09/08/08 Paradise 4-day review

[arcanium]

We did the four-day to Catalina and Ensenada, departing on 09/08/08 and returning 09/12/08.

 

PRE-CRUISE:

 

We stayed at the Best Western Convention Center in Long Beach. The hotel was immaculate, the staff friendly and professional and the bed one of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. For those who think that this is a dangerous or marginal neighborhood, see my pictures here:

 

 

...the most frightening thing you're going to run into is some hipster with impossibly constructed hair and skinny jeans. Yes, truly a scary neighborhood. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Continental breakfast was the usual juice/pastry/cereal affair with an added make your own waffle station, waffle irons and all. The cab ride from the hotel to the pier was @ $10 including tip.

 

EMBARKATION: A+

 

Since we were bored with staring at each other over waffles and there wasn't enough time to really do much of anything else, we checked in early aboard the Queen Mary. The line took three minutes, the check in took five minutes. Boarding went as smoothly as it ever does, we were the second group on the ship after a wedding party.

 

CABIN: A-

 

Inside 4C on the Upper deck, damned if I can remember its number even though it was burned into my brain just 24 hours previously. I know we had a cabin steward since the room was clean when we arrived, maintained in the usual wonderful manner throughout the trip and the little soft drink/water section replenished continually... but we never met the lady or gentleman to be credited for all this hard work. Are Carnival employing J.K. Rowling's house elves now?

 

DINING ROOM SERVICE: A+

 

The team responsible for our table were simply amazing. So much good has been said about the people who work in Carnival's dining rooms that I can only add a "me too" here.

 

DINING ROOM FOOD: C

 

If only the food were as wonderful as the people serving it. I'm not exactly a low-sodium kind of guy but even I found many of the dishes served to be way too salty for my taste. Unfortunately, this included the lobster tail. Many of the other dishes, it seemed as if the chef had outdone himself in making appetizing-sounding menu selections taste as depressingly ordinary as possible.

 

The salmon was usually okay.

 

LIDO DECK FOOD: B

 

Lunch on the first day and sea days, breakfast on all days in the Paris restaurant. Plenty of selections to keep everyone happy.

 

POOL DECK AREA SERVICE: D

 

So... these people in the shorts and with the trays. They're some performance art piece Carnival commissioned, right? There were so many of them moving this way and that and it was nothing short of a miracle to flag one down and order a drink.

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

 

I can't honestly rate this because there was so much going on. Some things we liked, some things we didn't. Some of the things we liked you might not like and so forth and so on. There's enough going on throughout the day or night to make this a non-issue. If you don't like something... go somewhere else and you'll probably be happy!

 

PURSERS DESK: F

 

When I read John Heald's blog and some accounts here on Cruise Critic, it seems that so much of the onboard drama has its flashpoint at the information desk. After making my complaint and having the person on the other side of the desk imply that I was lying and then blow it off so that the requested followup never happened, I think I have a better understanding of why so many people lose their composure here. That's not to say I think those people are right for verbally abusing staff or doing worse -- that's never appropriate behavior -- but from observation of the passengers in line before me, the people working at this desk really seemed to go out of their way to provoke a reaction.:mad: It was disappointing.

 

For those who are curious, I'm waiting to see what Carnival corporate says or does about the issue before I discuss it here.

 

CATALINA PORT TENDER: A

 

Catalina is a tender operation using relatively small (40 passengers each) boats to move from the ship to Avalon. We left during the peak time (after 10:30) but I don't think it took more than fifteen minutes to move from the end of a long line to the boat.

 

CATALINA:

 

No rating; we didn't take a tour in Avalon, just walked over to the Casino, enjoying the waterfront views and scenery. Stocked up on some water and soda at Vons on our return loop from the Casino, then stopped at waterfront restaurant for fish and chips. For the record, the place we stopped at was called the Busy Bee. It wasn't bad but you can get the same thing for a few dollars less at a couple places closer to the tender pickup point. Avalon was its usual quaint and beautiful self, I can never spend enough time here.

 

ENSENADA CITY AND SHOPPING TOUR: B-

 

It was okay. I was with someone who has a combination of mobility issues and not a lot of patience for aggressive sidewalk vendors so I wanted something that would limit exposure to both. We went to the convention center/former casino and the downtown Santo Tomas winery; both were along the lines of "here are some random bits of history trivia, now shuffle this way and buy stuff." We were then dropped downtown to wander about for an hour before going back to the ship. I think there's an election going on because it seemed like there were less child vendors than previously, and an actual police presence on the street.

 

I've been to Ensenada about 15 times in the past decade; maybe I'm too jaded to truly appreciate the tour?

 

DEBARKATION:

 

Not rating this because the pacing was obviously beyond Carnival's control. The standing was peevesome, especially when you're traveling with someone who has trouble standing for a long time but is too proud to accept a wheelchair. There was a long wait once our number was called and the immigration and customs officers were actually very nice.

 

CONCLUSION:

 

The Carnival reputation for providing good value and service on short itineraries remains intact. Though there are a few notable discrepancies, nothing serious enough to ruin a vacation.

 

OVERALL RATING: B+