Alaska Cruise Part II - The ship, the activities and Tracy Arm Fjord




As the ship sailed and left Seattle behind, the coast guards zoomed in their boats around the ship for around half an hour and then zoomed off. The North West part of America is very green and very pretty and you could soon see why people swear by this  beauty. The green mountains could be seen in no time and a little beyond you could see some snow on mountain tops.
Omnipresent coast guards

When a cruise ship starts moving gently into the sea, you get a bit of wobbly feeling. It did not affect me at all as the sea was pretty gentle, but Devicka felt a bit disoriented.  I didn’t want to waste time so went out to explore our ship. Carnival Miracle was very similar to the earlier Carnival ship we had traveled on. 4th to 8th decks were for staterooms; the 9th was for all the buffet restaurants; the 9th deck also had swimming pools, Jacuzzi s and health club; the 2nd and 3rd decks was where the main dining hall was along with casino, auditoriums, nightclubs, bars, lobby, customer service and shore excursion desk. A very popular section was where the photographs were being taken and also being displayed. People would love their photographs taken against all sorts of backgrounds and then buying them later. We bought none. They also had shopping arcade on the 3rd deck and would regularly publicize what was on sale through the pamphlets and TV.
I started my exploration from the topmost open deck where they had made a putt putt golf arena and a basketball court. It could get very windy and cold up there.Below that on the 10th Deck were a lot of deck chairs for us to admire the views. They also gave blankets on request. A portion was specially demarcated for the people over 18 years and that had a nice covered Jacuzzi. This kept the noisy children away. The Gym adjoined this  and you got a terrific view of the sea and mountains while you worked out. The changing room had steam & sauna and there was a spa where you could get your massage done.
One of the swimming pools area on the 9th Deck was covered and that was very popular with the kids. I went often into Jacuzzi and for steaming while Devicka went to the Gym each day. Swimming pool was not utilized by any of us.  By the end of day 1 (remember that we had sailed at 4 PM) I had admired a lot of view, had gone for Jacuzzi and steaming, played a round of Golf with Kartik, attended a lecture in auditorium regarding which shore excursions one should take, won $10 in Casino , had a nice dinner in dining hall and attended a late night comedy show. What a good start. 6 more days to go !

I had got Devicka some tablets from the customer relations which were supposed to control sea sickness. Devicka had those tablets and felt zonked for next 24 hours. After that she decided not to have any of these tablets.She did fine.

The Dining Hall


The Bacchus dining hall- Deck 2 & 3

The Bacchus dining hall was very popular for dinner. It was also open for Lunch. On most days people dress up in their best clothes and come for dinner. On day 1 they asked us to come in casual clothes as they realise that many people would still be waiting for their luggage to be delivered to the rooms.. The atmosphere is festive and the waiters participate in entertain you by singing songs on elegant evenings. The dining hall was huge and must be accommodating around 1000-1500 people at one go. While booking I had been given a choice of 5.30 PM and 7.45 PM  for dining. Obviously I had chosen 7.45 PM. I was never told that there was something called 'your time dining' also as an option. This was free time seating which meant that you could come any time between 5.30 to 8.45 for dinner and the table would be given on availability. (Normally you have a fixed table if you choose a standard time).  I wanted a change immediately. I was told that only maitre d' could shift us to this arrangement. I immediately made a request to him stating that 7.45 PM was too early for us.He tried to convince me to stick to our time and table and said that he would accomodate us even if we came a bit after 8. I didn’t think he would act on my request but the next evening at around 5 PM, there was a card in our room stating that our request has been granted and we could utilize the 'your time dining' arrangement. I liked this efficiency !

Day 2- The High Seas


A very common sight all through the way

If you want to enjoy the cruise ship you need to organize yourself. Each evening we got a magazine in the room which listed the timing and location of each activity which were scheduled for the next day. I read this magazine very carefully and shortlisted the things of our interest. Kartik was interested in Bingo ; I was interested in most of the things; Devicka was interested in reading her book and sitting on balcony; Sanya was only interested in listening to music on her Ipad. The magazine informed us about port of call we would be reaching the next day and things to do there; it gave timings of the music shows or talks happening in auditorium; the special attraction and things on sale at the shopping centre; the comedy shows; the singles evenings; the band playing at the nightclub ; and it also talked about the activities at the teenagers club but our teenagers were least interested.

