Carnival Paradise 5-Night Western Caribbean Pictures/Review

[brilliantseas]

Better late than never, here is a quick "highlights" review of my 5-night Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Paradise, April 21-26, 2012.

 

Saturday: Embark Port of Tampa 4p

Sunday: Fun Day at Sea

Monday: Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands 8a-3p

Tuesday: Cozumel, Mexico 11a-8p

Wednesday: Fun Day at Sea

Thursday: Disembark Port of Tampa 8a

 

This trip was a quick getaway with my girlfriend after a long Ohio winter. This was our second cruise together (the first was on the Carnival Dream in October 2011), and we had a great time overall.

 

Going against my better judgement, due to my restrictive work schedule, I we were forced to fly in the morning of the cruise rather than the day before as I have always done in the past. We booked a flight on Southwest leaving Columbus at 6:50am and arriving at Tampa International around 9:15. Thankfully, Southwest Airlines got us to Tampa on time, and with TWO FREE CHECKED BAGS. Great job Southwest! We were out of the airport and at the Port of Tampa by 10:00am.

 

When we arrived at the port, guests were still disembarking, so we made our way down the street and found a neat little courtyard area overlooking the pier and the bow of the ship. We spent a little time in the sun (or rather under the clouds) until we could hear that disembarkation was complete and then proceeded back to the terminal to check in.

 

 

Check-in was a breeze and we were onboard just a little before 1:00.

 

One thing that I noticed was that the Port of Tampa cruise facility is by far the most basic cruise terminal that I've seen in my five cruises. There isn't much space to wait until your zone is called, and there certainly isn't much of a "grand" view of the ship, but I guess it serves its purpose. After all, I don't think anyone books a cruise because of the magnificent terminal that the ship departs from.

[brilliantseas]

We spent the afternoon exploring the ship and had lunch on the Lido deck. I don't remember that first lunch as being anything spectacular; just typical embarkation day Lido buffet food. After lunch, we explored the ship, unpacked, and went to the muster drill. Our muster station was in the Normandie Lounge. They really packed them in, but thankfully it was fairly quick and painless as far as muster drills go.

 

After the muster drill, it was time to sail away, and sail away from Tampa is something that is not to be missed. Thankfully, we had Your Time Dining, so we didn't miss passing under the bridge. I think we passed under the bridge about an hour after departing the Port of Tampa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, the weather on embarkation day wasn't the greatest, but thankfully we never saw much more than sprinkles, so it wasn't a total waste.

[vivavegas]

Welcome Back! Looking forward to reading more of your review!:)

[brilliantseas]

Of the five cruises I have been on, all with Carnival, I would rate the Paradise right in the middle of the pack in terms of both the experience and the ship. The Carnival Dream is definitely my #1, followed by the Imagination, Paradise, Victory, and finally Triumph. I have never had a bad experience on a Carnival cruise, but it just seemed to me that the Fantasy class ships were better maintained and just an overall better design than the Victory/Triumph class. The Triumph, in particular, was in dire need of a drydock when I sailed on her. The Paradise, while showing her age, seemed to be in much better shape, despite being older than the Victory and Triumph.

 

Here are some photos from around the ship:

 

 

 

 

Things brightened up a lot on Sunday, our first Fun Day at Sea.

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

Here are a few more from our first Fun Day at Sea before I head off to bed.

 

 

There is a funny story about this picture. We spent the afternoon up on the funnel deck. By early-mid afternoon, we were the only ones left up there except for this group of about three young boys (probably 10-12 years old) who kept running up from the aft pool/sports deck. They apparently had a crush on three young women (early-mid 20's) that were laying out on the deck directly below because one of the boys kept standing on one of the deck chairs, peaking over the railing and then shouting to the other boys to "hurry up and take it" (a picture) with the iPod Touch that they were playing with. They would then run back to the other end of the deck, yelling "did you get it?". This probably went on for about 5-10 minutes before one of the girls clearly realized what was going on and pointed them out, at which point they ran away laughing. It was clearly the highlight of their afternoon, and while it was a bit of an annoyance to us trying to relax, it was certainly entertaining to watch.

 

 

The funnel deck was almost completely empty, even on a sea day. Very relaxing place to read and enjoy the sunshine.

 

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

[EZcruiserfamily]

Thanks for your review and sharing your pics of the Paradise! Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise. :)

[mykidsrock76]

We are on the Paradise doing the 5-night itinerary in 20 days!!!! I'm loving your review with the pics. It's definitely helping to get me excited for our trip. :)

[brilliantseas]

 

 

 

[brilliantseas]

 

 

We arrived at Grand Cayman on the 23rd to find ourselves anchored off what appeared to be the secondary dock for the island, presumably due to rough seas and less than ideal weather. We were fortunate that the port wasn't canceled completely, but it was a bit of a shock disembarking the tender and finding yourself in what was basically a small parking lot with a few tents set up. Definitely not what we expected upon arriving at Grand Cayman.

 

Perhaps it was because we waited until later in the morning to go ashore (I think about 10:00am, first tenders were around 8:00am), but this was the smoothest tendering experience that I've had to date. There was no huge wait like we experienced in October to tender into Belize; it was just go down to deck 0 and get in a very short line to "ding" your S&S card, and then off onto a large tender for the short ride in to the pier.

 

This is the pier area where the tenders docked. The pier is so short that only one tender at a time can embark/disembark passengers. There was a small parking lot with a fence and security tent to check S&S cards, a few flea-market style local vendor tents, and a coned off lane on the roadway for taxis and shuttle busses to pick up and drop off. There was nothing to do within walking distance of the pier, so I am sure some people were disappointed if they planned on walking around town and/or doing some shopping.

