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Carnival Destiny and Carnival Miracle |
| Reviewed By: Lee, Reading on 14th Mar 2008 |
| Cruise Line: Carnival Cruises |
Times cruised before: 1-2 |
| Cruise Ship: Carnival Miracle |
Sailed:
September,
2006 |
| Destination: Mexico |
Age: 56-65 |
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Our first Carnival cruise was in August 2003 on the Destiny out of Barbados. What a treat. The ship is fantastic and the balcony stateroom was brilliant with plenty of storage and the shower was HUGE we could have had a party for at least 6 in it!! The excursions were great whether organised by them from the ship or just by doing our own thing and getting in a taxi at the port. Martinque was the most horrible place to be - everyone came back to ship early - very uncomfortable walking around felt like you were going to be mugged or whatever. Aruba was lovely as was St. Thomas, St. Maarten etc. We stayed 2 days in Barbados, cruised 7 days and then 5 days back in Barbados. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. Carnival really impressed us.
Our second cruise, again with Carnival, was on the Miracle in 2006 visting Mexio, Cozumel, Grand Cayman. Beize etc. In Belize it was their 25th Anniversary of Independence - brilliant atmosphere. We were tendered to most of the ports and this was a fabulous experience!
We stayed a week in Orlando and took the hire car to the port at Tampa (which we had to pay for the parking of for 7 days). Wouldn't say it was a good trip though as Virgin Holidays directions were absolutely RUBBISH to get us to Tampa Port. We went over the Howard Franklin bridge 3 times trying to locate the port. We saw in the distance the Carnival fin of the ship and basically headed for it. Embarkation was busy but fairly quick and we were just glad to have made it in time for embarkation - no thanks the Virgin Holidays, and again Virgin Holidays let us down here as we had no tickets/documents etc., but had to fill the embarkation form in whilst in the queue - not amused Virgin Holidays - get it sorted. The ship was again wonderful although the decor was "heavy" and especially in the dinning room -VERY PINK/LILAC -phew!!
We had a balacony cabin again - in fact it was an 8A catergory but it was a suite - it was HUGE - very very well furnished, sep dressing room, beautiful whirlpool bathroom and altogether brilliant.
Entertainment on the Destiny was fabulous and all shows that we saw were very professional and very West End/Las vegas. Miracle's entertainment were on a par but not quite as 'top end'. Staff on both ships were very attentive and cabin stewards on both occasions wonderful.
We are due to go on the only the Carnival Glory this May 2008 with our daughter and her husband who will be celebrating their first anniversary whilst aboard - so we hope the Glory is just that for these first time cruisers! We will do a week in Orlando first and get the Shuttle Bus from Orlando Airport to Port Canarvel to board the ship this time.
This will be our 3rd cruise with Carnival and only because our first experience on the Destiny was fabulous and these ships were going to the places we want to go to at a very good price even for balcony rooms, plus we have the added benefit of being Frequent Virgin Flyers which afford us very good sicounts on holidays - so why not, we are only here once and Carnival make you feel very special. You can dress up for the formal nights (usually 2 on a 7 day cruise) and dress down other times. Although we love the dressing up as you have been casual in the day time and to be honest a snart shirt and trousers in the main restuarants is fine.
The atriums on the ships are awesome with piano bars, casinos, theatres etc., what more could you want. Food 24/7 with many choices ie formal, casual whatever you want and whenever you want. Each day they have a special cocktail on the pool decks and it is great fun trying the new flavours and entertaining too! Shopping is good too with duty free being applied so when at ports you are not being overcharged on the ships basically they are the same price.
Obviously many Americans on the Carnival ships but we like that together with the mix of staff from all corners of the world it enhances the experience of sailing with Carnival.
We think Carnival rocks in all aspects and we are really looking forward to the upcoming cruise whereby we sail out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St.Maarten with 3 days at sea this time so a lot of R & R for us and as for our daughter and her new hubby of 1 year - ah bless!
We hope to try other cruise lines, but this may be difficult as Carnival practically own most if not all other companies i.e. Costa, Island Cruises, etc., etc.
We would love to do the Panama Canal next followed by Haiwaii and then out of New York to somewhere and also Dubai - the choices are endless and if it should be with Carnival again we we have no problem with that!
Well done Carnival keep up the good work.
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Main restaurants and lido outlets on both ships | | Entertainment | |
| Excellent on Carnival Destiny and Very Good on Miracle | | Shore Excursions |  |
| Aruba and Grand Cozumel | | Staff | |
| Both ships | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
| | Onboard Activities |  |
| | Cabins | |
| Excelleny very well appointed staterooms and HUGE. Most of Carnivals fleet have o/s cabins and with 80% balconies - not to be missed. Steward service excellent and everywhere is very clean. | | Overall Rating | |
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