Carnival Miracle - Nov 26, 2016

[Old man with time]

1. Embarkation was easy, we were some of the first guests to arrive.

 

2. Once on board and able to enter cabin we found dust, our traveling friends found stained linens on their bed and a shower that had not been cleaned. It took several calls to have them correct the problems. Our cabin remained dusty the entire cruise, where could dust be collected at sea? I suspect either dirty vacuum machines, or a dirty a/c system.

 

3. There was black mold in our shower, they came and removed the silicone which it was growing in, and replaced it.

 

4. Through some investigation, I found the cabin steward had been assigned 30 cabins, and increase from the previous 25, and had his assistants reduced from 3 to 2. Apparently this is fleet wide and not a ship only issue.

 

5. The coffee was THE WORST I have drank. The only way to make it drinkable was to dilute it with a 1/3 cup of hot water and add cream. I mentioned this several time to the management staff, they said it was "calibrated" that way. I suggested the re calibrate them and add less coffee and more water.

 

6. The dining room we only visited twice. 1st time was poor service, 2nd time was cold and not prepared to our directions. We never went back. Investigation seemed to find the staff there had also been reduced, making excellent service unrealistic. The maitre d' actually called the room, and that of our friends, at which time we relayed our concerns. Our meals were consumed on the Lido deck, and we had no complaints with them at all.

 

7. The $16.00 a day Internet service was terrible! I had some time sensitive material I need to attend to, and it never happened. (One morning at 330 am I was able to almost complete it, but that failed also). There was a perky young college student onboard who had test results she need to submit to her university, she was pretty much in tears over it. It was mentioned by the guest services desk it was because we were so far at sea, not buying that one, because it didn't work in port either.

 

8. NEVER book cabin 5229, the view is not "obstructed" it pretty well is non existent. We were looking at the top of lifeboat 15, and there was a wall 10 feet away ....

 

9. The evening shows left a lot to be desired, not up to our previous Carnival cruising experiences, (we are Platinum with them). The sound was to loud, the performers were not top quality, seemed more like a school internship.

 

10. Our last previous cruise with Carnival was in October 2011 when we took the last cruise of the season to Alaska on the Spirit. The only complains we had there was the food quality, in the dining room, was already on the decline. Since 2011 we have sailed Celebrity and NCL ..... both were much more enjoyable.

 

11. Smoking .. ah yes that evil thing, something some of we dinosaurs still do. Restricted to the forward pool area, outside deck 3 and the casino bar. Not bad, however .... even we vile, ugly smokers might also enjoy a smoke in a quite area .... perhaps a small nook on the Serenity deck, after all the smoke would be sucked away over the rear of the ship. And yes, I know we smokers are a dying breed, (pun intended) but we still might enjoy a few pleasures.

 

12, We will soon be booking another Carnival cruise, if it provides such a disappointing experience, proving it was not ship specific, we are finished with Carnival forever.

 

13. We cancelled all gratuity's billed to our account, except the one that was passed to the Lido deck folks. We did, tip individuals we found to have served us well. Including the cabin steward who, in my opinion, was lax in his performance also.

Edited December 13, 2016 by Old man with time

[BoDidly]

:eek: Thanks for the review !

[lilitheden]

Do you have pictures from room 5229? I'm booked in that room next March and would be interested to see the poor view you described, as it doesn't seem to mesh with other things I've heard.

 

I'm sorry it seems you had such a miserable time. I hope there was at least some good that was had.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the report. Sorry so many things were disappointing.

[SadieN]

About the Internet......

It's always spotty in the middle of the ocean, especially sea days 2&3 both ways. Something to do with satellite coverage. Do not see how Celebrity could have been better with this.

 

Looking at the deck plans, you booked an obstructed balcony, one cabin away from a wall. What did you expect? There are better obstructed cabins and there are some that are much worse than the one you chose.

Edited December 13, 2016 by SadieN

[Old man with time]

Yep, first post I have ever made here, and I catch grief for it .. sorry it took so long to come back to the forums to answer all the petty quips.

 

So, I have done many, many cruises, and most of them on Carnival, I have never had the listed complaints before ... as for the internet, it didn't work IN port either, I was willing to accept "middle of the ocean" excuse, when we were actually in the middle of the ocean.

 

As for the actual booking, we can thank the travel agent for that ..... I will question their choices more closely in the future.

