Pride 12/05-12/12/2010---Review

[louigi]

Wonderful Review and love the pictures! We will be on the Pride next October to Bermuda and can't wait

[serene56]

 

Next was the sail away but it was freezing so we went to the spa raffle instead. It was posted $500 in free spa stuff. We thought it was the prize for one person and planned to split between the four of us if any of us won. But, it was multiple drawings totaling that amount. Free updo, men's haircut, fitness stuff and the biggie that I wanted to win..a full body massage. Everytime they announced that the prize was something to do with the gym I would say to the girls, "if they call my name for that, one of you go up." So, they announce the next prize is some fat metabolizer session. I know I'm fat, I don't need their machine to tell me that. You know they called my name right? No, not for the facial or the updo and most especially not for the full body message but for the fat session..wth you gotta be kidding me. So, I gave that away and paid $130 for my massage.

 

 

Next cruise-- go to the gym 5 minuted before the raffle and fill out your raffle card-- (your name is on top)

Last cruise I won a seaweed wrap with a full body massage- (70 minutes) and it costs 230.00. Best thing I ever won--OK it was thee only thing I ever won.

[StillPooh]

After dinner we walked around the ship a bit so everyone could get oriented and then we headed to the Taj Mahal for the welcome aboard show. It was okay but not one of the best shows. Oh, I want to mention while it's on my mind this private alcove or hallway that runs along the right side of the Taj. It was really nice..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is where we spent the several hours between leaving our cabin and disembarking, at the end of our Pride cruise. All over the ship people were jammed up in crabby loud crowds, while DH and I sat in peaceful comfy silence, reading our books and waiting for our group to be called. :D

[rrraydon]

Monday we didn't get up until about 9am. After showering we went up to the Lido for breakfast.

Our roll call M&G was arranged for 10:30 at the aft pool. Of course we hadn't planned on it being windy and cold as could be. I got there at about 10:25 and as soon as the first few couples showed we moved inside. We wore marti gras beads so we could find each other. Since we were the only people out there, it wasn't necessary...lol. We all chatted for almost and hour and then we went on about our vacation. I liked see everybody throughout the ship and saying hi. We all showed up for almost all of the "tea times" at 3:30 on sea days. As a matter of fact, we all saw each other later on that day for tea and some of us sat together and took pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I had gotten pics of everyone from the roll call. We took some of all of us at the M&G. Maybe someone will post them so I can tag a few.

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tea time was held in the Normandy dining room on sea days only.

[rrraydon]

Monday we pretty much spent the entire day roaming around the ship. We never did any of the scheduled games, nor did we go to any of the shows or the punchliner comedy shows after the first night. It just wasn't our thing this cruise.

This was the first formal night. Normally, Kathleen and I do the formal night thing. We have long evening dresses that we usually wear, but the other girls were not into it so we just wore dresses and pant suits. We did not attent the Captain's party so I can't give any info on that.

Laura hit every darn picture set up they had. Not that I went with her to all those things, Kathleen did. I don't have the patients. But, she bought a lot of pics at the end to take home with her. I just purchased the on welcome aboard pic of all of us that they take right as you're getting onboard.

We did "your time dining" on this cruise. I tried it for the first time on the Fantasy in Aug and loved it, we never had a wait. I was curious to see how it would work out on the Pride. It turned out to be great here too. Only one of the nights did they have to give us a pager to wait and by the time we got to the lounge nextdoor and sat down the pager went offf. The first night they sat us with Gary (head waiter) and Sara (assistant, who I remembered from last Feb) and they were so good we asked for them every night. Only one of the nights were we not able to get them and the pair of servers we had that night were so terrible we left before dessert.

That evening and almost every evening we went to the piano bar to listen to Roger..we loved him. He was hysterical to listen to.

On Tues, also a day at sea, I was free to roam and people watch until about 11am. That's when we met in the Butterfly lounge for the shopping talk and to get all of the tickets for the free stuff at the stores and tickets for the raffles. I stopped going to the shopping talks a long time ago and stopped hitting the stores for the free stuff. But, since it was Laura and Kelly's first time we took them to the talk...and yes, hit all the damn stores on the list for the free junk..lol.

After that we went up to David's for the cooking demo where we met the chef Jerry again. The cooking demo was great and I plan on doing that again in Feb when I get back on since I missed the last half as I had a coughing fit and needed to leave. As I mentioned previously, I was starting to get sick before we left and I had sinus issues the whole cruise. I had coughing fits at the most inopportune times during the cruise where I had to leave and go back to the cabin.

