Feb. 2015 Post 2.0 Pride Picture Review-including the Chef's Table

[alrichards4003]

Background:

 

We have a cruise scheduled for October on the NCL Breakaway in a suite and were going to fly to NYC the day before, so that would be the not cheap vacation. But we needed another cruise. We loved the Breeze, but my husband the whiner complains about the flight. We live in Tampa, so I was thinking about the Liberty out of PC. Then I heard about Pride going into drydock and getting 2.0 upgrades and leaving out of Tampa. I had planned on the 3/1 cruise, but then got a pack and play offer from the casino. $50 for an inside or $120 for a balcony for the 2/15 cruise. I found my cruise. I paid $638 for the cruise, port fees and pre-paid gratuities for both of us. This would have to be one horrible cruise to feel we did not get our money's worth. We definitely got our money's worth.

 

Anyone who was reading some of the early post-drydock reviews would have been concerned, but I remember reading Breeze reviews when she was in Europe and Sunshine reviews and I loved them both. It was a great cruise, would I have some suggestions for improvements-yes, but would definitely sail Pride again.

 

Us:

 

DH 43, me 42 for a couple more months. I work a lot of overtime, so focus a lot of energy on my vacations, where I can't be called into work. We enjoy cruises, as we can both do our own thing, but meet up and do stuff together as well. We like both CCL and NCL and alternate between them, if we could combine the cruise lines we would have the perfect one. We have had some vacation mishaps, so there is a little trepidation of what might await us when we return, but love our vacations so it is worth it. The worst part is leaving the babies: Charlee and Barry, the beagles. But at the end of the vacation, my favorite part is seeing them when we get home.

 

Ok, onto the review.

[alrichards4003]

The parking at the port is $15 a day (the last time we parked there, that was the price) the cab ride from the house to the pier ran $25-$30, so we took the cab and enjoyed the convenience of being dropped off in front. I made the reservation online and the cab was there at 10:30 exactly. We got to the port quickly and checked in, we were zone 5. After sitting for a couple of minutes, I looked at my watch, 10:56 wow.

 

They started calling groups at 11:30 or so. Captain Carnival's announcements were great. It was a little after 12, and we headed to the Red Frog Pub, we were the second couple there, so no free drink, but still glad to start our vacation.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

DH is a smoker, I am not. So his next stop was the casino bar. He spent a lot of time in this spot.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

The air machine:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

Drink of the Day and Guy's Burgers, it begins:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

Views of Tampa:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

Lido:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

Time to check out the room:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

The muster drill was outside, it had been a while since we had one outside. I propose a new rule, everyone who comes late to muster drill have to buy all the rest of us who are on time a drink...deal?

 

After the drill we went to EA Sports Bar. I would have spent more time in here if it had been football or baseball season. But basketball is not my thing, still it was an enjoyable place to spend some time.

 

They had pretzels, which they heated up and served with cheese sauce for $1.25. DH is trying keep me from his:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[pcvtmom]

Yay! I'll be sailing on the Pride this summer, after she returns to Baltimore. Looking forward to your review and pictures!

[alrichards4003]

Yay! I'll be sailing on the Pride this summer, after she returns to Baltimore. Looking forward to your review and pictures!

 

Thanks. Let me know if you have any questions and I will see if I can answer them.

[alrichards4003]

The Taste Bar:

 

They had spicy salmon roll and custar with fruit from Bonsai Sushi. Often with the Taste Bar they serve food that is not served in the restaurant. Custard is not served in Bonsai.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

One thing I liked about the Pride was how compact it was. On 2 there was EA sports bar, with Red Frog Pub on the side and Taste Bar on the other side, then the coffee bar and then a seating area and fountain. The front was Taj Majal, the show lounge, midship was the casino and atrium bar. Aft was the Alchemy Bar and the restaurant. We stayed on 8 and we spent most of our time on 2, 3, 8 and 9.

[christinalvt]

Great review so far! Thanks for taking the time to put in all the pics! Can't wait for our cruise in May, first time on the Pride. One question: I heard there might be a "sushi cart" that was free, not Bonsai Sushi. Did you see that?

 

Thanks,

Christina

 

 

[emoji572]️ You know you're a cruise addict if:

You know what DOtD and OBC mean.

You enter your bedroom at night and look for the towel animal.

You are reading Cruise Critic, and your cruise isn't for months, or you don't even have one booked (yet!) [emoji572]️

[love my grandkids]

Thanks so much for the review, we will be on the Pride in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

How was the PBE?

[alrichards4003]

I went to have the Martini Tasting, it was a $1.00 off. They did not have the papers, so the read the choices off a napkin and you chose from there.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

 

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

 

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

I had the caribbean Manhattan, peach cosmo, 40 is the new 20 and another one I can't remember. The snacks they brought were Swiss cheese, nuts and olives.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

Great review so far! Thanks for taking the time to put in all the pics! Can't wait for our cruise in May, first time on the Pride. One question: I heard there might be a "sushi cart" that was free, not Bonsai Sushi. Did you see that?

 

Thanks,

Christina

 

 

No, all I saw was Taste Bar and Bonsai Sushi. My understanding is that the Taste Bar replaced the sushi cart, which I loved on other ships.

[alrichards4003]

Thanks so much for the review, we will be on the Pride in 2 1/2 weeks.

 

How was the PBE?

 

That was my biggest disappointment. One of the highlights of our last Breeze cruise was Ben Gentry and we were in the piano bar every night. We saw Christina at 88 Keys and thought she was good, but did not make it that night. She was supposed to get off the ship in Belize, we did not make it to Belize (more on that later). Earlier it had been in the Fun Times that Tony was the PBE, but once they changed to sea day they removed the piano bar from the schedule, evidently Christina played, but we did not go since it was not on the schedule. The next night she was on the schedule and we went and the bartender said she needed a break and was not playing, but would play the last night. We went the last night and there was no one in the piano bar. So it was disappointing since we really enjoy the PBE and is one reason for cruising Carnival. We understand it was our fault for missing the first few nights, but would have like to have a PBE for the last 2 nights.

[alrichards4003]

I went to the spa raffle and it was a fun time, even thought I did not win anything.

 

The spa hot tub:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

I got pictures of the inside of the gym, unfortunately I never made it back.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

I was to meet my husband in the casino bar to go to dinner. The casino was set to open at 7, but it was closer to 8 when it opened.

 

Drink menu:

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

This musician played in the casino almost every night. He was very enjoyable.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[alrichards4003]

Whoops, I uploaded treadmill, instead of drink menu.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[daniella1279]

Does the Red frog pub have any table games? We just got off the Sunshine and a highlight was play dart, shuffle board and fosseball.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Jamman54]

Enjoying your review so far. We'll be back on the Pride in April. Thanks for sharing!!

[Texasgalsa]

Following

[alrichards4003]

We did Anytime Dining. We went and every night they said they could seat us right away if we wanted to share a table. We don't mind socializing, but like to spend our dinners together with it being just the 2 of us. They gave us a beeper, we looked at some of the art work. One of the things we enjoy attending are the art auctions. We talked to some of the park west people and then we were going to get a drink in the lobby, but as soon as we sat down, our buzzer was going off.

 

I had the linguini with sausage and peppers. Very good.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

DH had the beef barley soup

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

We both had the sweet and sour shrimp. They changed the recipe, it used to be serve with noodles and the shrimp were larger. DH said the shrimp tasted frozen, I don't know if they were or not. It was still good.

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

 

Creme Brulee for dessert

 

image by alrichards4003, on Flickr

[love my grandkids]

That was my biggest disappointment. One of the highlights of our last Breeze cruise was Ben Gentry and we were in the piano bar every night. We saw Christina at 88 Keys and thought she was good, but did not make it that night. She was supposed to get off the ship in Belize, we did not make it to Belize (more on that later). Earlier it had been in the Fun Times that Tony was the PBE, but once they changed to sea day they removed the piano bar from the schedule, evidently Christina played, but we did not go since it was not on the schedule. The next night she was on the schedule and we went and the bartender said she needed a break and was not playing, but would play the last night. We went the last night and there was no one in the piano bar. So it was disappointing since we really enjoy the PBE and is one reason for cruising Carnival. We understand it was our fault for missing the first few nights, but would have like to have a PBE for the last 2 nights.

 

Strange as the PBE is usually off only once the entire week.

[alrichards4003]

Does the Red frog pub have any table games? We just got off the Sunshine and a highlight was play dart, shuffle board and fosseball.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I want to say yes. But cannot remember definitively.

[alrichards4003]

Enjoying your review so far. We'll be back on the Pride in April. Thanks for sharing!!

 

Thanks!

[alrichards4003]

Following

 

Great. Thanks!