Miracle Review Oct 19-27 2009

[TakeMeAway1001]

After some picture taking I decided to try some sushi before dinner

I thought it was really good but DH wouldn't try it. We made our way to the dining room and as usual dinner was great, I found that I always liked at least two of the appetizers and I love the Ceasar salad so I often got two appetizers and skipped dessert.

 

Some of my favorite appetizers were the cold soups, crab cakes & stuffed mushrooms. On the evenings that I tried dessert I really enjoyed the Crème Brulee and the Cherries Jubilee while DH was still completely in love with the Warm Chocolate Melting Cake, I did try a bite or two of his but I just don’t enjoy it as much as I used to.

 

Out of all of our dinners the staff only danced once while we were there, we’re not sure if we left too soon or if they just cut down on this part of the dining experience.

 

After dinner we changed and headed to the Casino so DH could play some Roulette and I could play the .02 slots but per usual I couldn’t get anywhere near the machines for a good hour so I enjoyed a Pomtini and people watched.

 

We didn't go to the show tonight or to the deck party, DH really did want to go to the Mexican Buffet at 11:30pm but couldn't make it so we went to bed. Tomorrow was our day in St Lucia and we had a tour booked so we wanted to get a good nights sleep.

 

I did want to touch on the internet issue since the Happy Hour was on this day...

 

**Internet Happy Hour- during the hours of 4-6 they advertised that you could stay on for twice as long and for some reason the service was pretty bad, I spent twenty seven minutes trying to connect and when I walked up to the Internet Café with my laptop there were quite a few angry customers, all with the same complaint.

 

The Internet manager was saying that something was wrong with the service and that they had someone on board trying to remedy this. Several people were asking for credits but he stated there wasn’t anything he could do because they state in their advertising that connections are not guaranteed. I did find this a bit odd since he was openly admitting that there was a problem yet they kept announcing the “happy hour” over the intercom which only brought more people to the café. It was slightly disappointing but I decided not to partake in the arguing and went back to our cabin.

 

Capers

 

Laundry Special

[TakeMeAway1001]

Phew...I am ready for a glass of wine and some oreos, that took me a long time.

 

I hope it's not too boring and that those who are interested were able to see the webshots album showing the interior pictures. I am off for the night, hope everyone has a great one!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Your review is like a great book a real page turner! I know doing this kind of thig is time consuming and we all do thank you. Lydia of Ohio

 

Thanks :)

[hockeyluver]

Thank you so much for your review I am loving every minute of it. Looking forward to the rest. Tomorrow we will be double digits for our departure from the cold winter!! :eek: also thanks for all the pictures and capers, i will be passing this link on to our friends that are cruising with us.

[salty dingo]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting the Capers. They are VERY much appreciated!!!

[Crusin Karen]

Thanks for posting this. We were only on the Miracle once; we cancelled 2 booked in the past year. :( Looking forward to Dream and HOPING to book Miracle again in May. We live right near the terminal in Manhattan, so easy for us to cruise from there. Hope the CC "issue" was resolved. That stinks! :mad::mad: Can't believe you have a daughter who will be going to boot camp...you don't look "that old." Our DS was in USMC in FAST Co. Deployed to Yemen when USS Cole was bombed...boot camp is TOUGH and your DD definitely deserves a cruise first! ;):D Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip. :)

[salty dingo]

Once back on board we showered and headed out to take some photos around the ship while it was quiet, there are quite a few so I put them in a webshots album so if you would like to take a peek just click on this picture~ Enjoy, I have to start scanning the capers for this day and I will be back to post them with a wrap up of the evening.

This photo is amazing. You shoud submit it to Carnival's magazine. The lighting and colors are mesmerizing. I want to be there so badly... I am going to have to wait for 13 more days of torture until I do.

[Crusin Karen]

This photo is amazing. You shoud submit it to Carnival's magazine. The lighting and colors are mesmerizing. I want to be there so badly... I am going to have to wait for 13 more days of torture until I do.

I agree...very captivating...makes you want to walk in and find out what treasures await you.

[sonicbuffalo]

We enjoyed the review....and I will try to add some more about our tours of the islands....we took off the ship cruises. We didn't book any of them through Carnival and they included Rum Punch...

 

Sonicbuffalo

[Payd]

Fabulous review - and excellent pictures!!

 

You did deserve the wine and oreo break - interesting combo:D.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation with us!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thank you so much for your review I am loving every minute of it. Looking forward to the rest. Tomorrow we will be double digits for our departure from the cold winter!! :eek: also thanks for all the pictures and capers, i will be passing this link on to our friends that are cruising with us.

 

I am glad you are enjoying the review, I am sure you cannot wait to get on your cruise. We had a few cold days upon returning but today was really nice out but not nearly as nice as the weather was last Saturday :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting the Capers. They are VERY much appreciated!!!

 

You are very welcome, I am glad they are helpful :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Thanks for posting this. We were only on the Miracle once; we cancelled 2 booked in the past year. :( Looking forward to Dream and HOPING to book Miracle again in May. We live right near the terminal in Manhattan, so easy for us to cruise from there. Hope the CC "issue" was resolved. That stinks! :mad::mad: Can't believe you have a daughter who will be going to boot camp...you don't look "that old." Our DS was in USMC in FAST Co. Deployed to Yemen when USS Cole was bombed...boot camp is TOUGH and your DD definitely deserves a cruise first! ;):D Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip. :)

We really enjoyed the Miracle and we too are looking forward to the Dream next year. Thank your son for us, I know next year will be a stressful one for all of us and if time allows we would like to squeeze another cruise in after boot camp.

[TakeMeAway1001]

This photo is amazing. You shoud submit it to Carnival's magazine. The lighting and colors are mesmerizing. I want to be there so badly... I am going to have to wait for 13 more days of torture until I do.

 

Did you click on this photo and if so were you able to view the album of interior ship pictures? Thanks and here's hoping your next 12 days flies by :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Fabulous review - and excellent pictures!!

 

You did deserve the wine and oreo break - interesting combo:D.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation with us!

 

Thank you! I agree wine and Oreo's are an interesting combo but they tasted good :)

[TakeMeAway1001]

Ok I am back, it was a nice day here in MA so I had to get out and get some things done but I am ready for our time St Lucia

 

Friday October 23rd- St Lucia

 

Here are some pictures of when we docked in St Lucia~

 

 

 

 

 

There was a delay in getting off the ship due to customs not clearing us in time so we got stuck on floor one and were amazed that people were flipping out about it. Most everyone had a tour lined up so we were all in the same boat (no pun intended) and yelling and making rude comments didn't speed up the process at all. DH and I chuckled and waited patiently and when the all clear came we were happy to get off. I don't think many people stopped for their "St Lucia" photo that day since we were all running behind.

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

Today we had plans to your with Spencer Ambrose-The West Coast Delight Tour, we were supposed to meet by Diamonds International in the port shopping area as soon as possible. Most of our tour arrived promptly and after being briefly introduced to Spencer we were broken up into a few groups and then the waiting began, I think we waited close to an hour for some people who were late and it was beginning to get annoying since we really wanted to get started.

 

I thought this was a neat picture, when I looked up from the spot where were waiting I could see the funnel

 

 

We finally found out that Chris would be our guide for the day and we went to get into the van.

 

 

 

We had a newer van and it was fairly spacious so we loaded up and we were off or so we thought. Chris announced that he needed to stop to get ice for the complimentary drinks so we pulled over to get some at a local gas station, after a few minutes of watching the craziness of morning traffic Chris came out but only to get some more change to pay for the ice, now I was getting annoyed, this should have all been done prior to picking us up but so be it and we finally get going.

 

Chris didn’t talk much at all, he wasn’t like other local tour guides we have had, I really like hearing about the places we visit but this really didn't happen on this tour. Chris had a small bag of bananas with him and invited the group to try one and since there weren’t enough to go around we shared and they were tasty.

 

We made a stop at a banana plantation and Chris explained to us how they harvest bananas and we all got out to get a closer look, it was pretty interesting. There were some local boys there with coconuts and Chris got one and invited us to drink the coconut milk/juice and several people took him up on his offer, he also cracked one open and let us try the coconut jelly inside, it was definitely different. After some picture taking we were on to our next stop, the roads in St Lucia are nuts, they are long and winding and I think we all enjoyed the opportunities to get out of the van.

 

Jay & Chris the tour guide

Sampling the coconut

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

We stopped several times for photo ops and the views were pretty amazing, we also visited a waterfall that was pretty nice and if you were interested you could hop in however the time was really short and I know I didn’t want to sit on a van in wet clothes so we all skipped the dip. There were locals selling their wares at most of our stops but I don’t think anyone really bought anything, there were also places where locals were waiting with huge snakes if you wanted to pay to get your photo taken….NO THANKS, I do not care for snakes.

