Gemynii

Great review and great pictures. Sounds like you had a great time!

Thanks you! We did have a great time and I can't wait for the next one.

I forgot to mention that I managed to gain only 2 pounds during the cruise, but I've already lost 1 since we've been back. :D

This was such a nice review and I really enjoyed all of your pictures!

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[quote.Cash line on the right, Credit Card line on the left (Cash line was as long as CC line 10 mins later):

 

 

 

We also sailed on this sailing, and I think the reason the line got bigger is because they started to let people using credit into the cash line. we were at the very back of the credit line and they called us into the cash line and then started letting a bunch of people into the same line.

Yep, I remember you from our roll call.

It makes sense for them to allow CC users to go into the cash line. That way people would not be forced to stand in the back waiting to get into the line. I'm just glad we got through before they did it. ;)

Debarkation Day

We woke up at 7am and noticed a building outside our window. Hopefully no one was in the building watching us sleep. I saw that our invoice had been slipped under the door, so I picked it up and had a look. As I had previously stated in the review, we boarded with a $230 OBC ($130 from price drops and $100 that I paid over the phone) for gratuities and a little bit of spending money. Well, on day 3, I had gone up to Guest Services and added another $100 since we had bought 2 cartons of Marlboros for $57. Gratuities for 5 days came up to $57.50 each for a total of $172.50 for the 3 of us. After subtracting gratuities and our charges for cigarettes, bar drinks, smoothies, sodas, etc... we received a check for $43.06. I was pleasantly surprised by that.

Anyways, we got ready, grabbed our bags and headed up for breakfast. We sat up on the Lido deck for a quite a bit while we waited for Zone 17 to be called. DD was exhausted and ended up falling asleep while leaning against DH and I snapped a pic (I won't post it because she'd never forgive me).

At about 9am, they started refueling, so smoking was no longer allowed on the open decks, so we grabbed our stuff and headed down towards the casino bar. On the way down, we made a detour to where they had all the photos displayed. I finally managed to locate our embarkation photo (which I had looked for almost every day) and bought it for $11.95. While I was paying, we noticed a cool little frame that holds a picture on the left and the right side has a picture of a Carnival ship with lights that twinkle. It was only $8.95, so I had to have it. We paid for the frame then headed to the casino bar for one last smoke before we went through the disembarking process.

At 9am, they had already disembarked up to Zone 10, so we figured that it wouldn't be too much longer until 17 was called. We went down to the America Piano Bar on deck 8 to meet up with Mom and her BF. We had only sat there for about 10 minutes when our zone was called, so we grabbed our bags again and went down to deck 7 to disembark. On the way down, I managed to snap a pic of Sparkles as she was bidding everyone Farewell.

Getting through the line to disembark was very fast and we "dinged" our card one last time and were out the door. We went down to the luggage/claims area and it looked like total chaos. Lines to the claims areas were winding all over the place and the zones for the luggage were in no order. Once we located our zone, it was surprisingly easy to find our luggage and make our way to one of the long lines. Well, I was shocked once again at how fast and easy it was to get through claims. We were only in line about 5 mins before we were at the counter where we handed over our claims form and showed our passports. Easy peasy.

Once we were outside, the 3 of us along with sis and her family headed across the street to the pickup area for Capital Parking while Mom and her BF went to the port parking garage. We ended up waiting in front of Red Brick Pizza for about 10 mins since the van had just left to take another group to the parking lot. When the driver returned, he loaded up our luggage while we got in and we were at our cars within 5 mins and were on the interstate and headed home 5 mins after that.

In closing, I would have to say that I found the cruise and the Carnival Paradise to be very enjoyable. I am officially addicted and can't wait until we can book another cruise. :)

I and my husband are seriously considering going on this ship for our 2nd cruise. Sooo glad you had some pics to show what it looks like. We sailed out of Port Canaveral on our first cruise on the Ecstasy and he loved it! thanks for the snaps!

 

:D

I'm glad you're enjoying the review. I'm trying to talk DH into the 7 day Western Caribbean on the Dream out of Port Canaveral now. He enjoyed himself on this cruise (which is what I was worried about most before we left) so hopefully it won't be as hard to talk him into another.

