Miracle for Teens?

[InLikeFlynn]

Would anyone recommend the Miracle for a 16 yr old? We've sailed on Princess, but she was a little bored. Go figure, bored on a cruise. However it must be tough to be 16 and have your next closest relative and ship companions be 55. Anyway, we're now looking at Carnival. I see some of their ships have a water slide, which she'd love, but we like the ports on the Miracle. Does the Miracle have enough to keep a teen entertained as well as her 50-something parents? Thanks for any input.

[Paul Motter]

Any Carnival ship is good for teens, probably the best (along with Royal Caribbean and NCL) however, I would put Miracle in the middle of the Carnival fleet for maximum teen fun.

For that, I would opt for the larger than 100,000-ton ships of the Destiny, Conquest or Dream class.

I would rank Miracle as better than the Fantasy class, although all of those have waterparks recently added (but can you really spend 7-days going down a water slide?). Miracle also has water slides.

Miracle has Club 02 for her age group, like all Carnival ships. You can read about it here: Club O2 Youth Program - Carnival Cruise Lines

The most important thing for teens, as you said, is that they get to meet other teens. I would say Carnival is a very good choice for that. And I would say it is also the best class of ship Carnival has for the parents.

[snowyowlone]

Hi,
We are cruising on her June 16 and have been on her sister ships. My girls only want to cruise Carnival. They are really excited. We have two dd 15 and 17. We are taking this trip to celebrate the older one graduating from high school and her 18 birthday. We had looked at RCC but they like Carnival. Have her sign up the first night when they have there meeting. She does not have to do everything they do but if there is something that she wants to she can then. Have her meet kids that first night it helps so she knows people. My girls are pretty out going and have always made a friend that night or the next day. We even took our neighbors with on our last cruise and there dd is pretty picky with the thing she likes and she had fun.

[InLikeFlynn]

Thank you both for your input, it was helpful. I may be putting more thought into this than necessary. The more I read, the more confused I become. Spirit class, Fantasy class...What? I imagine on any ship there will be likes and dislikes by both age groups. So, I'm going to stop reading and just go for it. Thanks again.

[snowyowlone]

When were you looking at cruising? The different classes of ship are just the that they are bigger/smaller and have different layout to there deck plans. Or older v. newer ships. Let us know what you end up doing.

[InLikeFlynn]

Snowyowlone: We're now looking at the Pride out of Baltimore in April, 2011. We won't have to take our daughter out of school because it's Spring Break and we can practically walk to the port. My DH was worried about being over-run with young ones since it's Spring Break week, but, I'm guessing that not many people take teens on a cruise.

[Paul Motter]

This is from our Carnival overview: Carnival Cruise Lines; Carnival Cruise Lines Review, Carnival Ship Reviews

This explains all the different ages and classes of Carnival ships. Miracle is part of the Spirit class.

At the bottom of the pyramid that forms the Carnival Cruise Lines fleet the eight nearly identical, 70,367-ton circa 1990s-model Fantasy-class vessels including sister ships Ecstasy, Fascination, Imagination, Inspiration, Paradise, Elation, and Sensation. The Fantasy-class ships each carry 2,044 passengers, in large but utilitarian cabins lacking balconies. Each offers a unique decor by famous Carnival ship interior designer Joe Farcus that puts the accent on great nightlife, good food, excitement and relaxation.


These Fantasy-class vessels just completed a four-year upgrade campaign to even more fun in the sun. The top decks received the most attention with the installation of family-oriented water parks including a 300 foot water slide, miniature golf, an adults-only area with cushioned lounge chairs new teak decks and tile. Inside is a new coffee café, art gallery and atrium bar. Staterooms are getting upgrades with flat-panel televisions and refurbished décor.


1996, with the introduction of what was then the largest cruise ship in world, the 101,351-ton Carnival Destiny, marked the year that the company truly hit its stride for the 21st century.


With Destiny, Carnival began offering an abundance of the now uber-popular balcony cabins in a big way, with sister ships Carnival Triumph (1999) and Carnival Victory (2000) soon to follow. These 2,642 passenger vessels (3,360 total if the upper berths are full) feature three-deck show lounges, 15,000-square-foot spas, four swimming pools with water slides, and plenty of on board shopping. All balcony cabins on Carnival ships built since 1996 have with mini refrigerators, toiletries, hair dryers and bathrobes.


In November 2002, as an improvement to the Destiny-class, Carnival launched Carnival Conquest, the first of five 110,000-ton Conquest-class ships similar in design to the Destiny class, but slightly bigger and able to carry 2974 voyagers. Carnival Glory followed in July 2003, Carnival Valor (the first ship with bow-to-stern wireless Internet access) in December 2004 and Carnival Liberty in July 2005. Carnival Freedom, entered service in spring 2007 and Carnival Splendor followed in July 2008.


Somewhere in the seemingly never-ending quest for size (other cruise lines also jumped on the bandwagon to make bigger & bigger ships starting in 1998) Carnival did something different, and very right, by introducing an additional and relatively smaller class of vessel known as the Spirit-class.

These 88,500-ton ships carry 2,124 passengers each, and are the longest in the fleet at 963 feet, yet narrow enough to fit through the Panama Canal. These sisters (Spirit, Legend, and Pride) have a very inviting space-per-passenger ratio, and the technologically advanced Azipod propulsion system. Eighty percent of cabins on these ships have ocean views, and 80 percent of those have private balconies. In a stroke of genius to accommodate all these balcony cabins, the public rooms were repositioned to the lower decks three and four. You'll find two consecutive decks of bars, lounges and public areas, the upper with a wrap-around promenade. It's aboard these ships that you'll find Carnival's first reservations-only, specialty restaurants, offering prime beef, seafood and the famous stone crabs from Joe's Stone Crab restaurant in Miami.
Many cruisers seem to prefer the Spirit Class, the namesake of which was launched April 29, 2001. Carnival Pride followed on December 30, 2001, Carnival Legend in August 2002, and Carnival Miracle in February 2004.


The largest Carnival ship yet debuted in September of 2009. Carnival Dream is 130,000-tons and carries 3600 passengers. It is home-ported in Port Canaveral, something of a surprise move since most mega-ships sail out of Southern Florida. It just goes to show you the ingenuity of Carnival that just when its competitorss chose to put their biggest ships; Royal Caribean's Oasis and NCL's Norwegian Epic, in Fort Lauderdale and Mimai respectively, Carnival moved their biggest ship 300 miles away, essentially catering to a much larger drive market rather than the fly-in market.