Carnival Miracle- Western Carribean 2006

Carnival Miracle 12-19 Feb 2006
Port: Tampa, Florida Cruising to: Grand Cayman Island
Cozumel, Mexico
Belize
Costa Maya, Mexico

11 Feb. Saturday, Fairborn, Ohio

Patti and I are going on a Western Caribbean cruise with her Brother Jim and wife Sheryl. We drove over to Jim and Sheryl’s house. We left our car there and Sheryl’s parents drove us all to the Dayton Airport. The van was loaded down and Jim volunteered to ride in the back with the suitcases. Security was a breeze. It took only a few minutes. We got coffee and a cinnibun at the airport while we waited for take off. The flight to Atlanta took about 2 hours. We had been nervous about this day of travel because a big snowstorm had passed through. It split and went north and south of us; leaving us in the clear.

Leaving Atlanta we had a 10-minute delay on take off due to a special “security sweep” of the plane. That made us a little nervous. We also needed a Pilot. Ours was stuck in Florida and did not get in. Based on my expertise with my computer flying game I told Patti I could volunteer. She advised that would probably not be necessary. The flight from Atlanta to Tampa only took an hour. When we landed we even had our luggage there! No missing bags this vacation. We all shared a taxi-van into town. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard. We had a great government rate and got the room for 84 dollars for the night.

Checked in and just hung out in the room and relaxed. A little later we went down to the desk and signed up for the shuttle the next morning that would take us to the cruise ship terminal. We were down for the 11:30 am run. While in the lounge having a drink there was a group of 14 that were cruising the next day also. They were trying to agree on who would taxi with who. It was wild. “Shut ups” and “No we can’t get 8 in the vans.” They were loud and lively for sure.
We ordered Italian food for delivery. When the order came we just stayed in the lounge and pushed a couple of tables together to eat on. We walked around and checked out the hotel. It was too cold to use the pool. It was so cold in Tampa that the unusually cold temps even made the news. Then back to the room for bed. Tomorrow the vacation really starts!

12 Feb. Sunday, Tampa, Florida

We had a terrible night of sleep. The hotel does not have soundproof doors to the hallway. It had been a Pirate parade night in downtown Tampa and the partygoers were out in the halls late into the night. At 12:30 I called down to the desk and asked them to send somebody up to our floor. No action. At 12:40 Patti opened the door and yelled at them. I think she got their attention, at least that group left.

We all ate breakfast the hotel restaurant then caught the shuttle to the terminal. It was only about a 5-minute ride. We found out the ship was not there. A “Ship” being an essential element of cruising… this was not a good thing. But no worries. The ship was on the other side of the Tampa port. The Carnival Miracle was not able to get to its usual dock because a tanker had the channel blocked. We still processed in at the terminal. Having pre-registered it went fairly quick. We got our sail and sign cards, waited about 30 minutes and then took a 15 minute shuttle ride to the ship. We were on the ship by 12:30 PM. Our rooms were not ready yet so we went to the grill for lunch.

Afterwards we went and checked out the rooms. We were on Panorama deck midship room 8166. Jim and Sheryl were next door in 8164. We had balconies and the usual nice size cabin. One new feature Carnival had done was to put feather comforters and plush pillows on the beds. I loved the pillows, but I was the only one in the group that did. We all went for a walk around the ship. We went topside as we left port and it was cold and breezy. We were on deck as we went under the Tampa Bay Bridge, very cool. It seemed like few only cleared it by a few feet but I am sure it was by a larger margin than that.

We went to the casino it was not set to open until 7:00 PM. Jim and Sheryl stayed to gamble while Patti and I went back to the room to change for Dinner. Our bags were there. We had late seating in The Bacchus dining room. Some of the cruise review web sites complained about the shape and color of the lights. If you are on a cruise and that’s what you have to complain about… well, just shut up!!! Ha-ha. Our headwaiter was ‘Ninja’ from Indonesia and the assistant waiter was ‘Ronne’ from Haiti. They were very friendly and attentive. After dinner we went back to the room to unpack.


13 Feb. Sunday, at sea

This was an at sea day. No port calls until tomorrow. We woke up about 8:00 am. The ship was still rolling a little. This was very unusual. This is our 3rd cruise and we had barely ever noticed the ship moving before. The first night had been unusually rocky. It had smoothed out by midmorning. We had breakfast at the Buffet with Jim and Sheryl. The fresh fruit and tomatoes were excellent. I guess leaving from Florida helps with that. Tried our luck at the casino. The Casino, ‘Mr. Lucky’s’, has a variety of slots and table games. Jim would say that the “Casino is only making it harder on themselves.” Because they were not hitting big payoffs. I could play on 10 bucks for an hour or so on the video poker, Patti who is usually lucky. Did not fare well.
We all walked around the sun deck for a bit then Patti and I decide to hot tub. It was much warmer today then it had been in Tampa. Today I am in shorts and sandals. After the hot tubbing we got some sandwiches from the deli. Patti is watching her soaps on TV while I kick back on the balcony and write this update.

We are on the Miracle, which is a twin ship of the Spirit that we cruised to Hawaii on. So we are kinda familiar with the lay out. Only a few wrong turns so far. The winds have died down and we are in calmer water. The rocking stopped. Jim and Sheryl felt it again towards the end of the cruise but I did not notice it anymore.

Tonight was formal night. Jim and Sheryl went with us to dinner. We had a table for four. We had some pictures done prior to dinner. Like most first formal nights it was lobster for me (two) and prime rib for Patti. After dinner we changed and went to the 10: 30 PM show. It was a music review form to 40’3 to 80’s. Everything from Elvis to the village people. It was pretty good.


14 Feb. Monday, Grand Cayman Island

When we woke up we were anchored just off shore. This is a port we would have to be ‘tendered’ to. Carnival had contracted with several local tour boats to shuttle people from the ship to the pier. Today started off a little cool and cloudy. We had breakfast with Jim and Sheryl and took a tender to shore about 11:00 am. The Caymans had been ripped pretty hard by a hurricane in 2004 but had mostly recovered.

We went to the Palm hotel and planned on just hanging out on the beach. The hotel is on 7-mile beach. Advertised as the best beach on the island. It was ok. I still think Panama City has the best beach I have ever been on. The water and air was cool. I was the only one in the group to get into the water. I would describe the town like a medium size Florida coastal town. Some nice beaches, ok hotels and stores. Nice but not in the same class as Hawaii or St Thomas. Many people like to visit the island for the Dolphin and stingray swims.

I went to the beach bar and got a few drinks. I had 60 dollars and our ship cards in a plastic bag in my pocket. Somehow the bag fell out of my pocket. So if you screw up like that this is what you have to do to get back to the ship:

1. Borrow money from in-laws for taxi
2. Convince guard at port security to let you on to the pier
3. Pass a screening by carnival security to let you back on to the tender
4. Advise Carnival security at the ship to checks notes that you have to be manual processed
5. Go to the Pursers desk and get new ship cards
6. Call room service to open and reset your room safe

I had been using a parking lot card as my safe ‘key’ so at least I did not lose a credit card. I started using my Kroger grocery card as my new safe key. After all that hectic activity, Patti took a nap and I read, as the ship got ready to leave port.

Update!!! I got a call on the room phone. A couple had found the money and cards in the bag on the beach. They tried to find us there and ended up bringing it back to the ship for us. Wow! There were eight ships at the island as well as the regular hotel guests at the beach. To have shipmates find it and return was wonderful. I offered to buy them a drink but that said that was not necessary. A happy ending but more stress than we needed for a vacation day.

We went down to the atrium/lobby bar with Jim and Sheryl for some drinks. The atrium is a 7 story open area lobby. The glass elevators run all the way to the top deck. The elevators are worth taking just for the view. Patti was trying the special- melon margaritas. We all went to the Casino and to see if ‘Mr. Lucky’ would make us lucky. He was still making it hard on himself. Got dinner at the buffet and deli then went back to the room. We were thinking about going to the deck party at 10:00 pm but are having second thoughts.


15 Feb. Tuesday, Cozumel, Mexico

Well we never made it to the deck party, got too tired. Cozumel is an island off the Yucatan Peninsula. We had planned on taking the tender ashore but decided to just stay on the ship and relax. We will hit the island on a future cruise. We just kicked back in the room in the morning and read and napped. We went to Lido deck to sun and used the hot tub. I used the pool but it was a little cool. We got ribs for lunch and ate on deck. We also got some spring rolls from the Chinese buffet. The spring rolls were excellent we had to have some almost every day. We then went back to the room and napped again. I guess vacations make you tired—yawn!

