Pride Thanksgiving Week Cruise Review

[WMQueenie]

We are in our young 60's and this is our 14th cruise; 5th on Carnival, 5 on NCL and 4 on Royal.  This is our first cruise with our sons, their wives and our grandchildren.  Our children gave us this cruise for our 40th anniversary 3 years ago but for a variety of reasons we could not coordinate all of our schedules until we were finally were able to book a cruise Thanksgiving week, 2018.  So, this has been in the works for a long time.  We spent countless hours discussing and booking excursions, planning our trip down from Massachusetts the day before so we wouldn't have to worry about making the ship on time.  Finally the day came and we drove down on Saturday and spent the night at the Best Western Plus Hotel & Conference Center in Baltimore.  They have the stay and cruise package that included a hot breakfast on Sunday. 

 

We received a message in the morning that our departure time was delayed and to please arrive an hour later than scheduled.  No problem, check out was at noon, so we just sat in the lobby and waited for the shuttle to arrive.  KD Elite provided the shuttle service from the hotel.  No problems, they were nice and we got to the ship in no time.  Check in was a breeze and we were on the ship within an hour.  Cabins were ready so we went straight there and dropped off our carry on luggage and met everyone at Guy's Burgers for a late lunch.  We then toured around the ship, went back to our cabins where our luggage had already arrived, unpacked, attended the muster drill and waited for sail away at 5PM.

 

5PM came and went...they announced it would be delayed due to routine maintenance but our itinerary would not be changed.  We had late seating on deck 2 and met up with everyone for our first dinner of the week.  Loved our table, all the way back, against a window which the grandkids loved playing in. At 8:20 the captain came on and told us they could not complete the work needed and the ship could not make max speed and because of this we would have only one port - Freeport on Thanksgiving Day.  You could hear the moans and groans all over the dining room.  The cruise director, Cookie came on to explain the situation more clearly and told us our options.  If you wanted to leave the ship, you would receive a full refund and you would have to leave by 11PM.  IF you wanted to stay on board, you would receive a $50 OBC and a 100% future cruise credit!  I would say that's a no brainer!  But, we were amazed by how many people did leave...rumor had it that 700 people left but I don't believe that.  Maybe 300 or so.  I would love to know how many actually did leave.  So, as disappointed as we were to miss the ports we were just happy to be on the ship, the whole family finally together.  I'm not sure what time we actually did leave Baltimore as we were fast asleep...heard it was around 1AM.

 

Now I know people think we should have nothing to complain about because we're getting a free cruise in the future but let's put that aside and not beat me up for my opinions about the ship.  I'll start with our cabin - cabin 8210.  Perfect location, mid-ship, one deck up to Lido.  The room is a little worn around the edges, no big deal.  The bed, sheets, pillows were the most comfortable ever.  The shower ran hot and cold, the shower head didn't work when you tried to use it upside down.  The temperature in the room was too warm, then perfect, then too warm again.  But the balcony....oh my, the balcony.  The ceiling panels were removed in preparation for dry dock in February.  We were looking at exposed, rusty framework and insulation.  It was a very unsightly view!  It was very distracting...I kept thinking chunks of rust or insulation would fall into my glass of wine!  I tried to look past it to the beautiful open sea but my eyes would go up.  I was very surprised they didn't have a letter in our cabin saying "please pardon our appearance as we do repairs" or something!   I didn't want to complain to Guest Services because, after all, we are getting a free cruise in the future, but this had nothing to do with that.  After a couple of days, I did end up saying something to Guest Services and the girl asked what was bothering me and I showed her pictures and her whole attitude changed - "oh, my!" she said.  The next day we received a letter asking me to go talk to them again and we were offered to move but it was almost over so we declined, they did take some of our expenses off and that was very much appreciated.  While docked in Freeport we could see that it was our cabin and a few on either side of us with the exposed framework and they were removing more.  I'm sorry, but people should be notified that they can move or have a discounted cabin.  It really was so distracting and ugly!

 

The retractable roof must be stuck as it never moved (about 75% closed) and we sure would of loved it being closed during the bad weather we had.  There are signs of wear and tear all around, especially in the buffet area but the entire ship was clean as a whistle.

 

We had the late seating at dinner - table 150 - all the way aft.  The 2nd night - cruise elegant night - when we went to our table, it was almost comical how much everything was shaking.  The vibration was so strong we could hardly hear each other and after awhile a few of us started to feel queasy.  We made it through dinner but asked if we could be moved for the rest of the week, if this was to continue.  Ken, the singing Maitre d', (amazing singer!) tried to help but there were no 8 tops available.  So, the next night we went back to our table and it was not as bad so we toughed it out.  Not so lucky the next few nights and we ended up in 2 booths, back to back.  Disappointing to say the least.  Not sure if that was due to the mechanical issues or what.  Our waiters said it was not normal.  I've been on cruises where you can certainly feel the vibration but not to this extreme!

