thoughts about the Miracle

[noslen3333]

I just got off the Miracle on Nov. 10th. I am a platinum member and so is my husband. We travelled with a couple that are fairly new to cruising. I have cruised Carnival exclusively for the last several years because I so adore their ships and their personnel. I'm the one who talked cruises to anyone. I think it is the best vacation I can take.

 

Until the Miracle. I don't know if it is just this ship or fleetwide but I was really disappointed for the first time. I have read with interest other threads about the cutbacks in place and now I have experienced them. It did not enhance my cruise.

 

My husband and I stay on the ship the entire cruise. That is our choice. We like the ship when everyone else is in port. I have all I would ever need in terms of shopping and we go for the beauty of the seas. Most of the time, while in port, we will go to the Sports Bar and look out the window or at soccer..trying to understand the game. We smoke and that is a nice place to do our thing.

 

The sports bar is no longer smoking but another bar next door was. No big deal. However, when we went there, no one was in there and there were no ashtrays. That's a first. No matter where we went, if we were in port, ashtrays were not provided indoors. Ok..routine changed...we smoked on our balcony in the heat or up on the lido deck where it was hot, loud and crowded.

 

There is a more restrictive smoking policy in the casino. I accept that. However, I only play video poker and it was the only game that did not offer machines in a smoking area. Unfair!! I am willing follow the rules but give me a break. I will be addressing this issue with Ocean Players Club when I get home. The casino also turned a "blind eye" after the first night and people were smoking everywhere. Yes...non-smoking included. I ended up at the end of the week with about half of the points that I normally earn.

 

Went to lunch in Lido and found few choices if you did not like fast food. The chinese line was there everyday and the only other choice was the "nation of the day" at other 2 lines. No hot "american food" was offered. I was not impressed. I ate at the grill 3 times, the deli once and the pizza station once. I also went to the main dining room and it was good but not really my thing for lunch. This is not the Carnival that I am use to.

 

Also, the lido buffet at night is no more. So, if you have young kids who don't want to sit for 2 hours in the dining room, you get fast food. Whatever the reason, you can no longer eat dinner in the lido. Every cruise I have taken, sometime during that cruise, I chose to hit the lido for dinner. The reason stated was there was too much wasted food. My answer to that is cook less food! If you run out of something people will make another choice but don't take the whole thing away!

 

Live entertainment....poor and none. My activities at night are in the casino and the hypnotist. Our main form of music in the casino was an accoustic guitarist. I could see his mouth moving and him strumming but heard no sound. That was the first night. The second night, he got a mike but we all found out soon enough, he wasn't any good! I am use to a loud band that people danced to, sang to, tapped their feet to but not "Kum Ba Ya" man. Only 1 night was there 1 person with all the band sounds and he wasn't bad. He sang songs that we knew and we were singing the song as we played our machines but he wasn't a great band!

 

The one man band guy played in the atrium and another night a man played piano but it was quiet as a church and only a few people sat in the atrium to listen. I am used to walking by there and the place would be jumping. They have started using the passengers to entertain the passengers. Karioke(?) took place outside the main dining room and a few of the passengers sang better than the paid staff!

 

This is not the Carnival I know and love. Our friends who joined us did go to the shows at night and the husband finally got so bored that he went to the room at night to read a book and they are a very fun couple! I was embarrassed that I had recommended this cruise and I felt I needed to apologize.

 

My husband and I are going on the Dream in December so I will be comparing the 2 cruises. If the Dream has the same cutbacks as seen and felt on the Miracle then I feel that Carnival will force me to go back to the other cruiselines. I don't want to but bottom line is you do spend quite a bit on money for these vacations and Carnival needs to remember their customers and not their bottom line.

 

The last insult was the final night when my husband went to buy his going home booze around 5pm. In the past, he has simply purchased the bottle and taken it back to his room. Not this time. He was told he could come back at 7pm and then he would be allowed to take it. What about packing? We have never encountered this before and my husband simply walked out without buying anything. Besides, he found the prices cheaper at Spec's liquor. I am afraid that booze is no longer the bargain it once was.

 

I've got my fingers crossed for December. Wish us luck!

