Great Spa, terrible port/excursions

Carnival Miracle Cruise Review to Mexico

mikkey1101

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 50

Overall rating:

4.2 out of 5

Verified Review

4 Night Catalina & Baja Mexico (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 04, 2021

Ship: Carnival Miracle

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7307

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 3 years ago

Review summary

We had a nice time BUT Carnival has to 1. Update their cabins for tech. TVs are too small, channels too limited, and there is one plug and no USB charging ports. 2. Stop canceling excursions 3. Find better ports! I would have preferred staying overnight in Catalina than going on to Ensenada. Ensenada is a dead town with big problems, closed beaches, and questionable safety.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Easy, but have required documents

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Food is great, especially the Steakhouse

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

These are what you make them. Great if you join in.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Good quality

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Our Steward, John Paul was very attentive and sweet. Yes, we got a towel animal each day!

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

One plug in the cabin. No USB charging ports. Clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Entry is very narrow. Bed is comfortable. Balcony is a must to extend living space. The TV was TINY and limited channels (Princess much better). No USB ports and only 1 plug in the entire cabin.

Ship tip

Bring an extension cord with extra plugs and USB ports

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Long Beach (Los Angeles), California

5 out of 5

We booked our own post cruise tour with Tours by Locals to see Hollywood

Thumbs Up 2

Catalina Island, California

5 out of 5

Carnival cancelled our zipline tour, so we booked through Trip Advisor. Bison Adventure Tour. It was great and fun. Biofueled military grade Hummer. 1600 ft above sea level. Saw 3 bison close up and a herd in the distance. Learned a bunch. Then went shopping and sat on the beach. Nice port of call.

Thumbs Up 0

Ensenada, Mexico

1 out of 5

Carnival canceled our excursion, Food Teller, a walking tour of food places with a tour of downtown, and with nothing on Trip Advisor but poorly reviewed Bufodora, we decided to go to the beach and have lunch. No directions were given by the ship. Off we went into a seedy, run down area. We walked for 30 min and asked a man where the beaches were. He pointed 2 directions but indicated the swimming beaches were 10 BLOCKS away. So we headed that way. We came upon horse and buggy rentals and rode the rest of the way (5 blocks) for $35 (high). And...beaches PERMANENTLY CLOSED. Ugly fencing up around the beaches, graffiti on the cement surrounds. A rundown trailer park across the street. Thankfully a few acceptable restaurants available. Not fancy, but the food was great. Nothing else to do but look at junk souvenirs, so went back to the ship.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Had to wait 2 hours for Authoritied to allow disembarkation. Didn't affect us, but people with early flights?

Traveler Photos

11 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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Popdog 3 years ago

Thank you for your review.

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srhandler 3 years ago

Thanks for your review. We also take a extension cord and a power strip with NO surge protector.

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javawoody 3 years ago

Thanks for the review

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izrgreen 3 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to write a review

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CaribbeanWaters 3 years ago

Thank you for sharing. Looking forward to upcoming cruise.

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dkantouth 3 years ago

Ensenada has so much more to offer than you would think. With or without an excursion. Hopefully it will improve with better vaccinated rates there.

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jameeh 3 years ago

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Too bad about the canceled excursions, could be something fell through at the last minute. Not all ports are handling the pandemic and the associated supply chain and staff shortages as well as other ports. I agree that some of Carnival's ships could use a tech upgrade. I always cruise with a power strip that includes USB ports. Hopefully as the pandemic eases they will make the upgrades.

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Curt34 3 years ago

Thanks for the review.

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CruzeFan 3 years ago

Glad you enjoyed most of it. All ships leaving and returning to a US port are required to stop at a foreign port (other than those going to Alaska currently). Ensenada is the closest foreign port from California and is used on most short cruises. As far as upgrading technology, we take a 4 USB port adapter and have plenty of outlets for charging electronics. I’m not sure most people spend a lot of time on a cruise watching television, so it’s probably not a priority to upgrade currently.

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cruising2004 3 years ago

Thanks for sharing

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