 

The crew was great, always greeted with a smile and hello.  LOVED the Carnival Hub App!  For $5 each we could text each other and we sure used that feature! Cookie, the cruise director, did an amazing job under very trying circumstances.  The entertainment was very good.  My grandkids (5 year old twins) had the time of their lives dancing all the time. 

 

We had excursions planned for Princess Cay and Nassau which we received OBC for.  My son and his wife had a beach getaway booked for Freeport but by the time we decided to book one, everything was sold out.  The morning we arrived in Freeport, they added an afternoon excursion to a beach so we quickly booked that.  The port area has a Senor Frogs and a small straw market and that was it.  Let's just say I hope I never go back to Freeport. 

 

And then there was the weather....not at all Carnival's problem, but oh boy, what a wild ride. The entire way back from Freeport (2 days and nights) we had 70+MPH winds, rain and huge waves.  There were barf bags everywhere.  Cookie kept announcing to eat green apples, peanut butter and ginger ale.  My little granddaughter got sea sick as did her mom but the rest of us were fine.  It was a little rough to walk around but we managed plus we watched a lot of TV!

 

We were late arriving back in Baltimore.  Was supposed to dock at 10AM, didn't dock until almost 2PM.  Wouldn't be a big deal but we had a 5-1/2 hour drive home to Mass and it took us 10 hours to get home because of the Delaware Memorial Bridge being shut down at 5PM when we were 2 miles away.  Stuck in traffic for hours.  Had we docked even an hour earlier we would of made it over that damn bridge and got home at a reasonable hour.

 

To me the ship is overdue for dry dock and I can't believe it isn't going in until February!  All in all we had a great time, despite missing 2 ports and only one sunny sea day.  First family cruise and I sure hope we can somehow get our schedules to coordinate and do it again real soon.

[skywalkr2]

I am scheduled to be on the ship for the 3/31 sailing.  I hope they have everything fixed up by then.  I do love the Pride, and I haven't been on it while it was going through these engine issues.

[sanmarcosman]

Spirit Class is my favorite in the Carnival fleet. Thanks for your review. 

[WMQueenie]

1 hour ago, skywalkr2 said:

I am scheduled to be on the ship for the 3/31 sailing.  I hope they have everything fixed up by then.  I do love the Pride, and I haven't been on it while it was going through these engine issues.

 

We loved the ship!  It is scheduled for dry dock February 3-16, 2019.  Should be much sooner!

[chocolate melting cake]

WMQueenie-----thanks for the heads up, hopefully our journey cruise Jan. 6 to 20 won't be quite as hectic as yours! We've been on the Pride several times and knew she was due for the drydock a couple of weeks after our cruise, so we expected some rough times. One thing you wrote has us fascinated, though---we were on a transatlantic 2 years ago and met a young assistant CD who was hilarious. He wore outrageous outfits and tortured John Heald all cruise. His name was Cookie, I'll put one of his pictures below, is this the current Pride CD? That would make a great cruise even better!

 

 

[Splitt44]

That's him!  Cookie was great, very funny and hosted great shows.  I believe he'll be moving on to a different ship soon, then taking a 4 month break to try NYC entertainment .  We were also on this cruise

[WMQueenie]

Yup!  That is Cookie!  Loved him....he has a bright future ahead of him!  He has a Facebook page - Cookie Monster at Carnival Cruise Line if you want to keep up with him.

[JaniceB]

Thank you for the review.  I sailed the Pride in rough weather and know what you mean about the dining room.  We asked to be moved towards the front and they put us in a room off to the side upfront.  If many people left I wonder why they could not have done this for you.  It was so much nicer to eat without all the vibration.  Sounds like you will be able to cruise again with family with the 100% future cruise credit.

[WMQueenie]

Just now, JaniceB said:

Thank you for the review.  I sailed the Pride in rough weather and know what you mean about the dining room.  We asked to be moved towards the front and they put us in a room off to the side upfront.  If many people left I wonder why they could not have done this for you.  It was so much nicer to eat without all the vibration.  Sounds like you will be able to cruise again with family with the 100% future cruise credit.

 

They did not have a table for 8 available.  😢   We ended up at 2 tables a couple of times.  It took us 3 years to get our schedules lined up for this cruise!  Hopefully we can figure it out quickly as we have 18 months to book the 100% FCC!!

[JaniceB]

Hope you can work it out but make sure and use that FCC.