The Miraculous Miracle: a review with photos

[Lerin]

When we returned to the cabin that night, there was a photo of our whole group at the table, recipe for chocolate melting cake, personalized letter from the chef, and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries, a few truffles, 2 small pastry cakes and a donut. We hope to do chefs table at every cruise in the future. This is another spot where I have to thank you here at CC as I was not aware of Chefs tables existence except for reading about it here.

 

I think of the Lido as a Hometown Buffet, the MDR as a Red Lobster/Olive Garden/Applebes, the Steakhouse as almost Ruths Chris, and the Chefs Table as…I don’t know. Somewhere I can’t normally afford!

 

 

I think this was the strawberries we were sent, not sure as throughout the week we were sent 3 different plates of treats(more on that later) so this could be the wrong photo.

 

Edited February 15, 2014 by Lerin

[Lerin]

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Miracle. We were on her 4x. A year ago today was our last cruise on her. We were SO UPSET when CCL decided to send her out west. I am glad you are able to experience this great ship. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

You're very welcome. And I haven't even gotten to the good part. :cool:

[Crusin Karen]

Do you remember how much the Chef's Table was?

[Lerin]

Steakhouse:

 

We made the mistake of scheduling steakhouse the day after we did Chefs Table. It was a Downgrade, though still a great dinner.

 

One thing I did not know about Miracle is there is a glass staircase leading up to the steakhouse. It is very cool and a little trippy. If you are scared of heights I wouldn’t suggest walking them as you are on deck 10 and they look all the way down to the atrium floor. You can enter the Steakhouse via the outside doors on deck 10.

 

Looking up from the atrium to the glass stairs

 

 

Walking the steps

 

 

The food was good. I had surf and turf, my husband ordered chicken. We wanted Caesar salads with anchovies, which they said they would do in the traditional tableside manner. They did not; they brought us premade salads with no anchovies and did not offer Parmesan. They also did not refill our water and we ended up refilling our own wine. Can’t think of a restaurant ever where I’ve had to fill my own wine glass, even the cheapy diner down the road refills our wine.

 

The magician from Chefs Table was there doing tricks at several tables but did not come to ours. I’m not sure if this is because we’d seen him the previous night, but we were a little disappointed. He is really good.

We’ve eaten at Steakhouses on every cruise we’ve been on and this was our least favorite. Partly because it came after Chefs Table, but the service was also pretty poor.

 

This is allegedly the same roll as we were served in the terra cotta pots at Chef's Table. Not only not in a pot, but it is much smaller, didn't have garlic, and had certainly been baked quite a bit earlier.

 

Edited February 15, 2014 by Lerin

[Lerin]

Do you remember how much the Chef's Table was?

Not off the top of my head, though I'm sure someone here does. Possibly $75? It seemed somewhat steep at first, but it was well worth it. We got our money's worth and then some.

[Lerin]

Wine Tasting:

 

We’ve twice done wine tours in Napa as well as one in the Willamette valley so were excited to see a wine tasting in the Fun Times.

There were 5 wines, Only 1 we really liked. 3 of them we recognized as “bottom shelf” at Trader Joes. I know for a fact that one of them cost exactly $5.99. It was a rather pitiful inclusion for a wine tasting.

Also included was a plate of samples to go with the wine. One of the items was a Saltine cracker. A Saltine! At a wine tasting? We were also told to use our water to cleanse our palates between tastings. My goodness.

 

However it was fun and I think only $15. I would do it again mainly because we sat by some cool people and had good conversation.

 

My husband said it was the sorriest excuse for a tasting he’d ever witnessed and would not return.

Aside from the Saltine he was irritated that they did not even use half of the foods on the plate to go with the wines. There was an apple and a spoon of salt that he had to ask the sommelier what to do with.

 

If you know nothing about wine and want a quick pre-view this is a decent tasting. Or if you do know about wine but just want $15 worth of fun and conversation, this is also for you. If you are wanting to learn everything there is to know about wine or have very particular tastes, do not bother with the wine tasting.

 

The tasting plate

 

 

the wines

 

the set up

[Lerin]

Behind the Fun Tour:

 

Another A+++ “excursion” that I have to give another shout out to CC for making me aware of. No photos are allowed, but I assure you it is worth every penny.

