This was our 2nd cruise but first time with our 7 year old and 15 year old sons. We arrived in Long Beach the night before and stayed at the Queen Mary Hotel. That was a fabulous idea. They have a free shuttle that takes you down town Long Beach and we had dinner at the marina at Bubba Gumps restaurant. When we awake Christmas Eve at 6am we poked our head out of our rooms port hole and saw the beautiful Carnival Paradise ship at port. At 9am we went to the Aft of the Queen Mary to the Carnival Early Check in. Now mind you, there is no sign tell you about this. I even asked the Queen Mary staff if they still offered that and none of them knew LOL.. We checked in all four of us within in 10 minutes and we were at the front of the line to board the ship once they opened the doors. Once you go into the building to get onto the ship it takes about 10 minutes as well. They started letting people board the ship at 11:30am. As soon as we got on the ship we went up to the Lido deck and took the boys to feast at the Paris buffet.

We had been on this ship before, two years ago, and the food was better then. The food served in the Paris Buffet was not good at all.

By the way, they use to let all juices be free, not anymore. All you get is free watered down orange juice and very tart lemonade. Read more