Paradise review for 5/28-6/1 coming soon....

[keystonemama]

Well fellow cruisers, we are in Florida and reality has begun to set in, vacation is over and Monday work day starts in approximately 8 hrs. I have never done a review, but I have read hundreds of threads on CC and now have a good idea of what people look for so I am going to attempt to do this without screwing it up too bad. Hopefully I don't bore you or post too many pics. (I luv pics, more the better):) I may get a little wordy, but I promise paragraphs.

 

A little beforehand knowledge about us, (just to warn you) the trip included DH, DS (22) and myself and our beanie Gator bear, Albert. We are from Gainesville, FL (Go Gators!) and we have cruised once before, excluding DS, on the Freedom. My youngest son (19) is enrolled in UF and was not able to make this trip.

 

We speak well upon occasion, dress up nice and party hard. We like to have fun, are not picky eaters, are party hard (smokers) who go with the flow. In other words, if you like drama, can't take a joke or are whiney, please exit your aft to the opposite end of the ship. :D

 

We chose the Paradise this time for the itinerary, my son really wanted to go to Cozumel and he preferred to go on a smaller ship, he is an old soul at heart, he prefers vintage things.

 

Vacation started Sunday, 5/27, bags packed we are off to Tampa.

 

[keystonemama]

Sunday, May 27

 

We arrive in Tampa around 2:30 and checked into the Tahitian Inn upon the excellent advise of CC members (you know who you are).

Our room was ready, so off we go to get changed into swimming attire so we could enjoy the beautiful tiki-inspired pool area. It has a heated pool, tiki bar and tiki tables surrounding the pool. We sunned and had a few libations for a while, met a couple of gentlemen who sell cigars in NY and shared some with DH & DS who thoroughly enjoyed them. Albert got a little thirsty too.

 

 

We did the Park N Cruise package, our room was $105 total, parking included and they shuttle you too and from the port.

 

 

 

 

 

[keystonemama]

More pool pics....

 

 

 

 

 

DH's cousin/partner live in the Tampa area and treated us to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory later. It's pretty crowded and luckily we had reservations. The food was excellent. Highly recommend. We had a nice dinner and learned alot about blueberry farming, the cousin is attempting to pursue this and has 5 acres they are growing at this time. Later that evening we took a late night swim and enjoyed the peace and quiet under the stars in the heated pool and under the tiki lights.

 

The next morning we arrive up front and are quickly shuttled off to the port and Paradise!

 

[keystonemama]

Monday, Memorial Day, Embark

 

We arrive at the port about 11:15 and are dropped off right at the front door. We quickly get in line and are on the ship by 11:45. Since I had placed Fun Ship dollars on our account ahead of time, no guest services line for us this time! It's straight to Lido for lunch. I get a salad, DH some fruit and a reuben, DH, a plateful of desserts! lol Here is pic of how it apparently tasted....mmmmm...

 

 

 

Since we had a few carry-ons I stayed at the table while the guys went to smoke, well by 12:30 I feel someone touch my shoulder, it was a lido worker informing my room was ready? 12:30, freaking awesome, so I find the boys and off we go to check out our room.

[keystonemama]

We arrive at our room, M116. My son is 6'5 and quite large so I booked this room because it had a trundle bed. Now, I was a little nervous about this because you never see many photos of trundle beds and my kids size has always been an issue with furniture. Well we took some pics of the room.

 

Now I have included some things in the pics for those of you with specific questions, even the toilet paper, and yes I say paper for a reason.;)

 

There is a full length mirror on the door, plenty of tray space in the bathroom, a nice size shower, no fridge, you can have a bucket of ice or do like we did and have them keep a cooler filled every day, one plug near the bed/table, one plug in bathroom for a shaver, room under the bed to put luggage and room by the door, we had 5 pieces. The tv is older and the room temp gage is in the middle of the ceiling, this took us a few hrs to figure out.

 

Welcome basket of goodies, body wash and shampoo in the shower. I really like the individual lights above each pillow and one button above the bed to turn all the lights off or on. For those of you who wonder, flashlight, no flashlight, I DID have to use mine to locate lost flip flop under the bed.:) Under the tv, is a corner table which lifts up to reveal lifejackets and extra pillow and covers. The safe in the closet worked fine with an old Publix gift card.

