(I normally start off my articles with a joke but since this article is pretty long, I decided to dispense with it. --- Raoul)

Paradise in Carnival Cruise Lines

on't panic! Walk in an orderly fashion! Women and children first!" I was imagining the crew shouting as my family and I and some 2,000 guests adorned with bright orange colored vests made our way to the top deck where the lifeboats were located. No, this wasn't a scene straight out of the movie Titanic. But my imagination was running wild as we were briefed about the safety features of the Carnival Paradise Cruise Lines. I snapped out of my dream in time to watch our ship pull out of Long Beach and begin its journey south into Mexico. There are no icebergs between California and Mexico, I reminded myself. Now, my mind turned to enjoying my very first cruise.

Carnival is a self-contained floating city where you are pampered with non-stop meals and entertainment for the whole family.

Carnival Paradise Ship Facts Total Staterooms - 1,026 Decks - 10 Passenger capacity - 2,052 Total crew - 920 Ship size - Large Tonnage - 70,367 Ship length - 855

The Carnival Paradise is a massive floating hotel and amusement park. It's a marine engineering marvel, a maze of elevators and stairs that gives you access to over 10 decks. (There were so many levels I couldn't visit all of them.) Because of its size and number of decks we neither felt nor heard the engines rev up. We only realized we were moving when we looked out the window.

Each wing of the ship offered different kinds of entertainment but my favorites were the dining and show rooms. There is a casino, dancing and music bars, a beauty parlor, an exercise room, spa, video arcade, internet café, a water park complete with a water slide, a Kid's play room, jacuzzi and children's pool, ping pong tables, mini-golf, a jogging track, a weight room with exercise machines, duty-free shops, a half basketball court, and sunbathing decks. There is even a small art gallery that features authentic works of Rembrant, Piccasso, Peter Max, Wassily Kandinsky and other famous artists. For the more privileged, there were several private parties (as we were soon to find out).

I do offer a suggestion: don't stuff yourself too much during the day because dinner offers the best choices and you can have double servings of everything. It was a strange feeling to march to the Lido room for dinner just an hour or so after we had sushi at the Promenade deck. I realized I was eating only because everyone else was eating.

The Entertainment
I used to perform in a band in my earlier life and so I can appreciate and understand the efforts on stage as well as behind the scenes --- whether it's a one-man-show or a Broadway production. Friday night was a double feature, stand-up comedy act. I don't know, maybe it's a "guy thing" because my gals weren't into it so they watched the movies on TV instead (some of them have yet to be released in DVD) while my son and I enjoyed the live act.

Saturday night was a song and dance country music routine featuring a live band on stage right while gorgeous singers and dancers occupied the main stage. We're not really country music fans but we still had a good time. Sunday night they had pop music (which we grew up with) so that was much better for us. The production was world class from the lights to the music … from the dancing to the costumes. I could have sworn the lead female singer was winking at me but the man in between us kept intercepting her secret signals … yeah, right!

Other Fun Activities Onboard
Having eaten so much, we felt guilty so my son and I visited the exercise room where I worked on the track machine while my son pumped iron. It was an exhilarating experience to jog on the treadmill while enjoying a majestic view of the Pacific Ocean. For my daughters it was a date with the spa room for a steam bath.

Carnival Paradise has a play room where younger parents can leave their little ones to laugh and scream to their hearts content. At the arcade teenage boys show-off their game skills to young ladies who play slower-paced adventure games.

If you're the gambling type, you'll love this cruise. The casino room was packed with high-rollers. According to the activities director, the casino gave away some $35,000 Saturday night. For the less adventurous gambler, every night is Bingo night where the winning pot is $200 Friday and Saturday but this increases to $1,000 on Sunday.

The Crew
I can't say enough about the crew. There were smiling faces ready to help us everywhere we went. There are 57 countries represented by the Carnival Paradise crew --- every one of them excited to grant our every wish. Whenever we returned from dinner, our rooms would be clean with a fresh set of towels, some of them creatively shaped into an animal form (i.e. a dog or lobster) and surrounded by chocolate packets. The waiters tried to outdo each other in giving us a fun meal. And when in doubt of what to order, ask the waiters. Their judgment is usually impeccable.

Ensenada to me looks just like a section of Los Angeles (except for the street signs) that was invented for tourists. No habla Espanol? No problemo! The locals are used to tourists. Even the horse carriage drivers spoke with a perfect California accent. My wife and daughters had a lot of fun shopping for novelty items in its many shops. We also went to a low budget museum which used to serve as a prison decades ago. There was no entrance fee which meant little or no funding so I wasn't surprised the museum was a bit run-down and disorganized. The cells were really tiny. It was easy to imagine the torture of a jail term. It looked just like the Mexican jails you see in the Zorro movies. Ensenada was nice but the real attraction for me was back on board.

Party Crashers
After our elegant Saturday dinner we decided to go dancing. To accommodate my 17-year old daughter, we made our way up to an ongoing dance party at the top deck. The music had an unfamiliar but nice beat. While my whole family was dancing I noticed two security officers approaching us on the side. It was then I realized that we had entered a private Armenian party! "How embarrassing," I thought, "to be arrested on my first cruise." But then a most unusual thing happened. One of the women pulled us into their circle as if to show the guards that we were part of their group. Dancing is to a woman as football is to a man so our gals shook their bodies for a very long time while my son and I watched the "experts" from a higher deck. Our hosts were so kind that they even told us to return the following night.

Monday morning finally came and it was time to say goodbye to Carnival Paradise. As we drove back home through the Monday morning traffic, I realized what an absolute treat we had just experienced. If you want to impress your family with a super vacation, treat them to one of these cruises. Thanks Carnival Cruise Lines for a taste of Paradise.

For Austin Deep in the Heart of Austin Texas-

From JRP, Iligan City, Philippines - Hi Raoul! When I was in Austin in 1957 it was a small town. I was even interviewed by a local newspaper & remember telling him our family is in the fishpond business. A Mexican brick layer in the lime plant I observed for a week took me to his houseboat in a lake near Austin & we had steak & beer while we fish. I thought the guy's lifestyle is better than the millionaire I stayed with in Salt Lake city.

For Italian Profiling -

From Pia Hugo, La Crescenta, CA - Hi Raoul! I came here to make reservations for our Sta. Barbara trip and decided to read the Italian jokes because. I have a few from my church. Very funny! Give Mike my thanks! And the illustrations are, as always, very creative! Thanks for the laughs :)

From Dette of Iligan City, Philippines - Always a treat and lift of the spirits whenever I see your cartoons. More power!

From Dette of Iligan City, Philippines - First of all, that cartoon of the lady reindeer and Sta Claus had me laughing loud. You really have imagination, lots. Original too. Congrats. But I really have to thank you for that X'mas story. It touches the heart. May I use the story for my own column in "Mindanao Scoop"? With your name and the "Traveling Boy" properly acknowledged of course. It says below "All Rights Reserved". Does this mean I can't reprint your article even if I acknowledge authorship? Merry Christmas!

From Nina of Quezon City, Philippines - Your Big Bear adventure sure looks cool. Most of my friends in San Diego only go there during winter probably because that's the best place to experience snow in Southern California but I didn't know that summer in Big Bear is a good treat as well.

From Hannah of Monrovia, CA - We've been to Big Bear for several anniversary week-ends and enjoyed kayaking on the lake. But we didn't know the history of the place and we didn't know the owners of the fabulous homes on the lake. Sounds like you had a lot of fun. You make us want to jump in the car and go this weekend.

From J.B. of Virginia - Nice [Big Bear Lake article] ... isn't [the pleasure of taking a vacation] why we are fighting wars, sacrificing, staying up long hours, suffering?.Isn't it for our freedom of self determination ... for our right to live our lives the way we want to and for the ones we care about?

From Tom of Pasadena, CA - Great Big Bear story Raoul. You definitely caught the essence of the place and remind me when my Mom and Dad and 5 brothers and sisters went there to camp in a 14 foot trailer and fish from a 10 foot boat with a 5 horse power Johnson Motor on it.One Summer I caught a 6 pound trout and got my picture in the paper. I was stoked as an 11 year old kid.Many happy memories came flooding back into my cranium regarding the great times enjoyed at Big Bear Lake.Thanks for your sharing them with me.

* * *

So glad you enjoyed the article Tom. Your childhood must have been fun. A 6 pound trout? Wow!! That must have been delicious. --- Raoul

* * *

It was delicious but the fame of catching it was tough to take with all the paparazzi hanging around. Ha! You have a real gift for writing, I thought I was right there with you in that article. --- Tom

From Mike & Trish Marzell of Lucky Bear Fishing Charters, Big Bear Lake, CA - Hi Raoul, You wrote such a wonderful article on summer in Big Bear! Nice website. Thank you for coming out fishing with us - we had so much fun with Josh, you and Dan. We're thinking up good legends and "UFO" is priceless! Please tell us whenever you come up the mountain; we would love to take you and your family out again. You are a great writer (kept us interested). We are going to read your other articles. Thank you again.

Some responses from my Lake Tahoe Adventure

From RV of Covina, CA - I enjoyed reading your Lake Tahoe blog. It brings back memories when I brought my mom & dad to Tahoe in 1999. My dad loved the place so much that when my brother arrived two weeks later, we drove up to Tahoe again. I'm sure you had a wonderful time with Danny, Edwin and their families. Those are golden moments, including the snow chain malfunction, which you won't get tired of re-telling over and over again.

From Hannah of Monrovia, CA - Thanks for your story about the blizzard. It made our day to see how God protected you guys. Otto remembered your bear story--same result; exciting adventure and no one got hurt; but now you have another marvelous God adventure to share!

From Kathleen of Massachusetts- Just read your mini-blog and let me tell you, you guys are very blessed. I won't say, lucky, I'll say blessed. Those slippery ice/snow scenarios are really dangerous. Glad God sent you the snow plow!

We don't get that much snow where we live, but in blizzards, we don't go out. It's too scary. One time we were retrieving our daughter Mercy from Providence, a 25 minute trip in regular weather. It took us 3 hours to get home, driving on the highway in blinding snow. Blinding. We couldn't see a foot in front of us, and if we pulled over there was a chance of getting plowed in to. Never again.

That stuff is pretty, but it's deadly on the highway and for hikers.

From Cindi of Connecticut - A great story and your family has an everlasting memory. There is nothing like home, especially when home is in So CA!

From Terry os Santa Monica, CA - Wow, what a compelling story about snowy Lake Tahoe and the tire chains!

I remember driving my van up to Mammoth to go skiing in my much younger days and having similar episodes with chains. One time a rear chain came loose and wrapped itself completely around the axle. It took two of us, on our backs in the icy slush, in the dark, without wire cutters, hours to untangle that dang chain. It still seems like yesterday. So I empathize with your plight, and glory in your release.

Welcome home.

From Ding of Vancouver, BC- Wow, brave souls, glad you got home safely ;-) Thanks for the TGIF, as always!

From Maria of San Antonio, CA (the email that my article was based on) - Only nuts and daredevils went to Lake Tahoe last weekend. The lat time we went up to the mountains in spite of the blizzard warning, we got snowed in. We just stayed home and watched our own leaks.