Miracle 10 Day Alaska, 6/10... Mostly Photographic and Disappointing Review

[Moviela]

Thank you for the terrific amount of time putting this review together. It has been interesting, and funny. Saturday I am doing a double on Panorama, and for August we are on the same ship (Miracle) out of San Fran, but slightly different stops. I love a hover ferry but we don't stop there. They cancelled the luxury train in Skagway which really bummed  me as I am an armature steam engineer. It will be a good sailing made better by your excellent review. I had your review on the screen in my theater and my team had nothing but nice comments about your excellent photography. 

[Jamman54]

Excellent review and pictures! Thanks for taking the time to post and entertain us! 😎😀

[Joe817]

Well, you really did it. OUTSTANDING review! I loved every post. Thanks so much for doing this. And I look forward to you next live review.

 

👍  👍

[kelkel2]

I really loved your review. Thank you so much for the time you spent on it!

[carohs]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review. I am doubly looking forward to our planned cruise on the Spirit, and can't wait to see how it compares. I'm sure your students love you. You have a wonderful sense of storytelling and humor.

 

[RollingMeadows]

Brilliant review! Do you by chance teach science?

[Florings]

Great review!   Lots of LOL moments and the pictures were incredible.  Thank you for sharing it all.

[hapytobehr]

Great Review.  Did this trip May 2nd and you brought back the wonderful memories.

 

I agree that Alaska is a wonderful cruise and should be on everyone's bucket list!

[BohJang]

It's a slow day at work and I just binged your whole review.  Really enjoyed your pictures and commentary.  It brought back memories of our Alaska cruise in 2009. Thanks for an awesome review and making my work day go by faster.

[balcony bound]

I was late to this review but so glad I found it.  Absolutely wonderful.  Well done.

 

Hope that you review your future cruises as well, I'll be looking for them.  Thank you so much for sharing.

[Elaine5715]

14 hours ago, slimbyspring said:

So I am curious on the Cheers vs non cheers method on the Alaskan cruise.  We have opted with non cheers since it is Alaska but wondered how the cost comparison worked out for you?  We are "moderate" drinkers and plan on bringing wine on board with us as well.  Great review - makes us ready to see Alaska again!

Use this to figure out CHEERS or Not https://cruisespotlight.com/drink-package-calculator/

[trbarton]

On 6/23/2022 at 2:53 AM, Ferry_Watcher said:

Is this how you would want your mother described?

Or how about 'a single pier staffer scanning us onboard'.

The person scanning boarding passes on the gangway is the last set of eyes tat will catch any mistakes or omissions in Wellness (photo of vaccine card(s), did all the health questions get answered, and in in embarkation process: did the passport get scanned; is the security photo acceptable, etc.  

There really should have been 3-4 pier workers doing this job.  It's possible that the other folks in this position worked during disembarkation and were still on their break when the ship opened up for embarkation.

I’ve been on many cruises from Pier 27 & never experienced any problems. Sorry to hear what happened. 
 

Tom😀

[trbarton]

On 6/23/2022 at 9:05 AM, TxTeach79 said:

Caribbean Wheat from the Frog himself. Not bad. Like the Pig better. 
 

 

Curious any draft beer available?  I’ll be on the Miracle in August for my 1st time.
 

Tom😀 

[Rockypoint]

Thanks for the outstanding and entertaining review. We are doing this cruise next May and I have been anxiously looking for reviews. We are hitting Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Tracy Arm and Victoria on our 10 day from SF.

 

It took a lot to convince my hubs of an Alaskan cruise as he is a Mexico and Caribbean guy all the way and is worried about the cold. I will be showing him your review for sure. You didn't seem to be too cold or needing to dress in parkas all the time which was nice to see. Did you pack for the cold and find you didn't really need it? We are from Tucson so it doesn't take much for us to be cold.

 

We have already purchased the drink package, we did that right before the price increase. My hubs is also wondering about the Alaskan cruise vibe on the ship and getting bored, but you made it seem like it was fine. Did you and B find yourselves bored much? We are prepared for a lot of relaxing and playing various card games.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for the awesome review.

Edited July 1, 2022 by Rockypoint

[trbarton]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:53 PM, TxTeach79 said:

Well, this was just a fantastic trip. I couldn’t recommend it more. We did the math, since I was a kid I’ve been on 49 cruises, 29 on Carnival, and this one ranks right at the top somewhere. Amazing crew, a happy ship that’s so well designed and easy to navigate (and handles crowds better than any I’ve sailed before), and my God - Alaska. Beautiful hardly does it justice. 
 

Thanks for following along! I hope this mess was enjoyable/helpful in some way! I’m going solo on the MG in November and am

playing with doing a live TR then. We’ll see. After that, B and I are right back on the MG over the holidays, and we’re eyeballing a Pride 12 night in Europe next summer. Can’t wait for all it!

Did you attend the Chef’s Dinner & if so how was it?

 

Thanks for all of your photo’s. 
 

The Miracle will be my 2nd cruise on Carnival. Cruised mainly on Princess where I’m elite. Any helpful things I should know?

 

Thanks for everything you did. 
 

