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Miracle NYC to Bermuda - 9/11/2011

davy jones

By davy jones,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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davy jones

davy jones

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First, some background. We booked this cruise because our youngest was finally heading off to college and we were going to celebrate the empty next. The date also falls between our anniversary and DW’s birthday. We had just recently returned from the “final” “family” vacation at the House of Mouse. We came across a deal on an inside that could not be passed up. If you are a balcony or suite snob, read no further. You will not find suite porn. Also, we did not take a many pictures because we have been to Bermuda before. We are also not big photographers to begin with. Fortunately, while we were cruising, there were a couple of Miracle reviews with many fine photos. I will try to get a lot of detail. I am writing completely from memory, so I might not remember what I ate on a particular day, but the significant details are correct.

 

Getting there.

 

Things have been a little hectic lately. I am looking forward to this cruise, but for some reason, I just not feeling good vibes. We’ve had over a foot of rain the last two weeks, so perhaps it’s from a lack of sun. Maybe it’s all of the 9/11 talk. I don’t care about the so called threats, I won’t let the terrorists win. Maybe it’s because the NOAA hurricane charts have become daily reading. First it was Irene and Lee dumping rain all over the Northeast. Now it’s Katia and Maria in the North Atlantic. It looks like Katia is out of town, but Maria is looking quite threatening. Maybe it’s a combination of all of them.

 

If we end up somewhere other than Bermuda, that is fine. I prefer sun and calm seas.

 

We follow the Boy Scout motto and load up on seasick remedies. We have Dramamine, bonine, ginger capsules, sea bands, and soda pop. I learn about a new product called Motion Eaze and buy some. I packed jeans and a jacket for the first time on a cruise in case we end up in Canada. When I am this prepared, I usually don’t need any of it. I am trying to influence the karma.

 

Everything is packed and in the car on Saturday night, but for some reason I can’t sleep past 5:30. I have a commitment at home late in the afternoon on return day. We were planning to take the bus to NYC, but DW convinces me to drive in case we can not make the 10 AM bus out of Port Authority on return day.

 

It’s a leisurely morning. We have breakfast. I drink a lot of coffee and read the Sunday paper. We plan to get to the dock around 11. We leave at 8:45 and make the 90 minute drive to the Weehawken ferry across the river from the terminal. We unload, park, buy tickets and get on the ferry. There are a number of ship passengers on the ferry. We meet a nice fellow heading for the Norwegian Gem. While on the ferry, he received a text message saying that they were heading to the Bahamas. I feel bad karma coming back, but I begin to picture us on the beach at HMC and Grand Turk and the image is pretty good.

 

The Hudson is brown from the runoff from all of the rain. A fire boat about a mile up the river is spraying from all of their hoses. Even that water has a tan hue. The ocean will look much better. There a four ships in port and we get a good view from the ferry. We make the pleasant half mile walk from the ferry to the ship, passing the Intrepid and Circle Line. It may be 9/11, but it looks like a typical Sunday morning uptown.

 

We arrive at the pier at 11:00 and a friendly porter quickly checks our 2 bags. Into the terminal and quickly through security. Security looked pretty normal to me, but any additional security may have been in the background. My carry on bag with a 12 pack of Pepsi Throwback and a bottle of wine went through the scanner without problem. It looked like a good day for booze smugglers. So far, very good, I think.

 

We enter the check in area and it is gridlock. There is a loooong, slooow line for check in. There are only 2 people checking people in and the line is getting longer and longer. Embarkation is usually a quick process at this time. More bad karma. Patience is in order. Breathe deeply. The ship is not leaving without us.

 

As we reach the head of the line, they add a person. However the line is twice as long as it was when we arrived. We check in and they hand us a letter saying that they are planning to go to Bermuda, but may arrive late. If we arrive late, they will try to get us to stay until Saturday. However, they are monitoring the storm and safety is first. As far as I am concerned, they could have saved the paper. It said the right things, but did nothing to reduce my concerns. It is now noon. We are entering the crowded waiting area, but they haven’t started boarding.

