dharmapath

This is one of the best improvements I have seen for anytime dining and I hope all Cruise lines pick up on this.  It makes it easy to check in while getting ready or enjoying a cocktail on the verandah.  No massive line ups.  I do understand those who don't want to use their phones for everything but this is a definite improvement. 

If you travel during hurricane season then you have to expect a possibility of a missed port.  I was on the Panorama on the Aug 27th sailing and was checking the weather every day so I get it.  But at the end of the day people chose to travel during that time.  I take the risk because we live in LA and have done Mexico so many times that a missed port does not really matter.  

Havana on the vista class is definitely worth it.  We sailed on the Panorama recently and I was so impressed with the area we booked another cruise while waiting to debark.  Normally we don't do the pools on ships because of the crowds.  Most of the time we hang on the balcony but this trip we spent very little time on the balcony and was in the Havana area most of the time.  Great staff and it is never super busy.  Looking at the Marti Gra and sister ships it looks like a big downgrade.  Sitting in the infinity pool looking aft drinking a beer as you sail away from Cabo was definitely a great experience. 

I used to love the room service breakfast.  My last cruise off the Panorama I actually didn’t miss it.  Just went to get some food and read on the deck while I finished my coffee.  

These are similar to the one in the video on a deck below.  I think the have more pronounced dividers due to the bump out. Looks like 1 is certainly larger.  Never stayed in one so hopefully someone with real world experience will chime in. 

Thanks for the review,  it was great😝

Not to be rude but that font is unreadable. 

Forgot to mention the use of the Carnival HUB app was excellent. This was the first time using the app and I really think Carnival has a good app. Having access to everything that is going on was great. I never carried around the paper Fun times they publish so this was great. In fact I wish you had the option to go paperless cause most of the paper we get from carnival in our cabin goes straight to the bin. We didn't use the text message feature of the app but it seems useful if you are with a big group.

I think the bathrooms in question might be owned by Vallarta Adventures one of the major shore excursion vendors. We went last week and still had our Vallarta adventures excursion bands so they let us in. The next day I payed because those bathrooms are really clean and convenient. Cheep beer = expensive pee I guess.

We just got off the Miracle and the room stewart came by and asked us 3 options. Since I hadn't been on carnival in a few years this was new to me. I understand people want 2 times a day service but we find once a day adequate for our needs. I like the option of evening service when we are out to dinner. These people work hard so I go out of my way to make it easier for them.

We just got off on Saturday but did not watch any football in the sports bars. Sorry I could not be of more help, hopefully someone will chime in from last week.

Seems like viewing the post in the Tapatalk app cuts off half of the review. Click on web view to see the entire commentary.

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Just back from the NYE cruise to Mexico. A little bit about my past cruising and my expectations of this cruise might help with my thoughts. I have taken this cruise many times. This is probably my 3rd on Carnival but my first on the Miracle. It was me and my SO who enjoy the entertainment but do not gamble or shop that much. I know there are a lot of negative opinions of the Mexican riviera itineraries but we enjoy Cabo and Puerto Vallarta every trip we have taken. We mainly do sailing, snorkeling or beach activities and city tours or shopping are really not our thing.

The Ship -

We've sailed the Splender before and have been on the smaller ships that do the 3 and 4 day itineraries. I was concerned ate Miracle was going to be too small, but what I quickly realized it was a good sized ship with a manageable passenger count at full capacity which I assume it was for NYE. I never felt like the ship was too crowded or felt small. I really enjoyed the Miracle and I am a bit sad it is actually leaving Long Beach for Tampa. Although she is an older ship everything seemed to be well maintained. The crew did a great job in keeping everything clean and looking nice. The only thing I did notice is the furniture in our Balcony cabin was looking a little long in the tooth. Also the bed mattresses had two distinctive dips that worried me, however I actually thought the beds were quite comfortable.

