We just arrived home from the Paradise 4-NT sailing 02-06-06 to 02-10-06. We had a great time, and since there doesnt seem to be too many posts for the Paradise, I thought I would try to give some information about our cruise.
We spent the night on the Queen Mary and went to early check-in which is easy to find because there are Carnival employees who will direct you to the right place. We gave our two pieces of luggage to a fellow located at the entrance to the parking garage, and then we went back to the Queen Mary for some breakfast. At the Queen Mary, they told us that early check-in starts at 9:00 am, and boarding usually starts around 11:30 am or 12:00 pm. Once the line started moving at the dome, check-in went fairly quickly and we were on the ship in good time.
This was our third cruise on the Paradise, and the first since it became a smoking ship. They restrict smoking to certain areas on the ship, so smoke was never a problem for us. We were blessed with beautiful weather throughout the cruise. It was foggy a few times, but the sun soon burned it away. We did the semi-submersible tour in Catalina and took the shuttle to La Bufadora in Ensenada. Our guide on that tour showed us the safe places to eat in the vendor area, and we had the BEST fish tacos of our lives!! There is a small taco stand/bar across from Havana Banana that you shouldnt miss. They make the corn tortillas fresh for each taco as you order, and they also had carne asada tacos and shrimp tacos. The best part? They were only $1.00 each (shrimp $2.00), and the beers were two for $3.00.