HAL vet back from 4 day Paradise with Review

[FightOnRon]

I wanted to mention MDR dress code for Catalina night......I saw everyone adhereing to the rules again. No ballcaps, no wife beater shirts. On HAL the closest I ever saw was some fool wearing jeans on casual night,,at that time jeans were verbotten. that fool was me of course, wearing black brand new jeans,,I figured no one will notice. Jeans may be allowed now as HAL got rid of informal nigtt (the real pain in the rump night).

[blan2]

I have really enjoyed reading your review. I am hoping to get away on this same cruise in early Jan '11, and look forward to making my own observations and comparisions with HAL.

I am in my early 30s but have travelled in the past with my Mom and Aunts, we have been on HAL and Celebrity. I must say that I am a big fan of HAL. I am booked to go on Princess in May and as I mentioned CCL in Jan 2011.

I enjoy the company of all age groups and look forward to seeing the differences. Of all the things I read about your review.....I think I will miss the "mint guy" on exciting the dining room....it was always such a treat, and they are always so personable and friendly.

I hope to be able to leave my own review in the future.

[FightOnRon]

ensenada day. Not much let to tell about HAL vs CCL. Once again to fool room service I requestd coffee at 715,,as predicted it showed up at 7. I will say HAL was alwyas prompt on the time you requested,,but rarely early as CCL is. So went to breakast and did our excurion. The amazing thins is when we got off the ship to find our tour ubt,,there was the Elation docked near us. Remember we were a day off so both of us showed up at the same day.

 

I would highly recommend to not do this excursion. Its call Scenic Gold Coast. The reason we did it was our friends wanted to see the country a bit. This excursion take you north for about 20 minutes out of Ensenada. I wanted to do the windry tour, the jeep tour or the ATV tour,,well give me something to look for next time. They wanted relaxing and that this was.

 

So we went to the manditory stop at the convention center where we had a nice lecture, had a free beer/maragarita /soda/water (your choice). Did some haggling with vendors to prepare for our afternoon of haggling. But takes us north on highway one. Interestin to me was when we were almost to the toll road we ahd to go past a military blockade that randomly was checking cars/trucks etc. Hummers with machine guns etc. Eventually landed at a restuarant near the beach where we were agin treat to a free beer/maragrita/soda/water,,your choice. Drove back and stopped at a rest stop,,,weel ex rest stop,,forsome really nice views of the bay and the tuna fishing pens. then back to the ships. This entire thing lasted 3 1/2 hours. It was okay but I wouldn't do it again. I wanted to play in a Jeep.

 

We were at the ship about 1:30 but decided to go get real Mexican foor, rather then ship food. After walking the Chiklets gaunlet and sidewalk vendros (but senor,,it's almost free!) we headed down 1st street to Papas and Beers just to see the decadence. The spring breakers were in full force there and across the street. We didn't go in,,just too nuts for us, so we went to the taco place that was talked about a few posts ago. It is almost across the street from PandB,,right next to Hussongs. FYI it was recommended to us by the lady that gave us the tour,,she says it's where she goes. I can see why too. As ROSEFLOATER stated, it was very good and the bathrooms were very nice. After a couple of cervesas and tacos we had to make a side trip. My friends wife didn't bring enough under britches. We told them she could wash on the ship (they were not going home when we returned the following day) but she wanted new so we went to Sears.

 

Walking into Sears was like going to another planet. Everything was sparkling clean, the women were all in uniforms and the men in suits. Complete different world, and if you find yourself in there,,clean bathrooms.

 

Then off to haggling and drinking. Did the manditory shopping for junk and bargaining with the natives. We stopped in one cantina, two cantina, 3 cantina more....arms loaded with Mexican junk and a nice buzz going (we even paid a few bucks to be seranaded by a 6 piece mariachi band) we eventually made it back to the ship after the Chicklets gaunlet again.

 

We went to dinner. I would say this was my lest favorite meal night. The choices were not that great but if any meal was Applebees quality, this was it. I guess they figured we are leaving tomorrow , no sense pushing the envelope now. But I do wonder if this has to do with the discussion about the later you eat, the less good it is. We were eating at 8 pm this night. The nice part was we had a great window seat for sail away.

 

Missed all the shows as our timing stunk. This night the show was 2 comedians that were suppsedly brought in from Las Vegas. I hear one of them as my DW was doing her last minute ship shopping say they flew to SanDiego then Carnival drove them to Ensenada ( "the driver was going so fast I kept looking back trying to figure out who was chasing us"). My buddy and myslef listened at the doorway for aobut 20 minutes as the shopping took longer then expected.

 

I would say this was the nuttiest night on the ship,,but with most having spent quality time in Ensenada it's understandable. For example,,the young drunk Spring breakers on deck 4 stopping us to show us the puppet show they worked up with the brand new puppetts which I am sure by now are ruined,,probably that night. The dressing in the MDR was the worst of the trip. I negelcted to mention on Catalina night everyone was still dressed pretty nice for a casual dinner,,but this night the envelope was pushed. A few ballcaps,,passengers looking a bit more scraggely,,but it was a scraggely day and nothing that was going to ruin my fun,,,i had a pretty good buzz going.

