Just off the PRIDE, WARNING about aft cabin shaking

[asalligo]

We were on the Pride and there was definitely a vibration, first day it kind of bothered me, but after 24 hours or so, I think I was used to it.

[TravelE]

We experienced this too on our Thanksgiving cruise out of Tampa. We had balcony cabins in the aft section between midship and the very back. The vibration was very pronounced and made us a bit queasy. We also felt it in the dining room even while in port. I mentioned it to guest services and they brushed me off. I would not sail or eat in the aft area of the Pride again!

[polarman]

Just back from Pride yesterday, we stayed in 4122. Great room- some occasional slight shaking and vibrations. Was more aware of this in the dining room and other aft areas of the ship.

[BigRed93]

OP- sorry you had a rough ride.

I usually book staterooms around the aft elevators, and I have never had that bad of a shake. I have felt it in the MDR all the way by the back windows, but not in my cabin.

[nokidz]

Just back from Pride yesterday, we stayed in 4122. Great room- some occasional slight shaking and vibrations. Was more aware of this in the dining room and other aft areas of the ship.

 

We are off the pride yesterday too. Did feel a lot of vibration, but nothing traumatic until the last evening. We were mid deck 4 balcony.

 

Polarman, we are in that cabin this coming October. How is it? Any pics?

[jamscckmc]

It sounds like the vibration is not just in the aft rooms. I'll be back on her in three weeks in a mid ship 4K. I'm hoping for less vibration then the aft Vistasuite. I will report back.

[judy&steve]

I have to disagree strongly. I too am just off the Pride (May 3rd) and like you, I had an Ocean Suite, 7296, and did not find the vibration to be anything as you describe. After 35 years of cruising, I find that any ship will vibrate and shake, think of it, a huge steel pencil shaped object shoved through the ocean by huge propellers, you will get vibration, it’s the nature of the beast. Being on the same ship with the same cabin location as you I can’t agree with your assessment. We book suites, because we spend more time (than most people) inside our cabin enjoying the balcony. I can’t say vibration kept us out of our cabin during the day or kept us awake a night. I noticed no unusual shaking in the dining room either, beyond a normal reminder of the huge powerful engines a few decks below the room. A vibrating ship that is like a “paint mixer” is the former Carnival Destiny. I don’t know if the problem was addressed during her conversion to the Carnival Sunshine.

Edited May 4, 2015 by judy&steve

[jetta8300]

I have to disagree strongly. I too am just off the Pride (May 3rd) and like you, I had an Ocean Suite, 7296, and did not find the vibration to be anything as you describe. After 35 years of cruising, I find that any ship will vibrate and shake, think of it, a huge steel pencil shaped object shoved through the ocean by huge propellers, you will get vibration, it’s the nature of the beast. Being on the same ship with the same cabin location as you I can’t agree with your assessment. We book suites, because we spend more time (than most people) inside our cabin enjoying the balcony. I can’t say vibration kept us out of our cabin during the day or kept us awake a night. I noticed no unusual shaking in the dining room either, beyond a normal reminder of the huge powerful engines a few decks below the room. A vibrating ship that is like a “paint mixer” is the former Carnival Destiny. I don’t know if the problem was addressed during her conversion to the Carnival Sunshine.

 

 

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. A few things...

 

All of the fixtures in our room were making noise. If you didn't experience that, then we are on a completely different page. I know that you were a few decks up from where we were. That does make a difference. I know I keep saying that the noise in the room was much worse than the actual shaking. Again, I did not think it was nearly as bad in the serenity area. I'd truly like to know for other cruisers sake if your cabin was free from the rattling and squeaking. Or if this is just possibly something you would not notice either due to being a very heavy sleeper or a very frequent cruiser. Did you have rattling mirrors, air conditioner, balcony furniture, etc?

