Carnival Paradise Review 3/11-3/14 Spring Break LONG w/ Pictures

[westcruzer]

So let me start off by saying I have been on a few cruises and I knew going into this cruise it was on an older ship and also during spring break season so I expected somewhat of a busy and crazy cruise.

 

We booked last minute only about 4-5 weeks before the cruise just as a little getaway. Work has been really good (I’m in sales) and I have been busy and have been coming home late so I thought since it paid off financially I should spend some time on a mini vacation with the family. I am 32 and my DW is 30. We have 2 boys (Tyler 7 & Austin 10) and my FIL came with us as well (55). We invited our friends who have never cruised and they have a little girl (Kayla 5). So there are 5 of us in the cabin and our friends had 3 in their cabin. We both booked an OV cabin with a past guest rate since the cost was only $40 total more per cabin. I booked me in one cabin and my DW in the other to get the past guest rate for them. They were offering a free upgrade to a higher level OV but in the back or the front of the ship. I like the middle of the ship a lot better so I told them just keep us on the Riviera deck. I did not buy insurance since it was such a short time until the cruise. My friends told their Dad about the cruise and he scared them into buying insurance for $49 pp extra. For them that was 21% of the cost of the cruise. I told them it wasn’t worth it since it was just around the corner but they insisted so I let it be. They started to pay attention to the ads on the web and called me when they thought they found a better rate for a higher cabin. After I explained the price they found was without the prepaid gratuities and taxes and port charges plus I explained why we selected the lower level he decided to stop looking and worrying about costs. I guess they thought that since their Dad cruised a lot more I may not have gotten them the best deal. That was the last time I heard about the cost of the cruise. Lesson learned, I let them do their own thing or I offer to help but tell them up front that I don’t want to hear about what they find on their own.

So my FIL did not know where his BC was and his ex wife said she would look for it but after 3 days with no answer I decided I needed to take matters into my own hands. I went to Vital Chek online and ordered it for him since we are in AZ and he was born in CA. We were only 3 weeks out and according to the website the processing time was only 3-5 business days* if you pay for next day air or 10-14 business days if you pay snail mail. Not wanting to take chances I pay for next day air. THANK GOODNESS I DID. I found out a little more details on the why they put the *. Well that does not include how long the state that your BC is in takes to process. I found out it could take up to 2 weeks for LA County to process. UH OH. That puts us right at the last minute. OH GREAT! Wednesday March 9th he receives the BC in the mail ONE DAY before we plan on leaving…….ok that is checked off of our list.

Ok so we live in Tucson, AZ and will be cruising out of Long Beach, CA which is about an 8 hour drive. We have an Honda Odyssey so we had plenty of room except about 2 months ago our DVD player died. For some of you this may be no big deal but on a long trip it really helps with the kids and anyone else not driving. I started looking and a new DVD player and one that is OEM is $750!!! No Way! I found one on E-Bay from a seller who owns a car audio shop who has a 100% Rating for $299. He pulled it out of another Odyssey that went with a complete custom system. It came in a week before the cruise. I installed it and IT DIDN’T WORK!! I contacted the seller and he did not have another unit but said if I sent it back he would refund all of the money spent. That’s great but I’m still without a DVD player!! Yes I could go out and buy portable units for about $100-$150 for a pair but they have a lot of wires that just get in the way. I found another company that was selling an Odyssey DVD player for $375 so I ordered right away!

Thursday March 10th

Well it’s the day before we leave for the cruise and it’s still not here. We planned on leaving at 4pm on Thursday March 10th and when we tracked it, UPS said it will arrive no later than 7pm. GREAT just a little too late! Around noon there was a knock on the door and IT ARRIVED!! WOO HOO. So when my wife came home at 3pm my FIL and I quickly put the DVD player in (everything was already taken apart) IT WORKS! We packed the car up and we’re off at 4pm.

Austin (10) Happy to be on our way to his second cruise.