We toured the galley, steakhouse, bridge, laundry, crew mess and a bunch of other areas. Got photos with the captain (who is leaving in a week, said the new captain is already on board) and also met with other upper level staff. Looking out the side of the bridge is awesome as you can see all the way to the back of the ship. Also there is a window in the floor so they can see the dock. Really wish they’d let us take photos of that. I know the laundry has been written about here so I’ll just echo everyone else: where can I get a sheet folder?!

They said each room steward has 27 cabins and does a full clean on 1 each day. So every 27 days each cabin gets a full cleaning including washing bed skirts. Also towels are on a 3 month “lifespan”.

Sidenote: the beach towels in our room had to have been brand new, they felt great, soft and fluffy.

They gave us a continental breakfast and juices as well as a lanyard, ball cap, backpack, a personalized letter, letter with “facts” about the ship, a plate of pastries delivered to our cabin, 3 photos, and a few other goodies.

Not sure I’d do it again as it is pretty much the same on each ship, however I highly recommend everyone do it once. It is worth the cost.

 

Pretty sure these were the treats sent to our room after

[Lerin]

Cabo:

 

Aside from the chaos of the first day, this was my least favorite day.

We had purchased the excursion “Salsa and Salsa” which was to depart the ship at about 9:45. The ship was in port from only 9-4. Early that am a note was delivered to our cabin that the excursion was being pushed back an hour and would depart about 10:30. We weren’t thrilled as we had wanted to spend some time exploring Cabo after the excursion, but were assured there would still be ample time.

 

This was a tender port and it was a mess.

Because we had an excursion we were to meet in the theater at a designated time and be escorted to the tender together. We arrived about 10:15 as we’d been told waited, and at 10:45 they walked us to a LONG line to go to the tender. We waited until past 11 when we were finally on the tender.

 

The people in line behind us had tender stickers number 14. I note this because the numbers went up to at least 28 and possibly higher.

By the time we got on the tender the ship had been in port 2 hours already.

 

When we were waiting in line to return a couple told us they had gotten off the ship after noon and people with tender numbers 28 were just being called! Noon! And you had to be back on the boat by 3:30. :eek: Terrible.

 

Interesting to note that a Princess ship and an NCL were in port too and not only were both anchored closer, but they were in port longer and had a larger number of tenders catering to them.

There was quite a bit of discussion in line and on the tenders about taking either of these lines for a next cruise. Honestly if it had been our first CCL cruise, we would be looking at NCL for our next one.

 

We have been to Cabo before on a Carnival ship and did not have this issue, so were baffled as to what the hold up was. People were very, VERY unhappy. FTTF could’ve come in handy here, but since we had an excursion we didn’t use it.

[Lerin]

So back to the excursion.

 

We were led to a bus and drove probably only about 3 miles. However due to construction and 1 way roads it took about 20 minutes. The area of Cabo where this excursion was held left a lot to be desired.

I had read some reviews of the excursion which were quite old. Those mentioned it being held at a beautiful resort on a beach with a pool. Not anymore. It was an old hacienda in a rather sketchy area a ways from the beach.

 

It was fun however, and we learned to make some really good salsas: spicy, traditional, mild, dessert, fruit, guacamole, as well as ice cream.

They freely poured margaritas, offered 2 shots and a few other drinks. My husband wasn’t drinking so they offered a non-alcoholic slushy thing to him. I had about 8 margaritas and wasn’t even tipsy, they were pretty watered down.

The first margarita they made right in front of us and very dramatically added TONS of tequila to, so it was strong. The others were made in a back room and tasted more like juice. There were also chips, quesadillas, and a few other appetizers.

After the food, we learned a few salsa dance moves which was cute, they sold some items and we took a group photo.

 

I'd recommend this excursion if A) you are on a different ship which spends more time in port or B) if you don't really care about exploring the port

 

It was a good excursion, we had fun and have already made some of the salsas at home.

 

Traditional salsa

 

 

some people doing a spice challenge

 

 

here we are having fun in the Hacienda

 

initial table set up

 

Edited February 15, 2014 by Lerin

[Lerin]

Luckily we’ve been to Cabo 3 times before so it wasn’t quite as big a deal to us that the excursion ended about 2:30 and we had only 1 hour to get back to the tender line.

