Mitsugirly takes great PRIDE in bringing her Spring Break extreme review

[mitsugirly]

When it was time, we headed up to the MDR. The paper said deck 2 in Normandie. As we walked in, they told us "no, wrong place, head up to deck 3". Ok, no big deal. Up to deck 3 and in line we went. We were maybe 5th in line. After people found out it was the Dr Seuss breakfast and it wasn't starting for a little while, some left. Ok people, you just missed out on some excitement IMO.

 

They had things on the outside of the restaurant for you to take pictures with.

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari wanted a picture with everything. She was super excited.

 

 

Such a mini-me

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I picked up the phone outside the MDR and called Kendra's room. She was up and getting ready and headed up.

 

She had Brayden all dressed up and had even painted his face...which he would continue to wipe with his hands until it smeared no matter how many times she told him to keep his hands off his face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally it was time to go in. As we approached the lady at the front with her clipboard we gave her our room number and she said "party of 9 right?"....nope, we are a party of 5. She said "no, I have you down as a party of 9 and then rattled off 3 rooms total. We told her no, we are a party of 5 and gave her our 2 room numbers. She said "but you other party called and insisted sitting with you guys and gave us the room number". "Nope, sorry, we are not traveling with anyone else nor do we know anyone else on the ship. We are a party of 5!" So, someone had made a mistake with our reservations or putting the party that called in with the wrong table. She went into panic mode. She said, well, do you mind sharing with them?

 

Now think about this, we have had issues with every single time we have been to the MDR so far and at this point, the hubby is a little perturbed. He blurted out "NO! We are not sharing". Now if you only knew my husband, you would laugh...like seriously. He's the most quietest person and he comes off as extremely shy because of it. He kinda floats behind me, remember the "duckling"? Yea, that's him. For him to blurt out NO so firmly, it was quite hilarious. But at that point he said he was fed up with the MDR screw-ups and that was that. Now I have to say I was definitely going to tell her no, we were not sharing, but not because I objected to having someone at our table, but because...well, whoever these poor soles were that were about to join us would have to endure probably the most uncomfortable breakfast with the most obnoxious child in the MDR and I was trying to save them from that. Seriously. I'm sometimes embarrassed by the way he acts and weird things that he does. He has absolutely no manners nor does his mother make him mind. However, I do and won't hesitate to put him in his place and piss her off. Sakari is a well behaved little girl and I teach her manners at all times. If she does something wrong, I explain to her that it's not lady like and she gets it. Kendra is a free spirit and I have no idea where she gets her parenting skills from because she was not raised that way. Go figure.

 

We headed in and was seated at our table. I absolutely loved the decorations and it was so cute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The menu:

 

 

 

The really went all out in planning this event...the menu is so cute and just like reading a Dr Seuss book.

 

 

 

 

A litle fun

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We caught a glimpse of Thing 1 and Thing 2. Now the super nice thing about this character breakfast is that the character comes around and they visit EACH TABLE one by one. There's no line to stand in and everyone gets a turn. Also, you get to use your own camera (and they will take the picture for you so that everyone at the table gets in the picture) and then the ship photographer will take a picture as well.

 

 

 

 

They pass out something for the kids to keep them busy while waiting.

 

 

On the back of the booklet, there's a place for the characters to give you their autograph.

 

 

 

They put details into everything. I loved it

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The things made it to our table.

 

 

 

Then the Cat in the Hat made it around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sakari loved the cat

 

 

 

She didn't want him to leave

 

[mitsugirly]

When the cat walked away, it was funny to watch because his hat was too tall for most places in the restaurant and he had to duck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Our breakfast came and it was actually yummy

 

 

 

 

This was my breakfast and I loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After breakfast, they pass out desert. We had to get each...just to try and for pictures of course. I liked the striped one. It was like jello and whipped cream or icing or something.

 

 

[AnchoredInHope]

Loving your review!

