Our Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise (with pics) - 2/26/17

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

Hey Karry! Yes, one of our goals is to cruise every ship. We'll be trying 4 new ships for us in the next two years. We plan on being back on the Pride again sometime in 2019. :D

 

Thanks for reading. Still more to come! :)

 

 

Jeff,

I just booked the Pride for a Journey cruise 1/6 -1/20/19. Congratulations to you & Patti for having cruises booked for the next 2 years. I will be on the Pride in June, the Magic in September and the Fascination in December. Hope to get to cruise with you all again.

Michel (ms.fun bunch)

[Jamman54]

Jeff,

I just booked the Pride for a Journey cruise 1/6 -1/20/19. Congratulations to you & Patti for having cruises booked for the next 2 years. I will be on the Pride in June, the Magic in September and the Fascination in December. Hope to get to cruise with you all again.

Michel (ms.fun bunch)

 

Hey Michel! It was a pleasure meeting you. Hope to sail with you again in the near future. We're on the Magic in October so we just missed you!! :cool:

[Crusin Karen]

Jeff,

I just booked the Pride for a Journey cruise 1/6 -1/20/19. Congratulations to you & Patti for having cruises booked for the next 2 years. I will be on the Pride in June, the Magic in September and the Fascination in December. Hope to get to cruise with you all again.

Michel (ms.fun bunch)

It is my DREAM to sail on the Magic. Not happening so far, but fingers crossed. We are on the 2018 Journeys cruise on Pride. We did the one last year also and went to St. Lucia for the lst time where I have ALWAYS wanted to go and it was the best day of the 2 weeks. I accidentally went on your roll call of 1/6/19 as our sailing is 1/7/18, but we are driving to Baltimore 1/6, so I guess my brain did a switcheroo :eek::rolleyes:;p and someone said they were so happy Dominica was switched to St. Lucia. Well, I almost popped open a bottle of champagne lol. Then I realized my mistake and put that cork right back in! :(:o Maybe I'll book the 2019 cruise just to go back to St. Lucia lol. You both enjoy all your countdowns! :cool:

[jimbo5544]

Final Thoughts and Ramblings.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with us on our Journeys cruise aboard the Carnival Pride. As always, we wanted you to feel as though you were on the cruise with us, and let you see what the Pride, and the ports of call we visited, was all about. I would like to think we accomplished that in a fun and informative way. What follows below are some of mine and Patti’s random thoughts about this cruise, not in any particular order or importance.

First off, let me say that this cruise ranked in the top three of all of the cruises that we have taken.

The Carnival Pride was, and still is, our favorite Carnival ship.

A big shoutout to all of our fellow roll call members, as it was a pleasure to meet so many of you. We’re so sorry that we did not get to meet everyone. Perhaps we will meet on another cruise at another time.

Thanks to Gingerma for arranging group rates for the hotel and shuttles in Tampa. Such hard work was greatly appreciated. We are so sorry that health issues kept you from enjoying most of the cruise.

Thanks to all those roll call members that arranged the slot pulls, pub crawls, cabin crawls, LCR, etc. It takes special people to want to do this!

Special thanks to those roll call members that stopped by during this review, and offered us their insights and experiences.

Prior to this cruise the longest cruise we had ever taken was nine days. Patti had some concerns that she wouldn’t like being on board a ship for fourteen days. This concerned me a little since we had two B2B cruises scheduled in the future. Let me just say that we both loved being aboard ship for fourteen days. On these longer cruises, if you feel like just going back to the cabin after dinner, which we did a few times, you don’t feel like you’re missing something. It’s just a more relaxed feeling. Patti loved the experience so much, that when we got home, she made me do something which I will tell you about a little later.

We enjoyed our dinners aboard the Pride, both at David’s Steakhouse, and the Normandie Restaurant.We both enjoyed the American Table and American Feast menus. In our fourteen days aboard the Pride, none of the menus were repeated.