Other people weren’t so happy as there was no time to explore the beach or shops.

We went down to the tender at 3:20 and really shouldn’t have. The line was outrageous!

We finally stepped foot back on the Miracle at exactly 4:41!

So much for leaving at 4. I’m not sure what time we did leave or how late people were tendering back, but 1 thing is for sure, no one possibly could’ve missed the boat!

 

Another note on the tenders. We took a different CCL cruise to Cabo a few years back and tenders were plenty. I even have a photo of myself on a large catamaran which held over 100, possibly 200.

We had tender #s in the upper teens, were off the ship in about 45 minutes and had tons of time to spend in Cabo. Don't recall there being an issue getting back on as we returned only about 15 minutes early as well. There were 2 ships in port that day; a larger CCL ship and possibly a Disney. The CCL ship was anchored closer that time. I have no idea what was going on this time. If this had been our first Carnival cruise, this may have convinced us never to return.

 

Everyone in the line also did note that the Princess ship and NCL were both using Cabo tenders as well as their own. CCL was using only the 40ish person Cabo tenders, and not many of those. It was frustrating to watch the other ships tenders go back in forth carrying only 5 people, while we stood in line for 45 minutes.

Though as seemed to be the trend throughout the entire cruise, people were in good spirits and took it in stride. We all joked that CCL's port fee check had bounced which is why we all ended up being slowly ferried around like 3rd class citizens.

 

I'm hoping the tender chaos was a 1-time glitch and not the norm. If it is the norm, I can not recommend taking Miracle to Cabo. If you are on a cruise to see a port, the measly amount of time some people got was inexcusable.

[Lerin]

Next up: Puerto Vallarta

 

This was the highlight of our trip and remedied the Cabo chaos from the day prior. :cool:

 

Ugh, have to go to work, but can't wait to share this day with all of you. I think I have about 10 photos as well.

[Lerin]

Sorry, going backwards here. A last quick note about chef's table.

My computer is being all messed up and I posted the wrong photo earlier.

 

Her's some lasting impressions as well as the (blurry) menu. Sorry again for the I phone photos. I'll take my good camera next time.

 

Another thing to note is that we were in the galley right at 6pm when 1st dining was starting. We got to see all the waitstaff and others as they got dinners ready. You can tell how good a manager or company is by watching people when they think they aren’t being watched. The crew members we saw are a very happy bunch, they must be treated well by Carnival. They were all laughing, smiling and joking around while waiting for plates. We were there a good 45 minutes so I’m certain this wasn’t a show for our sake. Kudos to Carnival for taking care of your workers.

 

 

Edited February 16, 2014 by Lerin

[jchris1230]

We go on this ship on march 8th. Thank you for the extensive review

 

Sent from my HTC One using Forums mobile app

[Lerin]

Puerto Vallarta

 

My husband loves tequila and wanted to do a tour in PV, however we didn’t want to leave our son in camp that long.

About a week before we left I did a search here at CC and Google to find resorts with day passes. A random TA website led me to the Crowne Paradise Club. This was one of the highlights of our cruise and we will for sure go here next time we are in PV. It is the first hotel you see when you get off the ship. Currently it is under construction so it looks quite shabby in front, in fact we had to walk around trash and piles of dirt to get there. If you walk there your first thought will be, "Gross the cruise ship dropped me off in the ghetto. Quick, let's get a cab out of here before we get mugged."

We almost changed our minds to go to Now Amber or Krystal as those resorts also have great reviews.

 

 

I’m glad we took a chance and went in.

It was WONDERFUL. Beautiful grounds, lovely pools, all you can eat and drink(full bars), easy beach access with umbrellas and chairs, 4 restaurants and a buffet, adult pool, hot tub and swim up bar and a childrens’ waterpark, playground, strollers, life vests, beach toys and more. They also had a childcare center where they were showing movies and I saw kids coloring and playing with legos. It looked nice. This was the perfect place for a family because of the waterpark.

Now I know those of you without kids or who don't want to be near kids are thinking, "Yuck, I'll never go there." But also it would be perfect for those who want nothing to do with kids as the children are all at the waterpark and therefor the other 3 pools have few children in them. The design of the resort is in "wings" or sections, so it is very easy to not even notice the children's section if that is not your cup of tea.

