Back from Miracle 11/07 - 11/14

[ParrotHeadFL]

Well, I'm back from a week on the Miracle (11/07 - 11/14). This was my and my wife's first cruise, so bear in mind as you read this that I have nothing else to compare it to. I did sail on the Mardi Gras back in '91 for a very short Senior Trip to the Bahamas, but for a variety of reasons that one doesn't count. For all intents and purposes, this was my first real cruise.

 

We drove down to Tampa, about a 4-hour trip from our home, on Saturday (11/06) just to give us plenty of cushion. We spent the night at the Marriott Courtyard in downtown Tampa. I had booked the room nearly a year ago for $89, and as our sailing date approached the rates kept going up--so I was glad to have booked early. The rooms were going for $150 per night when we checked in. Our room was decent, and had a balcony. It's very close to the Port of Tampa; maybe 1-2 miles, at the most. There are plenty of signs directing you to the port from the area of the hotel. The only negative was that the noises of the city (mostly sirens and loud car stereos) could be heard fairly clearly, even though we were up on like the 5th or 6th floor of the hotel. We walked around downtown Tampa, which was fairly deserted. There's some great old architecture there. The seedy side of town is very nearby, though, and the Domino's we went to for supper near the hotel had bulletproof glass protecting the employees.

 

Sunday morning we slept in a bit, grabbed a yummy buffet breakfast at the hotel, got our car from the valet (the hotel required you to use valet parking, and they charged something like $7 per night for it), and headed for the port. As I said, we had no problem finding it thanks to lots of signage. When you get whethere, security directs you where to go. There's a dropoff area where you unload your luggage, and you have the option of using valet parking. I chose to do this for the sake of convenience. Parking is $10 per day, so it was $70 for the week. If you use the valet service, you pay $10 more (total--not per day, obviously). For me, it was absolutely worth the extra $10 to not have to worry about getting my car to the garage, finding a free space, remembering where I parked, and getting the car again at the end of the trip.

 

Once you get in, you go through security with everyone. Eventually you end up in a big area where everyone waits to board. We made use of the Skipper's Club, which was a smallish area to the side of the main waiting area. There were seats, and two Carnival folks with laptops to sign you in and give you your S&S card. Everything happened smoothly for us, and we were allowed to board with the very first group. Unfortunately, I can't recall what time that was at--but the waiting was minimal for us.

 

We boarded, and entered the atrium area. This will sound weird, but at first it seemed small to me. I don't know what I was expecting, but I think the vision in my head didn't quite match reality. I think it looked bigger in pictures. As I got more familiar with the ship, though, the atrium started feeling bigger to me.

 

The ship... Well, my wife and I really couldn't have been more pleased. It was in excellent condition, and the decor was pleasant (albeit a bit over the top in places). Neither of us likes "tacky", and we didn't find the ship to be tacky at all. The ship was very clean, and was kept so all week long. Every time we turned around, someone was polishing, vacuuming, picking up trash, and so on. We have very high standards, and can honestly say we don't feel that Carnival could've done any better job keeping things looking "ship-shape." Kudos to Carnival!

 

Something else we were extremely pleased with was the lack of smoke. We had been very nervous about that going into the cruise; living in Florida, we've grown used to very restrictive smoking rules that allow us to avoid sucking in second-hand smoke. My wife has asthma, and personally I just hate the smell of smoke. Thankfully this turned out to be a non-issue. There was absolutely no smell of smoke in our cabin, to start with. Carnival has also limited smoking in the public areas; it's only allowed in the casino, Maguire's, Gotham, Sam's, the club/disco, and Frankie and Johnnie's (and of course only the starboard side of Lido). We avoided those places, and thus avoided most smoke. The smoke from the casino somewhat rolls out of it into other areas, but we just avoided that area of the ship altogether. We would go up to the next deck and walk over the casino to get where we were going. There was no smoking in the atrium, thank goodness. We were so pleased!

