I have a feeling Carnival might be coming through with some partial refunds for the unforeseen scramble that Pride had to do. Just a hunch.

This is the chance, unfortunately, that you take when you book cruises during hurricane season.

At least they are thinking safety first.

A'ndrea

OMG. I am gone for a week and I come back to this Catalina Pride Chaos? I was thinking of all of you that have a cruise coming up. I heard on the radio this morning something about a hurricane hitting CABO? Am I wrong? Michele, how is it going. You are down to 25 days! I can't believe it. Are you coming in the day before you cruise? Andrea, I completely agree on adding an alarm clock. I am buying one for my cruise in June. I kept relying on my husbands watch and early wake up calls. I hope everyone is doing fine. It is boiling here in Riverside! It was 115 degrees this past weekend!

don't have long, just wanted to let you all know we are safe, having a great time, the Pride is beautiful and we are making the best of it.

While disappointed, our family is together and we are having a great time.

I will update you more when we return, just docked in San Diego... Friday will be in Ensenada...

Again, the ship is great, our balconies and a great cabin steward have made it bearable.. and made of LOT of new friends.

Love to you all....


brenda

That makes me SO HAPPY to hear!!!! I'm really glad her whole family is making the best of things!! I've been feeling really bad for them since yesterday, I'm glad I can go back to thinking my happy thoughts to them!

Just a quick moment before I head off to lunch....

Yea Brenda I am so happy things are going well for you in the circumstances you had to deal with!!! Have a double Frozen Mudslide for me!!! Can't wait to hear all about it when you return so I can get myself prepared for the best and worse of things!!! Catalina Island looked like they were having beautiful weather!

Diana - We are driving down on Saturday the 29th and will probable pull in to Santa Ana late afternoon early evening. We are planning in the early checkin at QM around 9:45-10:00. Then when we get back on 10/7 we are planning on spending 3-4 days with my brother in Santa Ana. THe boys all have their daily golfing plans set! Let's try and get together for lunch or something if you are around. Let me know what your plans are for that week when we get closer. Besides a day at the beach and a trip to see my girlfriend in Riverside...we don't have anything planned.

I am glad you enjoying the ship. I think that most of the time, we would rather be on the ship then at the port. Enjoy the wonderful ship!

Michele,
It's a date! Let me know the days that you are in ahead of time so that I can plan it.

It's Brenda's last day at sea! It's almost time for her last dinner! The weather down south has been pretty nice so I hope she had a wonderful time at her ports. I cannot wait to hear about her cruise. I really hope she had a fantastic time even though it didn't end up being the cruise she expected.

OK, we are back in Texas and about to drive home to Tyler.

I am going to wait until tomorrow to write a full review as I need to rest and get a perspective on our entire experience.

But, in short, the ship is beautiful, the weather was nice, met lot's of wonderful people and the crew, for the most part, were outstanding.

I will let you all know more later.

brenda

Brenda, glad to hear you're home safe. I am looking forward to your thoughts on Pride. I also want to hear what you thought about the change in itinerary.

Get some rest.

A'ndrea

I will try to write a real review, but here it is in a nutshell. As most of you on this thread know, we were on the diverted Pride cruise and yes, many were disappointed and frustrated, but more at the choice of alternate ports than at the decision to divert. I respect the decision NOT to sail into bad weather, of course.

However, we were never really given a good explanation of why those particular ports were chosen when there are so many wonderful alternates to the north.

Catalina was absolutely horrible. Perhaps once it was beautiful, but now it is a small island of nothing but dead trees and extremely rude people.

San Diego is beautiful, but most had been there many many times, as we have. In fact, there were many who disembarked there as it is their home town, and they did not return.

Ensenada was also pretty bad, not much better than Tijuana.

We were very disappointed in the ports, but we tried to enjoy the beautiful ship and the chance for all of us to be together with some peaceful time.

The ship had some problems too, but nothing too major. I was a bit disappointed in the food, even in the dining room. Out of all the menu choices, I would only recommend the roast pumpkin soup, the prime rib and the melting cake.

