Miracle Southern Caribbean Feb 24 Review

[pitchersmom02]

My DH and I just returned from the Miracle Southern Caribbean cruise with port calls in St Marteen, St Lucia and St Kitts..

 

Some background on us , we are in our 50's, from metro Washington DC area, and have cruised 9 times on Carnival, Celebrity and HAL..We were married on the Imagination 9 years ago !

 

This was by far one of our best cruises.....

 

Pre Cruise..

We left Washington Dullas the day before at 3PM and arrived in FLL with no difficulties, but were a little disappointed with the weather. It was about 60 ..but after the coldest/snowiest winter in over a 100 years how could we really complain.

We were lucky to have my Dad pick us up and we stayed with my parents in Pompano Beach for the night.

 

Embarkation Day

We enjoyed a short but fun visit, my Dad drive us to the port at 11AM. As we had booked a suite we headed right for the VIP line and walked past the already long line to the VIP Lounge ..We filled out a form asking about recent stomach ailments and we were escorted right onto the ship. We were having lunch at the Lido by noon.:)

 

We enjoyed a light lunch as we still thought we would maintain our diets! and than we were off to find our table in the dining room. We had the traditional dining with the late seating. We had table 172 which was on the lower level towards the front. It was a booth for 4 , which surprised me as I had requested a larger table..that was not to be the only surprise there ..

more to come....

[Sprint]

My DH and I just returned from the Miracle Southern Caribbean cruise with port calls in St Marteen, St Lucia and St Kitts..

 

Some background on us , we are in our 50's, from metro Washington DC area, and have cruised 9 times on Carnival, Celebrity and HAL..We were married on the Imagination 9 years ago !

 

This was by far one of our best cruises.....

 

Pre Cruise..

We left Washington Dullas the day before at 3PM and arrived in FLL with no difficulties, but were a little disappointed with the weather. It was about 60 ..but after the coldest/snowiest winter in over a 100 years how could we really complain.

We were lucky to have my Dad pick us up and we stayed with my parents in Pompano Beach for the night.

 

Embarkation Day

We enjoyed a short but fun visit, my Dad drive us to the port at 11AM. As we had booked a suite we headed right for the VIP line and walked past the already long line to the VIP Lounge ..We filled out a form asking about recent stomach ailments and we were escorted right onto the ship. We were having lunch at the Lido by noon.:)

 

We enjoyed a light lunch as we still thought we would maintain our diets! and than we were off to find our table in the dining room. We had the traditional dining with the late seating. We had table 172 which was on the lower level towards the front. It was a booth for 4 , which surprised me as I had requested a larger table..that was not to be the only surprise there ..

more to come....

 

Thanks for the update....were on this ship/itinerary next week! Can hardly wait!!! Keep it coming, please and thanks!!

[pitchersmom02]

Day 1....

After checking out our dining room table it was time to go to the cabin

we were in a GS 6217 which was perfectly located to elevators ...

This was the view towards our bed...

 

We had plenty of room for all our stuff and Mike had trouble deciding which closets to use ..

 

This was our sitting area...

 

We are wearing beads to identify ourselves as CC members..we had a very large group on board..It was fun to be walking thru the ship and spot beads...

Another view of our room..

[pitchersmom02]

We had a very large bathroom ..with a whirlpool tub..and double sinks it was great to have so much room ..

 

 

Whirl Pool Tub...

 

Double sinks..

 

We unpacked all of our cloths and of course we took too many and had room to store our luggage and still had closet space to spare...

[papanh]

Great job Nancy looking forward to the rest

Papanh

[pitchersmom02]

..After getting settled in the cabin and unpacking it was time for the life boat drill...we were surprised to find out that we did not need to bring our life jackets ...

as usual there were those we showed up late and kept the rest of us waiting...but all and all it was painless and it was time to start the fun..

 

View on the FLL docks during the drill...

 

 

 

 

 

We left about an hr late...we saw some people boarding after the muster drill and heard that a plane full was delayed..

 

The view of FLL as we leave ....

 

After the muster drill it was time to get my soda card...it was $58 for the week and I used it alot..

I easily purchased mine at the Atrium Bar

I stopped here for a nice cold diet coke every time I passed by the bartenders knew me by day 2 !

[mommyto2girls]

Really excited for any more pics..we are booked on the Miracle May 15 in GS 6215 Have some questions if you don'd mind..were there lounge chairs on the blacony? Flat Screen TV? We haven't sailed the Miracle in a few years and got pretty spoiled on HAL with Suites. Just wondering if it is really roomy? Since we are cruising out of NY we have lots of days at sea and were hoping for a decent size suite. Thanks in advance.

[lmcubs]

I happened to be one of the lucky passengers on this cruise - boy, did we have fun!! The Roll Call people were amazing!

Good job, so far, Nancy - looking forward to the rest!! :cool:

[pitchersmom02]

After getting my soda card ,Mike and I relaxed for a while on the balcony, we had plenty of room with 2 chairs and 2 lounges, as well as a small table.

 

 

 

sadly the weather on embarkation day was cool and we had rain but it was still wonderful to be sitting on our balcony..

 

 

 

we had some rough seas on the way out but nothing that bothered us , but I heard some others were a little sick...

 

[happycruiser1960]

Thanks for the review. Miracle reviews are few and far between. Looking forward to the rest of your cruise.

[pitchersmom02]

..well the time had arrived for our first dinner, we had checked out our table early in the day and found we were at a 4 top..

 

so off we went with high hopes of meeting our table mates...we always have enjoyed meeting new people and have in the past really had great table mates...

 

Mike checks out the menu on the way in..

 

 

On the way into dinner we saw 2 lovely ladies with beads on and said to each other beads are you in the CC group and we were happy to find out they were and so we ran into Kathi and Gracia...we commented that it was ashame that we could not be seated together..

they went off to one side and we went to the other waving goodbye..

 

We anxiously looked at our table and to our surprise it was still empty..we settled ourselves in and waited and waited...after about 20 minutes we were still alone. Our waiter and assistant Andres and Alberto told us that there was another couple scheduled to be with us but maybe as it was the first day they were tired..so we ate alone..

 

 

dinner the first night was very good...Mike and I still were trying to maintain our diets and skipped the bread ..I ordered a bottle of wine and had my diet coke...each night following that my diet coke arrived..

 

we had pre ordered drink coupons which were delivered to us that evening..sadly they are no longer the value they used to be...in the past we could get any drink for the face value of the coupons , now they charged us the difference...not a big deal but defeated the purpose ..

 

after dinnner we went to the show the first night which was very good and met for the first time our cruise director Josh...aka "big sexy" .He was just a hoot and made us laugh the entire trip.

 

when we finally got back to our cabin we were tired and looking forward to a good nights sleep ..

 

we found our first towel animal....

 

 

and so ends embarkation day.......

[jsfromsc]

Thanks for your review. Can't wait to read the rest. My husband and I will be on this ship Friday!!!!

[jsfromsc]

Great bathroom! It's nicer than all of ours at home and we even had one remodeled last year.

[Sarapdot]

waiting.........;)

[Crusin Karen]

Nice to read this. We are cruising on Miracle on 5/7. We LOVE the CCL Spirit, and cruised sister ship Miracle once before. I am SO looking forward to this cruise :D and even tho we have been on "so many" I am as excited as if it was my lst one! :p;)

[Crusin Karen]

As a ps, On the Spirit, there was a retractable roof on Lido deck main pool area. Can't remember if the Miracle had it. :confused::confused:

[papanh]

As a ps, On the Spirit, there was a retractable roof on Lido deck main pool area. Can't remember if the Miracle had it. :confused::confused:

 

yes the middle pool does

Papanh

[mommyto2girls]

Everything great so far....wasn't it nice not to have to wear the life jacket? we had that on the Westerdam 2 months ago. I think I will love my suite with lounge chairs!

[styxscottii]

Nancy - Great to read your review. Can't wait to read all 8 days. Haven't gotten all my photos uploaded yet, but Ed gave me some ideas. Hope to have them up by tomorrow. Still trying to catch up on all the stuff needing to be done upon our return, shopping, laundry, yard mowing unpacking souvenirs. Tomorrow all three kids are taking Kathy out for brunch for her "second" birthday party.

Scott & Kathy

[Crusin Karen]

yes the middle pool does

Papanh

Thanks for that! ;)

[hill6]

Can't wait to read more. Only 69 days till the Miracle.

[FOLcruisers]

Hello,

 

Contemplating this cruise for next February, anxious to read the rest of your review. How did you feel about the demographic of your fellow passengers? I have read on several reviews there were many seniors on this ship, and not too much "action" at night. We are 50 and 47 years old, not party people but enjoy carnival since it is more fun and energetic.

 

Keep it coming!

 

Diana ANd GAry

[pitchersmom02]

We had 2 full sea days on this cruise which was wonderful, it was a great time to relax and leave the "real world " behind.

