Carnival Pride Cruise Reviews - Reviews

It is my first cruise so good to me. The food and room is very comfortable to my family. I am very amused to see the sea in the window. Thank you so much.  

This was my first experience and I have to say it was AMAZING. The crew members were very helpful, courteous and extremely hardworking.  I need to mention some names who left a very positive trait on us. Anthony from stateroom house service, Cokorda and Rex from Normandy dining, Arissa from Lido exceeded our expectations. The whole ship was very clean. Normandy dining was a five star experience and that melting chocolate cake was mouth watering. Just a little suggestion if  Normandy can have lobster for regular dining ( + 20$) that would be great! I would definitely spread the word about Carnival Pride to my friends and family. Keep up the good work and good name.

Great cruise experience and good value.  Almost too much stuff to do.  Staff was great.  Fun, friendly.  Towel animals were a hoot.  Especially when they did the pool.  Great comedians!!!!!! SWARTZ the cruise director is the absolute best!

the cruise was ok. half moon cay and grand turk was amazing. avoid freeport at all costs. service on the ship is hit and miss. ship was clean. the food is good. the burgers are great. the cruise try to extort about 84 bucks for "tips" for the crew which i did not like. will cruise again maybe try another ship/ cruiseline

The Pride is a beautiful ship.  The workers are wonderful.  Wish there were more hours to spend at port stops.  I would love to spend 2 days at Grand Turk or Half Moon Cay and forego Freeport. I would sign up for one of those trips, right away!  

This was our 15th cruise. Had it been our first I don't think we would ever cruise again. Let's start with our cabin. We purchased a belcony cabin. Our belcony door handle and latch was broken so every wave made it open and shut. The cabinet doors on the safe cabinet would not shut so they were open most of the time. The faucet in the sink was broken. The shower curtain was short 4 rings so it looked like it would fall down any minute. The belcony was filthy.   The entire ship was dirty and falling apart. In the buffet water was running out of the ceiling for 5 of the 7 days.  If your a smoker you will love this ship. I'm not. The entire casino is smoking and the ventilation system does not work great so you can hardly breath walking through.  Half the pool area is smoking. Very gross.  The nightly shows are just slightly better then a high school play. It's also the same show everynight just different songs. Very disappointed. If you like trivia you will love the daily activities. That's about all they do.  Ports were very nice, no issue there. We hit rough weather witch made us late getting back to Baltimore. Took 3 extra hours getting off for some reason that know one could answer. Once we were off, they had every one exiting the parking lot at the same gate they were letting the new guests in. Giant cluster f..k.   We won't cruise carnival again.

The crew members were outstanding. Everyone from the stuarts, the people in the salon, the wait staff, and the bar tenders were so nice and helpful. We had a wonderful time. The only thing I would say was I wish it was more handicap accessible. The pools did not have lifts or ramps and some of the handicap door  buttons didn't work.

The Baltimore port was organized upon arrival with a very easy embarkation process. As for the cruise itself, the staff was pleasant and helpful. The food was okay in the Lido restaurant, but not great. I highly suggest dining at the Steakhouse, it was excellent. Guy's Burgers were great too!

The ship was kept clean but does show a bit of wear/age. It was not a large ship but there were plenty of areas to get away and it never really seemed crowded until disembarkation, which was poorly handled. It took nearly 2 hours to get off the ship after docking which is unacceptable.

The ports of call were nice but time on the islands was too short. I have been on several cruises and know they can stay a bit longer at a port and make up some time to the next one thru the night. All the ports were very close together and a ship going 15-19 knots at night is slow, too slow. Leaving from the last port at 1:30 was ridiculous.

Overall we had a great time and I do recommend it to others. 

Took a friend with me after another bailed.  I paid for the cruise and she was supposed to cover the drink package.  Carnival told her she had to buy 2 drink packages, one for me and one for her.  She told them she was a recovering alcoholic and they told her it didn't matter.  She instead bought a few bottles for me to have in the room.  Problem with that is she now had alcohol right in front of her.  I didn't find out she had a drinking problem until the third day.  She ended up drinking most of what was in the room and then started buying drinks at the bars.  I guess it was a way for Carnival to make money and ruin someone's life at the same time.  She hadn't had a drink in 4.5 years before this trip and now is back in rehab.  So I spent $2600 before stepping on the boat and ended up babysitting her through the whole trip.  I know of a lot of other things that I could do that are way better than a cruise for $2600.  I really truly believe that if she was able to buy one drink package then the urge and pressure would not have been so great for her to drink.  She had been around me many times while I was drinking and never wanted one.  Thanks Carnival!!!

