Miracle to Alaska August 27, 2013

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Back in the air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Randy sat up front with his 'co-pilot', our new friend from Nashville, J.R. & I sat in the next two seats with Robin & John behind us & the woman's husband sat in the back. That seat is kind of neat because you are able to see out on either side.

 

The only minor flaw was the headphones we wore to hear Randy & each other & also the music he had piped in had a lot of static. We could hear Randy pretty well but everything else was kind of garbled.

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

After our flight the shuttle took us back to the pier & we shopped for souvenirs a little more & took MORE pics! :D

I had to shed a few layers because it got HOT! Not what I was expecting for Alaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made our way back to the ship. The line to get back on was craziness long!

 

We were only in Ketchikan from 7 AM until 1 PM but we got to experience a lot in our short time there!

[zumbafan]

Thanks so much for sharing--can't wait for next June for our trip. Your pictures are fabulous!

[vrock]

I love your photos and review. I just booked the miracle for August 2014. I am so excited to read the rest of your review.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

You and I sound so much alike. Alaska has been on my DH bucket list for years but I have been putting it off because I like beach vacations!! I kept telling him we would go when we were older. Your pictures have definitely made me want to go ahead. We'll probably go 2015. Thanks so much!!

 

I guess I have to come clean. :D We started our 18 day trip with a five day convention in Anaheim, CA & instead of flying cross country for two days :eek: we went to Huntington Beach (definitely stay at the Shorebreak Hotel if you go there) so I got my 'beachy' fix before our cruise! :)

 

'Someone' on our roll call pointed out I took a lot of pics of J.R. on this cruise. I did! Alaska was on HIS bucket list & I do not want him to forget that he got to choose for a change! :D

 

Seriously, I would not trade the memories we made for anything! So as J.R. says whenever I tell him about a cruise I find, "BOOK IT"! See why I married him? :D

 

Juli

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Thanks so much for sharing--can't wait for next June for our trip. Your pictures are fabulous!

 

Thanks. June will be here before you know it. Alaska is one of those places that you need to book excursions early. Did I already say I would HIGHLY recommend Harv & Marv whale watching in Juneau? :D

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

I love your photos and review. I just booked the miracle for August 2014. I am so excited to read the rest of your review.

 

Thanks. We tried to decide when the best time to go to Alaska was & finally decided to do with what worked best for us which was the August 27th sailing. We DEFINITELY lucked up with the weather.

 

I have been in meetings today but will try to add Victoria tomorrow.

[jigger]

Great !!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Victoria...

 

We had to get packed before we got off the ship in Victoria. Always my least favorite part of any cruise! :( We had an early dinner in the dining room so we could get off the ship as soon as we docked. I was surprised that the dining room was not very crowded.

 

From our balcony

 

We were only in Victoria from 7:30 PM until midnight (had to be back on-board at 11:30 PM). We caught a cab for $10 for the four of us to the Inner Harbor. Cabs are lined up at the port.

 

We tried to take a few pics before the sun set completely.

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

We did not want to waste any time since we had such a brief visit so we took a 30 minute Waterfront Tour horse & carriage ride with Tally Ho Carriage Tours to explore Victoria. It cost $100 for the four of us. It was the only thing we did the whole cruise that I would not recommend.

 

Our carriage driver was a nice, informative young girl but we just rode around neighborhoods & she pointed out various houses. I don't really know how that is considered to be a waterfront tour. It was not bad but not really worth what we paid.

 

 

 

After our tour we went to Bard & Banker Scottish Pub so J.R. could get a local brew & then we caught a cab back to the ship because we wanted to catch the late night Comedy Show that featured the highlights from the week with Carl Faulkenberry & Rondell Sheridan.

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

The only non-stop flight on Southwest from Seattle back to Nashville was at 11:30 AM & I was a little worried about such an early flight. Since we had so much luggage (3 suitcases & one carry-on) we decided to get rid of a couple of our bags by using Luggage Express.

 

It was our first time using Luggage Express & it worked great (except for a small delay getting our luggage tags the night before that Guests services straightened out). We had to sign up by Sunday the day we were in Ketchikan. It costs $20 for two bags plus any airline charges for luggage (we were flying SW so there were no extra charges) & Carnival prints off your boarding pass & luggage tags. We had to put the two suitcases we were sending out before 11:30 PM on the last night. We did not see them again until we got to the airport in Nashville (& they were there :D)!

 

The charge is $20 for one person though so they only printed J.R.’s boarding pass & I had to do mine when I got to the airport since I did not want to pay another $20 just to get my boarding pass. It definitely made it a lot easier to get off the ship with just one suitcase & one carry-on between us.

 

Someone (J.R.) :rolleyes: felt like we had plenty of time to get to the airport so we had one last breakfast with Robin & John & left the ship about 8:30ish.

