Carnival Miracle

My best friend and I used this ship on our Mexican Rivera cruise this past week. I’ll start with cons
Wifi prices online are 5 $ a day. It’s .75 per minute on board, I get enjoying vacation and staying off your phone but in regards to needing to keep into contact with family made that difficult. I do agree with some other posts that some of the seating areas need to be recushioned and cleaned up a bit for a cleaner feel but it didn’t bother me. After speaking to multiple workers on the ship, mostly Bartenders, room service, waiters it blew my mind to know how little they get paid. These men and woman from all over the world work their buns off and do NOT get what they deserve ! I had zero complaints of all the work they put in, day in and day out!
Food was great
Cruise director Saffie was outgoing bubbly and hilarious
Everyone on staff was attentive and sweet
We had the time of our lives ! And the excursions were to die for !

One thing in advance: the last Carnival ship I was on was the Breeze, when it was Carnival’s newest and best ship.
I just left the Miracle this morning. Carnival Miracle is about 10 years old and it’s starting to show its age. The previous reviews discussed some of the minor issues with the ship, however, Carnival is going to upgrade and renovate the ship next year. As far as I personally viewed, I had to look for those discrepancies in order for them to stand out.
This is difficult to explain, but while the Miracle is not in great condition, this was one of my very best cruises. I’ve been to Alaska before but this was a new experience, even at the same ports. The reasons: crew effort and excursions; both being top notch. At Skagway, we went on the White Pass train from Fraser BC. back to the port. We had a motor coach drive up to Carcross, YI, aka, the middle of nowhere. A lovely tour with our guide providing lots of information on the Alaska gold rush era.
Juneau, we walked the town and ate crab legs. Victoria, we walked downtown from the port, what a lovely city.
I don’t understand how this happens, because the food should be uniform across the fleet, but it wasn’t all that great. The dining room was okay, but the Lido deck, especially late night was on the down side. The adult beverages served were on point. There’s a good side to getting liquored up, I guess.
Carnival cruise director and ambassador John Heald was on board Miracle. His humor was terrific, and the Q&A session should have been required for all persons doing multiple cruises. We now understand why Ketchikan was deleted from this cruise, and it was for a really good reason. I’d mention why cruisers will never travel from a U.S. Port to a U.S. Home port but you should have been there.
Ok it is the Jones Act.

Carnival Miracle
The age range here is either really old or pretty young… Small group of young adults.
Workers here are extraordinary. From the cooks, to the servers, to house keeping was just amazing. Everything was ran to perfection. First day there our section handler, Jeffrey, came and introduced himself to us and let us know we could bug him at anytime. Really friendly guy and was very helpful. You always see them on their feet moving and making sure everything is smooth for you. Rooms were cleaned twice a day! And at night they would leave little hand towels arranged as animals which I thought was pretty cool! Around 4 am one of the nights we got a wake up call over the speakers because there was a report of someone going over board and they had to circle back until they could verify it. Turned out the guy was fine and was just somewhere.
Also 15% gratuity is added to all your purchases (bar, restaurants, etc) which is well deserved by these workers.
There’s 10 decks… second and third have a small shopping section along with two restaurants called bachuus on both levels. A couple of the nights they require you to dress up if you plan to attend them. Also there’s a small Casino section!
They also have a comedy club called the «punchliner»… It’s a club founded by George Lopez so they get some of his comedians during trips. My favorite comedian had to be the cruise director John Heald. I think that’s his last name, but he was high-​larry-​us! They have children friendly comedians but after a certain time it’s adult time so that means 18 years and older.
The 9^th level is the most popular level. It’s the buffet! They have certain times in which they serve breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Depending what day it is the times can change. The burgers hot dogs and the pizza were the best foods at the buffet. The worst had to be the fake scrambled eggs that they served. There’s also a two swimming pools with a jacuzzi on this level. This level also has a gym. For a ship that looks spectacular I was saddened by the gym section. The cardio section had all new equipments and were abundant… They even had a separate bike room with a big enough space that you could do yoga or whatever cardio exercises you might need to do. The weight section was utterly disappointing. The dumbbells went from 5lbs to 50lbs,(two of each 5,10,15, etc). They have two flat benches which can incline to different levels stoping at a 90 degree up right level. Then after that they have machines close to two for each major muscle. A total of 8 machines max. I know this is a cruise and you’re supposed to be relaxing but the weights looked and felt like they were used by George Washington him self. No need to cut corners in the fitness section!
Didn’t really bother to check the spa section but they have that and it looked fancy!
Level 10 is the fun level! This is where all the young kids spend 99.9% of their time. They have a small soccer/​basketball section along with a 9 hole mini golf area. The soccer/​basketball section is surrounded by an enclosed net so parents don’t have to worry about the kids falling off the ship.
The stops were Skagway to Juneau to a city in Canada. Scenic views were amazing! Saw a couple of animals such as whales, dolphins, black bears, bald eagles, and porcupines!
The day before our ship was supposed to come back to Seattle a water pipe bursted in the ship and we were with out water for a while… they fixed it before night fall tho. All in all it was a really good trip!

