Carnival Pride Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,595 reviews

Pride Anniversary Cruise

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Carnival Pride
User Avatar
Tappy1
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Fitness & Recreation
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2008

My family of 4 took the Carnival Pride cruise on June 8th, 2008. Based on our party of 4 to a room our travel agent advised us only certain rooms had enough beds. We booked an extended balcony room on the 7th deck. We liked the fact that we could put all 4 of our suitcases under the king bed and still have plenty of closet space for our clothes. The stateroom service was outstanding and deserving of the extra tip money. I have read mixed reviews on the net but we had no problem getting 2 extra robes, extra towels, toiletries and all requests were handled promptly and with a smile. Based on previous review suggestions I included a power strip and door stop in my luggage. The power strip came in handy for my son as he used it to connect his Water Pik. The outlet in the bathroom is for electric razors only and Carnival is right on this one. Carnival had a door stop already in our room which they used for room cleaning. I used this stop for the balcony door which meant I could have left my stop at home. My previous cruise experience with Carnival was a honeymoon cruise to the Caribbean on the Carnival Celebration. On that cruise the dining was superb and I easily gained 10 lbs. On the Pride the dining was a huge disappointment. I only gained a ½ pound. The main problem with the Normandie dining room was that we were unable to get any hot food. We ate at our assigned table for dinner which was a booth for 4 on the second level. We did try eating breakfast and lunch on both levels and at various tables with different waiters each time. The results were always the same; the food was barely warm or just flat out cold. My son ordered steak the first night and it was supposed to be cooked medium. Three times it came back as rare. The waiter said that sometimes the cook will switch the orders and that this is a common mistake. The 3rd time the waiter personally waited for the steak to be cooked, however it did not make a difference as the steak came back rare. I cannot attribute the non hot food problem to our waiter. My wife did notice that Carnival Pride is using plastic covers for the dinner plates while the Celebration ship used metal covers. I do not know if this is still true for the Celebration today. The table service could have been better. We became accustomed to Carnival's legendary service on the Celebration where the waiters learned our names and our particular requests. We did not purchase a soda card and drank tea at most dinners. My wife and daughter use the Sweet n Low product which was never on our dinner table upon arrival and we always had to request this item at each meal. On more than one occasion the waiter would switch my dinner with my wife or kids. This happened even though the waiter used a pad and pencil when taking our orders. The only exceptions to the barely warm food was the chocolate melting cake with ice cream dessert (very good) and the lobster chowder soup as an appetizer which was quite hot. I tried both diet and non-diet desserts. The diet pumpkin pie was literally un-edible. On the first formal night my wife ordered cheese cake which did not come with any crust of any kind. When we inquired about this deficiency the waiter told us that on the second formal night (Friday) the cheesecake would come with crust. He appeared to understand us and knew what he was talking about. However, on Friday the menu did not offer cheesecake so this became a moot point. Several nights I stuck with the shrimp cocktail as Carnival was unable to screw up this appetizer. My wife debated eating Escargot on the second formal night. She remembered how good this appetizer was on the Celebration but based on the food quality on the Pride she declined to order this appetizer. I am surprised that Carnival did not offer any Mexican food as an option on this cruise. My kids, boy 14 and girl 17 did not try the Carnival C camp or the Club O2 camp. They were lightly attended and my kids did not hear favorable reviews from teenagers that had attended these camps. They did have a lot of fun in the Virtual Reality game room. I played mini-golf with my son and both kids used the ping pong tables quite a bit. We all used the steam and sauna rooms as well as the hot tub on the fitness deck. When I used the shower in the men's fitness room the shower handle came off in my hand. I just attribute this to normal wear and tear on ship that is out of port every week. The TV remote control did not work the first day on the ship. I thought the problem might be due to defective batteries but I did not request another one from housekeeping. The next morning there was a message displayed on the TV screen that the remote control service was temporarily down. Later on the 2nd day the remote control started working. My wife and I attended the Taj Mahal show on the first formal night. This is when we found out that we could not order a movie from our stateroom TV. My kids tried their folio number as well as mine and they would always get a message that ordering a movie was unavailable. We tried every day numerous