Panama on the Miracle

[clarkg]

I will include pictures here, but also I posted on my blog the whole story.

http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2020/03/panama-canal-cruise-during-coronavirus.html

[clarkg]

We started on Miami Beach after and all night plane ride across the whole country diagonally. Neither one of us had had any sleep the night before and we didn't have a place to stay in Miami, because we arrived early in the morning. But we caught a great sunrise.

[clarkg]

Pictures from around the ship.

[SDPadreFan]

Halfway through your blog post and enjoying it immensely. We have the Miracle booked for a 15 day cruise to Hawaii NEXT YEAR in April. It's our replacement cruise for the one we had scheduled on the Mardi Gras (New York to Canaveral repositioning) in October. Put our almost $1000 FCC (from the Mardi Gras) to good use and snagged a Premium Balcony (6277) which is just slightly smaller than a suite. The cabin is supposed to be 230 sq ft and the balcony 85 sq ft. Should be great with 8 sea days.

Edited March 25, 2020 by SDPadreFan

[clarkg]

12 minutes ago, SDPadreFan said:

Halfway through your blog post and enjoying it immensely. We have the Miracle booked for a 15 day cruise to Hawaii NEXT YEAR in April. It's our replacement cruise for the one we had scheduled on the Mardi Gras (New York to Canaveral repositioning) in October. Put our almost $1000 FCC (from the Mardi Gras) to good use and snagged a Premium Balcony (6277) which is just slightly smaller than a suite. The cabin is supposed to be 230 sq ft and the balcony 85 sq ft. Should be great with 8 sea days.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The staff is great.

[Gravedigger]

I was on the same Panama Cruise. I am almost Diamond so I know to plan  for my cruise. If  my check in time is four  that's the time I should be there. The Chairs in the waiting room looked the same to me at least we had chairs and out of the sun. Miracle is an old ship just back from dry dock. They added Guy's hamburger, Bluiguana Cantina, Rum Bar, Tequila bar,Alchemy bar, and changed all the seats in the theater.  For a 2 week dry dock alot of things were done. Besides the Playlist shows they had the crew show plus Hasbro show, Marriage show and they brought in other acts

During the day they had Dance lessons, Scattergories,, movies in the comedy club and The Academy of fun 45 minutes of interesting different subjects every day. Funday at sea is what you make it. During the Q & A with the senior officers Captain Bassol said if you didn't like the taste of the water ask your room steward for bottled water for free. I always order a case of water before the cruise and it is in my room when I arrive cheaper than the hometown stores.At night there were 5 different varieties of music at the different locations.

On Monday

Captain Bassol made the announcement  that we were skipping Cabo  and cutting the cruise short we would be refunded the skipped day and all port charges. The change From San Francisco landing Came from the Mother Boat in Miami They made all the changes there trying to find a port that would accept us and able to unload the passengers. As soon as Miami told the Captain he made the announcement. Carnival did an good job wiping down the boat and had enough buses to get us to the airport They opened the internet and phone lines for all to use. Thank you Carnival for getting us to the Canal and back

[clarkg]

More pictures from the ship.

[clarkg]

Our first stop is Columbia. 

 

 

[clarkg]

A few more of Columbia.

 

 

[clarkg]

Panama Canal.

[SDPadreFan]

Enjoying your pics. Completed reading your blog post and it was great. I keep my comments timed to these posts however since some will not have read the blog.

[skrufy]

On 3/24/2020 at 11:23 PM, clarkg said:

I will include pictures here, but also I posted on my blog the whole story.

http://clarkanddeb.blogspot.com/2020/03/panama-canal-cruise-during-coronavirus.html

We were on this cruise with you guys. Enjoyed your review, the pictures are beautiful. Our flight home was what you could call an adventure. 

[clarkg]

29 minutes ago, skrufy said:

We were on this cruise with you guys. Enjoyed your review, the pictures are beautiful. Our flight home was what you could call an adventure. 

Thanks. What happened on your flight home?

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by clarkg

[clarkg]

More Canal pictures.

[skrufy]

1 hour ago, clarkg said:

Thanks. What happened on your flight home?