Thanks to the sail and sign card we were all independent but thankfully they had kiosks where I could check how much my family was spending. It is better to do this rather than get a shock on the last day !

Day 2 helped us to acclimatize and get used to the life on ship. There was lots to eat and people were eating all day long. The cuisine on 9th Deck for lunch was Chinese, American, Italian and grills. Kartik would disappear every couple of hours and the best place to look for him was near the ice cream machines. It was nice to sit near a window and have tea of coffee which was available 24 hours. The Chinese food was very popular. During the next few days they served us Caribbean, African and French food as well. The breakfast was particularly big and there was a great choice of fruits, sausages, Bacon, eggs etc. The choice of Desserts was tremendous and at each meal people ate Desserts as if there was no tomorrow.
A taste of Dark Alaskan Beer at the open bar


We did our usual Gym, Jacuzzi, Steaming etc during the 2nd day. The dinner was the ‘elegant evening’ and thankfully I had carried a jacket and Devicka also had an outfit to wear in the evening. People came all dressed and enthusiastic. There was a queue at the photographers for portraits, family pictures, romantic pictures and background pictures. People love this kind of an evening and even after dinner the entire ship was buzzing with excitement. As most Americans prefer to drink after the dinner , the bars and nightclubs were rocking that night.



There was a very good lecture by the naturalist of the ship about the wildlife in Alaska. She asked us to spend time in balconies and decks looking for the Dolphins, Sea Lions and Whales. She explained to us that at this time of the year whales come from Hawaii to Alaska for food. I hoped we would be able to see some whales before we left the ship. I was suddenly interested in whales !

Day 3- The Inside Passage and Tracy Arm Fjord


The ship has to make many turns in the inside passage

Alaska's Inside Passage is the area that makes up the Southeast Region of Alaska. Approximately 1,000 miles North of Vancouver, it was the center of activity during Alaska's 19th century Gold Rush. The Inside Passage is popular for spectacular scenery & abundant wildlife. A Fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity. These mountains are as much inside the sea as much as outside.

We entered the inside passage at around 11 AM and could sense the mountains much closer to us as it was actually a passage inside the Fjords. There are a lot of bends in the Fjords and the views are fantastic as the ship changes angles as it twists and turns. The air had become cold and there were a lot of spectacular waterfalls coming down the steep mountains. I was standing on the balcony admiring the waterfalls when the first iceberg (a small one) came next to the ship. It was bright blue in color. Along with it were a lot of small disintegrated ice pcs.



I turned towards the direction from where this iceberg had come and in a distance I saw something really crazy. It was as if there was a huge bed of blue crystals floating in the air. They were sparkling in the sunshine. I called Devicka and the kids and they couldn’t figure out what it was. I ran up to the top deck to the front side of the ship. The first sight of Sawyer Glacier took my breath away. It was a spectacular blue glacier, gleaming in sunshine , coming down from the mountains and gently dipping into the sea. You get an idea about the size when you see how little the cruise boats looked in comparison. What I was looking at was the part of twin Sawyer Glacier at the head of the Fjord. The beautiful blue colors were created by density of ice which absorbs all the colors of spectrum except the colour of sea which it reflects. This first sight is something that I am not going to forget in a hurry. 


The size of the boat will give you an idea about the size of Glacier

As the ship approached the Glacier, the entire ship population started coming on the decks. We could see Ice and Icebergs floating all around. The icebergs became bigger and bigger and many of them had seals on them. The seals on the icebergs floating in the sea made for very special viewing. 
The seal drifts away on an Iceberg.

The ship went as near as it could and stopped for a couple of hours , so everyone could take in all the beauty and click as many pictures. Some people had taken excursions so they could go closer to the twin glaciers on smaller boats. I kept waiting for calving to take place but it didn’t happen while our ship was around. Calving or ‘white thunder’ refers to the breaking of glacier and falling into the sea making tremendous explosive sound.

The ship turned around and navigated its way out of the Tracy Arm Fjord. We just couldn't get over all the good things we had seen that day. That evening we did the normal things like Golf, Gymming, Casino, music show and reading. From next day onward there was going to be a shore stop each day. The first stop was Skagway which was the gateway at the time of Gold rush. We hadn't booked any shore excursions yet. But I was sure that we would do something. I didn't think I would be just hanging around the ship while we were  in Alaska.

Difficult to separate Devicka from a book
We were happy to be near a Glacier

To Be Continued ........................

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