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Paradise review 2/28/11-3/4/11

chadsjewel

By chadsjewel,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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Paradise Feb. 28-Mar. 4, 2011

Catalina & Ensenada

 

Just a bit of background: Hubby and I were on the Splendor fire cruise in November. It was our first cruise and one we won’t ever forget. This cruise is our 2nd, but really our first all over again. We booked, at a group rate with about 400 people from the Gold Country. Wazzupp to all my fellow blue shirts who are reading!

 

We are a couple in our 30’s who cruise to relax, go somewhere cool, and hang out with each other. I can’t comment on the dance club or shows since we really didn’t do that. But, I’ll give ya what I have; my two cents.

 

The day before:

We drove down on Sunday and checked into The Queen Mary at exactly 4 pm (which is check-in time, despite the fact that Priceline stated 6pm. Also, called to confirm and never spoke to a soul. Left a msg and no response). Anywho, check in took about 15 mins in line. We scored a king size bed, porthole window for $81.75 and all was ready when we arrived. Now, that ship is HUGE. If you haven’t stayed here before, you really should. We had stateroom 419, which had a great porthole view of the harbor. Room was cozy, bed was great, nice comforter. Walls are paper thin, and I’m serious about that. Be prepared. That was my only complaint. With the room, you get the self guided tour of the ship, which means you can just wander around at your leisure. You MUST see the engine room. We had dinner at Chelsae Chowder House, on the ship, simply because it was open. Service took quite a while with our waiter, but food was wonderful and we left stuffed. Drawback: besides slow waiter, weak cocktail LOL. Very nice dinner, good price. You can also leave your car here for the cruise and just pay them rather than the terminal. We did this and would do it again. In fact, for our Mexican Riviera cruise next yr, we will stay there in LB and drive into San Diego cruise morning.

 

Monday-Day 1-embarkation

We were up early and ready to board! Queen Mary has an Early Check-In for cruisers and I will never do anything else again. We were in line for that around 9:20 and at about 9:45 the doors were opened. We were checked in before 10 am and had boarding zone 1! We dropped off our luggage with the porters and went back to the room to watch some Springer lol. By 12:05 they were already to zone 3 and we had about a 10 minute wait in line all together. I know we were on Lido with our lunch before 12:30! Many people had already had booze confiscated from their carry ons and unknown to us, we had our bottle of rum swiped as well. Rum runners made it through fine and I only heard one report of a large one being confiscated from someone in our group.

 

Rooms were ready shortly before 1:30. Had an inside, after having a balcony but it wasn’t as bad as I thought! Very comfortable, although more dated room than the Splendor was of course. Lots of orange. No fridge, in case you didn’t know. Our steward was Pambudi and he was very good. Ice was filled twice a day. Tv sucked, but who cares right?! As for our Lido lunch, we stuck to the burgers and dogs and they were just fine.

 

We scoped out the ship as usual and chose the aft deck 10 for sail away. It is quieter and we could watch Long Beach fade away. We had a DOD by that time and spent some time at the bar with another drink. I had the chocolate thingy, not much booze but yummy. Hubby had a Hurricane Wave, yummy too. Later, we did some shopping and ate our only meal in the Dining Room. I ordered fried shrimp and talapia. Hubby ordered shrimp cocktail and pork chop. Neither of us were impressed with our choices, but the dining room itself was nice. We had your time dining because we like the flexibility. The Maitre D did magic tricks table side during the meal which was strange. But who doesn’t love a magic trick? Our server was great too!

 

We did some hanging out and people watching, found our embarkation photo, and went back to the room early. The Welcome Aboard show wasn’t until 10:15, I think and we just decided to skip it (glad we did since it was on the tv all the next day lol). Both of us went to sleep pretty early.

 

I did spend a little while sorting out the stuff in the room and reading the deck plan while the hubby laid around. We filled out the room service card and watched part of a movie.

 

Tuesday-Day2-Catalina

Room service came right before 9 am. You should always fill out the card. Don’t call at 9 am if you want a fast breakfast. We ordered coffee (AWFUL! We ended up buying from the Café and had Lido coffee once), juices, cereal, criossants, and melon.

 

We had already decided not to get off the ship in Catalina. We had been there in 07 and thought we would enjoy the ship while everyone was gone. Well, we changed our minds when we remembered that you couldn’t shop on the ships in port and besides the weather was beautiful. The tender line turned us off once but it did go pretty fast! Tendering in calm water and beautiful weather is nice! There were dolphins with the fishing boats for a while that morning and that was awesome. The tender ride gave me about ten more photos and then you get accosted by Carnival photo police twice right off the gangway but we don’t mind. Those 2 pics were my faves of the cruise.

