Rambling thoughts about our Miracle Hawaii 15 day

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We were only in Maui one night. The first port for us. The drive to the Luau was practically a straight shot from the rental place. We used our GPS and the hardest part was getting out of the airport and that really wasn't bad. It took about 40 minutes from rental to OLL. We stopped along the way to take pictures as it was beautiful following the water.

Did you drive to the luau in Maui? If so was that tricky? and is it best to do a luau the first or second night while in Maui?

Thanks so much!

[lovebears]

What time was the luau over and were you back to the ship? Well, if you were there for just the one night you must have made it back in plenty of time to set sail, as I am thinking here! Wondering if we would prefer the luau the first or second night in port. We have the trip from Vancouver to LA so that is why we have 2 nights overnight in Mauii. We don't go to Mexico on the end of the trip. I am appreciating your suggestions so much! Thanks!

[gusandgidgetsmom]

The luau was over at 8:15. We had to be back on board at 10:30. Quite frankly that was the only port I was worried about getting back in time. I had read that everyone had gotten back in plenty of time but I am a very anal person and worried. No worries tho as we were back in plenty of time.You are so lucky you don't have to go to MX. We did not even get off there.

Our reservations were made on line and I even talked with them one time as our port days changed and I had to change the reservation. We loved the luau.

[halos]

My husband and I were on this same sailing. We thought it was a good vacation but the best cruise we've had (that would be Panama Canal sailing on Holland America).

 

.

 

I think our favorite cruise (due to fabulous itinerary, not cruise line) was also the PC cruise (we did it on Celebrity). If I had to choose do do either the canal or Hawaii a second time, without hesitation, I'd choose the canal crossing.

[lovebears]

The luau was over at 8:15. We had to be back on board at 10:30. Quite frankly that was the only port I was worried about getting back in time. I had read that everyone had gotten back in plenty of time but I am a very anal person and worried. No worries tho as we were back in plenty of time.You are so lucky you don't have to go to MX. We did not even get off there.

Our reservations were made on line and I even talked with them one time as our port days changed and I had to change the reservation. We loved the luau.

 

I am the very same way about worrying about missing the boat!!! On the other hand we have had better excursions planning them outside of Carnival. Smaller and more personal. You are soooo helpful! I wonder what we would do with car overnight for the two days in Maui? Hum....

[gusandgidgetsmom]

check ports of call about the car as I know it has been discussed there.We use Carnival and non-carnival cruises when we cruise out of the country, but felt so very safe renting a car as we were in our own country. I much prefer the smaller tours as my husband is not a fan of crowds.

Barbara

I am the very same way about worrying about missing the boat!!! On the other hand we have had better excursions planning them outside of Carnival. Smaller and more personal. You are soooo helpful! I wonder what we would do with car overnight for the two days in Maui? Hum....

[akeka]

We are on the April 2014 cruise to Hawaii, and also doing the "Tubing the Ditch" excursion...was the water cold ? Did you have a 'fast' ride, or a 'lazy river' type of ride ?

 

The water was cool but we quickly got used to it. The speed was a nice mix of slow areas and and fast. What surprised me was how much of it was in tunnels.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[jordanaire]

When we sailed to Hawaii aboard the Spirit in April of 2012, we ended up renting a Mustang convertible in Maui and Honolulu. We did our own sightseeing and the Mustang was the way to go! Rented through Thrifty, who picked us up at both piers and returned us to the ship. I even surprised my wife with marriage vow renewal while in Honolulu, catching her totally unaware!

 

What a fantastic cruise it was! Our best one yet!

 

:cool: Bill

[lovebears]

Did you know anyone who swam with dolphins in Kona by chance?

[terri-eddie]

I was excited to find your review of this ship and this itinerary...we are booked on the same cruise, to depart in 16 days!

 

You mentioned doing your own laundry....can you tell me where the laundry rooms are located? I can't seem to find them on any deck plans. Also, are the machines coin-operated, or can you use your sail+sign card to activate them?

[NavCom]

I was excited to find your review of this ship and this itinerary...we are booked on the same cruise, to depart in 16 days!

 

You mentioned doing your own laundry....can you tell me where the laundry rooms are located? I can't seem to find them on any deck plans. Also, are the machines coin-operated, or can you use your sail+sign card to activate them?

