We're Jamie and Skylar with Explorcation, the channel where exploration and vacation come together. We love to travel and go on adventures in our home state of Florida, the Caribbean, and beyond while sharing all sorts of helpful tips along the way.
"People dosed off because they were too drunk!" Imagine complaining people were quiet and asleep. I get they're taking up a chair but aside from that, they're quiet, not bothering anyone, and taking up room for people who MIGHT be. I wish I passed by a pool deck of sleepy people, take the pool for myself
"No seat" in a cruise room is like "no bidet" in a vegas hotel room at a budget hotel. You ain't there for that. Great video guys!! And I'm with you Skyler, it's 70 or below at night for me or else I'm up all night
Carnival Paradise was our very first cruise in 2000! It has great memories for us! At that time it was a completely "non-smoking" ship. We still love Carnival after 33 cruises, and especially their new MDR menus introduced last year.
Looks like the bed wasn't made very well. There are way too many wrinkles in the bed sheets. Thrown together and not up to bed standards of a cheap motel.
This was a fun take on a cruise ship review. It seems like you used a few reviewers a few times, and they may have genuinely had a bad experience Knowing you were doing a cleanliness check, I’m surprised you didn’t pack a black light. Pretty sure that would have confirmed the 1 star status. 😂 Great video!
I’ve lived a funny life where I often stayed in 5 star hotels for work and some pretty sketchy places traveling on my personal vacations. I seldom have any complaints either way. But at this stage in life I think I’ll pass on this ship in favor of some of those others you’ve shown.
We can absolutely relate, Bob. I've always kinda thought that you have to consistently experience those not so nice places in order to really appreciate the nice ones. It's also good to remind yourself that the "bad" places are never really that bad. All that said, I don't blame ya one bit for passing on the Paradise when there's so many other ships out there to chose from.
We booked an inside cabin ( our first one) on Carnival Paradise for December 2024 and have been looking various RU-vid reviews, and this has been the most informative! We're always causeous about 1 star reviews. Granted, some have merit, but certainly not as bad as 1 star. There's going to be no comparison to our last cruise (we had a Retreat class aft suite on Celebrity Silhouette) but we did do a short cruise on the Carnival Freedom (ocean view, aka porthole) and had a blast. Entertainment was outstanding and the house band was one of the best I've seen anywhere. Thanks for a realistic approach in this review!
Thank you so much for your feedback, we were hoping to find a balance between an episode that is informative, but also entertaining. This was a totally new format for us so we really appreciate your comment. You are right, a Celebrity Retreat experience is going to be nothing like the Carnival Paradise. We appreciate Celebrity cruises for relaxation and excellent dining experiences, but gosh Carnival knows how to entertain! It is fun to experience different ships/cruiselines because each is a different experience.
Yea you are probably right, but as far as the Paradise, the 1 star reviews weren't hard to find. Thankfully it did seem like some of the feedback had been received by the company was making some improvements.
We took a 5 day cruise on the Paradise out of Tampa in November, 2022. I wasn't impressed, but it was hardly horrible. Overall, the room was clean, the service was great (our cabin steward was awesome!), the food was good, the entertainment was good and our ports of call were great. Our room had no "refrigerator" in the room. It's a sort of cooler with a cold plate at the back. If you are diabetic or have other medicines which must be kept cold, place them right against the plate at the rear of the refrigerator. If you are looking for glitz and glamour, this ain't it. I'd rate it a 3.5, just because there are better choices, not because I regretted the cruise. TBH, since then we have had 2 cruises on MSC and those were better, not because Paradise was terrible, but because MSC has so much better prices. We haven't been disappointed with MSC.
You are right, if you are looking for glitz and glamour you are going to be disappointed. We are happy to hear you'd give the Paradise a 3.5 (and not 1 😆) but also that you've had good experiences on MSC. It is hard for us to pass on good cruise deals and MSC has had some great ones lately.
@@Explorcation And _your_ video on the MSC Seaside before we boarded our cruise made me feel like I knew right where to go and where to find everything! Our next MSC cruise is also on the Seaside, but it is now sailing from Miami and has a different itinerary. It's a little farther to drive (we live near port Canaveral) but we wanted to visit the ports on that itinerary.
Cute format guys! And congrats on growing to nearly 40K! You guys are growing so fast! Keep it up! I love how you draw the line at slow water slides. 😂 No slow slides for you! Looks like a fun time though!
