21 Nights of Food and Fun (well, mostly Food) Pride Journey Cruises

Okay, so it's taken me a bit to get my rear in gear and get going with this picture review. But I'm going to get it started. I am warning you all at the outset, this is going to take a while. I have ton of food pictures (and few others that I'll throw in) and have a lot of say about how wonderful these cruises were.

Details:

January 17 - February 7, 2016

Carnival Pride Journey Cruises

11 day / 10 day back to back

Embarkation: Baltimore Maryland

Debarkation: Baltimore Maryland

Port Stops:

Grand Turk

Aruba

Curacao

Bonaire

St Croix

San Juan (change over day / start of 2nd cruise)

St Thomas

Antigua

Dominica

St Lucia

St Kitts

St Maarten

Cast of Character:

Me - I am 41 and work for the Canadian Government. Up until this year I had a lot of vacation time saved up but really went on a vacation spread in 2015/2016. I did the 14 Pride Repositioning cruise in March, 7 night Bermuda cruise on the Celebrity Summit in August/September, 4 night Royal cruise on the Navigator coupled with a 5 night cruise on the Disney Magic and then followed that up with this 21 night cruise. And to top it off, I still have 3 vacation days left until March 31 (April 1st, I get another 4 weeks of vacation added to my leave balance). I am not active, I don't enjoy sports or really anything that requires me to sweat. I do enjoy trivia and reading. I have to be nice to people at my job and it's a pretty high stress environment with what I do now (Management); on cruises, I look for downtime and not having to talk to people. Oh, and I'm a slot junkie. Love the casino.

My mother - she's in her 60s (looks like she's only 50 though) and is a full time wheelchair user. She loves doing crafts and even with just the use of one hand still manages to crochet and do other various paper crafts. She's also a casino junkie (I get it from her) and also loves trivia and coffee. She is the opposite of me - she will (and does) talk to anyone and everyone. She said hello to every single worker she met or who even walked past her.

My father - he's in his late 60s and shaved his "santa-esque" beard so he could use his snorkel mask on this cruise. He's a bit of a grumpy guy when things don't go right, he hates waiting for anything. OTOH, he's very engaging, a great story teller and would do anything for his friends and family. He doesn't really like gambling but will sit in the casino with us for hours (usually complaining about how much we're spending and then celebrating even the smallest win). He's a steak guy and by the end of the trip, he was steak-ed out.

My mother and I at the Port of Baltimore:

My father enjoying his first of many Guy's Burgers:

GREAT start to your review!! The Pride is our favorite ship, and I can't wait until Patti retires, and we can do some longer cruises.

We drove from Toronto to Baltimore for this cruise. On Saturday we started our long drive around 7:30am. We stopped for the night at Hagerstown (Springhill Suites) and grabbed a meatloaf dinner from Boston Market (which we don't have in Canada) which we ate at the hotel.

I'm not a fan of meatloaf (the food - love the singer) but I gave in because my dad didn't really want chicken or pizza and none of us were in the mood for a loud, crowded Saturday evening at any restaurant. That being said, the food was good - especially the cornbread, the veggies and meatloaf. The potatoes were a bit odd but nothing bad. Also got an apple pie for dessert and enjoyed that (felt bad tossing half of it away but I knew we couldn't take it on the ship).

On Sunday morning we drove from Hagerstown to the Port, stopping at one of the rest areas along the highway. Maryland rest areas are very nice, very clean, this one had a playground outside and the friendliest staff working inside.

Made it to the Port by about 10:30, paid to park ($315 for the 21 nights) and confirmed with them that when we got back, there would be someone available to jump start our vehicle if necessary. We dropped off our luggage (there was a long carousel in the lot for luggage but we were in the first cart and there was only 1 other set of luggage in there already). There were very few people parking cars at the port for this cruise and we easily snagged the first accessible parking spot. We snapped a few pictures and made our way inside. Check in was pretty easy, no real line ups. Security wasn't too difficult either. We had brought some juice boxes and loose soda cans on for beverages. The person ahead of me had a box of canned soda and the security person had opened it up and taken out the cans and was re-taping the box when I came up to the belt.

I was asked no less than 4 times if we would need assistance with the wheelchair (and it was the same guy) - I answered "Yes" every time. I don't know if he was expecting me to change my answer or what. Anyways, we got wheelchair assistance number 3 and was told that there were a couple of wedding parties and some priority guests they needed to get on board and then they would start helping those with the numbers. So we sat in the assistance area. It was just after 11am.

