Carnival Pride- Sept. 4th to 11th- BERMUDA! Here's my review.

Just got home from the 7 day cruise from Baltimore to Bermuda, had a great time and I will try to give some insight on the Pride and Bermuda. Expect to hear in the next few days about:

1) Park and Cruise Hotel at Best Western Plus O'Donnell St

2) Cabin and Staff Reviews - We had cabin 817X

3) Our Time Dining- and other EATS!

4) Entertainment on board

5) Coco Reef Day Pass w/ Lunch

6) Horseshoe Bay Beach

7) Couples Massage and Cave Swimming at Grotto Bay

8) Tom Moore's Jungle- more Cave Swimming and small cliff jumping

9) Swizzle Inn lunch and Rum Swizzles

10) Glass Beach

11) Snorkel Park Beach

12) Public Transportation - Bus and Ferry using the 2 Day Transportation Pass

13) FASTER TO THE FUN

1) Park and Cruise at Best Western Plus- O'Donnell St. Baltimore

As you know the day before this cruise was set to sail the area was expecting to feel the effects of Hurricane Hermine, even though we live less than 4 hours away we decided the best option was to get a hotel that offered free parking during the duration of the cruise. Parking at the Cruise terminal would have cost around $105 for 7 nights (I think) the Hotel was $169 and offered free parking and shuttle service to and from the terminal. We felt it was worth the extra money to prevent from travelling in foul weather the day of the cruise.

We check in and the clerk says, "We've upgraded you to a suite" because they sold out of the room we had booked. So far, So Good! Or so we thought, the room was large but very dated and the couch was filthy. (I've seen better couches on the curb at College Dorm move out day- waiting to go to the dumpster). Whatever- I checked the bead for any signs of bedbugs and everything else appeared clean. What the hell, it's only one night. They offered free bus service to the Inner Harbor, we decided to go there for dinner and to walk around. Beautiful! the weather was perfect and no signs that a Hurricane was off the coast. It's been about 15 years since we've been into Downtown Baltimore, the Inner Harbor was magnificent. We headed back to the Hotel for the evening. We had booked the earliest available shuttle to the Cruse Terminal, 10:15 AM we had FASTER To The Fun and wanted to utilize it. The shuttle from the Hotel to teh Terminal and back was handle by a private company arranged by the Hotel ( I think it was KND Transportation ?). The offered a nice black Mercedes Passenger Van that was staffed by a courteous driver, got us to the terminal in about 15 minutes. They also told us were to pick up the shutlle for the return trip asnd it worked out wonderfully, Overall I would give the Best Western Park and Cruise Package a over all Grade of B- . The Dirty room prevents a higher grade. Everything else about it was perfect.

2) Cabin and Staff Reviews - We had cabin 817X

We had an Extended Balcony Room on the 8th Floor, it was underneath the Lido Deck.

The good: having a balcony for us is a must! we are early risers and enjoy having room service deliver Coffee and Pastries to the room and we enjoy sitting on the deck and enjoy the peacefulness. Another cool feature of the balcony was that since the Lido Deck over hung our balcony it created a little bit of a covering. The room Steward (Francis) was top notch, he serviced our room twice daily, fresh towels each time even though we told him it wasn't necessary. He also greeted us by name every time he saw us.

The Not- So good: I don't like the room color scheme- some weird orange color, not my thing, but whatever. The room A/C would fluctuate between warm to very cold, we didn't spend much time in the room other than to sleep so we didn't complain. We did prop the balcony door open while we slept during sail nights, the sound of the waves and the cool Ocean Breeze was fantastic. Plenty of closet space, but only 1 electric outlet that we could find. The other issue that didn't really bother us, but could be a problem for other is that on several night when they had late night deck parties we could hear the sound of the music in our room. We knew getting a room on the level to expect some noise. Grade A-

Thanks for doing this review. I am on the exact cruise Sunday. Can't wait to hear more.

Can't wait to read the all of your review, we are thinking about this cruise next year.

looking forward to it.