 

Anyhow... We chilled out on Lido for a while by the pool, as the rooms weren't to be ready until 1:30 (or was it 2:30? I can't remember). At the designated time, we headed to our stateroom--cabin 8268 (Panorama deck). It's a Cat 11 room--aft, port side, with a wraparound balcony. We loved it, loved it loved it! I can't imagine staying in anything less. The decor was fun (except for the ugly "Carnival orange" couch that all Carnival ships seem to have), and the room was spacious. I'll post pictures soon, although others have already done so. You walk in through a hallway, and come to the sitting room. It has the couch, a table, a desk, a phone, a fridge, and a TV and VCR. From the sitting area, you've got two walkways to the bedroom. One walkway takes you by the door to the balcony. The other walkway takes you through the dressing area, past the bathroom and closet, and then into the bedroom. You can close the doors that lead from the bedroom to the dressing area and the walkway that goes past the balcony into the sitting area, thus isolating the bedroom. You can also close a door between the sitting area and the dressing/bathroom/clost areas, thus isolating that region. The doors do a wonderful job of blocking sounds; my wife or I could easily watch TV in the sitting area while the other napped in the bedroom oblivious to the noise.

 

The bathroom was relatively roomy, with double sinks, a whirpool tub, an adjustable shower head (plenty high for me, and I'm 6'2"), plenty of storage space, and lots of freebies (toothpaste and the like). My wife and I enjoyed the whirlpool, and used it several times after finally figuring it out. You've got to have the tub VERY full--it's not enough just to have the water above the jets and the inktake.

 

The dressing area is roomy enough, with a number of drawers for storage, a big mirror with angles to show you three sides of yourself, and plenty of light. The walk-in closet is also spacious, with several shelves and plenty of room (and hangers) to hang stuff. We had brought four suitcases, two garment bags, and three carry-ons. We had more than enough space to store everything.

 

The bedroom had a bed (of course), plenty of mirrors, a marble ledge/backboard, a phone, a couple of nightstands with lamps and drawers, a safe, a dresser with 4 or 5 drawers, and a TV and VCR.

 

Of course, the very best thing about these cabins are the BALCONIES! We loved our wraparound balcony, and were the envy of many other cruisers (both on our ship and others). A number of people commented on/asked us about our cabin. The folks on the deck above could see down to it, and were amazed at the amount of space we had. They would call down to us to ask us about it! Kind of weird, but we got used to it. The balcony did have plenty of privacy, once we got a feel for what could be seen from above and beside us. The cabin next to us wasn't really an issue, because they would have to either look under or around the partition to see us (and looking around the partition isn't easy). We went up to deck 9 to see how much of our balcony below could be seen from up there, and it wasn't a lot. You could see the rail of our balcony, and the part of the balcony that's painted blue. But the wooden part couldn't be seen due to the overhang. Let me say that we enjoyed our privacy, and made use of it. :)

 

We found the cabin to be very quiet; we virtually never heard any sounds from the hallways or the cabins around us. We did hear the sounds of the chairs being set up on the deck above each morning, as others have mentioned. I plan to write Carnival and suggest that they train their staff to avoid dropping and dragging the chairs due to the noise. The motion of the ship wasn't a problem, but we did experience a fair amount of vibration from the engines or props. It was rather surprising, to be honest. But we got used to it, and I had no problem sleeping with it. I just imagined I was on an old "Magic Fingers" bed!

 

Folks have mentioned to us that we wouldn't be in the cabin much, but we found that we spent a fair amount of time in there. This was particularly true in the mornings; we would run up the steps one deck to Lido, grab a hearty breakfast from Horatio's, then bring it back to our cabin to eat it.

 

Okay... I've probably reached my size limit for a single post, so let me end this one here and start a new one to continue my rambling...

[Cruising89143]

Glad you had a good time. Those wrap around balonies are awesome. My sister and her family also returned today from the Miracle. She loved the ship. The only room that she did not care for was the dining room. She described it as a "brothel on steroids." I have to agree with her after seeing all of the photos.

