Paradise review w/pics Sept. 14, 2015

[funinthesun1964]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with Carnival Paradise

This will be our first time on Carnival and I'm quite reassured based on your candid information!

Beautiful job!

 

You're welcome. I hope you will have as good of a cruise as we did. Enjoy. And thanks for the compliment. :)

 

 

I so hoped you got a picture of Steve Cassel and you did:D I haven't seen him since his days on Ecstasy from Canaveral.

 

I really like Steve. We also had him on the Ecstasy out of New Orleans in 2011, and I told him this at the Plat. & Diamond Party on the last night of the cruise. More on that to come....

[funinthesun1964]

Cozumel day, Thursday. Whoa, this week is passing way too quickly.

Here are the Fun Times:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

We were in port today from 11-8. I was glad that we didn't have to get up too early and rush to get off the ship.

 

We had planned on going to the gym, then it was DH was going to the gym and I was going to walk up on the track on the sports deck, then we both ended up walking on the sports deck. It was already hot and humid out there!

 

Here are some pics from that morning:

 

 

I took the following picture because the man you see was in the challenge with DH the night before. He was a good team player!

 

 

Here we go around the track what seemed like 100 times. lol

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

More pictures from our walk around the track on the sports deck.

 

 

 

 

Came back to the cabin and bed was already made!

 

 

Decorations are still holding up, although DH kept bumping his arm into the one spot and it fell. He could easily attach it again, as it was held in place by magnets.

 

 

We went to breakfast in the dining room. It was not the brunch menu since it was not a sea day, but the regular breakfast menu. I had a veggie omelet again and DH had pancakes. He had a few sides with it too.

We were seated with 3 couples that were lifelong high school friends. They had decided to cruise as part of their 45th high school reunion. They were a little rowdy but alot of fun! I enjoyed them. Also, there was a young woman (in her 20's) who sat with us and seemed to feel out of place. She was quiet and for the most part just listened to us. We tried to include her in the conversation, but I felt bad for her because she didn't say much and left right after she finished eating.

Edited September 29, 2015 by funinthesun1964

[funinthesun1964]

After breakfast, we went back to the cabin and put on clothing to go ashore. We were not into port yet, but wanted to go out on deck and take some pictures.

 

I see Oasis of the Seas and the Carnival Freedom!

 

 

 

People were just gawking and gasping when they saw this ship, I guess they had never seen it before!

 

 

 

The pilot boat seems so tiny

 

[funinthesun1964]

Okay, getting closer to the pier!

 

 

Steve Cassel made an announcement that it would take a little while to dock at this pier.

 

 

 

Finally we are off and walking towards port!

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

The Carnival Freedom and the Carnival Paradise

 

 

Oasis out there by itself

 

 

When we go through the shop at the beginning (you know the Dufry), it was PACKED. Busier than I have ever seen it. Then at the end...I see why, possibly. They are instructing all passengers with a bag to go through a line. There is a dog working at the end, sniffing everyone's bag. I guess the dog was smelling for fruit, which you are not permitted to take into port from the ship. I wanted to pet the dog and give him a treat. Poor thing, he works so hard.

 

We pass by the usual shops, with the usual vendors yelling at us and trying to get into their stores, but we have been through them all before. We pass them all up and head straight for the taxi stand.

 

But first, DH must get a picture of me by this sign. Believe it or not, I don't think we've photoed this one before!

 

 

Well then we decided to get a taxi. And I will leave for now, because I need to go to bed. Sorry to leave you hanging, but I will say that we had a great time in Cozumel that day. More pictures and tales to come later.

[recjus85]

Nice review. I was on that cruise as well!! I believe I saw y'all on there.

 

I also saw Tim Lucas back on the Liberty, but in January. He is awesome. Another worker there recognized me by name from that Liberty cruise as well.Thought that was awesome.

 

Love the Paradise. Sailed her in January 2014 for my first ever cruise. Would sail her again!

[funinthesun1964]

Nice review. I was on that cruise as well!! I believe I saw y'all on there.

 

I also saw Tim Lucas back on the Liberty, but in January. He is awesome. Another worker there recognized me by name from that Liberty cruise as well.Thought that was awesome.

 

Love the Paradise. Sailed her in January 2014 for my first ever cruise. Would sail her again!

 

You probably saw me where Tim Lucas was then, I requested Sublime and danced along with some of his music like a fool, lol. I would do Paradise again too if the price of cruise and airfare magically lined up in our favor again. :cool:

[recjus85]

Yep I remember that.

 

Side note, I joke with him about following him, and he said he might see me on his next ship, was is Imagination out of Cali. I'm like no, too far for me too go for a cruise..

[funinthesun1964]

Yep I remember that.

 

Side note, I joke with him about following him, and he said he might see me on his next ship, was is Imagination out of Cali. I'm like no, too far for me too go for a cruise..

