Ruby Princess to Alaska - R/T Seattle - 6/26-7/3 Large Group

We sailed with a large, multi-generational group, from age 5 to 75-ish. First time on Ruby Princess for everyone.

Photo from the dock of Island Wings in Ketchikan.

Thanks to karen_g for her thorough review of this same cruise! I’ll just add to what karen_g already posted instead of repeating info.

Ship Info:

Coffee card: If you drink coffee daily, buy it. You can try the HC “coffee” from a spout for comparison, but you will then end up buying the coffee card just for brewed coffee. For specialty coffee, each barista is different. Might need to ask for vanilla in your latte.

Casino: 2 roulette, 1 craps, 1 Let It Ride, and plenty of Blackjack tables. Didn’t see anyone playing the Casino Vault machine. Must cash out your chips by noon on Sat.

Cabin: Balcony on port side of Caribe deck. Enjoyed the partially-covered balcony, especially when having Ultimate Balcony Breakfast on Wed while leaving Endicott Arm.

Dining, MDR: Only 2 traditional seating times, 5:30pm and 8:00pm, both in Botticelli. Wed and Sat are ALL open seating. Monday’s tenderloin and Friday’s lobster and prawns were good.

Dining, Specialty: Loved both Crown Grille and SHARE. Kids are half-price even if they order from the adult menu. Wine list in SHARE was higher in quality and price.

Dining, Other: The pizza on Lido deck really is all that. 3 types of thin-crust pizza everyday. Hot dogs and burgers at Trident Grill were also good. Had fish tacos there on the 1st sea day, which were surprisingly tender.

Entertainment: “Magic To Do” is a musical magic show. I’m not a fan of prestidigitation magic, so this was not a favorite. Singer-pianist Daniel Oliver is very talented. He played in Crooners almost nightly, which was always packed.

Ketchikan:

View from our balcony, sailing into Ketchikan.

Misty Fjords floatplane tour with Island Wings for us and Ketchikan Taxicab Tours for the group.

In the group tour, we got lucky and saw a bear in Herring Cove!

The floatplane ride with Michelle was our favorite excursion of the week. What a great view of Alaska!

Juneau:

Took a 3-hour tour with 12th Street Taxis & Tours to visit the salmon hatchery and Mendenhall Glacier. They now have two 12-person vans, so our whole group fit in 2 taxis.

The salmon are already running, so there were eagles everywhere.

Mendenhall looks about the same as when I was here back in 1999!

One family did a glacier walk via helicopter afterwards with Coastal Helicopters and said it was amazing.

Skagway:

Booked with Chilkoot Charters & Tours for the Rail/Bus + Dogcart excursion. This was a group tour favorite, especially for families with dogs. We had our own 25-person shuttle bus, so we could stay longer or shorter at the stops along the way from Emerald Lake back to the ship. The dogcart ride was short but fun.

The dogs are amped up and ready to run!

Thankfully, the White Pass train doesn’t use these tracks:

Victoria:

Fisherman’s wharf was already closed by the time we got there. So, we just walked to The Empress hotel in downtown and walked around the shops in that area. We did follow the advice in other posts to stop by Roger's Chocolates for some Victoria Creams!

I also kept the Princess Patters if anyone wants them scanned in. It was Shark Week, which explains all of the shark-related Discovery shows on tv.

Thanks for taking time to post a trip report and photos !

Can you add a little info about the toddlers/kids on this trip? Kids clubs? pool? special activities? There are always concerns about how youngsters will manage on an Alaska cruise, given that Alaska is mostly about scenery and scenery doesn't hold a kids interest too long.

Thanks for taking time to post a trip report and photos !

 

Can you add a little info about the toddlers/kids on this trip? Kids clubs? pool? special activities? There are always concerns about how youngsters will manage on an Alaska cruise, given that Alaska is mostly about scenery and scenery doesn't hold a kids interest too long.

We had seven kids in the group, ages 5, 7, 9, 11, and 12. They went to kids club on the first day, where they made beaded lanyards to hold their hole-punched cruise card. After that, they never went back to kids club.

On this ship, there were a lot of board and card games in the library that the kids borrowed. It helped that they had other kids their age to hang out with and play their own games since there weren't many geared towards kids. This is what they did most of the week.