The lobster was tough and overcooked, the filet mignon was overcooked even when ordered medium rare. The salads were only fair and the other entrees were less than desirable. The presentation was excellent, but the first bite was disappointing.

As far as the Lido deck food goes, oh well, it's a floating cafeteria and I didn't have to cook it myself, so i guess those are its good points.

Breakfast omelets were good if you had the patience to wait.

Drinks were good most of the time.

The weather in the places we DID go was OK. One major disappointment was formal night being the night of our first day at sea and the air conditioning onboard was not working well that day, so many showed up for formal night pics all sweaty and limp.. But what are you going to do?

We were all so tired that day anyway from being up all night the night before. Someone had raised the alarm that they saw a person go overboard and the ship spent the night doing figure eights with search lights, the Coast Guard was hovering with lights and the cabin stewards were coming into each cabin doing head count. Frequent alarms over the intercom and all the noise in the halls made for a restless night, but was necessary. No one was missing, but it took all night to be certain all souls were on board.

Our trip turned out to be a good one, because we made up our minds it would be, however, there are several areas where Carnival could improve.

Cabin stewards were great, A+++
Dining room staff, same A+++

Casino staff, wonderful and friendly A++

Purser’s desk, lots of improvement needed there, several of them very rude and not helpful at all.

The best feature concerning the onboard staff was that there were so many nationalities represented. Out of 900+ staff, only 6 are American, and those from other countries shared their heritage and family stories with us and that was very interesting.

The ship is very clean and nicely decorated; the food is only mediocre for the most part, but is served so well with such finesse that it more than makes up for the quality or lack thereof. To serve so many in that setting is a challenge. The food having to be brought up from the galley in elevators makes for somewhat tepid soups and entrees not hot and fresh. But the dining staff are such a joy that it more than compensates.

Entertainment is good and the shops are good.

I still think the compensation could have been a bit more fair. Everyone gets the same $100 credit, and the same 25% on next cruise, no matter what cabin category you paid for on this cruise. And that 25% off next cruise is ONLY on select cruise itineraries and cabin categories. And we were only given 10 minutes at the terminal to decide whether to take this compensation and go ahead on the "cruise to nowhere" or go home and get only a reimbursement of the actual cruise fare.

Most of the other passengers we spoke with were not sure they would even use the credit for another cruise, as they were so disappointed in the choice of alternate ports. This cruise, when diverted in the past, has normally cruised north up the coast to San Fran, Seattle or even Van Couver. We just bobbed around in a circle like a cork for seven days, often at only 1-2 knots.

For us, our drive to the airport was longer than our entire cruise, mileage wise.

Overall, I personally can only rate our own experience and can only give a rating of FAIR.

We learned several valuable lessons, though, on our first cruise experience.

For us, we will never cruise out of California again, as we may get stuck there and it's our very least favorite place to be.

Don't ever cruise in the late summer or fall because if you do end up diverted due a storm, most everyone will act as if you deserve it because of your choice of the time of year. We made that choice due to work schedules and because we felt like there would be fewer children on board. There are so few serious storms along that coast and usually mean only missing one or two of the ports, not all of them.

For those who are scheduled to sail on the Pride, the ship is wonderful, and for the last year has been rated on comment cards as number one in the Carnival Line. I look forward to her being schedule out of another port when she is moved next year sometime to make room for the Splendor (I think that's the one they said?)

We would definately sail on the Pride again, just hopefully not a cruise off the California coast.

The crew of the Pride (other than the purser's desk) should be commended for their excellent service and for making the best of a very disappointing situation. They too, were uncomfortable with going where we went. But they also made the best of things and were very well rewarded for their excellent service. We tipped the cabin steward $500 for two cabins and our brother tipped his steward $250. The dining room staff also got an additional $500 to divide between the two of them and the Maite D received $200 for the week, although we only spoke with him the first night.

But please don't judge the Carnival experience on our cruise comments as this was an unusual trip and we are still reeling a bit with the disappointment. We managed to salvage some very good memories and have a good time being together. Seldom does life live up to high expectations and I think ours were a little too high.

