Miracle Review, Grand Turk, La Romana,Aruba, Curacao and our AFT!

[cweather]

Loving you review. Can't wait to hear more and see more pictures. We will be sailing her March 25th and we also have a aft 4239. Can't wait!

[Sunnyday2010]

Cant wait to read about the Ports !! Thank you for talking the time to write this review ! :D

[gail811]

Great review so far! We are doing these ports on the Freedom this summer and I'm always looking for reviews of excursions!

[OIALCreative]

I love reviews with pictures!

Thank you for taking the time to write one and include pics!!! :) You have a beautiful family!

I am looking forward to reading about the ports you went to! :)

[Anung Un Rama]

Thanks for taking the time to do this review. We have these 4 ports coming up on the Breeze in November so can't wait to see the rest.

[4hunters]

Great start! Keep up the good work. :D

[Luv2Cruz32]

I am loving your review.:D

[Crazy4Koko]

We were on the Miracle for her first trip back to three of the ports.. It's great to see 'her' again, and I always love to hear about other folks excursions! We absolutely loved the ship!

 

Love the new serenity area, and your son looks like he was having lots of fun already!

[h_blond2]

I'm loving the review so far and your son is beyond adorable!

[bbiggar]

xravin, we were on the same cruise, as a matter of fact we are in your opening picture by the bar in the background. Ariel was also our room steward since we were just down the hall in 4228. He was the best wasn't he? :) The two day prior my husband and myself had room 4232, I hope we left it in good condition for your parents. I believe we met your parents one night, but I can't remember when or where. (I remember meeting someone in the room we had vacated the cruise before)

[PictureChris]

Hi, was on this same cruise with you as part of "Joans Gang". Saw you and your family many times around the ship and your son always seemed so happy.

 

Please do try the steakhouse some time, it is so worth the $30 even though you have already paid for dinner in the mdr or lido.

 

The band in Frankie and Johnnies (Music Boardwalk) was awesome (esp the keyboardist). I agree with you about it being smokey.

 

I am guessing you went to the adult comedy early in the week. I was more impressed with the 2 comics later in the week.

[IrishLassie]

Loving your review & your pics are GREAT! Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us. :D

Nice that you stayed at Pier 66. I had my 50th. Class Reunion there last summer! My DH & I both went to school in Ft. Laud. so we know that area very well, don't live there anymore tho, we're on the west coast of FL now. We were there when "Where The Boys Are" was filmed, LONG, LONG before yur time! :)

Anyway, looking forward to the rest of your review, thanks again for sharing.

[jolyroger]

Count me in as one of the people waiting to see pics of the Miracle since her drydock!!! And let me say THANK YOU!!! I love your pics, she does look loike such a pretty ship!!! Love the review, great combo of pics and review!!!

 

Keep it coming!!

And that DS of yours, he's such a cutie!!!!

 

49 more days till my MIRACLE cruise!! WOOOHOO!

[xrayvin]

Thanks again for all the kind words! My favorite reviews included lots of photos so I have always wanted to do with LOTS of photos.

 

Cindy~ (I believe that is your name) yes we did meet. First day, you all were at the bar, and we was passing through from the hot tub. I still was getting our rooms mixed up and said that 4232 was our room. You informed me you had been in that room for the 2 day. I had chatted with your group online on and off and was very happy to finally meet you. I knew your cabins were close by as well and saw you all on and off but ew never really had a chance to hang out.

 

w8ing2cruise~ I also chatted with you a little prior to the cruise and did know you would be right above us. I kept waiting for the bucket of beer to be lowered over the balcony from your party...but I never even heard you guys up there!

 

Now on with the review!

 

The night we left Florida was a lot of fun. We had a family dance in the disco to meet the Camp Carnival. Only 2 kids showed up (including DS) But it was fun and Fun Ship Freddie even showed up. We were told that there were only 20 somrthing kids on board so they did combine the 6-8 and the 9-11 groups. This was my worst nightmare, DS loved Camp Carnival on the Dream and I was afraid he would not meet any new friends. I always seem to worry for no reason. Even though there were several times the Camp only had 1-2 other kids, DS loved it. He even was the only one some nights and chose to stay. Another saving grace was a boy same age that DS met at the pool the first day. They often played together. There was another 10 y/o boy that was often in the pool, and had the cabin next to us. These 3 boys played very well together. On a side note, even though they said they combined the 2 groups, the older kids would often do other things that DS was not allowed to do. No biggie but found it funny.

