Day 1 SAIL AWAY

We arrived at Port Everglades around 11 am. This was the first time we ever drove into Port Everglades so we were a little lost but was pleasantly surprised when we found the berth for our ship so easily, dropped off luggage and went and parked in the parking garage. Embarkation was fairly smooth and once we had our Sail and Sign cards in hand was able to go right aboard the ship.

Our state room couldn't be accessed until 1:30 pm so we went up to the Lido deck after exploring just a little. My first impression of the ships d�cor was WOW! I love just about everything d�cor wise about this ship. So we got to the Lido deck and found a seat, Pearl sat while I went and rounded us up a couple DoD's (drink of the day). The sides are enclosed but have windows that can be opened and a nice breeze was blowing. We went ahead and checked out the Buffet, called Horatio's restaurant, and was really surprised at how nice of a buffet it was, best ever seen at sea!

1:30 pm finally came around and we was able to go to our stateroom. Our stateroom was nice, it has a couch that made up into a bed. We were surprised at how small our balcony since it was an aft balcony. (Compared to Carnival Triumph aft balcony.) But over all was well pleased. Pearl and I starched out and took a little nap. And by the time we got up 2 of the 3 suitcases had arrived. So we unpack them and headed out to do some more exploring.

We were really impressed and the imagination that went into the many bars and venues that are on the ship. The Mad Hatter uses Alice in Wonderland as a theme. While Dr. Frankenstein Lab uses Frankenstein as the main theme. The seating in Frankenstein's Lab are red cushions that looked like bananas. There is a 15 foot Frankenstein statue on the dance floor. There is the Phantom Theater where the shows are held. These are just a few. We'll mention more as we visit them.

We arrived back at our room and there was our last suitcase. The tag had been torn off and temp had been attached. So Pearl was able to dress for supper and retrieve her sea sick pills. The main dining room is called Bacchus Restaurant. Our table was #130 and we were served by the "I" team. Real names are to come later. Pearl had beef barley soup while I had the fruit medley and cold tomato soup that was divine. And for the main course Pearl had "Spinach Lasagna" which had a good flavor to it but her body said "aint no way that's going into me". And I had grilled Tipilia (fish), mac and cheese. For dessert Pearl had strawberry ice cream. And Tim had vanilla cream brelle and warm chocolate melting cake.

After a very pleasant dinner we went to our room and finish unpacking. Then off to the Hot Tub in the adult only area. The hot tub water wasn't as hot as we normally see but we nice especially considering that Pearl and I had it all to ourselves. Then add a nice cool breeze and I said to myself "it don't get no better than this". After spending a couple hours and the hot tub we decided to retried early for the evening. What happened next is only for the informed to know. We had a nice day and are anxious to see that tomorrow may bring.

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DAY 2 SEA DAY

Have you ever had that feeling that this day wasn't going to go smoothly? That if it was going to go wrong you couldn't stop it. That's how this day started. We woke up to a beautiful sunrise, nice weather for a sea day and NO ROOM SERVICE. We had ordered breakfast in our room. And it never showed up. When we asked where it was at they said that they delivered it on time. If that is the truth then are hearing must be going bad cause we didn't hear anything.

So we went to the dining room to eat breakfast. We were seated with 2 other couples. We did have a good conversation during our meal. The one thing we learned at this meal was Salmon was very popular breakfast food. Even with that knowledge I passed on it.

After breakfast I went to the Spa for a beginners Yoga class. There were 5 people in the class. Most of them could stretch in ways she never thought one could possibly do. She learned really fast that it was not something that she could do or wanted to do. The arthritis in her lower back started to hurt. But then again, if all the instructors looked that that one, lots of muscles (extremely HOT), with a neat loveable accent, I might just be able to do it again.

