Hitting the Miracle with the M.O.B.(Maniacs on Board) Jan. 30, 2011

[Delta Dear]

Now that my new laptop has arrived so that I can post photos to Photobucket, the review may begin.

 

As a quick background, my husband, Morgan and I took our first Carnival cruise in Feb. 2010 on the Legend. We loved the size of the ship and Carnival so upon returning home to Felton, Delaware, I immediately began to plan our next cruise for winter, 2011.

 

We wanted another Spirit class ship because it worked well for our mobility issues. The Spirit ? No way are we flying to CA, Pride ? We could drive to Baltimore, but who wants to spend two days just getting to FL ? So, that left the Miracle. Perfect. Our son lives in Ft. Lauderdale so that was even better. Check with Carnival for booking ? No WAY, I headed straight to CC to find a group ! Sure enough, some official CC group called the Maniacs had a 'reduced deposit', 8 day trip on the Miracle going to the Saints.

 

Back in 1961 when Morgan joined the Peace Corps, his first choice was St. Lucia. Nope, the sent him to India. After a year in India, a poultry project was started by the PC on St. Kitts. Once again, he applied hoping to transfer. Nope. He remained in India for year two. He has always wanted to go to St. Lucia, so here's his chance.

 

I contacted Sandy, joined the group, booked the cruise, thus starting the adventure and the trail leading to the cruise. Getting to know the M.O.B. though the posts on CC and weekly chats on Skype was a real bonus. By the time we cruised, we didn't feel as if we were traveling with strangers, we were traveling with friends.

 

In October, one couple, Poomah and Bill, were going to be in the Dover, DE area so we arranged to meet for lunch. That was the beginning of what will be a lasting friendship. We had SO much in common, and had such fun together that day that we are now booked on a cruise to Bermuda together in Oct. of this year.

 

Fast forward to Jan. 2011. Poom and Bill came to the area several weeks before the cruise. Again, we met for lunch. Notice the garb for the day. It was COLD and windy.

 

The M.O.B. decided to get togther the night before the cruise for a Pre-Cruise Dinner. Since my son lives there, he suggested The Bimini Boatyard because it was close to the hotels near the airport and the port. The folks at the Bimini Boatyard were extremely helpful in setting up the reservations online. The day of the dinner, I had a phone call from Tom saying they had a room available if we wanted a private room, he would move us there. OK, great ! Ah, the palm trees as we approached Bimini really got me in the mood. Can't wait to meet the others !

 

 

Let the festivities begin ! Next, a special greeting, a delicious dinner and then the day we've all been waiting for; sailaway.

[Delta Dear]

Even though we had an online photo album that contained pictures of some of the M.O.B., it was so good to finally meet and put faces with screen names.

 

Oh, yes, somewhere along the way, the group had decided to adopt 'mob,' names. When Sandy first told me that, I thought, "Hmmm, what's THIS about?" But I learned it was a way to choose nicknames that turned out to be fun. I was Calamity Jane, my husband was Captain Morgan.

 

After we were seated in our private room (no extra cost, no menu limitations,) in walked a man named Tom Martin. Tom greeted us extremely warmly and told us how excited he was to have us there. It turns out that Tom worked with Cruise Critic to establish an exclusive relationship with Royal Caribbean to establish their Meet and Mingles. He was loves to promote the kind of social networks that roll calls and meet and greets that help people get to know their cruise companions.

 

He LOVED the idea that a group from CC had choosen to get together the night before the cruise to enjoy meeting and greeting. He would love to work with other cruise groups in setting up dinners just as we did. I think all of us really enjoyed the experience, the food was outstanding but watch out for the Bimini Bread ! It is addicting ! SO GOOD !!! If you are in the FLL area, be sure to go there for lunch or dinner. You can take a water taxi there since it is on the Waterway. Can't wait for my next visit to FLL to go back to Bimini.

 

 

 

 

Sail away coming up next.

