Carnival Paradise Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We were on a cruise to Georgetown, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, Mexico. We couldn't leave the ship in Georgetown because of the weather (it was windy), because of safety reasons. The only compensation was a letter from the captain with their apologies, and nothing else. I would at least expect on-board credit since we had to spend one more day at the sea (we already had 2 days). We booked a shore excursion through Carnival for Mexico, to Chichen Itza. This was a big disaster! 1. The tour was supposed to start at 10 am, it started at 11 am. 2. It was supposed to take 7 hours, it took 9 hours (which didn't leave us any time in Cozumel). 3. They do give lunchbox, but noone asks about if there are any vegeterians, vegans etc. (I know that tours outside Carnival do ask), they only have a sandwich with ham and cheese. I would give 5 stars to crew members on the ship who do their best to make people happy (this is the only reason for my 2 stars in general). I did travel with Carnival before, I booked this trip with Carnival again just because I liked it previously, but I don't think I will ever choose or recommend them.

First cruise so I was easily impressed I think. We had a great time and met some fun people. Band at the US bar on the ship was great. Cheers package was too much to drink but we tried. Best excursion was Grand Cayman - swimming with the sting rays. We lucked out as the weather was perfect. 

Room [Junior Suite] : not huge but comfortable, well maintained even shop was quite old.

Room cleaning was at least twice a day, they do as needed. Every night we found cute towel animals on the bed, it was nice.

Meal : Elation provided various menu every night and staff are super friendly and quick response (enjoyed their "show time as well!)

Fun shop : Not much to see but pharmacy area price was reasonable 

Show : good entertainment and not too long so even my husband enjoyed!

BINGO : unfortunately not enough staffs to selling bingo tickets so kind of disappointed 

Pool : KIDS KIDS KIDS 

Seretion(only adult deck) : very tiny space

New Years Eve Count Down : huge baroon drops good entertainment 

check in and out : smooth and friendly (no frustration)

So organized and relaxing.

other than - I wouldn't recommend any time dining - too impersonal and it was hard to get a table "any time". Had to wait.

Great music all the time at different venues. Always something going on.

We boarded the ship in Tampa and the process was pretty smooth and didn't take too long.  The cabin was ready, but they are small and rather dingy.  Only one chair for two people seemed a bit odd, also no chair at the desk either. The bathroom was very large though and the shower worked really well.  I've been on many ships and we've always either did the safety/muster process inside or outside but for some reason we had to do both.  I am very claustrophobic and had to stand against the back with people all around me for way too long.  I asked could I be at the front and was told no.  Not a good start to the cruise for me.  

However we had a great time, met a lot of nice people on the cruise and had a blast at New Years Eve. The bartenders at the Casino bar (outside of it) were amazing.  Silvio was our favorite, he was very attentative.  We didn't like most of the people at our table at dinner so we only went the first two nights. The food was ok, nothing special but that's typical Cruise Food nowadays! The Band Last Call was our favorite, they were exceptional!

Overall I would recommend it to anyone as it was great fun for NYE.  

Everything was great. My only complaint is about the cost of the photos. The cost of the pictures was outrageous. So sad that greed dominates this feature of this service. Carnival is big on recycling. Why then would they not sell all photos taken at a pan affordable cost?  My suggestion is $100.00 for ALL the pictures. They end up in the GARBAGE. To me, if it were my business, I would rather the photos be on the shelves of happy passengers, who ever time they look at these lovely photos, they remember the awesome memories from their Carnival Cruise. 

Disgusting to think they would rather have them in the trash. Not to mention the time it took to put security stickers on the backs of each photo-disgustingly greedy!!! The people taking the pictures were kind and professional and did a great job. The criticism is directed at the OUTRAGEOUS cost of the pictures. It would have cost my family 800 to buy our photos. This is after 2800 for the cruise, 250 for the insurance, 270 in gratuity, 900 in shore excursions, 150 in Bingo, 100 in additional tips and we are MIDDLE class people. So sad.....

Ship was good. Dinning staff was excellent. Sitting brunch, photo booth, guest services people needs to be improved.

overall trip was good. 

Cozumel was very good.

Overall the cruise was good.  Stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel were wonderful.  Our Barrier reef snorkel was cancelled and had to do another snorkel trip-wasn't as good.  Lost air conditioning for a few hours in our room.  Had to contact guest services for information.  Announcements made on ship are impossible to hear if you are in your room or any other room of the ship.  Food is sub par.  The $64.75 per person gratuity at the end of the trip was a surprise.

Overall this cruise was very nice. The staff was very attentive and helpful. They made us feel like VIP guests. No need to book excursions in advance.Very affordable excursions are available at the port. Usually children under 5 are free.

However, going forward as a previous Carnival customer, better deals are available through Carnival.

This was my husband's first vacation in 5 years and his first cruise.  Carnival Paradise and her staff have made a cruise fan out of him!  The food was delicious, the staff was warm, friendly and helpful, and our cabin was very spacious.  Grand Cayman is beautiful, and Cozumel is a shopper's paradise!  We definitely recommend this cruise to anyone who wants to relax and enjoy themselves!

The cruise was amazing and the staff was very helpful. They had excellent shows daily and the cruise director definitely kept the passengers informed of upcoming events and ports. 

