Carnival Pride..January 23-Jan 30th

[digertwo]

I have read sooo many reviews of cruises before leaving on my own or even booking a cruise so I’m going to try one on my own.

First a little background information. Going on the cruise were myself, my 3 year old son. This was my second cruise and my sons first. Also my mother, this was her first cruise and my friend, who in our eyes is a veteran cruiser with 4 under her belt. My friend when booking was able to get us 2 adjoining cabins on deck 6 of the Pride with a balcony. I have only been on one other cruise so I was excited for the Balcony.

We left Kingston, Ontario on Saturday and made our way to Baltimore. I had booked a room at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in White Marsh. I really can’t say anything bad about this deal. For $149 I had a room for the night, parking for the week and shuttle to the port. They also included a shuttle around the shopping area of White Marsh..which came in handy since I wore my winter boots! Always an excuse to buy new shoes J

Embarkation Day

We had scheduled the shuttle for 10:45am to take us to the port. It is about a 20 minute drive from the hotel to the port. I would say it took about 20 minutes once we reached the port to register, go through security and be sitting in our zone. I know arriving early meant a longer wait but personally that didn’t bother me. Travelling with a toddler this gave me time to sit down and relax, make many trips to the bathroom ect..so time flew by. I think they started boarding us around 1:30pm. We were in Zone 6 so in no time we were on the ship. Before heading to lunch we went to Guest Services to put our name on the list to have the partition be opened on our balconies. I also went to the Shore Excursion Desk and booked the Behind the Fun excursion. It was then time for some lunch in the Mermaids Grill! After lunch we thought we would head down to sneak a peak and see if our rooms were ready. We literally got off the elevator at deck 6 and the announcement came on that we could go to our cabins!

We relaxed a bit in our room and then it was time for Muster Drill. Luckily because of the weather they allowed us to do the drill inside. So different from my first cruise 5 years ago when you had to wear your life jacket and be jam packed outside. This was a much better experience. After this my son was exhausted so we went back to the room for a nap before dinner.

Dining Room

We had early dining and were pleasantly surprised to receive a booth. I was very stressed before leaving about how my son was going to behave in the dining room so the thoughts of it being in front of strangers kind of worried me. It turned out the booth for 4 was perfect. It gave him a little room to move around and he was sort of trapped and couldn’t wander around the dining room J In the end I worried way too much about my son. He ate perfectly fine and behaved better than I could have imagined J

Food overall was great. The only night I didn’t enjoy my meal was the Prime Rib..I know you must think I’m crazy but there was just too much fat on my piece. Another thing I noticed is how much salt seems to be in the food. Mind you my husband had been told 6 months prior to this cruise to cut his salt intake so that’s probably why I’m more aware of it now. I’m not big on trying new things so I didn’t try anything new out of my comfort zone. (well except I broke my sushi virginity at the sushi bar one night) I must agree with everyone else the chocolate melting cake was to die for. I just wish I wasn’t so full every night or I would have had it again and again. My son was a big fan of the banana splits and since being home has asked his daddy to make them for dinner!

Next to come are Sea Day 1 and 2...

[NewYawkYankees]

I'm going on the Pride at the end of this month with my 3 year-old daughter. Did you use Camp Carnival? If so, how was it?

[digertwo]

I did use Camp Carnival but for only a couple hours on 2 days. After day 2 my son refused to go back. I'm not sure what changed his mind so quickly but something obviously happened that second day to not make him want to go back. Personally one thing I didn't like was the dropping off part. I know it's probably best that you just drop them off at the door and it closes behind them but I like to be able to go in and get my son settled and then leave. Although all the counsellors are highly educated I didn't find much emotion from them. Of course every child is different...my son hated daycare in the beginning too so maybe after a couple more weeks he would have like Camp Carnival!

[louigi]

Thanks for writing your review--Can't wait to read more!

[digertwo]

SEA DAY 1 and DAY 2

Monday morning I took my son to Camp Carnival. While waiting in line he made a new friend and I was optimistic he was going to like it there. Once I dropped him off, I’ll admit I felt a little lost without my little guy in tow. I probably should have used the time to relax and start reading my new book but instead I walked around the ship to find out where everything was. I had read before about all the suggestive art work but to be honest it kind of just blended into the scenery. Where we ate lunch in the Mermaid Grill we always sat underneath one of the “mermaids” and not once did my son mention the unclothed mermaid J I also used this time to find the free ice cream!

I think the retractable roof on the lido deck is definitely a bonus on the cruise ship. Even the day it rained you could still go out there and the temps were comfortable. I found most days I was comfortable with a light sweater and capris. Now I did overhear people mentioning how cold it was but when I left Canada it was -34 so this was beautiful weather for me in January!

