Home from Alaska: My Ruby Princess Adventure (06/26/16-07/03/16) round-trip Seattle

Part 1: Pre-cruise & Embarkation

We flew into Seattle one day early and spent the night at Cedarbrook Lodge near the airport. We found it to be a nice, relaxing place to stay for one night. Although it is an airport hotel, it has lovely landscaped grounds that make it feel secluded. It was quiet and had good free snacks (chocolate malt balls, Haagen Dazs ice cream, cheese sticks, and more) in communal "living rooms". While our bedroom felt very small, the bed itself was very comfy and the bathroom was roomy. A downside for some people might be that it IS an airport hotel - not really close to anything if you felt like venturing out. We didn't mind, though, as we just wanted to get a good night's sleep. Although the airport shuttle driver was not very welcoming or friendly, the front desk staff was very nice.

The next morning, we took Seattle Express ($12 per person) from the hotel to the port. Service was fine, but remember that this is a shared ride service, so you will likely have to make multiple stops (and wait for luggage to be loaded) enroute to the pier. Our pickup time was scheduled for 10:45 am; we plus another group were actually picked up early and were on our way by about 10:35 am. Not sure whether or not they would have waited for us had we not been out front extra-early(!). The next hotel stop turned out to be quite the bottleneck and took us about 30 minutes. Every seat on the 20-seat shuttle was filled and it took a long time for all the luggage to be loaded. We got to the pier around noon. While we and our bags all made it to the pier just fine, I was excited and anxious to get on the ship, and the whole process seemed to take a long time. If I were to do it over again, I would probably pop for paying a couple of extra bucks and take a taxi.

Luggage drop-off at the pier was super-organized, fast, and easy. Checking in for the ship was also fast and easy, and we were onboard very quickly. Dropped off our bags in the cabin, and for our first time ever on Embarkation Day, went to the Dining Room for lunch. It was nice to escape the usual Embarkation hubbub in the Horizon Court (buffet), and enjoy a quiet lunch. The service was good (if not overly friendly), and the food was fine.

Part 2: Dining

Overall, most of our meals had the same feel as our embarkation lunch. We had Anytime Dining, so had different waitstaff each meal. While the servers were certainly efficient and professional, many did not express much personality or friendliness. Even in the Crown Grill, we felt a certain lack of interest from our waiter. The food in the main dining room, buffet, and Crown Grill was all fine, but unfortunately never "wowed" us... wellll, with the exception of the "Love Boat Dream" dessert. We LOVED the Love Boat Dream!

We frequented several "casual dining" venues on this cruise. We liked snacking at the International Cafe on Deck 5 (gelato, yum!). We also really enjoyed the pizza up on Lido Deck. The Trident Grill, again upon Lido, had some Specialties from local Alaskan restaurants on a couple of days, and these turned out to be a mixed bag. I had been eagerly anticipating trying Tracy's Crab Shack crab cakes! Drat, they were really just ok (and a little cold). The Mermaid Halibut Burgers (from the Skagway Fish Company), however, were yummy! These specialty items were served from 11 am to 2 pm only on specific days, so watch the back of the Princess Patter "Dining Guide" next to Trident Grill if you are interested in trying them.

Part 3: The Oboard Experience

The demographics of our fellow cruisers (pleasantly) surprised me. I don't know why, but I had expected a lot of fairly ancient individuals (who am I to talk?!) to be on this cruise, and that was not the case at all! There were many families with children, as well as large multi-generational families traveling together. If I were to guess, I would put the median age at around 50, with lots of people in the 35-50 age group. Also, most of the older people seemed quite active and spry!

Ruby Princess never felt crowded. I don't know know if it was a less-than-full ship, or if they just did a really good job of dispersing passengers throughout different areas.

Evening entertainment was ok, but unfortunately again did not "wow". We saw a comedian (Steve White), a comedian/impressionist/vocalist (Jammin Jay Lamont), a vocalist (Solomon Jaye), production show "Stardust" (yawn), and production show "Magic To Do". While "Magic To Do" was definitely more elaborate/interesting than the usual production show, neither I nor my husband could figure out the "storyline", if there was one. It just seemed odd.

One evening event that we DID particularly enjoy was the lecture given by Iditarod Champion Libby Riddles, on the evening that we were in Juneau. As an animal-lover, I wasn't really sure how I felt about the whole concept of the Iditarod. But I went with an open mind and really enjoyed what she had to say about her love for her dogs and for the outdoors and Alaska. I found her to be a very inspirational speaker. Plus, I got to pet one of her dogs (Cancan!) before the show.

