Lots of positive... but too much negative. But the cruise vacation is STILL vacation and better than work!

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 10

Helpful Votes: 248

Review summary

Positive comments:  Had great dinners in the Destiny dining room!  Long wait for sea day brunch, but it was worth it. Always enjoying the granola parfait and skillet cake breakfast!  Lot of room to sun on the Carnival Paradise. Plenty of lounge chairs on all the decks to catch some rays.  Elegant night in the Destiny dining room is always fun. Can’t lose with prime rib and chocolate melting cake and a side of peanut butter! Thanks for great service Ronald, Totok, & Tetiana!  Enjoyed an island tour on Cozumel with a stop at the San Gervasio Mayan ruins. We learned quite a bit about the Mayan history of Cozumel and Central America.  One more photo of our three kids at the Puerto Maya cruise port fountain! That makes 10 years of photos of them on this cruise! Another one for the Christmas card!  Really enjoyed lunch at the Coccoloba Bar & Grill at Grand Cayman! Great service, great food, great atmosphere! The Pina Colada’s are fantastic! But it was very expensive since the currency exchange rate isn’t favorable to the US dollar.  Always a great meal at sea day brunch in the Elation dining room. Granola parfait and eggs benedict are always a favorite.  No afternoon crowds in the fitness center on the final sea day which was nice. However, the Paradise needs to enforce an age limit since there are too many small kids using equipment that are unsafe.  Can’t say enough positive things about the tacos & burritos at Blue Iguana Cantina. The food has been great all cruise long.  The only negative about disembarkation for platinum guests was having to walk heavy luggage down stairs from deck 8 to deck 7. The ship docked a little late, but not late enough for it to be a problem. The staff had coffee, juice, and snacks for us!  No trouble with customs or the sheriff after leaving the ship. No facial recognition this time. Negative comments (sadly too many on this cruise):  Security line at embarkation was awful! Family got split in half at the metal detector, and the jerk that cut in front had items confiscated from his carry-on items. Families should be required to stay together at security.  While serving us dinner in the Destiny dining room, a waiter spilled bacon drippings on my shirt sleeve & jeans when placing it on the table. Those stains will never come out, so the shirt and jeans are ruined.  Mostly overcast for first day at sea, but wasn’t raining. Seas were also a little rough after dark.  Too many people in the fitness center at 7am on the first sea day. Way too many children playing on the weight machines & treadmills/ellipticals/bikes while people were waiting to use them.  Rain in Cozumel! Apparently the remnants of a hurricane ruined our beach day at Paradise Beach Club. All day long, the rain came and went. Not the best day on a cruise.  Breakfast in the Lido buffet was awful. So much better to eat breakfast in the dining room.  Found a hair in my granola at breakfast. Reported it to the manager and chef. Hopefully this never happens again.  Very late arrival & pouring rain on the way to Grand Cayman, but scattered clouds once we arrived. No additional time at port after our late arrival.  People getting off the tenders at Grand Cayman were rude & belligerent. How about take your turn and alternate when disembarking? Or maybe be patient when someone with a walker or wheelchair needs assistance getting off? They paid for their cruise too...  Normally I have nothing but positive comments about the ship wash & fold laundry service because they do a great job and usually have the clothes back on the same day. But this cruise, the laundry service lost one item of clothing. We are very meticulous with the inventory, and we know that an item went missing. We notified our steward who checked for us twice, but never returned the missing item or compensated us.  The diamond platinum drink credits are terrible and confusing. After checking with bar staff, the credits were used for the normally complimentary bottled water. The sea day brunch complimentary drink was also used toward those credits without notification. The casino bar bartender fixed all this mess, and we received our credits. I really hope this nonsense ends soon!  Pouring rain & rough seas on the final sea day. But cruises in May should have great weather... oh well.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

Cozumel, Mexico

George Town, Grand Cayman

Disembarkation

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