On the second day at sea we had some very rough weather. So much in fact that the ship listed a fair bit. My son and I were in the cabin when this happened and were kind of having fun walking up to the bathroom and running down to the bed. I didn’t realize the degree it had gone until the cruise director made an announcement that the stabalizers would soon get things back to normal. My mom and friend were in the casino at the time and did note that no quarters fell from that machine where you try to push the quarters off the edge...hmmm. I personally did not get sea sick the entire time including these rough waters and the ones we hit on the way home after Freeport. (Apparently the winds were very high, but I slept through all of it)

Other things I did on these Sea days included a few trips to the Casino, Bingo, Ice Carving Demonstration, walked the track on Deck 10, found the hidden coin and the arcade.

[serene56]

I did use Camp Carnival but for only a couple hours on 2 days. After day 2 my son refused to go back. I'm not sure what changed his mind so quickly but something obviously happened that second day to not make him want to go back. Personally one thing I didn't like was the dropping off part. I know it's probably best that you just drop them off at the door and it closes behind them but I like to be able to go in and get my son settled and then leave. Although all the counsellors are highly educated I didn't find much emotion from them. Of course every child is different...my son hated daycare in the beginning too so maybe after a couple more weeks he would have like Camp Carnival!

 

 

disappointing to hear. We will be trying to utilize the camps when we board on Sunday. I have three different kids camp pages (January, April and December) and not one activity is the same.

I like the one week where they did a lot of face painting- my grand daughter would really love that. Looks like the one in December did nothing but play games. cant imagine.

 

Did you get a pager when you checked in your child???

[digertwo]

We received a cell phone. Luckily it never rang because I wasn't sure how to even answer it... I'll see if I can find the fun times for Camp Carnival and scan them. I'm not sure if I kept them after day 2 though.

[digertwo]

PORT CANAVERAL

I had rented a car from Hertz for the day in Port Canaveral. Grandma wasn’t feeling well so she stayed back on the ship, while my son, friend and I headed on a road trip to Daytona. My friend and I are huge Nascar fans so when we were that close to Daytona we thought a tour was a must. The cost for the tour was only $22.00 for adults while my son was free. We found the tour well worth the money. My son was very disappointed that there were no race cars on the track which might have led to his first melt down of the trip..luckily it didn’t last too long. After that we went in search of the great shopping outlet Bealls. I think this will be my new favourite store whenever I’m in Florida.

When we got back to the ship we had a great treat in store. The Disney Dream was leaving on its inaugural sailing. We sat on our Balcony and watched it leave port for the first time with paying guests. Seeing the Disney Dream peaked my interest in maybe someday doing a Disney cruise..of course after coming home and seeing the price difference between it and Carnival that thought might pass quickly.

NASSAU

Our arrival in Nassau was delayed about 1 ½. Apparently the previous night during the deck party a guest collapsed while dancing on the lido deck. A helicopter was brought in to take the guest to a hospital on land. This was something else I completely slept through...shows how comfortable those Carnival beds are! <note: just as we were leaving the ship on Sunday, our cruise director came on to tell us that the guest was in stable condition>

I think it was around 12:30pm before we were able to get off the ship. This worked out alright as we were able to get a bit of food into us before leaving. We did not have any excursions planned but wanted to visit the Atlantis. We debated on the water ferry or regular taxi and in the end just took a taxi.

The Atlantis is huge! We left Grandma in the casino while we went to tour the Digs. The cost was $39 per adult and 3 and under was free. I have read some people think the cost is not worth it but I thought it was. My son loved it! We were able to walk around most of the grounds and see all the other highlights of the Atlantis like the big slide, the pools, the sharks ect. We did notice when we headed back that security was asking to see peoples hotel keys so I’m not sure if we just got outside at a time when guards were on break or what. Either way I’m glad as I got to see more of the Atlantis than I thought I was going to.

After a couple hours we dragged Grandma out of the casino and headed back into town. We shopped around near the port, tried some conch for the first time and then headed back to the ship.

FREEPORT

To me there just isn’t enough time at this port to do anything. The ship docks in an industrial type area and basically anything to see is a cab ride away. Getting up at 7am really isn’t an option so by the time we were dressed and ready it was 9:30am. We just got off the ship took a few photos and looked around the straw market. I think if the ship was in port longer I would have taken that cab ride but I just wasn’t interested in being rushed. Since we didn’t go far when we got back on the ship we decided to head up to the lido deck and try out the pool while it wasn’t so busy. The pool was chilly but at least I can say I made it into the pool. We stayed on the lido deck and read and people watched until we set sail.

[MSRussell]

I was on the same cruise as you...like you, I didn't get sick when the ship listed...just calmly moved the wine glasses from the shelf to the couch. And tied the closet doors shut around the handles with a robe tie. The thwacking when they opened and shut drove me batty.

One of my fellow diners was there when the man was injured. Apparently he had a heart attack, then fell backward, hitting his head with a loud thunk.

I thought Carnival went above and beyond, one of the service desk women took his wife to the airport when we docked. And all the get well signatures, that was great.

it was eerie, they were in the cabin next to me, they are a nice couple.

Melanie

 

[SweetpeaOne]

Very nice review. Thanks for sharing.