ROLL CALL MIRACLE 02/22/2012 SOUTHERN CARRIBEAN

I am currently scheduled to go on the miracle on 2/22/12 for 8 days to southern carribean, i have never been on a cruise before just wanting to know who all is going and what to expect on the miracle, i.e. entertainment. also i have tried to get the excursions but they wont allow me to view anything other than st. martaan and fort lauderdale, fl. i have paid the cruise amount off trying to find excursions to st. kitts and st. lucia on those dates scheduled. let me know if you are going on this cruise. take care and looking forward to this cruise.

Mike

    Hi Mike

 Congrats on your first cruise. from all accounts we should have a great time. We have been cruising for over 8 cruises now. We have travelled a fair bit , to us this is it.  Best escape from the real world for short time. A hint go with an open mind and enjoy.  When you paid for your cruise .You should have a booking number, once you have it , Log in on the site (manage my cruise. )and follow the info. once done you should be able to book any excurison you have choosen. Happy cruising Mike . See you the ship in Feb  perhaps. Enjoy hope this helps.

      just waiting to cruise and counting,

        kruise runner

 nci norway, sundream cruise ms carousel, rci grandeur seas, carnival victory, carnival legend, carnival valor, carnival freedom , carnival dream, carnival miracle 2012

Thank you. I am currently deployed and it is going to be a wonderful and much needed get away for myself and my girlfriend. Who knows what might happen, we could come away from there engaged. I am looking very forward to this cruise. Not sure but when i booked the cruise it came up southern carribean like i wanted and now it states 8 day eastern carribean. The good thing is that the itentary still has us going to st. maartan, st. lucia and st. kitts. so hopefully that wont change, lol. Anyways anyone have any suggestions on hotels at fort lauderdale, fl? Take care and look forward to meeting new people.

     Hi Mike[

     Heres  a few suggestions  for hotels in Fort Lauderdale . The Rodeway Innand Suites, Cambria Suites, Sleep Inns  , Holiday Airport and Cruise Hotel. This is  the best I got when looking for hotels. Gino recommended the Rodeway Inn . That looks to be our to choice so far. Check this site on ports,  there is info there from other cruisers. It  kind of depends on what you want  to pay or looking for . Enoy your cruise .

     just waiting to cruise,

     kruise runner

  p.s.if you have time check back in this site to southern caribben carn  miracle in march or april . thers some great posts on this cruise.

Hi Mike and Kruise runner!

I am Corene and my DH is Kurt.  We also are going on this cruise to the Southern (now Eastern) Caribbean on Feb. 22.  This will be our 5th cruise, 4th with Carnival.  We are so looking forward to visiting some places we have not yet been.

Mike, I am sure you and your girlfriend will soon be hooked also! My thanks and appreciation to you for your service to our Country.  The cruise will be a nice way to get away from the stress of deployment.

We were recommended the Roadway Inn also, so I think that is probably where we will stay the night before the cruise.

Happy Cruising!

Hello Mike, Kruise Runner, Corene & Kurt!

My name is Robert, my partner Jim and I will be taking our second cruise, both with Carnival.  First and foremost let me echo Corene's sentiments and say a HUGE thank-you to Mike for his service to our country.  Jim and I are both looking forward to the cruise as it will come shortly after my birthday on 1/25 and we will be in St Marteen on Jim's birthday of 2/25 .  We had an absolute blast on our first cruise on the Carnival Legend to Grand Caymen, Belize and Isla Roatan.  A couple of things that I have been clued into from other posters on various forums that you also might find of assistance are an iPhone app called Ship Mate.  It lets you set your itenerary, track your expenses, has a packing list, a track your ship feature, ship maps and other fun things.  Its only $1.99 on the app store.  I believe its also available for Android devices.  Another site that is also good is CruiseCritic.com, they have outside forums and reviews of all cruise lines and ports of call as well as excursions.  Many posters there recommed booking your excursions with the excursion company directly.  The only drawback I see to that is that there are no guarantee to get you back on time.  As long as you book with the Cruise lines they guarantee to have you back to the ship prior to your departure time.  Either way I dont think you can go wrong on any of the islands . Looking forward to hopefully meeting up with you on board to shake your hand to say congratulations on the wedding and say thanks for your service in person as well as Kruise Runner, Corene and Kurt.

Robert

Hi Robert, welcome to our little roll call.  Hopefully as time gets close more people will join in and we will get to know others going at the same time.  We have always booked our excursions through Carnival. Even though Carnival is a little more expensive, you do have the guarantee that if the excursion is late, they will hold the ship for your group.  Also, if a port is canceled due to weather, or a medical emergency, or some other reason, Carnival will refund your money.  We just feel more comfortable dealing Carnival on the excursions.

Happy Cruising!

Michael, may we echo the others thanks--------we'll be aboard on the 22nd (and we're staying on for the following cruise on Mar. 1). After looking around and checking recommendations on this and other forums, we decided on the SLEEP INN & SUITES. It was highly praised, it picks up at the airport and shuttles to the ship the next day (at no charge), has a complimentary hot breakfast, and is nearby shopping and restaurants. They had a $98 "special" for seniors, so I'd be amazed if they didn't match it for armed forces. Wherever you decide to book, mention that you're in the service, most hotels have an armed forces rate. If you wanted to check out the place, here is the site for the

SLEEP INN

We also only book excursions through carnival. We've seen two instances of them holding the ship for Carnival tours-once because a bus was stuck in a huge traffic jam in Panama, and once when our tour bus got a flat tire in Barbados. They will not wait for any late tours not booked through Carnival, however. We have seen people pleading on the pier as the ship pulled away-at that point the only way to rejoin the cruise is to fly to the next port. I didn't take this video, but it shows what can happen. Hope to see you onboard to thank you in person!

RETURNING LATE TO THE SHIP

216 days to go! Anyone getting excited yet?

Happy Cruising!

Just looking to see if there are any others out there going with us for this cruise.  

Happy Cruising!