I traveled with my two childresn 17 and 8 as well as my 2 friends and their two 18 year olds.  We all had plenty of things to do aboard the Pride.  The travel days out were gorgeous sailing days... my son spent the entire day at the water park.  He loved it.  He also enjoyed going to camp Carnival several times throughout the trip, which was completely free during the day.  The teenagers loved being able to gamble in the casino since they couldn't do this at home.  We all attended the shows in the Taj.  These were probably my least favorite activities but were not awful.  It was nice to sit and relax for a period of time.  The comedians were very good, some better than others.  I liked how they offer both family friendly and adult only sessions of the comedians.  I also liked how they switched the comedians during the trip so we had 4 different comedians in total.  you have to get to the comedians early though to get seats.  A suggestion to Carnival may be to move the prime time hour shows to the taj to accomodate everyone who wants to attend.    The dinners in the dining room were very good.  A good selection was offered each evening.  I did not enjoy the buffet for breakfast or lunch.  The food was not to my liking.  I chose either the salad bar, or mexican but loved Guy's burger joint.  We regret not booking a shore excursion in Freeport.  Since we did an excursion in Grand Turk we thought we would tour Freeport on our own, however there is very little around the port.  You must get some kind of ground transportation into the town. 

We returned on the Pride and loved the new improvements.  The center pool on lido deck,  Guy's Burgers, The burrito bar, The Rum Bar, and The Blue Iguana were great improvements.  The entertainment was disappointing and did not have enough variety.  The service was fantastic.

Enjoyed the cruise very much - Baltimore port lines for embarkation seemed a bit much, could have been organized better - delay in port opening contributed.

Food was excellent - Filiz at our table (141 in main dinning room) was just wonderful - making us as well as our 4 year old Nephew feel like family.  She's a Carnival star!

the cruise was a first rate experience all the way around. The service and staff were both extraordinary. The ship was very clean and very nice. All three ports were great. Half Moon Cay might be the most beautiful place on earth.

We had a spectacular time on the cruise.  Our party consisted of three couples and 6 children ranging in age from 8 - 15.  Our first day at sea was rainy, but there was plenty to do inside the ship so no one in our group was bored.  We spent most of the first day in the Red Frog Pub or out in the lounge playing trivia. 

Grand Turk was amazing - I went scuba diving through Blue Waters Dive Shop (not through Carnival) and we only had 4 people plus the dive instructor on our trip.  It was excellent.  The rest of our group snorkeled with sting rays at Gibbs Cove (booked through Trip Advisor).  Their excursion turned into a private event, as they were the only ones on the island.  They had a terrific time.

Half Moon Cay was awesome!!  It was the most beautiful beach we have ever visited.  I highly recommend reserving a cabana for the day on Half Moon Cay if you have a fair complexion.  We did not and we regretted it.  By the end of the day, despite slathering ourselves with 70 SPF, we were fried.  FYI - You have to pay for drinks even if you are a member of the on board Cheers program.  Drinks are not included on the island, but lunch is.  You are able to rent innertubes and rafts from a hut on the beach.  You can also book a massage prior to arriving at the island (which I highly recommend).  There are plenty of chairs, so don't plop down in the first ones you see.  We walked down to the last sets of chairs away from the crowds and had a fabulous time. 

At Freeport we booked the All Inclusive Beach Day through Carnival.  The kids had a blast playing on the floating trampolines in the ocean and renting jet skis (jet skis not included in all-inclusive pricing).  The drinks were okay, and the lunch was decent.

We ate dinner in the dining room every night.  We choose "your time" dining, because we didn't want to be pinned down to a dinner time, but we should have chosen a specific time.  We had a party of 12 and it took forever for the staff to seat us together in "any time dining".  The meals were outstanding.

Katie at the Alchemy Bar is outstanding.  She makes the best drinks.  If you like bourbon, ask her to make a "bad boy".  We loved the Punchliner comedy club, and the kids enjoyed the Seuss at Sea breakfast.  The kids also liked the night time movies by the pool. 

It was an outstanding vacation.

