Live from the Miracle, a July Mexican Riviera Adventure!

DW and I have been on 10 cruises, mostly on Princess, but we have tried other lines as well. We are DINKS in our 30s and mainly sail on our own, on occasion we will travel with various family members but we usually cruise while school is in session and they all have kids. A family member reached out to us about 4 months ago asking if we wanted to go on a cruise with them this summer. Well, we never pass up a chance to cruise so sure, we were in! I'm a firm believer that even a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at home, and definitely better than any day at work!

I think that each cruise line has their own unique personality. Let's face it, with the mass market lines the food, entertainment, cabins etc are all relatively similar. To me, what differentiates the lines is the atmosphere, the guests on board and what activities are on board. Some lines seem more laid back, some geared towards onboard activities, some focus on family activities etc. I also believe that if 5 people take the exact same cruise you will find 5 different opinions, so you really need to try it and see for yourself what works and what doesn't for you and what you want to get out of the cruise. It doesn't take much for us to have a great time, we are pretty easy to please, so this review will be from our perspective, and YMMV.

So I'll readily admit that I was a little hesitant regarding Carnival from the start. Even though DW and I are in our 30's we are old souls and we know that Carnival caters to a younger, more active market segment then we generally fit into. DW went on a Carnival cruise over a decade ago and she wasn't overly impressed with them except for their soft serve ice cream machine [emoji6], this will be my first Carnival cruise. That all being said, we're off to the Mexican Riviera on a 7 day trip aboard the Carnival Miracle, and we are super excited to try something different than what we have experienced before!

Being a first timer on Carnival this is probably going to be a long one! This is also our first time to the Mexican Riviera, we are in Cabo 2 days and Puerto Vallarta 1 day. And I'm going to try and make this as “Live” as I can, even though we won't have an Internet package onboard, AT&T gives us free roaming in Mexico just like we were in the US. So I intend to check in for questions each day we are in port. I'll try and post menu’s, Fun Times, etc at the end when we get back.

Being so close in to the cruise date when we booked (about 4 months out, which I think is close in seeing as how we have a Spring 2019 booked already) I was surprised to see that Faster to the Fun was still available, so we jumped on that right away. Boarding early, having our room ready when we board, and given 2 of 3 ports were tender ports all added up to a great value for the price ($70). We are spoiled on Princess, with the exception of isolated incidents on the newer ships, cabins are generally available fleetwide when you board. Being Platinum we also get priority boarding but we have never had priority tendering. I also really liked that you could make a reservation for the Steakhouse prior to boarding the ship. I put in the request via email and received a prompt email back (about 3 days later) confirming the date and time I had picked was available and it was all booked for us.

We generally book a balcony cabin and like to be in the midship area, but on this cruise the balcony guarantee was significantly cheaper than a midship balcony so we decided to give it a try. We made our final payment and waited to be assigned a cabin. It was 38 days out when we were finally assigned to our cabin, a 7A obstructed balcony. This was our first time in an obstructed balcony. So stay tuned and I'll report back on how we like it. From what I read it only blocks the view straight down so it shouldn't be bad at all.

We always get into port a day early, never want to chance missing the ship due to weather or an airline issue so we are in staying at the LAX Hilton. We booked transfers to the ship and I probably should have just planned on an Uber, but this being our first Carnival cruise and first one out of LA wanted to make it easy and reliable so we booked transfers. Plus, DBIL and his DW and 2 kiddos were flying in the morning of, so we figured we would meet at the airport and could enjoy the ride over together.

We try to take as few vacation days from work as we can so we can take more trips! So we are working today and catching a late flight to LA. So we are off on our adventure. Thanks for tuning in and we can't wait to share our trip with you all!

Also following. Am another Princess cruiser (29 cruises to date on Princess) but always open to other Carnival Corp affiliates.

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We get on the Miracle next Saturday! I will be following so I can see what to expect from our cruise. Have fun!

Kim

I sail on the Miracle in 2 weeks!! Looking forward to your review...have fun.

I am on the Miracle in November, so I am really looking forward to this review. Have a great time.

Thanks for posting.

Candi

We arrived late last night to a typically chaotic scene at LAX. With hoardes of impatient people jockeying for spots to pick people up at the curb, honking, yelling, it was people watching gold as we waited for the hotel shuttle to swing in and pick us up. We only had to wait about 15 min and we were off to the hotel.

