Miracle 9-18-05 review

[dsnygrl]

Hi, we just returned yeaterday from the Miracle. Thought I would put my 2 cents in. Please remember these are my opinions and I am sorry if you do not agree with them so please don't ruff me up. I will have to do this in between loads of laundry so it will be in segments. I also think way faster than I type so please forgive speeling and sentence errors. That said, here we go. :) Parking, I have always found the port of Tampa to be an easy port to come and go from. I was traveling with my SO, a 4 year old, an 11 year old and way too much luggage. We decided on valet parking at the terminal and it was well worth it to us. It was about 10 extra dollars plus tips than the regular parking but we would do it again. You pull up, unlaod your bags with their help and away the car goes. Everyone gets to walk in together and it was all good. They assured us that if we had forgotten something in the car, we could come out again and they would go get it for us. When we returned, We got our luggage, exited the terminal, gave our claim ticket to the person outside, walked across the street with our porter to the bottom level or the garage and by the time he got the luggage off the cart, our car was being backed up in front of us to be loaded. Off the boat and on the road in 10 minutes!!!!:) next.....

[dsnygrl]

Check in: I thought the check in process, while crazy busy, went just fine. Here is a note that I was told by our check in agent for anyone who is traveling with children and both parents are not going. I was traveling with my SO, my daughter from a previous marraige and our son. My SO has one last name and the children and I have another. This was a red flag for her to more carefully check the names on the childrens birth certificates. She said they are now cracking down on people traveling with children and in the future I would need proof that I was the sole guardian of the children, a death certificate of a deceased parent or a noterized letter from the other parent that it was ok to take the child out of the country.Then she went to get our sign and sail cards and could not find them. She looked through all the paperwork that was on the table bhind her and had no luck. We booked a guarnt. balcony and our documents came with cabin 8212. She then went over the to skippers club pile and out cards were in there. She said we were in the skippers club which I thought was for suites and up, which we did not have, but I was not going to argue. She then took us past the main line and into the skippers club waiting area to board. There was a large wedding party there also waiting to bard. They boarded them and got them settled on the boat and then boarded us. Total wait time about 15 minutes. We were on the boat by 12:15. More to come.....

[dsnygrl]

The ship: The ship is beautiful and clean. One day we saw an officer walking arund with one of the cleaning crew and he was running his hands over the tops of doorways and other high places checking for dust. It was impressive. I thought the ship was well done and well themed. Bacchus was a little much as has been said but it has to be taken as part of how it was themed. The phantom lounge was large and well done as well. I really enjoyed the Mad Hatters Ball, it was very nice. As for the Phantom Lounge here is a tip we did not figure out until the last night. If you are seated in the balcony, the metal part of the arm rest folds out and has a place to hold glasses. Also the lounge as well as Bacchus can get pretty chilly so you may want to bring a jacket or sweater. Our room was nice and clean as well. We were in a blacony cabin on the Pamorama deck. Our balcony had 2 chairs, one of which reclined and a small table. It was very nice to enjoy morning coffee out there. The beds were comfortable and the down added and cozy touch. There was plenty of closet and drawer space for the 4 of us as well. The bathroom was nice too and had glass shelves on both sides of the mirror to hold many items. Ther shower head was wonderful and the pressure was very good too. We had the room steward keeps the mini bar locked as to not let our children help themselves. Our steward was perfect. He was friendly and polite and did an excellent job.

[elaineb]

Keep it coming Disneygirl!!!:)

[dsnygrl]

Here is where I was dissapointed. I thought the food was fair and the service poor. I am not a picky eater and have been on many cruises. I love to eat out and try new things. While I thought the presentation was well done, the food lacked flavor. On a scale of 1-10 I would give it a 5 at best. There was really nothing that I could saw was great. The main courses lacked seasoning and the deserts lacked sugar. There were 2 nights where we chose not to even eat in the dinning room because nothing sounded interesting. This is the first cruise I have been on where we actually lost!!! weight. Our service was also poor which added to the whole bad experience. I have never ever been on a cruise where I had to ask for anything. It was always done and done in abondance. Here we had to ask for iced tea, which was so strong that it was darker than a soda in the glass. We even had to ask to get water glasses refilled. Our waiter had no personality and was cold. Our busboy was not any better. The second night we even went to complain which help service some from that point on. To say I get better service at a waffle house would be an understatement. Now upstairs in Horatio's the service was very good. There were most of the same items available at the Baccus and there was no hassle. Our wait staff was so bad, I do not even know their names. I did see other tables where the staff was much better so I have to say it was our team. I did not try the Pizza but heard it was good and I highly reccomend th garlic bread from the pizza place. There were days where it was the best thing to eat. It comes with the salad at the pizza place but if you ask them, they will make it alone. We did not eat at Nick and Noras for fear that if we spent 30 dollars each to eat there and it was bad, we would hurt someone.

