This is the first real cruise for me and my now wife. We got married aboard the Carnival Miracle on August 6, 2006 before departing Tampa. We picked the Miracle for because of Carnivals good reviews from family and friends that have been on many Carnival cruises, destinations, and domestic home port. Let me first state, despite any criticism I mention in this review, the Carnival Miracle is a wonderful, beautiful ship and the staff I met was all top notch and always willing to assist you.

My wife and I flew into Tampa the day before the cruise and stayed at the Tampa Hilton Westshore. I was disappointed with this hotel. The only thing within walking distance of this hotel is other hotels, and one or two restaurants. The International Plaza mall is one block away, but walking to it is nearly impossible as you have to walk across a busy 4 lane highway with NO crosswalks or lights. The Hilton is very clean, but the rooms are nothing more than what you would get at the typical Super 8, which are fine, I just was hoping for something a little more upscale for our Wedding/Honeymoon. The Hilton does offer a free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and a 5 dollar per person shuttle to from the hotel to the Cruise ship on Sunday morning. The Hilton also included a free breakfast buffet, which is very good. However, for $129 per night, you could probably get something better. I would recommend however if you have a night in Tampa, research a little and find a hotel near the Ybor City area, as its a lot closer to the Port and has many places within walking distance you can visit.

Embarkation for us, the only wedding couple getting married that day on the ship, was a BREEZE. Its not really fair for me to review however since we got to walk past even the VIPs were the very first guests on the ship. We met our wedding coordinator and officiate, Lois and Stan Stone, at the port and walked us though everything before the wedding. Lois and Stan are wonderful and would recommend them to anyone. They treated my wife and me with great respect and really made the day special for us. They led us onto the ship and took us to the chapel and we ran through a quick rehearsal. We were then let into our cabin at 12 noon to get ready. The room was very nice as we were upgraded from an inside cabin to an obstructed view balcony room. The first look at your room will shock you, as its pretty plain compared to the rest of the ship. At first glance, I would describe the dEcor of the ship as gaudy, but if you really take a look at it, you will become amazed on how well the dEcor on the ship is presented and how although every room has a different theme, how the whole ship blends together. Our wedding was at 1 p.m. We were done by 1:20 p.m. It was short and sweet. We then had a small reception in Sams Lounge. My wife and I were curious how this was going to turn out since we did not have any guests. Lois and Stan made sure that it was a very special, as Stan even made a wonderful toast to us. After meeting them, you will feel like they are part of the family. If Lois and Stan are reading this, I would like to let them know that we will always remember them and how they made our special day even more special. We then went around the ship to take wedding photos. The ships photographers are indeed professionals and take wonderful photos. Thats the only good thing in this review I will say about the photographers. I will go more into detail about that later. We also had our wedding videoed with the ships A/V department for an additional cost. This service was top notch with no complaints. They make a beautiful DVD and include the wedding, reception, before and after interviews with the wedding party and a recorded tour of the ship set to music. Its beautiful and worth the $500 it costs for this option if you are doing your wedding on board. Read more