Tamara Cowan

Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Pride
Sailing Date: March 1st, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

The Day Before and Early Saturday

We had made travel arrangements ourselves from Phoenix to Orlando on SouthWest Airlines. Making our own arrangements worked out to be about $500 cheaper than going through Carnival. The flight was a little bumpy…if you ask my husband it was a lot bumpy. It was raining in Orlando when we arrived and my husband promptly announced when we landed that he would be taking a bus home. He’s afraid to fly but is usually a good sport about it. We rented a car from Avis to make the drive to the Radisson in Port Canaveral. Once we started to collect our luggage from baggage claim two of us, we were two couples traveling together, went down stairs to the Avis counter to get the car. We had about eight pieces of luggage and they fit nicely into the SUV we rented. Once the ladies picked up the car we drove back to the arrival area at the airport and picked up the guys and the luggage. Very easy.

We made the drive from Orlando to Cape Canaveral and only got lost once. Not lost really, we just took the wrong freeway and it took us a little longer to get to the hotel. My husband and I stayed at the Radisson and our friends stayed at the Quality Inn. I’m only going to comment on the Radisson. We had reserved the $99 suite with the whirlpool tub. The room was very nice and having the tub was a lot of fun. Be careful if you bring along bubble bath…it can get a little out of control once you turn those jets on. We had a pre-cruise rendezvous with some of CC friends but only Dan40 and his wife showed up. We had a nice evening getting to know each other and talking about the cruise. They have a nice bar area that is perfect to meet friends. The music was a little loud but you get used to it.

Since Florida is a few hours a head of Arizona I had a little trouble getting out of bed on Saturday morning. But once my husband told my you could see the Pride from our window I was out of bed in a flash. It was tiny and far away but it was my ship! We had breakfast at the Radisson. They have a buffet. I would recommend eating somewhere else if you have a car. The food was really bad. They seemed rushed and short staffed and the food was not fresh. Although they were making omelets and waffles….still not very good.

We had decided the night before to keep the car and drive over to the terminal and drop the luggage off and then return the car and take the Avis shuttle back. We didn’t think all our luggage would fit in the shuttle. But while checking out of the hotel we were able to watch the shuttles come back from the ship. The shuttle process seemed very organized. Both the Radisson and Avis have several shuttles that are making the trip back and forth. So we decided to return the car and take the shuttle over. Extremely easy. The shuttle drops you off at the pier and there are Carnival employees there to take your luggage and load them into the luggage containers. No having to get a porter or drag your luggage to the ship. I was very impressed at how easy this was.

Next we walked over to the pier to check-in. This was about 10:30. My husband and I had a Category 11 cabin and were able to use the Skipper’s Club. Our friends had a Category 4 and had to check in normal. They beat us through the check-in process. All the Skipper’s Club did that was better than normal check in was we got to sit down in chairs while they checked us in. Maybe the Skipper’s Club provides some advantage in speed later in the day but if you go early there really is no advantage.

After checking in we had to wait in a line of chairs until they allowed everyone to start boarding. They had five wedding parties they need to get checked in and on the boat before they would let everyone else on. Then about 11:30 they finally began general boarding. This went very fast and before we knew it we were crossing the gangway and beginning our trip!

The ship is beautiful. The atrium is very impressive with the large mural over head and the clear red for the funnel. We headed straight for the mermaid grill and some lunch. There are several different stations spread out around the area. Each serves a different type of food. This at first takes some getting use to, but it really cuts down on the time you have to wait in line to get something to eat. There is a specialty food everyday such as Italian, Chinese etc. They have the burgers, hot dogs and chicken out by the pool. Of course they have the pizza 24 hours a day! There is a salad bar, a deli and a rotisserie as well. Lots of choices and you’ll always find something that sounds good. The ice cream is outside by the aft pool. I already miss having so many choices.

