Carnival Pride Review
Carnival PRIDE - Good, but not as Good as in the Past
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Baltimore Port and Debarkation: A breeze. One of the best in industry for speed and ease of checking in to the ship. Whether VIP or not, and from here we have checked in under both, its just really fast and very convenient.
Rooms: We splurged on a Grand Suite. Extremely nice room, but not worth the additional cost over an Ocean Suite. Our steward Adolph, was terrific, as was his assistant. Very friendly staff in all the room areas...always saying good morning, good afternoon and smiling.
Dining: This is where the fall-off over past reviews we have done on Carnival, and the Pride specifically, make the difference. The food was always prepared just right, and the temperature was always warm or hot. And, the food was spicy enough, not bland as suggested by other reviews. Our main point in downgrading our past reviews is that the choices at Carnival, or at least for the PRIDE, have definetly fallen off what we used to consider outstanding. Appetizer choices not as high-end. Their main course selections now seems less focused on being impressive and are now more so an industry norm at dinner. Its hard to please a couple of thousand folks on any cruise, but Carnival had previously set a bar very high, and now seems to be falling to become part of the crowd along with the other cruise lines. Example: At dinner, serving a cheeseburger and/or fried chicken (on the menu in the dining room every night) is not a past practice. If folks wanted this kind of selection at dinner, they simply have to go to the Lido deck buffet. Dinner should be an occassion, like a night out, not an experience I can get on Deck 9 or at a local fast food restaurant. The service was very good...our waiter Carlos and his assistants did a fantastic job each night. The buffets on the Lido deck are full of choices, and we found something we liked every day. Be sure to visit the Carving station and Chop Sticks (chinese wok prepared foods) on the buffet....you just can't go wrong. But if you like salds, paninis, subs, pizza, burgers, etc, you will find it all there.