Dining

We enjoyed the pizza and Lido buffet however we did have many meals in the dining room. In fact our favorite part about cruising is the nice dinners and rapport we foster with the dining staff. Normally I have a light breakfast so I found the Room service breakfast just enough to get started, however we did take advantage of the Seaday Brunch and really enjoyed the food and service. We had a few lunches at the buffet but on port days we ate off the ship. We did anytime dining as I like to have flexibility at dinner time. This option was great as we didn't have to wait to be seated any of the nights anytime we went. They also have many 2 tops available so it was nice to have dinner with my SO without being seated with other people. I don't mind sharing tables but it is a nice treat to dine alone. My past experiences with anytime dining has varied based on the cruise line and times we have eaten. We have waited up to an hour in the past mainly on Holland America and Princess. Carnival has got it right at least on this sailing. Maybe we got lucky but anytime dining should not be an exercise in guessing how long you will wait to be seated.

It was also a nice touch that they tried to seat us with the same waitstaff each night. I like getting to know the waitstaff and I understand by selecting anytime dining that may not be an option. We had the same staff 5 out of the 7 nights.

I know the quality of the food is very subjective. I am vegetarian so my viewpoint is certainly different. I found the food to be excellent. I enjoyed most of the dishes I had and am thankful they offer a vegetarian option plus an Indian Vegetarian option daily. The Indian food is excellent and I Chose that option quite a few times. My SO enjoyed most of the food and she is not Vegetarian. The one negative comment was the flat iron steak which is on the menu daily. She didn't care for it, but other than that she really enjoyed the food. As a bonus we were selected by the Mater De one night to take a tour of the Kitchen and taste the menu for that day. It was a nice surprise and a great experience even thought I could not try all the dishes.

Entertainment

We found the Shows and Comedy to be quite excellent. I enjoy the production shows and comedians on the Miracle. The NYE deck party was fun and the entire entertainment staff was great. We usually don't do much in the way of trivia, bingo etc but we had a great time.

Ports

We have been to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta many times and tend to do the same things we enjoy. This time we tried the Luxury Sailing shore excursion that was provided by Carnival. We usually do the Ship excursions because it is easy and stress free. You may pay more but I have always found great value and organized trips when I used the Ships excursions. The Luxury sail was a great day. We went to Santa maria bay to snorkel and paddle board, had lunch and spent the afternoon sailing the bay. The Sailing boat was 40 - 50 feet with plenty of space. Our's had 11 people on board. The second day in Cabo we took a water taxi to the beach to relax and swim. Something we have done many times and enjoy.

At Puerto Vallarta we took the Las Caletas tour. This is our 3 or 4th time doing it. We enjoy the boat ride and relaxed atmosphere at the exclusive hideaway. The food is excellent and there is plenty to do for everyone. It has decent snorkeling and water activities and my SO enjoyed her Massage. Overall Las Caletas is one of our favorite excursions. Of course it is expensive but I find it worth it.

Room

We had a Balcony cabin on deck 8 forward. Room was decent and I like the higher balconies. The bridge is close by so the hallways are always quiet. We saw our cabin stuart 2 times during the entire cruise, which I like. I found it interesting that he asked us if we wanted our room cleaned in the morning, evening or both. That seemed new, but actually makes sense. I don't think they need to clean the room twice a day, and I like evening cleanings when we are at dinner as mornings we are sometimes not ready to leave the cabin. He did a good job.

Enbark and Debark

The boarding time thing was new to us. Usually we get the pier early and try to get on board ASAP. We couldn't get FTTF as we booked really late and it was sold out. So we showed up at our allotted time of 1:00 pm and the embarkation process was a breeze. We were in the Lido by 1:20 eating lunch and in our room at 1:45. We do not carry off so we waited for our debarkation time which was pretty smooth. On shore we found our luggage and hopped in an Uber for home. A great process that seems to work every time.

Overall we had one of the best cruse experiences we have ever had. We have been on at least 10 cruised before so that is saying something. I know Carnival not be for everyone but we had a Wonderfull time.

TLDR if you have any questions I will try to answer them, but Next week The Miracle sails to Tampa.