 

Once we secured our flight home to Chicago on Monday night we thought all’s going to be a smooth trip home. Tuesday night around 1100pm we received a cancellation email. Got back on the phone and around midnight got a flight booked. Wednesday morning we were off the ship  with the self assist diamond and platinums, we are platinum but customs would not let us get our luggage to make an 1100am flight. About 900am we collected our luggage and boarded the bus to LAX. Arrived LAX at 1000am. Airport was empty, went through  flight check in and TSA quickly and smoothly. Arrived at the gate 25 minutes before the flight was to depart. The Southwest agent told us to be prepared for a possible cancellation of this flight. We boarded, departed, again looks like things are going well. 5 minutes into the flight our connection was cancelled. Now we are in Denver, our choice is to stay with relatives here in Denver overnight and try tomorrow to get home. Decided to check flights to Milwaukee. 5 seats available, I jumped on it. Glad I did, 15 minutes later all flights to Milwaukee were sold out. We had two other couples from the cruise waiting with us to talk to. After a 6 hour wait we were on our way home. Arrived at 1100pm, wife’s son was waiting for us. Finally arrived home at 1230am. A little adversity in your life is sometimes good. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by skrufy
Addition

[clarkg]

1 hour ago, skrufy said:

Once we secured our flight home to Chicago on Monday night we thought all’s going to be a smooth trip home. Tuesday night around 1100pm we received a cancellation email. Got back on the phone and around midnight got a flight booked. Wednesday morning we were off the ship  with the self assist diamond and platinums, we are platinum but customs would not let us get our luggage to make an 1100am flight. About 900am we collected our luggage and boarded the bus to LAX. Arrived LAX at 1000am. Airport was empty, went through  flight check in and TSA quickly and smoothly. Arrived at the gate 25 minutes before the flight was to depart. The Southwest agent told us to be prepared for a possible cancellation of this flight. We boarded, departed, again looks like things are going well. 5 minutes into the flight our connection was cancelled. Now we are in Denver, our choice is to stay with relatives here in Denver overnight and try tomorrow to get home. Decided to check flights to Milwaukee. 5 seats available, I jumped on it. Glad I did, 15 minutes later all flights to Milwaukee were sold out. We had two other couples from the cruise waiting with us to talk to. After a 6 hour wait we were on our way home. Arrived at 1100pm, wife’s son was waiting for us. Finally arrived home at 1230am. A little adversity in your life is sometimes good. 

Wow. The good news is you made it. I was worried that our flight would have been cancelled. So glad you made it home.

[clarkg]

Costa Rica

 

[clarkg]

More pics from Costa Rica

[clarkg]

Puerto Quetzal Guatemala

[clarkg]

Last picture post. We didn't get to Cabo, so I'm posting a few pictures from the ship. I hope you all enjoyed the blog, those of you who read it, and I hope the rest of you enjoyed the pictures. Until we all cruise again!

 

[Roger88]

Your photos I wonderful. I hope you are having a great time on board. How is water in the pool? Food? How is weather in general? So based on the pics its somewhere in South America, what is your route? By the way, can you share photos of your cabin? People tend to take pics of thing on board but they always forget about the cabin. To me its the most important. 

[clarkg]

1 hour ago, Roger88 said:

Your photos I wonderful. I hope you are having a great time on board. How is water in the pool? Food? How is weather in general? So based on the pics its somewhere in South America, what is your route? By the way, can you share photos of your cabin? People tend to take pics of thing on board but they always forget about the cabin. To me its the most important. 

 

Post #3 has a cabin picture. We are home now. We went from Miami to L.A. though the canal.

[skrufy]

23 hours ago, clarkg said:

 

Post #3 has a cabin picture. We are home now. We went from Miami to L.A. though the canal.

Seems like we might be a hazard to travel on the Miracle with.  This was our second time on her. The first was a 14 day Alaska cruise in September of 2020. Returning to Long Beach off the coast of Oregon the ship went dead in the water. Lost all power for an hour.  Uneasy feeling  for a few minutes just floating out in the middle of nowhere. Just a warning we are booked on the Miracle for Hawaii in 2022. 

[clarkg]

4 minutes ago, skrufy said:

Seems like we might be a hazard to travel on the Miracle with.  This was our second time on her. The first was a 14 day Alaska cruise in September of 2020. Returning to Long Beach off the coast of Oregon the ship went dead in the water. Lost all power for an hour.  Uneasy feeling  for a few minutes just floating out in the middle of nowhere. Just a warning we are booked on the Miracle for Hawaii in 2022. 

Just added that to my Calendar. No Hawaii cruises on the Miracle in 2022.

[skrufy]

13 minutes ago, clarkg said:

Just added that to my Calendar. No Hawaii cruises on the Miracle in 2022.

You are a wise man.