Just off the Miracle to Hawaii 12/6 - 12/21

Sans comment.

That's about all I can say...

Please tell me you are going to write a review, with pictures! Please don't tease us. I am looking forward to this. :D

Please tell me you are going to write a review, with pictures! Please don't tease us. I am looking forward to this. :D

I have a lot of pictures on my son's Blackberry, but not uploaded yet. Let me just say that 17 foot seas, seasickness, flooded decks, broken plumbing, propulsion issues, lost luggage, TV's, toilets, and phones that didn't work, brown water in our sink and tub, our stop in Maui was skipped completely on account of the foul weather, and my old high school cafeteria served up better food. You basically had two choices EVERY SINGLE day at the buffet: Rice or pasta, and/or some mystery meat selection swimming in mystery sauce. The staff all looked like they really didn't want to be there, and when you smiled at them, their smile back at you seemed forced and superficial. Our room attendant was excellent, however. Lemonade was too sour, the coffee was battery acid, and the ice tea tasted (and looked) like swamp water. A woman was placed under house arrest for assaulting a fellow passenger in the casino, (she cut his face with a broken glass), and there was a tragic passing of another guest a few days prior to arriving back in Long Beach. That was this trip in a nutshell. I was never so glad to be off a ship. If anyone else was there on this cruise with us, please chime in with your personal stories/opinion... I am still in disbelief at what transpired.

Holy Cow. Sounds like the cruise from hell.

I've never been on a cruise with just 2 choices on the buffet. Not even close. If someone else on your cruise can back this up I might buy some of your other issues. But probably not.

And the rough seas are Carnivals fault?

And the rough seas are Carnivals fault?

Of course it is. When someone complains about 100% of the cruise what else would you expect. I also hope someone else from this cruise chimes in. Only 2 items on the buffet? Wow. That had to suck.

So, you think 17 foot seas are bad? You must have never cruised out of NY, Baltimore or NJ. We've had 20+ seas at least one day on almost every trip and 35 foot seas coming back to Baltimore back in March.

You do realize the word "critic" in Cruise Critic doesn't mean you only list what was bad, right? :rolleyes:

I also do not understand what a woman being arrested has to do with you enjoying your cruise?

I also hope someone else chimes in and gives a balanced review. Our last RCI cruise was on Miracle out of NY and we easily had 15-20 foot seas one day and it wasn't bad. It is the ocean after all.

So, Mrs. Lincoln, other than that did you enjoy the play?

Eggs

Bacon

Sausage

Hot cereal

Pancakes

French Toast

Waffles

You left out:

Cold Cereal

The fresh fruit bar

The pastry bar

Toast/bread/bagels

The omelet station

Ham

Eggs Benedict

Home Fries/Potatoes

Hard boiled eggs

These are the items on the buffet EVERYDAY and on EVERY Carnival ship. My question to you is.....what do you eat for breakfast at home?

Oh....and the milk. It has a shelf life. When we did this cruise on the Splendor last year, we had to pick up supplies on one of the Islands. Milk and bananas are the main two that come to mind. There are a lot of food items that are perishable and will not last on a 15 day cruise.

Hi :)

My wife & I are eagerly awaiting our Hawaiian Islands

voyage aboard the Miracle, however we decided to book

the voyage many months after its upcoming 15-day dry

dock, just a few months from now.

We never sail on a ship 2 to 3 months prior to, or post

a dry dock.

:)

I do Not join in these comments. I was on the Miracle for 15 days and loved her. I would go again tomorrow if i could get off work and afford it. Yes there is a lot of movement going across the open seas, Not the ships fault. We were told to expect movement. Yes she tossed front to back and side to side. we were lucky and did not get sick. I enjoyed every minute of the cruise.

We had an emergency and had to turn back and was delayed 5 hours because of the person having to be taken back for medical emergency. The ambulance took her off. Therefore we did not get to Ensenada till dark. That was interesting. Not the captains fault. Some stayed on the ship. We toured and ate and had fun.

The captain came on every DAY at lunchtime and told us what to expect with the next days weather and so on. He told us to expect coldfront swells and that the ship would be rocking. I have been on several other cruises and the Captain never told us what to expect. I admired him for that.

Food on the buffet is never up to the dining rooms quallity. We eat in the dining room and loved it all. Service was slower some nights due to one dining room instead of two. Smaller ship. I was not impressed with the steakhouse.

That being the only negative.

Summary: I loved the Miracle. She is decorated very nicely.

A cruise is what you make of it.

Thanks

Debbie

OP, thank you for your review of the Miracle. We are on the next Hawaiian cruise on the Miracle that they have in January, so the information you shared is etremely helpful. I am sorry you had such a bad time. Was Hawaii at least worth going to?

Yes, Hawaii is beautiful. You will enjoy it.. We did.

