Miracle Review, Grand Turk, La Romana,Aruba, Curacao and our AFT!

[xrayvin]

We have been home for 18 days now and as I watch the snow fall outside I decided it is about time to put together a review of our Miracle Cruise! It will take a while so please be patient. I plan to include as many pictures as I can so I am uploading them as I type and hope to start this review soon.

 

Let me just say this was an AMAZING trip!

 

I will give you some background info.

Our group was myself (late 30s) DH (40) DS (7) and my parents (mid 50s) We have all cruised prior and had the great experience of VIP on this cruise! We are all from Nebraska..GO BIG RED!! We did alot of chatting with the Miracle Waiters on CC prior so even though it was just the 5 of us..we are somewhat part of a BIG GROUP!!

 

We flew into FL on Friday afternoon, so we had Friday night and all day Sat to enjoy Ft Lauderdale. Our cruise was 8 days long Sun(1-29-12) to Mon(2-6-12) We had stops in Grand Turk, La Romana, Aruba, Curacao with 3 seadays (1 prior to any stops and 2 at the end)

 

I am not a professional photographer and the pictures are just that..memories to carry with us!

 

If anyone has specific questions I will gladly answer them if I am able to. I know there are ALOT of reviews on here for this cruise so I hope I will have something new to offer you.

 

I hope everyone enjoys my review and I will get started on at least embarktion after lunch!

[AmandaKaye79]

Finally, I've been waiting to see some reviews with these specific ports.

[sarahleebones]

Can't wait to read it!

[Lady_Jag]

Finally, I've been waiting to see some reviews with these specific ports.

 

Can't wait to read it!

 

Ditto both of these statements! :D

[momof4boys]

Can't wait to read this!!

[xrayvin]

Here we go!!

Lets start with our hotel

our room (including roll away)

our view from our balcony

DS on the balcony

We had 2 free rooms at the Hyatt Pier 66 hotel. It was such a beautiful hotel, I would stay there always if I could! We had 2 deluxe lanai rooms overlooking the pool/gardens with balconies that connected. It beautiful views and everything was perfect.

This area is close to the 17th street bridge that overlooks all the Cruise Ships. As we arrived Friday afternoon we were able to watch the Miracle leave on its short 2 day, knowing we would be on her in just a few days!

 

 

We took an open air electric car thingy to Coconuts for dinner that night. What a blast! It is slow but very enjoyable.

Coconuts was very yummy and we even were able to get a few sunset shots as we waited for our table.

DS tried oysters for the first time. He said he really liked them but they had rocks or something in them..lol! After a great dinner, we walked around and just enjoyed being on vacation.

　

On sat am we did a tour through the hotel to Holiday Park to see gators. This was not a wise decision as all the cruise ships were in and doing their excursions here! It was soooo busy. But we had a great time, saw some gators and enjoyed the warm weather.

　

That night we decided to eat at 15th street Fishery, we took a taxi over there without any reservations. I have no idea where our heads were, SAT NIGHT, 5 PEOPLE, 7PM NO RESERVATIONS!!!! After we were dropped off we found out it would be at least 1 ½ . We decided to walk somewhere else. After about 2 hours we finally found a small café type place called Joes. It was home cooked food, good but not seafood. Oh well, we were on VACATION!!

[JennLuvs2Cruise]

I'll be sailing this itinerary on the Freedom in July - Really looking forward to this review to see what you thought of the ports! :-)

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xrayvin]

Sunday…time to get on the ship. We had arranged for a shuttle through the hotel, it was $7 pp I believe. We planned to leave at 10:30 that way if they made us wait to fill the shuttle it would hopefully not be after 11am. But we did not have to wait and we were standing in line before 11am. As I mentioned before, we were able to use the VIP line and that was so cool. We sat till our name was called, checked in and headed into the ship. I believe it was 11:30 at the latest and we were on. It actually moved so fast I did not have time to see what time it was. The ship as almost empty when we got on..and I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty the Miracle was.

 

We found a place by the pool to put our carry on bags, DH and dad ordered their first of many buckets of beer, and DS hit the pool!

Before I knew it, it was time to sail!

 

We found our spot on deck 10 (actually we ended up going to deck 11) aft and prepared to wave goodbye to all our friends and family watching the webcam!

The camera for the webcam marked with a flag!