 

Yeah, he asked me if he would see me again too and I told him where I would be going..but no. I'm definitely not going to west coast to cruise. Did that once and it is a long flight....which comes with jet lag! Not good for old folks!! LOL :eek:

[recjus85]

Yeah, he asked me if he would see me again too and I told him where I would be going..but no. I'm definitely not going to west coast to cruise. Did that once and it is a long flight....which comes with jet lag! Not good for old folks!! LOL :eek:

 

Haha. I've never flown, but I still wouldn't fly that far just for a cruise. If I'm gonna fly for a cruise, it'd be to NY to do the Canada cruise. I'm lucky to live in Florida, very close to the Tampa port.

[funinthesun1964]

So we finally got to the taxi point, and we saw the couple that lives close to us here at home. They were going to Paradise Beach. Since we had been there twice before, I wanted to try someplace different.

 

We got into a taxi, and I said "Take me to Money Bar!"

 

It was a very short ride from the port. $11. A small area in which to sit (lounge chairs), and a bigger area with chairs and tables, including a pier. A large bar and tables and chairs under cover. A straw roof, I forget what you call the type of building. A man extended his arm out as if to say "have a seat." We found loungers, sat down. It was incredibly hot and humid. There were changing rooms, so I went to put my swimsuit on and it stuck to my skin! You know what I mean, it was humid!!

 

I liked it here. It was not overly crowded. Not a great beach for swimming, but several snorkelers here. Nearby must be great for that, because there were several boats letting snorkelers off. Someone also told us it was great snorkeling just a short swim away. It was a little rocky, but the water felt so good that day. I went in the water twice and stayed for a while. Loved it. Music was playing, but not too loud. It would have been boring without any music. The lyrics were in English, lol.

 

 

Our view from the chairs.

 

 

Looking out to the water

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

We requested a bucket of Tecate, which came with 6 cans. We also requested lime. The yellow jackets were bugging us! But the beer tasted good.

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

DH kept telling me "be careful, there's a strong current"! He had me scared for a minute, but it wasn't bad at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the water.

 

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

Showers on the wall, near the restrooms

 

 

 

I had to use the restroom...but couldn't because there was some kind of maintenance going on!

 

 

 

 

After a while, we had enough of the sun and the loungers, so we decided to go inside...to the bar.

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

 

I had sol beer and DH had Capt. and coke

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

 

See this dead yellow jacket...it was on the inside of a can of coke..which my husband drank out of..and was stung on the inside of his lip! He squished it and there it is!

 

[funinthesun1964]

We decide to leave money bar. We get a taxi, which there were several sitting outside of the money bar. We say "take us to Pancho's Backyard!"

 

Off we went.

 

We were dropped off on the sidewalk right in front of the restaurant. Taxi ride was $11. This was on the opposite side of the ship that Money Bar was.

 

 

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

hmm..something funky happened on that last post. anyway, carry on...

 

 

I only took this pic because most places in the caribbean there are signs posted to NOT throw your paper in the toilet....and this one said, go ahead and flush the paper! Thank goodness!

 

 

We didn't wait at all for a table

 

It was a pretty, open place.

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

Love my margaritas....

 

 

and he loves his pina coladas!

 

 

Like we really needed these after the money bar! SMH

 

We had a wonderful portion of guacamole and some delicious salsa with these chips..and I had a vegetarian entree while DH had fajitas. It was DELICIOUS

 

Here you get a get a good view of the guac and salsa.

 

 

[funinthesun1964]

I took a walk in the outdoor section, just for a second.

 

 

well, plates are clean and drinks are empty.

 

 

 

 

Our waiter. And no more drinks for me! lol

 

[EpcotBill]

We were in Cozumel with you on Oasis. I took a few pics of Paradise from my BoardWalk Balcony. Here's one;

[funinthesun1964]

We were in Cozumel with you on Oasis. I took a few pics of Paradise from my BoardWalk Balcony. Here's one;

 

oh nice! Very cool.

[funinthesun1964]

We left the restaurant and decide to go shopping. We stop by shops where they are selling beer for $1 ea. We found a beer called Kloster, or something like that, and then we argued that wasn't Mexican beer, it was German beer! LOL! He pointed out that it was made in Mexico, but I'm not so sure on that one.

 

We shopped around. DH bought a wallet, I got a new dress, we bought a small bottle of tequilla, some of those moroccas for the kid next door, and we went to buy a doll for her also. THat's when DH checked his wallet....and only had 2 bucks left. Also, forget to mention that while we were shopping, we had drank 2 more beers and had tequilla samples :eek: DH had to say, well, we'll think about the doll...lol...and we left the store....and said we're gong to have to walk back to the ship :o

 

Off we went!

 

 

Sorry, Don't remember where these pictures were taken!

 

 

DH said he wasn't tall enough to reach the other "face" and there was no step..and besides I don't remember being at Margaritaville!

 

Nothing to say about this.

 

 

We made it back to the ship at 7:30. Just in time, the ship was scheduled to leave at 8:00.

 

I felt dirty, I took a shower right away. Dh did the same. I laid down on the bed and said I wanted to take a 30 min. nap. DH said you will never get back up. I didn't want to get up. The next thing I knew, DH said its 11:15. I said I don't want to get up. Shucks, we missed the comedian that we wanted to see this night. I slept the rest of the night.

 

I have to say, we had a really good time in Cozumel. We still laugh about it. We're crazy, I tell ya....crazy.