Excellent Service, Cruisline policies not so good

Item: Carnival Paradise
Rating: 3.8
Author: Beardog41

Carnival Paradise Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Beardog41

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 14

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5

Verified Review

6 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: August 07, 2023

Ship: Carnival Paradise

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: R186

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 10 months ago

Review summary

The food was terrible, the staff was excellent. EVERYTHING seemed to cost extra, we spent double our ticket price on "extras", so much for the bargain. It was an older boat, so stuff was a bit dated, but clean. Not a lot to do and way to many kids running around making it not enjoyable for others as they were unruly and disorderly. Parents fault though, not the cruiseline. Dress codes were not enforced at dinner, lots and I didn't enjoy my buffet when people with dressed inappropriately. Need better enforcement of dress codes.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Not enough activities, small boat. Everything cost extra so beware. How can it be called a gratuity when you are forced to pay it. The service of the staff was outstanding, but our $475 cruise ended up costing almost $1,000 because of all the extra charges. Princess did not charge for all the extras. Also, the food was not good at all. Probably the worst cruise food I've had. I actually lost 2 pounds on an all you can eat cruise.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Pool, Comedy Club, shows. Not a large variety of things to do, small ship.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

The singers where a little poor quality, but the comedy teams were incredibly funny and enjoyed very much.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Top Notch

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Bathrooms as with any cruise ship are always too small otherwise, was ok experience, the windows were quite dirty and covered in sea salt, but I supposed to be expected.

Ship tip

Everything cost extra and the food is not very good.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

4 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

1 out of 5

Would not recommend this as a port of call. No much to offer in terms of excursions, dirty place, and did not feel very safe. We only went ashore for about 30 minutes and returned to the boat. Not sure why the cruise lines even chose this port of call, bad choice.

Thumbs Up 0

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

Fast and organized, better than other cruises I've been on.

9 Comments

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