Swodog's E. Caribbean Adventure: Carnival Pride 23-30 July 17

[swodog94]

Thanks for posting. We are cruising next month. This will be our first time on the Pride!!!

Congrats! I hope you enjoy the ship as much as we do.

[hbgroadends]

Swodog94, I am thoroughly enjoying your review. Can't wait to read more! :)

[swodog94]

Swodog94, I am thoroughly enjoying your review. Can't wait to read more! :)

Thanks! I'm glad you like it.

[swodog94]

Grand Turk

Wednesday morning dawned bright and beautiful. I didn't mean to get up around sunrise, but I did and we were still a couple of hours away from mooring in Grand Turk, so I decided to go walking around the ship while I had it pretty much to myself.

 

Being child-free, I tend to ignore most of the family oriented activities and facilities on board, so I took advantage of the free time this morning to document a few things for those of you who have procreated. First of all, the pool has flotation vests for the kids who don't swim very well (or not at all). This way you don't have to rely of a pair of WalMart water wings to keep your kiddos safe. They have all sizes so you can find one to fit your child regardless of age.

 

 

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

I headed forward to the kid's area, called Camp Ocean. The kids are split into three groups, grouped by age: Penguins (2-5yo), StingRays (6-8yo), and Sharks (9-11yo). The door to the actual play area was closed and I didn't go in - folks tend to frown on a grown man lurking around a kids area by himself! :eek:

 

 

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

The Circle C are is for teens aged 12-14yo. This area was open so I poked my head in. I'm not sure it looks like someplace kids that age would choose to hang out, but maybe.

 

 

 

 

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

Also located in the forward part of the ship, right by the Camp Ocean area is a video arcade. I wasn't sure people still went to video arcades, but apparently they do while at sea. There were some shoot-'em-up type games, skee-ball, air hockey, and many skill games where you keep pouring money into the machine in the hopes of snagging a prize with a claw, or some such contraption. I won a few small rubber ducks this way, but my wife tried playing for bigger things like an iPad, and she managed to entertain herself for hours while giving Carnival some of her hard earned $$$. Even exchange, I guess.

 

 

In case you doubt my ability as a hunter/gatherer, here are the rubber ducks I won!

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

Heading aft from the kid's area on deck three is one of the least know places on Pride: the Sunset Garden. It's a quiet area with benches and some small table and chairs where you can go to enjoy reading a book or just quietly contemplate life and watch the sea go by through the portholes.

By now Grand Turk was starting to come in to view. It's always exciting to me when you're about to get to a port of call, regardless of whether you've been there before or not.

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

 

 

 

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

Carnival has built a cruise center at Grand Turk to support all their ships. This includes a large pier capable of mooring two cruise ships at a time. Luckily, today we're the only ship in Grand Turk. Last time we were here we moored on the outboard side of the pier; today, we're going to the in board side.

Line handlers are standing by to take Pride's mooring lines and place them on the bollards.

[Party.of.4.NY>>>FL]

Loving your review swodog94. Boarding the Pride in 2 weeks and this is helping pass the time as it seems the closer we get, the slower the hands on the clock move. Thank you! And keep it coming!

 

 

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[swodog94]

Loving your review swodog94. Boarding the Pride in 2 weeks and this is helping pass the time as it seems the closer we get' date=' the slower the hands on the clock move. Thank you! And keep it coming!

 

 

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Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it. I'll post more later today, as I'm stuck at work now. Have fun on Pride!

[yukongold]

Enjoying the photos.

[swodog94]

Enjoying the photos.

Thank you!

[pblack]

My best friend and I started collecting those ducks when we were on the Triumph last October. She got so many that we started leaving them around the ship for kids to find and play with (neither of us have kids). I think I ended up bringing 2 home and letting my cat play with them. :)

[bunnyette]

Military Appreciation (Cont.)

 

 

 

Carnival even allows for any possible Canadian veterans to be recognized, but there were none on this cruise. Most importantly, there was recognition for the families. In my opinion this was the most important group in the room. Many of us there served (or were serving) for over 20 years and there is just no way you can do that without the support of your family. By the time this slide came up though it was moot, because family members had already gone up on stage with their respective servicemembers and been recognized.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we observed a moment of silence for those who had paid the ultimate sacrifice in service to our great nation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wrapped it up after that, and true to service traditions, many of us headed to the nearest bar for a drink!

