Quick Miracle Review

[cingroomer]

I just got home from a 7 day Miracle cruise and thought I would give a few pros and cons. First, this was a Premiere cruise, I didn't know that when I booked it and would not book a premiere again, however, I would go on the Miracle again and again and again. I've done 12 Carnival cruises and have never had such a pleasant, efficient staff. Yes, there were a few glitches, but over all, this staff hustles and is extremely friendly. My room steward for 8172 was excellent. Always had clean towels and plenty of ice. How they remember everyones name just amazes me. The food in the MDR is pretty good, I wasn't always thrilled with the menu selection but I sure didn't starve. The buffet, specially Chop Sticks was pretty darn good. Always a different soup each day, and always very tasty. The way the buffet is set up is excellent. The salad bar off by itself, carving station, pizza pirate, chop sticks, the deli which makes fresh sandwiches and the grill. No, they do not have a Guy Burgers, but the grill is by far superior. Its the original grill with hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, nachos and chicken fingers. The pizza...well, it is what it is, but they also have a Ceasar Salad if you want to eat a little lighter at night. The Deli is open till 11:30 which is awesome. One of the grills was also open later. 

Chloe was the CD. She has a lot of energy. Shes really a nice person too and I was impressed with her quick wit at some of the games. The entertainment was ok, its the Carnival Players and it was a different show each night but pretty much the same thing, some dancing and singing but they added some video and some other little surprises to make the shows a bit more exciting (I won't ruin it here). The rest of the normal Love and Marriage...Bingo...Hairy Chest etc the same as the other ships. They also have a lot of live bands and duos because the common areas are so large and there are so many neat little nooks and crannies on this ship. and a huge Alchemy bar, you never felt crowded. There is only one dining room on level 2 and 3. 

This ship is definitely laid out different than the others, its the old time ship style. Its a couple hundred feet longer yet holds less people. You never feel crowded anywhere and the food lines are minimal. The worst part of the ship is the Casino. It very smoky, crowded and not a great selection of slots. For a premiere cruise, this is not one you would want. Lots of the premiere cruises complained. The Serenity is a nice size, had a pool and hot tub which I really liked. It also has quite a few tables to eat at making it convenient instead of eating on your lounge chair like some of the other serenitys. 

The little Chapel on the ship is adorable, you must visit it. There are several bars and lounges, you just have to keep walking around to find them. The Red Frog is where its happening at. We found it to be the liveliest every night.

The decor, for me, left a little to be desired. Little naked angels everywhere was sorta icky, and naked women and half naked men...some people call it art, especially Europeans, its not my taste, but Carnival seems to like that as I've seen it on other ships also. 

The elevators were impressive, they were quick and we never had to wait long. We did your time dining, never had a wait, even with 9 of us, though the first and last night the servers were sparse and dinner took almost 2 hrs both of those nights. I'm not sure why that was because it was not like that through the week. The Seaday brunches have some unique menu items and everyone we travelled with really liked them. We also attended an afternoon tea, it was ok, the scones were great, little tiny cucumber sandwich triangle and a salmon triangle were served, you had to pay extra for anything except regular tea bags, I think they are wrong to do this, come on, how much are speciality tea bags? 

I also had a massage...it wasnt anything any better than what i get for 1/3 price at home, the girl started to pressure me right off before the massage about he Elemis products for purchase and I promptly shut her down, and we went on from there. She was very chatty but accomodating to what I wanted. There is a small gym and spa area that seemed adequate for those wanting to use it.

All in all, I loved this ship. I would not hesitate to go on her again. There is not all the 2.0 upgrades but I didn't miss any of them. I understand she is going into dry dock again next year, I just hope they don't make too many changes. Maybe a little face lift is all thats needed.

[sunonfire]

Well then you will be pleased when the Legend arrives in Tampa to replace the Miracle. The Legend has the 2.0 updates. Everything else is basically the same since the Miracle and the Legend are Spirit class ships. The size of the ship is perfect. We sailed Miracle twice from Tampa. I have 2 cruises booked on the Legend sailing from Tampa. 

[lazydayz]

Thanks for the review. In one week, we will sail the Miracle for 13 nights through the Penal Canal.  So glad the Miracle has held up well. 

[N7786W Flyer]

7 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

Thanks for the review. In one week, we will sail the Miracle for 13 nights through the Penal Canal.  So glad the Miracle has held up well. 

 

"Penal Canal" LOL 

 

Ya gotta love auto-correct.  I texted my sister last week that I had to put "new tires on my cat"...meaning "car".

 

Garnett

[lazydayz]

Too funny. Yes, I am hoping it's not a Penal situation.  

[naxer]

We're booked on the Miracle for Hawaii.  I'm looking forward to see what changes the dry dock brings this winter.  One of my favorite places on a ship is the Alchemy Bar, and on the Miracle it seems unique.  I'm kind of hoping they add a screen for Dive In movies.

[sanmarcosman]

8 minutes ago, naxer said:

 I'm kind of hoping they add a screen for Dive In movies.

There's not enough seating area on Spirit Class ships for this like there is on the newer ships. 

[naxer]

1 hour ago, sanmarcosman said:

There's not enough seating area on Spirit Class ships for this like there is on the newer ships. 

The Spirit and Pride both have screens for Dive In movies.  Carnival lists them as having Dive In movies, and YouTube video tours show them with a screen.

Edited September 23, 2019 by naxer
clarity

[sanmarcosman]

11 minutes ago, naxer said:

The Spirit and Pride both have screens for Dive In movies.  Carnival lists them as having Dive In movies, and YouTube video tours show them with a screen.

