Carnival Paradise Review Jan. 6-11

[Scooterpi]

I've never done a detailed review before but I wanted to try doing one and I have plenty of time at the airport to get started. :)

 

First of all my husband and I are in our late 20's. We both work full time, he goes to school full time finishing up a second degree and I am going to start some college classes in a few weeks as well. I am a 911 dispatcher and work 12 hour midnight shifts and we just have not seen a lot of each other in about 6 months. This cruise was to relax and spend time together before jumping back into work and school.

 

Day Before Cruise:

 

We flew out of Charlotte and had a connecting flight through Atlanta. Our original flight was delayed because of fog. They ended up letting everyone with connecting flights off first since we were cutting it so close. We ran through the Atlanta airport. I felt like one of the family members in Home Alone. :) We made our connecting flight. I was so tired from trying to switch to days from my normal schedule. I just laid my head down and slept through the whole flight. We made it to Tampa about 8:40 pm to learn that our luggage had not.

 

Fortunately they knew where it was and expected it at 10:30pm. This then turned into 11:30pm. We grabbed some coffee, settled into some chairs with charging stations in between and waited. We met a lady who had to be at a work conference first thing in the morning and had been waiting hours for her luggage with her small child. I felt so bad for her. Her luggage came in the same batch as our's did. She said to make sure to have a fruity drink with an umbrella for her once I made it to my cruise.

 

We spent the night at the La Quinta near the airport. They had an airport shuttle that was quite prompt. It was something like $70.00 for the night. It was very basic but clean and worked for us for an 11 hour stay. We settled in, I checked for bed bugs, and we fell right to sleep. Here is a photo from our first flight.

[Scooterpi]

Day 1:

 

We had scheduled the 10:00 am shuttle to the port. It was $10.00 a person. I woke up to an unfortunate text that the Paradise was delayed because of fog. I called the desk and cancelled the 10:00 and moved it to 11:00. The front desk recommended we wait until 12 or even 2 but I wanted to take my chances.

 

We walked next door to eat at IHOP since we knew we may have a long wait ahead of us. By the time we dressed and ate it was time to check out. We checked out and waited for the shuttle which was run by Veteran's Limo services. About this time we also got a text that the Paradise had made it under the bridge and was heading our way. It said to not arrive to port until 4:30.

 

We stuck to our 11:00 am shuttle which ended up not leaving until 11:45 am anyway. The guy talked me into paying ahead for a trip back to the airport upon return. It was the same price. I asked if they would be right there when we left port and he assured me they would be right in front of the port waiting with the taxis and it would be very easy. This turned out to not be true but I will get to that later.

 

We showed up to port around 12:30, dropped our luggage off, and got checked in. We had Faster to the Fun and went straight to getting checked in. The computers were down and we ended up having to redo it all later. The lady was very nice though and thanked us several times for being so patient and not upset haha.

 

Then it was just a waiting game. Carnival provided snacks and cookies and $15.00 onboard credit per person to make up for lunch. I got a text from my sister who was watching my house and cats that we expected subzero temps on Tuesday and so she was hiking my heat up and letting my faucets drip to prevent the pipes from bursting. We live in Virginia and are not used to these temperatures. I was really worried about my plumbing since we have has issues with it in the past.

 

At last around 1:30 she showed up!

 

They handed out playing cards, we got our actual room keys at, and waited for embarkation. I looked outside and there was a line of people wrapped around the building waiting to get in. I was so glad we showed up early.

 

We ended up getting on so fast when embarkation finally started around 4:15-4:30 I think. I went straight to the pizza place and got Le Chevr, mushrooms,

goat cheese, and mozzarella. I was the first one to get pizza on this sailing. It was so good. Then a waiter stopped by and asked if I wanted a funship special. I said "YES!" I told my husband I was dedicating it to the lady at the airport. We also ate salads which were really good.

 

We went and checked out the casino area and then went to our room. Luggage was there and room was ready! We had an ocean view. I only got pics of the bathroom.

 

It had an awesome shower.

 

I went in, got some stuff unpacked and laid down... just for a minute. Which turned into sleeping until the muster drill. I think it was around 7:00. My head was pounding by this time. We went straight to dinner after.

 

I will continue with Day 1 in my next post. Dinner was... very strange and unlike anything I have experienced in the MDR before in my previous two Carnival Cruises.

Edited January 11, 2014 by Scooterpi

[Scooterpi]

Day 1 continued:

 

So we were in the Elation dining room. I have to say on my previous cruises we have done ATD and connected with our waitstaff and one of the bar tender / drink staff on the first night and always requested them for the rest of the cruise. This was not my experience on this cruise at all which disappointed me. It did not ruin my cruise and I'm not upset. It was just not the outstanding service I had in the past. Anyway....

