Carnival Miracle 3/21/15 Photo Review of First Post Drydock cruise

[cdamion]

This particular cruise was in Puerto Vallarta from noon Tuesday – 3pm Weds with passengers able to come and go as they pleased all night long.

 

After having an issue with a tour operator not booking a tour that I paid for, I had to scramble to re-book the excursions with another company that I have used in the past (and should have stuck with). In Puerto Vallarta we decided to do a Buggy/Zip Line excursion, but needed to get ourselves downtown in order to get to the company.

 

We got off the ship and grabbed one of the taxis right at the port to get downtown. Don’t do this. Instead walk out of the port to the main street and grab a local taxi – they run cheaper and will bring you right where you need to go.

 

Despite knowing better, I grabbed a taxi at the port which brought us all to one point downtown which was about a mile from where I needed to go. The driver lied and said it was only a block away, so we had a mile stroll to get to the site, which the boys weren’t thrilled about but I enjoyed it to just look around.

 

The first thing we came across was the Papantla Bird Men that tie their feet to ropes and swing down from a tall pole on the beach. You can read more about them here: http://www.puertovallarta.net/fast_facts/the-papantla-birdmen.php

 

 

 

I would not want to be the owner of this boat:

 

 

[cdamion]

 

 

 

[cdamion]

The ride takes off from the old town part of Puerto Vallarta and heads up to Eden (?) the zip line place where Predator was filmed. Plenty of sights along the way (which I mostly couldn’t photograph because of having to keep a hand on the shifter so it wouldn’t kick out of second).

 

 

 

The photographer on the buggy in front got shots of us driving:

 

 

[wlc108]

DAY FOUR – PUERTO VALLARTA

 

We arrived in Puerto Vallarta around 11am and tucked in next to the Ruby Princess.

 

It was interesting watching how the captain could maneuver the ship into that small little spot near the Ruby Princess.

[cdamion]

 

 

We don’t have pics of the zip lining because they were VERY strict about people not having cameras so they could sell vastly overpriced photo packages. I elected to not spend money when they started out by saying it was $90 for their photos. I just walked away because it was too unreasonable.

[cdamion]

It was interesting watching how the captain could maneuver the ship into that small little spot near the Ruby Princess.

 

I don't know how the heck the Ruby Princess got out.

[cdamion]

After the buggy/zip line tour, which lasted about 4 hours we wandered a bit to one of my favorite areas in PV – Isla Cuale. Isla Cuale is an island in the middle of a stream in downtown Puerto Vallarta with restaurants and shops. You can get there via a couple of swinging bridges or else off of one of the streets.

 

 

 

 

Finally after being filthy from the dusty dune buggy ride and sweaty from the walking and shopping we headed back to the ship and caught the sunset as we got back on board.

 

[cdamion]

After we all cleaned up and relaxed a bit, the boys went to eat with friends at the buffet. I was going to eat up there too, but given the low passenger count on board in the evening, the buffet was really lacking in selection. Maybe half of the stations were open so I headed down to the main dining room for dinner where it was only 1/3 – ½ full.

 

After dinner I met a friend of a friend that lives in PV and he took me out on the town to the locals’ bars. It was an incredibly fun evening with me getting out to places I am 100% sure nobody else from the ship came anywhere close to where beers cost me 75cents to a dollar.

 

No pics of this adventure, but it was ridiculously fun and I got back to the ship around 5am or later along with crew members stumbling back in from their nights out.

 

One slice of pizza later and I was in bed out cold.

[wlc108]

I don't know how the heck the Ruby Princess got out.

 

Very true -- She disappeared and somehow another ship (HAL or NCL?) was there the next day.

[cdamion]

DAY FIVE – PUERTO VALLARTA

 

I slept in to the crack of noon today after my evening adventures. The boys were tired too from their adventures on board. This was largely a day of rest. We had lunch then just hung around the ship.

 

In port with us today is Holland America Veendam.

 

 

After shaking off some cobwebs. Lots of cobwebs. I met with the friend I was out at a bar near the ship and headed off to the grocery store to buy some rum I can’t buy in the U.S.

 

I got back on board a little while before we took off and headed up to Deck 10 to watch sailaway.

 

 

 

[cdamion]

 

 

 

[cdamion]

Tonight’s sunset was taken right from our balcony. One of my favorites. The sunsets this trip were just amazing.

 

 

In the evening I just relaxed. I went back to the cabin to change before heading out for the evening, but just went to sleep instead.

 

That’s it for now.

 

Tonight or tomorrow I will post a ton of pics from Cabo and wrap up the review.

 

Thanks to those who are still following along.

[BalzacBill]

Thank you for the review and pictures. We take the Miracle out of Long Beach in September.

A question: in most of the on board pictures you took there weren't many people. Was the ship full, or did you take pictures in the off hours? It seemed like you almost had the ship to yourself.

[Rosefloater]

The walkway was definitely crowded before the dinners with people waiting in line to get into the dining room (why do they do that?).

 

My routine was to get there about 7:30 or so and chat with the bartenders and regulars until 8:16 when the boys met me to head in without standing in line.

 

Karaoke was held down in the Mad Hatter's Ball from what I could hear - but I didn't pinpoint specifically where they were.

 

Thanks. The Mad Hatter's lounge is a much better place to have karaoke than where it used to be (where the Alchemy Bar is now).

 

I have never understood standing in line waiting for the doors to open to the Dining Room. I think people are afraid their table might be given away.:rolleyes:

[cdamion]

Thank you for the review and pictures. We take the Miracle out of Long Beach in September.

A question: in most of the on board pictures you took there weren't many people. Was the ship full, or did you take pictures in the off hours? It seemed like you almost had the ship to yourself.

 

The ship was full. The pictures are all in chronological order, so they were taken throughout the cruise. The Spirit Class ships are fantastic for not feeling crowded. Every Carnival cruise I have been on has felt crowded and a little tough to get away from crowds. Not the Miracle. During the warm sea days, the area right by the pools seemed a little crowded, but there was never a problem getting a deck chair.

 

There are enough venues that nothing ever really felt full. I heard the comedy show was crowded. Red Frog was crowded one night, but I headed to Alchemy instead.

 

Miracle is definitely my favorite Carnival ship at this point. Best design for passenger flow.

[drafterdw]

Well, where to start. I will give you guys a quick review for those that don’t really care about photos and the day-to-day tales.

 

Embarkation:

 

I simply can’t stand embarkation in Long Beach. It remains the worst place to sail from. We had FTTF and got through security around 11. Once inside the dome, they crammed us together and we ended up waiting almost an hour inside before boarding. They should have just left us outside if the ship wasn’t ready. Keep in mind there was no previous cruise because this was post drydock, so there was not a problem with getting previous passengers off the ship, which is another painfully slow process.

 

Dining:

 

Main dining room food was good across the board. There were no misses with anything I ate. Service in the dining room was just great – which is what I expect from Carnival. I was disappointed a year ago on Victory, but this time it was back to being good. Carnival continues to have the best food.

 

The buffet food was ok. The buffet on the Miracle is great because it is rather large for the smaller number of people on board the Spirit Class ships and the several different food stations. I only ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet. I did go up one evening for dinner while we were in port, but the selection was terribly poor – to be fair, very few people were on board as we were in Puerto Vallarta overnight.

 

As far as lines, they were always present, but moved pretty quickly.

 

I did not try the steak house, although people raved about it.

 

Cabins: I was in Cabin 8120 on the port side just a few doors back from the bridge. Cabin was the same as every other balcony cabin on Carnival. Despite having a passenger deck above us, I think I only heard noise one time – and it wasn’t that loud – probably a kid stomping. Very easy access to the lido deck above. I honestly prefer the lower decks and easier access to the lower decks rather than lido and will stick with those in the future. It was a quiet hallway with not a lot of traffic.

 

Room steward was fine. He was friendly enough, but pretty quiet.

 

Gym: The gym was nice all new equipment during the dry dock. (disclaimer: I did not actually use any of the equipment)

 

Cruise Director/Entertainment: Butch Begovich. He was very friendly and seemed to be at a lot of the activities – if not running them he was present when his assistant did. I do not do a ton of the group activities. He did do every single deck party when I poked my head in.

 

This particular cruise we did not get the full entertainment experience. With the 2.0 upgrades Playlist productions is supposed to have 4 shows. They only had one on this sailing, which will be the case for the first 4 post-drydock cruises. The performers are learning and rolling out a new show each week. I forget the name of the show Piano Man or something. This show had sets and props and no LED screen. The performers were good. No show band anymore, which I missed – but to be fair the audio quality was just fine. There was no sign of Suess at Sea or Hasbro productions at all.

 

Instead of the production shows, there was a horrible comedy magician one night, a hypnotist another night, and a singer another night. I did not sit through more than the beginning of any of the shows.

 

Comedians – they were popular with lines to get in the venues. I do not watch them on the ships so I can’t judge.

 

Musicians – this is where I see Carnival’s cuts the most. Compared to any other cruise line – Carnival’s music selection is very slim pickings. There was a rock band that played in Red Frog. Other than that there was a couple that played latin music (nothing compared to Boleros on RCI) and a couple of singers that played guitar. No show band. No Reggae band. No other bands – just a shoestring budget of performers.

 

Casino: Once again I spent way too much time in the casino. I just did slots this time as I felt the table minimums were too high. The casino hosts were ok. I’ve definitely had friendlier and more professional.

 

Crew: The. Best. I. Have. Experienced. Ever. This crew was just amazing. I was worried that they would be tired or disorganized after a dry dock. Not at all. They were refreshed and simply the friendliest crew I’ve ever had on a cruise. There were some slight kinks after drydock and that seemed to be the catch phrase when they had to work around something. I don’t know that I will ever experience the level of friendliness that I did this time. It reminded me of the crew on my first cruise ever – back when they were better staffed and not spread so thin.

 

Also, the captain of the ship was VERY visible. I ended up chatting with him 3 different times throughout the cruise as he was hanging out in the evenings. Several officers hung out in the new venues, which was nice to see.

 

Ship: I just love the Spirit Class ships. They have the best passenger flow in the fleet and the ship never felt crowded once. If I was to complain about something it is that the main pool areas are too small. Never an issue finding deck chairs away from the main (loud) pool.

 

Serenity was nice at the aft of the ship. A little strange to have to enter from the buffet, but ok. I did eat lunch out at the tables there every day.

 

2.0 changes: The only 2.0 changes I saw were the addition of Red Frog, Alchemy, and Skydeck Sports Bar. All three are VERY attractive spaces. I was deeply disappointed they didn’t add Guy’s and didn’t think I would like the new bars. Wrong. I spent most of my bar time at Alchemy and Red Frog. Absolutely great concepts. I did not spend time in the sports bar, but it is definitely the best sports bar I have seen at sea (I have not been on another 2.0 ship). One thing is that the décor of these three venues does not fit in with the theme of the ship and they stand out as having a more sophisticated feel than the rest of the décor.

 

I really like the Miracle – it is my favorite ship now. There is really nothing to complain about at all. Carnival got it right with the Spirit Class. Add the fantastic crew and you’ve got a great cruise.

 

Now, for those that like photo reviews: stay tuned…

 

they did 2.0 and no Guys? What about the taco place?

[AQW]

Just got off the Pride repo and fell in love with Spirit class ships all over again! Decided to book the 13-night Miracle next January, but... no Blue Iguana Cantina?!?!? We seriously ate breakfast from there Every. Single. Day. of our 14-night sailing - the breakfast burritos and tacos were that darn good.

 

I can take or leave Guy's Burgers, but I can't see doing 13 nights with no Blue Iguana...

[CrzRani]

What a review! Sorry you were the first on her out of dry dock and had some missed shows, and serenity space. I am glad we waited to go 3 weeks after dry dock. I'm going to look for these sunsets, cause I always miss them! Keep the story coming:D

[wlc108]

What a review! Sorry you were the first on her out of dry dock and had some missed shows, and serenity space. I am glad we waited to go 3 weeks after dry dock. I'm going to look for these sunsets, cause I always miss them! Keep the story coming:D

 

You get to miss out on all the fun during the partial shows, though ;) Such as the automatic/articulating lights dancing on the floor erratically (with the lights themselves off.. just the movement) like little robots to distract you

 

I was -really- disappointed after the sailing because I had never seen the "new" shows so I assumed what we got were the "new" shows that people complain about. At least that's not the case from what I hear. It was sad seeing the orchestra gone, though.

Edited April 1, 2015 by wlc108

[Avelinnne]

Thank you for the review cdamion! Great pictures. Did they redo the decks in any way? The decks in some videos I have seen of the Miracle are just worn-out and sad:-(

[ccruisequeen]

Thanks. The Mad Hatter's lounge is a much better place to have karaoke than where it used to be (where the Alchemy Bar is now).

 

 

 

I have never understood standing in line waiting for the doors to open to the Dining Room. I think people are afraid their table might be given away.:rolleyes:

 

 

Last year, I was doing I'm a believer for karaoke, and after dinner, three drunk young ladies joined in! Luckily, I wasn't thrown, finished the song and thanked "Davy, Mike, and Peter" for their help! Later, the women thanked me for not embarrassing them and letting them join in!

[Rosefloater]

Just got off the Pride repo and fell in love with Spirit class ships all over again! Decided to book the 13-night Miracle next January, but... no Blue Iguana Cantina?!?!? We seriously ate breakfast from there Every. Single. Day. of our 14-night sailing - the breakfast burritos and tacos were that darn good.

 

I can take or leave Guy's Burgers, but I can't see doing 13 nights with no Blue Iguana...

 

 

Come on over to the Roll Call for the 13 day cruise in January.

[cdamion]

Thank you for the review cdamion! Great pictures. Did they redo the decks in any way? The decks in some videos I have seen of the Miracle are just worn-out and sad:-(

 

In some places they had deck work done. I did see a crate that said "Teak Repair Kit" or something similar, so I think this will be ongoing. The deck work was what they were doing in serenity. They also sanded and re-varnished the outside rails the first couple of days.

[cdamion]

DAY SIX – CABO SAN LUCAS

 

Well, after getting some much-needed rest, I woke up to find that we had set anchor in Cabo.

 

 

 

After grabbing some breakfast up on Lido, we headed to the designated spot for priority tenders (thanks FTTF!) and headed into the port.

 

We noticed that Ruby Princess, also in port, was using their own tenders instead of the local tender service.

 

 

[cdamion]

I always love seeing the ship I am on anchored offshore.

 

 

We had a whale watching tour via high speed zodiac booked, but had time, so we opted for a tour on a water taxi to kill time before they dropped us off over where the excursion left. Plenty of nice sights on a relaxing tour.

 

These guys were just hanging out in their tiny boat:

 

 

The sights: