The Miraculous Miracle: a review with photos

Hello everyone, please bear with me as I attempt to post my first real review of a cruise. I've enjoyed reading everyone else's and decided it's my turn to pay back the favor.

I've actually written out most of the review already for a blog I keep, so am just going to cut/paste that here. However I'm having a little trouble with the photos, so that may slow me down. Hopefully I'll have everything posted in the next day or so.

Anyway, let's begin:

Quick intro:

We took the Carnival Miracle 6 day cruise to Cabo and PV that left on Superbowl Sunday. My husband has been on about 12 cruises with 7 different lines and I’ve been on 6 with 5 different lines. Not all of our cruising has been together. Our son is in pre school and has cruised 4 times on 3 lines. Aside from Carnival between the two of us we’ve also been on Princess, Celebrity, Windstar, Star Clippers, P&O, Silversea, Costa and RC. We do not have a favorite and always find something to enjoy on each ship. We’ve recently been eying a HAL cruise to Alaska.

We kind of did things backwards by going on more expensive lines in our 20s and 30s and now that we’re entering middle age we’ve discovered Carnival. Actually it’s because we had a child and find CCL to be the most family friendly. We’re not Disney fans so have no plans to bother with that line. We have been to 5 continents and about 20 countries and love seeing the world. Normally we sail with our parents, sometimes our siblings, and once with a group of about 12 friends. This was the first cruise we’ve taken with just us.

We’re from Eagle, Idaho which is outside of Boise but for the past year have been living with my husband’s family in boringville, USA aka: Weiser, Idaho. This is where we met. He grew up here and my family used to camp near here in the summers. We’re small town people, but like to visit larger places, cruising allows us to do this. Also it got us out of the cold!

For this review I’m going to try to write things that haven’t been written about in other reviews. There won’t be a bunch of photos of the ship or ports since you’ve all seen these before. I want to talk about a few things that aren’t always posted here at cc, so the following will include: FTTF, chef’s table, behind the fun tour, excursion in Cabo, camp carnival, resort in PV, and a few other things. I do have photos of some of these. The review will not necessarily be in order but rather in sections or themes because that is how I wrote it on my blog. I’m sorry to say I do not have copies of the Fun Times or Camp Carnival schedules, but can possibly answer questions.

Not much faster to the fun:

We had gotten an e-mail saying to arrive later than 1 but based on assurances here and elsewhere plus the fact that we had paid for FTTF, we opted to ignore it.

We'd stayed at a Marriott in town because they had a deal for only about $90 vs. $120 at Hotel Maya. Hindsight is 20/20 but I wish we'd paid the extra $30. Oh well. Arrived around 9:00 to drop off our bags. Twice I told the porter that we had FTTF and that they were supposed to put a sticker of some sort on it. He assured me it was all taken care of.

We left to get breakfast and returned around 11. There was a fairly long line for the regular check in, maybe 100 people or so, but nobody in the fttf/priority line. We walked right up and because we had already checked in online, the process took under 5 minutes.

Next came the wait in the priority section. We sat in the chilly January LA temperature while we watched them continue to unload passengers from the previous Hawaii trip. We waited almost an hour and finally the last Hawaii person left and they came out to give us boarding instructions.

Security was quick, though the workers there were far from pleasant. Barking orders at everyone and snide remarks to people who took off their shoes, “We told you this isn’t the airport, why did you do that?” We put our items on the belt including our child’s stroller, only to be rudely scoffed at because apparently you can just wheel strollers through the metal detector. While gathering all my things off the belt, I swung around and accidently bumped a woman with my purse and she yelled at me. Then she turned to her husband and commented about not wanting to cruise on “this trashy line”. Sheesh. I’m pleased to note that this was the only unpleasant cruiser I encountered the entire time.

Next we entered a large room where we stood in about 10 lines facing collapsible wall for up to 20 minutes. A guard came out and tried to lighten the mood by telling superbowl jokes. Finally the wall was opened and each line was allowed in. Because we had a stroller we were placed in a different elevator line which included people in wheelchairs as well as several that were lugging a few very large suitcases. I have no idea why they didn’t drop those with the porters?

