We were also on this cruise so I'll just hop along
with Cathy.
Cathy Kearns wrote:
> I just got back from the Carnival Paradise 4 day Long Beach, Catalina,
> Ensenada, Long Beach cruise.
> Background: For my parents' 50th wedding anniversary my siblings and I
> took them on this cruise. My brother brought his two kids, my younger
> sister brought her husband, my older sister came alone (all kids and her
> husband were working) and I brought my teenaged girls. My parents have
> been on many, many cruises, usually HAL. My younger sister and her
> husband have been on Disney a few times, my older sister had been on a
> few cruises, including Carnival, and didn't like Carnival before, and
> I've been on 5 other cruises, 1 Disney, 3 HAL, and one Regent. My
> brother was a cruise virgin. We picked this cruise as most of the
> family could make a 4 day cruise, but not a week. We were meeting in LA
> for the anniversary party, and didn't want to fly again. I would not
> have picked this cruise or itinerary if it were just me and my kids.
>
> And though we had a good time hanging out with the family, I wouldn't
> really recommend this cruise for less than a large family reunion type
> thing.
It was a good cruise "for the money." We took our
two grandsons and this was the first cruise for
each of them. This was our first Carnival cruise,
we've done 16 other cruises, mostly HAL and Princess.
> Embarkation:
> About half of us were in suites, so we had VIP embarkation. All of our
> luggage was small enough to carry on ourselves (note, mine was a size up
> from what an airline would consider a carry on.) and we did so. That
> saved us from the long check your luggage line. Then we didn't have to
> stand in any other lines, as they usher you into the VIP lounge, check
> you in (I did have my pre registration done) cut you into the front of
> the security line, and then off you go to dodge photographers and get
> onboard. It took about 10 minutes from the parking lot to my room. My
> sister, who was not aVIP, took about 45 minutes. So I thought it was
> painless.
I also had a "VIP" pass but the VIP lounge was
mobbed, so we got to stand in the line with the
Non-VIP people. Not a big problem, but make sure
you have your "fun pass" completed.
> Accommodations:
> I was in a Penthouse Suite, and this was the smallest room I'd ever
> sailed in. Okay, I'm spoiled. But when this is your top of the line
> choice, well, perhaps you might want to come up with better choices..And
> our room pretty much clashed with itself, which we found quite amusing.
> The smaller rooms had much classier décor. Hmm, too much decorating
> budget and they go astray. The beds were extremely comfortable. The
> shower was nice, it was over a tub. We didn't try out the tub and see
> how the jets worked. There wasn't enough room for my suitcase under the
> bed, and we ended up shoving it into the closet. I'm used to more
> storage room, but we three ladies did okay.
We were not in a Penthouse suite but at Cat 12
suite. I second about the smallness. Beds when
made up as a King left too little room to get into
the bed on each side. We had to have the bed
reconfigured into the single mode to prevent
having to crawl aboard from the end. Our suitcases
fit under the bed after lifting one end to slide
them under the bars.
> Wireless worked in the room, as did cellular. We only used cell service
> in port in Catalina, so I'm not sure how much the cellular at sea
> actually costs. Wireless internet cost $36 for two hours. Air
> conditioning worked really, really well. Controls are on the ceiling.
> And if you can't get it turned off, I found our wonderful cabin steward
> was able to get it to turn it off. Warning, after 36 hours of a nice
> temperature in the cabin it started to smell like cigarette smoke, and
> we don't smoke. The heavy air conditioning blows that smell away.
Air conditioning had no thermostat for the room.
It was either on or off. Solved the problem
somewhat by propping the balcony door open.
> Dining:
> I always hear about the dress code, and no, they never denied entrance
> to the dining room to people in shorts or tank tops or bathing suits.
> (Though those in bathing suits did look like their shorts were dry.) On
> the other hand, though people were dressed like they do to hit the mall
> in southern California, they were very well behaved. I can't say I ran
> across one rude guest in either the dining room or anywhere else on the
> ship, and on formal night I thought everyone looked rather spiffed up.