 

Now the trundle bed. We pulled it out from under the bed and I looked at my son with the, oh boy, you are gonna have to sleep with your knees in your chin look. Here is a pic,

 

 

 

We left our room, without seeing any stewards for a couple of hrs and returned to see if our other luggage had arrived. We open and the door and our room was different, my son said "Hey, thats a different bed, how in the heck did they know how big I am?" Impressive and we left a nice tip.

 

New bed...

[keystonemama]

Room pics...

 

 

 

Shaver outlet

 

 

Robe, I'm 5'8 and it came to the middle of my shins and yes I did see walking around morning and late night grabbing a snack or hot chocolate.

 

Mirror

 

Air condition control

 

 

Bed and fake window

[keystonemama]

 

Goodies

 

 

 

 

 

Bathroom cabinet

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Great start to your review! I did not do a review from our Paradise cruise. Wanted to but life just got in the way.......but I'm going to re-live our trip though your review!

 

I love the pic of your and your DH in the shower, that is great!!

 

Looking forward to more!!

 

 

 

Kim

[realtyexecdeb]

Thanks for sharing! I love the pic's. This is the only fantasy class ship I have not sailed on so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review :D

[Gemynii]

Great start... I love reviews with lots of pics! It looks like there's plenty of room in the bathroom cabinet, which is good since I decided against a hanging door organizer (just myself, DH and DD) and just went with a small mesh shower organizer. I'm really looking forward to the rest of your review. Only 40 days left until we're on Paradise. :)

[AmberTeka]

Great Review......

 

A Picture is worth a thousand words..Your great pic...air conditioning is the same as Fascination...in the ceiling. and ours worked well. Bathrooms are the same...bigger space in shower. The box...under the TV...?

 

the mirror on the closet door.....hoo ray. Fascination didn't have one.

 

Thank you lady for doing this review.

 

And your son."reminds me of ...my nephew. He is six foot five...his Dad is five foot five. His Dad always introduces my Nephew as a "chip off of the old block!'The Mutt and Jeff picture they present..and they are inseperable..and have been since he was born (only child at that) makes you smile.

HAPPY CRUISING DAYS .................try the Deli...grilled ham and cheese. Yum.

[CheckersMidwest]

Hi Keystone ! I am finally unpacked with the majority of our laundry done. Always hate the Monday back to work after vacation.

 

We were also on the Main deck.....89 & 85 ! I recognize the pictures of your husband & son. As soon as I figure out how to load pix to photo bucket, I'll try a review too.

 

Glad you had fun !

[keystonemama]

Thanks for sharing! I love the pic's. This is the only fantasy class ship I have not sailed on so I'm looking forward to the rest of your review :D

 

 

Your very welcome.:)

[keystonemama]

Great start to your review! I did not do a review from our Paradise cruise. Wanted to but life just got in the way.......but I'm going to re-live our trip though your review!

 

I love the pic of your and your DH in the shower, that is great!!

 

Looking forward to more!!

 

 

 

Kim

 

Thank you! My husband is 6'4, so I figured hey, let's show them how big this thing is!

[keystonemama]

Great start... I love reviews with lots of pics! It looks like there's plenty of room in the bathroom cabinet, which is good since I decided against a hanging door organizer (just myself, DH and DD) and just went with a small mesh shower organizer. I'm really looking forward to the rest of your review. Only 40 days left until we're on Paradise. :)

 

Well, I have lots of pics! I think I took somewhere in the vicinity of 350!

Plenty of shelf space, and I could put my shampoo/conditioner, razor on the right side of the sink and reach it from the shower. I took one makeup organizer bag that held everything else. :)

[keystonemama]

Great Review......

 

A Picture is worth a thousand words..Your great pic...air conditioning is the same as Fascination...in the ceiling. and ours worked well. Bathrooms are the same...bigger space in shower. The box...under the TV...?

 

the mirror on the closet door.....hoo ray. Fascination didn't have one.

 

Thank you lady for doing this review.

