Carnival Paradise Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The staff was wonderful!  The food was great!  My family had a wonderful time.  The entertainment was enjoyable.  What more can I say.   Carnival Paradise was a great first Cruise!

The crew was very courteous and ready to help.  The only recommendation is to arrive at Cozumel earlier in the morning and leave port just before dark to allow more time in Cozumel.

Our first Carnival cruise.  The boat is dated…but there is nothing wrong with it.  It's a smaller ship and our cabin was small but comfy.  Food was ok…a bit disappointing….same stuff on the buffet all week long for breakfast and lunch.  Dinner most nights was good.  Did NOT care for the folks coming through the dining room every night PUSHING the shots at each table - kind of "low buck" .  Did the "at sea breakfast" in the dining room and it was good!!!  Had fun and loved Cozumel and Grand Cayman - though we just did the private beach at both (Paradise Beach and Tiki Beach). Our cabin guy "william" and our dining room waiter "Marco" were wonderful…as was most of the staff.  

Had fun but probably wouldn't do this one again.  We prefer Royal Caribbean over Carnival.  

we were very satisfied with this cruise. We wanted relaxation, excitement and fun, and got all of that and more, a great value.would definately do it again!! The food and entertainment was more than we could ask for. The dinner staff was very professional and always entertaining.

If you want your photo taken all the time and want to drink high priced drinks this would be rated even better. Crew members did good job of trying to be helpful, food was fine. music in halls and around pool was too loud, and intercom was hard to understand when needed but overall it was a nice getaway.

Overall, the cruise was great.  Stewarts (Felix) and Servers (Rafael, Murat, and Tobing) were EXCELLENT!!!!!  Food was also GREAT!!!!  The cleanliness of the ship was also EXCELLENT.  Two things kept me from giving it 5 Stars.  First, the ship is older and does not have some of the amenities of newer ships.  Second, the entertainment was not as good as it was on the last cruise I went on.  The were no shows that were geared towards my genre (Rhythm & Blues/Motown), there weren't enough game shows that I wanted to see, and the two bingo games that I participated in only had one game of bingo.  

We have booked this cruise twice - once with just the two of us and the second to take our kids.  I'm sure there will be a future booking,   We love the Cayman Islands and visiting Stingray City.   Passion Island at Cozumel was wonderful and relaxing.

After a fall semester filled with challenges, my husband and I saw the low price for this cruise and decided to go, even though we have been trying to catch up on expenses after living in New Zealand for 8 months.

The boat is an older one (the new ones can't fit under the bridge in St. Pete), but it was fine for a quick getaway. We were bothered by the smoke in places that were hard to avoid. The pool was chilly and the hot tub was not hot, so we could not enjoy them. Meals were ok - nothing to write home about.

Staff were helpful and friendly. I always love to dive in Grand Cayman, so that did not disappoint. 

We took this cruise a year ago the week of Halloween and had a better time. This group of people didn't seem very engaged. Overall, the experience was ok. Fine for the low price, but we have definitely had better cruises.

Wonderful time, wonderful crew, very relaxing.  The dining room staff was amazing.  Great cruise director that kept everyone happy.  The Cowboy Comedian was the best!!

I have taken several cruises but this is my 1st carnival cruise. I have to say this was the worse food ever. The staff were very nice. Not their fault but really was unhappy regardless of the wonderful staff. Cost alot everything was extra etc.

Have to say we will sail with another cruiseline next time 

As usual.   Carnival staff and accommodations were tops...food was tasty.....we received assistance without asking...Sending our thanks to all...the other guests were friendly....our table partners were very pleasant... We felt relaxed and safe.    

 FAIRLY YOUNG AND BOISTEROUS CRUISE PASSENGERS.  NOT SUITABLE FOR THE ELDERLY.  THE FOOD AND ACCOMODATION WAS ADEQUATE.  IT WAS VERY  SMOOTH AND THE CREW WERE VERY GOOD AND ATTENTIVE AND HELPFUL.

This cruise was a blast!  My husband and I are 61 and 65 and the people on the ship were there to party!  We are usually not much into partying, but the mood on the ship was infectious.  Most of the ship's passengers were either from Tampa or Florida.  Most of the people including us, did not  pay a whole lot for the cruise as this time of year is not prime season.

