It’s a MIRACLE! Pirate’s Review of the 11/3/18-11/11/18 Sailing

[pirate4me2]

Ah, it’s a sea day. A time to sleep in and be lazy. I love it!

I woke up at 8:15 and Chris and I headed for Sea Day Brunch at 8:45. There was no wait at all and we ended up with a table for two. I love the Sea Day Brunch, it has a lot of yummy options. Today I opted for an omlet with spinach, mushrooms, onions and cheddar with a side of chicken sausage and grilled tomato. To top it all off, I ordered a Mai Tai, which I have never tried before. The omlet and chicken sausage were both really good, but the grilled tomato was pretty nasty….very soggy. Now the Mai Tai was the highlight of the meal, I think I have found a new favorite drink! Chris got the Caesar salad with chicken and said it was good. The service seemed kind of slow, we didn’t get out of brunch until 10:00. 

[pirate4me2]

Since the Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle was at 10:0o we raced to get to it on time. No worries, the doors to the Piano Bar were not even open yet, everyone was waiting in the chairs outside. I think it was about 10:10 or so before an employee finally came and opened the Piano Bar up, and I was kind of surprised that NOBODY from Carnival attended the mingle. There were pastries, water, juice and coffee set out for us on the bar, and I would say it was well attended with maybe 15-20 people. We met another couple who we planned to share a cab ride with to Mr. Sanchos the next day, and around 10:45we all dispersed to do our thing.

Chris and I opted to walk the shops for a bit, but I didn’t find anything to purchase so I headed back to the balcony to read my book for a bit. I honestly hung out there all afternoon, other than to run up to Lido to grab some chicken tenders for lunch! It was nice to just sit and read and not feel guilty for ignoring house chores.

Tonight Chris really surprised me. He knows that the first elegant night is my least favorite menu all cruise long…I can’t stand prime rib, and I have tried the lobster they serve onboard and it is just blah to me. I can deal with the spaghetti carbonara, but I honestly would rather just skip the MDR this night, and in the past with my mom I have and I have really enjoyed “slumming” it and seeing everyone else dress up. Tonight he actually said he was willing to go eat on Lido, and we could just hang out in the Serenity area since it would be less crowded during dinner. Hooray!!!I was so happy. We headed up to Serenity at about 6:30 and ordered some drinks from the bar. I got the special of the day, the Ocean Blue, which was pretty dang tasty. Chris ordered a Mango Swirl, and he said it was OK but not his favorite. We sat at the bar and talked with another couple who actually live in a neighboring town…it’s crazy how small this world is, isn’t it? You never know who you will meet on a cruise ship!

When they headed to get ready for dinner we went and got in the pool, but we didn’t stay too long as there was something icky in the water. We decided that was our signal to go get our sandwiches from the deli. I asked if they could make the tomato and mozzarella with bacon, and the guy making the sandwiches said no problem. Mmmmmmm, it was so good, but it was missing something….I don’t think he put the balsalmic on it. Oh well, I still enjoyed every single bite! For dessert I got the coconut crème pie from the Sweet Spot, and it was AMAZING. Chris tried it and he even went and got himself a slice. For me, it beat any dessert that would have been on the MDR menu that night.

We finished dinner and went to the 8:30 PG comedy show with Ron Jossol. He was funny, and we enjoyed ourselves. When we left there we decided it was time for some pizza, so we headed to the Pizza Pirate. Isn’t it amazing how bad you can eat while on a cruise? Dang that 24 hour pizza! I got half a mushroom one, and it was delicious. However, I felt guilty after eating it so we walked around the ship some more to burn off some of the calories. Haha.

We decided to head back to the room around 10:00and I packed up our beach bag for the next day, showered, and went to set our wake up call. However, the wake up call system on the phones was not working, so Guest Services took our cabin number and the time we wanted to wake up and said they would call us the next morning. I sure hope they would remember!! I went to bed and dreamed of the delicious drinks we would consume tomorrow, the sun, and the fun that awaited us.

[pirate4me2]

Yay, it’s our first port day!!!

Luckily Guest Services remembered our wake up call request, and one of their representatives called us at 6:45 sharp. We got dressed and headed up to Lido for some grub to tide us over until Mr Sanchos started serving food, and I have to admit….I REALLY missed my Blue Iguana breakfast burritos!!!  I got a chocolate muffin (Chris loves them, I say it was OK), hashbrowns (they were soggy) and the scrambled “eggs” (bleck!) and I doused everything but the muffin in hot sauce to make it edible. I figured I could eat a few bites and it would shut my stomach up and help with the drinks I would be consuming shortly.

[pirate4me2]

We met the other couple from CC in the atrium at 8:00 to share a cab ride over to Mr Sanchos. A cab for 4 people is $17, so sharing it made it $10 per couple. Every little bit saved helps, right? Ok fine, maybe I am a cheap-o, but whatever. We had a good driver, and the roads were not very busy. He got us there nice and quick, and we were some of the very first people to check in for the day.

 

Our waiter today was Julio, who Chris and I have had before. He informed us that it was going to be a slow day and that they were only expecting 150-175 people. We snagged a front row set of loungers, a table, and Julio even let us have a cabana! We settled in and he took our drink orders.

 

I don’t remember the order of the drinks, and some of the ones pictured were Chris’s that I don’t know the name of. I know that I had a Blue Lagoon (yum), Blue Sky (good), Long Island Ice Tea (good), Sex on the Beach (my favorite) and a Sex on the Swim (good). Julio started to learn what we liked and if we were not quite sure what we wanted he would bring us a surprise. The only surprise that we all didn’t like was the Mr. Sancho’s special, which was a tamarind Margarita. Yuck! He kept the drinks coming and we never went without.

 

Once we decided to get some food I couldn’t decide between the buffet or the menu, so I sampled from both. I made nachos from the buffet (yum, I love their salsa!) and got shrimp tacos, chips and guacamole from the menu. The tacos were good once I dressed them up with the guac. At the end of the day, when I REALLY needed something to help offset those drinks, I got a cheeseburger, and it was decent. To our CC friends we shared a cab with, I am sorry that you had to witness me at my worst, I know I overindulged on the drinks and became a sloppy drunk. But hey, what happens in Mexico stays in Mexico, right?

 

When the day was winding down we reluctantly made our way back to the taxi stand and headed back to the port. I got the vanilla my Grandma wanted from one of the shops, and we were walking back up the pier to the Miracle at 4:15. Back onboard was 4:30, so I say we made the most of our time in port today!

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

 I went back to the cabin to sober up some and we decided at 7:00 to go to the MDR for dinner. I forget who our server was tonight, but I remember the service was great and we shared a table with another couple. I ordered both the spring rolls and the Caesar salad as my appetizers, and both were absolutely perfect. The crisp Portobello mushrooms as the main course were delicious, but dessert was a letdown. I got the chocolate tres leche, and I found it to be disgusting. Oh well, I had enough sugar in all those drinks today, so maybe that was my sign.

After dinner we hit the Punchliner Comedy Club for the 9:30 show with Ron Jossel. Another couple that we had seen around the ship ordered us a drink (oh my, we don’t need anymore alcohol!) and I tried the Punchliner. It is really good!! Either that, or I was too far gone by this point to really taste anything. Hahaha.

We finally called it a day at 10:15 and headed back to the cabin. Thank goodness tomorrow we were in Belize, and I don’t care for that port so we were staying onboard. I could sleep in and hopefully not be in too bad a shape!

[pirate4me2]

Ok that’s it for me tonight, I will post at least Belize and Roatan tomorrow. Goodnight! 

[zencruisers]

Great pics and commentary.

[deedle7544]

Love it, Thank you!

[pirate4me2]

7 hours ago, zencruisers said:

Great pics and commentary.

Thank you! More coming tonight. 

 

7 hours ago, deedle7544 said:

Love it, Thank you!

Thank you for following along!

[snakehunter]

Amazing review! I am soooooo ready!

 

[LUVMYGSDOG]

Loving your review and pics!  Thanks for taking the time to write it!

 

 

Kim

[pirate4me2]

2 hours ago, snakehunter said:

Amazing review! I am soooooo ready!

 

Thanks for reading!