 

Pier at Grand Cayman

 

 

[brilliantseas]

Having done my research here on Cruise Critic, we decided that we wanted to go to the "Sea Grape Beach" area of Seven Mile Beach for the short afternoon in Grand Cayman. I don't remember exactly how far the taxi ride was, or how much we paid, but we did get a short tour of the outskirts of the downtown area and got to see some of the impressive bank buildings where all of America's rich keep their off-shore accounts.

[brilliantseas]

 

We ended up being dropped off near Calico Jacks on Seven Mile Beach. Not wanting to rent beach chairs (I think they were in the $10 range), we simply brought along our beach towels and set up shop on the sand. Unfortunately, there would be no water activities for us as the surf was far too strong to go more than about three feet from shore. I don't remember hearing anything about specific excursions being canceled, but we were glad that we didn't have anything booked (we almost booked a Sting Ray City and snorkel by Jet Ski excursion with a third party) for the day as the water was far too rough for it to be enjoyable.

 

 

Beach volleyball seemed to be an alternative activity since no one could really enjoy the water.

 

 

 

Even Calico Jacks was fairly dead on this windy afternoon.

 

 

[brilliantseas]

When we arrived back at the pier to head back to the ship, we were fortunate to find a short tender/security line, and were on the next tender back to the ship. I guess it was one of the perks of being the only ship in port that day. While we were waiting, we noticed the pirate ship had returned from one of the excursions and was anchored just off shore.

 

 

Not a pirate ship, although there were a few people attempting to drink like sailors.

 

Houses along the coast as we say goodbye to Grand Cayman

If I had to do it over again, I really think I would book an excursion on Grand Cayman, at least so long as the weather was nice. Seven Mile Beach was okay, but the beaches in Cozumel and many of the Eastern Caribbean islands are much nicer.

[Florings]

Thanks so far! I'm ready for more....

[Swayde]

Sailing on Paradise for the first time 2 months. Really appreciate your review with pictures =)

[mj]

Appreciate your review of the Paradise. It has been almost 8 years since I sailed on her when it was a nonsmoking ship. Hope to hear more.

[gsu_paintballer]

 

Is that REAL LIVE ESPN that I spy in that picture?

 

Not the deportes shenanigans?

[suezyq50]

Thanks for taking the time to post and for the pictures. On her in Jan.

[kpatrick74]

Is that REAL LIVE ESPN that I spy in that picture?

 

PLEASEB PRETTY PLEASE say it is......we are Florida Gators football season ticket holders n I am crossing my fingers that they have the ability to show the game that we are missing (but, I would still rather be on a cruise)

[kpatrick74]

With the pics n your review I am even more excited for my trip on her in October. Thank you

[gsu_paintballer]

PLEASEB PRETTY PLEASE say it is......we are Florida Gators football season ticket holders n I am crossing my fingers that they have the ability to show the game that we are missing (but, I would still rather be on a cruise)

 

My second team is Georgia Tech, and I'm hoping I get to see them play the night we leave (12/1/12) in the ACC Championship game :cool:

[mavis2222]

To bad that ship is "Contaminated" by "smokers" now.. I was lucky to cruise on her for 7 days out of Miami back in 2002 when that ship was non smoking.. Even have a few non smoking t shirts from her.. Ill probably sail on her again in near future.

Edited August 30, 2012 by david30101

[SkyMaster]

I too, appreciate your point of view, and the GREAT photos. I'll be sailing "Paradise" in only 4 days, for another fantastic 5 night adventure. Can't wait to get aboard, and your photos are only making the wait more exciting. THANK YOU!

 

"SKY"

[Cruisecrzy3]

My boss just left on the Paradise today (barely an hour ago) and I am filled with envy! Too make it worse, he called the office from his cabin, the bum! ;) At least I'll be on the Paradise in November! Thank you for your review! I am also enjoying your review and pictures! I've already picked the spot I want to spend my week!

 

Thanks again for sharing! :)

[brilliantseas]

After a day in Grand Cayman, we were off to Cozumel. This was my 4th visit to Cozumel, and it still ranks as one of my favorite (even if a bit "touristy") ports. The weather was much nicer on this trip than on my last visit in October 2011, when we encountered some "tropical" morning rain in Cozumel and didn't get off the ship until early afternoon, only to find the port completely deserted. This time around, there were a few other ships in port, and the weather was beautiful.

 

Since the Paradise visits Cozumel from 1:00pm to 8:00pm ship time (12:00-7:00 Cozumel time), we arrived at the peak of the afternoon heat, and decided to make our first stop on the beach. Having been to both Mr. Sancho's and Paradise Beach in the past, we decided to return to Paradise Beach for a relaxing afternoon in the sun.

 

Paradise Beach charges a $2 fee to use the chairs on the beach, and then requires a $10 minimum food and beverage purchase, which is equal to about one "yard" of a frozen drink. I think the activity wristband that allows you to use the kayaks, trampolines, and snorkel equipment was another $12, but we opted not to do that this time.

 

We enjoyed a few hours on the beach, and took time to walk down the beach to some of the other private beach clubs that neighbor Paradise Beach. Paradise Beach is by far the biggest beach club in this area, and has a huge ocean frontage, with clean, raked sand and beautiful amenities. Playa Mia looks decent, but some of the other, smaller beach clubs look really run down. I don't remember the names of them all, but the one that stood out as small and empty in my mind was Carlos N Charlies Beach Club. It was maybe 1/5 the size of Paradise Beach and just didn't seem to have anything going on.

 

Here are some photos from Paradise Beach: