irvinejohn

For desert, my parents ordered the traditional cheesecake. They almost got a bite off before I could take the picture.

My wife got the lemon gelato.

And I got recommended trio desert dish. I think it is a panna cotta, a crumble cake, and a mousse. If you add the intermezzo, that is almost like getting four deserts.

This is a white fish entrée that my wife ordered.

My order of scallops was kind of clumsily clumped together instead of being more spread out evenly like the other orders. The scallops were lightly seared on the underside and under seasoned. I think Chef Ramsey would probably have sent them back to the kitchen along with a few choice words. All the seasoning was over concentrated in the sauce. But the kids were happy and I’m glad they tried something new. It has been a while since we cooked scallops at home.

For soup, I got French onion soup.

There was another intermezzo, this time lemon sorbet with candied ginger.

Sorry before dinner I wanted to post about the Shark Week Party. This should have been inserted before the last post.

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The kids had a great time in the pool but it was time to get out as the temperature started to cool down. We brought them back to the room to shower, and my wife noticed there was a Shark Week Party in Club Fusion for the kids when she was on deck 7. By the time we got there at about 4PM, it was already over and the staff had started cleaning up. We did get a share cookie and I took a picture of the boys with the shark mascot. We had noticed a lot of other kids with a share week fin hat and apparently there was a shark play dough type challenge as well. It probably would have been fun for the kids but they had been asking to go swimming since we boarded. This turned out to be the only day they swam.

I don’t have the opportunity to watch many television programs, but I do like the Top Chef and Hell’s Kitchen cooking shows. The kids were excited to learn that scallops and beef wellington, staples from Hell’s Kitchen, will probably show up on the menu. The cruise is an excellent opportunity for the kids to try something different and not order the same thing over and over off of the kid’s menu. I encouraged them to try something new off the adult menu and not worry about finishing the food if they did not like it.

I heard they had kept asking the head waiter for scallops so they were excited when he confirmed it to be on the menu.

For starters, my wife got the always available shrimp cocktail.

I got an appetizer portion of gnocchi with zucchini. Whenever I see gnocchi on the menu, I try to order it.

I don’t remember this one. Does anybody out there know?

Since some adults watched the kids, I went to look at the scenery from deck 16. It was time for me to look for eagles, landing seaplanes, and hopefully other sea life. There are a lot of wind shields around MUTS which blocked a view without glass so I had to work my way around that.

Overall I didn’t have much luck. I thought I saw an eagle flying over the back of the ship. By the time I had gotten there I could no longer locate the bird. Then I heard the engine of a landing of a seaplane on the other side of the boat. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time for me.

The Ruby pulled away from Ketchikan and the Zaandam followed us. I don’t think there were any sail away parties on the Ruby.

Just missed this one landing …

Here is another seaplane after it took off.

We decided to head back for lunch and to so the kids could swim. Lunch was in the Horizon Court again, and I didn’t take a picture of my plate again. Instead of being focused on the food, we were having a good time watching the seaplanes line up and land somewhere in front of the Ruby. You could tell the seaplanes we’re on a schedule to get the cruise passengers back aboard their ships.

With the Ruby docked in port there wasn’t much of a wind chill to deal with. The MUTS Calypso Pool than the Neptune Pool was warmer so this is where the kids swam in the afternoon. It was the sunniest day since the cruise started and there a lot of people on deck soaking in the sun and warmth.

After returning to downtown we did a little souvenir shopping and got our WiFi fix in. Most of us actually bought some items from Del Sol so maybe the sales pitch Monday morning was more effective than I thought. The color change in sunlight was a pretty cool gimmick though.

Most of us continued toward the salmon spawning area because the rapids could be an interesting scene. The fastest way there was to walk through the park and down the stairs. From Upland, we took a right on Park, but it wasn’t that interesting without the fish.

For the salmon ladder walk left instead on Park. Instead of the stairs, the Married Man Trail gets you closer to the salmon ladder faster.

We all met up again in Creek Street.

Here is another view toward the salmon ladder waterfall from a platform behind a fish statue in Creek Street. The rapids calm down rapidly.

This is an ongoing photo review. I currently on Day 3, Ketchikan.

Ports visited: Ketchikan, Tracy Arm/Juneau, Skagway, and Victoria.

Please feel free to leave your comments and any questions.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2232134

Of course the kids wanted to ride the $2 Funicular up to Cape Fox Hill Lodge.

The second floor of the lodge had a small exhibit of the area and native Indians and a view of the harbor, although the view was probably better in the ride up.

Exiting the lobby, there was a nice group of totems.

The connection deprived among us made notes of all the shops that offered WiFi as we walked through town. For cellular service, AT&T was fine but Sprint roamed.

At Whale Park we encountered our first totem pole for Chief Kyan.

You could enter Creek Street from nearby Whale Park which was marked by another taller totem pole.

Instead we went to the right to cross the bridge and enter from Stedman St. It is a very short walk and seems to be the better to enter Creek Street from the beginning vs. the middle.

The water was very clear and we could see some small fish but there were no salmon yet unfortunately. I’m glad we had excellent weather though.

On the Ketchikan map, the Ruby was docked at Berth 4, the farthest away from the Ketchikan sign, while the Zaandam had the prime real estate at Berth 2, which was closest to the welcome sign and Creek Street. The kids were very happy to see the Zaandam and wanted to go on aboard.

We turned toward the Welcome to Ketchikan sign on Mission St.

The shops away from the wharf looked like original buildings from a different era and had more character.

We passed the Aleutian Ballard, which is the boat for the Deadliest Catch tour.

As we were lined up to get off the Ruby, the photography staff took pictures of the departing guests with staff dressed as a lumberjack and a fisherwoman.

Ketchikan was pretty easy to get around. I had downloaded a map online before the trip and it was my third cruise to Alaska for my parents so I wasn’t worried about getting lost.

Here is the view after getting off the ship and the rear of the Ruby as we walked toward town.

While the Ruby is a pretty vessel, I’m not so keen on the rear part of the ship that pretty much goes straight up. There is something weird about the vertical wall at the back of the ship to me.

During breakfast, I asked my kids which cruise they liked better and for them the answer was clearly Zaandam, which goes against the perception of the more elderly demographic of HAL. For them while the Ruby was the biggest ship they have been on, there was less for kids to do.

On the Zaandam, there were two ping pong tables next to the swimming pool and an extra-large chess play set as well. There were only two pools on this ship but the largest pool was covered by a retractable roof so they could swim even during inclement weather. The Explorer’s Lounge/library room was a large and inviting space. The game room next door had a couple of jig saw puzzles out on a table that everybody could work on and separate stations for chess and checkers.

Finally their dining room server made all the difference on the Zaandam. He was very playful and a wonder with kids. There was no objection about eating dinner in the main dining room.

The Ruby did have miniature golf but since it was on deck 19, we were not comfortable without adult supervision all the way up there. And as I mentioned earlier the 8-12 age group did not like their kid’s club, the Shockwaves on the Ruby.

Don’t get me wrong – Princess and the Ruby are nice and some things are clearly done better. The Piazza is better than HAL’s atrium and the stability of the ship is welcome. The International Café is fantastic and the entertainment options seemed better. And all of us enjoyed the Pizza Bar.

Overall, I think that HAL fit us better with the larger and more functional cabin, and I liked the HAL buffet better than Princess because of greater variety such as panini sandwiches and grilled vegetables. Your mileage will likely vary as these are very personal preferences. My parents, experienced cruisers who have been on the RCI mega ships, like Princess the best BTW. I’ll revisit this topic at the end of the cruise, since I’m still getting to know Princess, but after three days I preferred HAL too.

Most of the time, we did not have a set rendezvous for breakfast. Usually somebody from the family was there between 8-9AM. We tended to eat in the same area of the Horizon Court so we would know where to look for each other. At breakfast we agreed to meet at 9AM in the forward elevators since the gangway to town was on deck five.

I don’t think I had a picture of breakfast because it wasn’t that different from the day before. Most items were the same although there were a few things that changed around. I didn’t need to take a photo of breakfast but was instead more focused on taking shots of family.

Before I went to our cabin, I visited the Piazza again. It looks very nice with the grand staircases. I must have descended to deck 5 since the Promenade was on deck 7. You can see a line has already formed at the International Café on the bottom.

