Just Back from Miracle 1.29.12

[Pauser]

Just got off the 8-day 1.29.12 cruise on the Miracle. We'd been on the Miracle once before (two years ago).

 

EMBARKATION

 

Easiest ever - probably because ship was just in dry dock. We took a 10 a.m. shuttle from our hotel and got right on the ship. No waiting at all.

 

DRY DOCK

 

They changed carpeting in all main areas but not in cabins, where ours was badly stained. :(

 

They added an adult-only serenity area at the back of the lido deck. This was a really nice quiet area. I think it's the old children's pool area and included the pool, sun loungers, sofas and more intimate seating groups, dining tables for two (but could easily talk with people next to you) and a bar. They offered salads and sandwiches/wraps at the bar area so you didn't have to leave to go into the buffet.

 

They have brand new chairs in the lido outdoor dining areas, which were really nice.

 

There are now LCD TVs in the rooms. We didn't have any problems with TV reception.

 

They did not change anything in Gatsby's Garden. Still the same old chairs and murals. Some of the ceiling fans are missing blades. Did not add seating outside on the promenade deck.

 

And they did NOT address the air-conditioning issues they've had for some time now. This was disappointing. Almost everyone we talked to complained about the room temperatures in their cabins. If we kept the thermostat in our room on the coldest setting, it stayed about 73 degrees Fahrenheit. With down comforters on the beds, it's just inadequate. Three times our air shut off completely and would not come back on. We had to call maintenance. Each time they told us they were "testing" the system and it would be be back on shortly. After the third time, I told them that I thought this was just an excuse they gave when someone complained about the air. The ship just came back from dry dock - why is it necessary to "test" the air conditioning three times in two days? They sent maintenance to our cabin and resolved it. But I had hoped they would address the air conditioning issues during dry dock. Be forewarned.

 

DINING

 

We had anytime dining and never had to wait. We sat in the same station and had the same waitstaff each night - Jiji, Mario & Ladislau. They were awesome! Food was fine. We could always find something to eat. We ate at Nick & Nora's twice. Loved it!

 

We also ate at the buffet, which is one area that is always congested. For whatever reason, the flow in here just doesn't work. If you went at peak times, there were multiple long lines. We ate dinner here one night as well, and for once had no lines. I must say breakfast in the buffet was pretty inedible IMHO. Long lines for omelets, powdered eggs in buffet, bacon undercooked, potatoes greasy & over salted & flavorless, toast and waffles cold, etc. I stuck with boxed cereal or oatmeal and fruit. I was able to order these items by room service for port days. And the coffee was awful! Fortunately I brought Starbucks Via, so was able to have my caffeine fix. The coffee in the specialty coffee shop was Cafe Americano, which is espresso and water. I prefer coffee in the morning. We stuck with espresso and cappuccino in the dining room, which were fine.

 

One thing I will say about Anytime Dining - each night at 4:45 on the dot (!) a line began to form on deck 3 at the anytime dining entrance to the Bacchus dining room. The line ran through the adjacent bar/lounge area and out to the hallway by the photo area on some nights! I think these people probably wanted early seating but were assigned to anytime. I never understood why they didn't wait another half hour and walk right in.

 

PORTS

 

Grand Turk - We rented a golf cart from Nathan. We ended up with a Jeep (long story), but it turned out well. We encountered a couple of very strong thunder showers and would have had little protection in a golf cart. Also, although the island is small, the roads and vehicles are real, and we wouldn't have felt as secure (traffic wise) in a golf cart. We ended up putting almost 35 miles on the jeep. The island is really pretty. We stumbled upon several private beautiful beaches. The water is the clearest I've ever seen. We never felt unsafe anywhere here. Everyone was friendly. Most people got off the ship and went directly to the Margaritaville beach next to the port. I was glad we went off and explored.

 

La Romana - We went to Altos de Chavon. Took a tour, which was quite interesting. This was a good place to spend a few hours. Had a chance to sample Dominican coffee. We really love the Dominican Republic. It's not as developed as other islands, but it is really gorgeous.