 

Lots of people are standing, but we manage to find a seat by the window. I am starting to get hungry. They are starting to board. We are in zone 16, so we settle in for a while and chat with some nice folks. The ship is a mere 25 yards away, teasing me like an 88,000 ton carrot on a stick. They call zone 16. I am looking forward to lunch.

 

DW never buys the embarkation picture, so we politely decline and head to get our security picture taken. I go through without problem, but DW’s card is sucked into the machine. No one seems to know what to do, so the supervisor is called. She gets on a walkie talkie and is told that someone from IT on the ship will come. We wait for a while. No IT person. A regular worker wanders by, asks about the problem and suggests opening the door in the back. It turns out that the door was not locked and the card is retrieved. We wait on the gangway and enter the ship. It took 2 hours, but everyone was in good spirits throughout and we are finally on board.

 

I’m not sure where this boat is headed. As long as the seas are smooth, I don't care. Let the fun begin!!!

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davy jones

davy jones

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We are now in the atrium. I suspect that everyone has made their way to the Lido buffet. A more leisurely meal in the MDR sounds good. We see a crew member in an “ask me” T-shirt and decide to take her up on her offer. She says that the MDR (Baccus) is open for lunch. We head to the MDR, only to find it closed. The bad karma starts to simmer again. We arrive at the buffet and find that all of zones 1 through 18 are there, along with their carry on luggage. The lines are long and all of the tables are occupied. A nice older couple offers to share their 4 top with us. I get a Reuben from the deli and a salad. DW makes a large salad. Our hunger subsides and all is well again.

 

We can now head to the cabin to drop off our bags. It is an inside on deck 1, close to the midship elevators. This cabin is ideal for this cruise on the Miracle. You will see this from the pros and cons.

 

Pros: It is low and center is stable for a smooth ride. It is close to most of the activities, the bars, showrooms, and MDR on decks 2 and 3. You only have to take the elevator to the lido. It is close to the gangways while in port. You are in your cabin one minute after boarding. It is a short walk to the cabin after evening shows. Cons: No balcony. They should charge more for all of this convenience. Those in the aft wraps are envious.

 

The cabin is fairly large and has enough closet space for four people. Everything is in order until DW looks in the bathroom and does not find a hair dryer. This is the first cruise that she did not pack her own hair dryer. Major panic ensues. I am sure that I am headed off the ship to buy a hair dryer. I tell her to look on the dresser. She says that there is none there. I open the drawer and there it is. Crisis averted. All is well again.

 

She leaves a note to the steward asking for two more pillows and a full ice bucket. Our cabin steward, Francisco, is in the cabin across the hall. He greets us, but is busy. We do not speak to him again for four days. He seemed to be a bit reserved and every time we saw him, he was working in another cabin. This is fine because everything was taken care of when we returned.

 

We head out to explore the ship. I really like the layout of the Spirit class ships. They are big enough, but not too big. They are easy to get familiar with and navigate. The public areas are on, or accessed from, decks 2, 3, and 9. You can get from fore to aft on any of these because there is no midship dining room blocking access. It is typical Carnival décor. Some is good, and some is a bit overdone. The grapes in the Baccus dining room are a bit over the top. Mad Hatters lives up to the “mad” and sitting in Gatsby’s garden could induce disorientation. It’s a Carnival ship, and you expect some of this. Overall, the ship is very nice.

 

After exploring, we return to the cabin to find that Francisco has taken care of the requests and that our bags have arrived. We unpack and watch my beloved Eagles on the cabin TV. It is being broadcast on a Canadian channel. I don’t care if it’s from Timbuktu, it’s the Eagles game. The point of origin of the network TV seems to vary daily. They should give out a ship on a stick to anyone who correctly guesses the daily point of origin. While embarking, it is from New York. It could be from Miami, San Juan, or the Virgin Islands. Very strange, but the commercials can be interesting. ESPN is only shown in Maguire’s sports bar. (Bummer)

 

It is time for the muster drill. DW says to take the life jacket, so I do. We are the only ones at the muster station with them. The crew has a good chuckle and kindly do not recruit is to be the models for the life jacket demonstration.

 

Because it is 9/11, many are dressed patriotically. A few are a bit over the top. 9/11 has impacted everyone differently and each handles it in a way that is best for them.