The pool on this ship is only outdoors, but it was heated. Plus we had warm weather most days, so the kids definitely went in the pool. On the 2nd sea day, waters were rough, so we had an accidental wave simulator in the pool. And they LOVED that. One minute, the pool water was at their ankles and the next it was back at their chin. There was also an outdoor movie screen, so the kids watched some movies outside on the lounge chairs or in the pool.

The parents also pre-downloaded videos and cartoons to iPads and other tablets for backup entertainment.

Oh! There was a program on the last day or so, called Jr Chef @ Sea. The parents tried to sign up for this on the day-of but were told that it was fully booked within 3 hours of when we embarked last Sunday! There was also a "gold nugget" bracelet making class on the 1st sea day, as well as a few other arts & crafts classes here and there. It might help to find the specific daily activities list for the cruise you're going on. For Ruby Princess, specific kids activities were sparse. They did like the magic show though.

Did you by any chance happen to keep the kid's club patters? Or do you know which nights the kid's dinners in the horizon court happen? Thank you!

Thanks so much for posting -- I'm heading out on the Ruby in just a couple of weeks, so the timing of your review is great!

Re: dining, can you explain a bit more about this comment: Dining, MDR: Only 2 traditional seating times, 5:30pm and 8:00pm, both in Botticelli. Wed and Sat are ALL open seating. By "all open seating" do you mean no pre-reserved seating times? no pre-reserved tables? no assigned dining room? all three? :) (We have Anytime Dining, btw, so I'm curious whether we could/should check out the Botticelli one of those evenings).

Re: Victoria -- A walk to Fisherman's Wharf was in our plans too, so I'm disappointed to hear it was closed (but appreciate the heads up). Was this shortly after the ship arrived in port, or did you head there later in the evening? I had been eyeing Barb's Fish 'n Chips for dinner and thought it was open until dark.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

The quote function seems to be failing me at the moment, but you wrote this:

Dining, MDR: Only 2 traditional seating times, 5:30pm and 8:00pm, both in Botticelli.

Are you certain there wasn't an additional early traditional seating in one of the other MDRs midship? Can you check your Patters for me to confirm? Typically, all reports from these cruises indicate that Botticelli is TD early and late, a mid-ship MDR starts as an additional early TD seating then transitions to AT upon turnover, and the other mid-ship MDR is AT all night long. Both of the early seatings tend to be at the same time, so it can go unnoticed.

Did you by any chance happen to keep the kid's club patters? Or do you know which nights the kid's dinners in the horizon court happen? Thank you!

Sorry to say that we don't have the kid's club patters or HC kid's dinner info. In MDR, there was a separate paper sheet with kid's menu items that was available everyday. Actually, that same kid's menu sheet was offered in Crown Grille, too. It had items such as chicken nuggets.

By "all open seating" do you mean no pre-reserved seating times? no pre-reserved tables? no assigned dining room? all three? :) (We have Anytime Dining, btw, so I'm curious whether we could/should check out the Botticelli one of those evenings).

 

Re: Victoria -- A walk to Fisherman's Wharf was in our plans too, so I'm disappointed to hear it was closed (but appreciate the heads up). Was this shortly after the ship arrived in port, or did you head there later in the evening? I had been eyeing Barb's Fish 'n Chips for dinner and thought it was open until dark.

Yes, on Wed and Sat, there is no pre-reserved seating at any dining room due to the late port departures from Juneau and Victoria. We ended up eating on-shore in Juneau on Wed and then at SHARE on Sat. My assumption is that Botticelli was essentially Anytime dining on those evenings since our Traditional dining waiter reminded us about the open seating days.

The Ruby actually docked early in Victoria, around 4:30pm or so. We didn't go to Fisherman's Wharf until about 7:30-8:00pm (after dinner), so if you end up docking early, maybe the fish n chips place will still be open!

Are you certain there wasn't an additional early traditional seating in one of the other MDRs midship? Can you check your Patters for me to confirm? Typically, all reports from these cruises indicate that Botticelli is TD early and late, a mid-ship MDR starts as an additional early TD seating then transitions to AT upon turnover, and the other mid-ship MDR is AT all night long. Both of the early seatings tend to be at the same time, so it can go unnoticed.

I'll check the Patters again tonight to make sure! We had been confirmed for 6:00pm Traditional dining, specifically not selecting 5:30pm. But when we received our cruise cards, we were given 5:30pm, and there was not a 6:00pm time listed for any MDR.

I'll check the Patters again tonight to make sure! We had been confirmed for 6:00pm Traditional dining, specifically not selecting 5:30pm. But when we received our cruise cards, we were given 5:30pm, and there was not a 6:00pm time listed for any MDR.

The 6:00 time is a common misnomer. It's used to indicate the 5:30 seating in Botticelli, while the 5:30 booking time refers to the 5:30 seating in Michelangelo or DaVinci (can't remember which). It's possible they had a small enough demand for TD that they were able to keep both midship MDRs AT all night long, but somehow I doubt this. (It becomes a hot topic here, as the 6:00 seating magically becoming 5:30 manages to irk some people a LOT, and the fact of having only 1 MDR doing AT until about 7:30 often forces a strict blocker on AT reservations between 5:45 and 7:15.)

The 6:00 time is a common misnomer. It's used to indicate the 5:30 seating in Botticelli, while the 5:30 booking time refers to the 5:30 seating in Michelangelo or DaVinci (can't remember which). It's possible they had a small enough demand for TD that they were able to keep both midship MDRs AT all night long, but somehow I doubt this. (It becomes a hot topic here, as the 6:00 seating magically becoming 5:30 manages to irk some people a LOT, and the fact of having only 1 MDR doing AT until about 7:30 often forces a strict blocker on AT reservations between 5:45 and 7:15.)

Ok, peety3 is correct. Da Vinci had Traditional Enhanced Dining at 5:30pm, followed by Anytime Dining from 7:30-9:30pm. Except for Wed and Sat, which were Open Sitting from 5:30-9:00pm on Wed and 5:30-9:30pm on Sat.

Botticelli was either 5:30pm or 8:00pm, except for Open Sitting on Wed (5:30-9:00pm) and Sat (5:30-8:00pm).

Michelangelo was Anytime Dining daily from 5:30-9:30pm, except for Wed (6:30-9:30pm) and Sat (5:30-7:30pm).

If you sometimes buy photos from the cruise, one thing that caught me off-guard is that the Photo Gallery on the Ruby ran out of display space. By the time I realized we had enough OBC left to splurge on a $20 photo from embarkation day, all of those photos had been stacked together in bins! I got lucky and found our picture in the first stack searched, but some other people had been searching for well over 30 minutes.

So, if you think you might buy photos, perhaps gather all of yours together in one place on the display walls.

The quote function seems to be failing me at the moment

Lol, thanks for this comment -- I had the same problem yesterday but assumed it was due to user error!

Ok, peety3 is correct. Da Vinci had Traditional Enhanced Dining at 5:30pm, followed by Anytime Dining from 7:30-9:30pm. Except for Wed and Sat, which were Open Sitting from 5:30-9:00pm on Wed and 5:30-9:30pm on Sat.

 

Botticelli was either 5:30pm or 8:00pm, except for Open Sitting on Wed (5:30-9:00pm) and Sat (5:30-8:00pm).

 

Michelangelo was Anytime Dining daily from 5:30-9:30pm, except for Wed (6:30-9:30pm) and Sat (5:30-7:30pm).

Thanks for all of the clarifications Steenie -- very helpful!

Hey there

A couple of more questions for you if you don't mind.

What did the kids wear to dinner on Smart Casual nights? Formal nights I've got figured out, but I'm not sure what they should wear on the Smart Casual nights - I've got two girls and they don't own polos or khakis or anything similar and Alaska seems a little cold for sundresses.

Also what movies were being shown for MUTS?

Thanks!

A couple of more questions for you if you don't mind.

What did the kids wear to dinner on Smart Casual nights? Formal nights I've got figured out, but I'm not sure what they should wear on the Smart Casual nights - I've got two girls and they don't own polos or khakis or anything similar and Alaska seems a little cold for sundresses.

Also what movies were being shown for MUTS?

 

Thanks!

Sun - concerts (Bon Jovi, Il Divo, Pink), Bridge of Spies

Mon - Inside Out (10am), Ant Man, concert (The Killers), Brooklyn

Tues - Hunger Games

Wed - The Martian

Thurs - Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Fri - Oz The Great and Powerful (10am), Now You See Me, concert (Maroon 5), Spectre

Sat - Minions (10am), Jurassic World, concerts (Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel)