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

[Jadehenry]

Thank you so much for posting your review! We're doing that itnierary in 2 weeks and it's hard to find info!

 

I do have a couple questions, if you can remember. Do you know what time you got off the ship in Grand Turk? I'm wondering how hard it will be to get chairs at Margaritaville area and how early we need to get up!

Also, was the beach nice at Dreams?

 

Thanks!

[Mary49]

Hi, was on this same cruise with you as part of "Joans Gang". Saw you and your family many times around the ship and your son always seemed so happy.

 

Please do try the steakhouse some time, it is so worth the $30 even though you have already paid for dinner in the mdr or lido.

 

The band in Frankie and Johnnies (Music Boardwalk) was awesome (esp the keyboardist). I agree with you about it being smokey.

 

I am guessing you went to the adult comedy early in the week. I was more impressed with the 2 comics later in the week.

 

 

What specifically did you like about the keyboard player? He's a new member recently replaced in the group. Just curious. I will see them in April. I know a lot of people have commented about him. Thanks for the info.

[Regestd]

We sail on this same cruise in 6 days and loved reading your review and seeing the pictures. We'll be staying at the Bahi Mar and had planned to have dinner at Coconuts so we loved reading about it - sounds like we made a good choice.

 

There are 3 couples travelling with us this time and we have 4 balcony rooms together. We had planned to open the dividers between the rooms like we have in the past but now I'm a bit nervous after reading your comments about the "list". I have never heard of the "list" on CC or any other boards but I sure hope we aren't on it!

 

A woman at worked used to live on Grand Turk and owned the dive shop on the way to Jack's Shack so we will be stopping in there to say hi as we head to Jack's and probably back to Margaritaville for a little people watching. Your pictures of the water, and everything else, are beautiful, makes me want to be there even more.

 

We also will be doing the day pass and Dreams and appreciated hearing about your transportaion arrangements and how much you liked it. Since there will be 8 of us we can almost fill the van by ourselves. Can wait for the infinity pool and swim up bar!

 

We have a tour booked with Sonny Binns in Aruba and we've read many great things about him on CC - after that we'll probably clean up, find a place to eat (looking at Iguana Joes) and hit the casino for a bit.

 

We were going to take it easy on Curacao - walk around a bit, shop, etc. but after reading your comments we may rethink it on the ship.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your review and to post the pictures, there hasn't been much about this particular itinerary and your review was perfect timeing. I am glad you and your beautiful family had such a wonderful time. If ours is as close to as much fun as your's, I know we will have an awesome trip.

[Flatland]

The same thing happened to my family & I. We were on the 2 day to Nassau prior to the 8 day itinerary. We had our confirmed early seating for the 2 day and on the second night (last night before the 8 day cruise started) decided on a whim to find out if we would be at the same table for the following 8 days. In order to find this out I had to go speak with the maitre'd who informed me that we were assigned ATD. I said " I don't understand, this cruise was booked over a year ago with early seating confirmed" and his only response was "Yes, I know." Never did give me an explanation but did say I was lucky to talk to him about this that night because he could fix it, had it been the following day when the 8 day cruise started it probably would have not been able to resolved.

 

So, while this was a first for me, I'd be interested to know if that happened to any others on the cruise too.

 

We were pushed into anytime dining too after having reserved a year ahead of time. It happened to several hundred.

 

I took a picture of that little crab right after you did. I wondered what you were shooting! :D

 

Sure enjoy this review!

[xrayvin]

Flatland~ I was going to say my mom said 200 people had been switched from early to ATD but that seemed wrong...but I think that is correct! What did you think of ATD?

 

regestd~ I would not worry much about the list. I believe it was mostly aft balcony rooms. The main thing is they will only open a certain number so make sure it is your first stop when you get on. You will have to have at least 1 person from each room you want to connect. On our cabin crawl we went to a four room connected balcony. It was awsome! When guest service showed us the paper, it had lines to write what cabin balcony dividers were opened and at the bottom was the list of cabins they could not open. She asked someone else if this was the list they were using for our cruise (I think more to make it appear she was trying to help us) When the guy said yes, she said it is the same list they have used for a long time. I had heard about a year ago they were not opening the aft dividers but had kind of hoped that was incorrect since I had seen pictures of the whole aft being open.

Have a great time on your cruise! I think whatever you decide to do in Curacao will be good.

 

jadehenry~ Grand Turk arrival was 7am and I think we walked off about 8-8:30. I did not go to Margaritaville. Not really sure where the chairs for Margaritaville were, I think I saw the pool and stuff just not sure. DH did go in there to get a drink (a HORRIBLE $20 drink that we left) he said it was really busy but there were places to sit. (that was probably closer to 9am)

The beach at Dreams was beautiful! I wish I had walked the length of the beach just not enough time!

 

Here are a few pictures of the beach at Dreams

 

 

 

 

Jigger~ A bucket of Bud Light was 4 beers and it was $22.50. I think a bottle was $5.75 but we never bought a single bottle so that may be wrong!

 

I will keep checking for new questions!

[BJAMINGIRL]

I'm Xrayvin's Mom and was the crazy woman with the devil horns ...but just thought I would pipe in that a lot of the people we knew on the cruise did the "Irie" tour in Curacao...It sounded and looked fantastic...you might want to look into that.

 

We have been to Curacao 5 times, but next time that is the tour I want to do.

 

As far as the ATD, they told me that early dining was overbooked by 200 people due to a computer glitch.....Who did we blame before computers? It turned out alright for us.

 

I think my daughter did a great job, but thought I would add these 2 cents.

[Celandine]

great review!

 

Thanks for sharing :)

[ajhunt2]

Hi, I was curious about how your iten. was on this trip. Taking this cruise on the Freedom in April (56 days!!) and over in our roll call we are trying to figure out when our formal nights would be. Below is our iten. We pretty much figure the first one will be the first sea day but clueless on the second.

 

4/21/2012 Ft Lauderdale, FL ---- 4:00 PM

4/22/2012 Fun Day at Sea ---- ---- 4/23/2012 Grand Turk 7:00 AM 2:00 PM 4/24/2012 La Romana, Dominican Republic 9:00 AM 5:00 PM4/25/2012 Curacao 2:00 PM 11:00 PM4/26/2012 Aruba 8:00 AM 4:00 PM 4/27/2012 Fun Day at Sea ---- ---- 4/28/2012 Fun Day at Sea ---- ---- 4/29/2012 Ft Lauderdale, FL 8:00 AM ----

[w8ing2cruz]

On our cruise it was the third sea day. The night AFTER Aruba. I doubt they would make it on the last sea day as quite a few people would have packed their stuff by dinnertime.

[ajhunt2]

On our cruise it was the third sea day. The night AFTER Aruba. I doubt they would make it on the last sea day as quite a few people would have packed their stuff by dinnertime.

 

That's kinda what I was guessing. one person said that he was told the 5th night but I seriously doubt we'd have formal night on a day we're in port til 11 pm

[Regestd]

The formal nights are usually the second day at sea, and the second to the last day of your cruise. They would not have it when you are in port until late - no one would be there. We fly out tomorrow night and sail on the 1st and can't wait.

[The Grateful Dad]

TO Xrayvin

 

thegratefuldad here, from the Arubabob thread,

 

Great review, fantastic photos.

 

I wish I was going to be there sooner than next year.

 

So many great photos, I got a laugh at dd and dh with the 2 beer buckets!

In addition the homework photo with DS was funny (I felt so bad for him, but then again like my kids, how bad can we feel when they get to enjoy these great vacations on our dime!!!

 

btw- my children are now 20 and 22, they still tag along!

 

thanks a bunch

thegratefuldad Neil

[JaniceB]

Wonderful review and great pictures. I would love to do this itinerary so I was excited to read about it.

[xrayvin]

Thanks again for kind words.

 

Gratefuldad~ My plan was to write a more detailed review of Aruba in that thread. Unfortunatly I have not gotten around to it. If you have any specific questions on it, I have been watching that thread for activity as well. I love going on cruises with my parents and I am 38!

 

AJhunt~ I did not answer your question being w8ing2cruise already did. But I thought I would say that just so you did not think I was ignoring the question.

 

Hi mom! Thanks for stoping by!

[crewsweeper]

I'm Xrayvin's Mom and was the crazy woman with the devil horns ...but just thought I would pipe in that a lot of the people we knew on the cruise did the "Irie" tour in Curacao...It sounded and looked fantastic...you might want to look into that.

 

We have been to Curacao 5 times, but next time that is the tour I want to do.

 

As far as the ATD, they told me that early dining was overbooked by 200 people due to a computer glitch.....Who did we blame before computers? It turned out alright for us.

 

I think my daughter did a great job, but thought I would add these 2 cents.

Thanks MOM:p;) You really do havea great family!:)

 

Seriously xrayvin... great review; great pics, lovely family. We're doing this itinerary in November on the Breeze and I loved the pictures of all these places we've yet to go to and tips on excursions we might be interested in doing.

[xrayvin]

crewsweeper~ The Breeze will be AMAZING!! Enjoy the itinerary, it is jammed backed 4 days but those 2 Sea days at the end are wonderful.

 

It looks like I will be doing the Miracle again for a Mexico Cruise in Oct 2013. Who would have thought, good thing I liked this ship as it is the only option.