bandjwayne

Great review so far.  Looking forward to reading more about it!

On 10/25/2019 at 7:18 AM, bookbabe said:

It’s essentially the same area.  Calico Jack’s is right next to Public Beach, on the other side of the parking lot.  You can see both easily on a google map.

Yep!

Like another poster mentioned noise can be an issue.  I was in a cove balcony on the Vista, right across from the Harbor Family Lounge.  Although the balcony was nice, the noise I heard at night kept me up all night long...never again.

Do you mind sharing information about the bar hop?

9 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

You will most likely dock at the pier.

 

Check cruisetimetables.com and cruisett. com  websites and see how many ships are in port that day.  Then most likely the largest ship will dock and other tender, or if similar size, the earliest arrival dock and the later one(s) tender.

Thanks for the tip.  It looks like the Harmony is also there that day.

I'm going on the Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas in Feb. 2020 and we stop at Roatan, Honduras.  From what I've read, we will dock at Coxen Hole.  Is this a pier or do we have to use tender boats?  Is there much to do around the dock?  I'm interested in doing a tour with Ronny to see the sloths and to go snorkeling.  Does anyone know how far of a drive it will be?

Thanks so much!!!

Would you mind sharing what you paid?  Sounds just like the kind of trip I'd like to take.  Also, what ship were you on?  I'm doing Royal Caribbean next Feb. and was wondering how difficult the tendering is.

I got the package for $49/day per person for our Feb 2019 Harmony cruise.  I'm not a big drinker so I'm not sure I got my "money's worth".  I believe my husband probably came out a little bit ahead.  One thing that I did really like though was knowing that I wouldn't have a huge bill at the end of the cruise.  With the drink package you already know & have paid for your drinks before stepping onboard the ship.  We also took advantage of the premium liquor instead of house pour in our frozen & mixed drinks.

3 hours ago, JohninDC said:

There are a few Rocky areas, but we did not need water shoes and had very little issues with seaweed/grass when we were there in February.

Yep, I agree too!

13 hours ago, rcprncss said:

Great review.  Thank you.  

How many ships were in port with you?  The beach doesn't look so crowded from your pictures but the pool does!

I believe there were 7 ships in port this same day.  We were in Cozumel from 10-8 & I believe we got off the ship around 11 and headed over to PB then and stayed until around 3.  It was pretty quiet for the first few hours and then got busier after that.  My beach pics probably don't look too crowed though because I purposely tried to avoid getting lots of people in the pictures.

5 hours ago, joyce&bob said:

We are grandpa & grandma taking 8 grandchildren (ages 16 through 26) on the 4 night Paradise cruise in July.  Glad to hear such a nice review.  We are so excited to have them all together.  We have the anytime dining...wondering if you saw any tables for 10...

Yes, we were at a table for 12...they just sat 10 people there.  We had the early dining so we were in a different dining room than what anytime dining uses, but they should be pretty similar!

11 hours ago, Momto3girlsintheCarolinas said:

Thank you for the review.  We have 5 nights on Paradise booked in about a month.  It will be our first Carnival cruise (see signature), and I've been a little worried because my bratty teenaged daughter was "bored" on Majesty.  My husband and I love smaller ships, but the kids want big activities (rock climbing, zip line, FlowRider, etc), but those ships just aren't in the budget every year.  I am so glad you and your boys had a great time!  I agree that a vacation is what you make it!  

It's tougher when the kids get that age, but I think your daughter will find plenty to do on this ship for a 5 night itinerary...7 nights might be a little bit long, but 5 should be just fine!  I told my kids that if they were bored that just meant they didn't need to come on the next cruise with us:)

I just did a review of this same cruise:  

I have a 12 year old son who went to the kids club.  He enjoyed that he was able to check himself in/out depending what was going on.  The ship is small enough that I felt comfortable with him doing that with the expectation that he was only to go in a few predetermined locations if not in the kids club.  Here's the schedule for the 12-14 yrs olds.

1 hour ago, Auralee said:

Thanks for all the comments letting me know that either time seems like it will work. I just was having a hard time trying to figure out what meal time would work for seeing all the shows (age appropriate for kiddo).  I think i'll keep us on Anytime Dinning wait list, but am glad to hear that if we are placed with  late dinning it sounds like we will still be able to see everything. Thanks Erikup. (early dinning is also wait listed so it is most likely if we don't get anytime dinning we will be placed in late night). 

 

I think i'll also check when Carnivals Kids club is closed for "dinner" . Our kiddo is usually eager to get back and that has been an issue on other cruises when our dinner was while it was open. Thinking more on it this might be the biggest factor lol that i recall causing issues with dinner. lol. 

