Carnival Pride Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Very nice ship. Room 7291 had extended balcony as there were 3 of us, however they would only allow 2 chairs out there. Had wet carpet for 3 days which they cleaned and put big fan in our room after they cleaned it. They gave us credit on our shore account for the inconvenience. Generous of them. Service and food were great.  There were times we wanted to be in room but housecleaning wanted to clean 2ce a day. We said we did not want them 2ce a day, but they were adamant. They asked we vacated the balcony one day for cleaning, which we did. But they never cleaned it. We prefer sitting on shaded private balcony then out with so many  other people. 

This cruise was mostly elderly people, few kids. Clubs and bars were quiet.  Drinks on the ship are high, the specials are one dollar of a $11.50 drink.  And the mixed drinks are small.  It would be nice if they had a more affordable alcohol program.  There has to be a lot of profit in a drink.  Late night dining is just to late, 8:15.  Early dining and anytime dining were full.  Seems ships are trying to get people to go to specialty restaurants.  Ship is cutting corners, but some of that is ok. No table cloth except for formal nights, staff doesn't put napkin on lap or pull out your chair. I'm ok with that. At buffets staff no longer brings you drinks. It is all self serve. No robes in room unless you request.

Carnival does a nice job. We liked the Pride a lot. 

The Carnival pride is a small ship, only 3 pools and hot tubs, 1 adult only of each. The hot tubs are not very hot and the pools colder. Even with the 2 water slides, there isnt much for kids to do on the ship. The staff is great. I really liked the Piano bar player and a few of the shows. The male acoustic guitar player was also excellent. 

Our cruise took us to 6 different islands and was very good except the first sea day when we cut across the current and had rough seas and winds. The entertainment was fair. Some shows were way too loud with enough bass to stop your heart, others were done just right and quite enjoyable. 

The food was ok. Dining room was good and so was lunch, but the buffet was small and not very appealing. Breakfast was the standard with nothing really to make it stand out.

My biggest complaint with Carnival is the food. The quantity and quality are both lacking. Unless you want an ok pizza everyday, there are no options from 3-6 pm. So in other words when you board the ship around 4 everyday you cannot get a decent meal for another two hours (decent is a generous description). My daughter is a very picky eater but she looooves tacos. She was beyond excited to learn that there was a taco bar and vowed to eat there everyday. Because they close at 2:30 everyday she was only able to eat there once on a sea day and hated it, no ground beef for tacos?!?!?!?!

My second complaint with Carnival is the lack of entertainment. However, the few shows that they did provide were pretty good. This is certainly not a family oriented cruise as I would estimate the vast majority of passengers were between 50-70. There were 42 passengers under the age of 21 on our cruise.

We have been on both Royal Caribbean and NCL and would highly recommend either over Carnival!

Let me start by saying that we are both over 65, living on a fixed retirement income.  We try to save enough each year to go on one cruise.  We do not expect perfection.  And shop more at Wal Mart and K Mart then Sak's or Macy's.  That being said we may have less expectation of everything being "wonderful" and more understanding that life is life and life happens.

We spent 10 days seeing parts of the world we have never seen before while getting treated like royalty.  Not a fan of the new dining menu, but we cannot normally afford to go out to eat three meals a day for 10 days.  Some meals were not hot, the morning buffet scrambled eggs tended to be a little runny, but we got to eat them in Paradise.  How lucky we are!

The ports were all good.  The only real complaint would be the hair braiding woman in St. Lucia.  These ladies would not take no for an answer.  Booze is St. Kitts was incredibly cheap.  Excursions were varied and everyone should be able to find something they will enjoy.  The buses were often filled, so if you have cloustaphobia or don't like people, avoid bus excursions.  Sit back, relax and enjoy.  If there is road work which holds you up, enjoy it.  All the beaches we went to were nice and clean and vendors generally accepted no and moved on.  Shopping was generally very friendly and prices were reasonable.

We love the Pride and though there are signs of her age, but she is still comfortable and the crew is great.  They work overtime keeping her neat and clean and making sure that the passengers are having fun (though there will also be someone to complain, it's their nature).

Complaints:  Pizza Pirate.  There has got to be a better way to do this!  I guess we get used to instant gratification but I hate waiting 10 minutes for a slice of pizza.  

