Good destinations, cost-cutting ship experience

Carnival Miracle Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

bpyu

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 42

Overall rating:

3.4 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 17, 2018

Ship: Carnival Miracle

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 5161

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

My point of reference is I have gone on 3 Princess Cruises. Overall, we enjoyed ourselves on this trip, but I like to be critical to point out the goods and bads. I am not trying to be negative but objective. Embarkation--straightforward, efficient, organized, seemed less chaotic than Princess'. Emergency drill was the usual, at least we did not need to bring our life jackets. Room--slightly larger than Princess', especially the bathroom, which we appreciated. Bedding was meh, the main bed was a converted pull-out sofa, a hard bench stayed hard as another bed covered with bedding in the evenings, and there was a pull down bunk bed--kids felt ok with the latter two, I felt the bench bed was very uncomfortable, and the pull out sofa was nothing memorable. Room was clean, but one theme I found was that I think Carnival cuts costs by understaffing. The room steward was very good, when available, there was an on-call for him at times and messages were not always relayed. Food/drink--We did not consume alcohol/soda, so I cannot comment there. Food was below quality, Anytime it listed jumbo shrimp/shrimp cocktail/tiger shrimp=peel and eat shrimp with a different sauce, lobster night=1/2 lobster tail (cut down the middle), any piece of pork was overcooked to very dry. While the servers were great, they were often overwhelmed, i.e. 3 waiters for 5 tables. And the buffet line was closed at numerous times. Kids center--good for kids up to 8 years is what we used, but much smaller, no kid friendly swimming pools (i.e. your kids will swim next to loud beer drinkers) And regarding excursions, we had a great private cab booked through cruiseline in Cozumel, Belize was hot, and Alta Hun was underwhelming (not well kept, lousy tour guide, tons of mosquitos), Mahogany Bay had a great experience with the dolphins, and Grand Cayman, great time feeding the stingrays and the giant turtle center was great to see the animals, but very touristy. Hope this all helps!