Carnival Pride Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Saved some money going out of Baltimore instead of flying to Florida, but first couple days a little chilly. Kids swam in hot tub.  Food was okay, good variety.  Felt that most things were either bland or oversalted. Guy's Burger Joint and Taco stand had amazing food. Service good, has been better on other cruises.  Have been on another carnival cruise 15 years ago and a celebrity cruise 2 years ago that seemed a lot better.  Rooms could use an update along with general decor.  Had a lot of european type sculpture pictures along walls that were topless that my 10 year old noticed everywhere... Had taken a carnival cruise 15 years ago that I thought was better service.  Gave chocolate mints on pillows last time...other extra touches that were not there this time.  Beds and pillows were surprisingly comfortable.  My biggest complaint would be that there was no kids buffet or really kid friendly options.  My son could only get chicken nuggets if we did the formal dining which wasn't always an option with a 5 year old.  The kids are pretty open to new foods, but sometimes want the classics or some simple stuff.  They could get some of it if they ate dinner with kids club, but otherwise could not.  I also remembered on other cruises there being a presentation about upcoming ports that you could even watch on tv if you missed it, which I did not see on this cruise.  We didn't even know what to expect as far as weather/temperature each day.  Loved the Dr. Suess theme, although we had to pay extra to have room decorated.  The Dr. Suess breakfast was great and highly recommended!  Food was fun and dining decorated very playfully.  Kids loved it.  I wish there were more family type activites going on daily.  It seemed that you either had to drop the kids off at the camp carnival (you could not go in to do activites with them) to do adult only activity or spend money in the arcade to keep kids busy.  Comedy shows were really great and stone massage in spa to die for! Overall it was a nice cruise, but I am planning a resort vacation with my kids next time so that family activity options and kid food choices aren't as limited.

Excellent experience with the  friendly and professional staff. The islands were absolutely beautiful with a nice variety of excursions. The ship was very impressive and included exceptional dining choices  I would highly recommend Carnival to friends and family. I have cruised with Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Carnival, with the Pride being one of my favorites.

We had a wonderful time. The ship was clean and staff was as friendly as they could be! Food was awesome!!! We had plenty of activities to do. We enjoyed the new Guy's Burger Joint and the new Mexican Cafe, Blue Laguna.

This cruise was boring.  Not enough music around the ship.  One deck party was fun, but the rest of the evenings were drive-in movies on deck.  No dancing before dinner.  The Red Frog Pub was not danceable.  The second pool was constantly dirty, food dishes not cleaned up in a timely manner, ashtrays full, etc. The entertainment was redundant.  The same singers and dancers did all the shows.  Not even a juggler or other entertainers.  Upon disembarking, one passenger showed me bug bites on her arms that she said she got from the cabin.  In general, when speaking to others on the cruise, they were disappointed in the lack of energy and excitement, as were we.  If you are a gambler, this is a good ship.  The casino is large, but very smokey.  I would not recommend the Pride for people looking to party.

THE FOOD WAS GREAT AND SO WAS THE SERVICE. WHAT I DID NOT CARE FOR WAS THE LOUD MUSIC AT THE EVENING SHOWS AND AT HE POOL SIDE. ALSO I DID THINK THE ENTERTAINMENT OVERALL WAS NOT AS GOOD COMPARED TO OTHER CRUISES I HAD TAKEN. LAST YEAR I TOOK A NORWEGIAN CRUISE LINE OUT OF TAMPA AND THE ENTERTAINMENT WAS FANTASTIC. i ALSO FEEL THAT THE DRINKS ARE GETTING OVERPRICED.

We chose this particular cruise for several reasons: neither we or our friends had done this itinerary,Tampa was a mutually convenient airport to fly to from Dallas and Chicago, low price ($800pp), and we wanted a smaller, older ship.   We booked early so we could get an  aft cabin on the Veranda deck (7349).  Friends booked the Vista suite next to us (7347) which was fricking awesome but I'll comment on that in a bit.

