Carnival Miracle 6 Day Mexican Riviera Review Nov 2, 2014 (with photos)

[sistersfirstcruise]

Bella is simply adorable!

Can't wait for more. Jan 18 seems like an eternity from now ;)

 

 

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[Taters]

I am enjoying your review! I am counting down the days to our back-to-back cruises on Miracle beginning November 29th! Thanks so much for taking the time to post the review.

[uprivermama]

Thanks for your review. As a fellow Washintonian, I have considered a Mexican Riviera trip myself to save on the airfare (we usually drive to Cali--nothing like a 16 hour road trip :rolleyes:) Keep it up! I'm curious whether you made it to Cabo...

 

Oh, and GO HAWKS!!!

[HawksFan74]

Thanks for your review. As a fellow Washintonian, I have considered a Mexican Riviera trip myself to save on the airfare (we usually drive to Cali--nothing like a 16 hour road trip :rolleyes:)

I have found the airfare from Seattle to Southern California to be very reasonable most of the time. We paid $184 pp round trip, or $552 for the 3 of us. Gas alone would have cost us close to $400 if we had driven.

 

I'm curious whether you made it to Cabo...

You are about to find out very shortly... :)

[HawksFan74]

 

Despite leaving La Paz about an hour late, we arrived in Cabo San Lucas shortly after dawn, around 7:00 am. Cabo has their own tenders, instead of using the ship's tenders. They were out and ready to go! As you can see, the conditions were much more calm this time around.

 

 

Some more “obstructed views” from the balcony of stateroom 5183:

 

 

 

 

We weren't quite ready to go at this time. We went up to the Lido deck for a quick breakfast and then back to the room to get ready. We left the room around 8:45 and headed to Jeeves Lounge, the meeting point for FTTF guests. We were quickly escorted down to the front of the line to board the next available tender. Did I mention that FTTF was well worth it? We boarded our tender and were on our way.

 

Edited November 13, 2014 by HawksFan74

[HawksFan74]

 

We didn't book any excursions, but I already knew what I wanted to do with our short time in Cabo: Get a water taxi to take us to see the Arch and then drop us off at Medano Beach for some beach time. As we stepped off the tender dock, there were plenty of guys trying to sell water taxi tours. The first one we talked to told us we could get a 20-25 minute tour of the Arch and Lover's Beach, then drop us off at Medano Beach, and pick us up again later, all for the “special” price of $15 per adult (our 3 yr old would be free). Carnival was charging twice as much for a similar excursion, so it sounded like a good deal. It pays to shop around though; we found out later that some of our fellow cruisers got a similar tour for $7 to $8 pp. On the plus side, we were the only passengers on our boat, so it was really a private tour.

 

I can't tell for sure, but I think this guy was fishing:

 

 

Bella enjoyed watching the fish as our driver, Carlos, fed them some food.

 

 

Lover's Beach

 

 

Neptune's Finger

 

 

The famous Arch

 

Edited November 13, 2014 by HawksFan74

[HawksFan74]

My favorite family photo of the trip:

 

 

Nice sunbathing spot!

 

 

The Arch from the Pacific side

 

 

Some views of the beautiful Miracle from our water taxi:

 

 

 

[HawksFan74]

It was around 9:50 when Carlos dropped us off at Medano Beach. We agreed to have him pick us up at 11:30, since we were supposed to back at the tenders by 12:15.

 

 

 

Bella was having a great time playing in the water! We didn't venture too far out though, since we were told there were jellyfish in the area.

 

 

 

 

[HawksFan74]

Eventually, it was past 11:30, and we hadn't seen Carlos yet. I was beginning to wonder if he was coming back, but he showed up by 11:45 and got us back to the dock on time. By this time, the line for the tenders was getting pretty long, but it actually moved fairly quickly.

 

The tender dock:

 

 

Medano Beach:

 

 

Heading back to the ship:

 

 

 

Our room (circled in blue):

 

 

Once we were back on board, I figured we would change and head to the buffet for lunch, but Bella passed out as soon as we got to the room. Too much excitement I guess! I wasn't really interested in the room service offerings, so I went up to the Pizza Pirate and brought back a pizza to share with Kerri. We had pizza 3 or 4 times during the cruise and thought it was actually very good.

 

This was also the 2nd elegant night of the cruise, but we were tired, and Kerri had a bit of a sunburn. We just didn't feel like getting dressed up, so we went to the buffet for dinner. This was the only night that we had dinner there, and we weren't impressed. However, I managed to make a decent meal out of fresh salad from the salad bar, ham from the carving station, and bread & butter.

 

Another towel animal to end the day:

 

Edited November 13, 2014 by HawksFan74

[HawksFan74]

Friday, November 7 - Fun Day At Sea

 

 

I woke up a little early this morning, so I grabbed the camera to take a few more pics around the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

Serenity and the endless wake:

 

[HawksFan74]

 

I spotted this ship traveling the same direction as us:

 

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but after checking the cruise schedules, I believe that is HAL's Veendam.

