Carnival Pride Review 4/30/2006 Sailing...Kinda Long

[cbabe]

We arrived in Long Beach the day before sailing and checked into the Queen Mary for an overnight stay. The first room (cabin) we were assigned had a really disgusting shower area (peeling and rusted paper on the wall), so we were re-assigned. There were lots of people checking in, but for some reason, my particular room assignment wasn't ready when everyone else's was. I encountered a very rude desk clerk(Krystal :mad: ) who assigned us to the "ugly shower" room. We returned to the desk and asked another clerk to re-assign us, which she did with a smile. Didn't catch her name though.

 

Any how, we did the early check in. It was a breeze!!. But when it came to embakation, that was a totally different story. Apparently the coast guard decided to do some type of inspection before we boarded, so this held everything up. We did finally get aboard about 1pm. We went straight to the Lido deck to eat, as we were starving.

 

Day 1: At Sea Day. The weather was very cool, so there were very few people out to sun bath. There were plenty of activities, so you couldn't be bored.

Day 2: At Sea Day. The weather started out very cool, but soon the heat kicked in and everyone was out on deck. Spent the afternoon on deck sunbathing and talking with other passengers.

 

Day 3: Puerto Vallarta: Went ATV riding. Had an awesome time, but I also had a little accident with the ATV. The ATV I was riding was severly out of alignment and I had a little difficulty steering it, but I did ok. While parking it, I put on the breaks and it lurched forward and hit the ATV in front of me, breaking the light casing for the rear stop lamp on the ATV in front of me. Now here's where it gets ugly... The guide tried (to stick us up without a gun!) for $95.00 to replace the light casing. My husband who knows a thing or two about auto parts, told him, that in no way did it cost $95 to replace. So to make a long story short, DH finally agreed to pay the money, but as we didn't have that amount on us, the guide agreed to bill our onboard account through carnival, as we had booked the tour through carnival. As we were going to board our bus, the guide again insisted that we pay right then and there, and we wound up arguing with him, almost missing our bus back to the ship. When we did arrive back at the ship, the guide had someone waiting there, again demanding that we go to our cabin and come back with the $95(Not what we agreed to). So after angrily explaning to the person at the dock, she said that she would look into it and get back to us. We never heard anything else back (but I' m still holding my breath). It left a bad taste in my mouth because the attitude was "let's get all the money we can from the "rich" Americans". I can assure you we are far from rich! The company was called "ATV Adventures" so everyone else beware, if you take this tour and have a little boo boo like I did, they will try to rip you off!

 

Day 4: Matzalan: Had an awesome time Did the shopping beach and lunch tour. Nothing to complain about here. Had a great time shopping and out on the beach at the resort. As for the Lunch they served it was good, but make sure you get enough the first time, as you cannot go back for seconds.

 

Day 5: Cabo San Lucas. Did the new Jeep Safari Tour. It was a good tour but.... The guide who also has this "spoiled rich American" attitude will take you into the desert and bounce you around.. hard!!, I thought I was going to be airborne any minute. We visited a secluded Mexican village.., meet a 100 yr old woman (that's what we were told). Visited a school for children where we had lunch ( 2 burritos? with refried beans and a soda). Made by hand. It was good, but in no way, was it a lunch. (Not enough food). While touring the school facilities, something the guide said bothered me. He was addressing a little girl who was on our tour and he said. "Do you see how spoiled you are? You have a mother and a father who take care of you...." I was personally offended by the statement because I have to work for everything I get. Since he was not addressing me and the child was not mine, I did not say anything.

We then went to the ocean which had a beautiful view. But it was very cold where we were.

If you or someone in your does not know how to drive a stickshift, do not take this tour. I guess the main thing that bothered me about this tour is when the guide "Passed the hat" for donations to the school during our so called lunch.

 

 

Day 6: At Sea day. I began to feel a little queasy, so I spent most of the day in my cabin. Mainly packing to leave.

 

A word about the different entertainment venues:

Sports Bar. We were sailing during the NBA play offs and during the entire cruise, only 2 of the games were shown. This upset the many basketball fans on board. At one point, they caused a little ruckous in the sports bar, to the point the captain got involved. I give Carnival an "F" for the sports bar that only showed CNN, Cartoon Network. Anything other than sports.

