Carnival Cruise

I have one last sea day before my cruise ends, and we’re sailing through a storm. The ship is pitching in 12-foot swells (or so guesses the cruise director), and we’ve seen lightning flashes out our stateroom window. 

The pool areas are drenched and closed. The Deck 3 lobby flooded by the doors to the promenade deck. All entertainment activities have been moved indoors.

Our last port of call is Freeport on Grand Bahama Island. It’s a short stop, mainly to refuel the ship. Carnival Pride arrived in port while it was still dark, and all-aboard was set for 1 p.m.

Paradise Cove

Today was another early wakeup call day, so we ordered room service to arrive at 7 a.m. We ordered an array of breads, fruit, yogurt, and caffeinated beverages, and ate it on our balcony while watching the container ships and forklifts on the cargo pier across from us.

Land, ho! After two days floating around the Big Blue, I woke up this morning to Atlantis rising up from the horizon – and room service knocking on my door. Today is our first port stop in Nassau, Bahamas, and my friend and I booked a morning snorkel tour through Carnival. 

It was not fun to set an alarm for 7 a.m. (room service arrived at 6:55 a.m. – ouch!), but our day ashore was worth the wakeup call.

The goal for today was to have the full sea day experience on Carnival Pride: pool, sunbathing, water slides, and top-deck meals.

The Carnival Comfort Beds still live up to their name, and I awoke to sea views out my cabin window. After getting a bit of work done in the cabin, I was ready to explore more of the ship.

Carnival Pride decor

Carnival ships, especially the older ones, are known for their over-the-top, eyeball-burning decor. Love it or hate it, you can’t be indifferent to the loud interior design in the various assorted spaces. Carnival Pride has an Italian Renaissance theme going on in many – but not all – of its public areas.

It’s been months since cruising restarted from U.S. homeports, but I have not set foot on a cruise ship since November 2019. How exciting, then, to see Carnival Pride’s iconic red, white, and blue funnel come into view as we pulled off I-95 and headed for the Baltimore cruise port. 

Would it feel strange to be onboard a ship wearing a mask or would it be a slice of familiar in a very strange year? A bit nervous, a bit giddy, I headed for the ship.

Carnival Pride is the first cruise ship sailing out of Baltimore since March 2020, and I’ll be onboard  this weekend’s seven-night cruise to the Bahamas. This will be my first cruise since 2019, and I’m excited to be back on a ship. I’ll be blogging daily to show you what it’s like to sail with current health and safety protocols, as well as how you can have fun onboard and ashore.

Two cruise lines announced they will change vaccination policies to meet the new rules announced by The Bahamas.

Last week, The Bahamas announced it will require all cruise lines visiting any port, including private islands, to ensure all guests above the age of 12 be fully vaccinated.

Since that announcement, Royal Caribbean and Carnival both announced new changes to their vaccine policies for guests.

While other cruise lines are still sailing at a fraction of their normal capacity, Carnival's newest ship is nearly full.

Carnival Mardi Gras departed from Port Canaveral on Saturday on its maiden voyage, coinciding with a major celebration of the cruise line's newest ship.

While Mardi Gras is not the first cruise ship to restart sailings from Florida this summer, she is sailing with a lot more passengers onboard than other ships early sailings.