woostergirl

I love truffle. I always order the truffle dish when it's on a menu. I love Truff Hot Sauce (the white one is my fav) and my latest truffle obession is Kettle Chip's Krinkle Cut with Truffle and Sea Salt. It is so good and the best truffle potato chip out there. Journeyman Meat's Truffle salami collab with Snake River Farms is also great. I even named my cat Truffle! (A pic of Truffle under our Xmas tree)

Went on my first RC cruise in August. It was a short one, 4 nights out of LA in the Navigator. I got the unliminited dinng plan so I tried all the specialty dining venues. One of the highlights of the trip was eating all the truffle dishes at Jamie's. I had the black truffle arancini and the truffle tagliatelle.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good these both were. Both were very tasty and had a great truffle flavor in the nose and when you ate it. I ended my meal with the pan roasted salmon. Also really good! Loved the crispy salmon skin and the tomato stew was seasoned perfectly. Wished they served it with some toasted garlic baguette slices to help soak up the stew!

Now, it's not fine dining and can't compare to the truffle-tastic flavor sensation of the the truffle tart at Bar Crenn in SF that had shaved black truffle covering entire top, but for cruise dining it was really good! Anyone else agree?

Travel + Leisure has an article on traveling on Aranui 5 in its current issue:

https://www.travelandleisure.com/cruises/marquesas-french-polynesia-aranui-cruise

Led me down a rabbit hole and saw that Aranui 5 is going to a special festivl on the Marquesas in December 2023.

https://farandawayadventures.com/aranui-5/aranui-5-itinerary/marquesas-art-culture-festival/

I'm also very interested in the Paul Gaugin as it has a family program. Our kids will be 12 and 8 in 2023. 

Anyone been on both PG and Aranui 5? They seemed to have similar pricing...

Thank you!

7 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

I'll add a question!  A friend just got back from cruising on the Ruby and said they missed Glacier Bay.  She thought it was because NCL hit an iceberg there but that happened near Hubbard Glacier.  Does anyone know why Ruby skipped Glacier Bay last week?  Seems like a big enough event that someone would have posted here but then maybe folks were just enjoying their cruise.

@azbirdmom That is odd...I was on the Ruby for the June 29-July 9th sailing and we visited Glacier Bay NP on July 4th!! 🇺🇸🎉  The rangers got on and did the narration during the park visit and set up the visitor's center in Skywalker's Lounge. 

Just got off the Ruby...I don't know about the capacity...I didn't ask, sorry!

But lots of movies outside on MUTS and in the Princess Theater towards the end of our 10-day Alaska cruise when we were headed home and there were fewer natrualist presentations hogging the theatre! Saw "The Lost City" with Sandra Bullock in the Theatre on Friday and it was an entertaining movie.

It was my first cruise and I didn't really notice a staffing deficiency...Lots of staff asking if you'd like coffee or a beverage at the buffet after you sit down. All the bars are staffed with bartenders and waitstaff floating around, loads of photographers on board with four backdops to pick from every night. Dining room waitstaff are very attentive and our food came quickly and hot. A MDR dinner usually took our party of four (two adults and two kids) about 1.5 hours with the grownups having 3-4 courses.

The one area that was understaffed is the arts and craft sessions...especially on sea days. Only about 20-25 people were accomodated for arts and crafts sessions...People usually started lining up 20-30 minutes ahead of time. So I didn't get to learn how to fold towel animals or make friendship bracelets. Oh well! Still a fun cruise!

Just got off the Ruby...First time cruiser...

Our room steward introduced himself when we first boarded and I let him know I needed distilled water for my CPAP machine.

We saw him many times a daily, most regularly in the morning. He told us that they know by our medallions whether a guest is in the room and check before entering as they cannot enter a cabin that is occupied.

Not exactly sure what "turn down service" is, but our rooms were tidied up (beds made, trash emptied, bathroom cleaned, towels refreshed, dishes removed) at least once a day. Our beds were made at least twice a day, morning and evening and some times three times a day. My 7 year old said that was one of his favorite part of the cruise! 😄

Our room steward also automatically put a paper Patter on the bed every night without us requesting.

One thing I found quite helpful as a first-time cruiser is "The Wake Show." It is on the tv in the room. The cruise director records a video for the next day that is available the afternoon prior. He goes over what to expect for the next day and any important instructions to look out for. It's 10-20 minutes, but the important part is in the first 5 minutes and then he interviews a crew member.

