Paradise review w/pics Sept. 14, 2015

[wytyger1]

Thanks for the great review with pictures!

 

Did you do the liquor tasting? Is that only on Monday?

I thought about trying that but wondered if I'd make it in time to the Bust a Move Dance lesson.

[funinthesun1964]

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

 

Thanks! I hope that you will have a great cruise!!

[funinthesun1964]

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.

 

Glad I could help you with a trip down memory lane! I hope you enjoy the rest of the review.

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks for the great review with pictures!

 

Did you do the liquor tasting? Is that only on Monday?

I thought about trying that but wondered if I'd make it in time to the Bust a Move Dance lesson.

 

No, we did not do the liquor tasting this time. We have done that on other ships and it is usually very crowded with only a small taste of a couple brands of the liquors. As I recall, it is only done one night per week. So if you really wanted to attend the dance lesson, you better skip the liquor tasting!

Edited September 21, 2015 by funinthesun1964

[funinthesun1964]

Tuesday, Sea Day and Cruise Elegant Night, and Scott's Birthday!

 

Here are the Fun Times for the second day of the cruise.

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

We started off the day with going to the gym. It was busy there, but not too busy that we couldn't find a machine. DH always does the elliptical. I did elliptical for about 20 minutes then switched over to the treadmill. There was only 1 treadmill that was out of service that I noticed. Everything else seemed to be in working order. Same setup as the other ships, where you enter through the spa and go through the women's or men's locker room to enter the gym. The three girls at the spa desk were not friendly, not saying hello when I passed. I noticed that when I used the ladies room in the locker room area, it looked neglected. There was no toilet paper on the roll, but there was an extra roll on the sink. There was also paper(s) on the floor.

 

When we were done with the gym, we showered and readied ourselves for the brunch. Brunch is served in the Elation (forward) dining room. We took our drink coupons and were shown to a seat for two, but it was one of those seats that were VERY close to other tables. The table to the left was for four, and they were waiting for the other two. They talked to us until the other two came. The table on the right was another table for two, and they just said hello when they arrived and that was it. That was kind of awkward.

 

I ordered a long island and DH had a pina colada. I ordered a veggie omelet and DH had the steak and eggs. The service was so-so, I wanted a second cup of coffee but didn't get it. That was fine, I had my long island so I was happy.

 

We headed out to the serenity and found an acceptable spot. I went back to cabin and changed clothes. A while later DH decided he would too. We stayed at the same spot for a couple of hours!

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

More pictures at serenity:

 

 

 

Since it was hubby's birthday, I left our post around noon and grabbed a plate for lunch. We had a burger, chicken tenders, fries, potato salad, and of course we were having drinks!

 

A short time later, I headed to a restroom. I came out and saw someone familiar. I could not believe it!!! It was Russell, a waiter we had on our cruise on the Liberty this past March. I gave him a hug, and he was as surprised to see me as I was him. I told him that we were in the Destiny Dining Room, and he said he was also working there and would be over to see us tonight at dinner.

 

When I told DH, he was really surprised too.

 

After we had enough of Serenity, we headed inside and showered.

I do not care to see Hairy Chest Contest, mixologist or ice carving anymore -- I've seen enough of those.

 

That brings us to close to dinner time. We stopped at the Casino Bar to have a drink before dinner. Then we head on in to the dining room.

 

The sticker on the shirt came with the room decorations:

 

 

And true to his word, Russell stops by to see us:

 

 

Russell and Elizabeth sing happy birthday to Scott:

 

 

haha..it was really funny!

 

[funinthesun1964]

The waiters sing "that's amore" and Elizabeth dances with DH:

 

 

 

The maitre d came over to us and asked us if everything was okay.

 

Oh, and we had another couple as tablemates tonight. Just one other couple. The other four spots sat vacant. The other couple was from Seattle, and they were good conversationalist. So we had an enjoyable evening at dinner. The service was excellent, the food was good. DH had lobster, I had the Indian Vegetarian dinner.

 

Following dinner tonight, we went to the show "Eight More Seconds". It was really good! We haven't been to shows for a good while, so we went and were glad we did. Steve Cassel, the CD, can play a mean fiddle! He had quite an active part in the show. I won't give any more away, but I thought it was worth the while to see.

 

Later in the evening, we saw Mike Macy for his 10:30 show "Nude Cruise". It was not as funny as I thought it would be, but it was okay. I got a few good chuckles out of it.

 

There was a band on board called "Sixappeal". Never got to see them, wish I could have.

 

Well, tomorrow will be Grand Cayman day. We were in port 8-3.

[flyawayca]

I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time and I can't wait to see more! :D

[funinthesun1964]

I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for taking the time and I can't wait to see more! :D

 

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad someone's enjoying it!

[Oppalopa]

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad someone's enjoying it!

I am enjoying also. :)

[Florings]

Enjoying your review and love all the pictures! Waiting for more....

