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Carnival Paradise

Hong Kong

A group or 13 of us cruised on the Carnival Paradise on July 17th, 2006. 10 of the cruisers were first-timers, so a 4 night cruise out of LA was the plan. 
* Day Before: We drove down from Northern California to Long Beach and stayed at the Holiday Inn Downtown. It was one of the lowest priced hotels ($129) that allowed us to keep our cars in their garage for the week and provided free transportation to and from the pier to go along with a one night stay. 
* Embarkation: Our group gathered in the lobby of the hotel around 10:45 and loaded up the shuttle. The shuttle was only for 9 people, so we had to split our group, no big deal. The shuttle dropped us off at the pier, we passed our baggage to Carnival Porters and then jumped in line. It was just after 11:00 am and we were in the first 25-30 people in line (besides those with VIP check-in, and those who checked in even earlier then we did on the Queen Mary). We waited in line for about 20-25 minutes, then they moved us into show our passports, get our sign and sail card, etc. This was a very easy and organized procedure. Took our welcome aboard photo, and got on the ship. We found our oceanview cabin, U154, very easy and then started to check out the ship. 
* Room notes: With only one electrical outlet in the room, the surge protector that had been suggested all over the boards was ideal to have. We were able to plug in our camera batteries, our cell phone (which we used as an alarm clock), my wifes hair dryer, etc, without having to pull cords in and out. This is a must pack. The room was very spacious, bigger then I remember, with plenty of room to move around. We were able to put our luggage under the bed and out of the way of everything, which saved some more room. There are a limited number of hangers and only small drawers so be sure to bring some hangers. That way you can hang a lot of your clothes. The closets are plenty big enough. TV mounted in the corner. It picked up Denver stations (we were just off the coast of LA, not sure why we got Denver, oh well), and had CNN International, a couple stations that played music, and 2 movie stations. The only thing it was lacking was ESPN, or some type of sports station. I would have enjoyed knowing the latest sports news as I got ready in the morning, but I survived without it for a week. 
Over all, the cabin was very clean. In the bathroom there are mounted soap and shampoo dispensers in the shower, so if you dont care what kind of soap you use, you can leave that stuff at home. Also, they provide you a basket of toiletries (toothpaste, mouthwash, lotion, etc). One of our cabins didnt have the basket when we first got on, but it was there about an hour or so later. * Buffet/Dining: We toured the ship quickly, which is to say we found the nearest bar to our rooms, and the quickest way to the Paris dining area on the Lido Deck. About half our group purchased the Fountain Card (unlimited soda) for $22 and got plenty of use out of it. The hot sandwiches at the grill, most notably the pastrami, were outstanding. The pizza bar was also good, but got pretty busy most of the time. The pizza did come in handy late at night on the way back to the room. We had the late seating for dinner, which I would strongly suggest. Although its a bit late, you can snack throughout the day, plus it allows you to say on shore a bit longer, and there is no one after you so you dont get rushed out. Im not sure if the early seating people felt rushed, but I know at about 8:25 as we were waiting to get into the dining room, people were still filing out. The late seating had none of that, very relaxed and you stayed as long as you wanted to or needed to. I was very worried about the food in the dining room. I had been reading reviews for months that mentioned everything from horrible to great, and considering I had talked up the food as a big selling point to many of the first time cruisers in our group I was a little nervous about what was going to be served. However, there was nothing to worry about. The food was outstanding!!! 
