Paradise - Cruising the Caribbean with Little Sharks

[Mommyshark]

Hello! This is the first review for me, but I think you’ll find it interesting! My husband and I took our five-year-old son and our 18-month-old daughter on the Carnival Paradise for a five day cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We were so excited to take this trip, it has been a long time since we had a vacation! We knew that traveling with these little guys would be tough and trying at times, but I am so happy we did! We had a great time.

This was my five-year-old’s first plane ride, and he was SUPER excited! He did great and was so happy to fly. I had my daughter fly as a lap infant. The first half of our two hour flight was difficult with her because she wanted to move around, but she settled in quite well for the last half. She was not vocal at all, thank goodness!!

 

 

 

 

 

We flew into St. Petersburg/Clearwater Airport (PIE) the day before the cruise. We took an Uber from the airport to the Embassy Suites at the Tampa Downtown Convention Center. It was about a 30 minute ride, and cost around $26. This hotel is quite close to port. The hotel is undergoing major renovations, but none of that really interfered with our stay. The breakfast there is really great and they have a nice pool. Plus - since they are an all-suites hotel, we were able to put our daughter in a pack-n-play (provided by hotel) and our son slept in the pull-out sofa bed.

Both kids slept great there, and the baby even took a nap the next morning while we finished getting ready to head over to port. Once she got up, we Ubered over to port. $6. I considered going over to the Westin to catch their shuttle, but didn’t end up doing that. It was such a short ride anyway.

 

Our check-in time was 12:30, and we arrived around 20 minutes early. The Port of Tampa moves so quickly, I felt like we were RUNNING through embarkation! It was AWESOME! I got on an escalator and was yelled at for having my baby with me. I didn’t know it was a rule. But it is, and I respect that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

We had an interior cabin with two upper pullmans. I requested a crib when I booked, and it was ready to go when we got in. I was so pleased! I really liked this cabin a lot, and the kids did pretty well most nights. The first night was rough, but all good after that. We hung a black out curtain from the upper pullman around the crib so that we could have lights on when the baby was sleeping. Turns out if it was too dark overnight, she would wake up because she was not able to see her paci when she wanted it.

We did have lunch and ice cream up at the Lido when we got on board. I didn’t get any pics of that because I was pretty busy getting the kids set up with their first Lido meal! It was a little chaotic, but super yummy! I had a Guy’s burger and my husband had a Blue Iguana burrito. Kids had bites of our food, as well as lido fruit and other random items. BTW they had giant cakes every day at lunch.

 

We did not make it to the kids club on the first day, we also didn’t have dinner in the MDR. Pretty much just acclimated ourselves with the ship and went to bed way too early. We learned that going to bed early was NOT going to work for the kids. They weren’t having it, and staying up until 9:30 or 10 worked much better for everyone (usual bedtime at home is 7:30p). For the first time ever, my husband and I didn’t go to the “Welcome Aboard” show.

More review coming later! Maybe tomorrow??

[jewals]

Such a cute family! I hope y'all had a blast and please tell me your review will include you trying those yummy looking cakes!

[grandmarnnurse]

Following. When we cruised with our 10 month old granddaughter and our daughter (when her hubby was deployed to Iraq) we would go back to cabin and bathe the baby (we brought a blow up baby bathtub we put in shower), then head out for shows, etc with her falling asleep in her PJs in stroller with her blanket and bottle. Worked well with us. And we had a balcony on that cruise to give us a quiet spot to sit, have a drink, and talk before bed without waking baby.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[SkyMaster]

You're don' GREAT so far. Thanks for posting. I've sailed "Paradise" many, many times, and will be sailing again on December 3rd, so I'm looking forward to the remainder of your review. THANKS for posting.

 

 

"SKY"

[Cruzlover7]

Following as well. We sail the Paradise for the first time on December 17. Looking forward to your review.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ZoeyVictoria]

Were you on the September 29 sailing? Your daughter in the back carrier looks familiar.

[Mommyshark]

Continuing day one:

 

The Muster Drill was quick and easy. We weren't last to arrive, but did get there AFTER many others. Our muster group was in a lounge, and the folks running it checked us in and told us to go sit with the people who had wheelchairs and such. We were outside of the lounge at this point, in the area along the windows. Near the coffee shop. It probably only lasted 15 minutes.

 

Then my son wanted to go check out the putt putt, and after that we took him to the slides (Waterworks). He was able to do every slide, because he was tall enough and they just land in about a foot of water. He LOVED it!! That's pretty much what we did the rest of the day.

 

 

 

 

For dinner we had whatever the Lido had to offer. It was really good. My husband had Pizza Pirate, and I got the kids a hodgepodge of stuff, I had a smoked turkey sandwich. Quick, good stuff! Ice cream cones all around after dinner. I wish I had more pictures, but was too busy with the kids to pick up the phone and take some. It got that way a lot! These kids, man... they take both eyes, both ears, and both hands like 80% of the time. Go on a vacay with your little ones, because they won't be little forever. But know that you will not feel rested. lol.

 

Not long after dinner, everyone seemed really tired. We returned to our cabin, and saw our first towel animal! Then we all washed up, watched TV, and hit the hay.

 

 

We got some milk from the lido milk and warmed it up in a Ziplock bag underneath running water. It actually got the milk quite warm. The milk itself didn't touch the water, and we would wipe away any drips from the opening of the Ziplock. This is how we made our 18 month old her warm milk.

 

 

Our first overnight was not easy. Neither kid was ready to go to bed, and although we turned in early, everyone was up until about 9:30p. Our daughter woke up a couple times. We had a black out curtain hanging from the upper pullman as per suggested by seasoned cruising parents. Like I said earlier, she got upset because she couldn't see her paci and was calling us to help. We always got to her ASAP, which was easy because we were all right there. I'm hoping since we were in there making noise and throwing fits between 7-9p, most people were not around to hear it.

 

 

If you want to see the FunTimes we were given every day - Jamman54 did an AWESOME, thorough Paradise review not long before we took our cruise. Same itinerary as us, five day Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The FunTimes he posted are basically identical to the ones we had. I am even referencing his FunTimes to get the names of the shows/activities right. Thanks, Jamman54! Here's a link to his Paradise review https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2630203&highlight=paradise&page=5.

[Mommyshark]

Were you on the September 29 sailing? Your daughter in the back carrier looks familiar.

 

 

YES!! I was hoping someone would recognize us! She got a ton of attention everywhere we went. HAHAHAHA made me feel special because everywhere we went people smiled really big at me (her). Wearing her around was so awesome because everyone was so nice.

[Mommyshark]

Such a cute family! I hope y'all had a blast and please tell me your review will include you trying those yummy looking cakes!

 

the cake was SO GOOD

[Mommyshark]

Following. When we cruised with our 10 month old granddaughter and our daughter (when her hubby was deployed to Iraq) we would go back to cabin and bathe the baby (we brought a blow up baby bathtub we put in shower), then head out for shows, etc with her falling asleep in her PJs in stroller with her blanket and bottle. Worked well with us. And we had a balcony on that cruise to give us a quiet spot to sit, have a drink, and talk before bed without waking baby.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

NICE! I was nervous about having an interior room, but it was okay. I hope to try a balcony cabin sometime!