Ken Byrne is Carnival’s best Maitre’d, hands down. He took very good care of us the whole cruise, and even before when I emailed him with my table request. And on top of that, the man can sing!

Our partial transit of the Panama Canal was one of the highlights of the cruise. We would love to do a full transit one day, but until then, the partial transit was awesome.

We were not impressed with Costa Rica, and to some extent, Bonaire. There just didn’t seem to be enough things that we like to do at those two ports that would make us want to go back there.

The other ports that we visited we have been to many times before. We tend to like doing all-inclusive resorts now, and the ones we visited were all very good, and would repeat.

My mind is going blank now, but I’m sure other things will pop into my head, and I’ll share them later.

Let’s talk about the future. Our next cruise will be in October aboard the Carnival Magic, a ship we have not sailed on before. We will be aboard her for fourteen days, doing B2B Eastern / Western cruises. Now here’s what Patti made me do. We will be getting off the Magic on October 21st, then drive up to Jacksonville to board the Elation the same day, another ship we haven’t been on. So now we will be aboard a ship for nineteen straight nights. I love my wife!!! Lol.

In 2018 we have booked the Paradise, a B2B on the Conquest, and a 14 day Journeys cruise on the Splendor to Hawaii. The Paradise and Conquest will be new to us. Yes, we would like to sail on every ship in the fleet at some point. Gives us something to shoot for! Lol.

We have nothing booked for 2019 yet, but the Pride will be one of them for sure.

Of course we will be doing reviews of all our cruises to share our experiences with all of you. If you have any questions at all, please post to this thread and I will do my best to answer them. So until next time, may you have clear skies and calm seas! Happy Sails!!!

 

 

Jeff, another fantastic review!!! We also love the Pride and taking a large group on her in July. Thanks for getting those juices flowing! Also thanks for the Journey info, we now have one booked on the Breeze for next year, great job (again)!

 

 

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[Jamman54]

Jeff, another fantastic review!!! We also love the Pride and taking a large group on her in July. Thanks for getting those juices flowing! Also thanks for the Journey info, we now have one booked on the Breeze for next year, great job (again)!

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Thanks Jimbo! Enjoying your review as well. Journeys cruises are a lot of fun, and being on the Breeze, so much the better! :cool:

[Sparky2]

Thanks for your review. I was supposed to be on that cruise, but had to cancel and reschedule a B2B on Conquest.

 

We are booked on the January 2018 Pride 14-days Journey's Cruise from Baltimore. We are booked at Best Western that Gingerma arranged for us.

[Jamman54]

Thanks for your review. I was supposed to be on that cruise, but had to cancel and reschedule a B2B on Conquest.

 

We are booked on the January 2018 Pride 14-days Journey's Cruise from Baltimore. We are booked at Best Western that Gingerma arranged for us.

 

Thanks for reading! Sorry you had to cancel but glad you were able to schedule a B2B on the Conquest. We will also be doing a B2B on the Conquest next year.

The BW is a great hotel. Be sure you eat at Timbuktu!

[VickiD59]

Thanks for reading!! We learned a lot about the Panama Canal this cruise. It helped that they had an expert give a "play by play" description of what was going on as we proceeded through the locks. They broadcast it over the loudspeakers and on the cabin televisions.

In 1942-1944 my dad worked for the American Construction Company; he only had one eardrum due to a childhood infection, and couldn't pass the military physical needed for the war. Other Americans with similar situations went to Panama to work on the second lock of the canal. As a kid I never understood the "locks", I pictured them to be these big, giant, enormous locks, with an equally huge key I guess. I thought they "locked up" the ability to move ships through, which I guess is kinda true, but in my young childhood mind I pictured it as an actual lock. For that little bit of history I would love to someday cruise through, knowing my dad was in some small way part of it all.

[Jamman54]

Great story! Thanks for sharing. Going through the locks was the highlight of our cruise.