Things started out rough, the Pride was having mechanical issues, and arrived late, we were advised to not show up till 1:30 via an e-mail from Carnival. There were no further communications from them. People were showing up at 1:30 as advised to do, they were being turned away and told they could not come back until 3PM. There was absolutely no further communication from Carnival of the changes that were being told to people at the Port. One of the people in my group arrived by plane, took a taxi which cost her $40 to get to Port, was dropped off a little before 1:30 to be told that she could not enter until 3PM. She chose to stand outside the gate and wait, but shortly after going outside the gate she was told she was not permitted to stand there, and that she had to leave the property, and if she did not leave she would receive a citation. She asked what was she supposed to do, she followed the instructions given by Carnival, they said she had to leave, she could take a cab to the Inner Harbor and wait, well I am sure that was fun having to lug all of her luggage to and around the Harbor to wait to be allowed into the Port. After all this, we still have not gotten any further updates from Carnival about the further delays. We finally saw on a post on Facebook that around 2:15 they were starting to allow vehicles into the Port parking lot, so we headed to the Port, we get there and traffic is backed up all the way onto Interstate 95, yeah that was real safe. From this point it took us over an hour to get into the parking lot. Once we get parked we go to get in line which is backed up outside and around the building. the whole process of getting thru security was ridiculous, there was 2 stations set up at the entrance we went in for security to check us in before the metal detectors, the problem is only 1 person was working, made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. From the time we actually made it into the building and into the queue to get thru the security checkpoint, it took about 45 minutes, which I believe is entirely way too long, and I have never had to wait that long on any other cruise I have taken. We finally get to the checkpoint, and one of the people in my group has a 2 year old, and he had his sippy cup that had about a half a cup of water in it, I could not believe this but they made them empty the sippy cup that the child had been drinking from. I understand it’s security, but come on it is a child’s cup of water, I am sure that the parents are not trying to get the child to sneak on 4 ounces of alcohol for them, or having an explosive material in his drinking water, this policy needs to be reviewed. Oh by the way, if you need to go to the bathroom while waiting in the crazy long line, you better do it outside in the trailer, because there is no bathroom access inside the building until after you get thru security. So we finally make it thru security, and get into the next line to get our Sail and Sign card, this line was not horribly bad, waited for about 20 minutes before we got waited on, at least they had 23 check in stations up and running, compared to the 1 person in security. Once we get our cards, we board the ship, and since the gangway was destroyed a couple of months ago, we had to enter thru level A which was fine, it went pretty smoothly. So from the time we arrived and got in line on the Interstate, to the time we got onto the ship, it took almost 3 hours, that is entirely way too long, and on my past cruises have never had this kind of wait. Once we get on the ship, we all head to our cabins, drop off our carry on items, and immediately head to Lido to get something to eat and drink. One of the people in our party is a diabetic, and needed to eat, we all got a plate of food, sat down, and not even 5 minutes later the announcement is made that everyone must go to their muster stations for the muster drill. Nothing like being herded around like a bunch of cattle as soon as you get on the ship. We were told we had to leave immediately, leave the food, and get to our muster stations. I am sorry, but we have already been inconvenienced quite a bit by the late arrival of the ship because of mechanical issues, they could have delayed holding the muster drill for a little while. After the muster drill, the rest of the short afternoon went fairly well. I have to say that the food in the main dining room, was at best OK, was not a big fan of the American Table menu, and the service in the dining room, was not very impressive. Every night some of the people at the table would ask for tea for their beverage, and every night they would forget about it and would have to ask a second time for the drink. Never have we had to ask multiple times just to get a drink. Food service seemed to be very slow compared to past cruises. For breakfast on a few of the days, we ate in the main dining room, the service was decent, and food was good, so no real complaints about breakfast service there. Now to the Lido deck food. I have to say one thing, the scrambled eggs at the buffet, I have no idea what they did to them, or put in them, but they were the most disgusting eggs I have ever had, they definitely changed something with them, I used to like the scrambled eggs on Lido. That was horrible. The eggs benedict, was ok, except for the English muffins were hard as a rock. I tried a breakfast burrito from the Blue Iguana one morning, it was decent, just wish the ingredients that are supposed to be hot, were at least warm, they seemed to be cold, including the eggs, I believe that may be a food safety issue? For lunch, I had Guy’s Burgers on 3 days, and they were very good, and always hot, I had a burrito and a taco from Blue Iguana on separate days, they were good, but once again, the stuff that should have been hot, was barely warm, again a food safety issue?? One thing that I did notice is that since they put in Guy’s and Blue Iguana, some food items have disappeared and was disappointed to see, and those are the foods that would have been served in those 2 areas in the past, the chicken tenders, French fries (yes I know they are available at Guys), and many other items are now gone. Allot of those items that were served in these spaces, were the kid friendly items also, the choices inside in my opinion were very limited, and not really kid friendly, except for the pizza, which I can’t comment on because I never got any, but one person in our group did, and was very disappointed in it, actually said it was horrible compared to past cruises, so I never got it. One evening, I did not make it to the Main Dining Room for dinner, I was OK with it, until I got to Lido a little after 7PM, to find that my choices, were Pizza, or Deli sandwiches, everything else was closed, this was an obvious change / cut back, and was disappointed, but I made do with a sandwich. Another obvious cutback that has been made at least comparing to past cruises is having servers walking the Lido deck at the pools to take drink orders. It used to be that there were several people walking around taking drink orders and bringing them to us at / around the pool, that was not the case at all, I usually only saw 1 maybe there was a second going around I don’t know, did not pay that much attention because I would end up having to go and get my own drink because I could not find anyone. Onto the alcohol services, I purchased the CHEERS package, I did get my money’s worth out of it, and is an OK deal as long as you make sure you get your money’s worth out of it. The mixed drinks for the most part were very good, I had 2 drinks, that I decided to try that if I would have paid for them, I would have been upset because they were horrible. I spent quite a bit of time at the Blue Iguana Bar, Red Frog Pub, and the Piano Bar. The drinks at all 3 places were good, and they did not skimp on the alcohol, especially at the Blue Iguana, I drank the Patron Margaritas, there was no less than 3 shots of Patron Tequila in each glass, hence the reason I missed dinner the one night. In the Red Frog Rum Bar on Deck 2, my favorite was the Painkiller. Only thing I did notice, is each bartender apparently did not make it the same way, I ordered one, and then someone else from my group ordered one from another bartender, and they were different colors, not sure what happened. Now onto the Port Days, Grand Turk was very nice, the beach was nice, and we did an outside company island tour that I am guessing would have cost $50+ thru carnival, and we paid $20 a person. Where the problem starts is heading / trying to get back onto the ship, and is obviously another cutback that carnival has made. The line to get back on the ship was 3/4 the length of the pier. It took almost 40 minutes to get back on the ship. I don’t understand it but they only had 1 gangway in operation, which on past cruises with Carnival they have always used forward and rear gangways to embark, and what really had me upset was once we get to the gangway, they only have 1 security position up and running, 1 x-ray, and 1 metal detector, there were 2 there so why are they not utilizing them both, especially with how long the line was and having to stand out in the 90 degree heat for all that time, especially people with little kids. Half Moon Cay was beautiful, the sand was amazing, just wish that they had a pier and not having to use tenders, gets very hot sitting on them waiting for it to fill up to go to and from the ship. Getting back on the ship was much smoother here, they put you thru metal detectors and x-ray on shore before heading back to the ship, then when you get back all you have to do is put Sail and Sign card in machine and you are on your way. I have nothing to say about Freeport, other than it is a waste of time to stop here, I did not even get off the ship and I have been there before, and am not impressed with it at all. Overall, I had a decent time. Would I go out of Baltimore again, probably not, was the cost of the cruise a good value, not really, it costs quite a bit more to go out of Baltimore than it does to go say out of a Florida port. Am I a satisfied customer, not really. Am I happy with how Carnival handled the mechanical issue notifications / communications, absolutely not, and to only offer a $15 on board credit for the inconvenience especially for the one person in my group that paid $40 to get to the port, and then another $20 each way to get to and from the Harbor is not enough, and when they went and talked to Guest Services they offered nothing. The cutbacks that they have made and the poor notifications of the delays has me considering moving to another Cruise line. I never would have expected things to be as bad as they were.