[Delta Dear]

Moving right along. By the way, we had no glitches in our travel to FLL. We flew down on Friday evening, enjoyed the time with our son and his then girlfriend, now fiance. Sat. we enjoyed the warm weather as we went to Target for a few extra items we had not packed due to luggage/weight issues.

 

On Sunday morning, we attended church service with our son and future daughter-in-law, went home to change, then off to the port. We arrived at 1:30 to NO LINES whatsoever. Since my husband needs a wheelchair when long distance walking is involved, we were able to secure on with no problem. We checked in, got our sign and sail card, headed to the Lido Deck where we found a seat with no problem either. By the time we arrived, many guests were heading to their cabins which were now ready.

 

After eating, on to our cabin, then the muster drill and sailaway. I missed a few good shots of the sailaway. The M.O.B. was gathered, we enjoyed our favorite drinks, the Chocolate Mocha Getaways and we were OFF.

 

 

 

 

[BeccaBecca1713]

Great job so far!:D We're gonna be on Miracle in October. Can't wait to see more pics!!!!

[sparkscruiser]

Jane,

Loving reading about the cruise through your eyes! Can't wait to read the next portion, wish we had been able to join you!

[Delta Dear]

I am sorry that my review will not contain many pictures of the ship. I realize that I am so involved in just being on the ship, I forget to take the pictures OF the ship. On my NEXT cruise, I'm going to make a list of ,'Must Take Pictures."

 

I will say that just like the Legend, the layout of the Miracle makes it very easy to move around. Stepping right into the Atrium, with the glass elevators, the bar and the beauty of the ship, is a real thrill.

 

We went to the Lido Deck for lunch and as usual found a good variety of foods. I enjoy the salad bar so that was the first stop. We take large mugs with us for water and/or lemonade so that was the next stop. I don't remember what we ate, but whatever it was, it hit the spot. We were onboard ! Unlike many of other posters, I do not care for the Deli sandwiches, nor the Asian Station. We probably had Italian or American that day. On the day when they have the Indian Station and the Caribbean Station, we always find things that offer new taste sensations.

There was some chocolate dessert that was SO good. We had a few nibbles of several different things.

 

On to our cabin and to the muster drill. Our cabin was located very close to the mid ship elevators and the Atrium elevators. It was a perfect location because my husband has some mobility issues and at times, I do, too.

 

Several of our fellow Maniacs were right next door and down the hall so that made the location even better. We were on Deck 4. We met our Room Steward , Albert who made our week enjoyable. He met all requests, left towel animals each night , and was always very friendly as we passed him in the halls. The entire staff of the Miracle were very good.

 

After the drill, the Maniacs met at the Lido Deck Bar for fun and games. Several of them have a favorite game I think it is Left, Middle, Right maybe, but since we didn't play, I'm not sure of the name.

 

Love the atmosphere at Sailaway, then it was on to dinner.

 

I'm still uploading pictures to Photobucket which I find to be frustrating. I'll post some in the next installment.

 

This review is dull so far. I'd better find my notes and liven it up for the next time. Sorry, over and out for now.

[Delta Dear]

Tip #1; If you plan on writing a review, do it in Word, then copy and paste

 

Ask me how I learned that today. I had a nice long entry to post. I was going to add ONE photo. Big mistake. AOL is not Photobucket friendly. Photobucket does not load from AOL. I was closing PB to go to IE for the photo when POOF, my post disappeared.

 

So, as I was saying, today I am more focused in my review. Instead of giving you day by day reports, I will share some experiences, share some photos and then answer questions you might have

 

One thing that enriched our trip was that we were part of a great group of people. If you are not traveling with a group, try to establish some contacts with your roll call members. It’s nice to get to know a few people ahead of the trip and to at least connect with them once or twice onboard if you want to. If you don’t want to be that involved, it is at least nice to see a familiar smiling face as you spend your time at sea.

