5 Days in Paradise - February 7, 2015 - a review

[tandemcruzr]

Grand Cayman -

 

This place was very expensive.

 

 

All of Grand Cayman is expensive! We stopped in a little place overlooking the water right in town. DW had pino collado and I had a Caybrew draft (just 1) and our bill with tip (which was added in) was $24 US. :eek:

[sjn911]

Thanks so much for sharing..wow..just wonderful to hear about Paradise..my first and so far favorite Carnival cruise..had great food and service as well on a 10 top..they can be very special with a great group of people to mix it up..people want to do that who choose it.....Sarah

 

PS..so touched about what you do...wow.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

All of Grand Cayman is expensive! We stopped in a little place overlooking the water right in town. DW had pino collado and I had a Caybrew draft (just 1) and our bill with tip (which was added in) was $24 US. :eek:

 

 

Yes - it is very expensive!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Thanks so much for sharing..wow..just wonderful to hear about Paradise..my first and so far favorite Carnival cruise..had great food and service as well on a 10 top..they can be very special with a great group of people to mix it up..people want to do that who choose it.....Sarah

 

PS..so touched about what you do...wow.

 

 

 

Do you mean our fostering? I didn't even think I had mentioned anything about it in this review. If so, it's a labor of love. We've got 2 little ones now that have stolen our hearts but unfortunately they will be moving to a foster to adopt home soon I believe. They are brothers, we've had the oldest who is 21 months for a year now and baby brother was 4 months on Monday and we have had him since he was 2 days old (straight from the hospital). Thank you very much - we love doing it but it is hard on the heart sometimes.

 

We enjoyed the Paradise too and had actually requested a table for 6 but really enjoyed the couple who dined with us each night.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Grand Cayman day - continued

 

After we got back on the ship we grabbed a small bite to eat since Glen and I had shared a burger (a very expensive one) and I decided I would go up to Lido and lie out in the sun for a while. I dozed a while and enjoyed the sunshine but before long it was time to go get ready for dinner.

 

We had another wonderful meal tonight and a lot of great fun with our friends and our new Wisconsin friends. Our waiters sang and danced for us and it was great.

 

Our head waiter was Juanito and he had some great moves (I think he was quite a ladies man) and our other waiters were Jeffrey and I Nengah. They were all great guys and we truly enjoyed having them as our wait staff.

 

Tonight was the Showcase of the Stars night in the theatre and we decided we would go give it a try. It was pretty good – there were about 6 or 8 acts/songs and one guy sang an Elvis song that was wonderful.

 

We decided to visit the casino and normally I stick to slots because I don’t have a lot of money to spend but I got to watching roulette and decided to give it a try. I knew absolutely nothing about playing so I started out betting red or black and as I learned a little more I ventured out some more. I began the evening with $10 – told you I wasn’t a big spender and ended the night with $75 so I thought I did pretty good to have an evening of entertainment and still come out ahead. Stayed up pretty late playing because Wednesday was a sea day so we knew we didn’t have to be up early.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Final sea day –

 

I had planned on sleeping in today but Glen was up early and wanted me to go to breakfast with him. I gave in and got on up and went with him where we met up with our other cronies. Lisa, Donna and I had our day planned out to hang out on the Lido deck or Verandah deck and catch some sun on our final day and the guys – well they were just going to hang out and watch all the ladies I guess.

 

Once again, it was a very windy day but the sun was out nice and bright so we hoped we wouldn’t freeze to death. We enjoyed just lying there and doing nothing. With 6 kids at home I don’t get very much time to sit and do nothing.

 

We pretty much stayed out there all day taking a break to go eat lunch. It stayed windy all day and when the sun would hide behind the clouds it would get down right cool.

 

About 3:30 or 4:00 I decided to head in and try to get most of my packing done. It’s always a dreaded thing for me and I didn’t want knowing I still had to pack to ruin my last night on the ship so I got a lot of it done before we got ready and went to dinner.

 

Dinner was once again excellent. Tonight was our last night with our wonderful wait staff and it was sad to say goodbye. They had given us such great service all week and we were going to miss them. We had a wonderful Maitre D named Gabriel and he had kept us informed and entertained all week too. We also had to say goodbye to our new friends from Wisconsin – Jeff and JoAnn and the other couple who had only come the first night actually came back to dinner the last night also.

 

We went to the theatre for the last show of the cruise and it just wasn’t that good to us. We decided we would head out and go see what kind of luck we would have in the casino.

 

Glen decided he would play some roulette and actually played at a different table then I was playing at. I started playing and was loosing everything so I quit for a while. I walked over to where Glen was playing and he had been winning and as soon as I got over there he started loosing so he told me I needed to leave and I totally agreed! I wandered around for a little while and decided to head back and try my luck again. It was on and off for me this last night but I ended up coming out about $45 ahead in all and Glen was about $25 or so ahead so we did pretty good.

 

Unfortunately it was going to be an early morning and a long drive home so we headed off to bed for our last night on the Paradise.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Debarkation day –

 

Since we had FTTF we had a letter in our room telling us we could do self assist or if we chose to do regular debarkation we would have zone 1.

