Review: September 6th to 16th Carnival Miracle to Alaska

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 02:30 AM

I am reminded of a previous coworker I talked with last year and I mentioned I was planning an Alaska cruise, and it was my first real vacation in years and how excited I was. I explained you can book these trips way in advance and pay it out monthly. He went on to reply how he could not do that because he was preparing for retirement and had to work as much as possible. He kept saying I’ll do this and I'll do that when I retire! A couple of months ago this coworker did retire, but not because he was ready, but because he was diagnosed with leukemia. He died a month later. So, plan those vacations and go make those memories, don’t get stupid and run up a load of debt but don’t just live to work a job that can replace you tomorrow.

Hello! I am Stowaway LFC (looking for cruise) and this is my very first cruise review. Please go easy on me! I am an extreme introvert who is married to an extreme extrovert, which is ok because he does all the talking and I don’t have to. We will be celebrating an anniversary with this trip and Alaska has been a bucket list item for hubby for years. Mine is to go to Ireland and Scotland which is in the works for next year.

I work in healthcare, been an RN for more years than I wanna admit to but I usually like to keep that to myself when taking trips so I don’t have to look at random body parts and something potentially contagious or nasty. Not rich by any means, did not grow up rich or marry rich so a big trip like this one took me saving over several months. I never thought I could afford something like this but if you break it down and plan it way ahead of time you can do it!

I am not entirely new to cruising, I went on a Caribbean cruise years ago to Caymen Islands and Cozumel in my 20’s and went on Bahamas cruise back when my kids were little in 2007. Since then, all trips revolved around kids or kids having kids. This time, no kids! My youngest son, who suffers from failure to launch syndrome is minding the house and pets while we are gone.

I picked a 10-day Carnival cruise on the Miracle from San Franscisco with stops to Juneau, Haines, Ketchikan and Prince Rupert in Canada. Saving every month, utilizing cash back reward credit cards helped me to fund it and not carry debt to do it. I was able to find decent priced flights but had to go with a layover for each one to get the price where I wanted it. Booked the Parking spot to fly from Dallas Love field and booked us for arrival the day before at the RUI plaza in San Fransisco.

I read everything I could find about cruising in general and Alaskan cruises. What to do, what to pack, hell how to act, I devoured it all. We are not the party crowd younger cruisers so if that’s your vibe I will likely bore you to pieces. We cruise with ports in mind and the opportunity to visit new places. That being said, when the deck parties and nightclubs were going on I was likely in bed due to an early excursion time. I took my inspirations from the cruising greats @TxTeach79, @MeganGC1983, @Jamman54, @Saint Greg and @sid_9169 to name a few. I in no way profess to be as talented as they are in reviews. Now with the intro out of the way……Let’s cruise!

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 02:52 AM

Day 1: Travel Day: September 6th:

Friday:

We are up at the crack of 0230 to get on our way. Why did I think a 0600 flight was a good thing? Am I right in the head? Prob not but ok….We hit the road at 0300 on the road to the parking spot 1in Dallas. Dayum it’s early!

At 0400 we arrive at the Parking Spot 1although the GPS address was kinda funky getting there and by 0430 we are in the shuttle. These dudes make it so easy they come right to your car! And give you a card to give back to them when you return. A tip later and we are deposited at the terminal close to Southwest.

At 0500 we head to security and I promptly get flagged over my feet of all things and hubbys TSA number somehow did not get posted to his reservation so he had to return to the desk to get it added. Once my feet were cleared of any evil doing and they decided hubby wasn’t a terrorist after all we made it through security.

0520 no time for coffee, make note to at least add another 30 minutes to an hours when you get to the airport!

0600 we are loaded and on the way to Atlanta we got held up sitting because the lady who had the aisle seat had tried to pack everything in her seat and under the seat instead of putting some stuff in the overhead bin. This led to thinly veiled sarcasm from the flight attendant. We had a coke and some of those nasty Sun chips Subway always wants to give you.

