Convince Me To Try Carnival Pride ~ Or Not

[Ericknow32]

OK, I was working out plans to go on the Paradise but plans fell through. I would like to take a cruise out of LA in July of 06. I have a few choices. One choice is to take the only ship that is sailing the Mexican Riviera, Carnival Pride. The second choice is to take the Monarch of the Seas (AGAIN). (RCCL is really dropping the ball by only having the Monarch there for the summer.) I could also save the money or go on a different type of vacation. Maybe a train trip of some sort.

 

Right now the prices don't look to great for Carnival Pride. Is there anything about this ship that might convince me to try Carnival Again. It better be good, the price is really high.

[Guest cruzr44]

We Loved the Pride. No neon interior, a variety of food stations, great entertainment, great service, and more. If you would like pictures I will email them. Send me a note sroberts@cruisebrothers.com if you are interested. Go exploring, she has some great areas/rooms. I think any summer cruise is expensive. Train trips seem expensive too. I have looked into them, but have not been. What about something like Hershey Park in PA or Cedar Point Park in OH? I don't even know if you like that kind of thing, but it's a thought. Some of the National Parks are beautiful too. Well, good luck in deciding what to do.

[estherhead]

but, I never pay very much money for anything, so perhaps I don't have high expectations. I've only been on RCCL and Carnival and I thought the Pride was the most beautiful ship of the ones I've been on. Dramatically different from Sensation. The rooms are nice and roomy (we had a balcony) with LOTS of storage. The food was good. But I only have yogurt for breakfast and not much lunch so I really am only rating the dining room, not the buffet lunch stuff. I do recall being disappointed in the desserts in the dining room and ended up skipping it and having dessert later at the buffet (which seemed to be perpetually open as did the yummy pizza.)

 

I personally never had a problem with chair saving, always was where I wanted to be whether it was near the pool of far away. I generally think cruise entertainment is cheesy, and the Pride was no different. Though the talent show was amazing. We had fellow passengers that were extremely talented! And I generally enjoy the pool games and "newlywed" type games and they were good too.

 

I did miss the music RCCL plays by the pool. Carnival falls short on calypso, mariachi type bands. But they had lovely under the stars dancing and we enjoyed the disco.

 

Anyway, if your attitude is, "It better be good for the money," I'm afraid you might not have a good time. But I had a FABULOUS time on the Pride and it won over my heart enough that I chose the Glory for my cruise this year. I'm hoping Carnival is at the same level as two years ago. Not the most amazing service, not the best quality food, but really relaxing and fun, with clean, pretty areas and a great Camp Carnival for my kids, and food that is better than Burger King, but probably not as good as I can make at home (I'm a good cook.)

[Ericknow32]

It seems that the funnel on the pride casts an overwhelming pink glow on everything. Is it as bad as the pictures make it appear.

[Gr8tChoice]

Really depends on what you are looking for. I was on the inagurual sailing of the Pride. We loved the ship, the room (outside cabin) was spacious and beautiful. The entire trip was great! The only ( I really mean only) thing that I didn't care for was the decorating theme of the Rennaissance period. I know lots of people don't like the typical neon of most of the other ships but if I wanted to see large women with their cleavage showing I'd stay home and look in the mirror at myself. :)

 

The elevator at the statue of Michael really stayed busy, too!

 

Again, it's all what you're looking for. Although this wasn't really my taste I never let it even slow down my good time. There were way too many good things to reflect upon.

 

Loved the sushi bar and the dining room was fantastic!

[K.T.B.]

Eric, best thing I can do is provide the CC links for the reviews of the ships. They're both quite similar ratings-wise, but the Pride has a slight edge in the CDC score (98 compared to 95) and a much higher rating in terms of entertainment and family. Here are the links:

 

Monarch - http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=77

Pride - http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=190

[sgriff17]

you should do it, it's cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool. and Grooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooovy!:p

[jimbug]

As far as the "pink glow" from the funnel on the Pride, the only thing inside the funnel is Michael's, the alternative restaurant with a surcharge. From all of the pictures I've seen and the reviews I've read, it really just depends what time of day you're in there - if you're in the club during the time of day when the sun is shining directly through the funnel, yes, I'm sure you'll get a rosy glow in the room...after all, it is a red glass-type "roof". However, if you are there at night, which is when I'd assume most would go dinner there, it looks the same as any other place on the ship.

 

The Pride is beautiful - definitely not the 80s neon you see on some of the other ships.

[cruiserlisa]

I loved the Pride. The ship is huge and it did take a while to get used to the art work but all in all it is a beautiful ship. We had an extended balcony cabin and really loved it.

[sgriff17]

Ive been on 4 Carnival cruises and the Pride was my favorite ship, crew, entertainment, food, etc... by FAR.

[sheree23]

My husband and I were on the Pride in 2003. We had THE time of our lives. I can go on and on about everything we loved about that ship, but I'm at work right now! It's BEAUTIFUL and the staff was so accomodating, we felt like royalty.

[BobbyK]

Is there an omelet bar for breakfast? Lobster???

Robin :cool:

[SoccerMom#3]

Last summer when we were on the Pride there was an omelet bar at breakfast and they had lobster for dinner one night in the dining room.