Carnival Miracle

The 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle has excellent programs and facilities for children and teens, large cabins, above average food and friendly service. Add to this a very flexible dining program that allows you to dine when and with whom you please in the main dining room. At 88,500 tons, this ship is today considered mid-sized.  Launched in 2004, Carnival Miracle has lots of balcony cabins, an indulgence worth the extra money.

But the heart and soul of a Carnival cruise is the high-energy, “let’s party, dance and gamble until dawn” experience. This ship best suits people who want to be energized, not imbibing champagne and caviar in an elegant setting. If this is your idea of fun, grab a cabin aboard Carnival Miracle. This cruise line offers the best entertainment in the cruise industry: lavish floorshows, piano bar, cabaret, disco, and a late-night comedian among the live performances. You may also enjoy a polished string quartet performing in the atrium.

Public Rooms:
You enter the ship on Deck 2 (Promenade), into what is called the Metropolis Lobby. This is the area where you will find a nine-deck-high. Additionally there are four glass elevators that will take you to Deck 9 (Lido), where you can take a glass stairway to the Nick and Nora’s Supper Club–the reservations-only, jackets-required dining area featuring prime beef, seafood and the stone crabs from the famous Joe’s Stone Crab Restaurant. My favorite watering hole is the lobby’s Jeeves Lounge, great for people watching.

There is a bar with a three-piece orchestra for your enjoyment as well as the Purser’s and Shore Excursions desks. Most of the lounges, casino, shops, and main dining room can be found on Decks 2 and 3. Deck 9 (Lido Deck) is where alternative dining, pools, spa etc. are located. The other decks are mainly passenger cabins. Decks 2,3 and 4 also contain the main showroom. The arcade is located all the way forward on Deck 4, and the Children’s Funhouse is all the way forward on Deck 5. There is a quiet place Frankie & Johnnies located on Deck 3 that wraps around the main showroom, where you can sit in quite contemplation if you need time away from the activities and the hustle and bustle of the ship. To catch your games on ESPN, head for the Sports Bar.

Cuisine:
Considering the moderate cost of this ship, Carnival constantly surprises with the quality of its food. It is amazing that they can actually serve 2,000 passengers and almost 1,000 crew more than 10,000 individual meals daily and not only do it in an orderly manner, but present really wonderful tasting and beautifully presented meals. You can find food available 24/7 either in one of the restaurants, room service, the buffet, or specialty shops like the deli and pizza bar. New on this ship is a specialty coffee bar with pastries and desserts, available at an extra charge.

One of the very best meals I’ve ever had was in the alternative restaurant Frankie & Johnnies where, for a surcharge of $30, I dined on incredible stead and lobster. It was worth every nickel.

Restaurants:
The Bacchus Dining Room is the ship’s main restaurant where dinner runs like a well-oiled machine. You may opt for traditional assigned, single-seating dining or an alternate program that gives the freedom to dine when and with whom you please. For breakfast and lunch, most people dine alfresco from fare served at Horatio’s, a sprawling restaurant serving buffet fare. In this area is the 24-hour pizzeria and 24-hour ice cream/frozen yogurt station. Room service is also available 24 hours per day.

Service:
You can expect personal and friendly, if somewhat informal, service from the staff. They will learn your names the first evening and by the second night should have your personal preferences in drinks, extras, and breads ready and waiting for you. The staff is using a new concept called ‘team service’ with a headwaiter and a number of assistants serving up to four tables as a team effort–which seems to work better than the usual waiter/busboy concept. After all this they still manage a warm and friendly smile and perform dances and other entertainment almost nightly.

Entertainment:
Carnival is well known for its lavish Las Vegas-style shows in the main showroom. These are multi-million dollar productions, with nearly half a million dollars spent for the costumes alone! With nine female and five male dancers accompanied by two singers–and often-special guests–in the main show alone, the entertainment field is quite large. They also bring on featured entertainers such as musicians, jugglers, comedians, ventriloquists, magicians, etc., so the evening shows will surely have something for everyone. What’s more, they have bands in the lounges and in the lobby, piano bar, and on the Lido Deck. Add to this the games that the Cruise Director’s staff comes up with during the day and evening hours, and it would be hard to find anyone claiming to be bored.

Cabins:
The feature I most like about Carnival Miracle is the size of the cabins. The standard cabin is a comfortable 180 sq. ft., tastefully decorated in beige and peach. Very well designed and laid out, they seem larger than they are. Amenities include a twin/king bed configuration; color TV with three movies per day, enormous closets, hair dryer, large vanity, safe and sofa. The bathroom is tiny, with a shower, but plenty of shelf space for two people; it comes with a complimentary basket of toiletries. Oceanview staterooms and suites have terrycloth robes for your use during the cruise and a mini bar. An even better cabin is the deluxe ocean-view balcony cabin measuring 230 sq. ft. Suites are 275, 245 (wrap-around balconies) and 300 sq. ft.

Fitness/Spa:
Sports and fitness lovers would be hard-pressed to find better shipboard facilities. The fitness center encompasses 13,700 sq. ft. The two-deck gym, with floor-to-ceiling windows and panoramic views, has elliptical walkers, treadmills, Stairmasters, stationary bikes, rowing machines, free weights, and hydraulic weight machines on a multi-level theater setting. There is also a whirlpool strictly for adults as well as steam rooms and saunas for both men and women. The jogging deck encircles the Sky Deck forward. The pool areas are impressive, including a multi-directional water slide. Topless sunbathing is allowed in a secluded section near the main funnel and is on two levels.

Adjacent is the Beauty Salon operated by Steiner’s of London. While every massage and beauty treatment imaginable is available, expect the staff to push the sale of their products aggressively in the middle of a massage. Treatments are pricey and, in my experience, a disappointment in terms of quality.

Family & Children: Carnival’s children’s program, Camp Carnival, is one of the best at sea and doesn’t cost a nickel. Children are broken up into four categories: toddlers (ages 2-5); Juniors (ages 6-8) Intermediates (ages 9-11) and teens (ages 12-16). All daylong activities are tailored for the age group and supervised by young, energetic youth counselors. Aboard Carnival Miracle, the children’s facility is Pinocchio’s Club, which has eMac computers, televisions hooked up to PlayStation, a huge flat-screen TV for dancing.

Attire:
While there are two formal nights, most men opt for dark suit instead of tux; jeans and shorts aren’t allowed in the dining room after 6 p.m. Daytime wear is strictly casual. You can rent a tux aboard ship

Tipping:
Carnival’s tippling policy is the industry norm: automatic gratuities are charged to your credit card and you may raise or lower the amount by visiting the purser’s desk. The amount is $10.00 per person per day which includes $3.60 for the stateroom steward; $5.50 for the Dining Room team and $.90 for service in the alternative dining rooms.

A 15 percent gratuity is automatically added to all beverage tabs. Gratuities for the maitre d’, room service, spa, casino and other staff are at the passenger’s discretion.

Copyright Anne Campbell, 2009. All rights