Day 5 - 2nd Sea Day Cont.

I snapped some more pics around the room, such as the upper bed in the down position (which I had forgot to do before) and our last towel creation, then I finished up the packing and set our luggage in the hallway.

We then headed down to the casino bar for the karaoke competition. Everyone sounded great! Chloe did not win, but she and the other 8 yr old girl that sang were the only ones, other than the winner, to received a ship on a stick for being brave enough to compete. Great Job Chloe!!

After karaoke, we went up to the Lido to chill out for a while before heading to our room for the night.

Up Next... Debarkation Day

Day 5 - 2nd Sea Day Cont.

After dinner we went the 7:30pm karaoke so that Chloe could sign up for the competition that was to take place at 10:30pm. We didn't stay, but instead chose to see the 7:30 comedy show which was hilarious. After the show, sis and I stayed behind at the Rotterdam Bar to do the Martini Tasting while everyone else headed to the rooms.

We sat down at the bar and waited for Vera (who was recommended on here by keystonemama) to get to us. It was right before the 8pm assigned dining, so a lot of diners were having a drink at the bar while they waited. Vera came down and took our order. We decided that sis would just drink some of the martinis that I got. I ordered (left to right in the pic below) the Melon Crush, Blueberry Bramble, Caribbean Sunset and the Spicy Chipotle.

We got the drinks and sis paid for them as promised. Vera told us that there was 2oz of vodka per drink plus the Blackberry Bramble had brandy in it as well, so I thought it was a good thing that we were sharing. I would have to say that my favorite was the Melon Crush with the Spicy Chipotle coming in 2nd, the Caribbean Sunset took 3rd place and the Blueberry Bramble was last.

After leaving the bar, we wobbled our way over to the casino where I cashed out the credit that I had, then went to our rooms to pack. Man, it was a mess in there:

And DD and my niece kept goofing off as I was trying to pack:

That IS the luggage mat by the way.

DD thought I was taking pictures, but I did a video too (haha):

.

Day 5 - 2nd Sea Day Cont.

We showed up at the Elation dining room at 5:45pm and walked right in. We got a window seat tonight.

I ordered 3 appetizers tonight :o. The Gratinated Onion soup was excellent IMO, the Crab Cake was very good and the Beefsteak Tomatoes with Mozzarella was okay. DD got the Sushi (which surprised me since she doesn't eat any seafood) and actually ate most of it.

No pic of the soup (I ate it too fast), but here are the other two:

As the main course, I had the Penne Marisco. I had never had calamari, but I tried a bite and didn't like it. Instead, I pushed it to the side and ate the shrimp, scallops and pasta. Here's a pic before I dug in:

For dessert, I just had the Lime Sherbet since I was so full. No one had the WMC tonight even though the kids loved it. I thought it was a bit sweet (duh), but very good. As we were about to get up to leave, the waiters can through with a farewell song and dance:

Day 5 - 2nd Sea Day

We woke up at about 8:30am, got ready and made are way up to the buffet for breakfast. We never did make it to the dining room for breakfast, but mom and sis said it was great. After eating, we made it to the pool area. Pool side was prime real estate today and chogs were out in full force. (Camera is fogged due to temp change)

Smoking section Lido starboard poolside (also directly above this area) for those who are interested:

We made our way up the stairs to the top deck and managed to find 3 chairs on the end closest to the stairs. Here's a view of the pool from the top:

Video of Sea Day 2 by the pool:

We sat there baking in the sun until about noon, then went back to our room to freshen up. We ate at the buffet again for lunch (no surprise there), then went up to the casino bar where they were doing 90's Trivia. I must have missed the first half of the 90's while I was in high school because I did awful at the trivia... only 7 out of 20.

After trivia they had more karaoke. DH had a headache, so he skipped the karaoke and headed to the room for a nap. DD and my oldest niece went to sis' room to goof off and order room service (we made sure they had ones to tip with). I stayed with sis to listen to the karaoke. My niece, Chloe, sang twice and got more standing ovations. I almost got talked into embarrassing myself again, but time ran out (whew).

