Jen1000

I am very prone to motion sickness and would never go on a cruise not prepared. At any time conditions can change and it may get rough. For example, a cruise I took in January was very smooth and then a wind and cold front came in and the ship was really rocking and some people felt sick. Luckily that was only for 1.5 days or the 8 night cruise. I always take OTC motion sickness pills and increase them if the cruise is rough or take the minimum if it is smooth. I also wear Sea Bands. I keep on hand saltines, ginger cookies, ginger tea and some sort of ginger lozenge or candy (last cruise I took Up Spring stomach settle and have taken other brands and types in the past). Some other tricks if you start to feel ill is to get outside in fresh air on as low a deck and mid ship as possible. Hopefully, you cabin is low and mid ship as that really helps not feel sick. Jen

The cruise was not to the PC. We went to Belize, Cozumel, Roatan, Grand Cayman and Costa Maya out of Tampa. I don't think there was the hairy chest contest on this cruise but I could have missed it on the schedule. It is a bit harder for me to stay on top of all activities with the app. Carnival's app was easier to use for activities vs. the Princess app. Late in the cruise I found the printed schedules were near the Piazza Cafe with the puzzles of the day. The Serenity area was free. We never figured out if the overboard was a prank or if someone saw something fall off the ship and thought it was a person. What I was impressed with was how professionally and calmly it was dealt with. There was a plan and the staff executed that plan well. Jen

I was on the Carnival Pride last month out of Tampa for 8 nights. I have been on HAL, Princess, RC, Celebrity and Carnival in the past. Most recently on Princess I heard multiple people criticizing Carnival and they definitely thought that a Carnival cruise was beneath them. It was fun to let them know we like Carnival and see how they respond. I think each of the lines does different things well. Carnival is great with activities and entertainment and I found that to be true on the Pride. The cruise director and his team were great. I think HAL overall has better food than Carnival but lacks in activities. I remember one night in the main show room on HAL was pretty bad and people in my party walked out. Other entertainment on HAL is superior to Carnival. The staff was very good on the Pride and no complaints there. The balcony cabin we had on the Pride was a good size and in good shape. The cabin was larger than my balcony cabin on a recent Princess cruise. The cabin TV was really small and the channel choices are a joke, there are a lot of Carnival channels and almost no real channels to watch. I don't watch a lot of TV on a cruise but I do like to watch some and could not find much worth watching. Good Food on Pride - I found the dining room to be good and was happy with dinner and ate there 7 of my 8 dinners. I ate breakfast in the dining room twice and it is better than the breakfast buffet. The pizza at the Pizza Pirate station was great. PP was the only food available after 11 PM aside from paid room service. Lunch and dinner "buffet" station was overall very good and there is carved meat at lunch and dinner and at some meals the most delicious mashed potatoes. Blue Iguana is great. I loved the meat tacos and also went there for breakfast a few times. They have arepas at breakfast and they were delicious, especially with beans. Not so good Food on Pride - The dessert station on the Lido was not to my taste and there was almost no dessert I liked or finished. The Chopstix station was not good. There is soup at Chopstix that was fine but the rest of the food was not good. We had a couple of odd incidents on the trip. We did stop to make contact with people in a small boat to see if they needed assistance. The people on the boat did not want to get on the ship and in the end the ship provided food, blankets, water and a radio. Another day we had a "person overboard" incident. After the ship went back and there was a good amount of looking no one was found. Everyone on board had to report to their muster stations and check in. It took a while and there were people called by name that had not checked in but in the end all passengers, crew and contractors were accounted for, so it was a false alarm. Both incidents were handled very professionally by the crew. I hope this helps and have a great trip. Jen

If you will return to see Chichen Itza another time in a way that will not require so much time in transit, save it for then. If not, go with the cruise ship. Chichen Itza is far superior to Tulum. Jen

I went on the October 19 80's cruise out of LA. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time. Because I live in SoCal the ports were not the appeal, the theme was the draw and it is an easy drive for us to the port. We did get off in both ports and did short activities and then got back on the ship. As I recall, there were things to do when we got back on the ship. We had DSB, Wanted and Carlos Oscar on our cruise. The bands were really good. Wanted also did a New Wave show in a smaller venue and that was awesome as well. We saw 2 different Carlos Oscar shows and he was hysterical. Jen in SoCal

I am just off a Princess cruise and have a Carnival cruise booked for January so I have been receiving Carnival's emails about the changes. I am not bothered by most of the changes at Carnival because most do not pertain to me. However, having all room service at a fee (except for some limited breakfast items from 6 AM to 10 AM) does bother me. On Princess there was only the International Cafe for late night snacks and it was often out of most items so we would order a snack from room service. There is a good selection of free room service items on Princess. Carnival is now charging for everything except the "continental" breakfast from 6 AM to 10 AM. So far I don't think Carnival has any free dining after 11 PM but I cannot be sure. Jen

The bus ride was not bad, you get to see a lot of Belize from the bus, which I actually enjoy. On the way back we stopped for lunch so that broke up the trip back. The day we visited was not very crowded so that was great as well. I have not been to Lamanai but I have been to several others ruins big and small and Xunantunich is still one of my favorites. I would only book with the cruise line though. We were the last bus back and rode the last tender back! Jen

In Belize is Xunantunich offered by your cruise line? If so, I recommend that over Altun Ha. Xunantunich is far from the port but I did the tour with the cruise line and would only do it with the cruise line to be safe in terms of time. Jen