Just off the Miracle today - June 9th to June 17th

[NYGirl1002]

My husband, myself and my daughter sailed from our hometown NYC on a much awaited caribbean cruise on the Miracle.

 

Embarkation:

My son dropped us off at the pier at around 10:30 on Tuesday morning. Check in was as easy as pie and we were already sitting down by 10:45. However, we could not embark until 12:15 as there was a travel agent lunch and two weddings. Everyone cheered as the wedding parties passed us by and we passed time by chatting with other passengers.

 

As soon as we got aboard I sent my husband and daughter up to get lunch while I booked a cabana for Half Moon Cay at the excursion desk. I also took the time to get the holes punched in my daughter's sign and sail so she could put it on her lanyard. All of this took all of 10 minutes. It was a breeze. I took in the atrium and realized that it is so gaudy but a nice gaudy. I then took the glass elevators up to meet my family. My husband had found a primo table and I found the hamburger grill cook and got myself a cheeseburger and fries. Very good start to the cruise as the food was very good.

 

We then made our way down to our cabin where we found our steward, Gati, just finishing up. He allowed us to drop off our carry ons but told us the rooms were not ready yet. So we explored the ship while we waited for an announcement. I don't know if one was made because I never heard it so around 3:30 we went down to find our room ready.

 

Dining Room:

We chose late seating which was 8:15. We really had a great serving team. Headwaiter was Yosup and his assistant was Luis. Yosup was very personable and learned our likes and dislikes immediately. Luis was knowledgeable about the menu and would tell us what was good and what wasn't each night.

 

The only problem we found was that if you came downstairs at 8:15 for dinner the DR would not let you in. There was always a line going all the way back through the Jeeves Lounge, Atrium, and halfway through the Casino! When we sailed HAL we were told to get to the DR within 15 minutes of dining time so that's what we did. We ended up coming down much later so that we wouldn't have to join the line.

 

The maitre'd was Frank Van and he was delightful. He'd come over to most of the tables almost every evening and have a small chat with the passengers. He was very good looking, personable and very likeable. Every night after dinner he would have some kind of entertainment like the waiters dancing or Frank himself singing for us. It made the dining experience so much better.

 

I will end this post to comment on the food. I found Carnival's food to be very very good. I thought HAL's food was good but Carnival's was way more superior. I cannot say I had one bad meal the whole week. Most of the time we had breakfast and lunch in the Dining Room and loved both that at Horatio's buffet.

[NYGirl1002]

Sea Days:

Since the Miracle was sailing from NY we had more sea days than the usual cruises. This one was no different as we started out with 2 sea days right off the bat.

 

Our cabin was a category 4B on the 5th deck aft. It was pretty nice but not as big as I expected. Apparently it was for 2 people as I had to call housekeeping for another robe and blue towel for my daughter.

 

We went to the welcome show but my eyes started closing by the time the comedian came on at around 11 pm. We met the entertainment staff and the cruise director Brent. Most of them had english accents and Brent was from Canada. The singers and dancers were pretty good.

 

They really have tons of activities on sea days. There's something for everyone. At about 8:30 am after breakfast at Horatio's we went immediately to the adult pool. We found 3 lounges together in the front row. It was nice and sunny but the pool was freezing so we all did chance apiece in the hot tub, or should I say "warm tub"?

 

Security was having a field day because apparently people kept missing the signs that said "adults only" and bringing children to swim in the pool. One person brought her small child into the hot tub with a tube. Why do people allow such young children in hot tubs? That can't be good for them. The Security guy would come immediately to eject them. It was like watching a show. I loved the look on their faces as they were escorted from the area.

 

We stayed most of the day and even had lunch out by the pool. At around 2:00 we went down to the cabin to shower and change and made our way to Tea Time at 3:30. I even got my husband to come with us but he only did it that first day. I figured the cucumber sandwiches would hold him over until dinner (ha ha..not the way he eats.) I probably should have just let him have the pizza in Horatio's.

 

Tea was very nice and lasted about an hour. Afterwards my daughter and I found a bingo game and then went up to the cabin to relax before dinner.