That bathroom looked beautiful - I always judge a hotel room by the bathroom cleanliness. The beach club and pool would be where you'd find me. Alan would be somewhere in the shade 🤣
I loved the mermaid tail faucets 😍 The beach club was such a fun area, didn't have to even get out of the water for our drinks 🍹AND there were plenty of umbrellas by the pool and in the beach area that didn't require an additional fee to use.
You guys confirmed what my Travel Agent Aunt says about Carnival, which is "That's the cruise line for the rowdy party people". Too bad about such a small pool and a hot tub so small that people only put their legs in.
I've never sailed on Carnival, but I'd like to try them one day. Haha the sardine scale!! Haha the martini spill rating - too funny. Honestly seemed like a pretty good time to me!
This was a very fun video to watch. I put a lot of faith in reviews, especially for hotels/resorts for my family. Lower stars, like 3.5 and under, typically scare me away. I always wonder if the bad reviews are true though and wonder if it's worth a lower star hotel to save some money. Also, have the bad reviews prompted any positive changes by the hotel owners that are not reflected in the review section yet? I need to keep in mind that people are more likely to leave a review for a terrible experience, than they will for a great experience. I think people are also more likely to exaggerate when they are upset or inconvenienced. Fantastic video! I look forward to every new video from you guys and can't wait for more content! ❤
Thank you so much Brittany for joining us and sharing your thoughts. We agree that people are way more likely to leave a review when they have a bad experience. We were really curious to see what we would find testing out some of the reviews. I do think someone was listening to reviews in regards to those mini fridges 😆 we just happened to be on the sailing when they switched a bunch out!
Looks like a good time. Which cruise line were you on? Carnival's port in Puerto Plata is at Amber Cove... which is about 8 miles away from where your port terminal was.
Anything less than 3.5 stars automatically scares me away 🙈 It doesn't matter if it's a hotel/resort, attractions, or restaurantt, so I'm very intrigued and looking forward to watching the premiere!
So far so good! The growth has been solid, although a bit slower than we had hoped. We faced a lot of headwinds this year, but Jamie actually just quit her job around a month ago to join me full time working on Explorcation. As of now, neither of us have any regrets about our decision to quit our 9-5's, but we'll see where we're at a year from now!
Hey guys - QQ. I’ve heard on at least one MSC Yacht Club sailing they had a problem with a smoke smelling room. I have asthma and that’s a deal breaker. Did you have any issues with your room? Thx! Jeff
Hi Jeff, thanks so much for watching. We didn't smell any smoke in our room, but our room was located near the entrance of the Yacht Club section, pretty far away from the front of the ship. I mention that because (at least on this ship) Yacht Club guests were able to smoke on the outdoor area at the very front of the ship (right in front of the YC lounge area). I would be curious to know if the rooms that previously had the problem with smelling smoke were located close to that smoking area. We hope you have a great experience!
Thank you so much for watching. Unfortunately it has been quite some time since we stayed at this property. We didn't attempt to snorkel so we are not sure if you'd be able to see anything in the water in front of the resort. So sorry we couldn't be more helpful.
Hi, I wish I would see your video before I traveled to Sanibel and Captiva. I was so lost without bowing where to park and where to eat. Next time I am going to watch your video before my next vacation. Thank you
😆if it were winter, we'd say 10, while for us it was a bucket list experience that was 100% worth it, we aren't sure what the experience is like in the summer. The manatees gather around Crystal River in the winter months.
Tyler I meant to she this awhile back. This is me taking off out of our home base KMRB. Turn the volume up m.ru-vid.com/group/PL0AexmD3LaEicm54u052sm2msStLn5sBw
Hi, I have a dairy allergy (milk, cheese, butter…. Anything made from milk 🥛) I am a vegetarian as well, but will eat seafood when I have to. Looks like everything had dairy. Is that just because yall like dairy a lot or because there wouldn’t be non dairy options?
We do like dairy quite a bit, and did not do a good job of checking to see what vegetarian/vegan options there were. Unfortunately we can't remember what was available. :(
We booked the MSC Seashore for next week to the Bahamas June 6th to 9th we cannot wait! My fiancé has cruised before and for me I just had a one-night cruise long ago so it’s my first real cruise!
Thanks for a great review. My gf goes away with her friends every year to their timeshare in St Thomas ( annual girls only trip) so I'm looking into going to Ft Meyers/sanibel when they go
Thanks so much for watching. If you are still deciding what to do in that area of Florida we also have episodes for Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, Captiva and Naples (if you haven't seen them yet)
