My Miracle Review 1/5/12- 1/13/12 with pictures! Wish I Could Go Back!!

[amdmsk]

I've been back for a few weeks now, but I finally have some time to start writing my review...been meaning to since I got home. I always enjoy reading others reviews on CC, so I thought I'd return the favor again for those of you out there who are just like me! :D So, here I go!!!

 

We left on the Miracle from Fort Lauderdale January 5 and returned January 13th, the last cruise before she went into dry dock. There were four of us traveling- myself (age 22), my sister (18) and my mom and dad. This was our first time cruising in the winter, which worked out perfect because my sister and I both had a nice winter break from school, plus being from Pennsylvania, it was nice to get away from the cold for a little while, especially at the beginning of January! For all of us, this was our 9th cruise, all on Carnival and all great!! This was our second time on the Miracle...we all really love the Spirit class ships, so this cruise (including the great price and the fact that it went to 3 ports we've never visited) seemed perfect for us.

 

I'll get started with my review as soon as my first set of pictures uploads on photo bucket, but here's a quick summary of the trip...

Getting to Fort Lauderdale was a nightmare (gotta love the airlines...stay tuned for the full story), and thank goodness we always fly in the day before a cruise. But, the cruise was wonderful!! I really don't have many complaints about it other than that it had to bring me back home!! lol. This was an 8 day cruise visiting St. Maarten, St. Lucia, and St. Kitts. There were 4 days at sea. The ports were some of the most beautiful we've ever been to and everything about the ship was great. Then, coming home was once again, a nightmare!! When we thought that it couldn't get any worse than coming down, it did (I'll have that story in the review as well)! But, when all is said and done, we had a great time and can't wait for the next one!!

 

I'll be back with the first part of the review as soon as I can get those pictures....I took TONS and TONS of pictures, so if anyone out there want pictures of anything specific, especially the different areas inside the ship, or has any questions, just let me know! I'd be happy to answer questions and post any pictures you want!

:D

[hill6]

Sounds like you had a great time. We sail on her in 13 weeks.

[roobear512]

Can't wait for the full review. Just a few weeks left till I board! Glad you had a good time! (And it sounds like I'm glad we're driving down!)

[amdmsk]

Can't wait for the full review. Just a few weeks left till I board! Glad you had a good time! (And it sounds like I'm glad we're driving down!)

 

Driving is good, or I guess flying on an airline other than US Airways! I would have gladly driven to Fort Lauderdale, but we didn't have the extra time...next time it might be more likely though ;)

[Relayer]

The Miracle is great! Looking forward to our second go around in 33 days.

 

US Air, however, is consistently awful.

[bigcraig]

[amdmsk]

To start the review...

The long awaited day was finally here. We had everything all packed up and were getting excited for our 8:45 a.m. flight. For this trip, we had decided to book a flight from Allentown, PA, which is only about 10 minutes from our house, so it was very convenient. For those who don't know the airport, it's pretty small and there aren't many arriving/departing flights in a day and almost all flights are connection flights to bigger cities.

With that being said, we got to the airport, where it was 8 degrees outside according to our car, and we checked in for our flights. We were flying from Allentown to Charlotte, and then had a connection from Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale (on a side note, we were flying US Airways, which we don't do too often. Usually we fly Delta, and I'm not here to bash US Airways, but I'll just say that I'll be going back to Delta next time). No problem there. We got to the terminal, checked that the flight was on time, and waited until it was about 8:15 and we should have boarded the plane. Around boarding time, an announcement came on that said the plane would be delayed for about 30 minutes due to mechanical problems. While inconvenient, it still wasn't a problem and we would still make our connection flight.

 

Well, 30 minutes later, the plane was delayed another 30 minutes and we barely made the cut off of the times they announced for re-booking connection flights. But, after the next 30 minutes, there was another brief delay and then FINALLY they boarded the plane. We got on, got situated, and taxied down the terminal. Here's when it got worse...we were sitting on the plane on the runway when suddenly, as the engines started getting ready to take off, we noticed smoke, yes smoke, coming from the engines on one side of the plane. That couldn't be good. Low and behold, the flight attendants announced that we would have to go back to the gate and the mechanics would have to come back as the plane was not fixed yet.

 

Now I am someone who doesn't really like flying to begin with, so staying on this plane was not really something that I wanted to do....but....continuing in just a minute.

[amdmsk]

 

The pictures are coming up! Unfortunately, I didn't take any on the flights going down...too many other things going on!

[amdmsk]

So now we're sitting on this plane that was having major mechanical problems and while we were still waiting in the terminal, US Air had given us an 800 number to call to reschedule connection flights. Because of the extra delays, we now would have missed ours from Charlotte and so we tried calling the number. Well, all they could do at that time was put us on a different flight from Charlotte that didn't leave until much later, which meant we wouldn't get to FLL until 9:00 p.m. or after, when we were originally scheduled to arrive a little before 2:00.