We sat on our balcony as the ship left port. Jim and Sheryl were on their balcony too. We used Sheryl’s binoculars to look at the damaged hotels. The place was almost wiped clean. In some hotels every window was broken out. It may be a nice port call again in a few years. Hurricane Rita sat on this area for 36 straight hours and did catastrophic damage to the area. Cozumel is on a very flat island that is only a few feet above sea level. After leaving port Patti and I went to dinner in the dining room.

After dinner we walked through the casino to ‘Frankie’s and Jonnies’ lounge. In the Casino we saw Ed and walked over and said hi to him. We had recognized him from our cruise on the Sprit to Hawaii. He seemed pleased we recognized him and took a moment to say hi. The lounge was playing 70s music and was crowded. We sat in the outer lounge area but could hear the band just fine. We just sat there people watching having a good time.

When we got back to the room we went onto the balcony. There was a nice reflection from the moon on the water. One our favorite ways to end the day. It was a warm night if we had a hammock we would have slept outside.

16 Feb. Wednesday, Belize City, Belize.

We had a wake up call for 7:00 AM. Patti and I booked a tour of the Howler Monkey sanctuary through the ship’s excursion desk. We head breakfast with Jim and Sheryl. We were all leaving on a 9:00 am tender for the dock. They were going on a City tour. Patti was not feeling well so she was ‘iffy’ about the tour. She wanted me to go without her. At the last minute she felt slightly better and decided to give it a shot. It was a long tender ride-- about 3 miles to shore.
We could definitely tell we were now in Central America. The heat and Humidity were in the upper 80s. The tour to the howler Monkey sanctuary had only 15 people on it. We had been undecided on what to do today. Actually one of the tiebreakers was the fact that Angel likes Howler monkeys. We were watching a nature show about five months ago. Angel just piped up and said, “Look Mamaw, Howler Monkeys!”

Our tour guide spoke fairly good English. We headed north out of the city. He provided a running commentary on the history, culture and local sites. Belize had once been a British colony (British Honduras). There primary language is English. It is a small country only about the size of Connecticut. It took about an hour to get to the Sanctuary. On the way we passed several rivers. We saw 3 ft orange iguanas in the trees.

Once we arrived at the sanctuary we had a short introduction. We sat in a cement building in plastic chairs. This is not a US style animal park. It is actually a preserve controlled by several villages. The monkeys are totally wild. We split into 2 groups and our guides led us off to find one of the Monkey tribes. No luck at the first area. We did see ant mounds of leaf-cutter ants- all marching along with bits of leaf going back to their mound. We crossed the road to the river side and we could soon hear them. We were still about ¼ mile from them. And yes they ‘Howl’. Hence the name I guess!!! They were especially noisy today because two tribes were very close to each other. The Alpha males in each tribe were screaming and making noise to try and convince the other tribe to leave their area. We got close to the tribe-- about 40 feet away. We could see them but not as close as in a zoo. But I guess the trade off for that is that we got to see and hear them in their natural environment. We did see a baby Howler monkey too.
After the sighting we had to walk back to the Bus. About a mile uphill. Remember I said ‘heat and humidity?” We were dragging by the time we got back to the bus. We used the outhouses, bathrooms they bathrooms were still in the early stages of construction. They had a sign up for donations but we did not donate a dollar to the “build a bathroom fund.” As I mentioned this is not a US attraction. They had 2 outhouses. Belize is in the early stages of eco-tourism. Exotic wildlife, the 2nd largest barrier reef in the world and Mayan ruins and cave tubing are making it a tourist destination. I really believe in a few years when their infrastructure can support more tourism it will really take off.

When we got back to the ship we took lunch to the room. Patti took a nap and I read on the balcony. When Patti woke up we sat on the balcony and watched the ship leave port. We saw a Dolphin off to the rear of the ship. It was time for drinks on Lido deck. We skipped the dinning room and ate at the buffet with Jim and Sheryl. We went back to the room, watched some TV and called it a night.

17 Feb. Thursday, Costa Maya, Mexico.

A very beautiful port! The water color is almost a neon-like turquoise. We are docked at a pier. No need to tender ashore. After breakfast we walked part way to the reception area and caught a trolley ride the rest of the way. The port area is a tourist only shopping complex. There is free entertainment (dancers, and a band). There are numerous shops and a large restaurant as well as a huge swimming pool. They had Mayan dancers posing for pictures. The sales people in the shops were definitely high-pressure.

