LIVE - Inside Passage - Ruby Princess - June 9 - 19, 2022

[Cruise Raider]

So, there was quite a bit of traffic on the Embarcadero throughout the even numbered piers.  Once we hit the odd numbered piers, it really lightened up.  
We checked in when the lines were really starting to get busy but, we only had to wait about 19 minutes before we were allowed to board.  
We went to the sail-away party up on deck and then continued up top to take some photos of sailing under the bridge.  
 We went to dinner at Michelangelo’s and Kieron arrange for us to have a wonderful table for the five of us by the window.  The food was outstanding.  
We didn’t have much energy after a long and exciting day so headed up to the room without seeing any shows.  
more to come …. 

[cruzin4us]

Oh what a day it was!   The weather in SF was drop dead gorgeous.   
I have so much to post but I’m all thumbs on my cell phone and I can’t get my laptop hooked up to the Wi-Fi.   So my post will be short.  Hopefully a few pics will load

Sailing under the Golden Gate really is special.  Especially on a day like today.   However it sure is windy on the bow.   Hold onto your glasses, hats, kids!

speaking of kids, there are quite a few on board.   
I don’t know the capacity, but I’ll ask if I remember.   It does seem much more crowded than my last 2 reopening cruises.  
We ate at Crown Grill tonight and I got one of the Alaskan offerings.  There was a $10 up charge for the King Salmon but OMG was it worth it.   WAY better than the lobster tail.  It was thick and cooked to perfection.   The rest of the meal was ok, but nothing to write home about.  
Medallion App and ordering drinks.   I had one drink delivered quickly.  The other drink never arrived but in all fairness to the crew, it was ordered during sail away and the bar was packed.  I’ll try again tomorrow and report back.   As far as some things that was being able to look up the menus of the restaurants, also the different cocktails along with their ingredients. 
The casino is smoking on one side and it wasn’t very nice to us today.   Not that I didn’t give it my best shot until 3:00 this morning.  
Elevators have been crowded and most people don’t mask up.   It’s kind of crazy how people get when waiting for an elevator.   You’d think they were trying to get in the last lifeboat on a sinking ship.  
The inside of the ship is very warm and cozy feeling, but I’m not going to lie, the outside is really rusty in places.   But once inside it looks like a different ship.   
Crew has been awesome thus far!   
I’ll write more when I can.  
ps.   I’m not proofreading this post because it’s 3:30 in the morning and I’m beat 😆😆

Edited June 10, 2022 by cruzin4us

[Mummo]

So far, so good! We had a table for 10 last night and it all went well. Went to the casino...a little smoky. The comedian/singer on the big stage in the theater was ok. He could really play the guitar, but was a bit hokey. Maybe I didn't have enough to drink. Found the cookies. Went to bed, rocked to sleep, woken up at 12 am by the fog horns!!! Pea soup! Back to sleep.

[DDBB1]

Thank you for sharing!  Im going on a Voyage of the Glaciers cruise next month and am wondering if they are still doing the North to Alaska activities with  Lunberjacks on board and Puppies in the Piazza?

[partybarbie]

1 hour ago, DDBB1 said:

Thank you for sharing!  Im going on a Voyage of the Glaciers cruise next month and am wondering if they are still doing the North to Alaska activities with  Lunberjacks on board and Puppies in the Piazza?

They did have both, last month, on this same cruise. 

[Drews_Cruise]

Nice to follow along,  thanks for sharing everyone.  I'm hopeful your experience is superior to ours on the Ruby Rust-bucket back in April.  By the way those elevators are a covid hotspot so I'd mask up  if I were you.  Same with getting on and off the ship.  lol  Enjoy everyone. 

[L11]

I finally woke up after also closing down the casino at 3. It is still pretty foggy outside but the seas are calm. We had breakfast in the Da Vinci dining room. The service was good but, at best, the eggs with asparagus and gratineed potatoes were edible (potatoes were really undercooked). Food so far is ok. Nothing special yet. The Crown Grill described above sounds fantastic though. We are eating several times at Sabatini’s so I will report back on our experience. 
 

Not too many activities that interest us on tap today though we did catch a little of the totem carver in the Piazza which we enjoyed. It figures that the 2 things we would like to try (watercolors and line dancing) conflict with my slot tournament time. Pretty reflective of my luck so far.
 

Next up, slot tournament at 1:30. Just wandering around and chilling until then. Love sea days!

 

Linda

[L11]

By the way, Internet right now is slooowwww. 
 

