This was our first ever Carnival cruise, and we got really lucky, because the Carnival Paradise had just come out of dry dock/major refurbishment/upgrade shortly before our cruise on April 23. (Dry dock was Feb/Mar, I believe). Since we had never sailed on this ship before, I can't say how it used to be, but we were very pleasantly surprised with our entire cruise and the accommodations! Our cabin (U49) appeared to be completely new (except for the oceanview window, which, as another reviewer pointed out, is really pretty old/dirty, with lots of caulk marks) - new carpet, new built in closet structure, new bedding and linens, new artwork, new (large!) TV, even appeared to be entirely new bathroom fixtures, lighting, etc. To note, the mirror above the desk has lighting entirely around it (very flattering!) and there are several USB charging ports - at least 4, I believe. The built in closets (2) are big enough to each hold a large suitcase (so no need to store under the bed). I wish there were more drawers - really only 2 usable drawers down near the floor, right by the door. But, there are shelves, instead, and lots of hanging space in both closets. When we arrived, our cabin steward had 3 blue pool towels in our room for us. When we used them (especially off the ship) we simply took the wet ones up to deck 10/Lido deck and exchanged for fresh towels prior to going back to the cabin, so we always had clean blue pool towels in the cabin.

Throughout the ship, we thought it appeared that all of the public spaces were in great condition (not sure which were new vs. just well taken care of). It appeared to us that much of the carpet throughout the ship was new, for example. The main pool and at least one of the whirlpool tubs at the main pool were new. To us, it didn't appear that the whirlpools in the Serenity/adults only area (no pool here, just 2 whirlpools) were not new, but also didn't appear to need replacement.

We enjoyed both the Guy Fieri's burger joint and Blue Iguana Cantina on the Lido Deck by the pool for lunch more than once - the burritos at Blue Iguana were especially good. All of these foods are made to order. We may have just hit them right, but we never had to wait in line long when we were there. Read more