Miracle Review for the week of Valentines-2/11-2/19-08

[bubbles1209]

I am going to have to do this review in parts and will be back tomorrow with some more, I spen the day putting the captions on over 700 pictures that are in my signature link for this trip, and am a little computer weary right now. I promise to be back tomorrow with more, I'll get there, I promise.

 

Let me start by saying depsite a bad experience in one port (I'll explain it in the review) because of what we felt the shore excursion department could have avoided, we enjoyed our cruise very much, and it was a much needed and welcome break from reality. We would cruise the Miracle again in a heartbeat, she's a beautiful ship!

 

Sunday Feb. 10th-

 

We finally got out of work between 3 & 3:30 pm. We stopped for some

lunch along the way and headed straight for the airport. Our flight was due

to leave at 5:50, but was delayed, we did finally leave after about a 30 minute delay. We still made it in time for our connection in Atlanta, and arrived on time in Fort Lauderdale around 10 p.m. We called for the shuttle

to come pick us up and take us to the Holiday Inn Express close to the port.

They were there within 10 minutes, and we were there before we knew it,

and all checked in. The room was a nice sized room, it is a non-smoking hotel. The bed was comfortable to sleep in. We left the room once we dropped our bags and went to a bar & grill around the corner. We grabbed

something to eat went back to the hotel, and grabbed some sleep because our big day was the very next morning. There are pics of the room in my signature.

 

Monday Feb. 11th, Embarkation-

 

We grabbed a cab and were at the port by 10:30 am and I was excited because this was the first time I had ever gotten to the port so early. We gave our bags to a porter, and were directed which way to go. We went in

to the terminal, and were shown to a waiting area. We were within the first group of I'd say 20 to arrive. We took our seat and watched as others arrived. We saw several members of the bluegrass group that was on the cruise arrive while we were waiting. We waited until about 11:10 or 11:15 and were shown which way to go to registration. We were directed which person to go to, and were checked in within 5 minutes. We were on our way to the ship, I couldn't believe it! We walked over and had to wait a minute because one of the cameras that they were taking sail & sign pictures with broke, so they switched over to another and directed us which way to go. We were on our way walking to the ship, rounded a corner and daylight, there she is!! Pics of this are also in my signature, we were onboard by 11:30!

First time I had ever done this, and from now on, when time allows, I will do it again, it's like having an extra day onboard the ship. As soon as we got onboard he went to look for the casino, I told him I would find him there in a few minutes, I wanted to roam a little bit, he said ok. I went straight up to Nick & Nora's and made reservations for Valentine's night at 8:30. She said there would be a confirmation sent, I asked how would it be a phone call or what, because I wanted it to be a surprise. She told me that someone would leave a confirmation card in our mailbox between 11:30 and 12:00 the night before the reservation. I told her that would be fine, that I would get it before he saw it, besides, he would be in the casino that time of night, I already knew that for sure. I left there and went and found him. We explored for a while before all of the other passengers got onboard, taking home video and pictures, also taking time out to grab a bite to eat. We were checking out our room between 1 & 1:30. We were in cabin 5297, an aft balcony, and it was a great place to be all week.......once we got someone to come fix the air conditioner on the 1st sea day, we like to froze that first night. Other than that there were no noise issues or anything, I would choose this cabin again. I was soaking up the balcony already, and he was taking a nap. I went exploring while he napped, came back and stood outside on the balcony watching all of the luggage being moved around on the docks, and everything going on out there. I watched them unload the truckloads of food as I sipped on my DOD, and just took it all in. He finally woke up, and we just chilled on the balcony before the muster drill everyone loves so much. Before we knew it, it was time to do that, so we got it out of the way, and headed to the front of the ship for sailaway. There's a section of the ship at the front, that extends out past the sides of the ship, and that's where we went for sailaway. We watched a boat get too close to a Royal Caribbean ship and watched a police boat head over to them with blue lights flashing, they were there in no time making them move their boat away from the ship, they were right next to it too, someone on that boat wound up having a bad day I'm sure. We stayed out on deck until the pilot boat stopped escorting us, then headed towards the Lido deck to relax. After a little bit of chilling out, we headed back to our room to see if the luggage had arrived, it hadn't so we went to see the maitre'd about changing our table to be a table for 2. He took our request, and asked me to see him that night at dinner. We went back to the cabin, and unpacked all of our bags. We had them all by 5:30. Once done unpacking, and settling into our new home for the week, he was ready to go to the casino. We went there for a while, didn't stay long, because no one was winning. We went back, got ready for our 8:30 dinner seating and it was time to eat before we knew it. After dinner he went back to the casino while I explored the ship. We were in some very rough seas so there was quite the rocking going on, and it was very windy outside, so I didn't venture out there too much. Went back to see about him in the casino, wound up playing some myself, and then we headed up for bed after mid-night.

[chitown cruisers]

Isn't she lovely..........Isn't she won-der-ful?

 

Can't wait for the rest........I need to re-live a Miracle fix.....LOVE this ship!!

[bubbles1209]

Tuesday, Feb. 12th- (1st sea day and 1st formal night)

 

I was up around 8:30 and headed to the Lido for some breakfast and coffee. I had breakfast and took some coffee back to the cabin in case he

had woke up while I was gone. He was still sleeping, so I took the cup of coffee out on the balcony and just soaked up the sea and the morning sun. They were having trivia at 10am in the Phantom, I had wanted to go and do that but stayed outside too long. When I did get back in the cabin sleeping beauty was awake, so after we went back up to the Lido so he could get some coffee and breakfast, we made it to the Phantom at 10:30 for bingo.