Just got off the Ruby and enjoyed the Botticelli dining room very much. We had a 7p dining time for a table for 4 every night and even on our 9-day cruise the first and second nights were kind of a zoo. But after that there was minimal waiting.

I picked Botticelli because our cabin was in the aft on Dolphin (level 9) and a quick walk down the stairs to dinner. Also, we have kids who go to kids club and it uses the same elevator so it was easy to drop them off after they were done early and come back to the table to finish my own dinner. Also, I read about cigarette smoke  wafting in from the casino in the other dining rooms, which I definitely wanted to avoid.

We found that booking the table at the same time in the same dining room made the dinner process smoother than people who had to reserve a table each night on the ship. Also, making some kind of personal connection with Ronald, in the white jacket (the diniing room manager?), and Joseph one of the assistant dining room managers, on night 1 and 2 made the dinner process much smoother for all the other other nights, for us. Our table got successively better too! Got a table by the window the last three nights of the cruise! 😄 Good luck and happy cruising!

Looking forward to following along! We're on the June 29th Ruby out of SF!!

Getting a new passport is the safest way as many have noted. However, here's another perspective. I would rely on the website and I would print it out and bring it with you.

I am in a similar situation in that my Alaska cruise departs on June 29th and my kids' passports expire in November 2022 which is slightly less than six months away. The other difference in our situations is that we are on a Princess cruise but passports are a destination/immigration issue and the policies should apply to all travelers regardless of cruise line.

According to the Princess website, an Alaska cruise is considered a "domestic itinerary" for American and Canadian passport holders. It also states, "US and Canadian passport holders sailing on a domestic cruise should ensure passports or other travel documents are valid through the completion of travel." https://www.princess.com/learn/faq/pre-cruise/prepare-for-your-cruise/

Since your mom's passport is valid through the end of the cruise, in my opinion, she doesn't need a new passport for your cruise.

Here's another way to check...Does the Royal Caribbean app have a pre-board function? Another way to check and see if RC would accept your mom's passport is to enter her passport information in the app. If the app accepts it, her passport will work for your trip/cruise.

Good luck and happy cruising!

My Ketchikan stop is on a Tuesday! 😄 Thanks for all the recommendations. Can't wait to stop at Sweet Mermaids and eat some chowder!! Too bad I don't have a Skagway stop this cruise...the Doughboy funnel cake sounds delicious!

Thanks to everyone! I will hold on to the Princess excursion I have booked. @Cruise Raider I'm excited as it's our only boat-based excursion we booked. Fingers crossed we get to see a grizzly too!

I'm on the Ruby out of San Francisco on June 29th. Our itineary has changed and our Icy Strait Point port time is now 3p-10p. We are on the excusion Best Of Icy Strait Point: Whales, Wildlife & Brown Bear Search but online the excursion still says "2p-730p". It is sold out at this time with the waitlist open. Will they move the time of this excursion to accomodate our new port times? I'm wondering if I should cancel and book a non-Princess excursion, but I haven't found an exact replacement. Lots of whale watching tours but can't find any that is a whale/bear combo, so I'm hoping they will just shift the time for the Princess excursion. Any thoughts from seasoned cruisers on what Princess might do? Many thanks!

2 hours ago, arizonaperson said:

 Here are a few photos of a mini suite for 4 people ,not necessarily the Crown princess. Depending on how small your children are ,maybe they could both fit in the lower bed ? 

My kids (ages 11 and 7) are going to love this set up!! 😊😂

@Steelers36 Thanks so much!

On 5/9/2022 at 9:37 AM, Steelers36 said:

You need to review your itinerary.  It will be second night if a Sea Day for sure.  Post your itinerary and many of us will be able to get you at least a 90% correct stab at it.

Here is my Alaska itinerary...Any thoughts on when the formal nights will be on this one? Thanks so much for your help in advance!

On 5/8/2022 at 8:29 AM, cruzin4us said:

I just looked up our cruise on the Victoria Port Authority website and it shows as "cancelled", so I'm hoping it's true.   

 

 

My Ruby Alaska cruise stop in Victoria on July 7th is also canceled. And on the Prince Rupert Port table, the Ruby Princess is scheduled to stop there on July 6th from 7a-2p. What a coincidence as I cancelled my Pricess shore excursion for Victoria last weekend. It was fate! 😂

Thanks again! I changed it to DaVinci at 720p, private table. Will they mind if my reservation says 4 but only my husband and I show up some nights? Was thinking we'd take the kids to the buffet earlier and then drop them off at the kids club once in a while.

