Thoughts on going from RC Oasis of the Seas to Carnival Miracle?

Hello!

My one and only cruise was last year on RC's Oasis of the Seas (for my honeymoon!). My husband and I adored the ship, and thought there was plenty to do. We did, however, spend a lot of time in our room (balcony) as we like to relax above all else.

We have a decent cruise credit for Carnival, and so we are looking to book our 1 year anniversary trip with Carnival. That being said, we live in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, and found a 7-night cruise out of Tampa on the Carnival Miracle.

I know the size in ships are basically on the opposite ends of the spectrum... but would you guys consider this? The savings on this particular ship are substantial compared to sailing on the Magic, Breeze, etc.

My husband does not get sea sick whatsoever, and I took *all* the over-the-counter possibilities on Oasis to avoid being sea sick (I could feel the ship rocking when on lower levels, but never actually felt/got sick).

Do you think the change would be doable? Or should we spend the extra $ and book on Magic or Breeze?

Thank you in advance for all of your help! :)

Your first cruise experience being on one of the largest mega-ships in the world, and then going to a much older much smaller ship, I think would be a disappointment... I would spring for the larger, and more well appointed ship.

I would try it out I have been on a larger new ship on NCL and Carnival and I prefer the 110,000 gross ton ships which is the conquest class. IMHO as Goldilocks says. "not too big not too small just right"

The Miracle is certainly smaller than Oasis of the Seas but it is not considered a "small " ship!! We take meds to prevent seasickness on all ships. DH takes 2 tabs the first night and then 1 Am and PM after that. I take one tab and only an extra one if the waves get bad.

If you like all the extra activities offered on ships like Oasis then I'd book the larger Carnival ships. We don't use them much so the Miracle and her sister ships are ones we really enjoy! We book balcony or suite rooms and enjoy relaxing in them as much as we enjoy the other outside activities.

We did, however, spend a lot of time in our room (balcony) as we like to relax above all else.

The Miracle would be a good ship for this and the extended balcony cabins give you some more leg room and usually don't cost much more than a standard. We spent a lot more time just chilling on this cruise, there's plenty of public areas to just sit and relax with a drink. She's and older ship with few bells and whistles, but has good food and service :)

If you read up on the ship and what she offers and do not need all the bells and whistles of Oasis, Miracle would be a great cruise. Carnival offers a lot of fun - comedy shows and piano bar are great for evenings as well as Alchemy. The shows are not going to be as good and the food is subjective but I prefer Carnival. I hated the service on RCI and was so underwhelmed with food I didn’t book another cruise for 5 years - and then went with Carnival and have not gone back.

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Here's my thought. Why not give a more modest ship a try? And Miracle is perfect for that. Assuming you do, you'll have an appreciation for what type of cruising is a better fit for you. Personally, you'd probably never catch us on the Oasis or any ship that size. Don't need or want a rock wall, flow-rider or ice skating rink. We prefer to 'go to sea'. Doesn't mean that's right or wrong, just different.

We went from the Oasis to the Paradise and it was definitely a huge difference. Before Oasis we had stuck to more of the “smaller” ships with the Dream being the biggest. We then did RCCL Explorer and felt it was huge compared to the paradise. We are doing the Miracle in September so hopefully it’s much larger than the Paradise.

Look at what you want to do on your cruise. Do you want all the bells and whistles like extra eatery's, specialty dinning, big production shows, flow rider, rock wall, zip line.

If you don't do any of the extras the mega ships offer then no need to pay for mega ship activities. My personal experience and I have never sailed Miracle is that mega ships feel less crowded. I always spend the week going "where are all the people?" but that's been my experience.

The plus of the smaller ships are they can go to ports that the megas can/will not. I have sailed 2 oasis class ships and honestly when I was looking our next cruise I ruled Harmony out because of its boring been there and done that ports.

Let me weigh in on this since I have been on both the Carnival Miracle, and the Oasis of the Seas. The Miracle was our first cruise in 2005, and I will say we had a blast and have been hooked to cruising since. Our 3rd cruise was RCCL Oasis of the Seas 2012 again we had a blast. Both of these cruises were in the Caribbean one the western and one eastern. Now I will say Carnival Miracle being our first cruise is kind of special to us and we were never left with nothing to do. Oasis of the Seas because of the size of the ship they have way more stuff to do. with all that said, because of all the things to do on the Oasis we were pooped out when we got done after 7 days, and needed a vacation to rest from our vacation. Over all, I do believe you maybe a little disappointed, but the Carnival Miracle was still a great ship, and would sail her again any day. Also, I will say RCCL is a step up from CCL as far as; food, shows, ect. However, when you price out the two different cruise lines they are in line. Like the old saying goes "you get what you pay for" well this true. Yes RCCL is better but yes you pay more for example; Our next cruise on the Carnival Splendor in Alaska is costing us w/airfare around $10K:o, and when we priced out RCCL it was like $7-8k without airefare. Plus the Carnival cruise is 14 days and RCCL was only 7 days. Hope this helps you make a decision.

