I've cruised on another Carnival ship in the past and had a great time, but the Paradise leaves so much to be desired. When I first stepped foot onto the ship, I was overwhelmed by cigarette smoke! It was beyond disgusting and it was impossible to walk through any of the main areas of the ship without encountering the smoke. The only two places to escape the smoke were our cabin and the dining room. The first day of our cruise was my husband's birthday and I had pre-ordered a cake for him to be brought to our table in the dining room after dinner. The second we sat down at the table for dinner, our waiter came over and asked for him and then proceeded to tell him that he was getting a cake. Really?? Way to ruin the surprise and take the fun out of everything, Carnival! I didn't let my anger ruin his birthday.
Even more to backup my review's subject, there was nothing to do on the two sea days unless you like bingo or sitting at the pool all day long. I made it through the first sea day without dying of boredom, but when the second sea day arrived, I wanted to go home more than anything. Speaking of home, when the ship arrived back in my wonderful home city of Tampa, there was some unexplained delay that prevented everyone from getting off the ship. Since we were carrying our own luggage, we decided we would wait in our smoke-free cabin. Nope! We got kicked out and had to go wait for nearly an hour in the smokey bar area near the casino. That was the perfect way to end our vacation.
Before ending this review, I do have to include one positive note. On two of the four nights, there were stand-up comedians that performed and they were awesome! I would go see both of them at a comedy club if they performed off the ship.
The cabin was adequate, but the beds were so hard and it felt like sleeping on plywood.