tree.critter

Miracle OS had lounger, 2 chairs and table and plenty more room. 

Events happen in the big cities all the time where rates go way up. We dock Sunday in Long Beach on the Miracle, the people getting ready to board get to deal with the Long Beach Grand Prix this weekend for example. Rates for Queen Mary and surrounding hotels skyrocketed. No surprise, not worth canceling the cruise for. 

We’re returning to Long Beach on Sunday on the Miracle, not looking forward to this traffic mess. Have family picking us up, praying it’s not too crazy for them. 

12 hours ago, TRLD said:

We noticed that the Miracle was next to us as we cruise to Kauai. It was supposed to dock around pier 2, while we docked at pier 3.  We were later told that after approaching Kauai the Miracle left and did not make port, but no one on shore seemed to know why.

There was heavy rains that caused a lot of debris in the port, the pilot boarded the ship, we bounced off a shoal during approach and it was deemed unsafe to navigate into the harbor after waiting a bit trying to see if it would clear. Totally unrelated to the accident the day before. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/other/drenching-rains-batter-kauai-prompting-rescues-and-road-closures/ar-BB1lwkWq

1 minute ago, Mike45LC said:

What a horrible thing!  I hope none of the injured were from your ship.

All of them injured today were from our ship. We had just arrived at port and this happened right at the cruise terminal exit as we were all getting our rides to wherever we were going. 

This happened today as we were debarking off the ship in Honolulu, of all the reports of ship happenings over the years this is by far the worst in my knowledge. The ship Captain announced and confirmed the facts respectfully at dinner time, the mood is somber.

Otherwise, it’s been a very nice cruise so far, lots of heavy hearts.
 

https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/04/12/12-people-injured-including-one-critically-after-shuttle-bus-loses-control-near-honolulu-pier/?outputType=amp&fbclid=IwAR3Hv4mPoUmMg1McGZsfIlFIIb1nQVV6op3en91rGnfgKzOotIb1LLICy38_aem_AYo-2LNFwAsqXgIK8vRJOCb2YXKzUAaysU6V6NG67_-BEDqy5DNK17YA6rGuLgYVlTU-TFH4ZoIkHrFtirF37ATj

We leave in 2 days on the Miracle, this is from the “Know before you go” email sent a couple days ago regarding parking.

PARKING (FOR CARNIVAL MIRACLE DEPARTURES FROM LONG BEACH)

Due to limited capacity at the cruise terminal garage, parking will not be available for your cruise. If you live in the area and it is convenient to do so, we encourage you to consider making alternate transportation arrangements that include ride sharing/taxi services or being dropped off/picked up by a family member or friend.

If driving is the best option, we have secured parking at the nearby Long Beach Convention Center (approximately 10 minutes from the cruise terminal). 

Here are some additional details for you to know: 

• Please proceed directly to the cruise terminal to drop off your luggage and travelling companions. 
• At the cruise terminal, you will be provided with directions and a card to identify you as a Carnival Miracle guest for parking area entry, which will be in a designated section of the Convention Center facility. 
• Parking will cost US$20, per day (including embarkation and debarkation day), and only card payments will be accepted upon entry (cash payment is not an option). 
• Complimentary shuttle service will be available to take you to the terminal on embarkation day and back to the convention center when you return to Long Beach at the end of your cruise. Accommodations will be in place for our guests with mobility limitation. The last shuttle will run 30 minutes prior to the final boarding time printed on your boarding pass.
• Signage will be on site to direct guests to the designated parking area.
• Oversized vehicles (those utilizing more than one parking space) cannot park in the cruise terminal garage or at the offsite location. Guests must make alternate/offsite parking arrangements.

I took a look at the Venezia OS 7235 which is available for 4 people also with couch in video. I think this will be nearly the same as the Firenze except somewhat different decor. 

Having faced similar decision a couple years back we booked Hawaii, leaving in 7 days finally and pretty excited. We mostly do journey type cruises now also as we are getting to the simple fun and relax stage. I vote Hawaii also.

I’ll try. I have received this note a few times. I buy a LOT of gift cards for a lot of cruises. So when you get this error, look at total balance due. If your balance due is less than the balance on your gift card you have to enter the exact amount to apply to current balance. Then, I go and apply the balance to the next cruise in line. I use the $500 cards and currently am working paying off my 9/25 Alaska cruise. Save a LOT of money! 

Make sure you use strong magnets, the coating they put on the metal walls will allow things to slide down if not strong enough. One of my go to things to pack is my 100# hooks, omg, they are awesome for hanging anything on the walls. 

