Carnival Paradise Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was a cruise for my 25th wedding anniversary but Carnival did nothing special. Our 20th was on The Safire Princess (Alaska) and they went all out decorating our room and giving us a bottle of champagne so we were a little disappointed (yes, Carnival was informed and it was listed on our paperwork). My wife even went to Guest Services who told her they would do something to help celebrate later in the cruise ... but they never did.
Other than that, the service was very good and all crew members were friendly, smiling, and helpful. Embarkation was a breeze and we boarded at noon despite NOT purchasing the Faster to the Fun option. The ship is showing its age but was nice nonetheless. One of the glass elevators in the atrium wasn't functional the entire cruise and the other one was slow as molasses in January but the other elevators were surprisingly fast.
We didn't do any cruise ship sponsored shore excursions. The tendering process in Grand Cayman will take about an hour both ways from your shore excursion time. Keep that in mind. In Grand Cayman we took a public bus ($2.50USD each) to Calico Jacks, rented 2 lounge chairs and an umbrella ($15USD) and swam in the ocean. Drinks there were expensive at ten dollars each but they were tasty! The beach wasn't very crowded early on but it did get crowded as the day progressed. In Cozumel we generally stayed in the port area and shopped and ate at Pancho's Backyard. That restaurant isn't nearly as crazy as Senior Frog's or Carlos and Charlie's but is rather relaxed and a bit more mature. We're not the wild party type so we liked it.
Cabin Review
Ocean View
There was adequate space for my wife and me but the NOISES at 3am made sleeping rather difficult. We figured out that we were directly below the galley. Metal on metal -- like a metal spoon banging on a metal bowl sitting on a metal countertop fixed to a metal table. One night I'd swear they were butchering a frozen cow with an axe and a sledgehammer. There was a sound we heard each night over and over that we finally figured out was someone pushing chairs across a tiled floor and each time the legs went across a joint in the tile, it bumped. Imagine this happening for an hour or more at 3am and you'll begin to understand. The AC isn't really controllable from a temperature standpoint. You can only control the rate of airflow and it was a couple of degrees too warm for our tastes. The bathroom was average but you CAN fit two people in the shower ... if you like each other! Watch out for the hot water though. CAUTION: The metal pipe for the hot water gets VERY hot. Only touch the handle. Don't touch the pipe from the handle to where the hot and cold water mix.
Port Reviews
Tampa
Very easy embarkation and disembarkation. "Cruised" through customs (sorry of the pun). Tampa had experienced some flooding prior to our arrival and getting to the port took an additional 15 minutes. We parked off site about 1/4 mile away for $8/day vs $15/day at the Terminal.
Grand Cayman (Georgetown)
We created our own excursion by taking a public bus to Calico Jacks and renting lounge chairs and an umbrella for $15 USD. Saved a lot of money that way since the cruise ship was charging $50 per person for the same experience.
Cozumel
We just shopped in the port area and ate at Pancho's Backyard. Pancho's is a good deal more "mature" than Senior Frog's and you have a very nice open-air sea breeze coming through the restaurant. Their margarita's are fantastic. We went there 5 years ago with our kids on another cruise and were looking forward to returning. Pancho's Backyard didn't disappoint!