Carnival Pride Review

Pleasantly Surprised with the Pride!

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Carnival Pride
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sophiecruiser
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Mar 2010
Cabin: Balcony

My sister-in-law and I decided to do a Spring Break cruise with our 19 year old sons and selected this one because it was much less expensive to fly from Boston to Baltimore compared to any of the Florida ports. The itinerary didn't really matter as we have cruised many times and have visited just about all the Caribbean ports once or twice on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Costa and Norwegian Cruise Line, in addition to Carnival. My first experience with Carnival was good (not great) so I didn't have high expectations going into this cruise, but thought it would be good enough for Spring Break.

We flew into BWI on Saturday afternoon and stayed at the Hyatt Place. The driver stopped at the liquor store for us before dropping us off at the hotel. Yes, we carried on booze in our luggage and had no problem. We met 4 other people at the hotel who were going on the cruise, so we all took the hotel shuttle ($5 pp one way) to the cruise port at noon. We were all thankful it was sunny and relatively warm (50 degrees) after all the cold snowy weather Baltimore had experienced this year. We arrived at the port around 12:30; there were no crowds and no lines. We gave the porter our luggage and walked right into the terminal. We were checked in and had our pictures taken in no time at all. The cruise terminal staff was happy, smiling and helpful. It was the smoothest embarkation ever! I should note that there was a slight delay getting my carry-on through ship security, but it was totally my fault. I had put an iPod Home and some AA batteries in my carry on. When my carry-on went through the scanner, they pulled me out of line asked me if they could empty it out and search the contents. I knew exactly what was going on, because it happened to me in the airport too - I forgot to take the iHome out of the bag. They saw the batteries and wires from the iHome and thought it could possibly be a bomb. I apologized when I realized what an idiot I was! The security guard said he was sorry to delay me, but they had to see exactly what the contents were. I told him that I totally understood and actually thanked him for doing a thorough job of scanning what passengers were bringing on board.

We went aboard on deck 2 where the atrium is located. It is a beautiful area, open all the way up to deck 10 with 3 glass elevators and gorgeous murals. Tables were set up to buy wine packages, make reservations at David's Specialty Dining etc.. shore excursion desk was open too. We bought a wine package ($110 for 5 bottles) and confirmed our reservation at David's which we had made online a few weeks prior to the cruise. Went up to the Lido for lunch and was surprised to see so many people already on board at 1:15! We checked out the different stations (Salad, Asian, Sandwiches, Bistro, Pizza, Grill, Desserts) and decided on sandwiches and salad bar. All the salad bar ingredients were fresh and plentiful all week long (short lines too!) Sometimes there were 6 people or more in the sandwich line, but there were always 2 workers making sandwiches and the line moved quickly. The grilled reubens were delicious as were the fresh mozzarella, tomato and arugula on focaccia. We walked around a little and hung out on the aft deck in the sun to wait for our cabins to be ready at 2:30. We grabbed a couple DODs (drink of the day) which were a strong concoction of several different liquors and fruit juice with fruit garnish and umbrellas in a Carnival glass: perfect!! When I gave them my card, the waiter immediately recognized the gold card indicating past passenger status and welcomed us back and said he was glad we chose Carnival again; I thought that was a nice touch.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin 8C

Close to aft, on opposite end of ship from the theater where the shows are.

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