This was our first cruise. I have to say the ship is clean and beautiful. Our stewardess was a sweetheart. The wait staff in Main dining Normandy was very nice but the BEST was Ferdinand Head Waiter. He really made our experience better. The food was good in there. There are several things we didn't like on the ship. One was buffet food. It was same thing all the time and it was not as good as everyone told us. Plus ice cream machine was broke more then it worked. I think they should have more options like a sundae bar. Also at night the food is minimal pizza... is the only 24 hour thing open. Then the have a late night small buffet again same boring food everynight. It was not what we expected. They pools are very small and I didn't understand why you would have the smoking section where kids are. They have the adult pool Serenity but no smoking there???? Doesn't make sense. I didn't think there was enough smoking areas on the ship. As far as drinks I do not think we should have had to pay 15 % gratutity each drink. They were expensive enough..... That should be included with the total tipping they charge you for everything else. Next on to places we visited. First each place they do not allow enough time. You feel real rushed. Grand Turks was pretty but it was mostly rocky. Next our absolutely favorite part of the cruise was Half Moon Cay for its beauty. The food buffet carnival provided sucked. We thought it would be like a neat bbq but it was same old stuff. But I truly would love to spend a few days on that Island. They should do overnight with a Luau that would be awesome and people would love it. My least favorite place was Freeport. I would not go again!!!! Getting back to dock the last night was pretty boring they didn't have a lot going on. When we went to get our bags they lost 2 of them. We had 3 luggage tags on them and they were secure but somehow went missing. We were lucky we were able to finally find them. Oh and I forgot when we first got there they confiscated my Husbands cord for his CPAP machine and his cell phone charger they returned the cord at the end but lost his charger. I want to go to Bermuda but all my friends do not want to go on the Pride again. It was good for a first cruise but I think it could have been a lot better. Carnival charges enough to make this better. I was disappointed because other friends go on cruises and they say how great the food is I can't brag about Carnival Pride.