Anyway, tonight was our night at the Chef's table. I had been looking forward to this for quite a while now after reading so many reviews and looking at so much food porn from other posters. And I will tell you all about it just as soon as I'm finished with my next patient...lol.

[rrraydon]

On the first day, we had a letter in our cabin regarding our reservations for the Chef's Table with instructions to meet in the atrium lobby on Tues night at 5:45 and a chef would meet us there. In Feb, on the first day I had a letter in my cabin from the casino welcoming me back and inviting me to a complimentary cocktail, but no such letter this cruise. Maybe it was because we didn't have the most attentive cabin steward this go around. We didn't see him until sometime on Wed. This was something that was out of the ordinary for me because on all of my previous cruises the steward always introduced themselves sometime on the first day. I like this for a few reasons: I like to be able to request any special needs that I might have and also I like to be able to know who my steward is in the event I should see them in the halls and want to compliment or complain whatever the case may be. Now, they do have a button on the phone that you push that goes directly to their phone, but in this case it didn't work. I called the phone numerous times to request an extra pillow because I was having issues through the night with my sinuses and needed to sleep on more of an incline to help surpress some of the coughing. I finally was able to get him sometime on Wed for that. We also needed more robes since there was 4 of us in the cabin and only 2 in the closet and since it was so chilly we did use the robes alot. We finally got those on Wed too. There were more little things that we had problems getting ahold of him for and it proved to be a bit annoying tracking him down. Of course this didn't make or break our cruise, but he could have done a better job. Maybe he was just having a bad week.

Serene56: You can tell me in Feb how you make out with him...:D.

Anyway, I'm going off on a tangent...back to the Chef's Table. We went down to the atrium and there were a few couples already there so we all chatted about the upcoming event until a couple of the chef's arrived with their tall white hats on and we followed him single file aft to the galley area. It was funning looking at peoples faces as their eyes followed us...you just knew they were wondering who the heck we were.

When we went into the galley there was a waiter holding a tray with champagne glasses for each of us and the chef escorted us to a steele kitchen table that had a setting with one small appetizer plate place 6 on each side for each of us. We stood as Chef Jerry introduced himself and each of his chef's that were under him that would be attending us for the evening. For the next half hour we sampled a half dozen or so appetizers and chef described each one. Then he chose one person from the group to assist him in making the warm chocolate melting cake that would be served with the dessert. He chose me and put an apron and one of his chef's hats on my head that made me feel like an idiot...lol. But, it was fun.

After the appetizers he gave us a tour of the kitchen and we went upstairs to the disco lounge, Beauties and this is what we walked into....

 

 

The scroll was the menu for us to take home, but we weren't allowed to open it until it was over.

 

 

 

 

Next...some food porn....

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This plate I turned differently than one of the chef's had put down in front of me because I thought that I could get a better pic antoher way. Chef Jerry came hurring over smiling and turned it back the way it was placed in front of me to begin with. befor I could take the pic. He did not want his artwork displayed in improper form...LOL.

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

Notice the scoop of chocolate melting cake in the bottom right that I whipped up in the kitchen for dessert..:p.

 

 

 

Chef Jerry to the far left. We drank lots of the wine one of the chef's is displaying. For those doing the Chef's Table on the Pride, be forwarned...the bathroom is back up the spiral staircase and a hike down the hall!!...watch the wine intake. :D

[rrraydon]

At the end of the evening Chef Jerry passed out a Carnival cookbook signed by him to everyone and then he passed around my chef's hat and everyone signed that too for me to take him. It was a very memorable evening and I am so glad I booked it!

After the Chef's table we went over to the piano bar to listen to Roger before we called it a night.

When we got up on Wed it was sunny and only a bit cool compared to the other days. Something in Port Canaveral I didn't expect was the rocket launching off that morning. We watched it from our balcony and it was pretty neat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I usually don't get off the boat here, but this time our plan was just to hop on a shuttle and stop at Cocoa Beach and run into Walmart a few things. The shuttles line up right in the parking area of the port and you can just walk up a pay $10pp for the day and the shuttle makes three stops...just a loop.. and it runs that loop all day long so you can hop on and off. From the port it runs to Cocoa Beach (Ron Jons), Walmart, the mall, and back to the port. So, we got off at Cocoa Beach just to take a walk on the beach and say we'd been there. Laying on the beach, cuz by this time it was warm and a little breezy, was a couple of people who we'd met at the Chef's Table the night before. We chatted with them a bit and they said they'd taken the free shuttle to the beach. I'd heard about the free shuttle on the boards..the downside is: it only goes to the beach and the mall and you have to wait around for it most times..you could be standing at the port for 20 min waiting on that shuttle to come...they were lucky, it was there when they got off.

