Pride Review: 8 day Eastern Caribbean (GT/HMC/Nassau) 2/20/16

[RecoveryDude]

A little about me ... I'm a single 44 year old guy. I love cruising and recently started cruising again after taking a little break. I've cruised CCL, RCCL, Holland and Costa. I love CCL overall, however, I want to try one of RCCL's mega ships sometime. I cruise mostly with friends who are younger than I am and we are all in recovery from drugs and alcohol.

 

Embarkation: Pretty easy in Baltimore. We had FTTF, “sort of” – what I mean by that is that we got put on the “email waiting list” for FTTF since it was initially sold out when I booked this cruise However, we got approved a few days before sailing. This meant that FTTF was not on our luggage tags – we had to walk across the parking lot to a tent and pick up the FTTF luggage tags. The guys at the tent were kinda clueless about everything, and they definitely did not “check a FTTF manifest” to verify that we were on it, before giving us FTTF luggage tags. However, when they put them on they didn’t do it correctly and therefore our luggage was not properly handled and we didn’t get it till after muster, this was disappointing. Also, they are remodeling the cruise port so a lot of it is “temporary” and doesn’t look pretty. I’m sure it will when it gets done. The VIP area for FTTF and diamonds/plats is just on the other side of a temporary wall and just several long rows of chairs. There was a little delay with getting everyone off the ship so we didn’t get on till about 12:25 PM. Our cabin was ready and we dropped off our bags.

 

CABIN 4105 (4K) Inside with a French Door: Loved this cabin. Really the best of both worlds as you don’t pay much more than you would if you get a traditional “inside” cabin … but this one has natural light coming through the door windows (which is a MUST for me) AND you can open the door to get fresh air. If you are lucky you will get one in between the tenders and get more of a view. Being on Deck 4 had its positives and negatives – We were just up a couple decks from the promenade (where the casino/dining room/theater/comedy club/Red Frog are) … so anytime we were going to those places, or leaving the ship, it was super easy and close. However, anytime we went to the Lido deck or the Gym it was A LOT of stairs … me and my cruise buddy made a pact to not use the elevator … extra cardio to burn off that Melting Chocolate Cake, lol! We did pretty good but did take the elevator a few times but basically used the stairs mostly. All in all, I would def recommend one of these 4K’s if you can get one.

 

Layout of the Pride: I loved the layout of the pride. You can walk from one end of the ship to the other without having to go up a deck. The main promenade deck has the MDR, lobby, sushi restaurant, Alchemy, guest services, the casino, Red Frog pub, EA Sports Bar, the Coffee bar, and the theater and comedy club. If you want stores or photos they are one deck up. Everything easy accessible and the flow is great. Not too crowded either, no matter what time of day. The Lido deck is awesome too. It’s all flat and has three pools: One that has a cover for the cold months (they take it off once we got to warm weather), one that’s uncovered all the time, and the other on the serenity deck. I love that the serenity area is HUGE and has its own pool, hot tub and bar. The Lido buffet was never crowded and rarely had a line. Guys/Blue Iguana also were rarely crowded and didn’t have lines. The only place we had issues was the comedy club. If Comedy is going to be your “main” entertainment, then schedule it in the theater so more people can enjoy it as opposed to in the club which is not big enough. This was only a problem for some of the shows. Your best bet is to get a seat at the early show and then just don’t leave so you keep your seats.

Condition of the ship: I think she is in great shape! I didn’t notice anything that seemed to be in disrepair. She looks great everywhere, including our cabin, our friends cabins, and all the public areas.

 

FOOD: I thought all the food was great. Guys is AWESOME, had several throughout the week. Yes, they are as good as the hype. Blue Iguana I only ate at once, and it was good….but If given a choice I went to Guys instead. “Chopsticks” was great chinese food too. American Feast was great, not sure why people keep bitching about it. Guess people just don’t like change… I don’t notice any quality differences between the old menus and the new ones. They took some things off and added some new stuff. I liked not having tablecloths for a change, and also liked the bread already on table. I had a few things I wasn’t crazy about … but for the most part I found the food to be up to Carnival’s typical standards. Ate at Steakhouse one night and it was OUTSTANDING.