 

We started our first full day at sea with breakfast in the dining room, we chose to eat here rather than the Lido again to make an attempt to maintain diets:rolleyes:..we found it was easier to control portions that way.

 

We also enjoyed getting to sit in various places in the dining room and meeting other people at breakfast. DH alternated between Eggs Benadict, Lox and Bagels and Omlets. I had Lox and Bagels, omlets and poached eggs. All were wonderful and it was hard to decide each day. We both skipped the pastry basket,but they did smell great...DH did have a bran muffin one morning. I did order grits one morning and was disappointed so never got them again.

 

After breakfast DH went up to the walking track while I went for my massage. I had the 75 minute hot stones with sea weed scrub massage . It was beyond wonderful....a little expensive but well worth it to help me leave the stress of work behind...I did buy 2 products but did not feel any pressure to do so....

 

I met up with DH in the cabin and we set off for the pool...It was a little cool and yet there were still chairs saved by the pool which were never used.

 

We choose to find a spot on deck 10 off to the side ...there were plenty of chairs away from the pool...we spend about an hour reading and enjoying the sea and the sun.

 

We than decided to go in for lunch and wander the ship , we love to explore the ship and sea days are perfect for that.

 

 

We found a great place to sit and read near the Atrium Bar..we were able to read, listen to our i-pods, or people watch. I was close enough to get my diet cokes and the rest rooms were also not too far away. Speaking of people watching our ship did not seem to be full...there were few kids or teens on this cruise...which for us was great... This was our first "empty nest " trip and although I have 3 kids and in the past have cruised during school vacations and summers and enjoyed it, it was nice to experience a mostly adult vacation.

 

That being said we had a number of "older" travelers with wheel chairs, rolators, oxygen tanks, walkers and canes...not a problem just an observation..It did although make the "early seating" far more crowded than the later seating and the second show was never full.

 

We had lunch in the dining room again and were off to our cruise critic meet and greet. We had a very large roll call and Scott had arragned for us to have a meet and greet .So off we went to meet our "bead friends"

 

We arrived and Scott had the list of all members of the roll call, Phyllis had name tags for us all to wear and Scott gave us each an envelope of post cards from our ports of call...What a nice touch that was !

 

Although we had a large roll call not all attended, we spend time getting aquainted by our "real names" . We had made plans to take some excursions together and met up to finalize our plans...It was a wonderful way to make some new friends..and for the rest of the cruise many of us spend time together..

 

Our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet Group!

 

.....Captains Dinner and First Formal Night up next .....

[golfadj]

We had Josh as our CD on the Miracle a couple of years ago and he did great.

 

Found out later it was his first time as CD.

[pitchersmom02]

We happen to love getting dressed up for dinner and really look forward to Formal Night. It is no longer refered to as "Formal Night" but rather cruise elegant, I was surprised and happy to see that most of the passengers on this cruise dressed to the nines..including tux's and evening gowns..

 

DH was happy to not have to wear a tie but did wear a sports jacket. I wore a cocktail dress

 

 

DH enjoying a drink before dinner

 

In the past we had the Captains Welcome Party in the theatre with free drinks, this is no longer the case. It was held in the Atrium and the drinks were discounted by $1. I was disappointed that our drink coupons were not included in this discount...but no big deal.

 

As always the photographers were available to take formal pictures and it was really nice to see everyone all dressed up....

 

Now back to our dining room experience...as you recall our 4 top was just the 2 of us on the first night..We figured for sure on formal night our table mates would be joining us ..but again as we arrived we found we were alone...and as a matter of fact our entire section was empty excpet for us...in talking with our CC friends we found out that they to were at less than full tables....We of course got great service being the only 2 people in a section for 22...

 

The Matire D stopped by to chat with us and told us that the first seating was completely full and that anytime dining also may have impacted the second seating...He also told us we could invite friends from other tables to join us..we took him up on this later in the cruise !

 

For dinner this night we had the lobster tails ..they were very good and I did ask for a 2end...the heck with the diet tonight...being the only people in our section I was able to get my seconds quickly.

 

Speaking of food we enjoyed all the food..the soups were all good and served hot if they were hot and served cold if cold...

 

DH and I did notice that the portions were smaller than in the past but as we have been dieting it was a good thing. Also I was able to enjoy soups, salads, main meals and deserts without feeling too full.

 

Our seating was not full and as our section was just us the service was excellant. We were relaxed and never felt rushed but were out in just over an hour.

 

......next up entertainment ....