Carnival Miracle 12/01/07 Review - The Good, The Great and the AWESOME...

[TallyRockChick]

Hi Sheri!

I would say there were about 12-15 people the booked with our tour. There were about 5 families or couples. My "group" was just me and Lex though, the whole group wasnt booked together. You just go to cave-tubing.com's website and fill out the reservation part and they will email you back. There is NOTHING to be nervous about....AT ALL! It is very safe and we had 3 guides with our group that all know the caves and exactly what to expect. You leave everything in the bus when you go to the caves. Where the bus stops is a National Park with security and they also lock the bus so there is no problems there. Everything I brought with me was in exactly the same spot I left it on my seat (including all my money, debit card, ID, camera and video camera). There are bathrooms there at the park to change in that were well maintained. We also went to the area that they do the ATV tours which is the company's own tiki hut with a snack bar and they had bathrooms there.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[asader83]

Hi Brandy!

 

Just thought I'd jump in on this one too. We used cave-tubing.com and we had a blast. Another bonus to using them is getting two caves instead of the cruise-sponsered tour's one. Definitely more personalized attention. We saw people from the cst stuck in the bushes on the sides of the rivers because they just did not have enough guides to help everyone! We never felt unsafe, and we got a great verbal tour of the land and the rainforest as well. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again in the future.

 

Amy

[TallyRockChick]

AMY!!! Where is your review huh??? :D ;)

[asader83]

I'm working on it - I promise! :D

[OneAnnM19608]

thanks for the GREAT review, and the PICS are AWESOME !!

The best I have read and seen yet !!

We are on the Miracle in June 2008, I can't wait.

 

I have to ask, what are the big cups with your name for?

Did you carry them around the ship? Nobody said anything about it?

 

Thanks

[TallyRockChick]

Hi Ann!

Those were our drink cups. We carried them around the ship and put everything from water, to lemonade to our smuggled mixes liquor drinks in them. Much easier to use those then having to go back and forth to the room for refills often. You can fit probably 3-4 drinks worth in those things so its much easier. I get crafty sometimes and decided to decorate them for our last cruise on the Fantasy last year and we busted them out again this year. They looked a little rough on the outside but they still did the trick!;)

[asader83]

Hey Brandy,

 

Hope you're doing great! I've finally started my review on my Miracle cruise. Here's the link - you even get a few mentions!! Thanks for all your help prior to my cruise, it's greatly appreciated!

 

Amy

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=696890

[TallyRockChick]

Amy! Loving the review...keep it coming! And THANKS for the shouts! ;)

No problem, like you said, pay it forward!

[vizzle]

Thanks for sharing this with me! What a great review! I learned so much, and it was an experience just reading and seeing the pictures.

 

Question for you, is there a topless deck on the Miracle? In one of your pictures that were taken from the neck up you looked without. Just wanted to know. Something my wife would like if if was there.

[TallyRockChick]

LOL! Oh no! No topless deck on Miracle. I was wearing a strapless bikini. One of those tube top kinda ones if you will. If I was topless on a deck, there for SURE wouldnt have been any pics taken! ;)

Let me know if you have any other questions.

[vizzle]

aha, now I remember, you wore those. As you said. Wow. Thats right. It just looked that way in one of the pictures.

[Luweez]

Hi There,

Your review was amazing. I regularly refer to it for tips and to quell the need to be on board sooner than I am booked. I was wondering how the bugs were .in Belize (cave tubing) and in CR (while ziplining). I have booked both those tours and wanted to know if I need to bring bug spray. My travel mates doctor advised lots of bug spray but thought I would check with the REAL expert!!

Thanks so much.

[TallyRockChick]

Hi There,

Your review was amazing. I regularly refer to it for tips and to quell the need to be on board sooner than I am booked. I was wondering how the bugs were .in Belize (cave tubing) and in CR (while ziplining). I have booked both those tours and wanted to know if I need to bring bug spray. My travel mates doctor advised lots of bug spray but thought I would check with the REAL expert!!

Thanks so much.

 

I didnt really notice very many bugs at all on either excursion. One of the ladies that was in our group for the zip lining had bug spray and asked if we wanted to use some, so she sprayed us down, but Im pretty sure we would have been ok without it. Mosquitoes and biting bugs LOVE me and I came out of that trip bite free, so I hope that helps you out.

Glad you enjoyed the review!

[kentuckymom]

Just wanted to thank you for a wonderful review. We'll be sailing March 22-30 with the same ports you guys had. Our first balcony and soooo looking forward to it. This will be our kids second cruise, is there anything noteworthy you can think of that they might enjoy especially? We don't have any of our excursions picked out yet. The problem is everything looks like soo much fun!!!!

