Our Super Bowl Cruise on Paradise - Feb 4 through 7, 2011

[MissyMac13]

We arrived at the port in Long Beach around 12:45pm and it was the perfect time, as there were no lines to get in and we were directed to an open window to check in right away. The employees in the check in area were friendly and helpful and our check in took about 5 minutes at the most. We had photos taken before we got on board and walked onto the Paradise with no line ahead of us. We went to the Lido deck to relax for a bit before going to our room, which was to be available at 1:30pm. I bought a soda sticker and Carnival mug for my 8 year old daughter. If I had it to do again, I probably would not have bought the soda; we brought 2 12 packs on board with us and didn't even use 1 of them. We had no trouble bringing this, as well as a bottle of wine with us. We also purchased the drink special, which I didn't finish...... but it was yummy!

 

My daughter and I, hanging out on the Lido deck, waiting for our room to be ready.

 

We had an interior room on the Main deck. The room was surprisingly large for what I was expecting, and the bathroom was bigger than I remember the bathrooms being. My 8 year old slept in a pull down bed and loved it. We were one of two rooms on our deck that had decorated doors. I expected more people to decorate.

This was the other door that was decorated for Super Bowl - obviously a Steelers fan!

Our decorated door

[MissyMac13]

We ate dinner that night, and the next two nights in the Destiny dining room. Our waiter and his assistant were outstanding. Both made a great effort to remember our names and our preferences for meals. The food was outstanding. This was the only dinner that our daughter ate with us, as she was having dinner with her Camp Carnival friends the two remaining nights. My husband had the prime rib, and I had the iron steak. Both were delicious.

The Destiny Restaurant

Prime Rib, Macaroni and Cheese, Carrots and Peas

Iron Steak, Macaroni and Cheese, carrots and peas

[SadieN]

Just how wild was your cruise? We were on the 2/7 cruise and saw the Sheriffs board before we did.:eek:

[MissyMac13]

We were in room M50, which was an interior room. We usually have an oceanview and when we go on Ecstasy in March, we treated ourselves to a balcony. The only difference we noticed was not being able to see through a window (of course!) but otherwise, had no problem with the room or size.

 

 

 

 

We only went to one show, which was a country music themed one. The performers were really good. We played Bingo before the show and lost, but it was fun regardless.

The Normandy Lounge, which was also our muster station.

[MissyMac13]

SadieN, it was pretty crazy onboard. When we booked this cruise, we didn't realize it was Super Bowl weekend. After talking to some of the cruisers, I found out that they get together every Super Bowl weekend on whatever Carnival ship is sailing and just party all weekend. We did have some neighbors who were loud with their music for a while, but nothing really outrageous. There were very few children onboard so whenever we'd run into people who were either drunk or cursing, they would see our daughter and apologize to us for their behavior.

I did notice that Customs was really checking people as we got off, and the Sheriff's Department was walking the Lido deck before we disembarked with their drug sniffing dogs. I don't know if that is standard or if it was because of the party atmosphere of the weekend.

[MissyMac13]

Day two started with breakfast in the Ecstasy Dining Room. My 8 year old wants her banana cut this way every morning now....

 

We did not plan to go on an excursion in Ensenada. My husband and I took a cruise on the Holiday 10 years ago for our honeymoon, so we had gone to La Bufadora and didn't think that our daughter would enjoy it. We stayed on the ship for a while and let her participate in the Camp Carnival activities.

Here is the Serenity area for adults only

 

While we were sitting and watching people get off the ship, the seagulls were enjoying someone's leftovers from breakfast. My husband took so many photos of the seagulls and the sunset that I named this cruise "The seagull and sunset cruise vacation."

 

We had company in port - this was the Carnival Spirit. What a beautiful ship!

We finally decided to get off the ship and go into Ensenada. We got our daughter from Camp Carnival and took a shuttle to the downtown area, then walked back, past the "3 heads", as I call them. The above picture is of a band that was practicing in this area.

[Martini Mom]

Thanks for the detailed review! :D

[MissyMac13]

Here's a photo of one of the "heads".

 

This is the garden next to the playground.

 

My husband and I with the Paradise behind us.

[MissyMac13]

We did some shopping at the area as you get off the ship. Be warned that very few of these vendors take credit cards. My husband went back on the ship to get cash. We bought some items to bring home as gifts. I bought some vanilla extract and a silver chain, and my daughter had her photo taken with a tiger for a $25 donation. Pricey - yes. But she still talks about it.

Grace and the tiger

 

My daughter in the kids pool. She was the only one in it! My husband enjoyed some time in the hot tub and I read a book.

 

The Spirit left before we did.