Tom😀

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:20 AM, slimbyspring said:

So I am curious on the Cheers vs non cheers method on the Alaskan cruise.  We have opted with non cheers since it is Alaska but wondered how the cost comparison worked out for you?  We are "moderate" drinkers and plan on bringing wine on board with us as well.  Great review - makes us ready to see Alaska again!

 

Yeah, having drinks of the balcony really negated a lot of what we spent on board otherwise. By no means did we deprive ourselves, and we still came out less than if we'd gotten Cheers. The nature of the itinerary definitely contributed.. there were hardly ANY late nights to speak of.

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 7:36 AM, TravelGirlinDallas said:

Great review!! Really enjoyed following along. So I guess you were able to escape the ever-present Covid? We are sailing next month and I'm a little worried about that part. Not so much worried about the illness (I've already had it), just concerned about avoiding all of the unpleasant travel consequences.

 

Yep! I suppose we got lucky, but neither of us had any issue and it didn't feel as ever present as it has on earlier cruises. There was still a quarantine area down on Deck 1, and of course, crew in masks, but that was really the only direct evidence other than the cutbacks we are all aware of. Oh, and of course, the obsessive cleaning.

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 8:18 AM, EllieinNJ said:

Really enjoyed your review.  I am somewhat new to Carnival only having done one cruise on the Legend.  We have booked the Pride next May/June for b2b, 12 day then 9 day.  If these are the dates you're looking at hope to meet you and B.

 

Yes! We're looking at one of the Pride 12 days for sure!

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 8:21 AM, Moviela said:

Thank you for the terrific amount of time putting this review together. It has been interesting, and funny. Saturday I am doing a double on Panorama, and for August we are on the same ship (Miracle) out of San Fran, but slightly different stops. I love a hover ferry but we don't stop there. They cancelled the luxury train in Skagway which really bummed  me as I am an armature steam engineer. It will be a good sailing made better by your excellent review. I had your review on the screen in my theater and my team had nothing but nice comments about your excellent photography. 

 

Aw, that's so cool! Thanks so much for the kind words, I really do appreciate it! Hope you're having a blast on Panorama right now, I've done Vista and Horizon and really enjoy them, so she's on my list!

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:52 AM, Jamman54 said:

Excellent review and pictures! Thanks for taking the time to post and entertain us! 😎😀

 

Thanks so much! I've enjoyed your reviews for a long time, they're fantastic! Means a lot coming from you!!

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 11:13 AM, Joe817 said:

Well, you really did it. OUTSTANDING review! I loved every post. Thanks so much for doing this. And I look forward to you next live review.

 

👍  👍

 

Thanks a million! Now let's get back to trying to stay cool during this ridiculous North Texas summer!

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:03 PM, carohs said:

Thanks so much for taking the time to write this review. I am doubly looking forward to our planned cruise on the Spirit, and can't wait to see how it compares. I'm sure your students love you. You have a wonderful sense of storytelling and humor.

 

 

That's so nice for you to say! I really appreciate it! Then again, talking about cruises to y'all is a bit of an easier gig than teaching World Geography to 12 year olds, sooooo..... 😂

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:31 PM, RollingMeadows said:

Brilliant review! Do you by chance teach science?

 

Nope, Social Studies, 13 years now (6, 7, and 8). But i do love science!

[TxTeach79]

On 6/30/2022 at 10:42 PM, trbarton said:

Curious any draft beer available?  I’ll be on the Miracle in August for my 1st time.
 

Tom😀 

 

Definitely! I can't recall everything available, but the Red Frog Pub, Skybox, Casino bar, and RFRB all had draught available. They had the Carnival varieties on draught in the Red Frog Pub. 

[TxTeach79]

On 7/1/2022 at 4:09 PM, Rockypoint said:

Thanks for the outstanding and entertaining review. We are doing this cruise next May and I have been anxiously looking for reviews. We are hitting Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point, Tracy Arm and Victoria on our 10 day from SF.

 

It took a lot to convince my hubs of an Alaskan cruise as he is a Mexico and Caribbean guy all the way and is worried about the cold. I will be showing him your review for sure. You didn't seem to be too cold or needing to dress in parkas all the time which was nice to see. Did you pack for the cold and find you didn't really need it? We are from Tucson so it doesn't take much for us to be cold.

 

We have already purchased the drink package, we did that right before the price increase. My hubs is also wondering about the Alaskan cruise vibe on the ship and getting bored, but you made it seem like it was fine. Did you and B find yourselves bored much? We are prepared for a lot of relaxing and playing various card games.

 

Anyway, thanks so much for the awesome review.

 

Believe me, I have a lot in common with your husband! I'm 100% a Caribbean guy. There were a lot of laughs on this cruise related to the fact that I was constantly in tropical print shirts, etc....  there were moments it was chilly, sure, especially out on the open deck when the wind is whipping, but it wasn't bad at all. I was in pants maybe 2 days out of 10. The blankets our steward brought us for the balcony were perfect. 

 

The vibe is definitely older and calmer, but honestly we never felt bored. The same activities you'd expect are available, it's just a lot easier to get a spot! Plus, we were up a lot earlier than usual between the brightness and just wanting to be up to see stuff, etc.... I was a skeptic at first myself, but after two Alaska sailings, I'm hooked! Still a Caribbean guy, but it's amazing.