 

 

When we checked in, I had noticed that our S&S card said anytime dining. We had confirmed early seating over a year ago. I had read alot of bad things about ATD and was really afraid having 5 people would make waits very long. We had a couple hours till we could try to change it and during that time we decided to not waste the time waiting in line. Why not try ATD? The number 1 fear was that we would never make the decision when to eat and then it would be stressfull. Personally I LOVE traditional seating. I like the waiter knowing you, the personal attention. Once again, I worry too much.

 

We decided that we would keep our 6pm eating time but we would do it at ATD. We showed up and the line was WAY down the hallway!! But it moved fast and we were seated right away. Eric was our waiter, it was a little rockey and I was afraid my worse fears were coming true. The meal itself was great, especially the Creme Burlee!!

 

The dinnig room was very nice. Some of the grapes were gone and replaced with purple "hubs". DH thought it had a mold kind of look, but I actually felt the lighting was nice and the room had a comfortable feeling.

 

This is not a great picture with the lighting but you can see the room a little better so I thought I would share.

 

 

 

We did ask to be seated in Eric's section every night and ATD became perfect for us. DS only ate with us the first night and the 2 formal nights, so we went to eat at 7 or 8 each night. THAT made all the difference in the world. There were some nights we were given a pager and would go have a drink in the bar while we waited. It was great and the mistake of ATD became a blessing.

 

DS and DH while we waited for our table on the 2nd formal night, this was the longest we waited. (about 15 min)

 

I forgot to mention that Eric was WONDERFUL and so was Geraldo his helper. The rockiness that we had the first night was never seen again. OH another side note, we had to ask for the bar staff to come over to order a drink at the table. We thought that was a little weird but no big deal.

 

The first formal night was the night Lobster was served. DS had been looking forward to this for a while so he was very happy when they brought his plate out. I thought the lobster was one of the best I have had on a cruise.

 

I am trying to think what was my favorite thing in the Main Dining room. Almost all the appitizers were outstanding. We said that alot, the main dishes over out shined by the starters. On the all the time menu, there was a salmon that was AMAZING one night but kind of dry (still good) on a different night.

 

I would not hesitate to recommend ATD. It was like traditional but we had the ability to change it if we needed to.

[xrayvin]

The first Port of call GRAND TURK!!! This was my favorite day. It was so relaxed and beautiful here.

 

We woke up and had breakfast and just took our time getting off the ship. So when we left we just walked off the ship. The water was SO BLUE, SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

 

 

When you come off the ship, yuo are forced to walk through the shopping area. We did not even stop. We turned to the left and there were a ton of chairs and umbrellas. When we found an empty area the boys stopped

 

 

My mom and I continued down the beach. We wanted to check out Jack's Shack, some of the CC group went there and we wanted to say hi. We walked through the crowded area of chairs. (this picture is actually at the end of the day when everyone was gone.

 

 

Then we came to another area that did not have as many chairs, and people were playing volleyball. There was a man who stopped us and told us this was the Local beach and they had cheaper food and drinks and free chairs and umbrellas.

 

 

We continued on to Jack's Shack. Here the chairs were $5 each and the drinks were about $8. They were good, strong drinks. We said hi, decided to get a drink and walk back to the boys.

 

 

As we walked through the local beach, we decided to get a beer and bring it to the boys. While there we found some chairs and an umbella and decided to stay! One thing to know, they say their drinks are also $8 (same as Jack's Shack) but they are smaller and they will offer you larger drinks for $10 and $12!! I did enjoy the drinks better at the Local beach but I dont think they were better priced. EXCEPT the coconut!! You could buy it and add rum to the coconut water for $8 or $5 with nothing added!! DS got the plain one and it was very refreshing.

 

 

This was a perfect place to spend the day.

[sarahleebones]

LOVE the last picture of your son! Hilarious!

[xrayvin]

We just played in the water, DS snorkeled a little, which actually was pretty good. If you go the other direction, the beach over there is supposed to be better for snorkeling but we just wanted to stay put.