Like I said we had 13 people in our group, so we had a table of 8 near the window (very nice) and a table of 6 right next to us. So we were always able to talk about what we were going to get, or how many of each we were going to get. Our wait staff, Alexsander from Macedonia and Paulo from Peru were great. They enhanced our dining experience with their jokes, tricks, food suggestions and up-beat attitude. Back to the food. I can only attest to what I had, but nearly everything was prepared and served just the way I liked it. I prefer my beef to be cooked on the rare side of medium-rare and that is how it always came. I did hear one complaint, from someone not in our group, and that was the beef was never cooked well enough. So, if you like your meet cooked really well done, ask them that up front, otherwise enjoy. Some entree highlights included the lamb, filet mignon, prime rib, lobster, beef Wellington, sweet & sour shrimp, & veal. Some said the lobster was tough. Of the 5 lobster tails that I had I didnt have anything to complain about. The starters are fairly small, so if you see something you like, or think you may like, order two. Many in our group ordered a couple orders of escargot, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, egg roll, etc. I really enjoyed the hot soups (wild mushroom, beef & barley, minestrone, lobster bisque). I didnt have any of the cold soups, but heard that the pumpkin soup and mango were flavorful. The caesar salad was very good, the other salads were ordinary but fine. The disappointing part of dining was the dessert, nothing to exciting. Standard desserts, key lime pie, ice cream, cheesecake, chocolate cake, etc. Most nights we made our way up to the Lido Deck and got ice cream cones from the Paris dining area. 
Outside of the dining area, things were fine. The grill was standard, burgers, hot dogs, fries. We got room service every morning, smoked salmon with bagel and cream cheese. Great start to the morning. 
* Entertainment: The entertainment was fairly cheesy, but Im not one for shows. The magic and comedy were good, and the adult comedy show on Tuesday night was very funny. My only thought on that, was the cruisers need to just sit back and enjoy the show instead of trying to heckle and be a part of it. But the comedian rolled with it, and was very funny. We played Bingo on our day at Sea and wouldnt you know it came up one number short on a few games. They also do a version of Deal or No Deal, which is very entertaining, but would be even more entertaining if they did more then just pick one person. If they picked two or three Im sure they would still do fine. The pool as Im sure you know by now is salt water, so dont think its like your pool in the backyard. Although we are 30 years old we went down the waterslide a couple times, always fun. We also spent a lot of time, particularly the last night, at the piano bar with Trevor the piano player. Trevor was outstanding, he knew and played everything from Billie Joel and Elton John, to Broadway Shows, to TV theme songs, even AC/DC. It was a huge sing-a-long what was very enjoyable. 
* Service: Service was great, we never felt like those selling drinks were pushy, if anything they didnt come around frequent enough. Our cabin steward was good. Cleaned the room twice a day, had a new towel animal each night, he even noticed that we had a bottle of Champaign and brought an ice bucket and kept it full. Like I said earlier, our wait staff was great! They always remembered out names and made the dining experience enjoyable. 
* Ports: Catalina and Ensenada. Catalina was good, we had to take a tender to the island, but got on one quickly. We rented a 6 person golf cart ($45 hour) and toured around the island. It let us get some good photos, and we were able to find a good little Mexican restaurant off the main strip that we stopped at for lunch. After the golf cart we sat on the beach and went swimming in the water. 4 of the people from our group went parasailing, which they said was pretty fun. Ensenada was below average. We got off the ship and took a shuttle ($2 per person) into downtown, a block from Papas & Beer. We had a lot a margaritas, and a few appetizers. Although a typical tourist bar we had a lot of fun. We then started to walk the 10-12 blocks toward the ship and do some shopping. We hit a few bars on the way back and had some dollar beers, and put our dollar on the wall at one bar (if you go or see it youll know what Im talking about). We ended up buying some jewelry, sunglasses, t-shirts, etc. We then stopped at Viva Wings, not recommended. They market themselves at a sports bar, but a couple pictures on the wall and ESPN International doesnt make you a sports bar. The food wasnt very good either. AND it may have made some of the people in our party sick. They warn you forever not to drink the water, but sometimes you forget that the ice in the margarita is made from the water, so stick with beer in places you arent sure of. * Other notes: We brought three different bottle of alcohol on board in our checked luggage, which worked out well with the fountain cards that many people got. Even without soda, we used the free punch or lemonade from the Lido Deck to have free drink. A couple people in our group bought the photos. I wasnt thrilled with them, but they got them more as souvenirs then anything&The sushi bar that opens at 5:30 was a nice midday snack if you had the late seating, but try and get there early because the line starts getting long&I know I didnt see everyone on the ship, but Id say that 75% of the people were under 40, and there were a lot of kids, which is another reason to take the late seating over the early one. The kids never really got in the way, but they did tend to monopolize the pool and spas. Not to mention they were out late. It would be 2:00 am and wed be getting some pizza and there were groups of kids all around. 