As the day went on were found that the pool side music wasn't that good. The activities pool side were limited due the space around the pools. And unless you like BINGO or the Casino, there wasn't much that interested us. Now let me tell you about Mr. Lucky's Casino. That place looks really neat. There is plenty of space between groups of tables or slot machines. While Pearl was doing the yoga class, Tim hit the casino and may I add he did good. Went in with $40 and walked out with $120.

Winning money is a hard laborious job, it took so much out of Tim, he had to go take an afternoon nap. Because he wanted to be in tip-top shape when the evening elegant party started.

Before dinner we went and had several pictures taken. I hope they turn out good. Our fine meal consisted of, Tim had spaghetti, stuffed mushrooms, 2 lobster tails and shrimp, and cherry jubilee I had minestrone soup, and chili retellio, along with cherry jubilee. Then our waiters , Indrawan and Igede, showed up with a small piece of cake and sang Happy Birthday to Shue to me. It was a lovely piece of Banana cake with creamy icing and a piece of banana and red raspberry on the top. YUMMMMMMMMMMY.

Then the singing waiters came out of hiding and took the guest for a spine around the room while the Mat'rde sang an Italian song. That got our blood pumping. We love the different ways they entertain us in the dining hall.

Then it was off to the show at 8:45 pm. We got there in time that we got a front row seat. The show was called "Generation". They sang songs from the 50's through the 80's. The dancing was okay, the band did a good job with the music. Even the person singing the Elvis songs did a good job of copying Elvis's style. But the show didn't impress us at all.

The day is done and so are we, so off to the cabin to see if we can make out what kind of towel critter is in wait for us to return.

DAY 3 GRAND TURK

I'm telling you someone or something is making it hard for us to enjoy this cruise. We wised up and didn't order room service for breakfast. Instead we went to the Lido deck and ate at the buffet. We were pleasantly surprised that is was not crowded, the lines were short and we were done eating in 30 minutes. I had a really good Omelet, potatoes and biscuit and gravy while Pearl had French toast, ham and sausage. We watched another cruise ship back up beside our ship. Then we were off to our rooms for one last potty run before we went on our shore tour. It was a good thing we did because waiting in our room was a message that the tour had been canceled because the winds were too strong. It was a disappointment because we really wanted to go on the "Catamaran Sail away" but we understand that it is hard to sail a sailboat when the winds are strong. Trust us the winds did have a good gust to them at times.

So we pulled up our little kids panties and went ashore to lay on the beach at Margarettaville. We ordered 2 drinks, they were about the size of a 10 oz cup with a piece of orange and one cherry under the umbrella. When we seen the bill.we wanted to send them back. They were not worth $20.41 that they charge for them. I was the only one that went into the ocean to swim and I was not impressed with the beach at all. The sandy area was small and after going into the water a few feet it dropped quickly onto big rocks that were hard to walk on. There was plenty of palm tree's on the beach and we found a nice shady spot to relax for a while then headed over to do some shopping. The prices were kinda expensive so we gathered ourselves up and headed back to the ship around 11:30 am.

We went to our room after getting back on the ship and dropped our things off and changed clothes before heading up to the Buffet for lunch. Pearl and I had Asian food, lots of veggies and meat..Yum. From the buffet we split up and I headed for my 1 hr full body deep tissue massage while Pearl came down to work on the blog and read. We met at the room later to head to supper in the main dining room. Pearl had the a beef vegy soup and a NY strip steak while I had Lasagna and a ceaser salad for starters and a wonderful NY strip steak for the main course. Let me just say that it was the best steak I've ever had on a cruise ship, supper clubs not withstanding. Then Pearl surprised me, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, she actually ordered a warm chocolate melting cake just like I did, what is the world coming to????

After supper we stopped by the casino for a while then hit the comedy club and saw Phat Kat perform, he wasn't too bad but same stuff as when we saw him on the Triumph, then headed up to the Hot Tub for about an hour and a half. That concluded another wonderful day on the Carnival Miracle, what will be in store tomorrow? We shall see!

