Narrow Ship
The Pride (Spirit class ship) is long and narrow. Being a long ship, the front-to-back movement is barely noticeable. However, the narrow design of this ship makes it more susceptible to side-to-side movements. The best word would be it "Shimmies". The day we left Progreso, we pass through a cold front and encountered 40-50 mph side winds. The ship rocked so much side-to-side that the water was splashing (sloshing) out of the pools and onto the deck. Eventually they had to drain the pools. I thought it made the cruise more exciting, however, there were several people lying down due to seasickness.
Also, if the seas are high, you will notice some up and down movement in the front of the ship. The movement was most noticeable in the Butterflies Lounge.
I general, the cruises that travel on the outside (eastern-side) of the islands are rougher because the ship is in the Atlantic Ocean and encounters waves that have traveled across the ocean.
If the ship is behind (west of) the islands, it is somewhat protected from the currents.
In general, the more 'out to sea' you are, the more your chances are of encountering larger ocean swells. However, weather is still the biggest factor.


Room Locations.
The odd numbered rooms are on the starboard (right) side of the ship. The even numbered rooms are the port (left) side of the ship.
Note, Left and right (port and starboard) are always determined as if you were the captain and you were driving the ship (like you would in your car).

---- Bow ----
---Forward----
Port----Starboard
---- Aft ----
----Stern----


Cabins
I was in both a CAT 4A room and a CAT 4C room. Though they were both inside cabins, the 4A room was smaller than the 4C. I had no problems finding space for everything in the 4C cabin. As for the 4A's - The draws in the room were small and very shallow (had to leave most of my clothes in my luggage). The bathrooms were the same size and had plenty of shelf space. The closets were also the same size and had plenty of room for my dress shirts and pants.
If you like to catch a catnap during the day, these rooms are perfect since they are pitch-black when all the lights are turned off.
I didn't mind having the inside rooms since i didn't spend much time in there.

Showers
On the Pride the showers were very nice. The temperature fluctuated slightly but nothing to be concerned about. I really liked the showerhead. The showerhead was adjustable up and down and you could adjust the angle of the showerhead. There were little dispensers for shampoo and body lotion that was quite nice as well.

No clocks
There wasn't an alarm clock in my cabin. However, there is a wake-up service.
While the phone is still on the hook, press the wake-up button, enter the time in military (0800 for 8:00am 1400 for 2:00pm), then press the wake-up button again. The phone will ring at the entered time.
When you get the wake-up call it will be a multi-lingual recording. If you pick up the phone and hang-up right away the phone calls back in about 10 min. (sort of a snooze feature).

TVs
The cabin had a TV on which you could do view several things. They had some regular channels showing videos. There are two cameras setup on the deck of the ship. Two TV channels were dedicated to showing the views from these cameras. One camera faced the front of the ship, the other faced towards the back. TV�s also had 3 channels that played music 24 hrs a day.

Accessories
Both the 4A and the 4C cabins had refrigerators and hair dryers. Each cabin is also supplied with robes and beach towels. These are collected at the end of the cruise and a charge will be put on your S&S card if the are missing.

2 Lifeboat types
There are 2 types of lifeboats on the Pride. One type has a larger top to the boat. The first 3 lifeboats on each side of the ship (as viewed from the front) are the larger types. They are positioned just below cabins 5142-5166 (port) and 5143-5167 (starboard). These boats reach up to (and maybe a bit beyond) the railing of the balcony. The smaller boats reach up to the floor area of the balcony. The smaller ones are below cabins 5168-5190 & 5224-5238 (port) and 5169-5191 & 5227-5245 (starboard). This means some of the CAT 8B balcony cabins have obstructed views when sitting on the balcony.
Note: i never stayed in any of these cabins. I am basing this on the pictures i took while i was on (and around) the ship and from what others have told me. I certainly couldn't give you exact measurements.

Pools
The pools on the Pride are filled each day with salt water. They are about five feet deep and have a shallow area around them that is a few inches deep. There is also a kid�s pool on deck 11 near the back of the ship. On the Pride, the pools were open from 8am to 8pm. Use caution when walking around the pool area as the deck can become very slippery when wet.
One interesting note: The main Lido pool (Venus) was open all day on Sunday (western cruise) except between 8pm - 9:30pm were it was only open to 9-15 yr. olds due to the 'Swimming and Water Olympics' event through Camp Carnival.

Showers around the pools
The shower units around the pools are fresh water (so you can wash of the salt). You push the button on the pole and the water turns on. After a short period of time, the water turns off automatically.

Whirlpools
The whirlpools on the Lido deck open at 8:00am and closed between 10pm-11pm, except the adult one, which closed between 11pm and midnight.

Adults only
They didn't specify what the ages were for the pools themselves, however the Aft whirlpool is suppose to be �adults only� all the time.

Slide
The slide was open to people of all ages, however kids mainly used it. It seemed to be open every day of the cruise (except during bad weather and on Saturday).
The main problem was; they only opened the slide when there was a crewmember there to make sure only one person went down the slide at a time. They say the slide is open between 10am and 5pm however, it did not seam to be open for that long (only a few hours a day). Maybe this was because it was February, i don't know.

Spa times
The Salon & Spa open at 8:00am and close either 8:00 or 10:00pm depending on the day.
The Gym is open 6:00am - 8:00pm.
Free Sauna and Steam 8:00am - 8:00pm (most days).
Massages vary between $75 and $140 depending on type of massage and the day of the week (several specials are offered).

Laundry
The laundry room on deck 6 was in the bow (front) of the ship. On one occasion the hallway was block by a �crew only� door (don�t know why). There are also laundry rooms on deck 7 (midship-starboard), decks 4 and 5 (aft), and deck 1 (midship). $0.75 per wash cycle and $0.75 per drier cycle ($0.50 for detergent). Some of the laundry rooms have irons and ironing board as well.
If you plan on doing laundry before you return home, do it on Thursday night. There were many people trying to do their laundry on Friday (mostly in the morning). I had to wait about 2 hours (just standing around in the laundry) to get an open machine. Others went to different parts of the ship and it was the same.

Tipping
Gratuities are automatically added to your onboard Sail & Sign card for the dining and stateroom services. The total amount was $9.75 per guest (actually per Sail & Sign card), per day as follows.
Stateroom Services: $3.50 per day
Dining Team Service: $5.50 per day
Alternative Dining Service: $0.75 per day
This came to $68.25 for a 7 day trip.

I was told the Dining tips are pooled and divided-up between the dining staff.
I am not sure how they divide-up the stateroom service.
They pass out an envelope towards the end of the cruise for the Maitre D�, which you can put some money in and drop it off during the last night�s dinner.

If you want to change the amounts, you can go to the Purser�s desk before midnight on the last day of the cruise. When you go to the desk just tell them how much you would prefer to tip. They will adjust your Sail & Sign account to reflect the changes. They may ask a few questions like, were you not pleased with something? -or- Is there anything we can do to improve our service. Extra tipping can be done with cash or by asking the Purser�s desk to add a tip for a specific person.

Also, a 15% gratuity is added to the cost of all drinks purchased onboard.
The drink gratuity is pooled and divide-up between all the bartenders (including bar waiters/waitress�).
Extra tips for the bartenders can be in cash (which they keep for themselves) or can by written on the drink slip which you sign. To do this, you write the tip amount on the slip and initial it. Any �Tipped� slips are place in a separate envelope and are given to the person whose name is on the slip.
I was very pleased with the service and spent about $100 extra in tips (each week).

Service
Being on the cruise by myself, i spent most of my time at the bars (felt kind of weird sitting at a table by myself). I got to know several of the bartenders and we spent a lot of time talking. It got to were they would see me coming and have my drink (and receipt) ready before i even made it to the bar. I actually extended my cruise by a week because i knew i would have some friends to talk to.
I gave them each $20 at the end of each week to show my appreciation and i bought 3 of them (Sari, Nipa and Eulis) these little 'I love Carnival' bears as a special thank you gift

Smoking
I am a smoker so i may not have noticed it as much, but there wasn't much smoke in most parts of the ship.
The worst times were just before dinner. Many people would gather in front of the dinning room and many would be smoking. If you have a problem with smokers, it would be best to get there a little late to avoid the smoke. There is also a cigar bar (Raphael Lounge) you would want to stay away from.
The port side of the lido deck was non-smoking, both around the pool and at the bars. There is suppose to be no smoking in the hallways to the cabins, though i did see a few people smoking on the way to their cabins (bugs me when people don't follow the rules, makes it look bad for the rest of us).
There is also a non-smoking lounge in the front of the ship (Butterflies) which has a band in the evening and is also were the adult comedy show was performed. Also, there is no smoking in any of the dining areas.
And of course the Casino had smokers, but unless you were sitting close to someone smoking it wasn't too bad.

Wheelchairs
I had lunch one day with a man in a wheelchair. I asked him if he was enjoying his cruise how the ship was for his wheelchair. He told me he was having a wonderful time. He was extremely pleased with the layout of the ship. His room was easily accessible. Other ships have a lip at the door that can make it difficult to enter the room but not on the Pride. He use most impressed with the bathroom in his cabin. He told me he had plenty of room to go the bathroom or get into the shower. There is a bench that folds down and handrails to use to get onto the bench. As for the ship, he had no problems getting into any area of the ship. His only complaint was he thought he could not get into the Butterflies� Lounge. I later found an entrance on the port side of deck 1 that did indeed have a ramp into the lounge. In his opinion, he would recommend the ship to any handicapped person. One thing I noticed was some of the entrances to the public restrooms looked too small to comfortably maneuver a wheelchair.

Underage drinking
I never had a problem with teenagers being drunk on the ship. However one day, security was looking for a young adult in the disco because he was drinking a bottle of water. Somehow they found out that the person (over 18 - under 21) had bought some booze at one of the ports and poured it into a water bottle and was drinking it in the disco. Don't know if they ever caught the person or not.

Dining - Try something new
The cruise is the best time to try something new. If you don't like it you can order something different.
Several times people at the table ordered one thing, didn't like it, and ordered something else.
Also, i don't like shellfish and never had a problem finding something to eat.
Remember to save room for desert.

Ice Tea - mixed drink.
If you prefer sugar and lemon in your iced tea you can fill 3/4's of the cup with iced tea and fill the rest up with lemonade. Seams to add just the right amount of sweetness and lemon to the iced tea.

A lot of film
I went through 5 1/2 rolls and still wish i had taken more, especially of the ship. It's nice to have pictures to show people when you�re talking about your trip.

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