I've attached the first page of the kids club activities from my Paradise 5 day cruise.  Other than the first day they had kids dinner from 6-7 pm each night for ages 2-11.  We never did that since we wanted to eat as a family, but would send him after our dinner.  The kids club did end each evening at 9:45 as it then would go to the pay for Night Owls service.  

We were on the Carnival Paradise a couple weeks ago for a 5 day cruise.  We choose early dining (6pm)for our family which includes a 9 & 12 year old as I personally feel that eating at 8 pm is just too late for them.  They enjoyed the PG comedy shows which were at 8:30 & 9:00 on our sailing.  Plenty of time to get to them after dinner or you can always choose to skip the main dining & go to the buffet a few times to change things up...my boys appreciated this.

Thanks for sharing your experience!

2 hours ago, Djptcp said:

Great review and loved the many photos! Glad you had a great time. We sail on the Paradise often as we live close to Tampa and enjoy the Paradise cruises. Sorry you had low expectations before the cruise, but glad you enjoyed the cruise after all.

I should say my low expectations weren't that I wasn't going to have fun - it's vacation & a cruise, so of course I'll have fun or why go?  It was more of the fact that I thought it would be extremely busy & not much to do on the smaller ship.  Like I said, I was pleasantly surprised and would book a 5 day on this ship again!  If I lived in the Tampa area instead of MN I'd definitely go on it more!

35 minutes ago, emm126 said:

Thank you for the review- I am going on the paradise in a little over a month. I knew what to expect before booking but I wanted a quick cruise because it was long until my next one in September. I am glad to see you liked it and had fun. I am looking forward to it.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.  Like any vacation it's what you decide you want to make out of it!

36 minutes ago, JaniceB said:

Thanks for doing a review on the Paradise.  I thought there was an aft pool too.  Was that adult only or gone totally.

There is no pool area in the aft.  That's where the Serenity adults only area is which has 2 hot tubs, but no pool.

We were on the Carnival Paradise & in Grand Cayman we had priority tendering because we were FTTF. A letter was in our room the night before saying what time to arrive at a lounge for priority boarding. This worked great we were off the ship in no time.

We walked to the bus station and took a bus (large van) for $2.50/person to 7 mile beach (by the public beach/Calico Jacks area). The driver was very friendly & stopped whenever requested. Once we got to the beach (~9:30 am) we were greeted by a guy who got us 2 lounge chairs & an umbrella right in front of the water for $20. We played in the gorgeous water & the kids tried the water trampoline (but that really was too hard to get onto, even for my active kids). My younger son enjoyed snorkeling for rocks...tip, get a full faced snorkel mask - SO much easier for the kids! We walked over to Calico Jacks for a few drinks and chicken strips. There were some food trucks set up in the public beach area, I was just a little nervous to get food from them for sanitary reasons. Once we had enough we took the bus back to the cruise terminal. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time as the traffic was kind of bad w/lots of ships in town.

Public Beach area on 7 Mile Beach (just down from Calico Jacks)

. Plenty of space to throw the football right away - it did get much busier midday

. 9 year old loved the full face snorkel mask -~$60 on Amazon

. Lots of pretty rocks to pick up (& then throw back into the sea)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We got off our ship (Carnival Paradise) in the morning & took a taxi to Paradise Beach (PB) ($15 each way). PB does offer an all inclusive rate now that they tried to sell us but I had researched a head of time and knew that with the kids we were not going to eat & drink enough to cover that price ($63/adult, $44/12-17 yr old, $38/5-11 yr old). Instead I paid the $3/person cover charge and $10 food/beverage minimum. We also paid the $18/ person charge for the fun pass (ocean waterpark, kayaks, etc.) The kids and hubby had a blast in the water park, esp. launching each other off the one jump inflatable. Tip...have someone hold the inflatable while the other person gets on so it doesn’t tip over! We watched many people struggle before my husband helped them out. We really liked how these water toys had pads next to them to made getting on them much easier. There was a worker who would go out to check the air in them & kick people out who didn’t purchase the wristbands. I had hoped to use the kayaks too, but the wind picked up & I wasn’t comfortable trying them so be prepared for that. We also used the pool after we had had our fill of ocean water & loved the gigantic size of it. Chairs were readily available by both the beach & the pool. Banana boat rides & parasailing were also available although we didn’t try them. When we were ready to go back to the ship plenty of taxis were available. I’d definitely return to PB again!

