Stikman

How old are your kids? We just did the RT Alaska from Los Angeles (Apr 23-May 5) on the Ruby with our kids aged 5, 8, and almost 11. I'm assuming you're doing RT Alaska from SF? We've never sailed on the Grand, but it looks pretty similar to the Ruby, so I can only speak generally. The pools were heated for us, which the kids loved and used a lot! In terms of getting energy out, they would go play basketball or tennis on the sport court. They ate with us in the MDR for dinner, but it was great during the day being able to get pizza and buffet munchies and chill on deck. The International Cafe is great for round the clock snacks. During the day, most bars and lounges are open for general use with no age minimum, unless scheduled activity.

For in-cabin stuff, each kid brought a backpack with a book, couple small activities, and stuffed animals to sleep with. We also brought a digital clock that also stayed on as a nightlight, which helped them immensely (we had inside rooms). 

12 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

You can call Princess and they will tell you how many children will be on your cruise.

Just to follow up on that... I think I spoke with Princess 3 times before our cruise, and asked that question while I was on the phone. Only 1 out of 3 people was able to tell me the child count, the others said not possible or couldn't figure it out. So if you don't get an answer, call back and ask someone else! lol

49 minutes ago, yeggirl said:

I can't thank you enough for this!  Heading out with our 4.5 year old at the end of the week ... after scouring boards and the web I too felt there was not much info out there... which was making me doubt the decision to bring our pre-schooler on this cruise.  Your post is so very reassuring.  Did a Disney Cruise last year and honestly the amount of kids/noise was just too much for my very shy child.  These activities look amazing and without a million kids running around I think it will be better than Disney for us 😉

 

One question...any issues with pre-registration on port days?... as in if we get back to the ship early and haven't pre-registered do you thing it would be a problem?

 

THANKS again!!!!!!!!

Probably not many kids this time of year, we only had 21 in the 3-7 year group. For that age, it was very reasonably structured (so it seemed), not a lot of running around madness. I can't talk about port days, we never left our kids in the club they always came with us on those days. I'm possibly wrong, but I think they just need to know a day or so in advance to make sure they open and staff enough counselors. That would probably be a good question for the meet and greet time on the first day. 

10 hours ago, LXdad said:

Great post, thank you so much! We are on the Ruby June 1st with our 8 and 10 year old sons. They keep asking questions and this really helps. 

That's pretty much the age of my older 2 kids. They do have PS4s and a Nintendo Switch on the big screen. Mine got a lot of playtime since not many kids, so not sure how it'll be for you. Some of the activities on the list were more for the younger kids, and some more for the older. Also, the pool is heated, so mine actually swam a lot, even in Alaska! My older kids also enjoyed going to the comedian and magician shows, both of those are family friendly/clean. 🙂

6 hours ago, Dani24 said:

 

Good to know! We're very screen lite. And we definitely don't do video games. Glad to know we can request such in the kid's club. I'm really hoping for her to meet and play with other kids and do some fun learning and craft activities. Not just be shoved off to zone out on screens. 🙂

They definitely didn't do that! Even with low attendance, my 5 year old met 2 other little girls and they played together a ton. Almost every time I went to pick her up, they were either playing on the jungle gym or finishing up crafts/activities. In fact, we came home with a whole bag full of craft projects and stuffed animal type things just from her! (But it was 12 days worth...)

I'm sure it would've been a little more structured in the older kid class if there were more kids there. But by the 3rd day, the counselors would just make the projects available if the kids wanted to do them.

For video games, I can't say for certain, I know there were computers in the 3-7 year old room, but my 5 year old never played on them. They did do group dance type games though (like Just Dance).

For wristbands, NO. They are the plastic kid with the snap, and can be cut off after the cruise. Any cruise line we've been on puts a wristband on all kids wrists during cruise check in (usually under 12) for the entire cruise and it must remain on. It's for safety purposes and lists your kid's muster station in case of emergency.

We registered online but still went to the open check in time on the first day so the kids could look around, see their class area, meet teachers, and meet any other kids that may be checking things out. 

We've done multiple Princess cruises, but this last one was the first time we took our kids (ages 5, 8, and almost 11). Before taking our kids on Princess, we looked for info about their kids' programs but only found general reviews. So... in light of that... for any other first time parent Princes cruisers out there, I wanted to upload a copy of the kid's activity patter. One caveat is that our cruise was a 12 day one to Alaska (RT Los Angeles) on the Ruby Princess with only 42 kids in the 3-12 year old age group! So our experience may not be totally normal, and it seems they didn't do some of the activities I had heard about in the past or even some of the activities on the patter (due to lack of kid attendance). 

Bottom line is that all the kids had a ton of fun, loved the kid's club. The younger group did a lot of the activities, but the older group did a lot of PS4/Nintendo Switch playing since only ever 5-10 kids in there. They mostly went in the afternoon and on some evenings, since we spent family time too! They did also really enjoy the more family type activities onboard (games in piazza, comedian, magician, shows, etc), the heated pool, and all the food options!

If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Princess_KidsClub.pdf

13 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

The O3B satellites are not available above (northern hemisphere) or below (southern hemisphere) a certain latitude, so when the ship sailed north past that point, the faster O3B was no longer available.

That makes sense, and was what we assumed since the previous speed tests were from people cruising the Mexican Riviera and to Hawaii.  Although on our return trip south, we never reconnected to the O3B network, even in the LA area. And Princess shouldn't advertise and sell it as such if it isn't actually available.

On 5/5/2019 at 8:39 PM, Rogueperson said:

 

I assumed O3B from someone else’s speedtest.  I am probably wrong.

