The World’s Longest Miracle Review, Part 13: Final Thoughtsfeatured
A cruise review wouldn’t be complete without some final thoughts (especially since this is so long that many will be put off by its length). Overall, we all thought this trip was fantastic, but I wouldn’t say it was our best or favorite. It was a comfortable trip, on a ship we’re very familiar with, and to ports we were familiar with (except for Half Moon Cay). But on to the breakdown…
The drive: The drive wasn’t bad. We left our house just north of Chicago early in the morning and we were in New York early that evening. The drive would have been shorter if we hadn’t made so many stops that morning and if we had planned our arrival differently, as we hit Jersey during rush hour.
The Westin Jersey City: I think I said that our original plans were to stay in the Waldorf Astoria (and if I didn’t, our original plan was to do our pre-cruise stay at the Waldorf Astoria, but we scrapped that because we thought it would be too difficult to get grandma in and out of the car on a city street as opposed to a parking garage where she could take her time). I wouldn’t hesitate a second to book the Westin again for a pre-cruise stay or a trip to NYC. The hotel is new and immaculately clean, and the staff is always looking for ways to help you. The concierge at the hotel can help with tickets, dinner reservations, Broadway tickets and public transportation questions (they also have transit maps). As a frequent traveler, I have a Starwood Rewards Card (which is free to sign up for), and as such, I was placed on a preferred floor for card holders on the 21st floor, in a room with a fantastic view of lower Manhattan.
The Westin is steps away from the PATH trains that go into Manhattan, and is well-lit and populated even late at night. There is a large mall behind the Westin with plenty of dining and shopping, a Shop Rite a block or so away and a Target a few blocks down. There’s a Cosi a block from the hotel for quick sandwiches and salads and some great local cuisine, as well (we enjoyed the cuban food and music at Azucar, which was right next to the hotel).
There are a few more chain hotels in the immediate area that are worth checking in to, as well.
Touring New York commando style: We had originally wanted to do a guided tour of New York because there’s so much to see and we only had so much time there. We scrapped those plans and tried to do it ourselves and it was just too hard. It took me awhile to get comfortable with the subway system and we didn’t get to see half of what we wanted to. I’d probably do a tour next time.
That said, as frenetic as our touring was, we enjoyed what we saw and I don’t think we regret anything we saw or did in New York. Alice’s Tea Cup was one of my favorite parts of dining in New York and I wish we had a place like that in Chicago. Seeing HAIR was another high point of our trip and the revival cast is simply fantastic.
Simply put, though, two days in New York simply isn’t enough to see and experience everything. I wish we could have seen the museums. I wish I could have walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and had some pizza in Brooklyn. I wish I could have visited new Yankee Stadium. I wish I could have gone to the Dakota Building and spent more time in Central Park.
Embarkation: As I said before, we spent more time sitting in traffic at the pier than we did in the terminal. This was, by far, the smoothest and quickest check-in we’ve ever experienced and I suspect that if we weren’t using the special assistance service, the embarkation still would have been smooth. It was quick, efficient and I don’t think we waited in line for anything for more than a few moments. The people who worked there were friendly and patient and everything was done in an orderly manner.
The Ship: There really isn’t much more to say here than has been said- the Miracle is a lovely ship. The decor is a bit more subdued than other Carnival ships, and the ship is in good shape (there’s a few small tiles missing by the pool here and there, but that’s the only sign of wear and tear I really saw onboard).
I really enjoy the layout of the Spirit-class ships. While the Miracle is a smaller ship, everything is very linear. You can walk straight through the ship from one end to the other. On the Glory last year, there was a dining room in the middle of the ship that took up two floors, and to get around it, you had to go up or down and around. In addition, some of the clubs and other areas were kind of hidden, whereas on the Miracle, everything is easy to find.
The Staff: There aren’t words to express how wonderful the staff of the Miracle was. So many people recognized us from our January cruise and everyone was so wonderful to us. Our steward was fantastic, and his service squelched the fears we had about service after the room steward on our previous ship. Many people addressed us personally, by name, and we made sure to write on our comment cards and to Carnival about those who made our cruise extra special. Our CD, Brent, was the same CD as we had on our previous cruise. He was a good CD. He was very nice and accessible to the passengers, but having sailed with him just a few months earlier, the experience wasn’t fresh and a lot of his jokes were the same. That said, he’s funny and not over-the-top, which was refreshing. We prefer our CD’s to be a bit more subdued than over-the-top crazy.
The only staff who we felt weren’t above and beyond were our dining staff. They were nice and pleasant, but there were lapses in their service and I felt at some points, our head waiter focused more on the larger tables in hopes of getting a larger tip from them. Our assistant server was very nice, but she was very quiet and very new in her role.
