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Quick Review - 3 Day on Carnival Paradise 8/19/11


sdmike

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I'll put a more extensive review in the review section (duh), but thought I would give some general thoughts about this trip and ship. To lay the groundwork, you can see from my signature that this was my first cruise on Carnival. I have been on several other “mass market” lines in the past, from small ships to the giant Norwegian Epic. I think I have a pretty good background to render an opinion and share my points of view – both good and bad. My wife and I took this trip as a “last minute” (well, last couple of week) cruise just to get away for a long weekend before school started. All of our cruises in the past had been with kids (except our first..before kids), and we thought it would be nice to just hit the seas without having to deal with our lovely, demanding, fun, frustrating, wonderful, draining :) children.

I’ll cover this by area, but overall we could give the ship and trip a grade of “C” and would likely not take it again unless it fell in our laps at an incredible price. Maybe some last minute deal with a couple of friends or something. Knowing what we’re getting into might make it more tolerable than disappointing the next time.

 

Embarkation and Debarkation – A

 

After hearing horror stories both directions we were expecting the worst. However, there was minimal pain, suffering and wait with either getting on or off the ship. We arrived at LB just around noon, and after parking we were faced with maybe a 20 person line before we got our cruise cards. Then we went right on the ship. The rooms were ready by 1:30, which gave us just enough time to take a self-tour of the ship. The ship maps showing just the side view were pretty bad, but eventually we figured out how to get around. Debarking was equally painless. They started letting “self assist” passengers off around 6:45am, much sooner than the 8am they had predicted. Instead of 8:45am our floor was called at around 7:45, and after a 10 minute wait on Deck 7 to get off the ship, then another 30 minutes getting through customs, we were heading for our car. No fuss

 

The Room – B-

 

We have been on big, small, new and old ships, so we were not surprised that Paradise was showing her age a bit. We were in a window room on Deck 4 (Riviera) towards the back 1/3 of the ship (R194). We felt a fair amount of vibration during the trip, but nothing too bad. Some friends we made had an aft cabin on Upper (6th) and after the first night requested a different room because of the vibration and noise. Glad we were in front of the aft elevators. The cabin was clean and the bed very comfortable. The desk, tiny table and cabinets were showing their age and reminded me of an old dorm room. The life jacket box in the corner was a royal PITA forcing my wife to climb over me to get in and out of bed (oh darn. Lol), and that strange ship art under the TV was laughable. The lighting was good in the room, and we liked that there was a main light switch by the bed. One thing you should know is that there is only 1 outlet in the room – one plug US and the other EUR style. So without my EUR adapter we had only one plug. Bring a power strip if that’s an issue. The TV was old but adequate, and there were more channels than we had on the Epic. However, I think out of 20 channels, 10 of them were hawking Carnival stuff. There were free movies (watched Thor), but the sound volume was all over the place.

 

The bathrooms were adequate sized and the water pressure fair. The issue with the shower was that it flowed from chilly to scalding about every 10 seconds. It was quite an adventure taking a shower as a result. It was also interesting the first time someone in the hall spoke loudly next to our door (skinniest doors I’ve seen, by the way). Since the walls are so thin it sounded like the person in the hall was in my bathroom with me. Eek. Lol. That was funny, but the paper thin walls were not funny when it came to the partying 20-something males next door. We could hear almost every hoot and howl at all hours of the day and night like they were sitting in our room with us. Out steward apologized but other than asking them to keep it down there was nothing he could do. Again, this might be just the nature of an old ship. On the Epic our neighbors could have been playing the tuba and we would not have heard them. Finally, we had adequate storage for 3 days, but much more might have been a challenge. There are only a few shallow drawers and some shelves in the closet. My wife and I had one small suitcase for both of us so we were fine. Oh, the room had great AC. In fact, we often found a need to crawl under the comforter because it was so cold in the room. Great for sleeping.