Your first cruise experience being on one of the largest mega-ships in the world, and then going to a much older much smaller ship, I think would be a disappointment... I would spring for the larger, and more well appointed ship.

Thank you for your thoughts! This is something we've thought of as well... But, also, 1 year anniversary! And we typically make the most out of things, so...

I would try it out I have been on a larger new ship on NCL and Carnival and I prefer the 110,000 gross ton ships which is the conquest class. IMHO as Goldilocks says. "not too big not too small just right"

Right! Thank you for your thoughts. I think - and someone can totally correct me if I'm wrong - that the Miracle is one of (if not the!) smallest in Carnival's fleet...? I think the Conquest is a little larger than the Miracle, and the Magic large than both. So it's like going from one extreme to the opposite extreme, haha!

The Miracle is certainly smaller than Oasis of the Seas but it is not considered a "small " ship!! We take meds to prevent seasickness on all ships. DH takes 2 tabs the first night and then 1 Am and PM after that. I take one tab and only an extra one if the waves get bad.

If you like all the extra activities offered on ships like Oasis then I'd book the larger Carnival ships. We don't use them much so the Miracle and her sister ships are ones we really enjoy! We book balcony or suite rooms and enjoy relaxing in them as much as we enjoy the other outside activities.

Good point! We did spend most of our time inside of our room on the balcony, or just...well, eating. Haha. So technically not even a need to have all the bells and whistles! I guess it just makes me comfortable to have them there? Hmph.

Here's my thought. Why not give a more modest ship a try? And Miracle is perfect for that. Assuming you do, you'll have an appreciation for what type of cruising is a better fit for you. Personally, you'd probably never catch us on the Oasis or any ship that size. Don't need or want a rock wall, flow-rider or ice skating rink. We prefer to 'go to sea'. Doesn't mean that's right or wrong, just different.

This is a great perspective! You're right. If we don't try a little bit of everything, then where's the fun in that? I guess my main worry is that I'll get sea sick on the smaller boat, and then won't be able to enjoy anything at all. :o

Look at what you want to do on your cruise. Do you want all the bells and whistles like extra eatery's, specialty dinning, big production shows, flow rider, rock wall, zip line.

 

If you don't do any of the extras the mega ships offer then no need to pay for mega ship activities. My personal experience and I have never sailed Miracle is that mega ships feel less crowded. I always spend the week going "where are all the people?" but that's been my experience.

 

The plus of the smaller ships are they can go to ports that the megas can/will not. I have sailed 2 oasis class ships and honestly when I was looking our next cruise I ruled Harmony out because of its boring been there and done that ports.

You're totally right! RC's Caribbean ports seem to be incredibly limited compared to other lines. Of course, as you pointed out, this is because the Oasis-class cannot access all of the ports that smaller ships can. Thanks for your thoughts. :)

Let me weigh in on this since I have been on both the Carnival Miracle, and the Oasis of the Seas. The Miracle was our first cruise in 2005, and I will say we had a blast and have been hooked to cruising since. Our 3rd cruise was RCCL Oasis of the Seas 2012 again we had a blast. Both of these cruises were in the Caribbean one the western and one eastern. Now I will say Carnival Miracle being our first cruise is kind of special to us and we were never left with nothing to do. Oasis of the Seas because of the size of the ship they have way more stuff to do. with all that said, because of all the things to do on the Oasis we were pooped out when we got done after 7 days, and needed a vacation to rest from our vacation. Over all, I do believe you maybe a little disappointed, but the Carnival Miracle was still a great ship, and would sail her again any day. Also, I will say RCCL is a step up from CCL as far as; food, shows, ect. However, when you price out the two different cruise lines they are in line. Like the old saying goes "you get what you pay for" well this true. Yes RCCL is better but yes you pay more for example; Our next cruise on the Carnival Splendor in Alaska is costing us w/airfare around $10K:o, and when we priced out RCCL it was like $7-8k without airefare. Plus the Carnival cruise is 14 days and RCCL was only 7 days. Hope this helps you make a decision.

Thank you for your thoughts! It's great to hear both sides of the story from someone who has sailed both ships. :)

If you read up on the ship and what she offers and do not need all the bells and whistles of Oasis, Miracle would be a great cruise. Carnival offers a lot of fun - comedy shows and piano bar are great for evenings as well as Alchemy. The shows are not going to be as good and the food is subjective but I prefer Carnival. I hated the service on RCI and was so underwhelmed with food I didn’t book another cruise for 5 years - and then went with Carnival and have not gone back.

 

 

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Things change. Do you think that RCI would still be in business 18 years later if the service was so awful.

If somebody was saying they wanted to go on RCI because they had a bad cruise on Carnival 18 years ago I'd be willing to bet you would tell them to give Carnival a second chance.

Nothing wrong with loving Carnival but using 1 bad cruise from 18 years ago to support your argument just seems a little biased.

Bill

Miracle is the on the small side of the Carnival fleet with only the Fantasy class ships being smaller.

https://help.carnival.com/ci/fattach/get/2880939/1522763176/redirect/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNTMwMTk0NjU3L3NpZC9mVVBYSEJ6UWxQaDZpMDFtejBHR0o2Y3hIRm5IQWdhQ1pTQUlfRGdJalJjU1AzcHdaUVZ5UFNpZElVQkQwVUNDeXMyU3B2N1lwTVNtMWd4Rmk4ZnJaV0xtZjVscmtUUGpjeFhJYlRzdF9jQzNtU1JJZzhvaVdGbGclMjElMjE=/filename/Ship%20Class%20Guide%200418.pdf

We have been sailing as a family for about 15 years. Our first cruise was on RCL. Some of the passengers were really uptight and unfriendly. The last 14 years we have been sailing with Carnival.

My opinion and my opinion only!!! Switch to Carnival and you will be happy with your new choice.

Meg, there's nothing crazy 'small' about Miracle, an 88,000 ton vessel so I wouldn't worry about seasickness. If you want, your doc can prescribe the 'patches'. We wear them when we go 'small ship' cruising (see below). For reference, the original Love Boat (Pacific Princess) was 20,000 tons and the very first 100,000 ton cruise vessel ever built was Carnival Destiny (now Sunshine) in 1996. It's more like Oasis is uggggeee (Bernie-speak) at 220,000. As others have said, that gives you every bell and whistle ever imagined but severely limits where she can reasonably sail. So it's a different kind of cruising. For the most part, RCCL's mega ships are for folks who believe the ship is the destination. Obviously I'm generalizing.

Small, really small, is 10,000 tons and under. Trust me, you know you ain't on land sailing aboard something that size!

It will be nice when Miracle gets the 2.0 package that Legend, her twin sister, has. As fyree said, Miracle's still a little bare bones and her pricing should reflect that. Note that Legend, a fully tricked out Spirit class, is on her way to replace Miracle in Tampa in a little more than a year.

Meg, there's nothing crazy 'small' about Miracle, an 88,000 ton vessel so I wouldn't worry about seasickness. If you want, your doc can prescribe the 'patches'. We wear them when we go 'small ship' cruising (see below). For reference, the original Love Boat (Pacific Princess) was 20,000 tons and the very first 100,000 ton cruise vessel ever built was Carnival Destiny (now Sunshine) in 1996. It's more like Oasis is uggggeee (Bernie-speak) at 220,000. As others have said, that gives you every bell and whistle ever imagined but severely limits where she can reasonably sail. So it's a different kind of cruising. For the most part, RCCL's mega ships are for folks who believe the ship is the destination. Obviously I'm generalizing.

 

Small, really small, is 10,000 tons and under. Trust me, you know you ain't on land sailing aboard something that size!

Ahhhhhhhh! This made me feel so much more comfortable! Thank you so much! It’s about a $700 savings, so I was really hoping I could convince myself to go with the Miracle. I think you have helped me! [emoji4]

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I've been on 3 different cruise lines and several different classes within each cruise line. It's all about perspective for me. I don't expect Oasis class amenities when I'm on a smaller ship. Set your expectations accordingly and you will be fine. I'm not the kind of person that needs to be entertained. A lounger, my kindle, adult beverage and food near by and I'm fine for the majority of the day.

Take advantage of the cost savings, set your expectations to what miracle offers and go and have a great time.

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From the Oasis to the Miracle is like night and day.

Ahhhhhhhh! This made me feel so much more comfortable! Thank you so much! It’s about a $700 savings, so I was really hoping I could convince myself to go with the Miracle. I think you have helped me! [emoji4]

 

 

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Nothing wrong with the Miracle.

This class of ship is a fan favorite.:)

Go and enjoy.

Bill