Carnival Paradise Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We have taken many Carnival cruises and this was by far one of the most disappointing. We paid for the grand suite and what Was promised a garden tub amongst other things which none was provided. We ended up in a handicap room that had a door that would open with the push of a button. Having two small children this kept me up all night for fear they would push the button, walk out, when the door automatically closes to be stuck in the hallway. We asked if they could disable the door but no one ever informed us whether or not it could be done. We paid almost $4000 for this cruise and I am very disappointed in the service the food the room and all the promises that were made that were not fulfilled. We ordered strawberries in the room that were completely soggy and was told there was nothing they could do very disappointed in this cruise waiting to hear back from the cruise line will keep you posted. Before the cruise left we went to customer service requesting to get off the cruise and they said there was nothing that they can do for us if we left the cruise because you were dissatisfied. According to carnivals guarantee if the customer is not happy they will happily refund their money this was not an option for us.

I thought the cruise was excellent. The only thing that I think should change involves the casino. We had the cheers program and that was excellent to have. However the casino gives free alcohol beverages after 1000 points are earned. They do not give anything if you are a cheers member. I think cheers members should be reimbursed for one day for the daily cost the program charges in the amount of $54.00. The island visited was awesome and will definitely recommend this cruise in the future

First of all, let me begin by saying that the Cheers program is a complete joke. We had to pay for each day of our cruise, even though we were at port for one full day. That's one full day that we didn't really drink on the ship, yet we paid nearly $100 for each day on this cruise. Not only that, but the Cheers program will NOT allow you to have buckets of beer, so your drinks just get warm in the hot sun. 

Second, the food on this ship is PATHETIC. Everything tasted like styrofoam. Plus, the buffet times are all a lie. The Paris restaurant breakfast buffet is "supposed" to be open until noon, but when we got there at 11:10 in the morning, they were already closing everything down. All of the food was put away. It's as if this ship doesn't want to feed its guests. 

The only good thing about this cruise was a server named "Preja" on the pool deck. He was the best. The ship itself is terrible. Awful food and warm drinks at high prices.

our excursion was probably the highlight of our trip. As we had a large group.. party of 10 it was hard at times to get everyone together but everyone had a good time and we will continue to cruise with Carnival. Our dinner staff were so accommodating. There were plenty of onboard activities to keep us busy or just relax by the pool.  

Dad was in a wheelchair and accommodated us especially at dinner.  Everyone was so helpful.  I loved it!  If u drink soda, you can bring a closed 12 pack.  They served lemonade, water and ice tea free

5th time on Paradise and still a great small ship for a short, reasonably priced trip. 30 years old and showing ware, but being renevated in January. Excellent entertainment, food, and service. Cruise director and assistant are excellent.And Tampa is an easy port to use. Also, the older ships have more shower room and closet space than the newer, larger ships.

We haven't been on a cruise in 10 years and we thought we would give it a try with Carnival again.  We prepaid the cruise and got discounts on our room and the excursions which was nice.  The Junior suite is certainly the way to go with priority boarding and disembarking. 

We loved the Circle K club for the 12-14 year olds with scavenger hunts, games, video game contests, snacks and lots of other activities.  It gave the kids some independence in a safe zone.

We also loved the punchline comedy entertainment and the family game show with contestants called from the audience. 

Formal dinner was nice.  Everyone loved that they remembered our names and greeted us daily.  We did miss the formal lunch in a dining room.  It is now more of a grab from the grill, fast food kind of experience.  We tried the hamburgers, hotdogs, limited Asian and the cold buffet but just got bored and hated the limited menu, eating on the go feeling.

We had fun and staff was always taking pictures so we got some nice family shots everywhere we went.  Calvyn the cruise director also kept tabs on us to make sure we were having fun.  He intermingled throughout the cruise with guests regularly. 

Our only real disappointment was that our VIP excursion that we prepaid at half price in advance was cancelled at last minute and we had to choose another excursion at full price.  It was a real letdown, with a mayan ruins tour that took over 2 hours with guests carrying a guest who fainted back to the bus and a tour guide who didn't really speak English. That whole thing was a fiasco.