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Ship – C

 

I don’t mind the size of the ship, and because it was small it was fairly easy to get around. I learned where everything was in just a few hours, and before long I was able to navigate to where I wanted to be. Well, most of the time. You’ll find there are some outside stairwells that lead to various interesting places (like the ones out at Serenity that led up to a back door to Paris), and I sometimes scratched my head wondering how I got where I was. :) I would not have liked a balcony room because they were easy to see into from several vantage points, plus the balconies were just wide enough to get a chair in sideways. Not nearly worth the money, IMO. Most of the public areas were well lit, clean, smoke free, and generally spacious. The exception to the last point was the Paris buffet. The wide, leaf decorated columns and low ceiling made it feel very, very small inside. Some lighter colors and less bulk would do wonders for the place. We especially enjoyed Serenity, but it was sort of strange that you had to get to it from either the buffet or by walking through the Queen Mary lounge. We especially enjoyed it while at Ensenada when the rear of the ship overlooked where the sea lions were sunning in large numbers. It wasn’t quiet for sure (lots of barking), but it was like watching Animal Planet back there. Fun.

 

For the most part the ship was very clean, except for a horrible cigarette stench emanating from Rex nightclub when we walked by the first day. Strange that later there was NO smell at all. I’m not sure what that was all about, but I’m glad they took care of it. I had two big complaints about the ship. In some public areas they played tinny, bad music so loud that we had to get up and leave. I know music is very subjective, but any tinny 70’s pop music played too loudly has got to grate on everyone. It did us, and we often went to other places to avoid speakers. The other big issue was bird crap covering way too many visible surfaces. I know this is a boat, and gulls love boats, but if I’m walking along an outside deck looking down on the life boats, I really don’t want to see that boat covered with what looks like the decorations on “Bird Island” (those of you in SoCal know that white paint job). We ran across people painting the ship, pressure washing areas, etc., but for some reason this never got any attention. Similarly, there was plenty of rust and broken fixtures in these outdoor areas. It was enough to make me wonder just how well maintained some of these systems and equipment really is. Did I mention it was a wee bit on the gross side? Lol

 

Crew – A-

 

Almost everyone was super nice and went out of their way to be of assistance if needed. We got to be friends with a couple of the bartenders and had a great time. What a diverse crew! The lady at the coffee counter on 9 was very nice, as was our waiter the one time we had dinner in the dining room. The minus comes from two minor things. One was difficulty getting anyone’s attention for a loaner hair dryer. Our steward’s pager was a busy signal, and the others in the hall kept saying “I’ll find your steward for you”. After 20 minutes we got one, but that was a little too much work. The other issue was the only morning we had breakfast in the Elation dining room. After being greeted by a very nice waiter’s assistant that got us coffee, the waiter walked up and said with a frown “what do you want to eat?”. Uh…I guess technically that’s the proper question, but it was delivered with such “I hate my job and don’t care who knows it” feeling that I was taken aback. Oh well. Not a biggie, but enough for a minus. Still, the staff on this ship are great. I won’t mention the overly pushy drink waiters because I know it’s their job to ask you if you want a drink if you stop moving for 10 seconds. :)

 

People – A

 

Well, except for the idiots next door and the people that slam doors, yell in the hallway, etc., the other pax were great. Again, what a diverse group! On Friday evening during martini tasting we met a 60-something mom, her friend and her daughter and ended up having a great time with them. They had been on the ship over 20 times and knew where to go and when. They led us from the cigar bar (never saw anyone smoke a cigar there) to enough free shots at the gift shop to top me off for the night! We also met a partying grandmother at the bar escaping “grandpa and the grandkids”, and a nice Scottish couple while we drank a Boddingtons at the US Bar. Everybody was super friendly and having a good time. We even made friends with a heavily tattoo’d woman and her weight lifting husband that gave new meaning to “you couldn’t tell a book by its cover”! They were very conservative, attended church each week, had two lovely children, etc. What a surprise! For the record, my wife and I both have tattoos too, so we certainly not put off by her full sleeves and back work. :)

 

I WILL say though, people were there to P A R T Y. The first indication was going into the buffet at 7am and seeing a bartender and his cart of booze waiting for anyone who needed a little hair of the dog. It was an even bigger surprise to see a table of people drinking Bud Light with their scrambled eggs. Wow, I couldn’t even pull this off in my prime. Haha.

