jelund

Here is my review of the Ruby Princess cruise from 9/23-9/30.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2549301

Day 1/Seattle

We flew in on 9/22 from Las Vegas and went right to the Warwick for the night. The town car from the airport to the hotel downtown was $45 flat rate. It was very comfortable and we enjoyed our driver's commentary. We were going to take an Uber or Lyft but the lines were crazy. The hotel was nice with great views. I'm been to Seattle quite a bit since my sister lives there but my husband has only been once before. He was ready to sight see as soon as we woke up. We spent a lot of the morning walking around Pike Place and the waterfront. We also went to Barnes and Noble to get books for the cruise. The weather was beautiful today. Blue skies and warm.

We ended up back at the hotel at the same time as my mom and stepdad so we had the hotel order us a car and drove to Pier 91 around noon. Getting on the boat was a breeze. Before we knew it we were to our rooms and then went to get lunch. My DH and I went to the Trident Grill to get something easy. I had a hot dog and he had a hamburger. We both got our first drinks of the cruise (Mai Tai and beer). Kids were already swimming in the pool. Speaking of kids though, there were barely any on the boat that I saw. While I love kids (I am a pediatric speech pathologist so one hopes that I love kids) I do like to have a kids-free vacation. Definitely one of the pros of taking a cruise in September.

We unpacked easily (no need to bring extra hangers with you since they are plenty plus they will give you more) and went to the muster. Then we relaxed on deck 7 until dinner. You might be asking yourself, but wait, why didn't they just relax on their balcony? Well, someone in a balcony above us had obviously had too much to drink already. He was blaring music through a speaker. The music was a mixture of country, rap, and Metallica. It did not make for a relaxing sail-away so we moved to deck 7 which was peaceful and quiet.

We were in the Botticelli dining room for traditional first seating. We love to eat dinner early and also love having the same table and staff every day. The first day I ordered prime rib (I think) and it was fabulous. I might mix up my meals throughout the week because I didn't write them down every day. I also had the cucumber and yogurt soup which was pretty good and very interesting. I ordered two desserts this night: the New York Cheesecake and the souffle. Both amazing!

After dinner we were able to see the sunset from our balcony (drunk guy finally shut off his music). It was gorgeous and one of the few pretty sunsets of the cruise.

My DH and I went to the theater to watch the Colors of the World production show. It was entertaining. Don't expect too much from any of these production shows though. We loved our cruise director Duke. He was very personable and hilarious.

We also went to Crooner's Bar. I love that place! I ordered a Tropicana and didn't love it but ordered a different drink (I can't remember which) and it was good. All of the other drinks we got from there were good for the rest of the week, too.

Introduction:

My DH and I booked this cruise last summer during the Sip and Sail promotion. We chose September because our anniversary is 9/27 and it was a cheaper option (more on if it was worth it later on). My mom and stepdad decided to come along, too. We also invited other family members and friends but the timing just didn't work out. My DH and I are in our late 20s and my mom and stepdad are in their 60s. My mom had cruised a lot, I have cruised a little, and the other two were newbies. We had never been to Alaska before.

We are a pretty low-key bunch. We much preferred our balcony/room time more than participating in the scheduled events. We are all from the northwest (Montana and Oregon) so we were more looking forward to the sea animals rather than anything on land. I don't have a ton of pictures (most of them are on DH's nice camera and I'm not waiting for him to write this review. The ones that I post will just be the ones I happened to remember to take on my iPhone.

Enjoying our balcony on day #1 :D

Rooms:

We chose the Caribe deck (C504 and C503) because we knew that we wanted to spend a lot of time on our balconies and we liked that they are bigger. And, boy, are they bigger! We were very impressed with the size of the balconies. I spent time on our balcony everyday. We planned it so that we were on the port side and my mom was on the starboard. That way we always had the views. I felt like the room itself was a nice size. Plenty of room for storage. The showers were small but manageable, my DH is 6'2 and he was fine. I shaved my legs with no issues. Plus, the water was always hot so that was a plus. We loved the bed and slept peacefully each night. I had purchased the cord adapter thing to have more plug-ins but we never even used it. Without internet or cell service, most of our devices didn't need much charging. I mostly used the outlet for my curling iron.

Food:

We really enjoyed the dining room. We chose traditional dining because we are early eaters and like routines. We grew so close to our waitstaff (Jayson and Jick) and wish we could still see them daily. I am not a picky eater so it was easy for me to find something every dinner. One meal I even had two entrees. The desserts were amazing, too!

I did not like the International Cafe. I felt like that desserts lacked flavor and the sandwiches were either stale or wet. The coffee was "ehh" but it was free for us so I happily drank it. There were always lines at the coffee place so obviously people enjoyed it.

We ate at the buffet a few times. I am not a buffet person but it was okay for breakfast or lunch. I wouldn't have eaten there during dinner. I really enjoyed the grill and pizza place on the deck 15. We stopped there throughout the day for quick snacks. The bars were quick at getting drinks made and the staff were friendly and helpful. We ordered room service twice when we were feeling especially lazy and it was on the same level as the buffet food. We also ate at Crown Grill but I will save that review for Day 5.

Itinerary (aka: the ideal schedule if Mother Nature had decided to cooperate)

Day 1: Seattle/embarkment

Day 2: Sea Day

Day 3: Juneau-- Harv & Marv Whale Watching

Day 4: Skagway-- Rented car from Avis and drove to Carcross/Emerald Lake

Day 5: Glacier Bay (and Crown Grill for our anniversary)

Day 6: Ketchikan-- Island Wings Seaplane

Day 7: Victoria-- Horse drawn trolley... this was the only excursion we booked directly through Princess and I am glad we did!

I loved sitting on my balcony with my Alaska book enjoying the views.

We are going to Alaska in September. I booked our excursions (not through the cruise line) last September. All of the companies were able to reserve our spots then. Our whale watching boat took the money right away, car rental doesn't want to be paid until the day of, and our seaplane had to wait until the new year to take the deposit. But they were all more than willing to book us a year out. I would recommend booking the must-see items on your list as soon as you can because you don't want to risk not being able to do it. I booked these before they appeared online by contacting the vendors directly through their websites :)