[dsnygrl]

For the most part we thought the entertainment was pretty good. The orchastra was excellent, and so were the dancers. The shows were well coreographed and the sets were wonderful. The male and female singers were good. We really enjoyed the first show which was Generations. The ticket to ride show was well done from the dancing and singing but was a little far our in some place and I think with all the Beattles songs they could have used, some were not the best choices. The juggler was fair, He dropped more things in the first 10 minutes than I have ever seem dropped from all others I have ever seen. The 2 middle comics were good as well but the comic on the last night was horrible. People actually walked out he was so bad. Hardley anyone laughed at any of his jokes. He was so bad we did not even bother going to his late show. The girl they had singing on the last night was also good but I would have rather seen her sing in a club where there was dancing of other things going on since all she did was stand there and sing. It was a little slow for us. We missed the first show of the hypnosis but caught the adult show. We thought it was different. We had never seen it done before and I can not say I bought that they were really under but it was entertaining. Beware the first 7-8 minutes where he is putting them under, might also make you fall asleep. We were off the baot for many of the activitites during the day so I can not report on how well they were dome. The game shws were all lacking enthusiasim.

[dsnygrl]

For the most part they were very good. Anyone I meet was friendly and polite. I thought Lenny the cruise director was very good but the supporting entertainment staff lacked the power to really work up the passengers. They were kinda bland and some of the time even boring. The first night of the cruise the passengers are divided into color groups, red white and blue. Thoughout the cruise, teams receive points for participating or winning events. Every night at dinner, the points are tallied. This helps to get passengers to participate and join in as a team so I would say it works. All of the activities were done on time and the staff kept them moving but like I said, they did not always seem to be into it.

[iluvdoxies]

We were on the same cruise!

 

Sorry you had a not so good wait staff--we had a team like that once- no personality---but at keast they were efficient.

 

This time, we were at a table for 8 and our team was awesome!!!!

Christina and Ida--- they were both excellent--Efficient, funny and soo accomodating....best we've ever had--knew our names and preferances by the 2nd night. My husband likes this one type of bread they have- cant remember the name of it- but they didnt have any the 2nd night, so he told Ida he didnt want any bread if they didnt have "his" bread- So Ida said wait a few minutes and I will get you some--and it came fresh from the oven! Now that is service,

 

Havent done a review yet--but we had a great time.

[dsnygrl]

In Grand Cayman we choose to charter a boat with Red Baron for just the 4 of us. My son was too young to join the other tours plus he can be a pain in the hiney so we decided to spend a little more and do it this way. We were told that we would be met by a driver in front of one of the stores. He never showed. We called Captain Mike and he told us to just take a cab to the boat. The cab fare to the yacht club was 7.00 per person and the boat we booked for 275.00 for 3 hours. He took us out on the larger of his 2 boats. He was more than willing to go where ever we wanted. We wanted to see the stingrays so he took us there first. The water was very deep in the place he took us, I would say 15 feet. It was beautiful but really hard to tread water while holding a 4 year old. I heard from others on the boat that the tours they went on took them to a place where the water was about 5 feet. He got in the water with us and dove down and brought the rays up to us. We were able to take our time and we were the only people there. It was nice but hard with the little one. From there we went to the reef and snorkled around there. It was beautiful. My SO swallowed alot of water at the first stop and was not feeling well so we decided to just cruise around for about another hour and then head back in. I would do it again but this time I would request to take the kids to more shallow water. Costa Maya: We were kinda tired this day so we left the kids in camp, where they wanted to be anyway, and got off the boat to look around. It was much nicer than I thought. The water is beautiful and the little shopping area fun. Belize and Cozumel next....

[dsnygrl]

I always pictured Belize to be a poor country but I did expect more than we actually found when we arrived. To get into Belize the ship stops 4 miles out and you have to be tendered a long way in. The boats were nicer than those used for tendering in Grand Caymen. I expected more of a town but there is not really much there. We decided to do the Canopy Tour there and for saftey reasons since we had to go so far from the boat, we booked that through Carnival. It was a good thing we did since on the return trip, our bus blew a tire and they had to hold the last tender for us because we were late. The tour itself was wonderful. The staff was excellent. We rode on a nice air conditioned bus out there. There ride was bumpy as I had read in other posts but not that bad considering over half the trip in on dirt roads. The guide we had was great. She gave us a complete tour and was more than willing to tell us all about her country, both good and bad. The tour actually takes place inside a cave. The people that were running it were very professional and good at what they did. They took saftey very, very seriously and checked and double checked everything. They also were fun. At no time did any of us feel unsafe. There was my daughter at 11 who was the youngest and the oldest was I would guess in his 60's and everyone had a great time. There were even some women who were afraid of heights and they made it through just fine. They do provide drinks on a stop on the way there and after you are done but there is no food and you are gone for over 5 hours so bring a snack. We found the boxes of cereal available either through room service or on the breakfast buffet worked great.

