Great Scenery - Miracle needs some updating

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 3

Helpful Votes: 30

Review summary

My wife and I have over 15 cruises and the majority of which are on Carnival. We cruised on Miracle the last week of August, 2013 on the Alaska Inside Passage. The scenery was beautiful and as others have written, almost too good to describe. We had great weather and only had rain in Juneau. One of the highlights of the trip is the on-board naturalist.. She gave several lectures on Alaska and also narrated the trip through the inside passage. The Tracy Arm Fjord was great - saw lots of wildlife and we were able to sail all the way up to the end of the fjord. In Skagway, we did a combination excursion of the White Pass Train and a 4 mile hike. Didn't see any wildlife, but the scenery was great. In retrospect, I would have just taken the White Pass train alone. In Juneau, we took the local bus shuttle to the Mendenhall Glacier for $16. You get tickets and board the bus right where the ship docks. It runs every 30 minutes. At Mendenahll, be sure to take the 1/2 mile walk around to the waterfall. There is a gravel trail and definitely worth the walk. In Ketchikan, we splurged for the Bear Adventure - float plane excursion. It was expensive, but was the highlight of the trip. A 20 minute flight on a small plane, then a guided walk to an observation platform where bear were feeding on salmon. We saw 3 sets of bears with twin cubs in about an hour. Victoria - as many others have commented, this stop was a waste of time. You dock around 7 p.m. and are only there a few hours. The downtown area is really nice, but most shops were closed. There is a public shuttle bus that takes you to the downtown area for $10 rt if you want to shop or get something to eat. Miracle - This is a smaller ship and as such there are less food options than on the other Carnival ships on which we have cruised. We found the main dining room food very good, but got tired of the same food on the Lido deck. While the buffet food was ok, for the most part, the food selection was the same everyday - Asian, deli, pizza, traditional American, and hamburgers by the pool. A number of passengers, include ourselves, opted to take more breakfast and lunch meals in the main dining room as we had tired of the buffet food. The Miracle needs some maintenance. Maybe it's the end of the season, but the ship needs a thorough cleaning and paint touch up, but overall the staff was extremely pleasant and willing to accommodate our needs. In summary, we had a great trip and I would definitely recommend this trip.

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