Overall a great cruise. This was my fourth and I have no intention of stopping now. I know some of the first time cruisers really enjoyed it as well, in fact they were already trying to plan the next one. This was the perfect cruise for our group. It was a younger crowd, the food was great, plenty of things to keep us busy, enough variety that we werent doing the same things over and over again, and perfect for the money. If anyone has any other questions that I didnt cover, feel free to drop me an e-mail  tkleinheinz@sbcglobal.net. 

This was our second cruise, both with Carnival, the first being a 3 day to Nassau, Bahamas from Miami. This cruise, however, was a 4 day that left from the port of Long Beach and visited Catalina Island, and Ensenada, Mexico. 
We flew down one day early to avoid any problems with flight delays etc. and stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites in Long Beach. A modern hotel with nice rooms and a helpful staff, but in a rougher area of Long Beach. 
Embarkation - We completed the Fun Pass online and as a result had a very smooth embarkation. My wife was driving a mobility scooter so we were given preferential treatment and whisked through the line-up. We boarded the ship too early for our stateroom to be ready, so we headed up to the Lido deck for a bite to eat. 
Stateroom - We had a class 4B inside stateroom that was wheelchair accessible (wider doorway and open shower). The room met our expectations with the exception of the shower drain plugging on the last day and flooding the bathroom. The room was fairly clean and we had no complaints apart from the constant low hum and vibration of the ship's engines. 
Ship info - This was a very ornate ship, as are all of Carnival's fleet, and has a nautical theme for all of it's public rooms. A little difficult to find your way around at first, but with a ship map from the pursers desk and some exploring, you are able to find your way around by the second day. 
Dining - My favorite part of cruising - The Paradise has 2 dining rooms with an early (5:45pm) and a late (8:00pm) seating time for supper. Dress is more formal as shorts and t-shirts are frowned upon. We had the early seating which suited us just fine. We enjoy fine dining so the menus were very much to our liking, although we had two couples at our table of 10 who looked at the menu and said they preferred simpler food so they went up to the Lido deck. Selection was very good each night. The food was cooked to your liking and if you had trouble deciding, they had no problem bringing you more then one selection. The Lido deck offered a pizzeria, a deli, and buffet (featuring food from a different country each day). There was also a sushi bar (which was only open for a couple of hours each day), and a coffee bar on promenade deck. All the food we sampled was cooked well and very tasty. No big announcements were made about the Grand Gala Buffet so if they had one, I guess we missed it! 
Entertainment - All of the your basic cruise entertainment was represented such as: hairy chest contest, line dancing, comedian, magician, ice carving demo, art auction, and wonderful musicals to name a few. 
Public rooms  This is the one section where I was disappointed in Carnival. At one point in time the Paradise was a non-smoking ship, however, that is definitely not so now! The piano bar, which we were looking forward to enjoying, was so thick with cigarette smoke we couldnt even stay for one song! The casino as well as one other bar that I know of, also allowed smoking and was clouded with smoke the entire cruise. We did not attend the other bars as the music was a little too heavy for us. We did attend several functions in the Queen Mary lounge that was non-smoking, however, you had to walk through a smoking bar to get to it. 
Service  The service was very good all over the ship. The cabin crew was practically invisible, as they are supposed to be, but the cabins were always made up for you when you returned to your room. Service in the Queen Mary lounge as well as the Normandy lounge was a little spotty. You sometimes had to flag down the drink staff and usually waited a while if you ordered a drink. 
Shore excursions  Catalina  The tender boat was not the ideal situation for my wife, who has less mobility, but the short boat ride to the island was uneventful for the most part. We booked a scenic tour of the city of Avalon from a private company on the island that was quite enjoyable and informative. It was also cheaper than what the cruise ship was offering. The tour lasted about 45 minutes by trolley and it took you high into the hills of Avalon with many picture opportunities to be had. We ate lunch at a ocean-view restaurant and returned to the ship about 2:30 pm. The return tender ride was quite choppy due to the wind and waves that day so some people got wet! 
Ensenada - We didnt book any excursions here, probably should have as you can only get harassed by the locals so many times before it gets old! 
Debarkation  Two options here, they encourage you to take the self-assist option where you carry all of your baggage off the ship yourself. If you choose this, be prepared to leave the ship early. Self-assist people debarked from 7:00  7:45am and the people who checked their luggage followed. If you have an early flight, this is a good option but the restaurants dont even open till 7:00 am, so you may have to go without breakfast. They also dont tell you that the self-assist people have a very short time to leave the ship. We rushed out so fast we forgot some souvenirs in our stateroom! 
Summary  Overall it was a very enjoyable cruise, apart from the smoking issues! I dont think we would choose to go to Ensenada again but Catalina was beautiful. The ship itself was impressive and almost everything met with or exceeded our expectations. 

Paradise 5/26/06, 3 day Memorial Day Weekend 
Embarkation -- We arrived at the Long Beach terminal around 11:30 & found a parking space on the first level immediately. We took our bags straight to a porter & he told us the previous cruise passengers had only just been able to debark. We headed to the Queen Mary to see about early check in & they had just closed... so we walked back to the cruise terminal & got in the small line that had started forming. It appeared that there were only about 25 people in the early check in line & I was #39 in the first line to form for check in. They opened the terminal & processed everyone through quickly. We were on board enjoying lunch by 12:15pm! This truly has to have been close to the easiest embarkations I have ever experienced! 
Room -- We had room R4, a category 5A (porthole)... I had just booked this trip less than 2 weeks prior to sailing & there was not much left to choose from - I booked a 5A guarantee & that was what we got. Being a holiday weekend - the ship was at capacity! Overall, the room was fine. Being in the front of the ship, though, I was awakened early as the engines 'changed' when we pulled into Ensenada & then again back into Long Beach at the end of the voyage. This was a slight annoyance, but nothing I couldn't deal with for a couple of nights. The beds did have the new comfort bedding & pillows which were good, but I am not convinced that the beds were the ones everyone else has called comfortable! They were new, it seemed - but hard as a rock! I actually felt as if I had slept on the floor & am a bit concerned about having to sleep on one of these for a full week when I cruise on Conquest in July. I'd be anxious to know (didn't have a chance to ask during this quick trip) if they have toppers available. This room also did not have a 'sofa' or table & chairs... plenty of floor space, but not a lot of 'counter' space. This was fine since it was just a 3 day cruise & we were living out of suitcases. 
Our room steward was great. He kept it very well & always kept us full of ice in both our little room ice bucket, as well as one of the buckets from a 'bucket of beer'. 
Ship & Entertainment -- I was impressed with the condition of the ship... she is not new, so that shows in some of the color schemes - but overall, she is in great condition. I didn't see terrible wear & tear on the carpets, everything was always clean & polished ... and everything seemed to function as it was supposed to. 
The casino was fine - nothing to write home about... and only 1 craps table, but we didn't gamble too much anyway. 
The waterslide was open for most of the cruise & several people were enjoying it. 
We enjoyed spending some time in the piano bar late one evening & I liked the 'piano man', Trevor. It wasn't crowded - but he was having fun, so it was contagious. We only went to one show - the last evening's adult comedy show. There were two comedians, Seth Buchwald & Lance Montalto... it was fun & wasn't terribly crude. It was a nice way to end the night. 