  We had 2 days at sea and one port stop in Cozumel.  We took an excursion through and it was great!  We went snorkeliing off of a catamaran that only had about 15 people on it.  We had beer, margaritas, rum punch and shots of tequila on the way back after snorkeling. 

I had read mixed reviews about the ship before booking, but we found the ship to be nice and clean and the décor was fine.  Honestly, I find the Carnival ships décor to be gaudy anyway, and this was not any different than other Carnival ships.  I liked that it was a smaller ship.  The entertainment was first class all the way!  The cruise director Steve is actually a great fiddler on the violin and he was in the production on one of the nights and was awesome!  The 2 comedians were pretty good, but not great, as I have found on most of the Carnival cruises with comedians.  But, it was fun anyway. 

We had so much fun for such a cheap cruise that we want to take our whole family next year in early December.  I'm sure we will have a blast!

The food was bland-needed more salt and sugar.

Very surprised and disappointed about paying extra for steak at dinner.

Waitress and waiters were very good.

Library should be open more and the games should be checked for missing pieces.

Need more trivia games. Enjoyed tea time. They need  to be in a quieter place.  Sometimes could not hear.

It was a great experience.. Special thanks to the main chief of Carnival cruise. Mr. Murugan. the weather was great, ship was very clean, and food was great.

The food was cold to lukewarm overall! This is not my first cruise and I didn't have this problem the first time around; It was disappointing because I tried the different eatery options available to see if it was just a one time issue or on area but it was overall, even at dinner and the Lido deck!

We enjoyed this cruise. We are veteran cruises and we  booked this cruise because of the value. and  The cruise was as we expected. We did not expect a luxurious cruise but the destinations are good, the food was fine and the accommodations are clean.  I would book this cruise again. 

Bad time of the year. Temperatures were supposed to be in the 70s so we decided to go for it. Boarding was a complete disaster. 3 hours standing in line to get through customs and board. Instead of everyone being on board and sailing at 4, boarding finished at 8. They sat us for dinner, only to force us to leave our food on the tables and go for the safety briefing. By the time that was done, everyone was hungry and tired and wanted to go to bed. Then the ship was held up in the Tampa port until 3am since fog started coming in. Had they managed boarding property, and left on time, this would not have been an issue. The next morning we were told that due to leaving late, they cancelled our visit to the Cayman Islands. Had they told us that the evening before, we would have gotten off the ship and asked for a refund! Of course they knew and did not say anything to avoid losing money!! We headed straight for Cozumel. The weather declined and we could not spend any time at the pool due to the wind and rain. Got to Cozumel early (who cares?) and had to spend an extra evening there. Of course the only thing one could do is walk around the port since it was already dark and not safe to go anywhere else. The next day we had a snorkeling trip prepaid through Carnival. It was cancelled due to winds. We could not even go to the beach on the island, it was too windy and low 70s. Ended up taking a taxi into town and walking around the boring cookie-cutter jewelry and souvenir shops. Other than 2 hours of walking around, we spent the entirety of the trip no the ship. Nothing to do, nothing interesting, complete waste of time and money, definitely a memorable Thanksgiving but all for the wrong reasons. I wish they had been honest and told us they were scrapping the visit to the Cayman Islands, we would've stayed home instead!!

My previous experience on Carnival was 10 years ago and wasn't great so my expectations were low. Carnival didn't help themselves. First up the cruise ship did not come back to port until 3 pm the day we were to begin the cruise.  We were supposed to board at 12 noon and depart by 4pm.  I got a text from Carnival letting me know the boat was late but to show up at 3 pm.  I showed up at 4pm and they had not disembarked the previous passengers, cleaned the boat and left us to stand outside on the street along with 2000 of our closest friend until 7 pm.  Great way to start.  No more texts, announcement or information was passed to us while inline.

No help with luggage either, my previous experience led me to believe you check in your bags and they deliver them to your room.  No such luck, I got to carry 4 bags with two young children the whole way to our room on the ship. 

Got to the room and no dresser drawer for storing clothes, there was a closet with some shelves but we were four people in a room for a 5 night cruise, certainly not enough room.  TV remote didn't work and tv was mounted in ceiling.  Only way to control tv was by climbing and standing on bed.  Small problem but I asked room steward to correct.  Never did in 5 nights.  Room steward never did anything except replace towels and make bed, never took out trash or cleaned.  Not impressed.  

Carnival has great program of automatically charging you for tips, $12 a day per person.  That totaled $240 for our trip, plus 15% for everything you buy on board.  Apparently they forgot the meaning of gratuity. If service is good, I tip well, if service sucks, I don't.  Since the tips go through Carnival I doubt the employees even receive them.

So once we get on boat, get an announcement boat can't leave.  Boat finally departs at 3am.  At breakfast Captain announces that we will not be going to Grand Cayman.  We will only go to Cozumel.  I understand weather not in their control but I booked the cruise to go to Grand Cayman and booked excursions there only.  At this point I am ready to go overboard and paddle back to Tampa.

Got to Cozumel after two days at sea where we are greeted by 40 mph sustained winds and rough seas.  It seems like it only can get better.  I book a dolphin excursion for my family and the tour director basically says he doesn't recommend it because seas are so high.  By the time we got to the location seas had dropped some and kids had a great time with dolphins, Omar tour guide was great, dolphin instructor Pilar, fantastic, it was the high point of trip.

This was immediately followed by the low point. Dolphin Excursion company hoards you into their sales pitch to buy the photos of you playing with Dolphins.  One CD of photos is $160. Are you sh*&ting me?  Its a f&*king CD, not prints.  I just paid $500 for my family of 4 to come to the park.  Even Disney doesn't charge that much for photos. Keep in mind we were dripping wet from coming out of the ocean, being whipped by 40 mph winds, my 7 yr old was ice cold to the touch.  I asked for a towel, they say no towel, you should have bring.  They said you buy photo now, I said I am freezing and my son is freezing, they say you buy photo now, I walk out.

The time with the dolphins was great and I bet the park would have been great but for the weather.  The company could learn better on how to charge for photos and how to deal with guests.

Back to the boat, Camp Carnival was a nice spot to drop off kids for a hour or two, no complaints and lots of activities.  Food in Paris Restaurant on par with college dining hall after period to withdraw has expired. Long lines and low quality food. I could go on but you get the point.

Fancy dining room food, good but not great.  Service not great.  This dining experience is supposed to be the draw for cruises. They treat you like royalty with steak and lobster and fine wine.  They had steak and lobster, no fine wine, and service was poor.  I frequently ran out of water, and wine and left and went to bar before waiter would return.  The staff seemed to have too many tables and they had very specific functions.  First waiter can get you drinks but not alcohol, second waiter can get you alcohol but not water and cannot take your order.  Third waiter takes food order and another waiter brings it but he cannot fix anything, refills etc. Not an ideal set up.

Internet service horribly expensive but at least it very slow.  $.75 a minute.  I got on once and it took 3 minutes before it could load the google search page. I decided to go off the grid for the trip.  The rest of the boat, pool slide closed for much of trip due to high winds, mini golf was great in hurricane conditions.

The whole trip was like black friday at Walmart, crowded, rude, and unsatisfying.  I won't be back. 

*** Edited 12/8/14 by Community Manager to comply with our Community Guidelines *** 

Much to my AMAZEMENT, our cruise experience was terrific.  Carnival has taken a lot of negative feelings I had,  and turned them into I WILL TRY THEM AGAIN.

I have taken several cruises on Carnival Cruise Ships. My first was filled with young people drinking and becoming obnoxious and sick all over the ship. 

My second trip took much the same course and I wasn't happy with the food.

Because of the price, and the Tampa departure, along with the availability of space, I reluctantly decided to take my daughter, twin grand daughters and my self on my recent trip to Mexico.

I can only say THANK YOU.  There was nothing (other than being stuck in the fog for several hours delaying our arrival) that I can say negative about our experience.  FIRST THE PRICE was unbelievable.  The food was good.  The staff very accommodating.  The layout of the room for 4 was very accommodating. AND the way they handled our delay on arrival with sufficient food, entertainment, and courtesies extended while we waited.  I WILL use Carnival again in hopes they continue this upward swing.  By the way, the fog was great.  I was probably one of the few that yelled yippee when the Captain announced our late arrival into Tampa.  I did not have to go to work that day.  Thank you again!!

Nancy Grundy

Parrish Florida