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Entertainment – C+

 

It was also a strange mix of entertainment on this ship. On one hand their Caribbean band by the pool deck was just a guy with an electronic keyboard (sounding like an entire band) with another guy singing, but then in the evening there seemed like there were 4-5 bands playing at different venues on the ship. Lots of bands, no DJ’s (in fact, not hardly anybody in Rex or the other club), a couple of comedians who were pretty funny, and some of the worst “ship shows” I’ve ever seen. The “Sail Away” show was mostly Cruise Director “Danny” telling you what other shows were going to be on the ship for the next 2 days…with a band behind him playing a song or two. Strange. Don’t even get me started on the other two “shows”. Like with other lines they had all the normal cruise things, like Bingo, shopping “sales” and tastings, booze specials, art auction, and more photographers than I’ve ever seen in my life! On the formal night you could literally get 10 pictures at 10 different locations with 10 different photographers. The pictures were good, but you can tell where Carnival is trying to make their money. :)

 

I hate to say this, but by the second evening my wife had gotten bored. We spent most of Sunday (the sea day) sitting out and reading, challenging each other at Soduku, or just hanging out with each other. The casino was good sized, not super smoky, and had some fun games. They had some poker and blackjack tourneys too, which was a nice twist

 

Itinerary – C

 

Gosh I wish we could get to a non-US port in 3 days other than Ensenada. Been there before, didn’t need to go again. We spent the day on the ship, and it was nice to have the day to ourselves. The entire second day we floated in the ocean next to San Clemente island. Yes, floated. 0 knots. I know Catalina is on the 4 day, but that would have been better than just floating next to an island for 12 hours. The itinerary gets a C grade because 1) we knew what we were getting into when we booked, and 2) some people seemed to really enjoy Papas & Beer (and have the hangovers to prove it).

 

Food – D

 

I almost gave food an F, but we found some things we enjoyed eventually. I also realize that food is VERY subjective, and it wouldn’t be totally fair to throw this entire trip under the bus just because we thought 75% of the food was nearly inedible. Here are the “pro’s” for food:

 

Enjoyed the Mongolian grill when open. Problem was the crowd. One time I abandoned the line after 30 minutes. The sushi was fair, but too often it was warm and not properly chilled when sitting out. We liked everything we got from the sandwich station, and we ended up eating there a few times. The pizza was actually pretty good too. I picked up a slice after giving up on a hockey puck hamburger and fried chicken that could have been fried anything. I enjoyed the minestrone soup, tiger shrimp cocktail and the steamed veggies we got one night at dinner. I also got a baked potato at the entrée bar in Paris one night, and once properly garnished I enjoyed that too. For the most part the fruit was fresh, and the deserts were good. I also liked the coffee.

 

Here are my “thumbs down” for food:

 

The lobster was like chewing on an eraser. The prime rib I ordered to replace it was like chewing on a sandal. I gave up and ate my veggies at this point. The aforementioned fried chicken and hamburgers were horrid. A can of Campbell’s clam chowder would have been 10x more appetizing than whatever it was they served. The tiny but tasty ham & cheese omelet served in the main dining room was accompanied by two silver dollar sized hash brown disks. Couldn’t they have at least ground them up and pretended they were not from a bag? The yogurt was Danon, served elegantly in a plastic container with a pull top.

 

Ok, enough of that. I could go on about the food much more, but again, it’s all subjective. Another complaint I have is variety in the buffet but maybe lack of space dictated that more than anything. We didn’t go hungry for sure, but we were amazed at how little effort was put into making this stuff edible.