 

Just a thought: have you ever considered getting Sakari involved with a competitive swim team? I coach 5-8 year olds, and she seems to have so much potential. More importantly, it seems like she would really enjoy it! Lots of cities have summer rec teams to get a taste of competitive swimming, so I'm sure you could find one fairly easily if you're interested.

[pohlerbear]

Thank you for a great review. We're heading out on the Pride this summer. I'm probably going to book the hotel you stayed at, so that was especially helpful.

 

I've only cruised Carnival, so I'm not sure how the other dailies are, but a lot of your "complaints" (they weren't really complaints, but couldn't think of what else to call them) were addressed in the Fun Times. Besides the aforementioned ID to get in the ship, the formal nights are listed in the fun times, as well as the times the different areas of the buffet are open. Also, when you registered your DD for the kids club or attended the orientation, you should have received a schedule for the club that would detail the different activities of the club including if they were at an alternative location.

 

Looking forward to the rest!

[mitsugirly]

Sakari managed to get her "autographs"

 

 

 

We gathered our things and the breakfast was over and it was a huge success. It's definitely a MUST DO! There were people there of all ages...young and old.

 

The lady came around with our "charges" receipt and called out a name. "Nope, not at this table." She called out a room number "Nope, not at this table." Once again, this same lady was mixed up and confused and had to search for our tickets for us to sign. Sigh

 

I would highly recommend it to anyone.

 

 

We headed up to the photography area to make more purchases and Kendra searched forever to find the photos she had put all together the night before from the entire cruise. They were missing! We searched for probably 2 hours. The staff said that they do not move any of the pictures ever and they should be in the same place they have been. We searched both area. Every picture there. They were gone. Ugh! She only had 1 picture and she had purchased the day before. She explained to them about the pictures, what they were and they told her to write down what each picture was, what they were wearing (? seriously ?) and how many they had. She also gave them her 1 and only picture she had of them. They told her to check back at 7pm and they would see if they could locate them and look somewhere else in all the bags that had been thrown away.

 

She later went back and they all acted like they had no clue what she was talking about but somehow managed to find her only picture she had that she gave to them earlier. It was a lost cause. She would only have 1 picture for the entire cruise and she did have Braydens pictures professionally done during the cruise too when dressed up. So sad.

 

So, this proves to me they have no face recognition and they have no way to pull up additional pictures of you on the cruise.

 

While I was there I purchased my scrapbook and scrapbooking papers.

 

 

 

 

Here's our ship collectibles that Sakari collects on each ship she goes on. This time she managed to get a whale tail one too.

 

 

I had no idea that Carnival also had these little Christmas ornament ships when we sailed the Dream last. I didn't manage to get one from the Dream and she's so sad about it.

 

ANYONE GOING ON THE DREAM SOON THAT WOULD BE WILLING TO PICK ME UP ONE? I've had several people over on the NCL board pick me up a few of the ships while cruising that I didn't have (before Sakari started collecting them) and I pay for the ship (which is usually less than $10 on board) plus shipping plus I double the amount of the ship price just for you going out of your way to get it. I would much appreciate it if anyone is going on the Dream.

 

 

Anyhow, we went outside to check out the weather and man it had really changed since this morning. It was now cold and raining. Yuck.

 

Sakari headed to the kids club for some fun and we tried our hand at the casino once more. It ended up being yet another donation to the Carnival fund.

 

We ran into another member here on the board (who is a lurker but has only posted twice over the years but knows who I am from my reviews) and they all were a hoot. They seemed like they had the best time on the cruise and that last sea day they had matching bright shirts on. If you are reading this...hi ssteacher! So glad to have met you and talked to you at the bar in the casino. So he pointed out jamman at the card table to me. I didn't want to interrupt his game, so I waited patiently for him to finish...then I missed him. I turned around and he was GONE! Darn. Maybe some other time.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Since it was cold and raining outside, obviously this would be a trip without having the hairy man contest by the pool. So...they brought it inside instead. Straight to the atrium.

