Paradise review w/pics Sept. 14, 2015

[funinthesun1964]

We head to the Serenity area after lunch. BTW, lunch was good. DH and I both liked our meals and felt better. We had a couple bites each of dessert. He had the mint chocolate cake and I tried the carmel cheesecake. Good but a couple bites went a long way for me!

 

I took some pictures and relaxed for a bit. But not too long, too much to see on the first day.

 

We knew this would be our hangout for the times we were on the ship.

 

 

I always like to get pictures of the port area.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 20, 2015 by funinthesun1964

[funinthesun1964]

 

 

We decide to take a look at the upper decks

 

 

There is a round pool, and two smaller round ones...one is a hot tub and one is a kiddie pool

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

"Main" Lido area.

 

 

People already making use of the pool and slide.

 

 

Also a hot tub in front of the pool

 

 

A couple of people wanted to play ping pong!

 

[JustRambling]

Our first cruise was on Paradise in 2006! The picture in my signature is from that cruise. We fell in love with this ship! One of our favorite things to do was to have breakfast out on the aft deck (I think it was the Lido deck). Our cruise was out of Long Beach, CA to Catalina Island, Ensenada, Mexico and back to Long Beach. It was a 4 day cruise. It was a really nice introduction to cruising. Paradise will always have a special place in our hearts. Our room steward was nice, but not overly so, but our dining steward and his assistant, were FANTASTIC!! :D:D

 

Our next cruise was on the Conquest out of Galveston, I loved the ship, but missed the outside Aft deck for breakfast that we could do on Paradise. My husband liked the Paradise better than the Conquest, he's not much of a "crowds" kind of person, :rolleyes: so the smaller the better to him. Can't wait to hear more about your cruise!

[jc4me]

No dive in movies. No TV on the Lido deck. And, we found ourselves busy all the time. Like I said though, we tried some new things this cruise that we had not before. We like the serenity deck and were there most late mornings/early afternoons. We like the comedy club, etc.

I did save the Fun Times and if anyone would like to see them or a certain day, I can scan them.

 

I would really appreciate you including the Fun Times in your review as we are on this cruise at the end of October. Thank you so much for the great review!

[mjhouse2]

Awesome! On this cruise in January. Good to know that we can exchange the beer for cold ones because we are surprising one of the people cruising with us with the 4 pack. I too would love to see the fun times. Thanks for the review.

[SMSACE6]

Great start to your review! I came close to booking the Paradise two years ago. I had to be in the Tampa area for a family function, and wanted to tack on a 5 day cruise, but it was for some reason, extremely high priced that cruise, while the one before and right after were priced reasonably.

 

I keep reading the Paradise reviews, in the hopes that someday I will get to enjoy that ship. I sailed the Sensation some years ago, and did enjoy the layout of that class of ship.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[funinthesun1964]

Our first cruise was on Paradise in 2006! The picture in my signature is from that cruise. We fell in love with this ship! One of our favorite things to do was to have breakfast out on the aft deck (I think it was the Lido deck). Our cruise was out of Long Beach, CA to Catalina Island, Ensenada, Mexico and back to Long Beach. It was a 4 day cruise. It was a really nice introduction to cruising. Paradise will always have a special place in our hearts. Our room steward was nice, but not overly so, but our dining steward and his assistant, were FANTASTIC!! :D:D

 

Our next cruise was on the Conquest out of Galveston, I loved the ship, but missed the outside Aft deck for breakfast that we could do on Paradise. My husband liked the Paradise better than the Conquest, he's not much of a "crowds" kind of person, :rolleyes: so the smaller the better to him. Can't wait to hear more about your cruise!

 

Thanks for following along!

 

I would really appreciate you including the Fun Times in your review as we are on this cruise at the end of October. Thank you so much for the great review!

 

I will scan in the fun times. Hopefully it will be of some help to you. Have a great cruise!

[funinthesun1964]

Awesome! On this cruise in January. Good to know that we can exchange the beer for cold ones because we are surprising one of the people cruising with us with the 4 pack. I too would love to see the fun times. Thanks for the review.

 

 

Fun times on the way! And you're welcome!

 

Great start to your review! I came close to booking the Paradise two years ago. I had to be in the Tampa area for a family function, and wanted to tack on a 5 day cruise, but it was for some reason, extremely high priced that cruise, while the one before and right after were priced reasonably.

 

I keep reading the Paradise reviews, in the hopes that someday I will get to enjoy that ship. I sailed the Sensation some years ago, and did enjoy the layout of that class of ship.

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Aw, too bad you didn't go! It was a nice ship for a 5-day cruise. Steve Cassel the CD is a fun guy to cruise with! I hope someday you will enjoy it!

[funinthesun1964]

Embarkation day Fun Times

 

 

 

[Captain Carnival]

I wanted to approach you to say a more personal hello, but you were busy all the time! You were either talking to someone or giving announcements! Maybe, if we ever sail from Tampa again, we'll try to get there earlier!

 

No problem - I'll be here waiting for you!

[funinthesun1964]

Okay, now where did I leave off? um...we went for lunch, explored ship a little...I think I know...we decided to go to Atrium Bar to get a drink or two!

 

On the way there, we see the shops.

 

 

We take a look inside the Normandie Theater

 

 

I asked for a Blue Margarita but they must not have heard the "blue" and just gave me a regular margarita. Fine by me. Delicious!

 

 

Hubby goes for the pina colada

 

 

We order a second round

 

 

Then, we decide to go back to the cabin to take a nap. I knew if I didn't, then I wouldn't be able to make it awake for the comedy show, etc. I slept for about an hour.

