"VALENTINES DAY AT SEA" a cruisin USA "LONG and LENGTHY" review

From the Author......Today marks the 3 week mark of us starting our Valentines Day Cruise. I was still swaying with the ship when I started this review. I wanted to publish it last Tuesday, which was the 2nd anniversary of my "We Missed the Boat" review. But alas, "The Best Laid Plans...." This review is EPIC!!! Over 100k!!! The plan is that I will publish 2 days of our vacation at a time(with pictures). I'm not making ANY promises though. Feel free to comment or ask questions along the way(except you Don). I hope you enjoy the review, and I hope it gives you insight into the ship known as "Carnival Miracle"

Prologue

"Decisions, Decisions"

When we last left our courageous couple, it was a rainy February day in Miami as they disembarked from the Destiny(armed with 2 future cruise certificates), It wasn't until after our March "Nightclub" convention in Las Vegas that I really started considering what our next cruise could be. Choosing which cruise next?......hmmmm. LOTS of options! I had to set search criteria. Well, we'd been on the Ecstasy and Imagination twice, and the Paradise once already. For this trip, I ruled out the Fantasy class ships. We'd been on the Destiny our last 3(4, if you count our B2B) cruises. Time for another ship class was what I was thinking. What else?....Well, we'd been on the Key West-Cozumel cruise AND the Jamaican-Grand Cayman cruises 3 times each(so that ruled them out). So at least I had an idea of what we didn't want to do.

Eventually I ended up at CruiseCritic.com(of course). I knew there would be some kind of clue or hint here as to what we'd like do. I didn't read any particular reviews.(Remember, reviews are subjective. Take every one of them, including this one, with a grain of salt. Now if a lot of people say the same thing, that's a different story). Instead, I found myself in the Roll Call section. Something told me to look for the ship with the most Roll Calls. I thought that might reflect which ships that those "cruisers in the know" would be choosing. Head and shoulders above the rest was the Miracle with over 200,000 posts. (Today, the Miracle is still the top dog, with the Liberty and Conquest not far behind). The Miracle? Wasn’t that the ship that came and parked next to us in Grand Turk last cruise?

Pretty close in size to the Destiny, but much newer. I did go and search for Miracle in the Carnival forums. For the most part, this is a highly admired ship!! Okay, so what kind of itinerary? I checked the sailing dates for February hoping for a date near Mary Ann's birthday(the 27th). When I saw a February 14th sailing, I HAD to check it out. An 8 day cruise to Grand Turk, Dominican Republic, Aruba, and Curacao!!! PERFECT!!!...until I checked cabin availability, and NO aft wraps were available!!! OUCH!!! LOVE those aft wraps! There were lots of suites available, and I decided on an Ocean Suite(cabin 6327). Aft Starboard. Not lots of traffic, and a spot we're very comfortable in.

"Roll call, Roll Call"

I found the February 14th roll call on Cruise Critic. Mentioned that Mary Ann and I were thinking about coming along.(even though we already had our tickets). NO RESPONSE at all.....sigh. One thing I have to say about Roll calls. Months(or even a year or so) ahead of time, the roll call people ALL have that ship and sail date in common. People from all different backgrounds and ages. talking about their upcoming cruise. It is fun, but eventually they all get aboard, and then find out that they have 2000 people......ALL with the same cruise in common also. Although the roll callers do meet up, and organize some activities,(some more than others), peeps tend to gravitate to their own. The young hang out with the young, the old with the old. ...etc. I will point out that there were a few big groups on that cruise. (Most notably the VD @ C peeps). I'm sure all the groups had plans of their own, since they were friends who had all cruised together before. The "VD" peeps did have a party bus rented for Aruba, and were kind enough to let peeps from the roll call join. Mary Ann and I already had plans for Aruba though(more later). I went back to the roll call from time to time. Peeps weren't even talking about the trip. Nothing officially planned. NO Slot pull, cabin crawl, poker blah blah blah. There were however, a couple of pages devoted to Big Brother(oh Brother!), the TV show, and peoples other cruises before this one. Meeting the first night in the piano bar was mentioned. I didn't see any follow up on it until days before the cruise. Ok folks.....If you think you're going to get me and Mary Ann to meet up at 10:00 on VALENTINES day?... Not Likely. Finally(less than a week before the cruise), I jumped in since NO ONE had posted much about any of the ports. I excerpted the Grand Turk portion from my last review. Lots of Roll call peeps had aft cabins, so I also posted a Miracle aft pic also. I did show a picture of the lido deck and told people exactly where we'd be at sail away just in case. Deck 10, left of the Carnival Miracle sign.(more later).

