Let me start this review by telling you that the reason we took this short 3-day cruise on the Paradise for a first cruise is because my DH was paranoid he would get seasick on our planned 12-day cruisetour to Alaska in June. I suggested a short cruise so he could get used to the ship and see that Bonine would work for him. My two sisters and their husbands wanted to come too so we dubbed it the "3 Sisters Cruise to Test Jerry for Seasickness."

We live locally so we hired a limo to get us to Long Beach in style for six people and lots of luggage. We arrived at the Long Beach Terminal with the weather forecast predicted for the January 7th weekend for huge ocean swells, coastal area flooding with the high tide surges between 6-8'. What a way to start out! After you go through the embarkation building you go to a gangway that is about 50 ft. above the water. We had to keep our heads down and push forward because the wind and rain were pushing us back so hard we took 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. We got half way over the gangway and started to laugh hysterically because we thought what a way to start out on our first cruise. The winds were 25 mph. We arrived at 11:45 and were in our room by 12:30 p.m. Amazing! The embarkation process was painless in spite of the weather.

Our room (E160-oceanview) was ready immediately so we dropped our carry-ons in the room, met our steward, Adolfo, and went to the buffet for lunch. We thought the food was good in spite of other reviews. One note on our room location -- it was directly below the galley and at times during the night we heard items dropped on the floor and pots and pans banging. Next time I will make sure I check out what is below or above my cabin choice. Read more