My wife and I just returned from a 6-day Western Caribbean cruise on the brand new Carnival Miracle. The opportunity to experience a brand new ship, coupled with a convenient departure from Jaxport, was too good an opportunity to pass up. We live outside of Beaufort, South Carolina, and the drive to Jacksonville was an easy 3 hours and 20 minutes. The Port of Jacksonville is much more convenient than Port Canaveral or Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

I am not fond of lengthy reviews rambling on about each meal, show, bar, and onboard activity, so this review will be short and to the point.

The Ship- the Miracle for the most part is beautifully finished and decorated. The one exception is the Baccus dining room with its garish clusters of pinkish grapes all over the walls and ceiling.

Embarkation- horrible. We arrived at the port at 1:20 PM and immediately found ourselves in a long line of vehicles inching towards the terminal to drop our luggage. The port personnel would only allow so many cars at a time, so we crawled forward for 50 minutes. In retrospect, we should have headed directly to the parking lot and rolled our bags to the terminal.

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I had completed my carnival "Funpass" registration on-line, and by their literature I was expecting a "Funpass" registration line to expedite the boarding process. Not to be, as we were all herded through a lengthy queue to register 30 minutes later.

Leaving the registration area, we now are herded into an even longer queue to board the ship. This line consumed 40 more minutes, and it became apparent the majority of the delay was caused by the ever-present photographers taking the "boarding the ship" photo's. After 7 cruises, we certainly have more than our share of boarding photo's, and I did not appreciate the delay and inconvenience.

One positive note concerning boarding; It took so long that our luggage was at the room when we arrived.

Carnival and the Port of Jacksonville should take a field trip to Disney, Royal Caribbean, and Princess to see how much better the embarkation process could work.

The Staff- I found all the staff we had contact with friendly and personable. Our waiter's were fine; our cabin steward was efficient as well.

The Stateroom- we had a balcony cabin, starboard side on deck 6. Our cabin was in the bow under the bridge, the last balcony forward. However, the balcony was twice the size of the others due to the angle of the ship structure. The stateroom was comfortable, plenty of storage space, and a shower that my wife wanted to bring home.

The Food- the dining room food was average to good. The Lido deck restaurant, Horatio's, had multiple serving stations, each with a different selection of items from entrees to sandwiches, salad bar, dessert station, and pizza. Very nicely done.

The supper club, Nick and Nora's was outstanding. At an additional charge of $25 per person, we had one of the 10 best restaurant meals of our lives.

The Ports- Cozumel, Costa Maya, and Freeport. We enjoy Cozumel for the snorkeling, and had a good excursion despite the morning rain and windy conditions. Our excursion in Costa Maya was cancelled due to high winds and rough water conditions so we went ashore to browse the shops. Costa Maya was specifically created for cruise ships, and while it is clean and nicely done it really is not much of a stop. Freeport is certainly nothing special; we never even left the port area since our excursion was cancelled again due to weather.

The weather- No fault of Carnival, out weather was poor the whole trip. Winds blew constantly ranging from 25 to 50 Knots. The waves at some points were 9-10 foot swells, making for great sleeping but difficult walking.

I noticed one odd thing about the Miracle. Even when tied up at a port, the high winds continued to buffet the ship constantly. Periodically the ship would shudder from bow to stern, kind of like a dog that shakes himself from head to tail. Quite an experience, especially when you are in the elevator when the shaking occurs.

Entertainment- very good. The lounge bands were above average. The two main shows were excellent, especially the Ticket to Ride Beatles tribute.

Debarkation- one of the best ever. Carnival and the Port of Jacksonville created a self-assist program for those that are willing carry their own luggage off the ship. We only had two suitcases, both on wheels, so we decided to give it a try. The process started, as promised, at 8:15 and our deck was the first one called. We were through customs and immigration quickly, and reached our car in the parking lot at 8:40 AM. Great idea, I hope some other cruise lines adopt this procedure.

Would we do another Carnival Cruise? Perhaps, depending upon the age of the ship and the port. But for now, back to Princess.