Mitchell H.

Age: 14
Occupation: Student
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Name of Ship: Pride
Sailing Date: March 29th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

The Western Caribbean on the Carnival Pride
I would have to say that this being my first cruise I shouldn’t say much about the overall cleanness, service, and food on the ship. However I do have a fairly good idea of how good the cruise was overall. To better inform you of the cruised I’ve created a log that goes day to day and includes brief descriptions of what I did on the ship, and being that I’m fourteen you won’t hear too much about some of the more adult features of the ship. If you don’t want to read all of that however, you can just skip to the end and read the last paragraph or so.

Day 1 Boarding-Port Canaveral
When entering the large building that Carnival has set up for all the pre-boarding procedures, I noticed that the setup is very orderly and the facilities are very clean. There were however some slight delays upon boarding the ship due to a computer malfunction, but the people working the stations were very good at trying to move things along as fast as possible. Once you get on the ship, you’ll notice that there are people onboard to greet you and show you the general direction to your stateroom. The first thing I did was to wander around the ship with my parents to get more familiar with it. After that we went back to the room to get ready for dinner at the Normandy, which is the more up-scale eating area on the ship. The food was very good and our waiters, Raymond (the headwaiter) and Angela (assistant waiter), were very pleasant. I think I’m going to have a good time on the Pride.

Day 2 Fun Day at Sea
Early on today we were informed that due to bad weather conditions we wouldn’t be docking at Key West. This wasn’t too bad as the only thing that really sounded interesting was a place that claimed to have the best Key Lime pie in the world (this is one of my favorite desserts). So instead we would be docking at Costa Maya the next day and have a day at sea today. First I should tell you that I was very lucky in finding some friends from the school that I go to onboard, and I spent pretty much the whole day with them. The 24-hour pizza bar is very good, especially when you get hungry at one in the morning. I almost forgot, at supper today since my birthday was yesterday they gave me a cake.

Day 3 Costa Maya, Mexico
Costa Maya is a very interesting place, even though they had no excursions there they still had many activities there. The beaches where very nice, and also keep in mind that this is a part of Mexico, so expect to see a lot of souvenir peddlers who will constantly lower their price. However, there is also a nice road that runs along the beach. It offers many spots of beautiful views and a lot of wild life. Also, there was an interesting show that showed a lot of the traditional dances of Mexico. Re-entering the ship went very smoothly, and the rest of the evening was very nice.

Day 4 Belize City, Belize
At Belize, we signed up for a combination of the River Wallace Tour, and the Altun-Ha Mayan Ruins Tour. But first we had to get there, by tenders, which are pretty much speedboats that take you to the city. My recommendation, sit towards the front, because the engines get very loud towards the back. The River Wallace Tour was very nice, and the guide informed us about many interesting animals and plants we saw along the way. However, I don’t recommend this tour to people who don’t enjoy speedboats because the boats can go very fast. After the river tour, we stopped at a very small community for lunch. I recommend buying the lunch because it’s very good and also it’s a local style of food. After a long lunch a bus came to pick us up and go to the ruins. The roads in Belize were very, very bad so the ride was really rough. The ruins here aren’t quite what most people expect to see, being that most of them are still covered in brush and the ones that are uncovered are sort of small. The guide was also very informative here, and at the end you can climb up one of the ruins if you feel like. After that you take the bus back to the ship and get back on.

Day 5 Cozumel, Mexico
Today we had planned to do shopping and had not signed up for any tours. My family decided to walk to the main shopping area which was about three miles away from the ship. It’s almost impossible to get back to the ship without buying something. There must’ve been a hundred shops there and all of them had people standing in front of them trying to get you to go inside. We ended up having a light lunch at Pancho’s Backyard, an interesting place behind one of the stores that has really good Mexican food. Also, they have really big drinks and really good guacamole. When I say good guacamole, I mean really good. I normally hate guacamole, and I actually liked it here. Also, I’m sure my parents would recommend a margarita from here because they liked it so much they bought a forty-five dollar bottle of the tequila that it was made of.

Day 6 Progresso/Meridia, Mexico
Today is the day that I’ve been looking forward to since the start of the cruise. Today we took a tour of the Uxmal Mayan ruins. The tour was great, and the guides were very informative again and told us about the different uses for each of the buildings. Also the ruins were for the most part, completely uncovered. This made the tour more interesting in that you could see the incredible art that the Mayans used in creating their buildings. Also, near the beginning of the tour you can see a huge pyramid. This wasn’t open for climbing at the time, however, it was incredibly beautiful. The guide also explained why there where so many of these strange statues with large oddly shaped noses. Apparently, the Mayan rain god was a major factor here, in that this area was very dry. Our group then got back on the bus and we ate the lunch that they provided.

After that we went to a gift shop near the city and wandered around for a little while. I personally recommend buying the book that they show you at the beginning of the tour, it is very nice and includes a lot of information. After the shop, the guides decided to give us a surprise and drove us around Meridia. They included a lot of the historical information about the city and especially about the large church made out of stones that the Spaniards took from Mayan buildings that they destroyed. Also baked Alaska was the dessert today, and it was very good. Overall, today was the most interesting day of the week.

Day 7 Fun Day at Sea
Today I wandered around with my friends, and did pretty much the same thing as on Day 2. Supper was very good and the soufflé they had for dessert was very good.

Overall, the cruise was very good and I would like to go on one again. The food was very good, and the tours where very informative. The crew always tried to keep something interesting happening, and had a lot of activities for everyone. I enjoyed the cruise very much and would recommend it to anyone who is going on a cruise for the first time.

Ask a Question About Carnival Cruise Lines

Ever thought about becoming a home based travel agent? Check out my web site for home based travel and cruise agents located at;

Home Based Travel Agent