Our Carnival Pride Repo Journeys Cruise (with pics) - 2/26/17

[Jamman]

Saturday, February 25th - Tampa, Florida.

It was another beautiful day here in Tampa. We really didn’t have anything planned for today, but to relax. We started off the day with breakfast at the Beach Bar & Grille, choosing to sit outside this morning. Patti took these shots as we waited for our breakfast to arrive. That’s me!!

Plenty of outside seating…..

Beach volleyball court…..

The gazebo at the end of the pier…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Here are a couple of guys fishing in the shallow water…..

That’s Whiskey Joe’s across the way. Patti would walk over there later and take some photos…..

After breakfast, Patti decided to take the shuttle over to the International Mall, while I just hung out at the hotel working on the pictures we had taken so far.

Around 2pm I made my way down to the Beach Bar to have a few while I waited for Patti to come back. Patti got this shot of the Bahama Breeze Island Grille from the shuttle as it drove past. Though we never ate there, we heard good things about it, and the shuttle would be happy to take you there!

Back at the hotel, Patti got these shots of the long line of people waiting to check in. Same thing every night!

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Patti met me at the Beach Bar for a couple of drinks, then began her walk over to Whiskey Joe’s…..

Here are a few views looking back towards the Bay Harbor Hotel……

To be continued…….

 

[Jamman]

Patti took these pictures while over at Whiskey Joe’s…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Back at the Bay Harbor Hotel, a good crowd is waiting to hear some live music…..

I can say this about the Bay Harbor Hotel, is that you get some pretty views of the sun setting over the Bay. Here we are waiting for the sun to set…..

Our final sunset here in Tampa……

Afterwards, we had our last dinner at the Beach Bar & Grille, and then we turned in for the night. Tomorrow we will be boarding the Carnival Pride!!!

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Sunday, February 26th - It’s Embarkation Day!!!

We were up early, partially because we were excited, but mostly because we knew we had to get moving. We knew that with 163 rooms checking out in a short period of time in order to board the shuttles to the pier, chaos would be the order of the morning. We were correct.

We went to breakfast for the last time at the Beach Bar & Grille, and even though it was quite crowded this morning, we were served quite quickly. I just want to say that the service and staff at the Beach Bar & Grille were great during our entire stay. Our plan was to be out of our room and down in the lobby by 9am. Last night, as we came back to the room, we grabbed a luggage cart. We were not going to be stuck without one again!

We checked out quickly, (hooray!), and took a seat in the back of the lobby to wait for the shuttles. We were not the only ones…..

Let me tell you about the shuttles. As I mentioned earlier in the review, gingerma took it upon herself to make the arrangements, which was a HUGE job when you consider that over 200 people would be counting on the shuttle company to get them to the pier. We were divided into two groups of about 115 people each. One group would be leaving the hotel at 10am, and the other group would leave at 11:15am. We were in the 10am group. The cost was just $10/pp, which was awesome.

Two years ago, on another Pride repo cruise, gingerma had made similar arrangements, and it did not go so well. This year she made arrangements with a totally different shuttle company, who told her she would not have the problems this time. They lied to her.

At exactly 10am one bus and a small uhaul type trailer showed up. Obviously, this was not enough equipment to handle 115 people, but we all lined up to first, stow the luggage in the trailer, and then get on the bus……

Of course, the trailer and bus filled up way before we got to the front of the line. The shuttle people kept repeating that more buses were coming. Why wasn’t all the equipment needed not there at 10am? The first bus and trailer pulled away, and about 10 minutes later a small bus and a trailer, and then a larger bus showed up. The line then reversed, so instead of being near the front of the line, we were now near the end…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Here I am waiting in line……

The smaller bus and trailer were filled up rather quickly, so our luggage and us went on the larger bus. It was almost 11am before our bus left for the pier. Here are the 11:15am people waiting for their shuttles. I can only wonder what time they left the hotel……

Once we left for the pier, I have to say everything else went fairly smoothly the rest of the way. Soon we were catching our first glimpse of the Carnival Pride docked at Terminal 3…..

We have arrived at the Port of Tampa Bay……

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

The bus pulled into a lot a short distance from the entrance of Terminal 3. The driver unloaded the luggage from underneath the bus, (tip), then we dragged it 30 feet to a porter who loaded it into a luggage crate, (another tip). Patti took these two shots of the Carnival Pride as we walked to the terminal…..

You could see the NCL Jade over at Terminal 2……

The entrance to Terminal 3……

Once inside the terminal, we were directed upstairs and into the line to be scanned. There was just one long winding line. The VIP line was after the scanners. It took about 15 minutes to get to the scanners, but once past that it went very quickly. We basically walked up to one of the VIP windows, checked in, got our Sail & Sign cards, and then boarded the ship. They were already calling boarding group #4 when we boarded. We have made it to the Carnival Pride! Here is our boarding picture…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Here are the Embarkation Day Fun Times…..

Once on board the first thing that we did was head to our cabin. We had an extended balcony cabin forward on the port side on Deck 5. This was our home for the next two weeks…..

To be continued…….

 

[Jamman]

Here are some more photos of our cabin……

We loved that we had a couch…..

Our extended balcony…..

Swipe type safe…..

Empty mini fridge…..

Our desk and flat screen television…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Good to know information for those that want to know!

Here are the Shore Excursion Desk hours for this cruise…..

Looking towards the cabin door, the closets are on the left, and the bathroom is on the right…..

Here is another typical Carnival bathroom…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

We had plenty of closet space. We stored our luggage under the bed.

It was time now to get reacquainted with the Carnival Pride. Here is the forward Apollo Pool…..

Here is my favorite hangout, the Red Frog Rum Bar…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

The mid ship Venus Pool with the retractable roof…..

Caribbean music with Vibe Nation…..

The Blue Iguana Cantina…..

They are pushing Wine Packages, Bottomless Bubbles, and Cheers Program here…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Patti and I are enjoying our first drinks of the cruise……

Patti’s Caribbean Colada……

The Tropical Classics Menu…..

While I remain at the Red Frog Rum Bar and have a few more Thirsty Frog Reds, Patti goes off as she always does, to take pictures while the ship is still pretty empty. Here is the Blue Iguana Tequila Bar…..

There is plenty of hand sanitizing stations around…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Here is the Serenity area located all the way aft on Deck 9…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

The Water Works area is located on Deck 11 aft…..

To be continued……

 

[Jamman]

David’s Steakhouse is located on Decks 10 & 11 mid ship, overlooking the Atrium…..

It is located directly underneath the funnel…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

David stands guard over the Atrium…..

Here are a few views of Club O2 (ages 15 to 17), located on Deck 10 forward…..

To be continued…..

 

[Jamman]

Over the next several pages Patti explores the Body Beautiful Spa & Gymnasium, located on Deck 9 forward…..

To be continued……

 

[Jamman]

The Body Beautiful Spa & Gymnasium…..

To be continued……