Back from Miracle 6/12

[swiss]

Wow what a great cruise! We went into this cruise with a little hesitancy since we had had a bad experience on Carnival Celebration in the past. We had cruised RCCL Voyager of the Seas, Disney Magic and Carribean Princess in the past, which are all wonderful ships, so we had some pretty high standards that we did went into to compare to the Carnival Miracle. Carnival has always been presented to us as a step below what we thought that we would like. We were drawn to this ship by the itinerary, price, and great reviews. Well, the Miracle really surprised us! It is equal if not better than any ship that we have sailed before. The staff on the ship was fantastic, Cruise director great and fun going on all the time.

 

We had two aft cabins, 5299 and 5297, which we really enjoyed. The cabins were very roomy and plenty of storage. Our three kids had no problem sharing a cabin together, other than whose turn it was to sleep on the couch. The only thing that we did not like was the balconies were not covered, so we did not spend as much time on them as we have with other aft balconies that we have had. If we were to do it over again, I think that we would book an aft cabin on deck 4, because those are fully covered. Other than that, we loved how quiet they were and we had great cabin stewards.

 

We were traveling with our 3 children, ages 14, 18 and 21. They all had a blast the whole week. My 14 year old went to Frankensteins the first night to meet other teens and made many friends. Every night at 9:30 all the teens up to age 17 meet in Frankensteins to dance and socialize. They would then have friends to run around with the rest of the cruise. One thing that amazed us was the ship was full of families and we never saw one problem with the kids. The families that were on this cruise were great! Our boys 18 and 21 ran around together. There were not a lot of activities specifically for their age range, which was a little disappointing, but they had a great time going to the general activities that were going on the ship. This ship had tons of things going on in the evenings, it was hard sometimes to choose what to do.

 

We went to most of the shows in the Phantom lounge. We enjoyed all except for the Farewell show, it was pretty lame. The band that played at Frankie and Johnnies was fantastic. The Piano Bar had a really bad singer in there, so it was always empty. This ship had so many entertainment rooms that we were still finding new ones on the third day of the cruise.

 

The food was pretty good. Not very many meals were fantastic, but it was very comparable to what we have had on other cruises. We did not eat at Nick and Nora's, but everyone that ate there that we talked to said it was great.

 

We really enjoyed the decor of the Miracle, it was very interesting, but not too overdone.

 

Shore excursions we did: Grand Caymans we did Stingray City, Snorkeling on the Coral reefs and ended with Rum Point beach which we booked through Native Way Watersports. I would highly recommend it.

 

Belize-Cave tubing with X-Stream, which was great. Cozumel, we relaxed and shopped. Costa Maya, took a taxi to the fisherman village and played on the beach.

 

If anyone has any questions, I will gladly answer.

[F5Loar]

Great little review! I just got back too and can say the Piano Man Bar was not happening much. It's not that he was bad, he was just not very good!

He did seem to draw a few drunks in spirts at times. I really enjoyed the late night comedians and even got picked on the Hypnotist. He did a number on every one but me. I faked it and got through it without being taken out.

We had sailed the Legend a few years back so pretty much knew what to expect out of this class of ship by Carnvial. Big change was NO BAKED ALASKA. I know, not everyone likes it but like Formal nights it has been a cruise tradition since the Titantic went down. I voiced my opinion to the head guy in our section and he said he would take care of it. On the last night he baked up the biggest Baked Alaska for our table of nine making others around us pretty jealous. We shared the left overs with our near guest.

Got my first taste of 190 proof pure Rum and all I can say is WOW what a punch that gives. After only 6 tiny bottle cap fulls I was laid out and feeling no pain. That was on the Belize Barrier Reef Snorkel boat. Overall we enjoy this cruise very much. It was everything we expected from the reviews and

probably more since we are the glass is always half full type people. Out of 400 children on board last week we only found one unruly little boy. They type that seems to always be where you are to splash you, run into you, push you down, spit on you while his parents watch type boy. It didn't spoil our cruise as we made efforts to avoid his presences by moving to another part of the ship. Water Slide open every day and was fast some days and very slow others. I guess it varies with amount of water they pump in.

More later.

[pands]

I love to read great reviews like this. We will be on the Miracle on July 24 and have booked the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour so glad to hear it was fun. Thanks for the review.

[dotshub]

Hi again, it was nice meeting you. We agree with everything you said in your review, it was a wonderful ship and cruise.

Now we already cant wait for another one.

:)

[Super89]

Hi, Thanks for the great review and I'm glad you had such a good time. We will be on our first cruise August 21st on the Miracle and I am so happy every time I read a good review like this!:D We are thinking about the Ray, reef and rumpoint with Nativeways too. Being our first cruise, I am really paranoid about not getting back to the ship on time and will be obsessing all day if I feel it is getting late. Did you get back in plenty of time? I have read such good things about Nativeways on these boards that they seem like a safe bet. Thanks! Glad you had so much fun. Susan

[halos]

The Miracle is such a wonderful ship, I'm not at all surprised that you thoroughly enjoyed your cruise!! It's good that you tried Carnival again. :D

Their reputation is nothing like the product they provide....at least, in my experience ;)

[queenteacher]

We are taking 2 14 year old boys and I am thinking that an 11:00pm curfew would work. What time did most of the activities end for them?

[The It Girl]

What nights were formal nights?

[Lemarier]

Swiss,

 

Thanks for the review - we are sailing on the Miracle July 24th and are bring kids 17, 20 and 21 - were there many old "kids" for your two to hang with? Last year on the Glory there were a lot in this age group. Thanks

 

Also, were there any problems docking in Tampa? We have a very early flight (10:55) and are hoping to make it with the self assist debarkation.

 

Thanks,

Kathy

[swiss]

Super89- One of the first questions that Nativeway asked us was what time the last tender was. They are very conciencious about getting you back on time. We got back within 30 min of the last tender. They try very hard to show you a great time. The day that we went with them, my family of 5 and one other couple were the only ones on the excursion. It was great, compared to the Carnival tours that had hundreds of people cramed in on one boat. The Rum Point stop was the highlight of the day, it is such a beautiful place and the food was wonderful that the excursion provided.

 

Queenteacher- 11:00 would probably be too early. We started out with a 12:00 curfew and by the end of the week extended it to 1:00 as long as we knew where our daughter was. The kids had so much fun running around together that we hated to bring her in too early. They hang around in different areas, depending on the activities of the evening. Several nights they were in Jokers playing board games so she would call us and ask permission to stay a little longer. My husband and I, or my older sons would walk around the ship to scope out where they were and what they were up to. She made some great friends that week and we never experienced any problems with the kids that she was hanging out with.

 

Theitgirl:

Formal nights are Monday and Thurday (1st sea day and Belize)

[swiss]

Kathy,

There were a lot of kids in that age group. The only problem was there was not a lot a organized activities for that group to get together so they could meet each other.

 

We had no problems docking in Tampa, we were there by the wee hours on Sunday. I don't think that you would have problems making your flight. The people that have early flight times have priority on getting off early. We were in no hurry to get off, so we stayed on the ship until about 10:00 and walked off with no wait or crowd.

[beary]

Swiss, I think from a father's point of view that 1:00 AM was a little late for a cute 14 year old blond haired blue eyed girl? I actually saw one 14 year old girl leading a mob of kids through the casino playing a slot machine illegally. Wouldn't hate to have been her mom. Or were you? And it seems like there were a bunch of boys in that mob she was hanging out with. Um, I mean they seem like nice boys, but as someone who used to be a boy, looks can be deceiving.

 

Also, I think you were hard on the piano guy, he wasn't that bad, he just didn't appeal to anyone on the ship. And, it sounds like he got a lot of folks to try the 190 proof rum. How did we miss that?

 

Kevin

 

P.S. Why didn't you think of asking for the Baked Alaska? To many dancing waiters maybe? Every night dancing waiters. I'm still having bad dreams of missing my dessert because the waiters left to go dance.

 

Oh well, another great cruise planned for October. See you there?