 

Our group held a Poker Cabin Crawl which was a lot of fun. That activity on the first sea day allowed us to briefly visit six cabins, several of which were aft cabins, an extended deck cabin and several balcony cabins that were like ours. It was interesting to visit cabins we otherwise might never have seen. Besides, I won $30.00 for having the LOW poker hand !

 

The second sea day, some members of the group participated in a Slot Pull. We played a $1 progressive machine each of us had 5 pulls for the maximum bet of three. By the time each of the participants had their pulls, we split the jackpot. As luck would have it, we each left with the same $15.00 we had put in the machine. To those walking past the group in the casino, you would have thought someone hit the ‘big one,’ the way we cheered each time someone scored a gain. That was loads of fun.

 

The past guest party was in the theater. Servers brought around trays of small drinks which generously distributed. I don’ t remember if there were snacks or not.

 

The other activity that some of the group did together was the afternoon tea that is held on sea days at 3:00. There was a pianist playing classical music as we nibbled on dainty tea sandwiches and yummy little desserts. Of course your little teapot is there with your choice of teas. I almost broke out in a chorus of,”I’m a Little Teapot, “ but caught myself before embarrassing my friends.

 

We did go to several of the shows which we enjoyed. We did not go to any of the comedy shows, nor the juggler’s show. We went to a karaoke lounge one night. They used band music for the background instead of the tracks that were the original background tracks. I didn’t like this new format. Some songs just do not work with the big band sound.

 

We ate breakfasts and lunches on the Lido each day because or MDR on the Legend was just not as good. We had dinner in the MDR most night except for one in the Steakhouse and one on the Lido deck. I don’t remember why we didn’t make it to the MDR that night. Never again. It just wasn’t the same. If I want to self serve, with no ambiance I can go to Old Country Buffet at home.

 

The steakhouse is amazing just as it was on the Legend. My only complaint is that the dessert menu is limiting for those of us allergic to tree nuts. I ordered the Chocolate Medley (or whatever it is that has four chocolate dishes. As it was placed before me, I asked, “None of these contain nuts do they?” “YES, all of them do.” So back it went to the kitchen. Whatever I had in its place was less than memorable.

 

In several moments of weakness, I purchased several photos. I will always buy the embarkation photo as the first page of my cruise scrapbooks, but this time I also bought a formal night photo and one other. I just couldn’t resist.

 

Can’t you see why? He is SO cute !

 

 

Coming up next time; Excursions, photos and much, much more.

[cuted126]

Waiting for more:)

[Delta Dear]

Ok, I’m back. I have most of the photos uploaded to Photobucket so now I can add some. I do love the sea days. My favorite spot on the Miracle was Gatsby’s Garden which is on Deck 3. On the Spirit class ships, there is an area that goes around behind the stage or somewhere in the back of the theater area. It is a quiet, peaceful retreat when you want to sit and read, or sit and look out a porthole. There are very few people walking by so you can sit and relax without the hustle bustle of some of the other areas. I have a Nook which I especially appreciated having because I had a variety of things to read all on that little electronic device. SWEET ! I even talked my husband into going to Gatsby’s Garden with me. He enjoyed it but I think it was too quiet for him

I'll let others describe elegant night and the food on board. No complaints from us. We loved it all.

 

Next up, St. Lucia. Get ready to RIDE !

[Delta Dear]

The first port was St. Lucia where we were touring with Spencer Ambrose. The Maniacs had enough going on Spencer’s tour that we were split into two groups, one with Spencer, one with his niece, I think. I had looked forward to being on Spencer’s tour because I had read so many good reviews about him. We were disappointed that some of the sights that were previously included in the tour were still not accessible due to the damage caused by Hurricane Tomas.

Onward and upward, and I do mean UPWARD. The roads in St. Lucia are very narrow and extremely winding. Not only were there hairpin turns, but warning signs that showed the roads were like this; N. yes, a capital letter N ! Not winding, not twisting but sharp ,sharp turns.

