"Princesser" does Carnival... lots of photos

[Iluv2cruz918]

I'm enjoying your posts. I also am a previous Princess cruiser and this will be my first on Carnival Pride too.

[Aldeya]

Wonderful review! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

[Naomi John]

Tomorrow... Public Areas.

 

What? I have to wait until tomorrow? :(

[stu & SAND]

Great job but as I am leaving this Sunday, I might not hear/see the rest of the story...:):)

[wilfros]

Great job but as I am leaving this Sunday, I might not hear/see the rest of the story...:):)

 

The story never ends... Is there something specific you want to know or see? Let me know and I will post it.

[time4vacay]

So glad you're posting, we sailed on the Pride last year, and really enjoyed it so much. I live in the DC area, so it was easy for me to get to, we did the same and stayed at a hotel the night before that was glad to keep our car for the week. Looking forward to seeing the rest of your post.

[wilfros]

Looking forward to more of your review since we're going to be in the same "boat" pretty soon! (Pun intended!) We too have only been on Princess and are trying Carnival for the first time. Thanks so much for giving us a preview!

 

I'm enjoying your posts. I also am a previous Princess cruiser and this will be my first on Carnival Pride too.

 

This is like giving the end of the story before you have read the whole book....BUT.... as a lover of Princess we had concerns when we booked Pride.

 

For us, at least, we have put all those concerns aside. This cruise, especially given the price, was outstanding in every respect.

[wilfros]

Wonderful review! Thank you for taking the time to do this!

I have enjoyed the reviews of others so much on CC that this is the very least I can do in return. I am so glad you are enjoying it.

 

 

BTW: Anyone have any success in viewing the 3D photos? If so I will post more.

[ubouu]

We are now entering that part of my review that is based on My Personal Opinions, likes and dislikes. None of my opinions are intended to be offensive to those who might disagree; it is just how I feel about our experience.

Our first view of the Pride was the same as when we saw our first cruise ship. You must understand that I have a deep love of the sea and all ships. I could spend the rest of my life just watching the operation of a harbor as ships arrive and depart. This being the case there is a thrill in seeing the Pride for the first time that is difficult to express in words.

I saw a beautiful ship with wonderful lines and overall appearance that was clean and elegant. The glitter of the glass from the blue tinted balconies shining in the sunlight glittered like that of sparkles on a dancing showgirl. Even though Pride is a significantly smaller ship than Caribbean Princess she is still an impressive sight as you first view her from the highway.

We departed the Brookshire Suites at 12:30 and were on board Pride by 1:45pm. The embarkation process was swift and hassle free. I would say that, while Princess seems to have a reputation for easy embarkation, Carnival Pride was equal in all respects. Absolutely everyone we encountered, longshoremen, Carnival Assistants, Ticket agents and even the tired fellow travelers, were happy and fun to encounter. I can’t imagine an embarkation that could have been easier or more efficient.

When we boarded the Pride we entered into the Main Atrium. This was my first shock at the interior of the Pride. Having sailed Princess the décor of Pride was “somewhat” different.

 

I understand that each ship and even each cruise company cater to different demographics and as such we encountered our first difference between Carnival and Princess. I must state here that I found Princess to be a comfortable fit for our likings. I enjoy their interior with it’s elegant marble staircases and beautiful art to be more to our taste.

 

That being said, my first impression of Pride’s interior was that it was heavy, dark and “in your face”. I could never escape the feeling during our cruise that the Atrium was designed after a pirate ship. The main staircase always reminded me of a staircase one might encounter at the aft section of the upper deck on a wooden sailing ship.

 

This was most evident on Formal Evenings. There were beautiful women of all ages dressed to the nines and all of them gathered in the atrium that, to me, seemed to be completely out of place. Jeans and tee shirts seemed to be more the order of the day for the décor surrounding the guests (again IMHO).

 

While most of the art is reproduced art of some of the greatest masters know to man, I felt that there was no need to extend this to the wallpaper in the hallways of the ship. I felt this gave the ship a feel of being a theme park rather than the glamorous hotel this ship could have been.

Continued below:

 

You can not think of this ship as glamorous,its Carnival the fun ship if it was glamorous I would not sail Carnival.

