Bahamas Cruise is Worth Your Vacation

Carnival Pride Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 21

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Pride

7 Night Bahamas & Grand Turk (Baltimore Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 09, 2015

Ship: Carnival Pride

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7259

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

My wife, 8 year old daughter, and I took this 7 night cruise - it was our first cruise experience. When asked afterward, my daughter said "It was the best vacation ever!" We booked an ocean view with balcony cabin, and enjoyed all aspects of the cruise: eating, games, shows, trivia, shopping, did I mention eating? The ship is a very nice, stable ship. I would rate this cruise 4.5 stars, but there is no option. My only 2 recommendations: first, there was a stop in Cape Canaveral FL, which was just ok, so we could have done without that stop and saved a day. I now see that Carnival is offering a 6 night cruise without FL - that seems like a winner. Second, the pools are pretty crowded and small, and ocean water content. We swam the first day for a few minutes and then did not go back. Other than those two minor issues, this is a cruise worth doing!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
My wife really enjoyed having the private balcony, to get away from the crowds yet still have a view of the ocean and feel the breeze. It was also nice to open the curtains at night and see occasional storms, lightning, etc!

Ship tip

Buffet food/coffee is on Deck 9, so upper decks are definitely preferable; close to mid-ship was good because of access to 7 different elevators.

Ports of call

Baltimore, Maryland

5 out of 5

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 21

9 Comments

Lssp    9 years ago

there are important reasons they do not let you bring or bring back sand, dirt, plant, animal products, etc

NiteHuntress    9 years ago

I wanted to bring back sand too. 😎

cfam88    9 years ago

will the security discard it?

shellyk    9 years ago

I have seen people post pics of ziplock bags with sand in them and the places they got it from.

cfam88    9 years ago

JusMe    9 years ago

On days that your not interested in the port being visited it is great to stay on the ship while most people are in port,   no lines at the buffet and easy to get a lounge near the pool.

cfam88    9 years ago

do you think I would be allowed to bring back sand

rajeshmaingi    9 years ago

Thanks for your comment. We did go into Cocoa beach and Cocoa village, Mostly we did shopping at Ron Jon's (that was enjoyable), shopped/ate at Cocoa Village (ok), and went back to swim on the beach. The surf temp. was great, but the waves were too small for real boogie boarding (just bad luck). I wish we had gone to the pier, and we did not have time to go to the tower. Overall I think my comment on the FL stop is based on the comparison to the excursions on Nassau (shopping, private island tour) and Freeport (Heritage tour and awesome snorkeling site!!!). 

glomarrone    9 years ago

I am a real fan of Carnival and have traveled so much with them that I am now at Platinum level and receive free laundry service.  I was sorry to read that you didn't enjoy your stop at Port Canaveral.  Did you get off the ship and do any sightseeing there? The Exploration Tower ( building that looks like a sail) right at the port is a fun thing to do and very inexpensive.  You can see all the ships in port from their observation deck. There is a neat video and you can sail a virtual boat.  Nearby Cocoa Beach is a great beach to visit and Jetty Park is close to the port.  The sand is flat there and there is a kid's playground plus the best ice cream around. My grand kids love the chicken fingers and I love the fries.    You can see turtles daily there in the water alongside the fishing pier and sometimes we have seen up to 5 dolphins swimming in the channel.  Cocoa Village is fun to explore and the Space Center Tour is awesome.  I treated my grand kids (10 & 12) for a visit here and they loved it.  The IMAX movies are very entertaining and educational and the bus tour is fantastic.  Getting up close to all the rockets is neat and the kids can cool off in the water area. 

The pools on all ships are quite crowded.  It is not fun to swim in them unfortunately. A balcony stateroom is always a treat.  

(Overall, it sounds like you had a fine cruise on Carnival.  Thanks for posting here.  I hope that more cruises are in your future. 

 

 

Other reviews of this sailing