 

We have any time dining and choose to have dinner at the dining room opening to be on the lido deck for the 6:30 sail away and WTC lights. Igor is our waiter tonight. The service is okay, but not great tonight. As we finish our main course, the ship starts to back away from the pier. We skip dessert for now and head up to lido aft.

 

A group of folks from the roll call asked Carnival to delay the sailing to commemorate the day and view the light tribute at the WTC. Carnival nicely made arrangements to sail at 6:30 and have stop near the WTC at 7:12 to view and remember. They have a bagpiper on board and the commemoration is quite appropriate. I began to think of the people who died in or endured the terror and chaos of that day.

 

A side benefit of the delayed departure is my first NYC sail away after sunset. While not totally dark, it certainly is a sight to behold. At one point if you are aft, you are between the lit city and lit Status of Liberty. It was a most unique departure.

 

We finally head inside and take in some music and watch some football. Around 10, we are tired and wussy out. We retire to our cabin. We never did get dessert. I’m sure we’ll make up for it later.

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davy jones

davy jones

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Inside cabins are great for sleeping, because they are nice and dark, actually too dark. There are various methods used to rectify this. Some use a night light. Others keep the TV on to the bridge camera channel. I keep the bathroom light on and the door closed. It provides just enough light to get your bearings when you wake up. I’m on vacation, I will get up whenever. If I want to get up at a specific time, I will get a wake up call. Unfortunately, it’s 6:40 AM and I’m wide awake. DW is out cold. There’s only one thing to do. I toss some clean clothes in a bag, put on my workout togs and head for the gym. I give my trade in my room key for a locker key and head off to grunt and sweat.

 

The gym is clean and the equipment is well maintained. There are the usual bikes, weight machines, treadmills, ellipticals, a stair master (so 2000s) and a rower. The rower is a marvelously simple and efficient torture machine that reduces workout time by half by working you from top to bottom with resistance. I used to use one regularly, but my current gym at home does not have one. I will use it this week, but today is not looking good. I have a lot of time today. I choose a machine near the window and off I go. The weather is a overcast, but otherwise fine. Seas are smooth. There is a TV on with the Headline News. I can’t hear a thing, but the anchor is pretty. I exercise for an hour and stretch a little. I walk out on the lido to cool down and get some OJ. It’s now 8:15 and something seems wrong. Then it hits me. All but two of the chairs are empty, and one of them is has the stuff for three women in the hot tub. Where are the chair hogs? I understand their annoying habit, but it doesn’t affect us much because we are shade seekers and the pool area is usually too hectic.

 

I head back to the spa and decide that a nice soak in the hot tub would feel good, but it is a tepid tub right now while heating up. I pass and head for the spa showers. These are wonderful contraptions with 5 shower heads that pour water on you from all angles at two different temperatures that you set yourself. Two could have a lot of fun here, but, alas, this is a locker room, and not co-ed.

 

My shower is sudsy germicidal bliss. I dress and head back to the cabin where my sleeping beauty is stirring. It is 9 AM now and she gets up. Channel 14 on the cabin TV is the channel that shows your course and position. This morning, it is in zoom mode only. They don’t want us to know where we are. I only know that we are in the ocean (duh!) and headed south, which is not normal for a ship headed to Bermuda. With this meager information, I decide that the captain is hedging his bets and we are headed to the Bahamas if Maria is uncooperative. If he were to ask me, I’d tell him that that’s OK, but he is not asking.

 

We instinctively head to the lido for breakfast. People are up and there are lines at the omelet stations. We find a table and DW discovers a short omelet line that most others don’t know exists. I can’t divulge the secret location, but I will say that not as many people eat pizza for breakfast as it may seem.

 

As we are finishing breakfast, the captain comes on. It’s nowhere near noon, so something is amiss. I expect him to say that we are not headed to Bermuda, but it is worse. There is going to be a medical evacuation shortly. Lido aft is being cleared for the evacuation and any chair hogs are screwed today. (OK, I added the chair hog comment). This has to be serious and I am genuinely concerned for all affected.