Sis talked me into the casino again. I still had a $35 casino credit on my card, but opted not to play this time. Instead, I watched sis play for a bit and after she won a few bucks, we headed down to our rooms to get ready for dinner.

Thanks for taking the time.

What a great review and photos.

Thank you for taking time to share your cruising experience.

Wonderful review and great photo's thanks for posting.

thankyouuuuuuuu so much kim

you not only give great revieuw but also great info.

Keep it up!!!!

Nice review!!! Loved the pics.

Outstanding photos! I am absolutely loving your review.

Thank you all! I'm glad everyone is enjoying it. :)

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

We met up with sis and her family to watch karaoke as planned. While they were looking at the books for a song for my niece to sing, I made the mistake of pointing out that they had the song that my sis liked to hear me sing (What's Up by 4 Non Blondes). OMG, I have never heard anyone beg so much as my sister did trying to get me to do karaoke. I finally gave in after she promised to pay for my martini tasting the next night. What did I get myself into?

Well, I stumbled my way up on stage and stood there trembling, being blinded by the lights, while I waited on the music to start. I guess I did okay, but I got messed up when the background singing came in. The song was almost over, so the karaoke host, Mike, took pity on me and ended the song at that point. I did get a lot of applause, but that could just be because I tried it. All my family said I did great and sis said that people had lighters in the air in the back, but family will say anything to make you feel good, so who knows.

My niece, Chloe, was two spots behind me and she did a great job. I personally saw people giving her a standing ovation.

We watched for a while longer, then DH and I headed to Lido for a smoke before we met up with the family again to watch "60 Seconds or Less"

The game show "60 Seconds or Less" was held in the Normandie Lounge on deck 8 forward. It was definitely a fun show to watch.

Here are a couple of videos of what I considered the best part of the show. It was hilarious and we were cracking up the whole time:

Part 1 -

Part 2 -

After enjoying the show, we went up to Lido where I tried out the Mocha Chocolate Meltaway. I didn't expect it to be a slushie type of drink, but it was great none the less. We spent a little while longer up on deck before heading to our room.

Once we got to the room, DH and DD decided that they were absolutely starving, so we ordered room service for the first time. DH had the Roast Beef sandwich (which he said looked raw, but declared delicious) and the Ham and Cheese sandwich while DD ordered 2 of the Ham and Cheese sandwiches. They ordered so much that I settled on their leftovers which consisted of 1/2 a ham and cheese and some chips. Room service was really quick and we tipped them a $1 per plate.

I set the sleep timer on the TV and we watched John Carter until we fell asleep.

Next up... Day 5 - 2nd Sea Day

*** I was trying to finish up tonight, but my fingers are tired from typing, so I promise I'll get the review finished tomorrow. ***

Great review keep it coming

Thank you. I'm trying to get the rest of it done tonight, but I keep getting distracted. I think I need to go back on vacation... lol.

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

After we ate, we walked around for a bit and did some shopping.

I stopped by a vendor that had some sugar skulls for sale (you can see the cart behind and to the right of the donkey). They were made from clay and not the resin we had seen at other shops. The vendor was asking $25, but we talked him down to $15. Since I didn't want to worry about change, I told him that if he lowered the price on something else to $5, I would just give him a $20. He asked me my favorite color, I said green and he dropped to his knees and put an ankle bracelet on me. I could have made the same thing at home, but I liked it, so I told him he had a deal.

We continued to walk around and I saw a shop that looked interesting. I think it was called Cozumel Fleamarket or something, but I couldn't be too sure since, thanks to the margarita, I had "dain bramage". I know it had the word "fleamarket" in the name. They had cheaper sugar skulls than the one we had bought, but ours looked better and didn't feel as fragile. I loved all the colors in the shop:

Now... a word of warning about this shop that we did not find out until we were in there (and DD was happy to point out to us)... there are sexually explicit items EVERYWHERE. Right there on the shelf next to us was a huge... well, what every guy wishes to have. Sis rushed her family out of the store, but we looked around at some other stuff. I found a very nice statuette of the faces of a man and a woman that was only $3, so DD and I walked to the register to pay. Umm... there were little keychains with men and woman in odd positions hanging on the wall there. We quickly paid, received some free charms and left the shop.

