10 days in Paradise.

Let me start by saying that we are both over 65, living on a fixed retirement income.  We try to save enough each year to go on one cruise.  We do not expect perfection.  And shop more at Wal Mart and K Mart then Sak's or Macy's.  That being said we may have less expectation of everything being "wonderful" and more understanding that life is life and life happens.

We spent 10 days seeing parts of the world we have never seen before while getting treated like royalty.  Not a fan of the new dining menu, but we cannot normally afford to go out to eat three meals a day for 10 days.  Some meals were not hot, the morning buffet scrambled eggs tended to be a little runny, but we got to eat them in Paradise.  How lucky we are!

The ports were all good.  The only real complaint would be the hair braiding woman in St. Lucia.  These ladies would not take no for an answer.  Booze is St. Kitts was incredibly cheap.  Excursions were varied and everyone should be able to find something they will enjoy.  The buses were often filled, so if you have cloustaphobia or don't like people, avoid bus excursions.  Sit back, relax and enjoy.  If there is road work which holds you up, enjoy it.  All the beaches we went to were nice and clean and vendors generally accepted no and moved on.  Shopping was generally very friendly and prices were reasonable.

We love the Pride and though there are signs of her age, but she is still comfortable and the crew is great.  They work overtime keeping her neat and clean and making sure that the passengers are having fun (though there will also be someone to complain, it's their nature).

Complaints:  Pizza Pirate.  There has got to be a better way to do this!  I guess we get used to instant gratification but I hate waiting 10 minutes for a slice of pizza.  

          Smoking.  But not what you think!  My wife is a smoker, doesn't make me happy but she is addicted.  They have closed off smoking except for maybe 40 seats on the Starboard ship forward on deck 9 and maybe 20 loungers on deck 10.  There are 6 tables and half a bar in the casino (for non-gamblers).  All these areas are always full!  Tells you how many smokers are on the ship.  When she could smoke on the balcony of our cabin, there were never any problems.

If you have any specific guestions, do not hesitate to ask me.  I will give you an honest answer.