 

I do have pictures, now to figure how to post them .... Guess I will have to upload them to another site, then copy the url ...

 

Keep smiling y'all .. no matter if I do complain about not receiving the service I paid for, and anticipated ....

 

And yes, I do have a lot of time on my hands, perhaps to much ... but I also have disposable cash ... wonder which cruise line want's it the most.

 

:p

[Old man with time]

Do you have pictures from room 5229? I'm booked in that room next March and would be interested to see the poor view you described, as it doesn't seem to mesh with other things I've heard.

 

I'm sorry it seems you had such a miserable time. I hope there was at least some good that was had.

 

We had a great time ..... just some irritations .... here is a link to the view ....

[Old man with time]

I stated facts, I am not into unicorns and rainbows .....

 

Take what you wish, depose of the remainder ....

 

Jamie, the cruise director, is female. Yes she was great.

 

I should have tipped a restaurant $194.00 that was unacceptable even though we didn't go there? Somehow that makes me cheap? I must live in a different world.

 

The folks that provided service were rewarded ..... even on the Lido deck there were exceptional people.

 

I mentioned the shows seemed to be performed by college students.

 

Of course the ports were great .... it was Hawaii ..... which I have sailed on Carnival before ...

 

The greatest honor was to visit Pearl Harbor a few days before the remembrance activities, and we did not go to the Arizona, since we have been there before and the tickets are limited, deferring to those who have not. Visited the Missouri ..... wore myself out .. these old knees screamed in protest.

 

I'm done with this thread ...... happy cruising y'all.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Old man with time

[riclop]

Was there anything that was maybe just ok????????????

[Sillyjilly]

I was on the same cruise and the service was terrific. Sorry the OP had problems.

 

As for the dust in the cabins, I've found that the lint from the linens seem to cover everything on a daily basis. (At least on every cruise I've been on.)

[BoDidly]

I stated facts, I am not into unicorns and rainbows .....

 

Take what you wish, depose of the remainder ....

 

Jamie, the cruise director, is female. Yes she was great.

 

I should have tipped a restaurant $194.00 that was unacceptable even though we didn't go there? Somehow that makes me cheap? I must live in a different world.

 

The folks that provided service were rewarded ..... even on the Lido deck there were exceptional people.

 

I mentioned the shows seemed to be performed by college students.

 

Of course the ports were great .... it was Hawaii ..... which I have sailed on Carnival before ...

 

The greatest honor was to visit Pearl Harbor a few days before the remembrance activities, and we did not go to the Arizona, since we have been there before and the tickets are limited, deferring to those who have not. Visited the Missouri ..... wore myself out .. these old knees screamed in protest.

 

I'm done with this thread ...... happy cruising y'all.[/QUOTE]

 

And to you as well .

[easyboy]

Thanks for your feedback.

[LDS4me]

Cruise was a bit of a disappointment.

 

My first time on the Miracle, third Carnival cruise.

 

The ship is showing it's age (12 yrs.) and if you pay attention to details it is evident. There appears to be cutbacks in many areas. The biggest being in staff/passenger ratio. Our cabin steward Arnold, used to be in charge of 20 rooms, now he has to take care of 37. He asked us if we wanted morning or evening housekeeping service. Carnival used to offer both as most cruise lines do. We told him we wanted just morning in an effort to do our part in taking some of the load off of him. Our linen was never changed. There was no ice bucket in the room, no chocolates on the pillow at night. Complimentary toiletries were not offered. We were on the 5th floor and the room showed its age in terms of wear, tear and was outdated.

 

 

Many water leaks throughout the ship. It is expected if the line cuts staff substantially that quality of services will suffer.

 

There was less dining room staff and the staff that was there had to cover more tables. The food seemed to have gone down in quality in comparison to future Carnival cruises. Buffet food quality was lacking, the worst was breakfast. Passengers commented on the coffee quality as being pretty bad. Trays for carrying food were absent and very much needed. We seen passengers dropping their food.

 

 

Carnival's liberal smoking policy made the ship difficult to enjoy. The constant contention by the photography staff for picture taking got old and annoying. No deck chairs on the promenade deck, plus maintenance was constantly shutting down this deck not allowing for those who wished to walk it instead of going to the jogging area on the upper deck.

 

One thing we can recommend was the Faster to The Fun program When embarking we avoided the long lines and were on the ship in no time. But we also noticed that Carnival has raised the cost of that program from $50 to $80.