[MissyMac13]

Our room steward was somewhat invisible to us. We saw him maybe three times at the most. He did create an interesting towel display for us on the 2nd night. You will see Gordy, a stuffed pig in the trough - Gordy travels with me every where I go and our room stewart did a nice job in making him a home! He also did a nice elephant the first night.

Dinner started with crab cakes and apple slaw. Delicious!

 

We both had lobster and shrimp on Saturday night. They offer prime rib, steak and lobster, as well as other items for a premium cost of $18, but this night there was no charge. We found out the next day that there were over 1,800 plates of lobster served that night and the chef was expecting 1,400 at the most. Glad that they had enough to serve everyone!

[SadieN]

SadieN, it was pretty crazy onboard. When we booked this cruise, we didn't realize it was Super Bowl weekend. After talking to some of the cruisers, I found out that they get together every Super Bowl weekend on whatever Carnival ship is sailing and just party all weekend. We did have some neighbors who were loud with their music for a while, but nothing really outrageous. There were very few children onboard so whenever we'd run into people who were either drunk or cursing, they would see our daughter and apologize to us for their behavior. At least they realized what they were doing.

I did notice that Customs was really checking people as we got off, and the Sheriff's Department was walking the Lido deck before we disembarked with their drug sniffing dogs. I don't know if that is standard or if it was because of the party atmosphere of the weekend.

 

Thanks for the review. The Paradise rarely gets reviewed.

 

Definitely not normal for the dogs to be onboard. We were late in boarding. Several crew members looked shell-shocked and when asked (we're nosy) said they didn't want to repeat the experience.

[Litewait]

SadieN, I did notice that Customs was really checking people as we got off, and the Sheriff's Department was walking the Lido deck before we disembarked with their drug sniffing dogs. I don't know if that is standard or if it was because of the party atmosphere of the weekend.

 

 

 

Def not the NORM!! I cruise the Pradise a couple of times a year atleast. NEVER have I seen this~:eek:

[MissyMac13]

Sunday was our day at sea and Super Bowl Sunday. We originally planned to watch the game in the Normandy Lounge, but ended up watching it in our room and got room service.

We started the day with a "Behind the Fun" tour. If you get the opportunity to do this, you should. It was well worth the $55 for each of us. Our tour guide was Eryn, the Training and Development Manager. She took us to see the galley, where we met the head chef. We also met the pastry chef and were given some chocolate covered strawberries. From there, we went down to the storage area and saw where all of their food and dry goods are stored. We saw the laundry area (and I have such a great appreciation for those workers!) and the area where they recycle their bottles, plastics and cans. From there, we visited the Engine Control Room and the back of the house at the Normandy Lounge. We also got to see their break area (which is really small) and their lounge. We also got to meet the Captain and see the bridge, which I believe has one of the best views on the ship. We received a photo of our group with the Captain, along with a lanyard, hat and bracelet. When we got back to our room, our daughter was very tired and fell asleep - this is why we didn't make it to any of the public areas to watch the game. We ordered room service and I went to the Pizzaria to get my daughter some pizza. We also had a nice surprise delivered to us, courtesy of the chef and pastry chef.

Crew private area

Our goodies from the pastry chef

[MissyMac13]

Once my daughter woke up and we ate lunch (and watched some of the game), we went upstairs to play mini golf. It is a 9 hole course and there were some other kids up there playing. This is where my husband got the majority of his sunset photos.

Mini golf

 

 

We dropped our daughter off at Camp Carnival for her farewell dinner. There were 6 kids in her age group there. If she could have stayed 24 hours a day with these folks, she would have. Their dinner was in the Paris Restaurant.

Camp Carnival dinner

 

My husband and I went upstairs for our final dinner in the dining room. We heard noise from above us, where a group of people were watching the game. When it became very quiet, we realized that the Steelers must have lost because I would say that about 75% of the folks onboard were Steeler fans. I should have mentioned before that we were at a table for 4 people, which was quite a surprise as we've been at the bigger tables for past cruises. It was nice to have a table to ourselves. The dining room was not full on any evening when we ate there. When we toured the galley, the chef told us that he essentially had to make a 4th meal that Sunday for Super Bowl and we saw workers frying up some chicken that was going to be served in all the public areas.

 

I had BBQ ribs and zucchini. We didn't take a picture of what my husband had.

Our waiters

[DEBnGAB]

Def not the NORM!! I cruise the Pradise a couple of times a year atleast. NEVER have I seen this~:eek:

 

 

Yea not the norm....

[MissyMac13]

On Sunday before the game, I had a "Fire and Ice" pedicure. It was $70. It was a nice experience but I certainly wouldn't do it again. The spa employee was quite pleasant until I told her that I couldn't purchase the $200 plus worth of items that she suggested until I spoke with my husband. I realize that these employees get commission on their sales, but I was able to purchase one of the items for $15 less by waiting until I got home.

