Fun Spring Break Cruise!
Carnival Miracle Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 46
7 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 14, 2019
Ship: Carnival Miracle
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 5170
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
Overall, my family had a great time on this cruise and can't wait to go on our next one!Embarkation
This was by far one of the easiest embarkation experiences without the "Faster to the Fun". It was organized and very smooth. We were on the ship with a drink in our hands in about 30 minutes or less from the time our van dropped us off at the port.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The Main Dining Room was delightful and our wait staff was excellent. We mostly only went to the buffet late at night after "clubbing", but the were only open until midnight or sometimes a little later. Thank goodness for the 24 hour Pizza place (and the pizza was delicious btw) since room service cost extra after 10pm.
Onboard Activities
The Serenity area was delightful, the pool was very small though and the chairs were hard to come by. Putt-putt was putt-putt, the basketball court was a little small for the number of young people that frequented it.
Entertainment
The show's were perhaps the best I've seen on any of the ships so far. The Red Frog Pub with The Daft Sailor's Band was usually the place to be. We frequented the Piano Bar, but it was not my personal favorite as it has been on some of the other ship's I've been on, my husband loved it though. There was lovely Violin Trio that was amazing as well as Kyle who is a soloist guitar/singer and #LizandLucas (Lucas played the guitar while playing the drums and singing...amazingly talented, Liz had a beautiful voice). These three groups played on the multiple different stages (Atrium Bar, Alchemy Bar, Red Frog Pub). There was typically a lot to choose from and multiple things going on at once.
Children's Programs
My 13 year old hung out in the Circle C club, specifically designed for his age. We took him on the first night when it opened and he made friends right away and was able to hang out with them every night or day at sea.
Service and Staff
Ray was our room steward and he was great, my son loves baseball and he would talk baseball with him in the hall, our room was always tended too. Windi was our head server in the dining room and she was so personable and really wonderful, she always remembered what we drank with dinner and would usually just bring it for us. MJ was the best bartender ever (picture the movie cocktail and the "entertainment/tricks"), very talented and remembered everybody's names and there most commonly ordered drinks.
Ship Quality
Everything on this ship was always clean and well-maintained, my only complaint would be the layout. This was definitely an older ship and the casino was right in the middle of deck 2. Deck 2 had the main dining room at the back of the ship and the majority of the entertainment areas at the front of the ship...meaning you had to walk through the casino (yes, you could go up or down one to avoid this...but, really not realistic) to get to all of the main "happenings"...I would always come out the other side smelling like I had just smoked a pack of cigarettes, yuck!
Cabin / Stateroom
Our balcony room was delightful, yes it had a bit of an obstructed view, but that wasn't that big of a deal for my family. The balcony gave the 3 of us just a little more room. Ray did a great job taking care of us and always tending to our room.
Ports of call
We did not do any excursions, but the port was super easy to access, clean, the staff was friendly and efficient, by far probably the easiest and quickest embarkation experience so far.
Thumbs Up
3
Grand Caymen is very pretty, having to take a tender boat to get to the pier I think adds to the experience, however it was a very long line for the tender boat to get back on the ship. We did the Sting Ray City, Starfish Point, Private Beach, and Lunch excursion and all in all the excursion was very nice, our tour guide ( a female whose name I can't recall...this is how much of an impression she made on us) was by far our least favorite. The boat captain was great though and like I said the actual sights were great.
Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras
OMG, this is by far the most beautiful port I've ever been to on a cruise. I mean it was just pretty, the actual port was completely done by Carnival and only Carnival ships come to this area...but the trees and the mountains and the lush vegetation were there long before Carnival came in 5 years ago and built this spot up. My son and I did the Extreme Zip Line and Beach excursion. It was so much fun and so pretty to be up in the jungle and end on the beach. My husband was "waiting" for us at the bar where the last zip line ended. The beach was very nice, of course finding a chair was a bit of a chore. There were multiple chairs to rent with umbrellas, but they were supposedly all rented already even though there went towels or bodies in them. The excursion was a very short walk and then a truck took us up to the top zip line and the walk back from the beach was simple too. Very nice port.
This was the other stop where we needed a tender boat to get over to the port. The water was very rough this day and there was difficulty getting the tender boats to the ship so we were all very late getting off the ship. The excursion we did was booked through Carnival so there was no problem getting to our excursion still and the ship waited for us to get back. We did the Private Crystal Cave with Dry Cave and Lunch Excursion. It was a bit of a bus ride to get there and back, but totally worth it. Our tour guide Big Bruce was great, we learned so much about Belize on the bus ride over.
This island is very pretty...and not very big. Getting off and on the ship was very easy. We did San Gervasio, Ruins, Island Tour and Lunch excursion. This was a good excursion, our tour guide Edward was excellent. We learned quite a bit about the island and also about the Mayans. The lunch was at a local restaurant and including a Tequilla tasting...yum!
Disembarkation
Our disembarkation was fast, easy, and efficient...just like our embarkation. We were in the "late" group and we were off the ship by about 9:30.