 

We like self assist because to us it’s just easier. We had to meet at a lounge on the Promenade deck and wait for clearance to start debarking. They took us down several sets of stairs and we wound our way around to get off the ship. It was definitely not the most organized debarkation we’ve ever done (I think that was either on the Fascination or the Sunshine) but it wasn’t too bad.

 

As soon as we debarked I called the Parking Doctors and they said a shuttle van would be there to get us shortly and sure enough as soon as we walked through the parking garage they were pulling up to get us.

 

We loaded up our stuff into the car and headed home. I was actually starting to miss all those yard apes and curtain climbers we had left back at home. I didn’t miss the cold though – when we left Tampa Thursday morning it was already in the 60’s and when we got back to Georgia Thursday evening it was in the low 30’s with a strong north wind blowing – oh well at least we had a few warm days!

 

Some final thoughts –

 

We enjoyed the Paradise but we’re not hard to please. Service is important to me and the Paradise has that part down.

 

Yes, she is older and showing her age with some of the décor and such but I know she is in dry dock as I write this so I’m assuming she is getting some updates. We were lucky as the “big box” in our room had already been removed but Ronnie and Lisa still had theirs and I think Michael and Donna did too.

 

I was not impressed at all with the entertainment in the theatre on this ship. The band was good and they played at other areas of the ship. We normally are “show” people and always try to catch the shows, but just weren’t impressed this time.

 

I forgot to mention that we did go to the adult comedy show one night and it was good. We have strayed away from those in the past because of the “adult” part – I just don’t think you have to curse and be obscene and obnoxious to be funny, but luckily this show wasn’t bad at all and we did enjoy it.

 

I would sail on the Paradise again. We were worried about sailing on the smaller ships when we sailed the Fascination last year but we have decided that we enjoy the smaller ships. Less people and just more intimate in my opinion and the service can’t be beat.

 

Seems like I’m forgetting something and I hate it that it has taken me so long to finish up but I hope someone gets something out of this review.

 

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.

 

Oh yes, I did forget to tell you something.

 

Michael and Donna were expecting their first grandchild and he was due February 24th. They were in a panic worried their daughter would go into labor while we were cruising. Fortunately that didn’t happen but they do now have a new grandson – he was born on Monday and weighed 8 lbs. 1 oz and has a head full of dark hair. They are all doing great.

 

Thanks for reading!

[boaterette]

Very nice. Congrats to your friends on their new grandchild.

[islandatsea]

Thanks for your review on the Paradise. We have cruised on her two times & enjoyed the cruises.

[lisajm]

All of Grand Cayman is expensive! We stopped in a little place overlooking the water right in town. DW had pino collado and I had a Caybrew draft (just 1) and our bill with tip (which was added in) was $24 US. :eek:

 

Concur!!!!! In November, DH got in to GC late due to inclement weather and we had to cancel our excursion. We ended up just walking around a bit and decided to have a cocktail: $32.00!. Since we had Cheers we promptly headed back to the ship.

 

I have been to GC several times before and don't remember it being so pricey.

[lisajm]

OP:

Thanks so much for posting this review. We live in the area, but have yet to cruise from there. Kind of crazy because my husband works at the Port of Tampa.

 

I loved the Fascination, as well, so need to just do it!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

OP:

Thanks so much for posting this review. We live in the area, but have yet to cruise from there. Kind of crazy because my husband works at the Port of Tampa.

 

I loved the Fascination, as well, so need to just do it!

 

 

 

Thanks for reading! I can't believe your husband works at the Port and you haven't been on the Paradise. Give her a try, if you liked the Fascination you'll like her too.

 

I was sad to hear that the Fascination is going to San Juan. Hopefully they won't keep her there for long.

 

We might have to try a cruise out of Charleston for our next "all adult" cruise. We haven't cruised from there yet.

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Very nice. Congrats to your friends on their new grandchild.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

They are very excited and he is a gorgeous one!

[GeorgiaMomof4]

Thanks for your review on the Paradise. We have cruised on her two times & enjoyed the cruises.

 

 

 

Thanks for reading!

[Pink Diva Cruisaholic]

Thanks So Much (delivered in a radio announcer inflection) and I'm never too busy to talk to our fellow Carnival Cruise Critic's!

 

Looking forward to meeting the infamous Captian Carnival on May 16th 2015!!

Love,

Neva the Diva!

[heather.forrester]

Also from North Georgia here... Family cruise on Paradise in November. Do you have a way to get in touch with Crescencio? We were thinking chukanaab but really would like option of a pool. Have 3 kids 18, 9, and 3. Thanks! Heatherforresterlpn@gmail.com

[elainmir]

I'd love his email address as well in case we do the Paradise in July...thanks!:)

[GeorgiaMomof4]

I'd love his email address as well in case we do the Paradise in July...thanks!:)

 

 

Give me your email address and I'll see about getting you his email address. I'm almost positive I have it at work.

 

If not, I can still get you in touch with him.

 

You'll love Crescencio - he is a very sweet Christian man.