Pride Review July 31st - Aug 7th

[carribeanpirate18]

Baylivin, My DD was Madonna and her friend was Brittainy Spears. Did he get a DVD of the show? The girls got home and relized they gave them a cruise in review DVD instead. I have contacted Carnival but we aren't to hopeful:(

 

 

Watched the Legends show and everyone was great. Lurked a few nightis in Starry Nights, but didnt have the nerve to jump up there. It was a fun place to hang out.

[jamscckmc]

Baylivin, If it's possible to copy it would be much appreciated. I would of couse reinburse you for any expenses. Your DH has a great voice. In fact after rehersal, my DD said "wait till hear Frank Sinatra, he has a great voice". Your friends were really good also. Gloria Estafan was so much better in the show then at try outs. She really seemed less shy and put on a great performance.

Feel free to correct me if my recollections are off or add anything you remember. If you can remember what food was offered each night, please post. I meant to write it down but forgot.

 

Carribeanpirate18, I read your review. You were thorough but concise. I agree with you about the men's attire on casual nights but most of the men in our corner of the MDR and in the common areas were dressed appropriately on elegant night. I found most everyone very friendly and was pleasantly surprised by my 1st Carnival cruise. I thought the service was on par with all the other major lines.

[jamscckmc]

Day 4 cont.---Dinner was good as usual. I wish my old brain could remember what it was:confused: Some not to missed food. Cream of brocoli soup, Crab cake appetizer, chicken tender apetizer, main dishes, Lobster, Chateaubriand, short ribs. Best desserts,creme brulee, tiramisu and of course chocolate melting cake which was served with vanila ice cream on the side.

 

Show tonight was Jazzin with the singers and dancers at 8:45 and 10:30. this was my least favorite of their three production shows. Half price bingo at 8 and 10 before the shows. $10 for a triple card. One game for $500 jackpot. Lost again.

 

Wish I could stay awake longer, I didn't make the Quest game at 11:45 in the Butterfly Lounge, deck 1 below the Taj Majal. I did this last year on RC. It is an adult scavenger game and if I tell you anymore than that they will have to kill me! DD & friend went and had a blast. For those of you that have experienced this on RC it sounds like it was very similar.

 

Did have late night pizza, no line at this time of night but had to wait for a pizza to come out of the oven. I thought the pizza was very good and wish the line wasn't so long at lunch time.

 

I missed the really good big CChip cookies on Princess and RC available at night. On princess at the all night buffet and RC at the promenade cafe. The cookies were only available at the lunch and dinner buffet. There were small Cchip and what I would quess were sugar cookies. The sugar were good but the Cchip were just OK. I've never really been impressed with any of the desserts on the buffets on any line except for the cookies. Much better in the MDR.

[green eyed lady]

Janis,

Did they have bitter and blanc for dessert? That's my all time Carnival favorite...so yummy :D I hope Katie and friend kept their bras on at Quest ;)

[kates024]

Janis,

Did they have bitter and blanc for dessert? That's my all time Carnival favorite...so yummy :D I hope Katie and friend kept their bras on at Quest ;)

 

OK, so I just laughed out loud at this. Last year I sailed on RCCL, my name is Katie, and the bra came off! I was really confused when I just read this!

[DPurcell58]

I guess I'll have to grab some cookies at lunchtime for my son at night, he usually gets them too when we're on RCL.

 

Could I ask how you liked Carnival compared to RCL? We've been on the Voyager, Explorer and Freedom.

[sallyb]

Janis,

Did they have bitter and blanc for dessert? That's my all time Carnival favorite...so yummy :D I hope Katie and friend kept their bras on at Quest ;)

 

My fav is the creme brulee, hope I spelled it right. Pride coming up in 16 days, I'm starting to get that can't concentrate on work feeling!

[green eyed lady]

OK, so I just laughed out loud at this. Last year I sailed on RCCL, my name is Katie, and the bra came off! I was really confused when I just read this!

 

 

LOL...that is too funny :D My bra came off on the Dawn...I had the most fun ever and I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life...it's amazing what people will do to win a keychain :eek: (actually my team came in 2nd and we won NCL totebags)

[kates024]

LOL...that is too funny :D My bra came off on the Dawn...I had the most fun ever and I don't think I ever laughed so hard in my life...it's amazing what people will do to win a keychain :eek: (actually my team came in 2nd and we won NCL totebags)

 

I didn't win anything but had a blast in the process! I figured no one else would ever see me again so what the heck! I am a little concerned sailing out of Baltimore, I am bound to run into someone I know!

[jamscckmc]

Day 5--Grand Turk-- We rented a cabana. (They only have 15 and you can't reserve online so if you are not VIP, get there early) We met in the theatre and we got on the 1st tender. Upon arriving we walked for a few mins and came upon a large open area where they had signs for different tours(If you had a morning tour through Carnival you also got on the 1st tender) There was no sign for cabanas but soon a woman came through yelling for cabanas. We went on an open air "van" to our cluster of cabanas. We had # 11 gray. There are pictures and descriptions on the private island port site. We had water, soda, fresh fruit and chips and veggies with dip. We had snorkle gear for four which we didn't use because the water was so clear you could see to the bottom and there were few fish. We also had four floating mats that we did use.

 

We were pretty far down the beach and although we didn't have the mob that was at the close end of beach, the chairs were all full by us by noon. I can't imagine what it's like with 2 ships there.

 

We took the 5 min walk to lunch. There was a large covered area were crew from the ship were cooking food they had brought off the ship. I passed over the burgers and dogs and went for the jerk chicken and fried rice. There were also various salads. here were cookies, brownies and a few other desserts. As you walked out of this area there was a tight walk through area where there was water and lemonade. Alcohol was available at several bars and they were walking around selling rum punch in a coconut.

 

The last tender left at 4:15 so we started back about 3:30. There was a long line but it moved quickly as the tenders held several hundred people. This truly was a paradise and I hated to leave. I would go on a cruise that just spend 3 days here.

 

Watched the sailaway from our balcony and got ready for another great dinner. The show tonight was comedian Tommy Drake. He was really funny. There were 2 shows, 8:45 and 10:30 with a one game bingo for $700 before each show. Did both bingos, no luck:mad: Nothing else going on tonight. I gave some more money to the casino and off to bed.

[jamscckmc]

Jen, I think I remember Bitter and Blanc on the menu but I'm not sure. Baylivin or carribeanpirate18 do you remember? Katie said she didn't take anything off but she doesn't tell me everything;)

[green eyed lady]

I didn't win anything but had a blast in the process! I figured no one else would ever see me again so what the heck! I am a little concerned sailing out of Baltimore, I am bound to run into someone I know!

 

Yeah well just hope no one posts it on YouTube;)

[green eyed lady]

Jen, I think I remember Bitter and Blanc on the menu but I'm not sure. Baylivin or carribeanpirate18 do you remember? Katie said she didn't take anything off but she doesn't tell me everything;)

 

Janis,

Maybe you should watch that cruise in review video that Katie got by mistake...maybe you will see what she's not telling you about quest :D

[jamscckmc]

THATS AN IDEA jEN, BUT SINCE QUEST IS SO TOP SECRET DO YOU THINK THEY SHOW IT?I must have hit my caps lock button, sorry.

Review to continue---Tomorrow is my 1st day back to work.:eek: I have two 12hr shifts this weekend(RN at a hospital) So I probably won't be back to finish till Monday. By then this will be old news as there will be reviews from this week, and I know just how they are feeling. Someone is sitting at my table and someone is sleeping in my bed(and it aint Goldylocks.:rolleyes:

[baylivin]

jamscckmc - can you contact me by e-mail? I'am going to see if our son can copy the video. We didn't have success trying here on our computer. We will see Nick tomorrow and I'll see if he can copy. He's a computer nerd and works in IT at the University of Richmond in VA.

My e-mail is baylivin@cox.net. If the video gets copied okay, you can send me your address for mailing.

Thanks, Marcia in Hampton

PS BTW, the girls were very well behaved anytime we saw them. They helped to make karaoke a blast!

[DogFaceBoy]

Jamscckmc - We missed you on the Pride. We had a great time and are thinking about doing it again on the Pride in 2010. We had 4 cabins on deck 4 - 2 wraparounds and 2 balconeys. We did the wine tasting too so you were in the same room as us. We also rented golf carts on GT from Nathen. We got the big private oasis (it was alot of $$) and it was worth it. We enjoyed the food and ate at David's one night (really good food).

 

that's it for now - good night.

[jamscckmc]

Thanks Baylivin--I emailed you.

 

Dogfaceboy--We probably sat with you in VIP, waited at the excursion desk line with you, along with being at the wine tasting! We also probably passed you on the street in the golfcarts. How was the Oasis, was it worth the $$$ or did you spend so much in the water that you really didn't use it?

There have been a couple reviews of this past week so my review is old news but I will try and sum it up. I would have rather had this week's itinerary, not that I am a fan of nassau but there are a lot more options for excursions and I have never been to Paradise Island.

 

Day 6---Freeport-- DH Golf at the Lucayan Country club was canceled. He was offered a substitute but at the same price and was told it was sub par and passed. He followed us to Port Lucaya/Our Lucaya for beach and shopping. He couldn't take the oppressive heat and headed back. I talked about our day in Freeport earlier but again will say there are enough sea days --get off and away from the port area, there are beautiful areas of the island but the port area is not one of them!

