Our First Three Days At Sea

Boarding

Fun! Fun! Fun! That's what Carnival guarantees for their cruises. We’ve been on Carnival cruises earlier in this century and will judge if the FUN is still there.
Our adventure began at the Carnival Cruise terminal in Long Beach. It’s that domed structure next to the original Queen Mary ship. Everything went smoothly and we were soon walking the gangway into the ship.

At 88,500 Gross Tons, the Carnival Miracle is one of the smaller ships in the fleet. Its saving grace is it only carries about 2000 passengers and has about 1000 staff. The net result is a less crowded ship and a higher staff-to-passenger ratio compared to most other cruise ships.

When the ship docked in Long Beach earlier that day, it was returning from a 4-day cruise to Mexico. The staff had to contend with loads of departing passengers together with their luggage. Once that was over, the new group of passengers would be embarking on their Alaska cruise.

We boarded at 10:30 a.m. Our cabin would not be ready until 1:30 p.m. We went to the Lido Deck buffet for our first meal on the ship. The restaurant was crowded but we managed to find some kind passengers who shared their table with us.

My wife and I were sailing with two friends for the first time. We were looking forward to a new experience as on all our earlier cruises we sailed alone, or with our son when he was a kid.

Our Cabin

We reserved a basic balcony cabin on the 5th deck of the ship that has an obstructed view caused by the lifeboat outside. A week before departure, Carnival offered us an upgrade to a balcony cabin on deck 7 with no obstruction for about $100 more. We jumped at this deal!

Our cabin steward introduced himself to us shortly after we moved in. He would do his best to make our cruise a comfortable one.

The View From Our Balcony

If you have gone on a cruise in a balcony cabin, you'll know a huge benefit this provides. If you are planning a cruise I highly recommend booking a cabin with a balcony. Forget the ocean view cabins because the window gets dirty and spoils the view.

We have two chairs and a table on the balcony, one of the chairs being a recliner. I love laying back and soaking up the fresh air day or night. It also gives us an opportunity to check out what the weather outside is before we disembark the ship in port.

A Glimpse Of The Decks

With rain in our future, I cannot see these outdoor facilities being used that much.

Although this outdoor pool is superb, Carnival has us covered literally with another pool that has a retractable roof below.

Empty Decks

If this was summer, these decks would be filled with guests sunbathing. With cooler weather, they are empty now and will remain empty for the whole cruise.

Our Sailing Partners At Dinner

My wife and I in the foreground for the first time are sailing with younger friends in the background. This is turning out to be so much fun! This picture was taken by a dining room staff member who has been assigned to serve us at our table.

The two-level dining room is called Bacchus named for the Greek God Of Wine and Vegetation. It is over the top in decor as you can see in this shot I took of the ceiling. Not my cup of tea having all those faux grapes haning over us!

Our Alaska Tour

I will share details about the tours we will be taking in future blogs. Our ship will be visiting the following spots: Sitka, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Pont Strait, Trach Arm Fjord, Ketchikan, and Prince Rupert, Canada. At the end, we will experience three more sea days before docking back in Long Beach two weeks later.

Towel Animals

When we return to our room each day we are greeted with a newly made creation that our room steward makes us. Our first one I believe was a rabbit. You be the judge and tell me if I'm right!

The next stop is Sitka, the largest city in the US. I'm not kidding. Check that out for yourself. Here is what Google says:

What is the biggest city in the U.S. by area?

The largest city by area in the United States is Sitka, Alaska. The city spans 2,874 square miles of incorporated area.

Who got this right? Let me know.

Till my next Alaska cruise story, cheers!

Edwin

P.S. I wrote this in my cabin using the ship's Internet while at sea. It's pretty good.