 

1 hour ago, LUVMYGSDOG said:

Loving your review and pics!  Thanks for taking the time to write it!

 

 

Kim

Thank you for following along!

[pirate4me2]

Ah, another relaxing “sea” day. Ok it’s not really a sea day, we are in Belize, but Chris and I treat Belize as a sea day. We stay onboard and enjoy the mostly empty ship and doing activities that would normally be crowded.

We got up at 8:00 and saw that Carnival Glory was in port with us today. We decided to do to the MDR for the port day breakfast since there wasn’t much on Lido that appealed to me. We got there at about 9:00 and ended up sharing a table with an older couple who were very pleasant. I ordered the broken egg sandwich, which was really, really good other than the bread being super tough. I guess it needs to be kind of tough to stay together with the egg and all, but this was pretty hard to chew bites off. I probably looked like an uncivilized beast trying to eat it. I also got a side of chicken sausage and hashbrowns to go with it, and the sausage was yummy and the hashbrowns perfectly crispy and warm. Breakfast today gets an A! 

[pirate4me2]

Once we were finished eating we headed to the cabin and changed into our swimsuits. We went up to the Serenity deck, and it was not crowded at all. There were lots of loungers, a hammock, and tons of chairs in the shade available. We threw our items in 2 chairs in the shade and got into the hot tub, which was WARM. It was almost too warm, so we got out and slipped into the pool, which only had 1 other person in it. As time trickled past a few more people got in, but it never got crowded. I headed to the bar and ordered us some drinks. I had been eyeing the coconut martini, which was such a let-down…it hardly tasted of coconut at all. Chris wanted a Kiss on the Lips, and he said it was good. We hung in the Serenity area until about 11:45, then headed to grab some grub. I was a fat kid and got not only my chicken tenders, but also a burger. Today they served the burger with all the toppings on it…lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. YAY! Both were yummy.

[pirate4me2]

Some random shots from around the ship as we walked after lunch. 

[pirate4me2]

At 2:30 we decided to go check out what “Majority Rules” was in the Fountainhead Café. It was a trivia where you have to write down the answer that you think most of the crowd will write down. Guess who won themselves a 24k plastic piece of gold ship on a stick, and a deck of playing cards? Yeah!!!!

Since we were right next to the Red Frog Pub we decided to swing in for happy hour, which was from 2:30 to 4:30. They also had karokee going on, so we had entertainment while we got drinks. The pitchers of drinks were only $9.98 each, so Chris and I each got a pitcher, which they brought out with straws directly in them. I felt so high class drinking right outta the pitcher! I got the Painkiller, which was delicious, and he got the Rum Jumper, which is also really good. We hung out until 4:30, and then we each got a pitcher to go. We figured hey, we can stick these in our mini fridge in the room for when we want a drink but don’t want to head to the bar.  I got the Cruiser, which was STRONG, and Chris got another Rum Jumper. The bartender brought them to us and told us they were still warm from the machine and he had no put ice in them so that they wouldn’t water down. He also had not put any fruit garnishes in them, but he gave us a cup of cherries as well.

[pirate4me2]

We hung out on the balcony and in the cabin until we got hungry around 6:30. We headed to the MDR and were lucky enough to score a table for two in “Wii Wii’s” section. SHE IS AWESOME. I think she said she has 5 more months on her contract, so if you go on the Miracle anytime soon and have Your Time Dining, ask for her. She has a great sense of humor and had me and Chris cracking up. For dinner, I decided to try the Flap Jack appetizer from the port of call menu (I do not recommend, it was just crispy fried dough….meh), and I got my usual Caesar salad. I got the salmon cakes as my main dish, and those as always were fantastic. Yum yum. I also got a side of cream spinach, which was great, and some mac and cheese, which I won’t order again. It was nothing like the amazing mac and cheese in the steakhouse that first night. Dessert was the s’mores parfait, which was rich and delicious.

[pirate4me2]

Our dinner was over at about 8:00, and we were stuffed so we wandered the ship to see what was happening. We walked Gatsby’s Garden, the area that goes around the front of the ship behind the theater. We headed into the Piano Bar around 9:00to check out the piano player, who was OK, but we didn’t stick around. We ended up in the Phantom Theater for the Love & Marriage Show at 9:30, which was a hoot as always. When it ended at 10:20 we decided to call it a day and headed back to the cabin.

