bluejay555

The grand finale-  and we were told this is pretty rare to see….a young, playful whale breached a few times.  It was the coolest thing ever!! 

Right away we saw a couple whales lunge-feeding.

And then we saw a mama and her baby. They are a popular pair in these waters and the locals have named them Sasha and Titan.  We watched them swim for a while and they took a deep dive and did the tail flip for us.  I was recording a video so only got one tail picture but the whole encounter was breathtaking.

Couldn’t get off the ship without visiting with the Alaskan Malamute! 😂

Excited to be on our way!

We weren’t on the boat but a few minutes and already seeing bald eagles

Woke up in Juneau!

I got some coffee and went up to deck 10 for some good views!  Whale watching is at 9am.  This excursion is Express Whale Watching…the one I was able to book on the day it was announced that Icy Strait Point was canceled.  It was fabulous!  I’ve been whale watching a couple times in Juneau and this was my favorite.  We got so lucky to see whales feeding at the surface, jumping out of the water, and a mama and baby diving together.  

 

16 minutes ago, 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.

Bruhhh (😂)....you are going to have the BEST time!!  That was smart of you to book Alcatraz early on.  We really dropped the ball on that one.  Enjoy the karaoke- as the days go on, people realize how fun it is, and the Red Frog Pub becomes packed at karaoke time.  If you don't get there early, it's hard to get a table.  Anyway, thanks for following my review!  🙂 

Day 3 was a sea day but supposed to be our day at Icy Strait Point.

 
They had coloring at sea instead of crafting, and it was just printed off coloring pages and some colored pencils.  Meh.  We spent the day just relaxing, playing the trivias, checking out all the shops… not many pictures. 
 

I got the cheese plate for dessert and it was so good!    
 

before I post our towel animal and call it a day, I have to explain the amazing experience we had.  We were starting to see land, entering the inside passage I guess, and we went out on our balcony after dinner to take it all in.  We started seeing mist shooting up from a whale that was surfacing.  Then we saw another, and another…the ship was surrounded.  It was so quiet and peaceful and we just saw whale after whale. It was one of the most amazing moments (all in all it was probably a half hour).  None of us even thought to take pictures or videos- we were so completely in the moment.  I think it was then that the girls realized just how wild and untamed and how special Alaska was going to be.  It got us so pumped for the rest of our journey!  
 

Juneau is tomorrow!! 
 

And that’s a wrap for seaday #2

8 minutes ago, pinto18 said:

I just need to say..your girls are adorable! ( I have 2 sons so I always have daughter envy)

Aw thanks, I appreciate that!  ❤️ 

26 minutes ago, TreyB said:

Wow, a great review!  Wife and I sailed the Miracle to Mexico a few years ago, I see she has been upgraded since then. We have a Panorama sailing booked this October and a Spirit sailing to Alaska out of Seattle booked next year. 
 

You have a beautiful family!

Thank you so much!  I would love to be going back to Alaska next year.  Sounds like you have some great cruises planned!   And yes, I think Miracle was in dry dock last fall getting upgrades.  No big screen though, which is what we were hoping for.  

3 minutes ago, gotscrapz said:

I am so loving your review! Looks like it was great family time!

 

So I always go to the craft time on Carnival - and to be honest, I have made some pretty cool things. Not cheesy, but cool stuff. My daughter wasn't normally up in time but they let me take a kit to her on the days she missed. We made pretty beaded lanyard holders, tied nautical rope bracelets, picture frames.. cool kits with quality supplies that were "Michael's" branded. My daughter laughed at me at first but in downtime she'd get to work on her crafts too lol.

 

I love that your daughters let you take their pics for their insta and snaps... my dd prefers to take her selfie and then I have to beg her into sharing them with me lol. She's a little older now so it's better...but still! She has 3 older brothers and all I can say is, it's just different with a daughter lol.

Thanks so much!!  I appreciate you following along 🙂  I loved all the crafting but they were very strict about 1 kit per person.  I had a friend try to get another for a family member who was in the stateroom feeling seasick and they said NO!  Hard core.  

I'm sure the boys are much different lol!!!  All I know is girls and they love their selfies 😂

Look how empty it is.  I’m just imagining people fighting for these loungers on a ship like the dream sailing through the gulf, and all the buckets of beer littering the deck 😂

we spent a lot of time playing trivia.  I was impressed with the amount of entertainment this ship offered, even on port days.  Sometimes it was hard to find a seat though- trivia was a popular activity.  We used the hub app to communicate with each other on the ship and we had sent the girls to save seats for trivia- here are the frantic messages I got while they were trying to fight off the crowds and keep our seats for us 😂😂

Well look who showed up for crafting!  Today was embroidery kits and even though we have zero experience, we had a blast working on it with our new friends! 
 

Went down bright and early and was a little concerned about our location.  And it was so rocky we were all staggering around like a bunch of drunks.  
 

While in the atrium waiting for crafting time l found the first duck of the cruise!

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.  

19 minutes ago, Journey11 said:

Great review. Love your positive attitude about things. Beautiful daughters. Really enjoying reading your review. 

Thanks so much!

