Nice cruise experience
Carnival Pride Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 54
7 Night Bahamas (Baltimore Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 04, 2018
Ship: Carnival Pride
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 1239
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
We had a great time. Enjoyed lots of the fun activities on the ship. A little disappointing at our ports due to weather. The staff on the Pride are fantastic!! Can't say enough about them. The ship is clean and beautifully appointed. Ryan, Dustin, Yudi, Neil, Jess, and Leigh are stand-outs!Embarkation
Unfortunately the weather created circumstances that made our embarkation experience poor. The ship was late to arrive back to the Baltimore port which, of course, delayed our embarkation. The communication about the delay and the change of plans for our embarkation was scant and vague. I think things may have gone smoother if there was more frequent updates with more detailed information. Also, Carnival had all cruisers arrive at port at the same delayed time. It may have gone smoother if the arrival times to the port were staggered as they are scheduled to be with an "on time" embarkation.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We had excellent dining experiences during our cruise. Food in main dining room was good and service was excellent. Yudi served us several times (we had my time dining) and he was awesome. We attempted to get seated with him every time we went to the main dining room. Yudi and his team were attentive, kind, funny, and engaged our kids at every dining experience we had. Guys burgers were delicious--my husband chose to eat a burger for dinner 2 nights. Buffets were varied, fresh, and very tasty.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed many of the great activities available on the ship including the fitness center, track, basketball, and mini golf. Unfortunately the pools had to be emptied (due to rough seas) and we could not enjoy them the first few days of our cruise. People "saving" chairs around the pools made it almost impossible to find a seat despite lots and lots of chairs being unused for long periods of time. I don't suppose there is much Carnival can do about this :-(
The hot tubs were not very hot and always crowded, so it was difficult to enjoy those at times. The kids participated in multiple fun squad activities...trivia, dance classes, etc and enjoyed them very much. Neil is hilarious and so much fun.
It is great to have the Fun Times schedule available via the app and also great to be able to mark what you want to do and get the reminder that it is almost time for the activities that you marked.
Entertainment
We thoroughly enjoyed all of the shows we attended. The stage shows were entertaining and we saw lots of great talent. We discovered early on the we really liked the comedy shows. It was great to have multiple different comedians and multiple show times each night. It was also great to have family shows and adult only shows.
Children's Programs
There were 4 teenagers in our group and they all spent time in Club O2. The had a great time and met new friends. Dustin was awesome. Our kids really enjoyed his fun spirit and the activities he planned. He took particular care to get to know each of them individually which we appreciated. By the end of the cruise, we weren't seeing much of the kids in the evenings, because they were hanging with Dustin!
Service and Staff
Excellent service at almost every turn!! From our room steward, Ryan to servers and bar tenders (Yudi), to maintenance staff...everyone was smiling, kind, and willing to get anything we needed. Ryan was super the entire cruise. He was extremely helpful and always available. I cannot say enough about the staff on this ship. Neil and Jess with the fun squad are fantastic. Every person who passed us in the hall or picked up dishes or served food smiled, spoke kindly and offered to help. Leigh is so energetic and fun and very engaging with the guests. We were first time cruisers and had read lots of great things about Saffi, so we weren't sure what to expect. Leigh did not disappoint. We had opportunity to chat with him quite a bit and enjoyed him thoroughly.
Ship Quality
We were first time cruisers, so we don't really have anything to compare. However, my husband is a ship building specialist and has experience building and maintaining ships including cruise ships that are maintained at Grand Bahama Shipyard. It looks like the Pride needs some TLC. I know she is scheduled for dry dock in 2019 and hopefully that will give her the attention she needs. With that in mind, the staff does a wonderful job keeping the ship very clean. The common areas are well maintained and clean, and the staff is very attentive to keeping them that way. A few of our days I did find the Serenity area in need of some pick up and cleaning...trash on the deck, multiple used drink cups sitting around, etc. Besides that, I was very pleased with the cleanliness.
Cabin / Stateroom
We were very pleased overall with our cabin. I was nervous as a first time cruiser about the cabin and bathroom, but I was pleasantly surprised. While it was small, I felt there was plenty of room for us and what we needed to do. I found the closets to be roomy and we had no problem storing our clothing and personal items. The bathroom had lots of shelving for our stuff. The cabin was clean and Ryan did a fantastic job taking care of us throughout the cruise. The mattress was comfortable. My teenage daughter slept in the pull down bunk and she was very comfortable.
Ship tip
Check out all of the activities available! There is so much going on at all times that you could miss some fun opportunities if you don't read your Fun Times or use the app to mark the activities you want to do.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
Due to the delay of our embarkation, we had time to go into the inner harbor in Baltimore and spend a few hours. We had a pleasant day. We have been to Baltimore many times and there are lots of fun things to do there.
Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island)
We planned a beach day for the stop at Princes Cays. The beach is very nice, but unfortunately the weather made the water a bit rough so we were not able to do any of the water activities we had planned. We still enjoyed sitting on the beach, swimming and snorkeling some, and walking around the island.
Obviously, Carnival can't control the weather (unfortunately). The system for riding the tender back to the ship was awful. This process was extremely unorganized and the result was an unpleasant end to what would have been a very nice day. There was no one from Carnival visible to help organize the line or boarding of the tender boats. Only 1 tender boat was being used. I am assuming the weather/rough water made it so that all of the tender boats that would be used weren't ...but I can only assume this because no one was communicating with the guests to let them know. The line to get on the tenders was long, unorganized, wrapped around out of the waiting area and around the island and no one from Carnival was helping streamline the process or communicating any information with us. Also, while the line was in that condition, they loaded a boat full of supplies and staff and sent it ahead of the very long, unorganized line of people waiting. Kind of ruined our otherwise very nice day.
At Nassau, we had planned to go to the beach and had reserved rentals of non motorized water equipment from one of the local vendors. However, due to the rough water, we were not able to get in the water for the activities we had planned. Unfortunately the storm had also washed up a lot of trash and other debris onto the beach, so sitting/relaxing on the beach was not pleasant either. Again, we can't control the weather. Some of our group had planned an excursion in Nassau, but it was cancelled due to the weather. They were not happy with the way the cancellation was handled. We ended up walking around a bit and enjoying a nice lunch.
We did not do an excursion. We spent the morning walking around the port and doing a little shopping. Nice day.
Disembarkation
Organized. Smooth. Efficient. Nice to have the captain and Leigh saying goodbye as you disembark.