Overall, we had a successful day of relaxation. Tomorrow, it’s Roatan day!

Edited November 16, 2018 by pirate4me2

[pirate4me2]

Here’s a pic of the Red Frog Pub mixed drink memu, as well as the towel animals that decorate the towel station on the Serenity Deck. I forgot to add these in to the review in their correct segments. 

[pirate4me2]

Today is my “cheap” day, the day I had no excursions planned for us in port. We are in Mahagony Bay, Roatan, and we had heard that there was a free beach right at the port we could walk to. In the past we have done snorkeling with Jolly Rogers (highly recommend) and gone to Maya Key (also a nice way to spend the day), but I was trying to keep us somewhat on a budget this cruise.

We woke up at 8, and since we didn’t need to meet an excursion at a certain time we decided to take our time and eat breakfast in the MDR. We got in there about 9, and there was no wait. Big surprise, most everyone else was off the ship! I asked for the cheddar broccoli scramble without the biscuit (they are always hard and dry) and avocado toast (I’ve tried it twice in the past with no luck, but I was hoping the third time would be the charm) and our dishes came out very quickly. The broccoli scramble was delicious, as always, and the avocado toast surprised me this time. The bread was finally soft, except at the edges, so I was able to cut it apart and eat it in a civilized fashion. I decided that while it was good, I will probably stick with my eggs benedict or broccoli scramble in the future.

[pirate4me2]

We finished breakfast and headed right down to the gangway, and we were off the ship by 10:00. We wandered the shops in the port area, got our passports stamped, then walked to the beach. It was a nice area with lots of free loungers, both in the shade and in the sun, and no vendors walking around harassing you. We ended up way down by the private cabanas in the shade, and after applying our sunscreen we hit the water. There were a few rocks here and there as you enter, but not bad (no need for water shoes) and the water was pretty clear….not as clear as Grand Turk, but still better than the beaches back home. We stayed in the water until 1:45, it was wonderful.

[pirate4me2]

[pirate4me2]

[pirate4me2]

[pirate4me2]

When our bellies began calling to us (you know we are slaves to the bellies, gotta feed them!) we re-boarded the Miracle and headed to the grill. The line was very short, and I got the usual chicken tenders. NomNomNom! We then headed back to the room to shower and read on the balcony, and enjoy those pitchers of drinks from the Red Frog Pub that were chilling in our mini fridge. I may or may not have drank all mine as I read my book, and we stayed in the cabin until dinnertime, which was about 6:45. Tonight was our second elegant night, which has a menu Chris and I both enjoy.

Tonight we had “Alex” and “Geranimo” as our wait team. They were awesome, very quick and efficient! Chris got a Fresh Italian, his favorite drink in the MDR, to start things off.  I got the stuffed mushrooms as my appetizer, and they were delicious. I actually think I like the MDR version better than the steakhouse’s! I also got my Caesar salad (yum), and I decided to be brave and try something new as my main course, the terraiki salmon. IT WAS AWESOME!!! I will be ordering that from now on, it was so good. To finish things off I ordered the chocolate melting cake, and someone check my temperature, I think I may be sick….it was good, but too rich. I NEVER say that! Maybe I am just getting old???

We decided to go check out the new comedians tonight, so at 8:30 we went to see Kim Harrison. She was really funny, I liked her, but the 9:45comedian, Billy D Washington, was a disappointment to both me and Chris. Oh well. We left early to hit the 10:15 showing of 88 Keys. It was OK, but I left that after 5 songs, it just isn’t my style.

Chris hung out for a bit longer around the ship, but at 10:45 I called it a night. I’m not sure what he got into….I know he didn’t donate money to the casino, as that wasn’t on the final bill, and he didn’t get locked up in the ship’s jail, so if he did anything crazy he didn’t get caught. Tomorrow we would be in our final port, Grand Cayman, one of our favorites. I dreamed of that beautiful water, a yummy seafood lunch, and our CRAZY excursion that awaited us.