Paradise 10/9/06-10/13/06 Review

[cathyz]

My husband and I were on the 4-day Paradise cruise last week and had a

wonderful time! We stayed the night before departure at the Coast Long

Beach Hotel (very noisy partiers out in the atrium from 2:00-5:00 a.m.,

so we didn't get much sleep), but otherwise it's a very nice hotel and

quite convenient to the port.

 

Embarkation was very easy, we shuttled from the hotel to the port at

10:00 a.m., did early check in on the Queen Mary (took 20 minutes),

walked around a little, then noticed that the Zone 1 line was forming

at about 11:10, so we got in line. The Carnival representative announced

they would start boarding at 11:30 and they did. We moved into the

dome, went through the security check, had our picture taken, then

up the escalators and right on to the ship in just minutes. We were

having our first drink at 12:06 on the Lido deck!

 

We were able to get into our cabin (E75) about 1:30 (they had the hallway fire doors closed until then). We are familiar with this cabin since

we were in the very same cabin on her sister ship the Inspriation 5 years

ago. The bedding is very much improved, the mattress was relatively

comfortable (not as good as home, but close). The pillows were very

nice, there were 4 on the bed and 2 more in the closet. The duvet

was very luxurious (not really our style though, too heavy, we're used to

just sheets over us).

 

The bathroom was as expected except the water pressure wasn't that

great and the water was extremely hard to regulate, either too hot

or too cold and then it would fluctuate during your shower too.

 

Muster drill took longer than we had remembered. Our initial muster

area was in the Normandie Lounge. We sat there with our life vests

on listening to our CD James for quite a while, then we all had to

move out to our life boat location on the Lido deck and wait for

everyone to file out, more announcements, then we were finally

released after about 45 minutes (total time from arriving in the

Normandie Lounge).

 

We had breakfast and lunch on the Lido deck every day. The breakfast

buffet outside at the grill near the pool was good. Each day was

the same, they offered the typical breakfast, scrambled eggs, bacon,

sausage, ham, toast, sweet rolls, cereals, yogurt, milk, and an omelet

station. The guava passion fruit juice was excellent! Lunch was good also, they had the typical carving station inside (sometimes prime rib, sometimes turkey, etc) with lots of other options and sides. The 'Taste of Nations' changed each day also. The salad bar was good as was the pizza. We also had burgers and hot dogs from the outdoor grill one day, quite good. And there's the 24-hour soft serve ice cream and yogurt - YUM!

 

My husband went to the Paris Cafe every morning to get his mochachino

and my tea. He said the coffee was quite good. We also had a chocolate

milkshake from there on our sea day - YUMMY!!

 

We had dinner each night in the Destiny dining room at the 8:00 seating.

We were in a booth with 2 ladies traveling alone without their husbands

and kids, so they were having a good time! Our waiters were Bonijan

and Supatra and did an excellant job, they made the whole experience

very enjoyable as did the excellent food! The new menu came out last

week on the Paradise and they explained to us that the main difference

is that they now include the 'optional' basic steak and chicken entries

on the menu instead of something you can just order outside the printed

menu. The lobster on formal night was excellent! Since they were also

switching to a new dessert menu, 1 of the nights there was no printed

menu and they had only 2 options, a cheesecake dressed up like a ghost

and a chocolate cake. Our tablemates loved the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, it looked good, but too rich for us after all the good food!

 

On Wednesday, there were quite a few Halloween related activities, the

kids from Camp Carnival paraded around in costumes. The U.S. Bar on

the Promenade was decorated and they had an adult costume contest there and also in the Normandie Lounge (we saw it the next day on TV).

 

The Catalina tendering process was quite long. We didn't have an

excursion planned so were in no rush to get off the ship. They started

a 'tendering ticket' process early on the Lido deck where you wait in line

to get a tender ticket. The tickets were numbered from 1 to 28. The line got quite long for quite a while so we waited until it was almost gone

before getting our tickets. There were several tenders and they called

2 or 3 tender groups at a time so the gangway area wouldn't be over crowded. They called our group, 28, after noon. The ride to the Catalina dock was short. We walked around and shopped a little, took some pictures, and then got back on the tender back to the ship before 3:00 to avoid the crowds coming back.

 

We were the only ship in Ensenada so pulled right up to the biggest dock

which makes it easy to get off the ship. We didn't have any excursions

planned here either and weren't really interested in going into Ensenada

so we got off the ship, did a little shopping at the shops right at the

port, then got back on the ship. The weather was nice and the ship wasn't full all day so we just relaxed. We were about 30 minutes late leaving Ensenada that evening waiting on one drunk guy that was literally running (stumbling) down the port road at 10:30. His friend was out on the dock on a cellphone waving his arms and talking with the Carnival security team trying to get them to wait. As he approached the ship being held up by the security team who had run out to meet him, all the folks looking over the rail waiting for sail-away yelled at him in unison and it wasn't 'welcome back'!

