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Just Back from the Paradise. A tale of two cruises.

cruisecastle

By cruisecastle,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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JustRambling

JustRambling

Posted
Posted

Well, gee, I guess I was laughing to much to remember that I had a couple of questions. LOL!

First, being that I have asthma, I was wondering if you could tell me where smoking is allowed on the ship...if you know? I will try to avoid those areas as much as possible, since it makes my asthma act up.

Secondly, If I wanted to use the gym, is there an extra charge involved? Or is that part of the "package"?

Thirdly, Did you do any of the excursions at Catalina? If so, which one(s), and can you tell us how you liked them, whether or not you would reccomend them?

Thanks so much,

Diana

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Lewdog

Lewdog

Posted
Posted
Well, gee, I guess I was laughing to much to remember that I had a couple of questions. LOL!

 

First, being that I have asthma, I was wondering if you could tell me where smoking is allowed on the ship...if you know? I will try to avoid those areas as much as possible, since it makes my asthma act up.

 

Secondly, If I wanted to use the gym, is there an extra charge involved? Or is that part of the "package"?

 

Thirdly, Did you do any of the excursions at Catalina? If so, which one(s), and can you tell us how you liked them, whether or not you would reccomend them?

 

Thanks so much,

Diana

 

 

We did the "pseudo submarine" thing on Catalina and it was not bad, saw some cool fish. We booked it once we went ashore.

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southbayer

southbayer

Posted
Posted

While your experiance is helpful, your second story, funny as it is, kinda takes away from the seriousness of what your trying to tell us about your cruise.... Yes, it was a bit TOO Much:eek:

This first review is my review based just on exactly how I felt the cruise was. The second review down below would be the typical cruise critic poster review.

 

First of all lets clear up all the confusion regarding early check-in once and for all. It is not cancelled and is up and running in full fashion. This is a very nice feature and allows you to be one of the first people on the ship. We were on at 12:00 and were the 5-13th people on board. Emabarkation was a snap.

 

Having never been on such a short cruise, this was the 3nt, I was a little concerned going inot this cruise. There was no need. Despite always wanting to stay on board longer it was a very good cruise. It has been rated the 2nd highest next to Elation for quite some time now from the customer questionaire score.

 

This was my first time in a Cat 12 suite and what a treat that was. Very nice.

 

The food was very good we had excellent gazpacho soup, vichysoisse sp?, prime rib and chateaubriand. Had a bit of a glitch on a couple of the lobsters as they were dried out. Asked for new ones and the 2nd ones were fine. The lido deck food was probably the best of any ship I've been on for the lido deck food.

 

The cruise director is probably the exact opposit of John Heald. He is barely seen and rarely heard. That's fine in my book even though I like Heald as well.

 

Ensenada was lots of fun and La Bufadora (the blow hole) was alot of fun. Habana Banana near the blow hole had great margarita's and excellent guacamole.

 

This cruise was not a party cruise but seemed to be very well balanced between partiers, Grandparents, and families. Since it's a short and relatively inexpensive cruise there are lots of folks celebrating things like 40th birthdays, anniversaries etc......I would not hesitate to bring children or a family on this cruise for one minute. There were 8 of us ranging from 5-70years of age and all had a good time.

 

Casino was good and the had a hold-em a table which stayed busy until 4:00am.

 

The Paradise is a very nice ship but seems very small if you have been on the liberty recently which we had last summer for european cruise.

 

Debarkation was easy.

 

Can't think of any negatives at all and had a really good time only wish it had been longer.

 

2nd review from a typical cruise critic posting point of view.

 

Embarkation was a real pain in the rear as I had to carry my microwave and coffee pot over 300 yds from early check in to the the terminal. While trying to balance everyting onto the ship I cracked my coffee pot on the steel siding of the ship. Why Carnival doesn't pad these I don't know! I quickly made a note to add this to my post cruise complaint letter to Bob Dickinison demading reimbursement for my coffee pot. When I finally got to my cat 4 inside stateroom I couldn't believe how small and dark it was. There was no room for my microwave so I had to keep it on the floor. This is unacceptable as Carvival should have microwave stands in each and every room.

 

After unloading all my stuff I went up to the lido deck. Man was it cold, 65 degrees vs the 80 degrees I saw last week. I can't believe Carnival did this to me on my vacation. I quickly made a note to add this to my complaint letter and demand a 50% refund for cool weather. I couldn't find a deck chair exactly where I wanted to sit in the first two minutes so I saw a chair loaded down with shoes, a walkman, and a book. A half full drink was also next to the chair. Since no one was sitting in the chair I gathered all their stuff and threw it overboard so I could sit down. Of course I kept the drink and it was mighty tasty. Hey a free drink you can't beat that.

 

After 5 minutes I was bored so decided to walk the ship. I was soon outraged as I saw a wet paint sign on a wooden bench right where I wanted to sit. Hey, I paid for the use of this ship and I'll sit where ever I please. So I moved the sign and took a seat. When I awoke from my nap my clothes were stuck to the bench and stained. The nerve of Carnival! Made a note to demand payment for my ruined outfit in my post cruise complaint letter.