0900 we land in Atlanta. Huge airport! Had to travel to another terminal to catch next flight Body slammed in tram! It don’t play! It will slap you into next week! Held on to the strap for dear life and said my prayers. Got two sad looking sausage biscuits for 8 apiece and for 6 for a coffee. Welcome to security side airport prices…

Flight delayed 30 minutes for reasons unknown to anyone. Extrovert hubby is annoying talking up a storm with everyone in sight, at least I don’t have to talk….

Long 4-hour flight till San Francisco watched a movie and a couple of old episodes of Twilight zone for kicks. Served more cardboard chips and water.

Finally landed at 1235 found bags without trouble!

Wanted to grab an Uber but ended up grabbing taxi for 66 to RUI plaza because it was easier and like right there! Bit of a ride to get to Fisherman’s Wharf. Taxi driver spoke no English and had this huge plastic partition that made the backseat pretty darn hot.

By 1330 we are checking into RUI, lots of cruising peeps here! Long line of peeps checking in and a couple of girls took forever at one desk asking multiple questions about the meaning of life and whatever else they were focused on and holding everything up. Get done and move on please! Poor check-in girl had to take a break after dealing with them. Extrovert hubby making friends with everyone in the place. Desk lady obviously new and orientating and didn’t tell us we had to use our room card in elevator to get to upper floors. Spent a few minutes swearing at the elevators before we figured it out lol. But we did get to check in early and we were thankful!

1400 finally in room resting up, some kind of funky toliets up in here sure they are to reduce water but dayum you have to flush them multiple times! What is up with that?

1600 set out for 6 minute walk to the fabled Pier 39, okay this is a really cool place but very touristy and pricey! Walked around while waiting for 1700 dinner reservation. Place is freaking massive! There were some guys throwing down words to each other about who should be there and who should not near the pier entrance no blows but wow, just keep walking…

Ate at wipeout bc we had 15% off hotel discount ate wipeout nachos and split a wipe out burger. Food was really good but a bit too much for us. Sex on the board and Beer for the mouthy one, the burger was rad, cocktail was strong and view was rad!

1800 headed to explore the pier and the awesome sea lions and bought some cookies to take back to the room with us.

1900 beat headed to the room, hey! No judging, we are still on Texas time conked out at 2100 which was 2300 Texas time.

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 02:58 AM

By the last photo resembles me really well, all by myself most of the time , lol. More to come if I'm not kicked out!

luvcruzing · Saturday at 11:21 AM

Looking forward to more. Love your sense of humor.

jimbri · Saturday at 11:43 AM

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Photos are great!

Frank12 · Saturday at 12:02 PM

Great start! We've sailed Alaska on the Miracles' sister ships Legend and Spirit. Looking forward to more...

Hogladyrider · Saturday at 01:33 PM

Following, thanks for the "heads up" over on the Tribe forum.

One question/clarification,..you flew from Dallas to Atlanta to California? What am I missing...Dallas to Atlanta is the wrong way to California.

Edited Saturday at 01:33 PM by Hogladyrider

pcvtmom · Saturday at 01:40 PM

Great start! I like your writing style 🙂!

Hogladyrider · Saturday at 01:46 PM

5 minutes ago, pcvtmom said:

Great start! I like your writing style 🙂!

What she said x2!

MeganGC1983 · Saturday at 01:48 PM

This will be fun! I’m along for the ride. Hope you had a great cruise.

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 01:55 PM

16 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

Following, thanks for the "heads up" over on the Tribe forum.

One question/clarification,..you flew from Dallas to Atlanta to California? What am I missing...Dallas to Atlanta is the wrong way to California.

This!!! Wait till you see how we flew back. Hubby is still griping and raising his fist in the air to the airline gods. A direct flight was way more expensive than this one and I was trying to save some cash. I am now questioning all my life's decisions lol

kdr69 · Saturday at 01:58 PM

Very good review and im on board for the ride

MyriamS · Saturday at 02:11 PM

It's quite funny because my boyfriend and I are in the exact opposite situation compared to you: you are on the Miracle to Alaska this year and thinking about Ireland and Scotland next year while we are thinking of booking a cruise on the Miracle for next year (another cold weather itinerary, Iceland) while we've just boarded our flight to London for our UK and Ireland cruise.

