Carnival Miracle 5/20 Sailing Review. Couple/late 20s Rating:4.5/5

Brace yourself- It's long. We enjoyed the detailed reviews so here's mine!

Just got back on Sunday from the 5/20 sailing and we had a great time. We're pretty simple and don't need much to be happy on vacation.

We were checking reviews constantly before our sailing and so many of them filled with "complaints" that were just silly to be honest. Example: "The ship is old, worn"- oh please. It holds thousands of people every week! It looks great, everything works, nothing is broken or unsafe. It's FINE! :)

Little things really shouldn't make or break your VACATION..

Anyways!- First off, this was my 7th cruise and my partner's 5/6th one and our first time buying Faster to the Fun (FTTF) and although prices have gone up for it, we HIGHLY recommend it. We mostly got it to get OFF the ship ASAP(this came in handy, more on that later) but getting ON was an absolute BREEZE. It took us 30min from the time we arrived (10:15am) at the port to check in our bags, go through security, check in at the desk and receive our Sail & Sign cards and finally be seated to board (10:45am). Boarding started at exactly 11:30am for FTTF holders and our cabin (5174) was actually READY when we boarded!!! (It's also a FTTF perk) (cleaning was rushed to meet this deadline as I'll mention later.)

Once we dropped off our things, we headed to the Lido deck to grab some lunch and our first drink.

The drinks are OK for the most part but frozen drinks are horrible (aka WEAK) without a floater. We also bought the Cheers package for the first time and although we might just pay as we go next time, it was really nice not having to worry about the bill and just enjoy some drinks and try some news ones too. (We had about 50 drinks each during 7 days but it was mostly because we felt we had to at least break even.) The place to really maximize your Cheers package- but also where to enjoy the BEST drinks in general- is at The Alchemy Bar!!! OUR FAVORITE. Lucian and Yuliya (might be misspelled) ARE AWESOMEEEEE. All of the drinks are good and unique but Cucumber Sunrise was my go to. My Partner enjoyed Forty is the New Twenty and The Youthful and Bold Beritini. (I think he enjoyed the 2nd one best)

The food was pretty good (Lido, Pizza Pirate-24 hour Pizza, Chopsticks-hello Lo Mein and Fried Rice!) and Deli were our go-tos. Shout out to the Tuna Sandwich at the Deli! (Get it toasted!) We ate at the Lido for all of our meals except the second Elegant Night where we ate at the Main Dining Room. (Crab Cake, Stuffed Mushrooms, Mushroom pasta, Teriyaki Salmon and Filet Mignon were SOOO SOO good!)

Sushi on board is extra but we had it about 2-3x during our sailing- we thoroughly enjoyed it! (They close at 11pm- be sure to order well before then, we got denied at 10:45p.)

We went to the Punchliner just once and wished we went more but just got caught up during the other show times.

Side note: We were only interested in the Rated R showings only since we do enjoy adult humor and such but Manny Oliveira was just crude and not very funny. 90% of his stand up was picking at audience members, making fun of their ethnicities and super disrespectful towards husbands/wives with jokes involving taking the wives back to his cabin.

We had actually read reviews about him prior to our sailing but wanted to see for ourselves how bad it was and---it was bad. I'm not sure how Carnival has kept him around for so long to be honest.

Red Frog was our planned place to be prior to our sailing but only ended up going once during Karaoke. Music there overall was more towards 40s/50s/60s crowd. It was usually very busy at night and the crowd seemed to really enjoy it. The younger crowd seemed to be there more so for the games available.

The only thing I did miss from past ships is the Dive-In Movies at the Pool and more entertainment (shows, games at the lido deck and such)

There's NO big screen at the pool. They had 2 movie nights on our sailing and they were held at the theatre. We didn't join.

Staff weren't overly nice like on some other ships I've been on but they weren't rude and were very pleasant. We actually had one of our phones drop in water and were giving some dry rice to place it in to dry out. (side note: didn't work and had to get a new phone.)

Our Cabin Steward was just ok. We didn't meet him until the second night for some reason and we never had beach towels in our room (others did) and we had to check them out ourselves each time. Cabin wasn't tidy when we first got on and still had traces of the passengers before us. Our bed was made everyday and trash was taken out and that's about it. I don't know if I've been spoiled in the past but I've had my clothes folded and placed on the vanity or chair before, but whatever mess we made, we came back to. I didn't mind, just an observation.

Serenity Area had nice cabana-type beds that we got to use when we stayed on the ship during our Belize port. It was packed all the other days, as expected. Coconut Martini was a great try!

I heard the Mega Deck party was cancelled due to rain but "Serenity Nights" continued as the Serenity bar is covered.

