Carnival Miracle Dry Dock 2022 - Radiance Takes Over

[CarnivalShips480]

Carnival swapped ships and canceled cruises later this year. Here is how it will be:

 

Carnival Miracle > Now to be in dry dock from in October and November

Carnival Radiance > All 3+4 day cruises (Long Beach) from October 17 to October 28 canceled

Carnival Miracle > November 3 + 8, 2022 canceled

 

Carnival Radiance > October 14, 2022 shortened to 2 day

 

Miracle's cruise from October 16 through November 14 moved to Radiance

 

This includes the 14 Day Hawaii

[CLTflyer1977]

This has me wondering what ship they will put in AUS? They updated Carnival AUS site to say that a new ship will be named soon and they will accommodate stateroom transfers the best they can. From Spirit to Miracle would be a seamless transfer.

 

No more Miracle itineraries from the west coast after early Oct either. 

 

Interesting development. 

 

[ObstructedView2]

The Miracle dry dock will certainly be a long one. 

October 16th 2022 to November 16th, 2022

 

 

✌

[tksauter]

Confused by something here.  Miracle is supposed to be in Dry Dock till November 16th, with Radiance taking over Miracle's sailings, but Radiance sailings have been cancelled till October 28th only.  Which ship takes over Radiance's current November sailings?

[goofy gopher]

Wondering if something is wrong with the Miracle since it being put in dry dock in October. I heard the ship lost all power last week. and there have been rumors the stabilizers not working properly?

[Itried4498]

Topic also being discussed here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2854607-carnival-just-cancelled-our-cruise/

[Itried4498]

1 hour ago, tksauter said:

Confused by something here.  Miracle is supposed to be in Dry Dock till November 16th, with Radiance taking over Miracle's sailings, but Radiance sailings have been cancelled till October 28th only.  Which ship takes over Radiance's current November sailings?

 

The Radiance is taking over only a few of the Miracle's itineraries - the rest are outright cancelled.  Per JH, the motivation was to cover the (Miracle's) 14-day Hawaii cruise, which takes place the second half of October.  I'm guessing poor bookings contributed to the timing -- October cruises were sub-$100 with the recent sale, and recent reviews have weekend Radiance sailings at 2/3 capacity (a few cruises were fuller, this holiday weekend is sold out) and weekday even less.  The Miracle is doing San Francisco now, but when it met up with our Panorama cruise in February at Cabo, we were told there were maybe a couple hundred people onboard (in comparison, there were 3300 people on the Panorama).  Ouch.

Edited May 25, 2022 by Itried4498

[csm5986142]

We were on Miracle the end of October and are booked again in June.  We didn't notice anything necessarily wrong with the ship, but she is looking old/outdated.  It seems like Oct/Nov are slow travel times and a good time for Miracle to get some upgrades and the new paint job.

[n6uqqq]

20 minutes ago, csm5986142 said:

We were on Miracle the end of October and are booked again in June.  We didn't notice anything necessarily wrong with the ship, but she is looking old/outdated.  It seems like Oct/Nov are slow travel times and a good time for Miracle to get some upgrades and the new paint job.

And then likely sent to Australia! 

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, goofy gopher said:

Wondering if something is wrong with the Miracle since it being put in dry dock in October. I heard the ship lost all power last week. and there have been rumors the stabilizers not working properly?

You are  correct, Miracle has stabilization problems along with other  mechanical and refurbishing needs . We sailed to and back from Hawaii in Feb. and Mar.this year. In 2018 the Miracle went dead in the water for about an hour off the west coast on our way back from Alaska. The complete round trip was the roughest I have experienced in 18 years of cruising ( have had periods of rough seas in the Caribbean). 

[CarnivalShips480]

14 minutes ago, skrufy said:

You are  correct, Miracle has stabilization problems along with other  mechanical and refurbishing needs . We sailed to and back from Hawaii in Feb. and Mar.this year. In 2018 the Miracle went dead in the water for about an hour off the west coast on our way back from Alaska. The complete round trip was the roughest I have experienced in 18 years of cruising ( have had periods of rough seas in the Caribbean). 

Miracle just stopped moving? Did they say anything about it? (Captain)

[Itried4498]

22 minutes ago, skrufy said:

You are  correct, Miracle has stabilization problems along with other  mechanical and refurbishing needs . We sailed to and back from Hawaii in Feb. and Mar.this year. In 2018 the Miracle went dead in the water for about an hour off the west coast on our way back from Alaska. The complete round trip was the roughest I have experienced in 18 years of cruising ( have had periods of rough seas in the Caribbean). 

 

JH indicated its a general drydock that has been pushed forward, and has nothing to do with stabilization or any other mechanical issues.  I have absolutely no idea when the Miracle's scheduled dry dock was, but it's entirely feasible that bookings are projected to be slow this fall (as mentioned earlier, for last week's sale, cruises from Labor Day - mid-November were selling from less than $100 on the Radiance and Miracle) and Carnival opted to move the dry dock forward, thinking it could generate far more revenue during its scheduled dry drock.

