We recently returned from our 5-day Carnival Paradise cruise out of Tampa that sailed Jan 4-9. Our two ports of call were Grand Cayman and Cozumel. This was my second time sailing, and my husband’s third. We traveled with 2 other couples, one of them being their first time cruising. We’re all from Michigan, so January was the perfect time to get away. We loved it!

I thought the ship was in pretty great shape being an older one. Everything was clean and the décor was very nice. There are 12 decks on the ship, and we found it pretty easy to navigate. We stayed on deck 6, room U145. We were mid-ship, so the elevators were about equal distance. I recommend checking out the deck plans before you board to have an idea of where you’re going.

Our room worked perfectly for us. It was good sized, and there was enough storage for everything we brought. The closet had hangers and shelving, and there was another area with hangers. There was a desk with 4 medium/small drawers that I put some clothes, shoes, jewelry, suntan lotion… random things. My husband picked the bed up and I pushed our one big suitcase underneath to have it out of the way. There was a chair in the corner with our 2 beach towels on it. Those were really nice, and we were able to take them off of the ship on our port days. You can check out additional ones at the pool deck, but we didn’t need any. If your towel gets wet, the room attendant will replace them with a clean, dry one. The bathroom was good sized. Nice shower that had shampoo and body wash in it. Some water dripped outside of the shower, but it wasn’t a big deal. Just put a towel down. The cabinet above the sink was big enough for most of our toiletry items. I set my makeup bag on the sink which made it a little tight, but it worked just fine. Our room attendant was Ysabel was fantastic and super nice. We had automatic tips set up, but gave her some extra. She filled our ice bucket both morning and evening for us, and the room was cleaned so well. Loved the animal towels! Read more