This was my wife and son's first cruise, so the stakes were very high for Carnival--and for me:) Overall it exceeded mine and family's expectations. We are already booking our next cruise on the Pride.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
The Cruise MD Terminal folks were great and as advertised, we were checked in and inside the terminal in 15 minutes. I particularly liked the set check-in times (ours was 2:30-3:00). This was my family's first cruise so it things were new to them but thankfully for me, there were many good reviews on Ship Mate.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
I was impressed with the Normandie food service team before we even boarded. My son is Autistic and loud noises can be problematic. We asked two weeks before sailing if we could have a smaller, secluded table. They happily gave us Table 116 and it was perfect. The variety of the meals and quantity were excellent. My otherwise particular son tried frog legs, oysters, rabbit, and calamari. WOW!
BlueIguana Cantina
5 out of 5
Breakfast Burritos-5 STAR
Lunch Burritos-5 STAR
Tacos-5 STARs
Fresh watermelon was always available even when the rush was on in the Mermaids Grille
Guy's Burger Joint
5 out of 5
They recognized me from my frequency of plate. Awesome burgers.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
Corn Hole, Mini Golf, Basket Ball and Ping Pong. All help me to entertain a 12-year-old son with ADHD.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our Room Steward for #1204 was Joe Luis. He was always there with new towel critters and clean beach towels. He remembered our names each time. I work in customer service and know the power of a person's name.
Our Normandie wait staff was Troy, Dennis and Sopring. They were the best. Because of our special diets (gluten and dairy-Table 116), they always went to the galley for another shrimp cocktail X??? They also sang and danced well, including Sopring getting my somewhat reticent child to get up and dance with her.
Great job guys!!!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
I personally liked the size of the SS Carnival Pride. It was easy to find your way around and having three sets of elevators (front, middle and back) made it easy get to a particular spot.The most difficult thing for me was figuring out which side of the ship I was on after leaving the elevator. They conveniently post deck plans showing your location beside each elevator.
The ship was consistently clean wherever I went on the ship. I never saw the staff not engaged in perpetual motion.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We felt that three people were fine in this size of stateroom. My wife and I slept in two twin beds converted to a king, and my son (age 12) slept on the convertible sofa. There was ample room underneath the beds for luggage and three closets were adequate for our storage.
Joe Luis ensured that our room was tidy each day in spite of cheesecake crumbs from the room service.
Ship tip
Magnetic hooks: They do no damage to the walls but increase your hanging potential by a factor of 10.
My family really liked this tender port. We came ashore in ticket group No 9. There was ample shade which was a concern of mine because takes medicine that is photosensitive. My son and I snorkeled and rented an aqua bike.
The water was a bit cold but we both wore long-sleeve rash guard shirts which did help. The beach terrain is also a mixture of fine sand, corse shells, and coral. We used water shoes which really helped with the bottom.
The food brought ashore was good in my opinion. They had fresh fruit out and then a large buffet after 12:00. If you need to eat regularly bring snacks with you. Also, they do not take cash on the island that I could see but they did accept my S&S card.
We did not visit the port of Nassau but did an excursion to Salt Cay and Blue Lagoon. This was my first trip to New Providence and my son and I departed the boat and were quickly met but the orange-clad Blue lagoon team. They took our tickets and distributed our proper armbands. We took an awesome 20-minute ride along Paradise Island to the entrance of Blue Lagoon. We did the Family Beach Day with lunch and we had a blast. We grabbed innertubes to float around on then decide to pay $15 pp to have access to the inflatables park. It was fun trying to climb all of the stuff--like a 12 Y.O. We also paid for clear bottom kayak, which was amazing. This place only takes cash for the extra attraction items, so plan on some extra cash.
I felt really safe here leaving my stuff on the beach and there was staff seemingly everywhere to assist me.
We took the 1:15 tender back to Nassau and the captain chose my son to pilot the boat for a while--made his day. He also took us aside and told us some the cool history and ecology of the area--like Nick Cage's house.
The tender did drop us off on Bay Street for a 1/4 mile walk back to the security checkpoint, but no one bothered my son and me.
This was our third port of call and being on shore two days wiped out my family. Since this was a very quick bunkering stop (07301300) we stayed on board and used the ship's empty accomadations.
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