Pride 6 day review with pictures - 5/17-5/23

[vacruizer]

Just back yesterday from a fantastic cruise on the Pride and thought I’d post a review since the Pride is fairly new to sailing from Baltimore. This was our 7th cruise – all with Carnival – since we took our first in 2006. I’ll try not to get too long-winded with this but I tend to ramble on when I start talking about cruises! We booked this cruise fairly last minute after both DH and I had a really rough few months at work and felt like we needed some major down time!

We wanted to sail from Norfolk but couldn’t make the date of the one sailing from there so we opted for Baltimore instead. It was so nice not to fly or try to drive 12 or 14 hours to Florida! We booked a balcony guarantee due to price and ended up with a nice upgrade to an extended balcony on deck 8. I wasn't fond of the itinerary to Nassau and Freeport so we looked at this mainly as relaxation and a 6 day cruise to nowhere for us. :D

[Handsome58]

bring it on!!!!

[vacruizer]

We started our vacation on Friday with a much overdue trip down to Chesapeake, VA to visit with my parents. Saturday was my birthday and we realized that I hadn’t actually seen my parents on my birthday since my 21st – this was number 37! We had a great time visiting and for my birthday present we took an afternoon sail on the American Rover, a tall ship that does harbor cruises from Norfolk. My DH has teased me that only I can figure out how to take two cruises in one vacation!

 

 

It turned out to be a great afternoon. The weather was mostly nice with a few passing showers. At one time we even had sun on one side of the ship and rain on the other! I’d never seen a rainbow at water level before. Little did we know that rain and storms were to be the theme of our vacation!

 

 

 

 

For you Navy buffs out there, the USS Cole is in drydock in Norfolk right now. If any of you remember, this was the ship that was damaged so badly by a terrorist bomb a few years back.

 

 

Grandeur of the Seas was in port getting ready to sail for Bermuda. We passed right by her sailing away as our sail came back towards the dock.

 

[Payd]

I'm looking forwardd to the rest fo your review. The pictures are great!!

[vacruizer]

A few more pictures from our pre-cruise cruise...

 

 

 

[WAcruisers]

keep it coming! :D:D:D

[vacruizer]

Sunday morning – cruise day was here! We got up early and left around 8am for the drive up to Baltimore. Other than missing an exit and getting lost in DC, the drive was fine and about 4 ½ hours. It rained most of the way and got colder each time we stopped for a break. We pulled into the terminal parking lot about 12:45 and immediately heard the “last call” for debarkation of the previous week’s cruisers. The terminal is very well organized, you are directed to a spot to drop off luggage with the porters, then pull around and pay to park. Parking is $15 a day and the lot is securely fenced and right next to the ship and terminal building. We had almost no line checking in, were given zone 20 for boarding, and waited for quite a while before we boarded. We stepped onto the ship around 2:30pm – our home for the next 6 days!

 

Lido was packed for lunch mainly because everyone was trying to stay inside where it was warm. By 3pm the temperature was in the mid-fifties with a stiff wind blowing. Most of us hadn’t brought any warm clothes – I did have one pair of jeans capris and we each had a hoodie sweatshirt with us but that was it! Weather forecast for overnight down the bay was now for low forties! Rooms were ready at 3:30pm and muster drill was at 5pm.

 

After muster we made our way to the aft pool area. I love the open air aft area on the Spirit class ships where the sides aren’t glassed in. It gives you a great feeling of being connected to the sea back there. It may have been cold, cloudy, and windy, but we were still on vacation!

 

 

Not much sunbathing going on for this sail away!

 

 

[Jeffy294]

Good Job, keep it going.

[cathyoo]

I'm very anxious to hear your review. In about 161 days I will be a Pride cruiser. Part of the Philly Pride Partiers. Great pictures. Can't wait to see more.

[vacruizer]

Sail time was 5:30pm and we were very close to an on-time departure. About 45 minutes out is the Key Bridge, the first of two bridges you sail under. We were so cold out back we headed back to our room to change for dinner but stepped out on the balcony just in time to see the bridge.

 

 

 

The deck 8 extended balconies sit under an overhang from the Lido deck which is what you see above. We loved having the larger balcony to move around on and I liked having the overhang on our few sunny days since I'm not a sun worshipper. I was a little worried about noise from the forward pool above. We could usually hear footsteps out on the balcony but the only time we heard any noise in the room was the night of the deck party and that only lasted until about midnight and wasn't even that bad.

 

After changing we explored the ship some more and checked out some of the ship’s artwork. The deck 3 outdoor Promenade is a great place for a pre dinner stroll.

 

 

About 2 hours after sailing we came to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.

 

 

Video of sailing under the Bay Bridge:

 

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee58/vacruizer/Pride%20May%2009/?action=view&current=P5170082.flv

 

 

We went to a trivia game as well. My DH loves any kind of trivia and is obsessed with winning the infamous gold plastic ship on a stick from each ship we sail. He will go to every single trivia game he can with the exception of sports. (Yes, ladies, I managed to find a guy with absolutely no interest in any sport. :D) More on that quest later. We had late seating dinner at 8:15 and food was very good. Overall the food on the Pride is the best we’ve experienced on any ship – both in the dining room and Lido. Our waiter seemed a bit rushed but we still had a really good meal. We also stopped by the Welcome Aboard show after dinner to see what the CD would be like for the week. Current CD is Kirk Benning. He’s got a really good stage personality and seems to do a good job. We didn’t see him much around the ship but that could just be chance. ACD Jaime actually did many of the things you would normally see a CD doing around the ship and does a fantastic job. She will one day become one of Carnival’s star CDs if she sticks with it.

 

After the show we called it an early night since we were a bit tired from the travel of the day.

[floridacruzin]

Thank you for taking the time to post. Really enjoying your review

[vacruizer]

Good Job, keep it going.

 

Hey there! May or may not finish this tonight since we are having dinner with my in-laws. But will finish it tomorrow if not.

[cyntil8ing]

Very nice! We'll be onboard in three weeks. We watched the Pride leave yesterday, so it's really interesting to see the photos from the ship to where we were watching.

 

I'll look forward to the rest of the review!

[lollie0322]

Thanks for the review and the pictures! We are going on the Pride in July and can't wait!

[shellann]

Overall the food on the Pride is the best we’ve experienced on any ship – both in the dining room and Lido. Our waiter seemed a bit rushed but we still had a really good meal.

 

We did the May 3rd sailing on the Pride and I totally agree that the food was extremely good. We also noticed our waiter was very rushed and we chalked it up to a new crew working together. The head waiter seemed to be having to do most of the assistant waiter's jobs which made him obviously very stressed. Like I said, maybe they are still just getting the bugs worked out. The rest of the cruise was nothing but positive except for the dining room service.

[vacruizer]

Some pictures from around the ship...

 

 

 

 

This was a cross-stitch done by a past passenger...

 

 

[vacruizer]

Monday morning I woke up early, stood up, and realized the ship was really moving a fair bit. Stepped out to the balcony and stepped right back in – it was freezing cold and pouring rain out there! The ship’s navigation map on the TV showed us partway down the North Carolina coast already. I went up to Lido for some coffee and must have sat there for 2 hours just watching the crashing waves and stormy seas. I love being at sea and have never gotten to experience this side of the ocean prior to this sailing. I love it! I’m sure many others won’t agree and I heard many weather complaints all week long but I thought it kept things interesting. I spent a lot of time this cruise just watching the constantly changing seas and marveling at their beauty – even in a storm.

 

 

 

 

Overall we had a lazy day. Breakfast, napped some, a few trivia games, read for a while, napped some more, etc. This kind of became our routine on this cruise instead of doing a lot of touring and activities. Throughout the day we kept noticing how quiet and uncrowded the ship felt. We haven’t sailed a Spirit class ship since our first cruise and we chalked it up to having forgotten what it was like. The main pool had the dome closed over it, the other pools were empty as it rained on and off most of the day and it was still cold! As the day progressed the upper decks were all closed due to high winds as well. But even the indoor areas were not very crowded.