1 pool, hot tub and swim up bar are adults only. Sorry I do not have photos of those, but did not notice a single child even in the area when I was there.

 

Infinity pool

 

 

main pool

 

 

Beach

 

 

facing the resort, you can see some of the construction

 

[Lerin]

We only ate at the grill(burgers, dogs, tempura stuff, pastas…) and buffet(which included a Mongolian Wok and pasta bar) because we were in beach clothes and had our child.

However the other restaurants looked to be similar to the MDR on the ship and one probably equal to the Steakhouse-it even had a dress code posted outside. Drinks were freely poured and they had every concoction you can think of. Unlike the Salsa Salsa, these drinks were not weak, and of course you could just order beer, wine or shots.

 

They also had special children’s mixed drinks. One was a frozen red and blue slushy with marshmallows on top. I think they called it the Papa Smurf. Looked awful to me, but seemed to be the drink of choice with the 5-12 year old crowd.

 

Oh I should mention when we first arrived they tried to talk us into attending a “presentation” and showing us around. A teeny bit pushy, and we had to say no several times, but it was worth it.

 

More photos:

Children day care

 

more beach-you could use any lounger and umbrella

 

outside dining(they had indoor as well) and car shaped strollers to use

 

Waterpark! which did have lifeguards

 

[Lerin]

More photos, because they are fun

 

Another side of the water park. I believe it had about 8 slides, 1 baby slide, a few spots with toys that sprayed water, a few fountains, as well as a swimming and wading area, a bucket that dumped water on your head and many inner tubes to be used.

 

One of two kids playgrounds

 

So the 3 of us spent the day here.

Had 3 meals each, 2-5 snacks, about a dozen drinks both alcoholic and non, played at the waterpark, swam, sat in the hot tub, used the Wi Fi, were given beach towels, used the playground and showers and beach and water toys all just a hop skip and a jump from the ship…

all for a grand total of….

ready for it….

$70!!!!

Total. Not each, but $70 total.

Remember I found a deal from an online TA site (I take back everything bad I ever said about TAs). It was 50% off, but honestly we even got more than the $140 it should’ve been.

We will be back.

Thank you Carnival for docking in PV for 12 hours. :D

[Lerin]

We go on this ship on march 8th. Thank you for the extensive review

 

Sent from my HTC One using Forums mobile app

No problem, you're going to have a great time. :cool:

[Zarabear]

Love reading the review so far! We were thinking of renting a room for the overnight at an all inclusive, but hadn't even thought of a day pass to one of them. Any tips on what to search to find the great deal at the Crown Paradise Club? (It looks fantastic and my son would love the water park!)

 

We leave next Saturday, and I really can't wait!

 

 

~Zara

[jchris1230]

Do you have to wait until you are on board to book the Behind the Fun Tour?

 

I would love to do chefs table but My husband won't eat most of whats on that menu............he is picky

[Lerin]

Love reading the review so far! We were thinking of renting a room for the overnight at an all inclusive, but hadn't even thought of a day pass to one of them. Any tips on what to search to find the great deal at the Crown Paradise Club? (It looks fantastic and my son would love the water park!)

 

We leave next Saturday, and I really can't wait!

 

 

~Zara

Sorry, we can't post TA websites here. I think I just did a Google search for "All inclusive day pass in PV" or something like that. You could always just contact the resort, they have a website and 1-800 number. Possibly if you agree to sit through their "presentation" they can give you a good deal.

Though we got a great bargain, we easily got over $300 worth of food, drinks and fun.

 

Good luck, you're going to have fun.

[Lerin]

Do you have to wait until you are on board to book the Behind the Fun Tour?

 

I would love to do chefs table but My husband won't eat most of whats on that menu............he is picky

Yes, we found out about the tour at the excursion desk. Sometimes it fills up, sometimes they add another, ours had I believe 10 people out of a capacity of 12. They made a few announcements throughout the cruise and in the Fun Times to get people to sign up. If you really want to do it, it's best to sign up as soon as you get on board just to be certain.

 

Before chefs table they sent us a form asking about allergies and stuff, but I'm not too sure how much they will alter the menu. There is no rule you must go with your spouse. There were 2 singles who participated in ours. It was no big deal, we were all seated around 1 large table. You won't regret it if you go without your husband.

