 Hey kids! I’m back! Did you miss me? I sure missed you. After a hellish two day travel nightmare (thanks Delta!) I finally made it back to the Cleveburg lacking one important thing… my luggage! Caught up in delays and switched flights, it took a whole extra day just to get our bags. What a joy! But I’m trying to put that behind me and remember the beautiful eight days we spent on the gorgeous Carnival Miracle.
What a trip! The boyfriend and I had the most wonderfully relaxing time cruising the southern Caribbean. We visited St. Maarten, St. Lucia and St. Kitts, met some fun people on board, drank way too many fruity tropical drinks and stuffed ourselves on all the delicious food.
If you’re interested in seeing some of the pics from our excursion, check ‘em out after the jump! |
 This was our third cruise on this class of ship so we were familiar with the layout but since each one is themed differently, it’s fun exploring to see all the over the top decor.
The Miracle’s theme is great fictional characters so each hall, elevator and room is named and decorated to represent a book or movie. Like Sam’s piano bar with its Moroccan influenced decor pays homage to Casablanca. |
 To celebrate our 10th anniversary of happily unmarried bliss, we ate dinner in Nick & Nora’s supper club. It costs extra but the food is spectacular, we’re talking 18 oz strip steaks & 12 oz lobster tails, and the ambiance is very romantic. Totally worth the extra cost. I just WISH I had brought my camera to snap a pic of dessert. It was this insane chocolate creation that I can’t even begin to describe. Yummo! |
 We spent three days in port and St. Maarten was our first stop. We’d been to St. Maarten before and did the whole shopping thing, so this time we just wanted to chill on the beach. We rented a couple chairs in Phillipsburg, played in the crystal blue waters and enjoyed the local Carib beer. So good! |
 Our next stop was St. Lucia and hearing the rumors that crazy Amy Winehouse was back on the island in all her outrageousness, I hoped for a sighting but we weren’t that lucky. Instead we embarked on a seven hour excursion touring the island that ended with a catamaran sail and swimming on a private beach.
We visited the banana plantations, the fishing village, the botanical gardens and ventured to Soufriere to view the Piton mountains, the larger of which is 3200 ft above sea level. |
 One of our stops was at St. Lucia’s drive in volcano. Due to a collapse in the volcano’s structure we were able to drive right up to the volcano’s center and view the steaming pools up close. The only downside… the STENCH!! OMG does that sulfur stink. It was almost too much. A cool thing to see but not to smell. |
 Our last port day was spent on St. Kitts. I LOVE St. Kitts. It’s so so beautiful. There are gorgeous beaches tucked in everywhere around the island. I would move there in a second if I could afford to. We made our way to Turtle Beach, a small stretch of the coast with a great bar, restaurant and as we found out later in the day… a goat.
Paco is the resident goat on Turtle Beach and as you can see, if you’re not careful, he’ll help himself to your drink. It was just juice, no alcohol so don’t go calling PETA. |
 There were plenty of characters on board as well. This poor kid was the subject of torture during the Battle of the Sexes game where we had to dress him up to look as crazy as possible. He was a great sport, no?
And what tropical vacay would be complete without a visit from There’s Something About Mary‘s Magda. I SWEAR, this woman was probably only 35/40 but from all the tanning she looked about a 100. It was scary. Made me want to slather on the SPF.
Oh and to amuse ourselves, we started counting french pedicures since they seemed to be running rampant on the ship. I wanted to attack them all with polish remover. Some of the whites were so thick, I had to look away. At final count, after 5 days, we saw 38 french pedis and that’s 38 too many in my opinion. |
 Now I don’t know you’re aware but one of the things Carnival is famous for are the origami towel animals that are left each night during turn down service. Your cabin steward turns down your bed, leaves a copy of the next day’s itinerary, a couple mints and a fun towel creation. My favorite is always the hanging monkey that was left on formal night with the elephant running a close second. Seriously, how cute are they? |
Well kids, that’s my trip. It was great to be back in my own bed and see my kitties but I wouldn’t have cried if we had been stuck at sea a few extra days. But now that I’m back and rested, ALU will be back on its normal posting schedule and I have a TON of fun things to show you. Stay tuned!
Hey kids! I’m back! Did you miss me? I sure missed you. After a hellish two day travel nightmare (thanks Delta!) I finally made it back to the Cleveburg lacking one important thing… my luggage! Caught up in delays and switched flights, it took a whole extra day just to get our bags. What a joy! But I’m trying to put that behind me and remember the beautiful eight days we spent on the gorgeous Carnival Miracle.
This was our third cruise on this class of ship so we were familiar with the layout but since each one is themed differently, it’s fun exploring to see all the over the top decor.
To celebrate our 10th anniversary of happily unmarried bliss, we ate dinner in Nick & Nora’s supper club. It costs extra but the food is spectacular, we’re talking 18 oz strip steaks & 12 oz lobster tails, and the ambiance is very romantic. Totally worth the extra cost. I just WISH I had brought my camera to snap a pic of dessert. It was this insane chocolate creation that I can’t even begin to describe. Yummo!
We spent three days in port and St. Maarten was our first stop. We’d been to St. Maarten before and did the whole shopping thing, so this time we just wanted to chill on the beach. We rented a couple chairs in Phillipsburg, played in the crystal blue waters and enjoyed the local Carib beer. So good!
Our next stop was St. Lucia and hearing the rumors that crazy Amy Winehouse was back on the island in all her outrageousness, I hoped for a sighting but we weren’t that lucky. Instead we embarked on a seven hour excursion touring the island that ended with a catamaran sail and swimming on a private beach.
One of our stops was at St. Lucia’s drive in volcano. Due to a collapse in the volcano’s structure we were able to drive right up to the volcano’s center and view the steaming pools up close. The only downside… the STENCH!! OMG does that sulfur stink. It was almost too much. A cool thing to see but not to smell.
Our last port day was spent on St. Kitts. I LOVE St. Kitts. It’s so so beautiful. There are gorgeous beaches tucked in everywhere around the island. I would move there in a second if I could afford to. We made our way to Turtle Beach, a small stretch of the coast with a great bar, restaurant and as we found out later in the day… a goat.
There were plenty of characters on board as well. This poor kid was the subject of torture during the Battle of the Sexes game where we had to dress him up to look as crazy as possible. He was a great sport, no?
Now I don’t know you’re aware but one of the things Carnival is famous for are the origami towel animals that are left each night during turn down service. Your cabin steward turns down your bed, leaves a copy of the next day’s itinerary, a couple mints and a fun towel creation. My favorite is always the hanging monkey that was left on formal night with the elephant running a close second. Seriously, how cute are they?
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
Sounds like so much fun! And you look gorge. Can’t believe you’ve been married 10 years!!
The hanging monkey is adorable! Looks like you both had so much fun! Just looking at your great photos makes me wish that my cruise were coming up (much) sooner than November
Jet Set Girls – Hey Anne! We had a blast. I want to go again, like now. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years either. That must be a good sign. Though we’re not married, just happily unmarried.
Nilla Cookie – Hey sassy lady! Don’t you just love the monkey? I thought about buying the instruction book so I could make origami towel animals for houseguests but punked out. You’re gonna have so much fun on your cruise.
I love your humor and your blog! Thank you for being such a great resource!!
Looks like you had an amazing holiday! You both looked so fresh and relaxed in the pics, all radiant! =)
Hey Michelle:
Fabulous pictures, thanks for sharing! You and you BF are adorable. Welcome back.
i went on the first sailing of the miracle and it was a great boat! sadly it was only a 4 day cruise with one stop in the bahamas.
LOL! We had the same monkey hanging on our ceiling when we went on a cruise last year. I walked into our very dark room after a few (ahem) drinks, and it scraed me half to death!!
Glad you had a great time!!