Carnival Miracle 1/24/2009 Part 10 & Final Thoughtsfeatured

Sorry…not a lot of pictures in this one 🙁

The dreaded day had finally come- when we woke up, we were docked at Port Everglades. The good: CELL PHONE SERVICE! This is the first time I’ve gone more than a day or so without the internet since my high school trip to Southern California in 2001. Seriously. I’m an internetaholic. The bad: we were getting off the boat.

Mom came into our room and woke us up early (I sleep with earplugs in and Stephanie frequently sleeps through her alarm so when it’s important, Mom would come and wake us up). We gathered our things and put them in Mom’s room and then went up to Horatios for breakfast.

After breakfast, we got all of our things and went down to the Jeeves Lounge, where special assist debarkation was happening. When they called our color/number, a special assistance person pushed grandma’s wheelchair off the boat for us and stayed with us through customs, all the way until we were at the luggage gate. At least two people told Stephanie that we were the smartest people on the boat because we had the most distinctive luggage. She picked out our luggage so she was very excited for those kudos.

The porter could only take our luggage as far as the receiving zone in the parking garage. We were on the third floor, so I stayed with the luggage while Mom, grandma and Stephanie went to get the car.

We loaded up the car and bid farewell to the Miracle and Port Everglades. We wanted to hit up the peach farm in Georgia on the way home to get some honeybells (and I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich), but it was Superbowl Sunday and it took forever to get out of Florida. We stopped a few times for lunch, snacks and gas, but we went pretty much straight up and we missed the peach farm by about an hour. We arrived in Atlanta around 7:00 or so and by the time we checked into the hotel (The Westin Buckhead again) and got settled in the room, it was around 7:45. Grandma was stiff and Stephanie was getting sicker, and we were all hungry. Mom and I hauled over to Target before they closed to get snacks, drinks and decongestant for Stephanie.

We then had the task of finding a restaurant to eat at. It was late Sunday night and we were in Buckhead, one of the most opulent areas of Georgia. We had just driven 11 hours and didn’t want to go somewhere upscale where we’d need to get dressed up, and Maggianos was closed and we couldn’t get take out. We ended up ordering takeout from a bar at Phipps Plaza (a philly cheesesteak and three Reuben sandwiches were nearly $50) and crashing in the room.

We wanted to try to get home at a decent hour, and we wanted to try to return the rental car early to get a refund on our extra day, so we woke up around 7:00, checked out, loaded up the car and went across the street to grab a quick breakfast at Corner Bakery before hopping on the interstate and heading home.

We were quickly in Tennessee, and we had our first glimpse of snow. Nothing says “You’re not in the Caribbean anymore” like snow covered mountains and sleet.

We made another stop at our Stuckey’s to stock up on Vitamin Water and pecan logs. The weather got better when we approached Nashville, and we got some sun driving through Kentucky. The drive home is a total mind game. We got out of Georgia and Tennessee so quickly. We must have been in Kentucky by noon, so it seemed we’d be close to home, but we really had the longest part of the drive ahead of us.

We stopped for lunch at a Cracker Barrel near Bowling Green. It was quite the novel experience for us. It’s like a candy store for adults! The closest one to us is a half-hour away, and it never seemed like our kind of place, but it was very homey and the food was very good.

Later in the afternoon, we passed downtown Louisville and all of the bridges out there were kind of interesting. At one point, there’s, like, five bridges all next to each other, each one different from the other.

We hit traffic going into Indiana. Driving through Indiana is like pulling teeth. There’s absolutely nothing to look at. We were about an hour or two from Chicago when the sun set. We stopped for gas at another Stuckey’s (can you tell? We like Stuckey’s 🙂 ) and we were all getting tired, achy and testy. Long drives are the worst when you are driving away from your vacation.

We finally got home around 8:00 pm, so we made pretty good time considering the lengthy stop at Cracker Barrel. Stephanie’s head felt like a balloon, we had no food in the house and we had to go return the rental car. We got everyone situated, cleaned out the car, and then drove to O’Hare to return the car. It was late, and the only non-fancy, non-fast food places open were IHOP and Cheesecake Factory, so Mom and I headed to Cheesecake Factory to dinner. We reflected on the cruise and what fun we had and decided we would indeed go on our May cruise.

So that’s the end of my trip report. It really was a fantastic trip. A few final thoughts:

Embarkation/Debarkation: Except for the delay because of the agricultural issue at the beginning, these were as smooth as can be. The staff at Port Canaveral were efficient and very helpful.

The Ship: As gorgeous as we remembered it. Aside from the Bacchus Dining Room, the Miracle is really one of the more muted ships in terms of decor. At tea, some ladies were discussing how some of them felt the decor (classical art) was offensive and demeaning to women (lots of nude paintings and sculptures, none of them vulgar or sexual). I didn’t feel that way, but YMMV (your milage will vary). That said, the old girl needs a bit more upkeep. There were some tiles missing around the pool areas and a few small things that could modernize her, but she’s in great shape for her age. I wish every ship had a Gatsby’s Garden type area onboard (I believe they’re only on the Spirit-class ships) because they’re by far my favorite public area.

The Staff: Everyone on Carnival went above and beyond to ensure we had a great cruise. We were referred to by name by our steward and our servers. Jogi, the assistant Maitre’D came by every night to chat with us, and I never encountered a grumpy or unhelpful staff member on the ship. I was always served with a smile, but that’s probably because I smile at everyone. I’ve found that kindness will open doors for you that you never thought possible. You have no idea how much it makes someone’s day to ask them how they are and to actually listen to their response. The cruise director, Brent, wasn’t over the top but still very fun and his staff (Pip, Justin, Gave and Kay) were excellent.

The Cabin: Our cabin was well-sized for our needs. I can’t imagine ever staying in a true interior room. I like to spread out. I hear that Carnival has the biggest rooms of most cruise lines, and I can’t imagine staying in a room any smaller. It was a big adjustment going from suites to balcony cabins, but I don’t think I could make the adjustment to a true interior.

The Room Steward: This is where I felt service was subpar. The condition of the room upon arrival and the dead bug on the ceiling are not what I have come to expect from Carnival. The room steward always addressed us by name and was very nice, and I have to wonder if, in a measure to cut costs, if Carnival is stretching them too thin by assigning them too many cabins.

The Food: Excellent as always. Aside from the Filet Fiasco and the icy cheesecake on the last day, I have absolutely no complaints. The food in the supper club was on par with a meal at a high-end steakhouse in downtown Chicago and the food on the Lido deck was just as good as the food in the MDR. Stephanie wanted me to note that the soups were beyond fantastic and were her favorite foods on the ship and grandma really loved the made-to-order sandwiches at the deli, particularly the corned beef sandwich. The grill seemed to have longer hours than we noticed before and everything was fresh and grilled to order. The pizzeria pizza had SO many choices (and they are always happy to make you a pizza to order) and it was always hot and delicious. Room service was beyond my expectations…so much better than I remember it! We especially enjoyed the addition of the ice cream parlor. That kind of ice cream and toppings would be sold at a premium on any other ship (on what other ship could you make a Peach Melba sundae at no cost?). The toppings were varied and excellent.

The Shows: Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I remember the shows on Princess and how low-key they were and how small the theaters were. Not so on Carnival. There’s high entertainment value in their shows, from the elaborate sets and costumes to the pyrotechnics and audience participation (like at the end of “Ticket to Ride.”)

The Onboard Activities: Looking through the Capers while writing this report, there were so many activities that I, on my seventh cruise, never even noticed or realized. We are creatures of habit and tend to do the same things on every cruise. Next cruise, I think we’ll make more of an effort to do new things. There was never a dull moment, never a bored moment. I really liked the relaxed atmosphere of afternoon tea, BINGO was always high-energy and lots of fun. Stephanie says her favorite “activity” was laying out in the sun and that she’d do it all day, every day (and she could…she rarely burns).

The Ports: Fantastic. This has been my favorite itinerary we’ve ever been on, and I hope to do it again sometime with St. Lucia. The ports were particularly clean, easy to navigate, and all of them had nice, elaborate port areas. We weren’t harangued by the locals for anything at all at any of our ports and it made for peaceful visits. And the weather really couldn’t have been better.

I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but I think that’s it! I hope this was helpful and entertaining to anyone who reads it and if anyone has any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll be more than happy to answer.

We’re getting more into our planning with our New York Miracle cruise coming up in five weeks (we leave a month from Monday!), and so I’ll be posting our planning, as well as a full review when we come back.

And after that? We’re thinking Disney in August. Expect lots of food pics to come out of that one 🙂

Thanks again for reading!