Just returned from a 1 day cruise on Princess Ruby ---Van to Seattle

[MoyCoy]

I meant to bring home the Princess Patter from this cruise. But alas, it did not make it into my suitcase--boo;p. I also did not take a lot of pictures. So needless to say , this will be a short and sweet and informative

 

I did not fine a lot of information about this cruise so I wanted to write a little something for those who are searching in the future. I will also write this review from the standpoint of a Parent of 2 young children. I also live in Seattle , so this will be from a 'home town' perspective. I also used this cruise in a back to back situation.

 

 

Embarkation.

 

We docked on the NCL Jewel at Vancouver around 700am. We disembarked as SLOWLY as possible because we wanted the porters to be outside for the Ruby Princess by the time we disembarked. We walked off the ship around 945am. Waded through the lines and sea of people, found our bags, and processed to find a porter. We gained 2 bags along our journey and were short pre- printed luggage tags. I am use to the porters having extras at the pier. Alas , this time, no dice. The porters did not have staplers or extra tags. By 10am they had not received their supplies yet. Being the bold extrovert that I am, I proceeded to beg anyone and everyone for a stapler. And By 1030am, a kind porter drugged up some extra tags. Lesson #1 Always have your luggage prepared and ready to go beforehand.;p

 

We had intended to take the train to Richmond, eat lunch, and embark later. Boy oh Boy, did we change our minds quickly. It was cold and rainy AND the lines were already long for Customs. It felt like a eternity waiting in the custom lines with 2 antsy 6 year olds. But we are sure glad we did. We had a theory that the lines would be less around 3pm. We heard from passengers after we finished lunch in the buffet that the lines were actually worse. We made the right choice getting on right away. \

 

We did this same cruise 2 years ago on the Grand where we embarked in Seattle and disembarked in Vancouver. We than boarded the Solstice 1 day later in Vancouver. The boarding of that cruise was quite smooth. Vancouver to Seattle... Pure chaos! The time for' all aboard' was by 4pm. BUT people were still embarking at 4p, Crazy!

[MissP22]

It's to bad about the patter. I would have loved to have seen one- just to say I have.:)

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

It's to bad about the patter. I would have loved to have seen one- just to say I have.:)

 

Canadian Burger has a post on here about the same cruise and he has a Patter there.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the feedback.

[So_Tweetie]

We were also on the Jewel and switched to the Ruby, had hoped to stay on the Jewel until 9:30AM but Norwegian staff ushered us off at 9AM when they saw us sitting on deck 7.

 

Chaos is an understatement for the boarding procedure in Vancouver: We gave our bags to a porter and tipped him, then sat on a bench to wait out the crowds that were swarming inside. Not five minutes later a team of port staff gathered to discuss two unidentified bags left in a secure area with no tags. We watched as the situation seemed to escalate ("traffic police" came to inspect) - and then it dawned on us that they were talking about OUR bags! After finding the original porter and having him confirm to the others that the bags were ours (and DID have tags), everyone calmed down.

 

Security was ready to process those of us in line at 10AM but several of us were told to leave the line, walk cross the building, go up an escalator and collect a green piece of paper before we would be allowed to proceed. We walked most of the way across the building before another port agent said we did not need the piece of paper and escorted us back to security. Eventually she handed out the useless green pieces of paper which were later collected before we used the immigration machines. Two holding rooms later we were allowed to board. From there, no complaints!

[martincath]

Just think how bad it is for the folks embarking today - with a third ship worth of pax to handle...

 

Start of the season is always ropey - new hires, even experienced staff need to refamiliarise themselves, and over the last few years there have been many changes of procedures, which rooms get used, new escalators etc etc etc that added even more potential problems.

 

The fall one-days see (dis)embarkation running much, much smoother even if it's a 2 or 3 ship day - but no matter how cheap a deal we can't bring ourselves to take the spring ones any more...

[redtop101]

Boarding procedures always seem to change whenever we board in Vancouver. On Friday we were booked on Ruby Princess. NCL Jewel was also in port. Both sets of embarking passengers were all mixed into one huge holding hall, and given numbers. When your number was called, you were ushered outside in the elements(fortunately, it wasn't raining at the time). The line moved slowly and we soon found out why. We had to enter one elevator, which held about 12 people with luggage. We went down and directed to another line-up for security. Passengers were then directed to US Customs & Immigration. Fortunately, we had Nexus cards, so by-passed most of the lines. From there, finally directed to check-in for ship. Again, because we were Elite, there was no wait for check-in and finally on our way to the ship. Beginning of the cruise season is usually a zoo in Vancouver, but tinkering with the passenger processing system this year hasn't seem to have improved the flow.

 

 

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