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

After some more long and winding roads we stopped at Captain Hooks for lunch

it was a small little lunch spot where there were some plates of homemade food set up like chicken/rice/pasta/salad/sauces, I tried some but DH wasn’t game for it and he was getting a bit annoyed with all the driving around and just wanted to stretch his legs. After lunch we decided who wanted to go to the beach and who wanted to do some more touring, originally I was all for the extra touring but I needed to get out of the van and so did DH so we opted for the beach tour and after another half hour of deciding who was going where and who was driving we finally got on our way. Here are some pictures from the tour~

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

We soon found out that our beach time would be severely limited due to time so we were a bit bummed out about this. On this leg of our tour we were with Spencer since he had to finagle how we were going to get there in back in the allotted time, we boarded the boat and we were off. The ride to the beach was great, nice and cool and the scenery was amazing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TakeMeAway1001]

We ended up at the beach but were told we only had about 25 minutes to snorkel/swim, someone on the tour with us inquired with the boat operators about whether or not we could pay them to take us back directly to our ship area so we could have more beach time and they said they probably could but would have to find out how much money that would cost us in addition to the tour. DH and I planned on snorkeling but realized 25 minutes wasn’t enough time so I sat in the shade and DH took a quick swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a few more pics I want to include because I really like them but I have reached the limit again....

[TakeMeAway1001]

 

Once we were back at the dock we loaded up in the van and we were off, Spencer was very apologetic for the issues with timing and continued to apologize for the remainder of the trip. Scott our official bartender broke open the cooler and we began enjoying nice cold Piton beer on the ride back, it was pretty good beer and tasted great after a day in the hot sun.

Spencer made a pit stop at a place for some fresh, hot bread and we all enjoyed that with our beers. We finally got back to the port area and paid for our tour and set off for the ship.

 

Prior to leaving I had read wonderful things about this tour and while I think it was a good tour it wasn’t the best tour I have been on. I wish things had been more organized from the beginning since most of us chose our tours ahead of time there should have been a list divided up ahead of time. I also know that the tour guides rely on the cruise ship passengers for business but there really should be a time limit on how long they will wait for people who are late. I also think the preparations for the tour should be done prior to the tour, all in all I would say we lost over an hour and a half of our tour due to the above issues. My only other issue was with the driver, if you are providing a tour of the island it is because people really want to hear about the island and having a driver that is talkative and invites questions is key to this type of tour. We had a great group on our tour and that really made it fun so I would have to say it wasn’t the best day of our cruise but we still enjoyed it!

[TakeMeAway1001]

Back on board we showered and decided not to do dinner in the dining room tonight since I was finding that I was so full after dinner that I felt blah so we opted to just get something in the Lido area and to take it easy. We went to watch Jay play in the Gotham lounge and I had a few of another favorite drink of mine the Cointreau Sangria and we decided to go get a seat for the Comedy/Ventriloquist show at 8:45pm, I really enjoyed his on our last cruise. We came in just before they started the Bingo game and at that last minute we got a ticket and played to pass the time, what a great decision since I won the game…..$700 what a nice surprise.

 

I am not a Bingo player and the host always has people needing only one number stand and I wasn’t about to do that so I remained seated even though I only needed one and the next # was mine and I panicked, I stood up and quietly said ‘bingo” and he said looks like we have another one waiting on one number and he went to call another # and I said a little louder “bingo” and he was like oh we have a winner!

 

I ended up getting that sick feeling like what if I made a mistake and I really didn’t have it but the host rattled off my # and I was a winner and then they asked if anyone else had a possible Bingo and no one spoke up so that $700 was mine and I couldn’t stop smiling

 

The show that night was really funny, DH and I have seen Jerry Goodspeed on another cruise and enjoyed him a lot. After the show we went to the Sam’s Piano Bar and met up with some of our friends and had a few drinks before making our way to the Lido for some late night food and then it was off to bed.

 

Capers

 

Is anyone interested in seeing some spa price lists? I do have a few if anyone is interested just let me know. DH went out tonight and I got so wrapped up in finishing St Lucia that I never turned on my porch light and now I am staring at a large bowl of Halloween candy and feel so bad that I didn't get to see any trick or treaters tonight, oh well have a great night everyone!

 

[Crusin Karen]

Congrats on winning at Bingo! Always wanted to play, but have heard so many warnings about it being a waste of $ that I never did it. St. Lucia is another island I dream of going to some day. We were supposed to go there on one of the 4 booked cruises we had to cancel this year. I would be upset too if I only had 25 minutes at those gorgeous beaches! :mad: Your pictures are beautiful. Thanks for taking the time on your Halloween night to post this. Sorry to the kiddies, but that is one less cavity they'll have! :p

[mystone99]

Thanks so much for the review and the capers. My DW and I are going on the Miracle, but not until next year. I hope we have as much fun as you and your DH.