Paradise Review....4 day cruise...8/11-8/15

[DFD1]

I'll use the scale of 1 through 5......

 

Stateroom gets an easy 5.....Upper Deck # 181....large spacious outside, big window, big bathroom, big shower, great AC, much better stateroom than we've had on much newer and larger ships.

 

Embarkation gets a 5....smooth and easy....took about half an hour from start to boarding.

 

Lido gets a 3....extremely crowded at meal times.....food okay, but not special....lots of dirty tables all day long....pizza bar was mobbed most of the time....Not a very pleasant experience over all, but we got fed nevertheless.

 

Entertainment gets a 3.....lots of it in, bars, on deck, the main theater, but the quality was not impressive. A lot of it was just noise.

 

Cruise Director gets a 2.....too many loud announcements all day long...lots of them selling things. The announcements got very tiring by the end of the first day. By the forth day, we were ready to commit murder to get them stopped.

 

Kids on Board get a 4... We don't have kids, but there were two or three hundred of all ages on board. 99% were perfectly behaved. Over all a great group of kids.

 

Their parents get about a 3.....enough said about them.

 

The Serenity Adults Only Area gets a 5...This area at the rear of deck 8 was a "God-Send"....it was quiet and relaxing and a welcome respite from all the noise that goes with a cruise full of families with small kids on a summer vacation.

 

Dining Room gets a 2......Slow service, overworked staff, ordinary food. We avoided it most of the time. We don't do three-hour dinners.

 

The ship, the Paradise, gets a 3....Ship is showing her age, the interior looks "dated". Hallway carpets were worn and torn. This being said, the public spaces generally looked great. Lots of bars with good service and High Drink Prices. Shops were good. Casino was roaring.....This is a good ship for 3 and 4 day cruises which attract a lot of families with kids. I would not want to spend two weeks on her.

 

Disembarkation gets a ZERO.....The worst ever. We've cruised 48 times with 10 different cruise lines on probably 25 different ships. This disembarkation was the absolute biggest mess we have ever seen. We were taking our own luggage off. The gangway was a mob scene for two hours. The line was constantly stopped because the check-out computers were not working properly. There was no effective management of passenger exiting in any way. It was "survival of the fittest".

 

We were really glad when we finally got out of the mess and off the ship.

 

Would we do it again....gets a 3.... Probably. It was a good long-weekend for us. Great value for 4 days of "spur of the moment" vacation. Next time we might wait a few days until after school starts, but over all it was Okay.

[RMS95]

Thanks for the info! We sail on her Sept 3rd for a 5 day... This will be my 10th Carnival Cruise....Well cruise period, thats all I've ever sailed is Carnival. I can make the best of any cruise, after all its better than being at work right!!!!

[SkyMaster]

Thanks for posting. I've sailed "Paradise" many, many times, and agree with about 95% of what you said. I've had good experiences in the dining room, but once again, I've sailed this ship over and over, and know many of the waiters, and staff. Probably makes a bit of a difference.

Unfortunately, I agree with you about the mob scene for debarkation. Even though I'm "Diamond", and get preferential treatment, I've seen the chaos around the gangplank on debarkation day. :eek: Some cruises, though, it's much better than others, so it's a toss up on whether it'll be good, or bad.

 

"SKY"

 

P.S. Richie and Mary. I'll be sailing "Paradise" again on Sept 3rd as well. See you aboard!

Edited August 16, 2016 by SkyMaster

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[crusinpsychRN]

Thanks for the review.

 

I was on Paradise once and did Platinum self debark. Staff led us to a cabin hallway where we stood for 30 minutes. She had forgotten us. General debark was well under way and we were stuck in a hallway. Someone finally asked what we were doing and led us to the area where you leave. I saw the staff member get really chewed out for leaving us. No one would let us get in line. It was absurd and I and everyone in the group was ticked.

 

I really wish they'd spruce up her Lido deck.