times to order a movie and was unsuccessful. My wife had a problem with the hair dryer heating up but no blower. The Carnival maintenance staff was excellent. They removed the unit and brought back a replacement unit the next morning. My wife learned that the hair dryer should only be used for one minute and then turned off to let it cool down. The glass elevators and the regular elevators were sometimes out of service but were quickly fixed. Excursions: Puerto Vallarta - My daughter and I went on the dolphin swim with Vallarta adventures. My wife and son had to pay a $30 charge each for the water taxi ride and the buffet lunch. This was reasonable since we did not want them to be on their own in Puerto Vallarta. Vallarta Adventures would not allow me to book directly with them online which was significantly cheaper than thru Carnival. VA told me that when the Pride ship is docked, all dolphin/seal activities are reserved for Carnival. Warning: In Carnival's online excursion information as well as the Vallarta Adventures brochure it is stated that you can enjoy a lunch with grilled burgers, tacos and other items. This is probably true if you book the 8:30 am excursion. Due to the cool temperatures I booked the 1:30 pm excursion. When the dolphin swim was over we went to the eating area to find the grill had closed at 2:00pm and they refused to take any orders from us. There was a "Bird" buffet with various items barely warm on several tables. I decided not to take any chances with the various macaroni salads as I did not know how long they have been sitting on the tables and the requisite flies sampling the food was unappetizing as well. Mazatlan - I did not book an excursion for Mazatlan. The Mazatlan excursion that we took was not listed on the Carnival web site but was similar to the shopping excursions that are listed. We went by van to the lighthouse lookout point, the pseudo cliff diving, the 19th century cathedral, downtown shopping and lunch at El Capitano's which should be renamed El Crapitano's. The restaurant was an add-on upon agreement by all of us on the tour. My daughter's lunch included a dead fly in the guacamole. The kitchen has a large opening to the outdoors and this was discovered on my way to the restroom. My wife is Hispanic and speaks Spanish fluently. She was told by the cliff diving team that this was a very lucrative business and that Americans are stupid enough to pay for anything. The "tacos from a car trunk" businesses that line up near the cliff diving were funny and I suppose these constitute a poor man's restaurant but I did not consider purchasing any food from these vendors. Cabo San Lucas- The only sunny day we had was in Cabo San Lucas. It was sprinkling in Puerto Vallarta and overcast in Mazatlan. We took the snorkeling excursion in Cabo aboard the TropiCat catamaran. The crew was outstanding and informative. I did learn that early June is probably not a good time to go snorkeling in Chileno Bay. The water temperature was 64 degrees F and our bodies became numb after 10 minutes in the water. My son came out after 5 minutes in the water and my daughter and I swam to the beach where 95% of snorkelers on our trip were standing. My wife went along for the ride while my son, daughter and I went snorkeling. We brought our own masks and snorkels and just used the fins provided. The water was definitely not as clear as snorkeling I have done in US Virgin Islands, Cancun/Cozumel, or Hawaii. We were still able to get some nice fish pictures using our underwater cameras. The lobster fajitas we ate at Cabo Wabo were very good and the Margaritas were very good as well. My kids were disappointed with the selection for gifts in the main gift shop. We typically purchase vinyl refrigerator magnets and Carnival did not have any. Also the ship model was a cheap resin based and poorly painted one selling for $25.00. There are better die-cast models available on line; we just thought there might be a better selection on the ship. We had the unfortunate luck on disembarkation day of having customs check all 900 Carnival employees. We were at the Taj Mahal for 4 hours before we could get off the ship. Fortunately for us our flight back to Phoenix was not until 4:15 pm. I just wish Carnival had been more up front and told us that this un-announced checking of crew personnel can sometimes happen. The cruise director would announce over the PA that the debarkation process was a stop and go procedure. The comedian Jerome came out for his family routine however his material became very stale after one hour and he was there for additional ½ more hours. The only food was ice cream on deck 9. Since Carnival knows about the custom's actions I can't see why they could not offer coffee/tea service at the entrance to Taj Mahal. It was always freezing in the Taj Mahal and coffee or hot chocolate service would have helped. In summary the food experience which is supposed to be one of the major selling points for taking a cruise was a major disappointment for us. Unfortunately for Carnival we will no longer be sailing with them in the future.

Cabin Review

Excellent cabin design, lots of storage space, quiet location, ride extremely smooth, great balcony, no need for Dramamine.

previous reviewnext review

Find a Carnival Pride Cruise from $626

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.