Hi Brenda.
I'm sorry about your experience. I don't even know what to say or how to respond. Just an unfortunate turn of events.

I'm wondering if taking the full refund and staying in California for the week would have been the better option. Then again, you had no way of knowing what to expect once you boarded Pride. Hindsight is always 20/20.

My recommendation would be to book another cruise, ASAP, and leave this one for the history books.

P.S. no more cruises during hurrican season okay?

A'ndrea

I DO know how to spell... should have been hurricane with an "e". My bad.

Oh, we definately will cruise again, just not out of California, and staying a week there is NOT an option. I know those of you who live there love it, but unless I could find a area of that state that is way more conservative than those cities I have visited, I could never stand a week there. Even a few hours is torture, but that's just us. I have visited San Francisco, LA, Malibu, and San Diego and out of those the only one that is even halfway tolerable for us is San Diego.

And yes, cruising during storm season is a gamble but there are so few along that coast we thought we might squeak by. Perhaps later in the fall might be an option for us. Any other time of year and there are too many children and even the college aged crowd on board. Not for us.

I wish there were cruises for all adults, only 35 and up or maybe even older.

Our goal is Alaska, but we hope to find an intinerary that departs from somewhere besides a California port.

Had all of that craziness out there I can take for a while.

The greatest thing about all of this, other than spending quality time with brother and sister with no cell phones, emails, etc., is the wonderful advice we got here on these boards. And I cannot say enough about that.

And knowing that the Pride will someday in the next couple of years be sailing out of another port on a different intinerary. I have not heard for sure where, but in 2009 this 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise should be the Splendor or that's what our cruise director Jeff told us.

Perhaps the Pride will be in our future again someday as it is an absolutely beautiful ship.

And our wonderful Peruvian dining room waitress Rosanna, an absolute delight, will be signing on out of Galvestion, so we look forward to booking on one of those, just for a chance to see her again. She and her husband are planning on signing on another Carnival ship, but out of Galveston. And she shared her onboard address with us so that we can mail her back and forth and perhaps she can even visit my sister's home in Houston.

Overall, the experience was wonderful and one we will never forget.

Brenda,
We have cruised out of Galveston before. That's definitely closer to you than California.
Have you done a cruise from there or thought about one?
Galveston reminds me of New Orleans.
No doubt about it... Pride is beautiful.

I didn't care for Jeff, Pride's C.D. Did you like him? My impression was, he was slightly cheesy.

A'ndrea

Brenda, getting ten minutes to decide what to do sucks. I am not sure what we would have done in that case seeing as we would be there already.Cruising up the coast would not be very good for us as we live in Vancouver, while it is a beautiful city it is also home.I am hoping we do not have to make a choice when we cruise in 2 weeks.

Sorry it did not work out for you,but book another soon to get this bad taste out of your mouth.

Brenda, I think that with the expectations and excitement we all have for our first cruise, there is no way to have the experience you did and not come out of it a little disappointed. If you sign up for this type of cruise, then the ports of call are a big part of the experience. Not many people would agree that fire damaged Catalina or Ensenada could compare to Puerta Vallarta and Cabo. I think your expectations were fine for what should have happened. My heart went out to you when I found out about the storm as I know how terribly disappointed my family would have been.

I also agree with you about the food. I really felt the food was sort of a 3 out of 5, but presented in a 5 star manner. And like I said, I always left full and I didn't have to cook or clean up, so I left the table happy.

On top of that, you were surrounded by hundreds of other disappointed people who were not having the vacation they planned, and a staff of men and women who were probably braced for a week of complaining passengers. Now that I have had my first cruise experience I don't think the diverted ports would have any effect on me in the future, but I know I would have been terribly let down if this had happend on my first.

*****
But as you said, the Pride is a beautiful ship, and anyone else out there reading this thread should know that this can happen on any ship, on any cruiseline, but if all goes well you can't get much better than the Pride. Storms and diverted ports for other reasons are a risk you take no matter what time of year (or cruiseline). All you can do is hope Mother Nature complies with our desires and then have as positive experience as possible, like Brenda did.

