My MIRACLE review 8/10-8/18 PHOTOS & MENUS!!!

[pampaul]

Welcome to my very first cruise review. I’ve never done this before so I’m sure it won’t be as detailed or as clever as some that I’ve read. I will however have plenty of pictures, tons of food pictures (which many of you LOVE and also the restaurant menus--may not be the quality but I hope you get an idea.

 

Let me introduce the whole crew. There were 7 of us total that went. DH (Paul), ME (Pam), DS15 (Mason), DS14 (Alex) My mother-in-law (Cheryl) her husband (Mike) and Dnephew15 (Dylan). This cruise was a surprise to Dylan. MIL felt sorry that he was the only grandchild NOT going on the cruise, so she bought his ticket last year and we surprised him with the trip the morning that we left. MIL & her husband have been on like 11 cruises (some with Carnival), this was Dylan’s second cruise (sailed last year on the Norwegian Jewel with us) and this was my family’s 5th cruise but first with Carnival. We’ve been on Norwegian twice, Disney once and Royal Caribbean once).

[JerseyshoreBruce]

Thanks for taking the time for a review....looking forward to it as Miracle is my favorite ship!

[pampaul]

We are within driving distance of the New York port, so it only makes sense that we drove and parked our truck there. We left our house at 6:15am and headed to drop off my MIL’s dog over to her daughter’s house (she was dog-sitting for her and this happens to be Dylan’s mom, too) So we get there and Dylan is known for his big ole pouty-sad lip when he doesn’t get what he wants. He was all upset that we were all going on a cruise this morning and that he was going to the dentist (atleast he thought he was). So we all chatted for a few (while Dylan’s dad secretly puts his suitcase in the back of our truck) and as we were heading out the door, saying our goodbyes, my SIL Jen yells out to my husband…. “Hey Paul, didn’t you forget something?” So he plays along and says, "no what?” Jen yells out, “Dylan!!!” Of course, the pouty-sad lip goes away and now he’s all excited. So we all say our good-byes and off we go. MIL and her hubby were driven to New London to catch the bus to bring them to the port (they are not people you want on the road in New York, trust me) But we were on the highway by 7:00am and off we go. We caught a couple traffic jams. Nothing too big but still, anything is aggravating if it delays you getting to port, right? We pulled into port at 10:00am. Grabbed our luggage, headed down the elevator, handed our luggage off to the handler and we went in. There were no seats available at this time of the morning. I remember last year being some of the first people there and all of us getting a seat, but not today. We stood around for about 40 minutes before they motioned us to go through security. That was a breeze. Then off to check-in. That was all of 5 minutes. They gave us a boarding number of #2. We probably sat in the waiting/boarding area for about an hour by the time #2 was called. Before we knew it we heard #2 being called and on the ship we go.

We headed straight to the Shore Excursion desk so we could pick out our cabana for Half Moon Cay. I was hoping to get cabana #5. I researched the cabanas and wanted one that was close to bathrooms, not too crowded and close enough to the BBQ area. So I get up to the desk and the lady tells me that I can have what I want because I was the first one up there to pick. YIPPEEEE!!!! So I got #5 and it was perfect. After picking the cabana we shifted over to the left and bought the boys each a soda card ($48 each).

[OnePsychLynne]

Love your review! Out of all the Carnival ships we've sailed we like the Miracle the best. I can't wait to hear the rest;)

[pampaul]

Now it’s lunchtime!!! We head up to Horratio’s for some buffet. We were immediately confused. LOL The set up here was so different than what we’ve been used to on other ships. Like my husband said, there didn’t seem to be any kind of “flow” through the place. Everything was all spread out instead of what you would think “buffet lines” would be. There seemed to be “stations” instead on either corner of the buffet. There was the salad station, the pizza station, the sandwich station, the hot food line station, the dessert station, with the drinks in the center. Then if you wanted a burger or hot dog or chicken fingers then you had to walk further down the ship over by the pool area. Just seemed weird. But as with everything else, we just got used to it.

