Carnival Miracle Cruise Review with 89 photos & 8 videos

I have to say that I misread the title of this thread, thinking it was Carnival Magic, so my mistake brought me into the wrong thread...until I seen this review was from you JimZim and I had to read it anyhow. :D I always love to read your reviews and adventures with the wife whose name rhymes with Hellen. :)

I guess I didn't realize there were other ships out there with the red glass whale tail and steak house. We were just on the Pride in April and it was the same way. How cool.

Thanks so much for the great review and I hope you have a fantastic time on the Escape in the Haven next year. It looks wonderful! :)

What a great review...and your pictures are beautiful!!! Thanks for posting. We currently have no cruises booked....so I am living vicariously through others right now. :D

I have read 1,000's of reviews and this the best ever It makes me want to go on the Miracle but I live in Florida. If the ship comes back to Florida I will. no flying for me. Great job JimZim

Amazing review. Thank you so much for all this effort.

Thank you so much for the work on this review! Love the beach pic with the 3 umbrellas....and all the other fabulous photos.

Great Review, we were on this cruise with you, in fact we were at Bubba Gumps in the early evening just after you I guess. We are doing two journey cruises on the Miracle starting January 16th. Once again really like the review

Another fantastic review Spaniel Lover! Thank you for taking the time to post it. Your photos are amazing and your descriptions are so vivid it's almost as if I'm right there onboard with you! :)

My wife and I had 3 great cruises on the Miracle when she called New York City home. So many great memories!

I've also had the exact same issues as you getting sick near the end of nearly every cruise. I also sanitize my hands before getting my food and again right before eating. Another trick that has worked for me is I now eat everything with a knife and fork to eliminate any contact between my hands and mouth. I'll admit that it does look silly when eating something like a cookie or a burger but I haven't fallen ill in our last 3 cruises!!! :D

Thanks again and happy cruising!:)

Thank you for doing this review! We were on Miracle a little over a year ago, and this brought back a lot of good memories. And I must say your photos are gorgeous, some of the best I've seen here on CC!

Thank you for the terrific review!

I actually took notes :-)

So enjoyed your review & pictures. We will be on the Miracle Jan. 31 for a 13 day Mex. Riviera itinerary - have been all over Mexico more than we can count, but really like to go from a West coast port. Since HAL isn't doing it in 2016, we decided on another Carnival cruise. We did the Spirit in 2009, but have been faithful to HAL since. Question: Do you remember the Restaurant in PV that was close to the ship exit? Last time we were there we took a taxi to Daquari Dick's, our previous favorite, but it seemed a lot longer than we want to go. Would like to walk to a good one that is very close. Also, did you have a picture of a door prop in your collection? Thanks.

I don't recall the name of the little Mexican restaurant at the pier, but you couldn't possibly miss it. Just walk off the ship and exit out the gate of the cruise terminal... and look right in front of you. It's right there... just a few feet from the cruise terminal. It's by the entrance to the flea market.

I didn't get a picture of it, but I found a low-resolution picture on the Internet...

The buildings with the sloping red roofs are the flea market. The building with the flat red roof and the green awning out in front is the restaurant. This is an old picture... I noticed at this last visit that they had replaced the awning with a nice new one. Note the red tile plaza and the fountain nearby. You'll have no problem finding the restaurant... it's steps away from the cruise terminal. I know it doesn't look like much in this picture... but the food was excellent, and with the exchange rate between the dollar and the peso so hugely in our favor right now, it was an excellent bargain.

Regarding the door stopper that I use to prop open the balcony door, you can see it at two minutes and 19 seconds in to my cabin tour video:

It's just a scrap piece of 2x4 lumber cut at a 30 degree angle. Works great for propping the door open. I basically stole the idea from the rubber door stoppers that the cabin stewards use. In the past, I have used the cabin steward's rubber door stopper to prop open the balcony door.

Here's a not-very-good picture of one of their black rubber door stoppers holding open a balcony door:

It's hard to see the door stopper in the picture, because it is black. I eventually decided it was rude to use their door stopper, because sometimes I would forget to put it back where they had left it... and then they couldn't find it when they needed it to prop open the hallway door to clean the cabin. So, I decided to just make my own out of wood, so that I didn't have to worry about putting theirs back where it belonged.

So appreciate your quick reply - I looked at the pictures I took from the ship in March, 2014 - and for the life of me I can't see the flea market in them. but they change things so fast, I wouldn't doubt that they built it in the summer after we were there. I'm sure we can find it, based on the picture you sent. We didn't even get off last year in PV, some mobility issues, and we had been there so often. We cruise now mostly for the cruise experience. The cruise in Jan/Feb will stop in La Paz, and we have not ever been there, so we would like to get at least a town tour. We have heard that the advertised stop in Ixtapa/Zihu will not happen since their tender dock has not been rebuilt yet. No word about it from Carnival, though.

The door stop looks pretty simple, we had been taking stretch ropes for that purpose, but the wooden wedge would be even easier.

Thanks again.

El Bucanero is the name of cantina near pier in PV. Was on same cruise as you and sat a table away from you in the Steakhouse the first night of our 11/14 cruise.

The door stop looks pretty simple, we had been taking stretch ropes for that purpose, but the wooden wedge would be even easier.

I gave up on using bungie cords on cruise ship balconies after an unfortunate incident in Ft Lauderdale!

It was the first day of our cruise and the ship was still docked in Fort Lauderdale. Our balcony cabin was on the side of the ship that was adjacent to the pier, and there were a whole bunch of dock workers working on the pier just below our balcony, loading things on to the ship.

I went to attach a bungie cord between the balcony door handle and the balcony railing, to prop open the door. I fumbled in attaching the bungie, though, and lost my grip on one end of it. It sprung like a big rubber band, and shot itself over the railing of the ship. I was so horrified that I had just accidentally shot something over the side of the ship with people working directly below, that I gave up on using bungie cords on cruises after that.

Using door stoppers to wedge the door open is much safer!

Was on same cruise as you and sat a table away from you in the Steakhouse the first night of our 11/14 cruise.

Did you overhear anything interesting?!? Hopefully I behaved myself...

That was the night I asked if there was any way they could give me warm chocolate melting cake for dessert... and they tremendously impressed me by actually making it happen. In fact, they had two servings brought up from the dining room... although I only ate one.

Did they offer you the other one?!?

If I knew they had another one I would have gladly ordered it as the apple dessert I ordered was not good. I was lucky that John Heald notified them that it was our anniversary and had champagne and a special desert for us, that I was able to eat that as my wife and MIL had cheesecake slices as large as their heads. I made up with melting cake and banana splits each remaining night in the MDR. We were in the aft too (vista suite 7298) and felt vibration that you spoke of in your post. We felt it but we were lucky enough that we did not have to listen to it.

We also enjoyed the cantina near the pier in PV. Had some nachos, margaritas and a few beers just before we headed out Wednesday. Also was able to contact home with their free wifi.

Haven't been on the general Carnival CC board much but just happened to catch your review today, and since I am going on Miracle on the 13 days Journey cruise next year I was glad to see it. Wonderful review and I learned some stuff. I loved your room tour (we have a midship balcony); were you a radio announcer or something? Great voice, the tour seemed so polished. I was also glad to hear your opinion of Chloe Loddo....I've been hearing good things, but the only other female CD I ever had (Julie on NCL Breakaway) was very phony and I didn't think much of her. I have the Chef's Table booked but am now intrigued by the steakhouse under the red funnel. I'm going to go to the Malceon also; I have been informed how to get there with the bus aside from cabbing it, which I hear is quite an adventure in itself. We will see. Bummer about how they cannot open and close the pool roof while in motion, that seems to be a big minus to me.....have never been on Spirit class so this was great!

I loved your room tour... were you a radio announcer or something? Great voice, the tour seemed so polished.

Yes, I miss it. I was a radio announcer during the 1970s and 1980s and eventually the Program Director of a small market radio station. Those were fun jobs, but there's an old joke with a lot of truth in it:

"What's the difference between a radio announcer and a large pepperoni pizza?"

A large pepperoni pizza can feed a family of four!

So, I had to get a real job after my wife and I had kids.

Amazing review! I've been debating on doing a carnival cruise for the last little while. We've always cruised out of Florida and being from the West Coast I'm tired of spending two days flying. I've been doing a lot of research and reading a lot of reviews and yours was definitely informative.

We've only ever cruised the Caribbean and I'm interested in cruising through Mexico. We generally enjoy the bigger more exciting ships so finding one on Carnival has been a bit of a challenge.

We actually just got back this week from NCL Escape. You will love it! It's an amazing ship with so much to do - in every way. So many food options, so many things to do and so much entertainment. Definitely check out O'Sheeans and try the ropes course.

Yes, I miss it. I was a radio announcer during the 1970s and 1980s and eventually the Program Director of a small market radio station. Those were fun jobs, but there's an old joke with a lot of truth in it:

I knew it! I called that one! LOL!

Great review Jim! Got me all primed up for my first Mexican Riviera cruise in a few months. Thanks.:D

And that's it! We're done. (Finally!) That's my review of our Mexican Riviera cruise on the Carnival Miracle. It wasn't the best cruise I've ever been on, but it was far from the worst. Any vacation that results in one of the best days of my life has got to be considered a success, for sure.

 

The shaky squeaky cabin was a disappointment, and getting food poisoning that one night was certainly a bad situation... but on the other hand I got over the food poisoning extremely quickly and didn't come home sick from my vacation and have to take additional time off from work... so I figure I dodged a bullet there.

 

I think I'll be cruising more with Princess and Norwegian in the next couple of years, but you can definitely still consider me a Carnival fan.

 

Feel free to jump in now with your questions and comments.

 

If you want to read about some of the other cruises I've been on, just click on the links in my signature, below...

Great review!! Thank you for taking the time to compose such a comprehensive review. I will be sailing on the Miracle next year and as much as I love cruising, I am not so enthused about the Miracle for the reasons you mentioned. The upgrades that were done were strictly tied to revenue. I travel with a group of family and friends and they insisted on a Mexican Rivera cruise this time around. I've done Cabo and Puerto Vallarta as land vacations numerous times so I got out voted. Anywho, thanks again for the review!

Great review and pics, thanks for posting it.

Jim, I see a lot of Carnival cruises in your signature. Do you happen to know what the platinum gift is right now on Miracle?

Jim, I see a lot of Carnival cruises in your signature. Do you happen to know what the platinum gift is right now on Miracle?

I cannot say what it is for sure on the Miracle. Currently, Carnival has a (forgive me if I screw this up, we missed this one) kind of atlas momento book....aka journal. The new gift is a bag that can collapse down, that is supposed to be available beginning of the new year. All that being said, they tend to "use up" supplies of past gifts. This, based upon what we have seen and read here, seems to be based upon what the current ship has.

In a perfect world, we would love to have the option to choose a gift from a menu, but no one has asked ;).