If they're not going to show sports in the sports bar, what's the point. I hope they realize their shortcoming in this area and improve it for the next time I cruise.

 

The rest of the entertainment venues were very nice.

 

Food: The food was good, nothing to write home about, but I feel that they can also improve in this area.

The ceasar salad (Lido and Dining room) was totally tasteless.

The Lamb (Lido) had wayyyyyy too much garlic. DH almost choked on it.:(

 

Our cabin stewards: Superjourno and Puti were excellent!

Ramon (From the sports bar) was also great. he was doing the best he could with a lot of angry people.

 

All in All, we did have a good time, although I'm not sure we would do this itinerary again, because of the distance we had to travel. (We live on the East Coast).

[gemz]

Thank you for the wonderful review. We'll be sailing late May and I was wondering what percentage of the passengers dress up formally for the formal nights? Also, what condition is the ship in and was the ship rocky in any way? One more question, is the dining room open for lunch on port days?

 

Thanks!

[casie21]

Hi cbabe066. Thank you for this review. We too, will be sailing in late May!!! YEAH!!! We had a similar situation on the Paradise last year with the sports bar. Although we just asked the bartender to change the channel, and he did. I wonder how they decide what to play?? We were thinking about doing the ATV in Cabo, so hopefully we will not have allignment issues. Thanks for that heads up! What type of stateroom were you in? Did you like it? :cool:

[pppiglet]

Casie21..You will have a great time on the ATV in Cabo. It was my first time and I had so much fun and they were so easy to ride. Hot, dry, and dusty!

[casie21]

Casie21..You will have a great time on the ATV in Cabo. It was my first time and I had so much fun and they were so easy to ride. Hot, dry, and dusty!

 

I am just getting sooo excited!!! Question: were the ATV's automatic or manual? I have ridden a quad before, but only once and it was an automatic... Thanks!

[cbabe]

Thank you for the wonderful review. We'll be sailing late May and I was wondering what percentage of the passengers dress up formally for the formal nights? Also, what condition is the ship in and was the ship rocky in any way? One more question, is the dining room open for lunch on port days?

 

Thanks!

Well, the first formal night, there were plenty of passengers who were all "dolled up", including us. I could only talk DH into dressing up for the 1st formal night. The second formal night, there were not nearly as many as the first. We didn't dress up for the second formal night. The ship is in excellent condition! She's very beautiful! The ship was a bit rocky, but I think that was due to the speed at which she was travelling at times, up to 23knots (?spelling). I wasn't on the ship during lunch for port days, so I don't know whether the dining room was open.

 

Casie21. We had an aft wrap-around cabin 4237. We loved it! They had both semi automatic and automatic ATV's. If you go, make sure that you tell them immediately that you want an automatic. Expect to get dirty and wet!

[pppiglet]

We got dusty on our ride in cabo but not wet. There was no water on the trail we were on. They were automatic I guess. It had gears, but they told us we could just leave them in 3rd most of the trip.

[cbabe]

We got dusty on our ride in cabo but not wet. There was no water on the trail we were on. They were automatic I guess. It had gears, but they told us we could just leave them in 3rd most of the trip.

There was plenty of water on the trail in Puerto Vallarta, they take you through it purposely. We crossed what seemed like a lake with a truck stuck in the middle of it. The water came almost all the way up to the top of our tires. Although it was dirty and wet, I still had a lot of fun.

 

The automatics do not have any gear markings, you just turn it on, hit the gas and go!. The semi automatics had gears.

[pppiglet]

There was plenty of water on the trail in Puerto Vallarta, they take you through it purposely. We crossed what seemed like a lake with a truck stuck in the middle of it. The water came almost all the way up to the top of our tires. Although it was dirty and wet, I still had a lot of fun.

 

The automatics do not have any gear markings, you just turn it on, hit the gas and go!. The semi automatics had gears.

 

I saw how wet you got on this tour. We did the hikiing trip in PV and we had to cross this water by foot. You all were driving by us in the water with no problems as we "ouched" our way across on the hard rocks barefoot! :D