Another Pride Review from a Different Perspective

[serene56]

Awesome review- i look forward to reading more.

We sail in February--Brrrr

[ChampionCruiser]

After dinner we headed over to the card room, which became a nightly pre-show ritual. We had a weeklong rummy tournament and my sister pretty much dominated :rolleyes:

 

 

The show tonight was the first of three production shows, Wonderful World, and it was by far my favorite. It showcased music from around the world and had some very good numbers (my favorite was the North Pole). I thought the singers Zoe and Christopher were both very good as well as the dancers. My sister, who is a dancer, thought *most* of the dancers were very good and she really liked the show too.

 

After the show, we roamed around the ship for a while, went back to the cabin, and, of course, read on the balcony for a long time.

 

It was a great first day at sea and I was ready for the second!

 

[Rocknsoul]

I'm really enjoying this review! :)

[dolfinmusic]

Great review and great pics! I look forward to more. Thank you!

[wone3]

Nice review so far...making me more excited for about 40 days from now, when we will be on her!

[luv2gonow]

Loving your review.....keep it coming:D

[ChampionCruiser]

Happy 4th of July everyone! I have plenty of time before the fireworks tonight so why not start another day?

 

Truthfully, the second sea day was much like the first, so I’ll be much briefer and add pics at the end. I’ll also add some pics from around the ship!

 

TUESDAY, JUNE 22: DAY AT SEA

 

After looking over the Fun Times the night before, we decided that we didn’t HAVE to do anything during the day. Instead, we played it all by ear.

 

When we woke up, we noticed that the ocean was a bit choppy and it was pretty windy. It was like this the entire day and got worse that night. This meant the water slide, mini golf, etc. was closed because of high winds (we were really excited to try the twister slide, too!). It didn’t bother me at all, but my sister definitely felt the ship moving and got headaches off and on throughout the day.

 

We ate breakfast and lunch in the Mermaid’s Grill again. I forgot to mention that I found the layout to be pretty simple after the first day or so. At lunch, there was an international station that rotated different foods every day (Mexican, French, Italian, American…), an oriental station, a deli, a pizza station, a grill with hamburgers and hotdogs, and of course a dessert station. I never waited in line more than a few minutes even though I only went to the deli once, which usually had the longest lines.

 

Our one true complaint of the cruise was that at times (including this afternoon) there was absolutely no ice available on the lido deck. Apparently more than one ice machine was broken and the rest were emptied really fast. Though it wasn’t a huge deal, I’m definitely not a fan of hot water or lemonade. Luckily, the problem seemed to be solved by the end of the week.

 

Besides lying out and swimming more, we also went to The Love and Marriage Show at 2:00 in the Taj Mahal. It was exactly the same as every other cruise I’ve been on, which meant it was funny at times but nothing extraordinary.

 

Here are a few pictures before I go on:

 

Morning on our balcony:

 

 

 

Our favorite spot was quiet like always!

 

 

It was a beautiful day, even with the wind!

 

[ChampionCruiser]

By dinner time, the ship was really rolling. Standing in line outside of the restaurant was a bit comical because you could see everyone in front of you lean to one side and then take a few steps to the other in unison. On the last sea day, Kirk told us in the Ship’s Life Q&A that there was 9 foot swells that night which was apparently puny in comparison to some of the winter voyages. I guess we were lucky!

 

A note about the Normandie Dining Room: it is at the very aft of the ship and so sometimes it vibrates! This was probably the worst night and there were some, well, unhappy people. It didn’t bother us AT ALL because we expected it and the vibration actually wasn’t as bad as that of the Norwegian Majesty or Crown Princess. Still, some people complained (and complained and complained) which I thought was a bit useless since the staff really couldn’t do anything :rolleyes:

 

At any rate, we had another amazing dinner! I ordered the prosciutto ruffles (okay), the short ribs (great), and the strawberry cheesecake (heavenly). I didn’t think about it until I got home, but I ordered some type of beef on five of the seven nights. So much for “branching out” and trying new things!

 

After dinner, we played cards (again), took pictures of the sunset (again), and went to the night’s show, which featured a ventriloquist (Jerry Goodspeed). Honestly, my expectations were pretty low and he did surpass them, but not by much. The middle portion of the show was funny, when he took an audience member and made him act like a puppet, but the beginning and end were, well, pretty dull. It’s okay, though, since you can’t have a production show every night!