Our cabin was typical Carnival. Compact, comfy.  We were a bit disappointed with the alleged "60" sf of balcony because it didn't seem a whole lot bigger than a standard balcony.  We recalled the aft cabin on the Victory was deeper but may have been confusing it with an aft cabin on Serenade of the Seas which was really large.  Regardless, we like the panorama view only an aft cabin gives.

Our friends' suite next to us had a sitting room, a bedroom with bed overlooking ocean, a tub, two vanities, and a HUGE wrap around balcony.  I think the price difference was not more than $600 and something we'll consider booking if ever sailing on the Pride again. 

Room steward and assistant were very friendly and did a good job.  As lowly "gold" members on Carnival, husband and I each were given a complimentary liter of  bottled water. We took advantage of Carnival's relaxed policy regarding bringing aboard a 12 pack of sodas and a bottle of wine per person.

With smaller ship, easy to get around.  Not much variety for shopping but they always had a daily sale of some sort to keep us coming back to browse.  Duty free liquor store sales were a good value. 

Food:.Room service items:very satisfactory for breakfast. (smoked salmon).  Lido deck for breakfast and lunch:  Good variety, all stations open.  But the selections during dinner on the Lido deck were extremely limited with only one station open serving hot entrees so the main dining room still remained the better venue for dinner.  Long wait for pizzas as there is only one guy making them with, apparently, one pizza oven.

Main dining room: We used to think the food was better on Carnival than RCC. Not any more. Offerings in the main dining room were not particularly exciting and included upcharges for steak and lobster.  Don't get me wrong, the food was fine but nothing knocked our socks off.  We did anytime dining and the wait staff ranged from excellent to incompetent depending on station where you were seated. 

David's Steakhouse: It was probably worth the $30-$35 pp we paid. Steaks and appetizers were excellent but the service was absolutely horrid. Waiting 20 minutes to have an order taken with the restaurant only 1/4 full? Long, long, long waits between courses. 

Guy's Burgers:  The saving culinary grace of this ship.  No, really!  Fabulous burgers and fries.  Tremendous toppings bar.  Lines are long but move fast.  We liked it so much that we chose our next cruise based on whether they offered a Guy's Burgers on ship.

Entertainment: Can only report on what I liked: Lots of trivia games throughout the day. Punchliner comedy club, both family friendly and Adults only shows.  Musical productions. (Not Broadway but good performers and entertaining).

Pool/decks:  Didn't take advantage of pool areas.  Serenity deck covered cabana chairs and shaded areas get snatched up by the crack of dawn.  But lounge chairs could be found along ship.

Gym:  Only used the treadmills.  There were plenty.

Disembarkation was NOT well organized for those of us who paid for the Carnival shuttle back to the airport.  I questioned the group they gave us (which they upped to an earlier time) but when we arrived at the bus boarding area it was sheer chaos.  Bus was full, there was a long line ahead of us, and no one knew when next bus would arrive.  We could tell it would be cutting it too close to wait for bus and needed a cab.  Although our shuttle reservations stated they were non-refundable, Carnival did refund our money upon request after we returned home.  As i turns out, taking a taxi back to the airport runs less than the Carnival shuttle service for 2.  And there were plenty of taxis on hand.

Shore excursions:  Booked through Carnival: Relax on the Beach pacakge Roatan, Airboat Adventure & Belize City Tour, Tequila Experience, and Stingray City Grand Cayman.

The ship is in good condition but the staff was extraordinarily helpful and kind. In the beginning, they had a wheel chair ready for my embarkation. The examination of our documents and passing through security went very smoothly. Once on board, we were shown to our balcony room which was immaculate. Our cabin steward, Michael, was very helpful in securing a needed extension cord for the stateroom. The dining staff in the Normande dining room were excellent. At debarkation, I was wheeled off of the ship without a hitch and retrieving our luggage was a snap. Even the valet was very helpful in loading our luggage into our vehicle. I would and have recommend the Carnival Cruise Line to many friends. I will certainly sail with them again.

This was our 16th Cruise and by far the best.

The Pride is a beautiful ship, it appeared to be totally redone.  everything was very, very clean and the decor was amazing.