We were going on same cruise 😀 Looking forward to hearing your review!! Sorry you had a bad room ! Ours was polar opposite, clean and nice. Same as in July when we stayed there. We had a standard though .

Following your review.

Can't wait for more.

As we sail this itinerary Sunday... I hope you cover a lot of this before we leave ! :)

Following

I'm on this cruise next year!! Looking forward to hearing more!!!!

3) Your Time Dining and other Eats!

(Let me apologize in advance, I'm doing this section on a tablet, so expect typos)

First night we went to David's Steakhouse on the Pride, I was a bit hesitant to do this because of the $35 pp upcharge, but me and my wife were celebrating our 25th anniversary! Let me just say it was fantastic I had a lobster bisque and steak (forgot which cut) and my wife had a salad and the chicken dish.Both deserts were great. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. The service was outstanding,and being the first night we got a free bottle of wine (don't ask me about the quality because I am not a drinker). Well worth the upcharge.

The rest of the nights we ate dinner in the MDR. On the first formal night we lucked out and had an outstanding waiter, he even encouraged me to order 2 lobster tails. He wanted to bring me a thord one but I declined. There has been lots of talk about the new American menu. I found that there were plenty of choices for everyone's tastes. We never had a bad meal, I think the least favorite was the stuffed peppers. So if you have a conservative palate you could always have a chicken or steak entree. If you're a little more adventurous there are different options available.

Now more about Your Time Dining! We loved that we had the flexibility to eat when we were ready, we generally ate around 6:30, but on shore days we ate much later, again the flexibility suited us. The downfall to YTD, each night we got a different wait staff. One was outstanding, one was bad and the others were average. On several nights we had to wait to be seated, they gave us the vibrating indicator to hold until our table was ready. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes. Overall rating of Your Time Dining A-.

To be continued....

3) Your Time Dining and other Eats!

(Let me apologize in advance, I'm doing this section on a tablet, so expect typos)

 

First night we went to David's Steakhouse on the Pride, I was a bit hesitant to do this because of the $35 pp upcharge, but me and my wife were celebrating our 25th anniversary! Let me just say it was fantastic I had a lobster bisque and steak (forgot which cut) and my wife had a salad and the chicken dish.Both deserts were great. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. The service was outstanding,and being the first night we got a free bottle of wine (don't ask me about the quality because I am not a drinker). Well worth the upcharge.

The rest of the nights we ate dinner in the MDR. On the first formal night we lucked out and had an outstanding waiter, he even encouraged me to order 2 lobster tails. He wanted to bring me a thord one but I declined. There has been lots of talk about the new American menu. I found that there were plenty of choices for everyone's tastes. We never had a bad meal, I think the least favorite was the stuffed peppers. So if you have a conservative palate you could always have a chicken or steak entree. If you're a little more adventurous there are different options available.

Now more about Your Time Dining! We loved that we had the flexibility to eat when we were ready, we generally ate around 6:30, but on shore days we ate much later, again the flexibility suited us. The downfall to YTD, each night we got a different wait staff. One was outstanding, one was bad and the others were average. On several nights we had to wait to be seated, they gave us the vibrating indicator to hold until our table was ready. I think the longest we waited was 10 minutes. Overall rating of Your Time Dining A-.

 

To be continued....

For future reference, with YTD you can request to have the same wait staff or even the same table. We generally like our wait staff the first night and usually ask to sit at the same table. Of course there's a chance you may have to wait a little, but we usually show up shortly after the dining room opens.

Thanks for doing this! We really miss the pride and are looking forward to sailing her again in December.

I was told by some friends (and read lots of reviews) that Guy's Burgers were awesome. Before noon on embarking day we had a Guy's Burger in our hand and a plate full of fries. It would not be our last, they are outstanding!

One thing I found interesting about the Pride (or else I was extremely lucky) was at the many food options there was never the long lines I expected. Pizza Pirate is open 24 hrs a day and just perfect after the late night comedy shows.

Blue Iguana Grill, another good choice. I had a breakfat burrito there one day and tacos several times for lunch.

We never ate anything from the numerous buffets, except the Chocolate Chips Cookies which luckily I didn't discover until our next to last day, or else I would have been eating them all day, every day.

We had the Sea Day Brunch one time, it was very good. Still nothing beats a nice cup of coffee or juice while sitting on the balcony early morning. Did I forget to mention 24 hour soft serve ice cream/ frozen yogurt???? Strawberry FroYo in a cake cone was my goto quick snack. Overall grade for YTD, MDR and other Eats: Grade A.

When you did ATD did you sit with others or at a two top?

When you did ATD did you sit with others or at a two top?

Obviously I can't speak to the OP's experiences, but we love the way the ATD room on the Pride is set up. The two tops along the railing in the 3rd deck are set up back to back, so you do get some privacy.

Following your review.

When you did ATD did you sit with others or at a two top?

We chose to sit at two tops, we prefer the privacy. They ha no problem accommodating our request.

Obviously I can't speak to the OP's experiences, but we love the way the ATD room on the Pride is set up. The two tops along the railing in the 3rd deck are set up back to back, so you do get some privacy.

This is a nice set up, there are also a few two top window seats available.

2) The Not- So good:The room A/C would fluctuate between warm to very cold, we didn't spend much time in the room other than to sleep so we didn't complain. We did prop the balcony door open while we slept during sail nights, the sound of the waves and the cool Ocean Breeze was fantastic.

Leaving the balcony door open has a negative impact on your A/C as well as the A/C in surrounding cabins.

Enjoying your review.

Obviously I can't speak to the OP's experiences, but we love the way the ATD room on the Pride is set up. The two tops along the railing in the 3rd deck are set up back to back, so you do get some privacy.

That's great information. Thanks!

Sue

What are the internet packages and costs for the Bermuda run on the Pride?

Let me start by saying Cruise Director Leigh (from Australia) was outstanding! We didn't go to any of the daytime activities such as Bingo and the Love and Marriage Show. We did do to most of the evening performances and Punchliner Comedy shows. Let's start with the evening performances- basically all shows were performed by the same group of 8 dancer/singers. Some of the more memorable shows were: 88 Keys (a tribute to piano singers such as Billy Joel and Elton John) the pre-show was done by the Piano Bar entertainer and he wa downright dreadful, thank God once his 15 minutes was over he didn't come back. The 80's show was a tribute to 80's music videos, the highlight was the visual effects in their take of A-ha's 'Take On Me'. The singing throughout the different shows fluctuated between outstanding to horrid. They totally butchered Prince's song 'Let's Go Crazy'. The choreography was decent eventhough the one dude with a mohawk seemed to be a half step behind everyone else. I don't expect much going into these shows and they delivered marginal to good entertainment.

Punchliner Comedy Club: this was the winner of the onboard entertainment by far. We saw 7 different performances by 4 different comedians. Stanley Ullman, Dean Gaines, Thomas Brown and Scotty K. We attended the age 18+ performances, and if you are easy offended or embarrassed be warned, these shows are not for you. Stanley Ullman and Dean Gaines were on the ship from Baltimore to Bermuda we saw one show each of theirs, the shows went by fast and left is wanting more. The only problem with the performances is the venue- Butterflies Lounge is just too small and it was SRO when the shows started. In Bermuda the comedians switched out and we got Thomas Brown and Scotty K. Both were outstanding. The highlight of Thomas Brown wa his 'Motown Show', but to me the true shining star was 'Son of a Preacher' Scotty K. We watch two shows by Thomas Brown and 3 of Scotty K, each with fresh material. We really enjoyed these shows! It was also nice to be able to head up to Pizza Pirate for a late night snack after the ahows. Overall Grade: A-.

Next review I start with the fun stuff- Bermuda and our adventures! Let me preface this by saying I am early 50s and my wife is mid 40s, we consider us to be in above average physical shape and enjoy taking the roads less travelled. We did everything on our own (no excursions) and actually found the most enjoyable things we did were surprisingly the ones that were free.