 

We had no plans here but to maybe have a beer and sit on the beach. We got a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada for $10 and some chowder in a bread bowl for $8 and enjoyed some time at the pier. We watched the people, and the gulls and enjoyed the weather until I got cold. The shops are the same as they were in 07 and we did buy a sweatshirt and a t shirt, $20 each. After a couple hours, we caught the tender back and were in the hot tub on Serenity Deck before 2 pm, I think. We stayed there for several hours (as we did every morning and evening lol) and even did lunch there. Hubby lost his sail and sign card in that hot tub too lol.

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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Day 3 Ensenada

This morning started out beautifully! The weather was warm and we began the day in the hot tub on Serenity Deck, as usual. It was wonderful to sit and look out over Ensenada, which is obviously not the most attractive of ports. We had breakfast and headed out to the terminal at around 1030. Disembarking in Ensenada is easy. You walk right off the gangway into the terminal biulding where there are shops for you to get a beer/soda/water or buy souvenirs. We looked inside for a bout 10 mins and grabbed a water for a buck, then exited the terminal.

 

Outside, there are buses and for $2 pp, they will take you downtown. Its got a/c and you dont have to walk so thats cool. The bus ride is 10 mins maybe and the "guide" touts the shopping the entire time. He warns you about where not to buy silver and reccommends the la Bufadora tour for $15 pp. We disembarked in downtown Ensenada and walked around for maybe 15 mins before deciding to go back and get the bus tour. We knew what the blowole was all about but thought it was an ok way to spend 3 hours and maybe we would see something cool.

 

The bus tour was fine. Clean, a/c bus with tour guide Raquel. She told us a lot of different things about Ensendada. The bus ride to La Bufadora took about half an hour maybe 40 mins. We did stop at the Corona factory just to buy some dollar beers and use the restroom.

 

The winding road out to La Bufadora is the most interesting thing on the tour. There are lots of shacks and remnants of old buildings as well as large new homes that are beautiful, overlooking the ocean. There is a flea market, lining the walkway out to the point to see the blowhole. Honestly, most things are like flea markets back at home. The silver seemed to be ok in price. The Rx meds are crazy out there. Zpac 4 courses for $15 if anyone was wondering, although I didnt pick up any. The cubans were overpriced but we did bring home a few. The one thing I wish I would have gotten was a hand painted plate by a man at the blowhole.

 

We had lunch there at Havana Cabana. Had a free sample margarita which wasnt bad and ordered a kami each and tacos for 2 (which can really feed 4!!). Keep that in mind. There is a mariachi singer who is verrrrrry loud and performs for a buck, tableside. Food was good, we left totally full for a cost of $32 plus tip, plus the "clean" bathrooms.

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Rosefloater

Rosefloater

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You can also leave your car here for the cruise and just pay them rather than the terminal. We did this and would do it again. In fact, for our Mexican Riviera cruise next yr, we will stay there in LB and drive into San Diego cruise morning.

 

Was parking at the QM cheaper than $15/day?

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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Was parking at the QM cheaper than $15/day?

 

 

Nope. Same $15 a day. We just liked the fact that we didnt have to move it and maneuver through the garage. We prepaid at check in, so when we got back from the cruise, we swiped our room key and got out of the lot. So, if you stay here, remember to put a room key and a copy of your paid bill with your cruise paperwork. Youll need one or the other to get out.

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sparkscruiser

sparkscruiser

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Was parking at the QM cheaper than $15/day?

 

Nope. Same $15 a day. We just liked the fact that we didnt have to move it and maneuver through the garage. We prepaid at check in, so when we got back from the cruise, we swiped our room key and got out of the lot. So, if you stay here, remember to put a room key and a copy of your paid bill with your cruise paperwork. Youll need one or the other to get out.

 

 

@Rosefloater - Queen Mary has a special if you go to thier website that includes the room and up to 7 days of parking - so you may want to check that out.

 

Thanks for the review Chadsjewel, we will be sailing April 11th. My second time on the Paradise, first time for DH.

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Rosefloater

Rosefloater

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@Rosefloater - Queen Mary has a special if you go to thier website that includes the room and up to 7 days of parking - so you may want to check that out.

 

Thanks for the review Chadsjewel, we will be sailing April 11th. My second time on the Paradise, first time for DH.

 

Thanks, but I was just wondering. I only live 1 hour away.

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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Thanks for following, everyone! I have a bit more writing to do and lots of pics to post.

 

Re: the Splendor trauma...it came back last night at dinner when we found out our neighbor just booked the Splendor lol. Our cabin mates from that cruise have also re-done the trip and had a fabulous time!!

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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The rest of the review will skip around but I want to get it out while its still fresh!

 

Ensenada

I gotta be honest, imho, book something through the ship here. Once you get dumped off downtown, it just seemed like any other downtown to us. Now, that being said, I didnt really research this port. We had originally planned to do the Wine Tour but prior to the cruise decided it may be too shifty in Mexico for us to be traipsing all around. Then, what do we do? We get off the ship anyway and get on the local tour guide tour LOL. We ARE glad we got off since this was our first time here but if we did the Baja cruise again, we would either book the Wine Tour or stay in the hot tub!

 

The vendors at the blowhole are verbally agressive. They will not touch you though, but there is plenty of yelling along the walk to the blowhole. We pretty much all walked together with our tour group and I saw nothing that warranted me dealing with the vendors.

 

The blowhole itself is predictable. Water shoots up into the air. We were there at a low tide and didnt expect much in the first place. Quite a crowd gathers at the small observation point so its fun waiting to get a good pic of the spray. It was a beautiful day though and its by the ocean so hey, its better than being at school or work! There is a band playing overlooking the ocean (was 2 men the day we were there) and a man who fingerpaints scenes on plates. I REGRET not getting one of those plates so get me one will ya!!!!!

 

We went to the Havana Cabana restaraunt, back along the flea market area and that is the only place where you can just go in and use the bathroom. And they are clean compared to anything else there. You get a free sample margarita and chips and salsa when youre seated and you have an ocean view. We broke another rule having the margarita lol. Hubby contracted giardia years ago and gets paranoid about stuff like that. But all was well and the place is clean and like I already said the food is good. The tacos for two: You get a grilled chicken breast, carne asada, 2 halves of hot sausage, over grilled cactus. Its A LOT of food. Can totally feed four. $20. The kamiz were not worth it. Downstairs in this place is the cigar room. Beautiful room where you get the Cubans. Way oeverpriced but so is everything else on vacation right? We got a few and totally got hassled in Customs (I think that may have been connected to the Customs arrest on disembarkation-which I still dont know the details about and would like someone to tell me lol). We heard from tourmates that Papas & Beer was NUTS and that was at maybe noon LOL!

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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A few notes about food. We skipped the dining room after the 1st dinner, we just didnt like it. And I was looking forward to elegant night but honestly once we were on the cruise, we just put the swimsuits on and vegged out!! I loved it. We did do the pizza many times and it was really pretty good. We also did the deli back there-great sandwiches (and I said Id NEVER eat another sandwich on a cruise LOL). These two places are right near each other, right up from Serenity Deck so its way convenient. We did buffet for bfast which was totally fine. We did buffet for lunch and dinner sometimes too. Or just for a snack if you hit them at the right time. There is a Cafe on deck 9, I think, that does pretty good coffee. Cheaper than Starbucks and better than Lido so we hit that twice, was esp. great on debarkation day. Get up early though and if you need to get your confiscated booze back, they do this in the Rex Disco the morning of debarkation now.

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

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A few words about shopping on the ship

Useful things/prices for first time cruisers or just first time on the ship. They have a TINY $10 store, unlike the larger on one the Splendor. Typical items are evening clutches (totally great if you forgot or whatever), pashminas (I got one on the Splendor on sale, super soft), necklaces, earrings, tote bags, I think flip flops/sandals and $4.95 rings (I got one and love it). It is on deck 9 near the Cafe. There is the liquor store with the deals on booze. We almost got the $45 Remy Martin and some Sheridans coffee liquor $25ish. They have booze in all price ranges. This shop leads into another shop with clothing, bags, etc and jewelry, watches etc. I could afford to get a small piece on the ship but just decided not to. Fashion watch sets on sale last sea day $19.99. I picked up a white one to replace the watch I broke on Splendor debarkation lol, the set included a necklace and bracelet too. Hubby picked one up with a wallet and pen. Cigs are cartons 2/$52. Drinks are $5.75 to $12 plus tax and tip. Bon Voyage is worth it, imho.

 

Photos

In Nov., we would have been charged $8.99 for a 5x7 photo. The prices were $11.99 EACH! We got 2, only because of a $15 TA photo credit and it still cost us almost $9! We did take digital photos of our Ensenada pics, they werent great but we still wanted to remember sorta what they looked like! SOOOOO much waste with the paper photos! Cant wait till there is a better system, then I WILL purchase most pics but they should be cheaper and easier to find.

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