[ParrotHeadFL]

All of our luggage was at our stateroom door when we got there, which was great. Also in the room were the chocolate-covered strawberries I had ordered to surprise my wife (she loves 'em). Based on tips I had read here, we went ahead down to the laundry room (which we had a bit of trouble finding) to start ironing everything. No sense waiting! We ironed a bit, then went back for the muster drill, then back and finished the rest. We had everything unpacked, all the clothes ironed, and our luggage stowed away in no time. Our cabin was nice, neat, and orderly--I always like to keep my hotel rooms like that!

 

We headed up top to watch the scenery as the ship set sail, and walked around the ship a bit to try to learn the lay of things. In a little while, it was time for supper in Bacchus. The first thing that surprised us was the looooong line to get in. We quickly learned not to bother waiting in the line, but to sit down in the lounge area and relax before the meal. We were seated in the Ariadne Room, which is like a small dining room off the lower level of the main dining room. Some may enjoy the "intimacy" there, but we were really disappointed. First, my wife and I were seated at a table by ourselves--something we had NOT requested. We had hoped to be at a table with a group of other folks. We were able to talk to the folks at the tables next to ours, but it wasn't the same. Also, we missed the activities in the main dining room. Dancing, the Conga line, etc. was all done in there and not in Ariadne. Plus, we couldn't hear the Maitre d' make announcements. It was two or three days before we found out what team we were on, because none of us in Ariadne could hear when they named the teams. Had we known all of this up front, we'd have asked to be moved right away. But it took a couple of nights for us to realize what a disadvantage there was to being in this area, and by that time I figured the odds of us being able to be relocated were slim to none. If you're looking for quiet, eat in Ariadne. If you want to be part of the action, don't sit in there.

 

Aside from those factors... We enjoyed the dining room. The eating experience took a bit longer than we anticipated; I don't think we ever got out before 9:30, and the first night it was nearly 10:30 (bearing in mind that our seating was at 8:15). The decor wasn't unpleasant, despite the Skittle light fixtures. The food was pretty good, and there was plenty of variety. And of course, plenty of quantity; we had no problem ordering double starters or entrees. Our two waiters were very friendly and accomodating. I wasn't impressed with the lobster on the first formal night, I must say. Also, I had thought that the two formal nights were going to be on the two sea days--but this wasn't the case. The first formal night was, but the second formal night ended up being on a port day. I had made reservations at Nick and Nora's for that night, not knowing. So we didn't eat in Bacchus that night, and we also skipped it and ate in Horatio's a couple of other nights.

 

As for Horatio's, we were pretty pleased with the food there. There was a good variety, and of course the 24x7 pizza. We got several breakfasts, lunches, and suppers from Horatio's. We also got ice cream several times; you can get ice cream any time, and sundaes from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. We did find that sometimes, during the more crowded times, it could be hard to find a place to sit. Also, in one of the breakfast lines the custom egg grill was at the beginning of the line. It would've made more sense to put it at the end, after the rest of the food. That way those of us who didn't want custom-built eggs wouldn't have to wait behind those who did before getting to the other food (and in fact, I generally just skipped those folks in line). But otherwise, we enjoyed Horatio's.

 

After supper, we headed to the Phantom to catch the show. I can't recall the details of all of the shows, and most of my Capers are still packed away. I believe comedian Guy Geech may have been on that night. He was okay, but nothing great. We had arrived at Phantom late due to supper taking so long, and had a tough time finding a seat in the dark. For all the other shows, we got there earlier and sat in the second row. I just like being close to the action. Plus, the dancers frequently sat down there to watch the shows (obviously excluding the shows they were in).

 

On the subject of shows... We enjoyed most of the entertainment in Phantom. The two big production numbers were good, as were the smaller acts. I expected a show with "traditional" Vegas-style costumes, but unless we missed it there wasn't one. Here's something kind of weird... For the Beatles tribute, a handful of seats on the first and second rows were marked as being reserved. On the way in, one of the dancers (the lovely Candy) asked my wife and me if we wanted to sit in the reserved seats. We accepted, but never could figure out what the point was--and neither could the other folks who were recruited to sit there. The Cruise Director gave us all champagne on the house, which was nice, and we got to sit with the ship's doctor and Candy. But does anyone have any idea what the point of the reserved seating was?

