Ruby Princess Review-ish 7/3-7/10 (Alaska)

I wasn’t sure if I was going to do a review or not because there are so many other good reviews on Cruise Critic, and I wasn’t sure if I had any new information to offer up that hasn’t already been discussed ad nauseam. So rather than some lengthy review, I figured I will just list things as a bulleted list of things we liked, and some we didn’t, and if there are any questions I can answer, please ask! As a side note, I took somewhere in the neighborhood of 1500 pictures, and I will share a few here. I also took video of just about every part of the ship as a virtual tour for my kids, and will be sharing that in the next couple of days. It may justify its own thread, but we’ll see how it turns out. Maybe it will be crap, and I will just flush it all ;)

Embarkation:

• We flew in the same day, landing around 9:00. By 10:00 we were on board the Princess Transfer Bus, and about 10:30 we were in the terminal.

• Using Princess Transfers was a great experience for us. We just wheeled our luggage the short distance from the claim area to the waiting Princess helpers, and our luggage showed up in our room around 1:30.

• The Cruise Terminal was about as easy a process as we have ever been through. Taking maybe 5 mins to get through the line and checked in.

• We had about an hour wait till they started boarding (around 11:30-11:40)

• We booked our flight with Princess via EZ-Air. It saved us about $100PP and was easy and smooth. No horror stories from us! We flew from Utah to Seattle via Delta, and Alaska back home. As a side note, this is our first time flying Alaska and it was awesome! Brand new plane with more leg room than squishy delta…

- Princess was RELENTLESS for the first 2+ hours trying to sell us on the drink package. Because of my desire to continue to be more healthy, lose weight, etc. we had zero interest in anything other than water. When I say relentless, I really mean it. We were hit up about every 2-3 minutes. It had gotten to the point where I was about ready to head down to the customer service desk and complain. Luckily it stopped after muster.

MDR and Food

• We had a slight debacle with our dinner reservations. We were supposed to be assigned traditional dining for 2 (we were celebrating our 26th anniversary, and me losing 45lbs this year – what better way to celebrate that then a cruise full of food!) sorry I digress, back to the comment. When we received our cruise cards we noticed that we were assigned anytime dining. We personally like Traditional and the opportunity it gives for us to really get to know our wait staff. It’s part of the fun for us. We stopped by at the assigned 1:30 time to speak to the Head Waiter, and got everything all sorted out. We ended up with an “assigned” table for 2 in the anytime dining room. Read… they just gave us a permanent reservation. Either way, we were VERY happy with how it was handled and it really made part of our trip.

• We were in the Michelangelo Dining room being helped by Maricar and Michael or “Team M & M” they called themselves. They were AWESOME! They were funny, attentive, and we had great opportunities to get to know each other. I can’t say enough good about them. To us, they were one of the keys to a fantastic cruise.

• The food in the MDR was good to fantastic, as it always is for us. It’s never a miss for us, there are just items that we like more than other items, etc.

• The Horizon Court was the same. There were items that we didn’t care for, and some that were actually pretty good. Being a first timer on the Ruby, we really liked the layout with the Café Caribe. Granted, it’s no Royal / Regal, but we enjoyed it considerably more than the Star.

• We only ate once at the Grill, and the Pizza was great. I am a thin crust pizza fan, and I really enjoyed it… other than the first day… had pizza for our first lunch, and it was a little undercooked. Ok ok, they get a pass for this one, as they were BUSY! (and remained busy the whole cruise)

(More to come)

Love your bullet style and content ... review is great. We will be on Ruby in March 2017.

Great review so far. Looking forward to the rest. Spent 10 days on the Ruby in March. It's a wonderful ship.

Thanks for the review.

Here are some pictures from the Embarkation day.

On our way we passed Mt Rainier. It had been a while since I flew into Seattle and its always magnificent to see it.

In case you aren't sure which way is the Ruby, they post a nice big sign (and yes, you can see the ship in its berth right next to the terminal!

The day started off sprinkling with rain, but not long after getting on board the clouds would part, and the sun started to sneak through! We were in for a fantastic day!

The view from our balcony was pretty cool with the Space Needle in the background.