 

My DH tied for first place in movie trivia but lost the tie-breaker which was to guess the social host’s age. It became almost comical to watch him as he kept barely missing that ship on a stick. Prior to the cruise I had on a whim asked a question on John Heald’s blog about whether they were still giving out ships on a stick since I had read a few reviews saying they weren’t. I was pretty shocked when John wrote back that they were still giving them out, but that my DH needed to find the ACD Jaime and ask her for a “special” trivia question. Along with loving the games themselves, my DH is also honest to a fault and wouldn’t do it. He told me if he couldn’t win one fair and square then he wouldn’t get one – that he felt like asking Jaime for a special question would be cheating. I know it’s a cheap piece of plastic, but you’ve got to love a guy with those kind of ethics.

 

The Captain’s reception for late dinner was at 7pm in the main show lounge, the Taj Mahal. By this time we were really starting to notice more and more motion of the ship and Kirk let us know that due to the sea conditions the Captain would be staying on the bridge to navigate instead of attending the party. I do miss the little appetizers - I loved those chicken dumplings they always served! Dinner was excellent again with very good lobster and shrimp. But our waiter seemed to be pretty tied up with his other tables and mostly ignored our table of four. At first I thought it was just that the other tables were very high maintenance, but as the cruise progressed we noticed how much time he was spending laughing and joking with them only to throw our plates on the table and immediately walk away. When the maitre’d visited the table that night we had to ask him for water refills (we'd been empty since our appetizers) and if we could clear our dinner plates that we had been done with for quite some time. I’m not sure why our waiters mostly ignored us all week but it sadly only went downhill from there. I did notice the other tables were quite demanding, but we were the ones who were quiet and polite and I guess we just blended into the background.

 

After dinner we skipped the “Rock Down Broadway” show since we had seen it twice on the Liberty and opted for Motown hour and 70s/80s/ flashback hour in the disco. Lots of fun people watching and dancing to some of your favorite oldies. The people on this particular sailing were probably the most diverse of any cruise we have taken yet which was awesome! It was really neat to be surrounded by so many people of different heritages, races, and walks of life. I’m hoping this is the normal mix from Baltimore as most everyone we met was awesome!

 

 

After dinner we found this cute guy in our room. We at least had Capers tonight - our steward had forgotten them the night before and we had to go down to the purser's desk to get them. Sadly, this was also to become a trend. Our steward was really nice, very pleasant, and even knew our names the few times we ran into him. But the poor guy was obviously overworked and had too many rooms and missed lots of little things throughout the cruise. It's little stuff but it starts to add up after a while - two nights with no Capers, only had chocolates on 3 nights, towels we had left on the floor to be changed out removed but not replaced, and the room was never cleaned at all on Tuesday in spite of us being out of the room from about 9am on. We also almost never had our ice bucket filled - maybe once in the morning and 3 nights did we ever get ice. I have been saying for quite some time that the staff cuts Carnival made about a year and a half ago are affecting service and I truly wish I could say this cruise was different. Nothing cruise ruining but we were a bit disappointed again in the service in the dining room and from our room steward. We also had my personal travel coffee mug along with an unopened can of Mountain Dew disappear one morning from the counter top in the room. I'm sure it was an accident and that they were accidentally picked up and thrown away since they certainly weren't anything valuable, but I think it shows how rushed the stewards have gotten.

[Handsome58]

review....we will be on her next week. I hope the weather here stays hot for the week.

[Bozo]

Some pictures from around the ship...

 

 

 

 

This was a cross-stitch done by a past passenger...

