Christmas Cruise 7 Day Carnival Miracle Dec 23-30,2017

Hallo! This will be my first review of a Carnival cruise on the boards. However, I have been to three shorter cruises before this one. My family only cruises from Long Beach as flying is not an option as of now (insert image of paper money with wings). No matter, hopefully by 2019, LB will have a different ship when the Splendor moves to a different port...(crossing fingers)

Anyhoo...We are a family of 4. DH is a Navy Veteran who at first doesn’t want to cruise but finally realizes that “at least I am not working this time”. We both work full time and tend focus on scheduling our vacations around school breaks because of DS (12) who is in middle school and DD (3) who will be just starting preschool.

We picked a Christmas cruise because we just want to do something different. I just want to get away warm and sunny and I love beaches and anywehere tropical.

Embarkation Day

We arrived and parked in the structure at about 11:30.There weren’t as many people going in but at around 1130am, the previous cruisers were just leaving the terminal. we managed to snag a parking space at the first level. Score!

There are already a lot of people checking in at the counters. Since we got FTTF, our check in line is shorter. After about five minutes of fiddling with our carry-on, they called in the priority groups and faster to the fun.

My son and I started running towards the guest services because I wanted to buy 2 tickets for the Behind the Fun tour. They told me that because the ship is not in open water, they can’t process my order. So they let me list my cabin number and number of tickets I needed as reservation and came back later the evening so I can charge it on my sign and sail card.

After leaving our carry-on, stroller, and soda drinks in our cabin, we went to the Lido deck for lunch. The lido deck crew were giving out free champagne as a welcome drink. It’s Christmas after all! (I had 5).If I remember correctly it wasn’t very crowded at the buffet area at about 12:30. It became crowded about an hour later when most of the passengers are getting on and trying to eat lunch.

After lunch, we signed up the kids for Camp Ocean and in Circle C. Then we went on tour of the ship. I find the ship very nice and it’s not as pink as I thought. Although I heard that the ship was basically full, it doesn’t feel very crowded. There were so many places to hang out without so many people that it was actually nice (except for peak mealtimes at the lido deck...which for me was a given)

Muster drill was a bit disorganized. I was used to the Inspiration’s drill where we got to sit in the theater beore going to the lifeboat deck. On the Miracle, we all were standing on the stairway. it was crowded and people were kind off enjoyed the free champagne so it was loud. after about 30 minutes Mr. drill is over and everyone goes out on their merry way.

Continuation:

Cabin

We went for an oceanview on Deck 3 midship as we prefer to look at the water and have some sunlight. We tried interior once, it was ok for a 3 day cruise but for 7 days in an interior, it will drive me and DH mad! The beauty of having an oceanview on the lower deck is we saw either flying fishes, a green turtle, a pod of dolphins and a whale during the early morning days at sea (around 7-ish).

It’s not crowded with the 4 of us. The sofa bed is good for DD. We just shoved the small coffee table and chair against the sofa bed so she won’t fall during the night. DS commandeered the pullman and takes the ladder with him to prevent his sister from following him. DD is 3 1/2 years old and nothing scares her. She adores her big brother so she WILL (and did) follow him up the ladder. What scares us that she will try to jump from the pullman to the king bed, missing the bed entirely and necessitate a visit to the medical ward or worse. We tried hiding the ladder at bedtime but she found it and she can carry it! So, the ladder is my son’s bed mate for the duration of our cruise. Peace of mind found!

The bathroom was ok. I didn’t think about going to gym and use the showers there as the other cruisers suggested. Maybe I’ll do that next time or have DH go to the gym showers instead.

Our cabin steward Beratha (my kids call him Mr B) is very attentive and called us by our names. he kept our ice bucket in cooler filled every morning. We opted for twice a day service because the kids were really really messy. He obliged and he seems always happy to do so.

to be continued

Dining

We had YTD and used it for most of the cruise. We liked our dining team so much on the first day that we decided to request their section at dinner time. Arlan, Christian and Jose were very prompt and accomodating. They know my kids eating habits and they made sure DD had her bread basket very first thing. (She loved the baguettes and eats the inside, leaving the thin outer crust whole. The next time, they made sure she had extras of the baguette-type bread).

DH and DS bring their sodas to dinner so once they knew it was us, we have the glasses with ice ready.

Probably on our next cruise, we’ll do early dining and request a table of four. We always eat early anyway and we don’t have to wait for our dining section and the dining team will be familiar with us and our eating habits to anticipate our needs.

Camp Ocean/Circle C

DD loves Camp Ocean. In fact eversince Carnival commercials show on TV more recently, she’s begging me “I wike to go on ship, pwease” or “Let’s go Camp Oshen”. She loves open activities where she gets to play with all the toys, not so much the arts and crafts ones. I’m grateful that we have an option on the cruise to leave our kids in capable hands for an hour or two after dinner so we can enjoy the late comedy shows.

During sign ups, the Camp Ocean counselor gave us a cellphone that we keep for the week. The Camp would be able to locate us if DD needs anything. Thank goodness the camp didn’t call us for anything. DD was happy and safe.

my son on the other hand like going to Circle C. he is more discerning of the activities that he wants to attend. he would study the activity schedule and know right away what he wants to attend. The rules that we told my son when we signed him up for Circle C:

1.Never go in a stranger’s cabin.

2. never let other people go in our cabin.

3. be respectful and no horse playing.

4. don’t do anything that will embarrass us on this trip.

5. call us after every activity in Circle C and let us know where you’re going or if you’re in the cabin.

That Camp Ocean phone is a heaven sent. We don’t allow DS to have a cellphone for now so we told him to call the cabin phone or cellphone if he needs to check in on us. There weren’t any problems making and receiving phone calls on that cellphone.

to be continued

Entertainment

I like the entertaining. We probably attended most production days except when we were too tired from the excursions. We managed to get good seats but that was because we make it a point to go to the shows 15 minutes before the start.

I think the most that we went to our the comedy shows. We went to both PG and 18+ shows. The first two entertainers and the first two days and then we skip a day and then they flew in two new entertainers to complete the weeklong cruising. I thought they were funny. DH thought the guy that does musical impressions wasn’t that funny. But it was an excuse for us to drink. Comedy Club = Alcohol, my favorite equation.

Ports of Call

Our ports of call are Cabo San Lucas (Christmas Day) Mazatlan (26th), and Puerto Vallarta (27th). Since this is our first time going to the Mexican Riviera, DH and I decided to do the touristy thing and find tours fron the operators at the pier.

For Cabo San Lucas, we took a glassbottom boat to Los Arcos for photo opportunities and feeding the fishes. I wanted to try Lover’s beach but DD is too small and the water current is a bit strong. We ended up at Medano beach instead. We asked the boat to pick us up after an hour. We could’ve stayed for longer but the water was on the cooler side despite the weather was about 84 degrees. We just picked a non crowded spot in front of one of the restaurants and sat on the beach towels to watch the kids.

Christmas Week Sailing

As I mentioned before, on embarkation day we had free champagne for the first few hours if you were there. The atrium was nicely decorated with a tall christmas tree and a mennorah. The gingerbread village was off to the side. I didn’t get a chance to see the train move through the village.

The ship was full but it didn’t feel crowded. There were mostly families sailing and not as boozey as my previous cruise experience.

Would I cruise during Christmas week again? Probably. I liked the fact that don’t have cleaning, cooking or family relative drama around me. Lol.

I would note though, the staff and crew were wonderful and attentive. However, I know that it’s difficult for the crew to be away from their family during the holidays. Despite that, they are cheerful and I couldn’t ask for anything more. They gave their best service.

Thank you all so much for your time reading my review. :)