Miracle 11/6-11/13, pre-cruise St Pete Beach

[stacieps]

Our Group:

me (36), DH (42), DD (8), DS (6)

plus my 2 brothers, their wives, and one nephew (13)

 

Pre-Cruise

 

We spent 2 nights at the Sirata at St. Pete Beach before the cruise. We have a sunset vow renewal ceremony at a Fort De Soto beach on Saturday. Everything was great. The Sirata gets mixed reviews. We thought it was fine; the room was starting to show some wear, but was clean. The beach was great

 

Miracle

 

I really liked this ship. Some (DH included) in our group were bothered a bit by movement. I did feel some rocking, but nothing that bothered me. I liked most of the themeing of the public areas (as everyone states, dining room was a bit much, but not as bad as I was expecting). The one thing that I thought could have been planned better was Gatsby’s Garden. I loved this area and sat there a couple of days with a book, but, the kids going/coming from the arcade used this hall taking away from the quietness of the area at times.

 

Cabin: We were in cabin 8212 (8H?). Great location for us. Very easy to hop on atrium glass elevator and up 1 floor to Horatio’s buffet. This was nice when we wanted to bring food to cabin when kids were sleeping or whatever. Our room steward was great (Benny). Some cruises we never see the steward (which is also fine as long as things are taken care of). Benny made a point of introducing himself the 1st day and took care of the few requests we had during the week. The one negative all week was a leak from the bathroom sink that left a puddle on our carpet. The problem was fixed quickly, but nothing was done to get the wetness out of the carpet. It was in the area between the bathroom and the closets, so you were constantly stepping in it.

 

Dining: We were all very happy with the food and our service team (Adam and Liliya). My son has a food allergy and on past cruises we have seen the maitre’d the 1st day - that didn’t happen here, he was too busy. He finally came to talk to me as we were getting ready to leave dinner the 1st night. Things improved from there and my son had plenty to eat all week. I’m a very picky eater and had trouble finding things I could eat a couple of nights but was accommodated with a plain chicken breast 1 night and salad and baked potato the other. Everyone else in the group enjoyed their food from the menu. We skipped the dining room 1 night (Tues, Grand Cayman), and I was very disappointed in the selection at Horatio’s, it was very limited, only 1 of the 4 buffet sections was open. Horatio’s for breakfast and lunch was great, many types of food to choose from.

 

Entertainment: I really enjoyed the 1st show (can’t remember name). I thought the other was a bit boring (the Beatles one, can’t remember the name of that either). Casino was good - I thought there wouldn’t be enough table games, but ended up no having a problem finding a seat when I wanted to play. We went to Frankie & Johnnies one night, that was fun. I didn’t do much else, as I usually went to the cabin pretty early with the kids. Some of our group went to karaoke and the hypnotist show, they enjoyed both. Played several games of Bingo - didn’t win an actual game, but was picked to pop a balloon and won a necklace from Diamonds International.

 

Ports: We did the Stringray City and Island Tour with Naitive Way in Grand Cayman. This was good. The tour guides were great at Stingray City, catching rays for us to hold/see. In Belize we did the Shark/Ray Alley tour with Coral Breeze. This was also a good tour. We had a couple small problems with snorkeling equipment, but for the most part had a great time. In Costa Maya we rented a golf cart for the day ($60 now). This was a great port. We all loved that we didn’t have to tender and that we could get around on our own.

 

Camp Carnival: The staff was great as usual. My daughter enjoys more activities than my son, so she went more often. When my son did go, he had a good time, just didn’t want to go as often as his sister. They offer phones, rather than pagers, for the 5 and under group. We were able to sign up and get a phone because of our son’s food allergy.

 

Debarkation: We had a 12:55 flight which qualified us for early debarkation. They wanted us to meet at 8:15; we decided that if we did that we’d have too much time at the airport so we told them we’d just do the general debarkation. We did and we left our cabins around 9:15-9:20, picked up our luggage, went through Customs, and were at the airport by 10:00. All was very easy, nice not to have to report to a lounge and sit around in big groups.

 

I can’t think of anything else right now. I’d be happy to answer any questions.

[novamommy]

Hi Stacie! We were on the Miracle last week, too, and we had a great time. I agree with just about everything you said. We thought the food was pretty good, too, but Horatio's could be a bit annoying at times with it's long lines (especially with hungry little ones in tow).My daughter, Casey, was in the 6-8 group at Camp Carnival, too. She just loved it (so much so that she participated in the Talent Show on Saturday, no small feat since she's pretty shy). My other two kiddos are 2 and 5, and I have to say that the CC ladies were so good to them. Definitely a plus for Mom and Dad!A wonderful week. Starting to think about another cruise!

[FamilyMiracle]

Anyone know who is doing the 2-5 year olds in Camp Carnival on the Miracle now? Was it Sarah and Gijeth?

[can_cruisers]

Stacie welcome back and thanks for the info. Sounds like you had a greattttttt time. And congrats on the renewal ceremony. We have one planned with Whimsical in April for our 25th, then on to the Miracle with our family. Please give me all the details on the ceremony, etc. Thanks for giving us the link to Whimsical. Leah seems to be a real sweetie. Looking forward to hearing it all. Judy

[stacieps]

Judy - we were very happy with Leah and our ceremony. We had the ceremony at North Beach (?) at Fort De Soto park - it is a beautiful area. We arrived about 40 minutes prior to sunset to get organized. We wanted a very simple, informal ceremony. My children wanted to drop flower petals in a procession, so they each carried a rose and dropped rose petals and I followed them to the arch. I've tried to attach a few pictures for you. I chose the tropical flowers on the arch and for a bouquet, hopefully you'll see them in the picture. We also did the Sand Unity Ceremony (kids included), and I've attached a picture of that. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

The pictures I posted aren't showing in a good quality, but you should get the idea. BTW, these are pictures taken by my brother with my camera, not the pictures Leah includes with the package.

[can_cruisers]

Thanks for sharing your pictures with us. It looks beautiful, that is the same arch we requested with tropical flowers. We are really looking forward to it, Leah is so helpful. Thanks again for recomending her to us.

 

Judy

[doctrd]

Stacieps:felt a bit of movement? Have you cruised before?

 

I was on the same ship that week, and I felt the ship was the most stable I have ever been on. I often times had to look out the window to see that we were actually moving. That includes the Destiny class, Grand Princess, RCL Adventure of the Seas, Fantasy class...It was unbeliveable to me to see 5 foot swells out the window and not feel any significant movement.

[stacieps]

doctrd: This was my 7th cruise. The movement we felt was generally at one end of the ship or the other (dining room or show lounge). I noticed it on a couple of different days, not enough that it bothered me, just that I noticed it. There were a couple of people in our group that were bothered more and would head to another location.

 

There were also many times that I had to look out to see if we were moving.

 

Judy: Best wishes for your ceremony and enjoy your cruise!