Cheap but not good

Item: Carnival Paradise
Rating: 2
Author: holston401

Carnival Paradise Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

holston401

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 11

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

5 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: April 24, 2017

Ship: Carnival Paradise

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: M30

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The ship was a little dated but looked clean. Everything seemed to work ok except the ship itself. The food was below average. A couple of nights I had to send my food back and order something different. Example: the lasagna. It was a noodle on the top, a noodle on the bottom and NOTHING but meat in between. The ship itself was apparently not in good working order. We were notified a couple of weeks before we sailed that because the ship wasn't operating at optimum speed we had to scratch our trip to Grand Cayman and go to Costa Maya. They gave us a whopping $25 credit for our inconvenience. Also, to get to certain parts of the ship you had to pass through casinos and bars where tobacco smoke thick. As a customer with a terminal lung disease I was not pleased to have to walk through that. I understand that you need places for people to smoke, but don't make those places a public thoroughfare. I consider Carnival to be the Walmart of cruising. Yeah it's cheap, but it's not great quality. I will say that our room steward, Raul, was excellent. He was very attentive to what we needed. I was glad to give him an extra gratuity for his service. I don't plan on ever sailing with Carnival again.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

So much of the food just didn't taste good. Fruit was bitter and hard. Breakfast meats were greasy. Pancakes and waffles were lukewarm. The ice cream and the made-to-order omelettes were good.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

We heard a couple of comedians. Al Ernst was really funny. The other guy was just plain sad. We saw a couple of retro music shows (80's and British) we left both of them about halfway through. Just cheesy choreography and mediocre singing.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

A little dated, but very clean and in good working order. Our stateroom was very clean and the staff did a great job with it.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our cabin was great. We knew it would be small, but for the two of us it was plenty. Raul, our steward, called us by name every time we saw him and attended to our every need. Our room quickly made up for us every time we left for breakfast and turned down when we returned from dinner.