We attended the two activities that had free drinks which were the Past Guest Party and the Fun Fare

This trip was a last minute vacation. I had been looking at vacations for the last few months but my husband and I weren t able to get away. My parents celebrated their 75th birthdays this summer and they will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this fall. They were talking about possibly going somewhere to celebrate their milestones but as always they don t like to travel by themselves. I convinced them to go on vacation with me and happily volunteered to be their tour guide. My husband wasn t able to come along due to work issues. I wanted us to go to Mexico or the Caribbean but my Dad refused. He wanted new england country inn to go to Myrtle Beach which I nixed so we compromised on another cruise.
We left from Baltimore on the Carnival Pride for what was supposed to be a seven day cruise to Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay and Freeport. We booked two side by side balcony rooms somewhat at the last minute. I didn t really think about the weather when we booked, but as the cruise got closer, I realized that we may have some trouble due to Hurricane Irene. It ended up that the ship had to disembark from the prior cruise a day early and spend Sunday out at sea without passengers, so we had to set sail on Monday. Carnival gave everyone a credit for the missed day. The amount ended up being pretty much what I charged on my Sign and Sail card during the cruise so I came out even. I still would have rather had the extra day.
My husband was going to drive us to Baltimore on Sunday to see us off on our vacation. Since we left a day late which was on a Monday, he had to work and couldn t drive us. I was worried about the effects of Hurricane Irene on traffic so we booked a car service with Premiere Limousine from PA and were picked up at 7 AM. My husband and I used them in a pinch last year and they were able to squeeze us in their schedule again without any problems. It was very convenient and the driver was courteous new england country inn and proficient. We bought trip insurance through Carnival and when we got home I tried to convince them that they should pay for the last minute transportation but they refused.
We went on a cruise last summer from NYC which was the first cruise for all of us. I thought that the embarkation process was very slow in New York. I was pleasantly surprised that it was much easier to get through the lines in Baltimore. We arrived early around 9:30 AM and were dropped off at the port. There was no wait at all to go through the line. There were twenty some agents and they were all working unlike last year in NYC. The agents all had numbers that they held up high over their heads to let the woman at the gate know that they were open for her to direct new england country inn people to them. We were told to go to two agents that I think were around numbers 22 and 23. While we were with the agents, the Sign and Sail cards were being delivered behind the desk, so we were some of the first people to get our S and S cards. The people who had previously new england country inn gone through new england country inn the line had their cards handed out in the seating area. After we were finished at the desk area, we walked a short distance to the rows of chairs and waited a short time to walk onto the ship. Once on the ship we had instant access to our rooms since they didn t have any debarking passengers that morning due to Hurricane Irene. It was nice not to have to lug our carry ons around for a few hours.
The Pride is a very nicely decorated ship that has an Italian Renaissance theme. There were pictures similar to Michelangelo s paintings all over the ship. They had very detailed woodwork and carvings in their decorations.
After dropping off our bags, we ate on the Lido deck which had no lines since we arrived so early. new england country inn I went to the Oriental station and was able to walk right up to it. I had read how long the lines could get so that was a treat. The two piece Caribbean group that was singing on the Lido deck at the Sail Away party started the cruise on great note. I always enjoy hearing Caribbean reggae style music on vacation.
We were in state rooms numbered 7223 and 7227 which were side by side extended balcony rooms. We went to the guest services desk and put our names on the list to have the balcony dividers removed and our request was granted. It was very convenient to be able to visit each other's rooms without having to go into the hallway.
new england country inn Our room steward told us to call him Pete . He was very nice and joked around with us. We had cute towel animals new england country inn every night. One day I wasn t sure what the towel animal was. It looked new england country inn like it had a duck beak but it had long arms like a gorilla. My Dad and I disagreed on what it was and we made a bet on who was right. I said it was a duck and he thought it was a gorilla. I saw Pete in the hall and he confirmed new england country inn that my Dad was right, it was a gorilla. Then Pete and I conspired to play a joke on my Dad. A few minutes new england country inn later I went over to my parent s room and Pete stuck his head in the door. My Dad asked him what the animal was and Pete said with a straight face, A duck . My Dad joked that he never saw a duck with arms. Later we all had a laugh when I told my Dad the truth.