[dsnygrl]

In Cozumel we choose to spend the afternoon at Chankanaab Park. My daughter and I booked the swim with the Sea Lions throught Cozumel insider.com. It included the half hour swim, entrance to the park and the Sea Lion show. The cost was 50.00. My SO paid 12.00 to get into the park and my son was 6.00. They got to sit and watch us do our swim and could take pictures. The swim itself was great. After a brief introduction and lesson on where not to touch the Sea Lion we jumped into the pool with her. There are only 6-8 people on this at a time so it is quiet. We each got to get a kiss and pose for pictures holding her in the water and then 2 by 2 we formed a bridge for her to leap over us. They have picture of you getting kissed and a dvd you can purchase of the whole thing at the end. It was very cool. As for the park itself, I was very impressed. It was beautiful and very clean. There was no one harrassing you to buy anything. The water was amazing. There is a shallow cove for little ones to play with no fear and it leads off the a place where you can snorkel. There are chairs to sit on and beach to lay on. Food and beverages are available to purchase as well. At the park you can rent all kinds of diveing and snorkel equiptment and do several different dolphin things. The dolphin swims were very crowed with people and took place in a cove in the ocean. There are other ares of the park to walk around and see iguanas in the trees and walking around. The cab ride from the pier to the park was 10.00 each way. It was also very safe feeling there. I would go again.

[dsnygrl]

I think this brings my review to an end. If I realize anything I might have left out, I will add it. I am on the computer all the time and will gladly try to answer any questions anyone might have. Again this was my view on it, others may see things differently. I loved the boat and just wished to food and the service would be better. I was happy to see Cozumel looking so much nicer tha it was when I was there 5 years ago. I can not say I was bothered by anyone there other than one or two hair braiders and people asking you to come in their store. I am glad I got to see Belize but can not say I will book a trip to visit there again. Grand Cayman is still rebuilding from the storm that hit there last year and they say that tourisim has suffered because of it but it is still a great place. As for Costa Maya, I am still not sure about that. It was like having a shore day but being able to get off and walk around for a little while. Thanks for reading.

[Indyjones]

Dsnygrl, thanks for the honest review. I was on the Miracle last January, and honestly, the food was also my only complaint. I thought it was okay, not great, but our waiters were pretty good outside the stupid dancing they do every night. Too bad you didn't do N and N though. I thought it was fantastic. Thanks again.:cool:

[Gator Bait]

We were on the same cruise, same deck, cabin 8182. No need for me to post a review. My review would just mirror yours. We did enjoy it so much that this morning we booked the Oct 29 Eastern Caribbean cruise. Now it's only 33 days till our next cruise! We have not finished unpacking from this one. Our PVP assures us that we will like the Glory as much as we liked the Miracle. Sure hope so.

[Bapadah]

Thank you so much for the review...I am going on Miracle Jan. 8th...can't wait!

[cluemeister]

Hey dsnygrl,

 

Loved your review. Some of my favorite lines, some because they're funny, others because I have kids:

 

"We had the room steward keeps the mini bar locked as to not let our children help themselves."

 

"My son was too young to join the other tours plus he can be a pain in the hiney"

 

"To say I get better service at a waffle house would be an understatement."

 

"We did not eat at Nick and Noras for fear that if we spent 30 dollars each to eat there and it was bad, we would hurt someone."

 

"The juggler was fair, He dropped more things in the first 10 minutes than I have ever seem dropped from all others I have ever seen."

 

"really hard to tread water while holding a 4 year old."

 

"My SO swallowed alot of water at the first stop and was not feeling well"

 

I truly laughed out loud reading your honest review. Very descriptive! Thanks again.

[mommyto2girls]

Dsnygrl,

loved your review we are leaving 11/6/05 on the Miracle and had already made the decision to not eat in the dining room at all. We just wanted to do things at our leisure and we go to so many "Black Tie Events" that we really don' t even care about the formal nights. After reading your review of the food now I am sure that we won't miss a thing.

[tmli]

Hey dsnygrl,

 

I was also on the cruise with you as you know...

 

My review of the food would also mirror yours....other cruises it would be hard to decide because so many things looked great...this time it was hard to choose because i really didn't like anything.

