Living in Maryland, we have counted our blessings to have the Pride in our home port, and have always loved this ship and the friendly crew. We even appreciate the decor. Most of all, we enjoy the convenience of sailing from our home port of Baltimore- and have been on the Pride 8 times. We work hard and have been fortunate to make many memories with HAL, Celebrity, RCCL, Norwegian; Trans-Atlantics, Azores, Med, Pacific NWest, Panama Canal.. through good weather and some mighty hurricanes. We love the sea and have honored and respected the decisions of our Captain. While we still love the sea, and sailing on our own boat, we will never cruise at the mercy of a Captain and the cruise industry which are clearly driven by profit and greed.

Our recent voyage on the Pride, which embarked 8/28/16, turned into a harrowing experience during the evening of 9/2 & early morning of 9/3/16 as the Carnival Pride sailed directly into Tropical Storm Hermine, throwing everyone from their beds and causing a considerable amount of unreported damage. We watched the GPS closely along with the live NOAA and Weather.com radar, from 2am-11am- because we were very worried. I’m sharing this account because I am still very worried with how it was handled- and unsettled with the responses- all pointing to decisions driven by schedule and ultimately profit. Decisions made from those on land, in a comfy office in Miami surely trumps any authority or opinions of those in the throes of complicated and potentially dangerous weather situations. Remember that. And remember that well when you book your next cruise. You can’t pull over and get off. You are at the mercy of a money making machine. Even airlines will divert, postpone or cancel.

The Captain made the decision to shorten our stay in the Bahamas to sail back to Baltimore in an attempt to “beat” Hurricane Hermine. We applauded this decision on Thursday, 9/1/16, when it was announced at dinner over the intercom- and as we were leaving Nassau. We encouraged disappointed guests adjacent to us in the dining room that the Captain and Carnival will always keep us out of harm’s way. We were advocates. Had we known what we were in for, we would have departed the ship in Nassau and flown home. But, that was not an option- we were in transit already. Read more