Will definitely be following your adventures.

TravelE · Saturday at 02:31 PM

Great start! I love your quiet humor. I already cracked up a few times with your first post especially not telling people you are a nurse so you don't have to look at weird things on vacation.

Alaska cruises are so different than regular cruises. With all the daylight, early mornings watching for wildlife and active excursions in port, the activities and nightlife on the ship really don't matter. You are there for Alaska!

Can't wait to read more . . .

TravelE · Saturday at 02:35 PM

11 hours ago, Stowaway LFC said:

By the last photo resembles me really well, all by myself most of the time , lol. More to come if I'm not kicked out!

You are the pop of color in that photo!

And the pier looks very peoply.

maryann2 · Saturday at 04:21 PM

1 hour ago, TravelE said:

Great start! I love your quiet humor. I already cracked up a few times with your first post especially not telling people you are a nurse so you don't have to look at weird things on vacation.

Alaska cruises are so different than regular cruises. With all the daylight, early mornings watching for wildlife and active excursions in port, the activities and nightlife on the ship really don't matter. You are there for Alaska!

Can't wait to read more . . .

I agree with not telling people you are a nurse. I am retired now but people still want me to look at weird things. On a cruise earlier this year a tablemate asked me to give her injections. A firm "no I'm no longer registered" was my reply.

I am also a very quiet person and married a talker like you. I understand exactly what you are saying.

A friend returned from Alaska on Wednesday but had very bad weather and poor visibility so hopefully your weather wasn't as bad.

nwcruiselover · Saturday at 04:36 PM

Following along. Great review so far and I enjoy your humor!

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 06:10 PM

Day 2: Embark Day September 6th Part 1

Cruise Embark day!

0600 Slept pretty well to be in an unfamiliar place, fatigue and time changes help a lot in these situations. Room was pretty quiet, I guess everyone else was tired too because we didn’t hear any fights or slamming doors or gremlins roaming the halls.

There was a cool picture in the room of the Golden Gate Bridge so I snapped a pic of that. I’m weird like that…

I packed our backpacks with all the daily stuff you need to survive so that we wouldn’t have to bust open Big Bertha. Big Bertha is a nickname I gave to this huge suitcase I found at an estate sale for like 15 bucks. It locks and rolls and everything! I thought it would be perfect for an Alaska adventure. I also packed a carryon size suitcase and left some extra room for souvenirs and stuff. So, one big suitcase, one smaller suitcase and two backpacks to carry around. And my snazzy little Travelon purse I bought! Not bad for a 10-day Alaska cruise right? When I was packing everything up days ago hubby stated he thought we were bringing too much stuff. Really? I shot him a look that teleported him outside the house with the dogs. The man has no clue and didn’t even know what to pack except for his toothbrush and toboggan.

We headed downstairs at 0630 for the much-anticipated RUI Plaza breakfast. Since it was early I thought it would be a great time to go. Was I right? Oh noooo…..far from it. I believe everyone in the hotel had read the TxTeach review because they were all there too! I didn’t have much picture taking opportunity due to so many peeps there but managed a few while getting weird looks from other tables. Yes, I am undercover, stop looking at me or I’ll go Men in Black on you with my ink pen! We secured a single table before more cattle herded in then took turns getting food. Awesome spread! Best I have ever seen at a hotel breakfast! Have you ever seen that video about the continental breakfast by Key and Peele? This is my hubby, all day long, everyday lol.

0715 we went back to room to chill abit and get the packing situation situated. Boarding time not till 1200 so I started on the task of ordering transport to the cruise terminal. Now we prob could have walked it but with the luggage it would have been a real pain. Confession time: We live in a small town that does not have Uber or Lyft so I am unfamiliar with using the apps. I muddled through both apps and finally found one on Lyft that looked decent and booked it.

