A First Time Cruiser's Review: Carnival Paradise 7/14/12-7/19/12 (LOTS of Pics)

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

Next we went to see their oldest and largest turtle. This girl (top with the lighter shell) is over 60 years old and over 600 pounds.

 

 

We then walked over to the touch tanks where we could hold the turtles. My DD got a turtle that kept slapping her hands, so she wasn't too happy.

 

 

My niece Chloe, who others on this cruise may have seen and heard at karaoke, held a turtle too.

 

 

Somehow, sis and I ended up with a turtle as well.

 

 

Another short video of one of the large turtles before we move on:

 

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

At this point, our tour guide left us and we went to explore the rest of the park. First we went to check out the predator tank.

 

 

You can see Breakers Lagoon from the bridge overlooking the predator tank.

 

 

We then went over to Boatswain's Lagoon where you can swim and snorkel with fish and turtles. They also have vests and snorkel gear that you can use.

 

 

After everyone spent some time snorkeling, DH and I went to grab a bite to eat at Schooner's Bar and Grill while the others went to swim at Breakers Lagoon.

 

 

DH ordered a Pepsi while I had a water and we split the Chicken Fingers with Fries appetizer. Cost of the meal was $20 USD, but it was enough to hold us over until we got back to the ship for dinner. We had company that joined us for the meal. She just stood there and looked at us with accusations in her eyes.

 

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

There is a smoking area off to the side of the restaurant for any other smokers out there.

 

 

By this time, it was 11am local time and the provided bus was scheduled to leave at 11:30am local time, so went over to Breakers Lagoon to rejoin the rest of my family.

 

 

Here are some more pics of the Breakers Lagoon pool and water slide:

 

 

 

I had to get another iguana picture before we left:

 

 

 

We went through the gift shop and I bought a $10 marble turtle and received my free gift of a cute turtle magnet. We loaded up on the bus and headed back to the port.

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

We were loaded up on the tender by 1pm ship time even though the last tender was not until 2:15pm.

 

For anyone who is interested in doing snuba in Grand Cayman, we were able to see one of the boats from where the tenders were:

 

 

The color of the water was beautiful:

 

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

When we got back the the ship, and after my water spilled all over the security conveyor belt (oops), we headed to the buffet area so that everyone else could eat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DH and I went down to the casino bar for trivia while DD went to the room to hang out with her cousin.

 

I got 25 out of 40 on 80's music trivia... I had trouble remembering the names of the bands but I knew most of the names of the songs. The winner got 40 out of 40.

 

We stuck around for Name That 90's Star and I scored 18 out of 20. Unfortunately, the winner had 19 out of 20, so no ship on a stick for me.

[Gemynii]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman Cont.

 

After trivia, sis met up with us and we went into the casino. DH spent $5 on the machine that shoots out quarters. I only had a $20 so I stuck it into one of the slot machines and started playing. I was down to $10 when DH walked over and pushed the button for me. Bonus spins... yay! By the time the machine finished spinning, we were up to $35, so I went ahead and cashed out to my card.

 

Sis and I headed to our rooms to get ready for dinner in the dining room while DH headed for the Lido deck.

 

We arrived at the Elation dining room on deck 8 at 7pm and were able to walk right in as usual.

 

 

 

 

As we were walking in, the waiters were dancing to Apple Bottom Jeans and I had to get it on video:

 

For some reason, the 1st part won't show up with the picture like the 2nd part below:

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2nd Part:

 

 

DD and I met up with DH after dinner and we walked down to the room to change. We found this guy sleeping in our bed:

 

 

 

We went back up to the Lido deck so that the kids could swim some more, then wandered down to our room about an hour later.

 

 

Up next... Cozumel

Edited July 21, 2012 by Gemynii

[Orpheo]

Day 3 - Grand Cayman

 

 

 

 

We booked online to do the full park tour at The Cayman Turtle Farm. By booking online we were able to get a 20% discount, so we paid $92 for 3 people.

 

We met up with the rest of my family on Main deck 5 right at 8am and were asked to go down to deck 4 and wait in the line that was stretching down the hallway. Surprisingly, we didn't have to wait long. We were through the line and on the tender within 20 mins.