We didn't win needless to say, but it was fun, something to do. Afterwards, we went up to see our pictures they had taken before, and after that we saw where they were doing a putting contest in the atrium (by now it was 12:00) we watched that for a couple of minutes, it was interesting watching them try to make the putt as the ship was still rocking because of rough waters due to a low pressure system. They had even reduced the speed of the ship to help matters some, but it was still rocking nonetheless. We headed up to find some lunch, and after we ate, we were in the casino playing 3 card poker. That's his favorite thing to do, 9 times out of 10 if I get seperated from him, I know just where to find him. Wasn't a whole lot of winning going on, so we left. We had a meet & greet planned for our roll call at 2:00 at the aft Lido pool, so we headed back to the cabin to go and get ready for that. We were there by 2, had a pretty good turnout, I had told everyone that I was gonna wear my grass skirt....I did, it was a scary sight, but fun. We all talked for I guess close to an hour or so, getting to know each other a little bit. Slow but sure we all started leaving to go and do this or go and do that. I got tickled on the way back to the cabin, there was this older lady and her husband, and she had asked me if she could take a picture of me in my grass skirt :o she thought it was the neatest thing. I thought it was sweet, so of course I obliged. We went back up to the cabin and got changed, and I realized that none of us at the meet & greet had bother to take a group picture.:( We did enjoy getting to meet everyone though, and ran into each other off and on during the cruise.) My SO took a nap, and I went off exploring the ship, to take home video and pictures. I went to the Lido, had a drink and just relaxed and soaked everything in. I went back to the cabin after a couple of hours and he was gone, so I took this opportunity to go into the garment bag that we had not unpacked yet, and I took out his suit because tonight was formal night, so that I could iron his dress shirt. The great thing about having this aft cabin, the laundry room was literally right across the hall. So you guys will understand, I'll tell you why I was so intent on him not ironing his own shirt. Before the cruise, I had bought a new formal gown for Valentine's night, and long, red gown, as a surprise. I had also tried to make on-line reservations for the supper club as a surprise, but when we first boarded the ship and I went up there to check on them, they did not have them, so it was a good thing that I went up when I did and made the reservation. So the last thing I needed was him unpacking the garment bag and seeing the dress before I was ready for him to. I ironed his shirt, and more or less laid out his clothes, as well as my own. After doing all of this, I called up to the purser's desk to see if we could get someone to fix the air in our room, we had almost froze the night before to the point I had asked a room steward for an extra blanket earlier in the day when I saw him in the hall. We were hoping it was just us, but every time you walked into the room it was like walking into a cooler. They said they would send someone, so then I headed down to the casino and wallah, there he was. I played cards a little as well, by now, it was around 5:00. The casino was fairly empty, a lot of the passengers were going to the early Captain's Cocktail Party that started at 5:00. We won a little here and there, then would lose a little here and there. We left there and got a little something to tide us over until dinner, our seating wasn't until 8:30. We headed back to the cabin to get showers and dressed for dinner after just enjoying being lazy on a sea day. We didn't go to the cocktail party, so we were able to take our time a little more in getting ready. We went to dinner at 8:30, had our pictures made afterwards, and I headed for Sam's piano bar while he went to the casino. Kelly from our roll call and I had agreed to meet there at 10 to sing or howl together, that would have been closer to the truth for me anyway, but when I got there I didn't see her. I waited about 15 minutes or so, and when she didn't come, I went to the casino to check out if he was winning or losing. He was all involved in the game, so I left, went back to the cabin, and went outside to enjoy the stars at night on the ocean. When I first got to the cabin, I realized the air was fixed, and it was comfortable to walk in and not feel like you were walking into a cooler. About the time I got there, the phone rang and they were calling to check and make sure it was fixed and everything was satisfactory, I told them yes, and thank you, they had responded quickly. I guess around 1 he came in and came outside with me for a little bit, then he headed to bed, and not long after him I did as well.

 

Wednesday, Feb. 13th- (2nd sea day)

 

There weren't too many happenings going on around the ship that held my interest, after breakfast I did go and play bingo at 10:30, and when he got up, we just went exploring the different decks of the ship and hung out on the Lido deck for a while. He went up for his afternoon nap, and I did get back to the Lido (I had ran back to the cabin for the video camera & more batteries for the digital camera) back in time to get some pictures and video of the ice carving demonstration that they had going on at 1:00. After that I watched the pool games, as they had pitted the men against the women in synchronized swimming. Everyone was all around cheering them on, the guys put on quite the show, and the ladies really tried, they were trying to do lifts in the water to show up the guys, but they didn't work out. Then they had to go from 1 end of the pool to the other with an egg on a spoon alternating until each team member had done so, the winner, the men one this time, it was very entertaining. After all of that was over, I was back in the Phantom for bingo at 3:00. Didn't win again, so went to the casino to check out how he was doing. For the rest of the afternoon I just enjoyed the sea day, taking in some people watching, relaxing with a drink. I did go to the spa and make a hair appointment for an updo for the next night for the big surprise. I was able to get a 6:30 appointment, I figured that would give me plenty of time to get back to the cabin to get ready. I went back to the cabin, went out on the balcony and stretched out in my swimsuit trying to get some sun before our day in St.Maarten, he had talked about going to Orient beach, he wanted me to go topless, so I laid out on the balcony, and eventually took advantage of the privacy and laid out topless.:o Luckily I didn't burn anything important, and after about an hour got up and took a shower, Then, I played in the casino some while the others were at early seating dinner, trying so very hard to hit that straight-flush at 3 card poker that I had been trying since I first started cruising in 2006 and had not hit yet, to no avail. After that, I went to the 70's & 80's TV Theme Trivia at 8:00. I didn't like that they had scheduled the trivia so close to the late dinner time, didn't think that was really fair for the people that had the late dinner, but we didn't go until 8:30, so I figure we had plenty of time being as how the early dinner show was at 8:45. We played the trivia, still no ship on a stick yet, one of these days we're gonna win one. We rushed to the other end of the ship to get to dinner on time, then as usual, he went to the casino. As he was leaving to go to the casino, once he rounded the corner, I slipped back into the dining room to let our waiters know that we would be dining in the supper club the next night and would not be there, and not to expect us. I didn't get caught, whew. I went too, was winning off and on, but no one so far all week had really won anything big in the casino except for Carnival. I went to the disco at 10 to watch the 80's party, that was fun to watch although it didn't last very long, the allowed 45 minutes for the dancing and the the fun & games were to start at 10:45. (They had music in the movies DVD trivia going on in the phantom at 10:00, I saw that after it was over, had I have known I would have gone.) Around 11:40, I went back to the cabin hoping to catch that supper club confirmation in the mail box before he did, didn't want the surprise to be ruined at this point. It's very hard for me to keep anything from him, I'm not a good fibber, we hold nothing back from each other, and so far I had managed to keep it from him that I had bought a new dress, planned a surprise dinner and for me, that's saying something, I promise you. My daughter did know about it, she helped me pack the dress in the garment bag so that he couldn't see the dress or the color of it, it wasn't easy to do. As I headed to our hallway, I saw a lady from the supper club rounding the corner, so I walked faster almost ran to the mailbox, and sure enough there it was. I got it out, and holding it behind my back went into the cabin, luckily he wasn't there. I got my suitcase out from under the bed and zipped the confirmation up in a side pocket knowing that he had no reason to go in there and that he wouldn't find it. Then I went out on the balcony to spend the evening with the stars again, wanted to get to bed somewhat early because tomorrow was our 1st port day. We would be in St.Maarten. We hadn't plan to get up early and get off the ship real quick as we have been there before and did everything we wanted to on the island, we had just resolved that it would be a shopping day and just enjoying the day at leisure. Nothing big. He came in late and we went on to bed. Nightlife didn't seem to be a big thing on this ship it seemed, only places late at night where there seemed to be some buzz was Horatio's and the casino.