 

Second, we have been on two other ships, one we had a very aft cabin and experienced ZERO shaking, or a very minimal amount. So I disagree that it's just "what cruise ships do." This was MUCH MUCH worse than the other cruises we have taken. So it's not the "nature of the beast", it's the Pride. And MANY people have said the same thing.

 

Also, were you on the Port Canaveral itinerary? We were not, we went to grand Turk and half moon cay. We may have been going faster. And the sea days were when the shaking is the worst.

 

I guess I just want to say that, yes we thought it was awful. But I'm trying to stick to descriptive factual info about fixtures shaking, people leaving the dining room sick, silverware shaking, sick crew members, etc. Rather than just my opinion, so people can actually make a decision based on their own tolerance. We were in very rough seas for the first few days (again we do NOT mind rough seas) but I don't know if that possibly made the vibration worse. The girl at the shore excursion desk told us the boat was rocking much more than normal.

 

I usually see that people who don't think it's that bad start out with "We've been cruising for X years..." Or "we have 25+ cruises under our belt..." But not all of us have spent a huge chunk of life aboard a ship. You are probably much more accustomed to the conditions on a ship than the rest of us. Many people would not find these conditions pleasant. And would definitely feel like they were in a paint shaker like we did.

[Zeta3]

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. A few things...

 

All of the fixtures in our room were making noise. If you didn't experience that, then we are on a completely different page. I know that you were a few decks up from where we were. That does make a difference. I know I keep saying that the noise in the room was much worse than the actual shaking. Again, I did not think it was nearly as bad in the serenity area. I'd truly like to know for other cruisers sake if your cabin was free from the rattling and squeaking. Or if this is just possibly something you would not notice either due to being a very heavy sleeper or a very frequent cruiser. Did you have rattling mirrors, air conditioner, balcony furniture, etc?

 

Second, we have been on two other ships, one we had a very aft cabin and experienced ZERO shaking, or a very minimal amount. So I disagree that it's just "what cruise ships do." This was MUCH MUCH worse than the other cruises we have taken. So it's not the "nature of the beast", it's the Pride. And MANY people have said the same thing.

 

Also, were you on the Port Canaveral itinerary? We were not, we went to grand Turk and half moon cay. We may have been going faster. And the sea days were when the shaking is the worst.

 

I guess I just want to say that, yes we thought it was awful. But I'm trying to stick to descriptive factual info about fixtures shaking, people leaving the dining room sick, silverware shaking, sick crew members, etc. Rather than just my opinion, so people can actually make a decision based on their own tolerance. We were in very rough seas for the first few days (again we do NOT mind rough seas) but I don't know if that possibly made the vibration worse. The girl at the shore excursion desk told us the boat was rocking much more than normal.

 

I usually see that people who don't think it's that bad start out with "We've been cruising for X years..." Or "we have 25+ cruises under our belt..." But not all of us have spent a huge chunk of life aboard a ship. You are probably much more accustomed to the conditions on a ship than the rest of us. Many people would not find these conditions pleasant. And would definitely feel like they were in a paint shaker like we did.

 

 

I think what people aren't understanding is that it seems to be an intermittent issue. But I am in agreement with you the vibration/rattling we experienced in the aft on the Pride on our sailing was not normal and very unpleasant. Oh and I have been on 30+ cruises, all sizes of ships and across all seasons [emoji12] the only time I felt anything remotely similar was on the Eurodam

[jetta8300]

I think what people aren't understanding is that it seems to be an intermittent issue. But I am in agreement with you the vibration/rattling we experienced in the aft on the Pride on our sailing was not normal and very unpleasant. Oh and I have been on 30+ cruises, all sizes of ships and across all seasons [emoji12] the only time I felt anything remotely similar was on the Eurodam

 

 

I totally agree. I'm incredibly glad that this was not our first cruise. Because if it was, we would not have cruised again. We would have been completely scared away by this experience.

