Carnival Pride - Inside Public Rooms (2)

Moving towards the “aft” of the ship we next encountered the Starry Night Lounge. This is where they held the Karaoke Singing and everyone had a great time. Many times the crowd spilled out into the seating area of the hallway. Kids and adults alike were able to show off their abilities (or lack there of) to sing. The important thing is that the lounge was always busy and everyone was having fun. The host was great at finding the songs that the performers wanted and he made the place work.

This was the biggest ship casino I have seen so far. It was easily twice the size of the one on Caribbean Princess and was always busy. There were many more types of games available and lots of slots. If you wanted to play any type of game there always seemed to be a place for you. I found that nice.

One word of warning: The smoke in this area and the associated Sports bar is beyond description. It was like walking into a cloud and the smell spread from the casino into all other areas near it. Our dining room company told us that they would go out of their way to not go through the casino due to the smoke. While my wife is sensitive to smoke we didn’t find it quite that bad, but it was very noticeable. One thing that Princess did was to have one night during the cruise where smoking was not permitted in the casino. That was nice but given the crowd on Pride this might not have been an acceptable option. Everyone in the casino did not seem to mind so it must be working for Carnival.

During port days there was hardly a notice of smoke so they must have a great ventilation system.
Above the casino was the Ivory Piano Bar. This was the only bar that had easy listening music. What we missed the most was a place where we could listen to such music and dance if we wished. There didn’t seem to be such a place on Pride. I missed dancing with my wife very much, especially on dress up nights.

Moving aft from the Casino one encounters the Main Atrium. I spoke of my feeling of the décor on Pride in earlier posts so won’t berate that subject anymore.

I found the passengers on Pride to be very participatory when it came to dressing up on Formal nights as is evident in the photo below.

The women and little girls were all dolled up and yet they somehow seemed out of place in Prides Atrium. Further, every nook and cranny was occupied by one photographer or another. Each had their own backdrop, which was nice, but it did interfere with the movement of the guests.

One thing we enjoyed very much on Princess was the Champaign Waterfall, where everyone had a chance to go to the top and get a photo of them pouring the Champaign. See photo below.

I really missed having a photo opportunity such as this on Pride. Familys assembled on the staircases, but, again (IMHO) it seemed somewhat out of place with them dressed up and the stairs so dark and heavy.
OK… OK… I have said enough about the Atruim so will depart, but not before mentioning the one interesting and unique feature found there.

Associated with the panorama elevators is a space that rises up to the top of the ship that is capped with a skylight. This gave a unique and beautiful effect to the area and, when we were in David’s Steakhouse on the first night, we noticed we could hear the music from the Atruim as it rose up to us. This might bother others but I found it to be inclusive as we were away from the crowds but still felt like we were with them. I almost began thinking I was missing something, especially since we were up there during the SuperBowl.

Next post - Beauties Disco (This deserves a post all to itself)