 

 

Prime rib was on the menu again this evening, so I had that since I enjoyed it the first time. Bella had the fried chicken and mashed potatoes from the everyday comfort menu, and she loved it! Note to parents: Your child doesn't have to order the same old stuff from the kids menu every night - they can order off the regular menu too. Of course, we finished the night off with warm chocolate melting cake! :D

[092306]

Really enjoying your review and pictures. We were on the Miracle twice out of NYC and would love to sail from the west coast one day. Bella is a sweetheart and sounds a lot like my son, 4. He did the same thing with the camp and seems they co-wrote their rules for mini-golf lol. I agree that more free-play for that age group would have interested him more.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience and glad you had a great time!

[wrigley80]

Very nice review. It was a nice change seeing one from the Mexican Riviera side. I loved your photos of the dolphins and the sun bathing sea lion.

 

Congrats on your first cruise. It looked like you had a great time so I'm sure it won't be your last

[pghsteelerfan]

I found your review several days ago and started reading then just either caught up now. Our second cruise was the Mexican Riviera out of Long Beach on an RCI ship in January 2000. We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and really enjoyed it. At the time, I only had a film camera so not much in the way of pictures. Fortunately I still remember what it looked like. We were also on Miracle for our third cruise to the Western Caribbean. We've been on three cruises since, all Carnival Conquest class (Glory, Valor, and Liberty), same layout, different decor. I loved the Conquest class but Miracle (Spirit class, I believe) has my favorite layout and we loved the Miracle. So I definitely took an interest in your review.

 

I feel really bad that your itinerary got messed up with the weather. We missed a port (Grand Cayman) on Liberty this past April. When I was getting to the part of your supposed first port in Cabo San Lucas and saw how choppy the water was (looked almost exactly like the water the day we missed Grand Cayman) and knowing it was a tender port, I was thinking "uh oh...I don't think they made it" and then your next post was the letter from the captain. Deja Vu!!! And with Puerto Vallarta, I'm glad you at least got an alternate port in La Paz. I really, really, really want to get to La Paz some day. I had (yes, had) to read "The Pearl" by Steinbeck when in Jr. High school but became mesmerized with it and really enjoyed the book. The story was set in La Paz. I've also seen pictures of the Gulf of CA and how it looked like the Caribbean meets desert and have always wanted to visit there. I know La Paz is no Puerto Vallarta but I'm jealous. :D So glad that you did make it to Cabo San Lucas the second time around.

 

I really enjoyed your review and your beautiful pictures. You have some that are really, really spectacular. I hope you and your family get more opportunities to cruise in the future. Thank you for taking the time to do this review. There aren't too many reviews for the Mexican Riviera and I always enjoy them when I see them...and yours had the extra bonus of La Paz. I may never get there but it's nice seeing what it's like.

Edited November 16, 2014 by pghsteelerfan

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review.

[HawksFan74]

Saturday, November 8 – Debarkation Day

 

I woke up early again this morning and managed to get a few sunrise photos as we approached the Southern California coastline:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 18, 2014 by HawksFan74

[HawksFan74]

We went to the Lido buffet for one last breakfast as the ship arrived in Long Beach. Here's the view of the Queen Mary and the Carnival dome shortly after docking:

 

 

After breakfast, it was back to the room to pack up our carry on bags. We had put our checked luggage out the night before with the special 'Zone 1' tags, courtesy of FTTF. Platinum, Diamond, and FTTF guests were to meet in the upper level of the Bacchus Dining Room at 8:45. We were the first to debark after the self assist passengers.

 

Customs and immigration was relatively easy. I'd say the whole process took maybe 10-15 minutes. We found our luggage, and there was a porter there to help us out to the shuttle area. I had booked Super Shuttle to take us to LAX, where we had a 1:00 pm flight to Seattle on Alaska Airlines. The van pulled up a few minutes later, and we were told they would wait up to 20 minutes for more passengers, which was no big deal, as we had plenty of time (I think this was at about 9:30). It also gave me time to get Bella's car seat installed. The cost of the shuttle was $17.00 pp. Children under 3 are free, but of course, Bella had just turned 3 a couple of weeks earlier.

 

About 15 minutes later, we had 4 more passengers, and we were off. The drive to the airport was relatively traffic-free, except for a very brief slowdown on the 405. I think we made in about 30 minutes. There was no line to check our bags at the Alaska counter (of course we had to pay $25 each for our two checked bags), and TSA only took a few minutes. Next thing we knew, we were through security, and it was barely after 11:00 am. With nearly 90 minutes left until boarding time, we were able to take our time and eat lunch at Ruby's Dinette, which was actually pretty good.

 

Overall, we had a great time on our first cruise. I will try to post the inside pages of the Fun Times along with some final thoughts in the next few days.

Edited November 18, 2014 by HawksFan74

[wrigley80]

Your sunrise photos are beautiful. Thanks Again for doing a review

[shark&minnow]

Your daughter is such a cutie!

[OceanDreams]

Thank you so much for your review....it's making me even more excited for our cruise on the Miracle in November.

 

OceanDreams