DAY 4 CASA DE CAMPO, LA ROMANA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

We were up at the crack of dawn just waiting for the next shoe to drop. Would we get good room service or not? So to solve that problem we hit the Lido deck for breakfast, where we had the breakfast of champions, bacon, eggs and hash browns. After a hardy breakfast we went to the top deck to get some pictures as we were just docking in Dominican Republic.

The locals sure looked glad to see us as there were several of them dancing on the pier and a boat load of locals cruising by the ship and posing for pictures. My first impression that I had from my view on the ship was, after looking at the smoke billowing out of a factory, I bet they don't have the EPA regulations here that we do in the States. Actually I was to find out later that this was a pretty good assumption because the Dominican Republic is basically the United States forty years behind us, expect they speak Spanish.

We began our shore excursion for the day with a short walk to the bus that was to take us to Santa Domingo, the capital of The Dominican Republic, for a walking tour and lunch. The trip to Santa Domingo was pretty uneventful, we did notice the houses and buildings that we saw were either made from concrete blocks or concrete itself. There was a lot of run down homes and lots of trash lying around which seems typical for these third world countries. The Dominican Republic differs from most third world countries, in my opinion, because of the road ways. The road ways are fairly modern four land highways with exit ramps and entrance ramps like you would see on our interstates. They drive English Style, (on the right side of the road) and have modernized traffic control devices and the like. There driving habits and manors are worse than in the states. I hope the states never get that bad.

The walking tour did not impress us much. We visited a local market where we were able to buy some cigars and our short glass for this country. Then we walked over to the Catholic Cathedral for a tour. We did not like this; we believe that a church is the house of God and should not be used as a tourist attraction, even if it is the very first cathedral in the western hemisphere. From there we went to a Jesuit church which was more like a cemetery because it held the remains of all the former presidents. The Dominican Republic keeps an Honor Guard there to honor their fallen presidents, (That's a lot cheaper than building Presidential Libraries in this country) Finally it was lunch time and we headed off to a little restaurant where we were packed like sardines at the tables they had assigned to us. It was a small buffet boosting classic Dominican food. What many of the dishes were I could not tell you, but the food wasn't very good. Then we boarded the bus for the trip back to the ship. We stopped at the Christopher Columbus lighthouse for a quick picture shoot before continuing our trip back to the ship. The lighthouse was unlike any we have ever seen, it is a huge building made in the shape of a cross and the remains of Christopher Columbus are supposedly buried there. I saw supposedly because there are at least three countries who say that the remains of Christopher Columbus are buried there! At night, when the lighthouse lights are turned on, the whole city of Santa Domingo and way out to sea can see a huge cross in the sky from the lighthouse. The rest of the trip back went smoothly. All in all the trip was pretty boring and we would not suggest this excursion to anyone. As a side note, the venders were not pushy but were constantly there trying to make a buck!

We went to our stateroom and rested for a bit then I went down to the sports bar to smoke a cigar while Pearl relaxed in the cabin and read. We met back up at supper where Pearl had chicken noodle soup and Veal parmesan and I had cream of mushroom soup, a shrimp cocktail and the Filet Mignon with a side of rib for supper, yum! Desert was simply Vanilla ice cream for Pearl and Pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream for me. Supper was over, the waiters doing a nice song and dance, finally new material from other cruises, and we were off to the casino. Pearls luck wasn't happening but mine was pretty good as I came out about $100.00 ahead. After a drink or two we then got our bathing suites on and headed to the Hot Tub for a hour or so and then to bed. Tomorrow is Aruba but we get into port at noon so we get to sleep in.Yeah!

DAY 5 ARUBA

We was able to sleep in this morning because we weren't scheduled to arrive in Aruba till noon and then depart till 9:30 pm, so plenty of time to enjoy the morning and enjoy the day! We ate breakfast in the Bachuss dining room, I had eggs Benedict and a ham and cheese omelet while Pearl enjoyed a bowl of cereal and a Danish. Bachuss, for which the dining room received it's name, is God of the grapes according to Greek lore. The whole dining room has grapes dangling from the ceiling and wine glasses as pillars for support.

After the ship docked we disembarked and caught a cab to our BlueGreen resort that we have in Aruba. The taxi driver was very nice and dropped us off right across the street from the resort. We arrived at the resort and told Jeane, an employ of the resort, we were BlueGreen owners and wanted to visit for the day and see the resort. Jeane took us to the offices and one of the office girls gave us the grand tour. LaCabana resort is a beautiful resort! The rooms are very nice and the swimming pool and bar area is great. If we wanted to we could of walked across the street to Eagle beach and spent the day there too. We caught a bus and returned to the ship around 5 pm and rested for a bit before going to the Lido buffet for supper. Pearl and I both had Asian food for a very nice supper. After supper we came back to the room and took a little nap before heading to the Casino for a while and then the Hot Tub. We had been blessed with a really nice day and turned in early because Curacao came early tomorrow.

DAY 6 CURACAO

We tried room service again this morning and was pleased that it was only 5 minutes after it was supposed to arrive at the latest. We both ate a bowl of cereal and a Danish and fruit and coffee. We docked right on time and after letting the initial line of folks off the ship we walked off to find a cab to see the sights.

We ended up sharing a cab with 2 other couples. The driver about sweated us to death before he realized he didn't have the A/C on. We stopped at a alcohol factory for a short visit, the rum tasted like cough syrup, and headed on up the road. We saw the nicer areas as well as the not so nice areas, we visited down town and ended up being dropped off by the floating bridge.

The floating bridge is a bridge that spans the river inlet where the ships come in. When a ship needs in or out a motor on one end of the bridge moves one end of the bridge to open up the passage. While touring down town there was a fresh fish market where Venezuelans come to sell their fresh caught fish. The boats are pulled right up to the docks, covered with a tarp and sold right from the ship. Venezuelans come to Curacao because they can get much better prices for their fish rather then in Venezuela. Pearl and I bought a couple of shirts and a hat and went on back to the ship.

We arrived back to the room and Pearl came down with a real bad headache. We went to diner in the main dining room but Pearl ended up going back to the room, her head was just hurting too bad. I went ahead and enjoyed a meal of Pork tenderloin with a really nice sauce, potatoes and had French Onion soup for a started and a rum flavored cake with dates and figs for desert.

With Pearl's head hurting I returned to the room after supper to spend some time with her. We purchased a movie, the Expendables, which turned out to be pretty good, and then went to the Casino for a while. I returned to the room to find Pearl had ate a little something and seemed to be feeling better. So ended another day in Paradise.

DAY 7 SEA DAY

Good morning world! Pearl is feeling better, hurray!!! Sadly, after going to the Lido deck for a wonderful everything omelet and fruit breakfast, Pearl had her same old boring cereal again, with fruit of course, ha! I started getting an upset stomach an hour or so after breakfast and it lasted almost all day. We checked out the shops after breakfast to see if there was any souvenirs we wanted to buy. Most cruises we have been on have their best prices the last day of the cruise so we didn't buy anything at this time but did scope out our model of the ship we always buy during our cruises and a neat stuffed Pirate teddy bear. We hit the casino and after a slow start we ended up not doing too bad playing the slots. Time to drop Pearl off for her birthday present! Pearls birthday present was a day at the spa! Pearl enjoyed a manicure, pedicure, hair wash and style for almost 3 hours of restful delight. I had went back to the cabin to try to sleep as my stomach was really bothering me. When Pearl arrived back at the room I thought I had died and an angel had come to take me to heaven. Pearls hair was really nice and her nails looked good too.