They let on the wedding parties and then the 3 rows of seated people who were priority (diamond, platinum and FTTF). And we sat. And waited.

More people came needing wheelchair assistance and they also received numbers.

And we sat. And waited.

Other's gave up and decided to try to walk with their canes or walkers onto the ship.

And we sat. And waited.

It was about 12:30pm when there was someone available to wheel my mom onto the ship.

I almost gave up and took her myself but I knew with those ramps it would be extremely difficult and I would probably end up exhausting myself in the first hour of the cruise so decided to just wait it out.

Once on board we headed up to the buffet area and enjoyed our first guy's burger of the cruise. I have never tasted anything so good. I don't think they were any better than any other day I had them it was just that first "Ah, I'm on a cruise moment". And I was pretty hungry. We sat in the pool area - they had the roof over the pool so it wasn't extremely cold but it was still cool.

And of course, for these first burgers, I have no picture.

After we ate we moved down to deck 3 and waited for the rooms to be available. We moved to deck 3 because it was warm and there were seats. The buffet was jam packed, deck 2 seemed pretty cold (because that's where you embark) and there's not a lot of other public decks on the Pride.

Once the rooms were ready we went to check them out.

I had purchased the celebration package for my parents cabin because it was only $15. They phased this particular version out and it's no longer available.

I had also pre-order diet coke and sprite zero for the cabin along with many 12 packs of water. It was all sitting waiting for them.

After our experience on the cruise in March, I had booked us in Anytime dining for these cruises. We often like to watch the Dive in movies and they often seemed to conflict with the late dining (our norm).

Night 1 was okay for wait times. A line had formed around 5:30pm to get into the dining room and we just waited for the line to die down and then we went into the MDR. Service was excellent tonight and we were given a table right up against the railing so we could see down into the lower level of the dining room.

This was our first experience with the American Table.

I loved it.

I think the bread plates are cute:

And the bread box contains a nice selection of bread:

The cranberry bread was a favourite for me, my dad loved the variety of softer white buns and my mom loved anything brown or with seeds.

I do prefer the old twirl of whipped butter. My issue with the new one is that it's too shallow - looks like a lot of butter but it's not. If we had bread and a baked potato, we just asked for a second one. Not too difficult.

The butter itself is clearly whipped; it's very fluffy and you can see the air bubbles in it.

Already enjoying your review.

Keith

Many of the items we ordered for dinner were the same items that had been offered on the old menus in the past. Desserts though, we mostly new items.

For a starter I had the chicken Quesadilla. It was very good. A lot of chicken and beans inside and salsa served on the side.

I also had the soft shell crab which was the port of call appetizer. Loved this. So crispy and the breading was well seasoned - a bit salty, a bit savoury - and kept the soft crab inside well contained. A great addition to the menu.

My dad is not super adventurous and most nights (including tonight) ordered the shrimp cocktail. He is always a big fan of this and often order two of them.

My mother wasn't feeling so great and skipped ordering an appetizer.

Thanks for your review! I would love to do a journey's cruise. Hopefully will some day. Looking forward to more of your review and photos:)

Subscribed!!!

For entrees, I went with another item from the "old" menus which was the Vegetable Lasagna. It was extremely good. It is different from the previous version as it included different and more varied vegetables (not just the spinach and mushrooms of old). It was a large serving and the red sauce it was sitting gave the dish the right mix of gooey cheese, moist vegetables, soft noodles and rich tomato flavour.

My dad ordered the beef ribs from the port of call menu (though sorry, I don't seem to have a picture of them) and a flat iron steak (just in case). He loved the port of call dish - the beef was very tender and had a light gravy on it. The flat iron steak was cooked perfectly medium and had been marinated so it was tender and juicy.

Here is a picture of the flat iron steak along with an absolutely massive potato.

My mom's dish was less of a success. She had ordered the honey glazed pork loin with sweet potato puree. The pork was dry (the sauce/glaze didn't help much) and the sweet potato was full of sugar and butter (which most people prefer - my mom prefers them with nothing on them though). She ate a couple of bites but I don't think she was really hungry.

Our server was quick to ask if he could bring her something else but she declined.

Nice review so far...thanks for posting!

Desserts tonight were excellent.

I had the warm chocolate melting cake with butter pecan ice cream. This was one of the few nights that I ordered the WCMC. Most times there were other new desserts that I found more interesting but for the first night, there was nothing I wanted more than this.

