A great cruise despite the circumstances and an aging ship

Item: Carnival Paradise
Rating: 3.7
Author: realrayd

Carnival Paradise Cruise Review

realrayd

Contributor Level: Purser

187 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 4

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

4 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 06, 2024

Ship: Carnival Paradise

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 9 days ago

Review summary

Interior decor, Imprint violin duo, elegant night, and the library were highlights. Casino was fun too. Expect an aging ship staffed by a pleasant crew. Hurricane Milton threw a wrench in our itinerary, but the Paradise crew did a great job at providing a fun experience despite the circumstances.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The burger joint was fantastic but buffet desert offerings were lackluster. The elation restaurant was nice too with good decor and atmosphere--but the service is what really stood out. Our waitress Diane was fantastic and a highlight of the voyage. The food was hit or miss at elation though--most nights were very good but the fare-included steak cuts were not good at all, very tough and overcooked.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Mediocre overall. Club was smaller and not very busy most nights. Library/game room was small but quaint, though they could do with updating the board games offered as they were very worn and were missing pieces. Lido deck was fun and had plenty of good food at the buffet stations. Plenty of deck chairs and I can see that children would have fun with the pools and water slides, but with a young adult group, wasn't the best for our tastes.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

The entertainment was mediocre, but the Imprint violin duo was fantastic and absolutely stole the show. 3 stars if not for them.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was pretty small, but was mostly our own fault for booking 4 people in such a small room.

Ship tip

Expect a smaller and older ship that may not have everything you're used to on a modern cruise liner. You can still find a great time on the ship and the interior historical ocean liner design cues are the highlight.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

Our shuttle buses provided by Carnival from Miami to Tampa were a mixed bag. The bus I was on was a horrible experience, with the driver not having directions to the port and making several unplanned stops that led us being 2 hours and 45 minutes late to arrive in Tampa: a total of 7 and a half hours were spent on the bus when we were told it was a 4 hour ride. However, I understand that this was a last minute arrangement due to the port of Tampa being closed due to Hurricane Milton.

4 Comments

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