[NeuroQueen]

Enjoying your review so far. You sound just like us. We always stay at the Hyatt Pier 66 and go to 15th st fishery. So sorry you couldn't eat there. That little shuttle is so cute. Did the hotel call it for you? I've never seen it before. Will have to try Coconuts on our next visit. Keep up the great work!!!

[xrayvin]

Thanks everyone!

 

NeuroQueen~We really enjoyed the hotel, I hope we can stay there again and next time I will definatly try the 15th st Fishery. Definatly try Coconuts SO YUMMY!! As for the car, it was just sitting outside (they had just dropped off someone and since it is electric he was saving battery and hoping to find someone who wanted a ride) We were actually going to go somewhere else to eat but it was across the bridge and that car can not go over the bridge. We were getting his number so we could call him for a sightseeing ride, when he suggested Coconuts. I am glad we took his suggestion.

 

Now here are some pictures of the ship. They will be kind of random as I took them throughout the week, and I dont have all areas.

 

Serenity Area, the only time it wasn't busy. Also the only time we were back here!

 

The Disco, Frankenstein's Lab

[xrayvin]

Mad Hatter's Lounge

 

Jeezes Lobby Lounge

 

Sam's Piano Bar

 

Yellow Brick Road

[xrayvin]

The Phantom Theater (actually just the outside of it) I thought the Theater was beautiful. Loved the enterance areas.

sitting on top level of theater

This is the only picture you can take at the shows. It was 2nd Sea Day called "Singin' with the Big Band" and they had a part where the kids came on stage for the song Candyman. It was very cute.

 

While I am showing pictures of the Theater I decided to talk about the entertainment. I was very happy with the shows we saw. I went to the first Sea Day show called "Generations" Thought the singing was good and the Choreography was better then I had seen. "Ticket To Ride" shown on the Dominican Republic day was outstanding! We went early to make sure we had good seats, not really needed but we enjoyed the downtime with a few drinks. I Loved it and would have gone the next night if they had shown it again! Those were the only shows I attended. My parents saw others and they enjoyed all except the Comic Teaser. We did the adult Comedy show in the Mad Hatter one night and was highly disapointed! We went to all the Comedy shows on the Dream and enjoyed them all, I expected the same on the Miracle. Oh well so much to do every night so it made it easier not to have to include the comedy shows.

 

 

Horatio's Lido Restuarant. We did eat here alot. Most of your buffets, pizza, deli ect could be found here. I thought there was indian cuisine on the Miracle but sadly I was mistaken. the deli was excellent! The pizza was good but be prepared to wait and the gentelman we was there most of the time was not the friendliest of the crew. Overall we enjoyed the food and definatly never went hungry!

[jhnsnfamily]

We found our spot on deck 10 (actually we ended up going to deck 11) aft and prepared to wave goodbye to all our friends and family watching the webcam!

 

The camera for the webcam marked with a flag!

 

THANK YOU! Now I'll know where to look for our "wave" in June!!!

 

P.S. You have a handsome lil' fellow! :)

[xrayvin]

I know alot of people are just looking for pictures of the ship, as it had just been to Dry-dock. I have never seen this ship before so I can not compare it. I did think everything looked clean and fresh. I thought I would get them out of the way and then continue with my review. Of course I will include tid bits here and there!

 

The Atrium(looking down from maybe deck 9) The only pictures of the actual atrium are very blurry. I did think the atrium was beautiful.

 

this staircase (with glass stairs) connects the two levels of Horato's. Have i over used the word BEAUTIFUL yet, because once again glass staircase=beautiful!

 

Of course Nick and Nora's (never ate here don't think I should pay for food on a cruise full of food, just my opinion) It is lovely. I did do the wine pairing here. (1st sea day and definatly worth the $15)

 

Here is the Frankie & Johnnie's. It was always SO smokey in there but had great music. We would sit in the hall and listen. Had a great time. Look at the ceiling, I would not want to be in here if something was to go wrong!

 

Mr Lucky's Casino. DH spent way too much time trying to wine an Ipad and $500 cash out of a machine in here.

 

In this same area was the Sushi Bar. The first night was really good. The other nights it was your typical sushi bar like all the ships. DS LOVED it!

[mara93]

Woohoo! Finally an exotic southern review! Subscribing.

[Blondebomb]

It was great to see your pictures! Miracle was dry docked the week after we got off in Jan. We have cruised many times on different lines and felt Miracle was still in great shape. I was curious to see what they might had changed. Noticed the Madd Hatter Lounge is still the same.

 

We took both our kids with us, son(26) daughter (21). Since my husband and I don't drink, I was kind of worried about this being a New Years cruise and it would be too party- haven for us. It wasn't. Great atmosphire, only saw one guy who probably had too much to drink and security took care of him. While my kids had drinks they too don't like to being around crazy drunks, so they were happy that wasn't the case on the Miracle.

 

They did have Indian food selection when were there. I do remember that. Had excellent service from cabin to dining room.

 

My daughter and I did the horse back riding on the beach in Grand Turks. Worth the $99 we paid each. You can only book this with Carnival, I tried. They took good care of us. It was exciting and I am not a real experience horsback rider at all. The horses LOVE the water and swim with you on them!. This is not just a little ride on the waters edge.

Awesome awesome. In Aruba it was New Years day (a Sunday, everything closed) took a bus to the beach. Beautiful!!

 

Ah want to go back!

 

Susan from cold Indiana

[xrayvin]

Our Room for 8 glorious days! Cabin 4241!!

 

We had decided to splurge for an aft balcony next to my parents(they had 4232). It was wonderful. The actual room was the exact same as our past balcony room on the Dream, but the balcony was SO MUCH BETTER!! I loved the noise, that incredible sound that the wake makes. We were on Deck 4, Main, so it felt like we were close to the water.

 

We had originally booked Deck 7, but after reading some reviews decided to move to deck 4. Looked the overhang, it never felt too hot, we never had any soot, and when it rained we could sit outside and not get wet! Did I mention I LOVED our balcony?

 

The only downside was that this is a “list” and if your cabin is on “THE LIST” you will not be allowed to open the dividers between balconies. Guess what rooms showed up on that list.. Yup 4232 and 4241!! No matter how much begging we tried, no matter who we asked..those dividers can not be opened! We asked if it was possible to get 2 extra chairs on our balcony so all 4 of us could sit out together while DS was sleeping. NO PROBLEM, and after asking 2 more times, 2 more chairs appeared on our balcony. We did spend several nights having a nightcap out there, many mornings eating breakfast, and even more times just daydreaming as we watched where we had just been!

 

 

Often found DS daydreaming

 

This is the best way to start your day!

 

This picture was taken by our room steward, Ariel, from our balcony! He was a great room steward!

 

This was taken by my dad looking up from deck 3!

 

There was a door to the outside deck right by our room that went down to deck 3. It was always so windy we rarely used it this picture is DH trying to keep me from blowing away one night!

[w8ing2cruz]

Serenity Area, the only time it wasn't busy. Also the only time we were back here!

 

 

 

Lovin the review xrayvin :D AND love this pic - my kind of gal - two fisting it!!! We were on this cruise with you AND had aft cabins on deck 5 - didn't run into you though :confused:

[ibcnusoon]

Looking forward to this review with these ports. Was thinking of taking this Freedom cruise for Thanksgiving befoe deciding on Victory. We liked the ports better and the time in ports, not crazy about too many sea days.

 

Beautiful family!

[xrayvin]

That is all for tonight! I have to work tomorrow so maybe tomorrow night or Wed I will be able to continue! Thank you everyone for reading!! I am close to the ports of call!

 

Grand turk~Beach Day

La Romana~ Dreams AI

Aruba~ island tour and snorkeling with Arubabob

Curacao~ shoping and walking around

 

here is a few random pictures to say good night!

 

Room Steward Ariel

 

Following Princess out of Florida

 

Fun little port hole

 

mom getting ready to float away!

 

DS bed, which he loved...GOOD NIGHT!!

[sarahleebones]

Really enjoying your review! Love the pics and you have a beautiful family! Can't wait to read the rest!

[Flatland]

We're enjoying your review also. We were on the same cruise in an aft cabin above you on deck 8 in 8270. :D

Kev

[Noreno]

I love your family you guys are beautiful! Also i am loving the review Please come back soon. I am going to bookmark this thread to come back

[TheSailinSOB]

Looks Perfect to me! Great pics :)

[smplyblessed619]

Love, love, LOVing your review :D. You have a lovely family & thanks for taking the time to post...