Carnival Pride Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,595 reviews

When can we go again?

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Carnival Pride
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taffylouwho
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Aug 2009

This was the first cruise for my husband and I, celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. He wanted to sail in September the month of our actual anniversary but being a teacher I could not manage a full week off so we went with the August 21st departure. Many of his friends encouraged us to take this opportunity to sail out of Baltimore. We live in Western Pennsylvania that allowed us to drive into to relatives Thursday and then travel an hour into the port on Friday.

Embarkation - We arrived at the port around 2:30 expecting to find long lines that never materialized. It took us about 20 minutes to unload our luggage; unlock doors, guy unloads bags into carts, tip him per bag (we had 3 for him), park car, walk into terminal - show passport and Funpass. Once inside it took another 20 minutes to zigzag through the lines, pass through security, and then do the wait to see an agent to get our Sun & Sea cards. It started to storm while we were in line and they shut boarding down to groups of 30 or less. Even so, it didn't slow the process down. Both of us were looking around at the amount of children in line wondering if we'd have regret traveling on a 'family fun' ship versus another line. Once approved for boarding we had the first of many photos taken together. We did pose for all picture moments but didn't purchase any at the high prices. The million I took with the digital turned out just fine!

Fun @ Sea days 1 & 2 - Traveling during hurricane season resulted in a lot of preboarding anxiety with seasickness. I had Dramamine, generic motion sickness pills, AND Seabands packed. With Hurricane Bill influencing swells on these two days, I took the generic pills on Sat and Sunday morning. The ship was rocking but didn't bother us at all. We spent both days wandering the ship, lying on the Lido deck around the adult pool. It was interesting that several children did come in but noticed the signs and left with their adult quickly. The dEcor of the ship is dark, heavy and in some places oppressive. I found the nudity rather offensive, the two huge murals of a completely naked woman on decks 2 and 3 could not be avoided. It was not something to "get used to" and there were many conversations that expressed similar dissatisfaction. Our room was great! I heard about small rooms and even smaller bathrooms but our room was clean, spacious. The bathroom had lots of shelves, the shower plenty large for this plus-sized woman, lots of closet space with tons of hangers. The beds were firm, pillows soft but we were so exhausted from the day's activities sleep was easy. We had a balcony room where we spent most afternoon's reading, talking or wave watching. The neighbors had an evening ritual of smoking so we didn't utilize the balcony after dark. We were in the aft part of the ship so we did feel the engine vibration especially as the surf became rougher.

Cabin Review

Cabin Bal

Our room was great! I heard about small rooms and even smaller bathrooms but our room was clean, spacious. The bathroom had lots of shelves, the shower plenty large for this plus-sized woman, lots of closet space with tons of hangers. The beds were firm, pillows soft but we were so exhausted from the day's activities sleep was easy. We had a balcony room where we spent most afternoon's reading, talking or wave watching. The neighbors had an evening ritual of smoking so we didn't utilize the balcony after dark. We were in the aft part of the ship so we did feel the engine vibration especially as the surf became rougher.

Smoking should be banned from all areas...tobacco and other substances!

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