Found My Paradise!!!

[bubba777]

-Just got off my very first cruise ever. It was a family cruise with 10 of us Snyder's on board. We sailed January 9-14, 2016 on the Carnival Paradise. It was a 5 day cruise going from Tampa to Grand Cayman then Cozumel. For those who don't want to read through the whole review, here is a short summary.

 

Dad and I loved it. The food in the MDR was fantastic, as well as the service. I don't remember the wait team, but we were at table 200, right by the door. The food was hot. The only thing that was a miss was the Ceasar Salad. It was served warm. Not very good. Really liked the crab cake appetizer, the roast turkey entree, grilled chicken and veal parmagian entree's. Tried the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake. Didn't like it. It had the consistency of hot fudge. Not much cake to it. Loved the baked alaska and the old fashioned apple pie.

 

We also loved the Rotisserie (sp?), the pizza pirate, Off the Grill and the Ice Cream Machine. Didn't really like the Chef's Choice buffet, it was themed each day (Itallian, Carribbean, French, American...). The food wasn't that good, as neither of us are adventurous eaters.

 

Entertainment wasn't very good. Didn't like the new Playlist Prodctions. They had Epic Rock, British Invasion and 80's to the Max. None were very good, but Dad did enjoy the British Invasion show.

 

All in all it was a great cruise. We didn't find the ship "old" and "tired" and "smokey" like I've read about here on CC. We did find the ship clean, the staff friendly and the food good.

 

I will break down day by day on the rest of the review. I will also post pictures for the ports. I also have all the Fun Times. I'm not really sure how to post them.

 

If you have any questions, or requests, feel free to ask. Thanks, for reading. Here is a picture of me and Dad on the pier at Governor's Beach in Grand Cayman.

[bubba777]

Some kind soul is going to have to take me by the hand and teach me how to put pictures on here. Can't figure it out. That's why there is no picture in the first post. Thanks for the help.

[Captain Carnival]

So glad you enjoyed yourself!

[crusinpsychRN]

Did you see Steve, the CD, play the fiddle? He great!

 

Welcome to cruising. Now you're hooked.

[2chilover]

The Paradise was our first also and we loved it. Going on it again next month. I agree with you about the negatives said about it - I don't think they are true at all.

 

To post a picture - go to http://postimage.org/ . Upload your picture from wherever you have it saved on your computer and then click the "copy to clipboard" next to "Hotlink for Forums 1". Then paste it here.

[bubba777]

Did you see Steve, the CD, play the fiddle? He great!

 

Welcome to cruising. Now you're hooked.

 

That was one thing I really wanted to see, but I fell asleep beforehandd. Bummer I missed it, but that does give me a reason to cruise again.

[SosaCruising]

Yep, I remember my first cruise (not that long ago). I was like, wow! that was fun.

 

Maybe I will try a ship out of Tampa some time (I live just outside of Tampa). I too heard the bad stories of the smaller, older ships. Nice to hear a happy review.

[bubba777]

Ok, now for a more detailed review. This is my first review, so please forgive me if it's not up to what others have done. But remember, this is my experience, and my opinions and thoughts may differ from others.

 

This cruise was a family vacation, a reunion of sorts. Consisted of me and my dad, My aunt and uncle (who we carpooled with from Tennessee), 4 cousins, 1 second cousin and another uncle. 10 of us total. We had bright red (Carnival Red) Snyder Family Cruise t-shirts made for the trip, which we proudly wore a couple days.

 

Getting on the Paradise was easy. We used the valet parking at the Tampa Port. Upon arrival at the terminal, the valets helped us unload our luggage and get it to the porters. I turned over the keys and they parked the car in a fenced in secure area ajacant to the termial. Simple. Let the vacation begin.

 

Dad and I had FTTF, there was no wait to check in. Check in was a breeze. We were sitting down with our brand new, blue sign and sail cards. The rest of the family joined us, and we enjoyed each others company while waiting to board. Dad and I was on board and on our way to LIDO by 11:45 am.

 

THe Carnival Paradise is a beautiful ship. Clean. I got the rotisserie chicken and the rotisserie beef from...guess where??? The Rotisserie! Along with cheesey mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, chicken nuggets, some kind of pasta from the buffet. It was good. The iced tea and lemonade was great as well. Off to a great start.

 

After dining with the family, we all decided to had to our staterooms. It was around 1 and the doors on the upper deck was open. I know we have access because of FTTF, but food won the battle. We found our stateroom U86. It was a "sideways" room. Much more spacious than I expected.

 

 

Here is a picture of Me (on the left) and Dad.

 

We then went and watched the Gender Showdown show. It was funny, but I think it really depends on who they pick as to how the show goes. Bingo followed. I realized while sitting there how boring bingo is. The assistant cruise director Craig hosted these events. One thing I still have a problem connecting is how you can link bingo to twerking??? It has been done, and it is nothing you want to see. An old lady in tight tights twerking because she called "bingo" and really didn't have bingo. The Welcome aboard show was next, and mostly featured Playlist Productions. Didn't like that.

 

We then returned to lido for sandwiches, pizza and more ice cream. I should note that it rained heavily during sail away. By late night, we were in the gulf and were gently swaying. All in all a great first day.

 

Sea day was pretty uneventful. The seas were rolling, and the ship continued to sway. Nothing bad, but a noticable movement. I kinda liked it. Of course, eating took top spot. Next up: Grand Cayman.

[bubba777]

The Paradise was our first also and we loved it. Going on it again next month. I agree with you about the negatives said about it - I don't think they are true at all.

 

To post a picture - go to http://postimage.org/ . Upload your picture from wherever you have it saved on your computer and then click the "copy to clipboard" next to "Hotlink for Forums 1". Then paste it here.

 

Thank you for your help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[CruisinGirl777]

Nice review! Looking forward to reading along.

 

 

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[bubba777]

We arrived at Grand Cayman on Monday, January 11. It was a hot day. We got to port on the first tender because we had an early excursion. Most of the family booked the Best of Grand Cayman tour. I enjoyed the tour. We met our guide at the port and was escorted to our bus.

 

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This was our bus. It was comfortable with great a/c. Our guide said it was 86 degrees outside, it was only 8:30am. She did a great job showing us the highlights of Georgetown. Saw the government buildings, the library. Told us alot about the history of the Caymans. I really didn't know there were 3 islands that make up the Cayman Islands.

 

We stopped at a small beach, called Governors Beach. It was a delightful, small beach with a small pier.

 

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The beach from the pier.

 

We then traveled to the Turtle Farm. We were only allowed to see a small part of the park, but I enjoyed it. Learned alot about turtles.

 

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There are some big turtles at the Turtle Farm.

 

I would love to go back and spend a lot more time at the Turtle Farm. There is so much to see and do. One day, maybe.

 

From the Turtle Farm, we went to He**. It was interesting to see the rock formations. It was a neat place.

 

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Me and Dad

 

From there, we went to the Totuga Rum Company. Some on the excursion sampled the rum cakes. I bought a nice, cold Pepsi. There was a small animal enclosure which had a few birds and small animals. It was cool.

 

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This is a Camanian Rabbit. It's pretty large for the rabbit family.

 

Some on the excursion wanted dropped off at MargaritaVille. After the tour, Dad and I did some shopping around the port. We then headed back to Paradise for lunch.

 

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Paradise from the tender boat.

 

The family got together around the dinner table. I had the fresh fruit appetizer, which consisted of cantaloupe and mellon balls, along with honeydew. It was good. I had the roast Turkey entree and it was great. Fork tender, and covered in a rich turkey gravy. Old Fashioned Apple Pie was dessert, with icecream. It was great.

 

Next up: Cozumel.

[RanchoDeluxe]

Your review is dandy. Thanks. I'm sailing in May and reading up on the Paradise, so I enjoy an up to date review.

[capricorn548]

Waiting to read the rest, thanks for posting this!

 

 

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[miamilady305]

I am glad to see that you enjoyed your cruise on the Paradise. My family (which consist of about 30+) and I will be cruising on Feb 29. Really getting excited now :D.

 

Can't wait to here the rest of your review.

[miamilady305]

I am glad to see that you enjoyed your cruise on the Paradise. My family (which consist of about 30+) and I will be cruising on Feb 29. Really getting excited now :D.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

[RecoveryDude]

I was on the Paradise back in September. I'll echo the OP and say that I LOVED that ship! Yes, it's NOT the Vista or the Breeze ... if you want one of those larger ships, then by all means book them! But if you want a great ship that's Not Too Big, then the Paradise just might be for you!

 

She was very clean and the staff was very nice! We got great service and the food was good in the MDR and the buffet.

 

Thanks for your review!

 

Cheers!

 

Jeff aka Recovery Dude :)

[Drazil65]

OP: sounds like you're hooked!!!! Good luck!!!! :D

[bubba777]

Waiting to read the rest, thanks for posting this!

 

 

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Sorry I haven't been back. Following the cruise, I came down with an upper respiratory infection. i have been battling that for the last several weeks. I am also testing for congestive heart failure. i will work on the review again in the next post. Thanks for reading along.

[bubba777]

OK, now back to the review. We arrived in Cozumel around 11am. Dad and I watched the docking from the deck with the mini golf course on it. Way high up. It was fun watching us come into the port. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of that because I didn't take my camera. Dad and I, plus a good chunck of my group, played a round of mini golf after we docked. I won in our group. It was fun, and the course was a lot more challenging than I had expected on a cruise ship. Sadly, that was the only game of mini golf I did that cruise. I love mini golf.

 

Anyway, after lunch, our group left for Cozumel. We had a late excursion, the Reef Explorer Semi Sub. Think 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea ride that was at Disney World. I will share about that in a miniute.

 

Well, I wanted to share some pictures, but the postimage site isn't working for me. Will try again later. We got off the ship, browsed around the shops at the docks. I enjoyed looking in all the different shops. We were in port with about 6 other ships that day. We did the semi sub excursion. I enjoyed it. But, if you suffer from sea sickness, you may want to avoid it. The reef we toured was not bright and colorful as I had expected it to be. It was a rather dark green, almost brown color. There was a good amount of fish that trailed the sub because they were feeding them. At various times throughout the tour, they blowed a bubble screen covering the windows. It was almost as if they were changing the scenery. All 22 of us had to squeeze on one side of the sub. At points during the excursion, I really thought it was fake. I wish we would have left the ship earlier so I could see if this semi sub actually left the pier. We were on the third trip of the day, but the sub was at the pier the entire time we were browsing the shops.

 

Back on board, the dining room menu didn't have anything I was interested in. So I went to the pizza pirate. I ordered a sausage pizza. Told the worker I did not want onions and peppers on the pizza. Waited 20 minutes for the pizza, and it was covered in onions and peppers. Oh well, I was hungry so I just picked them off. It was good. Had a few things off the buffet and then went to the Normandy theater for Hasbro The Game Show. I enjoyed that. I really wanted to stay up for the Love and Marriage show, and to hear the Cruise Director, Steve, play his fiddle. But, I ran out of steam and had to retire to the state room. There was a game of bingo between the Hasbro show and the Love and marriage show, and the bingo put me to sleep on a few other occasions, so I really wasn't up to sitting through another game.

 

After getting back, I was hungry for potato chips. I love potato chips, but didn't remember seeing them anywhere. So I called room service. I asked for some potato chips and 4 cartons of milk. Within 5 minutes, it had arrived. They made the perfect bedtime snack.

 

The next day was the final sea day, and we had Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham breakfast. Will post about that soon.

