Carnival Miracle 2009 Itinerary Changes

[Harvy]

My family and friends are booked on the May 8th. 2009 Miracle cruise, sailing from New York. My travel agent notified us today, Carnival has changed destinations on several cruise dates for 2009. Our new exotic itinerary will be Gran Turks Caicos, Half Moon Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas. I would like to solicit opinions on these detinations. I was happy with original destinations of San Juan, St Thomas, and Tortola. "Thanks in advance for any replies".

[Sandi149]

My family and friends are booked on the May 8th. 2009 Miracle cruise, sailing from New York. My travel agent notified us today, Carnival has changed destinations on several cruise dates for 2009. Our new exotic itinerary will be Gran Turks Caicos, Half Moon Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas. I would like to solicit opinions on these detinations. I was happy with original destinations of San Juan, St Thomas, and Tortola. "Thanks in advance for any replies".

 

 

I liked the San Juan, St. Thomas Tortola route, although Grand Turk and Half Moon Cay sound very nice. It's a cruise, so I would sail to almost anywhere. :D

 

Is it still an 8 day for 2009?

[Harvy]

Yes Sandi, it's still the 8 day cruise. Discussed it with friends and family, consesus so far is to book another date on the original itinerary.

[Sandi149]

Yes Sandi, it's still the 8 day cruise. Discussed it with friends and family, consesus so far is to book another date on the original itinerary.

 

Are they going to alternate the ports on different weeks or is all of the 2009 schedule for the Miracle going there?

[kingtns]

I have been to Grand Turk 2 times...once at Beaches & the other on Crown Princess...a beautiful island, not much to do but I do recommend going to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville...walking distance & lot's of fun with a GREAT pool & beach...it's free to go but you have to pay for food & drink...they have pool contests & music...you can actually swim up to the ship...the beach is very quiet & pool has lot's of action, but it's huge & the entire pool is no deeper than your waiste, you can find a quiet spot too!!

 

Do you know if it's going there August 08??

[Sandi149]

I have been to Grand Turk 2 times...once at Beaches & the other on Crown Princess...a beautiful island, not much to do but I do recommend going to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville...walking distance & lot's of fun with a GREAT pool & beach...it's free to go but you have to pay for food & drink...they have pool contests & music...you can actually swim up to the ship...the beach is very quiet & pool has lot's of action, but it's huge & the entire pool is no deeper than your waiste, you can find a quiet spot too!!

 

Do you know if it's going there August 08??

 

this year she's doing the San Juan, St. Thomas, Tortola route

[Harvy]

My travel agent indicated that Carnival is alternating a few cruises to this new exotic itinerary.

[motherofthree]

Harvy

We were on the miracle last august and were supposed to do the st. thomas, tortola and San Juan..Due to hurricane Dean, we were diverted to the islands you are now going to..let me tell you, they were great. Turks, was really fun, Margartaville was so much fun, the pool was fun and we did a tour there. If you liek to snorkel, they offer a submersible submarine tour, well worth the money and you also get to scuba on the tour. Half moon cay was perfect...the sand is beautiful, the water crystal clear, and if you have kids, the water park is fantastic. Bahamas was eh, never really liked it there. we did take a water taxi over to paradise island and ventured around atlantis, that was a sight and did shop a little , but it was really really hot that day and we were so beached out, the kids just wanted to get back to the boat and swim in the pool. Good luck, youll love the ship...ill be back on her october for the CTN.

[CruzVinnieCruz]

My family and friends are booked on the May 8th. 2009 Miracle cruise, sailing from New York. My travel agent notified us today, Carnival has changed destinations on several cruise dates for 2009. Our new exotic itinerary will be Gran Turks Caicos, Half Moon Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas. I would like to solicit opinions on these detinations. I was happy with original destinations of San Juan, St Thomas, and Tortola. "Thanks in advance for any replies".

 

 

It's OK if all you want to do is the beach. Grand Turk has Jimmy Buffets, the beach, and you can do some other water activities and that's about it. Half Moon Cay has the beach and water activities. Nassau is well Nassau been their a few times and not really that excited about going back.

 

The original itinerary had more options in my opinion.

[yst347]

Just my opinion here but calling this itinerary exotic is abuse of the language. It isn't a bad itinerary and it is one I would enjoy sailing but nothing about it is in any way exotic.

[Harvy]

YST347, those are not my words. As a matter of fact, my travel agent read the memo Carnival sent them. The memo began by saying we are happy to introduce our new exotic destinations.

[yst347]

YST347, those are not my words. As a matter of fact, my travel agent read the memo Carnival sent them. The memo began by saying we are happy to introduce our new exotic destinations.

 

Yes...I know. My complaint was meant to be directed at Carnival's marketing not you.

 

Sorry about any misunderstanding.:)

[kingtns]

I was debating on 2 cruises...carnival miracle or caribbean princess? any input on this??

[4kidsplusty]

My family and friends are booked on the May 8th. 2009 Miracle cruise, sailing from New York. My travel agent notified us today, Carnival has changed destinations on several cruise dates for 2009. Our new exotic itinerary will be Gran Turks Caicos, Half Moon Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas. I would like to solicit opinions on these detinations. I was happy with original destinations of San Juan, St Thomas, and Tortola. "Thanks in advance for any replies".

i went to the carnival site. it looks like 2 other weeks(may 16 and may24) in may 2009 are still going to san juan ,st thomas and tortola.we are going aug 5 of this year. hope this info helps

[Harvy]

4kidsplusty, 'Thanks" for the information. I guess with the price of fuel, Carnival made a decision to shorten some cruises.

[NCTribeFan]

There seems to be a definite split on how people feel about Grand Turk.

 

It isn't my favorite port, but I certainly am not one of those people who come back and write "there's nothing to do."

 

Grand Turk is quite unspoiled. If you're going for shopping (why people cruise to go shopping is beyond me, but apparently a lot of people do), then you're at the wrong port.

 

Grand Turk is a diving haven. That's what they do and, apparently, they do it well.

 

I've been 3 times and have done the horseback ride & swim every time and would do it again. It's great fun. One of the good things is that it's at the north tip of the island, so you pretty much get an island tour just riding there and back and if your bus driver is a good one (I've had good and bad), you'll get a good narration as you ride.

 

The beach is rocky, but there are plenty of chairs.

 

I hated Margaritaville. If I wanted to hang out by a pool and drink, I'd stay on the boat where I can at least get "free" food. Nachos and two margaritas cost us about $35 and that was 2 years ago. Service was incredibly slow, but at least the drinks were strong.

 

So don't go to Grand Turk thinking it's going to be like St Thomas!

 

Now, Half Moon Cay is one of my favorite stops. I love it so much I totally changed my cruising plans for this year when I saw that Fascination was moving to Jax and would be doing 5 night Bahamas that stop is Nassau and HMC.

 

There are Carnival excursions (I did their stingrays the first time there and it was the most disappointing one to date; you must snorkel the entire time; no where to stand or sit and feed them except right where you enter the water). I do plan on trying the horseback ride and swim on HMC to see how it compares to GT.

 

Even though I'm not a "beach" person, going to HMC, renting a clamshell for some shade, and just sitting and reading, having a drink or two, swimming, looking out toward our floating hotel, is just fabulous. It's an incredibly gorgeous place.

 

http://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-destinations/HalfMoonCay_Map.pdf

 

If you're thinking about this sailing, I recommend going to the various Ports of Call boards and reading about Grand Turk and HMC (which is under the Private Islands board).

 

Exotic? Hardly. It's a long cruise to the Bahamas. I have no problem with that itinerary (I've done it twice out of Canaveral; once on Fantasy and 6 months later on Elation). But it was a 5 day with 1 sea day and was inexpensive.

[Name game]

The Carnival Caribbean cruises out of New York for the past five years or so have been the same, PR, St. Thomas and Tortola. Being from New York I love to cruise out of New York but am tired of the same itinerary. I am glad to see there will be a change in itinerary, although I think it would be best if they do alternating itineraries.

[e150club]

In 2004 Miracle out of NY Port canavral,Nassau,Freeport. Most of our group went to Atlantis in nassau they said it was something I should have seen picture-ess. They took a bus tour in freeport eh! We still had a great time.