This was my 5th cruise (all Carnival) and my husband's 3rd. We chose this cruise because of the itinerary (Southern Caribbean) and were not disappointed. It wasn't until after I booked that I discovered that the Miracle is a "favorite" ship of many and that the Spirit class ships in general seem to be very popular. Prior to this, I had sailed on Destiny, Triumph, Victory, and Valor and enjoyed them all, but our cruise on the Miracle eclipsed all my previous cruises. It's hard to say why exactly. The ship itself is very nice and easily navigated around. That being said, I didn't really mind the layout of the other ships...so, maybe it was that we had the friendliest crew we had ever experienced, or was it that dining room staff was top notch? Maybe it was the 8-day cruise that was so great--after all that last sea day when the sun was shining so brightly and the breeze was just right, I was really lovin' it! Oh, yes, maybe it was the perfect weather that did the trick--only a sprinkle or two on one morning in St. Lucia and 1 day when the seas were kinda rough--otherwise perfect weather. Maybe it was the beautiful ports of call (2 of which I had never been to before). St. Maarten never seems to disappoint, and I have now fallen in love with St. Kitts. St. Lucia was also beautiful, but we were (unfortunately) hounded by the locals at Reduit Beach, which was the ONLY negative I can think of for the entire cruise experience.

FLIGHTS: We did Carnival's air. It's just less expensive for us that way since we don't live anywhere near a hub city. No problem at all with the flights--everything was smooth as silk. Sometimes when you first look at your documents your connecting flights don't seem to make much sense if you are flying out of a small town like we do because they usually just route you to the hub city of whichever airline they have chosen, and it's often not a very direct route to Florida, but it worked out just fine. They had us on Northwest going down and Delta coming back.

TRANSFERS: Included with the fly aweigh program. Best ever. Ft. Lauderdale seemed a lot less hectic than Miami. Read more