[mjhouse2]

So happy you are posting fun times too! Pictures are great. Thank you:)

[funinthesun1964]

I am enjoying also. :)

 

Glad you are enjoying also. :)

[funinthesun1964]

Enjoying your review and love all the pictures! Waiting for more....

 

Thanks for the compliment, happy to provide the review!

 

So happy you are posting fun times too! Pictures are great. Thank you:)

 

More Fun Times to come right now.....:)

[funinthesun1964]

Day 3, Wednesday, and Grand Cayman

 

Fun Times:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

whooooaaa, hold on one minute here. I completely forgot to post some of the other pictures from the previous day!!!

 

When we went back to the cabin after our dinner to change, we found our platinum gifts and a birthday card for Scott, along with our towel animals:

 

 

 

 

The Normandie Theater, while we were waiting for the show to begin:

 

Even though the picture is blurry, you can see that the theater was getting pretty full

 

The end of the show. It was a good one.

 

[funinthesun1964]

Jimmy in the Atrium Lounge:

 

 

The internet hub is right in the atrium lobby area.

 

 

Jimmy singing again

 

 

Out on deck for a stroll:

 

 

Not very busy out here!

 

[funinthesun1964]

okay, now back to our regularly scheduled day at Grand Cayman.

We woke up early this day, don't know why, and we decided to go to the gym again. My body was achy, not sure if because of all the running around the previous day, or the heat and humidity affecting me, or whatever....but I tried my best on the machines. When we were done, we just headed up to the buffet for breakfast. I wish I would have had my camera to take pictures of the port from the ship, but I left it at the cabin.We went back and got ready to go to shore. We didn't have any excursions planned, but I had a thought on where I would like to go.They began calling for people to get their tender tickets fairly early (around 7-7:30), but we didn't need them since we're platinum. When we were ready to get off the ship, we went to the Leonardo Lounge and were escorted to the tender boats.

When we arrived at the port, we walked to the Library and found the public bus. That was an adventure, it was just a small bus and we stopped along the way and picked up a few other people (read: it was packed), but we arrived at Royal Palms a short time later. For $2 per person, you can use their facilities, a beach, a pool, restrooms, bars, restaurant, etc.

 

It was a very hot but enjoyable time.

 

This is the Leonardo Lounge where our assigned Platinum meeting place was located (also a place where karaoke is held):

 

 

 

 

DH patiently waiting for the group to tender. As you can see, it was after 9:00 when we finally got there.

 

[funinthesun1964]

Where was I?

 

Oh yeah, going to Grand Cayman....we were taken by escort along with the other platinum members to the tender boat. It didn't take long at all from the time we left the lounge until we had a seat on the boat.

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

Getting there doesn't take long at all. Maybe 5 minutes?

 

 

In the port area. A meeting place for people, I guess.

 

 

Some shops. I think these are new since I was here last time.

 

 

We walked up the street and found the library. There was the public bus system. It is nothing other than a large van. We asked if the bus went to Royal Palms and they said yes, we were told $2 per person. We got on the "bus" and picked up a couple other passengers along the way. The bus was then completely full. It only held about 12 or 14 at most.

 

We reached Royal Palms in about 15 or 20 minutes.

 

There was a nice beach with chairs for rent, some eating places, and a pool with a swim up bar. We chose the pool. It looked inviting. It was sure hot outside!

 

 

LOL, I must not have even seen my husband standing there when I took this picture! :rolleyes: (great photography skills)

 

 

^But the swim up bar, with stools in the water, is at the far end of the pool. We ordered a bucket of beer here.

[funinthesun1964]

This was the building where we crossed the street when we first came out of the port area. (Sorry it is out of order)

 

 

This would have been a nice place to have lunch. In fact we did see a family have lunch on the other side of the pool. It was so hot that day, the shade would have been welcome.

 

 

Chairs and tables were on both sides of the pool

 

I had a nice view from my chair. I really had a nice few hours at this place. We never did go to the beach, except to look at it!

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

 

Another bar here and more tables. (this was right behind where I was sitting in the lounge chairs)

 

 

The small building to the front and right is a snack bar. DH looked at the menu and was tempted by conch fritters, I think they were $12. Everything in GC is expensive. The bucket of beers (5) was around 20 or 21.

 

 

Oh, and the sign above on the other side says "adults only".

 

There was some music playing here, and IMO was not too loud, it was of a reggae genre.

[funinthesun1964]

While we were on the lounge chairs, we saw a shed-type building for storage, and I asked DH "What IS that?" He said it was a crab. We watched it crawl all around on the inside of the doors. DH said he felt sorry it, that it needed to be back in water. Later the bartender told us that it was a "land crab" and you can drown these creatures.

 

 

 

See it at the bottom now!

 

 

No fumar either!

 

[funinthesun1964]

You only pay 2 bucks to get in, but they want you to buy their food and drinks.

 

 

 

 

I think the chairs were $10 each, but not 100% sure on the price, since we didn't use them.