theliterateleprechaun

We headed to the Trident Grill on deck 14 for a burger and fries and were fending off a hungry seagull when we met @wallyj. It's always so nice to put a face to the name. He's such a knowledgeable cruiser and had lots of tips for us. I love talking itineraries with people who love cruising. We discovered we had a mutual friend, @YVRteacher. I wasn't surprised...cruise lovers enjoy spending time hearing about cruises and hanging out with fellow cruisers. 

Sailaway was earlier than expected. We have a tradition of throwing a coin off the ship at sailaway; not just any coin, we choose one minted in the year the ship was built. We tossed our 2004 Canadian quarter off the deck as we sailed under the Lions Gate Bridge. Apparently sailors did this as an offering to the gods, hoping to buy the wind for a favorable and swift voyage. 

@hpeabody I'm pleased to report that our inside cabin near the stern DOES NOT have light sensors! 

Our cabin steward is Richard from the Philippines and he's one of the top stewards of all time. Within 10 minutes of asking for robes and extra pillows, he was at our cabin delivering them. When we returned to get ready for dinner, we had a stowaway bear!

Richard had left us lots of hangers - both kinds. 

Cleanliness/room preparation: 5/5

This was the BEST embarkation ever! 

We are big transit users and are fortunate that the SeaBus (passenger ferry) is so close and convenient. This ferry holds 395 people and crosses Burrard Inlet from North Vancouver to Vancouver every 15 minutes. It takes 12 minutes to cross the inlet and an 8-minute walk from the SeaBus terminal to the Cruise Port terminal. Twenty minutes from terminal to terminal for $2.60 CAD is fantastic! 

We met Auntie Marg and got the 9:30 SeaBus and boarded at 10:30. That's correct. One hour from car to sailaway drink! 

Embarkation process: 5/5

Let's get this party started! 😊 @bill11 @wallyj and anyone else who wants to meet up... Steve and I will be having a frozen margarita and enjoying it at 3pm in front of The Mermaid's Tail Bar by Neptune's Reef and Pool on deck 14. Steve will have on a white baseball cap, shorts and a striped short-sleeved dress shirt. I'll have on white capris and a white blouse. Come say 'hi', even if you don't stop for a quick drink. 

1 minute ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I am meeting a crew member (if all goes well) when you dock in Honolulu.  Hoping all of you have a smooth transit over.  I will be enjoying your posts as you make your way to our lovely islands.

How exciting! You are so kind. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. We do that in Vancouver, too. It's so nice for staff to see a familiar face and have someone to take them around the city. We're heading to get some cookies at Ala Moana and find out if we can walk to Leonard's the malasada place @Gimer mentioned. Thanks for your well wishes for a smooth sailing. 

54 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

What a fun surprise!  Have a great time when you go.  
I surprised my DH for his 60th bday with a cruise.  He simply had no idea and I made several of the reservations right in front of him.  He hadn’t a clue.  
He says the surprises are for me .. well, that is true.  I love him more than he does but he was ok with that wonderful surprise,  

How wonderful! As a general rule, I don't enjoy surprises. I'm surprised how well I took it this time. Thank you. 

16 minutes ago, julia said:

We'll be on the Ruby for my birthday in November, sailing in an aft suite, r/t from San Francisco.  We recently decided to make this kinda be a "side by side", by flying to LA after, and boarding the Majestic for 10 days.  Yes, it was a joint decision, but with me making all the arrangements. 😲

That sounds like a fantastic adventure! We haven't been on the Majestic yet. 

15 minutes ago, phabric said:

I am  Wendy, I am the same B2B cruises with my sister (Kathy) and brother in law (Warren).  I am from Toronto and the others are from Montreal.

 

We fly on the 25 and are staying at the Pan Pacific before boarding on the 26.

 

I am hoping Air Canada doesn’t go on strike at that time.

 

There is a Roll Call for 3 Day Coastal - Sept 26 and 16 Day Hawaii -Sept 29.

Thanks for the info. Fingers crossed for your journey out here. See you on board. 

17 minutes ago, BabsinTX said:

We did four B2Bs on Ruby last year and we've booked four more for next year, including Hawaii.  One of our very favorite ships!