 

And your son."reminds me of ...my nephew. He is six foot five...his Dad is five foot five. His Dad always introduces my Nephew as a "chip off of the old block!'The Mutt and Jeff picture they present..and they are inseperable..and have been since he was born (only child at that) makes you smile.

HAPPY CRUISING DAYS .................try the Deli...grilled ham and cheese. Yum.

 

Yes, the box under the tv is where the life jackets are. That's too funny about your nephew, we don't seem to have any short people in our family! My husband has 5 brothers all 6'2 - 6'6 and my sis is 5'11. :eek:

[keystonemama]

Hi Keystone ! I am finally unpacked with the majority of our laundry done. Always hate the Monday back to work after vacation.

 

We were also on the Main deck.....89 & 85 ! I recognize the pictures of your husband & son. As soon as I figure out how to load pix to photo bucket, I'll try a review too.

 

Glad you had fun !

 

Oh wow, my laundry is still waiting on me and unpacking is definitely not done yet! I did manage to find my co-worker's gifts to bring to them this morning. Can't wait to see your pics. We met so many nice people on board!:) I feel like I need another week just to rest from my vacay!

[sunshineonmymind]

We leave in 26 days and we are also in an interior room. We opted for the 2 upper and 2 lower set up to try to make the best use of the floor space, we will see how that works out. I wish that big bulky box wasn't there...what a waste of space.

 

Do you have any more pictures of the bathroom in regards to shelf space and sink area? Looks like I won't need my over the door shoe organizer. How many closets and drawers are there? I've got to cram 4 of us in this small room....I'm used to the larger ov rooms that are 220 sq ft. This will be the first time I'm doing my whole family of 4 in an int 185 sq ft room. I think I'll bring ALOT of hangers and hang most of our stuff. Any good tips on smoking areas or private/secret decks? Was the casino smoking still or have they changed that too? Thanks for all the help. We are cruising in 26 days and I have alot to do!! LOL

[Gemynii]

Well, I have lots of pics! I think I took somewhere in the vicinity of 350!

Plenty of shelf space, and I could put my shampoo/conditioner, razor on the right side of the sink and reach it from the shower. I took one makeup organizer bag that held everything else. :)

 

Since this will be our first cruise, I'm sure I'll come back with over 350 pics. :eek:

The little mesh shower organizer that I bought only has 4 pockets, so it would be perfect for keeping razors, shower poofs, etc out of the way when they come in to clean.

I also have a hanging roll up travel kit that I keep my makeup in so I won't clutter up the sink with that either. It's good that there is cabinet space for suntan/regular lotion, toothpaste and toothbrush, etc... that's what I was hoping for. :)

[keystonemama]

We leave in 26 days and we are also in an interior room. We opted for the 2 upper and 2 lower set up to try to make the best use of the floor space, we will see how that works out. I wish that big bulky box wasn't there...what a waste of space.

 

Do you have any more pictures of the bathroom in regards to shelf space and sink area? Looks like I won't need my over the door shoe organizer. How many closets and drawers are there? I've got to cram 4 of us in this small room....I'm used to the larger ov rooms that are 220 sq ft. This will be the first time I'm doing my whole family of 4 in an int 185 sq ft room. I think I'll bring ALOT of hangers and hang most of our stuff. Any good tips on smoking areas or private/secret decks? Was the casino smoking still or have they changed that too? Thanks for all the help. We are cruising in 26 days and I have alot to do!! LOL

 

The shelf space pic is all the shelving in the bathroom, with 4 people you may need a roll up over the door hanging thing too. In the bathroom there are 2 wall hooks to hold things and on the back of the bathroom door there were 2 bars to hang things on. Also, there was another hook over my sons bed.The picture you see of the white robe is where we stored most of our luggage below and above was a shelf where I put my organizer bag and some clothes.

Closets, there were 2, one with 3 shelves/safe, the other closet was for hanging, no shelves, plenty of room for shoes.

In the desk there were 4 drawers to hold clothes and one slide out drawer for small things like batteries, phones, etc. There is one stool under the table to sit on. To be honest, I overpacked and we had plenty of room to store everthing.