1115 times to roll! hope we scheduled pick up at the right place.

Livia picked us up in her little black Prius. She is from Brazil and speaks very little English. Very nice though and I was happy we weren’t robbed and thrown in the bay lol. Miracle is in port!!! There is just something about that first view of the ship that is special. During the ride I was convinced my phone was busted because I could hear no sound, turned out it was my stupid airpods had connected and I didn’t know it.

We get to the terminal and there are hoards of people standing outside looking lost. That’s never a good sign. We have no idea what we are supposed to do so I put the extrovert to work finding out. He lives for this stuff. We enter one huge line to drop our suitcases off then another huge line to get through security and take our pics. Then yet another to actually get on the ship. I got confused when I saw people lugging all their luggage with them through security instead of dropping it off. This slowed the line up because all those big suitcases took extra time to go through security. Some were even being opened and rifled through. Maybe there is something I don’t know….. I just knew I didn’t want to lug Big Bertha all over a cruise ship. More to come!

Edited Saturday at 06:12 PM by Stowaway LFC
Date wrong

Stowaway LFC · Saturday at 06:17 PM

Day 2: Embark Day Friday September 6th Part 2

Finally on the ship! We went straight to Muster (just do it people…) and was through there within minutes. Headed to lido to see how busy it was found Guy’s burgers didn’t have a huge line so we went there. The only trouble we had was finding a table to sit at. Hamburgers were good, typical fast food fare and the fries were seasoned well We did not take pics because we were starving pigs lol.

This ship's decor is wild! The only way I can describe it is that the designer was on a acid trip when he designed this ship. It is crazy!

After that we wandered the ship until the announcement came that the rooms were ready so we headed to our casa for the week on Deck 1. Just an interior cabin for us, nothing fancy. Our carryon suitcase was there but Big Bertha was taking her time. Unpacked what we had and headed up to watch some of the Sail away party. Wobble baby! I took a short video of the dancing but haven’t figured out how to post it. It was fun and high energy. People were already in the pool and hot tubs although it was only about 50 degrees outside. Got some coffee from the coffee place, those girls work hard and are amazing to watch!

Then we went to deck 11 for the actual sail off. We passed Alcatraz island and then it got cold and windy quick!!!! We passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and everyone whooped and hollered! I did too and I wasn’t even drunk! Took another short video of the ship going under the bridge. Then we fumbled our way to the kiosk to load my 10% off Carnival cards dodging all the Picture and Spa predators on the way. After roaming around some more we freshened up and made our first trip to the MDR. Shrimp cocktail appetizer, braised short rib, mashed potatoes and green beans was awesome as was hubby’s lamb braised pasta. Cheesecake and Carnival melting cake for dessert was really good and the staff were all so nice and friendly. I can’t imagine what all they have to deal with day in and day out.

After dinner we went to the shops because hubby needed batteries then we headed to the atrium bar where hubby promptly made friends with the musician coming on to play a set, hubby is a professional bass player so anytime musicians are in his radar he is going to go and stalk them. A beer and a fun ship for the hubby and two fun ships for me we decided we were lightweights. I left hubby to do some male musician bonding and headed back to room where Big Bertha had finally arrived so I unpacked.

Tip here: Bring the plastic shoe organizer and hang it on your bathroom door and get those magnetic hooks to hang stuff up on your cabin walls. They work really well in a small space. We were in bed by 2300 lol. We wanted to go to late night comedy but shower and sleep beckoned. Felt no movement down in our riviera cabin. I didn’t know at the time that that would change very soon!

TNVolnteerCruiser · Saturday at 10:31 PM

Tribe reporting in to live vicariously. Thanks for the invite and for doing a review!

WhiteOptima · Saturday at 10:47 PM

Best thing ever-shoe organizer! Paid $5 for mine at Target. Now I don’t get the where is the Tylenol? Where are my sunglasses? I show him once where everything is after that you are on your own.

TNVolnteerCruiser · Saturday at 11:38 PM

Great writing! Makes me think of Willdra’s great writing style. You both have a way with humor.