The staff was incredible.  Our room steward always called us by our names and was extremely attentive to any need we had.

The servers  and the food in the dining room was a 10. Prime rib and lobster twice during the cruise.

But to us the best part of the cruise was the entertainment.  The group 88 keys was phenomenal.  My wife and I attend many shows back home and these kids were as good as any show I have ever seen.

We always finished every night off in the piono lounge singing along with the very talented Melissa.

We booked a balcony guarantee 7 day cruise out of Tampa on the Carnival Pride and received a Very nice upgrade to a 7th floor extended balcony stateroom which had a lot of space and great views. The crew, staff, and officers were always polite and went out of their way to help with anything. The food was excellent and service was great. We never experienced long lines at any of the buffets or had to wait longer than 5 min. at the made to order dining options. The entertainment was awesome and Skip, the cruise director, was fun and informative. Getting on and off the ship at any of the ports of call went very quickly and smoothly. I felt that they should have allowed more time to embark (only 3 hours for 2,500 people) but was surprised that we only had to wait in line 20 min or so. My only and biggest complaint was that this particular ship vibrated very badly anytime the ship went faster that 19 or 20 knots. When we got out to the deeper waters and it was cranked up to 19 or more knots, the vibration towards the aft  (back) especially in the main dining room was very uncomfortable even though I had a motion sickness patch on. At night it felt like I was sleeping on a vibrating bed. For this reason alone, I would not book another cruise on The Pride. This was our 3rd cruise but the first time we experienced this vibration issue. We have sailed with Carnival before (different ship) and were completely satisfied.

Wonderful ports.  Nice ship.  Good food.  Fun entertainment.  Used off-ship excursions, awesome experiences, and very economical.  Room stewards were awesome people, very genuine, caring, and funny.  Would definitely love to repeat this cruise and visit these ports again.

All was as expected except dining room service was significantly less prompt and less attentive than in any of our many other Carnival cruises.  The dining room menu changes every day, but it is the same from cruise to cruise.  That's OK if the food selection is good in the first place.  This is not completely true for Carnival.

I have traveled with Carnival in the past on the Breeze and it was an awesome ship.  The pride is a smaller ship but has recently been updated and still has plenty to see and do.  I truly enjoyed the destinations especially Belize, Rotan Honduras and Grand Cayman.  First travels to Belize and Rotan and they were memorable ports of call.  Georgetown Grand Cayman is always a treat.

This is the smallest Carnival ship we have been on which allowed for some good and bad points. The good part was there are many less people than their larger ships.  It is much quicker to walk from front to back and the service, for the most part, was of the same great quality that we've come to appreciate.  On the bad side, it felt as if the entertainers and restaurant staff were their "minor league" team. The singer in the Ivory Piano Bar was so bad it was embarrassing. And while our wait staff were very friendly, they were just not as on their game as we've had with the larger ships. Overall, though, we had a great experience and enjoyable time, as usual with Carnival.  

I wish to add one other caveat. We attempted to reach Cheap Cruises representatives more than 3 times while in Belize, using the 3 phone numbers provided. 2 of the numbers - we received a recording - "not a valid number" - one of these was indicated as an EMERGENCY number(!) not feeling a lot of confidence with this group (at least for excursions), the third number rang and rang until we were disconnected, many times. Needless to say, uncertain we will ever book with cheap cruises again. I give them a grade of 65% out of 100%. 3 out of 4 excursions = 75%, MINUS 10% FOR BEING UNAVAILABLE WHEN NEEDED.

This was our very first cruise and we were just amazed at our experience. We always heard from our friends who cruise that once you cruise you will certainly cruise again and they are right. We are looking forward to our next experience. We have told everyone who has inquired how we liked Carnival and our experience. we just cannot stop talking about the fun we had. The staff is beyond any thing we imagined. The ship was beautiful, our side trips were very well organized and we have nothing negative to say about any aspect of our trip.

