Paradise Review with Chefs table and pics.

[tdmullins]

There were six ships in port that day. But it never felt crazy overcrowded. In my opnion this showed how much the island had to offer in excursions and entertainment. We opted out of visiting the beach since we had a whole day booked at Nachi Cocum the next day. Since our depature time was at 3 we didnt have a lot of time, so we just headed back.

 

Grand Cayman from my balcony

 

Tonight was Chef's table. I have to say I was very excited about this. I read the reviews on here and saw all the pics. I was also a little nervous because I had read about the menu changes and honestly felt like that the “old” menu was the one I wanted. So I was very happy to find out the night before that the Paradise had not switched over.

 

The letter left in our stateroom instructed us to meet in the atrium lounge. Once everyone was there, we were escorted to the galley. We were introduced to the Chef and served Champagne. The Chef then started serving us his appetizers. The first appetizer was a Ahi Tuna Tartar. I didn’t think I would like this, but I loved it! The second was a Duck potsticker followed by a steak taco. Served last was avocado cheesecake that was very, very good.

 

We were then given a Chocolate Melting cake demonstration by the pastry chef. It was interesting to learn that you can order it more well done. After the demonstration we were led to the library where a private table was set up. We entered the galley from one door but left another that took us thru the dining room. I figured it was to “show us off” and help sale the Chef's Table.

 

 

I almost didn't post the following pics because I did not use my flash and they aren't that good. But I decided to anyway.

 

Once seated the Chef began serving us. Our meal included Beef Carpaccio.

 

 

Next was fried calamari. I do not have a pic of the calamari because I jumped right in and began eating. So this is only the candied tomatoes before the calamari was served. It was the best calamari I have ever eaten. The chef said the secret was soaking it in buttermilk.

 

Fire Roasted Tomato and Pablano Chili Bisque.

 

I do not like tomato soup, but I loved, loved this soup.

 

 

Chopped Mediterranean Salad.

[tdmullins]

Fillet of Chilean Sea Bass.

 

The risotto served with this sea bass was fantastic.

 

Aged Filet of Mignon.

 

Special Made Melting cake with surprise from the chef.

 

Friends we made from Indiana.

 

It was one of our table mates birthday.

 

Our picture with the chef.

[brad09821]

You have some great pictures. I have been looking at your pictures to see if the wifey and I are in any of yours lol. There are a couple that were taken very close to where we were. Thanks for the great review so far. After that cruise, the wifey and I are already looking to cruise again and would have no problems cruising on the Paradise.

[tdmullins]

The chef's table was most definitely one of the highlights of this cruise. After eating we were so full we went and lounged on one of the decks and let our food digest. At some point I went and lost some money at the casino. We sat and listened to the band outside of the casino.

 

 

The next morning was Cozumel. We arrived kinda late (11am), I was up and already had breakfast in the room when we sailed into Cozumel.

 

The escort sailing along side as we arrive into Cozumel.

 

 

We were suppose to have docked at Porta Maya but for some reason that I never knew we ended up docking at the pier downtown. So we made our way down around noon and found a cab to take us to Nachi Cocum.

 

 

It cost us $16 to get there. I had warned my DH that I had read that the entrance to Nachi Cocum wasn't very pretty but not to judge the beach by that. He told me he was glad I warned him or he may have had the taxi driver take us somewhere else.

 

I booked Nachi thru their website and paid a deposit of $12 a person. I paid the remaining $86 once we arrived. Make sure you take your confirmation. The resort was an All-inclusive and worth every penny spent.

 

This was our spot for the day.

 

My veiw while laying about. Not too shabby.

 

Nachi Cocum's menu.

[tdmullins]

brad09821, it would be very cool if you show up in some of my pics.

[tdmullins]

Our lunch that day. We were so full we didn’t even order dessert.

 

 

The view of our piece of paradise from the water.

 

 

Snorkeling.

 

 

Some hammocks that were right behind us.

 

 

The pool.

 

[tdmullins]

These pics shows just how chilled we were.

 

 

 

Some more pics of Nachi Cocum. DH took these of me in the water.

 

 

[tdmullins]

The ship was scheduled to leave until 7pm, so we go to spend a nice long day at the beach. We started packing up around 5 to head back and ran into some cruise mates from Alaska. We decided to split a cab back. The were actually a couple I had talked to on here about splitting a cab there. But I got soooo busy before I left I never had a chance to check the boards again and work it out. So I was tickled we ra into them and got to share a cab back. They were sooo much fun to talk too and was glad we got to meet them. I am only bummed that I forgot to get a picture with them.

 

We got back to the pier and did some shopping before getting back on the ship. I cant leave Mexico without me some vanilla. Its the secret ingredient in all my recipes.

 

Heading back to the Paradise.

 

We went to dinner right around the time the ship sailed. I have no pics of food from the MDR. I knew there were tons of food pics on these forums and I was just too lazy to get my camera out. Tonight I had the bacon mac and cheese topped with chicken. I was in the mood for comfort food after the big meal the night before and I had read about this entree. It did not disappoint. As I am sitting here typing this I am craving a big ole helping of it.

 

DH grabbed some headphones, heading outdoors to chill. I went and made another donation to the casino. Later we grabbed some snacks at the lido buffet. It opens back up around 11 and stays open til 1 or 1:30. They served hamburgers, hotdogs, and fries. It was a good little place for a late night snack. Of course the pizza was also available.

 

The lido grill open for a late night snack

 

One more DOD before the night was over.

 

[tdmullins]

Our last sea day was tons of fun. I started out with my usual grab breakfast and take it to my room. There is an elevator right outside of the Paris restaurant (Lido buffet) that I would grab, go straight down to my deck , and walk the hallway to my room. It made taking breakfast back to the room a breeze.

 

I had planned on eating in the MDR one morning so that I could try the eggs benedict. But we were lazy dogs all vacation and slept in every morning. But to my surprise they were on the buffet the last sea day.

 

After breakfast DH and I headed outdoors. We sat outside and enjoyed the weather. One of the other things I had wanted to do was play trivia. But it seemed like everytime it was good time for me to play the trivia was something I knew I would be horrible at. I decided to go try my hand at the scavenger hunt. I left DH chilling out with his headphones and headed to the Promenade deck. When I got there they announced that everyone needed to be in groups of four. Since it was just little ole me, I was afraid I was out of luck being able to participate. But then a couple asked if they could do it as a group of two and they said yes. So I went over and asked if I could join them. They were super nice and let me be on their team.

 

It was a digital scavenger hunt where we had fifteen minutes to take a pics from a list they gave us. I had a BLAST playing this. We ran around the ship asking people to kiss strangers, where the laudry was and if we could take pics of their sail and sign cards..lol. I loved every minute of it. The wife of the couple I was playing with told me that this was their first cruise and that her husband played every trivia game because he really really wanted to win a ship on stick. He has lost out one game by one point. So when we turned our list in and showed our pics I was nervous, because I really wanted to win for him (and I wanted one of those trophys too). The more people turned in, the more nervous I got. But in the end after the score was added......WE WON!! yeepee.

 

My winning team.

 

 

And my shiny gold plastic ship on a stick.

 

 

After my big win, I headed back to the stateroom and grabbed the DH for some lunch. We sat outside and ate and just watched the water go by. Super relaxing. Too late I remembered tea time. So that is one of things on my list I did get to do. Think DH will go for me booking another cruise for this reason?

 

At dinner that night we had a server named Noel. He was the best waiter we had the whole trip. He addressed us by name, joked around with us, and made sure we were taking care of. My only complaint was that it seemed like he had too many tables to take care of. He seemed to be in overdrive the whole time.

 

After dinner we headed to Normandie Lounge for the the show Shout! Not the best show, but entertaining the same. The male lead was just not the best person for the wide range of songs they sang. But we enjoyed it. After the show we went back to the stateroom to pack and place our bags outside. This part of the trip always makes me sooo sad. Its so final.

 

After sitting our bags outside our doors we headed back out. We grabbed some pizza, sat around and reflected on our vacation.