 

Tyler (7) Telling us "let's go" after a quick pit stop on the way to CA

So all the little stresses are gone and off we go. We led the way and our friends followed behind us. We are both from CA originally so we planned on driving together and splitting off to go to each of our family’s homes that live between 15-30 min away from the port. Because of the time we left, traffic in Phoenix would be pretty bad even though they have a carpool lane so we decide to take the Bypass freeway to miss traffic. Well we did not know they were doing construction for about 35 miles along Interstate 8 and the speed limit was 35-45 mph……UGH! Are you kidding me! I would have been better off going through Phoenix and this way we would have had a better selection for a drive thru dinner. Oh well, let’s just keep positive since it could be worse. We stop for a bathroom break and the kids are hungry so they get want to eat, take a guess, of course, McDonald’s. The adults decide to wait to eat later since we really did not want McDonald’s. We stop just before we hit California to fill up with gas since the minute we pass the border the price of gas JUMPS up $.60 a gallon minimum. We make one more bathroom break in the Palm Springs area. We split up with our friends when we pass the city his family lives in and we get to my brother’s home at 11:30pm their time (one hour back). So total drive time of 8 hours and 30 min. Everything is ready for us to get to sleep right away and hit the sheets because the sooner we fall asleep the faster we wake up to go CRUISIN’! Thanks Mike!

[westcruzer]

Friday March 11th

We all wake up excited and look on the news about Tsunami warnings and now are worried about Japan but also not knowing if our cruise will be cancelled or delayed. I call Carnival and the wait time was 15 minutes! I finally get someone on the phone and she says nothing will be delayed as of the current moment. We make a great breakfast at my brother’s home and say goodbye to all of my nieces and nephews that were off to school. My brother only lives 8 miles from port (20 min) and the plan was to have my SIL take us and pick us up. My wife really just wanted to go straight home and not have to come back to their home which would be back tracking. Parking is $15 a day so I really wanted to save the $45 but oh well I can see what she means. If we come back to their house not only would we be 40 min longer but we would probably stay a couple hours and talk. My SIL takes off before we do and she tells us to lock up before we leave. We were so excited loading up the van and the kids were a little rambunctious and got a little frustrated but we are in the van and ON OUR WAY!! WOO HOO!! We get to the port at 11:30am and find a close parking spot on the ramp up to the second level. We call our friends to find out where they are and they were running behind. Usually it would be no big deal but because of the way we booked (me in their room to get the past guest rate, and my friend in my room) I had to wait for them. They had plenty of porters to take our luggage. The one that found us was very nice and helped us by filing out the extra tags for the luggage we did not have tags for. We got in line about noon and security was quick and painless. We get to check-in and try to make adjustments to the cabins but we were told to see guest services on board. This was super important since everything was under my credit card and I was only willing to pay for my DW and FIL’s bar tab. By 1pm we were on board and notice there was a line that was about 15 people long so we check to see if our room was ready. It was ready to go except because of the way we booked the room was left as 2 twins. I met the room steward (Ale pronounced AL-E) and asked him to please set it up as a queen and he apologized. I told him not to worry it was not his fault. He assured me it would be fixed before we come to bed. We also asked for a separate bucket of ice for our Jack Daniels Liter bottle. We drop off our stuff and head up to the Lido buffet and order our first DOD.

DW in the glasses and our friend Carissa who came along with us

 

 

I don’t mind covering a couple drinks. We were able to find 2 tables right next to each other without a problem. After eating DW wants to unpack and organize everything so my FIL and DS’s head up to play mini golf.

After that the kids were wanting to swim so we head back to the room and get them changed and head back to the Lido deck. We hang out there listening to the classic rock songs they were jamming on the deck. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the classic rock but I was kind of wishing it was steel drum music. Oh well.

Austin, Tyler & Kayla (our friend's daughter)

 

 

Austin already enjoying the slide.....he must have gone down that slide about 100 times in the few days we were on this cruise.

 

Tyler contemplating going in the pool because it was sooo cold compared to the spa he was just in.