"Preperation, Preperation"

I used the future travel certificate. It took $100 off our cruise price(which was just technically "pre-paid"), but also got a $100 onboard credit added. I also bought 100 shares of Carnival stock last August which entitled us to an additional $100 "OBC". 30 more cruises, and that stock will be FREE!!!...sigh. Called the Bon Voyage dept, and had them send a case of Coronas(1 case maximum FYI) and 2 bottles of Jaeger. Online, I ordered a "high seas romance" pack (Champagne, a beach towel, 2 visors, 2 t shirts, and a photo coupon). I also ordered an extra beach towel for me. I also bought $60 more in photo coupons, and 2 books of drink coupons, and one book of soda coupons. The icing on the cake???? A DOZEN red roses for Miss Mary Ann.

Called them a second time for my tuxedo rental order. After checking all the Carnival shore excursions together, Mary Ann and I finally picked the Gibb Cay Stingray Encounter/Snorkel adventure while we were in Grand Turk. We'd been there twice before. First we toured the island on the Dune Buggy excursion. We'd seen the whole island. Last time was just a beach day. This time we'd have something entire different planned for a port we already knew well.

Anything else?.....Oh yeah, if you read my Chef's Table review last time, you'd know we wouldn't be doing that again. Instead, we made reservations for Nick and Nora's steakhouse for Friday(Catalina Island). E mailed the request, and were confirmed a couple days later. We were set!!

This would be a trip with many firsts for us.........

This would be the first time we'd ever pre-cruised.(We did bat 9 out of 10, but OHHHH, that one we missed. But that's another review altogether....hehe). This was our first cruise as platinum members, first 8 day cruise, first cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale, our first time on the Miracle. and first time as stockholders(so beards, take note).

Ladies and Gentlemen, the characters are re-introduced, and the stage is set. The orchestra tuned, and at the ready. The lights dimming, and as the curtains pull back, please continue on to read........

"Valentines Day at Sea"

a cruisin USA "Long and Lengthy" Carnival Miracle review

Michigan winters are tough. However, this year was the mildest ever. Very temperate for Michigan, with hardly any snow. Wouldn't you know it? 3 days before our cruise, a cold front blew through, bringing icy temperatures,(12-19 degree high's for the day) and a big dumping of the white stuff.

In addition to the harsh weather, I had to reach escape velocity from my bar business to go on this 8 day adventure. Stocking the coolers, and booze shelf. Making sure there was enough change, and deposit slips. Enough food...yep. Change the CO2 canisters that supply the push to the beer and pop. Checks left for orders. Beer orders and liquor orders placed. Soooo many things on the list before I can even think of packing.