 

Thursday, Feb. 14th- St. Maarten on Valentine's day

 

I had set it up for a wake up call for 7:30 being as how we were due to arrive in port for 8:00 am, I figured I could run up & get some coffee and watch us arrive in port. Good thing I did, we were getting there early. It's funny, it seems like when you have a port day and you wake up, the 1st thing you do is look out the window to see if you see land or not, at least that holds true for me. I did, I went and caught the wake-up call and looked out the balcony window, and sure enough, there was land, but we were still moving. I jumped into my clothes, went out on the balcony took some pictures and video, then headed up to the Lido for coffee. I got it, and went on deck for some more pictures then after a little bit, headed back to the cabin. I spent more time on the balcony while he slept. I was killing time until the formalities shop opened up at 10. I had planned on buying a single red rose and put it on the desk with the supper club confirmation as the card for the surprise. Finally it was almost 10, I headed for the formalities shop, and when I got there it was 5 after 10 and they still hadn't opened the door. They looked up and saw me, and opened the door for me. I asked for a single red rose in a vase, and she told me they were out of vases for a single red rose.:confused: She went to the little cooler and got our a single red rose wrapped in the clear paper. Then I saw an arrangement that had some red roses and 1 white one with baby's breath, with a red ribbon around the vase. I got it, and told her that I would rather have that instead. After I signed for it, I was off to the cabin hoping that he was not awake yet. I eased into the cabin, and that's hard to do because it seemed like with these aft cabins when you opened the door you had to push with a little extra something, it was almost like you were pushing against the wind, the door was heavy and hard to push. I got in, luckily he was snoring. I eased the door shut, put the flowers on the desk by the phone and quietly slid out my suitcase. Unzipping it and trying to be quiet about it wasn't easy. I got the card out and arranged it in the flowers like I wanted it. Then, wanting him to find the surprise, I went back out on deck not worrying about how much noise the door made when it shut. Didn't work. After being out there a little, I came back in, grabbed a soda out of the fridge and turned on the t.v. to see the view from the front of the ship. Didn't work. Went to the restroom to brush my teeth, flushed the toilet thinking that loud noise would wake him up, nothing. I crawled back in bed with him, and woke him up. Of course his back was to the table, and after the mutual good mornings and how did you sleep questions, I looked up, and said, hmmmmmm looks like someone has left a surprise for you on the table over there. He said where? I said over there on the table, he turned around and said ohhhhh, look, those are for me? I said yes, he of course said thank you. He got up to go to the restroom and me being me, not being able to contain the excitement anymore, I said look, there's a card there too, he reached for his glasses, read the card and was shocked, it was priceless.:D He couldn't get over that I had done all of this for him. It was killing me not to tell him about the dress, but that was part 2 of the surprise, and no I didn't ruin it. He said, no one's ever given me flowers before, I'm supposed to be giving them to you. I told him that he gives to me year round, and today it was his turn. He grabbed a shower, got dressed, and we headed up to get him something for breakfast. We just kinda took our time, the ship was fairly empty with everyone getting off for their excursions. We went to different spots on the ship taking pictures of the various rooms taking advantage of them being empty. After we were done, we headed up to the cabin, made sure we had everything we needed, then headed into the port. We never did go to Orient, we went into town to do some shopping, and after that we were hungry. We had stopped at this one place, you'll see it in the pics in my signature, to grab a bite, but when we saw that it was 6.00 just for a hotdog, we elected to wait until we got back on the ship. We took a couple of pictures of the beach in front of us, and grabbed the water taxi back to the ship. Right there in the port area, there are several tables you can sit at, and a few places to grab a drink. He went and got him a red stripe beer, and let me try it, I had never had one, I liked it, so he went and got me one. We enjoyed our drinks and just people watched for a little bit. Right there at the entrance to the port there was a band playing island music, well, he went up there where they were and was dancing, it was funny, of course I grabbed it on home video, and after a couple of minutes, he came on back over to me and we headed to the ship. By now it was almost 4, I had missed the trivia that they had onboard at 3:30 which I wish they would have done it after the port was over, made no sense to me to have a time where everyone's pretty much off the ship, but I guess it did give the people who elected to stay on the ship something to do if they were interested. We got back onboard and went to grab a bite to eat. Everyone was due back on by 4:30, so needles to say after he ate, he grabbed his daily nap, and I just hung out on the Lido deck and got ready for sailaway. I always video the sailaways I love having the ship's horn on video to watch at home when I get the cruise blues, it helps me get through until the next trip.

I guess I should take the time to mention that the capers plainly tells everyone that you need to stay on ship's time in all of the ports. So whatever you do, when you get off of the ship, set your watch by their clock, no matter what time it is in the port you are in. Sailaway was over before I knew it, and we were on our way to St. Lucia. I was very excited about going to this port as we had booked the 3 hour whale watching excursion. I couldn't wait, but I would have to, still had a surprise to get through for tonight.

I basically went through just killing some time while he slept, I went to the casino to work on hitting that straight-flush I was trying so hard, but it didn't happen. After that, I headed back to the cabin. He was awake, wanted me to come and gamble, but by then it was around 6. I told him nah, that I wanted to spend some time out on the balcony. He said that he would be back no later than 8:00. I told him to take his time, that it didn't take him long to get dressed anyway, that I would iron his shirt for him and not to worry about it. He left. I took a quick shower, making sure to put on a shirt that I did not have to pull over my head, I got dressed and headed for the salon for the updo hair appt. I had scheduled. It took right at an hour, I have a long, thick head of hair, and when I was done there, I ran back up to put on my makeup for dinner. I was irritated with myself that I had forgotten to get the card from him that opens the safe so I could get out my jewelry I was going to wear that night, but oh well, too late now. I would just get it and get him to help me put it on. I had my makeup on, his clothes were laid out on the bed for dinner, I had ironed the shirt before the appt. I took the dress into the bathroom to get dressed in there in case he walked back in before I was ready and sure enough, right after I put it in there, and was getting ready to go in there, in he walked. I hurried in there before he could close the cabin door, and told him I would be out in a few minutes. I got dressed, squeezed the door open just a little, and said ok, I want you to do something for me. He said ok, his back was to me, so that helped. I said stay where you are and close you eyes, and when I tell you to, turn around.