They were all after that American dollar. We bought a Mayan mask as a birthday present for Heather. We took a break in the thatch roof covered restaurant and had some chips and salsa with a couple of drinks to wash it down. Patti had a multi-flavored Margarita. I just wanted a coke.

We window shopped for a bit then went back to the ship. Our balcony was facing the shore. We were 8 decks up. But the water was so clear we could look down and see fish. Then we saw a large sea turtle swimming around. It was so cool to sea one ‘wild’ and not in an aquarium. We went up to Lido deck for burgers from the grill for lunch. Jim and Sheryl went up to the sun deck and Patti and I stayed in the shade, listened to the band and had a drink. After that we just went back to the room and relaxed.

We watched some TV, and then we fixed some plates from the buffet and took dinner back to the room. After dinner Patti and I went to ‘Frankie and Johnny’s Lounge. At first there was a DJ playing Country music. But at 10:00 PM a band started, they were really good! Jim and Sheryl met us there right before the band started. They played a lot of old rock songs. They ended with a set from ‘Queen’. What an outstanding group. This was actually the first time we had gone to hear music in one of the lounges at night- on any cruise. It was well worth it.

When the band ended we all went to the casino. Patti and I tried our luck at the dollar slots and lost 50 dollars in three minutes. But we made it back plus a little more in the quarter slots. At 12:30 am Patti, Sheryl and I went to the midnight Buffet. It was decked out with ice carvings and a big spread but it was not al that good except for the desserts. They had almost any kind of cake you could think of. Back to the room at
1:00 am. Only 1 more day of the cruise left!


18 Feb Friday, At Sea.

We slept in then went for an early lunch. Patti and I had tuna sandwiches from the deli. For the last day of the cruise one of the regular buffet stations was turned into a chocolate buffet, including a chocolate fountain. You pick the item to be dipped and covered in chocolate. I chose pineapple chunks. They were very tasty!!

We went back to the room and planned on setting out on the balcony, but we were back up in cooler temperatures so it was a bit cool. We went to the on board shops instead. I got a t-shirt and Pattti got a coffee cup. We also got a few more magnets for our refrigerator collection. We had to quit doing souvenir shopping for all the kids and grandkids every time we go on vacation. With our crew it is just too expensive.

We were playing on 20 dollars in the casino and ran into Jim and Sheryl. We all went to the grill and had dinner. Patti and I did not eat in the main dining room very often this cruise. It just worked out that way and it seemed the menu was not as varied as in the past. After dinner we all went back to the casino and made another donation. Patti and I got a drink and went to watch the last half of a hypnotist show. Then back to the room to pack- always the saddest part of any cruise! We could always use an extra day or two. Well the bags are packed and in the hall. Back in Tampa in the morning.

19 Feb, Saturday, Tampa, Florida

We woke up at the pier in Tampa and tried to keep the tears from flowing. We showered and did the last minute packing of our carry on bag. We all had a leisurely breakfast and waited for them to announce we were cleared to leave the ship. We were not in a rush; our flight out of Tampa was not till 4:30 PM.

At about 9:15 we exited the ship and went into the terminal to collect our bags. We stood in line for a taxi to the airport. We knew from they flight to Tampa that the taxi fare was 20 dollars flat rate. After we got going this joker tried to tell us it was 25. The taxi driver down got 20 plus a 5 dollar tip. This guy got 25 also (no tip.) Except we know he did because he was over charging us.
Well when we got to the airport and went to check in I realized I had booked the wrong date for the return flight. The dangers of pushing the wrong button on the computer. That cost us an extra 200 dollars to fix. We were able to get a flight out at 1:15 PM. We actually got into Dayton before Jim and Sheryl Left Tampa. They did not get home till about 1 in the morning I think. We landed about 5:00 PM. Ashley picked us up at the airport.

When we got back to the house we had a note on the door. Ron, Jeff and Veronica were in the area. They had left, but came back around 8:00 PM. They stayed for about a day and a half. I still had one more day of vacation left and Ron and I went skiing at Mad River Mountain the next day. It was nice having them all there and swapping stories.


End Notes: To me any cruise is a good cruise! Temperatures were a little cooler on this one but all in all another fun time.