Pride 8/29 Review

It is sure hard to come back here and write about our trip - we still want to be on Pride. There were 8 of us - Papa and I took our granddaughters Heather 15 and Nikki 11. My DD and SIL took their boys, Brett 9 and Mark 7. Papa and I spent 2 days at amusement parks before our cruise and I won't bore you with all that - needless to say we were exhausted.

We stayed at Downtown Holiday Inn. It was nice and we could park our car there for free. I had been corresponding with another family, Cruisenmom, who has kids in the same age range and we hoped to connect on the cruise. Well, they were at the same Hotel and although we didn't see each other except for once we hoped to connect later. We were downstairs and ready to go at 8:15. The hotel provides shuttle service but it is a minivan. He managed to take all 8 of us and our luggage - I swear someone must have been on the roof. We got to the pier and went looking for a porter as we had TBA's. We found a very nice one and he said he was not supposed to give out luggage tags that early, he did get ours and we waited for the "train" to come get our checked luggage. That happened around 9. We met CruisenMom and her family there too and they were 1st at early check and we were 2nd. Then we headed over to the terminal. Cruisenmom had met Margarita, a Carnival representative, and Margarita told them to wait to the side, not get in line, and she would take care of them. We waited with them, introducing their daughter to my granddaughter. People started lining up to the left and Cruisenmom got nervous and found Margarita to see if we should be lining up too. She said "didn't I tell you I would take care of you"? Cruisenmom said "another family (us) is standing with us and Margarita said "ok, them too". So we went to the head of line, right after the disabled people. We were onboard around 12:30. Our room was ready. Dumped our clothes and headed out to see this beautiful ship. Our checked luggage didn't arrive until 5.

And it is beautiful. Had lunch at Mermaids. Really good and a great variety. Got our drink of the day - keep the glass and then each day the drink of the day is $4.00. Now we smuggled in some alcohol - but we did have the drink of the day each day. Life boat drill was easy - took off our lifejackets and waited for the ship to sail. About 15 minutes late she took off and we went to see about dinner.

Our table was upstairs, for the 8 of us. Right up against the window. What a view. Grandson Brett said he had never seen a sunset on the ocean before. He was awed. Our waiter Imade was so patient with the boys and helping them order - partially from the kids menu and partially from the adult. Whatever they wanted. Food was very good - can't remember each night what we had - do know that granddaughter Heather tried cavier, escargot, and raw salmon. Proud of her. Days were spend around the pool, at the casino (DH won about $250.00) and Mermaids.

CruisenMom'd daughter and our granddaughter hit it off and became fast friends. Her son and our grandsons hung out a lot. The youngest boy, Mark, really liked Camp Carnival. Brett did a little, he preferred hanging out.

Swing Time was a great show. So was the BigBand one (can't remember the name). The theater fills up quick (we had early seating) so get there early. People are not supposed to save seats but they do (uh oh, so did we).

If I forgot anything, I am sure CruisenMom will add. We spent a lot of time with them - a really nice family.

PV next

Enjoyed reading your review. I'm looking forward to PV and everything else that follows. Margarita was also a great help to us during our embarkation on the Pride and the Ecstasy.

Ok, on to PV.

The night before we got to PV we had a beautiful thunder storm. Looking out from our balcony it was just awesome. Originally we had planned to go to LasCaletas but the shore excursion person discouraged our DD and SIL from doing this stating it would be too hot and too long for the kids (8-15). So we went to Paradise Beach instead and it was really a nice relaxing time. We took an air conditioned bus to Paradise Resort for the AM tour. We got off and walked through the lobby of a beautiful Hotel, and out to the pool area. What a beautiful pool. It had a bridge over it and 2 water slides for the kids. To the right was a quiet pool. Also had a huge spa but it was just too hot to get in. Just a few steps to the beach and the water was so warm. The kids got boogie boards and kyacks. Plenty of lounge chairs and shade if you want it. Back at the pool a basketball game was started - women against the men. Since there were not enough women my DH was sent to the womens team with the name "topless lady". It was a riot. The women could claw, splash, whatever to get the ball but the men could not touch the women. My DD made the winning basket. We thought we would stay past the noon departure and take a cab back to the ship but we were ready to go at noon. Got back for some lunch and are glad we did. Shortly after, it began to pour. People coming back were drenched - cruisenmom can attest to that. We stayed on the ship after that. Was this the night for Varoom? Can't remember - but whenever it was it was wonderful. When you go to the shows, order a Miami Vice - yummy. One of these night was the adult comedy of Jerome. He was sure "adult". Steve, our CD, said "are there any 17 year olds in here - well get the F... out! Too bad the doors were not closed to the theater. Our 15 year olds heard most of the show - until they decided it was too raunchy for their taste. My DD also felt uncomfortable. "My mom is over there".

Tomorrow is Mazatlan - and Randi's

Today is Mazatlan and we are off the ship early - Randi's group are waiting where you get off the tram. He takes us to a place to sit and we meet Randi. She is so much fun - and true to her word we depart for our horse ride exactly at 9:30. There were some people who didn't show up for whatever reason but we had a nice size group. I was not sure I was going to ride due to old injuries but decided to do it. I am glad I did. First we took an open truck-type thing to the water taxi. Where you get the water taxi is a fish cleaning place and lots of pelicans around and the smell is quite strong. But we got our water taxi and always felt safe - they make you put on life vests but don't have to buckle them unless you want to. About 15 minutes later we were at Stone Island. Randi said it is behind about 50 years and it is primitave. We then boarded a open trailer pulled by a tractor to where the horses are. We got there and Randi showed us the 2 babies, born the day before. She is so proud of them - she loves these horses and also the team that work for her, Maria, Tony and Tony's brother. We were assigned our horses and off we went. The ride through the coconut grove was nice - it was hot though. I think the horses decided enough of this heat and they headed for the beach. This was the best part. My horse was content to just walk along - until Tony would come up behind him and "encourage" him to trot. That was uncomfortable for me and I really wanted him to stop "encouraging" my horse to do that. We rode for over an hour - getting off was not pretty. Didn't fall on my face though but walking was a bit difficult. Just a short walk to Victors and that Pacifico beer was so refreshing. My DH had the garlic shrimp. I had breaded shrimp. Onion rings were great too. Cruisenmom and her family had a large platter with all the things on it and that looked good too. The beach was great and the grandkids body surfed and played for quite a while. Victor's has free boogie boards for the kids too. Randi can arrange a banana boat ride but we didn't have time for that. My DH watch broke on this trip so don't know what time we got back but I think around 4:30. I would highly recommend this ride. We are going back on Celebrity next month and we are going with Randi again, just skipping the horse riding, and using the transportation to get over to Stone Island. We will sit on the beach and enjoy.

One word of caution - don't keep your S&S cards around your neck in the plastic container. Cruisenmom's daughter lost her S&S card and my daughter lost her S&S and her drivers license. They just bounced out. Tony rode back along the route and luckily found all 3 - but we were very lucky.

Great review. It makes me miss our July Cruise. My son loved virgin Miami Vice drinks. I think that would have been all he drank if I had not limited him to one a day :)

Elise

I guess I did this wrong - should have made each day a separate thread but oh well. This is Cabo day and will be short. Because of Hurricane Howard we could not go into Cabo. They gave everyone a $25.00 credit each so my granddaughters went shopping (on the ship). There is one thing I should say here. My granddaughter, 15 and CruisenMom's daughter, 15 are beautiful young women. They don't look 15 - but they are. They were approached by a Security Guard from Carnival who is from India who said some pretty strange things. "He was destined to talk to them", Indian Religion, all kinds of wierd stuff. They are not used to this and didn't know what to do - they listened and then CruisenMom's daughter pretended to get a phone call from her mom and they left. This would not bother us so much but I received a phone call to our stateroom - I answered and this voice said "I was his destiny and where could we meet", probably thinking it was my granddaughter (I am way past his destiny). I told him I would meet him overboard and he hung up!! They did not give out their cabin numbers but their S&S cards were visible. We told the girls that even though their badge says Carnival, to be aware of their surroundings and to be safe.