We did some shopping at Ron Jon's and then we caught the shuttle to Walmart and then went back to the ship. I took a nap before dinner..I was started to drag a little.

[serene56]

O

 

Serene56: You can tell me in Feb how you make out with him...:D....

 

 

In the past few cruises we never seen the steward--- except in the hall and I guess they belonged to us---LOL

 

I always left notes in the morning. Wanted extra ice. Wanted an extra glass. Wanted an extra ash tray. Leaving notes works.

 

Cabin stewards are off duty from 1pm til 5pm and again off at 9pm at night.

If you needed pillows I woulda called down to the pursers desk to see what they could do. (was there a button on the phone for house keeping? or just your steward??)

[frogman68]

Monday we didn't get up until about 9am. After showering we went up to the Lido for breakfast.

 

Our roll call M&G was arranged for 10:30 at the aft pool. Of course we hadn't planned on it being windy and cold as could be. I got there at about 10:25 and as soon as the first few couples showed we moved inside. We wore marti gras beads so we could find each other. Since we were the only people out there, it wasn't necessary...lol. We all chatted for almost and hour and then we went on about our vacation. I liked see everybody throughout the ship and saying hi. We all showed up for almost all of the "tea times" at 3:30 on sea days. As a matter of fact, we all saw each other later on that day for tea and some of us sat together and took pics.

 

 

 

http://img641.imageshack.us/i/dscf2746a.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I had gotten pics of everyone from the roll call. We took some of all of us at the M&G. Maybe someone will post them so I can tag a few.

 

your wish is my command :)

 

http://img641.imageshack.us/i/dscf2746a.jpg

[Kerryman50]

Donna GREAT review so far, looking forward to the rest. Also thanks for scanning and posting the Fun Times in another thread. January 30th can't get here soon enough.:D

[rrraydon]

your wish is my command :)

 

http://img641.imageshack.us/i/dscf2746a.jpg

 

 

 

Thanks frogman!!

[rrraydon]

I got up on Wed, Nassau day, at about 8am. The sun was shining and it was finally some warmer weather. The girls had already went up to breakfast. I'm not a big breakfast eater, so I threw on my bathing suit and went to the lido to grab a cup of coffee on my way to the open deck to get some sun. As long as the clouds stayed away from the sun, it was pretty warm up there. But, when the clouds passed over it was chilly. After about an hour Laura came up to tan as well. We ended up getting a tan that morning. We stayed out there until about 10:45 and we went back to the cabin to change and meet the other girls for our trip into port.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the standard pics of the lighthouse and Atlantis on Paradise Island as we came in.

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

Fascination backing in a little while after us....

 

 

 

The market place decorated a little for Christmas....

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As was the city. They were getting ready for their annual Junkanoo parade....

 

 

 

 

Our plan in Nassau was to shop a little and then catch the #10 jitney to the Wyndham and purchase day passes to the resort from their front desk, hang out there for a few hours, go back to the ship for an early dinner and then take a taxi over to Atlantis in the evening and walk around.

The shopping went way past alittle. By the time the girls were done it was close to 2pm and the skies started to become overcast. But, Laura really was adamant about checking out these resorts so we walked down to the bus stop. They had Bay street blocked off at both ends for the parade so we were moved down a ways to the new stop. Traffic was so backed up that we waited for about 20 min and still no sign of the #10. I suggested we walk down the road and visit the free beach instead. We hung out there for about an hour when they rain started coming in..

[jbhcw]

Enjoying your review:) Really looking forward to the Chef's Table dinner..reminder to self..don't turn plate to take picture:eek: Your pictures are good...especially the food.

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took some more pics as we were heading back to the ship.......

 

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

We went back to the cabin to shower and get ready for our early dinner hoping the rain would go away....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]

Freeport, as seemed to be the trend my last 3x to the Bahamas, turned out to be the best day. We were off the ship by 8am. As soon as you get off the ship there is a covered area you walk over to in order to catch a taxi to Port Lucaya where the straw market and the free beach are. The taxi ride is $5pp each way....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Previously, we would just hop in the taxi, pay the $5 and be dropped off at the casino area right across the street from the straw market and when we were ready to return we could just walk over to the casino area and grab any cab to go back to the ship. This time was a little different and the next time I will make sure not to fall into this trap again. You paid the $10 round trip, they gave you a ticket and you told them what time to pick you back up again. I don't like that arrangement too well as you never know what could be going on and what time you might want to head back. I don't like to be kept to a time period. Anyway, I won't do that again.

In comparison to Nassau, I find Freeport to be far more beautiful and alot cleaner!!....

[rrraydon]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rrraydon]