Mini Paradise Review

[gnatz007]

So I wasn't sure if it was even worth posting a review of our recent Paradise cruise (Dec 10-15) but then figured why not, maybe it would benefit someone else.

 

Up to this point we have only cruised on Princess. We are now Platinum with them, so while we are not seasoned cruisers like many, we aren't complete noobs either. For us, this cruise was one of convenience. I was attending a tech conference in Clearwater, and this cruise was leaving Tampa just as the conference was ending, making it an easy decision to jump on, especially considering the very low price. (I should have reminded myself, you always get what you pay for)

 

Rather than do a bunch of yammering I'll just list some of the things we found that were positive, some things that we think could have changed, and some things that were just downright bad.

 

Positive

+ Social Internet. This was fantastic. $18 for the whole week to get facebook, instagram, etc, we loved this. Not that we are huge social networking people, but it allowed us to use Facebook messenger and keep in contact with our kids and post a couple of pictures.. Princess you need to learn from Carnival here! Princess Internet is terribly expensive. This was reasonable and a great service.

+ The Grill. I loved the hamburgers and thought they were fantastic. Right in line with what I would have wanted and expected.

+ Lemonade and the ice cream machine... Mix those two together for an awesome redneck shake and we were in heaven around the hot deck.

+ Chocolate Melting Cake! Other than the Princess Pistachio Dome, this has to be a close second to my favorite all time dessert. Fantastic. I had it every night... see comments below...

 

Not totally awesome

- The flow of the ship. This ship is horrible in its design and how people move about.

- I was surprised with how bored the crew seemed. Our room steward didn't ever call us by name, nor did the MDR wait staff. They were just going through the paces. I used both of their names.

- The MDR food was decent, but the menu was boring. I wish they had more options.

- the MDR dessert menu was the same. Very unimpressive. I ordered the chocolate melting cake every night because there just weren't any other options that sounded decent, and the menu didn't change from night to night other than maybe one item.

 

Downright bad

- When we get to our room, we always do a wipe down of the switches, remote, bathroom, etc, just to make sure its clean. When we both looked at our wipes they were BLACK. Its like the room had never been cleaned before. It was disgusting!

- We were in the absolute worse room on R4 at the back of the ship. We know we know, this was our fault for letting them pick the room for us, etc. The noise is pretty bad. We slept through it fine, UNTIL the last night. from 12:30 am until we docked around 7:00 am right below us sounded like a smash up derby. I think they were moving luggage carts around and not being too gentle about it. Whatever you do, do not pick or use a room on R4 towards the aft.

- speaking of noises... where the wall and the ceiling met, there was a terrible creak the first night. I used a washcloth to jam into the crease and that stopped the creaking. I showed our steward, the problem and the fix, and it was obvious that he knew about it, as he laughed and just said "good fix".

- Twice at the MDR, the table cloth was soiled. like someone spilled soy sauce on the table cloth and they decided to use it anyway. We were first seating, so it wasn't like someone had used it before us. they set the table that way!

- We went to brunch one morning and the service was horrible. Slow, bringing us the wrong items, etc. Other sitting close by were really upset about it (they were carnival frequent cruisers). it probably took close to 2 hours for the whole process.

 

I know this is one of their oldest ships, and we shouldn't judge carnival based on this ship, but its hard to get excited about ever booking with Carnival again.

 

Just my random thoughts...

[crusinpsychRN]

Can you say more about "horrible in design and the way people move around". I find that class ship easy to navigate.

 

She is old and in need of a refurb worse than anything. Had a terrible room steward once on her. I swear my ccabin was his last every day even when I asked for early as I was staying on the ship in GC. "Sure, you'll be first." By noon it still wasn't done and I had no ice except for what I got on Lido.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your honest assessment.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[gnatz007]

Can you say more about "horrible in design and the way people move around". I find that class ship easy to navigate.

 

She is old and in need of a refurb worse than anything. Had a terrible room steward once on her. I swear my ccabin was his last every day even when I asked for early as I was staying on the ship in GC. "Sure, you'll be first." By noon it still wasn't done and I had no ice except for what I got on Lido.

 

The morning that we tried to go to the elation dining room for brunch we were on the wrong side. In order to get to the right side, we had to go up one floor, over past the atrium to the middle stair wells, down one floor, back past the atrium to get to the correct entry doors. That was just kind of weird.