[cruisingguy007]

1 hour ago, n6uqqq said:

And then likely sent to Australia! 

 

I doubt it, Australia will be a bust until the pre-flight testing to reenter the USA goes away. Not many are willing to risk getting stuck quarantining overseas. Those that are retired and buy a nice trip insurance policy that covers it maybe, everyone else not so much. Australian and European cruises are dirt cheap because so many don't want to deal with the hassle. 

 

Airfares are also sky high right now and through the end of the year. They don't mind flying empty planes and are guaranteed tax payer bailouts and don't have to worry about making money either, unlike the cruise lines.   

Edited May 25, 2022 by cruisingguy007

[n6uqqq]

2 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I doubt it, Australia will be a bust until the pre-flight testing to reenter the USA goes away. Not many are willing to risk getting stuck quarantining overseas. Those that are retired and have buy a nice trip insurance policy that covers it maybe, everyone else not so much. Australian and European cruises are dirt cheap because so many don't want to deal with the hassle.  

Carnival AU says new ship coming soon. Miracle gets pushed up dry dock. LA already has the Panorama and Radiance. Yes I am speculating, but the writing is on the wall.

[Itried4498]

39 minutes ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

I doubt it, Australia will be a bust until the pre-flight testing to reenter the USA goes away. Not many are willing to risk getting stuck quarantining overseas. Those that are retired and buy a nice trip insurance policy that covers it maybe, everyone else not so much. Australian and European cruises are dirt cheap because so many don't want to deal with the hassle. 

 

Airfares are also sky high right now and through the end of the year. They don't mind flying empty planes and are guaranteed tax payer bailouts and don't have to worry about making money either, unlike the cruise lines.   

 

The Carnival-branded Australia cruises are a budget option to P&O, targeted primarily at Australians, not Americans; the price of airfare is completely irrelevant (and subsidies to airlines ended awhile ago).  This is no different than how Carnival Corp. has operated Costa-branded cruises from Florida in the past... sure, there's going to be Europeans on the ship, but the target market (when the ship was in Florida) is US point of sale.

[Itried4498]

 

39 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

Carnival AU says new ship coming soon. Miracle gets pushed up dry dock. LA already has the Panorama and Radiance. Yes I am speculating, but the writing is on the wall.

 

Carnival has had 3-4 ships (seasonally) based out of Los Angeles (sometimes including San Diego) for years.  Granted, the Panorama and Radiance provide more capacity than probably all 4 of those ships combined, but Carnival would be relinquishing the Hawaii cruises, overnight Cabo, etc. that have been popular from LA.

 

 

[silvercrikhix]

They best leave Miracle in LA.
We just booked a Nov 2023 B2B in a 4th deck Vista Suite & connected Extended Aft Balcony. 
‘Hope they don’t muck that up. I’ll be quite PO’d if that happens. 

[trbarton]

2 hours ago, vacruizer said:

Next up is everyone’s favorite - the bars!!!  These folks are some of the hardest working people on the ship!  I’m a long time Alchemy fan and love craft cocktails and good bourbon. On the flip side, my husband doesn’t drink, but does like nice coffee, seltzer waters, juices, and milkshakes. After much debate on lugging bottles of wine and budget for cocktails, we finally opted for Cheers (using 10% off AARP gift cards to save a little).  We didn’t regret it. 
 

Our favorite spots were Alchemy, the atrium, and Red Frog. Great drinks and bartenders- Dusan and Zoltan in Alchemy, Elizabeth in Red Frog who has been with Carnival 26 years now, and Zofia in the Atrium were all great. And working their tails off. They couldn’t keep up. They would have one bartender when they needed two or three at peak times. And no waiters roaming to serve seating which hit the bar even harder with everyone walking up and impatiently wanting drinks. 
 

I saw one young bartender cry at one point. They all look exhausted. Outside the venues I mentioned, it was a sling drinks as fast as you can and the heck with quality..they didn’t have time. One told me he had worked a 17 hour day. Another said he was being asked to extend his contract and shorten vacation. Two more said last contract and they won’t be back. This staff shortage is killing them. They are tired and stressed. I actually poured out several pool bar drinks they were so bad - I was glad I had cheers. This was an packed cruise with lots of college graduation parties so the bars were slammed on top of being short staffed. Having been a bartender myself it was hard for me to watch them struggle so much. Dirty glasses piled up, Bars not wiped down, recipes not followed, wrong drinks served…many seemed defeated and were beyond caring about customer service. They were too busy to provide it even if they wanted to. 
 

 

One other note, I looked forward to the Havana bar and Latin snacks. Half the bar was closed for the cruise and they were out of many ingredients for the menu drinks. Snacks are no longer served there. You could see where they once had live music there but no more. It was a little sad to see such a beautiful space not being used.  They were also not serving coffee in the mornings and later often didn’t know how to make the Cuban coffees there. The main deck 5 coffee bar was great, though. 
 

We still had a great time with drinks and fun, but felt really bad for the struggling staff with nowhere near enough people. 

What is the AARP gift cards?

 

Tom😀

[skrufy]

9 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

 

JH indicated its a general drydock that has been pushed forward, and has nothing to do with stabilization or any other mechanical issues.  I have absolutely no idea when the Miracle's scheduled dry dock was, but it's entirely feasible that bookings are projected to be slow this fall (as mentioned earlier, for last week's sale, cruises from Labor Day - mid-November were selling from less than $100 on the Radiance and Miracle) and Carnival opted to move the dry dock forward, thinking it could generate far more revenue during its scheduled dry drock.

Then tell me why tugs had to maneuver the Miracle into to and  out of Ensenada and into Long Beach. The ship has mechanical problems.

[pc_load_letter]

8 hours ago, Itried4498 said:

 

 

Carnival has had 3-4 ships (seasonally) based out of Los Angeles (sometimes including San Diego) for years.  Granted, the Panorama and Radiance provide more capacity than probably all 4 of those ships combined, but Carnival would be relinquishing the Hawaii cruises, overnight Cabo, etc. that have been popular from LA.

 

 

 

San Diego native here. Carnival has never had a ship here for any period of time, seasonal or otherwise. We were supposed to get Miracle for some summer cruises but then covid happened and that killed it.

 

Beyond that, the last Carnival ship to stop here was on accident because of engine problems.

 

But Long Beach always had Inspiration and Imagination. Then they had Splendor for Mexican riviera. I don't recall four ships ever being in LB.

Edited May 26, 2022 by pc_load_letter

[BlerkOne]

Some HI cruises used to go from San Diego, but it was always a ruse. Spirit would disembark passengers in San Diego, then head for Ensenada. Embarking passengers in San Diego would check in an then be bused to Ensenada to board the ship.

[Itried4498]

1 hour ago, pc_load_letter said:

 

San Diego native here. Carnival has never had a ship here for any period of time, seasonal or otherwise. We were supposed to get Miracle for some summer cruises but then covid happened and that killed it.

 

Beyond that, the last Carnival ship to stop here was on accident because of engine problems.

 

But Long Beach always had Inspiration and Imagination. Then they had Splendor for Mexican riviera. I don't recall four ships ever being in LB.

No, Spirit operated regularly from San Diego throughout the 2000s, and the Elation operated year-round from San Diego at one point.  Most of the trips were to Mexico; I can’t recall exactly which ship, but one of the Holiday-class ships performed the San Diego/Ensenada - Hawaii runs in the early 2000s, while Spirit did Mexico.  Here’s a news article discussing Carnival’s withdrawal from San Diego in the early 2010s - they made 27 calls the year before the withdrawal.

https://www.courant.com/sdut-san-diego-to-lose-yet-another-cruise-ship-2011jan13-htmlstory.html

 

Here’s a blog on the Elation’s year-round service:

https://carnival-news.com/2008/08/20/carnival-elation-to-shift-to-three-and-four-day-cruises-from-san-diego-beginning-in-february-2009/

 

And yes, there were four ships based at Long Beach seasonally at one point (early 2010s IIRC).   Two performed mostly 7-day runs to the Mexican Riviera, one performed the 3/4 day run to Ensenada currently operated by the Radiance and one performed a hodgepodge of itineraries as the Miracle does now (overnights at Cabo, some Hawaii, some extended Mexican Riviera, etc.).

Edited May 26, 2022 by Itried4498

[n6uqqq]

5 hours ago, silvercrikhix said:

They best leave Miracle in LA.
We just booked a Nov 2023 B2B in a 4th deck Vista Suite & connected Extended Aft Balcony. 
‘Hope they don’t muck that up. I’ll be quite PO’d if that happens. 

I have a back to back booked also two 5 day cruises Nov 2 and Nov7th. Miracle is one of my favorites but as I posted earlier I am quite suspicious she may be on the move Down Under. 

[oyme]

On 5/25/2022 at 11:57 AM, goofy gopher said:

Wondering if something is wrong with the Miracle since it being put in dry dock in October. I heard the ship lost all power last week. and there have been rumors the stabilizers not working properly?

That was my first thought, wish they'd just be more transparent. I did read through and see stabilization problems.

Edited May 26, 2022 by oyme
found info so one part no longer needed

[oyme]

21 hours ago, silvercrikhix said:

They best leave Miracle in LA.
We just booked a Nov 2023 B2B in a 4th deck Vista Suite & connected Extended Aft Balcony. 
‘Hope they don’t muck that up. I’ll be quite PO’d if that happens. 

We always get the turd ships in LA, though (IMO). Getting Panorama was a real shocker for me.

 

It's funny there's always so many mixed opinions on the ships a lot of people seem to love Miracle but I read one person on FB saying they want it scrapped along with Vista. Any reason someone would hate those 2 ships so passionately? LOL.

Edited May 26, 2022 by oyme
added my 2nd paragraph