Went on this cruise ship in July for an Alaska cruise. It was ok. We did the spirit a few years ago and it was so much better. I did not like the glacier stop, we were to far away.
Now a few things I did like. We did the Chef dinner, outstanding. Loved it, Worth every penny. We also ate at the fine dinning place, worth it. Yes the food was good. We had a room with a balcony, which is a must. You really need to see the views go by.
Embarkation was fast. They have it down. The crew on board was so nice. I had to get off the ship in Canada to fly out for a business meeting. Kathleen on the ship when out of her way to make sure i got out. I made the flight with 10 sec left. It was stressful, but i made it.
Going back to the Chef dinner. You have to do this. We went fishing on one of the stops and caught a ton of fish. you catch them and they do the rest. We had all of ours flown back to our home. We also did the dog sled on the glacier and would have to rate that a 100. One of the best things we have ever done. Its so cool. I hope you have as much fun as we did.

This Alaskan cruise was my 5^th Carnival cruise. The others were Carribean, Bahamas, and Eastern US. I am of the mindset that I will enjoy myself if at all possible– and with that being said– I enjoyed myself… BUT:
Starting at price: For Alaska– the price was right.
Embarkation: The smoothest of any I’ve ever been on– great staff!
Décor/​Cleanliness/​Etc: Tacky décor overall, clean ship with excellant staff (except for the one woman in management who dropped the F bomb, cussing out an employee). The ship needs help, there were areas in need of paint and repair. For example under a table on the Lido deck was split plastic and crumbling concrete pillar. Not typical Carnival standards.
Food: The worst of any of the cruises I’ve been on. The choices were minimal compared to what we are used to, the quality was mostly poor– alot of jello consistancy-​no flavor– type foods. No midnight buffet with fancy foods, tiny portions given, though the wait staff in the dining room were wonderful and efficient.
Entertainment: Not enough live music and rumors of Carnival planning on replacing bands with DJ’s. The piano bar was a joke with the player hardly knowing any songs. The activities offered (bingo, games, etc) were always rather crowded-​in my opinion– because of the lack of live music and activities offered.
Sales: In my party we had 7– I brought with me 4 friends that were all first time cruisers-​we all felt that we were on a weeklong sales pitch. Everywhere we turned there was another pushy sales pitch from the ship to the cruiseline owned stores at the ports. More sales pitches than all my other cruises combined!
Ports: Tracey Arm Fjord– my advise– get a window seat, stay warm and enjoy the view BUT save your money and don’t go on the boat excursion. The icebergs are awesome!
Skagway– We shopped this town and really enjoyed. It’s a small town and if I had to do this again I’m sure I would’ve taken the train ride. I heard many positive things about it.
Juneau-​We booked Juneau Whale watch private saving us each almost $ 100 and we were not packed like sardines like the cruiseline sold boats were. Then we went to Traceys King Crab shack (yummy but over priced), then shopped a bit.
Ketchikan– Shopped and enjoyed the Lumberjack show very much.
Victoria BC– Canceled due to crazy waves and wind– oh well, we enjoyed ourselves by playing games and relaxing. In fact, we relaxed on this cruise more than any other cruise ever– which wasn’t really my choice, but due to lack of entertainment onboard.
Disembarking: Zoo like– and the only time we dealt with rude staff (Shante) was rude with us as we needed assistance for a wheelchair bound member in our party. She seemed irritated that assistance was needed. However after that the parking and shuttle staff were wonderful.
Results: Next cruise will be Carribean and again with Carnival… BUT, if things are like they were on this cruise, I’ll be lef no choice but to use another cruise line.

Yes, Carnival had some issues with a couple of its MANY ships last year. I wasn’t going to let that ruin my parade, though! We booked our cruise a year and a half in advance and when the day came for our trip, we were all ecstatic! From the beginning, our embarkation process was a breeze! We arrived in plenty of time, had all of our documents prepared, and we were on board in no time at all (with two small children, that was definitely nice!). This was our first cruise so I had no idea what to expect… I was pleasantly surprised at how accessible everything was, how welcoming the crew was, how many choices for food were available,…and on and on! Camp Carnival rocked… my boys loved it! The entertainment was wonderful, the activities were varied and many, the excursions were fabulous, having a very personable and knowledgeable naturalist on board was fabulous, the cruise director (Chris) was phenomenal, our room (an ocean view suite with balcony) was amazing. I would give 100 stars if I could… thank you, Carnival, for making our first cruise and our trip to Alaska the trip of a lifetime!