 

 

 

 

 

 

That is lovely to hear Canadian veterans are recognized- there may have been some on the cruise but may not have attended the event thinking it was for US only.

 

 

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[swodog94]

My best friend and I started collecting those ducks when we were on the Triumph last October. She got so many that we started leaving them around the ship for kids to find and play with (neither of us have kids). I think I ended up bringing 2 home and letting my cat play with them. :)

:'):'):'):'):')

[swodog94]

That is lovely to hear Canadian veterans are recognized- there may have been some on the cruise but may not have attended the event thinking it was for US only.

 

 

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That's a very good point. On my previous cruise, the CD had been a Canuck, and I thought the Canadian slide was in because of him, but I guess they recognize them every time.

[jcdean]

Just found your review. Very much enjoy reading it. Thank you

 

 

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[achriste26]

I am really enjoying your review. I love your writing style. We were on the Pride for this exact itinerary in May, loved it so much, we're going again next year. I love reading about other cruiser's experiences. Thank you! Looking forward to more posts.

[swodog94]

I am really enjoying your review. I love your writing style. We were on the Pride for this exact itinerary in May, loved it so much, we're going again next year. I love reading about other cruiser's experiences. Thank you! Looking forward to more posts.

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it! I hope you enjoyed Pride as much as we've come to love that ship. More to come!

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

The water at Grand Turk is so blue and clear, even right by the pier!

 

 

 

 

After two visits to Grand Turk, we have yet to leave the cruise center and Margaritaville area...does anyone know what building this is? Looks fun!

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

 

We moored just before 8am. Once we were moored we waited for the word to be passed that the brow was open. Folks started to get off around around 8:15.

 

Once we saw that folks were headed off we grabbed our stuff and headed to A Deck. That's where the debark hatches are located. We got in line and waited to bebark. Despite what seemed like lots of folks (including crew going on liberty) it only took a few minutes.

 

We headed off the ship and towards the

cruise center!

 

One of the sad facts of cruises is that not everyone has a great time. Some times folks get hurt (on our first cruise I had a first hand experience with a lady who broke her ankle!), get sick, or in the worst case, pass away. I'm not sure what happened in this case, but as we walked down the pier, an ambulance was evacuating one of our unfortunate shipmates. I hope everything turned out ok.

 

At the entrance to the cruise center is a turks head cactus. This native plant is why the Turks and Caicos Islands got their name, because when the first Spaniards discovered these islands, they thought the red top to the cactus looked like the fez's that Turks wore.

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

As I mentioned earlier, we had rented a cabana at Margaritaville, so we headed that way. We had received our excursion ticket in our mailbox on day one.

When you walk down the pier, the first thing you come to (and the last thing you'll see on your way out) is the duty free shop.

 

Once you get through that, you'll emerge into a courtyard where all the day's excusrions are gathering.

 

 

If you don't have an excursion, such as snorkeling or manta ray encounters, you keep going. There are many shops here, including jewelry stores, surf shops, a Harley Davidson store, and several others selling assorted bric-a-brac. We had been here before, so we knew to bypass all this chaff and head for the waitress stand at Margaritaville to claim our cabana. If front of Margaritaville is a huge, colorful parrot that I couldn't resist taking a picture with!

[swodog94]

Grand Turk (Cont.)

If you rent a cabana in Grand Turk, it's at the cruise center, and they are administered and run by Margaritaville. You check in with the hostess, just as if you're asking for a table. They'll run you out to your cabana, give you they key, and walk you through the amenities.

 

As we followed our hostess around the pool to our cabana, I noticed something I had not seen the previous time I'd been here. There were some alcoves next to a building that provided some shade and privacy, as well as some cooling. These apparently are first-come-first-served, so if you want one, try and be one of the first off the ship.

There are a limited number of cabanas, 10 I think, and we had cabana number 5.

 

Each cabana has an outdoor shower(you can see our next door neighbor's cabana behind our shower).

 

As you can see from the pictures, each cabana has two loungers on the front porch.