 

But, since we were sitting on the plane for so long, we called the number back to try to find other options, like a different flight from Allentown. But, the flight attendants and others in change on this plane would NOT let passengers off the plane if they had luggage checked. No luggage, you could get off and do whatever you wanted, but if you had luggage, you HAD to stay and wait. So we waited some more. After a little longer, we called the number back and were able to get 4 seats on a flight direct from Philly to Fort Lauderdale. We just had to find a way to get to Philly, at our own expense. We had family that was able to do it and after some convincing and explaining to the people working on the plane that we had another flight from Philly arranged, they let us off the plane and got us our luggage.

 

Fast forward about an hour and a half (that's about the drive time), we got to Philly. We checked the bags again and all that fun stuff and got to the gate about 30 minutes before boarding time. We had a 3:40 p.m. flight direct to FLL (take note that I should have been in FLL already). Well, boarding time on that flight came around and what do you know? Another announcement that there was a broken tray table and they wouldn't board the plane until it was fixed! About 20 minutes later, they boarded the plane and we were in the like to take off. Well, as we were in the line, some of the other wonderful passengers on the plane decided to get out of their seats to use the bathroom. After one flight attendant specifically said they were not allowed to do that, one of the other ones actually let them get up!! Then I heard her say to someone else that the passengers getting up while we were on the runway was delaying the plane because each time someone get up, the plane lost its place in line. This delayed us on the runway for about an hour. About 4:45 we finally took off. The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed at exactly 7:00. What an experience!!! But, we made it! Now we were REALLY looking forward to the cruise tomorrow!

 

Coming up next, the pictures! Finally!

[amdmsk]

When we finally got to the hotel after our unique flight experience, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant, which was actually very good, and walked out to the outdoor rooftop patio on the hotel just for a few minutes...

 

Here's some pictures at night on the rooftop terrace. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Fort Lauderdale Airport/ Cruise Port. The hotel was very nice and we would definitely stay there again and recommend it to others! It's super close to the airport and the cruise port, so it was especially great if you are staying for only a night and leaving for a cruise.

 

 

 

We then called it a night and got up the next morning to beautiful sunshine and 60 degree weather. After breakfast, we went back out onto the rooftop terrace and looked around just to pass a few minutes before we could do to the ship!

 

 

There's the hotel and the pool.

 

 

As I was looking around, I caught this glimpse of the Carnival Miracle way in the background!! :D

 

 

Soon it was time to get a taxi and get to the terminal. We always go very early, and so it was about 10:30 when we got everything together and got the cab...

[Regulus13]

:D

 

There's going to be more posted???

 

I was actually on the Miracle right before you, Dec 28-Jan 5!! I had a great time, so I have to admit, I am eager to see your review!! And I do love pictures!! :D

 

What part of the ship did you stay in? I was in Cabin 6101, which turned out to be a handicapped room, so it was nice and spacious!

 

PA? So I forget when it was, but you missed that nice snowstorm we had then? I'm not sure what you guys got there, but in NY, we had 6-7 inches. It was an interesting change from the 70-80 degree island weather!

[amdmsk]

We got to the port just after 10:30...it looked like everyone was off the ship, but some people were still waiting around the taxi drop-off area. We got our bags and went to check-in. No problems there and probably less than 30 minutes later we were waiting in the terminal. We got on board around 11:30 and went up to Lido for lunch. After lunch, we walked around the ship a while until we could get in to our room.

 

Here's a few pictures from inside the ship. I have a picture of every public area on board, so if there's something in particular anyone wants to see, just let me know!

 

 

 

I liked this one of the lobby. Actually, I really like the Miracle lobby. I like the different colors of blue everywhere. It made a nice place to sit and relax at night.

 

 

At 1:30, we made our way to our staterooms. We had two rooms on deck 7, room 7106 and 7108. These are two rooms in the very front of the ship. One is a balcony and one is an inside room with a connecting door in between them. The good thing about them is that it allows us to have space and not have to go into the hallway to go back and forth. This balcony also has a little extra space because it is the very first one on the deck so you get a little corner area. We've stayed in these rooms several times on the Spirit class ship and love it every time! The only bad thing is that sometimes being so far front, especially in the inside room, you feel the ship motion a little more, which does bother me occasionally (I actually wear sea bands sometimes on sea days unless it is really calm), but you get used to it! :)

[amdmsk]

 

Saw this one didn't post...hope this time works!

 

Sorry the pics are all different sizes...I couldn't remember which size I put to re-size them for here. I saw the first set was really big, so I'll re-size the rest!

[MegLib]

:D

 

There's going to be more posted???

 

I was actually on the Miracle right before you, Dec 28-Jan 5!! I had a great time, so I have to admit, I am eager to see your review!! And I do love pictures!! :D

 

What part of the ship did you stay in? I was in Cabin 6101, which turned out to be a handicapped room, so it was nice and spacious!

 

PA? So I forget when it was, but you missed that nice snowstorm we had then? I'm not sure what you guys got there, but in NY, we had 6-7 inches. It was an interesting change from the 70-80 degree island weather!

