Carnival Paradise Review July 2019

[scendro]

I wanted to do a quick review of our 5 night July 6th cruise on the Paradise traveling from Tampa to Grand Cayman & Cozumel.

 

First, for whatever reason, we haven’t cruised with Carnival since  2014 but prior to this cruise, had cruised with Carnival seven times.  Most recently we cruised RCCL & NCL mostly for the itineraries fitting in with our scheduled vacations.

 

My first impression is woah, way to go Carnival! We really liked the improvements that Carnival made to their food options since we last cruised!  I really enjoyed the Blue Iguana Cantina (shrimp, Steak & Chicken tacos- delicious!  And all the different salsas were amazing).  

 

Next,  Guys Burgers- One word-Yum!  Reminded me of a Five Guy Burger and the fries were great as well.

 

We dined in the MDR every night and between the two of us, typically ordered 3-4 appetizers (usually a soup & the port option) and 3 entrees to share. We always ordered the featured port entree and found these options fantastic.  One dessert stood out in particular although I cannot recall the “official” name but it was buttered Carmel popcorn something or another- it was great!  We can honestly say that except one dish (it was a fish dish) everything we tried was fantastic. We both agreed that the food on the Carnival Paradise was excellent. 

On two nights we dined early (we had the my time dining option ) in order to catch the Show and then ventured up to the buffet after the Show to peek around.   I will say that we were pretty glad we did the MDR option as the buffet wasn’t that impressive.

 

I want to note that there was a fried shrimp option on the buffet two separate times and me being a shrimp fan thought this was a huge bonus.

 

We both agreed that the desserts have greatly improved since the last time we cruised with Carnival.

 

My husband did try the Deli one night (pretty late) & was quite impressed with the Cuban sandwich.

 

Overall i’d rate Carnival Paradise lunch/dinner food an A+!

 

Brunch is, as others have posted, extremely slow.  It felt as if they were extremely understaffed at the Brunch and breakfast in the MDR.  the steak filet & eggs at Brunch was very good!  Twice we ate in the MDR for breakfast and both times we never got refills on our coffee and I cannot really blame the wait staff- they were truly understaffed. 

 

Breakfast at the buffet was overall pretty good.  Omelets were great but the Omelet line was always long.  We noticed that Carnival now serves its Bacon and Ham rather than self serve at the buffet.  Initially I thought this was odd but overall that wasn’t an issue because they’d give you as much as you wanted.  One negative is that every day it was very difficult to find a place to sit in the Paris Dining Room  for breakfast (and our times varies from 7:30 am to 10 am.)  A lot of people seemed to linger in the Paris Dining Room (reading, playing games, kids hanging out) and this made finding open seating very difficult.  Now this could’ve been because we cruised in July and it was particularly hit and humid every day so inside tables were at a premium.  My only suggestion would be to add some fruit toppings / whip cream for the waffles.  The scrambled eggs were NOT good (they tasted like hotel egg product eggs)  I learned this on day one and then just had the omelet station either make me some fried eggs or an omelet.  I’d give breakfast a B+

 

Now for the Ship!  The Paradise was in excellent condition and very very clean!  We never had problems finding pool chairs in the serenity area or on the upper decks.  We found that the water fountain mushroom tree thing in the water slide area was a nice place to cool off in lieu of the pool (which was always crowded with lots of kids).  

Our room was in excellent condition every day and our steward was wonderful. The bedding was fine and comfortable. Pool towels might need to be replaced soon- some were quite worn. Overall I’d rate the condition/appearance of the Ship and it’s amenities with an A. 

 

We attended three shows:  A Cuba themed show, an 80’s tribute show and a classic rock show.  Very good Shows and a few of the entertainers had amazing voices- we both thought wow theses girls are good!

And a shout out to the Paris Band that played near the Casino wow they were good and every night there was a good sized crowd enjoying the music.  Overall I’d rate the entertainment a solid A.

 

For both ports we had no issues disembarking & had wonderful times visiting the beaches (we took a taxi both times and had no issues at all).  

 

I have two “negatives”  (1) Carnival seems to employ less staff than before in the dining areas (both MDR and Buffet); and (2) there was an occasional sewer smell that would permeate multiple areas of the ship (usually room hall ways).  I’m not sure what that was about because like I said the ship was very very clean and nothing looked worn or in bad condition.  

 

Tip- if you like to buy duty free liquor, it’s much cheaper to purchase in Cozumel Cruise port stores rather than on the ship. We found this out too late as we ordered 4 bottles of liquor on a day two of our cruise when they had the 10% off sale.  We still managed to purchase two bottles in Cozumel because it was very very cheap.  (And no we are not big drinkers LMAO- this will last us a couple years!) 

 

After this most recent cruise, Carnival is high on our list to cruise with for our next cruise.  We are very happy with the direction the cruise line seems to be going.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scendro]

 

Just a few pics from our trip:

 

 

 

 

Blue Iguana Cantina

 

 

Guys Burgers Yum!

 

 

Mahi Mahi ^ 

 

 

Taco Salad

 

 

Beef Skewers 

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by scendro

[mlshum]

Thanks so much for the review!  We’ll be on the Paradise in January.  It seems like such a looonnnnggggg time to wait!  Reviews like yours help pass the time.  Thank you!

[CheersPkg4Us]

Awesome review, we sailed the Paradise last October, several months after her most recent refurbishment. You views mirrowed ours to a tee. Glad to hear she's still holding up well. We'll definitely sail her again. Thanks for posting the pics !

[Djptcp]

Great review, wonderful photos, and I concur with everything said. We sail on the Paradise several times a year with the next one in 5 weeks. We also find embarkation and dembarkation in Tampa to be the best of all the FL ports. 

[SRQbeachgirl]

Sounds like you had a great cruise! We definitely loved taking the Paradise out of Tampa when we lived in Sarasota. 

[Frank12]

We cruised Paradise in June and found the food in the MDR to be excellent.  Not sure who the chef is but he's definitely got it together. Some ships dinner seems to be hit or miss, but not Paradise.

[Bowman1]

Thank you for the review - We are sailing Paradise in Jan, it is our second time aboard, but our last sailing was before the recent retrofit 

 

looking at the deck plan, I do not see the Alchemy Bar or Cherry on Top

 

I am guessing that neither is on Paradise?