 

Name: Launderettes

Location: Riviera Deck 1 - midship / across from 1219

Main Deck 4 - aft / across from 4230

Upper Deck 5 - aft / across from 5270

Empress Deck 6 - forward / across from 6102

Verandah Deck 7 - midship / across from 7267

Hours: hours posted on the door to the Laundry

Function: Self-Service Launderette

2 or 3 washers

2 or 3 dryers

1 iron and ironing board

Vending machines dispense small boxes of detergent and water softener

 

Last time I used them, they were coin operated but I don't remember the price.

[Mendelson]

Laundry is $3 to wash and $3 to dry. Machines use quarters only.

[Mendelson]

Also....we were on Deck 4 aft and the laundry was open 24 hours. One washing machine and two dryers.

[gusandgidgetsmom]

We were on 7 and had a hard time getting my laundry done one day as the washers were in use all the time. I even tried at 4 a.m. One person dropped her laundry off and did not come back for hours. We finally called guest services to come take their laundry out. I always bring laundry soap pods and dryer sheets. used to use the 3 in 1's but I had problems with them making spots on good shirts so I started with the pods. on deck 7 there were 2 washers 4 dryers.

[breenw]

Did you know anyone who swam with dolphins in Kona by chance?

 

We swam with the wild dolphins in Kona back in December 2012 on our Carnival Spirit cruise. We are going again in two weeks on the Carnival Miracle and have scheduled that particular shore excursion again. It was a great experience and you won't regret it if you book that one.

[K&P Luv2Cruise]

Laundry is $3 to wash and $3 to dry. Machines use quarters only.

 

You can obtain Quarters from the Casino cashier, or the dollar change machine just to the left of the entry into Mr. Lucky's casino closest to the Atrium Lobby.

 

We take our normally used Tide pods and fabric softener sheets with us as DH has allergies to 'unknown' perfumes and soaps.

[K&P Luv2Cruise]

The water was cool but we quickly got used to it. The speed was a nice mix of slow areas and and fast. What surprised me was how much of it was in tunnels.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Thanks !

 

One more thing...would it be worth purchasing a waterproof camera for this specific excursion ? Do you have any pictures of this excursion you would be willing to share / post ?

Edited January 3, 2014 by K&P Luv2Cruise

[LMaxwell]

Does this cruise have cultural enrichment speakers or presenters? Is there anything going on during sea days that is Hawaii focused, etc? Thanks

[CSTECH]

I had thought I would write a review on our October 15 day Hawaii Miracle cruise but then realized I always have great expectations of doing a review then they fall apart somewhere along the 3rd day. Since this was a 15 day cruise lots would be left out. Thought I would write in no particular order things that happened, events attended and things I liked and disliked as well.

 

If you have questions I will try to answer them but I will not post or send carnival fun times. A few years back it was requested that I send the times--I tried and found my downloading skills to be very slow and a little poor so I could not continue them. I got threats--yes threats when I told others that I could not get them down loaded, thus the wariness of trying it again.

 

A little about us--60's, me still running an active business(cheer and gymnastics) husband loving a quiet retirement. We LOVED this cruise. Was it perfect no --only one perfect thing in my life and he is residing at the right hand of his Father--but it was pretty spectacular! We are platinum cruisers so we have a few perks that some others don't have but do not take advantage of all of them.

We started this cruise by flying in the day before. As we touched down in LA we turned our phones on. On our flight there were several going on the same cruise as we were and I noticed the surprised looks on their faces as they had gotten the same texts and voice mails that we had from Carnival. We were told not to board until 2:30 the next day. We were all in a group on cc as well as a group on the other site. There was much discussion about this with many saying they were going to ignore the messages as they put them in the same category as those from Carnival to alleviate the early port congestion. Those of us on the plane thought it unusual that we got called as well so thought perhaps we would heed the calls.

 

We took a private shuttle to the Hotel Maya where they informed us we were not going out tomorrow until after 2:30 as well so we scheduled a late shuttle.

 

Morning of cruise we noticed the Miracle was not there but finally arrived around 9:30. We took our shuttle to the ship around 2 and they were still debarking the cruise before us. We saw lines everywhere and people sitting on the ground. We got in the priority line and they were taking groups of 5 families and placing them in a line by the check in desks. We got in our line got checked in and then escorted to the dome. We went thru security there and got on the ship. Really not too crazy for us but for others not so convenient. Others were still entering while we had muster drill.

 

We had so many platinum/diamond members on board there was no FTTF. In spite of this mad house our room was ready when we got on.