Thank you for taking me along on your great review!!!!

[heypeety]

I loved all the pictures! My husband and I were on the Legend the end of January. It was our first cruise and we had so much fun. We have been looking at booking another cruise. One of the ships we are looking at is the Miracle. Your review was so much fun to read. I noticed you had a table for 2 in the dining room. Was that assigned to you, or did you request it? On the Legend we did go to the dining room the first day and asked if we could change to a table for 2 (we were assigned a to a table of 4). They made the change for us right away. We had a great table and great service!

[TallyRockChick]

Kentuckymom - Im not sure what the age limit is on the zip lining but it just seems to be like something that would be a great excursion for kids. It was just so much fun, and kids tend to be a little more dare-devil if you will. It was just loads of fun. Oscar Brown also offers a bunch of different excursions including white water rafting which would also be great for kids. Check out his webstie: http://oscarbrowntours.com/

Also, cave-tubing.com...you HAVE to go cave tubing in Belize. It was just a great time, the guides were amazing...and you can also take their ATV excursion along with the cave-tubing. Thats for SURE something the kids will love. I highly recommend booking a tour NOT with Carnival. Its just a smaller group, less expensive, and just all around way more bang for your buck, and SOOOO worth it!

 

heypeety - We were assigned that table. We LOVED the 2 top too! From now on, unless we are cruising with other people, we are always going to request the 2 top.

[Deefar]

Sounds like you had a great vacation. Your discription of the Panama sounds like what mine would be for the Grand Turks. I thought that the Grand Turks was filthy and garbage everywhere. DH and I are doing this cruise in Jan. of 2009 on the Freedom. We will be going to Cozumel instead of Belize. I am debating on booking my tour through a private source or through the cruise ship. I really want to see the rainforest areas. Glad you had a fun trip.

[TallyRockChick]

I HIGHLY recommend outsourcing your excursions. The Carnival tours tend to be overcrowded and overpriced and you can get a more personal and cheaper tour thru a local company, with the same perks (if not more!). There is just so much information available on these boards with people's experiences that there is no way you can be turned on the wrong path. Everyone will tell you how it is on here so you wont be duped.

[dommer573]

Brandy:

What a great review. I usually go on line for half hour or so in the morning and check the site, but you kept me on for 3 and a half hours(no work for me). Loved the pic's and the descriptive writing.:D

[TallyRockChick]

Well thanks dommer....apologize to your boss for me ;)

[CuplACruzrs]

We are considering going ziplining. How strenuous is it? Is it like going straight up a ladder to get to the first platform or what? Would you mind describing it for us?

 

I really appreciate your great review. And the pics are excellent. Thanks for sharing.

[TallyRockChick]

The zip lining was not strenuous at ALL! The most you had to walk was up a small flight of stairs to get to the platform. After that you basically zipped to the next platform so there was nothing else you had to do. We had a ride to where the zip lines started too so it was fine. There was an older gentleman that zipped with our group and he did everything just fine. That was at the place where we zipped though. I think there are a couple more in Costa Rica that I didnt really hear about it so Im not sure about those.

[CuplACruzrs]

We are considering going ziplining. How strenuous is it? Is it like going straight up a ladder to get to the first platform or what? Would you mind describing it for us?

 

I really appreciate your great review. And the pics are excellent. Thanks for sharing. Did your arms get sore from supporting yourself or did you work out ahead of time to build strength?

[CuplACruzrs]

I've tried to go back through your old posts to see who you went ziplining through and the computer is just too slow. So can you refresh my ancient memory with who you went with and how you contacted them.

 

Thanks

[TallyRockChick]

I dont think its your computer, I think its the boards. They have been PAINFULLY slow recently. Anyhoo...I booked my tour thru Oscar Brown Tours. They came VERY VERY highly recommended on this site and they were offering the right things at the right price. You can check out the packages here: http://oscarbrowntours.com/

Every time I contacted them it was thru email. They also have a phone number. Oscar's sister lives in the US and the contact number is hers. She helps him out in that aspect. Let me know if you have any other questions. Oscar does a GREAT tour!

Ooh one last thing...go ask on your Roll Call who else is going to do zip line or wanting to. The more people you have in your group, the more likely you will have Oscar as your guide because he drives the van. If it just ends up being your family that wants to do the tour from the boat, you might get stuck with him partner that drives a little cab. You want to get Oscar...Im telling you.