Miracle 02/15- 02/23 Review(No Pictures)

[vuildog]

Decided after 9 cruises I would attempt a review. :p Sorry it will be picture free. Don't take very many pictures anymore. But I do have the Capers, and would be happy to scan them at work, and e-mail them to anyone interested.

 

Background: My mother(61) and I(37) are cruising partners. Both single, so it makes it very easy to plan our getaways. We have been on the Norway('97) Galaxy('98) Paradise('00) Victory('01) Explorer of the Seas('03) Pride('08) Triumph('09) Dream('10) & this trip on the Miracle.

 

We always go down a day early since the weather can be an issue cruising in February. Fortunately, the crappy weather came the week before we left. So once again, no issues getting to Florida.

 

We spent the night at the Renaissance on 17th St. Felt like we could literally touch the ship from our room. Perfect location! The staff were all incredibly helpful. Walgreens right across the street, and a liquor store & Publix about a 10-15? minute walk. Stocked up, walked to drop off our wares. Decided to then walk to the water taxi(5-10 minute walk) at the Hilton next door(stop #7). Took the water taxi to Los Olas Blvd, walked around, and ate dinner. I thought it was a "cute" street. Lots of shops and restaurants. The last shuttle is at 10pm back to the Hilton. The ride took about 45 minutes. Lots of fun! Wish it had been light outside to really check out the scene. A little pricey I thought, but would do it again in a heartbeat. Ended up going to the bar in the hotel, and cheered on my Wildcats. They kicked some Jayhawk butt finally! Ended up meeting a "kid" who is good friends with an old neighbor. Such a small world!

 

Slept like a baby. Thanks Amstel Light! Woke up to a beautiful day outside. Opened the curtain, and there was the whale tail calling my name. Showered, ate breakfast, and couldn't wait any longer. Took the free shuttle to the pier at 10, and we were the only one's on the shuttle. I believe it ran on an every 20 minute schedule. I guess this is the perk to leaving on a weekday!! FYI- They do not take reservations for the shuttle. It's first come, first served. So this could be an issue if you were taking a weekend to weekend cruise. Since generally more ships are in port. But it wouldn't be more than a $10 cab ride if you didn't want to take a shuttle. We made it to the pier by 10:20. Never cruised out of Ft. Lauderdale, so it was fun to experience something new. I was suprised we had to show our picture id before they would let us past the guards. Never been asked to show ID before. No biggie, our shuttle driver gave us the head's up, so we were prepared. Unloaded our stuff, tipped the driver, and into the terminal. This is when I got that giddy, I'm sooo excited, I could cry feeling. Love that feeling! Anyways, through security in 5 minutes, and up the escalator to check in. I think we waited about 15-20 minutes to finally get checked in. This was the only thing I would complain about the check in process. There were only 5 reps checking people in. Huh, 5 people for a ship of 2200?? We were lucky since we got there early, but I would love to know how long people waited once they really started coming in. We only had a couple of dozen people in front of us, once they started piling in, there were probably 400 people in the lines? But I never did see more staff help check in passengers. If anyone waited in the line, feel free to comment on your wait. We made zone 3, and were on the Miracle about 11:15. It was packed when we got up to board. Were thrilled we got there early!!

 

Back in a few!!!

[vuildog]

Well, shoot! Just lost my entire first day post. Don't know what happened, but guess this means I will have to start over tomorrow night. More to come. If anyone has any questions, ask & I will do my best to answer. I'm thinking I will type the review in Word, and just copy and paste. Don't want to lose any posts again. Until tomorrow. Have a great evening!

[barbsie8]

Looking forward to hearing more of your review. We will be sailing on her May 14th!

Barb

[w8ing2cruz]

Well, shoot! Just lost my entire first day post. Don't know what happened, but guess this means I will have to start over tomorrow night. More to come. If anyone has any questions, ask & I will do my best to answer. I'm thinking I will type the review in Word, and just copy and paste. Don't want to lose any posts again. Until tomorrow. Have a great evening!

 

 

Hate when that happens!!

 

I look forward to reading your review - one question - was there a pool at the Renassance? If so, how was it?

[LisaH]

Hate when that happens!!

 

I look forward to reading your review - one question - was there a pool at the Renassance? If so, how was it?

 

 

There is a pool at the Renaissance. I have never used it but it looks nice. There was a view of it from the gym when I was working out the last time we were there. The chairs all had towels on them but when we spent our two nights there this last time the weather was terrible - got into the 40s at night and rained during the day.

 

It stopped though for us to get to the cruiseship terminal but was still very cool. This was November 2010.

[tweety33]

I am looking forward to the rest of your review. sorry you lost what you typed.

[kelbre]

Can't wait to read more of your review too!!! We'll be sailing on her next Friday, and I am sooooooo ready to get going away from this cold and snow, yuck!!!

[LynnAnne]

DH and I were on same cruise, look forward to the rest of your review!!