 

After going downstairs to change into my jeans I headed up to the dining room. Wow! What a disaster. These morons gave me two many forks I mean who needs two forks! What a waste! Anyhow the gazpacho soup was cold. I told the waiter to take it back and bring me a hot bowl. What? It's supposed to be cold! Damn it I paid for hot soup I want hot soup. Overall the food wasn't good as I could barely finish my fourth entree.

 

Ensenada was crazy. I loaded up my back-pack with food before I got off the ship. I took the la bufadora tour and had to walk about a 1/2mile to the blow hole. That's an outrage I didn't come on this ship too walk. Then when I got to the blow hole that shoots water up 70ft in the air I got wet and my camera was ruined and all my food was wet.. Carnival never told me I could get wet on my tour so I made a note too put in my post cruise complaint letter that they owe me a new camera.

 

The casino was a rip-off as I actually lost money in there.

 

The last day was sea day and after clearing a deck chair of some stuff left behind I was good to go for the day. But is was too cold again so again I'll note that in my letter. Good news though seemed to be alot of folks not watching their drinks so I got loaded on all the left behind drinks for free.

 

As I went back to my room drunk I tripped over my microwave and broke it. Carnival will be paying for that I thought.

 

Needless to say this cruise was a disaster and this is the last cruise I'll ever be taking with Carnival.

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caprcorn28

caprcorn28

Posted
Posted
While your experiance is helpful, your second story, funny as it is, kinda takes away from the seriousness of what your trying to tell us about your cruise.... Yes, it was a bit TOO Much:eek:

You've got to be kidding...I absolutely disagree...it doesn't take away from anything. He gave you forewarning that the "mode" was going to change/changing. If you have been around the boards long enough...you TOTALLY recognized ALL of the aspects of that SPOOF of a review!! It was GREAT!

It was a spoof! Take it for the FUN that it was intended for!!

 

:D

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TravelWorks

TravelWorks

Posted
Posted

2nd review from a typical cruise critic posting point of view.

 

Embarkation was a real pain in the rear as I had to carry my microwave and coffee pot over 300 yds from early check in to the the terminal. While trying to balance everyting onto the ship I cracked my coffee pot on the steel siding of the ship. Why Carnival doesn't pad these I don't know! I quickly made a note to add this to my post cruise complaint letter to Bob Dickinison demading reimbursement for my coffee pot. When I finally got to my cat 4 inside stateroom I couldn't believe how small and dark it was. There was no room for my microwave so I had to keep it on the floor. This is unacceptable as Carvival should have microwave stands in each and every room.

 

After unloading all my stuff I went up to the lido deck. Man was it cold, 65 degrees vs the 80 degrees I saw last week. I can't believe Carnival did this to me on my vacation. I quickly made a note to add this to my complaint letter and demand a 50% refund for cool weather. I couldn't find a deck chair exactly where I wanted to sit in the first two minutes so I saw a chair loaded down with shoes, a walkman, and a book. A half full drink was also next to the chair. Since no one was sitting in the chair I gathered all their stuff and threw it overboard so I could sit down. Of course I kept the drink and it was mighty tasty. Hey a free drink you can't beat that.

 

After 5 minutes I was bored so decided to walk the ship. I was soon outraged as I saw a wet paint sign on a wooden bench right where I wanted to sit. Hey, I paid for the use of this ship and I'll sit where ever I please. So I moved the sign and took a seat. When I awoke from my nap my clothes were stuck to the bench and stained. The nerve of Carnival! Made a note to demand payment for my ruined outfit in my post cruise complaint letter.

 

After going downstairs to change into my jeans I headed up to the dining room. Wow! What a disaster. These morons gave me two many forks I mean who needs two forks! What a waste! Anyhow the gazpacho soup was cold. I told the waiter to take it back and bring me a hot bowl. What? It's supposed to be cold! Damn it I paid for hot soup I want hot soup. Overall the food wasn't good as I could barely finish my fourth entree.

 

Ensenada was crazy. I loaded up my back-pack with food before I got off the ship. I took the la bufadora tour and had to walk about a 1/2mile to the blow hole. That's an outrage I didn't come on this ship too walk. Then when I got to the blow hole that shoots water up 70ft in the air I got wet and my camera was ruined and all my food was wet.. Carnival never told me I could get wet on my tour so I made a note too put in my post cruise complaint letter that they owe me a new camera.

 

The casino was a rip-off as I actually lost money in there.

 

The last day was sea day and after clearing a deck chair of some stuff left behind I was good to go for the day. But is was too cold again so again I'll note that in my letter. Good news though seemed to be alot of folks not watching their drinks so I got loaded on all the left behind drinks for free.

 

As I went back to my room drunk I tripped over my microwave and broke it. Carnival will be paying for that I thought.

 

Needless to say this cruise was a disaster and this is the last cruise I'll ever be taking with Carnival.

 

So FUNNY!!!!