Next we went up to check out our room. Since it is my 40th birthday year we splurged an pick a category 11 cabin. We were in 8268 which is one of the aft cabins that wrap around. I think this was the best cabin on the ship! What a delight to behold. Once we stepped inside the door we had a short halway that lead to our “living room”. This area contained a couch, chair and a table. There was also a TV and a VCR plus some glassware for wine and drinks. Next was a small vanity room with a big lighted mirror and a chair to sit on. Something I really loved for doing my make-up and hair. The bathroom had double sinks and a whirlpool tub/shower with glass sliding door. We became really spoiled by our walk-in closet. Lots of room for storage. The bedroom contained a queen size bed…actually two twin beds pushed together another TV and a VCR. There was also a hall-way that connected the living room and the bedroom. We had six floor to ceiling windows to view the world around us. But the best part was the 41 foot balcony that we spent a lot of time out on! What a great room. I told my husband that I was spoiled and could never settle for anything less for future cruises.

I took time out in the room to call David’s and make reservations for dinner. We decided to go on Thursday which was the second formal night. My husband does not own a jacket so we thought he could just wear his Tuxedo again for dinner. This worked out perfect.

We had read in the Carnival Caper’s that all deluxe treatments in the spa were 15% off on Saturday so we walked down to the spa to book some appointments. My husband and my girlfriend both booked spa pedicure’s. The girl at the counter told us the price was $55. I asked if that included the 15% off. She said it would be deducted when we paid. Please be careful about this. We were not given the 15% off and when I inquired about it later to the Spa manager she said it only applied to “deluxe” treatments. I explained that wouldn’t a “spa” pedicure be the “deluxe” version of the regular pedicure and she said no. She even tried to claim that the computer system would not allow them to discount that treatment. She didn’t really even bother to apologize. She just said that she tried to keep her staff informed but that some people forget. Oh well. Not big deal….15% of 55 isn’t really a lot of money when you think about it…..but it could have paid for a couple of drinks. More on the lack of knowledge by spa personnel later.

Time for the sail-a-way and to meet our CC friends. We had about 30 people show up for our goodbye to Port Canaveral. We decided to meet on the Sky Deck around the funnel. This was the perfect place to meet. Small enough that you didn’t have to look all over for people and it overlooked the pool area so you could party with everyone else. It was cold and windy has the sun started to go down so we had to cut the party short. So everyone returned to their rooms to get ready for dinner.

My husband Billy and my friend Michelle went off to have their pedicures while Michelle’s husband Darin and I sat on the balcony and drank the sunset away. This was Billy’s first pedicure and it was nice that Michelle went with him for support. They both enjoyed it, but Billy said he probably won’t get another one. This turned out to be a good idea for him since two days later the tops of his toes were bruised and his feet were sore. I’ve never seen anything like that. So first timers…be careful.

We had made arrangements in advance to sit with two other CC couples. Linda and Bill from Ohio and Drew and Carolyn from NJ. For some reason Drew and Carolyn’s request to sit with us never made it to the ship. No problem. We just told the matre ‘d that we wanted a table for eight instead of a table for six and he made it happen. This worked out really well since the table for six was in a dark corner away from all the action. In fact, two of the couples would have had to look at a wall the whole cruise. We had a great group for dinner and I really suggest getting a big table and meeting new people. This really made the cruise for us.

After dinner we went to the comedian show and then to the casino. I left the casino a few dollars ahead so it was a good night.

Returning to our room we found our first towel animal. We thought it was some sort of snake, but we didn't find out until days later that it was a dinosaur.

What a great first day!

Day 2 – Key West

Sleeping in what a grand thing! I usually have to get up a 5:00 to get ready to go to work. So this was a special treat. But when we actually thought about it we really we’re getting up about the same time with the time zone differences. Oh well, at least I thought I was sleeping in.

Upstairs we went for breakfast. Each of the hot food stations serves the same thing. So just get in what ever line is shortest. You can have eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, pancakes and French toast. Just an FYI, the scrambled eggs and the eggs they use to make the omelets are made from egg product…not real eggs. So if that creeps you out like it does me just order two eggs over easy or whichever way you like your eggs. That way they use real eggs. They also have an area with pastries and cereal and fruit. By the end of the week we were all very tired of eggs.