Ashpalo · Saturday at 11:53 PM

5 hours ago, Stowaway LFC said:

Day 2: Embark Day September 6th Part 1

Cruise Embark day!

0600 Slept pretty well to be in an unfamiliar place, fatigue and time changes help a lot in these situations. Room was pretty quiet, I guess everyone else was tired too because we didn’t hear any fights or slamming doors or gremlins roaming the halls.

There was a cool picture in the room of the Golden Gate Bridge so I snapped a pic of that. I’m weird like that…

I packed our backpacks with all the daily stuff you need to survive so that we wouldn’t have to bust open Big Bertha. Big Bertha is a nickname I gave to this huge suitcase I found at an estate sale for like 15 bucks. It locks and rolls and everything! I thought it would be perfect for an Alaska adventure. I also packed a carryon size suitcase and left some extra room for souvenirs and stuff. So, one big suitcase, one smaller suitcase and two backpacks to carry around. And my snazzy little Travelon purse I bought! Not bad for a 10-day Alaska cruise right? When I was packing everything up days ago hubby stated he thought we were bringing too much stuff. Really? I shot him a look that teleported him outside the house with the dogs. The man has no clue and didn’t even know what to pack except for his toothbrush and toboggan.

We headed downstairs at 0630 for the much-anticipated RUI Plaza breakfast. Since it was early I thought it would be a great time to go. Was I right? Oh noooo…..far from it. I believe everyone in the hotel had read the TxTeach review because they were all there too! I didn’t have much picture taking opportunity due to so many peeps there but managed a few while getting weird looks from other tables. Yes, I am undercover, stop looking at me or I’ll go Men in Black on you with my ink pen! We secured a single table before more cattle herded in then took turns getting food. Awesome spread! Best I have ever seen at a hotel breakfast! Have you ever seen that video about the continental breakfast by Key and Peele? This is my hubby, all day long, everyday lol.

0715 we went back to room to chill abit and get the packing situation situated. Boarding time not till 1200 so I started on the task of ordering transport to the cruise terminal. Now we prob could have walked it but with the luggage it would have been a real pain. Confession time: We live in a small town that does not have Uber or Lyft so I am unfamiliar with using the apps. I muddled through both apps and finally found one on Lyft that looked decent and booked it.

1115 times to roll! hope we scheduled pick up at the right place.

Livia picked us up in her little black Prius. She is from Brazil and speaks very little English. Very nice though and I was happy we weren’t robbed and thrown in the bay lol. Miracle is in port!!! There is just something about that first view of the ship that is special. During the ride I was convinced my phone was busted because I could hear no sound, turned out it was my stupid airpods had connected and I didn’t know it.

We get to the terminal and there are hoards of people standing outside looking lost. That’s never a good sign. We have no idea what we are supposed to do so I put the extrovert to work finding out. He lives for this stuff. We enter one huge line to drop our suitcases off then another huge line to get through security and take our pics. Then yet another to actually get on the ship. I got confused when I saw people lugging all their luggage with them through security instead of dropping it off. This slowed the line up because all those big suitcases took extra time to go through security. Some were even being opened and rifled through. Maybe there is something I don’t know….. I just knew I didn’t want to lug Big Bertha all over a cruise ship. More to come!

Great review so far! I love your writing style.

I have that exact same purse! I love it! It gives you that extra confidence knowing that nobody can slash it open! 🙂

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Ashley 🙂

Stowaway LFC · Sunday at 10:54 PM

Sea Day Saturday September 7^th

Woke up at 0700. These interior cabins allow total darkness and the boat was really moving this morning, wow!! It’s bad enough to wake up initially not knowing where you are, in total darkness and you are trying to fumble to the bathroom with a ship that is rocking and rolling it’s way through the choppy ocean. I check to see that hubby hasn’t landed in the floor somewhere or if the rapture happened and I was left behind. One thing to mention that I had forgotten from cruises years ago is the toilet! That thing flushes so loud you can feel your soul departing from your body! Once I came out of my fog there was only one thing on my mind, coffee, or rather the sad lack there of.