But we think that Carnival overall gave us a good vacation and we would go again!

Best parts of cruise were food and shows were awesome. Worst part was we were supposed to go to Cozumel and a lady got sick so they turned the boat around. Small print Carnival can change the itinerary any time and you still pay!

We could only give 3 stars for this cruise, because of cancelling one of two ports.

We understand the reasoning, but our purpose of this cruise was to visit Cozumel,

Mexico.

Carnival handled the medical emergency professionally.

We would recommend Carnival cruises.  

Overall, we had a fun experience. The food was great, the restaurant staff was amazing, and the art gallery staff were top notch. We purchased two paintings totaling $1800 while on the cruise and attended both auctions. The few things that could use some work would be the casino, the spa, and the bar. The casino had two cash machine that were 100% rigged and need to be taken off the boat. I watched so many people try to win and every single one of them failed. The spa was a little too expensive for a couple to enjoy some relaxion time. Lastly, the bottom bubbles card was terrific and is terrific for families with children and all but as a couple of two it would have been better if we could have purchased only one of the alcohol cards. The cruise demanded that we buy two because their were two people staying in my cabin. 

Thank you. 

Please rename to SCAM-SHIP. Here's why:

If you ran a cruise line, would you want to be remembered as the one to go on if you want to be hounded 24/7 to spend more and more, on EVERYTHING?

BINGO SCAM - Let's say the cruise line brought in $5,000 in bingo cards in one game (they did, I counted the entire room table by table, there were approximately $5,000 in bingo cards being played). What would be an appropriate amount to give away? $5,000? $4,500? maybe even $3,000? 

NO! Those scammers only gave away just under $1,000. What BS.

INSANELY, they touted it as a $3,000 grand prize. BULL! That was later revealed, after spending $80 on enough cards for our kids, that it was ONLY IF Bingo were called in 49 numbers or less. Hmmmm. What could the odds be of that. Maybe they pay it half the time, which might be legitimate. Let's go to a Bingo odds calculator page and find out..... 

BINGO ON OR BEFORE LAST BALL (in 49 numbers or less, as their rules stated):

0.00000245184218952526

ARE YOU FREEKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!? Basically, they almost NEVER pay out $3,000 like is promoted to get people in there.

What a con job.

WATER SCAM - For the two adults, we spent $640 on a 5 night drink package. AND GOT CHARGED $4 EVERY TIME WE DRANK WATER IN THE ROOM a total of about $30) - without a note on the bottle that there would be such a charge. Suspiciously, the caps did not even crack when twisted off after the first time. Do they just refill with tap water?

I could go on and on, but don't want to waste my time.

The food was OK, the service was OK and we generally had a good time. But, the scam-nature of this company trying to weasel out every nickel they can from guests is repulsive. It's one thing to sell legitimate items and services that people fully understand, but this scam BS has got to be reported.

Our dining staff was amazing! We had "your time" dining and chose to wait over an hour to get our favorite table and wait staff. These 3 ladies were amazing. We loved bonding with Crisanta, Jennet, and Margot. We danced and laughed together each night. Alton visited us and wondered why we waited so long to eat. We explained because of these ladies. The last night we took pictures and shed tears because it was over. We truly made a connection. We had much the same experience with Arip in our staterooms. He treated us like royalty. He truly made us feel at home. Great week! Great staff!

Older ship but very clean. Crew does an excellent job of keeping up with the cleaning and making sure things look nice. We were a little disappointed in the service we received in the dining room. There were numerous times that our water glasses were empty for more than 10 minutes. Had a leak in the ceiling out in the haul and maintenance had it fixed within an hour. Very impressed!!! I would cruise on this ship again but if given the option I would cruise on a newer ship. Yes it is an older ship so u can't compare it to a newer ship really. Although keep in mind that the prices for this cruise do reflect that it's an older ship (cheaper) which is always a plus!!!!