 

 

There were a few picturesque views, but the sights were few and far between. When my husband joined the Peace Corps in 1961, he requested to be sent to St. Lucia. Instead, he spent his two year stint in India. He has always wanted to see St. Lucia. After about 45 minutes of the winding , twisted, narrow roads, he said, “ India never looked so good !” We found the ride time too long for what we saw. Because of mobility issues, we chose to remain on the van when most of the group took a small boat over to the beach near the Pitons.

On the way back, I was riding in the co-pilots seat. Oh, MY ! I have to say, I am not a good passenger. You can see how narrow the roads were as we passed other vehicles. It took some getting used to the driver being on the wrong side of the van and the wrong side of the road. I only expressed my panic once when I said in not a timid voice, ‘ OH, MY SOUL.’ I thought we were going right into a ditch. Our driver was competent but if any place needed a no cell phones in hand, it was there.

Coming up next; St. Kitts and MORE round and round and round she goes roads. It was good to get back to flat, flat, Delaware !

Ooops, Photobucket challenge.

[a,j,&fam]

Great review so far, we be on the Miracle in april with the same itinerary, looking forward to read the reat of your review

[Frequent Floater]

Can't wait to read more. Our turn is 13 days away first leg of our B2B which this itinerary is the 2nd leg of.

Thanks for a great job and photos too!!!

[CruisinBrills]

My husband and I are heading out on this same cruise in October.

 

Cannot wait the rest of your post about the cruise:)

[Delta Dear]

I had a strange WARNING pop up while I was on Photobucket last night. It said my computer had been hit by a virus. It listed several viruses and where they had hit, the said "CLICK HERE," to remove the viruses. Since this mystery warning was not from McAfee, my anti virus software, I did not click. I did run an extra scan on my system, all seemed well.

 

So, let's continue. We did not get out of the bus to climb on those steps with the others. As I recall, that point was overlooking one of the fishing villages. One other note, we did pass a small area were bananas were growing, but we did not stop. We did stop to see the volcanic rock/sulfer springs. It was a small area, not worth the ride to see it in my opinion.

 

All in all, I would say St. Lucia was disappointing. We have heard others refer to the beauty of St. Lucia. We have a feeling the other side of the island may be more scenic.

 

We were pretty tired when we returned to the ship after the six hour tour. Our tour on the following day was also a six hour tour. I have come to the realization that my husband and I are no longer going to book tours of that length. We have reached the point in life where our riding/driving tolerance is two to three hours. Why I thought we would happily ride for six hours two days in a row is beyone me !

 

So, tip for the day; don't overextend yourself too far, especially on back to back days. Our tour in St. Maarten on the third day was about 3-4 hours and that was a perfect length for us. We did have a good time on all of the days because we were traveling with such a great group of people. We enjoyed each other and are still enjoying our common memories.

 

Next up St. Kitts.

[cruisingcouple2008]

Jane Cant wait ofr more . Too bad we didnt get to connect with you and Morgan maybe on the reunion cruise and then we will all be together. I agree with you also that Tyna and Bill are just the nicest people. I was very thankful that I got to spend some nice quiet time chatting with them. The groups were just the best part wasnt it the cruise was the bonus while getting to make all these new friends.

 

Anyway you know I felt the same way about St Lucia as I had mentioned that to you prior to sailing, but Im sure you loved the next island at least I hope you did. Can't wait to read about it.

[Delta Dear]

On St. Kitts, a group of Maniacs were touring with Jim and Rose Tour. Again we had to split into two groups. The island of St. Kitts had lots of hills as well, but the roadways were wider and offered a completely different sense of comfort. We rode in the van with Jim, who grew up in St.Kitts. His wife, Rose is British

 

 

 

Both are wonderful guides. The island was at one point known for their sugar cane. There were many sugar cane plantations, but it is no longer a ‘crop,’ of the islands. You still see wild sugar cane growing but, the government does not allow harvesting and marketing of the cane commercially. People are allowed to cut it and sell it for income as this man was doing along a roadway. I bought a bag for $2.00 but never remembered to try it. Guess I’ll have to go back

 

 

. As we rode along, Jim asked if we had ever heard of a spirit tree. No, we hadn’t. Well, here it is ! LOL ! If any of you are familiar with the children’s book and movie, Because Of Winn Dixie, you will remember a tree JUST like this on in the yard of the character played by Whoopie Goldberg, I think. The tree was in someone's back yard. CHEERS !