[eas2225]

Thank you, thank you for this! You always write the best reviews!

 

Since we're going on the Pride in October(7th time), I found this and read it immediately, and was so happy to see Ayu. When you met her on your last Pride cruise, we went shortly after and I showed her the picture you took. She wasn't there last year, so I'm glad to see she's back on the Pride!

[Jamman54]

Thank you, thank you for this! You always write the best reviews!

 

Since we're going on the Pride in October(7th time), I found this and read it immediately, and was so happy to see Ayu. When you met her on your last Pride cruise, we went shortly after and I showed her the picture you took. She wasn't there last year, so I'm glad to see she's back on the Pride!

 

Thanks for coming along for the ride once again! I was so happy that Ayu was back at the Serenity Bar. She spotted me first and called out "Mr. Jeff, Mr. Jeff". :D We caught up on the last two years, but I forgot to ask her when her contract was up. She really loves the Pride because there are so many repeat cruisers that she has made friends with. Hope she's there for you in October! :cool:

[BettyPC]

I just saw this review & its 43 pages!!! I like following your reviews - so even though I am on page 2 - I will make my way through! We are going on a journey's cruise for the first time in 11/2018 - excited for that!

[Jamman54]

I just saw this review & its 43 pages!!! I like following your reviews - so even though I am on page 2 - I will make my way through! We are going on a journey's cruise for the first time in 11/2018 - excited for that!

 

Thanks for following along again. Enjoy the read!! :cool:

[MURCOTT]

Jeff, We will be on the Pride again on June 4th. Would you happen to know if Ken Byrne will still be there? I thought I read that he was leaving in May but cannot find it now. Thanks

[Jamman54]

Jeff, We will be on the Pride again on June 4th. Would you happen to know if Ken Byrne will still be there? I thought I read that he was leaving in May but cannot find it now. Thanks

 

Sorry to say that Ken will not be there for the next few months. He left on vacation sometime this month. :cool:

[MURCOTT]

Sorry to say that Ken will not be there for the next few months. He left on vacation sometime this month. :cool:

Thanks, I kind of thought so. Ken is the best and does have a great voice as you said. I mentioned how Danny Boy was my Dad's favorite song when we were on the Pride in April and sure enough Ken sang it for us. He did a fantastic job too.:)

[Crusin5252]

I had booked there as a backup. I was on the wait list for Woodwind. We got the morning Woodwind so I cancelled the Plaza Beach Resort. I think you can also take a chance and go there on port day. Thanks, I wanted the information for future cruises. Enjoying the review and wish we were still there. Are you booked on the Jan 7th Pride journey?

 

We did the Woodwind Snorkeling in Bonaire. It was the best Snorkeling excursion that we have been on. Our second best was Snorkeling between the Pitons in St. Lucia.

[Crusin5252]

Here is tonight’s dessert menu…..

 

Patti had the Hawaiian cake…….

 

While I had the black forest cheesecake which was quite good…..

 

Tonight, Ken did a marvelous version of “Summer Wind”….

 

The waiters danced to “Jump In”…..

 

 

To be continued……

 

We took B2B 10 and 11 day Journey cruises on the Pride. One night the sea was too rough to do the show and Ken did a show in the theater to take the place of the scheduled show. It was the best "show" of the trip. He has an amazing voice.

[Crusin5252]

At exactly 9am, they came and led us off the ship. The gangway in Baltimore had been repaired, so we debarked through the lobby on Deck 2.

 

Going through customs was a breeze, though finding our luggage was a little harder than usual, given the amount of luggage in the Zone 1 area. While we were here I made the call to the Best Western to send the shuttle over to pick us up.

 

Once we found our luggage, getting a porter was easy, and he took us right to where the shuttle would pick us up. Here is the Carnival Pride back in Baltimore, where I hope she stays!!!

 

The Cruise Maryland Terminal…..