 

SERVICE: MDR staff were pretty good. I’ve had better. I’d give them a B+ ---- They don’t get an A for two reasons: #1, they did not have my iced tea on the table every night, I always had to ask for it, and I also had to ask for sugar and a spoon quite often. #2, our service was slow overall, and was mistimed – the early show started at 7:15 yet that’s typically when the waiters were starting their entertainment – not sure why they can’t do it a little earlier, or just start the show at 7:30.

 

CABIN SERVICE: We were asked to fill out the form on day one, and told “put whatever you want on the form and I’ll take care of it.” – I indicated I wanted cabin service 2X a day, Ice 2X a day, 4 towels, 2 Fun Times at night, and lots of towel animals. That is EXACTLY what we got. Rarely saw our stew but he delivered what we asked for. I gave him an extra $10 and a bag of candy at the end of the trip.

 

Fun Squad: We had Steve as our cruise director, and I liked him. He did a great job keeping us entertained. TJ who did Bingo was awesome, and Adam the comedy club manager was THE BEST.

 

Casino: One of the best of any ships I’ve been on (I’ve been on CCL, RCCL, Holland, and Costa) Not too Smokey … and I would have noticed as I recently quit smoking 6 months ago, but I really didn’t notice it much since it’s such a big casino. But more importantly I WON! So did many other people … almost daily there was someone getting paid out some sort of jackpot. I personally won several times on the “Gold” machines. In fact, I won so much I used my winnings to pay my S&S account and also to pay for everything we bought off the ship. I also played Roulette and won on that, and craps and pretty much broke even there. All in all I loved this casino and it was always busy cause the machines were lucky.

 

Gym: The fitness center was awesome. Big, lots of equipment, never too crowded, the hot tub was great, and the locker rooms were very nice. One of the nicest ship gyms I’ve been on. We worked out almost every day.

 

Guest Services: Rarely a line and if there was, we got priority since we had FTTF.

 

Entertainment: This was typical for what Carnival does these days. Lots of trivia. Comedy Shows (4 different comedians and they were all great), Hasbro, Love & Marriage, QUEST, and Playlist Productions. I thought it all was great. Not sure why everyone bitches about Playlist productions, I don’t notice much difference between them and the old style shows – it’s still live people singing and dancing on stage. I do wish they would get more creative with activity planning …. I mean how many trivia sessions can we sit through?

 

PORT 1: Grand Turk: What a beautiful place. We did the “delux” flowrider surf simulator excursion at the Margaritaville. Bishop, who runs the flowrider, was awesome. We all got plenty of chances to use both the lay down body board and the stand up one. The staff did a great job showing us tricks. This was a great bargain for both my 24 year old buddy and me (I’m 44). I’m not super athletic either and I had no problem. After the surfing ended we shopped a little at the port then walked up to Jacks Shak. Highly recommend this place. TIP: Don’t walk on the street to get here, just walk on the beach from Margaritaville.

 

Port 2: Half Moon Cay: Also one of the prettiest beaches I think I’ve ever been to. And I’ve been to Hawaii, the French Riviera, and Sydney, Australia … and this one has all those places beat. It’s has some downsides tho….for example … if you want shade that’s hard to come by, and not “free” – we rented a Clamshell. However, the only reason we were able to rent one is we had FTTF and were on the first tender off the ship. By the time the second tender docked all the clamshells were rented ($25 for the day). If you got some extra bucks and do it early you can rent a Cabana…some people love them, I think they are a little too overpriced for the few hours you get to use them. The water at HMC was great, a little cold but you quickly get used to it. They do provide free lunch but I was not impressed. I ate light and had a Guys Burger once back on the ship. They apparently had activities like “hairy chest” and “volleyball” but I never figured out where they were, certainly not on the beach cause I was there most of the time.

