Miracle Review Sept. 19-27 2012

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Here is my take on our recent Miracle Cruise out of NYC last week. I don't have any pics right now because my wife has our camera and is out of town. So I may post some later but here is a written review while it is still fresh in my memory. We had a party of 10 myself 50 and my DW 46. MIL 73 neice 35 nephew 30 Brother 62 SIL 63 SIL 50 and her partner 51. We had a balcony on the 6th deck forward. We live in Portland Maine and drove to port with my MIL and her friend. 6 hour drive left at 6am and arrived at the port in NYC at 11:45 parked at the cruise terminal. Cost was $280 for the 8 days. We were thru security and checked in, pictures taken and drink in our hand by 12:10. No need for Platinum benefits here. Really had no wait anywhere. We would literally have had to sprint from our car to the check-in area to the ship in order to get on any faster.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We hung out in the Atrium while we waited for my brother and his family to get on. They spent the nite in NYC. They flew in from Chicago the nite before. We drove from maine the morning of and were on the ship before them. Whatupwiddat?? No big deal had a few drinks and was loving life.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

My brother and family showed up aroun 1:15 so we decided to wait til 1:30 and go to our cabins and drop our carry ons then go get something to eat. Rooms were ready at 1:30 and we were on our way to the buffet for something to eat. No lines again obviously because we were on a little later than others. Got a burger and frys for me and everyone else mixed and matched and we were all happy as clams. I will say never really encountered much of a line anywhere during this cruise. This was our first cruise on a spirit class ship and I have to say i liked it. We have been on the Dream and the Liberty and Glory. I prefer the smaller ship big time. i loved the layout of the Miracle.

[nkwoman]

I was with the WILK radio group on the same cruise. We took a bus from Scranton at 9am and got to the cruise terminal around the same time you did . We also got through very quickly. It was the easiest check in ever. Much faster than our Royal Caribbean cruise last year out of Newark. We had a great time with Carnival. The food and wait staff were terrific. Only complaint was the attitude of the servers at Nick & Nora's. Not sure if it was just an off night, but the servers were low-talkers, one was condescending and the bartender was pretty rude. Again- not sure if this was out of the ordinary. We heard from others in our group that they had better experiences.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

I was with the WILK radio group on the same cruise. We took a bus from Scranton at 9am and got to the cruise terminal around the same time you did . We also got through very quickly. It was the easiest check in ever. Much faster than our Royal Caribbean cruise last year out of Newark. We had a great time with Carnival. The food and wait staff were terrific. Only complaint was the attitude of the servers at Nick & Nora's. Not sure if it was just an off night, but the servers were low-talkers, one was condescending and the bartender was pretty rude. Again- not sure if this was out of the ordinary. We heard from others in our group that they had better experiences.

 

Huh, we ate at Nick and Nora's twice and the servers were great. We didn't go to the bar.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

After getting a bite to eat we checked out the ship alittle and went back to our cabins. I ordered some champagne and the Bud lite cooler package from Bon Voyage. They were in our cabin when we first went in. We met our room steward Arjanna and I gave him 20 bucks and asked that he keep my cooler full of ice in addition to the regular ice bucket. The Ice buckets are NOT in your cabin when you first get in. You have to ask for them. I also brought on some margarita mix and a 12 pack of diet coke. We also got some tequila from BV. We had 4 balcony cabins in a row and requested the partitions be opened. You have to go to guest services now to request this with your neighbor and sign in order for them to do this. We had them all opened and had 1 huge balcony. We spent alot of time out there partying and talking and reading etc... Brought my binoculars and just had a great time. I also bought a cool set of rechargable speaker for our ipod so we could have music on the balcony and downloaded a bunch of jazz it was great. My SIL also brought those battery powered candles and we had them on at nite with all the lites off and it was just a great atmosphere.