 

Our sea day was quite fun, the weather was good, the sea was very calm as we drifted about 50 miles off of San Diego. Ensenada is so close to

Long Beach that they don't need to rush back, so the captain just drifts

and only starts the side thrusters occasionally to keep the correct

orientation.

 

We did self-debarkation which wasn't the best, but it's because of the

small area in the dome used for customs, only so many people can get

in there at once. We could see the bridge from the ship to the dome

from our cabin, which had lines for quite a while. When we noticed there was no line, we decided to head out of our cabin to debark thinking the line would be shorter. Boy were we wrong, the line was through the atraim and all the way down the port side hallway so far back that we had to go farther aft down the starboard side to the next elevator bank to get around to the end of the line. This whole process took about 30 minutes. We called the hotel as soon as we were out of the dome and the shuttle arrived a few minutes later to take us back to our car at the hotel just in time to be in L.A. rush hour traffic and on our way home!

[cruisinmommie]

Wonderful review. So glad to hear you had a great time!! Cant wait till it's our turn. Thanks for sharing!!!

[wavecruiser]

Glad you had a good time! Debarkation was pretty messy when I went too, but sounds like you had a totally easy embarkation.

[victory2020]

Thanks for the review! I was on Paradise in May & am going back in Jan. Do you remember if beef wellington is still on Menu?(it was 1st dinner). I dream about that & I hope they kept it.

[cathyz]

Thanks for the review! I was on Paradise in May & am going back in Jan. Do you remember if beef wellington is still on Menu?(it was 1st dinner). I dream about that & I hope they kept it.

Victory2020, yes beef wellington was still on the menu (my husband and both tablemates had it the first night), even though we also had the new 'alternative menu' which was supposedly dropping some of the old favorites. Apprently not this one!

[victory2020]

Thanks, Cathyz - thought for awhile my cruise would be ruined without beef wellington!

[ALadyNCal]

CathyZ -- Can you tell me approximately what time you ended up disembarking? Thanks

[cathyz]

CathyZ -- Can you tell me approximately what time you ended up disembarking? Thanks

ALadyNCal, we headed out of our cabin about 8:40 and were outside the dome by about 9:15 and on the road by 10:00 or so after the hotel shuttle pickup.

[victory2020]

Cathyz,

Do you remember the name of the maitre'd on the Paradise? I booked a last minute cruise for the 30th & wopuld like to know if he is the same one from last May's cruise (he was very nice to us). His name was Pressler & I believe he was from Haiti. Thanks

[cathyz]

Cathyz,

Do you remember the name of the maitre'd on the Paradise? I booked a last minute cruise for the 30th & wopuld like to know if he is the same one from last May's cruise (he was very nice to us). His name was Pressler & I believe he was from Haiti. Thanks

Victory2020, I think there are 2 maitre'ds, one in each dining room? When we got on board, we were 2nd in line to change our seating arrangement and the maitr'd in the elation dining room could have been from Haiti, but I don't remember his name. We ended up in the destiny dining room and I'm not sure if it was the same maitr'd or not. We wanted to tip him at the end, my husband had an officer write his name on an envelope on the last night, but now he can't remember his name either, but said it wasn't Pressler. His name was on the inside of the menu and I still can't remember! We had a hard enough time remember our wait staff's name, Bonijan and Supatra! They were great!

[Kissara22]

Thanks for the wonderful review. I will be on the Paradise again December and we're also on Empress deck, ..I was curious about the new bedding and you mentioned the duvet. Is that also new? Was it the same orangish colored ones I recall from Nov '04? Silly question I know, but curious just the same. :)

[cathyz]

Thanks for the wonderful review. I will be on the Paradise again December and we're also on Empress deck, ..I was curious about the new bedding and you mentioned the duvet. Is that also new? Was it the same orangish colored ones I recall from Nov '04? Silly question I know, but curious just the same. :)

Sara, no, the duvet is pure white now. The bed skirt is kind of the salmon color like the ceiling and other parts of the cabin. The sheets were 'regular'

sheets not the fancy ones they advertise, but were clean and relatively soft, but not as soft as the pillow cases and duvet, which was quite 'luxurious', but too heavy and hot for us even with the a/c on high all the time.

[victory2020]

Thanks for responding Cathyz!

[Kissara22]

Thanks Cathy, ...That's nice to hear :)