 

Dh, Alex, Dylan and I just grabbed a couple pieces of pizza, Mason got a tuna salad sandwich & fresh fruit. We then went off to walk around a bit and explore the ship. Took a little sit down break in the Phantom Theater for a bit. We really enjoyed the set up of this theater compared to the other ships we’ve been on. For one, we noticed (especially me) that the seats were a little wider (good to know if you’re of the larger lady variety like myself) but a majority of the seating in the theater are on like soft comfy benches instead of chairs. Plus you had a little table in front of you to put your drinks on. Thumbs up for that!!! Once 1:30 rolled around we were allowed into our cabins and we had cabin #4220 (Balcony room, port side). MIL had an aft facing balcony room #4232. Our cabin steward was Tennyson from India. Very nice. Always kept the room clean, never had a problem. This was only his 3rd cruise he said. Did a very good job for being a “newbie” LOL You could tell that he was somewhat new when it came to making the towel animals though. They looked kind of pitiful but he still did a good job on them.

 

Anyhow, there were 4 people in our cabin (w/two teenage boys) We had plenty of room for everything. There were 3 closets (2 regular closets to hang stuff and 1 closet that had 4 big shelves), the desk area had 4 drawers (the top one had the hairdryer and bible), another door that I assume was the fridge but it was locked and we never asked for it to be unlocked. There was also 2 shallow cabinets that we put some of our shoes in. Bathroom was decent size. I never felt cramped like other ships. There were 4 shelves to put stuff on (I brought a shoe organizer and the majority of our stuff was in that) But if it’s only like 2 people, I’m sure your stuff would fit on these shelves. I did like the shower though. The shower curtain bowed out so it gave you a little more room, plus the water pressure was great. I have very thick hair and if I don’t have good water pressure, it’s a b*tch to rinse out my hair. Never had a problem though. Two thumbs up for that. Read through our FunTimes. Drink of the Day---FunShip Special!!! Time for the lifeboat drill. UGH. I know, it’s mandatory but still…..LOL

 

After that we headed on up to the Lido deck all the way in the back to watch us sail away. Saw Funship Freddy coming around taking pictures with people. I was waiting my turn when all of a sudden you heard people screaming, “Help!” “Help!” “Help!” I guess a lady either fell or fainted and she was lying on her back. A few of the crew came over to assist her. Even Funship Freddy came to her rescue. All I saw was the photographer and another crew member helping Funship Freddy out of his costume so he could go help the lady. Come to find out it was a woman under the costume. Here she is

Nonetheless, she went over to see what she could do. They brought the lady over a chair for her to sit in. Not sure what happened though (side note….later in the cruise I saw someone who looked a lot like this lady with a brand new cast on her arm and in a sling, so I’m assuming this must have been her and she broke her arm somehow. Not a good way to start off a vacation. Hope she’s feeling better though)

 

After all was settled we waited for sail away with ice cream in hand. Finally at 4:45 we started backing up and heading towards the Statue of Liberty. Here are a few pictures of the boys during sail away.

DYLAN-ALEX-MASON

 

NEW YORK PIER

 

GUESS MASON WANTED IN THE PICTURE

 

THEN ALEX NEEDS TO FOLLOW WHAT HIS BROTHER IS DOING

 

THE THREE OF THEM

 

Once we got passed the statue of liberty, the boys took off and we headed back to the cabin to unpack. So far at this time (5:30) we got all of our luggage except of course, our dress clothes. So I ended up wearing what I had on which was denim capris and a black top. While my Dh had on Hawaiian shirt, denim shorts, sneakers and my boys each had on shorts, t-shirts and sneakers. Nobody said a word to us as we went to dinner (a lot of other people were dressed the same) Let me state here that if you’re worried about what to pack for dinner on any night (except formal)….DON’T. Seems like anything goes. I saw everything from tuxes & suits & casual wear on formal nights to jeans, shorts, t-shirts on regular dining nights. I must confess that there were a couple nights that I even went to dinner in my denim capris/shirt and crocs. I usually don’t do this but for some reason, on those couple nights (port days) I was soooo exhausted that I was lucky if I could even get dressed once I was out of the shower. I just wanted to jump into my jammies and crawl into bed. LOL

[pampaul]

We had the 6:00 seating at table #229. Our waiter was Jesson and assistant waiter was Ernie. They were both from the Phillipines. Okay people, hold on to your seat. Here comes the food porn and menus that you were waiting for.