[buddylover]

So sorry to hear about your experience. We were on the Miracle in Feb, but being non-smokers, none of the smoking issues faced us. We too did notice severe cutbacks in entertainment.....we truly miss the lido deck steel drum bands (reggae) the most. It was true on our cruise as well that the atrium which used to "buzz" with action was rather dead with only a single pianist or singer....very boring. The shows were very poor and "old" on the Miracle, my sons walked out just about every night. We all used to love the shows after dinner. We too found the food to be not as good as past cruises on the Miracle, but the Lido buffet was still just about the same in Feb. Wow, CCL better rethink their cutbacks....while they save some money on less entertainment and food, they are also losing GOBS of money with folks like you and us who leave shows, don't sit in the atrium, spend less time on the Lido....translating into ordering lots fewer drinks everywhere (less $$ spent) and who gamble less (also, less $$ spent)...so are they really ahead??? Only the beards know for sure!! But I think it is "penny wise and pound FOOLISH" towards the bottom line.

[micro yaya]

we cruise 3-4 times a year and many different lines. it was two years with-out carnival until the dream. we have been on her three times this year, and always had a blast. the booze thing is about a year old. you must have missed when they tried to get you to go pick it up in the morning of debarkation, and then changed it so platinum could pick up the last night, so be happy he could get his booze after 7p.m :) we see the cut backs, but go with the flow you'll love the dream, at least we did. just don't freak out at the size of the pools :) you might rethink the smoking thing, because there's limited smoking in the casino on the dream too, :) and after 12/1 you can't smoke in any room except the balcony rooms :( too bad for the non smokers in the balcony rooms , so have a great cruise bye ( haven't had a smoke in 16 years:) )

[pe4all]

While we did notice some cut-backs on Miracle on our August cruise, the buffet was open for dinner - albeit with a smaller selection of food - but it had the same main courses as the dining room. Interesting to hear they close the buffet at night - it still had food out around 9-9:30 pm, cause that was when we would get hungry and stop for a "second dinner!"

[Gayle V]

just don't freak out at the size of the pools :) )

 

Hello Micro yaya : What's this about the size of the pools?

 

And about that lido being closed for dinner: Is that the new policy fleetwide?

[finsupcruiser]

We were on Miracle Oct 17-25 Lido buffet was open at night with many of same items as MDR.

 

I too was disappointed in the casino. I also play video poker and I smoke.

 

Spoke with casino host who was not much help. They have removed many of the machines on one side to put in table games.

 

Casino was very different from March 2010.

 

After our two booked cruises we are leaving CCL for NCL

[golfadj]

While we did notice some cut-backs on Miracle on our August cruise, the buffet was open for dinner - albeit with a smaller selection of food - but it had the same main courses as the dining room. Interesting to hear they close the buffet at night - it still had food out around 9-9:30 pm, cause that was when we would get hungry and stop for a "second dinner!"

 

In Sept on the Miracle they had a nice buffet laid out plus sandwiches and pizza.

[cruisenanny]

Lido had the buffet for dinner when we were on the Miracle a few weeks ago...

We thought the cruise, ship, entertainment & food was excellent considering the price we paid (just under 1k pp for an OS) If I had paid double that on another line of course I would expect a bit more, it is what it is.. We enjoyed the comedy club at night VERY much, so that went a long way towards our overall satisfaction..

Hope your Dream cruise is better!:)

[airmj2123]

Hello Micro yaya : What's this about the size of the pools?

 

And about that lido being closed for dinner: Is that the new policy fleetwide?

 

The pools are quite small and the ship is quite large. There are a lot of hot tubs which somewhat makes up for this fact.

 

In March, there was a wide selection for dinner in the lido with a decent amount of the menu items from the main dinning room.

 

Entertainment on the Dream is far superior to that on the Miracle IMHO. I have been on both in last 12 months.

[Pogo748]

At night the options for the buffet were: the pizza station, the deli station, the grill and when I did not see the buffet listed, I asked a manager during lunch if the buffet was open for dinner and was told that no, I should see the amount of food that was wasted and the only ones winning at that were the fishes!

[SkyMaster]

We sail a LOT, and I noticed the very worst entertainment, and changes aboard "Miracle". I don't know if it's just that CD and his staff, or why it's so much worse on "Miracle" than the other ships,,,but it is!

 

"SKY"

[Willbcruisin]

We sailed Miracle in April out of FLL and June out of NYC. We had a fabulous time both cruises. Then again we always have a fabulous time when we cruise. Sorry to hear of your disappointing experience.

[VickiD59]

We cruised the Miracle July 2010, and we'll be doing a repeat cruise July 2012. We picked this sailing as it's convenient to our home (no flying) and for the cruise-line choices leaving out of NYC, we much prefered the ports the Miracle offers to the Eastern Caribbean. Yes, the destinations are important to us, I couldn't imagine never getting off the ship. By the time we reached our first port of San Juan on sea day 3, we were itchin ready for dry land.