> Maybe they weren't quite up to the "jacket and tie" look, but they
> certainly looked nice to me. My girls and I were in cocktail dresses
> for formal night. We were adorable.
Formal night? I've seen much fancier clothes at
TGI Fridays on Friday night. Not a Penguin to be
seen anywhere. Great, as far as I'm concerned. Now
if they could just get rid of those photographers.
> The food, well, I've had better beef Wellington, but I'm not sure I
> didn't get the wrong order. As my daughter mentioned my brother across
> the 11 person table from me was complaining his was too rare, and mine
> was too well done, but we couldn't really hear each other all the way
> across the table, and it didn't occur to me they gave us the wrong
> orders. The lobster was better on our other cruises, but then again,
> lobster could be fresh in New England, so that's not really a fair
> comparison. Nothing really hit me as WOW, but nothing in the dining
> room was inedible either. Plate were always clean at the end of the
> meal. I'd put it as good as one of those large charity ball dinners.
We found the food acceptable. My Beef Wellington
was done "as ordered." The food overall was not
outstanding by any means but quite acceptable.
Much better than that found on the rubber chicken
circuit.
>
> Food in the Paris (Lido) was pretty pathetic. I had breakfast there
> once, and thought about lunch once, and after looking at it went for the
> pizza. Their choice of fruit for breakfast was grapefruit, oranges, or
> oranges and grapefruit slices. Really? Melon was apparently out of
> their price range. The pizza was pretty good, but the service at the
> pizza counter was somewhat puzzling. They had all their selections in a
> case, and so there you were, looking at a pizza and you'd say I'd like a
> slice of that one, and they'd say "we don't have that one right now."
> I'm pretty sure I'm looking at one.. They need a better system, maybe
> making those say, warming cases, and only put the done pizzas in
> there..There was soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt always
> available. And sometimes that really was your best option.
Lido food was really quite basic. Seems like every
kid on the ship was in there all the time. The
Pizza on display was apparently a fake plastic
model. They cooked the real pizza behind the wall
and brought out four slices at a time.
>
> They did have a sushi bar tucked away on Carnival Avenue. (Or Boulevard
> or some cute name like that.) The sushi was never raw fish, and always
> something tasty. You could only get one or two selections at a time, it
> was meant for a taste, not a meal. And it was wonderful. We'd get a
> few pieces before heading off to dinner.
>
> Service
>
> There was a coffee bar with a cute French name I forget. The barista
> working there was a bit confused, as people would be standing there
> waiting to be served (and these are paying customers, this place was not
> free) and yet she'd be doing inventory. I saw this happen not once, but
> twice in the same day. Now how often do they really need to do
> inventory in one day?
>
> I'm not sure where she learned customer service, but that trainer
> apparently got to many crew members on this cruise. I found many
> instances where I definitely wouldn't say Carnival is trying to get our
> money. To the contrary, guest were there, ready to hand over Sign&Sail
> cards, and yet the employees would not drop other activities, such as
> playing with a crumpled up piece of paper, to wait on them. Perhaps
> they weren't trained to think of waiting on people offering them money
> as a priority, or maybe they are just tired of working on the ship, but
> either way it was quite the turnoff. I actually left pictures I was
> considering purchasing and walked away from the photo area, as of the
> two cashiers one was arguing with a customer and calling them names (and
> I didn't hear the customer say anything rude, they just asked for a
> folder for the picture they had bought..) and the other was tossing
> around trash, I imagine to work on his future as a cruise ship juggler.
We found the service to be "so - so." Clearly the
staff was not on commission. The crowd on board
formed a mob when there were free samples offered
of spirits.