He agreed, so I came out, made sure I was all straightened out, and said, ok, turn around and open your eyes. Being the practical joker he is, he said, you mean now, I said yes, he said not even a please. I said pretty please. He did, and I really wish I would have had the camera in my hand because the look on his face was a Kodak moment. He couldn't get over it. Then finally, I spilled everything, the planning process, what I went through, all of it. It truly paid off. We went to Nick & Nora's and what can I say, everything was excellent! It was a great Valentine's day. After dinner and having our pictures made, he made me go to the casino with him because he wanted to show me off to all of our new friends in my new dress. He stayed and played, I went to change. His friends wanted me to stay dressed like I was, but I had to get out of those heels. Dressing up is fun, but after a little while, it's time to get comfortable. After getting comfortable, we played in the casino a while, then headed up for bed. Tomorrow was St. Lucia.

[yeahbaby]

sounds like you enjoy yourselves,,:cool:

[CSIMelissa]

Who was the cruise director?

[jrmende63]

Wow...I just finished looking at the pics in your siggy line. They were very nice! The Red dress was just beautiful, as were all the islands. I can't wait to go on that cruise! I loved the layout of the Carnival Spirit and since the Miracle is a sister ship...I will love her too! Heck I'm not picky, any Cruise is great for me!

[popcorngal]

Just finished looking at all of your pictures. Brought back lots of wonderful memories. Fantastic! But I can not imagine those winding roads in St. Lucia, in the rain no less! They were hair raising on a sunny day...:eek: We barely got back to the ship in time, but loved getting to see the Pitons.

 

Can't wait for the rest of your review!

[bubbles1209]

Who was the cruise director?

 

Brent Mitchell

[sunrise2]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review! We will be sailing on the Miracle 5/17/08 and can't wait to go. Can you tell me why you would book your cabin again. I don't know what cabin we have as my DH has booked this cruise as a surprise for our 20th anniversay. But he did tell me deck 5 aft location. This will be our first balcony. I know I can look on line, but I don't want to spoil the surpirse. The only reason he had to tell me about the cruise was because I was looking to book something for the month of May being our anniversay and he said I had no choice but to tell you because we can't be in two places at the same time. I was so happy to know we would be cruising during our anniversary..... and you gave me an idea for our anniversary nite to book for Nick & Nora's. Thank you so much.

[bubbles1209]

Can you tell me why you would book your cabin again.

First of all I'm spoiled:p it's true what they say for a lot of us I guess, once you get an aft balcony you're hooked on 'em! We never had any noise issues, or any issues from trash winding up on the balcony, never saw it once. I'm spoiled by watching the wake of the ship whenever I like, and being able to eat breakfast, lunch, snack, whatever, whenever all with the view of the wake of the ship without having to go up on deck to do so. The room was big enough for the 2 of us, not so much crowded (unless I was coming in the cabin and he was almost to the bathroom or the closet). Also, the walk from wherever you are to the back of the ship helps ya walk off that warm chocolate melting cake:p We enjoyed the cabin, we would book it or one on that level in the aft again.:)

[bubbles1209]

Friday, Feb. 15th- St. Lucia

 

Finally, the day I had been waiting for was here!! We had booked the 3 hour whale watching tour months ahead of the trip on-line, and I was so excited about it, it was 1 of the things I was looking forward to doing the most. I must have drove everyone at work nuts talking about it. I spent some time the night before making sure all batteries for the camcorder had charged up and that I had extra batteries for the digital. I had set a wake up

call for 7:30 being as how we were supposed to be in port at 9, and our whale whatching excursion (3 hours) was supposed to meet at 9:45. We picked this one so that we could do some shopping and take a little time to take in the island when it was over, even if it meant just sitting down with a beer after shopping doing some people watching. We were on vacation, just wanted to as they say on t.v., take time out and enjoy the view. Sorry, but that's what we wanted to do. I went ahead and woke up sleeping beauty and after he got dressed, we headed up to Horatio's for breakfast. We ate, got some pics of the port as we pulled in, and before too long were on our way to our excursion. It was very overcast, and I was hoping it would break off. I grabbed my sweater with a hood that I had bought on Liberty last summer and took it with me just in case. I knew if we were in a boat whale watching that it wouldn't keep my head dry for too long, but would be better than nothing. We headed down to the pier, and out to look for our excursion. We couldn't find the person holding the sign anywhere, so him being him, he said I'm gonna go ask, I didn't come to go hunting. He went, found a rep from Carnival with a clipboard in his hands, and asked, and the rep said that our excursion had been cancelled.:( I was sooooo bummed.:( He said that there were only 2 tours left, 1 that involved snorkeling and 1 that was a land & sea tour, and if we elected not to do either one, our sail & sign would be credited for what we had paid. Well, we were not big on snorkeling so that was out. He really started to just walk off and resolve to go shopping, but I asked him if we could go and see what the Land & Sea tour was about. We went up and asked and he said that it was a scenic tour of the islands, then a catamaran that would bring us back to the ship. We asked how much it was, and he told us the cost was the same. We asked how long the tour was and he said a couple of hours. We decided it would be better than nothing to do and that we'd be able to get out and see some of the island at least, and still get our shopping done, so we took it. He took a marker and marked a line through the title of the whale watching tour that was on the tickets, and hand wrote land & sea and handed them back to us. He instructed us to follow this young lady, so we did, with 2 other ladies. We followed them, got in the van and started our tour. The driver was pointing out this & that, explaining history as he went, I'm taking pictures, it was good, except the roads had turns tighter than any bobby-pin I've ever used in my hair. Talk about hairpin turns, boy, they've got them in St. Lucia, just as you straighten out, you're turning again. Winding roads is an understatement. It started to rain as we headed for a photo stop. We got out, and the locals were everywhere, trying to sell you jewelry made from volcano lava. I got seperated from my SO trying to get to where you take pictures. This guy tried to sell me this necklace for $20 and said he'd throw the earrings in for free, then tried to talk me into getting 1 for my daughter. I declined and he said well just hold onto this and discuss it with your husband and I'll find you before you leave. I left to find my SO with the jewelry in my hand and go to the photo stop. We took some videos and pictures and decided to head back to the van because it was starting to rain. Out of nowhere the guy re-appeared, by then I had given my SO the jewelry and he talked the guy down to $10. He paid him and we were on our way. We had been going I guess about an hour and we heard one of the ladies behind us say that this was a 6 and 1/2 hour tour. :eek: What!?:eek:

