Carnival Pride Cruise Review by skifamily2007

We had an experience that will continue bringing me back to cruises and actually got my wife (her first cruise) hooked and wanting to come back. We booked this cruise because it was local and would keep costs down by avoiding airfare. I knew the ports weren't on the top of my list, but we had a wonderful time.

Embarkation was "smooth sailing". We left South Jersey at about 10:15am and we were parked and in the Port of Baltimore by 12:30pm. I would say by 1:30 or 2:00 (absolute latest) we were on the ship. We ate lunch up on Lido, wandered the ship to get my bearings and give my wife the chance to get a feel for what is on the ship and were in our room by 3:30. Luggage got there by about 5:00ish.

The ship was beautiful, much more elegant with this decor than I remembered other ships being. Our room stewards, kept our rooms immaculate (of course) and kept us entertained with those towel animals (I love those things). Our head waiter (Astawa) and assistant (Martina- congratulations on being employee of the month and on your engagement) were awesome. Thank you for making our cruise so special. We were celebrating our 2nd anniversary and were fortunate enough to be paired with a couple celebrating their 1st anniversary and had a wonderful time with them each evening. I will always wonder how they pair people up for dinner time seating so perfectly. Astawa, your dance moves are 2nd to none! And thank you for acknowledging both of our anniversaries- not sure how you found out, but thank you! The food was incredible as always- if you've never had the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, you don't know what you are missing. I don't want to get negative and I've commented elsewhere on this, so I'll just say we would skip David's next time. The food was good, but the evening was not what we were expecting.

We were on deck 1 (Riviera) mid ship, room 1191, ocean view. The room was plenty spacious, closet space was fine for us. I had 2 suits, my wife had 3 dresses and tons of shoes. If we were doing a 2 week cruise, it may get a bit cramped for storage. We encountered some moderately rough seas, so being on the first floor made it not quite as rocky as it could have been. We were just above something that was causing quite alot of banging in the morning. I'm not sure what that something was, but it was a bit annoying. Not so much that I'm complaining. I have a 15 month old, so I'm used to not sleeping past 6 or 7 am. The only complaint I do have is that the room smelled pretty strongly of smoke, which is why I rated the cabin a 4. I know that smoking is not allowed, but the fact is that it did smell of smoke and with a pregnant wife whose sense of smell increases 10 fold during a pregnancy it was uncomfortable for her and I really don't care for the smell either. The previous guest must have been smoking and that made it a bit undesirable. I have cruised on the 1st deck for all of my cruises. I said to my wife that the next time I think I would prefer to try to get a balcony room. Although, we vacation for fun and value, so maybe not, if the price is right.

Cruise director, Kirk; Asst directors, Jaime and Matt put together a great time for us to have. We really enjoyed the shows, the games, the dance lessons and the Q&A with you. That truly was a highlight. We really enjoyed finding out about life on the ship as well as your stories and experiences. Kirk had an energy that was remarkable and really knew how to get people energized and involved. The musicians were great! We could have sat and listened to the band in the lounge by the Normandie all day long. We were thoroughly impressed with the comedy act by the Ventriloquist. I apologize for forgetting his name, but see his show. It really is hilarious.

The ports were fine. My wife is pregnant, so she was a bit disappointed that there were alot of excursions they would not let her take part in for liability reasons. We understand their point of view, but she was still disappointed only because she is an active woman even while pregnant and her doctors know and cleared what she was going to do. So, we made the best of our ports. At Canaveral, we took a bus to the beach. In my opinion, if you been to one beach you've seen them all. There's sand and water (some places the water is prettier). I took surfing lessons- had a great time, even if I was not the most graceful "surfer" if I may call myself that now. At Nassau, as I mentioned elsewhere, we took a cab to Atlantis paid the $70 for us to see the Dig and see the rest of the grounds. It really is a beautiful place, not sure I'd pay that again if I had it to do again, but we were glad we got to see all of it. Went back to the shopping district and wandered around trying to find some of the sights and so forth. At Freeport we simply took a cab to the beach, hung out for a few hours, went to the marketplace and back to the boat.

Overall we had a great time. We were looking for a relaxing do what we want when we want vacation and Carnival "exceeded our expectations". My wife is hard to please and all during the cruise she raved about how great everything was and how much she would like to do this again. For me it was my 4th cruise and I was concerned that I might have remembered how great this was for a different reason. My last cruise I was early 20 something and single, so all I cared about was partying. After this cruise, it was better than I remembered, but for all different reasons. Everyone fell over themselves to take care of us for the most part. People who we encountered treated us like the small family we became for that week. We took this cruise by ourselves, leaving our 15 month old with our parents, which we were glad we did. Once he is older and our baby on the way is over 2, we'll definitely be back (unless we can convince the grandparents to come with us sooner to help). We checked out the Camp Carnival and from our conversations with other parents, we think it's a wonderful family vacation. We spoke with other people and it sounded like it would've been a bit rough for just us and children (under 2 that is), but if there was a large group (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) it may have been a bit more manageable. So we will be back, probably after 2 years only because of children, but we will be back for another!

The seas were a little bit rough, but it was October when we sailed, so it should probably have been a bit expected. Nothing that ruined the cruise, but it just threw my wife off a little since I had told her she won't even realize she is on a boat. By Tuesday we were up on deck in bathing suits. We did so much and still had so much more we could've done, but that's what the next cruise will be for. The only other thing I forgot about was the smoking. We were not fans of the smoking in the casino, nor on the deck. I think I remembered my last cruise being a completely non smoking cruise, but I could be wrong. I believe just certain ships are completely non smoking. I'm sure someone can confirm or deny that. Our room did smell of smoke, so someone probably was smoking in there that should not have been, because there is no smoking in the rooms.

We took advantage of the self assist debarkation. We were on deck 1 so for the first time being "one of the poor people" (sorry poor joke) paid off as we were the first to disembark. Even though my wife was pregnant, we managed very easily. We were docked by 9 or 9:30 and truthfully, we were waiting in one of the lounge areas, for no more than 5 or 10 minutes I think and were off the boat through customs and in our car and back on 95 North by 10:15 or 10:30 at the absolute latest.

We had a great time. This cruise met and exceeded all of our needs for this vacation. With one baby at home and another on the way, we really just wanted to relax and do what we felt like, when we felt like it. We would probably not do this one again, just because we would like different ports. Don't let this sound like a put down. It was a great cruise! Incredible! Definitely one we are glad we did. And like I said we will be back for a family cruise!

I'm sorry, I've rambled enough, but hopefully this gives some idea of what a great time this is for the new cruiser (and anyone thinking about cruising from Baltimore).