Brenda, I'm still sad that you didn't have the vacation you were hoping for, but I'm glad you didn't let the bad overshadow what good there was. I hope you have a much better experience next time - and heck, I think that 25% deal is pretty sweet myself.

Do you remember the names of your wait staff? And since Andrea and I have had different experiences with Jeff Bronson I am wondering what you thought of him?

edited to add: That took me a long time to type out, you all posted all kinds of comments in the meantime!!!

As for Jeff, I agree he was a little "cheesy". And at the debarkation meeting that he stressed was so very very important, about all he really talked about was how very important it was to fill out the comment cards. Over and over and over. And we did, but we added to those cards that the high pressure to give them highest rating "bubble" was a bit overdone. I was very honest and fair on my comment card. But I could NOT honestly give a "exceeded expectations" to everything and everyone. That is what he tried to hammer into everyone, that any other rating was considered failing. I do NOT believe that a "met expectations" rating is failing. If so, then why have any choices other than pass/fail?

Our waitress was Rosanna from Peru and her assistant was Pompeii from Thailand, both totally charming and very efficient and hard working.

Our steward was Maroot and he also was excellent and a delight.

The 25% off on next cruise is sweet, but should apply to any cruise and any cabin category up to and including the category you booked on this cruise. Not "selected" cruises and "selected" categories. And the on board credit should really have been more of a percentage than one size fits all.
We talked to one couple who only paid $250 each for their cabin (a really low deck inside cabin), so their $100 each on board credit was nearly a 50% reimbursement, while we each paid $1100 for our deluxe balcony cabins and the credit was less than 10%. Sound fair? Not really, but that's the easiest way for the management to do it I guess. I am curious to get our "credit" mailing and see what "select" cruises will qualify for the 25% discount. They told us later that it would be 30-60 days before we receive that info.

One more thing that anyone who is new to cruising may encounter is the pushy sales pitch in the spa. I only went to the hair salon, but my brother and sister both went to the spa on several occasions and of course, got suckered into a lot of overpriced product that is not any better than products you can purchase nearly anywhere here in the states for much much less. My brother even got suckered for a $90 loufah sponge that Walmart carries for less than $10 ! But he is a chump and spent over $1500 total in there. Good looking techs massaging his body and his ego parted him with his dollars. Of course, that kind of high pressure sales pitch happens everywhere, not just in a cruise ship spa.

Be ready to just say "no thanks".

Brenda, I know the spa deal all too well. I'm in the business. The cruise ships have a racket going. You know the saying, "there's a sucker born every minute"? It was designed for cruise ship spa clients. It's a total rip off. Carnival uses "Elemis". Not a very good or reputable spa company, by any means. Lots of impurities, harsh chemicals and detergents and they test on animals. A big no-no in our business. There are, easily, 100 better companies than Elemis.

But, the flip side of all this, people are on vacation and want to be pampered and treated well, at any cost. So, they spend... and, they spend a ton of money on the spa services and products.

I see I wasn't alone with Jeff's cheesiness factor. He pushed the comment card b.s. on us too. Annoying.

A'ndrea

I would definitely be wary of the phrase "selected" cruises. I do hope that works out. Maybe writing a letter listing your good and bad issues will help with a little better deal for you. I had a better time than you did, but I took the time to write a letter to Carnival when we got home and I just got a letter back saying they would give us a bon voyage gift on our next cruise. You never know what it might get you - plus they said they would specifically recognize the employees I mentioned, which made me very happy.

I had heard about the pushy spa pitches and I just stayed away, I'm not a fan of massages anyway. But I used to sell Tupperware yearrrrrrrs ago, and men were definitely the very best customers.

I did feel after my first complete day at sea that I was being suckered out of my money left and right between the art auction, bingo and the casino. I was more upset at myself for letting myself get suckered. When I go again in January I'm just staying away from all that. That was definitely the lesson I learned - there was plenty of other things I could have done that were free.


So what did you do that you liked? You mentioned that you were having a good time when you emailed us from the ship. Did you go to karaoke, or the piano bar? Did you do Afternoon tea?