It's 3:00am on our cruise day. We have to leave for the airport at 8 am. Fortunately, I did have an opportunity to pack our "3rd" bag, and to get together everything I was taking for the trip. The bar's empty. I've cleaned and changed the fryers(nasty job). I've taken out all the trash to the dumpster. I was at my computer printing out the daily deposit slips for Keno and our Main drawers. I was just about ready to leave. I reach for my keys. No keys!!!! Uh-Oh....I looked EVERYWHERE I'd been. Dogpaddled ALLthe paperwork from my desk to the floor desperately trying to find those keys. They were nowhere to be found!!! Finally, it's 4:15. I'm extremely agitated. But there's nothing I can do. I admit defeat, and find my spare keys.(always have spare keys!!!) I still have to get home, and pack. It's almost 5:30am before my head hits the pillow. Still reeling from the lost keys, I have a hard time falling asleep. Before I know it, Mary Ann is waking me up at the 7:25am time I told her. I explain, about the keys, we get ready, and head off to the bar.(only 10 minutes away). We're there a little before 8. I just had to check 1 more time. Especially outside where I think they might have dropped and not seen in the dark. No luck. Its 8:15 before we hit the road, and we drive right into the middle of traffic jam.....sigh. Already late, and the cars just barely moving....double sigh. Finally traffic starts moving, and off we go. Pulled into the airport at 9:10, a little over an hour before our 10:25 flight. Then. we can't find an open parking spot anywhere on our preferred 2nd level. We proceeded up to 3rd level, where fortunately there were spots aplenty! Quick bag check in, and off to our gate. Not even time for grabbing our usual McDonald's, we grab a couple Pepsi's from the store, and we're boarding. The 3+ hour plane ride to Ft. Lauderdale went by fast. There was lots of advice on places to stay in FL on CruiseCritic. We picked the Embassy Suites on 17th street. Good reviews. Close to a market, and an Outback!! Good enough for us. I had called the hotel over the weekend, and they said to call when we landed, and they'd have a shuttle pick us up for $11.00 a person. I called as soon as we got our luggage. They told us to go out and directed us to the bus pick up area. We were heading that way. I was STILL pretty upset about my keys. Just then, across the road right at one of the bus stop areas, we see this large man(about 6'3'', 300 lbs easy) DROP!!! His wife starts yelling. People around with phones calling 911. Next thing I see a guy on top of him pumping on his chest. More people gather. Lots of people(including 2 TSA agents, just walk by). A man who looked like he might be a doctor went over, took off his jacket, and went to the man's side. It took the ambulances about 10 minutes to get there. I get a call on my cell phone. The driver is at the stop. We go over and he puts our bags in, as we hop aboard the minivan. There's a traffic jam, cause of the ambulances in front of us. We eventually pull out. I look back. I sure hope the guy's ok. What a stressful way to start a trip!!! At least we hadn't missed the boat(yet).

....to be continued....

....continuing....

Embassy Sweet

It was a short drive to our hotel(10 minutes).I knew we were close when I saw the Outback Steakhouse. As I've mentioned, I had heard good reviews on this hotel from both CC and Hotel.com.

17th st is pretty busy, and there's a strip mall across the street featuring "Waxy O'Conners" Irish bar. Another thing I noticed. This hotel is surrounded by banks. Kinda weird. Drove right up to the doors, checked in, and was in our room just like that. Nice hotel. HUGE courtyard in the middle. Nice!! The room was a suite. A living room and a bedroom with a flat screen in each. We had a small balcony facing 17th st. We stepped out onto the balcony. Finally a moment to breath. We were SURROUNDED by palm trees!

It was warm, and felt GREAT!!!! After a short refresher, we headed out to find the grocery store I heard mentioned. There are plenty of stores and restaurants behind the hotel. A short walk later, and we're at Publix. Loaded up with Red Bull, Pepsi, and septic wipes, we headed back to the room to drop them off. About this time, I hear my text message alert go off. It was Andrea, the bartender who works that day...the text read...."I just found ur keys while I was xferring some of the bud cans to a bag that was only half full!" Then another text...."Good thing I didn't just pull the bag"..........HURRAY!!!!! What a LOAD off my mind!!!!!!!!!! Now we could concentrate on starting our vacation.!!!! It was about time to go to the manager’s reception party (Free drinks and Snacks). Today, they were holding the party in the hotel's bar.(I guess it varies). I was sure ready for a few free beers. Mary Ann had a few White Zins. (Nothing like some free drinks and snacks to get you in a festive mood.) The party ended, and we decided to stroll the grounds. Nice Pool (bigger than I saw pictured on hotel.com) Lounges all around in a nice fenced in, tree laced area. It was getting dark. Time for some OUTBACK....It was packed on a Monday night. Great Dinner, as always. We headed back to the room, and to bed. We had a long day in front of us.........

....continuing....

Double posted

.....continuing.....

Rough Start Pt. II

Woke up...But too late for our complimentary breakfast....sigh. Got ready, and stopped by the concierge on the way to Wal Marts for a few last minute items. The concierge said that there was a medical emergency on the Miracle, and it came in late. She quickly added that it wasn't a Norovirus. She said that we probably wouldn't be able to get on the ship before noon, so that we should come down then, and take the shuttle to the pier. We ended up hanging in the room till it was time. Took the shuttle over to the pier. Before we started the driver told us to make sure we had our passports in our hands, to get through to the cruise ship terminal. Another short ride, but with many turns. I could see the ship in the distance. We ended up at the luggage loading area. There, the shuttle driver took out our luggage, and we turned it over to a porter. He pointed the way to the VIP entrance. Looked pretty exclusive to me. We walked in, and were greeted by a lady who needed to see our passports and boarding passes. After checking our documents she points us in the direction of the security/metal detectors. I told the security guy that I had a bottle of wine, and a twelve pack of red bull. I asked if he wanted me to take it out of the bag. He told me I could leave it in. I went through. Mary Anns bag was opened and the other security guy was shaking her Pepsi to make sure we weren't sneaking on alcohol. On another interesting note. There was another couple going through the other security line. Apparently, he was trying to take some NA beer aboard. The guard wasn't going to let him. They were practically begging him, seeing as the man liked beer with no alcohol content. Does Carnival sell NA beer aboard? I wish I would have stayed to see what happened.(just to let you know). We followed the signs up to the VIP check in. No Line so far, A quick walk upstairs, ....In through the doors,...... and into a room FULL of people waiting.(I stopped counting at 60)...Some first VIP experience.,,,sigh. Found out from some of the other people that we had to give the lady at the desk our boarding pass, and they'd call our name to check us in. Funny thing though. People are checking in, but not going anywhere. LOTS of people filed in after us. Finally they call us up. We're checked in, (and we get our first Platinum cards), but the lady says we'll have to wait till they give us the ok from the ship to board. We out of the room into the overflow set of seats there. We've been waiting a half hour in the terminal building. Finally some supervisors come over and lead us into the embarkation room. It's a big room leading to the gangplank. I can see the check-in machine where we'll hear our first "ding." The entire group is halted right before the area leading to the ship.

And there we stand, for probably about 20 minutes before most folks realize we're not going anywhere, and start to sit down.

Through the windows we can see our suite balcony...Cool.,. Looking down we can see all the palates of the supplies coming onto the ship. Forklifts are taking them one by one over to load. I noticed there's a security guy with a dog going around the supplies. At one of the palates the guy stops. Next thing you know, he's taking boxes off the top.

We sit for quite awhile. There's a BIG wedding party. At one time the security peeps rounded up the wedding folks, and started them through. Within a minute, their all walking back....False alarm!!....sigh. We waited in that room for well over an hour.

Finally, the wedding party is told to come on through.(With us close behind). Got our first "ding" of the trip. Across the gangplank, and into the Atrium of the Miracle. Mary mentioned that this time they didn't take any embarkation photos. Must have been the delay(although later we did see a small number of them in the photo rack).

....to be continued....

....continuing....

"Welcome Aboard"

Nice Atrium 7 stories high!!! Different than the Fantasy or Destiny class atriums which have many floors "ringing" the atrium. There's just one floor overlooking (ringing) the massive atrium. A GREAT vantage point to watch the masses. We found out later that every on every floor you can look through glass windows into the atrium. There were folks in red t shirts that read "Ask Me" walking around helping people who needed it. Some might say the atrium a bit gaudy. I would say not any more than any other Carnival ship.(even less so). And I think the "beards" have determined that Joe public likes doesn't want to vacation with the same atmosphere you would have at home. First thing we did? Headed over to the Shore Excursion desk to sign up for the Behind the Fun tour. Then off to find our cabin.

"Sweet Suite"

Made our way to the back of the ship to our suite. The doors to the hallway were shut. We just opened them up and walked right in. The cabin stewards were still busy vacuuming. Bags of laundry were still stacked up in the middle of the hallway. Got to our room, and opened the door...,..AWESOME.

Mary Ann's roses were waiting on the table, the room was decorated, and the Corona and Jaeger were already there too!!! HURRAY!!(pt II). The romance pack and my extra towel hadn't arrived, but I knew that everyone was behind schedule this trip. There was a note on the table that my tuxedo could be picked up at the Formalities shop. Mary Ann LOVED the movie star dressing table and all the drawers and closet space of her "dressing" room leading into the bathroom.

I took a few pictures before our bags arrived.