THIS SIDE OF THE MENU IS AVAILABLE EVERY NIGHT

 

 

 

 

DESSERTS!!!

 

I hope they're big enough for you to read. If you're having a problem, just ask.

[TakeMeAway1001]

Great start! How exciting that you guys were able to pull off that great surprise for Dylan :)

[pampaul]

For myself, I had the Caesar salad, (Guess I don't have the picture of that???)

Brisket with mashed potatoes

 

and two desserts tonight.

Vanilla Creme Brulee

 

My very first warm chocolate melting cake.

 

Now listen, I am a tried & true chocoholic. But MAN was that thing RICH!!! Good but rich.

 

Paul had the salmon for an appetizer (forgot the pic of that one too)

Chicken ala greque and warm chocolate melting cake.

 

Both my boys had the burger with fries.I don’t believe they ordered dessert tonight.

 

***Just before going to dinner tonight, Malcolm (cruise director) came on saying that one of the passengers was critically ill and would be exiting the ship. We didn’t have to turn around and go back but I do know that we stopped for a little bit while this passenger was taking off. Not sure what happened but hope they’re all right.

 

After dinner we took a walk along the shops (bought my obligatory magnet----I get one from everywhere we travel) and then checked out the photo gallery. Found our picture from the day but didn’t buy anything yet.

 

Ended up at the Phantom Theater for the swing dance class but we were early and no one was in there yet so we went down to the Mad Hatters Ball for some karoke. Then went back to the Phantom for the TV themes trivia, then a game show. I just love trivia and games. We were all exhausted so we decided that we were gonna call it an early tonight (we’re more early birds than night owls anyways so you won’t be hearing about any late nights or clubs or bars from this report, sorry)

[Name Of The Game]

Thanks for the menus and pictures. Was the beef brisket tender and not too fatty?

[pampaul]

Drink of the day = Yellow Bird

 

***Just a side note. I found the bed absolutely horrendous. It was so hard, I hardly slept at all. It felt like sleeping on a board with a thin mattress on top. On the other hand, my Dh found the beds quite comfy. So I guess it’s all in how you like your bed. I went out on the balcony & took a couple of sunrise pictures.

 

It looked a bit cloudy out there so they didn’t come out as good as I hoped. Time for a shower. Two other things I forgot to mention about the shower was that the shower head is detachable, so rinsing off is so much easier plus the shower head has like 5 different water streams that you can change if you like.

 

This morning Pauland I decided to eat breakfast in the dining room instead of the buffet. (I forgot to get a picture of the breakfast menu though. I heard it’s the same everyday and it has the normal breakfast fare on it) I had the eggs benedict, hash browns and OJ.

 

It was ok. Not the best I’ve had…it was just okay. Paul had a ham/cheese/mushroom omlette, has browns & bacon. After we ate we walked around getting to know the ship a little but since I didn’t sleep at all last night, I decided to go back to the cabin and take a nap. That lasted a whole ½ hour. Not happy. I just couldn’t get comfortable at all. So I decided to bring everyone’s formal shirts down to the laundry room to iron them for formal night tonight. The laundry room was right around the corner from us which was nice. It was actually right across the hall from my MIL’s room. Got that all done and hung back up in our cabin. I wasn’t feeling all that great today. I think between not getting any sleep and being motion sensitive (I was still trying to get my sea legs LOL) I decided to relax in the cabin while Dh went up to the adult pool. When he came back we went up to the buffet for some lunch. We met up with our youngest son and he ate with us. Between the three of us we just had some usual buffet fare. Pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. We all grabbed an ice cream and went to watch people going down the water slide. The sun was getting really hot so we all split up and went our different ways. I ended up in the photo gallery again. I just LOVE looking at all the pictures. I was kind of bummed though. I guess Carnival doesn’t have “photo packages”. They sell them all individually. This is my 5th cruise but first time ever that a photo package wasn’t available. NOT happy. I am usually a BIG photo buyer but not this time. Actually, I only bought our family formal portrait. And my MIL bought the formal portrait of the three boys. That was it.