 

Port 3: Nassau: I thought this was a cool port. Been a long time since I was here. We did a 5 hour snorkel tour via “Stuarts Cove” – was the BEST one, hands down. Most of the other snorkeling gets done on the side of the island where the ships dock … this is not the ideal place to snorkel, but it’s quick and easy, that’s why the carnival excursions are done there. I booked this via an external site (Viator dot com) and got the cheapest price, only $84. We got three stops and the last was snorkeling above SHARKS, which sounds scarier than it really is. We had the shuttle driver drop us off at Fish Fry on our way back and we ate at Oh Andros – It was phenomenal. Got the Cracked Lobster (fried lobster pieces) and the Conch Fritters. It was some of the best food I ate on the trip! We walked back from the Fish Fry, took about 12 min. Then shopped on Bay street, went to Hard Rock, Pirhana Joe’s and Caraloha. Then got our passports stamped (YES, WE HAD THEM WITH US OFF THE SHIP! Newsflash people, that is what they are for…ID when you are walking around on foreign soil, LOL). Some people grumble about the safety issues with Nassau. I felt perfectly safe here. granted, we stayed in well populated "tourist" areas and were always aware of our surroundings.

 

Disembarkation: This was a breeze since we had FTTF, we did the self-assist – which was slightly challenging since we had 2 suitcases plus 2 carry ons each. We were off the ship and through customs in about 15 minutes.

 

Overall impressions: Would give this cruise a solid A. There were a couple little things that I would have liked to see done differently (mostly the timing between early seating and the first theater show) – But overall I think this is a solid ship, a solid staff, a solid port and a solid experience overall. I guess I must have been in a GREAT mood on day 2 because I booked FOUR (Yes, 4) cruises! One is also on the Pride again, going to Bermuda. Another on the Vista, and another on the Conquest. My next is in 227 days, but who is counting?

 

Hope this review helped. If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Cheers!

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

[1maggie1]

Great review - thanks!

[KevInPitt]

Nice review. Did you enjoy Ken the Maitre D's singing?

[crusin4funtimes]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review! Also Congratulations on your recovery!

[almendrada]

Thanks for this thorough review! It comes at a great time for me, as I will be boarding the Pride on Sunday for my first cruise ever.

 

Your review made me even more excited, if that was even possible!

[Kel040]

Thanks for your review and the rest of the info from your earlier posts. We will be back on the Pride in October and we will be on the Victory next month !! Can't wait.. :D

[clearwaters]

Thank you for the terrific review!:)

[Hribal]

Thank you so much for your review!! We go in July to the places you mentioned. I have been to Freeport before and for the short time we are there, we walk around but that's about it.

 

Let me ask a dumb question. Where do you get your passport stamped?

[RecoveryDude]

Thank you so much for your review!! We go in July to the places you mentioned. I have been to Freeport before and for the short time we are there, we walk around but that's about it.

 

Let me ask a dumb question. Where do you get your passport stamped?

 

You get your passport stamped differently according to where you are. In Nassau, we had to tell the guard at the gate we wanted our passports stamped, and he let us in the yellow building and told us which room to go to and the stamped it. In Cozumel, you have to go into town to get it stamped. Same with Grand Turk. No place in HMC to get it stamped, cause it's a private island.

 

There are a lot of fun excursions you can do in Nassau and Grand Turk, do your research. The site I mention was the best price for the Nassau one.

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

[swalton85]

Thanks for the great review! I'm a little envious of you booking 4 more cruises! :D which Bermuda one did you book? I'm looking into Bermuda on the Pride in 2017.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

[Bloomdl]

Thanks for this thorough review! It comes at a great time for me, as I will be boarding the Pride on Sunday for my first cruise ever.

 

Your review made me even more excited, if that was even possible!

 

We're on the Pride on 3/6 too! I think I saw you post in the roll call last month, am I right?

 

Thanks, Jeff, for your thorough review. You hit every area I had questions about - and now I'm even looking forward to trying my luck @ the the casino, which is usually not something I even think about because I never win. :)

Congratulations on your recovery, too!

[iheartmarshall]

Thanks for your review! I'm on the Pride next year and can't wait. We're booked in a 4K as well which honestly, is part of the reason we chose this ship (I wanted to try one).

[Hribal]

Thanks for your response. Never thought of taking our passports to get stamped while cruising. We will be going to HMC, Freeport and Grand Turk. So we will get our stamps on!!