Being with our group of 19 was the best......Playing cards in the library.......every day and night! The Elation Dining Room-our wait staff headed by Cristana was excellent and the food was superb. Loved having so many choices of appetizers, entrees and desserts every night. Forgot to mention Jaypee when I did the Carnival survey......great bartender. Loved that crew members remembered names of guests. I hated skipping Grand Cayman as I have friends living there and they were going to pick me up. However, if there were weather concerns I am glad the decision was made not to sail.

I can't even begin to explain how disappointing this cruise was. It was my very first cruise for both my wife and myself. The buffet food was subpar at best. If you wanted good quality food you had to pay extra. If I go to a hotel, the wifi is free. Here you will pay extra and you have to pay even more if you want email access.

Everything is upcharged and 15% automatic gratuity on it. Very poor communication from staff regarding time leaving and returning. Spend a little less time trying to rake your customers over the coals for every dime, and spend more time improving your quality of food and be more competitive on your drink prices. I'm very sorry I decided to spend our anniversary onboard the Carnival Paradise.

First of all I would like to complement the Captain for getting us ahead of the storm Colin. When leaving Cozumel he was able to get ahead of the storm and we had smooth sailing to Tampa. However; The safety briefing took about       1 1/2 hours (from 3:15 to 4:30) it was very disorganized, we were on Lido deck under the sun and heat and many of us were ready to pass out. We were lined in 6 or 7 rows deep and around the deck and it was very difficult to breath. The entertainment during the day was Casino, Bingo, Trivia, etc. During the evening we had rock shows, however the clubs were all geared to young people with hard rock throughout. Going to the Caribbean there was only one night "Mexican food and Latin music" on the Lido deck which was cancelled due to weather. I later found out that it had been moved to the Rex Club but it was not announced to the public and I missed it. We love Latin music (salsa) but Carnival "Fun Ships" does not cater to Latin people.  My wife and I will not take any more cruises with Carnival nor recommend them, 

they are no longer "Fun Ships".  Carnival caters to LGBT,older and young Anglos and forgetting Latinos.

 I will rather take cruises with Royal Caribbean because they have Latin clubs on the ships "Boleros" I have taken many cruises with Carnival and have repeated the comment of not  having a club with Latin music. I will no longer go on Carnival Cruise Lines until they begin to cater to Latin people especially when the cruise ships goes to Latin American Countries.

They were awesome to leave each day event in our room! So neat and clean! The staff were friendly. Food were good. Wish there is more stores on ship.very relaxed time for us. The room is perfect size!

The service was great. Everyone very happy and helpful. Going into port was easygoing.the food was fantastic tried something new everyday. The daily newsletter was very helpful.

cruise was fun as usual, it's my 19th or so. yes, ship is older , but clean and safe and for price a good deal. can live without ever going to the Caymans again, but loved Cozumel, was there 12 yrs ago, has changed.

bed situation in ocean window room at bit cramped with 3 people and set up is weird. food was good (overall) and some of it not so much, but that is why there is variety, all people working on board were friendly and helpful.

the band playing by the casino was GREAT! and (adult show) comedian was very funny.

will cruise carnival again

We enjoyed the dinners most of all.  Alfred took great care of us.  The food was delicious, and my daughter amazed me by trying new things. The kids enjoyed the kids clubs.  My son particularly enjoyed the circle C and the lady who managed that was great-she is from New Zealand. Grand Cayman was beautiful-we just took a taxi to 7 mile beach- Calico Jacks.  There is a reef just off shore that is pretty with some tropical fish. It was $5pp each way by taxi.  Cozumel- we went to paradise beach, it was $15 per taxi.  Very easy.  Instead of waiting in a long line, we flagged down a taxi on the road which was much quicker.  The water was not as nice there-it was not so clear- but it was still very pretty. The cruise entertainment director, Calvin, is hilarious.  He needs to do stand up.  He was even more funny than the comedians (but they were also good). The dance night on Lido was fun. The food was terrific. The staff were friendly and helpful. Mark, our cabin steward, was very attentive and thoughtful and he made sure we always had ice and a clean room. The serenity deck was lovely, particularly at sun set. The chairs are very comfortable and I actually fell asleep one afternoon.  This cruise exceeded my expectations.