 

 

 

Great review keep the pictures comiming we leave 5/30 /09

[WhansaMi]

Love the pics, but I don't see all the "boobies" I keep hearing about, all over the place! ;-)

[Windy56]

I am always so grateful when people like you take the time to post such detailed reviews. Great scenery pictures and lovely ones of you and your husband. Loved the story about his reluctance to rig the trivia contest. Sounds like my sweetheart. It's one of the things which makes you love him so much, right? My husband and I are booked on this ship for the July 9th sailing and we can hardly wait.

 

I keep asking on Cruise critic if this ship has bands that play dance music that you can rhumba, cha cha, foxtrot to...you know social dancing? Did you see any of this kind of dancing during your cruise? Pity about the slip in service. Seems to be happening on all of the cruise lines. This is our third cruise in 18 months and I noticed service slips on Celebrity and Princess, as well. This will be my first time on Carnival. Any menu recommendations?

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review over the next few days. Thanks so much! Have a great dinner with your in-laws!

[sallyb]

Thanks for posting your review. We are going at the end of August and I can't get enough about the Pride!

[vacruizer]

I am always so grateful when people like you take the time to post such detailed reviews. Great scenery pictures and lovely ones of you and your husband. Loved the story about his reluctance to rig the trivia contest. Sounds like my sweetheart. It's one of the things which makes you love him so much, right? My husband and I are booked on this ship for the July 9th sailing and we can hardly wait.

 

I keep asking on Cruise critic if this ship has bands that play dance music that you can rhumba, cha cha, foxtrot to...you know social dancing? Did you see any of this kind of dancing during your cruise? Pity about the slip in service. Seems to be happening on all of the cruise lines. This is our third cruise in 18 months and I noticed service slips on Celebrity and Princess, as well. This will be my first time on Carnival. Any menu recommendations?

 

Looking forward to reading the rest of your review over the next few days. Thanks so much! Have a great dinner with your in-laws!

 

Really no ballroom type dancing anywhere that I saw. There was a band in the Butterflies lounge that did more 60s/70s type music with a male/female duo of singers. They weren't bad - the just reminded me of a 70s lounge lizard hotel act. Complete with sequined outfits. :eek:

 

Other entertainment was ok - not the best I've seen onboard but not the worst. I think since they eliminated the classical and jazz groups the live music was a bit bland - for instance on one night there were three different piano players at various parts of the ship and two guitarists all doing very similar stuff.

 

One pianist Don was a pleasure - he did an afternoon Gershwin concert in the Raphael lounge that I thouroughly enjoyed. I was the youngest person there by about 30 years - LOL - but I was a music major in college and thought it was great.

 

The showband and reggae duo were also both very good. The showband also did a sailaway concert the day we left Freeport. I did happen to wander by the supper club while we were in Nassau to catch the pianist from the showband practicing classical music up there - he is absolutely incredible. I kind of hid behind a column so I wouldn't interupt since he was obviously practicing only - but would have LOVED to see him do a feature concert of some classical. He was really good.

 

For menu most everything I had was good until the last night - will get to that in a while. The Lido food was actually really good on the Pride. I highly recomment the Asian station - best Asian food I've had in a long time and went there almost every day for lunch. I noticed many of the ship's officers and higher level crew that are allowed to eat up there also going to the Asian spot for lunch. Also, the Caribbean day lunch and the Taste of Nations counter was very good. Other favorites are the Roast Beef and Brie and chocolate cake from room service, and my DH loves the Warm Chocolate Melting cake in the main dining room. My favorite dessert is their Tiramisu - i think I could eat three of them and just skip dinner! :D

[kates024]

Great review!! I watched the ship come home yesterday from a park by the Key Bridge. I was telling my cruise virgin friend (who will be joining us on the Pride in Sept.) how depressing it is that morning!! Everyone is out getting their last breakfast, sooo sad!

[Guest Crazeecat5]

VAcruizer,

A quick question....did you remove/or adjust the tips at the beginning of the cruise?

Great review....I'll be on the 8 day at the end of August. Can't wait!