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Mike & Tracy’s continuing adventures: Carnival Miracle 8 day Eastern Caribbean


MikeyA53
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Background info: Mike (57), occupation- Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Mountie), Tracy (40) Formerly a Paramedic now a Mountie, originally from Wales, UK. Arielle (17), Mitchel (16).

 

Like most cruise critic members I start counting the days from the time I booked this cruise on March 25th, 2012. I love to research and plan everything from the restaurants along the way and back, the shopping malls we will be visiting, our itinerary, things to do on the ship and in ports. I do run most things through Tracy before finalizing anything.

 

Tracy on the other hand started getting excited about a month before the cruise. She started asking questions such as what ship are we going on again, where are we going, etc. I downloaded the Shipmate app on her iPhone and iPad so that she would have the info readily available, especially when talking with family and friends.

 

Arielle has matured a lot in the past 6 months; she will be turning 18 a couple of weeks after the cruise. She started getting excited a few weeks prior to our departure. She now has a boyfriend and said she wanted to hang out with us. She never got up early enough to go to the gym but to our surprise she did spent a lot of time with us.

 

Mitchel is different from the rest of us; if he got excited he never showed it. However, two days before leaving he was on Facebook with friends and asked me what ship were we going on.

 

Warning, to those who have followed my reviews know that this will be a long one with lots of photos (over a thousand).

 

Pre-cruise: Departed on Wednesday, Oct 3rd, 2012. Two days before departure. New York is 630 miles (10 hrs.) from where we live. When the kids were young Tracy and I used to drive non-stop to Florida (24 hour drive) but now 5 hours a day is enough. Plus taking two days to get there would give us plenty of time to get some shopping done and visit our favorite restaurants.

 

 

 

 

 

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The first night we stayed at the Andover Inn, in Andover, MA. The Andover Inn is a New England country inn registered with the National Register of Historic Inns and located about 25 miles north of Boston on the 500-acre campus of Phillips Academy, one of the oldest private secondary boarding schools in the United States.

 

 

We got it through Priceline for $80.59, taxes included. However, one of the disadvantages of booking through Priceline, which save you a lot of money, is that you are only guaranteed one bed and for the first time in 4 years of using Priceline, that’s all they had available. We always carry an air mattress with us just in case and that’s what Arielle and Mitchel slept on. Built in 1930, the room was small by today’s standards. It had a double bed and shower only.

 

 

 

 

 

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The next day, we travelled to Elizabeth, New Jersey, (only 2 miles from the Newark Airport and 18 miles from the cruise terminal) and stayed at the Country Inns & Suites. We used Stay123.com, which included free parking for 14 days, complimentary breakfast buffet and free internet. Price $150 taxes included. They have free shuttles to and from the airport but not to the cruise ports.

 

 

 

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Friday, Oct 5th, 2012- Embarkation

 

We got up at 7:30 am and enjoyed our free continental breakfast. ‘Dial 7 Car & Limousine Service’ was scheduled to pick us up at 9:45 am but actually arrived at 9:30 am. We had our luggage in the trunk and we were on our way to the Manhattan cruise terminal at 9:45 am, ahead of scheduled. Our rate for a Lincoln Town Car was $56, plus Lincoln Tunnel toll $14 and tip $15 for a total of $85.

 

 

 

Dark blue Lincoln Town Car

 

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If you add up the hotel, car service both ways ($150 + $85 + $85 = $320) and compare it to hotel, toll and terminal parking at $35 a day times 8 days ($150 + $14 + $14 + $280 = $458), it’s an extra $138 in your pocket and you have an experienced driver getting you to your location.

 

 

It was our first time in New York City; we were all excited taking in the sights and sounds.

 

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We arrived at the cruise terminal at 10:15 am.

 

 

 

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We gave our luggage to the porters, tipped them and proceeded through security. I had a cooler filled with flavored carbonated water which I opened and showed security, he took a quick glance at it and motioned me to go ahead, he never checked them out individually like they do at other departure ports. We had two bottles of wine in a bag and they never checked them out.

 

Check in was not open yet.

 

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Carnival Miracle

 

 

 

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We waited about 10 minutes before it opened and proceeded immediately to check in, no line. We received a zone 1 boarding placard.

 

 

Waiting to board.

 

 

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Still not busy

 

 

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Busier

 

 

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At 11:15 they started calling out the zones, beginning with zone 1.

 

 

 

 

Boarding

 

 

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Metropolis Lobby

 

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Tracy and I each occupied a room with the one child so that we could use two future cruise credits and it was now time to put the adults together in the balcony cabin and the kids in the inside cabin. Yet another advantage of being one of the first to board, only one person ahead of us at guest services.

 

 

 

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