Thank you @Sea Hag and @Loritd! Great suggestions. It is hard to visualize the restaurent waiting areas by looking at deck plans! I will change my dining room to DaVinci room.

My family and I are going to Alaksa on a SF rountrip in June. Two parents and our kids will be 11 and 7. It's our first crusie and I am hoping for some advice on dining...After lurking on the boards for a while, I want to try the MDR the old fashioned way...same time every day. So I selected 6p so we can finish dinner and still make it to some shows (and get the kids to the kids club). We are in an aft mini-suite on deck 9 so it seemed to make sense to pick the Botticelli Dining Room as it's in the back of the ship three decks down. Does this seem like a good strategy (timing and location)? Any other considerations to keep in mind? TIA!

What if your itinerary doesn't include Skagway? My cruise is only stopping at Juneau, Ketchikan and ISP...

4 hours ago, karatemom2 said:

If you want the option of having a vehicle to enjoy your entire day, I would suggest renting one on your own instead. We do this often in our AK ports - including Juneau. It is so nice to be able to explore on your own and there is so much to see outside of downtown. We are renting a minivan for our upcoming Juneau day from Juneau Car Rentals for $149. We will have it all day and not have to be limited to a tour time. Just something you

might want to consider. 

Thanks for this suggestion @karatemom2! Renting directly is a much lower rate!

I booked the interactive self-guided Jeep Adventure through Princess shore excursions. (I think the vendor is Unplugged Adventures.)  It seemed like a fun way to see some things around Juneau at our own pace and in the privacy of our own vehicle. Our family is my husband and I and two kids ages 11 and 7. We are on the Ruby sailing out of San Francisco on June 29, 2022.

For those who have done this before, I have a few questions...

1. I can save $90 by booking the private 2 door Jeep vs. the 4 door Jeep. But the thought of the kids climbing in and out of the jeep with their muddy boots on the front car seats steered me to the 4 door. Or am I overthinking this and I should just get a 2 door Jeep and save some money?

2. I'm interesting in stopping at Tracy's King Crab Shack for some crab. Can I do a pit stop here while we have the Jeep or do I have to stay on the route on the iPad?

3. A related question, it says the excursion is from 830a-1p but we are in port until 9p. Can I keep the Jeep longer than 1p or does it need to be returned by a specific time.

Thank you!

I am also wondering what a "good" per day price is for UDP. On my 4-night Navigator cruise, the price I see is $98.99 which ends up being $24.75/night. This looks like a good deal.

Any thoughts on the Deluxe Beverage Package? I am being offered $63.99/guest/per day. With gratuities it is $302/person. Does this seem high?

My cruise only cost $1,300 (two adults/two kids in a Spacious Panoramic Ocean View cabin) so if I got both the UDP for four of us, plus the beverage package for the two adults, the total would be $882, which is more than 50% of the cruise cost. Thoughts?

First time RC cruiser....TIA!

23 minutes ago, chamima said:

We just took our 6 and 8 year old granddaughters on the Caribbean Princess. I'm not sure how relevant their experience will be for a cruise on the brand new Discovery but they absolutely loved it!

Our cruise was the first week in January when their school was on break but most others weren't so they were 2 of about 5 kids in the club. There were lots of arts and crafts and there was a "curriculum" from Princess' partnership with National Geographic.

We took the cruise to spend time with them but they mostly just begged to go to the club. BTW - they are required to wear masks at all times in the club so bring plenty.

Thank you for sharing! I'm going on Ruby Princess to Alaska with my kids ages 10 and 6 in June.

@chamima I guess with the small numbers you didn't have to sign up in advance or be limited to just an hour or two? I've read that is the case with some other cruise lines.

So glad I found this thread! I'm going on the Ruby on June 29th with my kids who will be 7 and 11. Happy to hear the kids club is up and running as it's a 9 night cruise. Fingers crossed they will still bring some husky puppies on board!!

@atobols When you say the "first day" I'm assuming it's the first full day of the cruise and not embarkation day? I don't want them to miss out on this all important day!! 😄

Thanks so much!

I saw Stanley and McKinley on the Onboard Services tab when I logged into my cruise online. Can you only get them on the ship? I'd love to give them to my kids before our Alaska cruise this summer. Thanks!