Since we booked so late, we were placed on a waiting list for dining when we made our reservation and weren t able to find out what dinner seating we had until we arrived. Our Sign and Sail cards at check-in had the late seating on them. My parents are older and are used to eating early. With their health problems they shouldn t wait to eat. After we ate lunch on the Lido deck, we went to the Maitre D in the dining new england country inn room and nicely asked if we could be changed to the early seating. I noticed a slip of paper in the room mailbox later in the day notifying us that our dining time was changed.
We had a very nice family, consisting of a woman and her two teenage boys, sitting with us at dinner. If you're out there reading this, let ne know. We chit chatted with Renato and Christopher who were our waiters for dinner. We also saw them a few times on the Lido deck serving breakfast. We enjoyed all of our dinners. I told Renato that escargot was my favorite and he brought out two for me. I was trying to watch what I ate most of the time but I can t resist escargot. My favorite food on this cruise was a corn muffin that I had at lunch one day. It had a cream corn consistency in the middle of it and was delicious. I indulged and had the warm chocolate melting cake a few times for dessert during the week.
One night during dinner a magician came around to the tables. I called him over to our table and told him that my Dad likes magic. He did a slight of hand card trick that was fabulous. I kept my eyes on his hands and couldn t see how he did the trick. He had my Dad write his name on a card and it disappeared and eventually he pulled it out of his shirt pocket. My Dad got to keep the card as a souvenir.
We joined in and did a lot of activities during this cruise. My Dad and I both enjoy games. When I was growing up we played a lot of cards and board games. new england country inn There were numerous trivia type games and quizzes during the week on the cruise. The activity staff did a good job of getting people involved and they all seemed like nice people. Eric, the asst cruise director, looked new england country inn exactly like Seth Green the actor.
My Dad and I were a team in one of the bean bag tosses but lost. We also participated in the Match Game. The audience gathered into groups of six or so and we had to match the answers of the person picked as the team leader. One of the questions was Thanks for ____ . If my husband was on the cruise he would have answered Nuttin Danny which is a quote from Caddyshack. I was surprised that none of the men in our group suggested this answer. My Dad won a ship on a stick for one of the trivia contests new england country inn - woo hoo! Guess who got to keep it?
My Mom and I decided to participate in bingo even though there was a charge. It cost $20 for a single three card game which I thought was steep. I was one number new england country inn away from winning but alas someone else had their number called first. When you get down to only needing one number they ask you to stand up to see how many people are close.
I was looking forward to the piano bar. The gentleman who played the piano was entertaining and had a bit where he played the first few notes of the song from the TV show, Cheers, then he had everyone new england country inn yell out Cheers . He played a nice variety of music and took suggestions. I wish my husband would have been along to hang out at the piano bar.
My Mom enjoys watching the singing and dancing new england country inn shows. They put on several different shows on the ship that tried to appeal to all the different generations. One of the shows had older songs that seemed to be from the forties and fifties. My favorite show was called Vroom and had a lot of 1980 s music. The last night s show included the Legends new england country inn . My favorite one was the woman who did Gloria Estefon. Her voice sounded a lot like her. The woman who did Aretha new england country inn Franklin also had a beautiful voice.
We attended the two activities that had free drinks which were the Past Guest Party and the Fun Farewell Party. The Past Guest Party also had hors d'oeuvre. The servers were generous and came around new england country inn several times to our area.
A disappointment was missing new england country inn out on the miniature golfing. We walked around the course the first day but thought that we had a lot of time to go back and play golf. On our last sea day we tried to play, but the staircases new england country inn to the deck were closed due to wind.
I had complained about the coffee on the Lido deck after the last cruise on the Glory. To this day it was the worst coffee that I ve ever had. I even brought instant decaf coffee packets with me this time so I could have decent coffee. I tried the coffee on the Pride on the first day on the Lido deck and it was fine. It was significantly better than last time. I had no problem with the coffee in the dining room or the buffet on the Pride. I have no idea why it was so bad last year.
They had tea time in the main dining room one afternoon. We were