Walking onto Lido, smoking is on the front left, also there is a set of stairs there, walk up and you have lounge chairs with ashtrays attached to the railings. On lido, beside the slide is a glass door, go down those stairs to deck 9, comes out right at the casino bar. You can smoke on the far left end of the bar, we hung out there ALOT. You can smoke in the casino where its designated, but only if you are playing.

[/b]

Edited June 5, 2012 by keystonemama

[keystonemama]

Next on the agenda was decorating the door, now my son thought mom was crazy for doing this, but after a late night of drinking he informed me it was a great idea, made it very easy for him to find the room!:p He also later noticed people trying to open other people's door because they had forgotten their room number and of course all doors look alike!

 

 

We put up all our luggage and were ready to roll. Which brings me to another point. I have sailed the Freedom and hardly felt any movement. On the Paradise, we really did not have many rough waters but everyday there was noticeable swaying, I figure because its just a smaller ship. It did not bother us, we are not prone to seasickness, but if you are, I suggest you take or wear something. I did see several wearing patches.

 

After some pictures it was time for muster. We were called to one of the lounges for about 15 minutes and were shown how to put on a life jacket. Then we were escorted down a flight of stairs to the balcony where our lifeboats would be. Much better muster than last time.:)

[keystonemama]

Muster over, sail away is next, so hurry up to the top to get a good view, let me just say if you go the front of the ship (where putt putt is) your ears will hurt because thats where the ship's horn blows.:eek:

 

Goodbye Tampa, hello paradise! Here are few pics...

 

 

 

A new bride running to get a good view! There were 15 honeymoon couples on the cruise!

 

 

 

And my favorite of DH and DS

 

[Shaded Lady]

We leave in 26 days and we are also in an interior room. We opted for the 2 upper and 2 lower set up to try to make the best use of the floor space, we will see how that works out. I wish that big bulky box wasn't there...what a waste of space.

 

Do you have any more pictures of the bathroom in regards to shelf space and sink area? Looks like I won't need my over the door shoe organizer. How many closets and drawers are there? I've got to cram 4 of us in this small room....I'm used to the larger ov rooms that are 220 sq ft. This will be the first time I'm doing my whole family of 4 in an int 185 sq ft room. I think I'll bring ALOT of hangers and hang most of our stuff. Any good tips on smoking areas or private/secret decks? Was the casino smoking still or have they changed that too? Thanks for all the help. We are cruising in 26 days and I have alot to do!! LOL

 

One tip I heard for people who have 3 or 4 trying to get ready at the same time is to take advantage of the gym- they have showers there (with LOTS of room :)) that a couple of your group can use while the first group is showering...

[keystonemama]

Next up, libations! I had ordered beer/cooler from Bon Voyage for the room, so we took those 4 beers to the Casino bar and traded for cool ones. BTW, if you drink beer, you can order a bucket at the casino bar, they will give you one and keep the others cold, they draw a small bucket on your receipt and you just bring it back when you are ready for another cold one, DH had this downpat!:D

 

Vera was our favorite bartender here, she's from Russia, I talked to her a little about her language since my younger son will be taking that language this term at UF, she told me she's writes in English to her friends back home because Russian is so hard!:eek: She sent a good luck to DS. She made me a long island ice tea, this is one of the strongest drinks you can get on the ship and she made it well! She also makes a Toyko Long Island that is sweeter, she uses berry. More on Vera later.....

 

 

 

Vera

[Gemynii]

Next on the agenda was decorating the door, now my son thought mom was crazy for doing this, but after a late night of drinking he informed me it was a great idea, made it very easy for him to find the room!:p He also later noticed people trying to open other people's door because they had forgotten their room number and of course all doors look alike!

 

I had to read this aloud to my DH and show him the pic... that way he won't think I'm crazy when I decorate our door.

 

Muster over, sail away is next, so hurry up to the top to get a good view, let me just say if you go the front of the ship (where putt putt is) your ears will hurt because thats where the ship's horn blows.:eek:

 

I was watching that sail away from the live cam. I kept zooming in to watch people on deck. I saw the crowds during muster drill... maybe I saw you... lol

Does this look familiar?.....