FAQ and Miracle 6/27 review coming soon

Hi everyone,

How's it going? I'm fresh off the boat for the 6/27 7 day sailing of the Carnival Miracle out of Long Beach, CA.

We went to Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco (MEX) and Cabo San Lucas, Baja (MEX).

I have a lot of things to catch back up on at home, so the day-by-day review will come soon, I promise (with pictures!) *insert amazed Ooooing here*

In the meantime, if anyone has questions about the itinerary, the ship, the experience onboard, Faster to the Fun (FTTF for short) or anything else related to my cruise, shoot!

I will try my best to answer throughout the day and sit down later to go through and answer questions I missed.

I want this thread to be judgement, name-calling, and personal-attack free, please. We are talking about vacations, right? Keep it nice and respectful.

Looking forward to questions,

-Brandon Q

Thanks for offering to answer our questions!

I have a couple: first, what was the time difference on the ship vs. on shore? We are trying to plan excursions and want to make sure we have the time correct.

Also, which nights were formal/cruise elegant? I'm hoping they are both sea days!

I have a couple: first, what was the time difference on the ship vs. on shore? We are trying to plan excursions and want to make sure we have the time correct.

 

Also, which nights were formal/cruise elegant? I'm hoping they are both sea days!

Hi Katiebug,

Thanks for bringing this up. The ship runs on ship-time. The ship-time was LA local time on embarkation day (when you board), then went forward one hour at 1am (basically, you move your watch forward 1 hour before going to sleep the first night). On Thursday, the fun times asks you to move your watches back one hour for Friday. In Puerto Vallarta, we were only 1 hour early from local PV time. In Cabo, we were on local Cabo time.

Disclaimer: Side story...DBF and I put the continential breakfast door hanger outside our door to be delivered at 8-8:30am ship time, forgetting to go forward 1 hour. Needless to say, I ignored the door knocks and realized when they called that we forgot to set out watches forward! I answered the phone, asked what time it was, and found out it was already 8:15am ship time. We got our breakfast and apologized to the server. She said it happens all the time.

Back to the questions.

On our itinerary, the 1st elegant/formal night was the 1st fun day at sea (Sunday) and the last was the evening after we departed Cabo :-( Not sure who chose to do that, because many people who went ashore were extremely tired after leaving Cabo. DBF and I went up to Lido deck to eat at the buffet (I perfected the "2nd napkin to handle serving spoons" trick by the 3rd day).

Please wash your hands before and after eating from the buffet if you touched any serving handles or common surfaces. No one wants to get confined to their cabin or worse, get everyone else sick, thus ruining your vacation. Please take this warning. They had hand sanitizer stations entering the buffet that were always stocked, but its not a substitute for washing your hands with soap and water (10-20 seconds vigorous rubbing with soap, not a quick rinse).

I know that Cruise Critic was redirecting to a random spyware/trojan bogus website today (I was struck with it), so I think that's why no one is responding. I scanned my computer, found no viruses, so chalk it up to a bad scammer's attempt to extort money from us cruisers (kinda like in Cabo....I'll tell you all about it in my review). But if you have any questions, please ask!

-Brandon Q

We sailed the Miracle April 25,2015 with ports of Cabo, Mazatlan & PV. Looking forward to your review!!

Would you know were the FTTF go to check in?

Would you know were the FTTF go to check in?

We came to the terminal around 10:30 and they were still doing check-in outside. There was a FTTF sign and a specific line. You bypass the snaking zig-zag everyone else lines up in. We were able to get to a desk within a few minutes (but we were early too).

Thank-You for your Quick Reply.

Looking forward to your review. We will be on the August 1st sailing. :)

Looking forward to your review. We were on the Miracle last November (link to review & photos in my signature).

Some the Miracle twice and doing it again in September. Out of curiosity how was The Red Frog Pub and did they have the did menu as of yet in there?

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Thanks Brandon! I hope you and your DBF had a marvelous time. I'm looking forward to reading your review!

Your comment about using napkins at the buffet made me laugh! We generally avoid the buffet just because we aren't crazy about the food, but I'll have to suggest that one to the germaphobes in my family! We've got two little girls, which means we are FREQUENT hand washers, but I still like the idea! It would stink to get sick on vacation.

Out of curiosity how was The Red Frog Pub and did they have the did menu as of yet in there?

 

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I loved the ship.

Honestly, I don't know if the Red Frog Pub has a food menu yet. I stepped in, looked around, and went back to the Alchemy bar.

The Alchemy bar is my favorite bar on ship! If you like martinis and cocktails with fresh, fruity, herbal and fun ingredients, check it out! Ielizabeta from Ukraine is a bartender there and she knows how to make a great Remedy.

Looking forward to your review! We will be cruising on the Miracle Feb 2016. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us :)

The Miracle doesn't serve food in the Red Frog Pub. Only the new builds have the kitchen built into the pub.

We sailed the Miracle April 25,2015 with ports of Cabo, Mazatlan & PV. Looking forward to your review!!

I've done this itinerary several times so you'd think I'd know the answer to this. But it's been long enough that my brain is fuzzy...

Can you tell me which side of the ship is dockside in PV and Mazatlan? Thx in advance!

I've done this itinerary several times so you'd think I'd know the answer to this. But it's been long enough that my brain is fuzzy...

 

Can you tell me which side of the ship is dockside in PV and Mazatlan? Thx in advance!

In Mazatlan we docked starboard side which AMAZED us!! We were in awe over the fact that the ship "turned around" in such a small area.

In PV we docked port side.

Thank you Heartkrazy!

Thank you Heartkrazy!

You're very welcome jazm2011!!

We were on the Miracle in May and loved the Alchemy Bar. Thanks for bringing back the memories.

I too am looking forward to your review as I'm thinking of cruising on her in Dec. with the DH, DS, and one of DS's friends. I've read some very bad reviews on the member's review board. I'm looking forward to reading what you thought of the cruise.:D

Love reading reviews. Thanks for posting.