Then it was time to get off the ship to go into Key West. This was not organized very well. We went down to deck 1 and started off to the forward part of the ship. All of a sudden we ran into a line in the hallway. This line was very long. The hallway was very warm. It took a long time to get to the end of the hallway only to discover that we still had to go down a flight of stairs and then off the ship. Here’s where you are going to luck out by reading this review. Whatever deck you are on go all the way to the front of the ship on the port side…the last set of elevators. Take these elevators down to deck A. This will take you right off the ship. No waiting in line. This is one of the best-kept secrets on the ship. Do this every time you need to get off and you’ll avoid the lines. This is also great for getting back on the ship. Just hang a left once you pass through security and instead of going up the stairs just go around the corner and get on the elevator. No waiting!

Once off the ship we had to wait in another line out in the hot sun to get on the trolley to take us through the Navy Base and into Key West. I’m not complaining about the heat….we’re just from Phoenix and the humidity was a little much for us. The trolley drops you into the center of town. We opted to take the trolley tour around town. It has nine stops and you could get off and on as you wish. This was a great way to see the sights. We got off to see the Southern most point and near Duvall Street. We had lunch at Margarittaville and just walked around and looked in the shops. Then it was time to take the trolley back to the boat.

We spent the rest of the afternoon out on the balcony until it was time to get ready for dinner. The balcony was always a great place to rest and have a few drinks before dinner.

After dinner a few more shows and, of course, the casino.

Day 3 – At Sea

Another great day to sleep in! We have discovered however, that our room is noisy. The air conditioner is very loud. But you get used to it. The ship also rocks side to side in the back. I like it but you can feel it at times.

Off again to breakfast. We spent the day playing bingo and hanging out in the casino. Not so good at bingo but I won some money at the casino. This was also my day to have massage and facial in the spa. If you go ask for Kimberley from New Zealand she was wonderful! Then tell her Tamara from Arizona said hi!. I had a special package that included both the massage and facial. It was almost three hours of complete relaxation. It was about $215 but well worth it.

This was also the first formal night. The had a cocktail party before dinner with free drinks and appetizers. Go ahead and attend it’s a lot of fun and who could pass up free drinks! Not the best in the world but fun trying all the different kinds. Here’s another helpful hint. Stand by the door to the Sports Bar…this is where the waiters come out with the drinks. This way you don’t have to fight for a drink.

This is also the best night to walk around and get your picture taken. Make sure you go to as many different spots as possible so you have lots to choose from. I think most of the backgrounds look terrible in pictures…really fake. The best ones were the formal black and white and color pictures on the plain blue background. We bought these and so did our friends.

This is the only night that they serve lobster so make sure to have dinner in the dining room this night. Everyone at the table had both the lobster and the prime rib. Not the best in the world but still very yummy! We also find an inexpensive way to save on drinks. We ordered a bottle of wine at night….about $25-30 dollars and drank that. Sometimes the wine would last for two meals. This works out real well for two people.

Then it was back to the casino. It was nice to watch all the people dressed up.

Day 3 – Belize

We decided to do the cave tubing with Regi a private guide. This was a fun trip! Regi had sent me an email stating to try to be on the first tender off the ship so that everyone could get going right away. Well, they started giving out tender tickets at 8:00. I sent my husband down at 7:30 to get in line to get a ticket. He came back with Tender #1 tickets. So far so good. At about 9:00 we wandered down to see if we could get in line for the tender. The girl guarding the door said we had to go upstairs and wait for our tender number to be called. This made sense that they wouldn’t want everyone hanging around in the small area where you get off the ship. On our way back up the stair case they called Tender #1 so back down we went and we were the first ones in line!!!!! Then the girl reminded us to make sure we had our sign and sail cards and our id’s. Guess who didn’t have her id? Me! Spouse was not a happy camper. They hadn’t started letting people on the tender yet so I quickly ran back to our room. Not a short trip since the area to get on the tender’s is on deck A forward and our room is on deck 8 on the aft end of the ship. By the time I got back the tender had already left. L Spouse gave me a really ugly look. Good news we’re not first in line for the second tender. Except for one thing…for the next 30-45 minutes all the tenders were for Carnival tours and we just had to stand there. Finally there was a tender for us! The ride to Belize was quick and Regi was waiting for us on the dock just like he said. What a nice person. We only had two other people to wait for. Then we were off to the van’s for our 30 minute ride to the caves. We had a couple of big people in our group so it was a tight squeeze in the van. In fact, one girl had to sit on her boyfriends lap. (Hi Drew and Caroline!) It was a long ride but you got to see some of the city and the countryside. When we arrived at the cave’s the Carnival buses were already there and the people were long gone. Regi got everyone organized and gave us our headlamps and tubes. The our walk began. Don’t get all excited the first time you get to the water. This is just a crossing point. And make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to get wet. It’s a long and hot walk to the river where you start. Again, I’m not used to the humidity so I was really hot. The walk is not that hard. I do recommend sturdy shoes. I bought a pair of surf shoes at Kmart for $5 and they worked fine. After the trip I just threw them away.