 

When we got downstairs (at 8:25 pm) we made way to our table and my daughter was delighted to find that Maria, our bar server, had a coke with no ice..just the way she liked it...waiting at her place. It's the small things like this that make us happy.

 

Afterwards we were on our way to see the comedian but got waylayed by the casino and never made it. Early to bed!

 

The next day was exactly the same except we got lounges by the middle pool which was nicer than the adults area. The kids didn't bother us at all and in fact we had fun watching them.

 

The only thing different was that we went to the dining room for lunch and always requested sitting with someone else so we had people to chat with since our dinner table was only for us 3.

 

My daughter and I did Tea Time again while my husband no doubtedly made his way up to Horatio's even though he said he was going to nap.

 

After dinner we went to the show which was Marcus Monroe the juggler. Actually his show was really good. He's very funny. We're sucker's for novelty acts anyway so we really enjoyed it.

 

Next post will be about our first port, Grand Turk.

[RaMar]

Looking forward to more. :)

[MzOhioLady]

Great Review! I'm enjoying reading it. I can't wait to hear about Grand Turk since I'll be there for the first time in September!

[Cint19987]

very excited to here more of your review... im thinking of booking this exact cruise for next May just me and my mom... and we too are from NYC... i was worried about all the at sea days but seems like they have lots to do while at sea...:D

[awinter]

Loving your review. I can't wait to hear about the rest!

[NYGirl1002]

very excited to here more of your review... im thinking of booking this exact cruise for next May just me and my mom... and we too are from NYC... i was worried about all the at sea days but seems like they have lots to do while at sea...:D

 

They have lots of activities. There was defnitely an arts and crafts class every sea day, several trivia games, dance classes (I saw hip hop, disco and line dancing), lots of stuff by the pool (which I never got to see), several bingos during the day, and just lots of comfy places to sit and read.

 

Thanks for the nice words RaMar and awinter.

 

MzOhioLady you are going to LOVE Grand Turk.

[NYGirl1002]

Before I go on with Grand Turk there's some other stuff I want to say. When we sailed on Holland America (which was our very first cruise) they showed some of the video on TV and we saw ourselves during muster. We were like "ooooh.. we're on the video"!! Of course we bought it. Ha ha the joke was on us. That little clip of us not even looking good in our orange life jackets was it! HAL shows people embarking and disembarking at ports but then shows stock footage of the port.

 

Well Carnival does it much better! At sailaway I saw the video guy and made sure my daughter and I got in the shot while waving. Then I would see him in a port and casually walk in front of him. LOL! I can be such a ham but I knew my husband would want to buy the video so at least I made it worth his while. At one point there's a giant picture of my head which fills up the whole screen!!!!! Everybody came up to me and said "hey I saw you on TV". BTW it wasn't a flattering shot either but if you live by the sword.. you die by the sword.

 

Anyway, the photographer actually picks an excursion and goes on it with you and videotapes everyone on the excursion. He tapes a lot of passengers coming off the ship and in the area near the pier and then he goes on the excursion. He really maximizes the amount of people on the DVD.

 

However, my only complaint is that they sell several DVDs. There's one of "on the ship" which includes sailaway and then one of each port separately and then one of the events onboard such as the "married game". Of course we ended up buying the 2 that we were on and it cost us $41.00. All because we are hams!

[NYGirl1002]

Grand Turk:

Allow me to preface this with the fact that we have never been in the caribbean. The water and beaches are so beautiful!!!

 

My early rising husband was all excited when we docked in GT. Who wouldn't be? The sun was shining. You could see clear down to almost the bottom of the ocean from the balcony, and some caribbean music playing on the beach drifting to the ship. He forced us to get up and go down to the DR for some breakfast. I didn't mind going to the DR because I found that he ate less when served.

 

I had booked the excursion named "Reef and Rays". It including snorkeling and then an encounter with the stingrays. I had changed my mind several times on what we were going to do and after juggling the ideas in my head and listening to my daughter in law about how great it is to see the stingrays I chose this one. Of course my husband was lamenting about the crocodile hunter since I informed him of the excursion but all I heard was blah blah blah. My mind was made up.

 

We disembarked about an hour before our excursion was supposed to leave and hung out in the square. There are gift shops and kiosks all around and it was just so nice. Lots of passengers were just hanging out and you found yourself chatting and making friends the whole time. That's when the videographer caught me.

 

After buying all kinds of souvenir junk, we went over to our meeting spot to sign a release and proceed to our catamaran. There were 3 guys in charge of about..I'd say maybe 25-30 people tops. One of the guys piloted the boat over to the middle of the ocean practically and showed us where the reefs were. The other 2 guys went into the water with us and helped whoever had a problem snorkeling and lead us to the reef.

 

I have to tell you that my husband chickened out and my daughter and I tried the snorkeling but we kept drifting and had problems with the fins so after tasting way too much salt water we made our way back to the boat and had about a gallon of fruit punch while watching the 10 or so passengers who actually made it to the reef. I'm sure it was beautiful but this city girl is not very good at snorkeling. Plus my daughter is special needs so I was more worried about her than myself. Once we were back on the boat I was happier.

 

After about 1/2 hour of looking at the reef we made way to Gibbs Cay where the stingrays hang out. We passed over a large dark spot in the water and we were told that it was the stingrays! When we got close to the beach they lowered the ladder and we were able to go right to the beach and then into waist deep water.

 

Right next to us was another boat and guess what? the video guy!!! He took pictures of us going into the water and playing with a stingray. There I am in all my glory...my fat body in a bathing suit... in the water on the DVD. The stingrays are amazing. They swim right up to you and brush by your feet. The tour guide picked one up and we got to hold him and kiss him. It was a nice tour.

 

When we saw the dvd we saw that the other boat got to snorkel from the beach which we would have liked to do much better. I don't know the name of that tour but we definitely would have preferred that over snorkeling in the waves.

 

The whole excursion took about 2-1/2 hours and we made it back to GT in time to run into a shop and get something I missed before and then make our way leisurely to the ship. We really didn't spent much time as I would have liked in GT. Even though it's a small island (6 miles long by 1 mile wide) it would have been nice to explore a little more.

 

We called room service for a light lunch.

 

By the time we showered my husband dozed off and my daughter and I watched Marley and Me. When he got up to get dressed for dinner he was wondering why the heck both of us were crying so much!

 

We never got to the show that night because we were tired and the next day was Half Moon Cay. We were to be on that first tender at 9:00 am!!

[NYGirl1002]

Half Moon Cay:

I learned a lot about this private island on the Ports of Call board here on cruise critics. If anyone is pondering a certain cruise I suggest going over to those boards. The main thing I learned is that it's a little slice of heaven and boy were they right.

 

Originally I was going to find some shade and make ourselves comfortable. And then I read about the cabanas. A small three sided house with an air conditioner, a fan, a table and chairs, two lounge chairs WITH PILLOWS, a refrigerator, some raw veggies and dip, some fresh fruit and some tostitos with guacamole, cream and tomatoes, along with soda and water, snorkeling equipment and floating mats. Whew..that was a lot to type.

 

Anyway the price of this wonderful cabana was $219.00. My husband had gotten out of the hospital 2 weeks before we left so I figured there's no way he will sit on a beach for a day. I decided to book it and I am so glad we did. We were on the first tender and then met by a woman driving a small tram. She took us over to the cabana.

 

The cabana had the rest room right near us and was pretty close to the food area. It was perfect.

 

The sand was like powder. There was not one rock or shell to catch your feet on. The water was so clear you could definitely see the white sand on the bottom. No shells or rocks in the water either. We got on our mats after dragging my husband away from the "snacks". Ahhh relaxation like you've never known.

 

If you felt like a drink the bar servers were on the beach and would get it for you. We relaxed on our chairs, my daughter found a hammock on the side of the cabana and claimed it as hers. Lunch was very good and the best part is that it's an extension of the ship so it's free.

 

There were plenty of excursions on HMC which included parasailing, horseback riding, stingray encounter, bicycle riding and jet skis. Lots of passengers took advantage of them. Since we're from NY we took advantage of the beautiful beach.