We were told our luggage was supposed to get priority handling with FTTF, instead our luggage arrived late in the evening.

 

Would we sail on Carnival again? Probably not. I was a bit apprehensive booking this last cruise after reading so many negative comments in the review area for the Miracle.

 

Sorry about being so pessimistic, but we (family of four adults) were disappointed in this cruise.

[SadieN]

We were on the October HI cruise. Hard to believe the ship want to pot in 6 weeks. No water leaks then. Maintenance is constant on a oceanic vessel. You booked during outside as being worked on.

 

Haven't seen a promenade deck chair in all years she's been on the West Coast.

 

Did you ask for an ice bucket? They're now on request. Have been for several years.

 

Our linen was changed twice a week. Our steward had the same amount of cabins yours did. Did you have your sign on your door? They won't come in if the sign is on or if it's outside their working hours.

 

FTTF pricing is Cruise length dependent. Longer the cruise, higher the cost of FTTF.

 

The basket of toiletries went away around 2012 because the companies stopped supplying them. The chocolates left two years ago. Haven't had trays in about three years. Many cruise lines have done away with trays. They're now using the platters.

[LDS4me]

We were on the October HI cruise. Hard to believe the ship want to pot in 6 weeks. No water leaks then. Maintenance is constant on a oceanic vessel. You booked during outside as being worked on.

 

Haven't seen a promenade deck chair in all years she's been on the West Coast.

 

Did you ask for an ice bucket? They're now on request. Have been for several years.

 

Our linen was changed twice a week. Our steward had the same amount of cabins yours did. Did you have your sign on your door? They won't come in if the sign is on or if it's outside their working hours.

 

FTTF pricing is Cruise length dependent. Longer the cruise, higher the cost of FTTF.

 

The basket of toiletries went away around 2012 because the companies stopped supplying them. The chocolates left two years ago. Haven't had trays in about three years. Many cruise lines have done away with trays. They're now using the platters.

 

Carnival is not my first choice, as you can see in my cruising history. It appears that you cruise them often so you may be used to the issues I had with them, I am not. All the issues I brought up I haven't had with my previous cruises.

Edited December 17, 2016 by LDS4me

[LDS4me]

We were on the October HI cruise. Hard to believe the ship want to pot in 6 weeks. No water leaks then. Maintenance is constant on a oceanic vessel. You booked during outside as being worked on.

 

Haven't seen a promenade deck chair in all years she's been on the West Coast.

 

Did you ask for an ice bucket? They're now on request. Have been for several years.

 

Our linen was changed twice a week. Our steward had the same amount of cabins yours did. Did you have your sign on your door? They won't come in if the sign is on or if it's outside their working hours.

 

FTTF pricing is Cruise length dependent. Longer the cruise, higher the cost of FTTF.

 

The basket of toiletries went away around 2012 because the companies stopped supplying them. The chocolates left two years ago. Haven't had trays in about three years. Many cruise lines have done away with trays. They're now using the platters.

 

Carnival is not my first choice, as you can see in my cruising history. It appears that you cruise them often so you may be used to the issues I had with them, I am not. I was on a 15 day cruise and the FTTF cost was $50, now is $80.

http://cruiseradio.net/carnival-raises-faster-fun-price/

[SadieN]

Carnival is not my first choice, as you can see in my cruising history. It appears that you cruise them often so you may be used to the issues I had with them, I am not. All the issues I brought up I haven't had with my previous cruises.

 

 

Nope. Can't see your cruising history. Have signatures turned off.

 

No, we call an ace an ace. As a matter of fact we let the plumbers know when we have issues (Inspiration had no cold water in the shower last week.)

[LDS4me]

Nope. Can't see your cruising history. Have signatures turned off.

 

No, we call an ace an ace. As a matter of fact we let the plumbers know when we have issues (Inspiration had no cold water in the shower last week.)

 

I didn't say anything about our cabin having leaks, yes I would have called them too. The leaks we saw were in Haratios (several), and in hallways. Leaks were only part of our issues.

[Rosefloater]

I didn't say anything about our cabin having leaks, yes I would have called them too. The leaks we saw were in Haratios (several), and in hallways. Leaks were only part of our issues.

 

We were also on this cruise. Never saw any leaks. Leaks come from above and there would be buckets on the floor until the leak was fixed. If there were wet spots on the floor they were most likely from people spilling drinks, especially in Horatios.