Lynda's Carnival Paradise 4 Night Baja Mexico Cruise, Oct 04

October 18, 2004
Carnival Paradise
2 adults 2 teenage girls ages 16 and 13

The Paradise was absolutely beautiful. The way it was decorated made it feel very welcoming and comfortable. I was quite pleased with our cabin. I thought it was very spacious, adequate facilities and our steward was wonderful. There wasn't any part of the ship I did not enjoy, however, it was a bit boring for our girls. There was a handful of teens aboard and none participated in the teen nights at the club. We did not go to any of the bars or the casino because we were on a family trip so I would recommend to people that if they are wanting to do a vacation like this, they should highly consider another cruise line - probably the Disney cruise would have suited us much better. The entire staff of the Paradise was wonderful. We were very well taken care of our entire time, well informed and had plenty of food to eat. The food was sufficient - nothing too spectacular. The dining room dishes were much better than what was offered in the Paris restaurant and the Grill on the Lido deck. But, it was edible and plenty of it. We found the prices to be quite reasonable. Sodas out of the fountain were only $1, beer was under $3 a can, specialty drinks were $6.25, morning drinks were $2.95 and a cocktail was about $5.95. I only had a couple of their specialty drinks, pina colada and some wine. They were all quite good. I do not know what the bloody mary's or mimosas tasted like as we didn't have any of those. The coffee and iced tea wasn't that good, but we drank it. The lemonade and punch was fine.

The shows were great. Funny and very entertaining. They really do a great job. People need to make sure they arrive early as seats fill up fast.

The evening dining was my favorite. Our waiter and waitress took such good care of us and treated everyone like royalty. And each night, they would play a song chosen by the staff and they would all get up to sink and dance. A couple of times, they got the audience involved with dancing around the room. It was great and really livened up the place. Our waiter was doing magic tricks for us and making animals out of the napkins - we really enjoyed him.

Unfortunately, we had bad weather from the moment we set sail to the day we got back. It was never above 62 degrees and it rained - I mean it poured. We arrived in Catalina which is so pretty and the beach is right next to the shops. We went through the shops for a while, but then it started to rain and got worse and worse. We were in shorts and it became quite cold, so we had no choice but to go back to the ship. We were going to return to the island, but the weather just got worse and it was so cloudy, you could not see.

The next day, we arrived in Ensenada, Mexico. This was something I did not enjoy very much - it's too bad Carnival does not have another destination. But, it might be better had the weather been nice. In town was okay, but it wasn't very clean and there wasn't much to do unless you wanted to party or shop. Again, I was looking more for something relaxing - something family oriented. We decided to take the shuttle up to the shopping area where you can get better deals and after about an hour, it rained so hard that you could not be outside anymore. The area did not have any plumbing so you could not use the restroom except at this one place called Habana Banana and the lighting was so dim you could not see where you were going. The vendors and quite pushy, but we expected that. It was actually fun bargaining with them for our souvenirs. They were offering my oldest daughter tequila and that frightened me a bit, but you just had to keep a watchful eye out.

Due to the weather, the ocean was very choppy. I was seasick for two nights. If anyone thinks they might have problems, they need to make sure they have something to take. I took what the shop offered and it did not work for me and that is why I was sick again the 2nd night. I had to resort to dramamine which made me sleepy. I believe the best thing to do is have that patch - I saw several people with that and wished my doctor had recommended it for me.

When we were checking in before we boarded the ship, we discovered that I had forgotten Brittany's birth certificate and had two of Brianna's. I was in tears because I figured we were not going to be able to go. The lady at the desk was so sweet and so helpful that they allowed Brittany to use her driver's license as proof of identity. I feel they made a special exception for us and really appreciated it.

All in all, the cruise was phenominal. We were just unfortunate to have run into some of the obstacles we did. In the future, I will not take the girls on this type of cruise - I will go with a Disney one. If I was going with other adults, this would be a great cruise to take but maybe a different destination. We were dining with a family that have been taking the Carnival cruise every year for 12 years and they said the Paradise was by far the best ship in the cruise line - even compared to the larger ships. I would have to agree with them even without seeing the others. Yes, I would recommend this to other adults.

We took the Express shuttle service and I would recommend taking the Super Shuttle. Their shuttles seem to be nicer that what we took. I would highly recommend a Yellow Taxi/Cab - they had great and courteous drivers and it was not very expensive. You can either have the town car or van based on the amount of people and/or luggage and it was cheaper than Express or Super Shuttle. You never need to pre-book with them and they are VERY prompt (within 5 minutes of calling them).

I will think twice before taking a cruise in the Fall since we did not have nice weather. But, we were told this was unusual weather and it normally is nice and warm.

Overall despite some disappointments I really can't complain. We were able to take a very nice vacation on a beautiful ship. Tim did a wonderful job with planning everything for us.

Lynda