 

Here are the prices for the photos. For “fun photos” (those taken around the ship) they were $9.99 for a 5x7. For “port photos” (those taken when you come off the ship in port) they were $11.99 for a 5x7. For “restaurant photos” they were $19.99 for an 8x10. And for “formal portraits” they were $21.99 for an 8x 10. I personally think the company would fare better if they offered a photo package. I know I overheard many people throughout the week complaining about the prices and asking if they could get any deals. And they were told no. I actually think that all cruise lines should come up with a better way to deal with pictures. It’s always a big cluster of people trying to find their photos and it’s such chaos sometimes. I wish they would come up with something along the lines that DisneyWorld does with their photo pass. Maybe with the first picture that they take of you onboard, they would give you a photo card that you would scan every time that you had a photo done. Then, instead of the cruise line printing them all out just to be thrown away, you could somehow view them on your TV in your stateroom and order what ever size you want right from the TV. Sounds like a plan to me.

[pampaul]

Well, I went back to the cabin and ended up taking a 2-hour nap. FINALLY, some sleep. I’m feeling much better by now. Took a shower and got ready for formal night. Dinner tonight was by far one of my favorites throughout the week.

 

For apps, I had the strawberry bisque (which was my very first cold soup and it was delish)

 

then you could sometimes try one of the main entrees as an app. So I tried the Spaghetti Carbonara (it was okay. Would have been better if there was more sauce on it. Seemed kind of dry) Can't find my picture of that though. I had TWO lobster tail w/shrimp.

 

The waiter actually came over and asked if we wanted an extra one so we said UM YEAH. MMMMMMMM!!!! And of course the WCMC (I never could finish it though)

 

Paul had the stuffed mushrooms which he said was delicious

 

prime rib and WCMC

 

Alex had the spicy alligator fritters (said they were good)

 

a burger (never took a picture of the burger, since it really is just a burger lol) and for dessert he had the apple tart

 

Mason also had the spicy alligator fritters, 2 lobster/shrimps and apple tart.

[pampaul]

Around dessert time, the waiters put on a little singing show for us tonight. They sang That’s Amore. My hubby really enjoyed the little shows that they put on at night. Haven’t seen that on any of the other cruises we’ve taken.

 

Here are some pictures of the boys on formal night.

 

WAITING TO GET ON THE ELEVATOR

 

ACTING LIKE GOOFBALLS

 

BEING ALL PROPER AT THE DINNER TABLE

 

ALEX TELLING OUR WAITER, JESSON THAT HE WANTED THE BURGER

 

ALEX BEING MR. COOL

 

MASON REALLY DOESN'T LIKE HIS PICTURE TAKEN LOL

[pampaul]

Here are a couple more and I forgot to add the menus in the last post. So here they are....

 

ALEX AND DYLAN SWINGING THE NAPKINS TO THE MUSIC

 

OUR WAITER, JESSON SINGING THAT'S AMORE

 

FORMAL NIGHT MENUS

 

 

ARRRGHHHH Can't find the dessert menu. Sorry.

 

 

 

Well, time for me to take my shower and start my day. I'll be back later with some more. Hope you've enjoyed so far.

[golfadj]

Thanks for the review . Have been on Miracle 3x with #4 coming in three weeks.

[pampaul]

Thanks for taking the time for a review....looking forward to it as Miracle is my favorite ship!

 

We really enjoyed the ship as well. Thanks for reading.

 

Love your review! Out of all the Carnival ships we've sailed we like the Miracle the best. I can't wait to hear the rest;)

 

This was our first Carnival cruise and I have to say that we really enjoyed it.

 

Great start! How exciting that you guys were able to pull off that great surprise for Dylan :)

 

Yeah, he was surprised. We've had the secret for almost a year. Glad we were able to pull it off.

[pampaul]

Thanks for the review . Have been on Miracle 3x with #4 coming in three weeks.

 

Enjoy your upcoming cruise!!!

[jmwg49]

great review! We sail on her on 9/11....getting so excited! I am sorry you didn't find the beds comfy! I have always found the beds on Carnival ships to be the best!

[luv2cruise777l]

I can't wait to read what you thought about Cabana number 5. We haven't decided which cabana to shoot for when we set sail in 2 weeks on the Destiny!:D

 

Great review so far....can't wait to read more!:)

[pampaul]

Drink of the day = Caribbean Breeze

 

Well, since the bed is horrible, I once again slept horribly. I got up at 3:00am for a bathroom break then fell back asleep around 4-4:30am. Got up at 6:30am (I’m an early bird, whattya want me to say) Got a jump start on the day with some fresh fruit, eggs, ham, potatoes and a muffin. Yum!!! Went and checked out the formal portraits. LOVED ours!!! (I ended up buying it and I should take a picture of it so you could take a peek at it---my scanner is broken) Walked around the ship, stopped by the atrium and watched a game of mini golf. Too funny. Then Paul and I wanted to go up to the Lido deck and hear the band play by the pool. Let me tell ya, chair hogs were out in full force today. Couldn’t find a chair for miles. So we decided to sit at a table nearby for about a ½ hour watching if anyone was going to come by to “claim” their chair. NOPE!!! Well, there were these 6 saved chairs in a row (the towels actually tied the chairs together somehow) that were untouched that were pretty close to the band area. He wanted to sit up there so he took off the two towels of the two middle chairs in the set of six empty chairs. He put the towels on the other chairs. We sat there for probably about an hour or so listening to the music when a lady came up to me saying that I had to move because those were “her” chairs and that she was saving them for her family. I explained to her that she was not allowed to save chairs for more than 30 minutes and she started going off about how it wasn’t fair, that she was saving those for her family and they were expecting to sit there when they were done eating breakfast..blah,blah,blah. I told her too bad, we weren’t going to move. She told me I was rude and those were HER chairs, so I kindly told her, “Well, not anymore they’re not. She was none too happy. Oh well. She took off and went about 10 ft from us still complaining and started tossing someone else‘s stuff off of their chair onto the floor so her and her husband could sit (all the while her other stuff remained on those other 4 chairs next to us) A guy next to us said that she had come out around 8am to claim her chairs, took off and this is the first time she’s been back (which was about 4 hours ago)!!! Anyhow, about 15 minutes after she claimed another seat, she came back over to where her stuff was on the seat next to us, grabbed her sunblock, lathered up and went back to the other seat, still giving me dirty looks. LOL Oh well, I wasn't given in. She was the rude one. So there.

 

 

Anyways, it started getting really hot up there (I’m not a sun/heat person, I rather have the fall/chilly weather) so we went down to the restaurant for some lunch. Here's my appetizer (Paul just had a salad)

 

JAMAICAN RED BEAN SOUP

 

WE BOTH HAD THE FISH & CHIPS

 

I HAD THE PINEAPPLE SORBET FOR DESSERT

 

PAUL HAD SOME POACHED PEAR OVER VANILLA ICE CREAM

 

Sorry, but I had completely forgot to take a picture of the lunch menu and today was the only day that we ate in the restaurant for lunch.

 

Not much else happened during the day. Mainly just hung out around the ship, looked through the shops, hung out in the cabin. Basically just a lazy day.

[pampaul]

Time for dinner!