          Smoking.  But not what you think!  My wife is a smoker, doesn't make me happy but she is addicted.  They have closed off smoking except for maybe 40 seats on the Starboard ship forward on deck 9 and maybe 20 loungers on deck 10.  There are 6 tables and half a bar in the casino (for non-gamblers).  All these areas are always full!  Tells you how many smokers are on the ship.  When she could smoke on the balcony of our cabin, there were never any problems.

If you have any specific guestions, do not hesitate to ask me.  I will give you an honest answer.

Average wait for "Anytime Dining" was 25 minutes.  This while tables were empty in traditional dining area.  Caused us to miss scheduled events.  Piano bar was particularly "Adult" at all times even though in the daily paper it was described as "for all ages."  Even show with Juggler had comments that were "adult" rather than family friendly.  No band on board.  No served beverages in buffet area.  Personnel extremely friendly and efficient. Trip ended with three sea days and not much was happening on the ship.  This was the second half of a B2B cruise and much needs to be done to smooth the transition for passengers.  Other lines do a much better job on that.  Adequate best describes the trip.

CAPTAIN AND CREW ARE TO BE COMMENDED, PARTICULARLY CABIN PERSONNEL; OLY IN 1241 ARNOLD 5263, MR KUDHIR, SUPERVISOR, ON LIDO DECK, THE MEDICAL STAFF...DOCTOR HERRARA AND NURSES BRYAN AND PENELOPE(SUPER PERFORMANCE FROM ALL). THE CLASSICAL MUSICAL PERFORMERS...ALEIDA AND DANIEL...OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE!!!. MUSIC OVERALL WAS GREAT. BEST CRUISE ON PRIDE EVER. ,

Carnival has a reputation for being the "Fun" ship and my wife and I were not sure it would be a good match for us.  We were pleasantly surprised.  Food was better than expected, especially outside of the main dining room.  Shushi restaurant was terrific as was the steakhouse.  Guy's Burgers also good.  Ship seemed to be in very good repair and kept clean in all areas.  Smoking in the Casino was a problem for us, as smoke drifts into the main atrium.  But, the staff was terrific and the stateroom was more than adequate.  For the price, I'd recommend it.

Awesome cruise! The staff was extremely friendly and accommodating. The dinning room met my special diet needs in advance and made sure I was satisfied.

If there was one thing I could change, it would be allowing smoking in the pool area.

Sailing out of Baltimore is not a good idea in the winter unless you are prepared to wear your winter coat or other very warm layers of clothing.  The Carnival Pride is a great ship, except that it has NO heating system!  We asked for heavy robes, extra blankets, how to run the air so that a/c wasn't blasting away almost constantly, and pulled the heavy drape on our balcony window.  All three passengers on our trip are now sick at home.  That being said, the ship, itself, is spotless; the many, many hired help are friendly and good at what they do.  The food was generally quite good, but the variety was often lacking.  The pool areas were great, as were the outside movies.  The entertainment was average.  Lots of trivia games and very few educational activities.  The ports were all excellent.  Each island is different.  We would recommend this cruise to others, but keep deeply in mind the very miserable cold and a/c we endured for a full 2 days before starting to feel some warmth.

A beautiful ship, with an outstanding staff and crew, wonderful food, many great activities on board, interesting stops and excursions. Cabin attendants did a great job. Waiters WAYAN and LEONARDO at table 102 were very good. Attentive to all our desires. Service was as good as anyone would want. Rather difficult to initially sign on for internet access. No one near the terminals to provide assistance. BUT, Nebojsa from Guest Services was MOST helpful in resolving internet issues. Without his help, I'm not sure I would have ever gotten on.

Consistent great service on Pride.  Love the food and drink options.  Julius Caesar in the main dining room was the best waiter.  Ken Byrne, singing Maitre d spoiled us with a great show 

We enjoyed our 11 day cruise very much.  The staff was awesome in all areas of the ship.  They remember your name from the first time you tell them even if they see you only a few times.  The food in the main dining room was very good.  The food on Lido deck was ok.  The selection was somewhat limited...maybe partly because it is a smaller ship. The burgers at Guys burgers were very good.  We would have liked to see a bigger salad bar and some more variety at the deli.  The pizza was also very good although the toppings were somewhat limited.  The only meat offered for toppings was pepperoni. 

We were not happy with the entertainment at all.  We usually go to every show but only went to maybe 3 the entire cruise.  We did enjoy the comedy club except for the 18+ shows.  They were just crude and not even funny.  We left after about 10 minutes of the first one and never went to the adult ones again. 

The stops were excellent and the shore trips we did were good also.  WE only did 2 of them through Carnival and one privately. 

Overall this was a good cruise and we will do Carnival again.  Might look for a bigger ship next time....although we were surprised the smaller size didn't seem to make for a rougher ride...it was very smooth even when the waves were somewhat high.

We booked last minute, but we still have  a good time.  We missed the white table clothes and the extra attention that the waiters used to do.  We were give back our dirty salad forks to use for the main meal.  Our bread and water was just placed on the table - no longer served. The shows continue to go downhill.  

The ship is beautiful.   A lot of retired folks on this cruise.  Not a lot to do on sea days during day.  Excellent dining room staff.  Maitre'd was best we ever had. 

The 11 day cruise was a nice length and they were new islands for us.  Our Oceanview room was very comfortable, not like on some ships where you have to walk sideways around the bed.   And there was a full-size sofa.

 We liked the variety of food options on the Lido deck for lunch and dinner, but the food was not desirable the night we ate dinner there.  Opted instead to eat the rest of our dinners in the open seating dining room and asked for a sharing table with Dean and his assistants.  They were great!  Chopsticks and Guys Burger Joint and the dessert selections on on the Lido deck were favorites.  We heard a lot of good reviews about David's Steakhouse.  

We were disappointed in the selection of activities on our at-sea days, especially since there were six, however, the shows and comedy club were terrific!  The cooking demonstration, grand buffet, and galley tours were nice.

Our room steward Kurt kept our cabin in perfect order and the rest of the ship was clean and comfortable.  We especially liked the high back seats in the Taj Mahal theatre and lounges.

Quality of entertainment and food has declined over last few years.  The cabin was freezing cold and we couldn't control the A/C.

Quality of entertainment and food has declined over last few years.  The cabin was freezing cold and we couldn't control the A/C.

The cruise was not the best we have been on.  Food was poor.  The night buffet was awful with very little variety.  As often we prefer to eat buffet at night, we were very disappointed.  Our room was ok but not great.   Room service morning delivery woke us up twice coming an hour before requested.  There was a whistle that came through the balcony door that we had to complain about 3 times before it was fixed. Air conditioning was so high in ship that we had to wear coats.  Also the bed was very hard.  The entertainment was excellent.  Also crew was very friendly and helpful.  Our excursions was wonderful.  We liked out trip but would probalbly look to other lines for a cruise in the future.

This ship has a mix of various years of decorating style.  At first I did not like the interior areas of the ship.  The crew and the shows made up for the odd interiors of the ship.

Our experience with sailing for the first time on Carnival was pretty good overall.  The Pride was clean and up to date.  Our stateroom was larger and more comfortable than what we have had with Royal Caribbean.  The 11 day Southern Caribbean cruise was good value.  However, Carnival apparently doesn't place much emphasis on making the customer feel noticed and valued.  Royal Caribbean has an employee recognition program that is meaningful both to the employees and cruisers.  With the exception of our room steward, no attempt was made by any of the staff to make us feel like something other than cattle in the shute.  On the positive side, Carnival doesn't deserve an across the board reputation as a non stop party boat.  The clientele on this cruise had an average age of 50 something and entertainment and activities were tailored accordingly.  We'd definitely sail on Carnival again, but continue to prefer Royal Caribbean for a better overall experience.

My family thoroughly enjoyed this cruise.  A special thanks to Dudi and his co-workers for their outstanding work in keeping our stateroom tidy, clean and fresh and working around our schedule.  Overall, the food was excellent in the Normandie dining room.  Not quite as good in the buffet area even though there were many choices.  Service in the Normandie dining room was, at times, rather slow; sometimes we waited 1 1/2 hours from beginning to end.  Great performances by the ventriloquist and the lady trumpeter.  Other performances were mediocre, somewhat amateurish.  Great addition was the outdoor movie theater; the only complaint would be more variety of movies instead of showing the same movies over again.  Need more onboard activities please.  Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao were great.  Grand Turk disappointing.