MDR the service was great--we had a table for two with 3 wait staff. The menu was different than we had in June on the Splendor. Others liked the changes--me not so much. Nothing I could put my finger on but it was just when we looked to see what was on the menu that day I was not excited as I have been in cruises past. Prime Rib was offered about 5 nights but it was of the skinny variety! Good flavor but thinly cut.

 

Went to the steakhouse twice--once to celebrate our anniversary and once to avoid the Halloween crowd in the MDR! Had lobster each time and my husband had the cowboy rib eye. Dessert the first time and none the next--too full. Did not take as long as it had on other experiences on other ships.

 

Productions were lacking on this ship. We only saw one and I think they only had two on a 15 day cruise. They made shows with magicians, jugglers, a guy singing and telling stories. Not my kind of entertainment. I miss the old days, but that is just what they were the old days. Things change.

 

Sea days Carnival had the same things they always have--high tea art auctions, hairy chest etc. Nothing I partake in any more but it is not where i look for my day time activity. I like to veg out and read so I find a great spot with a nice couch or chair.

 

We rented a car in most of the ports. Since we hold U.S. licenses this was very convenient. We loved all the ports--Hard to say which was our favorite but Honolulu was our least favorite. We loved the Memorial but the rest was just too commercialized for us.

 

Tendering in life boats is not our favorite way to tender. Been a long time since we did it and was surprised that we did not remember how rough it was.

 

One of our tours was Ricky's in Hilo. Recommend his tours--you get a lot for your money!

Past guest party was a mess! They had to have two since there were so many past guests--we heard 300 platinum/diamonds, but another couple heard 900. Got no hors d' oeuvres and got one drink at the very end. We were fine with no drink I was a little hungry tho but the people in the beginning of our row were livid so they came and gave us one. They scheduled our party time during our dining hour.

 

Wish Carnival would change their smoking policy. I wish they would make one side smoking and the other not for balconies. That way we could all be fair to one another. We now have insides booked but would really like to have our balcony back. :(

 

This is a cruise I think we would like to do in two years or so. I went into it with a little apprehension as we had heard so many great things about the Alaskan cruise and we really did not enjoy ourselves on that one that I was worried about this one as we had heard great things about it as well. This was our favorite of all the cruises that we have taken in 30 years--including our first! My husband does not like to fly so this works well for us. We fly to LA only 3 hours and then travel by his favorite mode of travel--cruise ship.

 

I think the Hawaii ports have something for everyone. Lots of times he Caribbean ports are mostly beach outings. My husband had melanoma and is not a beach person except at HMC. This trip was the first cruise I have been on that I have not had my swim suit on at all.

 

Days going out and coming back to port are cold so make sure you pack long pants. I wore my jeans and a sweater for the first two and the last two days. The ship was cold at all times so I wore a cardigan.

 

We had an early flight out of LAX so we hired a private super shuttle to make sure we did not have to make any stops. Thank goodness as it took so long to get off the ship. We were in the lounge with priority and the guy kept saying 1/2hr to every one that asked him even when it had been a half hour from the first time! We were all a little nervous as there had been a fatal shooting of a TSA person in LA two days before at the terminal and we did not know how crazy security was going to be. We were fortunate to have been picked as a TSA pre check and did not have to wait in the large security line- take our shoes off or jackets off. Pretty easy.

 

Any questions on our cruise or ports please ask. I was with a large group that did many things and heard their opinions as well.

 

We started our cruise with 800.00 OBC (due to price adjustments) and we ended up with getting a check for 36.00 from Carnival as we did not use all of it. We don't drink much but we took an excursion and bought pictures. We normally spend a lot on the cafe with specialty coffee but I packed our creamer this time and we saved that way. We also decided to put the rest of my laundry money (yes we could have had 10 bags done but I like to do my own laundry) in a penny machine and my husband won 90.00 and I won 30 so that gave us a little extra. This was probably one of our most economical trips that we have taken. For what we pay to rent a condo for a week on the Gulf(3000.00) we cruised for 15 days had our food paid for and most of our entertainment. We thought this a real bargain. We normally cruise at least twice a year and take a land vacation-this year to AI in Dominican Republic and this was our best bargain so far!

 

Thank You Very Much for this tip! We just booked him for our Hawaii cruise, sounds Great Can't wait to get there!

[lovebears]

We swam with the wild dolphins in Kona back in December 2012 on our Carnival Spirit cruise. We are going again in two weeks on the Carnival Miracle and have scheduled that particular shore excursion again. It was a great experience and you won't regret it if you book that one.

 

Who did you book through?