[wilfros]

sorry post to come

[wilfros]

You can not think of this ship as glamorous,its Carnival the fun ship if it was glamorous I would not sail Carnival.

As I stated earlier:

 

"I understand that each ship and even each cruise company cater to different demographics and as such we encountered our first difference between Carnival and Princess. I must state here that I found Princess to be a comfortable fit for our likings. I enjoy their interior with it’s elegant marble staircases and beautiful art to be more to our taste."

 

This in no way is a reflection on the beauty of the ship nor the effeciency of her crew. Thank God for the differences between ships and cruise companies so we all can find exactly what we each like.

 

While I like the feel of Princess, Pride's "feel" in no way diminished the enjoyment of our cruise.

 

I now have had the experience of having tried something new, and very much enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

[OhioDogLover]

Thanks for the review. We are on this ship in a couple of weeks. We also like Princess a lot. I am enjoying it a lot.

Ohiodoglover

[MagnoliaFly]

There was no food porn warning!

 

(love the photos but now I'm hungry :eek:)

[wilfros]

There was no food porn warning!

 

(love the photos but now I'm hungry :eek:)

 

 

Thank you. Food is such a hard thing to take photos of! It never really captures the moment when the plate arrives in front of you. I think that Food photos need to include aroma. The smell of the food as it arrives definitely plays a role in the presentation.

 

Glad you are enjoying the review.

[wilfros]

Again I will say how easy I found it to navigate through the passageways on Pride. All public hallways were wide and accessible. There was always a nice place to sit (and people watch) in comfort.

 

One of the big dislikes that I had on this cruise was the public PA system. It eludes me as to why Carnival goes to the great expense of producing daily schedules, religiously placed on you bed each evening and then makes an announcement on the PA prior to each event. To me (IMHO) this gave the ship a feel of a department store. “Welcome K-Mart Shoppers”! In all public areas the volume of these announcements were so loud as to make hearing and understanding what was being said vary from difficult to impossible. If they are going to continue making these broadcasts I would suggest they tone down the volume, not so we, the guests, can ignore them, but rather so we can understand them more clearly. The speaker system on Pride clearly can’t handle the volume and thus all voices are over modulated.

 

Having said that, and I know that many will disagree with me, I would like to move on to the upper decks of Pride.

 

Pride is very nicely designed and more than capable of handling the number of passengers that sail her. Being a smaller ship it constantly amazed me just how many activities were taking place at one time. All without interfering with each other.

 

 

 

Sailing out of Baltimore, in the middle of the winter, one soon appreciates the retractable roof over the Venus Swimming Pool. This little feature allowed us to enjoy the outdoor fresh air on the very first day of sailing. On those days when we encountered high winds, again the retractable roof saved the day. I did find the noise of everyone having fun a little loud with the roof on but that is not to be helped given that voices bounce off the walls and the ceiling. This, however, never distracted from the comfort of the swimming area. What we enjoyed the most was to “fill our plates” in the Mermaid Grill and then sit and eat by the pool. There was always plenty of room to sit and enjoy the activities.

 

 

 

Speaking of the Mermaid Grill, I found this area to be a very efficient and well organized buffet area. On Princess everything was located in one area, so if you wanted food you had to join the gang and fight for position. Even if all you wanted was a piece of bread, or a salad, or a cookie. They were all located in the same area. Not so on Pride. Hot food was in one area, salads in another, and deserts in another. This arrangement seemed to work well once you were aware of where each station is located. Lines of people never seemed to exceed 5-10 at any one time. Very efficient (IMHO).

 

There were only 3 days when the Serenity Area of Pride could be used, due to outside temperatures. On those days the area was full. Even with every seat taken and people standing by the rails to watch our departure, there still seemed to be plenty of room to move about. Again, I never felt like the ship was crowded.

 

 

 

To be continued ...

[wilfros]

The Exercise, Spa, and Whirlpool area was very interesting. This is the only “gym” area that I have seen built on multiple areas. It was bright, colorful and unique. Of course, being located at the front of the ship, it provided a beautiful view of the bow and upcoming ocean.

 

 

 

Another place that I found extremely enjoyable to visit was the Sun Deck directly above the bridge. From this vantage point I was able to take some fantastic photos as we entered different ports.