 

FOR APPS I HAD THE SESAME CHICKEN

 

PAUL HAD THE BEEF CARPACCIO

 

MY ENTREE WAS THE CHICKEN POT PIE (PRETTY GOOD)

 

PAUL HAD THE BBQ GAME HEN (DIDN'T CARE FOR IT)

 

THIS MUST BE MASON'S FRUIT SALAD. HE COULD LIVE ON IT FOR LIFE

 

AND FOR DESSERT I HAD THE WCMC (I DON'T THINK WE NEED A PICTURE EVERYTIME I HAVE IT THOUGH LOL WHICH WAS MOST EVERY NIGHT) BUT IT DID COME WITH TWO ICE CREAMS WHICH MADE IT SO MUCH TASTIER. CUTS DOWN ON THE RICHNESS.

 

AND PAUL HAD THE WHITE CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING

 

Alex had the tortillas, burger and WCMC. Mason had the fruit salad, burger and white chocolate bread pudding (I took a bite of it and I didn’t care for it. Just not my thing) Everything else was pretty good. Dh didn’t like the game hen though. After dinner, we went and listened to a jazz band in the Jeeves Lounge.

 

Then it was off to the Phantom Theater to see the juggling comedian, Marcus Monroe. Do not miss this show. I think this was my favorite one throughout the week. He was excellent. You'll notice that each night usually ends after the nighttime show. So this is where I say good night!!! Next day---Grand Turk (I think my favorite)　

[pampaul]

Here are the menus from this night.

 

SORRY BUT THIS ONE IS SIDEWAYS

 

 

DESSERTS

 

I'm going to go upload some more photos. Then I post our day at Grand Turk.

[pampaul]

Drink of the Day = Blue Margarita

 

 

 

Up early again today. Buffet opened a little earlier today (6:30) since we docked around 7:00 I believe. Everyone had a big breakfast and off we went. The pier that you walk down wasn’t a bad walk at all. And then you come into this cute little shopping plaza. My MIL bought her and the boys an excursion to go snorkeling. She loves to snorkel and wanted to bring the boys with her since they’ve never really did it before. They had a blast and saw many colorful fish, a couple a small sharks other stuff. Paul and I went through the Margaritaville’s gift shop into the huge pool. LOVED IT!!! I’m more of a pool person rather than an ocean person anyway. We were some of the first people in the pool so I was able to get quite a few pictures with nobody in them. There’s a swim up bar in the pool (which got really busy as the day went on) there are a couple bridges that you can swim under and they have the Flowrider. The ship is park really close (as you can tell by the pictures) Here are some pictures (unfortunately I can only do 6 at a time so I’ll be posting quite a few posts since I have a ton of pics)

 

HERE ARE THE BOYS WALKING DOWN THE PIER

 

 

PART OF THE LITTLE SHOPPING AREA

 

 

HERE'S ME AND THE BIG OLE PARROT

 

COOL LOOKING ADIRONDACK CHAIRS BEFORE GOING INTO THE GIFT SHOP

[pampaul]

THE NEXT FEW WILL BE OF THE POOL--LOVED THE POOL AREA!!!!

 

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE

 

 

PAUL ENJOYING THE WATER

 

 

PAUL IN FRONT OF THE SHIP

[pampaul]

 

PAUL IN FRONT OF THE SWIM UP BAR

 

NOW IT'S MY TURN

 

THERE ARE PLENTY LOUNGE CHAIRS TO GO AROUND

 

FLOWRIDER

 

WE WERE LIKE TROLLS UNDER THE BRIDGE. NICE & SHADY!!!

[pampaul]

 

 

MASON & ALEX ENJOYING THEIR SODA BY THE SWIM UP BAR

 

SO REFRESHING ON A HOT DAY

 

THEY HAD A CONGA LINE GOING THROUGH THE POOL

 

CAN NEVER GET USED TO TRYING TO TAKE OUR OWN PICTURE. THIS IS ME AND ALEX