 

There were only 2 participants this time around and 1 guy was HILARIOUS! I mean this guy came prepared and pulled out all the stops. You could tell it was not the first time he's done this.

 

 

He's dancing around and he starts to do a strip tease.

 

But...this is what he reveals:

 

 

The crowd went crazy and loved it. The other guy competing against him was pretty much speechless at this point and you could tell he had nothing planned.

 

When they went to "interview" hairyman #1 with all the tricks up his sleeves, he presented himself with a pick in his hairy chest when he pulled his bra down. Again, great planning on snagging himself a trophy!

 

 

 

The other contestant that IMO couldn't hold a candle to him.

 

 

In the end, they declared them a tie and told them to "split the winnings" which I'm not really sure how they'd do that since they had a bottle of wine and I believe a trophy.

 

Now I know a lot of people don't like this "contest" and thinks it's a waste. I'm not the type to go seeking this out, but we just happened to be there at the time they had it and it made for a few laughs and it passed by the time while Kendra continued to search for her pictures and give the staff her info.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now if you have read previous reviews of mine, you know when you get me and Kendra together, we are a total crack up and feed off each other. We become very goofy and everythings up in the air with what me might do.

 

Kendra had a baby last year and she's been complaining about her weight since then (I would die to still have her body...just saying) and she's always talking about her double-triple chin.

 

So we are in the bathroom and I'm making fun of the air hand dryers. She got a real powerful one and said "Hey, you think this will work?" and she sticks her face under it to "shrink her triple chins"...

 

I snapped a picture and told her "You know this is ending up on the internet both in my review and on social media"....lol so here it is as I promised her.

 

 

We were completely cracking up as we walked out of the bathroom and the hubby had that look on his face and said "what did you girls do this time?" I told him and showed him the pictures and his next statement was "please tell me there wasn't anyone in the bathroom with you" and what do you think my answer was?...........Of course there was! That's what makes it funner.

 

 

We headed to get the kids and off to the Hasbro Game Show we went.

 

The had yahtzee bowling

 

 

 

 

They played Operation skeet ball style. Then the winners got ticket that they would put into a machine and the one with the highest points won.

 

 

 

We then headed up for our last Guys Burger meal.

 

 

Then parted ways and headed back to our room to do some packing. Kendra told me that she had been trying to call me all day yesterday when we didn't see her and all day today. I would discover when I got back to my room that my phone wasn't working. There was no dial tone or anything.

 

We did our packing and I sadly took my door decorations off the door and hung this lonely one up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Later in the evening, we dropped the munchkin off at the kids club and headed to the comedy club where we would see Diane Ford. She was, once again, "ok". She had some funny material and other things were just predictable on what she was about to say. It passed the time by and gave us something better to do than donate our money.

 

 

 

I headed to the atrium because I recalled someone saying that you can go to customer service and they will give you a free deck of cards if you ask. Kendra reminded me earlier when she told me that Brayden had lost his keycard the first day and when she went to get him another one, they said they have a "gift" for him and handed him cards. Way to reward the child. wink wink. So I went and they handed me 2 sets of cards. woot

 

Soon after we ran into Kendra again and we headed to the casino for her to cash in her big winnings and pay off her balance on her sign and sail card.

 

We picked up the kids at 9:45pm and headed to get dinner #2 like usual.

 

I bet you can guess what was open....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Since we had FTTF they sent us papers that we could get off right after those that decided to carry off their own luggage. Kendra said her tags said something like 11 or 11:30?? I can't remember. She was real upset about it being so late.

 

We parted ways and headed back to our rooms to get our final packing done and put them outside our cabin.

 

Sakari came back from the kids club with her hair fish braided. She loved it and wouldn't let me take it out or give her a shower that night because she didn't want to "mess the pretty braid up".

 

 

Our towel "animal" for the night wasn't an animal this time...it was a heart and Sakari was truly convinced that it was a heart for her.

