Carnival Pride September 3rd 2017- Family Cruise - Our First Time on The Pride.

Enjoying your review!! We have sailed the Pride twice and love the ship...your photos are great:D

Enjoying your review. The Pride is my favorite ship. I am sailing along with you (in my mind) since Hurricane Irma messed up my Magic cruise this week. My group had to cancel since our hotel and shuttle closed.

The Dr. Seuss book reading and parade look like a very nice event for kids. Really enjoying your pictures, makes me want to cruise tomorrow..

Bare with me everyone. Busy day at work. Will have to finish next week.

Day 5- September 7th- Nassau

During the Love & Marriage show the previous night, Cruise Director Brandon told us the forecast for Nassau was 95 degrees with a heat index of 115 degrees and that everyone should use extreme caution while in port. My husband and I decided that since we had been to Nassau before and neither of us nor my son handles extreme heat well, that we would stay on the ship. My in-laws had never been anywhere in the Bahamas before so they wanted to go ashore and at least check it out.

Son sitting in the window of our oceanview room.

Since we weren't getting off the ship, we slept in and got in no hurry this morning. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast on the Lido and then planned to enjoy the pool which was empty for most of the morning. I tried my first breakfast burrito from Blue Iguana and to my surprise it was horrible. I had read so many fantastic reviews about them, but mine was no bueno. The guy making it barely put any stuff in there and what he did put was poor quality. I took 2 bites and went to find something from the buffet. Husband had the same experience with his burrito.

After breakfast we spent the rest of the morning in or around the pool. Like I said, it was pretty empty since alot of people went in to check out Nassau. As hot as it was, the pool was the only place we wanted to be!

Some views of Nassau from the ship.

I work at a wedding venue basically at the base of the Bay Bridge on the Eastern shore. I can pretty much assure you as I saw your ship go while I was bartending the wedding I said....."ugh, lucky peeps.......I would very much like to be enjoying a cocktail on that ship." I love seeing the Pride go by on the weekends. I hope you had a great time. Love the pictures. :)

Day 5 Cont...

After pool time we grabbed lunch from Lido. It was hit or miss as usual, but we found some staples the never disappointed. For me, that was a few items from Chopsticks and the salad bar. Husband stuck with Guys, Pizza, and something from the Deli for Xander. Today's theme was French food so I tried a few of those items, including a "mystery meat pocket" that was actually pretty tasty.

After lunch and swimming we retired to our room for naps. Other than dinner I don't remember what exactly what we did this evening. Sometime in the afternoon my in-laws returned from Nassau. They ended up joining a tour of the Island. They really enjoyed it and the price was less than half of what Carnival was selling it for. Many people were commenting that most of the shops and other buildings were already boarding up in preparations for hurrican Irma. I thing everyone, myself included felt a little guilty for even being there. Here we were on our big fancy vacation on our big fancy boat and all the local people are trying to prepare their homes for what might be a devastating hurricane. I remember looking out at Nassau and thinking, theres a good chance this place could be wiped out in 2 days. Kindof a somber moment... Luckily they avoided a direct hit and didn't sustain a ton of damage.

For dinner I decided to be brave and started with the Ox tongue. I was relieved when it showed up and did not actually look like a tongue. And to my surprise it was quite delicious. Very tender and full of flavor. I only at the inside meat, because the outside "Skin" looked a little too much like tongue. I also had the conch fritter which were decent. Some of the conch was very chewy and I didn't care for the sweet sauce. For entrees, I had the ribs and Steven had the fried chicken. The ribs were very meaty and tender and overall I really enjoyed it. The fried chicken was actually pretty good. I'm a bit of a fried chicken snob and find there is more bad fried chicken out there than good. The breading was crispy and the chicken was still juicy. The only thing missing was a little more seasoning. For dessert I wanted to try the buttered popcorn pot de creme. I was skeptical so I ordered the cheese cake as backup. I ended up really enjoying the buttered popcorn. It was just the right amount of sweet with a little hint of salt. And the cheesecake was just fine as well. Most nights my son and husband went for ice cream. I think after dinner we went to donate a couple hundred dollars to the casino. We had absolutely no luck in the gambling department this cruise.

Day 6- Sea Day

We woke up to lots of rocking. Enough that when laying on your side, you would be flipped to one side or the other with every rock. Uh Oh. I get seasick very easily so I was already dreading what was to come. Luckily I had come prepared and put on a patch before ever boarding the ship. I hadn't felt sick at all until this point, and could rarely even feel the ship moving. Since today was obviously different I decided to take extra caution and also took a bonine.

So in all my planning I've read countless people say how great the Sea Day Brunch is. Of course I couldn't wait to try it and had high expectations. Today was the day. We were immediately on alert when it took atleast 20 mins for someone to come take our order. Finally when the guy brought us our ice water we told him we'd like to order. I ordered the tomato soup, huevos rancheros, and banana cream pie. Hubby ordered the cereal coated French toast and eggs and banana cream pie, and the kid ordered chocolate chip pancakes. It took at least another 20 minutes before our food was delivered. All of it was quite tasty. Husband really liked the Cheerio French Toast. Huevos rancheros was very flavorful but between the soup and the bonine, I just didn't have much appetite. The chocolate chip pancakes cake out covered in a deliciously rich chocolate sauce and my son's eyes lit up at the sight of this chocolate heaven. After we ate, we waited, and waited, and then waited some more for someone to clear our plates and bring desserts. Finally I flagged someone down and said we were done with our meals and it was okay to clear the plates. He said, "Well that's fine. You can go ahead and leave." Ummm... what about that pie? So a few minutes later they brought the pie. It was good, but the experience had been pretty much ruined at this point and I didn't really enjoy it.

I was like.. wait! I think you forgot something, but sure enough, out came the soup to pour over the garnish.

Day 6 Cont...

After brunch we went to find Nana and Grandpa on the pool deck. We sat out there for a bit but it was very windy and cool. Below you can see a photo of what we were dealing with. Cloudy, windy, and very choppy.

We had a had a couples massage booked for today so we left Xander with his grandparents and made our way to the spa. This was my first massage ever (hhsband has had 2) and I was a little nervous. I'm inherently a conservative person when it comes to nudity and trust me, no one wants to see this body in all its glory. I'm also super ticklish so I just wasn't sure that I would enjoy it. Boy was I wrong! I mean it was, without a doubt, one of the most awkward things I've ever done. But I definitely did enjoy it and the ladies were super professional and by the end I was totally relaxed. I don't know how it compares to any other massage but I'm anxious to find out. Also, since this was another thing I've heard horror stories about, there was absolutely no sales pitch at all. Maybe its because they were utterly disgusted by our bodies at that point, or she was mad that she had to rub my stubbly legs for so long, but they basically couldn't have gotten out of that room fast enough. Fine with me! Also, no photos from this experience. You're welcome!

After massages was lunch time. My stomach was feeling fine and I was ready to try the sushi. Since Xander was hanging out with the in-laws and none of them like sushi, this was a great opportunity for Steven and I to enjoy a little lunch date. The sushi restaurant never seemed to be very busy and this was no exception. I think there was 1 or 2 other couples there the whole time we were. Shortly after we ordered, they informed us it was show time and handed us some streamers and invited us to dance with them. They taught us a little dance and then we paraded around the restaurant while singing a song about turning Japanese. It was fun. We enjoyed the complimentary edamame and I ordered a house salad to start which was nice and fresh. We ordered 2 tempura rolls, the special eel roll, and a california roll. They were all pretty decent and of good size, but nothing blew us away. All in all, it was a nice meal.

At this point we went to get Xander and then went back to our room to wash off the massage oil and take a little nap. Between the waves, medicine, and massage, I was feeling extra tired. I think I slept for like 3 hours that afternoon. After naps we got cleaned up and ready for the second elegant night. We went to look at all of our photos before dinner and eventually met up with the in-laws and headed to the dining room.

Day 6 cont...

Dinner was fine as usual. I started with the crab cake appetizer which was really good. For my entree I had the grilled shrimp and mushroom pasta. The shrimp was good but I did not enjoy the potatoes that came with it. They didn't seem to go together at all. It was like a warm potato salad with grainy mustard. I ended up eating the shrimp with the mushroom pasta which was very good. For dessert I had the Grand Marnier Souffle. Yuck! It tasted like scrambled eggs with a vanilla sauce poured over top. I think I had some ice cream or melting cake instead.

After dinner, as usual, we went to the Taj Mahal to check out the show. It was supposed to the 80's show tonight but, they had to switch up the schedule since the ship was moving so much so instead we saw the Motown show. It was ok, not the best. After showtime I think we took Xander to camp and went back to the casino to play some black jack. Again... we lost. So it was time to retreat to our room and get ready for bed. We had alot more planned for the last sea day.

We are headed out in 59 days - Thanksgiving Cruise - This makes me want the time to fly by even more now! Nice review!