 

 

 

To be continued ...

[wilfros]

More photos from the upper decks...

 

 

 

 

 

We have company coming for dinner tonight so will continue tomorrow (if possible). The pressures of "real life" are starting to creep in! (lol)

 

 

AGAIN: If there is something specific you want to know or see please let me know.

[SANDYJABS]

The link for how to view them is : www.stamperspad.com/wilfros and it is the second from the bottom post titled "Tutorial Blog Posts". It is an interactive post so you need to click on the "next" button to go through the tutorial.

 

This will inform you on how to view the photos. Taking the photos is a whole different matter and I would direct you to search the web as there are a number of sites that provide detailed information in much more detail than I could here on CC. Should you still have problems let me know and I will do what I can to assist.

 

During the cruise Kirk (the cruise director) kindly arranged for the showgirls to meet me and allow me to take their photo. Here is the original photo I took and then the photo as it is now (it is a work in progress so may yet change before I send it back to Kirk on the Pride).

 

Any questions please let me know.

 

 

 

Good luck and please let me know if you have any success, as I will gladly post more.

 

I really love what you did with this photo! If only I could learn to do stuff like this :)

 

We have sailed on the Caribbean Princess twice. Never sailed on the Spirit Class Carnival ships. We love CCL mostly because we live in Florida and have many choices for a cruise with CCL, not so much with Princess - But our favorite ship thus far is the Caribbean Princess, absolutely beautiful!

 

I am enjoying your review and all the great pics of the Pride, thanks for sharing.

[wilfros]

I really love what you did with this photo! If only I could learn to do stuff like this :)

 

We have sailed on the Caribbean Princess twice. Never sailed on the Spirit Class Carnival ships. We love CCL mostly because we live in Florida and have many choices for a cruise with CCL, not so much with Princess - But our favorite ship thus far is the Caribbean Princess, absolutely beautiful!

 

I am enjoying your review and all the great pics of the Pride, thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad to hear people are enjoying this review. Your enjoyment makes it all worth while, as I appreciated what other did for me prior to our cruise.

 

Are you having any luck at seeing the 3D effect? Anyone???

[mizdkc]

Thank you so much for your kind words. I am glad to hear people are enjoying this review. Your enjoyment makes it all worth while, as I appreciated what other did for me prior to our cruise.

 

Are you having any luck at seeing the 3D effect? Anyone???

 

Yes! No steriopticon necessary -- just slightly cross my eyes, sit still for a second -- instant 3-D!

 

Cool beans! :)

[JaniceB]

I am really enjoying your review of the Pride. Did you happen to notice at what time you sailed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?

[ubouu]

As I stated earlier:

 

"I understand that each ship and even each cruise company cater to different demographics and as such we encountered our first difference between Carnival and Princess. I must state here that I found Princess to be a comfortable fit for our likings. I enjoy their interior with it’s elegant marble staircases and beautiful art to be more to our taste."

 

This in no way is a reflection on the beauty of the ship nor the effeciency of her crew. Thank God for the differences between ships and cruise companies so we all can find exactly what we each like.

 

While I like the feel of Princess, Pride's "feel" in no way diminished the enjoyment of our cruise.

 

I now have had the experience of having tried something new, and very much enjoyed it.

 

Thanks for the comment.

 

 

Your welcome and I love your review, :D

[jkudzu]

More please!:D

[wilfros]

Yes! No steriopticon necessary -- just slightly cross my eyes, sit still for a second -- instant 3-D!

 

Cool beans! :)

 

Thanks, glad someone can see the effect here are 3 more. If you like them I can post more.

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you want more.... Enjoy.. again you can get instructions on how to view by visiting http://www.stamperspad.com/wilfros/ and the second last post is an interactive tutorial just click next button to proceed through the lesson:D

[wilfros]

I am really enjoying your review of the Pride. Did you happen to notice at what time you sailed under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge?

I am not absolutely sure which is the Cheasapeake Bay Bridge but if it is the last bridge before you enter the Atlantic then we passed it at about 12:30 am when we departed and about 1:00 am on our return.

 

All times are aproximate as time seemed to just slip by when we were on board (lol).