While I was at the spa, my husband took my daughter to make a stuffed animal at Camp Carnival. Surprisingly, it was only $20 - $15 for the animal and $5 for the clothes. She ended up getting more clothes for free at the end of her camp experience, along with a backpack and journal and paper and pencil. We bought her a Fun Ship Freddie shirt for $5 as well.

A better photo of our waiters and my husband

 

The top of the atrium

 

Monday was our debarkation day and we had breakfast in the dining room again. After we ate, we went to the Lido deck to wait for our number to be called. We had decided to have our luggage taken the night before instead of taking it ourselves. The restaurant at the Lido was serving breakfast and continued to do so until around 11am. We got up there around 9am and we figured that we'd be onboard for an hour or so after that. It was 11am when we finally got the clearance to leave, and when we did, there was no line to wait. This was also the first and only time that we saw Jeff Bronson, our cruise director. We saw the assistant CD's more though and this isn't saying anything bad about Jeff; we just weren't at events where he was.

Our daughter with her new stuffed animal, "Rock"

 

Once we were off the ship, it took us a little while to go through customs. Once we were through it, we went immediately to our bags and then to the car. We then waited the longest that we had to wait during this cruise - in the parking structure to get out. We easily waited 25 to 30 minutes to get out of the parking structure.

We're looking forward to our next cruise in March on Ecstasy. We took over 400 photos on this one and it was only 3 days, so I'd better get a bigger memory card for our Ecstasy cruise!

[USNUZULOOSE]

How did you hang the stuff on your door ? Thank you for the pics as we will be on her in Oct.

[MissyMac13]

I used Sticky Tack, which is a gum-type adhesive that doesn't mark up the door. A couple of our decorations fell off the first night but we were able to put them back up and just pounded on them a little harder to keep them up. We had written our names on some of the fish and shells and our daughter thought it was a nice way to find our room. We have even more elaborate decorations for our Ecstasy cruise.

Oh, one other thing - THE CASINO. I would have been fine to stay out of it. I lost (and I know that most people do) but they make it so easy to gamble by allowing you to charge to your sail and sign card right at the slot machine. WAY TOO CONVENIENT!! There were some people winning on slots but they told me that they lost the previous night. My husband came out about $20 ahead on poker and blackjack.

[westcruzer]

Thanks for the great pics and review. We just booked a 3 day Paradise vacation yesterday. I can't wait.....I really wanted to book a 7 day but just don't have time.

[Martini Mom]

Thanks for the great pics and review. We just booked a 3 day Paradise vacation yesterday. I can't wait.....I really wanted to book a 7 day but just don't have time.

We just booked a three day as well! :D I would much rather go on a longer cruise, but this fits for right now. We are looking at 7 day cruises for late 2011, early 2012.

[DEBnGAB]

We just booked a three day as well! :D I would much rather go on a longer cruise, but this fits for right now. We are looking at 7 day cruises for late 2011, early 2012.

 

I might be going again July 8...we'll leave the boat in one piece for ya!

[USNUZULOOSE]

I used Sticky Tack, which is a gum-type adhesive that doesn't mark up the door. A couple of our decorations fell off the first night but we were able to put them back up and just pounded on them a little harder to keep them up. We had written our names on some of the fish and shells and our daughter thought it was a nice way to find our room. We have even more elaborate decorations for our Ecstasy cruise.

Oh, one other thing - THE CASINO. I would have been fine to stay out of it. I lost (and I know that most people do) but they make it so easy to gamble by allowing you to charge to your sail and sign card right at the slot machine. WAY TOO CONVENIENT!! There were some people winning on slots but they told me that they lost the previous night. My husband came out about $20 ahead on poker and blackjack.

 

We cruised on the glory in 09 my DH got up from the art auction and when he came back he said someone won 98 thousand dollars on the 1 dollar slot machine. That was something to see. Then someone behind them won 10 thousand. A few happy cruisers.

[Martini Mom]

I might be going again July 8...we'll leave the boat in one piece for ya!

Well, since you're cruising on my birthday, you'd better! ;)

[surfer_00]

thanks for your review!!! will be sailing on her may 2nd for my husbands post deployment cruise. i cant wait! loved all of your pictures and hope we have just as great of a time. we sailed the paradise for our very first cruise 4 years ago. so i figured it would be special to be on her once again for a very special homecoming gift. :)

[nevadabadgirl]

Thanks for the review. My son and I are sailing on the Paradise on May 16th. Love the review and I hope I have as much fun!