 

 

 

 

 

While we were sitting on the beach we noticed Carnival was doing a lifeboat drill.

 

 

This little guy was kind of cool!

 

 

We were sad to say good bye to Grand Turk!

 

Something I did not mention before is all the ports of call that we visited in this itinerary were new to DH, DS and myself.

[xrayvin]

La Romana! We docked right next to the rocky shore

 

This stop does not have the best reviews. We decided to just do an AI. I thought it was a little pricey for the amount of time we actually were able to spend there, but what the heck..we are on vacation! I have never been to an AI before and was interested in what it would be like.

 

 

 

We did hurry to get off the ship and walked to an area that was pointed out to us. The CC group was also going here, so we saw alot of familear faces which was reassuring. We told the man in charge we wanted to go to Dreams and he said we needed 12 people to fill the van. We ended up with 11 of us and stepped aside waiting for the van. I believe it was $10pp round trip and we paid on the return trip. Remember the time difference!! They were an hour ahead of us so we told them to pick us up at 4pm (we had to be on ship at 4:30 which was 5:30 island time) That would give us a lot of time to get back. It took us about 20 min to get to Dreams.

 

We were greeted warmly, given some kind of punch and we were check in for the day and given towels. There were several pool areas, adn of course a VERY LARGE beach area. My mom and I joined in with a group doing water aerobics in the ocean. That was a blast. I could do that every morning. At one point we were running across the ocean and WHAM a flying fish hit me in the side of the head! It was the funniest thing ever, I wish I could have seen it! What an experience.

 

 

We did find the infinity pool and swim up bar. This area was awsome! We hung out the rest of the day here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

can only post 6 pictures per post so we will continue....

[xrayvin]

More pictures of the pool area

 

They did have a wide variety of drinks. They were all good and of course the price was right. It was easy to find things but the resort was so big. We did not see all the resort had to offer.

 

The bartender at the swim up bar was crazy and he would flip-throw drinks!

 

 

 

 

It was a beautiful resort, and it did give me a desire to try an AI vacation at some point. Would I go back to Dream, probably not in La Romana. I would want more to do closer to the resort if I was spending more then 1 day there. Would I go back to Dreams if I was on a cruise that stopped here? OH YES!! It was worth the $60pp ($30 for DS) We had a blast, it was beautiful and enjoyed hanging out with new friends.

 

I was very worried about the transportation prior to getting there, once again no reason to worry!

[xrayvin]

ARUBA

This is DS favorite day!

 

I had done ALOT of research for Aruba. So many things to do and how do you know what will be the best?

 

I found Tomcar tour and tried to book really early. I was told I should wait till Sept/Oct before I booked. We were so excited for this tour, so when the time came I called. They had moved their cars to Hawaii, not in Aruba anymore. I was so disappointed! So I started over...

 

I found a review on CC for Aruba Bob snorkeling. I checked them out and was highly impressed with the response time and the info I was provided. They do island tours combined with snorkeling (using scooters) Usually they have a jeep so they can get to the off road areas, but it would not fit 5 people so we decided to do a van. There was alot of emails back and forth between myself and Stuart. In the end I gave up the reins and told him to show us what he would show his friends. he had it all planned and everyone was excited.

 

When Thursday came, we were axiously waiting to get off the ship. Our arrival time was noon (1pm island time). There was already 2 other ships there so we had to use the container pier. This was just a little further down, and it took a while to secure the ship so it was almost 2pm island time when we found our meeting place.

 

Stuart was not there, instead it was Kent (the real aruba bob). Stuart had been stung by a jellyfish that morning so was unable to make it. Was a bummer since we had established a relationship with Stuart. But Kent was great.

 

We started out at some rock formations. The landscape was very cool adn we took a ton of photos.

 

 

 

Then we headed to the wildside of the island. BEAUTIFUL!! It was windy and the waves were CRASHING against the rocks.

 

 

 

 

Visitors to Aruba would stack rocks on top of each other and make a wish. DS and mom spent a while stacking rocks!

 

[xrayvin]

We then headed to were the natual bridge used to be.

 

 

 

 

This is were arriving in Aruba so late was a really bad deal. We had this tour all day, but when you start at 2pm and you want to snorkel you can only go to a few places. We had a whole day planned but were unable to see Baby Beach, the gold mines, along with places that Stuart had "stumbled on " and wanted to show us. We made the decision to snorkel and skip the rest. So Kent took us to Club Arias to get all our snorkel gear. This is a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Savaneta about 20-30 min from the downtown area.

 

 

 

That is it for the pictures allowed here! Next topic will be snorkeling in Aruba!

[xrayvin]

Thanks for bearing with me through all my memories!

 

We snorkeled at mangel Halto

 

Sun is dropping fast in the sky

 

Getting everything ready

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the deal with this spot. It has FANTASTIC snorkeling. Fish, Fire Coral, lots of beautiful things. BUT it can also have some killer currents. The scooters help you get through them out of the swallow area into the amazing wonderland of the underwater world!

 

Unfortunatly, I used my own snorkel gear...DONT DO IT if you book this tour use their stuff!! I had issues with my mask fogging and then not staying up, and of course I was constantly looking for DS. Kent had a handle and DS just held on and went along for the ride so there was no need to worry. He saw more then any of us and was always safe!

 

The current was even stronger then normal that day and even using the scooters on high and kicking some of us (myself) could not get through the it.

 

I need to point out that through all this the view was amazing. I saw a ton of fish (no pictures since I could not hold scooter and camera at the same time) they might not have been huge but there were schools of them.

 

Kent decided it would be too dangerous to go out any further. So we just stayed in our little area. He had a helper who stayed with us and Kent took DH and my dad out further. They say it was great. Hard to get out there and stay where you were supposed to...away from fire coral...but it was beautiful!

 

Well the sun was setting and we had been in the water for almost an hour and a half. DS was getting cold so we swam back to shore.

 

I know it sounds like everything went wrong here but it did not. We might not have seen what we thought we were going to BUT we did see amazing things and had a great time using the scooters. Those were AWSOME!! Kent was always aware of what was happening around him and knew when to say enough, I felt 100% safe with him and I was 100% happy.

 

We got out of the water and headed back to Arias to change and get some dinner. NOW THAT is a place we will not forget!

[xrayvin]

We went to a local place called ZEE ROVER. We where able to watch the sun set, while we ate what was caught that day!

 

 

 

 

We had fresh shrimp, King Fish, fries and plantains! This meal was the best!

 

After dinner we went to St Nicholas to see if they had anything going on for Carnival..not alot..but it was fun to walk around and listen to the steel drum music.

 

People were selling things, baking goodies in the street, and we even saw a lady on stilts! It was fun, but we were getting tired and decided to call it a day!

 

 

 

Kent dropped us off Downtown and we walked around a little and then headed back to the ship..where a deck party was about to start. (It was about 9pm and we sailed at 11:30pm)

 

 

The deck party was fun, the typical music and dancing. They did a mexican buffet at midnight. It had all kinds of yummy things. My favorite was an octopus ceviche, that might have been my favorite thing on the ship!

 

What a great day and it was ended with a great night!

[mimi'sgirl]

Love your review. We will be doing this itin. in Nov. on the Freedom. So happy to see your pictures and to hear you enjoyed Dreams. That is our plan for La Romana. Can you tell me if you ate at Dreams and your thoughts on the food. Also did they have kid friendly food..ie pizza, nuggets etc? Also thank you for the great pricing info between the local beach and Jack's in Turks. We plan on going to Jacks. The picture of your mom and your son in the hot tub with their feet sticking out is so cute!

[xrayvin]

This was the stop I was most looking forward to... Curacao.... but it turned out to be a great day just not my favorite.

 

We had decided we had done lots of water/beach activities so we would not do that here. Next time I would look into the beach or the Irie Bus tour (heard great things about that tour) We were going to walk around, enjoy the island and just see what happened.

 

 

VERY windy, hot and humid...and we walked around...hmmmm

 

It is very pretty around the pier area, and of sourse the ocean is beautiful. The bridges were cool to see, and of course we walked across on the walking bridge. DS,DH, and my dad even waited for it to open for a boat and jumped on for the ride.

 

 

 

 

I loved the local flair of this island. The farmer market type stuff, selling fish, produce, knik-knacks, and even pig snouts! Walking past all the boats in the harbor with Red Snapper just sitting there was something I (and my nose) will never forget. It was very cool.