Carnival Miracle Review
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Hubby and I have sailed 14 cruises in 22 years - all to warm, sunny, beachy areas because we live in Arizona and I am wrapped up in a sweater whenever the temp drops below 80! When my 76-year old mother-in-law visited last fall, she expressed a desire to take a cruise - she had never sailed on a cruise ship before - and she made a point of telling us that Alaska was the only state she had not yet visited. It definitely was not MY first choice for a cruise, but I did the research on average temps and rainfall and chose the 3rd week of July, hoping for the best possible weather of the year. I am happy to report this was one of our most enjoyable cruises a 7 day sailing on the Carnival Miracle out of Seattle with day stops in Skagway, Juneau, Ketchikan, Alaska and an evening in Victoria, BC.
We arrived in Seattle three days before our cruise. We stayed at the Hampton Inn Airport/28th Avenue opened in June 2012 and it was wonderful. I reserved both the hotel and the rental car six months in advance. We explored Pikes Marketplace, took the Locks Tour (VERY good tour and my first experience with raising or lowering a boat as it passes through locks), toured the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery (in full bloom and incredibly beautiful), ate only in local, one of a kind restaurants, attended a Mariners baseball game. It was a bit chilly and cloudy/foggy every morning in Seattle, but when the sun broke through around 11:30am, it was warm enough for me to enjoy sightseeing without a jacket/sweater. We turned in our rental car the night before our cruise, after the Mariners game, and planned to have the hotel shuttle pick us up at the airport. Airport traffic at 11pm was an absolute nightmare, so hubs and I opted to walk back to the hotel - about a mile walk and much quicker than waiting for the shuttle to make it through the airport.
I pre-booked our hotel-to-ship shuttle through Matt at Seattle Express (seattleexpress.com) at $12.00 per person (about what the cruise ship charges). The shuttle bus was prompt and the driver very courteous, pointing out local attractions along the way downtown. We booked our ship to airport shuttle after the cruise with them, too.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Cabin 7212 and 7241 are typical Carnival balcony cabins. Both of these are located near the mid-ship (atrium) elevators and with cabins both above and below them to minimize in-cabin noise (we were once directly below the piano bar - not good!). The cabins were equipped with two tall closets for hanging clothes and a third with shelves for folded clothes, a desk/dresser with 4 small drawers, one with an attached blow dryer that adequately handled my thick, shoulder length hair, a vinyl covered futon/sofa with small coffee table, two twins/king bed with 2 nightstands, a small under cabinet refrigerator, a flat screen television, an in-room safe, and a small storage cabinet. There were two chairs and a small table on the balcony.