 

In the "USA" lounge, they always had a guitar player that was really quite good. But there was no place to sit to watch and listen to him, other than the couple of bar chairs, and the one or two chairs close by. He was rather popular, so people ended up standing in the walkway because there was no other place to stand, creating a traffic jam when you are trying to just get down the hall.

 

The lines for the grill and the wok both created traffic jams when you were trying to get back and forth from the lido buffets to the swimming pool.

 

Sure, after a little bit (I suppose like all ships) you got used to the layout of the ship, and you knew which stair wells ended at floors that you wished they went higher, etc (IE the horrible middle stairwell problem on the Royal Princess, etc) but to me they are design flaws, not something you should have to get used to.

 

We are also non-smokers, and it seemed Carnival wants you to have to walk by the areas where smoking is permitted (all-though they weren't enforcing any smoking areas at all it seemed... smoking was everywhere, especially vaping)

 

As a side note... we were not fans of the dancing and singing during dinner. I thought it lessens the experience. The other dining mates of ours that were seasoned carnival cruisers (18+ cruises) didn't like it either. When our waitstaff would walk by, they were not having fun, and it lengthened our dining experience 15-20 mins, more often than not making us rush out from dessert to try and grab a show.

Edited December 20, 2016 by gnatz007

[SkyMaster]

 

- We were in the absolute worse room on R4 at the back of the ship. We know we know, this was our fault for letting them pick the room for us, etc. The noise is pretty bad. We slept through it fine, UNTIL the last night. from 12:30 am until we docked around 7:00 am right below us sounded like a smash up derby. I think they were moving luggage carts around and not being too gentle about it. Whatever you do, do not pick or use a room on R4 towards the aft.

-

Just my random thoughts...

 

I see why you didn't like your cabin. R4 is at the BOW of the ship, not the AFT, so you were probably in the wrong cabin for the whole cruise! :eek:

Seriously, I've had those BOW cabins in the past, and they are NOISY!

 

"SKY"

[crusinpsychRN]

I see why you didn't like your cabin. R4 is at the BOW of the ship, not the AFT, so you were probably in the wrong cabin for the whole cruise! :eek:

Seriously, I've had those BOW cabins in the past, and they are NOISY!

 

"SKY"

 

That was the way I read it too but I think it's meant to be Riviera deck 4.

[sc4125]

I appreciate your honest opinion. But, for others thinking of going on the Paradise - I was on a quick 4 day family get together on her last month. It was the first time in a long time that I was going on a smaller ship and after hearing the negative reviews, I was a little concerned - especially for the couple of people with us who had never cruised before.

 

I must say that we had a really good time. It was kind of nice being on a smaller ship. We had a great cabin steward & wait staff. As for the cabin, we chose the cabin on Empress Deck and loved the location.

 

I also thought the food the MDR was really good - at least the choices I made. And like the OP, I really enjoyed the burgers on the grill.

 

In reference to being difficult to get around - I'm used to having to go up or down a deck to get to the other side - I'm not sure how you could avoid this as typically the kitchen is next to dining rooms and obviously you can't walk through the kitchen.

 

I know that a cabin in a bad location can really effect a cruise, so I hope that you give Carnival another chance - maybe on one of the larger ships. It also sounds like you didn't have the best cabin steward or wait staff, so I'm sure that was a disappointment.

 

Again, I hope that you will Carnival another chance.

[gnatz007]

I see why you didn't like your cabin. R4 is at the BOW of the ship, not the AFT, so you were probably in the wrong cabin for the whole cruise! :eek:

Seriously, I've had those BOW cabins in the past, and they are NOISY!

 

"SKY"

 

haha I just meant the level... we were in R244

 

And despite the things we didn't care for, we still had a great time. Anytime on the water, with 80 deg temps when its 15 at home, is a great time! We loved swimming with the Stingrays (a first for us) and Paradise Beach on Cozumel. The other passengers were very friendly, we had great table mates, and those that we met around the ship were fun, easy to get along with, and had a great time with them.

 

For us, we were just use to a higher level of service on a ship that we were hoping would be on this ship.

Edited December 20, 2016 by gnatz007

[JaniceB]

I too am used to the crew calling my by name and the bar/wait staff. I had the same no name experience on the Royal Caribbean Liberty of the Seas. For the money I paid I expected better. I went on the Paradise a few years ago and had the best service and the best room steward. It happened to be my first women steward.

 

I think I would have showed someone the dirt you found in your room, that part is unacceptable.

 

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.