Frankenstein Nightclub had Top 40/80s/90s/Motown theme nights.

Disembarking was not perfect but better for us than it was for those who weren't Diamond/Platinum/FTTF.

As FTTF holders, we could choose to disembark at 6:15am or 7:30am, we chose 6:15am. Sat in the dining room until 7:15am (not ideal but stuff happens, we were patient. They had coffee, juice, pastries for us waiting so that was nice.) We were in the Uber by 7:41am, and on our way to Orlando by 8:00am.(Got home at 9:30am)

I was a part of a Facebook Group for my sailing and while I was almost home around 8:30/9am, some were still on board waiting to get off. I'm not sure what held them up but I'm glad that wasn't the case for us.

FTTF is the way to go! I will purchase from now on until I reach Platinum.

Cozumel- The initial plan was Mr. Sanchos but were too late to make reservations (book early!) so we went to Paradise Beach instead. Met a couple (Hi Chris and Charlotte!) and rode a taxi there and back with them. $15 for the 4 of us each way.

$3 admission includes access to the beach, pool, chairs and umbrella.

Belize- stayed on the ship

Roatan/Mahogany Bay, Honduras- Little French Key! Favorite excursion. "Swam (see: held in water for a few moments while pictures were taken) with a Jaguar, Esther.

Grand Cayman- RAIN. Got off the ship to get souvenirs and got back on. (Priority Tender boarding TO the port with FTTF)

Thanks for sticking it out and hope you've enjoyed my review. Remember: Vacation is what you make it! Have fun!!

It was a pleasure to welcome you aboard especially since you screamed really loud!!

Thank you for your review! We've sailed Miracle twice (one Eastern out of NYC and one Alaska) and enjoyed both cruises.

I was also on this sailing. Also had FTTF which was mostly bought due to having 2 tender ports and having private excursions booked. I will second all of your observations. So the hold up was someone fell and hit their head leaving the boat which caused an hour delay. The people that they called at 7:30 didn't get to leave until 8:30. Our flight was not until 1 so we were in no hurry to get off the ship but decided to head down at 9:30 since our ride was coming at 10:30 and wasn't sure how long it would take. It went surprising fast but since there was only one elevator and if you had more than one bag they refused to let you use the escalator or the stairs and had to wait ugh. I loved the layout of the Miracle over some of the other ships because the galley is in the back and not in the middle of deck 3. Lots of seating throughout the ship was a plus as well. The only thing that could have been better was the crappy weather but you can't control that.

We actually walked right by her when she was in a wheelchair and her husband wanted her evaluated further because she hit her head. Hope she’s alright. Thanks for your input!

 

Side note: We were only interested in the Rated R showings only since we do enjoy adult humor and such but Manny Oliveira was just crude and not very funny. 90% of his stand up was picking at audience members' date=' making fun of their ethnicities and super disrespectful towards husbands/wives with jokes involving taking the wives back to his cabin.

 

 

We had actually read reviews about him prior to our sailing but wanted to see for ourselves how bad it was and---it was bad. I'm not sure how Carnival has kept him around for so long to be honest.

 

 

　

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I agree. He is obnoxious and not funny at all. I saw him at the bar and told him he was terrible. He called me a drunk and walked away. (It was my first drink of the night)

I was on the Miracle on the May 13th sailing. Love my cruise but I also found Manny Oliveira to be very rude. We went to his family friendly show. All he did was walk around the audience and pick on people. I wanted to leave, but my husband doesn’t like to leave in the middle of a show. Later my husband and I were sitting next Manny and Jorge Salano (comedian that was very funny). Jorge was very nice and personable, but Manny was still very rude. He said if you got up to walk out of his show when he was ridiculing you, he would follow you wherever you went and even make the ridiculing worse. He is the worst comedian I’ve seen on Carnival.

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Thank you for your review!

Where did you find the sushi?

I appreciate the heads up about Manny Oliveira and the music at Red Frog. We will avoid Manny and hang out at Red Frog!

No prob! Sushi cart is by the SkyBox Sportsbar that is actually right next to the Red Frog. You walk out of the Red Frog and it’s on your right, before turning to head to the Casino.

No prob! Sushi cart is by the SkyBox Sportsbar that is actually right next to the Red Frog. You walk out of the Red Frog and it’s on your right, before turning to head to the Casino.

Thank you!!

Did you get the WIFI package? If so, which one, and how was the service? What places on the ship had the best and worst service?

You’re welcome. I had the Social Media package and it worked great everywhere on the ship until the last day or 2. My Snapchat/Instagram posts stopped uploading completely but I was able to still use Facebook and WhatsApp fine.

Thank you, great review.

L