Tonight was the last elegant night for the cruise so we dressed up for the evening and went to supper to enjoy a fine dinner. Pearl ate the eggplant and mozzarella for a starter while I had a fruit dish and a Broccoli and cheese soup. Pearl had a very dry Chateaubriand while I had a chicken dinner which was really good. My stomach wasn't any worse for wear so we hit the mad hatter lounge to catch the pg rated comedy show. The comedian Jason Blancard was very funny, we also caught his r rated show later on which was excellent. The show in the theatre was "Ticket to Ride" a play on the music of the Beatles and I must say it was really good. After the show it was back to the comedy club to see Jason's R rated show and another comedian Wil Marfori and his R rated show, both were very good.

It was late, we hit the Lido for a late snack then it was off to bed.night all!

DAY 8 SEA DAY

We woke up this morning, excited because we would be 2 of 17 people who would get a behind the scenes tour of the ship today. How did we get so lucky you may ask? My wife actually read the excursion pamphlet that came with our first day Fun Times newsletter. It told us about the $95.00 per person excursion so we booked it as soon as possible. This is something we have wanted to do for a very long time so after waking we showered, dressed and headed to the Lido for breakfast. I had an omelet, home fries and fruit while Pearl had cereal, sausage and fruit.

The tour was to meet at the Joker card room so we made sure we arrived with plenty of time to spare. A pretty Russian girl named Yulia was to be our host and tour guide. We started out by heading to the Phantom Theatre and went behind the scenes where one of the Stage Producers met us to explain how things worked and answer questions. There had to be at least 10 screens that can drop from the ceiling to make for different backgrounds, depending on the show, and each one weighs about 1000 lbs. Back stage the dressing room is wide open spaces! No private dressing rooms here, shoot there isn't even a divider from the boys and girls! The costumes and wigs of each dancer was hanging right behind where their chair was sitting at a long mirror attached to the wall. A total change for a guy from one suite to another is 22 seconds.

We left by a back entrance and entered a hall that neither Pearl nor I had been on during this whole cruise, even though it is for guests. It was on the 3rd floor all the way at the front of the ship. We then went to the Galley to see where the food is prepared at. The big soup containers looked like a pot that you would see over a huge campfire in the middle of the jungle with a witch doctor brewing his poison. Then we watched a cook take a bar of soap and turn it into a beautiful swan. Which we got to take home with us. The cook staff was busy preparing the evening meal even thought it was only around 10 AM. They were making soups, deserts, breads, and potatoes. We were able to get our picture taken with the head chef before moving on to see the refrigeration and freezer units.

We visited the freezer and refrigeration areas and I must say while they are non-descript, they are huge and must be because they keep enough food not only for the 8 day cruise but also for 4 extra days in case something was to happen.

Next we visited the eco friendly trash disposal system. This room is manned 24 hours a day and is where all recyclables are separated and put into the proper bins. Where they will be off loaded after the cruise and properly disposed. Even the leftover food is ground up and deposited into the ocean for fish food.

And of course no ship would be complete without a laundry room, which is open 24 hours a day. There are 4 big washing machines that hold 100 pounds of laundry each. Several huge dryers and machines that actually dry and fold the bed sheet and towels. We found out that the bedding is changed before each cruise leaves out and once during the cruise unless more is needed. Believe it or notbut it takes 4 people, 3 weeks to count every piece of bedding and towels on the ship. This room is below the water line.

We even got to visit the area where the crew lives and eats. They have 3 different dining areas, one for the Officers, one for the entertainers and one for the crew. The servers are in training down here before they are allowed to serve in the main dining room to customers. They even have a bar and gaming area. The sad news is if a crew member drinks too much alcohol and blows a .08 breathalyzer test, they are fired and will not be rehired for any reason. No exceptions. (Even the captain is limited to 4 oz of wine per day)

We were disappointed because we didn't get to see the engines themselves however we did get to go to the engine room where all the control panels were located. (go figure) There were lots of computers, gauges and stuff. Even had a couple fish tanks in there. We found out that they never change their oil unless a bad report comes back after an oil analysis report. The Chef engineer, Rosario Capilli, can also completely control the ship operations from this room. In case of an emergency he can also assume duties as captain of the ship.

