Carnival Paradise 1/6-1/12 review

[ozzy77]

Hi everyone!sorry I didn’t get to writing this sooner but I was suffering from PCD haha. I will try to make this thurough Because I definitely have a lot to say about this cruise. So this was my husband and my first Carnival cruise and my son(9)first cruise ever. We knew going into this that the Paradise is an old ship and that she is due for dry dock but we needed something that worked with our budget and this definitely did. We arrived a day early and stayed at the Renaissance hotel which was beautiful! We got an Uber to the port and arrived by 1:00(didn’t have FTTF) and embarking was very simple and pretty fast! When boarding the ship we went directly to our room and were pleasantly surprised with the amount of space for an interior room on the Empress deck. The decor is definitely very retro and the ship showed her age but we knew to expect this. We were comparing apples to oranges with the whole Royal Caribbean/ Carnival experiences he whole time and toward the end I will reveal the Verdict. We went to lunch on the Ledo after scoping the room. We missed the colorful fruit designs we always saw on royal Caribbean but a buffet is a buffet and nothing was awful but then again nothing was great either. The mustard drill was pretty smooth and I liked that we got to sit inside for the majority of it. I was actually more shocked at how many ADULTS couldn’t put there phones away to listen. After the drill we went back to our room where the luggage was waiting. We had early dining so we went ahead and got ready.

Our dining room(destiny) was not easy to find at all lol it took us a couple nights to figure that out the first try. Our head waiter Adam is from Haiti. He took a liking to my son from the first night and called him “my man!”. I usually always look forward to the food reviews but this review will be pretty short on that because I can sum all of the food up very briefly. Nothing we had was ever very warm, nothing stood out as amazing, and I had two dishes that were inedible. The creme brûlée was probably my favorite thing, the lamb smelled and tasted fishy(it looked just as unappealing,and the same fishy taste was in the au jus sauce for the prime rib. They did offer to bring me new dishes but I had lost my appetite.

After dinner we did the Hasbro game show where it was Leon’s first time hosting and he did AMAZING! My son was chosen to go on stage and be the captain of the red team! This was the start of my son becoming a bit of a celebrity on the ship.

Later that night we attended the welcome aboard show where we met Jaimie Dee(cruise director) I have to say WE LOVE HER!!! She pulled my son up to get involved and many people knew him already from the game show. From that night on he got fist bumps,high fives, and “hi Wyatt’s” every where he went! The entertainment on this ship was above and beyond!!

The next day was a sea day so my son went to Camp Carnival some,we did the slots a bit,and my husband did Harry Potter trivia. My husband was sea sick most of the day because he said “the captain is driving like a maniac” and the water was choppy.!We wanted to take advantage of some down time to get in the hot tubs but this was a huge let down because the whirlpools on the main decks should have just been called “kiddie pools”. At all times they were filled with splashing little ones and the water was actually cold. The serenity deck was always packed so we only got to get in once the whole trip but at least it was warm on the serenity deck.

We opted out of the main shows that night and decided to watch the comedy shows (tommy drake and Dan Chopin) they were hilarious! Again the entertainment never let us down.

The next day was Grand Cayman. We had booked the stingray city/turtle farm experience through the carnival website. Unfortunately since the Cayman has experienced a good amount of rain over the weekend the stingray part got canceled, but they said we would get that money reimbursed and we could have all access to the turtle farm the whole time should we chose to....sure! Why not? We were disappointed at first but ended up having a lot of time to snorkel at our leisure in the turtle lagoon which turned out a once in a lifetime experience! We didn’t buy any pictures with the turtles because I had already read that if you walk down a tank you can still hold a turtle and take your own pictures. We didn’t eat in the caymans and boarded before dinner.

The next day was Cozumel where I didn’t book any excursions through the ship but printed out coupons online and did research on doing Chaakanaab water park on our own. We got in line to get a taxi and headed over easy peasy. Through Carnival they offer this for I believe $87 per person and that includes lunch but we were able to save a good deal by doing it independently actually. We snorkeled there, watched the sea lion show, did the manatee/dolphin tour(free but you couldn’t take pictures), and we ate lunch there which was actually cheaper than expected because my son got a monster big burger and my husband and I just split a quesadilla and it was only $15 total. The weather was beautiful and I would recommend Chakabaan as a great family outing. We were in port until 7:00 but we made it back on board before dinner. Before dinner they had a Veteran appreciation event(my husband is a vet) and this was very touching and meant sooo much to us!!My son ended up getting sick that night so we had to take him to the medic and get an ok in the morning before he could return to camp carnival. He ended up puking twice but never had a fever and felt great when he woke up so we chalk it up to sea water, Mexican burger, and half a bag of candy. We watched the Love and marriage show which was a hoot! I stayed in the room with my son during the Quest show but my husband said it did NOT disappoint!

The last day was a sea day and was bitter sweet because we knew the end was drawing near. We went to the morning show with Jaimie and Leon who by this point felt like one of the family. We did suesapalooza and the towel folding theater with my son and then he went to camp carnival while we played bingo. They had the Harry chest competition on the pool deck which is always fun to watch. At dinner my son had to face the fact that this would be the last time he would be seeing people and it hit him hard! He cried as he hugged Adam and said his goodbyes. We then went to the early showing of the Epic rock show(we skipped desert and had plenty time) and WOW WOW WOW DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW!! Again above and beyond what I would imagine for a cruise ship!!! TOP NOTCH! My son was sad it was the last night,cried a lot,and said his goodbyes to Jaimie and Leon. I thanked them both as a parent that they made my son feel so special and almost got choked up myself! My son will remember them always! After the show we went to see the comics again while my son went off to camp. While settling up our bill for the cruise we had people come up and ask us how Wyatt was doing because they had heard he was upset. So sweet!

The last morning My husband skipped out on breakfast because he was still green around the gills from the rocky fast trip back to land. We chose to self disembark and the process was super easy.

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So to sum this experience up for the price this ended up being a wonderful vacation!! The Paradise itself is in need of its drydock which it is getting but don’t let that discourage you! I have never had such a great director(Jaimie dee), never have we had such outstanding entertainers, funny comedians, and above and beyond family atmosphere!! Years to come we won’t remember the mediocre food or the slight poop odor on the Ledo but we will remember the fond memories made and how people went above and beyond to make sure my son had an experience of a lifetime! After returning home I friend requested Leon on Facebook and he took a selfie of himself and Jaimie with sad faces for Wyatt and made sure I told him that they love him and miss him! THANK YOU CARNIVAL!

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your review/report.

 

Keith

[grima625]

Thanks for the review. We've sailed the Paradise a couple of times, and will sail on the Miracle out of Tampa in March. We've had Jamie Dee as our cruise director in the past, and I think she's great.

[1lizette1]

Great review!

We're sailing on the Paradise next week. It'll be our first cruise as well

 

Sent from my ASUS_X00ID using Forums mobile app

[Djptcp]

DH and I have sailed on the Paradise 3 times in the last 8 months, most recently last week and we are sailing on her again in 5 days. Food is subjective, but we have been on 43 cruises and 30 on Carnival and have never found anything "inedible". We may not have liked something, but never inedible. Just ask for something else instead. I disagree that the ship needs dry dock - yes, it's an older ship, but certainly not falling apart at the seams. We had a couple of rough sea days, but not bad. Despite their complaints, the OP and family had a good time.

[afcruiser]

Thanks for the nice review.

I think Carnival crew does a great job with entertaining kids

and making it special.

 

We now enjoy cruising just the 2 of us.

 

A totally different cruise without kids.

Ours are grown and still jealous every time we set sail, without them.

[shipper50]

Thanks for the review. I will be on my first CCL on the Paradise in 8days,20hours, 15 mins, but who is counting...:p

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Clarea]

Thank-you for your report/review.

[Keith1010]

I am so happy that your son had an experience of a lifetime.

 

A wonderful memory and hope you all make more in the future.

 

Keith

[funinthesun1964]

The Paradise is one of my favorite ships, especially for a five day cruise. Someday I will sail her for a third time.

[RedSails1968]

I so agree about the lamb shank. Strange texture and awful gravy. Also the cornmeal-encrusted chicken. So dry it could hardly be swallowed. This was on the Conquest. But the wait staff makes up for it.

[blarko]

Jaime Dee has been the best cruise director I’ve had in all of my cruises.