[westcruzer]

Tyler giving that "look"

We have to return to our cabin to change for dinner and head out for the muster drill. You no longer have to even bring your life jackets so it was a lot easier. My friend and I go to guest services and get everything corrected for the billing and the room keys before dinner.

We get to the dining room and get a table right next to a window! The kids were so excited to see us leaving through the window since we could not be up on top deck. Our server was great and he really made our trip fun and he seemed to enjoy his job. Sorry I don’t remember his name. The name he said was hard to understand and the name in the menu looked nothing like what he was saying. He always brought the kids meals out while we ate our appetizers to keep them busy so they would not get bored. They would eat their dessert while we ate our main dish. When it was dessert time for us my wife didn’t even have to look at the menu. “CHOCOLATE MELTING CAKE” she says. I am stuffed but still want a dessert. I notice Tyler got a banana split but there was no option for that on my menu. I ask the waiter if I can have one and within a couple minutes I have one in front of me! I love this guy.

After dinner we take the kids to Camp Carnival and on the way we run into Funship Freddie. We snap a couple pictures and let him go about his business.

 

Tyler & Kayla with Funship Freddie

 

 

They have a couple different sections for Camp Carnival, ages 2-5, ages 6-8, & ages 9-11. My DS is 7 and my friend’s DD is 5. They are both very close and she is very shy. We were hoping to have them be able to stick together but unfortunately they would not allow it. Oh well. My DW went to the room while I took my DS to Camp Carnival. When I get back I notice the bed was already fixed as requested and DW she tells me she wants to relax. I decided to go play some poker. I end up playing until midnight and decide to call it a night. Tomorrow is Ensenada.

Saturday March 12th

So as usual my kids wake up at 5am (6am our time back home). They turn the TV on and stay relatively quiet until about 7am. From that point until we got up they let us know they were hungry and ready to go eat.

 

This was Tyler's favorite location in the room.

[westcruzer]

Around 8:30am we decide to all head up to the Lido buffet and fill up on everything in sight! With 8 people and 3 of them being kids it seemed hectic. We decided to go in the MDR for breakfast from now on. I forgot to mention my FIL has been watching his weight and lost 25 lbs before this cruise. He said he would watch what he ate but by this time he gave up and said that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity (his first cruise) so he was going to take full advantage of EVERYTHING. Plus I was covering all of his expenses, including alcohol, so just another reason to take advantage of what is in front of him. After breakfast we decide to get off the ship. This process was quick and painless. We are off the ship around 9:30am and we have about 3 hours to kill before we meet the quad tour. We decide for $3 R/T pp to take the bus to the shopping area. Whatever you do, DO NOT BUY from the vendor as soon as you get off the bus. His prices are WAY higher then down the shopping area. Example…..Name bracelets he asks $5 each and the vendors on the shopping strip ask $1 each. Sure you can negotiate but why haggle if you can get it somewhere else without the haggle. We walk up and down the shopping strip and buy stuff for my kids and a silver bracelet for my DW. We head back to the ship so we can meet our tour guide. We were supposed to be there at 12:15pm but ran a little behind and met him a little after 12:30pm. The quad tour guy say nothing and walks us over to his quads. I really wanted my DS Austin (10) to be able to ride on his own quad since he has a lot of experience on them. The tour guide mentions the trail we are going on is VERY aggressive and is not like running quad on basic trails. He recommends I do not have him on his own. No problem, we continue on. We have a private quad tour, there was a total of 6 quads. One for the tour guide and five for the adults with the kids rotating between the adults. Our first visit is to the beach. On the way to the beach we are on the streets and I had some difficulty shifting from 2nd gear to 3rdgear. My FIL was not paying attention and kept accelerating behind me and WHAM! He crashes into me and Austin. We get hooked up and take about 3 min to unhook the quads. WHEW! I was afraid I was going to be buying a quad or even two! We cruise the beach and have a blast. The tour guide tells me that Austin can ride on his own here if we want him to. So I get off and let him go wild for a little bit. I get the signal from the tour guide that it is time to head out so I hop on and we start our trip up to the mountains. We drive on the streets of Ensenada for about 20 minutes then find a trail off road. At this point is when I realize how thankful I am that the tour guide advised me against allowing my DS to ride on his own the entire trip. The inclines and declines were CRAZY steep and quite eroded. It made the trail that much more fun. He took us up to the top of a mountain which gave us such a beautiful view of Ensenada. Normally I have always thought of Ensenada as a wasted port but at this point of the tour I REALLY enjoyed this port and I’m not even done yet! On our way down he takes us on some long stretches where they are constructing a new road and that was great to be able to open up the quads all the way and just fly down the dirt path. Every time we hit a little bump we go a little air and Tyler would scream with excitement. We stopped and noticed my FIL isn’t right behind us. We wait about 2 minutes until we hear the quad coming. When he arrives he has mud all over the quad and all over his clothes. He said he saw the small mud section and couldn’t help but “play” in it. Ok the tour guide says it’s time to head back. We are back on the streets and at a stop sign I tell my FIL that we will all go together at the stop sign so we can stay together. Well I guess he did not hear me and what do you know…..WHAM!! Now I crashed into him! He didn’t have any of the kids but I had Austin on mine. Another 3 minutes to unhook the quads and off we are “again”. We get back to their shop and realize our clothes had changed colors from whatever color it was to brown from all the dust. Not only that but our faces had a tan of brown from the dirt that was all over them. We finished at 4pm which was an extra 30 min. If you come to Ensenada you have got to do this! WAY BETTER THAN THE BLOWHOLE! We realize we need to rush back to shower and change for our formal night dinner.