The LAX Hilton is a huge facility with a beautiful lobby. We were lucky being able to check in early via the app and obtaining a digital key to our room we were able to skip the lobby and head directly to our room. It was a good thing it wasn't the middle of the night otherwise we may have had to sleep in the lobby! This hotel is equipped with an elevator from the future. It has a panel where the traditional buttons are located, you select the floor and then it tells you specifically what elevator to enter. No buttons inside the elevator other than open and close. Not too difficult but a first for us lol. The rooms were nice and clean. HHonors gold get breakfast in the executive lounge on the 16th floor. A descent sized space but it was a total zoo in the morning and we couldn't get a seat so we ended up taking our plates to the room to eat. They had the typical pastries, fruit, yogurt, pre-made Mini omelettes and cooked wedge potatoes. It was actually really good and with all the people there the food was constantly refreshed. The shuttle service was timely and continuous. We waited about 5 minutes outside for the next shuttle to arrive and were at terminal 1 in about 5 minutes.

We have a short wait for the rest of our family members to arrive and then off to the ship!

We get on the Miracle next Saturday! I will be following so I can see what to expect from our cruise. Have fun!

 

Kim

So are we, Kim! How many are traveling with you? I am bringing my 3 teen boys. Can not wait...1 more week.

The Carnival Rep started walking around the baggage claim area just before 9:30 and checked us in for the transfer. We were on the bus by 9:45 and left the airport after an additional pickup stop by 10:00. The drive to the port was easy and we were off the bus by 10:30. The check in lines were really short. We had FTTF and our family members didn't and we finished our check in only a few minutes before them.

The check in area is outside, but there is plenty of shade. This is the first time I have seen a check in done outside. It's warm but with the breeze it's really nice out. We were pointed to the priority boarding line and are just waiting for boarding which we were told should start around 11:30.

And there she is!

I'm actually completely shocked at how few people are here. We have never been on a cruise where at this time of the day the terminal is essentially completely empty.

Long Beach has Staggered Check in (that isn't followed) but many are first time Cruisers who follow the rules.

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Great start following all your itinerary is definitely on my radar and bucket list

don't miss the Red Frog Pub and the comedy shows.

Boarding started just after 11:15 with suites and Diamond with FTTF immediately afterward. We were in our cabin by 11:35 and at the buffet shortly thereafter.

Very initial impressions of the ship. Dark, rich interiors with seemingly lower ceilings, and some slightly over the top Greek murals and architecture. I like the clocks in the stairwells, very handy. The ship does have an older feel to it, with some wear and tear but overall I like the atmosphere, it's unique.

The buffet had a lot of variety. Chinese, Italian, a great sandwich station all made for a good lunch. Enough variety and the food was hot and had a great taste.

I'm hoping the general warmth around the ship will dissipate once we get underway.

The gym was really interesting. It's multi story and has quite a bit of equipment considering the size of the ship. There is also a spa in the center of the gym that I'm guessing is what spa guests use?

Started the day off with a Twilight Zone, on the sweeter side, but delicious!

don't miss the Red Frog Pub and the comedy shows.

Thanks! I have seen this around the forums and the drinks look awesome. I'm definitely hitting this and the piano bar up, can't wait!

Initial quick photos from around the ship:

Bacchus Dining Room (melting chocolate lava castle is on the menu tonight!!!)

Club Ocean (only one side)

Atrium

Phantom Theater

We are going here on the Splendor in 2019 and was unsure of logistics from airport to ship pre and post cruise so following.

We are going here on the Splendor in 2019 and was unsure of logistics from airport to ship pre and post cruise so following.

We went on this one way back in 09. Being from Oregon our flight was short and we arrived reasonably early in the day (noonish) being one to save $$ and looking for a little adventure I learned there was a "free bus" that you could take to the train station and then for like $5 all day pass you could ride the train all the way to Long Beach. Looked it up and discovered that there was a train station two blocks from our hotel, and figured we could hoof it. It was an adventure, and I had to figure out what color train line we had to be on (if memory serves we had to take one color and then switch to another, crossing the street to catch other) It worked perfectly. Once you get to long beach they have these red buses that are free (or at least did then) and we wandered around the city on them all afternoon :)

We went on this one way back in 09. Being from Oregon our flight was short and we arrived reasonably early in the day (noonish) being one to save $$ and looking for a little adventure I learned there was a "free bus" that you could take to the train station and then for like $5 all day pass you could ride the train all the way to Long Beach. Looked it up and discovered that there was a train station two blocks from our hotel, and figured we could hoof it. It was an adventure, and I had to figure out what color train line we had to be on (if memory serves we had to take one color and then switch to another, crossing the street to catch other) It worked perfectly. Once you get to long beach they have these red buses that are free (or at least did then) and we wandered around the city on them all afternoon :)

We are going here on the Splendor in 2019 and was unsure of logistics from airport to ship pre and post cruise so following.

There's now a Flyaway Bus to Long Beach. Then you can catch the free Passport bus or call a cab/Uber etc

West Coast board has lots of info

Thanks for doing it.

We've been on the Miracle many times as it is our favorite ship. FYI....the hot tub in the spa area is open to anyone unless that has changed since last year the last time I was on board. It was always our favorite little secret gem and most people don't find it until halfway through the cruise.

Thanks for the feedback.

following....good start so far:):):)

Thanks for letting us tag along on your cruise. Miracle was my son's first cruise when he was probably 8mos. or so. Don't know that the ship had that much of an impression at that age, but he's 13 now and a cruising veteran. Have a great day on board! :)

We lounged around some more, and made our way to the muster drill. It wasn't terrible but we are spoiled on Princess where we muster in a lounge on the ship. I think there are a few of the Carnival ships that do it as well, but unfortunately not ours.

We headed to the lido deck for sail away and I grabbed a Shade-ade for some much needed refreshment, not bad, very refreshing.

From here we headed back to the cabin to see if DW’s suitcase had shown up. Mine had arrived a few hours earlier but her’s was MIA until after the muster drill. She was excited to see it sitting in the hallway and we finally got all settled.

At this point we were getting ready for dinner and still no sign of our cabin steward. We aren't used to this, as usually they are chasing you in the halls to introduce themselves, ours seems to be a recluse. We know he is around as when we returned to the cabin the complimentary bottle of water was there for DW.

We were off to dinner. We picked probably the worst time to go to dinner tonight and got there a little after 7. A party of 6 people and we only waited maybe t5 minutes for a table, not bad at all!

The Bacchus Dining room is fairly over the top in decor, there are what I think to be grapes all over the ceiling and walls, its quite the sight to see! I really like the 2 story dining room, it makes for a much different experience than we are used to. The servers were polite but fairly inattentive. I would compare the service to a standard restaurant back at home and very unlike what we usually have aboard ship. The meal progressed fairly quickly. Not sure if this is just this service team or not, but if you ordered say 2 appetizers they brought them both right away. Typically in the past you would be served one and when finished they would bring the next one, not these guys, they just dropped the plates and ran. The kids meals did come out with our first course so that was very helpful as they were definitely fading fast at this point, it had been a long travel day for them.

As far as courses, we had the calamari and a salmon appetizers, both of which were good. For entree’s the sweet and sour shrimp was great with a wonderful fried rice that had bay shrimp in it as well. Other winners were the grilled chicken entree and the beef roast. We wrapped up dinner with the best dessert of all time, the melting chocolate cake! Just as delicious as everyone has said it was, and a great end to a good meal.

I have to give it up to carnival for the bread basket, man this thing blows Princess’ hockey pucks, I mean rolls, out of the water! Warm fresh French baguettes and wheat rolls with cranberries in them. A+ for the bread here!

We were all fried at this point and decided to call it an early night, something about the motion of the ocean makes us more tired than normal and we seem to head to bed earlier than we would at home. We headed back to the room to find the fun times sitting on the bed, but the luggage mat was still there as were some empty glasses and the bed had not been turned down. This was disappointing as we still had not met our steward, there was no form in our room to indicate how often you would like service (I had heard others mention that there is a form to select once or twice a day for service). I know we could call him and ask him to come by, and we will, but to me this is par for the course and shouldnt be something I need to initiate. Maybe I have too high of an expectation?

All said and done we had a great first day on board. Despite a few hiccups, we are having a great vacation thus far and are looking forward to the days ahead