 

People are headed out to watch. We follow and end up on deck 10 and watch from a safe allowable distance. Some fellow is yelling at a security officer is trying to get him to move back. I hear him saying that he is insulting his culture. That’s funny. Most cultures think that it is best to stay safely away from hovering military choppers performing dangerous, but urgent work.

 

Watching this is riveting. The courage and skill of these people is amazing. The ship does not even stop. The chopper hovers above the aft lido deck of a moving ship! We didn’t take our little point and shoot camera to breakfast, but shutterbugs are snapping away. Hopefully, someone will post a photo to show off the Coast Guard’s skill. The evacuation ends and the chopper heads back to Norfolk.

 

From this, I learn that our position is near Norfolk, which is definitely not the standard route to Bermuda. I begin to mentally picture us at HMC, but they aren’t selling Bahamas shore excursions yet.

 

I decide to play a little trivia. You can play a little, or a lot, of trivia of all types on this cruise. You can play for two hours straight in the morning on sea days and a couple of other times during the day. There are so many trivia games, you meet pretty much the entire cruise staff. I think that the deck hand hosts a trivia game. Most games are mano-mano, but there is a fun team progressive trivia that lasts all week at noon on sea days. This conflicts with the bean bag toss. Difficult decisions must be made.

 

After trivia, we head for lunch. After lunch, we check out the lido aft and find a number empty of chairs. We are shade seekers, but it is still overcast, so we take two seats by the aft rail. Life is good. DW reads her nook, and I turn on the Ipod and start some puzzles. I soon nod off. I am somewhere in the Miracle’s car hold with Kate Winslet when DW awakens me to say that it is 2:14 and I will miss the 2:15 trivia. Curses, foiled again. I must have been smiling. She stays behind while I head off for trivia. When I return, she calls it a day for reading and heads off to the gym. I resume the Ipod and puzzles for the remainder of the afternoon.

 

It is formal (oops, elegant) night, so we dress up and head out around 6. We stop for sushi. I normally do not eat sushi, but will try a piece of each on many days on a cruise. Some pieces I like, some need extra wasabi, which can make almost anything eatable. Our waiter tonight is Wiwik. She is personable and service is very good. I make a surf and turf out of lobster and prime rib. DW is surf only. It is good. Dessert is chocolate melting cake. I can only eat this concoction with copious amount of vanilla ice cream because of the overwhelming chocolate content. I order it with a full scoop in addition to the ice cream that comes with it. It is no longer cake. It is ice cream topping. I exercised today, so I can shamelessly splurge. I still think that the calories won today.

 

Off to family comedy (OK, comedian seemed a bit tentative). Generations show (very good), and adult comedy (better -comedians more relaxed). We head off to bed. It was a very good day. I hope that the airlifted passenger is doing well.

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SailBadtheSinner

SailBadtheSinner

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davy jones asked: ....I have a few photos worthy of posting from our little point and shoot. How does one do this?....

 

You open an account at a web image hosting site such as Photobucket - http://s100.photobucket.com/ . Download the photos from your computer to a folder in the account just opened. Go to each photo and click on each one and you'll see something like this:

example.jpg Copy the IMG Code (starts with [iM]) and post into your CC post like this [*IMG*]http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m38/SailBadtheSinner/73683226-1.jpg[*/IMG*] and you'll get something like this: 73683226-1.jpg

 

Do not include the *'s

 

 

 

SBtS

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davy jones

davy jones

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We must be settling into vacation mode because we both sleep until after 8 AM. I turn on the bridge camera channel. The sea is calm but there is some strange glow. We dress and head to the dining room for breakfast. The glow is caused by a large orb in the sky. I am told that it is called the sun and it is the source of the earth’s energy. I begin to recall, it has been a while since we saw it last. I do the math in my head. Sun + calm sea = great sea day potential.

 

Breakfast in the dining room is pretty much the same offerings as the lido, except that there are no lines, too many utensils, and they serve you while Celine Dion tunes play on the Musak. The coffee is better, but it is served in really tiny cups. Three MDR cups equal one of my usual morning cups. I highly recommend it if you are eat during the rush period at the buffet.