We didn't use the spa, or the gym, or play bingo, or go to any classes or art auctions... these things were all there but we mostly enjoyed sitting in the sun & people watching during our day at sea. Being a holiday weekend cruise, it was a 'party boat' & there were a lot of antics to watch. There was a large mix of passengers, but the rowdy ones seem to be the most noticeable &/or humorous. If only some of them knew how they looked! 
Ensenada -- I'm from San Diego - so Ensenada is just Ensenada... a typical Baja town. We didn't go to Papas & Beer... and from the stories we heard back on board we were glad to have missed it. If anyone has questions about the town - feel free to ask. We simply took the $2pp shuttle into town then walked, shopped a little & had a few beers - making our way back to the ship on foot as we went. 
Food -- The food was fine. Not exciting, not bad. Just fine. We changed tables after the first night (Four of our tablemates began fighting with each other & creating an obnoxious scene - and they hadn't even met one another until dinner that night!) so unfortunately lost having an excellent waiter in the process. Our second waiter was horrible - we waited over an hour to get our salads... needless to say, I let him know I wasn't pleased with the service. The last evening was quicker, but after having such an excellent waiter at our first table, it was a disappointment. We didn't let that ruin our experience by any means, though. We were having too much fun to let it be more of a problem than it was. The pizza was good, loved the De Chevre. The buffet was good as well, always plenty of things to choose from & the grilled sandwiches at the deli were VERY good. I had wanted to try the sushi, but the line was always very long, so I passed. I saw fish & chips on the first day, but didn't have them. I never saw them offered again after that. 
Debarkation -- Again - kudos to Carnival here. We did the self assist at approximately 7:30am... had no problem getting an elevator to take us from deck 4 to the gangway on deck 7 & practically just walked right off the ship without any line. There was a bit of a line getting through customs, but it only took about 5-10 minutes.... then we were on our way. I had walked to the car, loaded our bags & were driving out of the parking structure at 7:58!!! Amazing & by far the best debarkation I have ever experienced! 

We just arrived home from the Paradise 4-NT sailing 02-06-06 to 02-10-06. We had a great time, and since there doesnt seem to be too many posts for the Paradise, I thought I would try to give some information about our cruise. 
We spent the night on the Queen Mary and went to early check-in which is easy to find because there are Carnival employees who will direct you to the right place. We gave our two pieces of luggage to a fellow located at the entrance to the parking garage, and then we went back to the Queen Mary for some breakfast. At the Queen Mary, they told us that early check-in starts at 9:00 am, and boarding usually starts around 11:30 am or 12:00 pm. Once the line started moving at the dome, check-in went fairly quickly and we were on the ship in good time. 
This was our third cruise on the Paradise, and the first since it became a smoking ship. They restrict smoking to certain areas on the ship, so smoke was never a problem for us. We were blessed with beautiful weather throughout the cruise. It was foggy a few times, but the sun soon burned it away. We did the semi-submersible tour in Catalina and took the shuttle to La Bufadora in Ensenada. Our guide on that tour showed us the safe places to eat in the vendor area, and we had the BEST fish tacos of our lives!! There is a small taco stand/bar across from Havana Banana that you shouldnt miss. They make the corn tortillas fresh for each taco as you order, and they also had carne asada tacos and shrimp tacos. The best part? They were only $1.00 each (shrimp $2.00), and the beers were two for $3.00. 
For the most part, we were happy with the food in the dining room. However, the Beef Wellington was the worst we had ever had. The Prime Rib, Lobster, Filet Mignon, and Chateaubriand were very good. My favorite desserts were the Key Lime Pie and the Chocolate Fudge Cake. We were fortunate to have two other couples at our table that we really enjoyed, and that made the dining experience even better. We ate breakfast and lunch in the Paris Lido Restaurant, and it was your standard buffet food. My husband had some cheese pizza right from the oven which was terrific, and we had Chicken Caesar Salad a couple of times from the Pizza place. I didnt have a sandwich from the sandwich bar, but they looked really good. Of course, there was the Hamburger/Hot dog/French fry bar, and they were pretty good as well. I can't fail to mention the frozen yogurt, which I have become addicted to!! There was carved meat every day at lunch time, and that was always good. My only complaint for the Paris restaurant is that they had a very limited selection of fresh fruit available. It was always the same... three types of melon cut up and thrown together. We found some apples at the chips and salsa party on the Promenade Deck on Wednesday, and we pocketed a few!! 
I can honestly tell you that the service every where on the ship was excellent. I didnt come across one crew member that wasnt happy to help you, and they were very friendly and always smiling. Our safe was malfunctioning, and they had someone up to fix it within fifteen minutes. Now thats service!! A fellow named Trevor Block (?) was the Cruise Director, and weve had better and weve had worse. For us, he was just okay. However, he was getting off the ship for his vacation, so Im not sure who was replacing him. 
The process of disembarkation was well run, very organized. We were out of our cabin by 8:00 am, and went up to the Paris for breakfast. We were the fifth color called, and were off the ship and in our car by 9:30 am. If you had an early flight, they made the orange tags available to you, and they were the first color called. We left our car in the Queen Mary parking lot, which was $10.00 a night. The parking was free the night we spent on the Queen Mary. It is fun to walk around that grand old ship and experience the history of her sailing days. 
In conclusion, we had a great time on the Paradise. We have always loved this ship, and it did not disappoint. For a short fun getaway, I would definitely recommend this cruise. 

When we decided to sail on the M/V Paradise it started out for one reason, to celebrate my 50th birthday, but a couple of reasons also popped up along the way. One was to try out noise canceling headphones (worked like a charm) and to see if my wife can handle an inside cabin. My wife gets a touch claustrophobic when she can't see outside. So with this in mind, off we went on a 4 day cruise. 
Arriving at Long Beach airport from a short flight from Seattle was like stepping back in time. I can't explain it, you have to experience it for yourself to really enjoy the atmosphere. Cabs were plentiful and we were off. We were going to use Primetime Shuttle but they had called and said they would not be running on Monday, but that was not too bad since the cab ride was $5 cheaper! 
Now at the drop off and pickup stations this was where the confusion started. Let's just say the stevedores did not really seem to know what was going on, but we were able to get our luggage on, I think we were the last ones to drop off for a bit until their act got together. Off to check in we go. 
Got to the terminal at approx 11:30 a.m. and we were sent to early check-in on the Queen Mary. Wow was it slow, but everyone was happy, lots of talk and banter going on. It was fun listening in on folks talking about smuggling in alcohol. From what I gathered no one got caught! After check in, we were off to the next line and every line was moving. At this time one of the Carnival personal saw my wife with her surgery boot and cane, and allowed us ahead of the line processing and we were on the ship with in 10 minutes. So check-in took about 1 hour and 10 minutes. So off to the Lido Deck for some food and a bucket of beer. 
Getting to our cabin was pretty easy and off we went to drop off our carry on. We had an inside cabin located aft on the upper deck, and we found it to be of pretty good size for a cruise ship. Plenty of storage space for a 4 day cruise and the suitcases fit under the bunk nicely. The Head (bathroom) was also, we thought, a pretty good size, not too big and not too small, and the shower we thought was perfect. One problem with the shower we found out later was it liked to change the temperature of the water. Really hot then super cold, made it interesting to shower! But like everything, we learned to deal with it and it became a laughing matter and a chance to chat with other cruisers. 
