Miracle Review 4/28-5/6 Grand Turk, HMC, Nassau

[mamagina]

Just came back last Sunday with the full of intent of writing a review immediately and the week just got away from me. I wanted to do it fast so I wouldn’t forget anything because out of 32 cruises, this was one of the best we’ve ever been on! We really thought we knew what we were going to get and we were pleasantly surprised. The entire cruise exceeded our expectations. We really loved the layout of this ship. We have only been on this type Carnival ship one other time—the Spirit to Alaska when we didn’t have such a great time because we had an aft balcony cabin that had plumbing problems! The new Serenity area is wonderful. We were able to use it pretty much whenever we wanted, with chair hogs at a minimum. For the price, we had a really nice cabin (5114—extended balcony) which served our purposes without going “overboard” J! The food was high quality, delicious and plentiful—although we did miss the free cappuccino in the dining room (now $2.50) and the escargot. Getting on and off in NYC was completely painless. The ports were just perfect for us because we just wanted to relax although I could see someone being disappointed if they were looking for a lot of sightseeing or they were not beach or water people. The crowd was very friendly and we really never felt crowded or delayed anywhere or when trying to do anything. I don’t think we ever waited for an elevator. One of our favorite new things was the Comedy Brunch. While the comedy during the brunch just made you chuckle, the food was excellent and the timing was perfect. The dining room was open for brunch on sea days from 9:00am-1:30pm with a very extensive brunch menu with everything you could imagine including filet mignon and eggs. I will try to scan a copy of the menu in. We were able to sleep late and still go to the dining room for “breakfast” at noon or 1:00pm! We wnt all four sea days when it was offered. We did enjoy the last two comedians during their night, rated “R” performances. Now for the details for those who want to read them. I’ll also answer any questions.

Day 1—This cruise was just my husband and I, both 51. We love cruises and have been addicted since our honeymoon 27 years ago. Just because of timing and pricing (and a few very rowdy Carnival cruises in the past) we have not cruised on Carnival since 2006 even though we are Platinum. This cruise was the right week at the right price, leaving from a port we did not have to fly to. We live in NJ, about 45 minutes from the city. We were going to take a bus to the Port Authority but we were lucky to be dropped off by friends who were going into the city for the afternoon. We arrived at the port about 1:00pm with one 24” rolling suitcase each and a shoulder bag for each of us. In my shoulder tote bag, I had a folding beach umbrella (which we carried into the ports but never used) and a half-gallon cooler jug which we filled with ice and water and used everyday! We had no problem taking them on. An aside here about packing: Even though we packed light, we still took too much. My husband brought a suit jacket, dress pants and tie. Even on the “Elegant Nights” most men just wore dress shirts and pants with no jacket or tie, and during the day we pretty much just wore our bathing suits so we both came home with untouched tee shirts and shorts. Bring half of what you think you need! Also, we had laundry service, which we wound up using twice so we really could have taken a quarter of what we brought! We wanted to just wheel our own luggage on board but we were stopped by the first Carnival rep who said she had to measure our suitcases. I told her that they were 24” and that was what was allowed to “carry-on.” She looked at our boarding pass which said we were VIPs (we are Platinum) and I said I was sure it was OK to wheel them on because we have been on many cruises and she said "OK" kind of throwing her hands up in the air at us! LOL.

When we got to the boarding area there was a line snaking back and forth about three times but we could go into the VIP lounge which was empty—two counters were open and we just got our keys and walked on. Our cabin was ready and we dumped our stuff, literally about 1:10pm and headed down to the dining room expecting to eat lunch there. We were disappointed that the dining room was closed for lunch. We hate to go to the buffet on embarkation day but we went up to deck 9 and were pleasantly surprised to find no lines. We got some sandwiches from the deli, some Chinese food (delish) and some fruit. (BTW, LOVE THE DELI—I probably had 6 Rubens, four or five mozzarella and roasted pepper sandwiches and all the bagels and lox you could eat during the week! If they ever get rid of the deli, I’m jumping ship). We found a window seat by asking to share a table with a very lovely couple, also from NJ and had a excellent lunch with pleasant conversation. Our new friends didn’t even see the deli so they were happy we sat with them and went and got these gigantic pastrami sandwiches.

Next we decided to explore the ship going out to the back of deck 9 to the Serenity area. Looking at it, we figured that this would be the last time we would get a lounge there, but as I said above, we were pleasantly surprised that the chair hogs were at a minimum on this cruise and we got to use it quite a bit. It is so nice that it is FREE as opposed to Princess where they charge you to use their equivalent and where the other "free" lounge chairs are really crappy. Really, there were chairs available all cruise long and you could sit where you wanted. We really liked the layout of the ship with everything mostly on decks 2 & 3. Having a cabin on deck 5, we were never far from either the inside stuff below or the outside areas and the buffet on 9. We were really able to see the whole ship and then we decided to see if we could get chairs in the Serenity area. "Serenity Now" (from Seinfeld) There were plenty and we hung out there and took some pictures until we were called for the lifeboat drill. We didn’t have to bring lifejackets. Nice. But the drill was a little long and it was stuffy and warm all lined up on deck 3 (all the kids got cranky and fell asleep) but at least it was not as hot as it would have been in Florida! After the drill we met up with our roll call group back on the aft deck. Not too many showed so we took some lounge chairs till sail away. The sail away was delayed because they were still loading food on and we also saw them bringing on mattresses. (Later on in Grand Turk we saw them off loading mattresses-- Were they the new ones? The old ones? A mystery???)

For sail away we went to the very front of deck 9 because it was really windy and there is glass there. Just amazing to pass the Freedom Tower which was just about to become the tallest building in NYC that week, pass the Statute of Liberty and pass under the Verrazano bridge. I grew up in Brooklyn near the dockyards directly across from the Statue of Liberty so I saw it every day but it is still a thrill to sail past it on a cruise ship. Nothing says “vacation” like leaving NYC in your wake. We seemed to have AT&T cell phone service for quite a while past the bridge so we made some phone calls and by then the buffet was open for dinner so we went to check it out for a pre-dinner snack before our 8:15 assigned seating. We pretty much sized up dinner every day by checking out the buffet. We noticed that except for a few items, the buffet pretty much had the same offerings as the served dinner including shrimp and prime rib. There was no lobster tail however! There was sushi every night and we had some plus a little prosciutto and melon from the buffet at about 6 or so. Such a nice treat! We also checked out the new Taste Bar a few times. You got a little "nibble" of something that they were featuring plus about a table spoon of some sort of soup. It was just OK. People liked it because they had a featured drink to go with the snack at only $5.

Our assigned table for dinner was a table for six but we were the only ones who showed up the first night. We kind of enjoyed eating alone so we asked to be moved to a table for two figuring it would be awkward to ask to move if the other people did show up. We were assigned a new table for two, the second night by getting a note inour cabin.The waiter the first night and our new waiter all the other nights always asked several times whether we wanted more or an additional entrée or appetizer. Dinner was excellent every night, with my husband having at least two of the offerings and one to three appetizers. We both had two lobster tails on the second night! My only complaint about the dining room was the décor! What on earth were they thinking? For a Carnival ship most of the public areas were actually calmly decorated. The dining room however is a hoot! Purple grape lights everywhere you look. Actually quite disturbing.

After dinner we walked around the ship checking out some of the different areas. There was only one show that night at 10:30. We wound up not going, planning to go to the comedy show afterwards. We never made it there either and just called it an early night and went to the cabin to watch Saturday Night Live. We caught the end of the Washington Correspondents dinner with Jimmy Kimmel and Obama and it was funnier! We actually never made it to any of the production shows all week—we peeked in a few nights but we heard from many people that the shows were very good, especially the Beatles revue (Generations) on night 2.

Tired now. To be continued. And I will try to post photos.

[dave05218]

I am enjoying your review already

[vivavegas]

Nice review! Can't wait to read more. Keep it coming! Thanks...:)

[BigDogCT]

Very nice and an enjoyable read.

 

We will be on that cruise in 10 days so this is very timely for me.

 

Thank you for posting.

[susie8862]

Great review....cannot wait to read more.....:o

[reerun25]

Enjoying the review so far!!

[LBumb]

nice job

[pbmsmile]

nice job

Nice review so far, lookng forward to reading more :)

[VickiD59]

The purple grapes are because Bacchus is the god of wine. We had a large group and our table was off to the far left side in the Ariadne room (Bacchus' wife). No hanging grapes in there... felt so left out ;)

[Monaco02]

Great review! I've been anxiously waiting for a Miracle review :)

[rcoaster809]

This is getting me very excited for my June cruise! Can you tell me who the assistant cruise director is? The one last summer who introduced the comedy shows was over the top.

[susie8862]

WAKE UP....WE WANT MORE.....:eek:

[DentL]

great review so far! Can't wait until we hear more... this is getting me even more excited for our cruise!

[kparc]

"Purple grape lights everywhere you look. "

Purple grape lights! That's it, I'm cancelling my cruise!:D

[LizaMM]

YEAH!!!! A Miracle out of NYC review!!!! I am so excited!

 

It is nice to hear that you were able to get lounge chairs on Serenity and about the Brunch. These are 2 things I am looking forward to.

 

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

P.S....photos would be super-fantastic ;)

[daniella1279]

THIS is what I have been waiting for! So Excited!!