I totally wanted to just stagger my way to Lido to get some but I figured that arriving in my pajamas with my hair looking like a demented troll doll somebody shook upside down and falling over stuff from the rocking of the boat might scare somebody so I resigned myself to having to get dressed first.

Hubby was awake by this time and feeling the beginning withdrawal symptoms of not having internet for this trip. He loves his social media and news sites and is complaining there is nothing to look at but the Carnival app. I’m tempted to flush him down the toilet.

We dressed and headed up to Lido to get my coffee fix. I headed to the beverage station to discover the machines weren’t working and the huge container of coffee that was there was empty. Standing and waiting with other like-minded individuals a guy rolls by and told me I should have ordered room service coffee and I wouldn’t be in this predicament. Good to know!

We ate breakfast there on Lido because I had forgotten about the Sea Day brunch. I didn’t even bother with breakfast pics, it’s Lido and usually the same stuff every day.

Since it was a sea day there wasn’t a whole lot going on unless you love trivia or want to part from your money in the casino or shops. We headed to Red Frog for a craft thingy and was given a package of supplies to make a bracelet. Hubby couldn’t get his put together well so he got frustrated and threw his away. The Fun Squad guy running the crafts I think had drawn the short stick this morning and got stuck with craft duty. Someone asked him a question about the craft and he had no idea.

After that we went and got real coffee at the coffee bar and sat in Skybox for abit checking out games on. We explored for awhile, walked outside on the deck which was really windy and cold, would you believe there were people in the pools? They were shivering but there none the less. We headed back to Lido to eat at Chopsticks. I even got chopsticks that I don’t know how to use. After that we headed back to the room for a nap. Steward came in while we were napping and scared the bejezus out of me. He apologized profusely and said he would come back later. Oops! out goes the snooze sign.

Went to the Alaska talk that afternoon with the naturalist named Steve. Very informative session, lots of excursions were advertised that people could spend money on of course.

Then there was a long wait to buy bingo cards for the afternoon session. Finally got settled with daubers and high hopes. No wins at bingo. Hopes dashed. Guess we didn’t buy enough cards lol.

Went back to room and steward had been there and gave us crab made out of towels. lol.

Went for a haircut and style appointment I had scheduled as an anniversary treat, Story here: Last cruise I took years ago when my kids were little was after the breakup of a bad traumatic marriage. It was me, my sister, my mom and two of my kiddos who were little at the time. I was feeling really low and depressed about everything and to cheer me up my mom and sister arranged a hair appointment for me. I was so surprised and it did wonders for my mood. In the last 10 years I have lost both my mom and sister so this is bittersweet to me. My stylist was a beautiful lady from Jamaica who had beautiful hair weaves and flawless makeup. She looked like a model off a magazine cover. She told me she had worked on cruise ships for years and was nearing the end of her current contract and was looking forward to going home to Jamaica for awhile. She gave me an awesome cut and style and I tipped her and wished her safe travels back home.

Side note: Did you know that even if you pay for a spa/salon service ahead of time they will auto charge you a gratuity on your account after the visit? I didn’t know that so if you are a budgeter like me you might want to plan for that along with any cash tips you want to give.

Went back to room and hung out with the limited TV channels and then headed to the atrium bar for a drink. All the bars were very busy all cruise long. We walked by Alchemy hoping to try them out but it was packed out everytime, usually by the same people. Popular place!

We headed to the MDR for dinner that night. Tried a Beef Wellington which was fun to try and felt fancy. All the food service staff are so nice and friendly. I hated to see people be rude or condescending to them. This is not a 5 star restaurant people.. be nice!

After dinner we went to the Phantom theatre for a show called Old Soul. I didn’t write the guy’s name down but he was pretty good and we enjoyed it. We planned to go to late night comedy and headed done when they said the doors would open to the smaller Mad Hatter venue. When we arrived there was a massive line that went 2 or three floors up. We decided just to go ahead and grab a night cap and crash like the old people we are.