 

So we ended up going in on the "wrong" side of the dining room. We were starting to walk through to the front to check in when the guy who offered me my first drink intercepted and asked how many. We said two and he pointed to a large table about half full. My husband shook his head and said "We would rather have a table for two if that is okay." He had us follow him to someone else and they had a discussion in another language so I have no idea what was said.

 

My husband repeated his request to this new person who pointed out a table for two near by and said we could sit there.

 

The original guy came over and brought water and we asked for lemonade. Then he brought the menus. We ordered shrimp cocktails, the pumpkin pot pie dish for me and the chicken and pasta for my husband. We never got a basket of bread. A third person brought us one piece each.

 

When our food came mine was extremely luke warm and the chicken was dry. Someone stopped by and and my husband asked if he could have another shrimp cocktail. We never complained about the food since we figured it was the first night and they were thrown off schedule from the fog delay.

 

They ended up bringing him two shrimp

cocktails which was fine but odd. Then I asked for a dessert menu. The waiter shrugged and listed two desserts they had available. I can not remember what they were but I asked if they had warm

chocolate melting cake and he nodded. We both asked for one and also each asked for a hot chocolate. They brought just me a hot chocolate. At this point we kind of just gave up and laughed it off.

 

Now again I try to be understanding and I never complained but the only night we received "good" MDR service was the final night. I always order a drink for dinner but no one would come by to take my order and I would ask one of our wait staff and it would take forever. One night my husband had to ask for lemonade three times before it was finally brought with our main course. One day at lunch he asked for it in a water cup since they brought it in a wine glass and the guy just shook his head and said "No large glass."

 

It was very strange to me but I figure if that is all I have to complain about in life then I'm doing pretty well.

 

This is all for now. I'll add the sea and port days later when I can.

[Tbuzzard]

Looking forward to more of your review. We are leaving on the Paradise on Feb. 8

[recjus85]

Can't wait to read the rest myself also. I leave January 30 on Paradise.

 

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

[Motorboatin]

Looks like y'all had a pretty bumpy start to your vacation, I hope things get better from here. We have sailed the Paradise twice so far and both experiences have been great. I guess living about 10 miles from the port, is pretty nice since we don't have to worry about flights and delays. My ole lady wrote a review of our first time on the Paradise (Our first cruise, as well) if you are interested in reading it, you can here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1681187

[Mutumbojimbo]

Day 1 continued:

 

So we were in the Elation dining room. I have to say on my previous cruises we have done ATD and connected with our waitstaff and one of the bar tender / drink staff on the first night and always requested them for the rest of the cruise. This was not my experience on this cruise at all which disappointed me. It did not ruin my cruise and I'm not upset. It was just not the outstanding service I had in the past. Anyway....

 

So we ended up going in on the "wrong" side of the dining room. We were starting to walk through to the front to check in when the guy who offered me my first drink intercepted and asked how many. We said two and he pointed to a large table about half full. My husband shook his head and said "We would rather have a table for two if that is okay." He had us follow him to someone else and they had a discussion in another language so I have no idea what was said.

 

My husband repeated his request to this new person who pointed out a table for two near by and said we could sit there.

 

The original guy came over and brought water and we asked for lemonade. Then he brought the menus. We ordered shrimp cocktails, the pumpkin pot pie dish for me and the chicken and pasta for my husband. We never got a basket of bread. A third person brought us one piece each.

 

When our food came mine was extremely luke warm and the chicken was dry. Someone stopped by and and my husband asked if he could have another shrimp cocktail. We never complained about the food since we figured it was the first night and they were thrown off schedule from the fog delay.

 

They ended up bringing him two shrimp

cocktails which was fine but odd. Then I asked for a dessert menu. The waiter shrugged and listed two desserts they had available. I can not remember what they were but I asked if they had warm

chocolate melting cake and he nodded. We both asked for one and also each asked for a hot chocolate. They brought just me a hot chocolate. At this point we kind of just gave up and laughed it off.

 

Now again I try to be understanding and I never complained but the only night we received "good" MDR service was the final night. I always order a drink for dinner but no one would come by to take my order and I would ask one of our wait staff and it would take forever. One night my husband had to ask for lemonade three times before it was finally brought with our main course. One day at lunch he asked for it in a water cup since they brought it in a wine glass and the guy just shook his head and said "No large glass."

 

It was very strange to me but I figure if that is all I have to complain about in life then I'm doing pretty well.

 

This is all for now. I'll add the sea and port days later when I can.

 

We were on the cruise before you and had similar fog issues at embarkation. On our first night due to the late muster drill, the entire dining room was open seating, and it was a mess but I'm surprised the service wasn't better the other nights.

 

For those of you who are sailing on the Paradise soon and have ATD, I would ask to sit with Louis and Pierre, they took great care of us.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Edited January 12, 2014 by Mutumbojimbo

[Angel1122]

Can't wait to read more! I sail on the paradise in 84 days!

[Pathfinder1964]

We are leaving on the Paradise on Jan. 30, 2014 and already I'm starting to wonder how our cruise will turn out. Never have sailed on this ship before and will be cruising with my friend who has never been on a cruise before. I sure hope it will be a good experience. :)

[recjus85]

My store manager goes on cruises all the time and she says Paradise was her last ship and she loved it. Can't wait though. 19 more days!

 

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[Pathfinder1964]

Funny you should say that because I'm cruising with my Assistant Manager (my Manager's wife)! See why I'm a bit nervous? :D

[recjus85]

Lol oh yeah.

 

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[mommyjnny]

We were on this ship also and had a great time! Our experience in the dining room was fabulous except for one night but I will give my detailed review when I can. We were the ones with 5 kids.... My little guy had a hat on that everyone commented on!

[Scooterpi]

We were on this ship also and had a great time! Our experience in the dining room was fabulous except for one night but I will give my detailed review when I can. We were the ones with 5 kids.... My little guy had a hat on that everyone commented on!

 

Oh I saw you guys I am sure! We saw y'all at dinner and around the ship a couple times and talked about how adorable and well behaved your kids are. I grew up with 6 kids in my family and love seeing big families like that.

 

I honestly think our dinner experience was a fluke.

 

Day 2:

 

This won't be very exciting for anyone. :P I got up and checked out the gym and it was packed so I walked on the track.

 

 

I saw people in everything from swim suits to coats and pants. I was comfortable in shorts but it wasn't warm enough for me to lay out or swim.

 

We went to the MDR for lunch to redeem our free drink coupons. We both got twilight zones, which are my favorite. I got fajitas which were delicious! Husband got a burger he described as mediocre, but he only really likes Five Guys so take that with a grain of salt.

 

We went to the casino where I doubled my $20.00 on roulette (big winner here...) and he won some money at Texas Hold 'Em. He lost it another night but had fun doing it so that's all that matters.

 

We spent the rest of this day napping and reading. We intended on going to the comedy show but fell asleep. Probably a good thing since Grand Cayman was an early day.

 

Day 3: Grand Cayman

 

We were suppose to be able to tender at 8:00. We walked down and were told it would be 40 more minutes. We walked back up, got some juice, walked back down and were able to tender. So more like 10 minutes than 40.

 

 

Okay so my husband has this game on his tablet he just loves and wanted to connect to wifi to check on. I wanted to check on my plumbing and cats. I knew that Royal Palms had wifi so we chose to go there. It ended up being a little crowded and the wifi wouldn't work on his tablet so we walked down to Calico Jack's. I highly recommend this place! Great drinks, if a little expensive, great view, chairs were $5.00, and great wifi. ;) It was 82 degrees and gorgeous. It was also crowded but we still preferred it to Royal Palms.

 

The beach from Royal Palms you could see the cruise ships from which was fun.

 

 

If I could do it over I would go straight to Calico Jack's.

 

After our beach day we...read and slept. I honestly have never felt so rested in months. The best was so comfortable and the rocking just put me to sleep every time I laid down.

 

We did get up for dinner, a little more gambling and the comedy show later. It was Eddie Capone and he was pretty funny. The best part though was he was asking the men what they call...their manhood I guess you could say. He finally asked a girl and she said "Oh I don't call it. It just comes." The crowd laughed harder at her than him! It was hilarious.

 

This was by far our best day of the cruise. I would return to Grand Cayman in a heart beat. I just wish we could have stayed longer here.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Scooterpi

[Scooterpi]

Day 4: Cozumel

 

I had planned this for months. We had paid a deposit to Nachi Cocum and we had great plans for long beach day. Alas, it was not meant to be. We woke up to rain and clouds. We got off at 11 and decided to wait and see if it cleared up. We grabbed a table at Fat Tuesdays after picking up some vanilla and souvenirs for my sister, keeper of my cats. It just started raining harder! At one point they started closing part of it off. So we drank and ate nachos and had a grand old time in view of the boat. It was fun even if not what planned and it saved us some money on taxi and day passes

 

 

We made it back to the ship and read and ordered room service cake and grilled cheese and hot chocolate. I loooove room service!

 

We did dinner and then read and watched television and napped on and off. We both woke up at 3:00 am and went and got pizza and sodas and then went back to bed. I woke up early which leads me to...