[Delta Dear]

We made several stops in St. Kitts. The Brimstone Fort, the Caribelle Batik Factory located in Romney Manor. Some members of the group went to the top of the fort and reported the view from there was spectacular. Those of us with some mobility issues chose to stay at the level where we parked. From there the views were quite amazing as well. We could just imagine those armies on watch for the enemy approaching by sea. It is also amazing to see the structures that we built centuries ago with the natural materials they had available.

 

Romney Manor was formerly owned by Sam Jefferson, great-great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson. The botanical gardens were beautiful.

More pictures from Romney will be in the next post. I think the limit is six per post.

We received a demonstration of how batik is made. The shop offers many handcrafted items. The items were lovely and were reasonably priced. The price tag looks like prices are high, but the cost in US dollars was much less.

The area approaching the Manor is a rainforest area. You could see an occasional monkey in the wooded area. Jim grew up in that area and told us how he and his friends used to swing though the area on vines, pretending they were Tarzan.

[Delta Dear]

Romney Manor was formerly owned by Sam Jefferson, great-great grandfather of Thomas Jefferson. The botanical gardens were beautiful. We received a demonstration of how batik is made. The shop offers many handcrafted items. The items were lovely and were reasonably priced. The price tag looks like prices are high, but the cost in US dollars was much less.

 

The area approaching the Manor is a rainforest area. You could see an occasional monkey in the wooded area. Jim grew up in that area and told us how he and his friends used to swing though the area on vines, pretending they were Tarzan

[Delta Dear]

We continued to an area that had some vendors for those who wanted to purchase local items.

The view of the Caribbean Sea was beautiful. The rock formation was made when the volcanic flow reached the sea. This is my ‘pretty as a postcard’ shot.

 

 

Next we visited a Rasta Bar at a beach, whose name I can’t remember right now, where we stopped for a leisurely lunch, swimming for some, just relaxation for others.

 

There were lots of hills in St. Kitts, but the roadways were not as treacherous as St. Lucia’s. We really enjoyed our day on St. Lucia. The port is welcoming, the people very friendly and the sights are beautiful.

Tomorrow I will try to continue on to St. Maarten, our last port. As noted, I am doing all of my typing in Word, so it is an extra step to copy and paste, but at least I’m not losing entire posts.

[tweety33]

Thank you for the review, I am enjoying it and looking forward to reading so much more. We will be on the Miracle in 3 weeks. Glad you enjoyed.

[Delta Dear]

I had arranged a tour on St. Maarten with Joyce Prince Tours. There were only six of us for that tour. Since it was a shorter tour than our previous ones, I set it up for an hour after we docked. We departed the ship and found there were golf cart drivers available to take you to the port and/or your tour guides. When our driver found Joyce, she announced that she had been waiting over an hour for us. **** Big tip; If you arrange with a private operator, be sure to verify ‘ship time,’ or ‘local time.’ I understand the same problem existed upon our arrival in St. Lucia.

We rode up a hill to a photo op point of our ship in the harbor. Lovely view. Our son saw the photo and said when he was in St. Maarten, that was the first stop on his excursion as well. St. Maaten is another beautiful island with that turquoise water that we all are totally in awe of.

 

 

We enjoyed a leisurely ride around the island since Joyce tailors the tour to include whatever you want to do. We had opportunities to stop along the way for many photo ops. We did go to both sides of the island. You can’t go to the French side without a visit to Orient Beach ! (Clothing optional.) There were a few people on the beach that day sans clothes. As one of the others in our group said, “Some people need to leave their clothes on.” Joyce told us that very few locals opt to go without clothes. Most of the au natural people are tourist.