We had walked a few feet when we saw this guy doing fabulous artwork... with spraypaint. The guy was asking $20 each, but since we wanted 3 (1 for DH, one for DD and 1 for niece), we were able to talk him down to $35 for all 3. Sometime during our haggling, sis and her DH had wandered into the duty free liquor store that was giving out free shots and we had been left with all the kids. We located them a few minutes (and 5 shots each) later. They bought their bottle of liquor and we headed back to the ship by way of the duty-free shop.

We were directed to the back entrance of the ship and I didn't spill anything on the security equipment this time. Sis was told to take her bottle to the table, but I guess she didn't hear him because she walked right by it... and no one stopped her. The table wasn't marked and just had one person sitting there... probably due to the fact that we were at the back entrance which looked like the ship's storage area. The employees at the front entrance were probably a lot more diligent. I laughed to myself until we were a floor up from security, then told my sis what she got away with. Anyways, we headed up to our rooms to drop off our souvenirs and agreed to meet at 7:30pm in the Queen Mary Lounge to watch some karaoke.

We had a cute sting ray in our room this night:

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

By the time we got done walking the trail, it was 4:30pm ship time and we were hungry. We caught a cab back to the port for $22 for 7 people (mom and her BF had left earlier) and made our way to Fat Tuesdays.

We could see the ships at the pier from where we were sitting:

I decided on the cheese quesadillas (I had already eaten two when I took the pic)

And a small margarita

24oz for $11 by the way

DH had the Mexican Plate, DD had the chicken fingers and they each had a soda. Our total was $55 and we tipped $10.

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

Chankanaab Lagoon:

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

This statue was dark and morbid... and I loved it.

Mayan Calender:

Off the trail:

Botanical Garden (which we didn't explore):

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

We thought this area was absolutely beautiful. I wonder if I can talk DH into doing this in the back yard.

Totem

Ummm...

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

I think I heard DH ask sis if she wanted to jump in the well to see how deep it was. He was joking, of course, and she knew it.

They have a stone building shaped like an igloo that people can use for steam and aromatherapy sessions... for a charge.

DH acting crazy:

I'm not quite sure what this guy is suppose to be doing:

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

There was a replica of little village also located along the trail:

Day 4 - Cozumel

After sis and her family turned in their life jackets and changed out of their swimsuits, we all headed for the nature trail where they have the Mayan replicas.

Day 4 - Cozumel

The scheduled time for the dolphin swim was 1pm local time, but it was delayed until 1:30pm since the previous group was behind schedule. Sis and her family went to the 15 min instructional course where they teach you how to interact with the dolphins, then they finally headed for the water.

Here's a video (not that you can see much at this distance):

The beach and snorkeling area is located a short walk from where the pool and dolphin area were. There are many statues and structures under the water that are marked by buoys. I never did get to try snorkeling, but my mom said it was fun. Lots of reefs and beautiful fish.

Day 4 - Cozumel

The area where they do the dolphin swim was located in front of the pool and restaurant.

We enjoyed the pool while sis and her family waited for their time to swim with the dolphins.

We also noticed a bunch of people kayaking out in the water:

Day 4 - Cozumel

By this time, we had sweated out half of our bodies' water, so we headed to the outdoor ordering area for the restaurant to grab some drinks.

It was $7.50 for 3 12oz cans of soda :eek:. They did not have US coins for change, so I received 5 pesos for my $.50 (another souvenir for me). Later on, brother-in-law gave me a Dos Equis since he was required to spend $10 to use his credit card and ended up with 3 beers.

Day 4 - Cozumel Cont.

I had brought along the $2 off per person coupon that I found online, so we paid $57 for the 3 of us (12 yr old DD was considered an adult) and received our admission bracelets. We paused in front of the waterfall for another frumpy family photo.

I thought it was pretty cool that you had to go into a man-made cave for the restroom. This is where DD and I changed into our swimsuits.

Fountain in the courtyard: