Alaska cruise Miracle in 2023

[Theo1429]

Any review's on San Francisco, the ship, ports of call good and bad.

 

[SDPadreFan]

Nothing current. We board the Miracle on Monday and so will do a review upon our return. We have signed up for 4 excursions and will include those in the review. They are (in order) VIP Alaska's Whales & Glacier Rainforest Trails (Juneau); White Pass Summit Excursion (Skagway); Cooking in Alaska's Wildest Kitchen (Icy Strait Point) and Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer (Tracy Arm Cruising Day). No plans in Victoria - will just walk around a bit. We also bought the CHEERS Package. Happy to answer any questions either before or after our cruise. Also planning on hiking a little in Skagway.

[chocolate melting cake]

2 hours ago, Theo1429 said:

Any review's on San Francisco, the ship, ports of call good and bad.

No review, but here is an album of pictures of our May 2 Miracle Alaskan cruise. If you skip/ignore the personnel pix it will give you an idea of what the cruise and ship were like for us. I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. Just click on the link--if you want to see any picture larger click on it.

 

ALASKAN CRUISE

[SmoothFlying]

My wife (Elizabeth), myself and my sister (Katie) are taking this cruise the last of August of this year. My wife and I have been to Alaksa on the Carnival Spirit out of Seattle in June of 2010 but Katie has never bee there so when we saw a 3 passenger/balcony was available we booked it immediately for the last of August  2020 AND we all know what happened to that idea !!🥵 We've been pushing that cruise AND airfare back ever since. Hopefully, This summer we will be lucky enough to ACTUALLY take the cruise, IF the airline we've been booked on and paid for tickets, doesn't cancel our flight. The airline said we had till Oct  15 to use them but if they cancel too many flights from Atl to SFO, we may have a paid ticket for a flight that doesn't exist. Guess we will just have to wait and see what happens, huh ?  We have been checking the weather around the Tracy's Arm/Skagway/Icy Strait Point every week since the first of June trying to get an idea of how the temperature are running to get idea of how to pack. Also, has anybody used the self service washing machines on board and if so, are they very crowded every day ? We're not sure IF we want to wash a load while on vacation (sorta defeats the idea of being on vacation. So, we haven't decided on that issue yet. I do know ALL here ate looking forwards to the cruise IF we can make it to SFO, just have to take it one step at a time.

 

Mac

[occher]

chocolate melting cake, thank you so much for the link to your photos. I will be on this ship and route out of long beach in 2023.

[AQW]

On 6/18/2022 at 10:49 PM, SDPadreFan said:

Tracy Arm Fjord & Glacier Explorer (Tracy Arm Cruising Day). 

 

I'm doing this excursion next month and would greatly appreciate whatever review/information you can share. Have a great time!

[ashkir]

Going in September. I'll do a live from Miracle for 10 days.

 

It is a Spirit class. I believe they have charm. The new ships are packed like sardines with passengers by doubling-to-tripling the # of passengers with the same amount of community space. 

 

Spirit class is unique as there are many 'hideaway' spots where you can truly just enjoy the ship without having to worry about crowds.

[SmoothFlying]

The wife and I did an 8 day Southern Caribbean cruise out of Miami. Loved the ship but I miss small things like the Mongolian Wok. I'm not sure but I believe they don't have a Red Frog Pub either but not sure, always wanted to check one out, but I heard they don't serve pub grug anymore, someting about staffing problems. Oh well, as long as I'm ON a cruise (especially on one going to AK for TEN days, I don't CARE !! I am a  Happy Camper !

 

Mac

[SmoothFlying]

Sorry, In case someone was wondering,I meant to add we (wife and I ) did an 8 day S. Carribean cruise on the Miracle. Forgot to add the ship's name.

