Fun Holiday Caribbean Cruise
Carnival Pride Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 14
7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 19, 2023
Ship: Carnival Pride
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 5127
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 4 months ago
Review summary
Fun cruise, very few issues, great crew! The entertainment staff were genuinely excited about the activities and the staff in the dining rooms and rooms stewards were friendly and helpful. We had a great time on and off the ship.Embarkation
The embarkation process was quite troublesome for our group. We were told by staffers that there was an impromptu Coast Guard inspection of the ship that day, so all guest embarkation was delayed until after the inspection finished. We were told there was also a medical emergency that happened inside the terminal, so that further delayed any guest embarkation until the area could be cleared out. This caused HUNDREDS of people to wait outside in the Florida sun for around 2 hours. The Carnival staff did set up water stations for guests to get some hydration, but it was overall an unpleasant and dangerous situation for some cruisers, particularly some elderly cruisers and some with medical conditions. I don't think this is entirely Carnival's fault, but this is the experience that I had to go through and it was generally unpleasant.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The dining experience was great! We frequented the buffet and were pleased with the options provided throughout the buffet. We were able to find seating on most occasions as well. The dining room experience was overall good, highlighted by the service staff more than anything. The menus themselves had some good variety, but some members of my table had complaints about the quality of the food, particularly on Thanksgiving Day, citing particularly dry and cold turkey. The dining room menus were offered as QR codes by default, but physical menus were provided upon request. I did enjoy the rotating "exotic" appetizer on the menu each night which provided more "out there" choices like Frog Legs, Alligator Beignets, and Pulled Wild Boar. The quick food options on the Lido Deck in the Blue Iguana Cantina and Guy's Burger Bar were both quick, easy, and quality options which shouldn't be overlooked, especially if you are hanging out by the pool anyway. Also, the soft serve machines were always fun to visit whenever I had the chance.
Onboard Activities
I participated in several rounds of trivia across different topics, to varying degrees of success. I enjoyed the trivia and thought the Harry Potter one especially had a lot of work put into it. We didn't really visit the pools or the fitness center, but we did try the mini-golf at the top of the ship. What an experience that was! The equipment was very lightweight (probably just inexpensive that way) but it was VERY windy when we tried to play. It wasn't a traditional mini-golf round but it was hilarious trying to keep hats on heads and golf balls on course when the wind was howling every which way.
Entertainment
I thought the entertainment was quite good. The Cruise Director was very lively and hosted several of the shows. The Family Feud show was one of the more entertaining ones. I wasn't the biggest fan of some of the comedians onboard at the comedy shows, but that is subjective; I had people even from my own family that thoroughly enjoyed the comedy shows.
Service and Staff
The service and staff were all excellent. Our cabin steward, Noordam, was very kind and friendly. We had a large party with multiple different adjacent rooms, but he took the time and effort to learn all of our names and was happy to escalate any issues to make our experience better. Our main dinner waitress, Maria, was great as well. She was well aware of food preferences within our party and her team was very helpful each night.
Ship Quality
The ship layout was fine, no issues. The common areas we well-maintained and crew members were cycling through common areas cleaning up any trash very consistently.
Cabin / Stateroom
We had two occupants in a double-twin-bed configuration. The cabin decor was acceptable, maybe a bit outdated. The cabin worked fine size-wise for our use, although the bathroom being a bit larger would have been nice. We had ample cabinet/closet space and we had enough outlets for device charging, but the bedside lamp with built-in USB ports was not available in every cabin for some reason. We found the cabin to be clean and our room steward made sure to keep it that way as well.
Ports of call
We did not do an excursion at this port, we just walked around the port and visited the local shops. There was a tender required to visit the port, so keep that in mind as well.
Thumbs Up
0
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
This port was fantastic. We did an booked an excursion outside of the cruise line but it was excellent! We had a private tour around the island and learned a lot about the history of the island some parts of the culture as well. We visited an animal sanctuary, the highest point on the island, and a Honduran chocolate shop. We also got to eat lunch at a local restaurant and had a fun day with our tour guide who was very kind and friendly.
We toured the Altun Ha Mayan Ruins which were about a 1-hour bus ride inland from the port. The bus was in good condition and had air conditioning as well. The tour guide on our bus was very knowledgable and was happy to share insights into Belize culture and history. The ruins themselves were not quite as large or expansive as some other Mayan sites, but we were allowed to climb some of the structures all the way to the top for some great photos. The bus ride itself to and from the site was quite fascinating because we could see much of the Belize landscape.
Cozumel seemed like the most Americanized port of the ones we visited, but we still had a great time. The excursion we participated in was a Cozumel-exclusive version of The Amazing Race and we had a fun time journeying throughout parts of the city. The excursion was very well put-together and it was really cool to see members of the city were happy to participate in having tourists visit their shops for clues on how to progress through the race. Even locals who weren't affiliated with the excursion were happy to offer assistance on finding a certain shop or landmark.
Disembarkation
Disembarkation was confusing before it happened, but then was painless once it started. We were told that cabins on our deck would be let out towards the end of the disembarkation process, so we had planned to eat breakfast in the buffet and then prepare to disembark at the planned time later in the morning. The morning of disembarkation, the cruise director announced over the PA system that our deck could begin disembarking near the beginning of the process, hours earlier than we had expected. We decided to leave at that point and skipped out hours earlier than we had expected. The process was seamless though, pretty much just walked off the ship and through customs and what not, but we were off the ship much quicker than the time it took for us to board.