 

I'm worn out, so I'm calling it quits for now. I'll try to add more on Monday.

[robcool]

Thanks for the great review! Looking forward to more!

[btyko]

Thanks for the great review so far. I am looking forward to reading more. I will be in cabin 8268 on next week's cruise. I was in the same cabin on the Pride last year and loved it. Unfortunately, it was only a two-day cruise to nowhere, so we did not get to take full advantage.

[Runner Girl]

Thanks for the review!

[godallas]

Great Review ParrotHeadFL - Looking forward to hearing more - We are sailing on the same ship on the 12th of Dec (sorry to say we are not in Cat 11 or 12)

Again thanks for the review -

[erRN2be]

Ohhhh....I can't wait. We will be sailing on her on April 3-10th :) :) We are not in Cat 11 or 12, but I am sure that I will enjoy the ship all the same. It is so hard to wait. Although time should pass fairly quickly (at least for the next couple of months with all of the holidays and such).

 

Thanks for the review

 

Chelle

[AlwaysReady2Go]

Great review and let me say you have started with the best rooms (IMHO) on the ship. I had that room on the Spirit and loved it. We also went above and checked out what could and couldnt be seen - it is very private if you know how far you can go out - it was nice to come home tan line free! LOL - I had booked one of these rooms on the Miracle well in advance and then had to change weeks due to Feb school vacation being changed so the only way I could make myself feel better about loosing the huge balcony rooms was to book a cat 12 - I've been in those before and prefer the 11 in the rear nice how it is set up as two rooms really. Thank you again for the review - do you remember who the cruise director was?

[madelinerose]

Hi ParrotHead...

 

Interesting, because I found the atrium "small" at first, also. I think the virtual tour pics tend to fool the eye. I was expecting to say a huge "Wow" and that didn't happen.

 

Did you get lots of balcony sun even with the large overhang? We are thinking about booking 7298 on the Legend, but there's hardly any overhang on the Verandah deck and we don't want to "bake" in the sun.

 

When you were on your deck did you constantly have other pax hanging over to ask you questions?

 

Also, about the vibration....was it a 24/7 vibration or just when entering/exiting ports?

 

We were on the Miracle in October as first-timers and just loved it. Yes, I do agree with your "Skittles" comment - lol. We did, however, have a two-top on the 2nd level of Bacchus, against the railing, and the location was great - Table 397. We could see everything.

 

Thanks for your input and your review! ;)

[trudle]

What a great review ParrotHead, can't wait to get on the Miracle on 12/12. I am more excited now that you have told us about the ship.

[ParrotHeadFL]

do you remember who the cruise director was?

 

It was Mark Hawkins. I have no one to compare him to, but I enjoyed him. He was pretty funny to me, with a quick wit.

[ParrotHeadFL]

Did you get lots of balcony sun even with the large overhang?

 

We got a fair amount. It all depended on the direction of the ship and the time of day (plus, of course, the time of year). Because of the way the balcony wraps around the ship, you can almost always find a spot out of the sun if you're looking to avoid it.

 

When you were on your deck did you constantly have other pax hanging over to ask you questions?

 

No, it wasn't constant. Remember that the people above could only see us when we were standing and leaning on the rails; when we were sitting, we were pretty hidden. And if we were standing on the area on the side of the ship (since the balcony wraps around) instead of the back, the folks above couldn't see us at all.

 

Also, about the vibration....was it a 24/7 vibration or just when entering/exiting ports?

 

Unfortunately, it was pretty constant--so long as the engines were cranked up. If we were "parked" and everything turned off, there was no vibration. It seemed to be worse when the thrusters were being used.

 

We had to rearrange the glasses on the shelf (on the entranceway) to stop them from making so much noise. But I had no problem sleeping with the vibration.