23 minutes ago, jerseygirlinAZ said:

 

We were on the May 29th sailing to Alaska from San Fran and, YES, the boarding was very slow.  Well, it actually wasn't so much the boarding, but the luggage drop off took almost an hour of waiting in line.  We actually missed our check in time and they let other groups go early.  No big deal though since once we dropped our luggage we basically just walked onto the ship.

Ugh.  We had someone grabbing our luggage as soon as we got out of our taxi.  We got there about 10:30am.  

That’s a wrap for seaday #1

And let me just say, husband and I had our beds apart, with 2 separate comforters, and it was soooo nice 😂 Let’s be honest- twin beds pushed together with a shared blanket sucks.  

We spent our afternoon in Karaoke and had a blast!!!  Our 18 yr old is quite the singer and loved it, husband too.  There were all talent levels participating and that made it so fun.  Nobody cared or judged.  
 

I mostly drank Truly Berry seltzers but I had to try Carnival’s brand!  It is really good.  It’s like a sparkling water with a hint of flavor.  

the bartender named Made took our picture and put it on the screens in Red frog pub.  He and the other bar tender, Damielia were fantastic!  They were so personable and energetic.  Damielia would even karaoke.  So fun. 

Gatsby’s Garden was the prettiest, quietest place on the ship, and my 16yr old wanted a photo shoot there.  I was taking a million pics of her and this other parent with a teenager walks by and goes “Instagram?” and we both sort of bonded over that comment because it was so true- the kids were all wanting their pictures taken there for their “snaps” or “insta” 😂

And I should say…I met some wonderful people at crafting.  There were two that I had met at the hotel, and they showed up for crafting, and then we met a few more people that sort of became our crafting group.  In my experience, the people who cruise Carnival are the friendliest.  I made so many friends all over the ship (not just during crafting).

I forgot to take a pic before I cut all my food up 😂 but we always went to sea day brunch and the eggs, for whatever reason, were the best eggs I’ve ever had.  I know they’re just eggs, but they were so fresh tasting, and cooked exactly as a I ordered- over medium.  I want to say that sausage on my plate is chicken sausage?  It was just ok.  The bacon was fantastic. 

The Miracle never felt really crowded (except at trivia and karaoke 😎) and we always found a quiet spot to relax.  

And the Ruby Princess tagged along with us from San Fran up the coast.  

Every sea day morning, there was “crafting at sea” at 9am.  I was intrigued and went to see what it was all about. I really was envisioning a foam picture frame or something kind of chintzy but we got these fun Alaska Journals to decorate!

I came back to the room with that, and it was enough to make my 16 yr old set her alarm for the next day so she wouldn’t miss crafting!  

5 minutes ago, gotscrapz said:

Thank you for doing this review. I have not yet sailed to Alaska and am comparing cruise lines atm. Love all of the pictures!

 

I need that Miracle pin - it's adorable - well for a warm weather cruise lol!

Thanks for reading along!  We did Alaska on the Coral Princess in 2017 and it was quieter and a more formal feel.  The food was a little better on Princess, and our room was a little more spacious but I do like the laid back feeling of Carnival, and basically, Carnival has my heart....not to mention we could do this 10 day cruise with a balcony for basically the same price as a 7 day non-balcony room on Princess. Whatever line you choose, Alaska is breathtaking and you will love it!  

1 minute ago, n6uqqq said:

My daughter bought cheers for me once. It was nice and all but I got tired of drinking after a while. In my 30's cheers would have been a no brainer but the 56 year old me can't hang like I used to. It is a la carte for me now so I can drink on selected days thrown in with my bottle of wine and the platinum party is enough for me now. This getting older isn't all its cracked up to be 😉 

Exactly!  😂 I turned 50 this yr and I hear ya!  

Yep, I turned platinum on my cruise last week and we dropped our bags off in the room as soon as we boarded at 11am.  You probably already know all this stuff but.....don't forget to order your chocolate dessert thing from room service.  I forgot!  And your gift and pin need to be picked up at the Pixels counter.  You get your bottle of water from the atrium bar.  And the platinum/diamond party was on the last night and you will get an invitation in your little mailbox.  

41 minutes ago, n6uqqq said:

For a seven day cruise it is almost 1000 dollars for cheers for two. You can buy a lot of drinks a la carte for that. You may find yourself tired of drinking coffee and energy drinks after a while. 

I was on a 10 day cruise and can vouch for this lol.  We did get a little tired of feeling like we needed to order drinks. My one coffee in the morning and a few drinks in the afternoon, a glass of wine at dinner, was all I needed and it would have been waaaaaay cheaper without cheers.  But us getting the cheers package was a learning experience.  You know the ol' "eyes bigger than your stomach (or liver, as the case may be)"....

1st sea day!  
 

I always got up early and snuck out of the cabin while the others slept.  I’d get a coffee from Java Blue and check our location on the screen on deck 2.  

It took me a few orders but I realized an iced vanilla latte with an extra espresso shot was MY drink.  I always use almond milk in my coffee but there was something about it I didn’t like (maybe the brand?) so I quit ordering it.  
 

our location:

I remembered to go to Pixels and get my platinum gift and pin, and then to the atrium bar to get my water, but I forgot to order the chocolate thing from room service.  🤷‍♀️ oh well, next time!  The gift was a Fanny pack.  Kinda cute!