We said, are you sure the rep told us it was only a couple of hours. They said yes, that this tour was over 6 hours long. There are no words to describe how we felt. Trapped comes to mind. We stopped at a place they call Anse le Raye which is a very small fishing village, there are pics in my signature. There's really nothing to it, just a very small road with vendors and their booths set up on both sides of the road for you to buy souveniers, with a small beach behind them. When we got out of the van, the driver went up the street and came back and gave us both this slip of paper that was a washroom pass, and said that if we needed to use the restroom, that the piece of paper would keep us from having to pay to go. We didn't need it, thank goodness. We looked at the souveniers, he made a new friend. There was a young lady as we were walking by she said, oh no, you're gonna pass me like an exam? You're not gonna even look to see what I have? That funny little line had his attention from jumpstreet. He started talking to her, they exchanged a few witty remarks, and he found a new friend. Never seen him go anywhere that he didn't, he's hillarious at times. Anyway, we did the souvenier stop and got back in the van after a few minutes and we were off again, and once it again, it had started to rain. We rode, and rode, and rode, I didn't think we'd ever get to where we were going. He was not at all happy on the length of the tour, and I have to admit I wasn't happy. I mean, we had wanted to do shopping and get back on the ship well before 4:30. Oh well, just go with the flow, it's vacation. By now the winding roads were taking a toll on my stomach, and the wet roads didn't calm me a whole lot at all. He made a quick stop, no one got out, to show us some things, and when he stopped the locals were at the windows of the van holding up things they wanted to sell before you could say boo. My first instinct was to lock the door, but I was in a van and wouldn't have known where to look for the latch.:eek: Don't get me wrong, they didn't try to get in or anything, but he could have warned us, just took me a little by surprise I guess. As we were riding after this, I looked up, and he was pointing out the outline of the Pitons to us. It was so cloudy, and the clouds were so thick at that time that you could barely, barely see it. I didn't even take a picture, because I knew all that would show up would be the clouds. I was excited that I was gonna get to see them, but dis-appointed that the clouds were so thick at the same time. We rode a little longer, and were at Soufrie at the botanical gardens & mineral baths. It felt good to get out of the van, because by now with all of the winding of the roads, I was almost sick to my stomach. I don't get car sick, but much longer riding at that point and time I would have been. We got out, and started the tour. Lots to see, beautiful flowers and things you wouldn't ordinarily see. After the tour, there was this little shop and there were restrooms outside. We grabbed a drink and I ate a little snack thing of chips hoping the salt on my stomach would help. We wound up the tour and back to the van. We headed out, and after a little riding, we were at the drive-in volcano. Geez what a smell, rotten eggs is an understatement. I followed the tour while he elected not to do all of the steps and wait for me. It was just a quick little walk, but we had to be careful because the steps were so slick from the rain. We made it around closer for a photo stop. We were there maybe 20 minutes total, and off again. By now, we were able to see the Pitons a little better, and the next thing ya know, we are at Soufrie Bay, and are told this is where we'll get on the catamaran. My SO was so irritated, that he asked how far we were from the ships and how long would it take a taxi to get us there. After all that riding on those winding roads, I wanted to hit him, the boat looked far better to me. The driver's reply to him was, it will be faster on the catamaran. Then, he left. My SO looked at me and using words I will not repeat he more or less said, is that what I asked him? I told him I wasn't the one he was upset with, he said yes, but that's not what I asked him. I tried to calm him down. We got on the boat, and had to wait for another shuttle bus doing the same tour. It was raining and we had to sit on the outside of the boat. They did offer a lunch, some sort of chicken, it was yellow, I passed. There was also some sort of crab salad and some other stuff. We sat there and shortly the other van showed up. They got a plate and got settled. I was glad I didn't eat after seeing one guy's rice floating in rain water. They started the boat and we were off. As soon as the boat was put into motion all of the water that had settled on the top of the canopy came right down on top of me, missing him, all but his shoes. I was drenched, wringing the water out of my clothes. I thought it was funny at first, but then after we started riding and I got cold, it wasn't so funny anymore. My SO asked the boat driver how long before we got to the ship, (yes he's a bear when he misses his afternoon nap) and he said about 2 hours, we were going swimming first. They took us to this cove, but hardly anyone went swimming. I think there were 2 people maybe 3 that did go in. They started handing out rum punch and there was more rum than punch....wow, way strong. Too strong for me do drink, had to ask for one with light rum. We stayed there about 30 minutes or so, then we left. They took us to another little bay just to show it to us and tell us facts about it, but ok, enough already, I'm cold, hungry, soaked and just want to get dry. Finally at 4:30, we get back to the ship. We were to be onboard no later than 4:30. My SO well, he was not a happy camper at all. I just wanted a hot shower and dry clothes. With the water being as rough as it was the boat ride was a rough one, to the point it felt strange to be on land. Got back to the ship and got hot showers and dry clothes. Much better. He called the purser's desk because he was upset. Now don't get me wrong you guys, the tour operators did what they were supposed to do, and we did get to see a lot, and a lot of it was interesting, but, the amount of time we spent on the tour was definitely not what we were told it would be. I enjoyed it the best I could, I did try, but it's a little hard when you're cold and wet, drenching wet. Anyway, he calls to ask why he was told 1 time frame when it definitely was not the time frame he was told. He wanted to know why we were not notified of the excursion being cancelled. Let me just say right here real quick because I don't think I mentioned it earlier, that on the 2nd day of our cruise we were notified that our St.Kitt's excursion was cancelled so that we could have plenty of time to re-book. Notified Tuesday, the excursion wasn't until Sat. plenty of time to review the options and re-book. His question to them was, why was he mis-led about the length of the excursion, and why didn't they notify anyone ahead of time. He even asked that if Carnival didn't find out until we got to port, why didn't they at least make an announcement? The lady he spoke with told him that we had a flyer that was in our cabin on the 1st day that listed the duration & details of all excursions, that we should have read that. His reply was, well, if I had not booked all of our excursions on-line I might have read them, but being as how I booked all of our excursions on-line a few months ago, I had no reason to even look at the flyer. He also asked why the whale watching tour was cancelled. She told him they cancelled due to the water being too rough to take a boat out. This lead to his next question. Ok, then tell me why if 1 excursion was cancelled due to rough water would you put us on another excursion that required a boat ride? If the water's too rough for 1 excursion, wouldn't you think it's too rough for a boat ride on a different excursion? Her reply was, that doesn't make any sense does it? He told her no. He also told her that it wasn't about the money, we would have spent it anyway. It's about the fact that they told him the tour was only a couple of hours when it was in fact quite a few, that the fact that it involved swimming was never mentioned, and we weren't even close to being dressed for it, and that he just felt they could have informed us better. She said she would refer it to the proper people and he would definitely hear something back no later than the next day. I'm gonna say this, so you understand before some go judging, all he wanted was an apology. Just an I'm sorry. At the time, we didn't think anymore about it, and figured we hear something the next day. He went to play cards, I took pics of sailaway, then met him at the casino.