 

The last tender from the island was at 4:15 pm. We took the 4:00 one back. There was a pretty long line and it was extremely hot. That's my complaint for the day. LOL. Besides the fact that I didn't see the videographer all day. Turns out he went with the horseback riding excursion.

 

Our last port coming up..the Bahamas..Nassau to be exact.

[MzOhioLady]

You are doing a Fantastic Job. Girl I'm hooked on your review!! I love how you break it up and its not all one extremly long paragraph. We're also going to Half Moon Cay!!! Yeah!!! I keep hearing you never want to leave HMC. I can't wait to find out! :D

[SusieQusie]

Thanks for the great review! We're sailing on the Miracle this August. Quick question: Did you have the issue with a line at dinner every night?

 

We too have the late seating. Just curious what time you would suggest getting down there to avoid a line (I really don't care for lines......)

 

Thanks.

[NYGirl1002]

Thanks for the great review! We're sailing on the Miracle this August. Quick question: Did you have the issue with a line at dinner every night?

 

We too have the late seating. Just curious what time you would suggest getting down there to avoid a line (I really don't care for lines......)

 

Thanks.

 

Yes this line is every single night. The worst part is when they finally let you in there are people just coming down the steps that just meld right in and don't wait on the line.

 

We beat this whole thing by going down at 8:25. You walk right in that way.

 

I hate lines too. Wait til I tell you about disembarkation. yeesh

[NYGirl1002]

I also would like to mention something about Half Moon Cay. When we rented the cabana they supplied us with 8 cans of soda, 6 diet for me and my husband and 2 regular for my daughter. They also give you 2 large bottles of water. It's the same bottled water found in your cabin.

 

My husband takes about 6 different pills and opened the bottle of water in our cabin. Of course since we didn't drink all of the water on HMC we took it back to the cabin with us. It was already paid for.

 

On Monday I reviewed our bill on the TV and I noticed that they charged us for a new bottle of water each day. Hell that's $4.54 a day. I went down to customer services yesterday and told them that we took the water we paid for already back from the cabana. She said that's perfectly fine. She said she will check with housekeeping to check their supply and would remove it if they were wrong.

 

First of all he only opened one bottle. The other two were brought back from the cabana.

 

Well this morning we got our final bill and they only removed one bottle. We had to pay for 3 that we didn't use. There was no way I could stand on that line to complain for $15.00. My son was waiting in a no parking zone for us to get off the ship.

 

I heard several people complain about charges on their bill so please make sure you keep your receipts and check your folio on TV daily.

[Lisa0719]

you can call and question the bill even after the cruise. we had to do that once for a towel charge. they removed it and credited our card.

[SusieQusie]

Ugh....I keep reading things about incorrect charges on people's accounts. I'm hoping if I check the account on the TV every once in a while, I can avoid that and NOT have to deal with what everyone refers to as the really long lines at the desk at the very end. (I have to admit, paying for something I didn't get - no matter how little money - is the type of thing that makes me a little crazy. I can definitely see myself standing in a line to dispute an incorrect charge. Oh well, we all have our pet peeves.)

[NYGirl1002]

Thanks Lisa. I will definitely look into it this weekend. It just bothers me that I disputed it and they still kept it on there.

 

I met someone in the elevator that was erroneously charged for a massage. My husband was talking to someone by the pool who said that they were double charged for some items....one on husband's and one on the wife's.

[Mike C]

Great review.

 

Do you remember which cabana you rented?

 

Mike

[NYGirl1002]

Yes it was the purple cabana (No. 6). It was one cabana away from the rest rooms and pretty close to the food court.

[imnance]

we found our steward, Gati,

 

 

Gati rocks!! He is, by far, the best steward we've had and the others were darn near perfect.

[vi reynolds]

Oh, these reviews of yours are invaluable to me because we are just about to book that very cruise but for early July.

 

We live in NY state but are from the UK and my parents are coming with us also. We have a 6 month old baby and, when Dan first mentioned the idea, although he really, really needs a break, I thought he'd gone mad. The sun for one thing but the more I read, the more I realise that there is shade almost everywhere, there are two days at sea, so you are not exposed to the sun all the time. Also my parents are coming and my mum I'm sure will be a tremendous help although I don't really want to just damp the baby on her and hence treat her as a nanny. I want a holiday for all of us.

 

I was wondering about the cabana. I think what we could do is book one and my parents and our little one could stay there whilst we do one of the diving things. Dan is definitely the active type, then we can meet with them in the cabana and have lunch.

 

The whole thing sounds idillic and I can't wait!!!

 

Thanks for the tip on the queue for the dinning room. We may try the supper club some days but apparently the food is very good everywhere so, we will do half and half maybe.

 

Also, thanks so much for warning us about billing mistakes. My husband is a right mug when it comes to things like that. He's too generous for his own good and doesn't keep count of how many drinks people have had etc. I was brought up in a large family and I'm a bit more thrifty, although I do like my luxuries. I don't mind paying for treats but refuse to do so for things we haven't had. So, thanks so much for mentioning this.

 

Thanks so much for this very detailed account of your journey.

 

Now, I know you have an older daughter but since you have been on this cruise recently, any tips for what to do with a baby in terms of what parts of the ship would be suitable or any particular excursion which is short and to which we could take him.

 

I'm glad you have such a lovely time.

[NYGirl1002]

Vi, I saw a lot of people who had babies with them and it didn't seem to stop them from doing the activities at all. They had strollers with them and it didn't seem to hamper them at all.

 

As far as the cabana it would be so perfect. It's cool and shady as the sun on the island is very very hot. There's an air conditioner in it but don't forget there is only 3 walls so it's not freezing cold. You could definitely use it as your base to leave the baby with your parents while you guys do some of the water sports.

 

I found it to be a very relaxing cruise due to the 4 sea days but it doesn't have to be if you are one of those that likes constant activities. It was just the right mix.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

[NYGirl1002]

Gati rocks!! He is, by far, the best steward we've had and the others were darn near perfect.

 

Yes he definitely is. We hardly saw him but when we needed him he was right there for us.

[vi reynolds]

Vi, I saw a lot of people who had babies with them and it didn't seem to stop them from doing the activities at all. They had strollers with them and it didn't seem to hamper them at all.

 

As far as the cabana it would be so perfect. It's cool and shady as the sun on the island is very very hot. There's an air conditioner in it but don't forget there is only 3 walls so it's not freezing cold. You could definitely use it as your base to leave the baby with your parents while you guys do some of the water sports.

 

I found it to be a very relaxing cruise due to the 4 sea days but it doesn't have to be if you are one of those that likes constant activities. It was just the right mix.

 

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

Thanks, hun, booked now. Yes, it's four days at sea not 2. It really seems like the type of holiday that everyone can enjoy. Dan is the most active of the lot, but then again, we want to do a bit of everything, from relaxing by the pool, to a little fine dinning, to giving my parents the opportunity to have a good time and bond with their grandchild.

 

The background to this is that we moved to NY when the baby was 2 months and they have not had a chance to see him since, until now. It's also good that Dan and my mum are very close. He was my brother's best friend at school and he lost his parents in an accident when he was very young so my mother has always "mother" him somewhat, so it will be a great chance for all of us to have a good time together. My parents own a farm in England and they seldom get the opportunity to go anywhere (they are first time cruisers), so I thought, after my initial concerns, that this should be a good family holiday.

 

I'm very pleased to here that I won't be the only crazy one with a baby on board! I was more concerned about the strong sun more than anything else but I have found sun block specifically designed for babies, protective swimming gear for him and everything, so yeah, I'll keep him in the shade and of course, if he gets uncomfortable with the heat, back to the boat!

 

Now, the cabana, I looked into the cruise information site and it says 1 hour. Can it be hired for longer paying more? It would be nice to go and snorkell or something for 1 hour and then get back and for all of us to have lunch together.

[vi reynolds]

I have now the answer to my question. The cabanas can be hired all day, so no problem. They cannot be booked before we board so I will ensure that one of our party is there early enough as I would hate to miss out on this. Sounds like the best plan ever!