My mom went with the chilled Strawberry parfait (I had warned her that it was like a mousse - and that's really what she felt like). She enjoyed this. It was like a strawberry mousse on a thin piece of cake.

I made my dad order the Nutella Tiramisu. He scrunched up his face and was like, "Nutella! Yak, I don't want that." But I forced his hand and ordered it for him. He also ordered the apple pie because he didn't think he'd like the Tiramisu (he loves - I mean loves - Tiramisu. He tries it every where we go.)

I (of course) was right and he absolutely LOVED the nutella tiramisu. It was one of the lightest - yet richest - tiramisu he's ever had. The Nutella just adds a bit of a nutty undertone to the deep coffee and cream flavours.

The apple pie was good as well. My dad is a baker and he was impressed with the crust. The filling wasn't traditional apple pie fill but rather sliced and baked apples (very little filler - like cornstarch or clear gel).

Great review so far, fantastic pictures.

looking forward to this review! great start! :) so jealous you went for 21 days!!! ugh my dream! lol and what an awesome itinerary!

Great Start!

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So the next morning my parents were up at insane o'clock. Truthfully, so was I. It was a Monday morning and my internal clock didn't reset to vacation time yet. I however, am lazy and just hung around my cabin watching TV and playing a game on my laptop until it was time for the Sea Day brunch (which the 3 of us had agreed to go to today).

My parent though were up to watch the sunrise and have coffee in the buffet.

They also had something to eat and my dad managed to snap some photos of the continental buffet and the fruit area and the meats/cheese area.

I have no idea what they ate because that they didn't get pictures of.

Around 8:15am I called their cabin to see if they were up and so we could be ready to hit the brunch at 8:30am when they opened.

That's when they told me they'd already eaten and had coffee.

Anyways, we went to the crafts at 9am instead and then went to the brunch afterwards.

Today's craft was a plastic canvas door hanger.

It contained everything you needed to complete the craft except for scissors. We didn't actually make these but did take the package. I had opened mine up to see the contents and instructions. There was a blunt needle, 3 colours of yarn, the plastic canvass door hanger and instructions for 3-4 different patterns you could choose from.

There were many people (mostly ladies) sitting and chatting and working on these.

I however was hungry so after chatting for a bit, I was ready to go to brunch.

My parent decided to go to brunch with me and they just ordered something "light to eat".

My mother went with the fruit plate with cottage cheese (no kiwi because she's allergic to it). She also had a piece of the lemon pound cake from the bread basket. She really enjoyed it - it was moist and had a bit of lemon filling on top under the light, white icing.

My father went with an order of mac n cheese with steak. Unlike in the past, it appeared that the steak was mixed in with the pasta instead of a single, small steak sitting on top.

For me, I had a spinach and mushroom (and cheese) omelet with a side of bacon and corned beef hash.

Corned beef hash isn't something we see a lot of in Canada so I do order it on cruises when I make it to the dining room for breakfast (which isn't often). The omelet was cooked very nicely. I don't like moisture in my eggs (as in any part them not fully, fully cooked) and this one was fully cooked. There was lots of spinach and mushrooms and it had a mound of cheese inside. It was also served hot (not room temp, it was cooked and served right away). The bacon was super crispy (love it!) and it was exactly how breakfast should be served - quickly and with plenty of coffee.

We like the brunch menu but would look forward to perhaps a few updates or new additions as we've experienced it so many times now.

Great review so far looking forward to the rest!

Left out a bit of excitement for us on Day 1.

Despite being to the port so early, we didn't get our luggage until after dinner on night 1. Was a little worried about it in the afternoon and was extremely thankful to see all of the bags sitting there when we returned to the cabin after dinner.

While we were waiting for the special needs muster drill (deck 3 aft lounge), we were talking to another couple who said they saw a luggage cart go over in the port and the suitcases and bags landed in a big puddle. She said, "Gee, I'd hate to be those people - their bags got soaked.".

So after dinner we brought the luggage into my parents cabin and I started unpacking my parents stuff that night.

2 of the bags sent to their room were wet. One of the other bags was waterproof so that one may have been as well but due to the kind of bag, everything inside was dry. My dad went to my cabin to get the other suitcase that held their stuff (I'd just randomly put luggage tags on the suitcases splitting them evenly between the two cabins) and found another wet back of stuff.

So I started pulling out the stuff that was wet and ended up with a laundry basket mostly full.