We first sailed on the Ruby in October 2011 for a 30-day Med. Grand Adventure (Rome to Ft. L) and then in April 2024 we did a B2B Hawaii + Alaska. Each time, it's been a perfect combination of great ship, wonderful locations, and fantastic staff. Glad you've enjoyed your Ruby adventures and have more to look forward to next year. 

On 8/28/2024 at 6:55 PM, Donwoods123 said:

We were on the Ruby in late June.  We enjoyed everything, especially the crew, except the buffet. It was so hard to find an open table and the food in the buffet was pretty ordinary.  Everything else was great.

 

I am sure you will have a fantastic time on both legs.  We have done both (separately) and they are great.  The Hawaii cruise is particularly relaxing with all the sea days.

 

 

Glad you had a positive experience. We find that getting a table at peak times is always a challenge in the buffet, so we eat either at the International Cafe on deck 5 or on shoulder times in the buffet. Yes, we love our sea days and the Ruby. 😊

4 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

@theliterateleprechaun  If I may ask a favor please.  I have an upcoming cruise on the Sapphire.  I would like to know if Sapphire has the sensor light in the closet.  My last 2 cruises on 2 different ships did and it annoyed me to no end.  Please report back here.  Thank you.  I love the Sapphire.  Enjoy your cruise!

I will check and report back! One of our cruises recently had those silly sensors and our cabin steward put bandaids over the sensor. Thank you. We love the Sapphire, too. 

5 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Sail and Sustain was not fun. Aan was running an extra session of Mojito tasting so we had an inexperienced bartender who read word for word from the paper. It was stilted and awkward.  The bartender didn’t cheers, didn’t thank us for being loyal to NCL and didn’t infuse any personality into the experience. If Aan isn’t doing this next week I’ll skip it.

Normally I somewhat like a couple of the Sail and Sustain drinks but this time I didn’t like any of them. They were all way too strong and unpleasant. 
 

 

 

The bartender offered everyone (all six of us: 5 latitudes and an interloper) a free full sized drink of any of the Sail and Sustain drinks. I asked for drink I enjoyed at the latitudes party which involved passion fruit and tequila but I think I received a Bahama Mama.

Dad looked confused when the bartender asked what he wanted so I said a beer.  

 

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone but I poured the beer into one of the water cans and now dad has his vacation dream come true: spa with a beer. Unfortunately both the spa noisies and the spa Coughy McCoughersons are out in full force today. I should have brought my ear plugs and hazmat suit.

"Coughy McCoughersons" LOVE THIS. 😃

1 hour ago, talkorpi said:

I'll be on Sapphire for the repositioning cruise at the end of the month - following along! Have a fantastic time 🙂

Fantastic! We did the Sapphire repositioning in April (Vancouver to Hawaii to Alaska to Vancouver) and loved it. It was actually better weather in Alaska than Hawaii!!!! Have a wonderful cruise. Thank you. 

2 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Me: are you going to put your bathing suit on?

 

Dad: Yes. That is what I do when I go to the spa.

 

Me: snort

 

The spa was wonderful. 

You just have mom, dad and me snorting! Thanks for the laughter. Glad you had fun. 

26 minutes ago, Auntiejo said:

We did the NB on Sapphire in June. Looking forward to following along and reliving our great memories. Enjoy!

Thanks for following! Reliving cruise memories is wonderful. We do it often. 

ALOHA! 🌺

This cruise will complete my 55th birthday present - 55 nights at sea for this circle around the sun! 

We embark in our home port of Vancouver and will be with my husband’s three cousins for the first part of our B2B Pacific Coastal + Hawaii. We fly home from San Francisco. 

I’m looking forward to being on the Ruby Princess again. We met so many wonderful staff members on our April cruise; some of whom have already become great friends. In fact, two of them got engaged in July and they sent us a video of the proposal in the atrium! I wish Leo and Daniella all the best as they navigate planning a wedding and working at sea. 

When you book a cruise (couples who are reading), do you make the decision together? One of you find a deal and present it to the other? How far out do you book? Has your significant other ever surprised you with a cruise?

