Just back from Carnival Miracle 4/4/15-4/11/15

[Joker440]

Our family just got home from sailing on the Carnival Miracle. This will be my first review, so bear with me. I'll start uploading pictures and commentary tomorrow. If you have any specific questions, feel free to post and I'll try to address them. We had FTTF and extended balcony 8177. More to follow....

[harleygirl4rb]

Welcome back! Look forward to reading your review and seeing your photos. Do you have a FunTimes copy you could upload maybe? Thank you

Edited April 14, 2015 by harleygirl4rb

[goduckies05]

Taking her in 19 days... so is the Miracle up to 3 shows now? Do they have a guitarist in the atrium still

[mkarredondo]

Looking forward to your review! We leave on Miracle this Saturday! :)

[Joker440]

I have all the Fun Times. I'm going to have to photo them since they are too big for my scanner.

[Joker440]

There seemed to be live music in the Atrium most every night.

[Joker440]

Okay, gonna get started on this tonight. First, a little background. We decided on this cruise back in October, 2014. Initially, it was just going to be my wife, daughters, and I. My in-laws heard about it an joined in. Then a friend and his family also joined in. There were 10 of us total. We all made reservations and purchased FTTF based on recommendations from this site.

 

I'm not really into flying all that much, so we decided to take Amtrak. We have ridden Amtrak before and find it relaxing and part of the adventure. From here it was going to be a 15 hour trip. We opted for a different route which would allow us to spend time on two different trains and the Thruway bus. Normally, the sound of riding a bus wouldn't be too appealing but, again, it's part of the adventure. We made reservations on Amtrak. Cost for the 4 of us was about $480 round trip. The in-laws decided to join us on the train. Our friends chose to fly. Their cost was closer to $1200 R/T.

 

We made reservations at the Hilton Long Beach. The night before the cruise was $137 and the night after the cruise was $182.

 

We then waited 6 months for our sailing date.

[Joker440]

I received a call from Amtrak the day before we left saying the train was running a couple hours behind. They recommended we check the status prior to going to the station. We were scheduled to board at 2:20 am. We went to the station around 3:00 am and the Coast Starlight train arrived at 3:40 am. We all took a little nap on the way to Sacramento. We arrived in Sacramento around 6:30 am and waited to transfer to the Thruway bus. Then it was an hour ride to Stockton where we transferred to the San Joaquin train.

 

The Coast Starlight is a much nicer train with comfortable reserved seats and an observation car. The San Joaquin is open seating, first come/first serve. It was not aesthetically pleasing and there was a different clientele on this train. Eventually, we were able to find seats close together. The San Joaquin ultimately was two hours behind schedule when we arrived in Bakersfield.

 

We then transferred to another Thruway bus for the ride to Long Beach. It was interesting riding the bus over the Grapevine, into Glendale, then arriving at Union Station in Los Angeles. As we waited to change buses, a supervisor told us the normal driver was over his hours and they were having a replacement driver come in. A charter bus was already there and was used to take us on the last leg. As we arrived in Long Beach, we learned it was the driver's first day and she didn't know where to go. She used her radio to get directions to the terminal in Long Beach. We arrived in Long Beach about two hours behind schedule.

 

I look at the map on my phone and decided to walk to the hotel. It was only 3/4 mile. Again, adventure :) . The walk was nice after sitting around all day. The weather was perfect. We finally arrived at the hotel and check in was a breeze.

 

Edited April 14, 2015 by Joker440

[Joker440]

Ok, gotta figure out this picture thing.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Joker440

[Joker440]

I woke up kind of early. My buddy and I decided to walk around to see if the ship was in port. After a couple of blocks, we found our vantage point.

 

Edited April 14, 2015 by Joker440

[SadieN]

Just wondering why you couldn't have taken the Coast Starlight all the way to LA? Bummer you had to change so many times.

[Joker440]

We took the Coast Starlight all the way down last time. By doing that, we have to get a taxi/shuttle from Union Station to Long Beach. By going on the San Joaquin and Thruway, it dropped us off close to the hotel. Plus we had never ridden on the San Joaquin nor Thruway. Needless to say, we probably won't ever ride those two again. :)

[Joker440]

We went to the port around 11:30. We found the FTTF line and stood there for about 15 minutes before it was our turn. Check in was easy and took about 5 minutes. The lady told us to stand in zone 1 and wait for boarding. As we walked over there, the line started moving. We moved through the line quickly and made it to security. After that, we went right onto the ship.

 

Here is our group (I'm in the red shirt). The picture is missing one daughter who is holding the camera.

 

 

Here is the entrance to the dome

 

[Joker440]

Once on the ship, we quickly climbed 5 flights of stairs to our stateroom on the 8th deck. We had chosen an extended balcony and our friends chose the one next door. The in-laws were on deck 5 in a handicap accessible interior. Although not huge, our room was sufficient for the four of us. The beds were pushed together for DW and I. The couch was made into a bed for one DD, and there was a bunk for the other DD.

 

 

 

[boltfan12]

Fyi.

For your next trip down. You can catch the Blue line train to downtown long beach. The blue line is accessible from a short 5 minute subway ride from union station. Cost per person to catch subway and blue line from union station to long beach is 1.75 . Looking forward to tour review . Sailing miracle May 23rd.

[Joker440]

Sounds like a new adventure boltfan12!

[Joker440]

The balcony was a little smaller than I expected. This being our first balcony, I don't really have anything to compare it to. A few pictures of our view:

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2015 by Joker440

[Joker440]

Had to have the Drink of the Day (forget what it was)

 

 

And the letter you get in your luggage if you try to bring your own drink of the day!

 

[mkdreams]

Great pictures can not wait to see more. That drink looks good!

[Joker440]

We explored the ship during the first day, trying to get our bearings. I played in the casino for a while and lost a little bit of $$$. We had the late dining so we never felt rushed in the evenings.

 

We met our dining team, Maiko the Head Waiter, and Soe and Joko were the assistants. All three were great during the cruise. We ate in the MDR 6 of the 7 nights.

 

 

Fried chicken tenders appetizer

 

 

Linguini with Italian sausage appetizer

 

 

Flat iron steak

 

 

After dinner, I played some more in the casino. I was up, then down, then up, then down. Good part is that I earned 1500 points the first night and received my Drinks on Us card. Seemed pretty easy.

Edited April 14, 2015 by Joker440

[kenrod]

Thanks for doing a review for this itinerary. I am enjoying it so far.

 

I am also looking at booking this itinerary sometime in the near future.

[Joker440]

This was our first day at sea. We explored the ship some more. The kids played in the pool and on the waterslide. We ate lunch at the buffet. I tried the pastrami sandwich and liked it. There was asian food, burgers, dogs, chicken tenders, and a bunch of other stuff. I found it to be a good selection. The lines weren't long and I moved pretty quickly from station to station. After lunch, we returned to our room to find they opened the partition between our balconies.

 

 

I played a little more in the casino, but wasn't having any luck. I tried out the DOU card and received drinks rather often and, generally, pretty quickly. I also participated in the slot tournament, but didn't even place. Eventually, it was time to head to the MDR for dinner.

 

Saw the sunset first:

 

[Joker440]

Tonight was the first formal night. We all dressed up, the girls in dresses and myself in a suit. On our way to the MDR, there were pictures, pictures, and more pictures available by the staff.

 

This would be my biggest complaint on the ship. Not the picture stations themselves, but the passengers. The walkways are not very wide. For some reason, people found it necessary to stand in the middle of the walkway. Even though it was obvious others were trying to get through, they would stand 3, 4, and 5 abreast, blocking the walkways. Even after you said "excuse me", they would not move.

 

We finally made it to the MDR and ordered appetizers. There were spring rolls

 

 

shrimp cocktail

 

[Joker440]

For dinner I enjoyed not one, but two lobster tails

 

 

DW had the salmon

 

 

For dessert was Warm Chocolate Melting Cake

 

 

and creme brulee

 

[Joker440]

When we got back to the room, we found a new friend waiting for us