 

Another "elegant" evening and most were appropriatly dressed. The production show tonight was Vrooom and IMHO was the best of the three. It was at 8:45 and 10:30. There was an over 18 comedy show with Tommy Drake. He was hilarious but not for the easily offended. Follow the quidelines and don't allow your children to attend.

 

Day -7--The last day.:( Slept till 9 and then breakfast in the MDR, french toast again. $1199 tax free bingo at 10:30. I WON! Half anyway. $600. Enough to pay my casino and bingo bill anyway.;) Stayed in the theatre for the debarkation talk with the CD. Because we did an emergency debarking of a 14mo and his parents due to resp isues the night before at Port Canaveral we were behind about 2hours. The captain thought he could make up at least 30 min, putting us in Baltimore at around 11:30. There were no questions at this time.

 

We got two letters the night before with our times. We were zone one, VIP due to being in a suite, 1st to disembark after self. The 1st letter said meet in the Starry Nights Lounge at 10:45 the 2nd was for 12:45.

 

Lunch in the MDR. Not very hungry, Chicken Cesear salad for DH, pepper steak for me. Very good.

 

Ships life Q&A at 2pm in the Starry Nights with CD Danny and Asst CD Matt. You could ask anything about crew life. Very interesting.

 

On deck for the cure at 3pm.

 

4:15 Super sonic 7 game bingo. Not lucky this time.:mad:

 

Prime rib tonight, I think? Again I think the beef was pretty good compared to other ships.

 

Don't miss the Liar's club at 8:45 in the Taj Mahal. I'm not going to explain it, just go see it! $5000 coverall bingo at 9:30, didn't win.:( Win a cruise raffle at 10:25. I bought $60 worth of raffle tickets, didn't win.:( Right after the drawing the Legends show came on. This was 10 of our fellow cruisemates impersonating singing stars. It was a full house. Unless you have late dinner come for the Liar's club and hold on to your seats. Because of bingo and then the win a cruise raffle the seats stayed full.

 

Although the show is the same each week and is I'm sure always enjoyable, I'm sure the talent and personalities of the guests make it a little different each week. There weresome great performances and only "Ricky Martin" looked a little nervous and forgot a few lines. The singers and dancersperform also.

 

My DD was Madonna and her BFF was Britainy Spears. The dancers danced around them and their performances were meant to be a little campy. The more serious performances by "Garth Brooks and Frank Sinatra" were very good. Some of the crew did some funny skits also.

 

Woke up at around 8. About 8:45 we went under the Bay Bridge. I thought we must have made some good time because I remember it being about two hours after sailaway we went under that bridge. We got showered and dressed and spent alittle time on the balcony. It's really pretty sailing in the bay. Seeing the sail boats, and the shoreline. Breakfast in the MDR was fron 8-10 and they wanted us out of the stateroom by 10:30 so we loaded up made a quick check under the bed and closet, etc and said goodby to our room. We got in the long line to the restaurant and got in about 20 min later. Service was slow but we were glad to while away some time in here. French toast again. DH had an omlet, the girls pancakes. We went under the Key Bridge by 10:15 so I figuied we would dock about 11. We went up to the lido and crashed in a booth. Breakfast was out until after 11. The ice cream was available. Saw lots of kids with cones. Had read previously when the ship was several hours late there was no food available.

 

I wish we had gone to wait in the theatre. The Starry Nights lounge near the theatre was for VIP self at 12:15 and we were to go at 12:45. We went down at 12:30 and it was empty. We just sat down when a crew member appeared to escort us out. It was 12:40 and they were only about 1/2 finisised with the self. We walked down the steep ramp (glad we didn't do self) showed our passport, waited a few minutes in the covered outsde area then in the terminal to wait in line for customs. 2 lines, get in the left, it has a shorter length plus in the right they bring all the w/c passengers and they go ahead to the front of the line. Once through customs the suitcases were right there in zones. Since we were at the far end of the parking lot(still not very far) and had 5 suitcases and four carryons, we grabbed a porter. Very easy to get out and well marked to 95. One warning though, there was a police officer with a radar gun as you came off the ramp from the parking lot. That would have been a bad ending to a great trip.

 

Less than an hour we were home, and the laundry started.

 

All and all a great trip. Good food, great service and fun ports. Enjoy your cruise, we sure did. :)

[MedicKen]

Thanks for the great review and all the comments. We are going on Pride Dec 6 and really enjoy hearing all about her. And the ports too.

 

Thank you all again.

[DogFaceBoy]

The private oasis is expensive but worth it if you have a big group of fun active people. It has an open bar with bartender, own own cook, hot tub, slide, steps to the water, floats, Ipod player, towels, etc. We really enjoyed it and would do it again.

 

p.s. we went to the Q and A too. I thought that was a great idea and learned a couple of things.

 

good night

[GOTTA CRUISE NOW]

32 days... 32 days... Can't wait!

 

Thanks for the in depth review. Sounds like you had a great time.