 

 

 

 

We got the luggage outside our door out and it was time for a shower and off to bed we went.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Coming up tomorrow...our morning and getting off the ship and heading home plus my final thoughts of the Pride and the cruise itself. :)

[carnival03]

This may or may not come up. When you have FFTF you get priority debarkation, do you remember what zone options they gave you? (# luggage tag on your bed).

 

Another weird question, do you remember how long you could use your cell phone out of the Port of Baltimore?

 

Also, the carnival Pride sign you mentioned from your day in Freeport, well if you go to deck 9 forward you'll find they are actually electrical boxes per letter and light up during the night. They have these both on port and starboard sides.

 

(I just noticed your post about FFTF, ignore first question :) )

Edited April 25, 2015 by carnival03

[tropicaledrink]

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 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. :)

 

 

If it helps, we don't usually take our passports. We normally just take our Driver's License and we're fine. Not sure what you would need to do for Sakari though.

 

 

And I am so sad this review is coming to an end! Thanks for taking us on your trip - I've loved seeing the Pride through your eyes!

[mitsugirly]

Loving your review!

 

Just a thought: have you ever considered getting Sakari involved with a competitive swim team? I coach 5-8 year olds, and she seems to have so much potential. More importantly, it seems like she would really enjoy it! Lots of cities have summer rec teams to get a taste of competitive swimming, so I'm sure you could find one fairly easily if you're interested.

 

 

Actually I have thought about that. I always said after I graduated nursing (last year) that I was going to get her into something. Kendra was a competitive gymnast from the time we was around 4-5 up until she was around 12 and competed all over the US. Actually the cruise we went on in the 90's on Royal Caribbean was after a Florida competition for her team and then the entire gymnastics team got on the ship and took a cruise. Then she became a competitive cheer leader. She loved it all, but man do I remember the cost of everything and she had practice 5 nights out of 7 for 4 hours each night plus 1-2 competitions during the month during competition season. Ugh...then I wonder if I really want to endure this all again with Sakari. :o But I might check into it soon just to see what she thinks about it. I know she would love it. I do know the Y has a swim team.

 

 

Thank you for a great review. We're heading out on the Pride this summer. I'm probably going to book the hotel you stayed at, so that was especially helpful.

 

I've only cruised Carnival, so I'm not sure how the other dailies are, but a lot of your "complaints" (they weren't really complaints, but couldn't think of what else to call them) were addressed in the Fun Times. Besides the aforementioned ID to get in the ship, the formal nights are listed in the fun times, as well as the times the different areas of the buffet are open. Also, when you registered your DD for the kids club or attended the orientation, you should have received a schedule for the club that would detail the different activities of the club including if they were at an alternative location.

 

Looking forward to the rest!

 

You are very welcome for the information on the hotel. I'm sure you'll love it.

 

Yep, you are totally right. Everything is in the Funtimes, I just didn't take the time to read it all from front to back. I think next time I cruise Carnival, I will study one of them, get a better feel for where things are located so I'll know better next time.

 

While we didn't attend the orientation, we did go to it to pick up the schedule. I just never had it on me since it was several pages long and didn't fold easily and fit into my very small purse. After awhile, I started tearing the page depending on the day and carrying it. However, I did find that it would say they were in one place and they ended up being somewhere else. I have never been on a ship before where they were not always at the same kids club. NCL keeps the kids in their specific area (of course other than the times they will go up on deck for sports and games, parades, shows in the theater or out to eat, but you always dropped them off and picked them up at the same place) and it just really threw me off constantly having to check where they might be. I just wonder where were the kids that actually belong in that area at? Constantly gone? They utilized Club o2 a lot.

 

I did look at the times for the buffet. But that was not the problem. The problem is us and our time schedule. Like I said, we are use to eating dinner around 10-11pm. By then, the buffet is not open and the only other choices are pizza and the deli. So it's just not open during our normal eating schedule. :)

[mitsugirly]

This may or may not come up. When you have FFTF you get priority debarkation, do you remember what zone options they gave you? (# luggage tag on your bed).