Finally it was time to get in the river and start our journey. They whole trip took about 1 ½ hours. The water was low in some places so we had to watch out bottoms. Regi said that in the rainy season the whole trip takes about 30 minutes. So we got the leisure float version. It was really fun, but crowded at times. We caught up with the Carnival group in some of the slower section’s which didn’t make it very fun. I may have to say that I would just do this trip in the rainy season….on a scale of 1 to 10 I may just give it a 5. I think it was just the time of year. After the trip ended there was a bathroom to change out of your wet clothes and then we took the van back to the ship. There was no time for lunch or shopping. However, Belize didn’t look like a place where you want to wonder around and shop so I would really recommend staying or the ship or going to an organized tour in this port.

Get a tender back to the boat was no problem.

Another sail-a-way was spent on our balcony with friends new and old, drinking and watching the sunset.

Then it was on to dinner and to shows and gambling.

Day 4 – Cozumel

Lots of cruise ships here today. There were actually nine ships in port. They estimated that added an additional 18,000 people to the cities population. There were three Carnival ships, two Celebrity, Disney, RCCL, Holland and a ship that had the My Travel web site on the side…not sure who’s that was.

This is the day I allowed my husband to drink as much as he wanted without me getting mad. We had read on the CC boards about a mini-golf place in Cozumel so we decided to try it out. This was a great time! We took a cab from the pier to the mini-golf place. Only $6 for the cab for four people. Sally and her dog Sunshine were great hosts. The course is lush and refreshing on a hot Cozumel day. The best part was that you get walkie-talkies to take with you so you can order drinks while you played golf. We didn’t make it to the second hole before we were ordering more drinks. It is an 18 hole course and I think it was one of best parts of our trip! We had a great time. Sally even allows you to pick music to play while you’re there.

After we were finished with golf we walked to Carlos and Charlies. We decided to get a table and have some lunch instead of hanging out in the bar area. The ladies had big drinks and the men had big beers. It was a great time. I would defianetly recommend finishing up your day here.

After Carlos and Charlies we did a little shopping. We bought a litre of Coke to mix with the Vodka that we snuck on board in our luggage. And we stopped at Del Sols to get T-shirts that change color in the sun. Then it was back onto the boat. This was a huge line to get on, but a real party atmosphere since everyone was in a “happy” mood. I wish we would have been able to send more time here. The Pride was the first ship to leave.

I had some real issues of the timing in our ports. We seemed to leave everything to early. We left Belize at 4:00 and it was only 250 miles approximately to Cozumel. And then we leave Cozumel to go to Progresso and I’m sure that was a short distance as well. I would have like to have more time in all the ports.

Day 5 – Progresso

This is the day we decided to go to Chitzen Itza. We decided to take the Carnival tour do to the time constraints. It was tough getting up after our day at Carlos and Charlies to make our 7:45 rendezvous time for our tour. But we did it.