 

Kayla, Tyler, & Austin

 

Me and DW

 

On our way up to the mountain trails.. The view of the city was great.

 

My FIL after his mud adventure

 

Me and DW with the dirt faces

[westcruzer]

I am the person who irons in our family so I was sent to the Empress deck where the irons are located while everyone takes a shower and gets ready. I get back to the room around 5:10pm and realize my FIL and DS’s are ready and waiting for the clothes I just ironed. Not only that my DW is almost ready!! WOW she stepped it up. I am truly amazed at this. By 5:30 pm we are ready to go get some pictures done and get to dinner on time.

We arrive at the dinner table all dressed up and were greeted by our waiter who insists on putting our napkins on our laps every time. A nice touch that I enjoyed. As always I look forward to the lobster. I ask Austin & Tyler if they wanted lobster and Tyler said he would. Two years ago he tried it on the Elation and did not like it. I ordered my two lobster dinners and Tyler’s as well. Within minutes Tyler’s lobster was at the table and the waiter cut it up for him. Another touch I enjoyed.

 

The waiter cutting up Tyler's lobster

 

Tyler sipping on his Shirley Temple

 

Austin happy as always

Tyler tried it and loved it this time. He ate the whole thing plus munched on some of my FIL’s dinner. After finishing my second lobster he brings me out a third lobster. I mention that I really don’t need it and he says “yes you do”. Well he was right….So I ate that one too. I gave my FIL a taste of my third lobster and so he requested that plate too. Time for dessert and I ordered my banana split again. We head up to the room and everyone is so tired from the busy day they decide to call it an early night again. I decide to hit the casino again for some poker. I play until about 11pm and decide I too should head for bed.

[westcruzer]

Sunday March 13th

We lose an hour because of Daylight Savings Time. But that puts us on the same time as where we live. The kids wake up at 6am as usual and we get up around 7am again and head to the Elation Dining Room for breakfast. This was a much better option with 8 people. I usually don’t like this option because I feel the waiters don’t care as much as in the MDR for dinner. This time around was completely different. We got great service. Not as good as in the MDR but he set the bar really high. So compared to most restaurants we received excellent service for breakfast. After breakfast we head back to the room to change the kids into their swimsuits and head up to the lido deck. We spend the majority of our sea day by the pool. They had the Carnival FUNFORCE dance crew out dancing and then invited people to come show off their stuff. Tyler loves to dance so we tried to get him on stage but even for a $5 bribe he wouldn’t do it. Right after they allow everyone to go up and put on music THEN Tyler goes up to dance.

 

Tyler doing his break dancing

 

 

This is how packed it was on sea day. Amazingly we never had a problem finding lounge chairs.

 

I took a video and posted it on facebook. I really need to put him in a hip hop dance class. A little while later they have the hairy chest contest. My DW looks at me and tells me to go up there. Normally I’m not one to do this but I figure to let loose and just do it. I take my shirt off and start seeing the other guys taking their shirts off I realize I am so far from having the most hair I should just leave. My DW tells me NO WAY, you are staying up there. I have never watched this so I don’t know what to expect. As the Entertainment Director starts explaining that we will be dancing and going up to the judges that were women ranging from single to married to grandmas I start to get a little nervous. I have not had any liquid courage today so I REALLY want to back out. Again DW says NO WAY. It’s my turn to go out and I just let loose and dance my heart out with the judges and there were two lady judges that would smell all of the guys under their arms. I thought it was quite strange but I was given two thumbs up by them to the crowd and the two ladies told me I smelled the best. So that made me feel a little better. I went back in line and after all the men danced I was eliminated. Ok, that was fun but I was embarrassed. We went back to laying on the lounge chairs and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. The kids and I also played ping pong and shuffle board while the adults stayed at the pool.

 

 

Afterwards the kids wanted a coconut drink. So I ordered them each a virgin pina colada. I soon realized the drinks were $13.95 each. Oh well, we are on vacation. Let the kids enjoy.

5pm comes around and we head back to the room to change for dinner.

We arrive at dinner and as usual our waiter puts our napkins in our laps. I tried the seafood pasta platter and really didn’t like it. I then asked the waiter for the boneless beef ribs. That was much better. Before we leave I give the waiter a hand shake with a little extra “thank you” included on top of the prepaid gratuities.

After dinner DW told us she was heading back to the room to pack and told us to stay away so she could get it done in peace. My DS Tyler wanted to go to Camp Carnival so we dropped him off and my DS Austin and my FIL went to go see the family comedy. Being that it was a PG show it was still really good. My DS Austin really enjoyed the show as well. After the show we took Austin to the kids club and checked in on Tyler and he was ready to come out. We all decided to walk the ship to check out the decks around 8:45pm. On the Paradise there is a section on the side of the ship that is on deck 9 which leads to the back of the ship. You take a staircase up to deck 10 that is kind of hidden at the back of the ship. I was about 15 paces in front of my group. As I come around the corner I notice a female in her mid 20’s sitting in a chair and a male in his mid 20’s standing in front of her doing some “oral activity”. Luckily they had just completed within seconds of me arriving. Also none of the kids with us saw anything. They left very quickly and we acted as if nothing happened so the kids did not pick up on anything. I must say this was very brave since the windows for the Paris Buffet room windows could have seen them if someone looked their way. We decided to take the kids back to the room and have them go to bed and again DW decides to stay in while my FIL and my friend head to the comedy club for the adult only show. The show was great and I really had fun. I decided to head back to the room to call it a night since we had to wake up early for check out. I realized our luggage tags were #25. #25!! Really??? That’s the last number. It’s probably because when we booked our cruise we told them we are driving and they figure we do not have to catch a flight so let them off last. Oh Well. All of our luggage was outside the room ready to be picked up.

Monday March 14th

We wake up at 6:30am get ready and head to the Elation Dining Room for breakfast around 7:30am and receive excellent service again. On our way to the dining room I see our room steward Ale and let him know we are going to breakfast but will be out of our room in time. I shake his hand with a little extra “thank you” for his great service as well. We get back to the room and pick up our stuff and realize we have 2 hours before our number is going to be called. We wait in the American Bar and I get bored after about an hour. I decide to walk around with the kids and notice the workers busting their butts to get the ship in tip top shape. Everything from scraping the old paint off the steps to repaint it, to polishing the brass all over the place. I had a view of something I have never seen before. Sure I’ve thought about it but to see how quickly they work was amazing. Our number gets called and we zip through customs and get into our van and on the road by 10am.