We took our first cruise to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary and were thoroughly impressed with the ship, its staff and the experience as a whole.  I spent fifteen years working and managing various hotels and restaurants throughout the US and am not easily impressed.  Having not cruised before, I was prepared for a mediocre experience of "okay" food, passable entertainment and cramped quarters.  Boy, was I wrong on all accounts!  After this experience, we cannot wait for our next cruise and will choose Carnival again in a heartbeat.

From the outset, our cabin steward went of his way to make sure we got settled in and oriented.  He not only took the time to remember our names, but made sure to greet us and chat with us every evening, and whenever possible.  Although the room was somewhat small, we expected that and, frankly, who needs much room when the staff is cleaning up after you three times a day!  In any event, we found little reason to stay in our room (okay, it was our anniversary, so we did spend some time there...), but the entertainment and activities aboard the ship kept us busy to the extreme!  The live shows were well produced and fun -- I still can't get over how dancers can pull off those moves when the floor is literally moving below them.  The cruise director, Steve, kept the action going non stop and was not only full of energy, but very accessible. His staff was a nice mix of personalities, and backgrounds, and all of them seemed to be enjoying themselves almost as much as we were.  Last, but not least, the wait staff and restaurant team was top notch.  We took every opportunity to dine in the formal restaurant and, frankly, I don't see how the specialty restaurants survive as the quality, presentation and service in the "regular dining" facility, was simply superb.  The servers made every meal seem like an event and even went the extra mile when my wife let it slip that we were on our anniversary cruise.  After surviving the initial horror of an entire dining room singing to us at the same time, we enjoyed a priceless rendition of "happy anniversary" that will live on in our memories for many years to come (I didn't know that you could sing it in so many different keys at the same time, but I wouldn't change a thing )

We took advantage of two excursions on our trip and both were exceptional, however, the quality of our on board experience was actually so good that we enjoyed our "sea days" even more.  I know it doesn't help sell the excursions, but don't stop doing what you do.  It's a testament to the quality of the experience when a large number of "cruisers" don't leave ship when it comes to port.  Simply put, they are having too much fun to get off the boat.  Why bother!

Many thanks to Steve, the entire staff, and crew for making our first cruise memorable.  We will return and will be sure to tell everyone we know about the awesome experience.

From the moment we got to our stateroom we knew we were in for a week long treat. Dinner every night was amazing, the activities, entertainment and food throughout the day were great and the staff was stellar. 

I had a great time great people staff was great we had a few problems but nothing that couldn't be solved.  The bed kept coming apart, the mattresses didn't stay together while we slept.  The food was great.  i will take and recommend again

Our favorite part of the cruise was the whole thing. Our thanks to Jessica Ellis for assisting us with making wonderful arrangements. Loved the location of our room!