The stay in Grand Cayman was disappointing short.  After the time it took to take a tender you had very little time to enjoy the island.  The stay in Cozumel was about the right length.  All in all it was an enjoyable cruise.

We decided to try Carnival again after many years (and only a year after Royal Caribbean) and were disappointed. If you want a cheap experience - in every sense of the word - then Carnival is where it's at. Otherwise, save for a few more months and step up to, well, any other line...

Overall, I did not expect 5 star service for the price we paid.  We had fun, and that was the point.  The food in the Lido dining area was good - not great - but good and plentiful.  The kids enjoyed the pizza and ice cream that was always available. 

Good: small ship and the family learned the way around fairly quickly.  Food in the Elation dining room was very good, except the prime rib, which was very fatty - 4 of us ordered the prime rib, so it wasn't just me. Service was excellent throughout the ship.  Our cabin steward was wonderful, as were all the wait staff in the dining room. My kids enjoyed the teen clubs to a point. 

Bad - or just items to work on:   It seems that, for all the staff the ship had, they were short on clean up staff.   Dishes were always laying around in the hallways and most especially on tables in the Buffet dining areas.   We liked to eat outside on the aft Lido deck, and there were usually several open tables; unfortunately they often were laden with dirty dishes and cups that seemed to sit there for hours before being cleaned up.  We had to clean our own tables quite a few times.  Upstairs in the aft pool area - there were empty drink glasses and buckets that would sit around a while before being cleaned up.  When they had someone up there to pick up, they got picked up immediately.   But, there were times that no one was there.  

Entertainment - meh.   Very cheesy and some of the singers Could NOT Sing. The female lead one night could barely hold a note without being pitchy or off key. I don't know why she was chosen as the lead.  In the comedy club -- not funny.  Terrible.  Not every joke needs to be about sex.  Don't get me wrong- I am not a prude, but the jokes were all sex the whole show, and just not funny. 

Teen clubs:  As stated previously, my kids enjoyed the teen clubs to a point. The problem was that there were barely any organized activities to hold their interest.  The doors were only open to the teen areas at night, and it seemed they only had something organized on the first night.  This is in stark contrast to Camp Carnival - for younger kids - which always had an organized activity. Obviously, teens can come and go as they please, but they can sit around at home playing games on their phones too.  It would have been nice if they had something planned that would hold a teens interest, since they can't go in the 21 and over areas with the adults at night.  

Excursions: The tindering to Grand Cayman was a mess.   It took over an hours to get off the ship. We had to be assigned a group number (we were 20).  It was a least an hour before our number was called - which shortened our already short time in port.  We waited in line to be tindered  back to the boat with the other 2000 passengers for a least an hour.  They didn't start taking people on shore until 8:30, and we had to be back by 2:15 - they were very specific about being back by 2:15 or you would be stuck.  I think we had a total of about 4 hours on the island.  

Cozumel was easy - walk off, walk on and in port longer.    We did plan our excursions through Carnival for either location, and that worked out just fine. 

The ship was fun for what we paid.  Our next cruise with the family will probably be on a newer ship that the Cruise line is putting more love into. No disrespect to Carnival, as we would take a Carnival cruise again.  

This was our first cruise and we loved it! CAN'T wait until our next one.  NothingNothing wouldn't change anything. Service was great food was great. we were hesitant at first but after going on this cruise we enjoyed it so much that we want to go again maybe different destination to see other places.  

Overall, it was a really great first cruise. The Carnival Paradise staff were friendly and attentive. A big "Thank You" to them for all that they did. The ship was clean and spacious. The entertainment was good. The food was plentiful but somewhat "institutional" at times. We were hoping for a bit more gourmet.

We wouldn't hesitate to cruise Carnival again but will probably try a few other lines first.

On our last cruise we loved the talent, the food, the staff in general and all the activities.

What we DIDN'T like was the lazy cabin steward who neglected to fix any part of the beds that was not visible (bottom and inner sheets.)  He only fixed the top, visible portion for the entire cruise!

PLUS I had a yellow-stained bottom sheet and he NEVER changed it, despite the cash tip I left directly on the spot!

Rather unusual for Carnival, he came into our room twice a day.  Most stewards come in a few time throughout the day, but not this one.

We fixed our own beds and I had to live with stained sheets.  I usually tip very generously in cash, along with the on-board tip fee.  Needless to say, he got marry another penny after the first one.

We love Carnival and choose that line first.

Dr. Rod A. Yoder

Ship and stateroom were very nice - clean & comfortable. Those onboard activities revolving around picture and jewelry sales were less than satisfactory.  Each time I attempted to take advantage of advertised special, I was disappointed. A case in point is the "free" photo I was to receive because we had celebrated my birthday on board.  Turns out it was only good for a 5x7 and the photo of us had been developed as a 6x9.  It could not be changed and there was nothing to be done about it-"Sorry."  This incident and the jewelry raffles left me feeling that I was the "sucker born every minute."  

took my daughter and 2 grandson on this cruise as a xmas gift.  The boys (8-14) had the best time at the kids camps, leaving us to do our thing.  The camps were well organized and the activities kept the boys anxious to go there every day.  Great job Carnival.

Over all the cruise was very nice.  We had a minor problem in our cabin and Carnival employees couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. The Paradise does need to be updated to keep up with your other classy ships. Wonderful time !