[bubba777]

OP: sounds like you're hooked!!!! Good luck!!!! :D

 

Yes, I'm hooked. Not so sure about Dad. We do have another cruise booked in January 2017. It will be a four day on the Valor going to the Bahama's. Not our first choice of desitnation, but Dad really likes the layout and look of this ship. Plus, it's cheap.

[bubba777]

I am glad to see that you enjoyed your cruise on the Paradise. My family (which consist of about 30+) and I will be cruising on Feb 29. Really getting excited now :D.

 

Can't wait to read the rest of your review.

 

THat sounds like an awesome trip. Be sure to post pictures when you get back! Happy Sailing.

 

Gerry

[capricorn548]

Sorry I haven't been back. Following the cruise, I came down with an upper respiratory infection. i have been battling that for the last several weeks. I am also testing for congestive heart failure. i will work on the review again in the next post. Thanks for reading along.

 

Thank you for posting this, and I really, REALLY hope that you don't have CHF. Let us know how that test goes!

[RecoveryDude]

Yes, I'm hooked. Not so sure about Dad. We do have another cruise booked in January 2017. It will be a four day on the Valor going to the Bahama's. Not our first choice of desitnation, but Dad really likes the layout and look of this ship. Plus, it's cheap.

 

 

You really should try a 7-8 day cruise -- yes they are a little more money, but you get a different type of experience when you are on the ship longer than 4-5 days

 

 

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[bubba777]

You really should try a 7-8 day cruise -- yes they are a little more money, but you get a different type of experience when you are on the ship longer than 4-5 days

 

 

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I would love to take a longer cruise, and will some day. For now, though, the short cruises fit the budget and help me stretch out my vacation time. We are thinking of doing an 8 day Alaska cruise in 2018. That gives my plenty of time to save up.

[bubba777]

Let's see. I got up to the final sea day. The wind was blowing pretty hard and the ship was rocking and rolling pretty good. CD Steve announced the ride was going to be rough today because we were in 8-10 foot seas. The ride from Tampa, and the ride back to Tampa through the gulf was cloudy and rough. It was disappointing, but you can't control the weather.

 

Most of our group had reserved the DR Seuss Green Eggs and Ham breakfast. I live character breakfasts. When I lived in Florida, I often visited Chef Mickey's for breakfast, or the Liberty Tree Tavern (When they had a character breakfast) for dinner at Disney. The service was good. I had the filet mignon with fried eggs. It was good. Probably would try something else if I ever did it again. It was fun getting pics with the Dr Seuss characters.

 

After the breakfast, we stopped by the watch sale. I can't believe people go that crazy for a $20 watch. It reminded me of black friday at the mall. Didn't do much else but eat and rest in the cabin. We headed to the MDR for our final dinner, and I really explored the menu and tried a few new things that I was wanting to try. I started off with the New England Crab Cake. I'm not much for seafood, but I really did want to try it. It was fantastic. Full of crab, and didn't taste like fish. My entree was Veal Parmesean. Again, something I really wanted to try. I loved it. I ordered the Southern Fried Chicken as a back up entree in case I didn't like veal. That was good as well. I had the Baked Alaska for dessert. Again, loved it.

 

I got a tear in my eye during the waiters good bye song. After dinner, I watched a few minutes of the 80's show. I hated it. I grew up in the 80's and didn't recognize any of the songs they performed.

 

Final morning I headed up to Lido and was greated by cold, cold wind. Did I say cold. It was a rude slap in the face. Debarkation was a breeze. We were in zone 1, got off the ship quickly, found our luggage and breezed through customs. We were off the ship and through customs in less than 10 minutes. Walked up to the valet stand, and they brought my car right to the curb and loaded my luggage. Valet at the port of Tampa is the way to go.

 

All in all, it was a good first cruise. I enjoyed most meals and the ports. Some of the entertainment was lacking. I hope to enjoy another voyage on the Paradise sometime.

 

Thanks for reading along.