Miracle to Alaska Review: June 26-July 6

[bluejay555]

10 hours ago, Tennessee Rose said:

I've never seen the crafting sessions. Is there a charge for this, where is it held, and is it a different type of craft each day? Is it only on sea days, or one every day? I think I'd love to try this! Just never saw it before. My cruise buddy and I went to Alaska on Legend back in 2017. I believe it was my favorite cruise!

No charge!  It was in the atrium every sea day at 9am.  Although now that I think about it, it was offered on one of the port days as well.  We made the journal, the embroidery, a felt keychain that had to be sewn, and a beaded bracelet.  Everything was alaska themed, even the bracelet- it had gold beads to symbolize gold nuggets.  And then there were 2 days of coloring, which consisted of a few printed out coloring pages and colored pencils.  

[bluejay555]

I'm going to come back and finish this review today.  Tracy Arm Fjord is next! 

[bluejay555]

Tracy Arm Fjord was GORGEOUS.  We had a beautiful day for it, and the captain came on and said we got the closest to Sawyer glacier that they’ve been able to all season!  There is usually ice in the way.  

After getting coffee, I went up on deck 10 to check out the views.  The fog burned off as it got later.  

it became very crowded outside, and impossible to get good viewing, so we spent most of the day on our balcony.  

Edited July 12, 2023 by bluejay555
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[bluejay555]

I wish we would have gotten tickets for the excursion that takes you close to the glacier.  We could see that there were seals out there but couldn’t get a good look from the ship.  I also heard the excursion went to a waterfall and another arm of the fjord.  It was close to our cruise date when we tried to buy it and I couldn’t find it online.  I figured it was sold out…but then I heard it wasn’t, but in an odd spot on the website?  Anyway, from what I’ve heard from others, it was worth every penny.  So if you’re doing this cruise, definitely look into it!

 

 

[bluejay555]

 

 

[bluejay555]

 

 

I can’t find any other pictures from this day, so I guess I didn’t get the towel animal.
 Oh well, that’s a wrap!  

[bluejay555]

Oh wait- I do have a video.  Late in the afternoon as we were exiting the fjord, a bunch of porpoises started playing right beside the ship.  

 

 

[Haljo1935]

Awesome pictures; love the video!!

[jerseygirlinAZ]

5 hours ago, bluejay555 said:

Tracy Arm Fjord was GORGEOUS.  We had a beautiful day for it, and the captain came on and said we got the closest to Sawyer glacier that they’ve been able to all season!  There is usually ice in the way.  

After getting coffee, I went up on deck 10 to check out the views.  The fog burned off as it got later.  

it became very crowded outside, and impossible to get good viewing, so we spent most of the day on our balcony.  

 

That is so awesome!  I thought we were pretty lucky with how close we got considering the ice, but WOW!!!  Your pics are amazing!

[bluejay555]

15 hours ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 

That is so awesome!  I thought we were pretty lucky with how close we got considering the ice, but WOW!!!  Your pics are amazing!

Thank you! ♥️

[bluejay555]

Prince Rupert:  we did not have an excursion booked.  The line to get a tender was the longest line I have ever seen to get off the ship.  It was the entire length of deck 2.  It was crazy!  I guess I could have asked about a platinum line but we also were hearing there wasn’t much to do over there.  People said it was Canada Day and most shops were closed.  There was a Walmart that some were interested in checking out.  I heard one lady complaining that there were 4 shops open and only 1 of them was wheelchair accessible for her.  I also heard people complaining about the lifeboats not being easy to get on and off if you have any mobility issues.  I was in a Facebook group for our sailing and there were posts about a lifeboat banging against the ship and injuring a few people, and it didn’t seem like the Carnival workers were trained to drive them efficiently.  Lots of struggles 😂

 

But on the same token, some new friends of ours went on a whale watching excursion and had the time of their lives.  Others hiked and said it was gorgeous. I kind of am curious and wish we would have ventured over but at the same time, we were content on the ship!

 

 

 

 

[bluejay555]

I was surprised there was crafting today because we were in port, but it was my favorite one yet!  There were 3 keychain kits to choose from- a bear, eagle, or whale, and you had to see felt pieces together and stuff it.  I took mine to my balcony and worked on it- so peaceful out there.  

 

That’s a wrap for Prince Rupert!  

[bluejay555]

Sea day: 4th of July! 
 

I love that they made an effort to have some patriotic desserts for us!

 

Last crafting day was a bracelet kit that is “Alaskan gold nugget” theme.  It was a stretch lol but fun enough to make. 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2023 by bluejay555
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[bluejay555]

We ended up winning 2 trivias this cruise: 80s movies and Big Bang Theory.  
 

 

we had never noticed this self-serve beer machine before!  Wonder how many people actually use it? 


one more day at sea, then it’s back to the real world…

[bluejay555]

We had a great last day just doing ship stuff- no exciting pictures to share. 

 

All our bags are packed and we’re “leaving on a funship” 😂 Our wait staff was so great!  We loved all 3 of them and they took good care of us.  

 

 

[bluejay555]

Woke up bright and early back in San Fran 

We opted to carry our bags off ourselves, and our disembarkation time was 7:30am for platinum.  We got breakfast on the lido then headed out.  It was kind of a cluster. There were tons of platinum/diamond and they had us in a big line that went down the steep theater steps.  We managed but everybody had big suitcases and some were struggling.  Oh well, we got off the ship by probably 8 or 8:30 I think? and right into a taxi to head to the airport.  We saw this driverless car on our way.  So weird!  

 

it ended up taking us 21 hours to get home to Missouri.  We had delays, a long layover, and then we were told our plane didn’t have a pilot or copilot.  We stuck it out and FINALLY started our last leg around 1am eastern.  We rolled into our driveway at 6am central the next day.  But I’d do it all over again, we had the best 2 weeks ever!!!  Thanks for following along on my journey ♥️

[vanislandcruisers]

Thanks for taking us along on your adventure!!!

[ninjacat123]

Great review!!  Your DDs are darling and you all sound like it was a wonderful cruise!  Now I need to plan an Alaskan cruise🥰

[bluejay555]

1 hour ago, vanislandcruisers said:

Thanks for taking us along on your adventure!!!

Thanks!  I appreciate you reading it!!

[bluejay555]

25 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Great review!!  Your DDs are darling and you all sound like it was a wonderful cruise!  Now I need to plan an Alaskan cruise🥰

 

Aw thank you so much!  You definitely need to!!  🙂 

[William142]

2 hours ago, bluejay555 said:

We ended up winning 2 trivias this cruise: 80s movies and Big Bang Theory.  
 

 

we had never noticed this self-serve beer machine before!  Wonder how many people actually use it? 


one more day at sea, then it’s back to the real world…

I'm sure you still have to pay auto gratuity even though you are pouring it yourself... ridiculous!

[amcankid]

On 7/10/2023 at 8:55 AM, Luv2Cruze4 said:

Thanks for posting this review! We head out on this exact same cruise Aug 7th and are so looking forward to it. Haven't see many reviews. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express for a couple of days prior and I did book Alcatraz months earlier as I did hear it would be sold out. My daughter is 17 and son 22 so we can relate to all the aspects as your family seems really similar to ours especially in personality. Bruh! MOTHER! LOL

Glad to see the karaoke was enjoyable as well - that is a favourite for us!

J.

Have you joined our Facebook group?

Carnival Miracle August 7, 2023

[bluejay555]

1 minute ago, amcankid said:

Have you joined our Facebook group?

Carnival Miracle August 7, 2023

 

No, but I will!  

[amcankid]

9 minutes ago, bluejay555 said:

 

No, but I will!  

It’s a very exclusive group but I’ll give you a referral. Lol

Actually at last count we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 people!

Thats about a quarter of the ship!!

By far the largest specific date cruise ship Facebook group I’ve ever been in 

 

[bluejay555]

So I forgot to tell this story.   the other ship out of San Francisco was the Ruby Princess.  We left at the same time, sailed side by side up the coast, and returned to San Fran on the same morning.  Except...the Ruby Princess crashed into the dock upon arrival.  I read that there was a medical emergency on board and the docking was rushed.  Who knows.  We had a family on our plane that had been on the Ruby Princess and they said they felt it hit and ran out to their balcony to see what had happened.  I joined the Ruby Princess facebook page to get updates (I'm nosy lol) and found out the ship had to have a patch welded on, and couldn't sail away until Sunday.  They were supposed to leave Thurs.  They got to come and go as they pleased, using the cruise ship as a hotel for 3 nights while enjoying San Francisco, and lost all ports but Ketchikan and Prince Rupert, and would receive 75% off, plus 75% off a future cruise.  If they chose to leave instead, they would get $100 back, plus 50% off a future cruise.  From what I gather, most chose to stay on.  I would have too!  Anyway, I thought that was so interesting...