We chose this cruise because it was going to Cuba, and we wanted to see Havana before you could no longer go as a U.S. citizen, or before it became commercialized. We stayed in the Ybor district before the cruise for 2 days, 1 would have been plenty. The Columbia restaurant is amazing and I highly recommend it. We stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites and it was adequate for 2 nights. The air conditioning was extraordinarily loud, the pool is tiny, the breakfast is very good and the front desk staff is very friendly, and the security is excellent. Call for the shuttle the morning of your departure at 9:30 sharp - I called at 9:45 and the earlier shuttles were booked, we had a 10 am embarkation time and could not get on a shuttle until 11.

We purchased faster to the fun, so embarkation was painless 30 minutes total, which included some clumsy extra's as the Cuba destination is new and unfamiliar to all involved. The Paradise is an older ship and scheduled for dry dock soon, but it is a great sized ship for a short cruise with 2 sea days - plenty to do. We had an ocean view cabin E79 in back of the guest services area, the location was perfect for us, but it can be noisy at night if you are early to bed, because of the atrium lounge. The ship staff is what you would expect from any ship, most are very friendly, but every once in a while you get someone who is less than enthusiastic - never bothers me as they work so hard, I give them a break. TIP - this ship does NOT have hair dryers, in 20 years of cruising this has never been the case so it was a huge surprise to me. The cabins are what you would expect although the shower is a bit larger than on more modern ships. We eat at the Lido most of the time for breakfast and lunch and it was very clean, great variety, and plentiful of course. The Mongolian wok is really good, I suggest going on a port day as the lines are usually long on sea days. The main dining room was good, but nothing stands out as far as dinner was concerned. The sea day brunch, however, was certainly worth taking advantage of! The pizza/salad center that is available for late night needs some attention, the person who worked there was a jerk, there was never any pizza available and if you wanted pepperoni, he would ask you if another would be OK instead because he had that and did not want to make another - so not what you would expect at 9 pm.

The activities were the usual, nothing new here. Most of the entertainment was good, especially the musicians. One comedian at punch liners was so bad we walked out, not offensive bad - just not funny at all. Read more