 

Overall – C

 

I guess if you balance everything out, I’d give the ship a C grade. We had fun and the people were great, but getting bored by the second day and having to roll the dice to find for something we thought was edible provided plenty of room for improvement. This trip is good for what it is…an inexpensive weekend where you don’t have to worry about your dishes or making your bed…but I guess we were hoping for more. It hasn’t soured me on Carnival, and I was pleasantly surprised that the ship wasn’t as garish as I expected. I would actually look forward to a trip on a more modern vessel with more to offer, and maybe more room and opportunity to improve some things like food and entertainment. I will say that a lot of people had a lot of fun, and it was certainly nice to get away with the wifey for a couple of days. However, we agree that maybe next time we’ll try something else.

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A few pictures

 

Enjoying our mini martini tasting

 

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Our tiny space for 3 days

 

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Sea Lions off the aft of the ship in Mexico.

 

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Hanging at the coffee counter

 

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The Queen Mary

 

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So, how was it? ;) Wasnt it your birthday? Or Anniversary?

 

I've had hit and miss on the Paradise myself literally from one month to the next in 2011...Good for NYE, great in March, in April hit n miss on the food and entertainment but it was great in March..? Done the 3 nighter enough times where I just shift my focus to meeting up with friends on board or having some kind of specific purpose..such as hanging at the Piano Bar with Patty during Jordans contract there or a friends birthday.

 

That darn ship light and that box..I tell you. The other Fantasy class ships have been renovated to remove that thing!

 

Like the pics of the martinis. Sorry to hear it was so-so for you. :(

 

One thing I noticed..you sailed the Viking Serenade too? That was my first cruise in 1999 lol! Old ship!

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It was a couple of weeks after my birthday, and a few weeks before my anniversary. I guess it was a Birthversary? Anniday?

 

The Viking Serenade certainly was an old ship! It was a former AK ferry, from what I understand, before it entered the fleet.

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Thanks for the review. I will be on the Paradise in October, and was wondering if you had the new menus. If so, can you remember one main course of each of the nights. I have the menus, but was wondering which of the 4 menus we will have for this cruise from the 7 night cruise menus that have been posted on the boards lately.

 

Thanks

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Thanks for the review. I will be on the Paradise in October, and was wondering if you had the new menus. If so, can you remember one main course of each of the nights. I have the menus, but was wondering which of the 4 menus we will have for this cruise from the 7 night cruise menus that have been posted on the boards lately.

 

Thanks

 

Our experience has been the 3 & 4 night menus are 'highlights' of the 7 day menus.

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Thanks for the review, Mike. We were on the Paradise in February and enjoyed it a lot. I don't care for the shows so I can't comment on them, but I thought the food was pretty good. I agree with the comment about the yogurt, though. It's awful. I had just had stomach surgery and need to take a pill with some yogurt, and it was torture, just torture. Also, your point about being able to stop at Avalon is interesting, I've notice that it doesn't take that long to return to LB from Ensenada, it's a shame we can't stop there or stay longer in Ensenada or Cabo, but I guess it costs more in port fees, etc. ;)

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Thanks for the review, Mike. We were on the Paradise in February and enjoyed it a lot. I don't care for the shows so I can't comment on them, but I thought the food was pretty good. I agree with the comment about the yogurt, though. It's awful. I had just had stomach surgery and need to take a pill with some yogurt, and it was torture, just torture. Also, your point about being able to stop at Avalon is interesting, I've notice that it doesn't take that long to return to LB from Ensenada, it's a shame we can't stop there or stay longer in Ensenada or Cabo, but I guess it costs more in port fees, etc. ;)

 

Maybe that's it, but I would gladly pay an extra port fee to hit Avalon instead of floating in the ocean off San Clemente island for a day. :) Maybe it's the fuel for the tenders, etc. that they're trying to avoid in order to keep the price down.

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Thanks for the review. I will be on the Paradise in October, and was wondering if you had the new menus. If so, can you remember one main course of each of the nights. I have the menus, but was wondering which of the 4 menus we will have for this cruise from the 7 night cruise menus that have been posted on the boards lately.

 

Thanks

 

I've heard complaints that the new menus have eliminated shrimp cocktail appetizers, and since it was on our menu I can only assume we're working off the old ones. I don't have any more info on the menus since we only ate in the MDR one night. I didn't get a look at the other nights

 

I did see that there were several items on the menu listed for $18 extra, including something that sounded like better lobster and filet. When I tried ordering off that part the waiter was confused whether or not I could order it, and after going round and round a bit due (partly because of English not being a strong language for him) I gave up and ordered the Lobster and Shrimp. Sounded good. :) Actually, the shrimp in that dish was good, as were the seasoned veggies.

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Nice review Mike! I would say that you hit on a few of the things we have encountered on Carnival as well... some good, some not so good.

 

As you said, it's a good weekend getaway from reality -- assuming you don't have loud neighbors... or people talking much above a whisper in the halls!!

 

 

Tom

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Thank you for your review. I will be on the Paradise again this Oct. The Martinis look yummy!

 

The only issue with the martinis were the fact they were just poured from bottles. That was a bit disappointing, but they tasted pretty good anyway. However, at 4 for $17 they were way too expensive for mini, premade martinis.

 

One thing you WILL want to do is head up to the gift shop on the first night for the booze sale. Lots of shots flowing for free. We also bought a couple bottles of Sheridans for a great price. It was cheaper on the ship than in Mexico or on-line.

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Thanks for the concise review, sorry you had problems with the food. We were on the Paradise 4-dayer in May (been on her many times) and didn't have any bad food, I guess it depends on the kitchen staff's schedules. The noise issues are certainly dependent on the other passengers. We've done the 'party' 3-day only one time and it was much noiser than any of the 4-dayers we've done, seems to be a tiny bit older crowd during the week vs. the weekend. We're sad that the Paradise is leaving the west coast, but looking forward to the Inspiration also.

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We took this cruise for a last minute anniversary get away. We have been on the Elation twice, so we knew what to expect.

I will say, yes, the balconies are tiny. However, up on verandah deck, it is soooo quiet. No one goes up there unless your cabin is up there. We are sailing on the sister ship, Inspiration, when she takes the place of Paradise.

I liked this ship very much. As mentioned, crew and service were excellent, and I didn't see any Bird Island evidence. :D

We also thought the food was pretty good.

We knew that a 'shorter than 5 day cruise' would attract the party crowd, but we underestimated the number of bachelor and bachelorette parties onboard. (early June). That was kind of a bummer, but we expected some of it.

Honestly, I would take this cruise on this ship again just to get a 'fix'. ;)

Pat

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We took this cruise for a last minute anniversary get away. We have been on the Elation twice, so we knew what to expect.

 

I will say, yes, the balconies are tiny. However, up on verandah deck, it is soooo quiet. No one goes up there unless your cabin is up there. We are sailing on the sister ship, Inspiration, when she takes the place of Paradise.

 

I liked this ship very much. As mentioned, crew and service were excellent, and I didn't see any Bird Island evidence. :D

We also thought the food was pretty good.

 

We knew that a 'shorter than 5 day cruise' would attract the party crowd, but we underestimated the number of bachelor and bachelorette parties onboard. (early June). That was kind of a bummer, but we expected some of it.

 

Honestly, I would take this cruise on this ship again just to get a 'fix'. ;)

 

Pat

 

We'll probably try the other ship when it visits just because it's different and it's always nice to get away for a few days. It's a deal at $300 for sure, but I wouldn't pay much more than that, quite frankly. For the same money we could stay the weekend at the Hotel Del or similar, and not have to deal with LA or Ensenada. :)

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  • 2 months later...

Hi Mike, I'm glad I looked under your signature and found your review. DH and I will be on the Paradise with the kids and Grandkids for 4 days and then on the EPIC. My kids and grandchilden have never cruised and I'm hoping they enjoy this trip. This will also be our first Carnival cruise.

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  • 2 months later...

We sailed on the Carnival Paradise in 1999 and she was a strictly no smoking ship. I guess this didn't last to long as I saw a comment on stinking stale cigarette stuff. Is she a smoking ship and when did it happen.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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