LIVE - Inside Passage - Ruby Princess - June 9 - 19, 2022

[blubberwon]

9 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

We appreciate all the current details on Ruby.  Thanks to all posting.

Does anyone know where the covid quarantine/isolation cabins are on Ruby?

Or are people being allowed to stay in their cabins now?

 

The quarantine area is still on deck 12 the Aloha deck and no, you will be assign a cabin there.  They use the area for covid passengers and newly arriving crew prior to them joining the workforce. The partner will stay in their own cabin. 

[L11]

Just wanted to make 2 comments about yesterday's stop in Juneau, one positive, one not so much.

 

First, Princess had a good idea to give out gangway tickets to avoid the crush of 2400+ passengers all trying to get off in Juneau at the same time. Since we had a late arrival (3 pm) and it was our first port of call, Princess realized, quite correctly, that there would be a mess if they didn't do some kind of crowd control. How this worked in practice, I cannot say since I was on a Princess excursion and was able to get off early. The idea seemed sound though.

 

What was not good was how they handled people on the pier who had Princess shore excursions. We queued up in color coded groups in the theatre and were lead to the gangway in groups by color. That is the usual process and it worked fine. However, once we were on shore, we were on our own. Normally, there are signs with your tour number where you congregate with the other members of your tour group to meet your guide and transportation. This time, no signs, no one to even tell you the general area to meet, no one from Princess or the tour companies to tell you where the tours met. Nothing. Some people, receiving no direction otherwise, said they just kept walking past the area that turned out to be the meeting area, past the shops and on down the pier, only belatedly realizing that they had overshot the meeting area. After about 15 minutes or maybe a bit more, some group leaders got around to posting a few signs with tour numbers but there were a lot of confused people milling around in the meantime. Looks like the people on shore did not realize when people were getting off the ship and/or were completely unready for us. As a result, there was a lot of confusion and the tours ran late. In my opinion, there was no reason that the shore people could not have been better organized. They knew when the ship arrived. Poor communication somewhere. By the way, once things got sorted, we had a very nice tour.

 

Today is Skagway and it looks to be another chilly rainy day. Thank goodness we brought the proper clothing!

 

Linda

[AccordingToAlex]

I agree. We did the dogsled tour and nobody had a clue where to go.  We ended up sticking together and two people from the camp eventually showed up 20 minutes late.

[Cessna140]

Don't miss the Lady Sings Rock show.....she was awesome!!!

 

[L11]

7 hours ago, Cessna140 said:

Don't miss the Lady Sings Rock show.....she was awesome!!!

 

She certainly was! We talked to her after her show. She will be performing again before the end of the cruise but did not know the exact date or venue

[L11]

Beautiful day today in Ketchikan. We did the pub crawl shore excursion and had a blast, meeting new people and day drinking. So far, no production shows which is odd. Oh well, tonight is another comedian, Orlando Baxter. This is the 3rd comedian we have had. Not complaining though. I would sound too much like the curmudgeon we met a t breakfast this am who had absolutely nothing nice to say about the cruise, claiming the food was so bad that he had not eaten in 4 days. Note that he was eating in the dining room at the time. Sigh. The cruise is by no means perfect but there are a lot of positives. You make your own cruise , I think. Anyway,some pictures from Ketchikan. Tomorrow, Price Rupert, Canada. No shore excursions planned, just some walking around. I will post more later. 
 

 

 

The ‘happy bears’ at the Arctic Bar

 

Linda

[zentraveler]

Thanks L11 - Linda. Looking forward to what you see in Prince Rupert; we have done several Alaska cruises but have never been there.

 

Is there anything about the cruise that you wish you had known ahead of time that would matter for planning? Anything you wish you had brought other than the usual? Are there plugs near the beds for CPAP etc? Weather? Ready for whatever the food is etc, but would appreciate being  prepared.

[blubberwon]

35 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

Thanks L11 - Linda. Looking forward to what you see in Prince Rupert; we have done several Alaska cruises but have never been there.

 

Is there anything about the cruise that you wish you had known ahead of time that would matter for planning? Anything you wish you had brought other than the usual? Are there plugs near the beds for CPAP etc? Weather? Ready for whatever the food is etc, but would appreciate being  prepared.

We brought an extension cord for my wife CPAP machine,  but your steward can find one for you. There are only a couple outlets in the cabin near the desk, not near the bed. 

[blubberwon]

There are 2 production shows scheduled for this cruise, Stardust and the World of Color. Showtimes for the princess theater are 7:30 and 9:30.

[KidCruze]

Princess updated their mask policy to “masks are required between Whittier and Vancouver.” Not sure if that means cruises that originated in SF or not. Are they enforcing that rule on your cruise now? I see you mentioned they were not at the beginning of your cruise, just wondering if that changed when the guidelines changed.

Looks like y’all are having a blast! Thanks for the posts. 

[blubberwon]

8 hours ago, KidCruze said:

Princess updated their mask policy to “masks are required between Whittier and Vancouver.” Not sure if that means cruises that originated in SF or not. Are they enforcing that rule on your cruise now? I see you mentioned they were not at the beginning of your cruise, just wondering if that changed when the guidelines changed.

Looks like y’all are having a blast! Thanks for the posts. 

Masks are not required on cruises from SF. They are optional. Some passengers wear mask, but most do not. Personally, I and my family do wear mask, and yes,  there is covid onboard, but NOT running rampant. 

[zentraveler]

Sorry for such a pedestrian questions, but we board July 19 and will need to do laundry once on this 10 day trip. I know the W/D are $3/each - quarter? Dollar bills? Tokens? Would like to show up in order to make this as easy as possible. [Our first Princess cruise. Am used the bags to fill with a set laundry fee, but does not seem to be a 'thing' on Princess.]  Thanks for any intel.

[voljeep]

56 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

Sorry for such a pedestrian questions, but we board July 19 and will need to do laundry once on this 10 day trip. I know the W/D are $3/each - quarter? Dollar bills? Tokens? Would like to show up in order to make this as easy as possible. [Our first Princess cruise. Am used the bags to fill with a set laundry fee, but does not seem to be a 'thing' on Princess.]  Thanks for any intel.

Medallion - to get tokens for washer, dryer, detergent - then charged to your on board account

[PacnGoNow]

59 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

Sorry for such a pedestrian questions, but we board July 19 and will need to do laundry once on this 10 day trip. I know the W/D are $3/each - quarter? Dollar bills? Tokens? Would like to show up in order to make this as easy as possible. [Our first Princess cruise. Am used the bags to fill with a set laundry fee, but does not seem to be a 'thing' on Princess.]  Thanks for any intel.

Tokens. They have a token machine in the laundry rooms, wave your medallion and you can get tokens and laundry detergent. Charges go on your account.

 

Edited June 18, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[voljeep]

1 hour ago, zentraveler said:

Sorry for such a pedestrian questions, but we board July 19 and will need to do laundry once on this 10 day trip. I know the W/D are $3/each - quarter? Dollar bills? Tokens? Would like to show up in order to make this as easy as possible. [Our first Princess cruise. Am used the bags to fill with a set laundry fee, but does not seem to be a 'thing' on Princess.]  Thanks for any intel.

Pro tip ... get your tokens ahead of time...

 

thank me now.

[zentraveler]

6 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Pro tip ... get your tokens ahead of time...

 

thank me now.

Thanks all of you !! I am guessing mid-trip sea days are going to be very crowded in the laundry so will work around that. And thanks voljeep, it sounds like getting a couple of loads worth of tokens ahead of the curve will be useful. We bring our own soap. 

[Therese S.]

Ive enjoyed reading all the posts here and thank you for the information regarding the Ruby.  We hope to sail her to Hawaii this fall.  

 

Can anyone either post the daily patters or post what movies are playing on "Movies Under the Stars".  

 

Thanks in advance  

[PacnGoNow]

18 minutes ago, zentraveler said:

Thanks all of you !! I am guessing mid-trip sea days are going to be very crowded in the laundry so will work around that. And thanks voljeep, it sounds like getting a couple of loads worth of tokens ahead of the curve will be useful. We bring our own soap. 

@voljeepis correct!  Go by the laundry and get them for your laundry day.  
Sea days are bad.  Early or late is best.

Although we are Elite, we may use it once in a while. 

[zentraveler]

24 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

@voljeepis correct!  Go by the laundry and get them for your laundry day.  
Sea days are bad.  Early or late is best.

Although we are Elite, we may use it once in a while. 

Will have that be a first stop and will wait for a day when we have been to the port before 🙂.

[pebem]

On 6/10/2022 at 7:46 PM, cruzin4us said:

The ocean has been rocking and a rolling which makes for a fun time walking down the halls.   Few people are scrounging for seasick meds.   My DH said walking on the treadmill was next to impossible.  

 

How has the rocking of the ship been like throughout the cruise? Was it mostly rocky between San Francisco and Juneau? Was it rocky while you were in Alaska? I'll be going on a cruise in August with my mom who has mobility issues, and I am worried about her falling.

[blubberwon]

3 hours ago, pebem said:

 

How has the rocking of the ship been like throughout the cruise? Was it mostly rocky between San Francisco and Juneau? Was it rocky while you were in Alaska? I'll be going on a cruise in August with my mom who has mobility issues, and I am worried about her falling.

It was mostly rocking and rolling when the ship was in ocean water going north from SF and the inner passage, and south from the inner passage to SF. The ship was steady in the inner passage.  Of course, everything depends on the winds. 

[blubberwon]

5 hours ago, Therese S. said:

Ive enjoyed reading all the posts here and thank you for the information regarding the Ruby.  We hope to sail her to Hawaii this fall.  

 

Can anyone either post the daily patters or post what movies are playing on "Movies Under the Stars".  

 

Thanks in advance  

Not sure you really want to watch the movies outside,  this cruise it's been windy and cold,  there are movies shown in the Princess Theater through the day. All the movie shown outside and the theater are shown inside your cabin. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by blubberwon

[pebem]

How was the staffing onboard the ship? There were complaints in another thread:

 

about Ruby Princess having staffing issues and long lines in April.

 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Well hopefully you all got off & on the way home.

 

We were suppose to be getting onboard today, but..... family member got covid

few days ago.  Even though were testing Negative & could have gotten on?

We know better.... could be a matter of time, and why risk us and everybody else?

 

Was a huge hassle Trying to get thru to Princess on Friday.  Called 4 times,

and its still not corrected.  Told Supervisor once I was able to actually Talk to one...

I can see Why people sneak on, (knowing they've been exposed) than try to reschedule to a

later date.   Because its a HUGE HASSLE!!!! 

 

So we won't be joining June 19 cruise. 😒

Your welcome.

 

[AccordingToAlex]

Well, we thoroughly enjoyed this cruise, but just got home and both of us tested positive.  Such is life I suppose.  In retrospect, it appears the giant glaring hole in the COVID safety policies would be the complete lack of monitoring at any of the ports.  Sure we all embarked with a negative test and vaccination proof, but there's absolutely nothing anyone can do to enforce what passengers do when they're off the ship at each stop.  Good thing we stocked up on some Tylenol #3s in Canada I guess...