Not the best experience

Carnival Pride Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5
Verified Review
Carnival Pride

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Baltimore Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 18, 2019

Ship: Carnival Pride

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7128

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

I'm disappointed with this cruise. Carnival makes it name on being family friendly and I do not believe they held up to that at all. The ship had some repair issues and there were some very unfriendly staff members. The food quality and variety left a lot to be desired. We did however enjoy our dining team (Dejan and Saber) very much as well as the Fun Crew (in particular Anthony). I don't think I'd be recommending going on any Carnival ship at this point, especially if you have little ones.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
The embarkation was like all other cruises, nothing wonderful, nothing horrible. Fairly easy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
The food quality has gone down over the years as has the number of choices.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
The Fun Crew was great, however we had a few issues. First, if your child is not potty trained they cannot go into the pools/water facilities even with a swim diaper. No one ever told us this during booking and the reason we booked with Carnival is because of their family friendly reputation. There were many times the pool had to be drained and refilled due to adult issues, I don't think babies with swim diapers should be an issue. And if that was the case they should've told us at the time of booking (they do have our child's age at that time.) We happened to have two extremely rainy days while in port and the cruise ship did little to nothing to accommodate the massive amount of people that chose to stay onboard while in port. They should have some back up plans if there are severe storms while in port. Food and activities should all be planned and running during those instances.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5
Very upset with the availability of things to do for very little ones. Again, they cannot go in the water facilities unless they are potty trained (even with swim diapers on). They also used to have in cabin babysitting services available and they did not this time. I'm not going to bring my small child to the kids program at night to try to sleep while we enjoy dinner. I'd much rather have been able to have someone come to the room and watch him after he was put to bed in his own bed.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
We had a lot of great staff (Anthony "Lord Bingo", Dejan and Saber our dining staff and our room steward were all amazing and certainly deserve raises!). But there were a bunch of staff members who had no patience and were in fact quite nasty. Overall I'm slightly disappointed in the service on this cruise.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
Overall the ship is a little dated but generally clean. Though there were a few times when we were in the Piazza area and there was water pouring down the walls from leaks. Unfortunately, no one came to repair and we were forced to move.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5
The cabin was a good size as was the balcony. Our divider out on the balcony broken on the second or third day and our balcony was open to our neighbors who we did not know. It took them a while to come and fix it (over 24 hours).

Ship tip

Don't bring unpotty trained kids! This is not a family friendly cruise for those of us with little ones.

Ports of call

Baltimore, Maryland

4 out of 5
The inner harbor is always great!

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5
We did the dune buggy excursion and it was okay. I thought there would be a lot more off roading/beach riding but the majority of the time we were just driving on regular roads. Slightly disappointed, though the guides were great!

Princess Cays (Cruise Line Private Island) Did not visit port

Severe storms kept us from visiting this port.

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

3 out of 5
Another very raining day we only visited the shops right at the port. Did not get to do anything else and were only in port for about an hour.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
We walked off on our own and this was a very efficient and quick process.
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9 Comments

4tanya    5 years ago

All the things you seem to but upset about all are things you should have been aware of before you cruises . It is all clearly listed on their website and again in your information given when you book your cruise .

MCnKai    5 years ago

Hello there, a question for you, did they compensate you for the change to the port of calls list changing a port of call into a Sea Day? I am reffering to other than your port charges!

engineerrick    5 years ago

Carnival sends many E-mails to us before we cruise, with all the rules. When you checked in online, you acknowledged that you read the cruise contract. It is not The fault of Carnival or any cruise line if you choose not to read the information available to you. Good luck finding any cruise line that will let children in their pool with swim diapers. 🤔

Lynnsimmons    5 years ago

They can't control the weather, swim diapers are listed everywhere as a no, I would not want a complete stranger inside my cabin where no one cans we what's going on to watch my child , that's why it's held in the children's area!

DiegoZZ    5 years ago

Last time we were at Half Moon Cay, it rained all day. Ruined our time there, but it wasn't Carnival's fault. Any vacation is what you make of it.

BeachSunSand    5 years ago

A bit a research BEFORE you board would have informed you that swim diapers are not permitted. The cruise line has no control over the weather, so you need to just get over that.

Shh813    5 years ago

How can you say don’t cruise on any Carnival ship? We were just on the Conquest in March. Loved it. One of our favorite cruises. I would definitely go back on the Conquest. Cruising is what you make of it. Don’t depend on others and rules are rules.

Aisai    5 years ago

Cruising with small children has to be difficult. I didn't take my kids until they were old enough to be responsible for themselves. As previously commented, swim diaper aren't allowed. It is a health and safety rule and is list on the website. Sorry your cruise wasn't what you envisioned. I hope you can look back on your experience with fresh eyes and give cruising another try.

15mustang    5 years ago

The rules about swim diapers is on most cruise lines. Unfortunately weather happens and ships can't just create activities for the day.

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