Mitsugirly takes great PRIDE in bringing her Spring Break extreme review

[mitsugirly]

We've cruised with a number of cruise lines; some, more than others. The Grandeur will only be our 2nd time sailing with RCCL. We first booked the Breakaway from NY for 2016 winter cruise, but 2 days later, I cancelled that and decided to book the Grandeur from Baltimore, because we love leaving from that port. First, because we can drive to the port, and secondly the ease of boarding. We have only cruised on one other RCCL ship; an older and smaller ship years ago. I'm a bit skeptical about the Grandeur cruise, but we're going just to escape the winter weather for a week, and it makes a stop in Key West, which we visited once before, so we might do something there. For the most part though, we've been cruising so long, that we just stay on the ship in places like Nassau, Freeport because we've been there before. So the Feb. 2016 cruise is strictly to relax and warm up. I wish the Pride would attempt some other itineraries, because we really like it.

 

I'll be looking for your Bermuda cruise review too. Have fun!!!

 

Any cruise is a good cruise and better than no cruise so I hope you have a great time on RC. I would really like to give them another shot. I haven't cruised with them since the 90's and that was the last time I went to Key West. I really liked Key West, but not really hip on the other ports they are going to and really don't care for the Bahamas if I have a choice.

 

This will be the absolute first time I have ever (basically) stayed on the ship and I missed going somewhere, even if it's to a place I have been to before. I hope I never have to make this decision again. :(

[mitsugirly]

Your HMC pictures are amazing! I've seen tons of pix from there (haven't made it myself yet :mad: ) but yours really stand apart from the rest! I also never knew there was a shopping area there. Thanks so much for your extensive review.

 

 

Aww shucks. Thanks so much for the compliment. I really appreciate it.

 

It really is a wonderful place to go and I'm so glad we were able to experience it. I would definitely go back in a heartbeat. :)

[mitsugirly]

We headed back to the room to get our bathing suits on and that's when I discovered, once again, that we had no beach towels. Sigh. I was able to locate the room steward out in the hallway and stopped and told him that we didn't have any towels. He explained that they did not have enough clean ones when he cleaned the room last night and then he immediately went and got us some.

 

 

Up to the deck we went toward the pools and decided it would be a great day to hang out at the waterpark.

 

 

 

 

The water was ice cold, but like always, that didn't matter to Sakari. She is a polar bear when it comes to water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I had sat out in the sun for so long that I was roasting. I had gathered up enough courage to go on the Green Thunder drop slide...not because I was scared (I love these things), but because I knew the cold water was going to be a shock to my system.

 

I headed that way, started climbing the steps, then I see several people come back down. It was closed even though I seen several employees up there. I headed back down to tell my husband and he informs me that someone was stuck in the slide. I guess a kid was getting ready to go down it and the bottom dropped out but not all the way and there they were stuck in the slide at the top with half their body in the tube and the other half at the top where you start??? I was told they were stuck in there for an hour before they got them out and they were now working on the slide to get it running again. Um ok...I think I'll pass but thanks for the offer.

 

After that disappointment, I decided I WAS going to get in the water and we headed to the pool instead.

 

Thank goodness the water in the pool was not too cold and I was able to get in with no problems and got use to the water fairly quickly on this nice hot day.

 

 

 

 

I did forget to mention that daddy taught Sakari how to doggy paddle and keep her head above the water on this cruise. He worked with her and worked with her one day at the beach and she was finally able to do it. She is a great swimmer under water as long as her head is under, she's fine. If she stops, she knows to go back down and then swim. But she was so excited to learn to stay above water (even though mommy was still nervous).

 

(video below)

 

 

 

 

 

Selfies

 

 

 

Sakari and I decided we wanted to get in the hot tub and daddy decided he was hungry. I told him to grab us some Guys Burgers and when he returned, we'd get out and off he went.

 

We headed for the hot tub and Sakari slowly eased her way in since she had a little bit of redness from a few days ago.

 

[mitsugirly]

We just kinda relaxed in the pool and she made it all the way in up to her shoulders but still held her arms out of the water. I tried to tell her when she begged to get in there that it was going to feel extra hot when you are red but she insisted.

 

 

 

Daddy came back with 3 plates of Guys Burgers and back to the table we went for lunch. As always, they were YUMMY!

 

When we were done, Sakari wanted to go in the hot tub one last time and swore she would make it all the way in and she did.

 

Selfies (can someone tell me why I ended up with a black spot on my face in this picture??? What the heck. I really didn't have a spot on my face, but just in the picture and it was the only picture I told that had this on there).

 

 

 

We were done swimming for the day and headed back to the room to get dressed. I knew they were having a magic show and I didn't want to miss it.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Off we went. The guy was good, but not the greatest I've seen. The kids were entertained for sure and Sakari loves magic.

 

 

He was from India, so sometimes it was a little hard to understand him.

 

 

 

At one point he did a magic trick were he started eating paper napkins...like over and over again. The audience was laughing and the kids were giving the "ewwww" to him. Then he came up to my husband and put a paper napkin in his mouth. My husbands a jokester so of course he played along and started eating it.

 

 

 

 

When he was done eating TONS of napkins, he started pulling it out..

 

 

 

 

Pretty funny and the kids were amazed.

[Lovetwocruz2009]

Thank you for a wonderful trip report. May I ask which island/beach is your favorite for snorkeling?

 

DH and I enjoy snorkeling too. I love your underwater photos. Our top two spots for easy off the beach snorkeling are Coki Beach in St. Thomas and Tabayana (sp) Beach in Roatan.

 

Traci

[tropicaledrink]

I don't know if that's a Carnival thing or not.....but we have ALWAYS had an ID to get back past the checkpoint, with the exception of Half Moon Cay. It's usually also posted near where we have "dinged" out in my experience. (Not saying it was posted, just my prior experience)

 

And not to sound super snarky, but it is on the very front page of the fun times to have your sail and sign card and a photo ID with you at all times on your Freeport fun times.....

 

We have also had success in bringing open bottles on other Carnival ships. :/

 

 

We're actually planning on a low key day in Freeport as well. But we don't really cruise for the ports. I am a-okay with a low key day here. :D

[ainecaine]

[emoji3] [emoji4] [emoji5]

Edited April 24, 2015 by ainecaine

[PurdueChefAmber]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I am surprised they let drinks back on!!

Edited April 24, 2015 by PurdueChefAmber

[CruizinMama1026]

I love your review so far! We'll be on the Pride next may and we're bringing our little ones for the first time. I love seeing how much fun your daughter is having.

[shoppingfever]

... I really don't want to cruise to Key West or Port Canaveral. That's like not even cruising to me. I really don't care for the Bahamas (unless it's a private island) and would rather go down to the Caribbean, so I'm not sure if I'd do RC from there. Hmmm

 

 

That is the itinerary for Pride next spring break- Port Canaveral, Freeport, and Nassau. I can't go the week after spring break (I'm a teacher) so am really tied to that week. We are wanting to cruise on the Pride because we love Serenity with the lounging areas, bar, sitting area with tables, pool, etc. We did Legend last spring break and loved it. We skipped the last elegant night and literally had the whole place to ourselves for about an hour! It was wonderful!

 

I know you have cruised NCL several times. Are there any ships similar to the Pride's layout with the serenity area and the size of the ship?

[mitsugirly]

After the show Sakari decided that she wanted to visit with her friends, so we dropped her off at the kids club. According to the schedule, they were to be in Beauties. When we arrived, they were not there and there was a sign saying they were at Camp C. Sigh. Once again, on a wild goose chase.

 

We were going to try to make it to the MDR for dinner, so she only had about 45 minutes before we would have to pick her up again. We gave her the choice of either eating with us or with her friends at the kids club. She decided we would be better company I suppose.

 

We picked her back up 45 minutes later, back to the room to get dressed and off the the MDR for "dinner" (lol, because it's at 5:30pm and I'm normally finishing lunch about now). We got in line and were pretty close to the front of the line this time. Great.

 

We checked in and as we were being seated, one of the ladies told my husband "you are not allowed to have shorts on in here." He ask why and they said it was dress up night. We had no idea. However, he did have a very nice outfit on, dress shorts and a matching button down collared shirt, but they said no. As they are standing there talking, the staff let's another 3-4 people in WITH shorts. Um, ok. He points them out to the staff. They show us our table and he says he will go back to the room to change, but if they are going to say something to him, they need to say it to everyone else...as they continued to let in more guys with shorts including several that passed us. They even seated a guys at the table next to us and he was in plain site. They also let a teenager in with SWIMMING TRUNKS and this kid was taller than my hubby...not a word said.

 

The hubby went back to the room to change while I sat and watched the same people continue to allow more people in, not a word was said to them about their shorts and they were seated and eating.

 

At one point, I think my face started getting red and I said something to him. He said "We have sent about 4-5 people out to change". "Yes, yes you have, but what about the other 20 you have let in and they are eating?"

 

We did watch him go over to the table next to us and they ask the guy to change and he flat out said "NO, I paid good money for this cruise and I will wear whatever the hell I want to eat in"...and he did just that. The guy tried to come over and tell me that the guy "said he was leaving to change" and that's when I got pissed for him flat out lying to me. I'm right across from him and can hear everything said. How are you going to lie to me like that? Then the story changed to "We have called security to have him removed"...lie again. The guy sat down, he was waited on and he was served and eating. Sigh

 

I understand rules. We play by the rules. We did not know it was dress up night. However, if you are going to send 1 back to change, you need to do all of them! Plain and simple. There was an entire line of guys in shorts. Then to let teens in with swimming trunks is ok? Oh, and I'm sorry, the girls who have the shortest shorts on that look like they fit Sakari, and a halter top and throw on a pair of heels that are 8" tall..no, that is NOT my definition of "dressing up". Sorry.

 

Sakari and I kept ourselves busy with taking selfies.

 

 

 

She also stayed busy in between the "where's daddy and why did he have to leave" questions by doing more seek and finds.

 

 

 

Daddy returned and we were able to now order after half the guys with shorts on had ordered, been served and finished their meal and was walking out the door.

 

The guy came over to thank my husband when he returned for obeying the rules and going back and changing and said he would like to send some wine over for our troubles. Honestly, it wasn't about that. He had no problem changing or obeying the rules, the problem was not making others do the same.

 

We told him we didn't drink wine, but thank you for the offer. He kept asking and we declined.

 

Our waitress came over to take our order and we ordered. She kept asking about the wine as we continued to say no. Then she said "beer?" The hubby said "sure" and well...if that's the case, how about a frozen drink for me then?

 

I ended up with the absolute best darn pina colada I think I have ever had. Seriously!

 

 

For starters I had the salad.

 

 

 

The hubby and Sakari had the broccoli soup and boy did it look good...so yep, I ordered one too.

 

 

 

The ship photographer came around and took our pictures. They ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS will show up right at the exact same time as my hubby is putting food into his mouth and tell him to "smile". His final picture was quite hilarious actually because we knew why he wasn't smiling and the look he had on his face trying to smile with no teeth showing and food obviously in his mouth.

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari wanted the chicken nuggets

 

 

She also wanted a pb&j

 

 

 

I had the shrimp and it was awesome.

 

 

 

Hubbys food

 

 

 

When we were done, we were ready for desert (I specifically came tonight to the MDR because I knew it was cheesecake night and I was not about to miss it).

 

 

 

Sakari kept herself busy by more coloring and activities.

 

 

 

[medicalma'am]

I knew from your pictures that you were probably doing a review, glad I decided to look for it!

 

The spot on your face in the hot tub is probably a water droplet on the lens. :(

 

SO glad you decided to try the main dining room! We MUST have a meal together the next time we sail. LOL

[mitsugirly]

I had noticed that the menu said that the cheesecake was something like "no fat" or "no sugar" or no something I can't remember. All I was reading was "no good". Sigh. Oh well I'm trying it anyhow.

 

Then the slice of heaven arrived.

 

 

 

Yes, to die for!!!

 

I had the hubby order the baked Alaskan because to be honest with you, I had not had this desert since our very first cruise in 1989!!! Remember when the wait staff would walk around the dining room singing and dancing and they would have the baked Alaskan lit on fire during the show then serve it to you? (Can you imagine these days??? Lighting it on fire in the MDR and dancing? lol Man we were brave back then).

 

 

Now honestly, since it had been so long since I had one, I had no clue what was even in it. I just remember the outside of it. I really didn't like it after trying it, but at least I can say I tried it.

 

I can say that our dinner this night, the service was very slow. It was one of the longest waits for service, food, drinks and desert that we had during the entire cruise. But the food was excellent and we walked away with our bellies full and happy.

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari was ready to head back to the kids club since she had only got to stay 45 minutes last time and it was "alien" night. Obviously you can figure it out...they are not at Camp Carnival, but this time they would be up at Club o2.

 

We headed to the Butterfly Lounge to watch a comedy show, which was a guy named Don Grey I believe. From what I remember he was "ok". Nothing too funny, not too boring I guess since we sat there the entire time.

 

After that we headed to the theater to catch the Getaway show. We were picking up 3D glasses and that kinda excited me. I love 3D movies, shows and rides!!! (Another reason I can't wait to go on the Breeze).

 

We found our spot and they explained that during the show they would tell us WHEN to put our 3D glasses on. They also told us that they had bubbles in the show and when they popped, we would SMELL certain things.

 

The show was good and yes, the bubbles popping were a really neat addition to the show incorporating smells into the show that went along with what they were doing. Pretty cool. But the entire 3D thing was pretty lame. They would just play a 3D short movie clip for you to watch as they set up the new props for the next part of the show. Ehh

 

The props and the show was decent, once again, I really didn't care for the singers or their voices. THEN....the girl that has the 10 year old voice from the atrium joins them...oh em gee! Sigh

 

I can honestly say that Carnival will never compare to the entertainment and shows that NCL have. They don't even begin to come close at all.

 

 

 

After the show we picked up Sakari and she said she had a blast during alien night. This would be the first time that she had her face painted the entire cruise. She used to having face painting almost every night on the cruise with NCL. No biggie, but just an observation.

 

 

 

 

We headed up to Mermaids buffet to see if we'd get lucky and find some different food. Oh course not. Only the deli and pizza open like always.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

When we were done eating, we headed back to the room, but not before stopping at the pool deck to grab some popcorn to eat and watch tv back at the room.

 

When we arrived at the room, this was our towel animal for the night.

 

I swear there has not been 1 cruise that we have been on that we didn't get this towel monkey during the week. Not one.

 

 

 

As we got ready to relax and head to bed, I noticed how I did not see Kendra or Brayden not once the entire day. We were so close but yet too far away to find each other. I know the few times I had called her phone from various phones around the ship, there was no answer and I assumed she was out doing things. I really thought she would be either up at the water park or at the pool during the day since it was so hot, but she never showed. I thought she would have Brayden at the magician show...nope. She was incognito the entire day. I hope she had fun.

 

Off to bed we went.

[seguetocaribe]

You are my review-writing hero :D

I don't have any plans of cruising on this ship (simply because we live in Florida and there are many options from here), but I am reading this review because you wrote it!

Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into your reviews!

[mitsugirly]

Thank you for a wonderful trip report. May I ask which island/beach is your favorite for snorkeling?

 

DH and I enjoy snorkeling too. I love your underwater photos. Our top two spots for easy off the beach snorkeling are Coki Beach in St. Thomas and Tabayana (sp) Beach in Roatan.

 

Traci

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

My favorite beach for snorkeling would also be Coki in St Thomas (Sapphire was also good snorkeling and much much prettier) and Roatan is an awesome place for snorkeling as well. We loved Maya Key and Little French Key (from what we did see from the canoe-I missed the boat out to snorkeling that day). Tabayana (which is West Bay) is also a nice place, but I just didn't like the beach too much or the vendors. Some day I'll give it another try. :)

 

I don't know if that's a Carnival thing or not.....but we have ALWAYS had an ID to get back past the checkpoint, with the exception of Half Moon Cay. It's usually also posted near where we have "dinged" out in my experience. (Not saying it was posted, just my prior experience)

 

And not to sound super snarky, but it is on the very front page of the fun times to have your sail and sign card and a photo ID with you at all times on your Freeport fun times.....

 

We have also had success in bringing open bottles on other Carnival ships. :/

 

 

We're actually planning on a low key day in Freeport as well. But we don't really cruise for the ports. I am a-okay with a low key day here. :D

 

I do know that every cruise we have been on (with Carnival or NCL), they tell you to take ID, but I have only had to show my ID once before (and that was our last trip to Nassau, but not the time before that) even though they tell you to take it. They will usually admit to you that you should take it...just in case. Just in case never seems to happen though. So honestly, it was our fault I guess. I just don't feel comfortable taking our passports off the ship with us. They are worth a LOT of money to other countries and I've heard too many horror stories about being robbed for them.

 

I honestly don't know if there was a sign or not. I wasn't really looking around to pay attention. Totally my fault again. More than likely, if you seen them there, they are probably there all the time at all of them.

 

You are right, it is listed there (in super fine small print), but I have honestly never looked at the front of the program. I find it very hard to follow the Funtimes. I guess I'm just use to the way NCL does their program with the dailies. I actually didn't discover the pull off part on the side of the Funtimes that you could carry around with you during the day to figure out what was going on at any given time. My daughter actually showed me that about the 3rd day. LOL I guess I'm not very observant. Oops. hehe (And no snarkiness taken, I'm very interested in knowing these things for the next time so no worries). :)

 

I will definitely remember the open bottles on Carnival and if they let me by with them next time, good. If not, then oh well. Thanks for letting me know your experience. I appreciate it. :)

[mitsugirly]

[emoji3] [emoji4] [emoji5]

 

 

:)

:p

:D

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

I am surprised they let drinks back on!!

 

 

So was I. But I'll try it next time.

[mitsugirly]

I love your review so far! We'll be on the Pride next may and we're bringing our little ones for the first time. I love seeing how much fun your daughter is having.

 

She definitely had a lot of fun but then again, she's like me and every cruise is a good cruise no matter what.

 

That is the itinerary for Pride next spring break- Port Canaveral, Freeport, and Nassau. I can't go the week after spring break (I'm a teacher) so am really tied to that week. We are wanting to cruise on the Pride because we love Serenity with the lounging areas, bar, sitting area with tables, pool, etc. We did Legend last spring break and loved it. We skipped the last elegant night and literally had the whole place to ourselves for about an hour! It was wonderful!

 

I know you have cruised NCL several times. Are there any ships similar to the Pride's layout with the serenity area and the size of the ship?

 

Oh, eww on the itinerary for spring break next year. I would never book that itinerary. Yuck.

 

As far as I know, only the bigger and newer ships have an adult only area on NCL. So there wouldn't be any ships that I'm aware of that are smaller like the Pride that have it. Although I can't be 100% sure since we travel with a little one, we never venture off to these areas honestly.

[mitsugirly]

I knew from your pictures that you were probably doing a review' date=' glad I decided to look for it!

 

The spot on your face in the hot tub is probably a water droplet on the lens. :(

 

SO glad you decided to try the main dining room! We MUST have a meal together the next time we sail. LOL

[/size']

 

Hey Robin. Glad you found me.

 

I thought it might be a water drop too, but any picture I have ever taken that had water spots, they were always just a blur. I guess it's a mystery. I'm just glad it only happened on that picture only for some reason. Then again, that might have been the very last picture I took while we were there (and probably was since we got out of the hot tub and went back to the room) because I probably washed the cameras and dried the lens once we got back to the room. So that would explain it.

 

Yep, I'm starting to really love the MDR. I have never been a fan for some reason up until the last 3 cruises. The Sun and the Sky had the absolute smallest buffet on any of the ships I have been on and honestly the variety and food was not impressive those times...neither was this ship, so I think that has pretty much forced me to try the MDR more and I'm really liking it. We will definitely need to go to diner one night. That would be awesome. I hope to sail with the ma'ams again some day. I would love to get Kris with us again. That was honestly the best cruise ever. :)

[mitsugirly]

You are my review-writing hero :D

I don't have any plans of cruising on this ship (simply because we live in Florida and there are many options from here), but I am reading this review because you wrote it!

Thanks for all of the hard work that you put into your reviews!

 

Aww shucks. I am flattered. Seriously. Thank you. (You know the Pride was in Tampa a week before we boarded her). ;) :D

[mitsugirly]

Day 7-Sea Day and that sad moment when you realize your cruise has almost come to an end day.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the depressing day that you get all that yucky information telling you it's almost time to get the heck off the ship. So, please make up your mind how you would like to be kicked off the ship and we'll give you until 11pm tonight to decide.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I went to bed last night knowing that today was a sea day and I had no plans....well, other than to sleep in FOR ONCE! I knew that the yummy brunch lasted all morning long and I think until 1pm and I loved it so much at the beginning of the cruise and I really didn't want to miss it again.

 

However...I woke up at 8am...again, can't sleep on the uncomfortable hard bed that all of my extremities go numb during the night.

 

I got up, went out on the balcony to check things out and you could already tell that the temperature had changed and I wasn't really sure if it was going to be a "shorts" day or not. It was sunny and nice, just not as warm as the hot day the day before.

 

Then it hit me...OH MY GOSH I ALMOST FORGOT!!! Today is the Dr Seuss breakfast that I had planned for and dreamed out for so long since finding out this ship had it. YIKES!!! EVERYONE GET UP AND GET UP NOW!!!

 

I frantically tried to remember where I put the paper where the lady kindly wrote down our times we signed up for the breakfast..you know, that "safe" place where you won't lose it place.

 

It looks like we were scheduled for 9:45am. I tried to call Kendra to remind her, but our phone wasn't working. Hmmm. No dial tone or anything. Weird.