Paradise review 3/22/14

We are a family of four that cruised on the Paradise 5 day out of Tampa on March 22nd, 2014 for a much needed vacation from a winter that will not soon be forgotten in the Chicago area. We experienced the 3rd coldest and 3rd snowiest on record.

Saturday Embarkation:

We flew in the day before the cruise staying with my Mother-in-law near Tampa. Decided to relax in the morning before heading to the port in the afternoon thinking we would just walk right on the ship. Much to my surprise we arrived at the port at 2:00 to a line of people waiting to get processed and got on the ship an hour later. The safety briefing and sail away was delayed as well.

Sail Away: We watched the sail away on the aft deck enjoying it with a drink.

Subscribing!!! I sail on her Oct 18th again.. Not that many reviews for the Paradise... :D

Great pictures!!!!!

Made our way around the ship for a while and then back to the aft before going under the Sunshine Bridge.

When the bridge excitement ended we finished unpacking before heading to dinner.

Sunday Sea Day: We spent the day on the Veranda Deck Aft getting there at 10:30 lucky to find four chairs together that were not being held by towels or happy humans. The waves were nonexistent and the sun brilliant.

My daughter and I watched the Hairy Chest Contest in the afternoon and thought it was good. All the contestants had fun except for the unlucky guy to blow his knee out dancing for the judges.

The open decks were crowded with everyone soaking up the sun.

Tonight was formal night. You still saw cruisers that dressed in traditional formal wear along with resort casual such as us. I didn’t notice any shorts in the dining room nor would it have bothered me.

After dinner that night we watched the family friendly and adult comedy shows. They were both funny at times with the adult show bringing out some really raunchy material.

Monday: Georgetown, Cayman Islands

Ship port time was from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm with the last tender leaving at 2:15. The tender line in the ship was winding down and around the hallways on the Riviera deck. Although the line was long at 8:15 it moved fairly quickly and we were in the port area an hour later. I got my family a little lost on the main strip and with help from a local he flagged a public bus down to drop us off at Sea Grape Beach (Calico Jack’s).

The beach was empty probably due to the early morning and only two ships in port. Chairs were $5 a piece and the picnic tables were available to patrons.

The snorkeling from shore was not good in this area so we walked a couple of hundred yards to the next beach bar. There is a small rock out cropping just off shore and the snorkeling here was better with more fish.

After a bucket of CayBrew we grabbed a taxi back to the port. The taxi's were more convenient but cost twice as much as the bus. Did an hour of shopping in town and then headed towards the tender area at 2:15.

I think most of the ship thought about catching that last tender since the line was long. We shopped in the tender area for a while until the tender line died down and caught the last tender after 3:00.

Enjoyed our stop at Grand Cayman, but it was a couple of hours too short since tendering into port this can really cut into your shore time.

Tuesday: Cozumel

Woke up to a beautiful sunrise in the Caribbean with a few extra passengers along for the ride approaching Cozumel.

Ship port time was from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm and docked at the Puerto Maya Pier. We got off the ship as soon as the all clear was announced.

We did some shopping and some bartering as it is always fun to barter in Mexico. Once everyone got what they were looking for we relaxed at Fat Tuesday’s for a couple of cold ones in the swing bar.

Finally it was time to head to the marina for our snorkeling tour. We booked a tour with Liquid Blue Divers and had a fantastic time. Owners, Kami and Steve, along with Captain Javier, took us to a marine reserve reef off the southern tip of the island.

The snorkeling was great! Drifting effortlessly with the current in 20’ to 30’ of water for well over an hour. Steve would dive to the bottom swimming through the reefs scattering even more fish hiding in the coral reefs. It was like being in an aquarium and wish I had more than a disposable underwater camera for this.

When we were done snorkeling they took us close to shore to a place called El Cielo where we relaxed in the sand bottom water. This place was like heaven and the highlight of our trip.

I would highly recommend this tour company for a snorkel or dive tour when in Cozumel. They even drove us back to the port area instead of having to wait for a taxi. Great service and super people!

Can't wait for the rest of your review! Our first cruise will be in 2 1/2 weeks on the paradise! Thanks for taking the time to post a review :)

We had lots of fun at dinner tonight. We passed on the Mexican Fiesta because it was very windy and cool on deck. Captain Roberto Tine said the winds were blowing at 30 knots and 7 foot waves. The boat was rocking a bit that night.

Wednesday Sea Day: It was a windy day so we relaxed at the main pool to escape the wind. The DJ was fun and active, but I do miss having a steel drum band on a Caribbean cruise. An hour or so of a steel drum band giving the DJ a break would have been a nice addition. My son was caught up with all the hype of the watch sale before finally buying one. He had fun with it and likes his watch.

Thursday Disembarkation: We left our cabins about 8:30 heading up to the lido buffet for some breakfast and wait for our zone to be called. We were off the ship and through customs by 10:00.

Ship: The Paradise definitely shows her age if you look for it. As a whole the ship was clean and the crew friendly. I would sail on her again especially with Grand Cayman and Cozumel as ports of call. We did not spend any time on the Serenity Deck but it looked nice. The casino took some of our money and probably would have taken more if it wasn’t so darn smoke filled. It would be nice if Carnival could retrofit some air ducts in this area to pump smoke to the outside of the ship.

Cabins: We had Ocean view cabins on the Upper deck 121 and 125 with more than enough room for two people in a cabin. Fine location being mid-ship having cabins above and below us with the elevator just around the corner. The best part about our cabins was the room steward Arulio. Having Anytime Dining we left the cabin at different times all five nights. He never missed a beat with the turndown and was available, accommodating, and always doing this with a hello and a smile at all times. He was the best room steward we have encountered.

Dining/Food: Quality wise we thought the food was average. Yes, we always found something to eat that worked best for us. Dinner entrees were hit or miss, but the appetizers and desserts were good. I did like the made to order omelets and fruit choices for breakfast along with the Deli sandwich and salad bar for lunch. Pizza hit the spot when needed. We did not make the sea day brunch because the sun was too inviting to pass up.

We selected Any Time Dinning and it worked out great for us. We were given a beeper on two of the five nights with the wait times of 15 min and 30 min. On the nights with a wait it gave us time to take a few pictures. We really liked the flexibility going to the dining room all 5 nights which we would not have with a traditional dining time.

On the third night we were served by Mihaela, I Wayan. They made a great team and we had fun with them. There was never a lag between courses that we experienced with other teams. We requested them on the fourth night and enjoyed them once again. The fifth night our request to be seated with them was a one hour wait. We passed and were seated right away with another team. The two nights with Mihaela and I Wayan was a plus!

This cruise was just what the family ordered. We never had a plan while on the ship and it worked out great spending most of the time together as a family. Maybe it had something to do with no distractions from social media devices returning to the days when conversations took place without texting or posting. Can’t wait to start planning our next cruise!

Awesome, thanks for posting this. Me and the fellas are doing or yearly guy's cruise on Paradise later this year. It's great to see some recent pics of her.

It's also nice to see the unmodified Fantasy Class pool deck. The old setup with the slide in the middle and the aft Verandah Deck pool worked so much better for crowd dispersion IMO. Now seeing the unmodified Fantasy Class cabins isn't quite as exciting, but I guess it'll be nice to kick it old-school for four nights! :D

Thanks again for sharing, I'll be following along.

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We had lots of fun at dinner tonight. We passed on the Mexican Fiesta because it was very windy and cool on deck. Captain Roberto Tine said the winds were blowing at 30 knots and 7 foot waves. The boat was rocking a bit that night.

Wednesday Sea Day: It was a windy day so we relaxed at the main pool to escape the wind. The DJ was fun and active, but I do miss having a steel drum band on a Caribbean cruise. An hour or so of a steel drum band giving the DJ a break would have been a nice addition. My son was caught up with all the hype of the watch sale before finally buying one. He had fun with it and likes his watch.

Thursday Disembarkation: We left our cabins about 8:30 heading up to the lido buffet for some breakfast and wait for our zone to be called. We were off the ship and through customs by 10:00.

Great review! Thanks for sharing. One thing i saw that I've never seen in all my cruises is the rope ladder. Lol good to know they are there, lol i assume they are what are covered in blue canvas on other ships. Anyway thanks again for sharing.

great photos! many thanks for the super review!