 

We had about a 5 minute wait to get off the ship. It was super fast & easy! We had booked transportation to the airport with Seattle Express for $12 pp.

 

This is what our reservation said…

“When you exit the cruise terminal proceed to Bus Lane “R” and check in with our coordinator, Kathy. Our first shuttle leaves at 7:30am and they run every 15 minutes.”

 

Seattle Express was a little disorganized when we got out there. Apparently someone else with our last name took our spot even though it was only one person & our reservations were for two. One shuttle was just filling up when we got out there so we had about a 20-30 minute wait for the next shuttle to leave. We left the cruise terminal at 9:20. It took 30 minutes to get to the airport. Then the driver had to collect money from everyone (don't know why they don't collect your money when you board) before letting us off to collect our luggage.

 

I got my boarding pass in just a few minutes but the lines to check a bag were insanely long. Then we saw the lines for security & started getting a little nervous about making our flight. They moved inch by inch! It was insane! We finally made it through & raced to our terminal with just a few minutes to spare but we made it! :D

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

J.R. always tells everyone that I only like tropical vacations so that is what we always do :D but on our flight home he said Alaska made him miss the Caribbean so he ‘twisted my arm’ ;) as soon as we got home & I booked a Valentine cruise on the Carnival Freedom (kicking myself that I did not book while on our cruise to get the OBC) to tide us over until our 30th anniversary cruise to Hawaii September 18, 2014!

 

Our once in a lifetime Alaskan cruise on-board the Carnival Miracle was everything we dreamed it would be. All the hours of research paid off because the excursions we chose were perfect for us. To be able to see whales in Juneau up close in their natural environment made the whole trip for me & the glacier calving at Tracy Arm Fjord was spectacular! The scenery from the bus & train in Skagway & the floatplane in Ketchikan was breathtaking. The weather was spectacular. The Miracle is a great ship, the crew fantastic & we made a lot of new friends. Best of all I got to experience it all with my best friend & wonderful husband, J.R. & our good friends Robin & John. Life is good! :):):)

.

[oneboysmom]

This has been an amazing review...your pictures are wonderful!! Alaska is on my bucket list, but I think i'm a few years out for that still! I'm glad you had a great time!

[texasmelrose2]

Great review...your pictures were awesome! You have really made me want to go whale watching on our next AK cruise! Sounds like a dream trip!

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

This has been an amazing review...your pictures are wonderful!! Alaska is on my bucket list, but I think i'm a few years out for that still! I'm glad you had a great time!

 

Thank you. My friend Robin just downloaded her pics so I am going to add a few more.

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Great review...your pictures were awesome! You have really made me want to go whale watching on our next AK cruise! Sounds like a dream trip!

 

Thanks. Whale watching was AMAZING! We would all highly recommend Harv & Marv. I just watched the videos again from the whale watching & I got goose bumps all over again!

[Pinkfloydfan]

Thank you. My friend Robin just downloaded her pics so I am going to add a few more.

Cool Breeze Cruiser, YESSSSS! More pics. Loving your review and hope to see you, JR, Robin and her husband on another cruise in the future:) PINK

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Cool Breeze Cruiser, YESSSSS! More pics. Loving your review and hope to see you, JR, Robin and her husband on another cruise in the future:) PINK

 

lol! Robin took over a 1,000 pics! :eek: I am just going to add a few. :D

 

Join us on the Valentine cruise on the Freedom February 8, 2014 or the Miracle to Hawaii September 18, 2014!

 

Juli

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Photos I 'borrowed' from Robin. :D

 

This is the boat we went out on to the Tracy Arm Fjord excursion. It really did not 'feel' as crowded as it looks.

 

 

 

A few more pics from our excursion to Tracy Arm Fjord

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

 

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

 

 

How cool to have a picture with a REAL glacier as a backdrop!

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

There was a lot more ice in the water at the 2nd glacier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Time to go back 'home'! :D

 

 

This was a picture of the glacier taken from the ship.

 

 

Heading to Skagway!

 

[Cool Breeze Cruiser]

Robin downloaded her videos of the glacier calving & whale watching with Harv & Marv to youtube. I will try to post the link to the glacier calving 1st (even though the whale watching ones are my favorites :D) but computers are not my thing :eek: so I hope it works!

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&cad=rja&ved=0CEsQtwIwBg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dzplra0-zVXM&ei=jYFIUrOMOIX08AS4hoHADA&usg=AFQjCNEzG553_wYWSDWr-zEsCQ3tDgDZdA&sig2=amlBw_PNcLXuenEP8trIvA&bvm=bv.53217764,d.eWU

 

To get a grasp on how huge this glacier is look at the boat in this picture compared to the glacier.