So we were on the Ruby sailing prior to this one (12 day Alaska) and also had major internet issues. Princess does tout that they use the new O3B network. Embarkation day and half of the first sea day, speed tests showed us connected to O3B, then suddenly it changed to SES as yours shows. On O3B, speeds were decent, maybe 10mb down/30mb up, but once we switched to SES it went downhill and never recovered for the entire cruise. Never got anywhere near the speeds the other person's speed test showed (even at the beginning). Spoke to the internet manager multiple times, no help (FYI - he had just come aboard for our sailing). It was almost non-existent at some points. We did speed tests around the ship each day, and at good times, got maybe 2mb down/3.5mb up. And it's not for lack of APs! Those suckers are everywhere. We got the internet access package to stream and so I could work. Neither ended up being possible.

8 hours ago, LHARTWICK said:

Good to know that the MDR will be open for lunch on embarkation day.  Did you notice many people toting luggage with them to the MDR for lunch that day?  We usually keep our carry on suitcase with us until our cabin is ready.  Dining rooms don't have much extra room for something like that.  Just curious.  We sail again on May 18.  Thanks for the review!!

We were on the previous Ruby sailing (12 day Alaska) with our 3 kids, and carried on a backpack each plus a carry on suitcase. We ate lunch in the MDR (it's usually Da Vinci deck 6 in case anyone is wondering!) and there was plenty of room to keep our stuff next to the table. MDR only ever seems to be maybe half full for embarkation day lunch, so you aren't tripping over everyone's stuff. By the time we finished lunch, our rooms were available, so we dropped off our carryons and headed over to the pool!

3 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Laundry rooms are NOT always locked at 10:00pm.

Since this cabin is not adjacent to the laundry facility it is a moot point.

I'm not referring to self-service laundry, I'm talking about the big blank crew area next door. 

Hi! Do inside rooms next to the crew areas tend to be noisy? Specifically, looking at room D721 on the Ruby, which is located next to a crew area. Our travel agent indicated that it was possibly a laundry area and there could be noise through the walls or hearing laundry carts. Does anyone have any first hand knowledge? Thanks!

looking forward to you posting the menus glad you enjoyed the food and experience of Anytime.....you selected the perfect time to dine....when both dining rooms are open....

 

Just curious did they ask your cabin number when dining?

Yes, we were asked for our cabin number each night.

Also, find your roll call on the boards here and see if anyone is around your age/life stage and wants to meet for drinks the first night. That could be a good, fast way to find other people that want to socialize.

We just got off the Ruby (7 day Mex Riviera Cruise), upper 30s, left kids at home (woohoo!). We loved it and most people were really friendly. Met and chatted with people of all ages. While there definitely were more people in the 50+ age group, there still were a good number of people in the 30-45 range.

The one thing that we noticed though, if you’re a night owl (which we are), the ship shuts down around 10:30/11pm. Some people may still be watching the MUTS 10pm movie, but inside it was a ghost town! We would head up to Skywalkers nightclub to even just find people or a place to get a drink. Some nights there would only be 5-10 people, other nights, 50+ people. I think it depended on the port arrival times. But we would do it again in a heartbeat. Enjoy!

Thanks again for the menus.....So was the Escape room advertised in the Patter?

 

Yes, I read it only lasts a 1/2 hour and more like a mystery......what was your overall take....? Worth it or not?

We were onboard before noon the first day. Signups started at noon in the library, so we were the first signups. They did it 3 times, 8 people per session.

We finished in about 15min. Had fun and would do it again (if the story changed). It is more of a find the object to escape the room, but you have to find clues to solve puzzles. Less complex than ones on land, shorter. But it was done well and fun.

So did u go to the Voice....?

Was Magic to Do on sailaway night?

Did they offer the Escape Room?

We attended the Voice. Winner was amazing.

They did Colors of the World on Sailaway night (we missed it).

Yes, they offered the Escape Room, it was 3 times one evening in the chapel. We did it. It was fun but short.

looking forward to you posting the menus glad you enjoyed the food and experience of Anytime.....you selected the perfect time to dine....when both dining rooms are open....

Sorry, I forgot to say - click the link for a photo album of the menus. My phone takes too high of quality images for these boards, so this was easiest. :D

I apologize in advance for the quality of some of the pictures!

We did get pictures of 2 dessert menus, and all but the first night's dinner. But unfortunately forgot to get pictures of the lunch menus, when that was offered on sea days.

We enjoyed having different bread & butter offered each evening (types included in the menu), and regular butter was always provided upon request.

Also, a note about Anytime dining, we were a bit apprehensive with so many complaints about it, but we never experienced any problems or waits! We usually arrived between 7-7:45pm each night at either of the Anytime dining rooms, no reservations, and asked for a table for 2. We were always seated right way. Although we did make sure that if we were planning to dine after the 6:15pm show, we sat close to an exit in the theater to get out quickly and beat the rush! Our service most nights was generally excellent and prompt (although one night we never did get the iced tea we asked for...).

https://flic.kr/s/aHskwh7hsc

We just got off the Ruby today, and for the most part we loved the menus (not much comparison though - first time on Princess). The dining room staff we talked with mentioned that the previous week (CA coastal) was bad/rough, but for us, meal times went very smoothly! We had maybe 2-3 entrees that were good, not fantastic, but most were excellent. And that’s with ordering 2-4 entrees each night to try things! We took pictures of most of the menus that I’ll post below and try to answer any questions. We were surprised to see some type of steak on the menu every night, non-up charge ones, in addition to the hamburger. We also took pics of our meals that I can post on request.

How is it best to get on the Chef's Table? I want to do this specially for my anniversary. Is it just one assigned night? Is it first come first serve?