Nily D

Thanks, great ideas! I think we can order room service breakfast any day right? Definitely sound like a great idea on our Glacier Bay day. How long does the dinner usually take? I like the idea of spending half of it while in port and the other half as the ship is leaving. We've never been on a cruise, but live across the street from the overflow cruise pier, and I'm always fascinated seeing the ships leave port. Also, do I need to pre-book or can I wait until the cruise starts so we get a better sense of the weather?

Hi all, I've been reading some great reviews of the ultimate balcony dining. Sounds amazing! My question is whether it would be too cold to eat dinner on the balcony on a June cruise to Alaska? We are on the Ruby on an Inside Passage cruise round trip to/from Vancouver. The dates are June 11-18. If not too cold, should we pick day where we are in port until later (eg., we are at Juneau until 10pm and Haines until 8:30pm), or one where we are sailing (Vancouver leaving 4pm or Ketchikan leaving 6pm)? I think it would be less windy/cold if the ship is stationery? TIA for any advice!!

Wow, that's beautiful! We are stopping at Haines and not Skagway though. I think there's a ferry? But given limited time, I was leaning towards just doing a Haines-based excursion. Would the van pick-up / drop-off from Haines?

I would love to see bears. but I think June is too early?

Thanks! Yes, I originally booked during the black friday sale, so I'm sure the price would change a lot for a different cabin. I just had a look at the upgrade process. How about a "Reserve Mini-Suite"? Does that guarantee a better location and/or covered balcony?

Haha, conversely, we are from the city where Mark Twain famously said the "coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" 🙂. I still love to have a balcony. Even if we're not sitting there for hours, it's nice to be able to go outside to look at the scenery or (hopefully) wildlife! This cruise is actually to prepare for even more extreme ones, since we really want to go to Antarctica and Norway for the northern lights. This is a trial run so bring on the cold 🙂

Thank you all so much for the advice and reassurance. Especially @skynight, who stayed in the exact same cabin - what a coincidence! Nothing is better than first hand experience. I will be sure to say hi to Marlowe for you 🙂. I will stop overthinking before my head explodes, haha. I will bid in the upgrade process for a mini-suite, and then let fate/princess decide. But sounds like we would be perfectly happy in our current cabin so either way it will be great.

Hi all - my husband will be going on our first cruise ever to Alaska in June on the Ruby Princess. Very excited! I made the purchase during the Black Friday sale a bit on a whim, and purchased the lowest priced balcony cabin (BD). It is on the Baja Deck in the "aft" section on the starboard side (B631 to be exact). Now that it's getting closer, I've been reading more about cabins and am having second thoughts that we should have paid for a nicer/bigger one. So, my questions are: - Is this cabin going to be OK? I think as long as there's no noise or excessive vibration from the engine, we should be fine. I doubt we would spend a ton of time in our room. - Should I submit a bid to upgrade? That whole process seems confusing. Is it worthwhile to upgrade to "premium" balcony? Those seem exactly the same but just in a different location? Or should I try for a mini-suite? - Looking at the website there seem to be some nice Premium Balcony available at the back of the boat (eg., 754, 748 on decks 10 or 11). Can I just call/chat with Princess to switch the cabin and pay the difference? Thanks in advance for your advice!

Regarding the pricing difference for the Deadliest Catch, there is sales tax in addition to the $219 quoted on the website, so the total is actually $237. I think the difference is small enough that I will just go with my existing booking.

@Teechur, we are on the Ruby in June, and the price for the Deadliest Catch is $269. Not sure why the price is different? @Outerdog, your photos are amazing!! We did something similar on our previous trip and it was amazing. We landed on a glacier and then went on a sled dog ride, Plus time to visit puppies. Later I heard a segment on "This American Life" all about what it's like to work at that operation and it gave me a whole new appreciation! I am going to look into the rafting expedition at Haines. that sounds really great and a bit more "special" then the bus tour. I read there will not be bears in June, but we would love to see lots of eagles.

Thanks!! I did book through Princess, and it was $264 pps vs. $219 pps if booking directly. How does it work if I cancel the excursion on Princess? Do I get a refund to my credit card? Or does it turn into onboard credit?

Hi! my husband and I are taking our first ever cruise to Alaska in June (Inside Passage, RT from Vancouver on the Ruby), and we have gotten some wonderful advice on this forum! thank you! Are there any "must do" excursions? Currently, I've booked one for every port: - Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier Explorer - Haines: Nature/wildlife expedition (goes to Chilkoot river/lake) - Ketchikan: Ride on a boat from the Deadliest Catch. I was a fan of this show and it sounded like a good experience. But it's expensive. Has anyone done it and is it worth it? Are there better excursions for our port days? We have been to Alaska previously and drove ourselves around for 2 weeks. On that trip we did the helicopter and dog sledding at Denali, and some boat trips and hiking near Homer. We love the outdoors, wildlife, photography, and learning about local history.We are not really into the super adventuresome stuff like zip-lining or white water rafting. Not really interested in fishing or whale watching tours. Thanks in advance for your advice!

Thanks for posting this! We will be sailing on Ruby in June to Alaska. It will be our first cruise ever. Question: how do you book the Chef's Table dinner? And is Sabatini always open for breakfast?

If we want to avoid the buffet, it sounds like our free options with the Plus package are: - International cafe for breakfast, - Pizza, international cafe, or "ocean now delivery" for lunch - No need to worry about dinner as food is coursed out. Where is the buffet during dinner if all 3 MDRs are serving coursed out meals? And what is your opinion of Crown Grill and Sabatini? worth the surcharge? Any "must-do" excursions? Currently, I've booked the following: - Juneau: Mendenhall Glacier Explorer - Haines: Nature/wildlife expedition (goes to Chilkoot river/lake) - Ketchikan: Ride on a boat from the Deadliest Catch. I was a fan of this show and it sounded like a good experience. But it's expensive. Has anyone done it and is it worth it? Are there better excursions for our port days? We did the helicopter and dog sledding on the previous trip, and are not really into the super adventuresome stuff like zip-lining or rafting.

Wow, thank you all SO MUCH for the detailed replies!!! I have a much better sense of what the experience will be like and so looking forward to it!. Bookmarking Some more questions: - Is the "Main Dining Room" different than Da Vinci, Botticelli and Michelangelo? - Is it possible to get a preview of all the talks and shows before sailing? Or is it something you get once onboard? - Is it necessary to make dinner reservations? I've made them, but maybe will need to adjust if there's a particular show we want to see. - The naturalist talks sound great. When do they take place? During the day or in the evenings. - Is it really "no jeans" in the dining room? Even very nice jeans? Will need to let husband know 🙂. We live in San Francisco and he goes to even the nicest places in jeans and nice shirt/jacket. - I think the "plus" package includes 2 casual dining meals. So does that mean we have to pay for the pizza, international cafe or salty dog after 2 meals? Again, thanks so much for taking the time to write the detailed replies! Really appreciate