I have a lot of pictures on my son's Blackberry, but not uploaded yet. Let me just say that 17 foot seas, seasickness, flooded decks, broken plumbing, propulsion issues, lost luggage, TV's, toilets, and phones that didn't work, brown water in our sink and tub, our stop in Maui was skipped completely on account of the foul weather, and my old high school cafeteria served up better food. You basically had two choices EVERY SINGLE day at the buffet: Rice or pasta, and/or some mystery meat selection swimming in mystery sauce. The staff all looked like they really didn't want to be there, and when you smiled at them, their smile back at you seemed forced and superficial. Our room attendant was excellent, however. Lemonade was too sour, the coffee was battery acid, and the ice tea tasted (and looked) like swamp water. A woman was placed under house arrest for assaulting a fellow passenger in the casino, (she cut his face with a broken glass), and there was a tragic passing of another guest a few days prior to arriving back in Long Beach. That was this trip in a nutshell. I was never so glad to be off a ship. If anyone else was there on this cruise with us, please chime in with your personal stories/opinion... I am still in disbelief at what transpired.

I was on the same cruise and had a fantastic time ... it was a great cruise and my cabin got flooded ... and still had a great cruise

The Captain did a great job ... he was on the bridge all the time ... but when he found out that we could not tender in Maui he made a quick move .. to turn us around to proceed to Kona where we were able to enjoy a few hours instead of a sea day ...

The Captain did a great job ... he was on the bridge all the time ... but when he found out that we could not tender in Maui he made a quick move .. to turn us around to proceed to Kona where we were able to enjoy a few hours instead of a sea day ...

How can someone complain about that? On our sailing, we skirted around tropical storm Simon (which was upgraded to a hurricane during our sailing) and was late to Cabo the first day, but he had our safety in mind and a little bit of rough seas was to be expected. The Captain was great and gave us updates as necessary.

Glad to see that you enjoyed your cruise :).

it is always disappointing when a vacation doesn't feel as amazing as you had expected!! We don't cross the Pacific in winter because of the possibility of high waves.

We were in Maui on a land vacation the first week of December and the waves were so strong that our hotel told us not to go into the ocean!! I was sad that I didn't get to snorkel but we went to the aquarium to see the fish that I couldn't see on my own.

My point is that you can always focus on the terrible things or you can decide to find something good about the trip. Hopefully your next cruise/vacation will be more enjoyable for you!!

Your last RCI cruise was on the Miracle?

Of course I meant Carnival. It's called a typo. Just look at my signature. It's listed.

We tend to cruise RCI so that gets typed basically on auto-pilot.:-)

Regardless, rough seas are part of cruising. If OP doesn't like 17 foot seas maybe they need to quit cruising because 17 foot seas are very common and hardly anything to get concerned about.

The OP made some very valid comments but "things" can happen on any cruise that are worthy of comment. Food is subjective and experiences can be so much different for each of us, e.g., positive experiences that would make our review more balanced. We disembarked from the Miracle on December 6 and reduced speed can emphasize potential problems. We were told that many feel the motion more on the Miracle because of how it is built (narrow). Overall the Miracle has a great crew and we have sailed her many times and are scheduled to sail her in the future. We did reschedule our next cruise on her until after drydock.

I have a lot of pictures on my son's Blackberry, but not uploaded yet. Let me just say that 17 foot seas, seasickness, flooded decks, broken plumbing, propulsion issues, lost luggage, TV's, toilets, and phones that didn't work, brown water in our sink and tub, our stop in Maui was skipped completely on account of the foul weather, and my old high school cafeteria served up better food. You basically had two choices EVERY SINGLE day at the buffet: Rice or pasta, and/or some mystery meat selection swimming in mystery sauce. The staff all looked like they really didn't want to be there, and when you smiled at them, their smile back at you seemed forced and superficial. Our room attendant was excellent, however. Lemonade was too sour, the coffee was battery acid, and the ice tea tasted (and looked) like swamp water. A woman was placed under house arrest for assaulting a fellow passenger in the casino, (she cut his face with a broken glass), and there was a tragic passing of another guest a few days prior to arriving back in Long Beach. That was this trip in a nutshell. I was never so glad to be off a ship. If anyone else was there on this cruise with us, please chime in with your personal stories/opinion... I am still in disbelief at what transpired.

We were on the same cruise, but had a totally different experience than you did.

There were no 17' waves. Most of the seasickness was experienced by cruisers who have mainly cruised to the Caribbean where the waters are usually calmer.

The flooding was caused by a leak in the Serenity pool and flooded some of the aft cabins. The people in these cabins were compensated.

There were 2 pieces of lost luggage, which happens on most cruises.

All of the crew we encountered were very friendly, happy and none seemed like they didn't want to be there.

I do agree that the choices at the dinner buffet were limited, but not at other times. Never encountered any mystery meat covered in sauce.

About the fight at the casino bar. I talked to someone who was there when it happened. The woman was drunk and harassing the bartender. Many people told her to stop. Finally one man told her to stop (using some profanity) and she hit him a few times over the head with an ashtray. She was placed under cabin arrest for the remainder of the cruise.

