Anyone onboard the Miracle Aug 29 - Sept 6?

[batman1975]

Just wondering how many people are still lurking around the forums who were on the Carnival Miracle from August 29th to Sept 6th.

 

I'd like to speak to those who were on the Carnival Miracle.

 

Thanks!

[momofzeke]

Here is the Roll Call for that sailing. Looks like the last post was Sept. 14. You could try posting over there, and maybe someone will respond. Good luck!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=687359

[freeholdfriends]

Hi Batman,

I'm still around. What did you need?

[batman1975]

Hi...

 

We got disconnected I think due to a loss of my original thread. I guess we're the only ones left from this cruise?

 

Its nice to hear some people's opinion on the Captain's response. I thought he could have spoken better ... but I guess I am in the minority.

 

Did you have a good time on the cruise? We are going again in January on the Freedom to see the ports we missed (ie. All of them!)

 

Hope to hear from you soon...

[freeholdfriends]

We did actually have a nice time. However, we were with about 15 friends so we alwys enjoy ourselves. I will say though that this was one of my least favorite cruises. We have not yet booked another cruise. I am waiting to see how the economy fares for next year. I don't like to fly so we are more limited in where we go. I actually have been to all those ports a couple of times so if we book again I think it will be in Europe and then I will have to get on a plane. I'm done with the Caribbean.

Did you have a good time?

[batman1975]

Hi!

 

The highlight of the trip was Kayaking and Hiking in Freeport. It was amazing!

 

We saw where they filmed parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie (which one? I'm not sure). My wife and I are into the outdoors, and had we not made it to Freeport (or some other Caribbean island), I think we would have been so disappointed I don't know what would have happened! :)

 

$3000 to go one Caribbean island and have a great time? A lot of money, but that's the way the ball bounces.

 

On the ship, we had a good time as well. But we booked for the itinerary and the departure point. We spent 4 days in NYC prior to sailing, and NYC was amazing too! We did not meet any rude people (contrary to some of the posts I've read about NYC), and had a great time. I was a little nervous being from a city of < 500,000 (we drive everywhere!) to a huge city like NYC. The biggest city I have been to would be Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I've been to Detroit too, but I don't know if I would want to walk the streets in Detroit! Toronto is a very safe city, and I would say NYC is too!

 

When we were in NYC we spoke to some friends back home (we were not watching news or anything), who told us about the hurricane. Having cruised once before (I Was 16), I figured that's the advantage of the ship -- it can avoid the storm!

 

When they changed the itinerary the first time, we were disappointed (we had booked excursions months in advance). We thought "oh well", and booked new excursions. We discussed amongst ourselves, and agreed "they won't change the itinerary again".

 

We were surprised when they changed the itinerary again. The worst part was that no one told us of all the cancelled excursions in Freeport due to our early arrival and the weather. We could have missed the excursion altogether had we not been on top of things. More info would have been useful so we knew our Kayak and Snorkel (thus the reason we did the Kayak and Hike) had been cancelled.

 

When they announced Rhode Island were surprised. I joked that would be going to Halifax next at dinner the previous night. I picked the most unlikely scenario, and was shocked to learn that we would be half-way there in Rhode Island.

 

In Rhode Island, a couple things that would have interested me... a tour of the military fort (not an excursion, I wonder why?) or one of the ghost tours we saw advertised (we did not stay late enough to do that). Touring old mansions... did not interest at all.

 

We did write a complaint letter to Carnival. They apologized and defended the change of itinerary (it was a Caribbean cruise, after all). We did not expect to sail into the storm, but an extra sea day somewhere warm if at all possible would have been fine for us. The customer service complaints we felt were well founded, and Carnival offered a $50 per person onboard credit for a future cruise, and a guarantee that our next cruise will exceed our expectations.

 

I would encourage you to write a letter to Carnival if you are dissatisfied. Our travel agent provided us the email address to Guest Relations. You may get better results by going through your travel agent. Our response came from the Office of the President.

 

It was my second cruise (first one in 16 years), and my wife's first cruise ever. We are not seasoned cruisers at all, but being involved with the outdoors, we know how to take the good with the bad.

 

We are really looking forward to our next cruise. We would not have considered another cruise this soon had we had a better experience on this one.

 

I have to say that the service (particularly from our waiters), was excellent. We did not remove tips from anyone, and gave extra to our waiter.

 

I'm interested in hearing more about your experience (the good and the bad!) if you want to share your story.

[MrPete]

Having cruised once before (I Was 16), I figured that's the advantage of the ship -- it can avoid the storm!

 

 

You got that part right.

 

It's the islands that can't avoid it.

 

I remember my last cruise on this itinerary where every place the ship sailed, the weather was marvoulous. Except, in all the ports, it rained.

 

I wish the ship would have pulled out at each stop just to go back and find the good weather.

 

Looks like you lucked out and sailed where the good weather was!

 

What a treat! :)

[magic&buddy]

Hi......we were on the August 29th sailing of the Miracle and had no issue at all with the Captain.........I wrote a lengthy review on this board...........I don't know how to post a link to it:o ........... Within a week of being home we actually changed a cruise we had booked on the Valor next April to cruise on the Miracle again on April 30th hoping we have the same Captain.

[freeholdfriends]

It's interesting to hear of the different opinions of this cruise. I did not care for the Captain at all. I felt he was condescending and rude to passengers. However, the staff in the dining room was the best I've ever encountered. Our service ranked right up with some of the nicest restaurants I've ever been to.

 

Where are you from Batman? We live only about 50 miles from NYC so we go there alot. I love the City and the shows and shopping. The restaurants in NY are absolutely the best so we do get spoiled. Our only downer is that we are METS fans so we were not in a good mood this week.

 

I've said before on other threads, I wasn't that unhappy with the changed itinerary. My husband and I wanted to see Freeport. We vacationed there many years ago and loved it but I will say it has changed and not for the best. We only wnt to the shopping area in Port Lucaya. We walked around and had a nice time. Two of our friends, however, took the Jeep tour and absolutely loved it. They had a great time. I wished we had booked it and gone with them. The problem was that everything was so last minute and you could not book excursions. My friend said that their tour guide told him that it was iffy up unitl about 6am if we were even going to make Freeport. Apparently, the Captain was unsure all night if it was safe to go there. They received phone call updates all night as to if they needed to be there to run that tour. Think of what would have happened with all those unhapy passenger if we did not even make that Island.

 

I think that next time we might try RCL from Bayone. WE hear very good things about the ships that leave from there. We might do the 5 night Bermuda cruise or in the alternative we might just save up and go the Europe and take one of those cruises. I really am not crazy about flying so that is keeping us in check a bit with Europe.

[debster11]

Hi......we were on the August 29th sailing of the Miracle and had no issue at all with the Captain.........I wrote a lengthy review on this board...........I don't know how to post a link to it:o ........... Within a week of being home we actually changed a cruise we had booked on the Valor next April to cruise on the Miracle again on April 30th hoping we have the same Captain.

 

Good for you! I'm sure there were many like you who understood where the captain stood. Have a great second cruise on her!

[batman1975]

Hi again...

 

I agree... the service in the dining room and the room stewards left nothing to be desired. Our waiter was excellent, he kept us entertained with his magic tricks and other skills... we gave him an extra tip for his excellent service. His name was Inyoman (I believe I spelled it correctly).

 

We are from Ontario, Canada. We drove to Detroit, MI and flew (About an hours flight to NYC).

 

It didn't help that there were only four excursions available to the entire ship. Worse was that the Cruise Director did not inform us that the other 16 or so excursions were cancelled when his previous communication indicated they would be rescheduled.

 

The Captain's words were in the least poorly chosen, or downright rude IMO. Italian or not, when I watch him speak on our DVD that we paid good money for, I feel my blood pressure rise (ok, maybe not that extreme!)

 

Hope to chat again soon!