 

Our service was great though so that made it a little more tolerable.

 

My ds loved Percy Crews...he is still reciting his jokes (early show of course!) silly me bought the disc and he's been playing it non stop! The comedian on the last night was really bad!!!

 

We bought the video of the sealion swim, there were only 3 in total in our group. The dolphins was a neat experience but too crowded and not as good as I expected. I wouldn't do either again, but it was nice to do once.

 

Well I am on my last load of laundry...it is very hard to readjust to the real world...for the life of me I can't stop swaying!!

 

Tracey

[just4kixx]

Thanks for the reviews, and the subsequent feedback of fellow posters ;) . Can one of you very informed and personally experienced cruise critics tell me more about the sea lion swim? DS and I will be doing the royal dolphin swim, which he did before with DH & DD... but DD was skeeved by the fishies swimming around her legs, so she said "No" to a second solphin experience!

 

From reading your review, I get the feeling that maybe the sea lions are in a pool? Could you give me some more details of that? Were there fish swimming in the pool? :o

 

Thanks!

 

We'll be sailing the Miracle over Thanksgiving... good to not expect much in the way of food ahead of time, then there shouldn't be any disappointments... only (hopefully) a pleasant surprise or two! :)

Thanks again!

A~:)

[tmli]

It was in a pool and i didn't see any fish. My ds loved this...me? I would never do it again. But it was an experience that we will always remember.

[dsnygrl]

Tmli, It was great to get to meet you. We thought it was pretty funny that we had chatted here for so long and then at dinner we saw you were seated at a table with a girl that was in my daughters class. small world . As for the Sea Lion swim, I loved it and so did my 11 year old. There were 8 people in our group, that is the max. they allow. The dolphin groups were packed with people. If you have ever been to sea world or any other water animal park, the pool we are talking about is the pool of water that is in front of the stage that the animals perfom on. Their tank. You have on life jackets for your saftey but the water is only 5 feet deep. The day we were there the water in the ocean was choppy. The dolphin things take place in coves that are part of the ocean and we saw lots of people bobbing around out there. It is also rocky out there while the tank for the sea lions is poured concret. There are no fish swimming in it. With the small group it is more personable and although it is only 30 minutes long, compared to 1 hour for most of the dolphin ones, there is less prep time and more time in the water. We choose this over the dolphins because you can swim with the dolphins in many places, I have never seen a chance to swim with sea lions any where else. Each person gets to get a kiss and hold the sea lion for pictures and then you go 2 by 2 and the sea lion jumps over you. The cost on cozumel insider was 59.00 per person and includeds the swim, entrance to the park which is 12.00 and a ticket to watch the sea lion show which is 5.00. So if you were going to go to the park and watch the show anyway, the swim is only 42.00 more. I will be happy to answer any other questions you might have. I would do this again.

[dsnygrl]

Sorry for the horrible spelling, I really must learn to proof my work.

[Hebejeebe]

Dsnygrl,

loved your review we are leaving 11/6/05 on the Miracle and had already made the decision to not eat in the dining room at all. We just wanted to do things at our leisure and we go to so many "Black Tie Events" that we really don' t even care about the formal nights. After reading your review of the food now I am sure that we won't miss a thing.

 

I thought the food in the Miracle dining room was quite good. There were a few dishes that weren't that great but most of the entrees and appetizers were very good IMO. DW thought that the deserts were not as good as hoped for on the cruise. I agree. I found the deserts up in Horatios to be better.

 

If you eat up in Horatios for breakfast, lunch and dinner you may wind up getting bored. I highly recommend going to the Bacchus restaurant at least once (for variety if nothing else). You can check all the dinner menus in advance and pick one that seems the most interesting (non-formal night if you prefer). Enjoy whatever you decide.

[dsnygrl]

I did think of something that I wanted to add to this thread. We were told the cruise was full but yet I have to say it did not feel that way. Maybe this was just a quiet group on board but there were many nights in the early to late evenings (9-12) where you could walk around on board and not see any other people. There were nights the decks were totally empty. You could walk the halls many days and not see other passengers. It did not feel crowded at all. I only went out to the decks a few times during the days but there were still stacks of chairs not even put out yet. There are plenty of places to be alone if you choose to have quiet time.

[dsnygrl]

I thought of something else that amy be important for some people. I don't know if it was this cruise or just the way the ship was made but when you pass through a bar area or the casino, there is lots of somke from the smokers. Some nights just walking through, I ended up still smelling like smoke. There were also many people outside on the decks smoking. This seemed to be more of a problem on this boats then others I have been on in the past. It may have just been that there where a large number of smokers on board though but I just thought it might be important to some people to be aware.