Day 3 – June 30 Ketchikan

I think we gained an hour as we moved to Ketchikan overnight but I’m not certain. There was a separate notice to change your clock and our server mentioned the change over dinner, but the time change was not listed in the Patter.

My wife and I woke up early and decided to let the kids sleep in and walk around the Promenade for a little exercise. The Ruby was scheduled to be docked in Ketchikan at 6:30AM and leave in the afternoon at 3:00PM. We made our way down to deck 7 and exited to the Promenade deck. The weather was glorious. It wasn’t cold and the seaside was mostly blue skies although there were more clouds over land. Behind the Ruby we saw our old friend, the Zaandam. We walked around the deck and took the stairs to get the Promenade section at the front of the bow to make the complete loop.

Ketchikan looked picturesque. Unfortunately the ill-fated Mystic Fords flight took off from Ketchikan in the previous week. RIP for those nine souls.

The actual Promenade deck was not made out of teak unlike the Zaandam. However the Lido deck was made out of teak around the pools as were the external stairways.

Although there was a jogging track just outside the Princess Links, it was a fairly narrow track so it seems more people used the Promenade. My wife did that while I went back up the room to rouse the sleepy heads and bring them to breakfast.

For tonight’s entertainment there was a singer I was not familiar with in the Princess Theater or a comedy and magic show by Garry Carson in the Explorer’s Lounge. This was an easy decision to make with kids and the 8:45PM show fit with our later dinner. The magician/illusionist kept you on your toes anytime he went into the audience to get volunteers. Many of you will recognize some of the tricks like the $100 bill, cards, water and newspaper, and snow etc. but it was executed well. Like most of the entertainment he performed this show three times and he was scheduled in the Princess Theater when we visited Skagway.

Afterwards it was bedtime our youngest kids. Yesterday’s late pizza run caused them to wake up later and grumpier than normal so off to bed they went. We did let our oldest son join for pizza.

Late Monday night for me was a work night as I could not completely escape work. I went to the International Café and signed up for 200 minutes of Internet access plus another 20 minutes of bonus time for $99. The key to remember about any Internet plan is to follow instructions to logout or else all of your time will drain away. The connection was slow and I typically logged off as soon as I downloaded e-mail and then wrote responses offline to maximize my Internet time.

Compared to HAL’s Zaandam which was very quiet at 10PM when I usually did some work, the Piazza was still full of people up to midnight.

Returning from dinner for the second night, we got chocolates again as we did every night in the cabin, but there were no towel animals so that was a bit of a letdown. On the first night, each kid received a shark week squeeze toy which we thought may have substituted for the towel animal. But we knew now not to expect any towel animals anymore. They were a nice whimsical touch on the Zaandam and we even went to the towel animal folding presentation back then. We changed back into casual clothes and went back out.

Dinner conflicted with the Captain’s Welcome and Champagne Toast at 7:15PM so I knew we were going to miss it.

After my dad complained about the dining arrangement again, my wife set an appointment to speak with the maître d after the champagne toast and we got two eight seat tables next to each other in Michelangelo at 5:30 starting on Wednesday. So we knew that tomorrow night will be our last night in Botticelli.

For desert my mom got the Orange Grand Marnier Soufflé

My dad ordered the Crème Brulee

And my wife and I got the Norman Love Chocolate Raspberry Mouse with Vanilla Crème Brulee and Crunch Shortbread. We got two of the Norman Love offerings in the dining rooms. I believe the more upscale and extra fee Sabatini’s Italian Restaurant and the Crown Grille Steakhouse had more Norman Lear Chocolates. I think the Zaandam had a greater variety of deserts than the Ruby, but nothing could compare to Norman Love.

My parents got the always available Grilled Alaska Salmon. My dad’s fish was little overcooked but my mom’s fish was a little undercooked. The waiter offered to bring something else but my mom declined. We did have afternoon tea not too long ago.

My wife got the Filet of Turbo Truffle Chive Sauce.

And I ordered the Malabar Peppered Beef Tournedos. In the picture, you can see the issue I had with a lot of asparagus in the dinners. The stalks were not fresh. Instead of a lively deep green color, they were a drab and dull lighter green which means they were going to be chewy. I cut the tips off and left the stalks.