 

I think that wraps up the highlights of our second day at sea. I’ve started uploading a lot of ship pictures, but in the meantime, here are some pictures from that evening:

 

Our third attempt at capturing an amazing sunset:

 

 

 

This picture ended up being one of my favorites:

 

 

Well, it was the end of another amazing day on the Pride!

 

Next up: GRAND TURK!!!

 

[ChampionCruiser]

Well, I hope everyone had a terrific holiday weekend! I've started uploading Grand Turk pictures and will hopefully finish with Grand Turk today.

 

I'll warn you now that I might post too many pictures of the ports but I couldn't stop taking them and now I can't choose which ones to post :rolleyes:

 

To be continued...

[vavasmom]

I am enjoying reading your review. We got on as you got off. I have learned - note to self - never book a room with a upper bunk unless you want to be trapped in the bathroom.

[jks336]

Best Western Fairfax had no continental breakfast?! this is very strange as my understanding is that ALL BW's HAVE to provide it.. i've worked at one for the last 9yrs. very weird.

[ChampionCruiser]

Best Western Fairfax had no continental breakfast?! this is very strange as my understanding is that ALL BW's HAVE to provide it.. i've worked at one for the last 9yrs. very weird.

 

They did have a "hot breakfast" for $4.00 a person if you consider that a continental breakfast?

 

But no free breakfast, which is what we are used to.

[ChampionCruiser]

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23: GRAND TURK

 

One slight annoyance with the Pride’s Eastern Caribbean itinerary is the port times for Grand Turk and Freeport (7:00am – 2:00pm). While seven hours in port is fine, it would be nice to be able to wake up late without wasting half of your day. But for whatever reason this wasn’t the case, so I woke up bright and early at 6:00 and watched as we pulled into Grand Turk:

 

 

Another of "those" shots:

 

 

Welcome to Grand Turk!!

 

 

One nice thing about this port (especially with our limited time) is the nice beach areas and shopping complex/ Margaretville right off the ship. We didn’t book any shore excursions on this cruise so this was definitely appreciated. One thing I HAD to do, though, was to find some shells! Thanks to these boards, I new there was a “conch graveyard” within walking distance of the ship, so my sister and I made sure we were up and ready to go by 7:00 to be the first ones there. Every time we go on a cruise and ask our mom what she wants she says a big conch shell, so we were determined this time!

 

We all got ready, ate breakfast (I needed my daily fill of croissants), and waited for the announcement saying we could go ashore. It came by 7:00 and we were off by 7:30 after stopping by the cabin to get our towels and junk. We were warned to be back onboard by 1:30 but to expect long lines after 1:00.

 

[jks336]

i know in the past, that bw had to offer either free continental or restuarant. but i was sure that was changed that they had to offer free continental. but i just checked our site for guidelines, and they can charge for a hot breakfast. that stinks as it just seems to be common for any property to offer a free continental even if its bare minimum, tho BW have to follow guidelines and be a full continental which we have always done.

 

enjoying your review.. very nicely written :)

[falkcor]

One slight annoyance with the Pride’s Eastern Caribbean itinerary is the port times for Grand Turk and Freeport (7:00am – 2:00pm). While seven hours in port is fine, it would be nice to be able to wake up late without wasting half of your day. But for whatever reason this wasn’t the case, so I woke up bright and early at 6:00 and watched as we pulled into Grand Turk

 

i just have to say that i ENTIRELY AGREE with you on this point...

 

we didn't visit grand turk, but our port time in freeport was exactly the same (7AM - 2PM)...

 

and if you read that part of my review (i remember you were the first to comment!), you know how that went over in freeport! :eek:

 

i simply do not understand why carnival schedules relatively short port calls like these to commence at 7AM... i swear they fail to realize, that WE ARE ON VACATION!!! and we do not want to wake up at 6AM ON VACATION! :mad:

 

it's for that reason that the stop in nassau for us was my very favorite port schedule of all time - arrive at 11AM and depart at 10PM - that is ideal in my opinion, and plenty of time in port...

