Hawai’i was beautiful and this was an amazing cruise
Carnival Miracle Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 62
15 Night Hawaii Carnival Journeys (San Diego Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 17, 2020
Ship: Carnival Miracle
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 4155
Traveled as: Family (young children)
Reviewed: 4 years ago
Review summary
15 day cruise was the longest I have been on. The first two days at seas of four were the rockiest. I, who never get seasick need meds on day two. Going to Hawai’i the sea days seem to fly by but on the return trip four days seem to long. But all in all, it was a beautiful and relaxing cruise.Embarkation
Very quick and easy. Drop off area was close to where the baggages were to be dropped off so no need for a porter. Very short line to do final check in and we were on board within 10-15 minutes of entering the cruise terminal.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Food in the MDR was great and there was a variety of foods. The buffet was your standard buffet food. Nothing really over the top. The salad bar was great and so was the deli! Sea day brunch were amazing and the food was so delicious. The pool burgers, chicken nuggets and fries tasted great when they were freshly made. Otherwise, burgers lay on tray and get cold as do the fries. Nick and Nora steakhouse was my first time in a steakhouse onboard a carnival ship. The food was as you would get at a steakhouse on shore. We were celebrating our anniversary and it was nice that they brought us another dessert as a celebratory gift with two glasses of champagne.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed the spa and gym facilities on this ship. The hot tub in the gym was the only one we used because it was indoors and sheltered from the weather outside and during the earlier days of the cruise, it was empty most of the time, maybe because many people were unaware of it. The shower facilities were awesome in the gym with multiple shower heads 😍. I had prebooked a couples massage before getting on board. Loved our massage so much, ended up booking another, and another, and another. Lilian and Suanti were the BEST! Pool deck seating on a lounge chair seemed fewer then other ships but I was always able to find one. The mini golf course is small and not architecturally challenging. Ping pong table and life sized chess board were enjoyed by my kiddos.
Children's Programs
My kids were always begging me to take them to “kids camp”. They probably had dinner with camp 10 of the 15 nights onboard. Even though there were not many kids onboard our sailing, my kids enjoyed the one on one attention from the staff and maybe the ability to have more free reign of the video consoles or other toys.
Service and Staff
Service from wait staff in the MDR was hit or miss. We had “your time dining” and never waited more than a few minutes for a table. I love this option because we never have dinner at the same time every night. We were fortunate to be seated in Eduard’s section one night and he and his team were awesome. We began to request his section each night. The ladies at the hostess stand were always cheerful and welcoming. Jennifer was so sweet and would greet us by name anytime she saw us.
Gede was our room steward and we could tell he was overworked. However our room was cleaned and maintained to the tee. We asked for ice to be in our room but since ice buckets were all occupied he provided us with pool “beer ice bucket”. Hey, it worked! He also would greet us by name and ask about our day.
Ship Quality
The ship’s layout was easy to learn and navigate but it does have secret pockets here and there and getting to the kids activities or arcade needed a little getting used to.
The ship is cleaned regularly and I always saw the crew cleaning. However the ship is definitely due for her dry dock and upgrades. She has rust stains, some areas of her carpets are stained with tears in places. The toilet bowls are stained yellow. Yet, surprisingly there are no foul smells and everything smells fresh.
Cabin / Stateroom
Loved this category of cabin. It was spacious with a sofa for the price of an interior. It was nice to have the upper bunk open over the sofa and not over the king bed. Made it easy to get up from the king bed without having to mind your head. Also there was enough room around the bed to swing open the French door and allow fresh air from the sea to come into the cabin and to hear the ocean. Also the location of this room was perfect. Conveniently close to the elevators/ stairs and never heard any noise from excess foot traffic. It was nice to take a flight or two of stairs down and be in middle of it all, or take the elevators up to deck 9 and be right at the lido pool or buffet area (depending on which direction you take from there).
The bed was so comfortable. The fridge wasn’t the coldest. Safe was a keypad and not a strip swipe
Ship tip
Have fun! A bad day on a cruise is often times better than the best day at work. Relax and enjoy your vacation.
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Ports of call
This port was very disorganized. The port staff didn’t seem to know what was happening. Not very helpful. One staff had to ask more experienced staff the same question being asked of them. It felt like a game of telephone. We rented a car here and toured the island ourselves. We went to Lahaina and did some shopping there. We also drove along the northwest side of the island, along the coast and stopped at various lookout points.
Beautiful. We rented a car and toured the island ourselves. Went to Waimea canyon, Breathtaking! Also went to Wailua falls.
Rented a car here as well and went to Hawai’i volcanoes national park. Also drove to rainbow falls and had a picnic out of the trunk of the Jeep. 🍗🥤
Rented a car again here for the two days we stayed here. Parking the rental was easy. There are indoor parking structures a few blocks away from the cruise terminal. It’s about a 5 minute walk between the two. Went to diamond head, Dole Plantation, Pearl Harbor, and Ala Moana marketplace. We have been to Honolulu before so we didn’t want to do Waikiki.
Disembarkation
We had a late disembark zone ticket (#17). However we left our stateroom at 8:30am and were off the ship and through customs by 10. We waited for our zone to be called in the lido buffet area as we had breakfast. We must have been lucky because we were able to find a table for the four of us right away. Just as we finished breakfast the cruise director began to call off zones.
Once our zone was called and we made our way down to the gangway, there was a very short line to scan our sail cards and get off the ship. Getting our luggage was also easy since they were grouped together under the different zones. The only issue was a longer “exit line” to go through customs. The line took longer to get through than the time spent with the agent (10 minutes in line/
Traveler Photos