Out to the balcony. I will tell you this. We had an aft wrap the last 3 trips. This balcony although twice the size of a regular balcony was nowhere near as huge as that aft wrap. I did a "foot" measure. 4'9' deep by 19'5" wide. A little bigger than our Penthouse Suite balcony on the Imagination. I would be lying if I told you I wasn't a little disappointed. Kind of like how a person who had a balcony would feel if they had to go back to an ocean view (window) room. It was only a slight disappointment which subsided soon. This would be our home for the next 8 days!!!!

We were both hungry so we left off our carry on bags, and headed for the buffet. The elevators were really close to our room. We took it to the 9th floor, and found ourselves right at the entrance to Horatio's Sun and Sea buffet. What a GREAT layout!! A LOT bigger than any of the other buffets we had been in on previous ships. As we walked in(there's actually a hostess station at the entrance to the buffet). To the left was the Salad Bar. To the right was a knockoff Starbucks Coffee shop and the Pizza Station. Going into the buffet there were 4 stations at each corner of a huge center area. Today, there was the Carver...the Deli, Chopsticks,(Chinese) and The Grill(which was basically Hamburgers and such). What was cool, was that throughout the trip, they could change the nameplate of a couple of the stations.(Not the Deli or Carving station). But one day, they'd have Chopsticks, and the next it would be Italian, or an Omelets station, or even just plain "Good Eats" (Good job on versatility/variety Carnival). I saw them carving Roast Beef, and knew exactly what I wanted. Roast beef with horseradish. We found a place to sit. I went and got us drinks from the HUGE beverage station. I also headed over to the Salad bar, which became a staple for most of our lunches eaten there. DELICIOUS. We decided to go back to the cabin. There was one last thing that we needed to do to really feel we started our vacation, and that was....unpacking. Unfortunately, our bags still weren't at the room. We had seen what we thought were the last bags coming aboard before we left for lunch. 4:00pm, our original sailing time, came and went. Our 3 bags eventually came(all together...HURRAY!!!), and we unpacked everything. We knew that muster drill would be coming up, and we didn't want to have any more unpacking to do afterwards. Started customizing our room with our Valentine’s Day theme. I did have time to go up and fill the cooler with ice. Sure enough the announcement came in about the muster drill being within the next 10 minutes. Couldn't hear the announcements very well at all throughout the trip, but MAN those alarms in our room were DEAFENING!!!. We made our way down 3 levels to our Muster Station(D). I thought in light of Costa Concordia, that muster drills might be a little different. NOPE. Same old..song and dance. We got back to the room. Our room steward was in the hall. She asks "Is everything ok Mr. Gary?" I had mentioned to the person who delivered some of our stuff that we had ordered other things that had not arrived. I think he misunderstood me, and told our room steward that something was amiss. I told her everything was FINE.

...to be continued....

....continuing....

"Sailing Away"

Decided to explore a little. We went back to the Serenity deck, and decided that we'd use our first OBC with the first(of many to come)DOD's

The First Ones of the Trip

The Serenity area was just that(for the most part....The Water Slide is just above and the occasional scream was heard). Big lounges. Pool, Jacuzzi,

Bar, shaded sitting area with couches and coffee tables

Cool little black wicker huts just built for 2(or 3 close friends).

Could have spent most of the trip here, but we'd end up here occasionally throughout each day. Mostly to order a drink or to sit in the sun and relax. The sun was getting pretty far down in the sky. I knew we'd be off pretty soon. We grabbed a couple of beers, and headed to the port side, sun deck, where I told the roll callers we'd be a sail away. We were just about there when I hear "Gary" Up comes this couple. He's carrying a bucket of beer.(My kinda guy). He introduces himself as Steve and she's Deb, and he tells us that his screen name is Born2bWild. He's part of the roll call. It's just about 6:00pm. The ship starts to move. The wind kicks up. We pass the Ft. Lauderdale beach and head out into the ocean. I figure that anyone who had early dining was missing sail away. One of the reasons we like late dining. Steve and Deb have anytime dining. They are a GREAT couple. He explains that they have Harleys and 1 license says "Born To" and the other says "Be Wild." Too Cool. He also tells me that they too also almost missed the boat once. Seems they were in a store in Jamaica, and the store owner was plying them with alcohol. Even taking them into his private office. He told me that friends from the ship had come into the store looking for them, and were told they weren't there(they were in the private office). He said they'd already been shopping and he had one of those knit caps on with the fake hair that makes you look Rastafarian(sp?). Well, they almost didn't make it back to the ship with all the alcohol in them. She had to carry all the stuff, and he was stumbling. They had already pulled the gangplank up, but set it back down when they came up. What a sight that must have been. Later on the ship, someone mentions the people who almost didn't make it on. Steve said that it was him. The guy says, "No, It was some Jamaican guy".......hehehe. Nobody else shows. It's getting dark as we see Ft. Lauderdale(and the whole southern coast of Florida down to Miami) start to fade from view. Peeps really missing out. I just love the feel of the wind as the ship starts to gain speed. Steve mentions the roll call in the piano bar at 10pm. We REALLY wanted to see the Welcome Aboard show at 10:30. Certainly we'd see the roll callers somewhere along the way. Mary Ann mentions the free alcohol tasting should be starting soon. Steve and Deb head down. We think about it, but it's been a long day already. Just some relax time on our balcony before we get ready for dinner sounds like just the ticket.

