Our Paradise Cruise July 2-6

I'm going to break my review down in sections...first let me say having been on the Fascination and now the Paradise ..we much prefer the Paradise. We had a wonderful time! But there are a few things I want to say so maybe I can save someone else a headache.

Embarkation/Parking in Tampa- This was our first time out of Tampa and I doubt very seriously I'd do it again. Parking and Directions aren't clear...three times around the circle before we finally found our prepaid parking...I hated crossing over the streets to get to the ship. It just doesn't seem to be laid out very well.

We did have FTTF and they got us on pretty quick and our cabin was ready.

* Let me say here that we have purchased things for two different cruises that gave us confirmation numbers and someone Carnival claims we were never charged and getting help on these matters was like pulling teeth. In this case the 2 -12pks of water I ordered so I wouldn't have to lug any onboard NEVER showed up..I called the first night, took the receipt down the morning of day 2 and checked with them everyday. I never got the water and now have to check with my bank and get verification that I did purchase.:rolleyes: It really discourages me from purchasing from the online Funshop.

Staff/Room Steward- Everyone we met was extremely kind and always asked how we were and if we were having a good time...I have to give a shoutout to Amnat and his crew in the dining room. Amnat treated us to a showing of his dance skills- he was amazing and I laugh now when I hear "Apple Bottom Jeans" . We had dinner in the Elation dining room 3 of our 4 nights. The food was just superior in there. Hands down the best dessert we've ever had was the apple pie and ice cream. The Mahi Mahi was phenomenal also.

Casino: I've never been onboard any Carnival ship where there were players standing around WAITING to get a seat at a Blackjack table and the supervisors would NOT open up other tables. Several of the dealers were really fun and humorous. We met several fun cruisers in the casino..it was a great time when you could find a seat at a table to play.

Our Cabin: We had made a pact that we'd try each type of room...so the opportunity came about to do the interior porthole room. We took it. We don't regret the cabin itself but the location was U1. It was beside a storage closet where the supplies for the room stewards are kept. It got kinda noisy out there at times. But the worst noise sounded like someone was beating the pipes with a wrench in the middle of the night. I was not the only one who called guest services. We were all told they would give us earplugs....and told that it was steam in the pipes. Guest services did follow up on the noise complaint. But as far as any other noise it was only when the ship had to dock in Cozumel that we heard some noise but that was to be expected.

At times we did catch a whiff in different areas of that "sewer smell" ...

We had a fabulous time on board though..we left the casino very little of our money and hung out in the Serenity area hot tubs. We did an excursion with a private company (Jeep Tour) and I highly recommend them. It truly was PRIVATE and they were so kind and attentive the whole time. We saw sights we didn't get to see our last trip to Cozumel.

The Debarkation was NOT handled well..FTTF guests received a letter in their cabins stating the Queen Mary Lounge on Deck 9 was the meeting place at 8:30 a.m. We were there with several others. We were never notified by any Carnival employee that FTTF could leave the ship. We just happened to see some other FTTF folks we'd met and the dad had found an employee to find out what was going on...he had to track someone down and they told him just go to deck 7 and leave the ship but NEVER bothered to tell anyone sitting in QML to go to deck 7. I did go back and tell the ones I saw. And there were NO announcements that Diamond/ Plats/ or FTTF could debark. So we went down based on what we were told. And sure enough walked right off the ship. That's the first time anything like that has happened to us with FTTF. Normally the employees handle guests debarking very strictly and keep you updated with what's happening and when your turn will be.

I hope this review helps someone...and things that happened to us may not happen to you! Have a great week!

Thanks for the review. Sorry for some of the issues you had. The water thing would have been very frustrating!

Thanks for the review. Don't see too many for the Paradise. We were on her a couple years ago and are going again the end of the month. We've also booked the Jeep excursion. What time did you start the excursion and how long did it last? I'm confused about ship's time versus local time and am trying to figure out our tour time. Thanks

Thanks for your review on the Paradise. I had cabin M2 & the cabin stewards had a storage/work room next to my cabin that was noisy at times. No foot traffic but the noise that came from inside that work area was annoying. Of course, the thrusters made noise when docking which was expected. Nice size cabin.

Sorry you had disembarkation problems. I was in the Platinum lounge and as soon as our group was called, I left and was one of the first off the ship. Even saw Steve the CD standing there to say goodbye to everyone. Someone must have dropped the ball when telling your lounge when it was time to leave.

Hopefully, your next cruise on the Paradise will be without any challenges. The Paradise will always be our quick getaway cruise ship, easy to get around and service is good.

Thanks for the review! When you brought your water receipt to Guest Services, what was their reason for not filling your order at that time? Thanks!

Guest Services said they had to check with someone else to see if we were charged. They never delivered water just claimed we were not charged. I'm currently checking into it via my credit card. This is the second time they've claimed I wasn't charged. Last time I lost out on 70$ cruise cash because I used a prepaid credit card gift card that someone gave me..they claimed it was never charged. At that point I'd thrown away the gift card thinking it had been used.

We'd sail the Paradise again. I loved the ship in spite of all we dealt with.

In response to our excursion via CozumelCruiseExcursion.net we arrived in port at 9 am...the island is on CST. We were picked up by 9:30 am and our excursion was approx. 5 hours long. You won't regret this choice. They were amazing.

Thanks for the clarification on the water. That's very disappointing to hear how they handled it. However, glad you had a great trip overall! We are sailing on her this month :).

I'm sorry, but I'm still so confused. Did you meet the tour at 9:30 ship's time or 9:30 Cozumel time? Is the time in port (9-5) CST? The confirmation email from Cozumelcruiseexcursion really confused me. Thanks

Sorry you had such a time. We were on Paradise June 20 and at 8:30am in the QML the ACD Schwartz was there and led us down to get off. No problem. They did tell us at GS that one of my gift cards had nothing on it but I showed them the activation paper and they took care of it. It was a great cruise.

I believe we met our excursion at 9:30 ships time! Also we had confirmation numbers for two fun shop orders for 2 different cruises and they claimed neither was charged?!

We've sailed on the Paradise twice - once from Long Beach and once from Tampa. We did valet park in Tampa and loved it.

Thanks for posting - we actually really like this class and don't see many reviews. Wondering about the Inspiration and Imagination..,

We got off Paradise July 2. I agree debarkation was poorly coordinated and lacked announcements until after 10:00.

We parked in the Port parking garage. Prepaid the fee and it was painless dropping off then parking and the short walk back to Terminal 3. I had no problem with the signage.

I ordered a 12 pack of water from the Fun Shops and it was in our room when we first went in at 1:30.

Overall the cruise was well worth what we paid for our porthole room (M3) and a good value.