I am home now writing this review and I can’t wait to book my next cruise. My brother and his family are discussing a Disney cruise next year so I can’t wait! I will probably do a carnival cruise as well next year too or maybe just later this year.

 

Oh I almost forgot...my FIL gained 4 lbs back but he said "It was SO worth it!"

[Rosefloater]

Enjoyed reading your review. Been on the Paradise many times and always have a great time. FYI my DD FIL has won the hairy chest contest 3 times - he's 81, and a real character.

[hfweather]

Thanks for the review, your kids are absolutely adorable, it looks like they had a great time!

[cuted126]

Thanks for sharing!!! Your kids are too cute!!

[iminla]

Thank you so much for the great review. We are sailing in May. My daughters are 7 years old and I am also taking my parents (it's their 40th anniversary). First cruise for all of us.

 

 

BTW - the pic where your kids are in the spa - where is that located?? In another picture - sea day pic - i saw little pool which was very crowded (next to the slide pool) - is that adults????

[iminla]

We are not very adventrous type (lol) - plus going with parents w/bad knees and all so we are planning to do the blowhole tour. Do you recommend we book thru Carnival or is it safe to get off and book with the bus people (local people offering tours)? Did you notice what others were doing????

 

Carnival charges $29.99 pp and I have heard that if you do it on your own it is $15 pp - that is 50% off. Any advice?

[westcruzer]

Thank you so much for the great review. We are sailing in May. My daughters are 7 years old and I am also taking my parents (it's their 40th anniversary). First cruise for all of us.

 

 

BTW - the pic where your kids are in the spa - where is that located?? In another picture - sea day pic - i saw little pool which was very crowded (next to the slide pool) - is that adults????

 

 

The picture of the kids in the spa is the same spa that the picture all the adults are in. The picture with the kids was taken right when we got on board. After about an hour we were told that was an adult only spa and our kids went to the spa under the slide.

 

The blowhole tour is cheaper if you don't book though the ship. On board it's $29.99. If you wait to get off the ship and take the bus ($3 R/T pp) that takes you to the shopping area you can get the blowhole tour for $15 as soon as you get off. While walking the shopping strip (about a mile long) area I saw a sign that said they sold the blowhole tour for $10 pp. If you plan on shopping ensenada before the blowhole tour keep your eye out for it. If you do not plan on shopping and just want to go to the blowhole tour I recommend just booking the $15 pp as soon as you get off the bus.

[CruiseDreaming]

is the pool heated? I'm from Tucson too and I don't get in the pool usually until it's 100 degrees out at home and the first and only time I went on the Paradise we never used the pool. We are going in May so I'm thinking the water will be too cold for me.

 

Kerrie :)

[westcruzer]

is the pool heated? I'm from Tucson too and I don't get in the pool usually until it's 100 degrees out at home and the first and only time I went on the Paradise we never used the pool. We are going in May so I'm thinking the water will be too cold for me.

 

Kerrie :)

 

 

No the pool is not heated. It's salt water that gets emptied each night. So it's pretty chilly.

[sparkscruiser]

Thanks for the review. We will be on board in just a few weeks!

[nevadabadgirl]

Thanks so much for the review. I sail on her in May and cannot wait!! Wish now I hadn't booked the wine country tour in Ensenada. The quads look like it was a blast!

[iminla]

Thank you so much.

[LBumb]

great pics

[nytraveller53]

Great start!:)

[KNowme1st]

more more more !!! Im loving thhis. we are going with the 2 youngest grandsosn next june 2012

[momof3cruisers]

Great review!

 

Can you tell me a bit more about 5 in the cabin? how did that work out? What did they give you for the extra bed and was it in the way when you were trying to get ready for dinner and whatnot?

 

Thanks!

[CruiseDreaming]

No the pool is not heated. It's salt water that gets emptied each night. So it's pretty chilly.

 

Thanks for the heads-up, I thought that would be the case. How were the temps?

 

Kerrie :)