Freckles67

I'll be on board as well this Monday. This is the first time on this ship. This is my 7th cruise though. I really like Carnvial. Thank you for your info it on this ship. :D

Have a fabulous cruise! I love this old ship! This was my third trip on Paradise. Hope you aren't at dinner when you sail under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.

Did you go to the piano bar?

No we didn't go to the piano bar. Our favorite place onboard was the Serenity area.

We are home from our Paradise five night cruise from Tampa to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. We loved our junior suite on the veranda deck. We were in V-21 (obstructed view) but the view was only slightly obstructed to the right. The huge picture window right next to the bed was awesome for star gazing in the middle of the night. Our tiny balcony was nice, - although I'd advise booking on the port side rather than starboard. The deck below us was a designated smoking area on the starboard side. Didn't really bother us except for one guy with a stinky cigar. We tried Your Time Dining for the first time and loved it. We always had a table for two and conversed with other tables for two. We never had to wait to be seated. The Platinum gift was a wooden box with a Carnival pen, round cards with scenic photos with odd little envelopes. Food was ok in the dining room. Not so great at the Lido. Coffee was ok. Room service was efficient. The chocolate chip cookies were excellent! Questions? I'm happy to answer for you.

Elation is the My Time dining room. You have to go forward on the deck above and then down one deck. It was a bit complicated and took us three nights to get it right the first time :)

 

Yes there are tables for two, they are placed very close to other tables for two, but for us that makes visiting easier!

Perfect! Thanks for this info! This cruise is for our 38th anniversary. We'll enjoy a table for two!

The only time we had to wait for My Time dining was when we decided to go with a group of 6 at 6:30 pm. All other nights we did not eat until 7 pm or later and no waiting.

We've never tried My Time Dining on Carnival. Do you know which Dining Room we should go to on Paradise? Or do both dining rooms accept My Time diners? Are there any tables for two? We can't sit in a booth like last time. After two shoulder operations I need to dine in a chair! Thanks for your help. Now.... back to packing! Almost done!

It's Saturday night and we are soooo ready for Monday so we can board Paradise. This will be my third cruise on this ship. My first cruise was long ago when she was brand new and she was the only smoke free ship in Carnival's fleet. You couldn't even bring matches onboard and the casino air was nice and clean. Sadly, Carnival dropped the non smoking policy in 2003. We love sailing out of Tampa as we live nearby in Pinellas County. We'll be in one of the mini suites way up high on deck 11. We're doing anytime dining and are prepared to wait. We drove over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge last weekend and can't wait to sail under it on Monday. Bon voyage to the December 5th Paradise cruisers!

I am sorry that I accused the wonderful Dream ship for my illness. I realize that airborne germs cannot be contained, and in hindsight, a December cruise full of children probably wasn't the best idea for me. I thought it would be a wonderful time for my daughter's family, as well as for my husband and myself. And it was! But I don't think it's a coincidence that my grandsons and I were all sick shortly after returning home. My diagnosis is severe bronchitis. I'm on three different medications as well as an asthma inhaler. The grandkids are both on antibiotics as well. Our Christmas has been postponed. I barely remember the past week, because i have never been this sick in my life. This started with a slight tickle in my throat and developed very slowly. I still believe I brought it home from the beautiful Dream. I hope no one else had such a tough time after their fabulous cruise. I am able to sit up and type today, so just wanted to update.

PS the only spot of uncleanliness that I found in our cabin really disturbed me. You know the shiny metal cover on the toilet paper roll? I lifted it up and it was spattered with I don't know what....and am afraid to speculate. I left it up every time we left the room so the room steward would clean it but she never did. Perhaps that was the source of my germs. I took a photo of it on the last day and thought about informing someone, but didn't want to cause trouble for the steward. I never saw her to speak to her about it.

I appreciate all of your comments. I am feeling a lot better after a nap this afternoon. My fever broke and I am feeling human again. The grandkids are doing well. Sorry I was a whiner about my illness. I realized this afternoon that out of thirty some cruises, this is only the third time I've returned home sick. The other two were on Norwegian in 1992 and on a Princess transatlantic two years ago. I had not thought about Santa's lap. Yuck! I do so love the special touches of a Disney cruise.....the Princess Gathering is my favorite. Love seeing Capt. Jack at Castaway Cay. Love the magic! Know what I mean?

We did not get off the ship in Nassau. We drove our cars from our homes in the Tampa area. Drove home in the same cars. I am turning into a germ o phobe in my old age and am very careful, especially in public bathrooms. Just talked to my daughter....both she and hubby are ok so far. The two year old is fine, now the four year old has fever and is missing his Christmas party at nursery school today. We loved the cruise, but will not take another pre Christmas trip. We stood in line in the lobby for an hour waiting to see Santa. We also decided that we liked our interior cabin with video porthole (last January) better than our deluxe balcony cabin this time. Still love the Disney cruise line, just not thrilled with the after effects! :eek:

Hello, we took our daughter, son in law, and two grands aged 4 and 2 on the Dream on the Dec. 12, 2013 three night cruise from Port Canaveral. We had a nice time, although we found the ship to be much more crowded than on our previous Dream cruise in January last year. However, even after using all the antibacterial wipes and frequent hand washing, my husband and I have come down with rotten colds. The grandkids both spiked fevers yesterday (three days after we returned home). The 2 yr old's temp was 103.4 in the middle if the night, necessitating a trip to the pediatrician yesterday, where he was administered a steroid spray. I am feeling rotten....runny nose, sore throat, scratchy cough. Hubby's right ear is blocked from congestion. The only common denominator for us is our Dream cruise. Has any other family experienced a flu like rotten cold three days after returning from the Dream?

I took this from my balcony on Carnival's LEGEND during the 4/29/06 cruise. We had returned to Miami and were docked. I was talking to hubby on the phone (he wasn't cruising) and grabbed my camera to get this shot. It's South Beach at sunrise.

Hubby and I were on the DOLPHIN IV around 1991. I have video of it somewhere.... I remember taking a zoom of the orderly string of lights on the deck of Carnival's brand new FANTASY docked next to us in Nassau, and then panning to our pitiful little string of lights going every which way, quite a contrast. One night hubby and I were up on top deck and noticed the ship was listing to the right. We asked the captain about that the next day and he said that the ballast was uneven. (???) We had rough seas one night, and, being on the lowest deck, looked out our porthole to see water splashing up over it! I got some video of that too. I remember great food and a live pianist right next to our table in the dining room. We really enjoyed our short 4 day cruise on the Dolphin. I'm sorry to hear that she is no more.

We went there while cruising on the Big Red Boat Oceanic. My most vivid memory is of lying in a hammock and looking up at a palm tree, and then out at the crystal clear turquoise water. I thought we'd found paradise, if only for an afternoon.