>
> The dining room waiters were good, the cabin steward was great, but the
> people working the Paris (Lido) restaurant bussing tables were pretty
> clueless. I saw them carefully stepping over spilt ice cream, just
> leaving them there, as if that were someone else's job. The tables
> seemed to be set once with silverware, but once they were cleaned, the
> next people had to track down the silverware themselves. My mom found
> them in the bussing stations. And these employees were experts at
> almost cleaning off a table, say picking up everything but one glass.
> This left the folks standing around with trays wondering if that table
> was vacant, or if someone really was around somewhere that wanted that
> glass.
Dining room service was O.K. They would not leave
bread on the table, even when requested. They put
11 of us at a table that would be tight for 10.
Every chair was in contact with its neighbors.
The waiters and assistants did a good job - we had
early seating - and they clearly were interested
in getting us up and out.
> The maître'd in the dining room was also interesting. He'd interrupt
> the conversations of the whole room at the end of dinner to announce the
> next day's activities. He was accurate on stuff going on in his dining
> room. Not so much on stuff going on outside his dining room. And he
> wasn't funny. Perhaps he'd be better served going back to wandering the
> dining room and talking to tables individually.
He was useless.
> Ports: Catalina and Ensenada
>
> Catalina was a tender ports. Despite what the maitre'd told us, you can
> just wander down to the tendering decks after 8am but before 9am and hop
> on a tender. Since the maitre'd kindly misinformed the rest of the
> passengers, saying tendering for the masses wouldn't start until after
> 10am, the tenders were nearly empty, and no lines. Avalon is a square
> mile of cuteness. We rented golf carts (three four person ones for our
> party of 11) and did the hour or so tour. Okay, there were members of
> our party that did not seem to understand the "no rental carts" sign
> meant them, so we had a bit of trouble finding the scenic route, but it
> was well marked. People who read signs should have no trouble.
> Warning, most golf cart rentals are cash only, and at $40 an hour, not
> pocket change. We went for the three hour rental ($80) but came back
> early, and the pro rated the hours and gave us back $24.
>
> Then some of us then did some shopping and eating, while others actually
> tendered back to the ship for free lunch and then tendered back for our
> 2pm glass bottom boat ride. Use your AAA card for glass bottom boat
> tickets, you get a discount.The glass bottom boat ride was cool; you
> really could see the fish. The tenders were the Catalina water taxis,
> and the drivers were very friendly, offering to give exciting rides, or
> telling you Catalina history while on your tender into town. I was used
> to the ships using their own lifeboats for tenders, so this was a nice
> change for me.
>
> We docked in Ensenada. It was very cool that you woke up and looked out
> the window and there was the largest Mexican flag I had ever seen. So
> you knew where you were! There was a small shopping center right off the
> ship, and $2 shuttles into the shopping district. After you paid $2 for
> this short ride they spent the entire 5 minute ride trying to sell you
> another bus ride to perhaps better shopping and a blow hole. My brother
> and I and our kids were on the shuttle, but we didn't try the trip to
> the blow hole. We wandered and shopped the main street, eating in one
> of the larger restaurants there that didn't have associated trolleys
> with dancing girls. (We were with children.) I found the city as tacky,
> but not as seedy as I expected. We were particularly drawn to the
> wrestling masks they sold everywhere. For the life of me I couldn't
> think of a single person I knew that would pine for a "Hello Kitty"
> wrestling mask and cape, so I didn't get one, but Boy was I tempted.
Ensenada still is sleepy at 10 a.m. Children can
enjoy Papa's and Beer even more than older people.
The lemonade is good.