We did the itinerary last year, but in reverse. Here is what we did/saw as I consulted my pictures and trip log:

 

Day one - from Seattle, scenery on both sides in evening

Day two -- at sea, little/no scenery

Day three -- Juneau, beautiful scenery going in Stephens Passage. Snow capped mountains, green trees, many whales, mountain goats.

Day four -- Skagway, beautiful scenery going in and out of Lynn Canal. Saw mountain goats, eagles, seals.

Day five -- Glacier Bay National Park, beautiful scenery all day!! Saw grizzly bear, harbor seals, sea otters, sea lions, sea birds/puffins.

Day six -- Ketchikan, scenic views thru Clarence Strait. Lots of eagles. Many tree covered islands leaving Ketchikan (scenery for quite awhile).

Day seven -- No scenery early in day, scenery later in day into Victoria BC. Saw whales.

 

Hope this helps you with specifics. I purchased The Alaska Cruise Handbook prior to the cruise, and it came with a HUGE map that helps you see the route you are going. This might help you see where the land will be and what to expect. I was worried about the amount of scenery we would see too, after doing this cruise, I have no regrets.

This is one of the best day to day descriptions of a Seattle RT "inside" passage cruise. Gives a clear idea what will be seen each day which is nice.

Last time I was in San Diego I used Uber. Very competitive for taxi rates.

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We did the gardens on our cruise to Alaska last August. I had the same question but decided to give it a try. If you go in June you should have light till 9:45 and yes a few hours is not a lot to see everything, but we enjoyed the gardens for an hour before sunset and then the fireworks. We had an hour less light in August. It is very crowded on firework nights, but everyone got on the bus and was back to the pier well ahead of all aboard.

I enjoyed it but I am sure you will get many options that it is not worth it.

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Parking went up on March 9, 2015 to $16 a day at pier 93.

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ps if there are any mods on this board...please close and delete this thread. It is no longer a worthwhile discussion.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Not sure why someone with such a strong opinion on cruising would bother to post and then abruptly claim it was not worth your while.

Happened to me. I got an offer of sbc but the would take away the deal I had with beverage cards, so it was only 50 increase. Or the offered the full amount $100 for a future cruise credit. I took the future credit but I don't even know how to check if I got it.

The majority of replies you will get is not to risk it flying the same day. I've done it on the west coast from LA to Seattle during the summer. I would say in the winter on the east coast is a different story.

The good old days of NCL trying to dominate the Hawaii cruise market they had 3 ships there. Of course I took advantage of an extremely cheap 10 day cruise that gave some more time on the islands. 7 day prices are about 4 times what I paid at the time. Supply and demand.

Personally I hate this. There is nothing wrong with dressing up once and awhile.

 

And you wonder why carnival is called walmart of the sea in certain circles.

Ha I call the Lido the Nascar Buffett. All in good fun of course.

Nice what frame rate were you using?

We recently sailed RCCL and there was a lot of chatter about their NEW ship - Quantum of the Seas where there will be no fixed seating as we know it.. but rather 4 large "free" dining rooms much like "as you like it" seating, each with it's own theme plus many specialty/pay dining rooms.

 

This wasn't something RCCL planned to do on their smaller, existing ships. They're looking to attract a new, younger demographic with this new ship who will be sailing years after many of the current sailors have gone to the great cruise ship in the sky. ;) Their plans as of now are that any new ships they order will follow this format.

Well they just announced it is going to the Oasis of the Seas in March of next year in addition to their new ships Quantum and Anthem.

It will be hard to do that with the smaller HAL ships but certainly I can see this transformation. Will it make sense for HAL? Not sure, but we all know trends tend to pass to other cruise lines like a case of Noro. My gut feeling is Hal will remain traditional and keep the main dining but of course the idea of added revenue from specialty restaurants is a certain way to make money with little investment.

I personally like NCL's Freestyle dining, and can see why Royal would want to mimic that. I also see the simplicity of traditional dining still attracts cruisers.