You should be a comedian...seriously! You could write comedy! You should send this to one of Carnival's comedians to use in one of their shows....I

Laughed....and laughed...Good Material!

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southbayer

southbayer

Posted
Posted

Like I said, it was funny... But I'm on these boards to learn things.. A QUICK funny is fine, not reading a huge story... I like zipping thru these threads to look for new things... Not to get bogged down with all of that.

You've got to be kidding...I absolutely disagree...it doesn't take away from anything. He gave you forewarning that the "mode" was going to change/changing. If you have been around the boards long enough...you TOTALLY recognized ALL of the aspects of that SPOOF of a review!! It was GREAT!

It was a spoof! Take it for the FUN that it was intended for!!

 

:D

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TravelWorks

TravelWorks

Posted
Posted
Like I said, it was funny... But I'm on these boards to learn things.. A QUICK funny is fine, not reading a huge story... I like zipping thru these threads to look for new things... Not to get bogged down with all of that.

 

Bogged?

Bogged by Comedy...!

LOL-:p

You didn't have to read it all, if you didn't want to.;)

 

So serious.

The HAL threads are on another board...this is CARNIVAL!!!:D

 

PS

Was the length of my post too long? I hope it wasn't bogging!:eek:

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Bramcruiser

Bramcruiser

Posted
Posted

Great review - both of them. With so many typical of the latter I think we tend to forget what a cruise line or anyone can control and just how we really should learn to live with the curves life throws us.

 

You've certainly reinvigorated my joy of cruising with that multiple personality review. Loved it!

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GinaDucey

GinaDucey

Posted
Posted

In no way was that a Huge Review - I have written far longer reviews. It was a quick and easy read. This is what gets me - this is a board - a cruise board - we do help each other - we post everything from advice to complaints - but show humor and you even get dinged for it. Come on - I could not stop laughing! This board would not be as much fun, or even educational without some humor!

 

I still love it!!!

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southbayer

southbayer

Posted
Posted

Hello, this is cruise "Critic".... Like I said, it was funny... But the point I keep trying to make is humor is funny, but not a whole story like that one.... That second half made me totally forget about the true posting on thier vacation. Can you imagine how bogged down these boards would get if half of us would write a bunch of stuff like that

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TravelWorks

TravelWorks

Posted
Posted
Hello, this is cruise "Critic".... Like I said, it was funny... But the point I keep trying to make is humor is funny, but not a whole story like that one.... That second half made me totally forget about the true posting on thier vacation. Can you imagine how bogged down these boards would get if half of us would write a bunch of stuff like that

 

There are over 100,000 members on the boards at any given time.... oVer a million posts...some way longer....it is always bogged with more than one person could digest...

 

If you need info... go look for it and stop being mean to this wonderful poster who made everyone laugh!

 

If you forgot what she wrote:

 

LET ME SUM UP!

 

The first half:

Everything wonderful!:)

 

The 2nd half:

Find something wrong with everything.:mad:

 

HHHMMMM...which are you?:rolleyes:

 

You only make her point more funny and valid.:D

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bonstersd

bonstersd

Posted
Posted
Hello, this is cruise "Critic".... Like I said, it was funny... But the point I keep trying to make is humor is funny, but not a whole story like that one.... That second half made me totally forget about the true posting on thier vacation. Can you imagine how bogged down these boards would get if half of us would write a bunch of stuff like that

 

Yet, you've wasted my time with your ridiculous, unnecessary comments.

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caprcorn28

caprcorn28

Posted
Posted
That second half made me totally forget about the true posting on thier vacation.

 

Short term memory shot? Better cut back on the Nutra-Sweet!!

 

Like I said before, cruisecastle gave you FULL warning that the mode was changing...if you started getting bogged down... S-T-O-P reading! No biggie. No one would know!! (Hey, do you have people signatures turned off?? ...go in to User CP and turn those off...that bogs down your page loading...some people have a LOT on their signatures...way too much reading. For me...I turn them off cuz I am too jealous for all the cruises some people have on their docket!! ;) )

 

Time for a vacation if funny stuff is a chore to you!!!

 

Good luck ON your vacation - and please come back and give us a review of it!!! We hope you find something (not ?) fun about it

 

...I am so confused...do you want to have fun, not have fun...have fun, but if only for a short period of time...ugh

 

*slams head on desk* Dang it...another long post...when will the insanity ever end. I need to step away....

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southbayer

southbayer

Posted
Posted

Thanks, FINALLY SOMEONE Gets it!! :D I was giving up hope here, but you came thru, hehe

Oh my gosh southbayer, I finally get it! You are just joking too. LOL that was way too funny.

 

Thanks for the good laugh too.

 

I just love these boards - they always make me smile. :D

 

 

 

Diane

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caprcorn28

caprcorn28

Posted
Posted
Thanks, FINALLY SOMEONE Gets it!! :D I was giving up hope here, but you came thru, hehe

 

Could it be.....?? Here I thought that msolberg was the one being funny - and it was you all along...stringing us along....

 

I just didn't see it and still don't. Sorry. I hope that you were kidding though. Life is too short to be soooo serious.

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