Thanks you, that's a nice improvement added since we sailed the Spirit Class. We hope they bring it to the Miracle and Legend as well.

[Dave & Mel]

We sail on the Panama Canal cruise also and are very happy to see this positive review! Thank you for posting it.

[MEUB1112]

Great info, we're on the Miracle next August for 11 day Alaska. We enjoyed the Miracle back in 2015 out of Long Beach. Thank You.

[coevan]

On 9/22/2019 at 12:08 PM, cingroomer said:

No, they do not have a Guy Burgers, but the grill is by far superior.

 

 

I could not agree more, much better burger and they don't have to press the burger to death. They used to have a small sandwich size steak which was really good. 

[JandPB]

We enjoyed sailing from Tampa on the Miracle. Tampa is a great embarkation port. Glad you had a great time.

[MEUB1112]

On ‎9‎/‎22‎/‎2019 at 8:22 PM, lazydayz said:

Too funny. Yes, I am hoping it's not a Penal situation.  

You will pass a Panama prison facility along the way through the canal. So technically, not completely incorrect.

Edited September 24, 2019 by MEUB1112
Spelling

[coevan]

That prison is where they held Noriega

[lazydayz]

2 hours ago, MEUB1112 said:

You will pass a Panama prison facility along the way through the canal. So technically, not completely incorrect.

 

Thanks.  Just glad everyone took the typo is good humor.  Very excited for this cruise.  I will keep an eye out for the Panama prison! 

[MEUB1112]

2 hours ago, lazydayz said:

 

Thanks.  Just glad everyone took the typo is good humor.  Very excited for this cruise.  I will keep an eye out for the Panama prison! 

You will love the cruise through the canal. We did it on the Splendor in 2018, it was outstanding. Have a great time!! The prison sits along the south shore as you head through. The unfortunates were waving when we went through.

[bafinegan]

On 9/23/2019 at 4:14 PM, MEUB1112 said:

Great info, we're on the Miracle next August for 11 day Alaska. We enjoyed the Miracle back in 2015 out of Long Beach. Thank You.

Hubbs and I are looking at the Aug 24, 2020 - 11 day Alaska cruise.  Is this the one you booked?

 

baf

[MEUB1112]

9 minutes ago, bafinegan said:

Hubbs and I are looking at the Aug 24, 2020 - 11 day Alaska cruise.  Is this the one you booked?

 

baf

Nah, we booked August 09, 2020. Either cruise would be fun. The earlier one seemed to work better for our schedule. I also believe that the later one doesn't stop in Ketchikan and we love Ketchikan.

[CruisinginWonderland]

On 9/22/2019 at 11:08 AM, cingroomer said:

 The Seaday brunches have some unique menu items and everyone we travelled with really liked them.

 

We also attended an afternoon tea, it was ok, the scones were great, little tiny cucumber sandwich triangle and a salmon triangle were served, you had to pay extra for anything except regular tea bags, I think they are wrong to do this, come on, how much are speciality tea bags? 

 

 

Is the Sea Day brunch the older or newer menu? We love the special French toast (cereal coated) & also steak & eggs.

 

I’m bummed to hear about the tea! I was looking forward to it, because somehow we totally missed that they even had tea time on our first cruise. I wonder if they would shut me down if I brought my own lol?  

[CruisinginWonderland]

Also, what is a Premiere cruise? I’m still kind of a newbie. 

[CruisinginWonderland]

One more, haha... 

 

Was the deli premade, or could you somewhat customize? 

[cingroomer]

Seaday brunch is the new one, but it is very good and has some different items on it. We all enjoyed it. ...take your own tea to the tea time, its ok, they are ok with that. I wish I would have known, I would have. 

The deli sandwiches are fresh made so you can get them however you want. 

 

The premiere cruise was for the gamblers, thats why the casino was packed all the time. And full of smoke. 

[eroller]

I'm glad you enjoyed MIRACLE.  I think the Spirit Class are the best in Carnival's fleet.  They are the most spacious and have great outdoor decks and pools.  I've sailed on all four.    

 

These ships were all built and designed back when Joe Farcus was in charge of the decor.  He designed all his ships around a central theme.  His whimsical style even coined the phase "Farcitecture". In the case of MIRACLE, the decor was a salute to quirky characters of novels, poems, songs, myths, movies, and Broadway shows.  When all these ships made their debut they had a very cohesive design where all the public spaces were tied together by the central theme.  People either loved or hated Joe Farcus decor.  Over time Carnival has refurbished most of the original Farcus designed ships, but unfortunately not very comprehensively.  The new light decor doesn't mix well with the old and darker Farcus decor, and it's pretty blaring when you go from a refurbished area to an original area.  I wish Carnival would have done a more comprehensive refurbishment job with the decor.  

 

My favorite area on MIRACLE was the dining room, all in purple with those grape lighting fixtures.  It looked pretty bizarre in pictures but somehow I felt it made for a great dining room atmosphere.  I hope it's still in tact!  

Edited October 6, 2019 by eroller

[CruisinginWonderland]

11 hours ago, cingroomer said:

Seaday brunch is the new one, but it is very good and has some different items on it. We all enjoyed it. ...take your own tea to the tea time, its ok, they are ok with that. I wish I would have known, I would have. 

The deli sandwiches are fresh made so you can get them however you want. 

 

The premiere cruise was for the gamblers, thats why the casino was packed all the time. And full of smoke. 

 

Perfect! Thank you! We get on the Miracle in 13 days!