Part 4: Alaska! (the ports & excursions)

Maybe the reason that the overall onboard experience (food & entertainment) didn't "blow us away" was because we (like everyone else, probably) were focused on the destination. And I must say that Alaska did not disappoint! We had spectacularly good weather in each port. Seattle was beautiful, sunny, and warm the day we boarded- perfect for taking photos from the open decks. Ketchikan was also sunny and warm. Here, we went Misty Arm Fjord flight-seeing with Michelle of Island Wings, which was truly excellent! The next day, due to heavy ice in Tracy Arm Fjord (our scheduled "scenic cruising" spot), our ship went to Endicott Arm instead. This initially bummed me out, but I need not have worried; Endicott Arm turned out to be beautiful. We took the "small boat excursion" directly from our ship and explored deeper into the Arm. We spent at least an hour at the face of Dawes Glacier, went into Ford's Terror (highly unusual to be able to do this), saw two other glaciers due to the exceptionally clear day, and even saw Killer Whales (orcas) close to our catamaran. In Skagway, we did a combination bus & rail tour with Chilkoot Charters (with very entertaining tour guide "Mike") in the morning and did a Helicopter Glacier Discovery excursion in the afternoon. The glacier walk was very interesting!

A few side notes for the benefit of tall/large people's excursion planning: my husband is 6'5" and proportionately-sized (not string-bean skinny) so "fit" factors into his comfort level on various forms of transportation. I will say that he felt uncomfortably squished (legroom-wise) on Michelle's floatplane, and the tops of the windows were below his eye level. He was offered the co-pilot's seat where he could have looked out over the dash, but he was not agile enough to climb into that seat (he joked that he's not 18 anymore)! Still, from his seat behind Michelle, he DID enjoy the commentary, landing on an alpine lake (and getting out) and being able to look "straight down". Unfortunately, though, he could not look off to the sides or into the distance because of his line of sight relative to the windows. (I am short, BTW, and my experience was awesome!). In Skagway, the TEMSCO helicopter ride was also uncomfortable, not because of height but because they squished so many people in. Each helicopter has room for 6 passengers: 2 in the front seat next to the pilot, and *4* in the backseat. Per the cruise line instructions (we booked thru Princess), we had reserved 2 seats for DH and had paid a surcharge because his weight was over 250 lbs with all his gear on. When we got out to the helicopter-base, however, he was told he would be refunded the surcharge (yay, we thought!). What we discovered this meant, however, was that regardless of his size, he was assigned just 1 seat and that he plus 3 other average-sized people were all squished into the helicopter's back seat. The 2 people in the center of the 4 (myself and another smallish woman) could not move a muscle on the helicopter ride. I had a small camera in my pocket but could not move to get it out. I could still see out, just felt quite uncomfortable. Conversely, on a different Skagway excursion, the seats on the White Pass & Yukon railroad were quite roomy, with ample legroom even for tall people. No need to book the "luxury car" to have a comfortable ride!

We did find great benefit in having pre-planned for excursions that suited our interests in each port. I don't think that just wandering around the little towns (shopping) is the best use of your limited time in Alaska. Although the "look" of the towns is charming, we found it disheartening that each place was filled with the same Diamonds International/Tanzanite/Effy/etc-etc jewelry shops that you see at every port stop in the Caribbean. I didn't get it. What does expensive jewelry have to do with Alaska?

The night before disembarkation, the ship stopped in Victoria BC for a few hours. Since we have been there before and will definitely visit again in the future, we stayed onboard this time.

Part 5: Disembarkation & Conclusion

We used the “E-Z Check Luggage Valet Service” ($20 per person) and really enjoyed the convenience. We got our boarding passes & airline-type bag tags delivered to our room the evening before we got off the ship. We just tagged our bags, put them out in the hallway, and didn’t see them again until we arrived at our destination (picked them up at the usual baggage claim at the airport). Since we had our boarding passes, we by-passed the ticket counter at the airport and went straight to TSA Security and then on to our gate.

All-in-all, our cruise week was highly enjoyable. The 3 Alaska days (with our excellent excursions) were truly wonderful and the other 4 days were relaxing. Next time, I think I might be choosier about itinerary and see if I can select one with either more Alaska days or else one where the stops are more spread out through the week (this itinerary had the 3 Alaska stops 3 days in a row in the middle of the week). The weather was great and the scenery was great. We were lucky indeed!

ps. I would like to post a link to this thread in the "2016 Trip Reports" thread but couldn't figure out how to do it. If you can help me out with that, I would love it. Thanks so much! :)

Next time, try a one way. The RT Seattle are sort of limited as the ship has to make it back to Seattle, thus the 3 port days in a row. Though - the one ways with Princess have the same ports but 2 glacier days.

HAL has a 14 day tour that hits some more different ports along with the normal ones. Worth considering.

Coral, yes I think a one way might be good. I really loved Alaska and would love to see more!

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Very nice review! Thank you for doing it.

My pleasure!

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