[mjhouse2]

Thank you soooo much!

[funinthesun1964]

Thank you soooo much!

 

You are welcome! :)

[funinthesun1964]

We woke and it wasn't long until muster. We walked by the casino -

 

 

 

All the lights on the machines blurred my pictures .....grrr.....

 

 

We had muster drill. We were assigned station "F". We found our station, which was Lido deck, right by the pool, starboard side. We were able to sit in the chairs....this was an area where folks could eat breakfast or lunch and there were tables here also. We just pulled our chairs to sit forward, facing the middle of the deck. We met another couple who were on the Conquest the week prior. They were nice and we met up with them during other parts of the cruise too. After we listened to the announcements during the muster, we were excused and were ready for sail away.

[pezhead]

So glad to see a Paradise review. I'm on her in January, and even though I love the Fantasy class ships was starting to worry.

[funinthesun1964]

So glad to see a Paradise review. I'm on her in January, and even though I love the Fantasy class ships was starting to worry.

 

No need to worry, it is an older ship but we still had a great time! I really like the smaller ships also, you see the same people over and over again throughout the cruise. You actually have a chance to get to know the other passengers.

[funinthesun1964]

I took some pictures while we were sailing away from Tampa.

 

 

 

 

I was thinking "I would love to live in these condos" or any of the residential areas near here, for that matter.

 

 

 

We did a line dance or two during sail away. Great Fun.

 

Then we decide to get ready for dinner. Didn't take long, as we didn't dress that fancy. Glad that the first night is cruise casual. Before we went to dinner, we went to the Taste Bar and had a sample of Blue Iguana. It's just a taste, nothing to get excited about!

 

We headed down a little way and sat at the Casino Bar to have a pre-dinner drink. I get the blue margarita. And who is here, but Tim Lucas, the same guitarist/soloist that was on our March Liberty Cruise. I asked him if he was on the Liberty in March and he said yes, he was. Funny!

 

 

Here are some folks just sitting along the Promenade Deck, relaxing.

 

 

Then we head to dinner. Anxious to meet new peeps at our table!

[NOSaints1]

Did you ever felt bored or not enough activities, how was the ship movement?

[bklsmom]

enjoying your review so far. We have sailed out of tampa 7 times. Love Tampa and sailing under the skyway bridge is a sight in itself.

[funinthesun1964]

We had unpacked right after muster. The ice was there. DH now had access to cold beer. That made him happy. LOL

 

Carry on, we went to dinner. We approached our table for 8. No one there. We were promptly greeted by our wait team. Our head waitress was something with a K, don't remember her full name, she was from Thailand. Then Elizabeth, an assistant, from Phillipines. They were a very efficient team and took very good care of us when we ate dinner in the dining room (all but Cozumel night). We were given water and menus. We waited and waited, but no one else came to the table. So much for meeting others. Just DH and I.

 

Table 356, Destiny Dining Room

 

 

Hubby had the lasagna while I had the vegetarian meal that night - the pot pie. It was very good, but after seeing hubby's lasagna, I wished I had ordered that. I hate when that happens! Found myself wanting lasagna the rest of the week!

 

We both had the mushrooms for an appetizer, then he had beef/barley soup and I had Indian pumpkin soup. We had a dessert each, I don't remember and didn't take pictures, sorry. The entire meal was very good and the service was excellent!

 

Here are some views of the dining room as I looked to my right:

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the casino for a bit, DH lost $20 in a hurry. We continued to look around the ship and relaxed.

 

At 9:30, we ended up in the Piano Bar. The entertainer was Gustavo, he was pretty good. We stayed about an hour, then got the very end of the welcome aboard show. There was saw Kim Harrison for a few minutes, she would be the comedian at the 11pm show tonight. We stopped by the Casino Bar for another drink, then headed into the comedy club to get our seats. It filled up quickly.

 

Kim was just so-so, my opinion only. It was a few laughs. Then it was midnight already. I went up to lido and saw what they had -- burgers this time. I guess they still have the burgers on ships without Guy's. I didn't want a burger, but had a few fries and I was good.

 

On to bed then. We forgot and left the "snoozin" sign on our door when we left for dinner. So our bed didn't get made and we didn't have a towel animal. It was okay, all was good. I had a fun first day on the ship.

[funinthesun1964]

Did you ever felt bored or not enough activities, how was the ship movement?

 

Nope, didn't feel bored. We always found something to do when we wanted to.

 

I went on this trip with ginger root, expecting rough weather due to the time of year. However, I didn't need the ginger root at all for sea sickness, the ocean was calm and never even felt movement, maybe a slight vibration feeling a couple times. That's it.

Edited September 20, 2015 by funinthesun1964

[funinthesun1964]

enjoying your review so far. We have sailed out of tampa 7 times. Love Tampa and sailing under the skyway bridge is a sight in itself.

 

Tampa was an easy port! Not all that far from the airport to getting to/from wasn't much of a problem. I wish we could have seen more of the skyway bride, but unfortunately we were at dinner and could only see it looking out from the dining room windows!

[jonesca2]

I'm enjoying your review. I will be sailing on the Paradise in November.

[oncruisecontrol]

I'm enjoying your review. It brings back memories! We were on the Paradise waay back in 2003 (when it was still a non-smoking ship), and had a really great time. In fact, it is one of my most-fun cruises to date because of the quality of the food, the onboard entertainment, and the ports. The Paradise was also my very first Carnival cruise. Lots of memories. Thanks for posting your experience. Looking forward to reading more.