On our first tour around the ship we checked out the places we might want to go and found the ship to be in pretty good shape. With crew members constantly cleaning all parts of the ship day and night. The inside of the ship we thought was done very nice, not too glitzy, and not too bright. The use of mostly brown tones with a touch of blue, green and yellow seemed tone it all down. Lots of wood trim around and I noticed none of it damaged. Back for a couple of buckets of beer and off to sail away. Very uneventful and off to dinner we go. 
Early dinner at Destiny table 296 turned out to be the assignment, what a great group of tablemates we had! We were team red and, well, we had to carry the colors! We all took red names. Mine was Red Wine and Sue was Red Lobster. First night is lobster night. Did not hear a complaint. I don't like lobster so I did not partake of the shell fish, I had dead cow! Our wait staff was wonderful, they were always there to help and/or take our orders, we did not want for anything. Our tablemates found out the second day that they could have asked for more lobster if they wanted it, but after the first day they tried it all! The maitre d' was wonderful, he even seemed to enjoy the antics at our table. 
Day 2 brought out the Billy Bob teeth. The look on everyone's face was wonderful, that made it funnier! Day 3 one of our tablemates DH was lost, and she was concerned, the maitre d' called to see if he had checked in and was going to do it again when the husband finally showed up. Day 4 brought out the WWF masks. Again the looks on everyone's face was worth it. At this time we had gotten everyone around us to get a touch rowdy. So the dinning room was fun, and classy! The wait staff did the conga line and the parade stuff and most of them seem to enjoy the hoots and hollers and of course the applause. The food was pretty good, not perfect but I don't ask for that. The Beef Wellington did seem a touch off and was mentioned by several of us. But the gravy was able to cover it up. All other meals I did not have a problem with and was plenty in size for me and my wife. 
The shows that we went to, most I would not write home about. The R-Rated comedian was okay but not what I thought it would be. Oh well, a few buckets of beer took care of that. The magic show we tried to see but Bingo players had the good seats. We found out most of the seats in the upper sections of the Normandy Lounge are poor, so we left and a couple buckets of beer later we did not care. We did get to see "Shout" and found it to be pretty good. The dancers did a wonderful job. 
The crew members of the ship were very friendly and they were always ready to greet you and seemed to be genuine. The bar wait staff were able to take a no with no problem and were always friendly. But we did not have to say no to many times. Those buckets of beer just did not seem to stop, also those Fun Ship drinks seem to find their way into our hands! Also those with soda cards did not get fountain soda, they got canned soda. At the many bars we stopped at not one bartender refused or treated them any different from the booze drinkers 
The other meals that we ate came from the other places. We did eat at the Destiny Room once for breakfast and it was pretty nice, got to meet other folks, including a couple from England. Talk included tea and politics, the English couple were great and fun. All other breakfast meals were eaten at the Paris buffet. Loved the omelets, and the cook would add other stuff from the buffet. The buffet line was the standard fare of eggs, pancakes, etc. The wife did not complain at what she ate, so it must have been okay. Lunch was had at the pizza bar and pool grill. The pepperoni was good and goes well with a bucket of beer. The hamburgers and the pool grill were okay, but I had the hot dogs and enjoyed them. They too went well with a bucket of beer. The Calypso band at the pool was pretty good, but had a limited song list. Yes, we heard the same songs again, but we did not care, again the bucket of beer can help out anything. 
Our ports of call included Catalina and Ensenada. Catalina was nice, pretty and calm. We rented a golf cart and did the tour and got so lost! We ended going down roads we were not suppose to be on, but no one cared. Toured the Catalina museum it's small but I like neat stuff like that, and it looks like they are going to expand it. All in all, Catalina is nice little place to stop. Getting on and off was pretty easy, they had plenty of tenders running at all times. 
Ensenada. What can I say! It's Mexico. We did the wine country tour and we found it enjoyable. Enjoyed hearing about Mexican history. I really like hearing folks talk about there country with pride. Oh, the wine tour, well it goes to 2 wineries, one larger and the other a small one. Nothing was going on (wrong time of year for grapes), but we were able to see the aging barrels. Each winery had a wine tasting and they had some good wine. The last one gave out a free bottle to every one, and I enjoyed the red wine that evening at dinner. That afternoon we spend time shopping downtown. Papa&Beer was hopping and we did not really like the music we heard, so we skipped it. After dinner we went up on deck and watched sail way. We got to watch the last three folks come back. One left something in a car and had to run and go get it. You had to be there to, trust me it was funny. Much applause was heard on deck and she did not care. 
Our cabin steward did a wonderful job, we only met him once, but we knew he was around. Those towel critters were cute and we enjoyed them. Night 3 we got the elephant and we had him pose in the fake window ledge for a few pictures, and steward must have thought that was a good idea as he left it there. Made the cabin a little more homey. 
As with most cruises, they come to an end. So now you have to go through disembarkation. They go by colors, and we were purple and our color was called about 9:15 a.m.. Getting off the ship was easy and we were on our way to customs and immigration at 9:35. Immigration took about a half hour and this was the most grumbling I heard. Once through it was a hop and skip to pick up luggage and out to pick up our shuttle. Our porter was wonderful, he was not pushy, he just offered to help. We told him when our flight was and he told us places to go while waiting for our 5 p.m. flight. We were free and clear by 10:30 and waiting to go to the Long Beach airport. 
Well, was this cruise perfect? I would say no, but it was very good and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. Would we go on this same cruise again? I would say yes. Would I sail with Carnival again? I would say yes. Would that cruise be better? Maybe. Worst? Most likely not. 
Any questions feel free to contact use and ask questions Hope you all enjoyed this. 


My husband, mother-in-law and I sailed over Thanksgiving week on the Paradise. This was my husband's mother's first cruise, our 7th. We had a verandah suite which had a queen bed and a sofa sleeper. The cabin and storage space were large enough for the 3 of us, but could have used some refurbishing in the upholstery and bed linens. Our cabin was kept quite clean and always done in a timely manner. The towel animals really made a hit with Grandma! 
Dining was a highlight for all of us. The food was always presented beautifully and was very good. Service was terrific and Marcelo and Ihar reinforced our love of traditional dining. They even made up for getting the late seating when we wanted early. 
The ports were fun, clean and worth the full day stop. We did the obligatory golf cart tour of Catalina Island, in 1 hour exactly. I look forward to visiting there again sometime. Ensenada was a pleasant surprise. We took the 4 hour winery tour and thoroughly enjoyed it. Our tour guide, Juan Jo, was entertaining, informative and a lot of fun. The 2 wineries had an impressive selection of wine, as well as olives, tequila and souvenirs to choose from. Back in town we had a good meal at La Tortuga, seeing fellow passengers as well as crew members dining there. The entertainment on board the ship was very good. Most fun were the comedian and magician. But the musical revue shows were better than most we have seen and the performers really put their hearts into it! 
The Paradise atrium area was so elegant. The Blue Riband room was a popular place for families playing games together, but I found it also a cozy place to curl up with a book in a sunny spot. The Casino had a good variety of slot machines, and some of them even paid off! We had fun at the art auction even if it ran too long--had to leave before the end to make the galley tour in time, so missed out on the free artwork! Camp Carnival wasn't something we used, but did appreciate how busy the counselors kept all the kids on board! Saw a couple groups of kids marching down the halls and they sure seemed to be having fun! 
Embarkation and disembarkation were the BEST we have ever experienced. Princess should take lessons!! Our time to meet in the theatre the last morning was 7:30 a.m. and we were off the ship in less than 15 minutes! What a perfect way to end a cruise! 
This was our first time spending a holiday at sea, and we were very happy with our decision! It was a relaxing, peaceful way of celebrating a holiday. Gave us lots of good, fun family time together. And Carnival's crew did a good job of ensuring that it happened for us! 


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