Speaking of the Captain, we visited the bridge next. They put us in an elevator and took us to the 8th floor. To our surprise, there were cabins right next to the bridge. After going through our second security inspection, we were allowed to enter the bridge. The captain of the ship, Rocco Lubrano, was able to greet us and answer questions that we had for him. He also was kind enough to take a photo with each of us and a group photo before he had to leave as it was almost noon, time for his midday address to the ship. We did get to ask questions of the other officers on the bridge who explained to us that there are 3 different stations whereby the ship maybe guided and controlled on the bridge. To the port, starboard and mid ship. Communication are conducted via satphone, marine radio, and GPS systems. The view from the bridge is incredible, we even saw some dolphins while up there. The amazing thing about ships now-a-days is that they can turn 360 degrees without the help of other boats.

Now on to our last stop at Nick and Nora's Steakhouse. We got to meet the head chef and he gave us a demonstration about how to tell if a steak is a good one. The problem was this guy didn't know how to explain it very good. Our tour ended here and we were given a bag with a hat in it, a bracelet, an ID holder, and that beautiful swan made from a bar of soap. We were to discover later that this was not all the gifts that we were to receive. That night at diner Yulia brought us several photos from the tour and then when we returned to our cabin later in that evening, we received a plate of chocolate cover strawberries and peanut brittle.

We really enjoyed that tour and felt it was well worth the money that we spent.

Its lunch time so we made our way to the main dining room for lunch, which is something that we have never done on a cruise. It escapes me now what we had to eat but the experience what I wanted to remember. After lunch we went back to our room and rested awhile until it was time to pack our clothes and get ready for dinner.

Dinner for this night was prime rib, which they had earlier in the week but Indrawan, our waiter, had told me we would have again. I also had shrimp and salad for an appetizer and for dessert warm chocolate melting cake. While Pearl had Chicken pasta dish with soup as an appetizer and ice cream for dessert. We cried as the waiters sang their good-bye song to us cruisers. I have to admit that the "I" team was the second best set of servers that we have had since we started cruising.

For our final night we decided to finally stay up long enough to go to the Piano Bar. The entertainer had a sore throat that he was fighting and we didn't get to hear much singing before we left. The sad part is that he played the guitar not the piano. I almost felt like he was making fun of us for coming to the piano bar for the first time on the last night of the cruise. I didn't appreciate it. From there it was back to our room for the evening.

DAY 9 SADDEST DAY OF THE CRUISE

Our luggage was gone and if we wanted any clothes to wear we had to leave the ship. : ( We had breakfast on Lido deck one more time..then we waited for our magical number to be called. They started with number one and ours was 21. They made the first announcement around 8:30 am. So you can guess how long it took us to be called. Well, it was 10 am when they called our number and off the ship we went. Like cattle going to the slaughter house, we were herded through the line for one last punch of our Sail N Sign cards at the Ding Ding machine. Then it was the dreaded search for our luggage. Think about this there was 2,200 people onboard with 2 suite cases each, which comes to about 4,400 suite cases that everyone was looking for theirs. WOW!!!!! After finding our luggage we headed for Customs. You know that horrible line where the person at the end asks you questions and you feel like they want to know how much money you have left over so they can charge you that amount for duty taxes. Well, our man was good to us. He let us go with no additional taxes. We must have looked like we didn't have any money.

Now we were off to find our truck in the parking garage. After our long walk lugging our suite cases, fighting everyone else and making it up to the third floor..we finally found our haven of rest, which was our pick up truck. Got to admit that leaving the parking garage 45 minutes after our number was called wasn't to bad. Especially since I was sitting in the passenger seat and Pearl was fighting the traffic once again.