[ParrotHeadFL]

Okay... Time to pick back up again!

 

First, a random thought about the cabin that hit me and I wanted to share... We loved the lighting! The room has three types of lights. First are flourescent lights that go all the way around the perimeter of the stateroom and can all be turned on with the push of one button. Second are small hallogen lights in every area. The cool thing about those is that you can adjust the level of the lighting with them from very bright to very dim by pushing and holding the buttons that control them. Thirdly, there were five lamps around the suite (two on tables in the sitting room, one on the desk in the sitting room, and two on the bedside tables on each side of the bed. Most of these lamps, which were cute and funky in design, also had little reading lights attached to them that could be turned on or off separately from the main lamps.

 

All of these options allowed us to have the room as dark or as bright as we wanted. The only negative was that there were light buttons all over the place, and we never did fully learn to remember which buttons went to which lights. There was lots of trial and error!

 

Oh, also there were flourescent lights on the balcony that could be turned on and off with a switch. Interestingly, our steward always turned off the balcony lights when turning down our covers at night.

 

While I'm thinking about it, some have asked about the air conditioning in the cabins. We found it to be adequate most of the time. You won't be able to get your cabin icy like a hotel room can generally get, but it was cool enough most times. We kept it on maximum cool pretty much the whole time. There's a button on the A/C control that we never really figured out. We didn't play with it until the end. When you push it, the red light on the A/C starts flashing and does so for a while. We think maybe this kicks the air into overdrive for a while for some maximum cooling. After a few minutes, the red light stops blinking and goes solid again.

 

And as for the TV system, which some have asked about... You've got a number of channels. There's the "FunVision" channel that lets you book excursions, rent movies, and check your folio. There's the channel that shows you where the ship is located, where you came from, where you're going, current time, current speed, and wind speed/direction. There are 3 channels showing continually-running movies, 1 of which was generally a kid-oriented movie. There were several local networks via satellite, including New York City's NBC channel 4 and a channel out of Tennessee. There was CNN and TNT, and I think an ESPN or two. Then there were quite a few channels showing various ship programs, like the Travelog and the shows/games. I found that on the movie channel, the movies didn't quite start when they were supposed to. For example, a movie that was supposed to start at 3:00 might start at 2:50 or 2:55. So if you're planning on catching a movie, you might want to tune in early.

 

Now... Where was I? I guess I'll talk about the ports.

 

First stop, Grand Cayman. I had been a bit concerned that forecast windy conditions would prevent us from tendering, but thankfully we had no problems (although the tenders clearly had a tough time gettin into position next to the ship). And here's something annoying... I went to the trouble of going to Mad Hatter's to get a tender number, but we never heard them call any numbers. We waited and waited, and then heard an announcement saying that anyone could board the tenders (no need for numbers). Annoying. Anyhow... The island is still pretty devastated from the hurricane, but they really need the tourists back--so don't feel guilty about visiting! There were just two other ships in port with us: the Disney Magic and the HAL Zaandam. We were going to Stingray City on the Bucaneer catamaran with Captain Bryan, having booked with Island Marketing (http://www.grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com). I had paid a deposit in advance (they don't allow you to pay the whole balance up front), and had brought exact change in cash for the balance and a printout of my confirmation and directions. Captain Bryan's "office" is a short distance from where the tenders drop you office, and can be easily found using the directions they provide you with. Just don't expect to find an actual office; the whole affair is a parking lot with some buses, a desk, and an awning. We signed in, but had quite a bit of time to kill before time to leave. We went to the bakery next door and got a drink, then looked around in the stores for a while. We tasted a few varieties of Tortuga Rum cakes (yummy!), then headed on back to Captain Bryan's.

 

The only other customers on our boat were a couple and their young son, so there were the five of us plus Captain Bryan and his first mate (Javid was his name, I think). We all loaded up in a bus and took a ride out to the channel where the boat was. We got on board the boat, and in no time were on our way to the sandbar. It was around a 30-minute trip. We had strong headwinds, so we couldn't use the sail on the way out. We got out there, and found a fair crowd of people. Another boat pulled up right next to us, and it was a little too close for comfort so we weighed anchor and relocated. Captain Bryan stayed on board, while Javid and the rest of us hit the water. We were required to wear life vests, even though the water was fairly shallow over the sandbar and I'm a decent swimmer. But this probably wasn't a bad idea, because seas were somewhat choppy and it could be tough getting to and from the ladder on the boat.

 

We got plenty of time in the water, and Javid taught us a lot about the rays and worked hard to make us feel comfortable--something that took some time. The rays can be fairly aggressive in snooping for food, so be prepared to have them all over you. It was great. Unfortunately, I managed to lose my waterproof camera. It had been in a pocket on my bathing suit, sealed shut with Velcro. But these cameras float, and it managed to work its way out of my pocket. Very disappointing! But life goes on.

 

After plenty of time playing with the stingrays, it was time to go back to the boat and do some snorkeling. We moved over a bit and dove for a while, then we went to a third spot and dove some more. The last spot was called the Coral Gardens, and was lovely. Finally, it was time to head back.

 

The ship has a head and a cash bar, and free water. One thing missing, though, was food. The excursion ran from 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM, which covers lunchtime. And I don't know about everyone else, but I get hungry when I'm out on the water. It would've been great if the excurion price had included some food, or if some had been available for purchase. By the time we got back to the "office", we really didn't have much time to eat; we had to be back on the ship by 3:30. This being our first stop on our first cruise, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get back on board. There was a long line in the hot sun to get on board the tender, but it moved fairly quickly. I noticed that HAL had its own tenders; I guess they're stored inside the ship? The line for Disney's tenders had awnings to keep passengers cool, and there was nearly no line. Kind of nice.

 

So that's it for GC. I definitely feel comfortable recommending Island Marketing / Captain Bryan to everyone. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

I'll continue my report in a while.

[ParrotHeadFL]

I've posted my digital pix here:

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/217758231qefkKY

 

 

These pictures are all take from our balcony or in our cabin, which is the only place where I used my digital camera. The rest of the pix we took (like at ports) were with regular disposable cameras and haven't been developed yet.

[sunvalley cruisers]

Those are some of the best cabin pictures I've seen yet. Hmm...looks like very little privacy from above on that wonderful deck though. But wow! The view to behold is awesome!

 

Looking forward to more reviews on the ports of call...my time to depart is coming close!

[jetsetter]

Parrothead-amazing pictures..thanks, I really enjoyed them. we leave this weekend. cant wait

[btyko]

Fantastic pictures, Parrothead. I can't wait to be in that cabin in only 6 days.

[ParrotHeadFL]

Those are some of the best cabin pictures I've seen yet.

 

Thanks. Prior to the cruise' date=' I had had a tough time finding lots of pictures of the cabin (although I did find a few). So my goal was to take pictures from every angle to give a view of the whole suite.

 

Hmm...looks like very little privacy from above on that wonderful deck though.

 

No, it's really not that bad. Take a look at this picture:

 

http://community.webshots.com/photo/217758231/217797246CCKXCX

 

See the painted blue area right under the handrail? That's all that can be seen from above (we went above and hung over the rail to look down and see). When you're on the wood part, you can't be seen from Lido.

[cruiserlisa]

Thank you for sharing your pics. They were awesome. Nice suite too.

 

Lisa

[jpennin217]

We will be on the Miracle on December 5th. Can you tell me what night the second formal night is? Thanks alot.

[sunvalley cruisers]

Wow! If that's all you can see from leaning over, it's awesome! I only wish I had this cabin booked now....oh well, one more excuse to go on another cruise!

[cruisemates2]

The second formal night is Friday. Have a great cruise!

[k9hndler]

Outstanding pics my friend

My Family reunion cruise on Miracle January 9th seems a long time away but your review and Pics make it more exciting. Keep it coming Brother!

 

Mark

[slnsap]

Are there any CD players in the staterooms?

 

Thanks