We’ve never had bad servers on Carnival. They’ve all been remarkable and unforgettable or good to very good (and I can still remember all of their names, except for the head waiter on our first cruise). Jephson and Joanalyn were very nice and helpful, but we didn’t really get to know them (or them us) and that’s something we’re used to. Karuna spent more time talking to us than our server did over the course of the week. Our assistant server in January, Dalibor, would talk to us after dessert and tell us all about life on the ship and his life in Serbia and ask us about our lives in Chicago.
I always tell the story about Lawrence and Lilliya from our 2006 trip on the Pride and how they felt like family to us by the end of our cruise. Lilliya really took a shine to grandma because she reminded her of her grandma in Russia…so much so that she had to call her and tell her how much she missed her during the cruise. They were two remarkable people and every time we cruise, we look for them, even though we know it’s unlikely they’re still with Carnival.
Back to the staff of this cruise, though…I think the best difference in staff from January until May was the addition of pool security. I’m not sure if they were anywhere other than the adults-only pool, but from sailaway until our very last sea day, they were there and they were kicking out anyone under the age of 16 from the pool and hot tub, and directing people with diapered babies up to the kiddie pool. They weren’t timid about it, they didn’t wait around and hope that they got out on their own. If there was a kid in the pool, they were removed within a minute or two. I hope this is a fleet-wide addition, but I won’t hold my breath.
Our rooms: We were in rooms 8232 and 8234, which were 8H balcony cabins with extended balconies (8234 being a handicap accessible cabin). Our rooms were spacious and clean, and our balconies were huge (equivalent to the size of three suite balconies or six regular balconies each), each with two chairs, two lounge chairs and a small table. We had easy access to the aft elevators, which were right outside our rooms, and Horatio’s, the Lido deck restaurant, but it was a trek to the A deck, where you disembark at ports.
Again, the big disappointment was in the HC room being marketed as a HC accessible balcony room, when the balcony is NOT HC accessible. We saw pictures of the exact same room on the Pride with a ramp, but this room had no ramp. Since grandma couldn’t step onto the balcony, and we didn’t feel comfortable lifting her wheelchair over the hump, she didn’t get to use her balcony at all, and we ended up taking her to the promenade on deck 3 when she wanted to go outside to watch the water. The room was otherwise accessible, but I hope Carnival will not continue to market this room as a fully-accessible balcony room when it isn’t.
We thought being below the Lido restaurant was better than being below the pools (like we were on the Glory last year) because when you’re beneath the pools, you’ll hear the scraping of the deck chairs when they’re put away at night and when they’re brought out in the morning. I can’t say that this was any better because in a few ways, it was worse. We’d hear carts being rolled out during the day and night and towards the end, we’d smell something foul coming from the vents in the morning (which, if you read my January review, was something people who stayed on deck 8 complained about, but it seemed the odor was much worse for them than us). It wasn’t bad enough for us to complain about, but it was there. If you’re a light sleeper, I wouldn’t recommend staying below the Lido deck because there’s always some degree of noise coming from the Lido deck. I sleep with earplugs in so I don’t care, and Mom, Stephanie and grandma are heavy sleepers so it never really bothers them.
Ship activities: There was never a dull moment on the boat. Because we had so many bouts with bad weather (ranging from a few minutes or an hour of rain to hours of storms), we had to find other activities than swimming and sunning on sea days and we found so many activities that we never participated in and never knew existed that ranged from physical challenges to scavenger hunts to bag tournaments and trivia challenges and even arts and crafts and dance lessons. Of course, the purpose for many going on a Caribbean vacation is to spend time outside swimming and getting color, but I encourage everyone to head inside for a bit every once in awhile and see what the entertainment staff offers.
The food: The food was generally excellent on this cruise. Stephanie had nothing but good things to say about the chicken dishes and especially the soups. Mom really enjoyed the shrimp dishes, but didn’t really like the fish dishes. I thought the vegetarian options were excellent (most of my appetizers were vegetarian), as were the chilled soups and pasta options. I think there’s room for work with the steaks. I understand it’s hard to cook steaks to order for thousands of people every night, but it’s nearly impossible to get a medium steak in the MDR. It’s either rare or beyond well done. The big disappointment, again, was the filet mignon from the MDR. Please, Carnival, change it back. Grandma enjoyed the variety of options they offered for dinner on the Lido deck and thought the quality was near par of that in the MDR (or how she remembered it).
