PRE-CRUISE HOTEL: We drove in from NM on Sunday, and stayed at the Doubletree in San Pedro. I had booked the Park & Cruise package which came with a complimentary breakfast for two on Mon., a bottle of champagne (apple cider also available) on Sunday evening, free parking during the cruise, and shuttle service to and from the terminal. Since The Paradise was sailing out of Long Beach, the hotel provides only 1 shuttle at about 1 pm.

EMBARKATION: We were lucky enough to have a suite, so were allowed to use VIP check-in. We arrived at the terminal about 1:15 and were in our cabin about 15 minutes later. There was a long line for those without VIP status and I have no idea how long check-in took for them. When we first boarded the ship, there was a moment of confusion. We had our picture taken and passed through, but didn't know which deck we were on. There were no crew members available to assist us. But we soon figured it out and were on our way. The Paradise could do a better job in passenger orientation.

CABIN: We had U74, a large suite located midships on the misnamed "upper" deck. It was clean with a comfortable bed, nice corner sofa, 2 chairs, plenty of closet space. The bathroom was not overly large but contained a full tub with a whirlpool feature. There is a basket of goodies in the bathroom, and I noticed that they gave use 3 packs of Pepcid. I wondered whether this was an omen about the food. Our room steward, Inkwahn, introduced himself and thereafter maintained a low profile. He cleaned the room while were out, turned down the bed in the evening, left wonderful towel animals, and never interrupted us when we were in the cabin. There was no sense of movement until the final night when the ship was moving fast from Ensenada back to port - and even then it was minimal. Read more