 

The morning tropical storm posting says that Maria should pass by Bermuda tomorrow (Wednesday) night into Thursday. The navigation screen is still on super zoom, so I don’t know where we are. I have convinced myself that the captain will announce that we will be in the Bahamas tomorrow. HMC will be really fine.

 

The captain has the last laugh though. He announces that seas will be smooth today and we will arrive in Bermuda on time tomorrow morning. Now I need to mentally recalibrate back to our original plan. I trust that he is confident that we will not be in any danger.

 

After our late start, it is almost time for trivia. I pick up the puzzles of the day and head back to Jeeves lounge for trivia. DW has her nook. She reads for a while, heads off for a while, and comes back and reads some more while I play trivia. At progressive trivia, we meet some folks our age who grew up on our old neighborhood. We both played soccer, but for different teams and schools. We definitely played against each other a number of times, particularly in the old beer games where the losing team paid for the keg. DW says that it’s a small world. She is correct, but she is in trouble if I can’t get that tune out of my head.

 

After all of this, it is lunch time and I haven’t gone higher than deck 2. We head into the MDR for lunch. It is calm like breakfast time. I choose a burger and salad while DW eats something more exotic. After that, it is off to take in some sea air on this nice day.

 

As shade seekers, one of my small beefs with Carnival is that they do not put lounge chairs on the promenade deck. I think that they are the only cruise line that doesn’t. I even asked a crew member about this at the muster drill. Some day, I may take matters into my own hands. If you ever say hello to a guy on the elevator taking two loungers to the promenade, it will probably be me. We head up to deck 10 port side to seek shady chairs and find two vacant chairs near the pin pong table. It looks OK for now, but it would probably interfere with any ping pong players. I see that if I move the loungers twenty feet around the corner, there is plenty of shady space. It is also a bit quieter too. We move the chairs and settle in. It is an excellent spot for us.

 

After about two hours of ipod and puzzles, we head to the gym. I reintroduce myself to the rower. The rower wins. My rower skills are rusty, but I manage to survive a half hour. I reward myself with a steam room session followed by more sudsy bliss.

 

We head out around 6:30 and stop for sushi. When we arrive at the dining room, we have to wait. They give us a pager. We kill the time by going in the shops. We don’t buy anything, but the cigarette and liquor prices are quite good. However, we do not smoke and still have liquor purchased from cruises in during the 20th century. (Is peach schnapps still trendy?) We then locate our pictures in the photo gallery. Note to Carnival: We may be in the minority here, but we would buy more photos if they were just the pictures and not covered with the large markings with the ship name or something else. We end up waiting a half hour for a table. I start to think, is “your time” dining really early and late seating, but you choose each day? It turns out this is the only real wait of the cruise. One other evening, we had barely sat down in the lounge, when the beeper went off. Every other night, we were seated right away. We always went to dinner between 6 and 7.

 

We have Igor as our waiter again. This time, the service is better. I eat beef, she eats seafood. If you see a pattern here, you will notice that I am a carnivore by nature. It comes from repressed childhood memories of fish sticks on Friday. We eat mostly meat and poultry at home. Therefore, DW becomes a pescetarian on cruises, at least for dinner.

 

The main show for the evening is a comic juggler named Marcus Malone. Some may find him to be a bit unusual or eccentric, but that’s what makes the act so enjoyable. It takes a lot of talents to juggle and make people laugh while riding a unicycle. After that, we take in the adult comedy and call it a day.

 

Tomorrow we are in Bermuda. The cabin TV gives me the forecast for the US and dozens of places on 5 continents (Bolivia anyone?), but not Bermuda. What will the weather be like in there?

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davy jones

davy jones

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Interesting to read your review...Not only were we on the 9/11 Miracle, we were Riviera inside cabin, and Francisco was also our room steward! We must have been neighbours!

 

What cabin were you in?

 

Francisco did an excellent job. We put the "crusin" sign on our door and everything was taken care of when we returned.

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jmwg49

jmwg49

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What cabin were you in?

 

Francisco did an excellent job. We put the "crusin" sign on our door and everything was taken care of when we returned.

 

We were in 1186. Yes, he did do an excellent job, although we did not see much of him! Great review!

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