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LIVE from my recliner - MIRACLE review

VickiD59

By VickiD59,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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Returned home yesterday morning from our 8 night (7/18 - 7/26) cruise on the Miracle to San Juan, St Thomas and Grand Turk. Having been my first cruise I will try to touch on all the info which I found helpful when I was reading all of your reviews.

Quick background, my family of four (hubby and 2 sons 21 and 24) had never cruised before this trip and to say we were excited would be an understatement. Our countdown began nearly one year before, which was when I found CC and our roll call. I learned something new everyday and found more information than I could ever believe possible. Thank you CC and all who have posted your experiences here; this is why I promised to pay it forward upon our return. We were traveling with 8 other family and extended family members (ages 13-84) all whom are seasoned cruisers both separate and together, so we were the new kids on the block and they welcomed us with opened arms. I tried to encourage them all to join CC prior to the trip but to no avail. But… I found because of all the things I learned here on CC, I could pull a factoid out of my bag of tricks at any given moment and they’d be amazed at “how did I know that?” When presented with something new, like our first cruise, I like to know everything and anything, and my new found knowledge came in handy many times. During dinner conversation, at some point someone always said, “Ask Vicki, I bet she knows” … and more times than not... I did.;) As recent as our last breakfast yesterday morning I encouraged them again to join CC, and this time I think they will.

 

Embarkation was a breeze! We live about an hour north of NYC and knowing ahead of time that there would be three ships in port leaving that day, (see… again… one of those facts that only I knew!), and assuming there would be a lot of traffic we gave ourselves two hours to arrive at the pier. With 10 of our 12 all traveling from the same place we hired a 14 passenger van to accommodate all of us plus a lot of luggage. With two pick-up points we were on the road by 10:40am. Our first traffic snarl came just as the first person said, “Look… you can see the whale-tail!”

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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The sight of the ship made everyone perk up for sure! That and the fact that we were all laughing at what was described as Aunt Vicki's Elton John glasses... I was so excited I didn't care :p

 

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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We got the first glimpse of the ship around 11:20 (we made great time) and I remember thinking to myself that a little traffic wasn’t such a bad thing because I thought perhaps we were way too early to embark. But by the time we actually got out, grabbed out luggage, regrouped and gave another headcount... it was 12:00. We pretty much stayed together for the check-in process. I was holding all of the important docs for my family, as was my niece for hers (the elders in the group are her inlaws). Other than needing to share one pen for all of us to fill out our health form… the line was very quick and we were checked-in in less than 20 minutes. My niece’s father-inlaw needs a cane to walk, and once security noticed that, we were whisked past the serpentine ropes to the head of the line and into security and the baggage scan 1..2..3. At this point I will acknowledge that all 6 rum-runners my kids were carrying on their person as well as in their carry-on bags made it through with no problem. :rolleyes:

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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From arriving at the pier terminal.. waiting on line at check-in and security.. boarding and stepping over the threshold into the atrium of the Miracle.. finding a seat and my very first DOD ever.... it was less than 90 minutes. I know this by the time on my S&S print-out. We were at that very moment officially.... CRUISERS!!!! :D

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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My kids (Chris 24 and Matt 21) went right up to the Lido deck with their younger cousins (Ally 16 and Amanda 13) for lunch and to get away from the old folks I'm sure. We (Ron and Vicki) my niece and her hubby (Lisa and Tom) and her inlaws (Jo and Gus) sat in the atrium bar area and people watched for the next hour or so (it went fast but was probably about about another 90 minutes or more), making last minute calls and texts to the homefront, letting folks know we arrived fine and we'd text them again in three days when we arrived in San Juan.

Originally it was for my big b'day (50) which was last fall. I knew I wanted my niece and her family to come with us; we're very close and we wanted their expertise when it came to cruising. Up until this point we had only ever been on Disney (Orlando) land-based vacations. Ron had always thought he'd be bored on a cruise with "nothing to do but sit in the sun". We'd grown accustomed to being on a go-go-go vacation where you're constantly standing in line for rides and tours and busses etc. We've been doing Disney family vacations since before our kids were born, and every two years thereafter with the last one being 5 years ago for Ron's 50th. He and WDW turned 50 together that year. I knew for my b'day.. although I loved Disney, I wanted something new. Plus our kids are older now and no longer obligated to be with us 24/7. And my niece and her family hadn't cruised in 10 years since her inlaws big 50th anniversary trip, which if you do the math, now had them celebrating their 60th anniversary this month as well. Now the invite went out to more extended family and although we thought the group would be much bigger, it ended up being twelve. We were all paired up in good age groups, and the "kids" all found friends. We'd pass one another through out the day and see each other in the most random of places. Everyone was allowed to do their own thing during the day, the only stipulation was we'd all meet for our 8:15 dinner in the MDR, no if ands or buts. This was great because everyone had some sort of story about something that happened in the day. Good company, good conversation.

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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Our main criteria when choosing this cruise was in had to be in July (school schedules and such) and we had to leave from NY so as not to have the hassle of air travel. This limited our choices alot. We knew we wanted tropical ports, so the Canadian itinerary was definately out. One choice was the Veerdam for Bermuda only. This being my first cruise I wanted to see somewhere other than one place. The other choice was the NCL Dawn going to the Bahamas. That got a resounding thumbs down from all previous cruisers. That left the Miracle with two different itineraries: San Juan, St Thomas and Grand Turk, OR, Grand Turk, HMC and Nassua Bahamas. We'd only heard very nice things about HMC, but again, the Bahamas portion got a big thumbs down, and no one had been to San Juan on a cruise and Grand Turk was new to all as well, so we picked the SJ, StThomas, GT itinerary (more on this later). The only concern was that it was almost three full sea days before we arrived in San Juan. As it turned out, we love the sea days and wish would could've tacked on about a dozen more once the trip was over.

NY Harbor is great. I've only sailed down her on tourist tours and dinner cruises. It's quite a sight to behold with three ships pulling out together. Lots of small vessels waving to you, not to mention the hornblowers as you travel under the Verrazano Bridge. Of course Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty gave me a small lump in my throat. And I will admit to having had to wipe a tear or two away when passing by what is now a construction area where the WTC towers once stood. I'll never get used to seeing the skyline with those missing buildings.

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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As I sit here I actually feel the boat moving. Haven't quite got my land-legs back yet (not sure I truly want too either). It's amazing how that sensation stays with you. It's time to attack the laundry pile and to get some groceries in the house. Hopefully you've enjoyed the start of my first review and will hang in for the remainder. Now that I took the plunge I'm looking forward to continuing as well.

Until later...

Vicki :)

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Delta Dear

Delta Dear

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Love it so far. But Vicki, who needs laundry ? Who needs groceries ? Gee, where is Carnival when you need it ? We'll be on the Miracle for the first time on Jan. 30, 2011. We have been on the Legend, one of the sister ships of the Miracle. We loved that ship. Can't wait to read even more of your great review.

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VickiD59

VickiD59

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Keep up the good work. Glad you guys made it home ok, sorry we didn't get to say goodbye. Where were you hiding the last sea day?

Last sea day was bittersweet indeed. Didn't want to waste time doing one thing, figuring we'd be missing out on something else, which then sort of wasted the day not doing anything in particular. It was really nice meeting you and your family. Out of everyone on our rollcall, I ran into you the most. Glad to see you got home safely as well. :)

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