 

 

He Kim,

Can you please inform me more how you booked online for the full park at the cayman turtle farm?

 

thank you...Orpheo

[Gemynii]

Hey Kim,

Can you please inform me more how you booked online for the full park at the cayman turtle farm?

 

thank you...Orpheo

 

* Go to www dot turtle dot ky

* At the top of the page, go to "Plan Your Trip" and click "Pricing and Booking" on the menu that drops down.

* The next page will show you the prices for the different tours. There's also a place to click to get the full descriptions. We did the "Turtle Adventure Tour".

* When you decide on the tour, click the orange "Book Now" button.

* You will be redirected to their older website. Enter in the number of tickets you want under "Enjoy the Entire Park" and click "Add Tickets to Cart"

* The next page shows your total before the online booking discount is subtracted. Click "Checkout Now".

* On the next page, you will enter Purchaser Information, Billing Address and * Payment Information then click "Continue Checkout".

I forgot what comes after that and I can't check now without entering my info. It should have you confirm payment with the discounted price.

 

If you receive a security warning anywhere during the process, it's okay. I received it when I originally booked, but didn't just now.

I emailed them before I booked to inquire about it and was informed that they were working on the old site and their certificate had expired.

If you don't feel comfortable entering your info, they offered to email me a credit card form that I could fill out and fax back to them.

We made three ticket purchases online for our group of 9 and had no issues with security.

 

On the page where you select the number of tickets, you will see this:

Order online and receive a 20% discount on your complete ticket order! (Discount displayed on final step of checkout process.)

Free transportation is provided from the piers for cruise visitors only. Departures at 8:30am and 9:45am. Return times are 12:00 and 1:15pm local time.

This is the transportation that I referred to in the review. You will have to find where the people who booked with Carnival are meeting to locate the driver.

 

I hope this helps.

[Gemynii]

I just wanted to say that I made a typo on post #55.

The 2nd trivia that we went to was "Name That 80's Star" not 90's.

[cards10]

Hey Kim,,

 

How was capital parking?? did you feel safe leaving your car there? I cruise in Dec on Paradise and was wanting to know about parking. where did you find the promo code for the free night??

 

Thnaks & love the review so far!

[sunshine252]

This is going to sound silly but I actually teared up reading this and remembering how much fun we had on our Paradise cruise. Life went to h3ck when we got home. LOL Thanks for the review & the walk down memory lane. :)

[hpilews1]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are first time cruisers leaving out on the paradise on monday! WE CANNOT WAIT! and your review is helping me through until we are on the boat:)

[Shaded Lady]

Hey Kim,,

 

How was capital parking?? did you feel safe leaving your car there? I cruise in Dec on Paradise and was wanting to know about parking. where did you find the promo code for the free night??

 

Thnaks & love the review so far!

 

Kim will probably respond shortly about Capital Parking, but if you're looking for another alternative, try 241Services dot com... we were on the same cruise as Kim and used them. Their lot is about 1/2 a mile north of the terminal, the shuttle service was terrific both ways, they park your car for you and give you back your keys to hold onto. It's a fully fenced, gated lot.

 

We paid $32 total (including tax) for 5 days. The day we left the cruise ship we got out of the terminal at 8:15, called them and waited less than 2 minutes for them to arrive. By 8:25 we were in our car and on our way home!

 

I've heard really good things about Capital Parking as well- just not until after we'd booked with 241... I was worried but it turned out great.

[Gemynii]

Hey Kim,,

 

How was capital parking?? did you feel safe leaving your car there? I cruise in Dec on Paradise and was wanting to know about parking. where did you find the promo code for the free night??

 

Thanks & love the review so far!

 

I felt perfectly safe leaving my car there. The lot was not paved, but it was fenced and they have 24 hour monitoring. The lot was already 1/3 full when I got there, so we definitely weren't the only ones using it. My sister accidently left the keys to their car in the van and the driver located them and kept them safe until we all got back.

 

The code I used to get a day free was CRUISE4.

