Miracle to Alaska Review: June 26-July 6

[bluejay555]

6 minutes ago, amcankid said:

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 

 

Whaaat?  That's a huge group!  Love that!  Thanks 🙂 

[Haljo1935]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review and amazing pix. Thanks for bringing us along - no such thing as too much Alaska!!

[bluejay555]

5 hours ago, William142 said:

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

It’s so true!  

[bluejay555]

2 hours ago, TreyB said:

This is why you don’t let the kids borrow the car…🤣

 

Seriously though hope everyone is ok. Your review was fantastic, we have an Alaska cruise August 2024 on the Spirit out of Seattle! 😎

 
Right?? 😂🤦‍♀️  Thanks for following along, and have a great cruise next yr!!

[bluejay555]

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Thoroughly enjoyed your review and amazing pix. Thanks for bringing us along - no such thing as too much Alaska!!

Thank you!  I appreciate that.  Have a fabulous time on your end of season Alaskan cruise, I hope you post another review.  

[crazycatlady82]

12 hours ago, amcankid said:

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 

 

They’re getting large! We had about 700 for a NCL one in April!

[NightOne]

On 7/9/2023 at 8:06 PM, bluejay555 said:

 

 

It was then that an announcement was made that we had gone off course because of a medical emergency.  The coast guard was going to do an airlift rescue off the coast of Seattle.  Due to this change in course we would have to miss Icy Strait Point, which was our port the next day.  At first I was upset because that was our whale watching day but I was standing right by the excursion desk so I walked right up to the desk, no wait, and was able to book whale watching for Juneau instead.  I had to cancel our panning for gold and salmon bake because they conflicted, but the whales were top priority for us.  While I made the switch, a line formed behind me and I bet there were 25 people waiting.  I got SO lucky to be in the right place at the right time.  
 

ps- rumor had it that the emergency was that a lady fell and broke her hip.  Everyone I spoke to was disappointed but more sympathetic for the injured person than anything.  

 

She had a broken femur. Apparently it was a compound fracture. According to the Captain she is doing OK. She slipped on a spill on lido.

 

Clearly the Captain made the right decision and we were super disappointed in missing ISP because we had an independent excursion there that we have been trying to get on for a long time.

 

Now that I have been home a little bit and have learned that there is indeed crew shortages on all of the ships except the newest 3 I am a little bothered by the whole incident.

 

1. Whoever made the spill should have reported it to a crew member immediately.

2. If staffing levels were normal then there would have been more workers on lido and they would have cleaned it up immediately. This should be constantly monitored by staff as the floors can be slippery there and it is also a cleanliness issue.

 

So essentially this is Carnival's fault for allowing this to happen. I got back my port fees just like everyone else and I don't want or expect anything additionally from Carnival but this was totally preventable.

 

We had a good time on the cruise but there were some serious deficiencies on this sailing. I'm not going to go complaining about what I know won't get fixed anytime soon so I just came home and cancelled 3 of my 4 future Carnival bookings (only keeping Jubilee) and am not looking to book new ones.

 

Sad situation all around 😞

[bluejay555]

18 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

She had a broken femur. Apparently it was a compound fracture. According to the Captain she is doing OK. She slipped on a spill on lido.

 

Clearly the Captain made the right decision and we were super disappointed in missing ISP because we had an independent excursion there that we have been trying to get on for a long time.

 

Now that I have been home a little bit and have learned that there is indeed crew shortages on all of the ships except the newest 3 I am a little bothered by the whole incident.

 

1. Whoever made the spill should have reported it to a crew member immediately.

2. If staffing levels were normal then there would have been more workers on lido and they would have cleaned it up immediately. This should be constantly monitored by staff as the floors can be slippery there and it is also a cleanliness issue.

 

So essentially this is Carnival's fault for allowing this to happen. I got back my port fees just like everyone else and I don't want or expect anything additionally from Carnival but this was totally preventable.

 

We had a good time on the cruise but there were some serious deficiencies on this sailing. I'm not going to go complaining about what I know won't get fixed anytime soon so I just came home and cancelled 3 of my 4 future Carnival bookings (only keeping Jubilee) and am not looking to book new ones.

 

Sad situation all around 😞

 

I'm sorry you had problems.  What were the deficiencies that caused you to cancel 3 future cruises?  They must have been pretty bad!  I guess I was in my own little bubble of cruise ship happiness lol  

[bluejay555]

10 minutes ago, TreyB said:

I agree it’s sad but you seem to have jumped to a lot of conclusions here based on limited information. Did you witness the fall?  Do you know how long the spill was on the floor before it was cleaned up?  Do you know for a fact that the spill wasn’t reported immediately?  Are you saying unequivocally that crew shortages caused this to take place?

 

Sorry you missed ISP, but calling this 100% preventable and blaming Carnival for it may be a bit premature. 

 

I have to agree with this.  We actually commented and laughed about the workers constantly mopping the lido deck.  We decided their job was impossible and never-ending.  That deck is never dry, even in Alaska with way fewer swimmers and kids running with drinks sloshing everywhere.  

[NightOne]

49 minutes ago, TreyB said:

I agree it’s sad but you seem to have jumped to a lot of conclusions here based on limited information. Did you witness the fall?  Do you know how long the spill was on the floor before it was cleaned up?  Do you know for a fact that the spill wasn’t reported immediately?  Are you saying unequivocally that crew shortages caused this to take place?

 

Sorry you missed ISP, but calling this 100% preventable and blaming Carnival for it may be a bit premature. 

 

I was on the cruise. I spoke to many passengers and crew about it. (including the Captain)

 

Not premature at all. This was Carnival's fault.

 

An yes I am saying that crew shortage caused this to happen. That is exactly what I am saying. 🙂

[NightOne]

41 minutes ago, bluejay555 said:

 

I'm sorry you had problems.  What were the deficiencies that caused you to cancel 3 future cruises?  They must have been pretty bad!  I guess I was in my own little bubble of cruise ship happiness lol  

 

I don't want to run Carnival down here. Let's just say it was death by a thousand cuts and we are just not happy with Carnival anymore. This was our 18th Carnival cruise so we have a decent idea of what a Carnival cruise is past and present.

 

Ironically we were originally booked and fully paid on the Ruby Princess sailing that went out with us. We switched to Miracle a couple of months ago because of a casino offer. Kind of wish we would have stuck with Ruby. (even with the bump at the end)

[bluejay555]

28 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

I don't want to run Carnival down here. Let's just say it was death by a thousand cuts and we are just not happy with Carnival anymore. This was our 18th Carnival cruise so we have a decent idea of what a Carnival cruise is past and present.

 

Ironically we were originally booked and fully paid on the Ruby Princess sailing that went out with us. We switched to Miracle a couple of months ago because of a casino offer. Kind of wish we would have stuck with Ruby. (even with the bump at the end)

Fair enough.  That just means you need to do it all over again soon on a diff line 🙂 

 

I have been on Princess to Alaska and it’s just an all over different vibe.  

[NightOne]

34 minutes ago, bluejay555 said:

Fair enough.  That just means you need to do it all over again soon on a diff line 🙂 

 

I have been on Princess to Alaska and it’s just an all over different vibe.  

 

Came back and booked another Alaska cruise already

 

It goes to ISP and Ketchikan plus the ports we made it to on Miracle 🙂

 

[NightOne]

37 minutes ago, bluejay555 said:

I have been on Princess to Alaska and it’s just an all over different vibe.  

 

In a good way or bad way? More laid back?

[bluejay555]

3 hours ago, NightOne said:

 

Came back and booked another Alaska cruise already

 

It goes to ISP and Ketchikan plus the ports we made it to on Miracle 🙂

 

That's exciting!  On what cruise line?  

[bluejay555]

3 hours ago, NightOne said:

 

In a good way or bad way? More laid back?

 Princess was wonderful...the food was great, the room seemed a little bigger.  But it was more quiet and more formal compared to Carnival.  Carnival is much more laid back and friendly in my opinion.  

[LPut714]

On 7/8/2023 at 7:03 PM, bluejay555 said:

We just got back from an amazing cruise and I thought I'd share.  When I was researching this cruise I had a hard time finding reviews...TxTeach had an amazing one, and we felt like we were on the cruise with them!  Spoiler alert, but mine won't be nearly as good as that one. I will do my best though, to give you a taste of what to expect on this cruise, with as many pictures as I have!  (I always forgot to take food pics in the dining room)

 

My husband, two teenage daughters, and I flew into San Francisco 2 days early to see the sights and stayed at the Riu at Fisherman's Wharf.  This hotel was the place to be!  It was near pier 39, only a block from the hop on hop off bus, and had a HUGE complimentary breakfast buffet.  Just be prepared to wait in a long line to get a table for breakfast, this hotel holds a lot of people.  I did meet some fellow cruisers in that line, so the wait wasn't all that bad!  

We were also on the cruise-so looking forward to reliving a GREAT cruise

[William142]

The July 24th fb group has like 20 people 😞

[LPut714]

On 7/9/2023 at 1:29 PM, bluejay555 said:

Woke up and checked on the Miracle.  Looks like she’s waiting for us!  It’s go time!!
We took a cab to the pier and it was around $60.  Totally worth it, we just walked outside the hotel and there were several lined up and ready to go.  It was so easy.  We had 11am boarding and got there about 10:30 and it was already super crowded.  They have you line up in rows according to your boarding time:

There she is!  

Too funny I see me in your picture. Right in the middle with cranberry jacket and light blue back pack. Agree once they opened the lines we were non stop till on the boat.

[bluejay555]

8 minutes ago, LPut714 said:

Too funny I see me in your picture. Right in the middle with cranberry jacket and light blue back pack. Agree once they opened the lines we were non stop till on the boat.

 

Too funny!  I love that you found yourself in my picture!!!  

[bluejay555]

17 minutes ago, William142 said:

The July 24th fb group has like 20 people 😞

 

That's a bummer. Hopefully it picks up.  I didn't even know about our facebook group until I met some people at the hotel in San Francisco that told me about it. 

[Luv2Cruze4]

On 7/13/2023 at 7:49 PM, amcankid said:

Have you joined our Facebook group?

Carnival Miracle August 7, 2023

We have! Its a great group!

[NightOne]

On 7/14/2023 at 5:41 PM, bluejay555 said:

That's exciting!  On what cruise line?  

 

Norwegian Joy