 

The minute we boarded our first cruise on the Carnival Freedom, the seas were so rough during the tropical storm that the drawers were opening and closing by themselves. But we learned that the rocking didn't bother us very badly, and we have a pretty high tolerance for that. There were people throwing up all over the ship. We were not sick, but I wouldn't say the rocking was "just fine" because to most it wasn't. But we learned we could tolerate it.

 

The shaking is obviously another story, we were not able to tolerate it, and I think a lot of people would say the same. It also does appear to be an intermittant issue on the Pride, and get better and worse.

Edited May 5, 2015 by jetta8300

[Sweet Dutch Girl]

I totally agree. I'm incredibly glad that this was not our first cruise. Because if it was, we would not have cruised again. We would have been completely scared away by this experience.

 

The minute we boarded our first cruise on the Carnival Freedom, the seas were so rough during the tropical storm that the drawers were opening and closing by themselves. But we learned that the rocking didn't bother us very badly, and we have a pretty high tolerance for that. There were people throwing up all over the ship. We were not sick, but I wouldn't say the rocking was "just fine" because to most it wasn't. But we learned we could tolerate it.

 

The shaking is obviously another story, we were not able to tolerate it, and I think a lot of people would say the same. It also does appear to be an intermittant issue on the Pride, and get better and worse.

 

Now the question is....where does this discussion go from here. The OP obviously feels that the shaking and rattling may be habitual on this ship and not necessarily acerbated by the sea conditions on a particular voyage. Do they want a warning posted on the web site by Carnival that rooms at the rear of the ship may not be the smoothest ride, do they want compensation or an apology?

 

Obviously other "rear end cruisers" haven't had the same experience or are just more tolerant of motion or noise. If the OP is posting as a "service" to potential cruisers then they should be comfortable allowing others to post their opinions and experiences so that others can make an equal informed decision.

[angel72]

We were also on the Pride recently in an aft cabin on Deck 5, and the vibration was pretty bad. I will say that except for the vibration, the Pride was great otherwise. Our balcony door and fixtures shook most of the time. We usually try to book midship but have been on other cruises in aft cabins and have never experienced vibration like this. When we mentioned it to guest services, we were told it would get better as we travel south but it never did (they do have motion sickness medicine which helped).

[jetta8300]

Now the question is....where does this discussion go from here. The OP obviously feels that the shaking and rattling may be habitual on this ship and not necessarily acerbated by the sea conditions on a particular voyage. Do they want a warning posted on the web site by Carnival that rooms at the rear of the ship may not be the smoothest ride, do they want compensation or an apology?

 

Obviously other "rear end cruisers" haven't had the same experience or are just more tolerant of motion or noise. If the OP is posting as a "service" to potential cruisers then they should be comfortable allowing others to post their opinions and experiences so that others can make an equal informed decision.

 

I am absolutely comfortable allowing others to post opinions...:confused::confused::confused: That's the whole point of this. And I want neither an apology or compensation. I do not own Cruise Critic nor am I trying to control what people post or say. Not sure where you're getting that.:eek::eek::eek:

 

But I think you're misunderstanding that the whole point of me posing this thread is to post about actual experiences, rather than just opinions. It's doesn't mean anything to anyone else to say, "yeah it vibrated, but we were ok with it..." or... "yeah it vibrated, and we thought it was horrible..." that doesn't help. That didn't give me a good enough idea of what was going on, hence I booked the cabin from hell. hahaha

 

Everyone has a different tolerance. so The two other cruisers who wrote in "disagreeing" with me didn't give any descriptive information other than the usual "yeah it vibrated but we were ok with it, we didn't think it was that bad." I thought it would be helpful to let other cruisers know if they were experiencing the extreme rattling within their cabin, to let others know if these cabins were safe, or not safe from that noise. And when I asked that question, they didn't answer back. You can disagree my opinion on how bad the shaking was, but you can't disagree with my experience with the whole room squeaking and rattling, that's a fact. It's also a fact that multiple crew members told us lots of the crew was sick, people were leaving the dining room because of the shaking, and we were sick when we have never experienced sea sickness before.