 

If I'm thinking of the right room (otherwise I'm sorry if I'm mistaken!!)... is this Laura or Gina?? It's Megan lol...haha got excited when I saw a poster from my cruise! :p

 

And agreed! Can't believe it's been just over a month since we got off, so its nice to see pics and a review! :)

[amdmsk]

As the afternoon went on, we walked around a bit and once our luggage was delivered, unpacked some stuff and enjoyed the nice weather. We went to the muster drill and waited for sail away from our balcony and got ready for dinner. We had early seating dining at 6:00 and had a nice table for four in the back of the dining room. Our waiters were Edwin, Wibawa, and Beisilda. They were all very nice and service, as well as the food, was generally very good. By the end of the week, they knew our names and greeted us not only in the dining room, but also when we would run into them on the Lido deck. We did notice that us, as well as one other table for four, were the only two tables in their section that were not part of a large party, which we thought distracted their service with us a few times...just an observation, nothing that disappointed us. We enjoyed the new menu as well! No complaints as far as that is concerned.

 

Here's some photos from sailaway. We sailed away a little later than expected, I believe it was around 5:30-5:45 when we set sail. I'm not sure what the hold up was, except that when I went out to see if the gangway had been removed (our room was on the opposite side), I noticed that they were still loading all sorts of things onboard, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it.

 

Sunset as we got ready to sail...

 

 

 

Saying goodbye to Fort Lauderdale for the next 8 days...

 

 

After dinner, we roamed around a bit and went to the welcome aboard show even though we've seen it many times before. Nothing special. Afterwards, we made our way back to our room and called it a night.

[amdmsk]

Got up to see the start of what would be a beautiful day at sea. It was a bit windy, but the air was warm!

 

 

We had breakfast on Lido, as well as lunch and really, we didn't do too much all day! Checked out some of the activities (I do have all of the fun times still), but being that it was warm and sunny and at home it was very cold, we decided to spend a big part of the day sitting outside in the sun.

 

Now, yes, there were a lot of chair hogs out on the Lido deck, as well as on the next deck up, especially as the morning went on, but we usually sit on the next deck up (deck 11) just near the steps that lead to the entrance to the water slide. There weren't many people around that area on this day and we found chairs no problem. It was a beautiful day at sea! At this point, I was thinking I could get used to going away in the winter...maybe I just wouldn't come home :D

 

Here's some pics I took through the day...I love how the water sparkles in the sunlight!

 

 

Towards the afternoon, we went in from the sun and then went for a walk around the promenade on deck 3...

 

 

 

Tonight was also the first elegant night on board so we had some delicious tropical drinks with dinner! The main show was Ticket to Ride, but we are not big Beatles fans and have seen the show on past cruises, so we opted not to go.

It was a great day and we were looking forward to another great day at sea tomorrow! Coming up next!

[skydog802]

Pretty good review so far. Love that you add the pics to show what you're talking about. We sail her for the first time from NYC in April.

[jolyroger]

WOOHOO!! Loving your review so far! And With pics as well!!!! Can't wait to sail on miracle in 65 more days!

 

Great job keep it coming!

[Disconnections]

Enjoying the review so far.

 

By any chance, do you remember who the entertainment staff and the Assistant Cruise Director was?

[amdmsk]

Enjoying the review so far.

 

By any chance, do you remember who the entertainment staff and the Assistant Cruise Director was?

 

The cruise director was Malcolm Burn and his assistant was Brandon, not sure of his last name though. There were two others in the entertainment staff...one of them was Ben, who everyone called Mr. Button, but I can't remember the other guy's name. If I think of it, I'll post it here :)

I actually think some of them may have changed though because a good number of the entertainment staff was going on their vacation when the ship went into dry dock, so not sure who was coming back on. Hope that helps!

 

I have to go off to my class now, but when I get back tonight, I'll post day two at sea and get started on St. Maarten!!

[skydog802]

You have any pics of the slides? I want to show my kids to get them excited.

Thanks.

[HeartNP]

Do you have any views from your cabin? Or of the cabin? I'm booked in 7111 in April, which I think is right near where you were.

 

Can't wait to see/read more!

 

thank you!

karen

[Mary49]

You have to go and hear Music Boardwalk. They use to play in Frankie and Johnnies but I don't know if they still do. They are my favorite group and play everything plus requests and then some. It would be great if you could take a pictures of them. Thanks and have a great time.

[Mary49]

You have to go and hear Music Boardwalk. They use to play in Frankie and Johnnies but I don't know if they still do. They are my favorite group and play everything plus requests and then some. It would be great if you could take a pictures of them. Thanks and have a great time.

 

Sorry about the mispost. Thought you were doing a live review from the ship. But I hope you got to see the cover band anyway. Pictures are very nice.

[amdmsk]

Pictures of the slide, the room, and some from on the balcony are coming in just a minute. I'm uploading them to photo bucket right now, but it's being really slow, so as soon as it's done I'll put them up and work on sea day #2!