Well, by now, most everyone was gone to early dinner, and the 2 people that were playing cards with us said, ok, this is our last hand. They played and left, and we were dealt our cards. I looked at the 1st 2 cards in my hand (3 card poker), and it was a Q and J of spades. I looked at my SO and said oooh ooh ooooh, he said squeeze it out.......I was thinking please please be a 10 of spades. I eased the card from underneath the other 2 and looked at him...........I couldn't believe it, all I could say was I got it!! Then, I went nuts, I yelled so loud the people that had just left our table heard me all the way in the hallway right beside the casino. I won $860.00 off of that hand!! I was ecstatic!! Looking at the picture of me in my signature with the chips in my hand, you can tell my hair went wild with the rest of me I was so happy! I played about 10 more minutes or so, then quit while I was way ahead. Went up, changed for dinner later on, and we spent the rest of the night with our normal routine. I did run into one of my CC friends later that night in the casino and we talked for quite a while getting to know each other better. I enjoyed it, Kelly, if you're reading hope you guys are doing ok!

After all of that, we went on to bed, to rest up for St. Kitts.

Oh, and so I don't forget to put how the call to the purser's desk turned out later in the review. The next day we never heard from them. He went back down Sunday afternoon to be told the info would be forwarded, and after mid-night when we got to our cabin on the last night of the cruise, we got an envelope with a letter saying it had been forwarded to the tour operator and the shore excursions manager, along with a piece of paper that gives the snail mail addy to guest relations with their telephone number and an e-mail addy that didn't work, when we sent an e-mail to them using that addy, it came right back. I wound up searching here on the boards for the correct e-mail addy and e-mailed them a letter. We haven't heard back from them yet..

And that was a week ago. I'll be back later this week, it may be Thursday, to try and finish up this review. Don't get me wrong you guys, we enjoyed the cruise, St. Lucia was just not a good day.:(

[sunrise2]

Thank you for your response to my question. I do hope DH has us booked in aft cabin....I am truly looking forward to it! Also, I enjoy reading your review and viewing your pictures.

[hill6]

Great review so far. Love the Valentine's Day surpise. Bummer about what happened in St. Lucia.

[emt9898]

Can not wait for some more review!!!

[shargurl]

I've enjoyed your review so far! And your pics too. I have read many good things about the Miracle. Your pics are really fabulous. I didn't realize she was such a beautiful ship. Now she is one of the top 3 picks for my next cruise.

[bubbles1209]

Saturday, Feb. 16th- St. Kitts

 

We were do to arrive at 9 a.m. in St. Kitts, I programmed the phone for a wake-up call the night before for 7:30. We got up, went up for breakfast, and got pics as we pulled into port from our balcony. I was so excited, I had never been here before either, and was looking forward to the day. We had originally booked the Town & Frigate Bay Beach tour on-line but was notified very early in the cruise it had been cancelled, so we booked the Brimstone Hill & Fortress excursion in it's place. We got off of the ship and met up with our group. We headed out in a van and the driver was very informative all the way through the trip. We stopped 1st at Romney Manor which had some gardens with some beautiful flowers & trees. There was a little shop there you could buy souveniers at, but we elected to get in all the exploring & pictures & video that we could. After about 20 minutes to explore and get the pictures, we all loaded back up and headed out for Brimstone Hill. Before we knew it, we were there, and we made our way up the narrow road to the fortress. They drive on the left hand side of the road there, and the curves are so sharp that as they approach, with the road being so narrow, they have to blow the horn to let the other driver know they're coming. Once we made it to the top, we all got out and had to see this little video presentation giving the history of the fortress. Once you leave that, you walk into a little souvenier shop, then are free to explore. Once we grabbed something to drink, we made our way up the cobblestone steps up to the fortress. We explored, took our videos and pictures, and the views are amazing up there. They were amazing on a cloudy day, I would love to see it on a clear day. We made it back down to the van at the time the driver told us to be back for the trek back to the ship. On our way out, we did see some monkeys right around a tree. I did get a picture, but it is hard to make them out, but they are in it. We got back to the terminal, and elected to do some shopping before we got back. The little shopping square I thought was neat because they did not allow vehicles in there, I even took a picture of the sign, you just don't see stuff set up that way at home. We went into some shops, bought some t-shirts & stuff and headed back to the ship. We had to be back onboard no later than 3:30 and made it in plenty of time to grab a bite to eat and just relax. He was so relaxed, he went back to the cabin for his every day nap, and I went to the Lido deck for sailaway. I took my pictures and just enjoyed people watching. I was just enjoying the sailaway and a guy that he played poker with a few nights during the week stopped to chat with me at the table. We were talking about the excursions that we took during the day. It's neat how when you're on a ship you tend to make new friends and run into one another off and on throughout the cruise. He asked where my SO was and I told him, he was taking his daily nap, we talked about what we did. He did offer me some insights into the ziplines, wish I would have known they had them there. After talking to him and looking at pictures for a few minutes, he went on, and went my way to get some pics of places on the ship without the people in the room. Got Nick & Nora's, Horatio's, they looked strange being empty. Didn't do too much the rest of the day but relax, spent some time in the casino, had dinner, and later on around 11:30 went up for the deck party games. It was the typical thing, YMCA, electric slide, cupid shuffle, the hula-hoop game, the conga line, etc. There wasn't that much of a crowd, but at the same time, Miracle doesn't have the deck space like Liberty, it was ample space for the ones that were there. It was fun to watch. Afterwards, just messed around a little, and headed up for bed after being out on the balcony and watching the stars.

