to see if it works, or if I will have to download them all to Photobucket. Fingers crossed. :)

 

This is us from our wedding last year ...

 

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Planning:

 

We started planning this trip a long time ago - June 2011 to be precise! We wanted a trip that wasn't too expensive (coming off a year with a wedding/honeymoon), and driving to Baltimore fit the bill since we could cut out airfare costs. We decided on the Bahamas itinerary again due to cost - it just didn't seem worth it to pay more to go to Grand Turk, even though the Bahamas itself wasn't particularly exciting to us.

 

We generally travel in the fall since it's easier to get vacation time, kids are back in school, and there can be some great deals (though always the risk of a hurricane).

 

Picking the week turned out to be trickier than we thought - despite booking almost a year and a half out, our preferred cabin (5236) was already taken on the original week we wanted (Sept 30 - Oct 6) - so we decided on the 16-23rd instead after confirming with our PVP that the cabin we wanted was available for that week.

 

Now - you might be wondering why we wanted that specific cabin - but from reading the boards I knew that was on of the "bowling alley" balconies - and the best of the Obstructed View balconies. It was only $567/person with Early Saver - definitely a steal!

 

Here's a few pics of the cabin and balcony - despite being a bit on the narrow side (moving past each other involved a bit of shuffling, but overall we were thrilled with our choice!

 

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View between the lifeboats

 

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View sitting down - not really that obstructed

 

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Great picture!! Also love the pride..we've sailed her twice..and also sail Hal...looking forward to your review and pictures:):):):)

 

Thanks! I couldn't resist throwing in a wedding picture even though it's totally unrelated to this trip, lol.

 

Jenn

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These are a couple pictures taken from the Promenade deck.

 

First one is looking up at our balcony.

 

The second is a view of the 4K French Door cabin - this is the type of cabin we'll be in for our British Isles cruise next September so it was neat to see the outside view.

 

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And on to the vacation!!

 

The week leading up to the trip was incredibly busy for me. I live in Toronto but was away in Calgary for business that week, I didn't get home until Friday night at 9:30PM - and we were planning on starting our drive to Baltimore the next morning at 0730! Yikes!

 

Luckily I had somewhat planned ahead and mostly packed all of my stuff the previous weekend. It was somewhat haphazard, I could never quite remember what I had since I packed so early!

 

So, Saturday morning bright and early the alarm went off at 6AM. (Funny how much more fun it is for the alarm to go off when you are headed on vacation versus going to work!). We had a quick breakfast, got ready, finished up some last minute things and before you know it we were loading up the car. Woohoo ... vacation is officially starting!!

 

Ready to go!

 

 

 

 

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We knew we were in for a long day ... Google Maps suggested it was approximately an 8hr drive from Toronto to Baltimore - add in a few breaks and lunch and we figured we would get there 6-7PMish.

 

On the way we stopped at Country Kitchen for lunch in PA. It was the perfect choice - combination between diner and family restaurant - the prices were great and food was delicious. My Grilled Cheese & Fries was only $2.99! Jim went all out and ordered the Eggplant Parmagean special which also came with a salad for only $6.99. Honestly, I was shocked at these prices. I wouldn't normally expect to pay less than $20 for a sit-down lunch. Anyway, I don't know if it's a chain or individual restaurant, but if you see one I would recommend it!

 

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We made one more stop that day - at a Scenic Overlook Rest stop. Beautiful views!

 

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Finally, around 6:30PM we arrived at the hotel. We were staying at the Best Western BWI, near the airport (in Elkridge). We got an awesome deal - only $95 through Trinity Reservations (I had read about them on the Port of Call boards). That price was all in - taxes, continental breakfast, shuttle ride to/from the port, and free parking for up to 14 days. It was cheaper to stay there than it was to park at the port!

 

We were both pretty tired - but not so much that we couldn't pose for one more pic, lol.

 

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We were very happy with our room (though I forgot to take any pictures). We got a King-size, non smoking. It had a fridge and was a good size. We really couldn't say anything bad about this hotel - it was clean, great service and had everything we were looking for. It was also close to the airport if anyone was looking for a good airport hotel - the shuttle also went there.

 

Shortly after check-in, we headed off to the mall Arundel Mills for two very important errands.

 

#1 - Jim wanted to get some books to read on the cruise. We had looked at home before we went, but books are more expensive in Canada.

 

#2 - a black dress for me for formal night. There's a bit of a story with this one - I had originally planned on borrowing a couple of dresses from my Mom for the cruise since I don't own a ton of formal wear, and didn't really want to wear my pink bridesmaid dress (though it was cute). But, when I was trying stuff on at their house, only one dress really called out to me, a navy one. But, by the time I realized I only had one dress for the cruise, it was the week before we were leaving, and as I mentioned earlier, I was away on business that week with no time to shop!

 

I did try a few places last minute - but even though I thought it would be no problem to find a cute black dress - nothing! Either things were too young or too old or too blingy - I just wanted something simple and elegant. Was that too much to ask for? I was discovering that answer was yes.

 

So, when we went to the mall in Baltimore, I really wasn't expecting to find anything. Especially since we were trying to get in/out quick since we hadn't eaten since lunchtime. But, lo and behold - success! It was like a miracle, I found the perfect dress! And for only $32. Definitely a good omen for our trip. :) So, we both left happy.

 

And I do have a tip for anyone going to the mall: Park near Bass Pro. Everywhere else is a zoo. I could go on but, I've talked about the mall long enough, lol.

 

After the mall we went to the pub next to the hotel for dinner. It was really good - Jim especially loved the meatloaf. And omg - we both ordered pints of beer - and it stayed icy cold from first sip to last. Nothing better than a cold beer after a long day of travelling!

 

So that ends Day 1 of our vacation ... next up will be Day 1 of the cruise! :)

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Thanks for the room pictures. We were able to secure that cabin for our Oct. 7 sailing on Pride. Looking forward to the cruise even more now.

 

It really was a great cabin location - we were right near the stairs/elevator but no noise. 4 flights up to the Lido buffet and 3 flights down to dinner!

 

A bit more of a hike to the main showroom or Punchliner on the other side of the ship, but what else did we have to do? haha :)

 

I'm sure you will love it!

 

J

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Adorable wedding picture!!! Thanks for doing a Pride review for all of us doing a Pride cruise next month--it will really help us with our anxiety to get on that ship.

 

Awww, thanks! :o

 

I'm jealous you are going on the Pride next month! You'll have a wonderful time - and any questions let me know. I will be getting to the cruise itself soon, lol.

 

J

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Cruise - Day 1!

 

When we checked into the hotel, they said there were two shuttle times left - either 10:30 or 12:30. Of course we picked the earlier time! I can't even imagine getting to the port that late.

 

So, that morning we ordered a wakeup call for 0800 - thinking that was lots of time to have breakfast, shower and get ready and be in the lobby for the shuttle.

 

But, it couldn't be that simple, could it? If you guessed no, you would be correct. In the shower, I realized I didn't bring my razor in with me - so I called out to my sweetie asking him to bring it to me. While waiting - a feeling of dread passed through me. Oh no - did I pack my toiletries bag? I could just picture it sitting on my dresser since I was adding things as I got ready that morning. A few minutes later I had my answer - the little bag was nowhere to be found in my luggage. :(

 

So, our unhurried morning took a bit of a turn! I quickly finished up, got dressed, hair still wet, and we ran down to the front desk asking if there was a drugstore or grocery store nearby! (Also hoping we didn't have to go back to the mall). Luckily there was a Rite-Aid 3 miles down the road. We hopped in the car and drove what seemed like forever until we saw the store!

 

We picked up a few essentials and quickly headed back. By the time we got back it was 10AM so we finished packing and headed down to the lobby for another coffee and to wait for the shuttle. I felt so lucky I had discovered the missing bag prior to getting on the cruise since I am sure it would have cost a fortune to buy things on the ship.

 

Cruise time is quickly approaching!

 

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Next up: The Boarding process

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The Boarding Process!

 

Well, I couldn't believe it. After 1+ years of planning we were finally headed to the port! The van driver expertly piled a million pieces of luggage (maybe not quite that much, lol) in the back - and 8 of us were off to the port!

 

Down the I95 and yep - there she was, I could see the Whale Tail of the Pride! Yay! No pics here, I was on the wrong side of the van, but still a great sight to see. Now we just had to get on her!

 

The driver unloaded the van and we tipped him and the port luggage guys (for good karma) - but when they moved my big suitcase, the luggage tag fell off. I put it back together and the porter said that he would put another tag on it, not to worry. Inside I thought, maybe I should wait to see him actually do it - but there were other vans waiting to unload so we thought we just grabbed our carry-on bag & backpack and headed to the entrance. (And if you sense a foreshadowing fairy in this part of the story - you would be correct. More to come later!)

 

We got to the Security area (it was close to 11 I'm guessing at this point) - no line - and we had to take off our belts for the security thing-y, and also take out the 2 bottles of wine for inspection. As to what she was inspecting, I have no idea - but she took a LONG time with each bottle, examining the label very carefully on each bottle. They were just regular bottles of 750mL wine, nothing special we thought. But, she eventually cleared them both. Phew!

 

From there - we moved on to the check-in area, no line here either, and handed over our boarding pass & passports. No issues here, although they tried to give us the wrong S&S cards at first, for some other cabin, but since she used the names on the card when handing them to us, the mistake was discovered quickly. Thank goodness we know our names, lol!

 

Once we got the correct cards (Gold & Red) - we headed to the seating where we were in maybe the 5th row of seats excluding the VIP area. No boarding zone cards here, which was different from all our other cruises. All in all, the check in process was painless and took about 5 minutes. (All times are just guesses, since I don't wear a watch!). Then we sat and waited - chatted a bit with the Carnival port guy - people watched and by about 1130 (I think?) they were starting the boarding process! It wasn't too long before our row was called and away we went!

 

Once onboard, our first stop was up to Lido for some lunch! We decided on the Grill since neither of us are "buffet" people - and found a nice table by the window near the pool. Since it wasn't even 12 yet, there was almost no one out there but us.

 

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It didn't take long for a waiter to find us - and we bought our first (of many!) buckets of beer.

 

Yes, this is the life! :)

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Now, here and there I will add a few comparisons to Holland America (HAL).

 

While we have mainly sailed Carnival, our HAL cruise was amazing! Part of that was because it was our honeymoon, the other part because it was Alaska! The cruise itself we felt was similar in many ways to all our previous cruises. Actually - we spread the positive Carnival word to a lot of people we talked to, since I think some have an unfair impression of it being a party line. (I also wrote a review on that one if anyone is interested - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1434426)

 

That said, since HAL was our most recent cruise, it was nice to have a fresh perspective in coming back to Carnival.

 

For the boarding process itself - we found the two lines very similar. The one thing HAL had the advantage on was the opening day lunch. They offer all their "Mariners" (their loyalty program) lunch in the dining room.

We LOVED that option (though we had never sailed HAL before, due to our Carnival cruises we pre-registered for our Mariner #s and were set at their lowest level 1*.)

 

For us, lunch in the dining room is the way to go. Away from all the crowds of people, having people bring you your food - to me that's what vacation is all about! I don't really enjoy waiting in lines, then searching for an empty table. So, in that respect HAL wins hands down.

 

Are you listening Carnival? That would be a great addition to your VIFP program!!! ;)

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