 

We waited about twenty minutes or so for the shuttle to show up. By now there were three other couples, including our new friends Ken and Kris, joining us for the ride back to the Best Western.

 

We were back at the Best Western at around 10am. After saying our goodbyes to our new cruise friends, we loaded up the car and began our trip back to New Jersey. As we were travelling on I-895, we were able to get this one last shot of the Carnival Pride docked in Baltimore……..

 

After a three hour ride, we were back at home again, another wonderful cruise completed. THE END.

 

We liked the Best Western because it let us park our car free for the 21 days and provided 2 way cruise port transportation. When we went back to pick up the car, I used the restroom and left the bag of cruise pictures and our passports in there. They looked up our reservationfrom 21 days ago and called our cell. My husband was not thrilled to backtrack the 45 minutes we had driven, but I was impressed that they tracked us down.

[Crusin5252]

Thanks for the review. I enjoyed reading it. We are taking the full transit on the Miracle in January and your pictures of the Canal transit were great. We have a bowling alley balcony and we're wondering if we would be able to see much from the balcony or if we would have to spend the majority of the time on deck. I was happy to find out you could see a lot from your balcony. This is my husband's retirement cruise. He has worked as a civil engineer for 42 years and is very interested in the engineering aspect of the Canal.

[Jamman54]

We did the Woodwind Snorkeling in Bonaire. It was the best Snorkeling excursion that we have been on. Our second best was Snorkeling between the Pitons in St. Lucia.

 

I saw the Woodwind as it passed Coco Beach where we were. It looked like those on board were having a great time! :cool:

 

We took B2B 10 and 11 day Journey cruises on the Pride. One night the sea was too rough to do the show and Ken did a show in the theater to take the place of the scheduled show. It was the best "show" of the trip. He has an amazing voice.

 

We asked Ken the first night if he was going to do a show. He said that he would like too, but it was up to CD Steve. Sadly, it didn't happen. :(

[Jamman54]

We liked the Best Western because it let us park our car free for the 21 days and provided 2 way cruise port transportation. When we went back to pick up the car, I used the restroom and left the bag of cruise pictures and our passports in there. They looked up our reservationfrom 21 days ago and called our cell. My husband was not thrilled to backtrack the 45 minutes we had driven, but I was impressed that they tracked us down.

 

We were impressed with the BW. Great hotel, service, and free parking for 17 days. Not surprised they went the extra mile for you! (y)

 

Thanks for the review. I enjoyed reading it. We are taking the full transit on the Miracle in January and your pictures of the Canal transit were great. We have a bowling alley balcony and we're wondering if we would be able to see much from the balcony or if we would have to spend the majority of the time on deck. I was happy to find out you could see a lot from your balcony. This is my husband's retirement cruise. He has worked as a civil engineer for 42 years and is very interested in the engineering aspect of the Canal.

 

Glad you enjoyed the review. Thanks for reading. We never left our balcony during both transits and had the perfect view, as you can see from our pictures. :)

[CruzinScotty]

Jeff,

 

Thanks to you and Patti for the WONDER trip review. Sorry it's taken me so long to reach the end; it was definitely worth it.

 

So many great details that others have already mentioned.

 

I started your Sunshine review; but this itinerary swayed me over. Time to head back over to that one now. LOL

 

.

[Jamman54]

Jeff,

 

Thanks to you and Patti for the WONDER trip review. Sorry it's taken me so long to reach the end; it was definitely worth it.

 

So many great details that others have already mentioned.

 

I started your Sunshine review; but this itinerary swayed me over. Time to head back over to that one now. LOL

.

 

Thanks for reading! :cool:

[chocolate melting cake]

Nice to see this string again! We'll be back on the Pride Aug. 13 to cruise with our granddaughter as her 12th birthday gift. Did this with her older sister, so it's a tradition-----hope to do it with the last girl in 4 years. We're hoping that Ken will be back in time for this cruise.

 

Great reliving the cruise through your pix, hope to meet up again.

Al