[riclop]

After getting a bite to eat we checked out the ship alittle and went back to our cabins. I ordered some champagne and the Bud lite cooler package from Bon Voyage. They were in our cabin when we first went in. We met our room steward Arjanna and I gave him 20 bucks and asked that he keep my cooler full of ice in addition to the regular ice bucket. The Ice buckets are NOT in your cabin when you first get in. You have to ask for them. I also brought on some margarita mix and a 12 pack of diet coke. We also got some tequila from BV. We had 4 balcony cabins in a row and requested the partitions be opened. You have to go to guest services now to request this with your neighbor and sign in order for them to do this. We had them all opened and had 1 huge balcony. We spent alot of time out there partying and talking and reading etc... Brought my binoculars and just had a great time. I also bought a cool set of rechargable speaker for our ipod so we could have music on the balcony and downloaded a bunch of jazz it was great. My SIL also brought those battery powered candles and we had them on at nite with all the lites off and it was just a great atmosphere.

So it was you making all that noise!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[daniella1279]

Woohoo a miracle review!

[martinchem]

I'd like to hear they added the Mongolian Wok.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ...

[LUPY48]

Looking forward to more......

[vivavegas]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review and share your experiences with us!:)

[Ms. Fun Bunch]

More, please!!!

[092306]

Love Miracle reviews! We're on her in less than 2 weeks, can't wait. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[Jimmy Geegitz]

I'd like to hear they added the Mongolian Wok.

 

No Mongolian Wok but there is a Chinese section for the buffet. It had areally good Egg drop like chicken soup and the dishes were decent. My wife did miss the mongolian wok. Also she liked the Middle easten food sction on the conquest class. The Miracle did not offer that either. The food selection was not as good as the conquest class ships. No fish n chips either.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

I did like the way they had the buffet broken up in Horatios. It was set up in 8-9 stations. 3 stations offered the same selections a salad station a dessert station a chinese station which also had sushi next to it. For breakfast they had 3 stations with the same selections and 3 omelete stations and a pastry station. There were hardly aby lines. Sometimes a short wait for omelets. they will also make fried eggs for you at the omelet stations.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

On sea days they had the Comedy Brunch in the main dining room. We did this 3 of the days and it was awesome.

[the_monkey]

Can't wait to read more! Thanks for the review!

[Jimmy Geegitz]

As we sailed out of NYC went went to the top deck and it was a beautiful day in the 70s and really enjoyed the skyline and the ride down the Hudson and cruising past the Statue of Liberty. (which passes on the right side of the ship by the way for those of you with rooms on starboard side.)Then under the Veranzano Bridge and on out to sea.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We went back to our cabins and relaxed for a bit. Then we got ready for dinner at Nick and Nora's Steakhouse. We always go the first nite because you get a free bottle of wine. I had the spiced ribeye steak and my wife had the filet mignon. Both were excellent. I also had the Tuna Tartare for an appetizer and it was fantastic.After dinner we were pretty tired and headed back to the cabin and called it a nite.

[Crusin Karen]

Great start! We are sailing on Miracle in Feb. for the 4th time! Haven't been on her since she was in drydock, tho so it will be a bit different. Can't believe you made it from Maine in less than 6 hours! nkwoman, no biggie, but RCI cruises out of Bayonne, not Newark.

[Jimmy Geegitz]

Woke up to fantastic weather on our first sea day. We headed to Horatios to the Omelet station and other breakfast items and brought our breakfast back to our balcony and ate there. Contrary to rumors they do still have trays in the buffet. Not sure how that rumor got started but it is false. We headed to the Atrium after breakfast to play in the Bean bag tourney. Didn't win but was a blast. After that headed to the top deck where the mini golf course is to walk around on the running track. It was great up there. The basketball court is up there too. Walked the track every day. Great views and just a great atmosphere.

[Chrislynn55]

We're boarding on Friday and enjoying reading about your cruise on the Miracle:) Did you do the Chef's Table? We're confirmed for this on our sailing but have never done it before. Also, what time was the muster drill....our roll call is doing a meet & greet after the drill, but we have early dinner seating and I'm just wondering about the time frame.

 

Kathy

[Jimmy Geegitz]

We did not do the chefs table. And muster drill was at 3pm.