....to be continued....

....continuing....

The Bacchanal

We got ready and headed to the find the dining room. We took the elevators down to the 2nd floor. That dropped us right in front of the door to the Bacchus dining room. Man, I was starting to LOVE our room location....Anyway, There used to be a restaurant at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, A Roman themed restaurant called the Bacchanal. In its day, it was one of the "prestige" restaurants in Vegas. There was a fountain in the middle. The dinners all started at the same time, cause it was all part of a show. Dinner would start with 2 women who were on the edge of the pool doing a synchronized dance(complete with finger cymbals clicking in unison). The staff were dressed as Romans. An ENDLESS glass of wine was constantly attended by a gal who could pour it from literally 2 feet away. The wine was kept ICE cold throughout the entire dinner with a chilled pewter goblet. 5 courses. Crudités(pronounced "croo de tay"....otherwise known as veggies and dip), soup, salad, sorbet to whet the palate , then the main course, and another dessert (like WCMC) that I was introduced to, that I will NEVER forget......Mandarin Orange Cheesecake!!! Men customers would get a short massage from one of the toga clad women. Women customers didn't get a massage...hmmmm. Just before the main course, Caesar and Cleopatra would come and each give a short speech, then propose a toast "To the Empire" Then they would roam to each table in character, and visit. Ah,....those were the days. This room, although much bigger, with it's grapevine motif, and statues of Bacchus and his wife as you enter the room brought back the memory of that particular restaurant. No toga clad women, dancing girls(although dancing waiters), wine being poured "from left field" or Caeser and Cleopatra, but I would comment that the food, and courses were on right on par. We were seated at table 179. A 4 person booth. Unfortunately the 2 seats across from us remained empty throughout the trip(They must have seen us and ran....hehe). Our main waiter was Lula. A very nice man who after learning our names knew them throughout the trip, and always addressed me as "Mr. Gary". We were handed menus. Lots of changes in the menu since we first started cruising. Definitely a LOT more choices!!!! Mary Ann remembered, when on our 2nd cruise her young daughter, Nicole didn't know what to pick for a main course(only 5 "fancy type" choices available). At the time there was no children’s menu per se, and we convinced her to pick Cornish hen with blackberry sauce. We told her it was like chicken. When that plate came, she knew that wasn't any chicken on that plate. Our waiter was a GODSEND. He cut the hen up, and fed her. bite by bite. She ended up eating it all. Nowadays, it's a lot easier with LOTS of choices. The Carnival menu had changed a LOT since our last cruise last year. 2 PAGES of choices!!

On the left page....The items they had every day...Starters included: Fresh Fruit Cocktail, Tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole, Caeser Salad. Entrees: Salmon, Flat Iron Steak, Chicken Breast, an 8 oz. Gourmet Burger, or Indian Vegetarian. Extras Included, Baked Potato, Rice, or Steamed Veggies.

Nicole, sure would have been happy with those choices. That's for sure!!! Good job Carnival!!

On the right side were the special items du jour. Tonight I decided on. Salad(thousand island) and Beef Barley soup.

Our menu every night included 1 item from that they called a "didja", as in "didja ever wanna try".