Just past this line we could see everyone else stopping to get their embarkation photos. I’m a scrapbooker and always include this photo of our cruises in my books, however in order to get it we would’ve had to get out of our line, into another, and then back into the growing elevator line. Decided it wasn’t worth it as the elevator was slow and only held about 4 people. I probably saved a good 40 minutes in deciding mot to get the photo, but I am a little bummed as this is the first cruise ever where we don’t have one. :(

Once we got upstairs we were placed in yet another line where they were scanning the S&S cards for entry to the ship. About every 20th card was dinging "error" and those people (and their families) were being placed in a separate waiting section. Luckily our cards worked and we were on the Miracle! We stepped on the boat about 1:30-2pm, maybe should’ve listened to that e-mail? :p

At this point I’m not sure fttf was worth it?

We are leaving on the 3/1 sailing and do not have FTTF and are a bit confused. Although we sailed out of LA before it has been on Princess out of San Pedro. Long Beach seems a bit different. We are staying near LAX and have a service booked to take us to the port the next day. Generally we arrive at port around 11:30 and are usually on board by 12:30. Doesn't seem like this is going to happen. From reading here it seems some people drop there luggage and than go to the Queen Mary and walk through that and then over to the boarding area??? Am I understanding this correctly? How much walking is involved. I have respiratory difficulty and while I am certainly amubulatory I do need to plan for a lengthy walk with a carry on. Any light you shed would be much appreciated and all advice carefully considered!!!. Thanks and looking forward to the review.

anxiously waiting for updates.

Generally we arrive at port around 11:30 and are usually on board by 12:30. Doesn't seem like this is going to happen. From reading here it seems some people drop there luggage and than go to the Queen Mary and walk through that and then over to the boarding area??? Am I understanding this correctly? How much walking is involved.

We have twice sailed this port and this was the first time there had been any issues. The first time we dropped off our luggage about 9:30(our choice, not everyone does this), went to breakfast at the Hotel Maya where we had stayed, and then returned maybe 10:30. We were on the ship by 11:15 that time no hassle or waiting at all.

People show up anytime between 9am-2pm, some just drop off while others will wait around. There are a few benches to wait at there, though many chose to go to the Queen Mary out of interest. It's maybe a 5 minute walk. You could almost throw rocks at the Queen Mary from the Miracle deck, they are close. Hotel Maya is further, but there are shuttles and taxis if walking is difficult. It is a beautiful walk which many choose to take simply to take in the views.

Onboard:

We had taken the advice of several here (Thanks!) and boarded with our swimgear. I packed my suit and son’s in my carry on and my husband’s suit is board shorts so he wore them onboard. After dropping off our stuff in the room and seeing the rest of our bags were not yet there we decided to check out the pools. Much too cold, but the hot tub was perfect. We found the lido by the stage to be quite noisy, but if you keep walking you will find an almost identical lido pool (sans noisy stage). We relaxed here and watched many shivering passengers walk by and remark that they should’ve packed their suits in carry ons. I have to give another big THANK YOU to cc for this tip, best idea ever. Thanks a million. :)

We grabbed some food and hung out in the hot tub some more. Finally decided to get out so my son and I dried off and changed into our clothes. My husband however had no dry shorts, but since we had FTTF we went back to our room to so he could get things from our luggage. No luggage, it was around 3pm. So he went dripping around the ship and we explored while waiting for muster. In our room we were able to get the Superbowl so we watched it start and heard the announcement about muster. Troy the cruise director reminded everyone if they hurried to muster the superbowl would be back on soon. Everyone must have listened because it was the fastest and easiest muster I’ve ever been to.

We quickly went to the main theater and the game was on, though there were complaints that the color was shoddy. Not the greatest photo, but it was pretty cool seeing the game on such a large screen. It was also playing in all bars and cabin tvs.

They passed out whistles, clappers and pon pons and held a few “games” where people could win couch seats up front throughout the game. Also provided was food. I don’t recall what all was served but one was hot wings or spicy wings. They were without a doubt the blandest wings I’ve ever had.

My son and I went to get some other food and I let him wade in the pool a little bit. Of course he sat down and got his shorts soaking wet. No big deal, we had FTTF so our luggage was sure to be in the room. We went to go change, no luggage. It was around 4:30pm. I took off his shorts and put him back in his swimsuit which was only damp and not soaked. Wrapped him up in his baby blanket and we left. Went to guest services to find out about our bags, but the line had about 10 people in it-the regular line had about 30. Went to the room to use the FTTF priority phone line, only to find our phone wasn’t working!

