sailed on the paradise leaving 11/12/12 out of Tampa. We did this ship over Memorial day on the four day trip. Just my wife and I this was here reward for letting me play in a senior softball tournament the weekend before the cruise. drove up from Naples Florida on Morning dropped the rental and off to the cruise terminal.
This cruise made us platinum carnival cruisers. Tried to check in at the VIP area the carnival employees there acted like they had never heard of what we were talking about.The line was not long so I said to my wife to forget it and checked in with the regular people. The lady behind the counter noticed our status and was outstanding. She checked us in and walked us to the head of the line to board the ship it actually was a little embarrassing.
On to the Lido for lunch. No problem with lines or seats. The ship did not seem to be full. As you would expect this time of year very few children. My wife and I are not considered young anymore but on this cruise we felt like we were as the crowd was definitely mostly "older"