 

Another weird question, do you remember how long you could use your cell phone out of the Port of Baltimore?

 

Also, the carnival Pride sign you mentioned from your day in Freeport, well if you go to deck 9 forward you'll find they are actually electrical boxes per letter and light up during the night. They have these both on port and starboard sides.

 

(I just noticed your post about FFTF, ignore first question :) )

 

Yes, we got priority so zone 0 or 1? Something like that. ;)

 

I'm not sure how long you could use your cell phone because once the ship passed under the first bridge, I turned it off and put it in the safe and said "I'm on vacation!" hehe

 

I can tell you that on the way home, Kendra told me that her phone started working about 11pm to midnight the night before. So if we arrive in port at 9am, it's about 10 hours...my guess for 10 hours after sailing away??? :confused: I could ask her because she probably had hers on the entire day that first day.

 

 

 

If it helps, we don't usually take our passports. We normally just take our Driver's License and we're fine. Not sure what you would need to do for Sakari though.

 

 

And I am so sad this review is coming to an end! Thanks for taking us on your trip - I've loved seeing the Pride through your eyes!

 

The problem was, I didn't have my ID. I completely forgot it and my wallet in my husbands glove box in the car back home. Oops.

 

 

This has got to the the absolute fastest review I have ever written...ever. I have tried to zoom right through it and get it over with so I can start planning my Bermuda cruise...in 41 days, 11 hours, 55 minutes and 50 seconds from now. :D I'm sure I probably missed a lot of things and didn't say the things I had originally planned on saying...but it is what it is.

[Jamman54]

We ran into another member here on the board (who is a lurker but has only posted twice over the years but knows who I am from my reviews) and they all were a hoot. They seemed like they had the best time on the cruise and that last sea day they had matching bright shirts on. If you are reading this...hi ssteacher! So glad to have met you and talked to you at the bar in the casino. So he pointed out jamman at the card table to me. I didn't want to interrupt his game, so I waited patiently for him to finish...then I missed him. I turned around and he was GONE! Darn. Maybe some other time.

 

 

Sorry we didn't get meet Kim. Maybe one day. I did talk to ssteacher a couple of times during the week. They had a fun group.

 

Just want to say that we have loved every minute of your review, and sorry that it is winding down. I think we both agree that the Pride is an awesome ship!!

[perfect match]

Great review Kim! I have enjoyed seeing the Pride through your eyes.

 

The Dr Seuss breakfast sounds like Carnival has been taking lessons from Disney. Disney does things like that so very well.

 

I agree with the poster about getting Sakari into swim lessons/swim team. I swam competitively from age 5 through college, and was lifeguarding,teaching and coaching as soon as I was able to be certified to do so. When I look at Sakari in the water, I see so much of me when I was her age. I'm sure she would love it.

 

We are headed out on a cruise of our own in a few hours, our first on Royal Caribbean. Hopefully, we will love it as much as our previous oneson Disney and Princess. I'm sure we will have a great time. I'll be back at some point after we get home to finish your review. Right now I think I'd better go try and get some sleep if I can. I'm too excited to sleep!

[jlajr]

Allow me to add my thanks to the others for your wonderful review.

[BigRed93]

Great review!

 

Is that Dr. Suess breakfast something you can sign up for before your cruise, or do you have to sign up when you board? We don't have kids and I have never even given it a thought, but seeing your pictures it is so cute. Might just go for the heck of it.:D

[cruisenoobie14]

I was wondering about the Dr Seuss breakfast as well... Is that something you have to pay extra to go to or was it included in the cruise price?

 

Also, I know that you have to make reservations to go to the steakhouse, but do you have to make reservations for the Sushi restaurant as well? I would think you wouldn't since the menu looks like a pay per item instead of pay for the meal but I haven't been able to find all that much information about it. (Someone on one of the boards asked about being able to take it out of the restaurant to eat but I never did find the answer out for that either)

Edited April 25, 2015 by cruisenoobie14