The ship tour is a two hour bus ride to the ruins. The guide gives a nice overview of the city and the ruins…if you can understand him. The bus ride is a nice time to take a nap if you didn’t get enough sleep the night before! About 1 mile before the entrance to the park you get a sales pitch from the tour guide to purchase a Myan calender for a special birthday or anniversary. The price is $25. We decided to get it for our anniversary date. I would only recommend this for a birthday. The sheet they give you with the descriptions really on works for birthdays. I would recommend you just skip it. You also have to make the mandatory shopping stop and bathroom break. There is an area where the buses stop that has shopping but there were also a lot of local people trying to sell stuff. These individuals were kept behind a roped area but you could walk up to them. They are all screaming “One dollar” and holding up trinkets. We decided to go for it. I walked over and tried to by something for a dollar only to be told it was $5. So I started to walk away and magically it suddenly became $2. I would recommend you buy your cheap Myan souvenirs from these local people. Be warned though the items that look like wood aren’t. But this is a cheep way to get things for friends and family back home.

The tour itself took about 1 hour. Really not enough time to spend at this site. We were so afraid that we wouldn’t get a chance to climb the main ruin that we broke off from the tour group to do it ourselves.

Then it was back onto the bus for the long ride back. They do provide you with a lunch when you get on the bus. Sandwiches, chips, granola bar and some other stuff I can’t think of. You also get a juice box after you get back on the bus from the ruins.

We did not have any time to spend in Progresso. I did see a nice beach at the end of the pier that looked like a good place to hang out.

All in all, for the money, I probably would not recommend this tour. I’m glad I went, but it’s mostly time just sitting on a bus.

This was also the second formal night. We decided to eat at David’s. There was hardly anyone in the restaurant that evening. The food and service were very good. Every one but my husband had the filets. My husband had the porterhouse steak. All items were really good. You could have as many appetizers and salads and side items you wanted. But if you wanted an additional entrée it would have been and additional $25 on top of the $25 you had already paid. For dessert two people had the crème brulee and I had the flourless chocolate cake. Go for the cake it was wonderful.

They have live music and dancing if you like. The music was a nice accompaniment to our evening’s meal. We sat down to eat at about 7:30 and were done by 9:30. So plan on a nice romantic evening. This is well worth the extra $25.

Day 6 – Sea Day

Sleeping in is good! Last day is bad! Spent the day in the casino and by the aft pool bar. My girlfriend and I decided to get one last massage. Very nice! After our message’s we went to get pizza and drinks and then sit out on the balcony. As we walked outside it seemed like it was raining. In actuality they were washing off the lido deck above us. All of a sudden the water came down on us in buckets. I sent my husband upstairs to make them stop. We also called the purser’s desk and complained. We felt that they could have let us know that they would be cleaning and to not use our balcony during that time. We had received letters on two previous days saying they would be doing work on our balcony so it only made sense that they could let us know about the cleaning.

The purser called back a little later to apologize and say the cleaning had stopped. The good news is we got a “surprise” from Carnival to apply to our next cruise. So remember when complaining always be nice and you’ll never know what you’ll get.

Day 7 - Disembarkation

We were allowed to stay in our rooms until 9:00. So of course we did! We went up to get breakfast about 8:00 and it was so crowded we just took our food back to our room and ate out on the balcony. A very nice ending to an excellent cruise. About 8:30 we finally left our beautiful room and started wondering around our deck peaking in rooms. We were trying to see what the 9A and the Cat 12 looked like. The people in the 9A room had not left and while we were working out way down to the Cat 12 rooms the called our luggage tag number so off we went. We were the third luggage tag number called. Once off the ship we were in the area with all the luggage. If you have a lot of luggage you can get a porter to help you with it. Make sure to go to the door where the porters are coming in…this is the only way to get one. We found all our luggage…very easy since the put all the luggage together by tag number. The porter took our customs sheets and walked us right by customs. It didn’t look like they were checking anyone since the porter just threw the form in a box. Then it was onto the bus. We decided to take the Mears shuttle back to the airport rather than rent the car. We were in our seats on the bus by 9:15.

The bus drops you off in a bad spot. You are actually on the wrong level and have to make your way with your luggage to the level with the ticket counters on it.

Final hint, if you get to the airport 4 hours or more before your flight they will not let you check in. So don’t even bother standing in line. There are no signs to tell you this and the people at the counter were kind of rude to our traveling companions. They had to sit around for two hours with their luggage before they could check in.

All in all it was a fabulous trip and I hope all you future Pride cruisers have as much fun as we did!

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