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

[TxTeach79]

5 hours ago, 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.

yes. My sainted mother is well into her 70’s and absolutely refers to herself as an old woman. She ALSO would tell you she’s the last person who should be the only person scanning boarding passes in a major cruise terminal. I just got her an Alexa for Mother’s Day… she loves it, but HOLY COW the setup! 😂😂😂

 

also, this person checked none of that. They literally just take the big iPad thing and scan the bar code. That’s all. Everything else has already been done. I’ve been on four post COVID cruises prior to this, and in Galveston and Miami they had 5-6 people doing this job at once. This poor woman in SF was the only one at first and had to have someone come help her scan almost every barcode. I’m sure they fixed the staffing eventually, otherwise we’d have been in port two more days. 

[csm5986142]

Thanks for the great review so far (following).  We are boarding Miracle (although not for Alaska) next Thursday and also staying at RIU Fisherman’s Wharf.  

One question - would you say that RIU is within walking distance of the port for adults with minimal luggage?

[TxTeach79]

On the ship in the first group and with aforementioned bottleneck cause by one scanner struggling to get people checked in equals a full open buffet sitting quietly alone in an empty Horatio’s. Not sure I’ve ever seen such a sight! (We we’re still full from the RIU buffet) 

 

 

 

[TxTeach79]

1 minute ago, csm5986142 said:

Thanks for the great review so far (following).  We are boarding Miracle (although not for Alaska) next Thursday and also staying at RIU Fisherman’s Wharf.  

One question - would you say that RIU is within walking distance of the port for adults with minimal luggage?

could you do it? Sure. It’s not technically that far. Probably about a mile down the Embarcadero. It was worth the Uber for us with all the traffic lights and luggage, etc., but if the weather is good and you don’t mind the hike, you could do it 

[TxTeach79]

Haven’t been on a Farcus ship since pre-COVID (Breeze twice, Vista, Horizon). Brings back memories. I don’t mind it!

 

 

loved the aft serenity area. This would be great on a warm weather cruise, and honestly we still spent a ton of time back here on this alaska sailing. Here’s the bar. Sangria is their thing. 
 

[TxTeach79]

I had to see it…. The famous (infamous?) Bacchus Restaurant aft on 2&3. I gotta say, for whatever you think of grapes, I really loved this space for the simple fact that they don’t have the tables for two pressed three inches apart like the newer ships do. Half the time we were in booths, otherwise at two tops with plenty of room. Honestly, over the years I’ve stopped going to the MDR because there are so many other options and the casual flexible nature of Lido is appealing as well; but on an older ship with limited dinner choices and a long itinerary, we gave it a shot and didn’t regret it at all! 
 

 

 

 

[TxTeach79]

Incredible views of SF from the Miracle while still in port. Just awesome. I could almost feel the Rice-A-Roni pulsing through my veins. 
 

[TxTeach79]

This picture stings a little…. We’ve never done the Chef’s Table and finally had it booked for this cruise, and then, as we all know, the June mini-cuts hit. You can tell because they took the Chef’s hat off of Big Frank….

 

 

lobby bar. Almost always live music going on this stage from the afternoon into the evening 

 

[TxTeach79]

Cheers free Happy Hour. It’s go time. 
 

[TxTeach79]

Omg! My Rum Jumper was the first drink of the cruise, so she gave me a freebie! This is a first for me! 
 

 

also - this is even after exploring the ship for a while. And there wasn’t a soul in the RFP. While the snail like pace of getting boarding passes scanned is partially to blame, as we soon learned this was by no means the Caribbean party crowd we’ve grown accustomed to….

[TxTeach79]

I’m terrible at math, except when it comes to computing value on a bar tab. We quickly determined that the pitchers of Caribbean Iced Tea were the solid (and potent) deal, and they got the job DONE… (and also put us in bed remarkably early) 

 

 

 

[TxTeach79]

The bar. Metal straws for sale. 
 

[TxTeach79]

This game mesmerized people. B got angry with it after a few tries, and I somehow beginner’s luck hooked it on my second toss. I think the trick is to swing it out sideways instead of straight at the hook, but what do I know?? (Spoiler alert: not much) 

 

[TxTeach79]

Frankie was the CD- first time sailing with him. 
 

[TxTeach79]

SF just showing off 

 

 

[TxTeach79]

Little Parched Pig Amber action. This would be a go to all cruise long. Paying for each drink, I went to the beer well way more often than usual on Cheers 

 

 

it’s the biscuit notes for me. That’s also a great album title tbh 

 

[TxTeach79]

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

 

[Ilovesailaway]

Love pic heavy reviews,

Thanks for posting.

[cruisingguy007]

Great review! Love the wit and the photos! Great style! 

[TxTeach79]

Split a pepperoni from Pizza Pirate…: which, btw, almost never had a line. That’s a theme here, btw… yeah, I know it’s alaska and there aren’t many kids and it’s subdued… but this was a full ship. The Spirit class rumors are true, people! 
 

 

the “let’s split a pizza and split a Guy’s burger” agreement was so successful we may as well have signed it in Geneva. 
 

 

Time to celebrate with a little luxury…. The Champagne of Beers (cheapest drink on the ship by a dollar… so naturally they ran out mid sailing)… not sure what B’s drink was, but all the RFRB drinks were fruity and delicious. (And Cussy was an amazing and fun bartender) 

 

[TxTeach79]

Red’s Remedy for me (basically the same as a Remedy in Alchemy but cheaper and in less fancy form) 

 

 

something I can’t recall for B. She liked it. 
 

[Ilovesailaway]

1 minute ago, TxTeach79 said:

The Spirit class rumors are true, people! 

Shh don't tell anyone.

[TxTeach79]

At this point we’re almost an hour late sailing away. I thought maybe slow embark was the reason, but then we walked to the starboard side railing up on Serenity deck 9….. 

 

you can’t see it well here, but there were literally hundreds of pieces of luggage still sitting on the dock. We’d end up being about two hours late sailing away. Luckily, I didn’t hear any stories about people not getting bags, and they literally walked us to muster the moment we got on board so that was no issue. I may not have even noticed if not for really wanting to experience the Alcatraz/Golden Gate Sailaway. 

[TxTeach79]

Speaking of, this was kinda awesome 

 

 

 

 

[TxTeach79]

Now this…. THIS!… I love Sailaway. Miami is beautiful, Ft. Lauderdale is awesome with the condos waving flags, New Orleans is cool with the bridges going down the Mississippi, Galveston exists, and sailing out of NYC past the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan gives you chills….. but this, my friends, was hard to top.