With the sun coming, the pool was hopping too. The whole trip we never hopped in. It was warm, but we just never really had the time.

Here is the menu for the first night. Sorry its through glass, I forgot to take a picture while we were at the table eating.

And the "better" menu ;)

We had to get our Alaska on with the salmon appetizer! Don't miss this one!

I also dig on the chilled soups!

We both had the Prime Rib for dinner (kind of a boring pic so we'll skip that one in favor of my DW's Souffle')

Enjoying, looking forward to more.:)

Great review and pictures so far. Looking forward to seeing more.....:):):)

Bob

Just for a little fun I took a time lapse of us leaving Seattle. You can see the Norwegian Pearl "racing" out of port ahead of us.

[YOUTUBE]bsLOZNsKbTg[/YOUTUBE]

Rather than buying the drink package, did they offer any drink offers, like 10 drinks for $75. How about wine packages?

:)

We are sailing on the Ruby in 3 weeks...so this is all great to see. Can you talk a little about the weather and clothing? What would you have done differently as far as what you packed??

Sally

Fantastic photos and time lapse video!! Keep posting them...:)

:)

 

We are sailing on the Ruby in 3 weeks...so this is all great to see. Can you talk a little about the weather and clothing? What would you have done differently as far as what you packed??

 

Sally

you bet... I plan on including that has part of each day... coming...

I think your review of the Ruby is great so far! Please continue.. :)

you bet... I plan on including that has part of each day... coming...

Thank you so very much for doing a review! DH and I are on the Ruby September 4th to Alaska. We were on the Ruby last October to Mexico and the Norwegian Pearl was docked next to us at every port as well!

What cabin were you in?

Looking forward to your posts!

Cathy

I'm loving this thread! We'll be on the Ruby in May for Alaska. Hoping we'll hear about your excursions as well. I've been on the Ruby before and know it's a wonderful ship!

Marilyn :)

July 4 – At Sea

Weather: Low 60’s, Grey…. No Rain!

Clothing: (hey you asked) – Jeans, Polo, Fleece

• First day was spent just walking around the ship, getting acquainted with her etc. Spent a lot of time just lounging. Since the Ruby was an awful lot like the Star we had taken a couple of cruises on, it was a pretty quick transition.

• We walked a couple of miles around the Promenade deck to build up an appetite, and to get our daily step count up. While walking, we saw the largest pod of dolphins I have ever seen (unfortunately I didn’t have my camera or phone). Guessing there were 100-200 of them. Spent probably 15 mins at the rail just watching them play.

• We decided to eat breakfast in the MDR, since it was a sea day and we had plenty of time. I tried the Caribbean Sunrise, and my wife hat the Frittata Con Funghi. Both were really good! We also had some pancakes to share.

• Today being July 4, the ship was decorated in various red, white and blue decorations. There were several birthday cakes outside of the MDR and Horizon Court.

• During our “tour” we landed in Skywalkers and we were pretty much all alone. A great place to just hang out and watch the sea go by. Saw our first couple of whales and felt like we were officially getting our “Alaska” on!

• Tonight was our first formal night. I know it’s going to be asked, so here is what we noticed. Only around 30% of the men were in suits or tuxes. Another 40% were just a nice shirt and tie. And there was a large contingent of men that only had slacks and a collared shirt. Now I don’t want to get all controversial, but I was a little disappointed in the formal attire. I kind of like the old school days of dressing up (and yes I am a guy…) not tux dressing up, but at least a suit. During the whole cruise, the MDR wear was very relaxed. Lots of jeans, etc.

• After dinner, we changed into warmer clothes so we could watch the sunset. And WOA what a sunset!

Great review! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. The time lapse shot was wonderful.

great review thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. We will be on the Star late Sept for our first Alaskan experience. Your food pics are making me very hungry, that chocolate desert looks awesome.

Thank you so much for your review! And the menus! We will be on the ruby in sept and can't wait!!

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LOVING your review! Bringing back so many great memories of our trip! Really enjoying your photos!

I know you're not done - but so far it looks like you had a great trip - so glad to hear!

Barb

Enjoying your review! We will be on the Ruby on the 31st of July. Can't wait!

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