Joe Palko is currently onboard the Carnival Cruise Line cruise ship Carnival Paradise on a four-day Western Caribbean cruise from Tampa, FL. Joe has been gracious enough to once again guest blog about his time onboard and share with us some photos of the ship and his adventure ashore in Cozumel, Mexico.
The Carnival Paradise is a Fantasy-class cruise ship that was launched on January 29, 1998, so she’s one of the older ships in the Carnival fleet and one with an interesting history. Originally launched as the Paradise, she was to be the first totally non-smoking cruise ship.
Big “Non-Smoking” signs were welded onto the sides and stern of the ship so they could be seen from the port. Strict no smoking rules were enforced onboard with guests getting booted from the ship if they got caught lighting up! Of course, their return trip home was on their own dime, so this wasn’t very popular.
Her run as a non-smoking ship lasted until December 2003, when Carnival pulled the plug citing poor revenue from the ship that didn’t attract a key demographic – smokers who spend money in the ship’s casino!
Her nonsmoking signs were painted over and remain visible today to a keen eye, as seen in this photo Joe took of her in port.
Carnival Paradise is an old ship by today’s standards. Balcony staterooms which make up the majority of staterooms on newer ships are few and far between on this ship. In fact, the only way to get a balcony is by booking a Grand Suite (28 total staterooms) or Junior Suite (26 total staterooms). The rest of the staterooms are inside or ocean view.
Even though she received a refit in 2008 and received some upgrades, the ship is still dated by today’s standards and relatively small with a passenger capacity of 2,052 – today’s mega-ships have more than double that capacity.
Now that you have an overview of the Carnival Paradise, it’s time to hear from Joe and what’s happened onboard during his first day of this four-day cruise:
The port of Tampa was super easy. I never realized Tampa had a cruise port! There are 3 terminals and they are arranged in a circle. Valet parking is $20 per day, and you pull up at the terminal and the valet and porters meet you at the car door. Garage parking is also available.
There were 25 check-in positions open inside the terminal. The walk to them was super short and so far, Tampa wins an award for having a very convenient port. We arrived at 2pm and we were on the ship by 2:15. The ship is very dated, but mostly by the color palette. The design of the cabins and the public areas are actually fairly modern looking, with the exception of the colors and signage. My guess is that when this ship started sailing, it was very modern for its time.
I’m located on the main floor, E19, which is literally in the front of the ship on the 7th floor. Seas are 5-7 feet and it’s a nice ride. The room steward is very attentive and friendly. There seems to be more American, British, and South African staff on this ship than I’m used to. I’m not quite sure why.
Our stateroom is functional but dated. If the color scheme wasn’t salmon and red, it would actually look somewhat modern. The bathroom is roomy and the shower is the best I’ve ever experienced at sea. It’s big, tiled, and has incredible water pressure. I am so shocked by the water pressure I asked others just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. Everyone else commented about the water pressure and how excellent it is. The bed is very comfortable. Lots of closet space too. My only complaint is the dated color scheme.
We are here with another family and we didn’t arrange dinner with them. We went to speak to the maitre’d who was so friendly and helpful and changed our dinner time so we could all be together. The staff has been amazing. Dinner in the dining room was excellent, far exceeding my expectations. I had a small fruit salad, lasagna, and a chocolate lava cake. I left the dinner table full and satisfied.
The beverage package for alcohol was $50 per day. Most alcoholic drinks are priced at $7.95. I think the beverage package is very fairly priced.
Internet access is fast and by far the most reliable I have experienced at sea. It’s $5 a day if you only want to connect to social media, $10 a day for limited websites, and $20 a day for unlimited. I opted for the unlimited and I tested the speed and got 5mbps up and 5mbps down. That’s a good speed on land, let alone at sea.
Personal Day-By-Day Carnival Paradise Cruise Review:
Photo Tour of the Carnival Paradise:
No vacation would be complete without a ton of photos, right? For this particular cruise, I took a bunch of photos of the ship’s interior, pool areas, the stateroom itself, and more. Photos can be found in the Carnival Paradise Photo Tour as well as in the day-by-day review of the cruise at the links above.