The captain tried to get to Lahaina, but at 6 in the morning, he had to turn around due to winds over 50 mph. Because we missed Maui, the port fees were refunded and each passenger was given $200 refundable OBC.

Never heard of any death on the ship.

The complaints the OP has can occur on any cruise line.

We enjoyed this cruise so much that we booked this cruise for next November.

We were on the same cruise with a totally different experience. Had a very nice time but will say not one of our best cruises.

My criticism of Carnival is they should not be sending Miracle to Hawaii with a damaged engine only capable of 18-19 knots. If everything breaks exactly right they make the itinerary.

We started off two hours late and if no damage we go 22 knots and make the itinerary. The capt and crew were not at fault but the ship should either have done a different itinerary or they should have fixed the problem.

Crew did a fine job and they did make the best of a bad situation. Do not believe we had 17 foot seas but did have some rocking but nothing that bad. Not Carnival's fault that a women passenger became violent and hopefully she will not get on a cruise ship again.

Thought the food was basically good with some misses but that is to be expected when cooking for over 2000 people.

We were on the same cruise, but had a totally different experience than you did.

 

There were no 17' waves. Most of the seasickness was experienced by cruisers who have mainly cruised to the Caribbean where the waters are usually calmer.

 

The flooding was caused by a leak in the Serenity pool and flooded some of the aft cabins. The people in these cabins were compensated.

 

There were 2 pieces of lost luggage, which happens on most cruises.

 

All of the crew we encountered were very friendly, happy and none seemed like they didn't want to be there.

 

I do agree that the choices at the dinner buffet were limited, but not at other times. Never encountered any mystery meat covered in sauce.

 

About the fight at the casino bar. I talked to someone who was there when it happened. The woman was drunk and harassing the bartender. Many people told her to stop. Finally one man told her to stop (using some profanity) and she hit him a few times over the head with an ashtray. She was placed under cabin arrest for the remainder of the cruise.

 

The captain tried to get to Lahaina, but at 6 in the morning, he had to turn around due to winds over 50 mph. Because we missed Maui, the port fees were refunded and each passenger was given $200 refundable OBC.

 

Never heard of any death on the ship.

 

The complaints the OP has can occur on any cruise line.

 

We enjoyed this cruise so much that we booked this cruise for next November.

I was told by three different crew members (including an officer) that we did indeed have 17' seas at one point. That's when they put the barf bags out by the elevators, and my son said there was vomit in the aft elevator. Deck 5 was flooded, deck 4 suffered water damage as a result. My neighboring cabin mates said their room phone never worked, and they were given three different remotes to try on their TV, and it never worked either. One fellow I spoke to down at guest services said his toilet wasn't working for two days and he was downstairs yet again to complain about low water pressure in his shower. I personally knew of people who were getting double billed for everything from bar services to getting charged $40 for a bottle of water. I paid $160 for the internet package, and had to visit guest services multiple times because even though I signed out, it was still eating up my minutes. And it was so painfully slow I couldn't even print off my boarding passes. One fellow got so frustrated with it, he smashed his fists down on the keyboard. There were empty soap dispensers in the public washrooms (even after "suggesting" they should be filled). The casino was way too smoky and they need to install ozone generators or air purifiers to rid the smell. The smoke reached as far back as the atrium bar at times and my wife is HIGHLY allergic to cigarette smoke. The crew did their best under the circumstances, but things certainly could have been handled better. Maybe in retrospect, this just wasn't this ship for us. I hope her upgrades do more for her reputation.

17 foot seas are not that big for a cruise ship. Back in 2011 on the Pride we ran into a storm that had the swells completely covering the window in our ocean view Rivera deck cabin. When the ship crested a wave the water was shooting up over the bridge. The Captain had to slow the ship down to 10 knots to keep the movement manageable. The atrium elevators were shut down and the comedy club got flooded.

We loved the experience, a cruise is what YOU make of it.

I was told by three different crew members (including an officer) that we did indeed have 17' seas at one point. That's when they put the barf bags out by the elevators, and my son said there was vomit in the aft elevator. Deck 5 was flooded, deck 4 suffered water damage as a result. My neighboring cabin mates said their room phone never worked, and they were given three different remotes to try on their TV, and it never worked either. One fellow I spoke to down at guest services said his toilet wasn't working for two days and he was downstairs yet again to complain about low water pressure in his shower. I personally knew of people who were getting double billed for everything from bar services to getting charged $40 for a bottle of water. There were empty soap dispensers in the public washrooms (even after "suggesting" they should be filled). The casino was way too smoky and they need to install ozone generators or air purifiers to rid the smell. The smoke reached as far back as the atrium bar at times and my wife is HIGHLY allergic to cigarette smoke. The crew did their best under the circumstances, but things certainly could have been handled better...

Boy oh boy.....sounds like you were busy as a bee.