She's not a big ship compared to the others, so after three days we knew pretty much ever nook and cranny, but we were never bored by her. And I loved the nightly shows in the Phantom Lounge. Now I had never seen any of them before, so if they were the same ones for the last 5+ years or so, I was none the wiser. Now if they're all the exact same ones again when we sail next summer (and chances are they will), I'll be a little disappointed, but then we're sailing with a big group of friends that haven't see them, so we'll enjoy them through their eyes I suppose.

We aren't smokers, so we weren't frustrated by the lack of places to smoke AND have fun at the same time.

I think you may have hit the Lido at a time where they may have been in-between setting up for dinner. I know they have hot dinner food; usually it's very similar to what the specials are in the MDR each night. I know we passed through on our way back to our cabins around 5:30ish and they were still setting up, and they had trays covering the food stations. We had the late MDR seating and were looking for a little somethin' to tied us over, but we often found nothing ready yet.

I love the Miracle and feel badly that you had a less than wonderful experience :( it's not usual that you read anything negative about this ship on these CC boards. I look forward to July when we sail again, and eagerly await her "spruce up" that she's getting in January.

Happy sails on all your future cruises :)

[F22Smitty]

We were on the same cruise and the Lido buffet was open every night from 6 PM until 9:30 PM with almost the same menu as the MDR.

 

The casino entertainment was the worst I have heard in 20+ cruises. ARI has got to go. He is over powering and can't old a tune.

 

The Sports Bar was totally empty except for the weekend and Monday night when football was on.

 

The non-smoking section of the casino bar was also empty along with the non-smoking cocktail tables in front of the bar.

 

Yes it is true that Frankenstein lounge, which is a smoking lounge was empty during the day without a ashtray in sight.

 

We did have a blast on this cruise and yes you can find the Carnival cutbacks if you look, but overall, it was a great cruise.

 

PS: By the way, THE MEATLOAF SUCKS. I had it at the Lido buffet and it was not good at all.

[Sensenigr]

I just got off the Miracle on Nov. 10th. I am a platinum member and so is my husband. We travelled with a couple that are fairly new to cruising. I have cruised Carnival exclusively for the last several years because I so adore their ships and their personnel. I'm the one who talked cruises to anyone. I think it is the best vacation I can take.

 

Until the Miracle. I don't know if it is just this ship or fleetwide but I was really disappointed for the first time. I have read with interest other threads about the cutbacks in place and now I have experienced them. It did not enhance my cruise.

 

My husband and I stay on the ship the entire cruise. That is our choice. We like the ship when everyone else is in port. I have all I would ever need in terms of shopping and we go for the beauty of the seas. Most of the time, while in port, we will go to the Sports Bar and look out the window or at soccer..trying to understand the game. We smoke and that is a nice place to do our thing.

 

The sports bar is no longer smoking but another bar next door was. No big deal. However, when we went there, no one was in there and there were no ashtrays. That's a first. No matter where we went, if we were in port, ashtrays were not provided indoors. Ok..routine changed...we smoked on our balcony in the heat or up on the lido deck where it was hot, loud and crowded.

 

There is a more restrictive smoking policy in the casino. I accept that. However, I only play video poker and it was the only game that did not offer machines in a smoking area. Unfair!! I am willing follow the rules but give me a break. I will be addressing this issue with Ocean Players Club when I get home. The casino also turned a "blind eye" after the first night and people were smoking everywhere. Yes...non-smoking included. I ended up at the end of the week with about half of the points that I normally earn.

 

Went to lunch in Lido and found few choices if you did not like fast food. The chinese line was there everyday and the only other choice was the "nation of the day" at other 2 lines. No hot "american food" was offered. I was not impressed. I ate at the grill 3 times, the deli once and the pizza station once. I also went to the main dining room and it was good but not really my thing for lunch. This is not the Carnival that I am use to.

 

Also, the lido buffet at night is no more. So, if you have young kids who don't want to sit for 2 hours in the dining room, you get fast food. Whatever the reason, you can no longer eat dinner in the lido. Every cruise I have taken, sometime during that cruise, I chose to hit the lido for dinner. The reason stated was there was too much wasted food. My answer to that is cook less food! If you run out of something people will make another choice but don't take the whole thing away!