[mamagina]

OK. I'm up. Went to a much needed Weight Watchers meeting after the cruise and I am going to try to post some pictures. Will write later. Too beautiful outside and MIL is here for the weekend so we are going out for a loooooong walk! :)

Serenity NOW:

[mamagina]

Freedom Tower:

 

Cabin 5114:

 

[Proudmom1120]

I was also on this cruise. The assistant cruise director was Brandon. He was fantastic. He also sang at the Legends show. He was great. It was a wonderful ship and a great crew.

[mamagina]

Grand Turk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks threatening but it never rained. Actually turned out to be a beautiful day. Delicious breeze!

[mamagina]

OK! more later. going for a walk now! Too gorgeous to be looking at a computer screen!

[mamagina]

I was also on this cruise. The assistant cruise director was Brandon. He was fantastic. He also sang at the Legends show. He was great. It was a wonderful ship and a great crew.

 

Was he the one who was leaving? At the last Comedy Show they said goodbye to the MC and said it was his last time hosting. Maybe he was was just not hosting the comedy show anymore. He was very good.

[pugs398]

I was on this cruise, the Head Cruise Director was Malcolm, he was awesome. I believe he left the ship when we got off, to take a couple months of vacation. So there is a new CD, not sure if Brandon stuck around too.

[VickiD59]

Could only hope that Malcolm left the ship... we had him last time and didn't care for him. He was barely visible.. only saw him emcee the shows at night; never saw or heard him beyond that. It would be nice to have someone different this time.

[RanDale]

Just came back last Sunday with the full of intent of writing a review immediately and the week just got away from me. I wanted to do it fast so I wouldn’t forget anything because out of 32 cruises, this was one of the best we’ve ever been on! We really thought we knew what we were going to get and we were pleasantly surprised. The entire cruise exceeded our expectations. We really loved the layout of this ship. We have only been on this type Carnival ship one other time—the Spirit to Alaska when we didn’t have such a great time because we had an aft balcony cabin that had plumbing problems! The new Serenity area is wonderful. We were able to use it pretty much whenever we wanted, with chair hogs at a minimum. For the price, we had a really nice cabin (5114—extended balcony) which served our purposes without going “overboard” J! The food was high quality, delicious and plentiful—although we did miss the free cappuccino in the dining room (now $2.50) and the escargot. Getting on and off in NYC was completely painless. The ports were just perfect for us because we just wanted to relax although I could see someone being disappointed if they were looking for a lot of sightseeing or they were not beach or water people. The crowd was very friendly and we really never felt crowded or delayed anywhere or when trying to do anything. I don’t think we ever waited for an elevator. One of our favorite new things was the Comedy Brunch. While the comedy during the brunch just made you chuckle, the food was excellent and the timing was perfect. The dining room was open for brunch on sea days from 9:00am-1:30pm with a very extensive brunch menu with everything you could imagine including filet mignon and eggs. I will try to scan a copy of the menu in. We were able to sleep late and still go to the dining room for “breakfast” at noon or 1:00pm! We wnt all four sea days when it was offered. We did enjoy the last two comedians during their night, rated “R” performances. Now for the details for those who want to read them. I’ll also answer any questions.

Day 1—This cruise was just my husband and I, both 51. We love cruises and have been addicted since our honeymoon 27 years ago. Just because of timing and pricing (and a few very rowdy Carnival cruises in the past) we have not cruised on Carnival since 2006 even though we are Platinum. This cruise was the right week at the right price, leaving from a port we did not have to fly to. We live in NJ, about 45 minutes from the city. We were going to take a bus to the Port Authority but we were lucky to be dropped off by friends who were going into the city for the afternoon. We arrived at the port about 1:00pm with one 24” rolling suitcase each and a shoulder bag for each of us. In my shoulder tote bag, I had a folding beach umbrella (which we carried into the ports but never used) and a half-gallon cooler jug which we filled with ice and water and used everyday! We had no problem taking them on. An aside here about packing: Even though we packed light, we still took too much. My husband brought a suit jacket, dress pants and tie. Even on the “Elegant Nights” most men just wore dress shirts and pants with no jacket or tie, and during the day we pretty much just wore our bathing suits so we both came home with untouched tee shirts and shorts. Bring half of what you think you need! Also, we had laundry service, which we wound up using twice so we really could have taken a quarter of what we brought! We wanted to just wheel our own luggage on board but we were stopped by the first Carnival rep who said she had to measure our suitcases. I told her that they were 24” and that was what was allowed to “carry-on.” She looked at our boarding pass which said we were VIPs (we are Platinum) and I said I was sure it was OK to wheel them on because we have been on many cruises and she said "OK" kind of throwing her hands up in the air at us! LOL.