Linda

[suekel]

19 minutes ago, L11 said:

I finally woke up after also closing down the casino at 3. It is still pretty foggy outside but the seas are calm. We had breakfast in the Da Vinci dining room. The service was good but, at best, the eggs with asparagus and gratineed potatoes were edible (potatoes were really undercooked). Food so far is ok. Nothing special yet. The Crown Grill described above sounds fantastic though. We are eating several times at Sabatini’s so I will report back on our experience. 
 

Not too many activities that interest us on tap today though we did catch a little of the totem carver in the Piazza which we enjoyed. It figures that the 2 things we would like to try (watercolors and line dancing) conflict with my slot tournament time. Pretty reflective of my luck so far.
 

Next up, slot tournament at 1:30. Just wandering around and chilling until then. Love sea days!

 

Linda

Good luck in the tournament.  I'm doing it in August.  

[blubberwon]

Onboard the Ruby with 2550 other passengers, many families with young kids. It's summer what else can you expect.  Many new to Princess cruises, so that may help the stock, lol.  Like the CEO from Royal Caribbean stated on CNBC, hook them first and hook them for life. Very few wearing mask.  

We got to the port around 9:40am, checked our luggage with the porters, than stood in line to enter Pier 27 to check in. Normally opens at 10am, but today closer to 10:30am. Went through security than straight to checkin very smooth. Sat in the Platinum/Elite Area by 10:45am. Normally boarding starts around 11:00am, but today delayed until 11:30am. Went directly to the muster station to check in then the cabin to drop off the backpack and head to the DaVinci Dining Room for lunch, while most went to the buffet. After lunch back to the cabin to complete the muster drill by watching the video on the TV. If you don't do this your TV is locked until you do. That's it for now.  

[cruzin4us]

Well, I didn’t do much today except for hitting the one arm bandits.  That was a mistake, since Buffalos aren’t my friend this trip.  
They had an interesting totem pole carving demonstration. 
The ocean has been rocking and a rolling which makes for a fun time walking down the halls.   Few people are scrounging for seasick meds.   My DH said walking on the treadmill was next to impossible.  
We ate again at Crown Grill and we both got the salmon again.   I also got the scallop appetizer and DH got the Alaskan Crab Cake ($5).     Both we good.  For dessert we got the salted Caramel Cheesecake and it was just ok.   Service was good.  
Wifi is horribly slow but I was expecting this so I’m not surprised.   
The Medallion App which I love when it works has been horrible today.   The ‘loading” screen just spins.  I’ve rebooted my phone about 20 times today.   I thought it might be because we are in the farthest aft cabin on the starboard side but I couldn’t even get it to load in the Crown Grill.   This is frustrating when all you want to do is find out what time our dinner reservation was for.   I ordered 2 Specialty Coffees while in my room and they never showed up.   So, 50% of all orders haven’t arrived.   I waited for an hour before heading out and getting them myself.   
As far as calling the ship a “rust bucket”. I will agree there are areas that are in desperate need of some paint, but I don’t notice any of these issues inside the ship.   Our balcony is pretty rusty.   
The weather has been gloomy all day with kind of a drizzle/fog.   
We are going to sleep like babies tonight with the rolling of the ship.  I’m sorry if I don’t respond to questions but it’s difficult on my cell phone.  

Edited June 11, 2022 by cruzin4us

[L11]

Wi-Fi right now is still slow. Not too surprising. I was hoping it would be a little faster though since I have a bit of online business to do near the end of the cruise that will be very difficult to accomplish if I can’t find faster service. I will be experimenting to see if there are any areas on the ship where I can get a slightly better signal than in my stateroom. Wish me luck. 
 

I did not qualify for round 2 of the slot tournament. Boo. But I did well last night at 3 Card Poker so I am happy. 
 

Last night’s entertainment was John Bressler, whom I have seen before. Still am amazing piano player with a very raspy singing voice. Lots of fun. 
 

The service has over all been very good to excellent, especially our room steward, Rene. We have, fortunately, not experienced any problems with room service. Hopefully that will continue. 
 

In my (very subjective) opinion, food is still just ok. Looking forward to Sabatini’s tonight (first formal night). 
 

Sorry I have no pictures to post but I never seem to remember to take them. 
 

All in all, we are having a very enjoyable cruise. I will chime in with occasional updates. 
 

Linda

[AccordingToAlex]

Hey I created an account just to post this.  We're on this cruise.  The missus and I have decided to play "Where's Waldo." Y'all are Waldo.  LOL

 

[L11]

Hi @AccordingTo Alex. I don’t wear red and white stripes but you can find me most late nights (after 10 or 11) at one of the two 3 Card Poker tables in the casino. I’m the 70 year old lady with ear length curly greying hair, usually talking to someone or other. Tag, you’re it. 
 

Linda

[L11]

I spoke to soon about room service. We ordered for lunch and the order was only about 75% correct. Wrong pizza. It took about an hour to get it. Then, just a couple of minutes ago, a room service waiter appeared with a specialty coffee we did not order. @cruzin4us, I think we got the order you were missing! Oh well, pretty much first world problems. 
 

Linda

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, L11 said:

I spoke to soon about room service. We ordered for lunch and the order was only about 75% correct. Wrong pizza. It took about an hour to get it. Then, just a couple of minutes ago, a room service waiter appeared with a specialty coffee we did not order. @cruzin4us, I think we got the order you were missing! Oh well, pretty much first world problems. 
 

Linda

 

Since they actually charge $3 for pizza delivery I'd be pretty annoyed to get the wrong pizza.

[karenlynn416]

We'll be boarding after you on the 19th with 20 people... If you get time, and you see it... Could you tell me what movies will be playing? We have a couple of preteens (and a couple of adults) that were wondering! Thanks!!

[CAZephyr]

9 hours ago, L11 said:

Wi-Fi right now is still slow. Not too surprising. I was hoping it would be a little faster though since I have a bit of online business to do near the end of the cruise that will be very difficult to accomplish if I can’t find faster service. I will be experimenting to see if there are any areas on the ship where I can get a slightly better signal than in my stateroom. Wish me luck. 

Linda

I think you will find that the internet is just slightly faster when in port while many passengers and crew are ashore.  We were able to see our Gd perform in 720 res at an event in Florida in early May while docked at an Alaskan port.  As passengers returned to the ship I notice a slow but steady fall-off to the point that we were unable to see other performances in her group.  First there were slow freeze frames...then nothing, even at the lowest res, over the hour before departure from the port.  You may want to test that at a port before relying on the ship's internet when it counts.   The Medallion App stopped working toward the end.

[treesah]

Thanks so much for posting.  We hope to be on the Ruby end of next month.  Interested to find out what excursions you have booked.

[caribill]

What times are the shows in the Princess Theater?

[blubberwon]

I know your itinerary may be different, but here is the June 9th itinerary showing which nights are formal nights on our cruise, so yours maybe very similar. 

 

So, far the shows included a comedian,  a piano man and a lady rock singer.  All were quite good. Showtimes were 7:30 & 9:30. There have been game shows, karaoke and movies in the evenings. There's music through out the day,  and very good naturalist talks daily.  The spa has talks on various topics during the days. Also, there is ballroom dance classes,  tai chi at sea,  zumba fitness, art auctions and arts and crafts. Of course there's trivia.  The casino is very crowded on this cruise because there's a $25,000 slot tournament on this cruise. 

 

Today, is our first port, Juneau, we arrive late at 3pm and we are required to get disembarkment passes, I don't know why. I guess they don't want the 2550 passengers pushing and shoving their way off the ship, lol. 

 

Tonight's show, we have the first lady winner of the Iditarod, Libby Riddles giving us a talk.  If you haven't seen her, she's worth your time to listen to her. 

 

Well, that's all for now.  If you have any questions feel free to ask,  but I don't know whether I have the answers. 

Tim

[L11]

On 6/11/2022 at 5:14 PM, karenlynn416 said:

We'll be boarding after you on the 19th with 20 people... If you get time, and you see it... Could you tell me what movies will be playing? We have a couple of preteens (and a couple of adults) that were wondering! Thanks!!

I didn't save the previous Patters but today's movies were King Richard, Spencer and Encanto. Hope that helps a little.

 

It was a rainy and chilly day in Juneau. We did a Princess excursion that involved gold panning and a salmon bake. We had a great time despite the weather. Right now, we are in the theater waiting for a presentation by Libby Riddles, first female Iditarod winner. There are no other shows in the theater tonight, probably because we are in port until about 9:30 pm.

 

Linda

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

2 minutes ago, L11 said:

I didn't save the previous Patters but today's movies were King Richard, Spencer and Encanto. Hope that helps a little.

 

It was a rainy and chilly day in Juneau. We did a Princess excursion that involved gold panning and a salmon bake. We had a great time despite the weather. Right now, we are in the theater waiting for a presentation by Libby Riddles, first female Iditarod winner. There are no other shows in the theater tonight, probably because we are in port until about 9:30 pm.

 

Linda

 

We appreciate all the current details on Ruby.  Thanks to all posting.

Does anyone know where the covid quarantine/isolation cabins are on Ruby?

Or are people being allowed to stay in their cabins now?

 

[caribill]

16 hours ago, blubberwon said:

Showtimes were 7:30 & 9:30. 

 

 

What production shows are on your cruise?

 

Thanks

[blubberwon]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

What production shows are on your cruise?

 

Thanks

2 production shows, Stardust and World of Color