Jerome did another comedy routine - this time very clean. He also had Kyle Wayne and his "dummie". Now this was some wierd feathered bird and when he got into the show I could swear the thing was real. It was very funny.

Oh yeah, the hairy chest contest - well one guy thought it was the hairy butt contest as he dropped his swimsuit - he didn't win.

One more day to remember - back later

Did you report this incident to the Purser's desk or someone else in authority on the ship? I would hate to think that this security guard might try this ploy with a young girl who is not as wise Cruisinmom's daughter.

At first we thought, because he said he had daughters their age, that he was just lonely. This was the day before we got off the ship and did not report it then - I did send Carnival an email describing the incident. The girls did not get a name or anything. OT but on the Disney cruise in 1999 my nieces were out late and came across some of the crew naked in the hot tub. Not naive that this does not happen - all parents need to tell their kids to be careful. They tend to be lulled into a false sence of security on a ship and they can't.

Last day-

We sure hated to see this day come. My granddaughter made a fast friend with cruisenmom's daughter and they also met a couple of really nice 15 year old boys - she did not want to leave. We went to the Lido deck with our carry-ons and saved some tables and chairs and waited with cruisenmom and her family. They were a deck below us so their number was called first. I like the way Carnival does immigration check as opposed to Celebrity. With Celebrity EVERYONE has to go to the check point on the ship - they will not let anyone off until everyone has cleared. A couple of little old ladies had no clue they were supposed to do this and we waited over 2 hours to start getting off. With Carnival, immigration is off the ship. Anyway cruisenmom got off and 1/2 hour later our number was called. All went very smoothly except we forgot to take the phone number of Holiday Inn - we just got a cab and they took us to the hotel. It was only $12.00. After a 7 hour ride home we arrived to start the daily routine. Where is my omlet? Where is the show? None of it is here but my house is rocking. We had a wonderful time and will sail Pride again I am sure.

Now we wait until Oct. 13 and we do it again, this time from S.F. so don't have the long drive. And just DH and I. That will be fun but we made so many memories with the kids and grandkids and I would not have missed that for the world.

Any questions, please ask. I know I forgot a lot of things in this review.

Your review made me cry and miss you all even more! :(

I am almost done with my review.....been a hectic week!! Doxie had to be taken to the ER....almost lost her!! They saved her little life thank God.

Love you guys!

Cruisnmom007

Thank God your little one made it. I hate it when one of my "best friends" is sick. Teddy is getting up there (14) and I know the day is coming. He was my late husband's "best friend" and I almost lost him when he died. Boy they get attached, as we do.

We really miss you guys to. Wonder if that cruise will ever be recreated - it was great!!! How are the kids and DH? Hectic here too. And this is semi-retirement!!!!!

yeah my doxies are my other children....we also have a cat who is 18 now.

Kids are doing good...Ash and Heather are still communicating...that is good. We look to coming up that direction in November for Veterans day weekend. Ash has 4 days off...still have to confirm Chris and Brian's schedules.

Looking at some more cruises....still deciding. We need to plan one with all of us again. That was toooo fun. LETS DO ALASKA!!!

Glad to hear you wrote to Carnival about that "security guard", I am doing the same thing. They can probably narrow it down on who it was. Still thank God our girls had the good sense it wasn't "normal" behaviour from a crew member.

I am all for it - Alaksa is wonderful. Plan far enough ahead so we can make payments - haha. I know Chris and Lisa will have to. It would be so much fun. Glad the girls are keeping in touch.