Halloween on the Miracle

Carnival Miracle Cruise Review to Mexico

AuntPinkie

Contributor Level: Captain

162 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 14

Helpful Votes: 239

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

6 Night Mexican Riviera (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 30, 2016

Ship: Carnival Miracle

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 6224

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

We flew to LAX the same day as our sailing (usually go out a day ahead) and we purchased our transfers from Carnival. Our plane had a fog delay (not common in Colorado) but we arrived in plenty of time to board the ship in time for lunch. The Carnival representatives at LAX were on the look-out for us and the 6 others arriving at about the same time. We had to wait 20 minutes for out bus, but we did not wait for a full bus to head to the the port.

The VIFP lounge seemed disorganized, priority guests were processed along with contractors and it seemed 2 of the 3 representatives were taking care of contractors not guests. Finally another person came into the lounge and took care of the guests. The signage for the next step was poor and we asked were we were to proceed and were told the far door on the right. That was fine, but once we went through the door we had to ask again. It was as if they expected the guest to know how to get to the next point. They need better signage.

Went to our cabin as soon as we boarded to drop off our luggage. The cabin still had the couch made into a bed with the bolsters under the regular bed. There were no robes. We hoped this was not an indication of thing to come. Went to lunch on the Lido and where we had a nice variety of choices. We went back to the cabin and found our room steward, Mauricio. He asked if we wanted morning or evening service to the cabin. We requested both and he said, no problem. We asked for ice, robes and to have the couch restored to a couch. The next time we went to the cabin, all was right. He was very friendly and happy to do whatever we needed.

We were a party of six with YTD. The first night we were given a table at the back of the ship near the windows and had a spectacular sunset. Our wait staff, headed by Darell, was outstanding. We requested them throughout the cruise. Only one night were they not available when we went to dinner (had time off for our late departure in Puerto Vallarta). We took whoever was available. I'll just say not all wait staff are created equal... Darell and his crew worked hard to get us our food and dessert quickly, so we could go to the early show. The hostess, Chongchong, made sure our table was not filled by others before we arrived. So if you have YTD try to get table 385...you will have most excellent service.

Unfortunately the menu posted on the TV did not match the menu we got each night. I am not sure if that was because this was the short cruise to get the ship on it's "normal" 7 day schedule or not. Just a little nit-noy of a problem.

We had the same comedians for the whole cruise. They both did a good job with the family version and the adult version. Very funny guys. Adam, the CD, was excellent and Alex, the assistant CD, should be moving up to his own ship as he was terrific. The shows were well done and we enjoyed them a great deal. We did get a wonderful show from a large group of dolphins on our last sea day during lunch. They were on both side of the ship and were doing flips, jumps and all sorts of antics; this lasted about 10 minutes (sorry no photos we were too involved in the show).

Many passengers dress for Halloween and so did the crew. It was "cruise elegant" night and we were invited to either dress in costume or our cruise elegant attire. and both were present in the dining room.

If you were bored on this ship it would be your own fault. Activities all over the ship all of the time. There is no way one could do it all.

Entered the bean bag toss (lost) and watched the bocce ball. Several trivia contests throughout the ship daily/ Mini-golf was open 24 hrs... found nighttime mini-golf very challenging. Much more was going on, but these were the ones we chose to do.

We arrived back in Long Beach in heavy fog. We heard the fog horn starting about 5AM and did safely dock about 8AM. The debarkation was delayed and no one was off the ship until about 9:30 AM. Most people seemed to do self assisted debarkation so it was very slow in the beginning.

The ship is beginning to show her age with minor cosmetic problems. But if you like the Spirit class of ship, this is a fun one to sail.