This Carnival ship is one of the oldest in the carnival fleet and this limits the offerings onboard. The ships that sail from Tampa are smaller as they need to fit under the Sunshine Skyway bridge. For it's age and size the ship fared well,but improvements to the production show,food and the embarking process at the Port in Tampa need serious work. I would not take this cruise again going forward.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Very unorganized with little signage to direct the passengers. Staff arguing with each other about their jobs.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Service was good, but the food was lackluster and not many choices at all. Long waits for pizza.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Pool was overcrowded
Entertainment
1 out of 5
There were 2 comedians aboard and both were good. The Rock show was not good. The pitch on the vocals was off. Need different female lead singers. The same show on the Elation was much better.
Children's Programs
We did not use this
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Great service from our steward and those in the buffet dining room.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Ty his ship is the sister to the Elation, but it seemed better maintained and the punchline comedy club area was set up differently than the Elation. The punchline was much larger on the Paradise.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was clean, and maintained by our Steward very well. The furniture and plugs in this cabin all worked and we're in good condition. The shower curtain was a downside. A glass door would have been better as water would seep from the curtain edge onto the door and floor despite my attempts to stick the wet curtain to the shower wall. I could also see mold buildup along the door/floor edges where water always gathered and has settled beneath the bottom door moulding. The AC worked great and got plenty cold despite the lack of a thermostat and a built in dial on the ceiling return unit that controlled airflow. The little fridge did a great job of keeping our drinks we brought onboard cold.
Ship tip
. I noticed a large amount of security clearly visible in the buffet dining room and near the pool area later on in the evening from Sat 8 pm on. We did have times at night when there were kids running down our 6 the floor hallway numerous times during this cruise. You could hear noises from the above floors at times in the evening.Plan on lackluster food,long lines to get pizza and a line at the buffet. The on your time dining room wait was very minimal ( under 5 minutes) requesting seating via the Carnival hub app. The staff in the dining room seemed to want to rush us through dining and that was a turn off. Seating is also very close together so those who wish for a more intimate dining experience may be disappointed in the closeness of seating to others.
The port was beautiful,but if you wanted to go into town it was a cab ride to get there. There is a modern shopping area at the pier ,but prices are inflated.
Disembarkation was rather smooth although crowded once it was time to get off the ship near the exit doors. Luggage was easily found once in the terminal and the facial recognition aspect with a passport registered was straightforward and quick.
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