Embarkation: Huge lines of passengers queued up (large amount of high school and college age). The process was slow and the staff was not kind. Treated like cattle.

The ship: The Paradise is a very old boat and it shows. Many of the decorative features throughout were not functioning properly and showed the age of the boat. The cabin bathroom was ancient. There were no amenities other than two cakes of cheap soap and the generic wall pumps in the shower. The sink was supposed to have an old fashioned drain stopper on a chain. This had rusted off and left just the gaping hole on a big, old ugly sink. The bedding left me with low back pain and sciatica, probably because of the springs snapping and sticking into my spine all night. The window was nice despite the dirt and rust. There is no refrigerator or any type of amenities in the room. I had to ask for ice- which I must admit he kept replenished. I like the sheets on Carnival though.

Activities: There were barely any activities for days at sea. When the DJ played music, it was horrible selections- and I'm not picky. Read more