We’ve been married 30 years and we always discuss big purchases together. My husband usually finds a great deal and we discuss it before calling our travel agent. THIS time, however, my husband surprised me on my birthday. The first clue was the Hawaiian flip-flop in my coffee cup. 
 

….then when I went to have breakfast I looked over at my case packed for Alaska with Stanley in his plaid…and saw that my husband had decked Stanley out Hawaiian style. 

I loved the surprise! 

We checked in with Rowena and Brian Vasquez and they will be the Hawaiian ambassadors on this sailing. This makes me so happy as they bring such ‘Aloha’ to the piazza. 

I’d love to have you along for my second ‘live from’ and, as with our Alaska 'live from' on August 31st, I’d love any feedback and am happy to answer questions. Are the photos too small? Someone suggested I make them smaller to accommodate people using cell phones to access the feed. What about the font? This is size 14. 

I'm an avid reader (a book a day) and always choose location reads. I'll be reading books set in Hawaii and posting book reviews for this cruise. Since this was a short-notice cruise (LOL), I will be choosing books from Kindle Unlimited. If you are following my 'live from' Alaska cruise, I'll be reading books set in Alaska, posting reviews on them, and will have some to give away on board and/or place in the ship's library after I finish reading. I'm an eclectic reader so you'll see a variety.

We usually include my parents and Steve's auntie in our travel plans as they are in their eighties, but this time we are on our own. After more than 500 sea days together over the years, this will sure feel different. 
 

13 hours ago, 3 WI Cruisers said:

Have a great cruise! I'll be following along as we are on the Sapphire, Vancouver-Whittier, next May. 

Great to have you following along! We love the Sapphire and Alaska. You've got a great trip ahead of you. 😃

35 minutes ago, wallyj said:

The roll call for this sailing has been on the quiet side. Thank you for doing a live.

 

 

Good Morning from sunny Vancouver! Glad to have you following along. 

10 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Good morning from Icy Strait Point. I just love the clean air here so much!

 

Guess what else I love?

 

Bubbles on the balcony! These new cold weather bubbles were delightful this morning.

 

 

 

 

I can't wait to try mine! Great photos. 💙 

Alaska governor declares disaster after Ketchikan landslide kills 1, hospitalizes 3 others | CBC News

1 hour ago, NancyIL said:

Looking forward to reading your live report, as my daughter and I will be on your Whittier to Vancouver leg.

I just checked the weather and it looks like a dry day for Whittier! Are you coming from the airport or the lodge? I'd love to stay at the lodge pre or post-cruise. One day .... Thanks for following. We'll have to meet up. 

16 minutes ago, elaine5 said:

We booked 14 days on Sapphire in Alaska for 2025! Following along-I want to know everything! Elaine

How exciting, Elaine! Thanks for following. Once we sail, if there's anything I'm not covering that you'd like to know, please ask. 

22 minutes ago, Cairns Cruisers said:

Looking forward to your “live”, we are following you on Sapphire Sept 14th.

Thank you! What a great cruise you've got lined up. If there's anything I can't fit in my suitcase, I know who to leave it for. 😅 Have you been to Alaska before?

2 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

We arrived in Moderno for breakfast at 9:02. Coffee didn’t come until 9:26. I asked over and over and over for our food and the waiter just kept apologizing. Dad said, “they keep apologizing but they aren’t fixing anything.”  At one point we had an assistant maître d and the concierge from May just standing at our table. I asked them to go away and let us be.  The assistant maître d was apologizing for the fly in the glass from our dinner in La Cucina. I don’t want to talk about a fly in the glass 3 days later.

 

Dad made himself his own parfait this morning at the Moderno buffet but he chose based on colour rather than object recognition and came back with a glass of grapefruit layered with peaches and walnuts. He winced through the whole thing and pretended to like it. He hates grapefruit!

 

The Maître d in Moderno was in a meeting this morning and our outstanding waiter was not there: service was slow like the slug I told my dad to poke yesterday to see if it was still alive.

 

It took 37 minutes for our hot food to come.  This is not acceptable. The food was good but we were ready to leave by the time it arrived.

 

 

 

I have perfected my morning breakfast open faced stack of yumminess.

Your 'open faced stack of yumminess' looks delicious!