Tonight's "didja" ......Beef Carpaccio....Had this last trip on the chef's table...Raw beef......No thanks!!!! (Isn't there some kind of surgeon general warning about eating raw meats, fish, chicken, and eggs? It's a warning that's been on every menu I've seen for the past few years)....and speaking of raw eggs. Mary Ann's Caeser Salad was, kindly put lukewarm..She told me, and I reached over and tried a small leaf....YUK....lukewarm anchovies and raw eggs...(easily enough pushed aside) Guess the days of the chilled salad plate are gone......hehe. Mary Ann also order the chicken tenderloin with honey mustard and marinated cucumbers and lettuce appetizer. Just a chicken finger, like off the buffet, served with Honey Mustard. Of all the appetizers I saw this trip, this was the one that didn't exceed my expectation. In fact, I was pretty disappointed that they'd even try to serve this in the main dining room, which has always had excellent standards in food and offerings in the past. Oh well, again, easily passed aside. There was also a "comfort" food choice of the day. Today I chose the "comfort" selection. It sounded good....Beef Brisket.....Ever so tender...ever so "melt in your mouth" DELICIOUS ....Dessert?......No doubt "Warm Chocolate Melting Cake" (hereto referred to as "WCMC") for me. It'd been since last year, since I had it. Mary Ann opted for a "Bread Pudding" type dessert. We asked our waiter to make sure that we got what would become our nightly coffee for Mary Ann, and complimentary cappucino for me. The chef had prepared a special dessert for Valentines day. Our waiter dropped one off at our table....saying "No Extra Charge" hmmm....Chocolate and kinda squishy....

There was no waiter show tonight. A little disappointing. Maybe it was because of our late departure. The maître d did introduce himself. What an introduction (that he did every night). He would say..."This is Yusuf yourrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr(yes he would really roll those R's) dining room maître d" Nightly he would mention what a pleasure it was to serve us. He would also mention the "Show of the Night" at the Phantom Theater. The whole room clapped as he finished. Dinner, at least for us was over, We had time to get back to the room for a couple of our Corona's and our first Jagerbombs of the trip. When we got back to the room, there was this little fella.

Also our Romance Pack and my towel came!!

...to be continued....

....continuing....

We refueled and headed to the Phantom Ballroom for the "Welcome Aboard" show. Although you can see most of the WA show on the TV in your room, it's just a "feel good" type of show. We hadn't gone in I don't know how many cruises. You get to hear the ships showroom band. for the first time!! This cruise it was the "Dave Fulton" band. I could tell that Dave was the trombone player in the center. They DEFINITELY didn't disappoint!! You get to "meet" the cruise director. Miracle's CD is Malcolm "Woohoo" Burn...(not Burns as I've seen). Malcolm, a tall(6'6") black man. Seemed like a nice guy. Pretty funny. I didn't hear any sort of "woohoo" the first night, like I'd heard about though.(It came out once in while most of the rest of the trip though). Told us he was from the Bronx, and then commented about all the ladies were clutching their purses tighter. Malcolm did the usual stchick about "You're on Vacation, so Have a Good Time". I personally don't think that a CD doesn't make or break a cruise. Basically, just an emcee of sorts. I think that all CD's follow the same outline/guidelines, but they're told to put some of themselves into the job. I remember when we first started cruising. It seemed to me that all the cruise directors were English. Love to hear that voice, making the announcements throughout the day. Then I remember our CD "Peter" who at the opening show, did a GREAT version of George Benson's "Nights on Broadway" I thought he was part of the show, before I found out he was the cruise director, Then how about George "call me Hor-Hey after 5"? Heard he went back to comedy. The funniest thing I thought about George was his laughing so hard at his own jokes. Anyway, like I said, I won't let a CD make or break a cruise for me., but I have found ones to be more entertaining than others, who shall remain nameless.. Next up, We met the cruise assistants. Each with their own snazzy "intro". Most notable? Brandon, the assistant cruise director (who I saw working A LOT!! during this cruise). Brandon said he'd "Sing" us his favorite activity. The band starts playing Marvin Gayes' "Let's Get it On" while Brandon sings about Bingo. The funny part was that during the song Malcolm came up from behind the "F" in the F*U*N background. Turned his back to the audience. Lifted his suitcoat and did what I'll describe as a "booty" dance. to the song. HILARIOUS!!! Funny thing,...This show was on the ships TV's, but Malcolm was out of camera view while doing his dance.....hehe Just goes to show that you might want to actually attend like we did, more because what you don't see on tv.We also got to see a couple of the comedians who were aboard. Usually they do their best stuff at that show, to get people to come see them. The first comedian(Carl Guerra) comes out. He asks. "What happens when you kiss a canary?......"You get Chirpees".....-long pause-....It's ok though...cause it's Tweetable" Note to self....Skip this comedian. The next comedian comes out,. Roman(no last name).....Kind of a laid back, "wander around as he talks" ,deadpan comic. We did laugh a couple of times. But nothing hysterical.