There was only two things good about my recent Carnival Pride cruise was Guy's Burger Joint and my cabin steward, Rafael.  That being said, Carnival is not what it use to be.  First off, the service has gone down hill big time.  Less staff by the pool and in the dining room.  While everyone was friendly, it took forever to get food in the dining room and when we finally got the food it was barely warm and cold within two minutes of eating and the food quality was barely mediocre.  By the pool area, they put in Guys, Blue Iguana and replace the regular bars with the Red Frog Rum Bar and the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar and all this seating for the eateries and bars.  As a result, they took away a hot tub and have less lounge chairs by the pool forcing parents with children under 21 to go to the front of the ship for more lounge chairs and a hot tub.  There was no supervision of any sort, such as warning children not to jump in the pool or use the one hot tube as a pool.  This was especially frustrating because parents felt the did not need to be parents and let their children do whatever they wanted as long as they did not bother them.  It was a terrible time at the pool and I can be glad that we only had two sea day.  If you had children over 21 or you were traveling with no kids, they created this nice area called serenity that filled up so fast, you could never get a lounger or a chair.  You could also go up to the sun deck where they had the most loungers, but you were not near the pool if you became hot.  The entertainment was so-so, the comedians were pretty good, but the New Year's Eve party was kind of okay.  The DJ was good but the band was hit or miss depending on what song they were playing and the champagne they handed (for free) was so disgusting I don't know how anyone could drink it.  The waiters were also handing out the champagne to kids under the drinking age of 21, not good.  I have been on Carnival in the best and always enjoyed it, but not this time.  I paid a premium for my cruise plus airfare and insurance, so not worth the money.  I could have gone to a first class resort in the Caribbean or a certain amusement complex in Florida for what I paid for this cruise.  Don't know if I will go on Carnival again.  So very disappointed.  If this is how Carnival is now, I don't know how they are the worlds leading cruise line.  Just not what it use to be.:(

The Carnival Pride recently went into drydock with several changes having been made.  The new Guy Fieri burgers were a welcome addition and are the best burgers.  Their new show "88 Keys" was fabulous.  The ship was beautiful and spotlessly clean.  Missed the Starry Night Lounge, as there now is no dance floor; only dance floor was in Beauties, which we felt was more for the 20 something crowd. We had an "obstructed view" stateroom and was very disappointed that the view out the window was nonexistant.  There was a lifeboat in front of the window and a platform that both totally obscured the view; there was a tiny view of water you could see and that was it.   We paid for an "obstructed view" and had "no view"...this room should be classified as an "inside stateroom."   The dining room food was a big disappointment.  Twice during the week we had to send back our dinner, as the meat was all fat and the second time you couldn't even cut the steak with a steak knife.  Food at the buffet was better, and the pizza was excellent.  The ports of Roatan and Belize were our first times there and, we would not take another cruise that goes to these ports!   All in all, I don't think I will be taking a Carnival cruise any time soon.  I would rather take a Disney cruise every other year than go on a Carnival cruise every year! 

cruise and ship was great. Islands were a disappointment. they were very dirty and not  much to do or see.  food was great and maid service was very good. the rooms were excellent and so was the shower. getting to the ship to check in was a mess and coming back to shore getting to our car and getting the car up front was not easy. the police would not let us get up front to get our group and pick up our luggage.there needs to be a lane for passenger and luggage pick-up. you can not pull luggage all over.

Was OK just OK.  Food was not great.  Dinner was OK, breakfast and lunch terrible.  Best food on boat was Guy's burgers!!   Christmas spirit was sorely lacking, decorations were scant and tired looking.  Overall a disappointing cruise.   Will stick with Princess from now on. l

I was hesitant to cruise on Carnival because I knew it was a family cruise ship and this trip was for my husband and myself. I had been on Royal Caribbean and loved everything about it. My first disappointment was the food. Having remembered such a fantastic experience previously I felt Carnival dining was average...at best. Then one of the days we went to Grand Cayman and had a very difficult time getting off the ship. I was more than frustrated since 95% of the people on the ship were clueless on the procedure to be taken over to the island. There was a lot of unnecessary waiting and a lot of confusion and anger. When we kindly approached one of the cruise director staff, she basically blamed us for not knowing what was going on!!