Carnival Cruise Line
Paradise Cruise Review
Baja Mexico

Steve and Liz

We were very skeptical about this cruise after reading some of the reviews and being spoiled after cruising on the Carnival Pride to the Mexican Riviera. We’re not sure what everyone else’s lifestyle may be, but comparing the price paid over other cruises, we had a great time.

Check-in; We got to Long Beach an hour after embarkment started, had all of our paperwork in order ahead of time, and we boarded right away. They even noticed my birthday and wished me a good time.

The ship; It does show some use but they keep it clean. The biggest negative was the condition of the pools and pool furniture. A serious cleaning is in order.

The crew; Everyone was great. We were always greeted with a smile no matter what or where we were. Dining room waiters were fun and actually sang Happy Birthday to me twice. My daughters bought me a second cake.
Our cabin steward must have watched when we left our room. It was made up every time after we went out.

Cabin; We just had an inside cabin. It was adequate but may need some attention soon with some of the furniture being “dinged”. We didn’t notice it on the Pride, but we heard A LOT of noise in rooms next to us. We did have some rude people that wanted to party in their room all night instead of at the various clubs. You would hear people walking the hallways and the cabin doors would close hard and literally shake the walls. As you can tell, I like my rest, but can party with the best.

Entertainment; The shows were actually pretty good. Not Las Vegas, but good. Karaoke seemed to draw the biggest crowd.

Food; Everything was great. Some of it wasn’t 5 star, but we looked back at the price paid. The pool deck always cooked the burgers fresh. Once in awhile we didn’t like some of the buffet food, so we just tried something else. We never tried the pizza, but it looked good. Most of the time we were too full. The sushi bar was good and you do have to get there early. Dinner was excellent. They even gave me lobster and prime rib on my birthday. Both were excellent. The dining room food was very good at all seatings and maybe a little better than the buffet lines. The portions weren’t huge but more than adequate. Just ask for more.

Ports; We found it better to get off the ship and do your own thing. Most of the reviews can guide you to the right stuff. Some of the very popular excursions may be better to book with the cruise due to limited availability.
Catalina, Rent the golf cart. There are plenty in town and the same price. You can see most of the attractions in an hour. The semi submersible subs looked like fun. We heard the eco-trip was good.
Ensenada, Like someone else said, ”It’s Ensenada”. Take it or leave it. The bargain hunting wasn’t there and we found better shopping on the ship. Maybe we didn’t give it a fair chance but the begging drove us nuts. There seemed to be some nice restaurants. We tried Papas and Beer, no big deal. Most places had beers for almost the same price as the ship, so we would rather be on the ship.

 
We didn’t want to make this such a long review but we wanted to be fair for someone wanting to go on this cruise. We would definitely do it again. We met many good people. I don’t know why they say “Baja Mexican cruise” when they just go to one port. I would like for Carnival to switch the long day at port to Catalina instead of Ensenada.