 

When we got to the boarding area there was a line snaking back and forth about three times but we could go into the VIP lounge which was empty—two counters were open and we just got our keys and walked on. Our cabin was ready and we dumped our stuff, literally about 1:10pm and headed down to the dining room expecting to eat lunch there. We were disappointed that the dining room was closed for lunch. We hate to go to the buffet on embarkation day but we went up to deck 9 and were pleasantly surprised to find no lines. We got some sandwiches from the deli, some Chinese food (delish) and some fruit. (BTW, LOVE THE DELI—I probably had 6 Rubens, four or five mozzarella and roasted pepper sandwiches and all the bagels and lox you could eat during the week! If they ever get rid of the deli, I’m jumping ship). We found a window seat by asking to share a table with a very lovely couple, also from NJ and had a excellent lunch with pleasant conversation. Our new friends didn’t even see the deli so they were happy we sat with them and went and got these gigantic pastrami sandwiches.

 

Next we decided to explore the ship going out to the back of deck 9 to the Serenity area. Looking at it, we figured that this would be the last time we would get a lounge there, but as I said above, we were pleasantly surprised that the chair hogs were at a minimum on this cruise and we got to use it quite a bit. It is so nice that it is FREE as opposed to Princess where they charge you to use their equivalent and where the other "free" lounge chairs are really crappy. Really, there were chairs available all cruise long and you could sit where you wanted. We really liked the layout of the ship with everything mostly on decks 2 & 3. Having a cabin on deck 5, we were never far from either the inside stuff below or the outside areas and the buffet on 9. We were really able to see the whole ship and then we decided to see if we could get chairs in the Serenity area. "Serenity Now" (from Seinfeld) There were plenty and we hung out there and took some pictures until we were called for the lifeboat drill. We didn’t have to bring lifejackets. Nice. But the drill was a little long and it was stuffy and warm all lined up on deck 3 (all the kids got cranky and fell asleep) but at least it was not as hot as it would have been in Florida! After the drill we met up with our roll call group back on the aft deck. Not too many showed so we took some lounge chairs till sail away. The sail away was delayed because they were still loading food on and we also saw them bringing on mattresses. (Later on in Grand Turk we saw them off loading mattresses-- Were they the new ones? The old ones? A mystery???)

 

For sail away we went to the very front of deck 9 because it was really windy and there is glass there. Just amazing to pass the Freedom Tower which was just about to become the tallest building in NYC that week, pass the Statute of Liberty and pass under the Verrazano bridge. I grew up in Brooklyn near the dockyards directly across from the Statue of Liberty so I saw it every day but it is still a thrill to sail past it on a cruise ship. Nothing says “vacation” like leaving NYC in your wake. We seemed to have AT&T cell phone service for quite a while past the bridge so we made some phone calls and by then the buffet was open for dinner so we went to check it out for a pre-dinner snack before our 8:15 assigned seating. We pretty much sized up dinner every day by checking out the buffet. We noticed that except for a few items, the buffet pretty much had the same offerings as the served dinner including shrimp and prime rib. There was no lobster tail however! There was sushi every night and we had some plus a little prosciutto and melon from the buffet at about 6 or so. Such a nice treat! We also checked out the new Taste Bar a few times. You got a little "nibble" of something that they were featuring plus about a table spoon of some sort of soup. It was just OK. People liked it because they had a featured drink to go with the snack at only $5.

 

Our assigned table for dinner was a table for six but we were the only ones who showed up the first night. We kind of enjoyed eating alone so we asked to be moved to a table for two figuring it would be awkward to ask to move if the other people did show up. We were assigned a new table for two, the second night by getting a note inour cabin.The waiter the first night and our new waiter all the other nights always asked several times whether we wanted more or an additional entrée or appetizer. Dinner was excellent every night, with my husband having at least two of the offerings and one to three appetizers. We both had two lobster tails on the second night! My only complaint about the dining room was the décor! What on earth were they thinking? For a Carnival ship most of the public areas were actually calmly decorated. The dining room however is a hoot! Purple grape lights everywhere you look. Actually quite disturbing.

 

After dinner we walked around the ship checking out some of the different areas. There was only one show that night at 10:30. We wound up not going, planning to go to the comedy show afterwards. We never made it there either and just called it an early night and went to the cabin to watch Saturday Night Live. We caught the end of the Washington Correspondents dinner with Jimmy Kimmel and Obama and it was funnier! We actually never made it to any of the production shows all week—we peeked in a few nights but we heard from many people that the shows were very good, especially the Beatles revue (Generations) on night 2.

 

Tired now. To be continued. And I will try to post photos.

 

Hi, can you scan your daily's, is it called the funville, the carnival capers? ty, going on Miracle May 30. ty, Randie from Philly