Carnival Cruise Line
Paradise Cruise Review
Baja Mexico

Kirby Alexander

As a first time cruiser, I read up on a few reviews of the Carnival Paradise to see what to expect. Most of the appraisals were correct and there were no big surprises. Here are some impressions that remain:

1.      The elevators are slow, so use your level hallway to get from one side to the other and then go up. The décor is somewhat dated but maintained well.
2.      Cabins: Reminded me of a college dorm. The bathroom was small but well equipped.
3.      Food: The buffets are no better than your average Las Vegas all-you-can-eat. The dining rooms are much better and if you like something, you can have all you want of it. Pizza was good and the poolside grill was okay.
4.      Entertainment: Not bad. My favorite was the Blood Power band in the Leonardo venue. Those fellas have fun and talent. The shows were mostly good and the karaoke room was always fun. Kudos to Entertainment Director Karl (with a K) who probably gets 2 hours of sleep a night.
5.      Misc. ship amenities: Thumbs up – Camp Carnival, Spa, Coffee Bar. Thumbs down – Casino, shops, pool.  I don’t think I heard any (winning) whooping in the casino and the shops were limited. The pools are very small.
6.      Service: The staff works extremely hard and almost all of them are happy to be there. I imagined how hard it was for them to stay upbeat with some of the more demanding customers who thought they were staying on the QE2.
7.      Ports: Catalina was interesting. Rented a high-priced golf cart and drove to higher ground and got some great views of the bay and town. Avalon has some good restaurants and a Von's to get anything you forgot. Ensenada was interesting but a little scary. You get the feeling everything is fake and you’re getting hustled to buy junk. La Bufadora can be skipped. Plenty of food and drink in town.

You get what you pay for. It’s a good primer on cruising and a good value for families and those on a limited budget. The food and civility in the dining room is a welcome relief from the rude feeding frenzy downstairs. We enjoyed ourselves as did most of the other passengers. Next time, we’ll pay more on another cruise line and see what the difference is.