 

Day 5: Sea Day

 

I got up and ate breakfast and laid out on Serenity and read. It got pretty hot while I was out there. At noon I woke my husband up for lunch. We got salads, deli sandwiches and stuff from the chocolate extravaganza for lunch. Super yummy!!

 

Then I laid back out on lido and drank and people watched the afternoon away. At 5:45 we went to dinner. I have to say I think I drank too much because half way through dinner I started not feeling well at all. I immediately went and laid down and ended up falling asleep for an hour. Then I got up and we packed most of our stuff. I read and slept on and off all night.

 

We got up bright and early and were soooooo relieved to see NO FOG just the port of Tampa! We grabbed breakfast where my husband accidentally out honey on his pancakes instead of syrup. He ended up loving it and so then I got some honey and pancakes too. Breakfast was really good.

 

We did the FTTF self disembark. We were off the ship by 9:00 am. It was super easy. We then could not locate our prepaid shuttle. I googled the number and called. The person who answered said I was suppose to meet at the spot on 12th Street he told me about. They did not tell us any such thing when dropping us off. It was through the parking garage and then on the street on the other side. Our flight was at 1:20 so we had plenty of time and they got us there once we found them.

 

Overall it was a great vacation and I feel so rested and relaxed. About Faster to the Fun. My husband was super impressed and said he wants to always have it. He likes getting on and off the ship as soon as possible in both cases. He also hates waiting for luggage. I thought it was pretty good but wouldn't

be terribly upset not to have it. We will

probably keep getting it when possible since he liked it so much.

 

The Paradise is an older ship but was in great shape and I did not see anything wrong with her overall. We did miss the sushi bar and didn't love anything from the taste bar. I never felt crowded though and could always easily find a chair on deck. I would sail her again but maybe not from Tampa since the fog issues and flights stress me out.

 

Our next trip we want to do a European Cruise so we are going to have to pick another line which makes me a little sad. I know it's good to try new things but I love our Carnival cruises and can not wait to sail again.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Scooterpi

[pandacruisin30]

thanks for the review. I am sailing on the Paradise for the first time and this will be my parents second time. I am a little bit worried about the fog issue but hopefully it will not happen when we sail in 8 days :eek:

[erewhon]

Thank you for writing your review, and sharing your photos.

[Motorboatin]

thanks for the review. I am sailing on the Paradise for the first time and this will be my parents second time. I am a little bit worried about the fog issue but hopefully it will not happen when we sail in 8 days :eek:

 

I wouldn't worry so much about the fog issue, I have lived here for 5 years now and this is only the 2nd time I have heard of any delays in the ship. The first time was a few years ago we had a whole lot of rain one week so the water levels were so high, the boat couldn't clear the Skyway bridge. I would look at as a positive, that means more cruise time.

 

Also, wanted to chime in on another idea for future visits to Grand Cayman. On our last visit there, the wife and I just wanted to relax and enjoy the beach so we got right off the ship and asked to go to the Royal Palms. We sat there for maybe 45 minutes but thanks to a wardrobe malfunction (I had bought all white board shorts thinking they would layer up the front of them so nothing would show through, well I was wrong haha) we decided to walk down the beach a bit. So if you walk out to the beach from Royal Palms, turn right and walk about 200 yards or so there was absolutely nobody there, we had the entire beach to ourself. Not good at adding pictures but I think I added a panorama from where we were on the beach and the only people you see were walking away from us.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thanks for sharing :)

[SkyMaster]

:DTHANKS for posting your review. Great reading.

I've sailed "Paradise" five times last year (2013) and truly LOVE the ship, it's crew, and everything about the "Paradise" experience. The fact that the ship hasn't had the 2.0 upgrade, and has FANTASTIC shows helps too. Haven't booked Paradise yet for this year, but I have no doubt that I'll be aboard again soon. See you there!

 

"SKY"

[my third act]

Sailing on her in 4 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!

[blb431]

Thanks for posting this review. My hubby and I will be on the ship in 8 days!! Can't wait to leave the cold weather behind us. We have sailed the Dream and the Ecstasy and are looking forward to seeing this ship..

[DreaminFP]

We will be on her in 13 days can't wait to leave the real world behind for awhile!

[TakeMeAway1001]

I had read on the Carnival site that they were going to have the brunch and the Punchliner added to the Paradise in January...just wondering if they had it when you were there?

 

Just read on another thread that it's coming on Jan 20th...

Edited January 13, 2014 by TakeMeAway1001

[Scooterpi]

I had read on the Carnival site that they were going to have the brunch and the Punchliner added to the Paradise in January...just wondering if they had it when you were there?

 

Just read on another thread that it's coming on Jan 20th...

 

They did not have the brunch. The comedy shows were held in the Queen Mary lounge.