 

Aruba - We booked an ATV tour with Kini Kini tours. They met us at the port and we explored the island over the next 4 hours. I would highly recommend them. Ask for "George of the Jungle" as your guide. Had a lot of fun.

 

Word of warning - ATV tours are dangerous! You must be prepared. We had a woman on our tour who had recent health issues and should not have been with us. She didn't realize it would be "so strenuous." They tell you beforehand and make you sign a waiver. It's a real risk, but is also a lot of fun. Definitely not for everyone!

 

Curacao - We took a tour with a taxi company at the dock. Lasted two hours. Then we did some shopping in town. This is a very picturesque island and the downtown was bustling! After that we walked across the bridge to the port side and walked to the Kura Hulanda museum, which explores the African slave trade. This was awesome! There were something like 15 buildings, but we only made it thru about 8 of them as we ran out of time. This museum was descriptive, partially interactive, and made the slave trade come alive in a way I've never experienced. It is well worth a few hours of your time if you like things like this. It was about a 20 or 30 minute walk back to port.

 

NEW SMOKING POLICY

 

Really did not notice any difference in smoking in casino, other than all of the tables in front of the bar had "no smoking" signs on them. Although there were designated smoking areas and signs saying you must be playing at a machine in order to smoke, this was not enforced at all. People walked around the entire casino with cigarettes. I never saw anyone being reprimanded or redirected. There was a small section of the casino bar that was designated smoking, and it expanded as the week went on, meaning most of the bar became a smoking area. Just letting people know as this is not what we had been led to expect. Let me say I am a former smoker and it didn't bother me, but it did bother others. Just FYI.

 

Overall, we had a great cruise. We loved the ports, the staff, and the ship. We had really great service and enjoyed meeting both cruisers and staff from all over the world.

 

Would be happy to answer any questions.

[Bulldog3777]

Hate it that they changed the food on the Lido. When we went in the fall it was very good. I guess dry dock can be good and bad.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

HMMM thinkin of booking the Miracle for sept. Not sure now.

[bumorgan]

Thanks for a good honest review. Can you now order room service off the tv or still use the cards that hang on the door? Will be sailing on her in 10 weeks.:D Oh, what room # did you have? Thanks

[Pauser]

Thanks for a good honest review. Can you now order room service off the tv or still use the cards that hang on the door? Will be sailing on her in 10 weeks.:D Oh, what room # did you have? Thanks

 

Still had to use cards to order room service. Had not yet implemented TV ordering (at least it didn't work in our cabin). We were in room 4205. Reserved a 4K (inside cabin with door & obstructed view). Ended up in handicap accessible cabin. Were disappointed that we had a picture window that did not open, but I admit it was nice to have the extra space! Some good in everything. :)

 

Enjoy your cruise! I think this is a great ship and you'll have a wonderful time!

[skydog802]

Thanks for the great review. Do you have any pics to share?

[Pauser]

Thanks for the great review. Do you have any pics to share?

 

I have some pictures I can post, but I haven't yet had time to go thru them. Will try to do so in the next few days.

[crewsweeper]

Thanks for the review, especially the ports. This is the itinerary for the Breeze 8 day after Thanksgiving.

 

In La Romana, did you take a ship tour or just hire a taxi and then hire a tour guide at the village?

 

Details on Nathan's? Condition of both? We're in GT in April on the Liberty and trying to decide between carts or Jeep.

 

Did you pre-cruise hire the taxi company in Curacao or just pick it up once there? Cost? Thanks for the tip on the Kura Hulanda muesum/

[Pauser]

Thanks for the review, especially the ports. This is the itinerary for the Breeze 8 day after Thanksgiving.

 

In La Romana, did you take a ship tour or just hire a taxi and then hire a tour guide at the village? We ended up taking the ship's tour. Altos de Chavon is a private arts community. The only Dominicans who can enter are those who work or study there. It cost about $45 pp thru the ship. You can take a bus on your own for less than $10 pp. Many others did, but they kept asking us what "this place" was. There was no info available onsite. I suppose you could research and do it on your own. Having been to the DR before, I just was a little hesitant to take public transportation. That's just me.

 

Details on Nathan's? Condition of both? We're in GT in April on the Liberty and trying to decide between carts or Jeep. Nathan can be reached at nathanandlinda@tciway.tc He has both golf carts & jeeps. We didn't see any golf carts, although later we saw four people in a cart returning to port. The jeep was in decent condition. Had to bring it back with gas at same level. We spent $10 on gas. I would not have felt as safe on a golf cart. They drive on the left, roads are pretty narrow especially in town, and people drive pretty fast. But it depends what you want to do.

 

Did you pre-cruise hire the taxi company in Curacao or just pick it up once there? Cost? Thanks for the tip on the Kura Hulanda muesum We hired taxi at port - was very easy to do. Could choose open or closed with air conditioning. It cost $20 pp. And definitely try to make some time for the museum! It is well worth seeing!

 

Answers above. Have a great cruise!

[Relayer]

Glad you had a great cruise. We're doing our second Miracle sailing in what is quickly becoming a very very long 27 days! Loved the ship and itinerary, All Saints, and can't wait to get back

[tracyanns]

Thanks for the review. We sailed her prior to go into drydock so I don't think the buffet food has anything to do with that, it was pretty uneventful when we were on her for breakfast. I have found that either the omelet station or the dining room for breakfast is the best bet.

 

I HATE the scrambled eggs but they are not the only cruise line that uses them...I guess to sail for less we have to be able to expect a bit less. It would be kind of cool to have a fresh waffle maker like some of the hotels have...but then we would all complain about the lines for it being too long!

 

Oh well, I guess we can't win them all. The anytime dining thing is a bit strange...I mean, half the people in line that early probably either just got done eating an hour ago or want to eat early so they can go back to the buffet before that closes! :eek:

[framerman]

thanks for the update..........we are on her 2/22

[crewsweeper]

Thanks for the responses Pauser:)

[CruzVinnieCruz]

Thanks for the review. We sailed her prior to go into drydock so I don't think the buffet food has anything to do with that, it was pretty uneventful when we were on her for breakfast. I have found that either the omelet station or the dining room for breakfast is the best bet.

 

I HATE the scrambled eggs but they are not the only cruise line that uses them...I guess to sail for less we have to be able to expect a bit less. It would be kind of cool to have a fresh waffle maker like some of the hotels have...but then we would all complain about the lines for it being too long!

 

Oh well, I guess we can't win them all. The anytime dining thing is a bit strange...I mean, half the people in line that early probably either just got done eating an hour ago or want to eat early so they can go back to the buffet before that closes! :eek:

 

 

Your right many institutions use this type of scrambled eggs and they are not powdered eggs. They are pasteurized whole eggs used by many hotels, cruise lines, etc do to speed and food health safety issues. Pasteurizing helps to eliminate the possibility of passing salmonella.

 

Vinnie

[dodger501]

I was on this cruise as well as the 2-day preceding it.

I pretty much agree with what you said here. Our A/C 'worked' (we had interior deck 7 mid) but output was inconsistent. No carpet stains in the room.

My biggest problem in Horatio's buffet at breakfast was that they would set up omelet stations on either side of the line. That is fine for throughput, I never had to wait long. But once you have your omelet, you converge in the middle with the people from the other side of the line.

A bit awkward at times.

The cruise director, Malcolm, seemed to do his job but his assistants did all the public-facing work except for a couple of the shows where Malcolm made an appearance.

 

Overall, extremely satisfied with Carnival/Miracle/my cruise.

[Insel]

Thanks for the update and review. We sail for our 6th time in May.

Is Ticket to Ride still the main show?

 

Looking forward to your photos!

[CarlaMasterson]

Glad you had a great cruise. We're doing our second Miracle sailing in what is quickly becoming a very very long 27 days! Loved the ship and itinerary, All Saints, and can't wait to get back

 

We will be joining you in 27 days...can't wait!

[Sh1035]

Might be because I live in Florida and AC is expensive.....but 72 would make me a Popsicle! They suggest 78 these days.

 

great review!

[OrangeCrush]

I was on the same cruise and did not have any of these issues. Food was pretty good and I was amazed at how short the lines were, especially in comparison to Conquest class and Triumph class ships. Our AC worked great - I told my wife that it was almost too cold!!!:eek:

 

Staff was excellent. Did not see too much out of CD Malcolm, agree with the post author on that.

[BabyJacks17]

 

DINING

 

We had anytime dining and never had to wait. We sat in the same station and had the same waitstaff each night - Jiji, Mario & Ladislau. They were awesome! Food was fine. We could always find something to eat. We ate at Nick & Nora's twice. Loved it!

 

We also ate at the buffet, which is one area that is always congested. For whatever reason, the flow in here just doesn't work. If you went at peak times, there were multiple long lines. We ate dinner here one night as well, and for once had no lines. I must say breakfast in the buffet was pretty inedible IMHO. Long lines for omelets, powdered eggs in buffet, bacon undercooked, potatoes greasy & over salted & flavorless, toast and waffles cold, etc. I stuck with boxed cereal or oatmeal and fruit. I was able to order these items by room service for port days. And the coffee was awful! Fortunately I brought Starbucks Via, so was able to have my caffeine fix. The coffee in the specialty coffee shop was Cafe Americano, which is espresso and water. I prefer coffee in the morning. We stuck with espresso and cappuccino in the dining room, which were fine.

 

One thing I will say about Anytime Dining - each night at 4:45 on the dot (!) a line began to form on deck 3 at the anytime dining entrance to the Bacchus dining room. The line ran through the adjacent bar/lounge area and out to the hallway by the photo area on some nights! I think these people probably wanted early seating but were assigned to anytime. I never understood why they didn't wait another half hour and walk right in.

 

 

My family & I had "Early Seating" and for whatever reason had the same problem on deck 2 with the line to the dining room each evening - every night by the time we started to head to the dining room we'd find a line stretched well into the atrium!

 

Also, this was my first time sailing a Spirit Class ship (and I've heard nothing but glowing things about the spirit layout) but personally for my family & myself we had never experienced such congestion as we had in the buffet areas. Many times we ended up going back to the room to just order room service, while in past cruises we had only used room service once as a mid-night snack. Also, we also had a very hard time even finding a table for 4. This has never been a problem in the past on other larger ships but I felt that the buffet area didn't have a lot of walkway space for someone to get around. Your options were to either walk right next to the clustered buffet lines or go around the crew stations.

 

One of the problems I think this buffet area face was room for the many people on scooters I saw on this cruise. At times I had a hard enough time getting around the congestion so I can only imagine how they managed.

[wmw1490]

And they did NOT address the air-conditioning issues they've had for some time now. This was disappointing. Almost everyone we talked to complained about the room temperatures in their cabins. If we kept the thermostat in our room on the coldest setting, it stayed about 73 degrees Fahrenheit. With down comforters on the beds, it's just inadequate. Three times our air shut off completely and would not come back on. We had to call maintenance. Each time they told us they were "testing" the system and it would be be back on shortly. After the third time, I told them that I thought this was just an excuse they gave when someone complained about the air. The ship just came back from dry dock - why is it necessary to "test" the air conditioning three times in two days? They sent maintenance to our cabin and resolved it. But I had hoped they would address the air conditioning issues during dry dock. Be forewarned.

 

Glad you mentioned the AC problem....that's what we experienced in December and it took threatening to use the 100% guarantee to finally get it fixed. What they had to do was replace a valve/switch in the wall that would allow more cool water to flow around the air coming into the room. Apparently the water cooled system works like a heat exchanger to provide ample cool air if working properly. Once fixed, the temp could be adjusted down to 68 degrees and stayed comfortable even during the day.

 

My advice....Press on the customer service team hard if your room is not comfortable and don't take their answer 'the temperature of your room is within our comfort specifications'. The fix does take the some time per room (about 30 minutes for 3 people working on it), so I sense that is why they defer this one. That amount of labor times the number of rooms requiring the fix would be time consuming/expensive. But, keep in mind it is your hard earned vacation $$$ and they should deliver on their part of the bargain.

[Casey]

I too am going to be on your 3/9/12 cruise. I can not seem to find you guys (being a dork!) Could you post a link for me to find you? Want to meet up with all my fellow CC members.

 

Thanks

Kim