 

Live entertainment....poor and none. My activities at night are in the casino and the hypnotist. Our main form of music in the casino was an accoustic guitarist. I could see his mouth moving and him strumming but heard no sound. That was the first night. The second night, he got a mike but we all found out soon enough, he wasn't any good! I am use to a loud band that people danced to, sang to, tapped their feet to but not "Kum Ba Ya" man. Only 1 night was there 1 person with all the band sounds and he wasn't bad. He sang songs that we knew and we were singing the song as we played our machines but he wasn't a great band!

 

The one man band guy played in the atrium and another night a man played piano but it was quiet as a church and only a few people sat in the atrium to listen. I am used to walking by there and the place would be jumping. They have started using the passengers to entertain the passengers. Karioke(?) took place outside the main dining room and a few of the passengers sang better than the paid staff!

 

This is not the Carnival I know and love. Our friends who joined us did go to the shows at night and the husband finally got so bored that he went to the room at night to read a book and they are a very fun couple! I was embarrassed that I had recommended this cruise and I felt I needed to apologize.

 

My husband and I are going on the Dream in December so I will be comparing the 2 cruises. If the Dream has the same cutbacks as seen and felt on the Miracle then I feel that Carnival will force me to go back to the other cruiselines. I don't want to but bottom line is you do spend quite a bit on money for these vacations and Carnival needs to remember their customers and not their bottom line.

 

The last insult was the final night when my husband went to buy his going home booze around 5pm. In the past, he has simply purchased the bottle and taken it back to his room. Not this time. He was told he could come back at 7pm and then he would be allowed to take it. What about packing? We have never encountered this before and my husband simply walked out without buying anything. Besides, he found the prices cheaper at Spec's liquor. I am afraid that booze is no longer the bargain it once was.

 

I've got my fingers crossed for December. Wish us luck!

 

 

I typically respect the fact that everyone has a right to there own opinion; however, I would like to point out a few complete inaccuracies in the account above, as I was on the exact same sailing.

 

#1 - American Food was offered at lunch. There are six lido buffet lines for lunch, 2 American, 2 Nation of the Day, Chinese, and Deli. ++ Pizza. Plentiful American Food was offered in 2 lines every lunch.

 

#2 - The Lido Buffet is alive and well in the evening. AND BUSY! We choose to eat in the dining room every night; however, the above is completely false! The Lido buffet is open every night from 5:00 to some point after 9:00 and then open up again for a late night buffet until 1:00am.

 

#3 - There is a TON of entertainment at all hours in the evening. Shows, comedy, karaoke, LIVE MUSIC in 6 different venues. The FunTimes showed that Live Music was available in six different venues in the evening.

 

Again, I love opinions; however, I won't tolerate false information. I loved this cruise.

[ZoeyVictoria]

I love the Miracle and feel badly that you had a less than wonderful experience :( it's not usual that you read anything negative about this ship on these CC boards. I look forward to July when we sail again, and eagerly await her "spruce up" that she's getting in January.

Happy sails on all your future cruises :)

 

Can you tell me exactly when the "spruce up" is scheduled? Thanks.

[kicia]

The dry dock is scheduled for 1/13/12 - 1/27/12.

 

Plans for 2012 Dry-dock

 

Routine hotel maintenance

Cosmetic enhancements such as new carpeting, reupholstering, wall coverings, tile work, lighting in lounges and public areas

· ADA compliant modifications will be made to a suite

 

· Addition of Serenity “Adults-Only” area

 

· Replacing TVs with flat-screen TVs in every stateroom

[big_duck]

after 12/1 you can't smoke in any room except the balcony rooms :( too bad for the non smokers in the balcony rooms , so have a great cruise bye ( haven't had a smoke in 16 years:) )

 

This is an inaccurate statement. All staterooms will be non-smoking. Smoking including cigars is allowed on the balconies themselves.

[princess di44]

Was on the same cruise and had a great time. Lido was open for all meals. We really enjoyed the beatles tribute show and the hypnotist, and comedians we saw. I thought it had about the same amount of activities as previous cruises i had been on. The only thing i can say, is that i didn't feel like the service around the ship was as good as previous cruises. It wasn't bad, but, not up to the standards of others i have been on. Never met our room steward the whole cruise, but then again, our room was always spotless, so no complaints there. Our mdr service could have been a bit better, but then again, it wasnt bad, and still enjoyed ourselves. The miracle is a beautiful ship, and i would sail on her again in a heartbeat.

[noslen3333]

I feel I need to reply to the "inaccurate" report by me. I was at the Lido for lunch everyday but one when I went to the main dining room. There are 4 corner buffets in the lido..one at each corner. One corner was chinese..1 corner was the deli...2 corners were the "nation of the day" so where is this American food you speak of? I am not counting pizza or the grill or the salad line. Maybe I missed something but I did look and walked every foot of the lido.

 

The fun times never listed the lido buffet at night with dining times. That is the reason I asked a manager. On all of our 20 plus cruises, the fun times has always listed the alternate buffet on the lido. It did not this time.

[near the beach]

We have sailed on the Miracle twice so far. It is our favorite ship that we have been on. Best staff. Best shows. Best food. It has been a while since we have been on the Miracle. However we will be back on the Miracle in 74 days and see for ourselves. We are sailing the first cruise right out of dry dock. The Miracle may lose one of the three pools with the addition of the Serenity area.

[NCTribeFan]

I love the Miracle. When I sailed the 2nd time, I had an interesting conversation with the young man at the excursion desk (I was there to sign up for the Behind the Fun tour). I told him it was my 2nd time on the ship and how I loved the layout SO MUCH MORE than Carnival's other ships.

 

He said that there was really a lot of competition by crew and staff to get assigned to that ship (and the other Spirit-class ships, but the Miracle was tops) simply because the ship ran exactly as it was designed to run, and that made everything more pleasant for everyone involved - crew, staff and passengers.

 

On my recent Glory cruise, I really didn't see any cutbacks other than that there are fewer head waiters, but I knew that because I'd read about it here.

 

I don't eat in the buffet. I eat a deli sandwich or, on that ship, fish & chips. I get The World's Best Hot Dog for my mid-afternoon snack.

 

So, if you don't want the food in the buffet line, and you want dining-room food, why not eat in the dining room? :confused:

 

The vast majority of the casino was still smoking on Glory - too much so for this asthmatic!

 

I'm also Platinum, and the only reason I'm considering moving away from Carnival is because they do not offer any break for solo cruisers. That and the fact that they insist on shoving the FUN FUN FUN down your throat to the point that it's nearly impossible to find anywhere to just relax other than in your cabin.

 

And I'm really getting tired of people whining about cutbacks. HELLO?!?!? Maybe no one has noticed that EVERYTHING costs more these days! EVERYTHING! So, would you rather Carnival tried to keep their fares low or would you rather they kept everything exactly as it has always been but have to drastically raise prices.

 

It's simply economics, people. If someone doesn't understand it, I'm sure there is plenty of basic econ available online. When your costs rise, you have two options - raise prices or cut back somewhere to keep your costs steady.

 

Seriously. How difficult is that to comprehend? :rolleyes:

[VickiD59]

Can you tell me exactly when the "spruce up" is scheduled? Thanks.

As per speculation, the "spruce up" will be sometime in mid-January (if you look at the schedule you'll notice theres a week or so without a sailing), and it's rumoured.. ALLEGEDLY.. that MAYBE.. possibly... that it MIGHT be the installation of a Serenity Deck area; also a little polishing, dusting and cleaning I'm guessing. But ya didn't hear it from me ;)

[F22Smitty]

 

The fun times never listed the lido buffet at night with dining times. That is the reason I asked a manager. On all of our 20 plus cruises, the fun times has always listed the alternate buffet on the lido. It did not this time.

 

Well what can I say except you missed it. It is listed in every Fun Times as Alternative Dinning on the back of the tear off section.

 

Nov 7th, St. Kitts:

Seaview Bistro, 6 Pm - 9:30 PM, Horatio's 9 Aft

Seaview Deli, 11AM - 11PM, Horatio's 9 Aft

Late Night Bistro, 11:30PM - 1:00AM, Lido 9 Aft

[Sensenigr]

I feel I need to reply to the "inaccurate" report by me. I was at the Lido for lunch everyday but one when I went to the main dining room. There are 4 corner buffets in the lido..one at each corner. One corner was chinese..1 corner was the deli...2 corners were the "nation of the day" so where is this American food you speak of? I am not counting pizza or the grill or the salad line. Maybe I missed something but I did look and walked every foot of the lido.

 

The fun times never listed the lido buffet at night with dining times. That is the reason I asked a manager. On all of our 20 plus cruises, the fun times has always listed the alternate buffet on the lido. It did not this time.

 

There are 6 corners to the Lido Buffet, plus pizza and grill/salad. The American corners were the two corners that faced the outside part of the restaurant (Lido) near the mid-ship pool.

 

The Lido Buffet at night is listed under Dinner, then "Alternative Dining". It is listed as Seaview Bistro and Late Night Snacks and it gives the location as "9 Aft"