This was our second "cousins cruise" on Carnival. This time there were 6 of us ladies, ages 49-65 with two cruise newbies. Since the Miracle was just returning from Hawaii, this was a 6 day cruise on the Mexican Riviera. After this I believe they begin their 7 day itineraries. We had one stop in Cabo and one in Puerto Vallarta. Since I have a lot to say, I'm just going to hit on the pros and cons.

Pro - Embarkation and Faster to the Fun: I can't say enough about Faster to the Fun. Get it if you can. We arrived at the Long Beach terminal by shuttle around 10:30 and someone checked our luggage at the curb. Then we walked over to a small parking area near the water and sat while everyone else who arrived early began standing in line. I don't remember the exact time, I think it was around 11:30 that they opened up the line and we pretty much walked right in. The only drawback was that two of our party did not purchase FFTF so they had to go through the long line that had already formed before boarding even began. The four of us that had FFTF went to our rooms first. Twice we reached areas where a crew member tried to turn us around but as soon as we said we had FFTF they let us right through. I don't think we got our luggage any faster, but I was prepared with what I needed in my carry-on.

Con - Muster Drill: This was the worst muster drill I have experienced in 5 cruises (3 Princess, 2 Carnival). Apparently they were going to have a Coast Guard inspection on the next cruise so this was a practice run for that. They actually checked each of our names off a list as we entered our muster area. The entire drill took about an hour and a half. There is no way this would work in the case of a real emergency! Read more