> Entertainment:
>
> My daughter is a dancer. I've sat through many a dance show. And
> needless to say, she's seen more dancing than I have. The dancers on
> this ship were her number one peeve. She thought they were awful. She
> thought they were so awful she had to go see every show, and our
> entertainment was watching her watch the dancers. But yeah, I had to
> agree with her, the dancers were pretty bad. In general, I've found
> dancers that are confident in their steps and their dancing can dance
> full out, and you are so enamoured with their movement you don't notice
> if they are off. These dancers were not confident. Some of it had to
> do with costumes. I'm not sure how confident anyone is dancing in a
> g-string. Some of it was they apparently were not familiar with some of
> the numbers. And some of it were their technique was not as polished as
> kids who take 15 hours of dance a week. As she pointed out, the show
> was obviously choreographed for different dancers with a different skill
> set. Even my 14 year old non-dancing nephew noticed, "they tried to
> dazzle us with eye candy, but it still couldn't cover the dancing."
Dancers were mechanical at best. The whole show
had a wooden feel to it. The shows are packaged,
probably out of New York, and the singers and
dancers are expected to learn the show before they
arrive on the ship. I don't think the 3 / 4 day
cruise market is the top choice for most performers.
> They had comedians do 30 minute sets to give you a taste for their blue
> midnight shows. Both were very funny. The second one did the standard
> cruise "my room is small, the bathroom is weird, you eat a ton, there
> are men in speedos" set that was exceptionally funny. He had a great
> delivery. I didn't make the midnight shows, too late for me. They also
> had a magician that was doing up close tricks that were displayed on the
> video screen behind him. Unfortunately, all you could really see off
> the cards was glare, you weren't sure if perhaps the cards were blank or
> if it was the card he said. From the reaction of the people up close
> I'm sure the tricks were amazing, but the technology wasn't there to
> share with the whole theatre.
>
> There seemed to be live music in most lounges, but we didn't hang out in
> any, so I'm not sure how good they were. The cruise director, Karl with
> a K, was extremely good. He could run the games and make them
> hilarious without embarrassing the contestants.
>
> Debarkation:
>
> If what you are looking for in a cruise is one you can get off of fast,
> this is the cruise for you. We got a VIP letter saying if we carried
> our stuff, and met at the American Bar we could get off at 7am. But you
> didn't need the letter, they started calling floors at 6:40am. I was
> standing in front of the ship with my whole party of 11 at 7am, hugging
> goodbye, then heading for the parking garage. I did hear one employee
> say to another he thought they could get everyone off the ship by 8:30.
> (Note: immigration on this ship is done off the ship, inside the dome
> using for embarkation, this means you aren't waiting for the people with
> foreign passports. When I walked off there were no lines, the
> immigration folks were ready for us.)
We got off after a nice breakfast and got to
experience the long lines inside the dome.
People get a passport: if not for yourself for the
people trapped behind you in the lines.
Special Services: Our youngest grandson, age 10,
demonstrated that a combination of "free pizza"
and "lemonade" in large quantities can lead to
some "gastric distress" at 0130 in the morning.
Made a real mess! Took him down to the Medical
Center when the heaving would not stop and was
given some really excellent service. They provided
medication to stop the heaves - he will never
complain about the pain of a shot again when he
found out what the alternative was! He was
confined to the cabin for 24 hours, The stewards
arrived and stripped the cabin completely. taking
everything away in bright red bags. Then they
wiped down everything with a liquid cleaner. Room
service provided everything on disposable plates,
etc. The next morning, we went down to the Medical
Center again for "clearance." We were cleared and
again the stewards attacked the room. We were
impressed; my wife is a micro-biologist and she
said they did a super job.
> As I mentioned, all in all this type of cruise is great for a family
> reunion type thing. Traditional set dinner times guaranteed you hung
> around together at least once a day. We got to spend lots of time
> hanging out with family we don't see tons of. The cruise was a nice
> back drop for that type of thing.
>
This cruise is a nice get-a-way. The Camp Carnival
program is great for pre-teens and teens. The ship
does need some spiffing up - lots of visible nicks
and scratches and damaged seats throughout.
It is clearly a "price point" cruise and there are
lots of chances to help Carnival make their profit
goals. The soft ice cream is free and is pretty
darn good. Not the nice stuff found on HAL but
better than some.
Cheers,
John in LALALand