 

Mac

[Theo1429]

Thanks chocolate melting cake  great photos May 2023 for us

[BlerkOne]

This is a current Miracle/Alaska/San Francisco cruise

 

[Calnev1]

On 6/21/2022 at 8:42 AM, SmoothFlying said:

I'm not sure but I believe they don't have a Red Frog Pub either but not sure, always wanted to check one out, but I heard they don't serve pub grug anymore, someting about staffing problems. 

 

Mac

I  was on the Miracle last month, and yes, it did have a Red Frog Pub.

[Theo1429]

How was the dress for elegant night 

[SDPadreFan]

Just returned home from our FANTASTIC Miracle cruise tonight (Thurs). 10 hour drive home to San Diego (included meal, gas and stretching stops). Will hopefully start my review on Friday (later in the day). Will start it as a separate thread. Just a tease - saw the Sawyer Glacier calve FOUR TIMES.

[SDPadreFan]

Red Frog Pub is just aft of the Phantom Theater (showroom), right next to Java Blue on Deck 2.

[SDPadreFan]

On 6/24/2022 at 7:30 PM, Theo1429 said:

How was the dress for elegant night 

We always dress for formal night. There are 2 of them for this 10 day itinerary.  I wore a sport coat, shirt, tie, slacks and dress shoes. Wife wore long dress. 2nd formal night I ditched the tie, switched the shirt color and went open collar with the Sport Coat. Also switched to grey dress slacks (from black). Wife switched to black valour (sp?) 3 piece pants suit. Don't recall seeing anyone in a Tux.

 

Checked Lido Buffet after 2nd Formal Night dinner and it was fairly deserted so seems most people were eating in the dining room.

[txcruiser1234]

We were on Miracle June 10-20. Absolutely loved this cruise. First time on Spirit class ship, which is now our favorite class of ship. Minimal lines throughout. Very much enjoyed the CD Frankie - entertaining, organized and full of useful information.

 

MDR food was good (loved the hot soup appetizers) and service was spot on - never waited more than a couple of minutes between courses. Was in and out in 45 min to an hour each night (your time dining between 8p-9p every night). Never waited more than 5 min for table to be ready thru the HUB app. Particularly enjoyed Chopsticks' Asian inspired offerings for lunch at the Lido buffet - always seemed to have different dishes each day.

 

Sitka saw the one big glitch of the cruise. You had to queue up the day before to get tender passes. As we knew we wanted to hike Herring Cove trail, we were keen to get the first available non-excursion tender time which was supposed to be 11am on port day. The tenders were delayed a couple of hours - we did not end up in Sitka until a little after 1pm. With a back-on-board time of 5pm, we had to scrap our planned hike and just explore Sitka and do the short Totem Pole nature hike - which was still nice. But, I know some folks who were in later tender groups only had a couple of hours in Sitka.

 

Saw a pod of whales off the ships bow out of Sitka. They were the talk of the town throughout the ship that night (and for days after).

 

In Juneau, we rented a car for the day thru Turo (sort of like an air BnB for cars) for $99 and drove out to the West Glacier trailhead. Eagles everywhere. We passed a lowland area on the way out that was filled with at least 100 eagles just standing around on the ground. Spent about 8 hours hiking out to the front of Mendenhall Glacier and back. Challenging trail, incredible experience. Spent the rest of the time tooling around the city, stopping at a local grocery to pick up Coke and ended up at the Alaskan Hotel bar for drinks before boarding the ship. We also had to tender in Juneau, but the operation went smoothly - no significant time loss.

 

We did the Tracy Arm small boat excursion and, wow, that was a definite highlight of our trip. Sunny, blue sky day. Saw the glacier calve twice - one big, one small. The swell created in the water from the first calving was about 8ft. The crackling, crashing sound was unforgettable. Several dozen (maybe a 100) harbor seals basking in the sun on the iceberg field in front of the glacier. Saw a black bear and a cinnamon brown bear at waters edge on separate beaches. The Captain said it was their first bear sightings of the season. Watched a humpback whale circle feeding for a few minutes and then flash its tail as we moved on. All amid incredible scenery filled with waterfalls, cascades, snow-capped peaks, deep green valleys and an amazing array of naturally sculpted icebergs.

 

Ketchikan was another sunny, blue sky day which is apparently not common for this town. Took it easy just hiking around town for a few hours. Enjoyed the Creek Street area - picked up our only Alaska souvenirs - a couple of 19th century era glass bottles - one whiskey shaped like a flask, one apothecary. Took advantage of the great weather the rest of the day back on ship - had the Serentity area, hot tub and pool all to ourselves for the afternoon.

 

Victoria B.C. was the last port. Really only had about 3 hours to explore. Short port call. Walked up to Beacon Hill Park and down through the heart of the city. Beautifully landscaped city park with peacocks wandering around.

 

Entertainment was great throughout the cruise. Had four comedians - two were on for the first five days and they brought on two more for the last five days. We only saw the adults-only shows and they were all very entertaining - great audience reactions. Live music was abundant throughout the ship. We particularly enjoyed a solo singer/guitarist by the name of Bri-Zee - hope to sail with her again. Our favorite lounge to hear live music was the one by the Alchemy Bar. We're not usually nightclub people, but really enjoyed the DJ, the crowd and the atmosphere downstairs in Frankenstein's - we ended up there three nights. Did not see any of the production shows, but enjoyed the Love and Marriage show as well as the Deal or No Deal type shows (Frankie was a great MC). There was also a very adult late night show one night that that had us in stitches. It was set up loosely like a game show with the entire audience divided into six teams. Each team would select it's own members to participate in different challenges/skits that included everything from best fake orgasm (for the girls) to lap dancing (for the guys). Saw the movie Dune for the first time on a screen set up in the lounge. We always appreciate having TCM in the cabin and had a couple of late movie nights after everything else was said and done on the ship. Did a trivia session for the first time (James Bond) - was very challenging - 12 out of 20 to home the ship on a stick. If trivia is your thing - I think I counted 30 different sessions/topics available on this sailing.

 

Our cabin steward was a rock star. We requested evening service and she was there at 6:30pm every night sharp. Made it easy to plan our evenings.

 

As for San Francisco - we got there two days before the cruise and left two days after. First two nights at the Metro Hotel on Divisadero just east of Golden Gate Park and the last two in the Nob Hill area at the Cornell Hotel de France. Both highly recommended for quality, location and price. All in all we walked about 22 miles around different areas of the city. Golden Gate Park (huge, incredibly beautiful city park), the Presidio, Alamo Park, Fisherman's Wharf were all fantastic areas. Haight-Ashbury was a cool area to see, but not really much to do there. Chinatown was a real treat - lots of great dinner options. And to top it off, the cruise got back on the day the Golden State Warriors were having their championship parade. After we checked in to our hotel, we walked a couple of blocks down to the parade route and watched Steph Curry & Co. parade through the city. Massive energetic crowds, confetti everywhere, live music at every major intersection - never saw anything like it.

 

Oh, and last but not least, sailing out of the Port of San Francisco was really something. You sail out with a fantastic view of the city skyline past Pier 39 and Fisherman's Wharf, right past Alcatraz and then under the Golden Gate Bridge. Our cruise was a couple of hours late departing, so the sun was a bit lower in the sky - golden hour on the GGB. This was the first sailing I've been on where all the decks rails were filled from bow to stern with passengers during sail away. And, if you want to get up early on debarkation day, you can see all the same in morning twilight (no crowds though).

 

GGB at sail away.

 

Sitka totems.

 

Mendenhall Glacier from West Galcier trail.

 

Miracle in Tracy Arm Fjord.

 

Sawyer Glacier calving.

 

Alcatraz in morning twilight.

Edited July 1, 2022 by txcruiser1234
picture positioning and captions

[Theo1429]

Thanks to all

On 6/24/2022 at 2:15 AM, BlerkOne said:

This is a current Miracle/Alaska/San Francisco cruise

 

I have been following his thread really had me laughing great