 

Sunday, Feb. 17th- Fun Day At Sea

 

Tonight was the 2nd formal night, we slept in as how there weren't that many activities we were interested in going on that morning. He beat me out of bed that day, and when I woke up, I headed up to Horatio's for coffee, but it was too late for breakfast. I headed to the casino where I found him, where else:rolleyes: :p I passed a mob of people on the way and realized that they were headed for the galley tour. They met up in the Phantom Lounge at 11 and were just passing the casino around 11:20. I asked him if he wanted to go and he said, sure, let me finish this hand. The hand was finished, and he kept playing. I went on to line up for the tour. Within 5 minutes he was beside me in line. I realized I didn't have the camera or the camcorder I went up to the room and made it back down leaving him in line and they had not moved maybe 12 steps by the time I got back. An interesting side not here, this tour is not handicapped friendly. There was a gentleman who was waiting in line for the tour in a wheelchair, and when we saw that you had to go down the steps, he left and went on. We went through the galley and it's amazing how big it is. I know we didn't see all of it, because it was around lunchtime, and I'm sure that many people around the food being prepared wouldn't be a good thing, however, we did see quite a bit, even a sneak peek of some things being prepared for the grand gala buffet later in the night. I really appreciated this tour a good bit because I'm a waitress in a cafeteria style restauraunt, and I saw a lot of the things I see on a daily basis, only much much bigger. The people I work with will appreciate these pics a lot. No I didn't want to be reminded of work while on vacation, but it was very interesting to see. You'd never think it was that huge. They even have escalators they use to go up & down to get the food there quicker. We used them after we got through to a certain point to get us where they wanted us to come out at. Escalators.......who knew? After all of this was over, we grabbed some lunch, missed the hair chest contest, but did go see the bluegrass group perform at 2:00. They were good. Got so wrapped up in them that I missed the Newlywed Game, but I did make it at 3:15 to play bingo while he took a nap. Afterwards, I went back to the cabin and arranged for a full body massage the next day, then we just spent the afternoon enjoying the ship, walked out on the deck for a walk, and just took everything in. Later on we got dressed up for dinner, did the pictures, and just played in the casino for a while. Later on I left him to go to the piano bar with a cruisecritic friend. We did get to sing at least one song we both knew, the piano player was wanting to play some song (don't remember what it was), but there were little kids there with their parents and he was trying to wait for them to leave. I left there and headed for the grand gala buffet to get pictures. I went through, took some pictures, then ran back up to the cabin, grabbed the video camera and went back through again on the opposite side to get it all on video. I figured I got to see it from both angles that way. I was gonna stay and eat after it was over, but after watching the little girl in front of me run her fingers down the side of a sliced watermelon, and touching everything off and on all the way down the line, I changed my mind rather quickly. Headed back to the casino and just chilled there for a little while. We left, he went to the purser's desk to get back in touch with them about our excursion gone wrong in St.Lucia, being as how they had not bothered to get back with him. They gave him the same line the lady he spoke with on the phone on the day we got back from the excursion did, so went to the aft lido deck pool and drink some coffee together before we headed up for bed.

 

Monday, Feb. 18th- Fun Day At Sea

 

This was our last sea day, and I didn't want to do it, but we had to pack:( We slept in, grabbed breakfast, and had no plans but to enjoy the day. We did some trivia, played some bingo, played at the casino. We packed in the early afternoon, leaving out what we planned on wearing to dinner and the next day out, so that after dinner, we could change into what we were gonna wear off of the ship the next morning and just enjoy what was left of the night. I went on to the spa for my massage, and it was awesome. I almost went to sleep 2 or 3 times, it was heaven. I headed back to the cabin for a shower, then just enjoyed the rest of the day until time for dinner. After dinner, we changed, put everything else in our suitcases and went ahead and set them out. We went to the casino played a few more hands of cards, got some pictures of new friends that we had made. Turns out the pit boss Marty that we got to know so well, he had adopted me telling everyone I was his baby sister was hoping to be on the Freedom in January and would hopefully be on there when we sail on her in Jan. We also didn't realize when we booked that ship for the 31st of Jan, that the same bluegrass group that was on this cruise was also going to be on that ship the same week we are. After saying our good-byes and taking our final pictures, I think we pushed it until like 2 or so that morning, it was time to go enjoy the stars from the balcony 1 last time. We got back to the cabin to find an envelope in the mail box from the shore excursions department, the basic your information has been forwarded about your experience form letter with another piece of paper enclosed with the phone number & e-mail address for guest relations, when I got home, I discovered the e-mail addy was wrong, got the right one from off of the boards here. We got up the next morning, and to my surprise, unlike Liberty, Valor & the Elation, there were not those loud in your cabin, scare you to death announcements. The announcements were only heard in the hall. We got up, got dressed I guess around 8 and got on out of the cabin steward's way. We went up to the Lido deck and got something to eat, and sat out on the aft Lido deck by the pool until our luggage tag number was called. We were on deck 5 our our luggage tag number was 18. We stuck around to miss the crowd and finally heard the last call for everyone, so we against our better judgement, headed down to the gangway. We put our sail & sign in for the last time,:( and headed back out to reality. There was a line, but it finally moved and when it moved, it wasn't that bad. We went through and showed our passports to the officers, went down, found our luggage, and stood in the customs line. We had grabbed a porter and were waiting for our turn when I noticed a woman had bought 5 cartons of cigarettes to take back with her............the limit was 1. I figured she would just have to pay the duty on the excess, but they were opening the cartons and taking out all of the packs as we made our way to the customs official. I watched until it was our turn. Don't know what ever happened or how it turned out for her, but we claimed our litre of alcohol and out we went. Grabbed a cab and headed for the airport.

 

A few things I noticed:

 

Galley tour isn't for people that rely on wheel chairs, you have to climb steps to do the tour.

Miracle staff is trying to satisfy the smokers as well as the non-smokers in the casino. They now have smoking and non-smoking tables as well as slots.

The non-smoking stayed fairly empty the first part of the week, but there were some people there towards the end of the week.

Chair hogs were out in full force, didn't bother me so much, I had a chair on my balcony and propped my feet up out there

check-in is a breeze with this new system they have, already had the info in their system and it was just a matter of confirming it

The ship was cold, I wore a sweater more often than not

She's a beautiful ship, we wouldn't hesitate to get back on her again

Lots of trivia scheduled for times we were in port, didn't understand that one, sure it gave the folks onboard something to do, but it couldn't have been too many.

Lots of trivia and activities scheduled while the people that had the late dinner seating were eating, didn't think it was right to choose between the dining room and an activity that you may be interested in, but that's my opinion.

Most everyone was friendly, after the rough seas were over, it was fairly smooth sailing, it was a fantastic trip despite our experience in St.Lucia.

If there are any questions, I'll try and answer them, we had a great time, and are counting down to the Liberty in June now.

[hill6]

Great review. Love the Valentine's day surprises for hubby. My husband is like yours and can be found in the casino all the time too.

 

We leave on the Miracle in 79 days. I love reading about her.

[Cruisin Suzin]

Dear Bubbles, thank you so much for a wonderful review, I have never cruised before and will be sailing on the Miracle in November, and you certainly have eased some of the fears I've been facing, I too have an aft balcony on the empress deck, I figured if I'm gonna cruise I'll start off right, besides so many people here recommended the aft or at least a balcony..I do have a question though..the photos you took of the place with all the ships was that Horatios..or nick and Nora's..is Horatio's..is Horatios included and what kind of food can you order there..I might like to eat there instead of the main dining room..not too sure the main dinning room looked a bit intimidating..although I am looking forward to formal night..weird I never like to dress up but think I would like that..anyway thank you again, I know it took a lot of effort to put that together..and you looked lovely in your red gown..and I won't be taking that St. Lucia tour..did you hear about any other tours in ST. Lucia..or just the zip line one..congrats at winning at the casino and will they teach me how to play 3 card poker..? thanks

[MonaCK]

Thanks for this great review! :) I'm very much looking forward to sailing her for the first time in May. :)

[bubbles1209]

the photos you took of the place with all the ships was that Horatios..or nick and Nora's.

Those were in Horatio's. It's a buffet.

is Horatio's..is Horatios included and what kind of food can you order there..I might like to eat there instead of the main dining room..not too sure the main dinning room looked a bit intimidating

Horatio's is included in the cost of the cruise. Every day for lunch, they have what they call Taste of Nations, it's a different theme every day. On our cruise, it was Italian, Mexican, Indian, French, Caribbean, American, and Greek. For dinner, they were open from 6:00-9:30 p.m. They also had the grill, 24 hour pizza, a sushi bar on deck 2 from 5:00- 8:30 p.m., as well as a late night bistro/buffet at 11:30 until around 1:00 or 1:30 a.m.

Nick & Nora's was the supper club, it's the set up of pictures I took in the daytime where they had the backs of the seats shaped liked hearts, with the heart shaped dance floor. There's a charge of $30pp to eat there, but it's more than worth it, you get a full 7 course meal and you can count on it taking at least 2 hours for the unforgettable experience.

did you hear about any other tours in ST. Lucia..or just the zip line one

There was one tour that some people we met on CC were disappointed with it, not sure which one, but it was one that involved seeing artwork being made or something, anyway they were not happy at all with it, wish I could remember which one it was but I can't:o sorry. Didn't hear about too many other excursions, what we did gather though everyone didn't like the winding roads they have.

will they teach me how to play 3 card poker..? thanks

Yes, they'll teach you, it's easy. If I can do it.......:p

I might like to eat there instead of the main dining room..not too sure the main dinning room looked a bit intimidating..although I am looking forward to formal night..weird I never like to dress up but think I would like that

The main dining room isn't intimidating at all, you sit down, they pull out your chair, put the napkin in your lap and hand you a menu. You order, and your meal comes in the order you saw it on the menu....appetizer, salad, main entree, dessert. They spoil ya! Don't be intimidated, it sure isn't gonna happen that way at home, enjoy!!! Formal night is the most fun, I never get to dress up at home, so it's like being cinderella twice in a week while on vacation:D Experience it all, you'll be spoiled, besides, you'll never know how good the chocolate melting cake is if you don't go to the dining room!

[4kidsplusty]

thanks for an awesome review going on first cruise with hubby and 4 kids on miracle aug 5. it will be our 20th anniversary and i plan to book asupper dinner for the 2 of us. not good at surprises but hope to be able to pull off something like you did. only good thing is I can use kids cabin to get dressed. you have made my wait that muych more to look foward to

[Cruisin Suzin]

hopefully by the time november rolls around I will have worked up the courage, but I'm not a very big eater..I mean I've dined out before of course and can handle salads, main course, and dessert but I like very small portions, do they get offended if I leave food on my plate, some fine dinning rooms do, they always ask me "was there something wrong with the food" but I have never been able to eat the portion sizes they serve you..so that's the one of the reasons I might not want to eat there, but I might at least the first few nights and see how it goes..thanks again for the review it was wonderful...

[jspirit]

Thank you , Bubbles , for such an informative review of your sailing.

We will also be in 5297. Do you remember if there is a sofa in that cabin? Thanks for getting the ac fixed!

We were also considering that land and sea tour in St. Lucia, but after reading your experience I may try to book a shorter tour and have some free time on our own. I appreciate your honesty! Did you ever get any partial refund or apology?

[cathyoo]

hopefully by the time november rolls around I will have worked up the courage, but I'm not a very big eater..I mean I've dined out before of course and can handle salads, main course, and dessert but I like very small portions, do they get offended if I leave food on my plate, some fine dinning rooms do, they always ask me "was there something wrong with the food" but I have never been able to eat the portion sizes they serve you..so that's the one of the reasons I might not want to eat there, but I might at least the first few nights and see how it goes..thanks again for the review it was wonderful...

In the regular dining room the servings sizes are not overwhelming like some restaurants. I think a lot of diners leave food on their plates since there is so much food available. I woun't let that worry you at all. In the regular dining room you can skip any course you want. Just have a salad and a starter if that is all you want to eat.

[bubbles1209]

Thank you , Bubbles , for such an informative review of your sailing.

We will also be in 5297. Do you remember if there is a sofa in that cabin? Thanks for getting the ac fixed!

We were also considering that land and sea tour in St. Lucia, but after reading your experience I may try to book a shorter tour and have some free time on our own. I appreciate your honesty! Did you ever get any partial refund or apology?

 

Yes, there's a sofa.:)

We got a letter in the mail yesterday with a $25 obc for each of us on our next cruise for a total of $50.00. We have to call guest relations within 45 days of sailing. In the letter we finally did get the apology. That's all we ever wanted was for someone to say, we're sorry, it was never about the money, it would have been spent anyway.:)