 

The whole point was to be a little more descriptive about it so other cruisers could know ahead of time if a particular cabin would have the same issues. There are a lot of people out there (like me) who this is a HUGE deal to, and could make or break a vacation. I actually started a thread when we first booked the cabin asking how bad it was since I heard varying degrees of tolerance, and nobody ever mentioned the entire room rattling. But now that I bring it up in this thread, there are others who have experienced this. I just wish I knew it ahead of time. So the only goal of this is to hopefully prevent someone else from having a bad cruise, or to let someone know that another cruiser who recently traveled in their cabin was free from the 24/7 squeaking/rattling fixtures and brain shaking.

Edited May 6, 2015 by jetta8300

[cruizinisthebest]

jetta8300 I appreciate you putting the information out there. And I can tell you this:

 

My sister and my family have contemplated booking the Pride for several years now. If we ever did, her being a balcony dweller and hearing so many good things about these aft balconies on Spirit class ships, we would have looked to book her in one of these. But now we wouldn't consider it. Not on this ship.

 

You may be extra sensitive or maybe there was something unusual going on with the engines or whatever being that I've never read anything similar to what you went through. Who knows. But it's not a chance I would take for my sister. And being that I do all of the planning and she doesn't read this boardor reviews and what not, there's no way I would take a chance on one of these rooms where there are other great balconies on the Pride.

 

So thanks for the post. ;)

[SandyBShores]

Jetta, I, for one, am extremely GRATEFUL to you for posting what you did in such detail! It helped me make my final decision to move my cabin. I'm paying a lot extra to upgrade to an Ocean Suite and want my vacation to be relaxing and stress free, if nothing else.

 

Since I booked in January there have been several (I'm talking about 4-5 which can still be found on these Pride boards and in the Reviews board) reports since I booked in January about the shaking being severe enough to be disruptive of relaxation or sleep. One very recently described it as the feeling somebody was shaking them on their shoulder. You are most def not the first person to bring this up and I don't understand why people seem so defensive or angry with you for describing your personal experience. :rolleyes:

[Jkodko]

My husband I were on the pride in an aft OS, 7345. There was a lot of vibration, which did not ruin our cruise but it was a challenge at times. We had to use wash cloths on a couple of closets and doors. We also had a problem with the glasses on the shelf making a tinkling sound so had to move them. I would not have described it as shaking but it was non stop. I would book a suite again regardless (at a good price lol)

[guxu]

jetta8300, for people who never stayed in a 24/7 vibrating/squeaking/rattling cabin, they do not understand. They thought we were talking about the slight rocking caused by waves.

[judy&steve]

I am absolutely comfortable allowing others to post opinions...:confused::confused::confused: That's the whole point of this. And I want neither an apology or compensation. I do not own Cruise Critic nor am I trying to control what people post or say. Not sure where you're getting that.:eek::eek::eek:

 

But I think you're misunderstanding that the whole point of me posing this thread is to post about actual experiences, rather than just opinions. It's doesn't mean anything to anyone else to say, "yeah it vibrated, but we were ok with it..." or... "yeah it vibrated, and we thought it was horrible..." that doesn't help. That didn't give me a good enough idea of what was going on, hence I booked the cabin from hell. hahaha

 

Everyone has a different tolerance. so The two other cruisers who wrote in "disagreeing" with me didn't give any descriptive information other than the usual "yeah it vibrated but we were ok with it, we didn't think it was that bad." I thought it would be helpful to let other cruisers know if they were experiencing the extreme rattling within their cabin, to let others know if these cabins were safe, or not safe from that noise. And when I asked that question, they didn't answer back. You can disagree my opinion on how bad the shaking was, but you can't disagree with my experience with the whole room squeaking and rattling, that's a fact. It's also a fact that multiple crew members told us lots of the crew was sick, people were leaving the dining room because of the shaking, and we were sick when we have never experienced sea sickness before.

 

The whole point was to be a little more descriptive about it so other cruisers could know ahead of time if a particular cabin would have the same issues. There are a lot of people out there (like me) who this is a HUGE deal to, and could make or break a vacation. I actually started a thread when we first booked the cabin asking how bad it was since I heard varying degrees of tolerance, and nobody ever mentioned the entire room rattling. But now that I bring it up in this thread, there are others who have experienced this. I just wish I knew it ahead of time. So the only goal of this is to hopefully prevent someone else from having a bad cruise, or to let someone know that another cruiser who recently traveled in their cabin was free from the 24/7 squeaking/rattling fixtures and brain shaking.

 

 

Hi; suite 7296 here, from last week’s cruise on Pride. Let me say again that we had vibration in the floors but no extreme cabin shacking “squeaking and rattling”, and we had plenty of stemware in this suite with no rattling and used no wash cloths to stop squeaking. No completes heard by us from other passengers about vibration, and saw no “people were leaving the dining room because of the shaking”.

 

Maybe the sea conditions were different during your cruise that made for “extreme cabin squeaking and rattling”, but I think it very unfair to make a strong “Just off the PRIDE, WARNING about aft cabin shaking" - ”to possibly save someone else's vacation" to stay away from aft cabins in just your 7 day experience. Report what happened to you but suggesting that people avoid aft cabins {IMHO} just goes too far.

[Schm00py]

I sailed on the Pride for the first time at the beginning of April and I will never sail on that ship again. 20 years of cruising and it was the first and only time I ever got sea sick. The boat was constantly vibrating and shaking, it was an ever present annoyance that you just couldn't shake;) I just gave up eating in the main dining room all together because the vibrating was the worst there. Happily I did not gain an ounce on the trip so that made me very happy :) It was the first time on a cruise that I didnt leave wanting more...I was more than happy to be heading home.

 

That being said, the casino host, wait staff and room steward were amazing!! In their own way they all went above and beyond to give the kind of personalized service that makes a passenger feel special. Personally it just wasnt the ship for me but given the outstanding service I can see why some people love it.

[polarman]

Hi nokidz, sorry no pics we enjoyed a very laid back vaca- in fact , we never got off at any of the ports- the ship was our destination! 4122 is one of the lucky cabins with a view between life boats. You will need to use the magnet trick to enjoy the sounds of the sea, as the ac in the room shuts off when the door is opened. Cabin was clean and quiet , away from the elevators and had a great crew taking care of it! Hope you enjoy your cruise as much as we enjoyed ours!

[Georgeny]

Jetta, First let me say this is what cruise critic should be advising people of YOUR experience for THEIR evaluation. So no one should ever feel they did wrong expressing any opinion and I was happy to read yours.

 

We just sailed Pride April 26 to May 3rd sailing, Vista Suite 4237. We have sailed that suite itself 4 other sailings through the years and always from Baltimore. In addition we have sailed the identical suite on Miracle twice from Manhattan. I can therefore say that at least on this recent sailing the vibration and movement in this aft suite was much more than in any previous sailing. I also was surprised to note that while moored in port an unusual amount of vibration was felt, this is NOT normal while in port. Since the azipods are not functioning whiled toed to dock I would think that there might possibly be a bearing or some such problem with engine itself.

 

The amount of vibration didn't knock glasses off open desk but was still far more than we are accustomed too in this area. It did also not ruin anything for us but we are normally aft on this ship so expect some level of noise and such, this was just more than normal. Sea conditions, ship speed, currents crossed, etc etc etc can all make for different experiences while at sea. However in this case based upon our experience while actually tied to dock and having years of experience with this ship and suite, Pride definitely has some problem going on.

 

The last night was the first night in years I skipped dinner and hit the bed as I felt seasickness approaching! My wife and friends went to dinner as they are not bothered by motion. They said the dining room was rocking pretty good. Of course heading home they go top speed, no stabilizers deployed and are crossing Hatteras which always gives you some motion.

 

So yes this was different form normal vibrations we are used to in he past. Still we do love that suite!!

 

Video same suite on Miracle

 

 

George in NY

[jetta8300]

Jetta, First let me say this is what cruise critic should be advising people of YOUR experience for THEIR evaluation. So no one should ever feel they did wrong expressing any opinion and I was happy to read yours.

 

We just sailed Pride April 26 to May 3rd sailing, Vista Suite 4237. We have sailed that suite itself 4 other sailings through the years and always from Baltimore. In addition we have sailed the identical suite on Miracle twice from Manhattan. I can therefore say that at least on this recent sailing the vibration and movement in this aft suite was much more than in any previous sailing. I also was surprised to note that while moored in port an unusual amount of vibration was felt, this is NOT normal while in port. Since the azipods are not functioning whiled toed to dock I would think that there might possibly be a bearing or some such problem with engine itself.

 

The amount of vibration didn't knock glasses off open desk but was still far more than we are accustomed too in this area. It did also not ruin anything for us but we are normally aft on this ship so expect some level of noise and such, this was just more than normal. Sea conditions, ship speed, currents crossed, etc etc etc can all make for different experiences while at sea. However in this case based upon our experience while actually tied to dock and having years of experience with this ship and suite, Pride definitely has some problem going on.

 

The last night was the first night in years I skipped dinner and hit the bed as I felt seasickness approaching! My wife and friends went to dinner as they are not bothered by motion. They said the dining room was rocking pretty good. Of course heading home they go top speed, no stabilizers deployed and are crossing Hatteras which always gives you some motion.

 

So yes this was different form normal vibrations we are used to in he past. Still we do love that suite!!

 

Video same suite on Miracle

 

 

George in NY

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to give your insight. We had a feeling from the very beginning that this couldn't be normal.

 

One of the experiences that we look forward to the most is eating dinner in the MDR. 3 out of the 7 nights we ended up skipping dessert because we were becoming as Ill in the dining room as we were in our cabin. Just couldn't take it anymore by the end of the meal which was disappointing. We ended up having to get dessert at the buffet and took it up to the Dive In Movie instead. We just missed the melting cake.

 

Thanks again for a detailed report!

[ZanziBarred]

I remember experiencing this back in 2011. I remember feeling it in the main dining room. It was noticeable, but not enough to make us sick or not go back to the dining room.

 

I guess it is something that can not be easily fixed or else it would have been addressed during the drydocking last year. I do not recall seeing anything about this issue being experienced on the other Spirit class ships. My uneducated assumption for the vibrating has been that due to sailing out of Baltimore and the itineraries it sails, that this ship has to sail at pretty much maximum speed constantly in order to stay on schedule. Bad weather or even leaving a port 30 minutes late could easily put this itinerary behind schedule.

[BattyL]

Thank you so much for taking the time to give your insight. We had a feeling from the very beginning that this couldn't be normal.

 

One of the experiences that we look forward to the most is eating dinner in the MDR. 3 out of the 7 nights we ended up skipping dessert because we were becoming as Ill in the dining room as we were in our cabin. Just couldn't take it anymore by the end of the meal which was disappointing. We ended up having to get dessert at the buffet and took it up to the Dive In Movie instead. We just missed the melting cake.

 

Thanks again for a detailed report!

 

We were also on the 4-26 sailing in cabin 7245 mid ship. I didn't feel any moving or rocking up until the last nite. We had the 6:00 dinner seating and then it was tricky walking back to our cabin. We don't get seasick so it didn't bother us at all. I actually slept good on Saturday nite :p

[gottoluvbush]

We are booked in 4230 should we be nervous? I'm totally about to switch it now