[goduckies05]

I am enjoying this review as well. I was on the cruise at the same time... and I have to say the brand new singer Vinnie Hines was the highlight of my trip. That and trying to keep up with People 13 years younger staying up till 2-3 most every night. Also did cheers and saved about $150 by my calculation! I had so much fun , I just booked a 3 day cruise forum birthday in May to Ensenada. I am going to try out an inside cabin and see if I can handle it. If so, I will be able to cruise a bunch more!

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

[Lerin]

I am enjoying this review as well. I was on the cruise at the same time... and I have to say the brand new singer Vinnie Hines was the highlight of my trip. That and trying to keep up with People 13 years younger staying up till 2-3 most every night. Also did cheers and saved about $150 by my calculation! I had so much fun , I just booked a 3 day cruise forum birthday in May to Ensenada. I am going to try out an inside cabin and see if I can handle it. If so, I will be able to cruise a bunch more!

 

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Forums mobile app

Glad to hear you had a great cruise too.

Aside from eating we didn't get to enjoy too many of the evening activities, but heard good things about them.

We did do comedy a few times. Ironically we laughed more in the family show than the adult one.

We've done cabins of all shapes and sizes and enjoy them all. You'll do fine with your inside.

Have fun!

[Lerin]

MDR:

 

We only ate in the MDR twice (nights 2 and 6). And the first time we only ordered 1 course and drinks (which never arrived)

We had early dining and were seated in what we joked was the MDR Annex. It was sort of an alcove behind the rest of the MDR. We were seated in the very back corner at a table for 10.

The first time we went there were 2 elderly couples there, one Asian and the other Hispanic. Neither spoke any English. We all smiled at each other, but it was a little awkward.

They brought out the wrong food several times, never refilled our water and didn’t bring out our son’s food at all. He just ate off our plates because we didn’t want to bother the wait staff who didn’t seem to be aware that this “annex” area existed.

 

My blurry "annex" entryway photo

 

The second and last time we ate in the MDR the strangest thing happened. Those two couples, they suddenly spoke English! And a lot of it.

They all babbled away about their week, asked about our week and wondered where the heck we’d been eating dinner lol (Superbowl, Chef Table, Steakhouse, and PV).

They said the days we didn’t show up a different couple with a pre-schooler had been seated with them. Weird.

I’m pretty neutral about the MDR. What little food we actually received was good, though the overall ambience and service left much to be desired.

This time they gave my son a kid menu and we ordered him pasta. They brought out pasta from the adult menu which he would not touch.

 

This is not children's pasta:

 

 

The woman across the table from us had been given a bowl of rice for no apparent reason so gave it to our son. Both those couples had been given incorrect food and played musical dishes for awhile.

 

I had frog legs which were drowning in butter, salmon which was tasty and finally wcmc. I hated this on our last CCL cruise but decided to give it a try because of all the hype here at cc. It was much better than I remembered it. I’m not a wcmc cheerleader, but I would consider ordering it again.

My husband ordered the banana split off the kids meal. It was a banana split, not much to say about it.

Edited February 16, 2014 by Lerin

[Lerin]

Other dining

 

We had seaday brunch once and used our VIFP drink coupons, for some reason my son didn’t get a coupon but we thought maybe you had to be 18 and didn’t ask. The food was better than the buffet, but they brought us the wrong items and later just handed us another item that we hadn’t ordered, “because they had extra”. 2 days later a 3rd crumpled up drink coupon sheet appeared in our cabin for our son. It said it was only valid for the day printed on the coupon which was 2 days prior.

 

One highlight was the chocolate buffet held I think the last evening. We didn’t even know it was happening but while walking through the Lido on the way to somewhere we noticed a lot of people carrying plates of desserts. Aside from a dozen cakes, cookies and pies they also had a chocolate fountain. Our personal favorite was the chocolate sushi!

 

On another Carnival ship we had tried the pizza bar and hated it due to slow service and bland flavor, not so much the Miracle. We had many a midnight snack here. Not only was the pizza good, but the line always short and the service quick and friendly (same for the omlette bar which it was in the morning).

 

Oh yet another big thank you here to whomever said to bring candy toppings for the soft serve ice cream. We brought Mint M&Ms and gummy bears-YUM.