 

This is the first night I heard running in the halls and a few kids but either I passed out or they did because nothing ruined my sleep. Probably in bed by midnight,,maybe not,,,,because tomorrow we gotta go home.

 

BTW..I will also atate that my cabin was cleaned twice a day and was perfect each time. But on HAL,,it seem like if you're out of your cabin more then 20 minutes , you come back is has been straightened again.

[lollylew]

I'm sure you know this, Ron, but the PARADISE is a Fantasy Class ship built when there was not as much demand for balcony cabins. In any future cruises you may select that are 7-days or longer the ship will have many more balconies to select from and, therefore, a lot more reasonable in balcony pricing (locally the SPLENDOR out of Long Beach and the SPIRIT out of San Diego and Vancouver for the Alaska itinerary)

 

Don't forget that in the next few years, the Carnival Paradise will be getting the complete Evolutions of Fun upgrade which, I am hoping fingers crossed, it will also get the new balconies that have been added to the Ecstasy, Sensation, Imagination, etc. Unfortunately, the Paradise was the last of the Fantasy class ships so she will probably be the last to get all the upgrades (though she does have the Serenity and the Mongolian Grill). :D

[FightOnRon]

I am testing,,if this works here is the PAradise on debakation day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FightOnRon]

[LaurieHoffman]

I got them... Can't wait to see others too....

[FightOnRon]

[FightOnRon]

[FightOnRon]

[STEVENJAN]

Good review. I am really looking forward to our cruise April 26th.

[FightOnRon]

..where most of the 20 somethings hung out t watch the rock guitar player

 

[FightOnRon]

This guy was actually a robot. That would be the only explanation as to why he was always here, always playing Margaritaville.

[FightOnRon]

Debarkation,,how fun. We did go to the speech the day before as I wanted my friend to get the idea of what is in store, premarily if oyu have to fly.

 

When we got to our cabin the previous night all the paperwork was there too so we filled out what we needed but we opted for self debarkation. According to the paperwork and the zone we were in we would be called off the ship between 730 and 800 am.

 

 

I didn't want to do the leave the luggage in the hallway scene either because,,well frankly,,I don't trust some of the people that would have been wandering after Ensenada night. Had we actually had a seas day my look would have been different but also you have to remember we were jsut walking to our car and taking the 20 minute drive home so we saw no reason as to why not take our own stuff.

 

So our gameplan was to wake early,,maybe about 615 get to the MDR for our last breakfast onboard then leave. I had spoken to our cabin steward and he sort of wanted us out by 9 am which would be no problem and he just requested when we went to breakfast to stash our bags in one corber of the cabin and he would work around it until we snagged our bags to leave.

 

So we tunred in nice and early,,,like really I haven't a clue when we passed out,,,but set the alarm to get off.

 

BTW,,someone once posted that alarm clocka lose time on ships because of the power not being steady. Our clock lost 5 minutes a day so every day I did reset it.

[FightOnRon]

[FightOnRon]

After a couple of Cervesas,,make sure you get on the right ship...in Ensenada

[lorasmom]

We actually did the Buggy tour this past weekend, and it was great... definitely not boring ;)

[FightOnRon]

.....may send you to jail.

 

Knowing our room service and that we wanted to be up by 6am we set the alarm for 6 and asked for 615 room service. I neglected to mention that on cruise ships my DW sleeps with earlplugs and I sleep with one,,,long story. Fortunalty the room service was early because the only reason we woke up was the beating on the cabin door. By the time we were focused and cleaned it was about 715 but I had noticed no one was calling over the PA for any embakation. My dw decided we were going to skip breakfast so I ran to the Lido for a couple of Danish. I will say it was Fists of Fury up there, people going nuts to get in their last meal.

 

So we are sitting in the cabin, waiting for any sort of announcement (we had been docked since about 630) and nothing. My friend was in the cabin next to me and he called me an said the police were in the hall.

 

Well it wasn't the police,,it was Customs and the Long Beach PD. Evidently,,we found out after the hall cleared,,that the 4 young men in the cabin about 3 away from us had been smoking pot the entire trip. I will say we never knew,,never smelled it,,nothing. They didn't make any noise, very low profile. After one of them was taken away in handcuffs the girls that were in the cabin next to them told us. The other 3 men were in the cabin, I guess were figuring out how to tell someone and set bail so they didn't come back out. Well about 815 am we decided to try and get off the ship,,went up one deck to deck 7, and go into a line almost the lenght of the ship. Well, at least we were able to ride the elevator up.

 

Seems as though Customs was busy on other decks as well, raiding cabins. They hdd been working from the bottom up. Now it could be rumor, or not, but we were told that 3 more persons were taken off the ship in cuffs. Then the line started moving and by 9 we were bidding ado to the Carnival Paradise and trying to find my car which I had lost in the parking structure.

[FightOnRon]

I had a very good time and thought the price we paid made this trip well worth it. To me,,HAL is a classier line as are the ships, Carnival is a more practical line but I know I can't judge the entire fleet by one older ship.

 

I feel theer service to be aboutt the same, perhpas a slight edge to HAL. The cabins seemed to be cleaned more frequently on HAL, the people pushing drinks are more so on CCL,,but to me not a problem at all. Its nice to get a server in the showrooms.

 

My cabin was smaller then any cabin I have seen but again I have seen pictures of CCL OVs on other vessals and they seem to be about the same as the HAL OVs.

 

The MDR food in HAL is better, but the MDR food on CCL is pretty good, but it would appear that depends upon when you show up for dinner. Would be an interesting study to see if late seatings seemed to have worse food then early seatings. HAL has a better romm service menu, but the room service itself is perhpas a bit better on CCL. Booze prices seem to be the same.

 

I liked the shows better on CCL. HAL sometimes is too highbrow and the Vegas style shows are much better on CCL.

 

CCL seems to cater to every age group. Although HAL has children activites,,nothing like CCL. The average age for CCL seems to be a lot younger, therfore more enregy. So for more and queter cruising HAL. For lots of higher powered activites, CCL.

 

So would or will I sail Carnival again? Yes. If given a choice of CCL or HAL for the same itineraries I would take the cheaper ships which would probably by CCL (although HAL has a 50 dollar a day repositiong special right now for the left coast). I am eyeballing the Mexican Riviera. I doubt I will ever try NCL or RCCL as too many on this board flames them but I would like to try Princess too. No one flames HAL.

 

I did like the more laid back feeling on CCL. By that I mean you can be more yourself,,not what is expected of you.

 

Will I ever get on the Paradise again,,I certainly am planning on it. Ensenada,,,,,HERE I COME !!!!!

[woodey]

Great Review Ron...Thanks!

[FightOnRon]

Thanks WOODEY...looking forward to comments from KURT JEROME WILD whom I believed stated a comment would come after I was done.

 

I know I made this more into a journal and got carried away,,,but it was nice to have the ocean under my feet after a year and a half on land. My DW wants to go to Alberta next before our next cruise,,,so how do I get a cruiseline to go to Alberta? Dig a trench? I know our Canadian brethren can do it,,I saw one in Ottowa!

[FightOnRon]

ONe more really minor detail...TV is better on CCL. HAl has like 3 channels, a couple of movie channels and of course al lthe ship channels like CCL does. But I liked being able to see news from the US when I wake up,,not CNN International.

[LaurieHoffman]

.....may send you to jail.

My friend was in the cabin next to me and he called me an said the police were in the hall.

 

Well it wasn't the police,,it was Customs and the Long Beach PD. Evidently,,we found out after the hall cleared,,that the 4 young men in the cabin about 3 away from us had been smoking pot the entire trip. I will say we never knew,,never smelled it,,nothing. They didn't make any noise, very low profile. After one of them was taken away in handcuffs the girls that were in the cabin next to them told us. The other 3 men were in the cabin, I guess were figuring out how to tell someone and set bail so they didn't come back out.

Seems as though Customs was busy on other decks as well, raiding cabins. They hdd been working from the bottom up. Now it could be rumor, or not, but we were told that 3 more persons were taken off the ship in cuffs. quote]

 

I wonder if this was due to the timing of the cruise...Spring Breakers??? College age kids?

Hopefully if this happens on our sailing we too will be clueless of their actions..

 

Thank you for all your information. My kids and I are even more excited now after reading this and seeing your photos

[FightOnRon]

I wonder if this was due to the timing of the cruise...Spring Breakers??? College age kids?

Hopefully if this happens on our sailing we too will be clueless of their actions..

 

Thank you for all your information. My kids and I are even more excited now after reading this and seeing your photos

 

Would be my guess, they would have to have been the right age to have that cabin. Seriously, that hallway was pretty quiet except for the last night and that was a few small ones running to their cabin. I think that was the perfect deck but as a vet I knew what to look for in a floorplan.

 

A couple other things popped into my head. One day at one time there was a smell of smoking in the hall on a different deck of cabins (remember we had to take long cuts to go around the dining room) but it was no biggie and it wasn't there later,,smelled like a cigar. Also on Catalina port day in one of the stairwell we did get the sewage smell whiff,,but I have gotten that on every ship I ahve ever been on when traveling a lower deck while at port.

 

I think your kids will have a blast. I would say just make sure you know where they are.

 

Remember "what happens on a ship,,,goes on the internet". Our CD's favorite joke. At least I didn't have to hear the one about a passenger asking a CD,,"So how high above sea level will we be traveling?". That's a HAL standard.

[FightOnRon]