My dad called down to guest services and a head housekeeper came to the cabin. She looked at the clothes and the suitcases and offered to have the wet clothes washed and dryed for us. She returned with 3 paper laundry bags and a form to fill out. We set down 8 dresses, 4 shirts, 2 pants, and 2 pairs of shorts.

The thing that ticks me off is they knew the luggage got wet. They had to replace several of the luggage tags (I'm assuming because they were wet). They didn't say anything when the luggage was dropped off, no letter, no nothing.

And the head housekeeper wanted to inspect the luggage to see how wet it was and where it was wet.

Anyways, the laundry was returned the next day. All of it was clean, dry, and folded (even the dresses were folded).

I am so excited for this review! We board Pride on March 13 for a 14 day Journeys cruise, so I will be following along. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. :)

Wow 21 days on a cruise. I can't wait until I can do this. I am enjoying your review. You are a very good writer and have great photos. Keep up the great work and thank you for posting.:cool:

Can't wait until your second cruise. We will be on that one (or very similar in May). Looking forward to port reviews.

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Great review so far! I'm sailing on the Pride in April with my cruising buddies (parents).

Today was a pretty lazy day. After brunch, we just kind of took a tour around the ship and checked out the temperature of the pool deck. For my mother it was still too cool to sit out there for any length of time (I'm a winter person so the cold really didn't bother me).

I was purposely avoiding the casino for as long as I could so we headed back to my parents cabin. We completed all of the unpacking (more like re-arranging and putting away) and got things settled for the long voyage. We removed everything from the fridge and put in our own drinks. On the March trip, my dad kept banging his arm on the edge of the sink area so we brought a pool noodle to cut and put up (the accessible bathroom has a very different set up than the regular bathroom).

The grate coming out of the bathroom was a little sunken into the floor so my dad called maintenance. It was difficult to get the wheelchair to roll out of the bathroom because it would basically hit the lip and you'd have to pull the chair up and over. Within a few minutes of his call, a worker came, looked at the situation and told me Dad, "No problem. I know exactly how to fix it." He took a couple of measurements and left. He was back less than 15 minutes later with a piece of wood. He pulled out the grate, popped in the wood, replaced the grate and easy-peasy - everything was once again level. Such a small, quick fix and it made all the difference to us. My dad ended up going down to guest services to ensure that the worker got kudos for being so good, so quick and so competent.

My mother was tired (from getting up at insane o'clock) so she decided on a long, hot shower and then a long, warm afternoon nap. After getting her settled, I went to my cabin to unpack my stuff (at this point, I hadn't unpacked anything of mine - just my parents) and decided to order room service for lunch. I really wanted a Carnival Tuna Sandwich with potato salad.

I have always loved the tuna on an English muffin and I have been strangely addicted to Carnival's potato salad. Unfortunately with the new room service menu, both of these changed and I can no longer endorse them.

I can't put my finger on what was different with the tuna but it just wasn't the creamy, tasty concoction of the past and the potato salad was no longer the red skin tastiness - it now had black seeds and flecks of green, regular potatoes and not pure mayo (maybe it was a mix of mayo and salad dressing). Anyways, it wasn't the sandwich and side of the past.

In case my dad showed up (because he also wandered off after my mom was settled in for her nap), I had ordered a BLT for him (pretzels on the side that I put into a baggie for later). Of course, with the disappointment after the first bite of Tuna, I tried out the BLT. It was just as good as in the past - toasted white bread, lots of crispy bacon, thick slices of tomato and a small wad of lettuce. And they sent a whack of pretzels.

And just to round out my lunch, I had ordered the cheesecake for dessert. Again different. I don't know if it was better, worse or the same quality as before. It was just different and I wasn't in the mood for different. 1 bite and I left the rest.

Loving this review and your pictures! We are also going on the 14 day Journey cruise on Pride in March. We usually do 8 day cruises, but last year did 2 7 day B2B's. First was on Liberty in Jan, the other was on Pride in May. LOVE being on a ship for 2 weeks, but they are bascially "the same cruise" so I am anxious to see the difference in ONE long cruise. I LOVE BLT's but don't have the patience to wait around for room service, so I would get 2 pieces of toast from the breakfast buffet and wrap in a napkin, then when they opened Guy's Burgers, I would go to the Fixin's Bar and slather my toast with mayo and piled on the B , L and T! :D;) :pThanks for sharing your cruise with us and looking forward to reading more! :)