. Paddle boards & kayaks were included with the water park. Tip - go before it gets windy!

Mexican Platter

. Chips with salsa & guac

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Overall we were very impressed with this cruise. I enjoyed Carnival’s casual food choices and the spring break crowds on the ship (compared to land in FL).

Let me know if you have any questions!

Jody







Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Stops:
In Grand Cayman we had priority tendering because we were FTTF.
A letter was in our room the night before saying what time to arrive at a lounge for priority boarding. This worked great we were off the ship in no time. We walked to the bus station and took a bus (large van)
for $2.50/person to 7 mile beach (by the public beach/Calico Jacks area). The driver was very friendly & stopped whenever requested. Once we got to the beach (~9:30 am) we were greeted by a guy who got us 2 lounge chairs & an umbrella right in front of the water for $20. We played in the gorgeous water & the kids tried the water trampoline (but that really was too hard to get onto, even for my active kids). My younger son enjoyed snorkeling for rocks...tip, get a full faced snorkel mask - SO much easier for the kids! We walked over to Calico Jacks for a few drinks and chicken strips. There were some food trucks set up in the public beach area, I was just a little nervous to get food from them for sanitary reasons. Once we had enough we took the bus back to the cruise terminal. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time as the traffic was kind of bad w/lots of ships in town.

7 Mile Beach by the Public Beach area


We could use the water trampoline, but it was very difficult to get on, even for my athletic kids.

I highly recommend a full face snorkel mask. My son loved it - ~$60 on Amazon


Football fun for the big boys & snorkeling (for mainly rocks) for the little boy


Little one’s rock collection. Don’t worry, we threw them back in the sea




In Cozumel we took a taxi to Paradise Beach (PB) ($15 each way). PB does offer an all inclusive rate now that they tried to sell us but I had researched a head of time and knew that with the kids we were not going to eat & drink enough to cover that price ($63/adult, $44/12-17 yr old, $38/5-11 yr old). Instead I paid the $3/person cover charge and $10 food/beverage minimum. We also paid the $18/ person charge for the fun pass (ocean waterpark, kayaks, etc.) The kids and hubby had a blast in the water park, esp. launching each other off the one jump inflatable. Tip...have someone hold the inflatable while the other person gets on so it doesn’t tip over! We watched many people struggle before my husband helped them out. We really liked how these water toys had pads next to them to made getting on them much easier. There was a worker who would go out to check the air in them & kick people out who didn’t purchase the wristbands. I had hoped to use the kayaks too, but the wind picked up & I wasn’t comfortable trying them so be prepared for that. We also used the pool after we had had our fill of ocean water & loved the gigantic size of it. Chairs were readily available by both the beach & the pool. Banana boat rides & parasailing were also available although we didn’t try them. When we were ready to go back to the ship plenty of taxis were available. I’d definitely return to PB again!





Mexican Platter

Chips with salsa & guacamole



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Misc. ship thoughts:
I believe this ship was dry-docked last year. I thought it was in great
shape for being an older ship. The employees were pleasant and I was very surprised in how uncrowded it was, esp. being that it was spring break. The only times I felt like it was too crowded was on the sea days by the pool. Tip - get up & moving early to get chairs as there is only one pool and many people save chairs! I didn’t like that the hot tubs closed at midnight. The shows (80s, rock, and Cuban themed) had great singers. The comedy club had a nice amount of seating and I liked that they had PG shows for the kids and R ones for the adults. This is a small ship so there aren’t a lot of extra activities to do, but we did enjoy the mini golf course, library game room, ping pong, shuffle board, life size chess game. I do wish there was more than one pool however. Melissa the cruise director was entertaining as was Savanah the comedy club host. One thing I did not like however was how little hand washing and hand sanitizer was promoted - definitely different that what we experienced on previous cruises:(



Excited to go under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. We went under the bridge right around 6pm then went to dinner.






The boys waiting for the PG comedy show to start. We had no problems getting a seat because we came early


I love the beautiful Caribbean water!


Our crazy family


Towel animal


Rock show



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kids Club:
My 9 year old son was in the 9-11 Sharks group. He had the option of checking himself in/out, but we decided not to allow him to do that as he’s not the best at following directions yet. He had fun, although wished he was able to play their video games more (only allowed during “free choice” time).






My 12 year old was in the 12-14 year old Circle C group. This age group has privileges to check in/out & I was comfortable with him doing that based of his matureness & the size to the ship. He would often go too when it was free choice (video game) time. He liked the scheduled sports opportunities, but found it to be too crowded & boring as there were long lines.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk