REVIEW-Ruby Princess to Alaska, 9/16-9/23

Hello! I wanted to try to review our cruise as best as possible, at least hitting the major points.

My husband and I are in our mid-30's. It was our first trip to Alaska and his first cruise (my last was 10 years ago); our first on Princess.

WEATHER:

This was my biggest concern as I had read some disconcerting stuff about mid-September weather but other than a couple hours of very light rain in Juneau while at Mendenhall Glacier, we had the best weather. This included a rare sunny day in Glacier Bay (no fog or clouds!) and a beautiful cloudless day in Ketchikan which I know is notorious for rain. We got to Seattle a day before our cruise and had a sunny day as well! Very little winds as well at all ports.

EMBARKATION:

We arrived to Seattle the day before, early afternoon and had some sightseeing time. Because they were going through a lobby renovation, I was able to score $197/night, incl taxes, at The Roosevelt which is in a prime downtown location. The room was pretty small (even smaller than our cruise room) but the location cannot be beat.

We took a town car to Pier 91 Saturday morning around 11 a.m ($25). We got there by 11:20 and breezed through the checkin, luggage, medical questionnaire section, etc. We did have to wait for our group number to be called to board the ship but was not too long; then several minutes to walk up the ship as that took longer because of picture taking etc. But we were eating lunch in DaVinci by Noon; we then went straight to our room and luggage was already there.

THE ROOM

We booked a partially obstructed oceanview on the Emerald deck (E404); I had looked at photos before and knew that it was barely obstructed and I was right. We had a perfect view out our large window--there was just some tiny equipment below us but certainly did not obstruct our review. I would get this room again; it was also mid-ship and mid-deck.

The room with Queen bed was larger than expected and they made good use of storage and the large closet; bathroom was small as expected but still good use of storage. Shower was as expected in size but the shower curtain stayed in place.

THE FOOD

Both my husband and I were very pleasantly surprised with the dining room food, to the point where we questioned why people would pay the extra for specialty restaurants. Especially for dinner, the menu was so diverse and varied, with the attention on quality. We aren't major foodies but still like having quality food and we felt like Princess hit the mark on this. The desserts were also to die for (definitely try all the Love desserts). We only had one full meal at the Horizon buffet but that was good as well. International cafe had some good stuff too and we enjoyed the pizza, burgers, sausages, etc. on the Lido deck as well.

The dining room staff was always so pleasant and accommodating as well.

Re: coffee--although we purchased the coffee card, the included coffee was not as bad as I read it to be. I actually thought it tasted better than the watery brewed coffee at the IC. The Specialty coffees were hit or miss...depending on the item. The Tiramasu coffee was pretty good and they had Mighty Leaf teas as well that we liked. My husband does not think he wants to do the coffee card again although I think I would.

Drinks--we took advantage of the Buy One get one for a dollar happy hours, that they had twice a day. We aren't big drinkers so that was enough for us.

JUNEAU:

We booked the blue shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier at the pier--at a somewhat pricey $45/pp roundtrip. We got lucky as just about when we were going to hike up Nugget Falls, we see a bunch of rangers running. It turns out that a bear was not more than 10 feet away from us. It was exciting to see on our first port day. Nugget Falls was beautiful and definitely a must-do short walk from the visitor's center.

We then went back to town and had amazing fish tacos and halibut cakes at Deckhand Daves, and then just walked around the capital building and shops.

SKAGWAY:

This was our only formal excursion we booked so we had our whole day covered. Based on good reviews, we booked with Dyea Dave on our own--bus ride up to the Yukon and Carcoss, and the train back down--sit on the right side on the bus up, and right side on the train down for best views. We were again blessed with good weather and had a great tour guide. Had some lunch at a cafe in Carcoss (not much is open that time of year) and got our passports stamped. Then we took the RR back--stood outside on the open deck most of the time and had great views.

We then had a little more than an hour to walk around the cute town of Skagway and shops.

GLACIER BAY:

Again--had the best sunny weather here. We focused our viewing on the Promenade deck and then would move between Starboard and Port side for the views, listening to the park rangers onboard. Based on someone else's review on CC, I had brought insulated coffee thermos from home as no disposable items are allowed on this day. So we were able to get our coffee from the IC and then sip as we watched and listened to the Rangers. They also had a great seafood buffet this day as well, as well as fish tacos and reindeer chili on the Lido deck.

KETCHIKAN:

Nothing planned here as it was a short port day. The day before, one of the naturalists mentioned a hiking trail, Rainbird trail, so we decided to try it. It is a bit steep climbing up but the views are wonderful. We then went back to town and enjoyed the shopping and the cute Creekside street. Bought some smoked salmon from Salmon Market and had some halibut and chips before getting back on the ship.

VICTORIA:

The hours were odd here--7 p.m.-11:30 p.m.. but it was a required international stop. We had just visited there in April so it was not a big deal to us that there was no gardens excursion offered. We still walked to Fisherman's Wharf, had some halibut and chips from Barb's and just walked to downtown and back. Great weather here as well.

DISEMBARKATION:

We selected the 9:30 a.m. departure as our flight was not until 2:55 p.m. and we wanted to have a leisurely breakfast. We put the big luggage out the night before so the porters could take them. We then met our 9:30 group and went down where our luggage was waiting for us. I had pre-booked Seattle Express to the airport so that was easy.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

We had a wonderful time on this cruise and on the Ruby Princess. My husband was a pretty leery about cruising but he had the best time and would do it again.

RE: seasickness--we wore seabands most of the time and took Bonine once a day. Saturday night and our first sea day was somewhat rough but we did not get sick. However, being 2 days home, I currently have "land seasickness" that I am hoping will subside soon!

Hope you found this review informative! Thanks to all the CC members in helping me plan this cruise with great recommendations and input.

Glad you had a good time and lucked out with the weather! I hope it continues for this last cruise of the season.

Thanks for taking the time to do a trip report. It will be helpful to people planning for 2018 and 2019. Please add it to the trip report list above.

Loved your review! Thanks.

Thank you for your very well written review.

Keith

Thank you for your review:) Can I ask where you got your passports stamped in Carcross? Thanks in advance!

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Great review. Thanks for sharing.

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There's a visitor's informational center right at the front of the town where the cafes are. We also noticed a do-it-yourself stamp station outside the large General Store when we were leaving.

Thank you for your review:) Can I ask where you got your passports stamped in Carcross? Thanks in advance!

 

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There's a visitor's informational center right at the front of the town where the cafes are. We also noticed a do-it-yourself stamp station outside the large General Store when we were leaving.

Wonderful, thank you :)

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One thing I forgot to mention re: dining--we did the Anytime Dining which worked out fine although we tried to go around 7:30 p.m. most nights.

If you want to avoid sitting with other people on one table, I would recommend making reservations as early as possible. On the days we did not make a reservation or they were full, we sat with people, which was fine and we had a good time, but sometimes you're tired and don't feel like making conversation Lol!

Did they still have happy Hour on board? BOGO $1?

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Yes...usually twice a day. Late afternoon at the Wheelhouse and late evening at Adagio on the upper deck.

Did they still have happy Hour on board? BOGO $1?

 

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