On Carnival Pride
After a good night’s sleep we woke up at about 8 am. We had chosen the early cabin cleaning, so we got dressed and went to the Mermaids Grille buffet on deck 9. These days, instead of having your cabin cleaned morning and evening, you choose if you want your cabin cleaned early or later. I think it’s because they have less stewards to do the cleaning.
The buffet on the Pride is much smaller than we’re used to. It is a smaller ship with less people so they don’t need a huge buffet. But I’ve found that the selection is smaller. For breakfast you can find scrambled eggs, sausage or bacon, french toast, toast, pancakes, and potatoes. They also have a small cereal selection. There is also an omelet station where you can find omelets or eggs cooked to order.
Exploring the ship
The Pride is a small ship, but there are still plenty of places to explore. My favorite so far is the Sunset Gardens on deck three at the very front of the ship. This is a wonderful place to sit and relax and watch the ocean. There are plenty of places to sit and so far it’s been fairly empty and quiet. It’s located behind the Taj Mahal Theater.
The atrium is beautiful. The entire ship is filled with artwork and beautiful sculpted designs all over. It’s a delight just to walk around and look at everything. It’s like walking through a beautiful old English manor.
Ane while we were exploring, we were hiding and looking for ducks. If you’ve never heard of that, there’s a thing where people put tags on rubber ducks of all kinds, then hide them around the ship. If you’re lucky, you may find one. We found two. We kept one and hid the other again for someone else to fine.
Shore Excursion show and a surprise
We decided to go to the Shore Excursion show hosted by Filipe, our Cruise Director. Filipe seems to be a fun Cruise Director, and comes from Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
As you enter the Taj Mahal Theater for the Excursion show you pick up a ticket because there are prizes. Filipe told us about all of the activities that could be done during our port days in Limon, Costa Rica, and also Grand Cayman. We had already booked a cruise for Limon. We’re going to do a bus, train, and boat excursion to see much of the area and wildlife.
However, in Grand Cayman we decided just to walk around the town and check things out. But, guess what, we won’t have to do that. My husband won an excursion for two. We’ll be touring the island on a bus, and then doing a semi-submersible sub tour to see the fish and coral. Can’t wait for that!
Lunch
For lunch I decided to get a burrito at the Blue Iguana Cantina, located just outside the buffet. I like that they have whole wheat wraps, and that you can have them made to order. I ended up getting a chicken burrito with refried beans and a number of other items. It was very good. My husband ended up getting chicken and sides from the buffet, which he said were good. They only have one dessert station in the buffet, so the lines are long. I’m really trying to eat less sugar, so I got a banana and a pear for later.
Writing
Since I’m blogging daily from the ship, I have to take a couple of hours each afternoon to write. Carnival was nice enough to provide me with the internet I need, but it is a bit slow and it takes me awhile. So, that’s what I did in the afternoon.
We do have a window in our cabin so I like to watch the ocean as I write. But, as a warning, if you get one of the window cabins that have the lifeboats outside, be aware that there may be people out there. As I was watching out, one of the crewmembers climbed to the area to clean something, and could see into my cabin.
David’s Steakhouse on Elegant Night
This was our first elegant night. Elegant night is when you dress up for dinner. We had already made reservations for David’s Steakhouse because we’d never tried it before. I was hoping that the Surf and Turf would be better than it normally is in the main dining room. The cost for David’s is a $38 a person upcharge.
As I got dressed, the manager of the steakhouse called to confirm our reservations and make sure that he told me about the elegant night dress code. No flipflops, please.
We got there a bit early, but we didn’t have to wait long. If you’ve never seen David’s Steakhouse, you need to know how elegant it is. It’s got a huge state of David by Michaelangelo at the entrance, and beautiful paintings all around. The most unique feature of the steakhouse is that the ship’s funnel is the ceiling of the room, and it’s all stained glass. It casts a warm glow over the room.
The food
Since we had our reservation on elegant night, we got a complimentary bottle of wine. We chose not to have it for dinner, but to save it for later. It was a nice bottle of Santa Helena Merlot. And one of the highlights of dinner was that we could hear the electric violin group playing in the atrium. They’re very good.
Before our meal arrived, we got a sample from the chef. I’m really not sure what this was, but it was rather strange looking. It was a small spoon with something bubbly on it, along with a wafer and something brown on it. Actually, it did not look appetizing at all. I tasted it and it wasn’t too bad, but it’s not something that I would ever order.
My appetizer was French Onion soup, which was hot and tasty. He had shrimp cocktail, which was good. We both had Surf and Turf for our main item. Honestly, we had surf and turf on the Hotel Director’s table on the Royal Caribbean Empress of the Sea, and the lobster tail on RC was so much better. I guess I had thought that by paying the upcharge on Carnival Pride would have meant a better quality of Lobster than in the main dining room. The steak was good though. With the Surf and Turf I had a baked potato and onion rings, which were good.
For dessert I had a ball of chocolate. The waitress poured a hot chocolate cream over it, and it was delicious. Kind of cool how the ball of chocolate melted when the cream was poured over it. He had a huge cheesecake, which he liked.
You will get a lot to eat at David’s Steakhouse, so come hungry.
After Dinner shows
After we ate we walked around a bit, then went to the show in the Taj Mahal Theater. The pre-show was the Piano man, Stevie. The show was called 88 Keys. We’ve seen at least part of this show before on the Carnival Magic. If you like Rock and Roll, you’ll love this show. The lead singer, from England, is very good. The team of singers and dancers are excellent also. I really enjoyed hearing songs from Elton John, Stevie Wonder, and tons of other singers.
After the 88 Keys show we wanted to go to the comedy club, which is just below the theater in the Butterfly Lounge. But we were at the wrong door, and when we found our way in, there were no seats. Go to the door to the right of the theater on deck 2. We’ll try again tomorrow.
Time to relax
So, we walked around a while and then decided to call it a night and relax a while. Another long but good day done.
The Quiet Cruiser 