 

Some of the artwork on the ship

 

 

Disembark the next morning went great. Since we had a suite we had zone one VIP disembark. They starting calling for self disembark around 8:30. It went so smoothly, they were calling for decks earlier than scheduled. The night before we were left a note saying for us to wait in the library for disembark. Right at the scheduled time someone came and got us and guided us off the ship. From there we dinged our card one last time, found our luggage very easily and was thru customs in about two minutes. It was so smooth it was hard to believe. The Hyatt had a van waiting for us, the valet had our car ready and we were on the road headed back to Kentucky by 10am.

[brad09821]

Ok, so it's not us, but, that couple in the picture with the ever so elusive ship-on-a-stick were actually our snorkeling partners in Cozumel at the beginner shore snorkel. Close enough lol.

[Gemynii]

Really, really great review! I'm even more excited about our cruise now. How in the world am I going to be able to wait almost 4 more months??

[tdmullins]

Thats cool brad09821! They were a fun couple. We had such a blast during the hunt.

 

Gemynii I am jealous! I wish I was going back in four months! Not sure at the moment when my next cruise will be.

[tdmullins]

So that was the end of my review. I originally wanted to be super detailed and I am afraid time restraints plus waiting to do my review may have caused me to leave things out.

 

For one, I loved my room steward this time, even tho I never got his name. But he always addressed us by name and kept my ice bucket and cooler full. The entire housekeeping staff was fantastic. They were very patient with us and our schedule. We loved being able to sleep in every morning and I always felt bad because I knew they were waiting on us to leave so that they could clean.

 

A picture of the Normandie theater, sort of. DH was trying to get more of the sound equipment since that is our business.

 

 

One night while hanging out on the balcony I noticed lights in the distance.

 

I had to find out what it was, so I stayed out until we sailed by. I kept thinking it was a ship.

 

Yep, it was a ship. Another Carnival ship. It seemed to be just hanging out not really going anywhere.

 

 

Being from Kentucky, we did catch the game on night at the lido deck bar near the pool.

 

 

Again, I know I forgot things. But it has been fun reliving my trip thru this review.

 

And thanks everyone for the kind words!

[aggiecruiser05]

Great review! Loved seeing pictures of the Chef's table.

[RockChalkCruzinJayhawk]

Quick question - after hearing about the chef's table I searched both the carnival site and these boards to find out how to book it. The only thing I was able to find was to book when we got on board or email the ship - which I couldn't find an email address for as well.

 

Could you give me a hint where to go for this?

[tdmullins]

RockChalkCruzinJayhawk

just email the matre'd at [email]PAMAITRED@carnival.com[/email]

You should hear back in a day or two.

[RockChalkCruzinJayhawk]

Thank you very much!

[sunshine252]

Thanks for the review! We're sailing her in a couple of weeks & love seeing reviews like yours. :)

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review, thanks for posting! :)

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Thank you so much for the review. Now I just have to wait until May 10th!!

I had orginally booked the chef's table, but I cancelled it because ours is a 4 night cruise and the chef's table would be the day we were in Cozumel. I did not want to rush back on board to get ready since we are doing a jeep/snorkel tour (I think you and I may have discussed chef's table on another thread). Seeing your pics of the food makes me sad I'm not going to be enjoying it!!!:(

Kim

[tdmullins]

LUVMYGSDOG, I hate you will miss it too. But I dont blame you, I wouldnt have wanted to do it on Cozumel night either. It worked good for us since we left the Caymans early.

[skiorcruise]

Loved your review and pictures. Thanki you so much for Sharing. We have been on the Paradise 2 times when it was on the West Coast. Nice way to start crusing

[proudpatriot07]

Loved your review :). Glad you had a great time!

[angiegal]

do you have any pictures of the balcony? How big was it? We've had a regular balcony of the glory, and I'm seriously considering booking a suite just because of the balcony for this trip. But, I've only seen one picture of a balcony on the Paradise and it looked REALLY small.

[2013CruiseBride]

I loved your review!! We aren't going until May 2013, but it is going to be our wedding cruise and we are getting married on the ship while docked in Grand Cayman.

I got excited when I saw the pic of your first glimpse of the ship, imagining myself seeing the ship for the first time on our way to our wedding!! :D:D