Pride 1/25/15..Annie rolls a rhino and Annie in the sky with diamonds!

[JAYVIATION]

Fantastic review... very much looking forward to more!

 

Happy to see so many March repo folks here... easy to tell we're all jonesin' for our 14 nights aboard this beautiful ship. Five more weeks!

 

thanks very much. its the generous and kind comments that are keeping me at it. On the plane ride back home (at least it wasnt on the one going to the cruise).. there was this kid sitting behind me practically coughing his shoes off the whole way. I know bronchitis when I hear it and boy did this little guy have it...and now I do so this is keeping my mind off the gravel-y chest coughs and overall yuckitude so again, my thanks and glad you are enjoying the ride :)

[JAYVIATION]

this one has come up on numerous past reviews so I made sure to cover it. LAUNDRY ! this may come in handy for you 14 day upcoming repo cruisers...lucky..

 

There is self service laundry facilities on the ship. They are NOT marked on the current deck plans and I did not confirm if they are on every cabin level, but there is one on deck 7 midships. It will be on the side of the interior cabins and on the starboard (right) side

 

hint: you can always get your bearings regarding which side of the ship you are on by cabin number: ODD= starboard (right) EVEN= port (left side)

 

 

A long time ago, I think these were coin-op but now you use your sail and sign card...

 

 

 

 

 

 

more

Edited February 6, 2015 by JAYVIATION

[JAYVIATION]

just one more pic from the laundry room, the ironing board and iron

 

 

ok back to the non-chore related stuff.. the main lido buffet seating area sample pic

 

 

salad bar station at the rear of the lido buffet ( separate from the main buffet "oval")

 

 

the library/ internet cafe. You can purchase plans for internet or pay by the minute but this will add up fast, the connection is quite slow.

 

 

the Crystal Card Room.. which is a room with a crystal door that....you play cards in... yea

 

 

midship elevator bank looking toward atrium glass elevators

 

 

more?... fine if you insist..

 

 

 

 

[JAYVIATION]

this guy played some long solo sets in the main atrium several nights. He was fantastic and knew a wide array of music styles.

 

 

a gift statue next to the shore excursion desk by the yard that built the Pride

 

 

an artsy sitting area at the top of the atrium stairs

 

 

the 2 story fountain at the deck 2 promenade forward piazza

 

 

a night shot of the ship above deck. sorry for the blur. was the best I can get with a moving ship and low shutter speed. The ship looked quite beautiful lit up at night with different color lights in the pools.

 

 

and next.. my Kryptonite .... the frozen ice-cream/yogurt machine. I had a little trouble finding these at first and panicked thinking they were tossed as part of the refit. They are located tucked in flanking both sides of the big screen mid ship on the lido deck..thank goodness...so good.

 

 

now I can't have dairy.. I tried the ice cream once and PAID for it. the frozen yogurt though works just fine for us Leonard Hofstadters (lactose intolerants). enjoy !!

 

cont..

 

[JAYVIATION]

the Butterflies lounge deck 1 forward under the main theater

 

 

cute venue and perfect for use as the Punchliner Comedy Club.. so this may be a good point to talk about the entertainment. We will start with the comedy. It was separated into 2 versions, family friendly and adult with the same comedians doing both versions. We had a change of comedians halfway through the cruise so I dont know if the ones we saw will come back. We saw 3 total. And we only saw the family versions.

 

I have heard a lot of negative things about the adult versions being so over the top raunchy, many people kept walking out. To me ( my opinion alone), a strong comedian does not have to rely on constant swearing to be funny. It shows a lack of creativity when you have to substitute the "F" word for every noun, pronoun, adverb and adjective.

 

Now I was raised by a cup of coffee, so I can swear like a sailor sometimes from too much caffeine in my life at times, but Its not an everyday thing.

 

So how did the comedians fare without the "crutch" of swearing? The first one we saw Jason Andors. He was hearing crickets from the audience and it seemed apparent his comfort zone and demeanor was more geared for the adult version. verdict= not funny

 

second up was an older gentleman Carl Faulkenberry. This guy was a riot, perfectly suited for family and was quick-fire and good at improvising especially with the dribbles of cruisers that kept coming in late. verdict= coke up the nose laughs.

 

Last one we saw was Sheila Kay. She seemed more for the ladies in the venue, ie: a lot of feminine hygiene jokes and a way overusing of the flapping underarms graphic which was drawing screaming laughter from the women at the start became more of a "uh-huh" from the same group the 15th time it was used. verdict: perfect for the ladies, just ok for the guys.

 

We only saw one of the "Love and Marriage" shows with Skip the director hosting. This kind of show can be great or cringe worthy. It all depends on the couples selected and how they do on stage. It stayed relatively pg-13 rated and Skip did a great job with a lady from the longer marriage pair that seemed like a real attention hog and kept grabbing the mic from him.

 

The production shows we did not see so I can't comment on them.

 

so we arrive to the cabin and find these waiting for us.. or more precisely Annie because I didn't get any, but she said they were delicious !

 

 

its ok I got them for her anyway..

 

we also has these decorations up...... err uh.... I can explain...

 

 

 

Annie was very confused why these were in the room and was wondering if there was something I needed to tell her..... ( well yea but that was TOMORROW....the decor was supposed to be delivered tomorrow night)..blast..had to think fast.. Well I happened to notice earlier that the cabin above us had a door decoration about the person retiring... so I told her that I bet they delivered it to the wrong cabin...yea that was it...

 

luckily she bought it.. I dont make a habit of lying but gave myself a virtual pat on the back for that one..

 

so a bullet dodged, another day comes to a close and the climax to the story is coming up... in Grand Cayman..

 

 

 

good night all!

[SandyBShores]

What a cliffhanger! Don't keep us (or Annie) in suspense too long!,

[JAYVIATION]

What a cliffhanger! Don't keep us (or Annie) in suspense too long!,

 

sorry bout the wait..had to get some rest, but I just resized all the Grand Cayman pics and are placing them in "storyboard" order to upload to photobucket. the suspense was not intentional...or was it ? :)

[JAYVIATION]

Good Morning Grand Cayman..

 

 

 

Another picture perfect day and the copycats were with us again just about to drop anchor

 

 

we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, got ready then headed to the main theater to grab a tender ticket since we were not in a hurry due to our parasailing not being until noon. When we got to the theater, one of the carnival crew noticed our FTTF sticker on our cards and escorted us directly to the next tender already being loaded.. and away we went..

 

 

 

 

cont

[JAYVIATION]

 

at this point a little background is in order. Annie and I met in Florida. I was a tech at a busy eye clinic. She was a lone extern student from Quebec. She came down for a 3 month study before obtaining her doctorate.

 

It's one of those events with odds like life being on this planet. The two of us met at that moment, on that day, in that year, in that century and on and on...but it all came down to that first moment I saw her, looked into her eyes and I knew she was the one.

 

After her 3 months was up, she headed back to Canada and I stayed in Florida. Reality threw A monkey wrench in our whirlwind romance and a long distance relationship of that magnitude seemed fruitless.

 

If she has taught me anything..it's that there is never one straight answer for one problem. That as long as the desire and will is strong enough, the solutions to problems are boundless. Our emails and Skypes over the next year put this to the test.

 

I then decided to pull up stakes, quit my job, take what little I had and move as close as I could to her as we started the long and complicated process of being together in Canada.

 

I know what you are thinking..Canada? why not move to Florida, it's so much nicer weather-wise. One answer. Family.

 

Other than my mother, I had no other ties and she supported my effort 100%. Besides, Annie was too close to her family and I would never take her away from that...so... I moved to a tiny village in uppermost New York, found another job, and spent the next year and a half driving 6 hours every weekend to spend what precious time we could get.

 

So as we await the expensive and long process to allow us to be together we needed this trip to balance the stress of it all. One of our first dates was parasailing in Florida so I dubbed this an appropriate plan to "propose" the next natural step.

 

The only thing going through my mind in the last 6 months leading up to this moment..

 

"Please don't let me drop the ring!!!!"

 

 

 

the old and the new...

 

 

the water was sublime

 

 

someone is ready for a ride....(don't drop the ring.....my precious)

 

 

more to come..

 

 

 

[megnut78]

Keeping us in suspense! Can't wait to hear more!!!

[BeeBeeCee]

Thanks so much for sharing, it's a great review. My husband and I will be on the March repo cruise. It will be my 16th CCL cruise... but my first Spirit class, so I'm excited.

 

Thanks again! 😋

[petesweet]

What is the Garden Area?

 

I was going to copy the email I sent to my cabin mate, but the pictures don't come out. I will search back to where I found it and post again. Worth checking out, and my great thanks to OP for the information!!

 

Stay tuned.

 

Kathy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2015 by petesweet

[petesweet]

Page 3, post 57, shows the Sunset Garden (deck 3). OP says he has never heard music there (yay!!!) and there are portholes looking out to the sea.

 

See you soon.

 

Kathy

[Bluemoon319]

Page 3, post 57, shows the Sunset Garden (deck 3). OP says he has never heard music there (yay!!!) and there are portholes looking out to the sea.

 

See you soon.

 

Kathy

 

 

Thanks :) It looks like a similar area on either the Legend or Valor (can't remember which), which was very nice. It was kind of tucked away & I don't think a lot of people even knew it was there.

[Weeziblu]

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! I'm all caught up and now on the edge of my seat!!!

 

Looking forward to your next segment!

[pirate4me2]

This review is great! I can't wait for more. :)

[JAYVIATION]

with the GoPro on me head and one of the cool guys on the boat with my camera, it was time to go flyin...

 

 

and away we go !

 

 

it's amazing how quiet things get as you pull up and away and before you know it you are 600 ft up with a gift of the one you love beside you and the beauty of the world below..

 

 

so Annie really likes that "Riptide" song and she always repeats the chorus of "I wanna be your left hand man". Being the dork I am, when I first heard that I was instantly correcting the song on the radio saying, "it's suppossed to be RIGHT hand man" as usually used as a companion or a partner... so naturally, I had to look it up.

 

Turns out "I wanna be your left hand man" refers to her RING hand because he wants to be her husband... ahhhhhh I see. Annie didn't know that though.

 

so I tell her to look over at something to the right....and I CAREFULLY pull the ring box out of my left pocket.

 

 

and I start humming the tune, she notices ( but not the box) and I start to explain that I looked up what that song really meant. She seemed interested but confused that I would bring up such a random thing....then....

 

I asked her if I could be her "left hand man" ...then she got it !!

 

 

 

YES !

 

cont..

 

[pcvtmom]

What an AMAZING proposal! Great shots to remember it by, too! Thanks for sharing this with us. Love your review!

[JAYVIATION]

She loved it and I was pretty happy with myself that I didn't fumble the ring heh

 

 

Our ship in the distance, Grand Cayman below, beautiful sky above and a ring on her finger...mission accomplished.

 

 

I have a better pic of it later (rings are notoriously hard to photograph), just a simple ring with 3 blue diamonds. I found it a month after I met her and knew it was the one instantly and I was able to keep it a secret for 3 years.

 

now we were able to truly enjoy the moment..

 

 

one happy girl

 

 

 

i like how you cant really see the tow line in the shot above.

 

it was now time for our celebratory DUNK ! wait..what?!?

 

 

more..

Edited February 7, 2015 by JAYVIATION

[jamscckmc]

Congrats! That Annie is as cute as a button! Good job not dropping the ring in the ocean!

[Texasgalsa]

Do you have a YouTube video of your trip? Love the review!

[JAYVIATION]

wheee !!

 

 

 

 

so after all the flights in the group, they will either take you back to the port or drop you off at the beach you can see in the sky pics where a guy will stop by every hour to bring you back to the port. That was a cool little perk of the excursion. We hung out at the beach a bit and then headed back when the next parasail group was dropped off.

 

Oh and Annie has a habit of photobombing me at least once on every trip we go on.... well played dear..

 

 

we found a couple nice gifts at the little booths set up just by the tender area and then headed back with no wait..

 

 

lunch again, relaxed and before long, the ship was swinging around to start her journey back to Tampa..

 

 

more..

 

[JAYVIATION]

What an AMAZING proposal! Great shots to remember it by, too! Thanks for sharing this with us. Love your review!

 

(gives a humble bow) thank you for the kindness ..not done yet :)

[JAYVIATION]

Congrats! That Annie is as cute as a button! Good job not dropping the ring in the ocean!

 

I know, right. It was making me more nervous then my first skydive. And I thank you for the compliments :)

[JAYVIATION]

Do you have a YouTube video of your trip? Love the review!

 

I'll be putting one together later but it take a lot more time. Thanks for the support! glad you are enjoying it.