The show was over by 11:30. Stopped by the piano bar right after the show. "Brendan" was playing to one table of people(none of which were wearing beads)..It had been a long last couple of days. Some balcony time was in order before bed. The ship was going at seeming pretty slow clip. It was windy, but not much wake was being created beneath us. We went to bed knowing we had a new ship to explore tomorrow on our 1st sea day.

....to be continued....

Hello to All, That last post completed the first 2 days. I'm anticipating being done by Friday.

nessz79......Thank you for subscribing(it get's better)...."Welcome Aboard"

smplyblessed619......I certainly hope this review makes your favorites list. Good guess on the ice machine.... Wrong, but good guess. I didn't look there. Actually the keys were atop one of the "empty cans" bag. In Michigan we have deposits on cans, so I have to save the empties, and get credit for the next set of cans. Messy job. I must have laid the keys on the bag while I was doing something in back. Had the bartender just turned the bag upside down and dumped the cans into another container, she would have never realized it...whew...Going on the Destiny?,,,In my signature, there's links to my last 2 Destiny Cruises...Check'm out(and I hope you're pre-cruising....hehe).

Vanislandcruisers.......Jim!!!! It was nice to meet you too! You guys had a really nice group of people there. It would have been great to get a chance to talk with you more though. Next time for sure!!!

NotWthOutablcony........Love your Name(and attitude). Glad you're enjoying the review. There's LOTS more to come!

anaivali...Thank you for your kind words. You keep readin...I'll keep writing.

{{{{{{{{{FROUFIE}}}}}}}}}.......Would have LOVED to had you on this trip with us. We had those 2 seats open, and don't think we didn't think about you (and Ray) being with us last trip. Loved your review of the Liberty!!! It's on our list, but as you'll find out in the review, we're booked for a little while now. Wish we could make that Transatlantic trip with you....sigh(more later). We remembered how burnt you got in Grand Turk. Took plenty of sunscreen. XO

jetsfan..........We really liked the Miracle also!!! Thanks for your comment.

{{{{{gapearl.}}}}............"Welcome aboard" once again. Thank you for reading.

I'll start posting the review again sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my review,

Gary aka cruisin USA

Hello to all....I'm just checking in for the moment..Plan to resume the review by 5 pm.

agc291...Thank you for your kind words. We would DEFINITELY do this itinerary again!!

{{{{{DEBnGAB}}}}}....You know, between you and gapearl, I feel like we've all cruised together before. Thanks for coming back, and "Welcome Aboard"

jaixrx and wayland168 .....Thank you! We've got a LONG way to go!

Cruising Nut......The Miracle is a great ship! Malcolm told us about the switch over to the West Coast. The Panama Canal!!!!, Alaska!!..and Hawaii!!!! Any one of those cruises aboard Miracle would be SPECTACULAR...(a word I don't use too often)

Jim........Mary

Anyway.......as I was looking over what I've already posted, I felt that I left something out....... I wanted to show you our Valentines Day "decor" before I resume.

I brought some heart "window clings" that went on our door, and we even put one on the glass barrier looking out of the balcony

We even gave our door the "treatment"

I saw a LOT of door decorations this trip, but they're covered within the review.

I will say again, the putty is the way to go for sticking stuff up. The Carnival Decorations ALWAYS have come down every trip we had. We just brought a pack of the putty, and we could use it to hold up the decoration strips much better. I still bet they're finding that confetti around though....hehe

I will be back shortly to resume.

Gary

...