 

BTW, you're doing a great job with this review - enjoying following along... :)

[ChampionCruiser]

Okay, here’s what to do if you want to get to the shells (it’s really easy). When you get off the pier and walk through the first building, turn right (away from most of the beach chairs). Make your way to the smaller beach area with fewer chairs beside the excursion pier. Here’s a picture from later that day:

 

 

 

 

Once you get to the beach…

...and pass the pier...

...make your way to the white picket fence and pass through it.

You made it :)

[ChampionCruiser]

i just have to say that i ENTIRELY AGREE with you on this point...

 

we didn't visit grand turk, but our port time in freeport was exactly the same (7AM - 2PM)...

 

and if you read that part of my review (i remember you were the first to comment!), you know how that went over in freeport! :eek:

 

i simply do not understand why carnival schedules relatively short port calls like these to commence at 7AM... i swear they fail to realize, that WE ARE ON VACATION!!! and we do not want to wake up at 6AM ON VACATION! :mad:

 

it's for that reason that the stop in nassau for us was my very favorite port schedule of all time - arrive at 11AM and depart at 10PM - that is ideal in my opinion, and plenty of time in port...

 

BTW, you're doing a great job with this review - enjoying following along... :)

 

Thanks!

 

And i'm glad i'm not alone! I rarely EVER wake up at 6:00 anymore unless I absolutly have to. And when I do i'm not usually happy....at all :rolleyes:

 

We all thought we were in heaven we we woke up at 8:00 for HMC so we would have LOVED an 11:00 arrival :)

[ChampionCruiser]

Before we went any farther I had to stop for *another* ship picture.

 

 

 

 

As we walked a little further we began to see some lonely shells like this one:

 

 

 

 

And then my sister found a sea urchin that had washed up:

But it’s still a bit further until you get to the really cool stuff:

My entire family loves looking for shells at our vacation spot in North Carolina and we’ve never seen anything like this. Yes, all of the shells that we saw had at least one hole in them, but some were pretty small and I think the holes natural (we paid for a shell in Barbados with a whole in the same spot). I could be wrong though. Anyway, they were still better than the conch or whelk shells we’ve found on the grand strand.

You may have to dig for one if it’s stuck in the rocks:

Once you get to the shells, they continue on and on around the island. It really is cool. We only took two to keep because we didn’t know if we were allowed to take them with us. I remember in Cozumel they told us not to but in Barbados they let us. So we tried hiding them in our towels just in case until we saw some people carrying them openly back to the ship. Apparently it wasn’t an issue or people simply didn’t care. At any rate, we brought them back home without a glance from anybody.

[ChampionCruiser]

Okay, I wanted to finish Grand Turk today but it's almost tomorrow anyway. I'll keep going later!!

 

Thanks again everyone for following!

[ChampionCruiser]

I am enjoying reading your review. We got on as you got off. I have learned - note to self - never book a room with a upper bunk unless you want to be trapped in the bathroom.

 

 

I'm enjoying your review too! I love how the Pride has so many. It definitely helped the time go by before the cruise.

 

And i'm sure nobody would trap you!!

[pokergirl34]

I have no plans to ever sail the Pride, but I'm still loving your review. Well, we'll be at HMC and Grand Turk next month, so that is definitely some great info we need. Thanks so much for the directions to find the shells at Grand Turk!

[ChampionCruiser]

I have no plans to ever sail the Pride, but I'm still loving your review. Well, we'll be at HMC and Grand Turk next month, so that is definitely some great info we need. Thanks so much for the directions to find the shells at Grand Turk!

 

You're welcome!

 

I'm sure you'll love both ports (especially HMC :D). Hopefully you won't need to get up as early for GT though...

[Shell Seeker]

when are sailing? we'll be on the pride Aug 8

[halos]

I'd like to join the others who complimented your writing. You're a terrific writer-- both in style and in content!

 

Me too. :)

I know we can't comment about poster's spelling and grammar mistakes, but I hope it's OK to say that it's so refreshing to see that our education system isn't a total failure. :D

This review is a wonderful read and I am thoroughly enjoying it.

 

OH and you have a beautiful family :)

[lynz421]

I'm enjoying your review too! I love how the Pride has so many. It definitely helped the time go by before the cruise.

 

And i'm sure nobody would trap you!!

 

 

We are enjoying both your reviews and also Mark's from a ways back.

 

Champ, this is our itinerary in Sept and we thought the same (7-2) ???