I think the options on the Lido deck are plentiful for a ship of the Miracle’s size. Newer ships have a make-your-own stir fry place, a fish & chips place and some even have a burrito bar, but the Miracle had plenty in the rotisserie, Taste of Nations, deli, asian, pizza and salad bar stations. The asian counter offered some of the best Lido food I’ve had on any ship (including Princess) and often commandeered a long line of its own. I didn’t eat at the deli, but grandma frequently did and loved it. It’s not a New York or Chicago-style deli quality, but it’s very good. They shave the meat fresh and every sandwich is made to order. And as always, the pizza was fantastic, hot and ready and made-to-order, if you wish.
And then there was the grill, where they grilled cheeseburgers, hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken sandwiches all day, every day. These aren’t sandwiches that sit under a heat lamp like on some other lines. These go straight from the grill to your plate. They also have fresh french fries (which are amazing- crispy and salty), chicken tenders, chili, cole slaw and potato salad, cheese sauce, freshly made chips, sauerkraut and sauteed onions and mushrooms.
We had room service a few times, but there was often a wait of an hour (it usually came in less, though). Room service offers juices for free 24 hours a day (apple and orange) for those with children who really enjoy juice. I really enjoyed the veggie plate and had that nearly every day, if not more. The veggies were fresh and crunchy and served with some blue cheese dip. The cheesecake was also very good from room service, and I thought it was better than the cheesecake served in the MDR.
The supper club did not disappoint and was just fantastic. As they shift to steakhouses (which few believed me about, but they are, and menu changes will be coming eventually, as John Heald hinted to on his blog), I hope they retain the same quality since it’s the only place on the boat to get a decent steak that’s cooked to order.
The shows: I still maintain that Ticket to Ride is one of the two best shows on Carnival (the other being the now seemingly defunct “Rock Down Broadway,” which doesn’t seem to be on any ships right now). Generations was excellent, as well, but there’s just something special about the end of Ticket to Ride. The singers, Matthew Cross and Sherri Hayden, were fantastic vocalists and weren’t too shabby with the dancing, either. I have a new respect for the dancers after going on the set tour and hearing Joe talk about their challenges and how much work they really do.
The ports: We only had good weather on one port day, but thankfully the good weather came on Half Moon Cay day. Half Moon Cay is gorgeous, sprawling and nothing like I imagined. It’s almost like a small town. We came out late and there were literally no chairs left and we ended up at at the deck outside the bar, which ended up being perfect for me. It was close to the water, so Stephanie and Mom could swim, but near the bar and the music so I wasn’t too bored. The cruise staff come out and hold activities and there’s plenty to do on the island. High SPF is a must on this island, as the sunlight is very direct. I was wearing SPF 30 and I started burning within 10 minutes in direct light at the bar deck.
Grand Turk was as I remembered it, but it was just too crowded this time. In January, we were alone on Grand Turk until the Crown Princess arrived that afternoon. This time, we were docked alongside the Caribbean Princess and Grand Turk is just too small to accommodate two ships of that size at once. Some of the shops were packed so tight it was like being in a can of packed sardines and the pool at Margaritaville was packed to the brim so much so that it was hard to even walk through to get to the restaurant.
Nassau was, well, it was Nassau. It could have beamed sunlight all day and I still wouldn’t have enjoyed it. The pier is long, once you leave the pier area you’ll be haggled endlessly by people wanting to show you their shops or braid your hair. Some will say that you’ll find this everywhere, but that’s just not true. You won’t find this activity in St. Maarten, St. Thomas, Grand Turk, St. Kitts, etc. In those ports (which are some of my favorite islands FOR the ability to walk in peace), you’ll generally be left alone unless you enter a flea market. There’s some good shopping (and even a Starbucks, for those who need their coffee fix), but it’s just impossible to get there without being haggled by someone who wants to show you their “shop” behind an alley, or come to their booth in the market. And, you can’t get to Senor Frogs without passing the market on either side.
I think the Atlantis is very nice and I very much enjoyed our tour there. I felt bad for the people who paid an arm and a leg for the Aquaventure or beach day and ended up stuck in a storm for the afternoon (and likely got no refund since it was clear in the morning). But I felt the tour of the Atlantis and the aquarium was worth the price. The aquarium was breathtaking, and is obviously the high-point of the tour. The tour also allowed us access to the shops and casino if we wanted to spend the rest of the day there. In the future, I’m not sure if we’ll even venture out onto the island anymore. We may just head to the spa for port-day specials.
I think that’s it 🙂 I’ll edit this post if I remember something and I’ll try to get the Capers up before I leave for Disney next week (and I’ll be starting to write for that either tonight or in the next few days).