Irritated so I went back to the game which was already long past being a game and just being boring watching the Seahawks play and the Broncos hang out. :p Got bored with that and went downstairs to the comedy club for the Camp Carnival orientation. This was quick and painless.

About 5:30 we left deciding to get ready for dinner. However because of all the snacks during the game(oh I just remembered there were hot dogs and I think maybe shrimp), we decided to just grab snacks on the Lido since we weren’t really hungry. Walked around a bit and got to the room. Almost 6pm and 2 of our 3 bags had arrived. Husband finally got some dry clothes and we explored and ate a bit.

When we arrived back about 7pm our final bag was sitting there. Around 8pm the line at guest services died down so I went to ask about the phone. It was fixed the next morning. Later I learned that there are phones all over the ship I could’ve used. Oh well.

FTTF did nothing for us here.

Hmmmm. Hubby and I are boarding the Miracle on Saturday. We bought FTTF, maybe that was a mistake. Sorry that it really didn't do you any good. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

We are anxious to see more of your review as well. :):):):)

We are leaving on the 3/1 sailing and do not have FTTF and are a bit confused. Although we sailed out of LA before it has been on Princess out of San Pedro. Long Beach seems a bit different. We are staying near LAX and have a service booked to take us to the port the next day. Generally we arrive at port around 11:30 and are usually on board by 12:30. Doesn't seem like this is going to happen. From reading here it seems some people drop there luggage and than go to the Queen Mary and walk through that and then over to the boarding area??? Am I understanding this correctly? How much walking is involved. I have respiratory difficulty and while I am certainly amubulatory I do need to plan for a lengthy walk with a carry on. Any light you shed would be much appreciated and all advice carefully considered!!!. Thanks and looking forward to the review.

Long Beach is always a bit of a mess for check-in.

For the Miracle Early check-in should be infront of the Dome (usually Early checkin for the Inspiration and Imagination is a the Queen Mary, but a few weeks a go it was in front of the Dome.)

If you are Priority check in is in the Little Building between the parking structure and the Dome.

If you do Early checkin you will have to wait outside til the doors open. They do try to clear out the Priority building because only 40 people can be in there at once. There are only 3 checkin clerks.

The bottleneck is the four doors to enter the Dome that feed into two security lines. If you haven't checked in the line moves very fast. There are many clerks here. Many times our -in-the-same-car friends are thru the regular line quicker than those of us who are priority.:rolleyes:

****

Lerin-thanks for you review. Going on the Inspiration tomorrow and still deciding whether to check thru our bag or not.

http://www.queenmary.com/stay-aboard/nearby-attractions/long-beach-carnival-cruise-terminal.php

We are leaving on the 3/1 sailing and do not have FTTF and are a bit confused. Although we sailed out of LA before it has been on Princess out of San Pedro. Long Beach seems a bit different. We are staying near LAX and have a service booked to take us to the port the next day. Generally we arrive at port around 11:30 and are usually on board by 12:30. Doesn't seem like this is going to happen. From reading here it seems some people drop there luggage and than go to the Queen Mary and walk through that and then over to the boarding area??? Am I understanding this correctly? How much walking is involved. I have respiratory difficulty and while I am certainly amubulatory I do need to plan for a lengthy walk with a carry on. Any light you shed would be much appreciated and all advice carefully considered!!!. Thanks and looking forward to the review.

The link below states a .2 mile walking distance.

http://www.queenmary.com/stay-aboard/nearby-attractions/long-beach-carnival-cruise-terminal.php

Hmmmm. Hubby and I are boarding the Miracle on Saturday. We bought FTTF, maybe that was a mistake. Sorry that it really didn't do you any good. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Though it didn't work quite as expected we would buy it again. I will include more info throughout the rest of the review.

FTTF is a waste of $$$.

I am really looking forward to your review we will be on the miracle in august and purchased the fttf as well.

Cabin:

We had cabin 6279 which is a premium balcony. A 9C I believe? LOVED it, highly recommend this cabin. It’s right off the aft elevators, but there was no noise at all. It’s close to twice as big as a regular cabin, or at least felt that way. It’s more square than rectangle. Same for the balcony almost twice as long. The cabin was about the same size as our bedroom at home, but with 2 closets so we each got our own! There was also a dresser, cupboard and shelf under the TV, 2 nightstands and a shelf all along the wall above the bed. Also a mirror took up that entire wall. The balcony had a lounger, table and 2 chairs. It could easily have fit another lounger and possibly another chair and table with room to spare.