I cruised on the new Mardi Gras 5 times (once on the original) Inaugural BTB, Sailabration BTB and once 12/2021 for anniversary. I really wanted to love this ship and all that she offered. The inaugural was great because capacity was way reduced, we wore masks but was so happy to just be back to cruising. We loved the food options, the shows were real good, the ship itself is beautiful. 
The first disappointment was that the 3 deck windows were covered more than they weren’t, this applied to all the cruises it seems too. The seating for shows there was awful, if you didn’t get a seat half hour early forget a good view. So much more waiting for pretty much everything. The crew, one of my biggest favorite things about Carnival, never seemed like they had a chance to breathe and on every single one of these cruises they just did not seem relaxed and were under constant heavy pressure to me. 
We had spa balcony cabin on all Mardi Gras cruises and wow, the biggest disappointment ever. Smallest spa amenities down in the depths of the ship in a very dungeon like atmosphere with no windows to outside. Then the physical size of the room was downsized from every standard cabin I’ve been in. The path to walk between foot of bed and wall was very narrow, stroke survivor not great at balance any more, fell onto bed a couple times as I tried to get used to the downsized path. 
I loved the roller coaster even though we only got a single trip around for $15 on the first cruise, didn’t do it any more but still cool (don’t book a room underneath it though, noise is unavoidable when it’s running) Looks like Lido and all the activities is good for the youngsters but this is also where I saw the least supervision of kids. 
So, we have decided that the Excel class is just not for us. Current bookings are now Miracle Hawaii, Spirit Alaska, Glory Caribbean BTBTB and giving the Firenze a try. Love the Dream class because I do appreciate the nice Cloud 9 spa, Vista class is OK spa.

I would recommend giving the ship a try at least once though if it can work out. It is innovative, fairly new, has coaster and so many fun food options to explore. 

These weren’t bad cruises for us by any means, just not as enjoyable and definitely not as relaxing as we are accustomed to. 

53 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

You don't have to give them access to your account. I just uploaded a redacted statement to stockperks once. Have used it to apply for the benefit with Princess and Carnival.

This is exactly what I did also, worked fine for me, have Schwab, screen shotted statement/holdings and blacked out sensitive info. I had to log in to account to hook it up but they didn’t ask for p/w anywhere for me. 

I begrudgingly set up Stockperks a few months ago and just now used it for the first time for my September cruise, it was surprisingly easy. Maybe I’m not so mad at this change anymore and happy for this update

I only see one way around this to not lose too much $$$. Put a hold on the room you want. Cancel/move this booking with the spa interior to another cruise for nominal fee, once that is done go in and pay deposit on the room you put on hold. You’ll wind up with another cruise….win win?

It went on sale once, was a 20% discount if I remember right. Pretty sure the year was 2013 as that was the only time I purchased it. Best to purchase prior to the cruise, once you’re on the ship the price is higher.

Which ship is it that has the reticulated python walls in the MDR, cruised that ship a couple times but it’s been a long time.

There’s a group leaving on the Miracle in 5 days, Maybe some of them will check in and report. I’ve been following their cruise since my next one is the April Miracle Hawaii cruise, loved her to Alaska last year, hoping for the same to Hawaii in less than 2 months now.

We’ll drop off and leave is still available on heavy plat/diamond journey cruises. I’m sure it’s still available for the 3-7 day cruises also.

I tried to love the Mardi Gras when she first sailed, 5 cruises on her and I just can’t do the excel class anymore. I don’t need all the bells and whistles, just a nice time at sea and in ports. I’m concerned that a lot of the smaller ports are getting left behind, the behemoth ships just don’t fit in some harbors and tendering 6000+ guests ashore sounds like a nightmare. The crew seems to be as good as they can be but there is a definite “relaxation” and eagerness to share time with guests on the smaller ships. I’ve sailed all classes several times now and I'm really coming back to loving Spirit class and the journey cruises they sail on. Dream class for the Cloud 9 Spa.

I would choose the Magic, sailed excel class 5 times and simply not a fan. Like the itinerary with the new port and the Dream class have the best spas in the fleet.

7 minutes ago, firefly333 said:

Usually carnivals rule is you can go sideways to the same category no charge, or upgrade. Cant downgrade. I dont see lots of threads about this lately maybe because prices keep going up.

 

When you do a mock booking is the category exactly the same as what youn booked? Is the new category higher, you can usually pay the difference and be moved. 

 

Too much unknown to be more specific.

This is exactly what happened for me within the last couple of weeks. I changed rooms on two cruises, one was side to side same category with no extra charge, the second was an upgrade to a suite and I paid the difference to the current price. 

1 hour ago, geovet said:

Thanks that helped.

 

Do you know how they refund that was paid with a gift card?

 

Thanks

They’ll refund with a gift e-card, we just recently had an automatic refund for wifi when we switched dates. It came within a couple of days. 

53 minutes ago, PayneAS said:

That made me LOL for real. If Long Beach isn't in the US, where is it? 

 

(I'm assuming) that includes European ones too? 

 Oh jeez, that was a royal misread on my part of the OP’s post, sorry! I bet there are Long Beach cities outside of the US but I’ve surely never been to one.  I was wondering why he was having problems using them for his US cruises.

On another note though, when I last used my AARP cards I had to add my address when submitting. Don’t know if it was because of amount or if another reason. 

All I can share is that when the Mardi Gras finally arrived to Port Canaveral it was a HUGE welcoming party and so much fun to be a part of. Many bloggers came, A couple came in fromTennessee for the event, Carnival had “Welcome Home Mardi Gras” signs made and passed out to visitors. Local news coverage doing many interviews. Since this was also very soon after the restart from Covid it was just really a treat to be there. 

I’d say if it’s half as much fun as we had it’s well worth the fun day. We didn’t get to board the ship but a lot was set up right outside. Christine was there…and of course the obvious pic with the brand new ship.