Review-Ruby r/t Alaska Inner Passage May 8-15, 2016

[idcruisers]

Thanks for the wonderful review. I would also love a copy of the patters! We are on this cruise in July and so excited. My email is Daryl.ilise@gmail.com. Thanks in advance.

[jeep1]

On Ruby next week. Can you tell me how many days most traveled had? Thanks

[rocklinmom]

Thank you so much for this review! We are on the Grand to Alaska in two weeks so I loved all of your details about the ports, menus, and of course the puppies.

[snoopy5386]

I have a question for you - I know the captain and cruise director will sometimes make ship wide announcements over the loudspeakers and I know this itinerary has some early port days plus Tracey Arm. How early were these announcements made? Will they be doing these at 6 am? 7 am? Just trying to figure out how early I can expect my kids to be up! Along that same line, from past cruises I can remember being awakened when the ship docked by the change in movement. Did you find this to be true?

[peety3]

I have a question for you - I know the captain and cruise director will sometimes make ship wide announcements over the loudspeakers and I know this itinerary has some early port days plus Tracey Arm. How early were these announcements made? Will they be doing these at 6 am? 7 am? Just trying to figure out how early I can expect my kids to be up! Along that same line, from past cruises I can remember being awakened when the ship docked by the change in movement. Did you find this to be true?

The PA system has a lot of control. Really important stuff (report to muster stations, passenger XYZ report to PSD immediately, medical team report to Station 51 KMG 365, etc.) gets announced in the halls and in every room. Administrivia gets announced in the halls and public spaces. Scenic narration gets broadcast in public spaces and on channel (??? - check your Patter). IIRC the "we're entering Tracy Arm Fjord" announcements would be hallway-level.

 

I'd be surprised if docking involved any sort of bumping unless conditions were rough. When I toured the bridge on our UST, the captain had highly detailed compass headings for each docking spot on their Alaska season taped near the compass, so they know exactly how to align the ship for various maneuvers.

[New York Nana]

On Ruby next week. Can you tell me how many days most traveled had? Thanks

 

MTP had 973 days.

[New York Nana]

I have a question for you - I know the captain and cruise director will sometimes make ship wide announcements over the loudspeakers and I know this itinerary has some early port days plus Tracey Arm. How early were these announcements made? Will they be doing these at 6 am? 7 am? Just trying to figure out how early I can expect my kids to be up! Along that same line, from past cruises I can remember being awakened when the ship docked by the change in movement. Did you find this to be true?

 

Yup! Pretty much what Peety said!

 

Most times I had to go open the cabin door to hear any announcements and even those where few and far between. The Noon report from the bridge, any Pax Svcs announcements looking for passengers prior to leaving ports, or the CD would come on maybe once a day to announce any specific activities (sales, auctions, etc).

 

Never heard any early morning announcements, EXCEPT when we've arrived in port and they were announcing locations of gangways, all aboard times, etc. But again, these were never announced in the cabin. The bridge camera channel on the TV would have these broadcasted simultaneously.

 

While in Tracy Arm (ahem - I mean Endicott Arm!), the naturalist was broadcasting on open and public decks as well on the TV - but not in the cabins.

 

We were midship, mid deck (11), and I never recall noticing any noise or vibrations when docking. Can't say the same for cabins located elsewhere.

We had an aft cabin in March and we did feel vibration when the thrusters were being used.

[New York Nana]

Thank you so much for this review! We are on the Grand to Alaska in two weeks so I loved all of your details about the ports, menus, and of course the puppies.

 

Gotta love me some puppies!!

 

Have a wonderful and fun trip! Report back and let us know how you liked it!

[New York Nana]

Thanks for the wonderful review. I would also love a copy of the patters! We are on this cruise in July and so excited. My email is Daryl.ilise@gmail.com. Thanks in advance.

 

Thank you! I just emailed them to you - enjoy!

[jeep1]

Thanks:)

[gnatz007]

New York Nana, thank you so much for your patters. I hope you don't mind, I posted them on another thread where someone was asking for them. If you want to point people there, instead of sending emails it might save you some headache. If I overstepped my bounds, I apologize, and will gladly take them down at your request.

 

http:// http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2359387

[New York Nana]

New York Nana, thank you so much for your patters. I hope you don't mind, I posted them on another thread where someone was asking for them. If you want to point people there, instead of sending emails it might save you some headache. If I overstepped my bounds, I apologize, and will gladly take them down at your request.

 

http:// http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2359387

 

THANK YOU!!! I just posted on the other site (which I actually saw 1st on CC) and saw your posts!

This is GREAT!

 

Hey everybody! Go to the link above to see the Patters - thanks to GNATZ007 for doing this!! (And tell me how you DID!!):):)

 

Barb

[New York Nana]

Sadly, it's finally the day we all dread - 'bye bye day'....

 

So, we had received our luggage tags and disembark info a couple nights ago. Here is the list of disembark times/locations.

 

 

We were up early (trying to readjust to EST!!)

 

We've often had our last breakfast in the MDR, but decided to head up to the Cafe Caribe for a light breakfast. We were up there by 6:30 and it was pretty empty, but it started to pick up while we were eating.

 

The times and locations of breakfast:

 

 

We got to see head waiter, Ion, one more time to say goodbye:

 

 

We headed back to our cabin for one last walk through, grabbed our 'overnight' bag and headed to the Platinum/Elite lounge located in the Wheelhouse before 8:00am 'check out'!

 

We had a 3:00pm flight from SEA, so our departure time wasn't until 9:25am. The lounge was not very busy (given that there were about 300 pax who could/would use this lounge).

 

It seemed the walk offs moved very quickly and ahead of schedule. The exit was located right to the rear of Wheelhouse (WARNING!! - the ladies room located there was closed - so you have to walk ALL THE WAY back to the one by Club Fusion - and yes, the one between Crooners/Explorers was closed also.)

 

We were finally called and it was a quick walk out the door and into the terminal (escalator and elevators) down to the luggage area.

 

The luggage was well separated and easy to find. We had grabbed a porter and he took care of everything. We decided a long time ago that the $$ we give the porter is well worth not having to maneuver through the lines with our stuff, paperwork, Id's, etc).

 

He waited on the other side of the lines (which, in comparison with Port Everglades) seemed they could have had it a bit more organized. You just got in a line - any line - and some people moved back and forth from lines as one moved faster than the other. I think a roped off 'line' may be more efficient - but, what do I know? Hah!

 

We told our porter we had a Princess transfer to SEATAC. I had originally considered taxi or a shuttle, but ultimately decided the $24pp was reasonable and good enough for us. Perhaps if we had a much earlier flight, we probably would have gone with a shuttle service.

 

The porter took us right to the bus, took care of getting our luggage on board and we were off! The bus pulled up in an area of the airport that appears to be dedicated to all the cruise line pax (they had signs for HAL, NCL and Princess). Someone got on board to describe where to go (elevator or escalator up to airline ticketing). NOTE to Delta pax - they had a checkin desk located right downstairs where the buses pull in.

 

We were upstairs by the ticket counters by 10:30. We couldn't check in with Southwest until 11:00 (4 hours prior), so we just hung out until time. A Southwest employee was reminding people to not try to check in too early.

 

While we were waiting, I walked around to check out the security lines. There seemed to be a 'main' line that was quite long - but I saw 2 other lines located further down by the Alaska Air counters that weren't long at all! The TSA Pre-check lines were non-existent! So, don't follow 'the crowd' to the longest lines - check the other ones also - they all take you to all the gates.

 

And from personal experience - the $85 Pre-check fee good for 5 years is worth every penny! I can't tell you how easy it has made it to get through security! Even at our home airport, while they don't open the pre-check lanes open till it gets busy, they still give you a laminated card that says Pre-check that allows you the benefits of pre-check (shoes on, nothing out of carry-ons, etc). If we were located closer to the boarder, I'd invest in the NEXUS or Global Entry program.

 

OK, so we're now on the 'good' side of the airport. Plenty of time to have a nice meal, relax and relive our wonderful trip!

 

I have to say it was one of our most enjoyable cruises and one of our favorite places to see.

 

This is the 1st time we've done a round trip to just the Inner Passage. While we enjoyed the easy convenience of flying into/out of Seattle, we think we prefer doing a 'land tour' in the interior to Alaska before cruising. We did the Princess land tour once (our first trip) and 2 DIY trips.

 

We're now planning for next June with a southbound on the Coral. We're doing a 7 night pre-cruise DIY trip again. We've just added a couple nights post-cruise to stay in Vancouver where we are looking at doing a day tour to Victoria on Prince of Whales tours. It looked like a lovely city and we're interested in seeing more of than the 'taste' we had this trip.

 

Well, thanks for following along. I hope I provided some information that will help you plan for YOUR trip! Have a great time and be sure to come back to CC to let us know how it went!

 

Happy Sailing!

Barb

 

 

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[karen_g]

Excellent review, Barb! Thanks for all the details. I have enjoyed "traveling along" with you and am now counting down to my own adventure (just over a month)!

 

 

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[ghgeckos]

What time did they start boarding the ship in Seattle? Great review.

 

 

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[XBGuy]

Thank you,NYN for an excellent series of reports. It was too much fun vicariously cruising with you.:)

[New York Nana]

What time did they start boarding the ship in Seattle? Great review.

 

 

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Thank you - I enjoy passing on information that has helped ME in planning!

 

We didn't board in Seattle (we were on the 1 nighter from Vancouver). However, as 'in transit', we had to meet at 10:00 and we walked off around 10:45. GENERALLY, the weddings, BVE's and 'preferred' pax begin to board soon after.

If all goes according to plan (all 'in transits' show up!), you can probably expect to start boarding by 11:30.

If anyone reading this has more current info, please chime in!

[klamathguys]

Thank you so much for the great info and for sending me the Patters! It has me even more excited for our 6/19 cruise.

[New York Nana]

Excellent review, Barb! Thanks for all the details. I have enjoyed "traveling along" with you and am now counting down to my own adventure (just over a month)!

 

 

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Thank you,NYN for an excellent series of reports. It was too much fun vicariously cruising with you.:)

 

Thanks! I've 'traveled' quite a bit also through CC! Haha!

Nothing beats the real thing, though!

Have a WONDERFUL trip and come back so I can 'travel' along with YOU!!:):)

[AF-1]

New York Nana, I see by your signature; that you love Princess. Since you live in NY; have you taken Princess cruises out of NYC? Just curious. I am landlocked, so we have to fly to all cruise ports. Thanks.

[New York Nana]

New York Nana, I see by your signature; that you love Princess. Since you live in NY; have you taken Princess cruises out of NYC? Just curious. I am landlocked, so we have to fly to all cruise ports. Thanks.

 

 

 

We DO love Princess! And probably the 'clincher' was actually our 2nd cruise with them out of NYC!

 

NYC departures with Princess are pretty much limited to NE/Canada. Either 7 night r/t or 10 night 1 way to/from Quebec.

 

We've done the NE/Canada trip twice.

 

This is the only time we don't need to fly. It's only a 3 hour drive south for us!

 

 

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[AF-1]

Thank you. I enjoyed reading your reviews; they are jam packed with good info. I will use your review and others who've sailed to Alaska. We are taking two teen grandkids with us to Alaska Jul 17. We have not sailed on Princess or sailed to Alaska; so this will be a first. We have cruised before, so are looking forward to both Alaska and a new cruise line

[CruzinNoony]

You mentioned the number of days that the most traveled passenger had. I'm wondering if you also know if they had a cocktail party or a luncheon for the top 40. :rolleyes:

[New York Nana]

Thank you. I enjoyed reading your reviews; they are jam packed with good info. I will use your review and others who've sailed to Alaska. We are taking two teen grandkids with us to Alaska Jul 17. We have not sailed on Princess or sailed to Alaska; so this will be a first. We have cruised before, so are looking forward to both Alaska and a new cruise line

 

Thank you. I couldn't imagine a BETTER trip with your grandkids than a trip to Alaska! There's something for everyone!!

 

I have my reviews from 2011, 2014 & 2015 if you're interested. (Beh614@gmail.com). These were all SB on either the Island or Coral P. The 1st trip was a Princess land tour - the last 2 were DIY land tours.

 

Welcome to Princess and have fun making your plans!!

 

Barb

[New York Nana]

You mentioned the number of days that the most traveled passenger had. I'm wondering if you also know if they had a cocktail party or a luncheon for the top 40. :rolleyes:

 

Sorry, I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this - we are a LONG LONG ways from getting an invite to any MTP event! But, we're having fun trying to get there!!

:)