These were the only birthday suits I could post !

[Delta Dear]

The other ‘must see,’ attraction is the beach where the planes fly overhead to reach the landing strip of the airport. I captured the plane approaching, but did not get it when it was right over head, it was too fast for my camera.

Ooops, there's the shadow on the sand.

There’s plenty of shopping opportunities in St. Maarten. I did not go shopping but the other two couples in our group did. They found excellent prices on linens and jewelry. They even found the Estee Lauder perfume that I was hoping to find since I couldn’t find it at St. Kitts.

Joyce dropped Poomah and Bill, Ann and Gale off to shop, then took us back to the ship where we had lunch and relaxed for the rest of the day. Morgan has some leg and back issues which limit his mobility. So, we don’t do the amount of walking that many others do.

We found our experience on St. Maarten to be most enjoyable. We saw the highlights without feeling the fatigue of spending a long time in a vehicle. It was a perfect day. We enjoyed hanging out on our balcony watching people returning to the ship. We wondered if the three passengers whose names they kept calling made it back or not. We never saw them running down the pier, yet they called their names well beyond the time we were to leave the island.

I am missing a few pictures which I will load and post near the end. This wraps up our excursions.

No matter what you do in a port, it makes you realize just how blessed we are. We take so many things for granted. Believe it or not, having an adequate water supply is a problem on St. Maarten. St. Kitts has no agricultral production on the island so everything must be imported. On St. Lucia and St. Kitts, I believe, we saw people with their containers having to go to a water tank to gather the water needed for use in their homes.

We have so much to be thankful for. Yet, we experienced people who are full of joy and hope. Each islander had great pride in their home. Each expressed hope for the future of their country and their people. Sometimes it is those who have less, that can teach us more !

Coming attractions; Views from the balcony, the Chocolate Buffet, and a few other bits and pieces.

[Luckysll]

Jane - really enjoying your review.

 

Sure do miss the fun we had, but it is great to relive it all through someone else's eyes.

[Frequent Floater]

I had arranged a tour on St. Maarten with Joyce Prince Tours. There were only six of us for that tour. Since it was a shorter tour than our previous ones, I set it up for an hour after we docked. We departed the ship and found there were golf cart drivers available to take you to the port and/or your tour guides. When our driver found Joyce, she announced that she had been waiting over an hour for us. **** Big tip; If you arrange with a private operator, be sure to verify ‘ship time,’ or ‘local time.’ I understand the same problem existed upon our arrival in St. Lucia.

We rode up a hill to a photo op point of our ship in the harbor. Lovely view. Our son saw the photo and said when he was in St. Maarten, that was the first stop on his excursion as well. St. Maaten is another beautiful island with that turquoise water that we all are totally in awe of.

 

 

We enjoyed a leisurely ride around the island since Joyce tailors the tour to include whatever you want to do. We had opportunities to stop along the way for many photo ops. We did go to both sides of the island. You can’t go to the French side without a visit to Orient Beach ! (Clothing optional.) There were a few people on the beach that day sans clothes. As one of the others in our group said, “Some people need to leave their clothes on.” Joyce told us that very few locals opt to go without clothes. Most of the au natural people are tourist.

These were the only birthday suits I could post !

 

We also have Joyce booked for our tour day in St Maarten. Overall how did you rate Joyce as a guide? Thanks too for the heads up on the time issue. We hope to start our tour a bit later like you did. How was the rum punch?

[Poomah]

Oh Jane - I so enjoyed reading this review. Helped to relieve the wonderful week we had. I know I will NOT miss the roads of St. Lucia - and I thought the mountain roads in the Blue Ridge were bad - huh! piece of cake by comparison.

 

To the OP asking about the Rum Punch on Joyce's Tour - it will sneak up on you so be careful - it was soooo good.

 

Thanks Jane for posting - still writing more on mine.