It’s Day 2 on the Carnival Paradise from Carnival Cruise Line and Joe Palko is guest blogging from the ship which is currently enroute to Cozumel, Mexico, the only port of call during this four-day Western Caribbean cruise.

The Fun-nel of the Carnival Glory
The Fun-nel of the Carnival Glory

Joe says the sea has been calm, the drinks have been flowing and service at the Lido Buffet… well, in today’s report he shares his disappointment with dinner service at the Lido.

For those wondering, Hurricane Patricia is not impacting the itinerary of this cruise as the mega-storm is still far west of Cozumel and it’s not expected to come near resort city. Some cruise ships out of Long Beach, CA were forced to change routes, as they were heading in the direction of the hurricane. Not the case here.

Let’s move on to Joe’s latest report and see what it’s like on the Carnival Paradise, one of the oldest ships in the Carnival fleet:

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Hi Scott, we are at sea today and I’m sure your readers will be happy to know that I slept till noon! Honestly, I can’t say I ended up doing much on this sea day, as I’m usually very lazy on days when we’re just floating on the water.

For the most part, we had drinks by the pool, laid out in the sun and worked on our tans! There’s lots of fun onboard and everyone in our little group is having a great time.

The pook deck of the Carnival Paradise
The pook deck of the Carnival Paradise
The Fun-nel of the Carnival Paradise
The Fun-nel of the Carnival Paradise
Waterslides on the Carnival Paradise
Waterslides on the Carnival Paradise

Since we were pretty lazy most of the day, we decided not to go to the main dining room for dinner. Instead, we ventured up to the Lido Buffet and I have to say, it was a tad disappointing. The buffet is set up in such a way that there are at least four positions (stations) where they could be serving food. However, at dinner time there was only one open! That resulted in a limited selection of things to eat and many people standing in the line for the one buffet station.

I didn’t bring my phone up to the buffet for dinner and I’m sorry that I didn’t, because I wish I took food of the buffet line and the food they were serving. Simply put… it was really awful. So awful that I ate a ham sandwich from the deli and two slices of pizza.

The pizza shop on the Carnival Paradise is open 24 hours a day, and thank heaven for that. Any time of the day, or night, you can get pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. Advice for those cruising on the Paradise, skip the hamburgers – they are really terrible – but the pizza was always consistent and good.

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Sorry to hear about your experience at the Lido Buffet! When I cruise, I usually only hit up the buffet for breakfast while I work on my daily update, or for a quick salad at lunch time. Very rarely do I ever call upon the buffet for dinner. Unless of course I’m on one of the Oceania Cruise ships that has an amazing buffet with fresh grilled steaks, shrimp and seafood cooked to order while you wait.

How can you screw up a burger? Well, I’ve seen it done before. Now, if you remember during my cruise on the Carnival Liberty, I said that Guy’s Burger Joint had the best burger I’ve ever eaten on land or at sea! Unfortunately, the Carnival Paradise does not have a Guy’s so Joe did not get to indulge in that heavenly cheeseburger that I’m really craving for now after writing this!

The Plain Jane from Guy's Burger Joint on Carnival Liberty.
The Plain Jane from Guy’s Burger Joint on Carnival Liberty.
Yea, it really is the best burger at sea - from Guy's Burger Joint on the Carnival Liberty.
Yea, it really is the best burger at sea – from Guy’s Burger Joint on the Carnival Liberty.

Thanks again for the update Joe and we all look forward to hearing more from your Western Caribbean cruise on the Carnival Paradise.

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.

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