A CRUISE REVIEW AUGUST 17-21 CARNIVAL PARADISE-LONG BEACH, CATALINA & ENSENADA. THE PLAYERS: DAD, LARRY, CURLY, MOE, SHEMP (CHANGED NAMES FOR PROTECTION FROM MY BOYS ATTACKING ME) Monday my boys traveled to my house in Larry's car. We repacked into both my car and Larry's. My daughter dropped off Curly and Larry, I took Shemp and Moe and luggage to ship and left my car ($60 for week) After getting our Sail and Sign cards we boarded the ship by 11:45am and headed for the Lido deck and the Paris buffet. Then preceded to explore the ship, read and play mini-golf on the sports deck. By 2pm our cabins were ready and we "moved in." Of course we did the muster drill...very exciting as always. Then off to our cabins to dress for dinner #1. I wore a sports jacket and tie, as did Curly. All the rest wore nice clothes. We ate like kings that first meal. Our waiter's name is Santiago. He was the best. And Putra was our assistant waiter, also great!! After dinner it was passenger's Showtime + bingo. The game: "Game Show!" Hosted by "fun team" member Phil. Round One: Moe! He blew away the competition and won a plastic ship on a stick. Round Two: Whoa! Dad was called to stage. Didn't do so well but got points because I made a fool of myself...dancing like MC Hammer and walking like Miss America. And got a medallion to wear around my neck. Bingo was next winning = $0. Then the welcome show. Jeff Bron'son was our cruise director. Great fun guy. Dancers!!! And a comedian who also sang. A little gambling and watching some karaoke and we were done with the day by midnight or so. DAY TWO Catalina...I got up early and worked out!!! Then had breakfast= Great. When the four boys awoke we went to Avalon and walked around and played mini-golf. Great mini-golf in Avalon...highly recommended. Lunch at Armstrong's Fish house. Then back to the ship. On board we relaxed then dress up for formal night. The Captain's reception. We met him and said hello to Jeff Bron'son. Had many...many free drinks. I danced with a lovely "Grandmother" to my wife's and my favorite song..."Unforgettable." Dinner was great...Lobster!!! Plus in celebration of Larry and Curlys recent birthdays we had a Birthday cake and song from our wait staff. Bingo=$0 Then the show..."Country" music...lots of great songs and dancing. Hey there are even twin dancers!! More gamling and general goofing off (can you say "drink of the day?") Saw our opening night comedian do a "R" rated show...okay. Then an early night (midnight) DAY THREE Ensenada...on the dock by 9 after another great Lido deck breakfast. Get on a bus and off we go to the vineyard fields for a morning of ATVing. Got real dirty but again a highly recommended excursion...through the ship. After the amazing ride we got back on the bus and were dropped off near Papas and Beer in town. Well, we bought a "deal" at the dock...beers and shots!!! For not much bucks. Had them at Papas and Beer, then bought some souvenirs and because we had another liquid deal at Habana Banana Jungle Bar we stopped there. Can't say exactly what transpired there...lots of liquid fun and dancing on bar tops!! Okay we were five fun loving guys and we kept our clothes on. Did some more gift buying as we walked to the shuttle buses that would take us back to the ship. ($1...bus near McDonalds and BIG flag) Back on board more bingo, more great food, more singing from our wait staff. Funny comedian (JerRome) saw him two years ago, when we cruised on another Jeff Bron'son cruise...Funny. Again some gambling and general goofing off. Dad, me, went to bed early...way past my normal bedtime, and the boys went to gamble for a while. DAY FOUR At Sea. Lazy day...Breakfast (again with the eating) shuffle board. Gambling. Then another embarrassing moment. Only one person had signed up for "The Hairiest Chest" contest. Well not one for leaving a chance at embarrassing myself and my offspring, I entered along with Shemp. Well I have 10 hairs on my chest and Shemp has a few more but certainly not a carpet, so we just danced around and had fun and laughed with us. Didn't win but had fun. Another great dinner...food is really good. Try it all!!! Then more bingo losses. The last show: "Shout" was fun and again keeping with the theme of being a part of the show...Shemp was pulled out of the audience and danced the Macarena with a couple of the dancers. Then came Karaoke and gambling!!! And again keeping with the theme, Curly picked "Ice...Ice..Baby" with the rest of us being the backup dancers. Great fun. Plus the showroom was packed as after us there was a "R" rated comedy show. We got a standing "O." Then to gambling were I spent an hour and a half at the roulette and lost nothing!! My boys know how to play and I got their help. DAY FIVE Back home....Took our bags off ourselves, which I highly recommend if you can, so we leisurely had breakfast on board and walked off the ship. FINAL NOTE The four day (Mon-Fri) is a great fun trip...just enough time to get away from reality but not so much that if you don't like ships (what?) then you don't go stir crazy. If you have any question just reply to this message or if you want to see videos of us dancing on bar tops...well maybe not that.