Carnival
Miracle
7 Day Western Caribbean

Stella Ahuero

The ship itself was very nice. We had a room with a balcony and I’ll never sail any differently! Our room steward was the best; he was really on his toes and prompt with room service. I was very disappointed in the service from the majority of the crew. At every bar we went to, every bartender seemed really mad to be there and it took a long time to get served even if they weren’t busy with other customers. Not one bartender served us with a smile. I was also very disappointed in our table service in the main dining room. The first night it took a half hour between meal portions to get served. We were in there for three hours when the folks next to us who had the same waiter were eating their dessert and we were barely getting our entrée. We brought it to his attention the second night and while he seemed to step it up a notch, it was still dissatisfactory. Needles to say we only ate in the main dining room 3 times during the entire week.

The people who were fabulous were the social directors who really knew how to have a good time and really pushed to get everyone involved. You couldn’t ever say that you didn’t have anything to do on these ships. Our cruise director was the best! He’s the best I’ve ever experienced.

Very disappointed in the food, as it was very ho-hum. I really felt like I was eating the same thing every day. I think prime rib was on the menu every day! The last night we ate at the really nice restaurant on the top deck and that was fabulous! The food was wonderful, the waiters/waitresses were wonderful. It was worth the extra $29 per person!

The best parts of the trip were the ports and the excursions. I would definitely go on a cruise with this itinerary again as there is so much to see. In Grand Cayman we went kayaking which in that gorgeous water, why do anything else??? We went snorkeling along the way and I was overwhelmed with the beauty and the tranquility of the water! In Costa Maya we were taken by bus to a beach where we were beach bums all day long. The nicest surprise here was that it was an open bar all day long! Can anyone say another margarita please? Belize was the most exciting as we took a ½ hour bus ride to a rain forest. I must say the bus ride itself was a treat as you got to see so much countryside. Once in the rainforest we were given an inner tube and set off on a 40-minute walk through the forest till we reached the river where we mounted out inner tubes and rode the current through the caves and then through the forest with high cliffs along side. This was so much fun!!! The river wasn’t real high when we went so the water was literally knee deep. The caves weren’t super dark although we did have flashlights on our wrists. This was the best for the young and the old! Finally in Grand Cayman we went on a beach buggy ride all the way around the 44-mile island. We took turns driving the buggies, which was an adventure in itself. We stopped to snorkel, stopped at a beautiful beach for lunch, stopped at picture taking spots. Our tour guides were fun, charming and they really made our day as we were on the backend of hurricane Dennis so we got a lot of rain most of the day but we were troopers and went forward with our day!

Disembarking was a nightmare! I’ve never been through one more excruciating! They gathered everyone on two floors of the ship, most of us with our luggage so that we could get off “first”. That was a joke! We all sat there for 5 hours!!! We had to be out of our rooms by 8pm, they didn’t let us off the ship till 1am! It was so ridiculous; you can’t tell me there isn’t a better organized way to get off the ship.

I don’t think I’d ever travel on the Carnival Cruise line again, I think I’ll try an upgrade next time. While the excursions were the best, the stay on the actual ship was the biggest disappointment. Everyone always brags about the food on these cruises, myself not excluded. This left me craving for a really good meal once I got home!