We saw our room steward exactly once, he said hello and walked off. The room was clean and the beds got made however, so I guess that’s all we can ask for. Each day he unplugged our 3-outlet extension cord and European adaptor, and once took away our cake which had only 1 bite taken. I’ve always been an advocate for putting room service trays in the hall when finished and this is why. We were saving that cake to have with drinks after dinner, such a waste of food getting tossed like that. About half the nights we got a towel animal, though 1 day it was a towel flower which was kind of pretty, though my son was unimpressed. Thanks to an article here I knew the cabin was all magnetic so I brought several to hang notes and schedules and stuff up. Also hung a poster with Monsters Inc on the door. This was for my son and he always remembered ours was the cabin with the Monster door. I only remembered to take photos when we were packing to leave, so sorry for all the mess.

Underlined our cabin's balcony in green and highlighted a standard balcony in blue so you can see the size difference

One side of the balcony

Other side

I know it's a mess. Mental note for next cruise: take cabin photos day one, not the day you are packing to leave

Looking forward from the balcony. Notice the spot where the ship justs out a tad? that was the Lido buffet, we tried to sit at the table there so we could see into our balcony.

View facing aft

Oops, didn't realize we were limited to only 6 photos.

View from the corner dresser

View from "my" closet. The curtain by the dresser is a window. The room has a large window as well as the regular balcony doors. Lots of light

Thank you for doing this review :) My first cruise ever was on Carnival Miracle, it was NY to Bahamas sailing. You've brought back good memories :)

Awesome review and great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

The part people always ask about

*drum roll*

CHEF'S TABLE!!!!

BEST “excursion” I’ve ever taken on a cruise ship on any line. Regardless if you’re a foodie or if you think Red Lobster is fine dining, go to Chefs Table. Worth every penny. Aside from the food we also got a tour of the galley right during the dining rush, got to have a Q&A with the head chef-who was actually a substitute chef, learned to make chocolate melting cake, had a table magician do tricks, and had unlimited wine and champagne. The whole thing took over 3 hours and trust me: pace yourself.

Our first appetizer was a fancy olive. It had I think celery sticking out of it and a dab of sauce around it, but really it was just an olive. By the end of the meal, no halfway through the meal, I was wishing I’d eaten only half that olive! It is 7 courses, plus drinks, plus that olive and 2 other small samples in the galley. We were beyond stuffed by course 4. And each dish seemed to be larger than the one before it. Go hungry. Though don’t bother if you are on a diet.

It isn’t worth it for me to try to describe each dish so I will just post the menu and photos of each item. They didn’t allow photos in the galley but everything else was fine. Keep in mind I took all the photos with my old I Phone in a rather darkened danceclub (we ate in the Frankenstein lounge). The photos don’t do the meal justice. So if you like the photos, I assure you the real thing was 20x better.

The chef was right there the entire time to answer questions and discussed how they only use the best cuts of steak in the steakhouse and at chefs table. When asked about the quality of meat in the MDR he replied, “I’m not at liberty to discuss those specifics.” lol

It was held in the Frankenstein Dance Club, though none of us realized it for a bit since we were led in through a crew door via the galley.

This photo was actually the last one I took as we were leaving.

Bread baked in a terra cotta pot. Sooooo delicious and fresh from the oven

First up: Tomatoes our way

Each tomato was peeled and had different sauce or topping on it. I felt this course was like a dessert as it was sweet. One of the tomatoes was covered in white chocolate-yummy!

I'm almost embarrassed by how crummy my I Phone photos look. Each dish was really exquisite, but this at least gives you an idea

Tuna: Also delicious. also a crummy photo, I should've taken it from another angle.

Cornish Hen

and with sauce added

Wish I'd taken a photo of this before they added the sauce. It was quite beautiful though my least favorite dish. It was much better with the cheese that you see in the center.

The salmon was without a doubt the most beautiful dish ever. When it came out none of us touched it for a minute, we were all in awe. Those carrots were standing up over 3 inches off the plate.

Short ribs. They brought out steak knives before this and not one of us used them. It was so tender we could've eaten it with a spoon!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Miracle. We were on her 4x. A year ago today was our last cruise on her. We were SO UPSET when CCL decided to send her out west. I am glad you are able to experience this great ship. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

And of course dessert which puts WCMC to shame

before:

After: