Enjoyable Cruise on Carnival Miracle

Carnival Miracle Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5
Carnival Miracle

7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 24, 2019

Ship: Carnival Miracle

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 5176

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

My husband and I recently cruised on the Carnival Miracle and had a great time. The ship itself is very ornate and gawdy, but that is part of its charm. We found the common areas to be kept up and well maintained. Embarkation was not as smooth or fast as a Royal Caribbean cruise I had recently taken, but was not horrible. We had a fifth deck balcony cabin that was spacious enough with a comfortable king bed. Our cabin steward, Lasmana, was fabulous and kept our cabin in great shape and was responsive to all of our needs. We ate in the main dining room for all but a couple of lunches and found the food to be consistently good and the waitstaff professional. The food was so good that we felt no need to eat anywhere else. We had chosen "your time" dining and as such, we were able to get to know several other couples over the course of the week. We very much enjoyed the breakfasts in the main dining room and would highly recommend the house made granola which was a great snack to take on excursions (we had brought our own ziplock bags). On sea days, we hung out on the Serenity Deck, over 21 only, and read our books and used the hot tub. We never had any problem getting a seat under the covered portion of the deck as long as we got there by mid-morning. As for entertainment, we really enjoyed the Daft Sailors in the Red Frog Pub and spent most of our evenings there. We did excursions in all four ports and enjoyed them all. We booked none of them through Carnival but all were very diligent about getting us back to the ship on time. We highly recommend Roatan by Land and Sea in Roatan which we booked through Vacations To Go. The only negative I can think of was the muster exercise, only because so many guests selfishly did not show to muster on time, which caused the rest of us to have to stand and wait for them to be paged repeatedly. This was frustrating for those of us who managed to get there as directed. Perhaps Carnival would do well to not open the bars until after muster since so many adults had trouble with this. Definitely take your own luggage off the ship as opposed to putting it outside the cabin door for the crew to take. We used the gym three times but the elliptical machines' touch screens were frustratingly non-responsive and clearly in need of updating, but we made the best of it. The weights portion of the gym was very good. We were often aware of the movement of the ship so would recommend prescription scopolamine transdermal patches if prone to seasickness. We wore them for the entire cruise and had no problem. Overall, we would highly recommend this ship and this itinerary.

Embarkation

3 out of 5
Slower and less organized than another recent cruise with Royal Caribbean, but not terrible.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
We ate all of our breakfasts and dinners in the main dining room. The food was consistently good and the waitstaff professional and we felt no need to spend more money to go to the steakhouse. We ate several lunches on the lido deck buffet and they were fine.

Bacchus Dining Room

5 out of 5

We found the food to be consistently well prepared and varied. The waitstaff was very professional. We felt no need to "upgrade" to the steakhouse as there was always a steak option on the Bacchus menu.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
The gym is very nice, although the elliptical machines either need updating or service as the touch screens are not responsive. We enjoyed the serenity deck.

Internet Cafe

1 out of 5

Carnival's wifi is a negative. The service was spotty and took two trips to guest services to finally get it to work at all. Royal Caribbean's wifi is much, much better.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
We enjoyed the Daft Sailors in the Red Frog Pub.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Our room steward was awesome, and we had good service throughout the ship.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Very ornate, bordering on gawdy, but well-maintained and clean. Compared to Royal Caribbean, there is less emphasis on hand sanitizer on the Carnival Miracle.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
The cabin was very nice, with the only negative being the single electrical outlet. We had brought a cruise-approved electrical strip and our steward provided an extra extension cord. Our mini fridge was not working when we boarded, but our steward quickly switched it out. We highly recommend getting a 12-pack of bottle water delivered to the cabin, for less than $5 so there is always cold water. We did not mind the minor obstruction of the lifeboat on our balcony at all. Also, bring a dozen magnetic hooks for things like hats, lanyards, etc. This cabin has a numeric-lock safe. We had good water pressure in the shower.

Ship tip

Bring ziplock bags to breakfast in the main dining room and order the delicious house made granola. It's an excellent snack to take with you.

Ports of call

Cozumel, Mexico

4 out of 5
Playa Mia Beach Day - relaxing day in the sun. The only negative we had was that their credit card machines were not working when we were there and we had only brought limited cash.

Belize City, Belize

4 out of 5
Goff Cay - snorkeling and beach day - very nice but the sea was very choppy when we were there

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5
Roatan by Land and Sea - our favorite excursion of the trip - would highly recommend for a tour of the community followed by snorkeling and lunch at a beach restaurant

George Town, Grand Cayman

4 out of 5
Snorkeling, stingray city, and starfish beach. Very nice excursion.

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
We recommend taking your own luggage off. Overall, not too bad.
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