[Gemynii]

This is going to sound silly but I actually teared up reading this and remembering how much fun we had on our Paradise cruise. Life went to h3ck when we got home. LOL Thanks for the review & the walk down memory lane. :)

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the review. :)

[Gemynii]

Thank you for the wonderful review! We are first time cruisers leaving out on the paradise on monday! WE CANNOT WAIT! and your review is helping me through until we are on the boat:)

 

Thanks. You'll have a great time, I'm sure. Like I said in a previous post, the Paradise is the perfect size ship for a first time cruiser IMO because it doesn't completely overwhelm you. We pretty much knew our way around the ship by the end of day two. The crew was fantastic as well. They were all super friendly and always working hard to keep everything clean and in working order.

[Gemynii]

Kim will probably respond shortly about Capital Parking, but if you're looking for another alternative, try 241Services dot com... we were on the same cruise as Kim and used them. Their lot is about 1/2 a mile north of the terminal, the shuttle service was terrific both ways, they park your car for you and give you back your keys to hold onto. It's a fully fenced, gated lot.

 

We paid $32 total (including tax) for 5 days. The day we left the cruise ship we got out of the terminal at 8:15, called them and waited less than 2 minutes for them to arrive. By 8:25 we were in our car and on our way home!

 

I've heard really good things about Capital Parking as well- just not until after we'd booked with 241... I was worried but it turned out great.

 

I heard good things about 241Services as well and checked them out online. I went with Capital Parking because it cost less and we're cheap :o.

[Kim_KS]

Another soon-to-be first time cruiser here and I am enjoying your review!!

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel

 

We managed to sleep in until about 8am then got ready and headed up to the buffet for breakfast. It was a rainy morning.

 

 

By 10am, the rain had stopped and Cozumel was within sight. I had checked online before we left and it said we would be going to Punta Langosta (which is where I wanted to go since it was downtown) but, it wasn't too surprising to find out that the internet was wrong. The Elation was docked there and we cruised on by.

 

 

Instead we approached the pier at Puerta Maya.

 

 

We bobbed around a bit out a ways from the pier as the people in charge tried to figure out where we would pull in. I got my 1st close up look at the Legend.

 

 

Here is a video of the Paradise pulling in along side the Legend:

 

[Gemynii]

Another soon-to-be first time cruiser here and I am enjoying your review!!

 

Thank you. :)

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel

 

Just before 11am, we got the announcement that we had been cleared by the local authorities, so we pulled in and we were off the ship by 11:10am.

 

 

The 1st set of photographers managed to grab us and we grimaced into the camera for them. We managed to elbow our way past the 2nd set.

 

 

A couple shots of the Paradise and Legend from the pier:

 

 

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel

 

We were able to bypass the duty-free shop on our way onto the island, but that will be the only way you can go to get back to the ship.

 

 

A pic of Three Amigos bar and restaurant.

 

 

A cool Mayan temple shaped fountain.

 

 

Some of the shops on the way to catch a cab:

 

 

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

 

After making our way through the street lined with shops and vendors and after losing count of how many times I said "No thanks", we finally ended up at the large covered walkway where the cabs are located.

 

 

We received prices from $5pp one way to $20pp round-trip before we found one that gave us a price of $10 for 4 in one cab and $15 for 5 in the other one way. Sis and her family got a better deal than us, but oh well. We hopped in and hung on for dear life.

 

 

We arrived at Chankanaab Park in once piece and found out that we had the slow driver. Sis said she looked over and their driver was doing 90 :eek:. Whether that was mph or kph, it would still be too fast for the amount of traffic that was on the road.

 

 

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

 

I had brought along the $2 off per person coupon that I found online, so we paid $57 for the 3 of us (12 yr old DD was considered an adult) and received our admission bracelets. We paused in front of the waterfall for another frumpy family photo.

 

 

I thought it was pretty cool that you had to go into a man-made cave for the restroom. This is where DD and I changed into our swimsuits.

 

 

Fountain in the courtyard:

 

[Gemynii]

Day 4 - Cozumel

 

By this time, we had sweated out half of our bodies' water, so we headed to the outdoor ordering area for the restaurant to grab some drinks.

 

 

 

 

It was $7.50 for 3 12oz cans of soda :eek:. They did not have US coins for change, so I received 5 pesos for my $.50 (another souvenir for me). Later on, brother-in-law gave me a Dos Equis since he was required to spend $10 to use his credit card and ended up with 3 beers.