Tips/Info for Ruby Princess to Alaska 2015

[Pierlesscruisers]

Hate to say but I think yes, but then maybe no!

 

Yes, things at SeaTac, can get messed up, just as at any airport. The poster asked if arriving at the time he/she stated was a good scheduled departure and I stated that I thought it was. In my experience of working at Pier 91 for the past 5 years, I said that it was and I stand by that. Can something unforseen happen at the airport that might still cause them to miss their flight? Certainly! There could also be a massive traffic jam in downtown Seattle or elsewhere that might come into play that could cause them to not make it to the gate in time. Or, as you mentioned, a slowdown for some reason at SeaTac itself.

 

In any event, I stand by my statement that with a normal arrival with a disembarkation starting at 7:15-7:30am, a noon departure time should be no problem at all. Cabs are all lined up and ready to go by 7:00am and the first Princess transfer bus normally leaves NLT 7:45-8:00am. Seattle Shuttle and Seattle Express buses will start departing between 7-8am. Normal time from Pier 91 to SeaTac will be in the 30-45 minute range.

 

Tom

[oceanlover1210]

Just returned from our Alaska cruise on Ruby Princess. Here are some tips for those yet to sail her or even those who have not yet booked a cruise.

 

First, for a rundown of how we saw Seattle in one day before the cruise, see the West Coast homeports forum for our post on that subject.

 

If you haven't yet booked a cruise and are maybe trying to decide on a cruise line...we observed that Holland America got the prime docking spots at all ports--the central downtown locations with the least amount of walking involved. Maybe because their passengers tend to be older? In Skagway, the train even ran right up to their ship!

 

But on to the Ruby Princess...

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at about 10:45 and were finished checking in and seated in the waiting area within 15 minutes! No kidding! They let us on the ship around 11:30, and we could go immediately to our cabins and drop off carry-on luggage. That was nice! Disembarkation back in Seattle was also done quickly and efficiently. No problems at all.

 

The dining room that is open during embarkation is the Da Vinci dining room on deck 6, just outside the panoramic (glass) elevators. But it is only open between 12:00 and 1:00. It is so much nicer, quieter and less crowded than going to the buffet for embarkation lunch. And yes! The salmon in dill sauce is still on the menu! It was the best meal we had all week, unfortunately.

 

Formal nights were Monday and Friday (both sea days). The Crab Shack (which we did not try--more on that later) was on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights. $20 per person.

 

Wednesday night (Juneau port) was Italian night in the main dining room. To us, this was the least desirable menu. Also, most people were still ashore as we were in Juneau until 10 PM. So this might be a good night to book a specialty restaurant.

 

Overall, the ship was beautiful with a very spacious piazza. But too many of the Princess ships look almost identical in most areas. Our cabin was roomy with plenty of storage, bathroom adequate and shower teeny tiny.

 

When going ashore (especially in Juneau) go down to the disembarkation area early! The lines to get off the ship sometimes wrapped all the way to the back and across the back of the ship (and this ship is about 3 football fields long!). The lines were terrible, and many were complaining! Of course, people were trying to cut in line and that didn't make for a pleasant experience. Some folks we overheard in Juneau were concerned about missing their independently planned excursions. We almost missed ours. It seems everyone on the ship practically has an excursion at the same time, so all are trying to get off together which created huge jams.

 

Speaking of jams...the lines for anytime dining were long almost every night. Even the line of those who had reservations was long. If you went to eat between about 6:45 and 8:00, you could expect to wait for 20 minutes or more to be seated. So if you can, plan to go either early or late. We heard some complaining that Princess was allowing people who had signed up for fixed seating dining to go to anytime dining whenever they desired. That contributed to the chaos, and in our opinion, was not fair to the anytime diners.

 

We never had trouble finding a seat for any of the shows/lectures in the Princess Theater. Sometimes we even went in late and found seating.

 

There are some really good musicians on the Ruby. The piano player who played for Frank Sinatra was in one of the lounges. A Hungarian group called the Rhapsody Strings played in several venues. They were terrific! Never saw cruise ship passengers flock to hear classical and semi classical music like we saw them go after those Hungarian musicians. There was also a good young group called Passion who could play many types of music for dancing. They played at sailaway, in several lounges and on the night we celebrated Princess' 50th anniversary in the piazza. There was also a piano player and guitar player who performed in the piazza and other venues who were each very good. And there was some jazz and Big Band at various times--something for every taste.

 

Entertainers for our week were an illusionist (very good) a comedian (ok to good) and a vocalist we did not hear. The Princess singers and dancers had 3 production shows. We only went to one of them, "Colors of the World," but it was really terrific. With all the early morning port times and getting up at 5 or 6 AM, we were usually worn out by 9 or 10 PM and needed to get to bed to rest up for the next day's events.

 

They showed Movies Under the Stars all week which was kind of pointless as it was too cool to sit outside and watch a movie, especially at night. But just wait a day or two, and the same movies will be shown on your TV. They did show a couple of movies during the week in the Princess Theater. Throughout the day, they played reruns of "The Love Boat" on one cabin TV channel in honor of Princess' 50th anniversary, plus there were a couple of movie channels, two or three news channels and a sports channel. It was as good a variety of TV programming as we've seen on any cruise.

 

The lecturer/naturalist onboard (a man named Talarico) was boring to us. We went to his first lecture where he spent the first 15 minutes talking about his dog and other personal things before he started saying anything about Alaska. We almost fell asleep in the rest of the presentation. We were so disappointed that we didn't go back for any of his other lectures. And you had to be up on deck 16 during the cruise through Tracy Arm Fjord or other scenic locations to hear anything he said or when he pointed out any wildlife. We had paid for a balcony and couldn't understand why his comments could not be broadcast over the cabin TVs. Why pay for a balcony if you had to go up and stand on deck 16 to gain the benefits of the naturalist?

 

Libby Riddles, who was the only woman to win the Iditarod dogsled race, was the lecturer Wednesday night in the Princess Theater, but most people were still ashore in Juneau. We had just come back on the ship and missed her presentation. We thought we'd catch it later on our cabin TV, but it was only shown once, and we missed that too. We were disappointed because one of the captains from the "Deadliest Catch" TV program spoke on Monday morning, and his presentation was shown probably 4 times on TV throughout the week.

 

If you don't book excursions ahead of time, we saw ample excursion companies with booths on the docks. Did not check the prices to compare with the prices we prepaid before our cruise, but at least you know they are available.

 

In Ketchikan there is a free shuttle that runs every 10-20 minutes that will take you from the ship to downtown and back. Princess' dock was the farthest from town. We did walk it, and it wasn't bad. But if you don't feel like walking or have mobility issues, wait for the shuttle. Also, Skagway had a shuttle for $2 per person one way or $5 per person for all day that went back and forth between the ship and town.

 

The best prices we saw on Alaska t-shirts, jackets and souvenirs was in Ketchikan. Shops had jackets with Alaska insignias for $16 or $17 where the same item on the ship was $40. On the last sea day aboard ship, they do offer 2 for $10 Alaska t shirts. But the selection of designs and sizes was limited.

 

Let's talk about dining... For the first time EVER, we actually thought the buffet food was better than the main dining room food! Some nights in the main dining room we had trouble finding things that sounded appealing, and we are not picky eaters! Yes, they offered "Alaskan" food items on most menus. But after trying a couple and being disappointed, we gave up. We think it was Ketchikan night (Tuesday) in the main dining room they offered what they called Alaskan King Crab. The size of it was more like snow crab, but the taste was nowhere near as good. We were very disappointed. We felt that if the Crab Shack was as bad as the crab we had that night, we didn't want to blow $40 to eat there. The soups and sauces on dining room entrees were bland and needed to be richer. Also, some sauces just didn't seem to match the entree--like a tomato based sauce on pheasant?? Yuk. We tried a couple of the chef's ("prize winning" so it said) recipes and would never have them again. We hope it was just this particular ship's food that was not up to par and not something happening fleetwide on Princess. We thought Carnival's food was better than the food on Ruby Princess.

 

We ate on embarkation night in the Crowne Grill. We expected so much more than we got. The two appetizers we ordered were horrible! We ordered the filet mignons as our main course. While they were thick and tender, they were dry and not juicy or flavorful. The accompanying vegetables were the best part of the meal. We got the chef's selection of 3 small desserts. The only one that was good was the chocolate one which was VERY good (you can order it as a larger single dessert, and we would highly recommend that). But the other two were about as tasty as cardboard.

 

In fact, all of the desserts throughout the week were a BIG disappointment. Nothing was sweet--at any venue--whether it was the Horizon Court buffet, the main dining room or the International Cafe in the Piazza. They all looked delicious but had no sweetness or flavor. They were (not to insult European readers, but we lived in Europe for 18 years) strictly European. Almost all the desserts tasted alike with few exceptions...like cardboard. We would have probably enjoyed a dinner roll more. In fact, the breads served with each main dining room meal belied the fact that the pastry chefs were likely European or at least European influenced. The breads were amazing!! As bad as the desserts were, the breads were at the opposite end of the scale. We've always said that Princess has the best breads of any cruise line. Wish they could figure out how to make desserts as well as they do bread! Even the soft serve ice creams weren't sweet! The pizza we tried was good. Did not have anything from the poolside grills. Did not go to the pub lunches which they had on sea days as we recall.

 

The first formal night on the cruise (Monday night) was the least desirable of the two. They were featuring their "through the decades with Princess" menu, and there were only two entree choices other than the always available menu. One was a turbot fish dish and the other was some kind of meat medallions. The turbot was very bland, almost tasteless. We did not taste the meat dish as the other of us ordered off the always available menu. This might be another night to try one of the specialty restaurants.

 

Anytime dining room service (once you got seated) was very good. Water glasses were refilled promptly, and there were few long waits between courses. Hats off to the serving teams! We only had room service one morning for breakfast. It was delivered on time, and the order was correct.

 

We bought a coffee card. Cappuccinos in the International Cafe and main dining rooms were large and excellent! Saw some people with frozen coffee drinks but did not get a chance to try one. Also, the card allowed us to get all the brewed coffee in the International Cafe that we wanted. Coffee everywhere else on the ship is made from some kind of syrup and is not very good.

 

Our fellow passengers on this cruise were a bit older, quieter and seemed more intent on enjoying Alaska rather than living it up on the ship. This may change once schools are out for the summer. But we enjoyed the calmness versus the sometimes fast paced, energetic Caribbean cruises.

 

Overall, considering the port stops and ambience of the ship, we liked it a lot. Would we do it again on Ruby Princess? Probably not due to the food. We will likely give Princess another try on a different ship in the future. But if there is not an improvement in the food, we'll stick with Holland America, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean in the future.

 

Things to look out for in ports. Ketchikan is the bald eagle stop. We saw them everywhere--especially in the trees along the waterfront as our ship was sailing away to Juneau. Also, it will be the salmon stop as the salmon begin spawning in June through September. Be sure to visit the salmon ladder downtown. Bears also come out to catch the salmon in the rivers when they begin spawning, so there will be more bears to see. We were told we missed "the show" by about 3 weeks. Rats!! Juneau is the whale stop. On our whale watch we saw both orcas and humpbacks, and a baby humpback put on a show by breaching not less than 20 times in a row!! It was unbelievable! Skagway is the scenery stop (of course, all the ports are scenic). We took the bus and train combo tour up to the summit and saw amazing waterfalls, mountains, lakes and even a bear!

 

Sailaway out of Seattle heading to Ketchikan was very scenic. There were islands and ferries everywhere. Ketchikan heading to Juneau is gorgeous! We sat on the balcony (starboard side) for maybe an hour and a half just enjoying the scenery. Also, departing Skagway on starboard side for about an hour and a half past Haines is beautiful. Right around Haines there are some breathtakingly majestic mountain peaks that were all still snow covered when we were there.

 

Alaska is amazing--even from a rowboat. We already want to go back, so we feel sure you will enjoy your trip. Hope some of this info and tips will help you in your planning!

Thank you. We are planning such a trip and appreciate your time to do this posting.

[sksdk4]

great info thanks

Is there sushi on the buffet

my grandson loves it