Tips/Info for Ruby Princess to Alaska 2015

Just returned from our Alaska cruise on Ruby Princess. Here are some tips for those yet to sail her or even those who have not yet booked a cruise.

First, for a rundown of how we saw Seattle in one day before the cruise, see the West Coast homeports forum for our post on that subject.

If you haven't yet booked a cruise and are maybe trying to decide on a cruise line...we observed that Holland America got the prime docking spots at all ports--the central downtown locations with the least amount of walking involved. Maybe because their passengers tend to be older? In Skagway, the train even ran right up to their ship!

But on to the Ruby Princess...

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at about 10:45 and were finished checking in and seated in the waiting area within 15 minutes! No kidding! They let us on the ship around 11:30, and we could go immediately to our cabins and drop off carry-on luggage. That was nice! Disembarkation back in Seattle was also done quickly and efficiently. No problems at all.

The dining room that is open during embarkation is the Da Vinci dining room on deck 6, just outside the panoramic (glass) elevators. But it is only open between 12:00 and 1:00. It is so much nicer, quieter and less crowded than going to the buffet for embarkation lunch. And yes! The salmon in dill sauce is still on the menu! It was the best meal we had all week, unfortunately.

Formal nights were Monday and Friday (both sea days). The Crab Shack (which we did not try--more on that later) was on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday nights. $20 per person.

Wednesday night (Juneau port) was Italian night in the main dining room. To us, this was the least desirable menu. Also, most people were still ashore as we were in Juneau until 10 PM. So this might be a good night to book a specialty restaurant.

Overall, the ship was beautiful with a very spacious piazza. But too many of the Princess ships look almost identical in most areas. Our cabin was roomy with plenty of storage, bathroom adequate and shower teeny tiny.

When going ashore (especially in Juneau) go down to the disembarkation area early! The lines to get off the ship sometimes wrapped all the way to the back and across the back of the ship (and this ship is about 3 football fields long!). The lines were terrible, and many were complaining! Of course, people were trying to cut in line and that didn't make for a pleasant experience. Some folks we overheard in Juneau were concerned about missing their independently planned excursions. We almost missed ours. It seems everyone on the ship practically has an excursion at the same time, so all are trying to get off together which created huge jams.

Speaking of jams...the lines for anytime dining were long almost every night. Even the line of those who had reservations was long. If you went to eat between about 6:45 and 8:00, you could expect to wait for 20 minutes or more to be seated. So if you can, plan to go either early or late. We heard some complaining that Princess was allowing people who had signed up for fixed seating dining to go to anytime dining whenever they desired. That contributed to the chaos, and in our opinion, was not fair to the anytime diners.

We never had trouble finding a seat for any of the shows/lectures in the Princess Theater. Sometimes we even went in late and found seating.

There are some really good musicians on the Ruby. The piano player who played for Frank Sinatra was in one of the lounges. A Hungarian group called the Rhapsody Strings played in several venues. They were terrific! Never saw cruise ship passengers flock to hear classical and semi classical music like we saw them go after those Hungarian musicians. There was also a good young group called Passion who could play many types of music for dancing. They played at sailaway, in several lounges and on the night we celebrated Princess' 50th anniversary in the piazza. There was also a piano player and guitar player who performed in the piazza and other venues who were each very good. And there was some jazz and Big Band at various times--something for every taste.

Entertainers for our week were an illusionist (very good) a comedian (ok to good) and a vocalist we did not hear. The Princess singers and dancers had 3 production shows. We only went to one of them, "Colors of the World," but it was really terrific. With all the early morning port times and getting up at 5 or 6 AM, we were usually worn out by 9 or 10 PM and needed to get to bed to rest up for the next day's events.

They showed Movies Under the Stars all week which was kind of pointless as it was too cool to sit outside and watch a movie, especially at night. But just wait a day or two, and the same movies will be shown on your TV. They did show a couple of movies during the week in the Princess Theater. Throughout the day, they played reruns of "The Love Boat" on one cabin TV channel in honor of Princess' 50th anniversary, plus there were a couple of movie channels, two or three news channels and a sports channel. It was as good a variety of TV programming as we've seen on any cruise.

The lecturer/naturalist onboard (a man named Talarico) was boring to us. We went to his first lecture where he spent the first 15 minutes talking about his dog and other personal things before he started saying anything about Alaska. We almost fell asleep in the rest of the presentation. We were so disappointed that we didn't go back for any of his other lectures. And you had to be up on deck 16 during the cruise through Tracy Arm Fjord or other scenic locations to hear anything he said or when he pointed out any wildlife. We had paid for a balcony and couldn't understand why his comments could not be broadcast over the cabin TVs. Why pay for a balcony if you had to go up and stand on deck 16 to gain the benefits of the naturalist?

Libby Riddles, who was the only woman to win the Iditarod dogsled race, was the lecturer Wednesday night in the Princess Theater, but most people were still ashore in Juneau. We had just come back on the ship and missed her presentation. We thought we'd catch it later on our cabin TV, but it was only shown once, and we missed that too. We were disappointed because one of the captains from the "Deadliest Catch" TV program spoke on Monday morning, and his presentation was shown probably 4 times on TV throughout the week.

If you don't book excursions ahead of time, we saw ample excursion companies with booths on the docks. Did not check the prices to compare with the prices we prepaid before our cruise, but at least you know they are available.

In Ketchikan there is a free shuttle that runs every 10-20 minutes that will take you from the ship to downtown and back. Princess' dock was the farthest from town. We did walk it, and it wasn't bad. But if you don't feel like walking or have mobility issues, wait for the shuttle. Also, Skagway had a shuttle for $2 per person one way or $5 per person for all day that went back and forth between the ship and town.

The best prices we saw on Alaska t-shirts, jackets and souvenirs was in Ketchikan. Shops had jackets with Alaska insignias for $16 or $17 where the same item on the ship was $40. On the last sea day aboard ship, they do offer 2 for $10 Alaska t shirts. But the selection of designs and sizes was limited.

Let's talk about dining... For the first time EVER, we actually thought the buffet food was better than the main dining room food! Some nights in the main dining room we had trouble finding things that sounded appealing, and we are not picky eaters! Yes, they offered "Alaskan" food items on most menus. But after trying a couple and being disappointed, we gave up. We think it was Ketchikan night (Tuesday) in the main dining room they offered what they called Alaskan King Crab. The size of it was more like snow crab, but the taste was nowhere near as good. We were very disappointed. We felt that if the Crab Shack was as bad as the crab we had that night, we didn't want to blow $40 to eat there. The soups and sauces on dining room entrees were bland and needed to be richer. Also, some sauces just didn't seem to match the entree--like a tomato based sauce on pheasant?? Yuk. We tried a couple of the chef's ("prize winning" so it said) recipes and would never have them again. We hope it was just this particular ship's food that was not up to par and not something happening fleetwide on Princess. We thought Carnival's food was better than the food on Ruby Princess.

We ate on embarkation night in the Crowne Grill. We expected so much more than we got. The two appetizers we ordered were horrible! We ordered the filet mignons as our main course. While they were thick and tender, they were dry and not juicy or flavorful. The accompanying vegetables were the best part of the meal. We got the chef's selection of 3 small desserts. The only one that was good was the chocolate one which was VERY good (you can order it as a larger single dessert, and we would highly recommend that). But the other two were about as tasty as cardboard.

In fact, all of the desserts throughout the week were a BIG disappointment. Nothing was sweet--at any venue--whether it was the Horizon Court buffet, the main dining room or the International Cafe in the Piazza. They all looked delicious but had no sweetness or flavor. They were (not to insult European readers, but we lived in Europe for 18 years) strictly European. Almost all the desserts tasted alike with few exceptions...like cardboard. We would have probably enjoyed a dinner roll more. In fact, the breads served with each main dining room meal belied the fact that the pastry chefs were likely European or at least European influenced. The breads were amazing!! As bad as the desserts were, the breads were at the opposite end of the scale. We've always said that Princess has the best breads of any cruise line. Wish they could figure out how to make desserts as well as they do bread! Even the soft serve ice creams weren't sweet! The pizza we tried was good. Did not have anything from the poolside grills. Did not go to the pub lunches which they had on sea days as we recall.

The first formal night on the cruise (Monday night) was the least desirable of the two. They were featuring their "through the decades with Princess" menu, and there were only two entree choices other than the always available menu. One was a turbot fish dish and the other was some kind of meat medallions. The turbot was very bland, almost tasteless. We did not taste the meat dish as the other of us ordered off the always available menu. This might be another night to try one of the specialty restaurants.

Anytime dining room service (once you got seated) was very good. Water glasses were refilled promptly, and there were few long waits between courses. Hats off to the serving teams! We only had room service one morning for breakfast. It was delivered on time, and the order was correct.

We bought a coffee card. Cappuccinos in the International Cafe and main dining rooms were large and excellent! Saw some people with frozen coffee drinks but did not get a chance to try one. Also, the card allowed us to get all the brewed coffee in the International Cafe that we wanted. Coffee everywhere else on the ship is made from some kind of syrup and is not very good.

Our fellow passengers on this cruise were a bit older, quieter and seemed more intent on enjoying Alaska rather than living it up on the ship. This may change once schools are out for the summer. But we enjoyed the calmness versus the sometimes fast paced, energetic Caribbean cruises.

Overall, considering the port stops and ambience of the ship, we liked it a lot. Would we do it again on Ruby Princess? Probably not due to the food. We will likely give Princess another try on a different ship in the future. But if there is not an improvement in the food, we'll stick with Holland America, Celebrity or Royal Caribbean in the future.

Things to look out for in ports. Ketchikan is the bald eagle stop. We saw them everywhere--especially in the trees along the waterfront as our ship was sailing away to Juneau. Also, it will be the salmon stop as the salmon begin spawning in June through September. Be sure to visit the salmon ladder downtown. Bears also come out to catch the salmon in the rivers when they begin spawning, so there will be more bears to see. We were told we missed "the show" by about 3 weeks. Rats!! Juneau is the whale stop. On our whale watch we saw both orcas and humpbacks, and a baby humpback put on a show by breaching not less than 20 times in a row!! It was unbelievable! Skagway is the scenery stop (of course, all the ports are scenic). We took the bus and train combo tour up to the summit and saw amazing waterfalls, mountains, lakes and even a bear!

Sailaway out of Seattle heading to Ketchikan was very scenic. There were islands and ferries everywhere. Ketchikan heading to Juneau is gorgeous! We sat on the balcony (starboard side) for maybe an hour and a half just enjoying the scenery. Also, departing Skagway on starboard side for about an hour and a half past Haines is beautiful. Right around Haines there are some breathtakingly majestic mountain peaks that were all still snow covered when we were there.

Alaska is amazing--even from a rowboat. We already want to go back, so we feel sure you will enjoy your trip. Hope some of this info and tips will help you in your planning!

Thanks for the review! Sorry about the food! As you probably know, food really depends on the executive chef onboard at the time of the cruise. May I suggest that you mention this in your post-cruise survey?

I've never really had a bad meal on Princess. On Carnival, multiple times... the food was the very best I've ever had on my last cruise on the Crown. The Executive Chef is the same on my upcoming cruise on the Crown at the end of June. In fact, I put both my husband and myself on a diet!

Thank you for your review! We will be on the Ruby in September and are very excited to learn all about her and get everyone's perspectives.

It's great to hear how fast the boarding went! Lines are the worst when you are so excited to start the vacation.

It sounds like you had some ups and downs with the menu. We've decided to try the Crown Grille one evening - do you recommend a specific night to "skip" the MDR? I've read quite a few reviews about the 50th anniversary meal being lower than expectations - but should we go for the experience?

Also - do you remember any of the "special" Alaskan dishes?

Did you use the pools at all, or was it to cold?

Thanks for any advice and thank you for writing your review :)

Thanks for the review. I will be on Ruby in 3 weeks! I will make sure to remember some of your tips.

I've done the Coral in Alaska and found my experience to be MUCH better than Carnival. Especially the food. Maybe its the chief?? We are heading out on Ruby in August. Here is to hoping they get the kinks out.

As for the issue in Skag. When I was on Coral the train came up to us. Bummer that wasn't the experience with Ruby. I here is first come, first serve, but maybe that isn't true in Alaska.

Thank you for the insight about the buffet vs the dining room. My husband is rather anti-social and would be happy as a clam with buffet food in the room and eating off the balcony or while watching tv. lol. I did set up for one night to do the UBD because of this.

You mentioned a lot about dinner. Any recommendations about lunches during the cruise?

Who was the cruise director? Was he/she good?

Also, on nights where we have a sea day the next day, we like to stay up late and go dancing. Are we going to find that on this cruise, or does everyone go to bed early when there is no need to get up early the next a.m. I know its going to be a different atmosphere than when we go to the Caribbean, but just wondering.

25 more days for me!!

Who was the cruise director? Was he/she good?

 

Also, on nights where we have a sea day the next day, we like to stay up late and go dancing. Are we going to find that on this cruise, or does everyone go to bed early when there is no need to get up early the next a.m. I know its going to be a different atmosphere than when we go to the Caribbean, but just wondering.

 

25 more days for me!!

There are multiple venues for dancing... Skywalkers from 10:00 on is just one of them.

Thank you for the rundown on the Ruby...

The wife and I will be sailing the Ruby July 5th.

We have sailed the Ruby in the Caribbean. No issues with the food.

Hope they have a decent chef on duty.

We'll be on the same cruise in August. This is our first cruise with Princess, and if the food stays as bad as you describe, it will probably be our last. We'd previously heard that Princess got a lot of good berths, so it is disappointing to hear that Holland America consistently had better ones throughout.

I'm still excited about the cruise, but your review makes me a little concerned that we decided to go with Princess.

Thanks for your review.

I can't remember a bad meal on a Princess cruise. :(

We'll be on the same cruise in August. This is our first cruise with Princess, and if the food stays as bad as you describe, it will probably be our last. We'd previously heard that Princess got a lot of good berths, so it is disappointing to hear that Holland America consistently had better ones throughout.

 

I'm still excited about the cruise, but your review makes me a little concerned that we decided to go with Princess.

I would take this review with a big grain of salt... the only thing the OP liked was the bread... Some chefs are better than others but I seriously doubt that the food was all bad. Food is really subjective but I've never

had a bad meal on a Princess ship. In the OP's case, I think it's very much exaggerated.

What time did they start self disembarkment?

I think it was just luck of the draw about berthing. Today, Crown Princess is berthed at spot closest to the railway in Skagway. Last year, we berthed there on Star Princess. A couple of years before that, we were last in line on Golden Princess. I think it's more about who gets there first...

BTW, OP did you try tuning to the webcam station in your cabin? That's where they usually have the narration running when doing scenic cruising.

Who was the cruise director? Was he/she good?

They just changed cruise directors, its Billy Hygate now, he's OK. The Captain Circle host is Colin Sim. We sail on the Ruby on June 14th .

Took this cruise in early May, always had a great berth, I guess we were lucky!

We board on Sunday! Thank you so much for the update!

Did you do any wine tasting or mixology classes?

Is there on demand movies in the room? (thinking for the kiddos at night this would be nice)?

We are early eaters so its good to know we shouldn't have too long of a wait. Early dining was full so we are doing anytime dining.

Thanks again for the update!

We board on Sunday! Thank you so much for the update!

Did you do any wine tasting or mixology classes?

Is there on demand movies in the room? (thinking for the kiddos at night this would be nice)?

We are early eaters so its good to know we shouldn't have too long of a wait. Early dining was full so we are doing anytime dining.

 

Thanks again for the update!

No movies on demand, no "mixology" classes.

Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years cruising on Princess that works well for us.

We do the late traditional dining, less crowded, faster service. At home we normally have dinner around 5pm, if we get hungry before dinner and need a little snack there’s always the buffet or the poolside grill. A few times we’ve had a table for 6 or 8 to ourselves. We try to take all of our meals in the MDR, we like to be waited on. Ask, ask, ask, if you don’t see it on the menu or you don’t like something on the menu ask for a substitution, they have always been accommodating. If you don’t like your dinner send it back and get something else, it’s not the end of the world. A lot of the dinners on the menu don’t appeal to us so we order from the always available section, in a pinch I’ve ordered from the children’s menu. If I order from the children’s menu I order 2 dinners, there small. I’ve found that the Cheesecake and the Princess love boat are always good. If you really want a treat get the Volcano from the children’s menu, it’ll be just about all you eat. At dinner I always get the appetizer portion of Fettuccine Alfredo with a chicken breast cut up on top, so good. You have to ask what night they are going to have Escargot, I never thought I’d like but now I get it on every cruise. I only eat the ice cream in the dining room, the soft serve ice cream that’s served on the Lido deck is pretty much ice milk, not that great.

If you want to know where you’re ship is going to berth you can look it up here. http://claalaska.com/?page_id=318

So many questions, and I'll try to get to them all. But first, let me address "Working to Cruise." No, my comments on food were not highly exaggerated. We have sailed with Princess enough to qualify for Ruby level. I agree with what others said that we have seldom had a bad meal on Princess cruises. But this time was different, and if you weren't on our cruise, you can't speak to the issue or judge whether I exaggerated or not. We are not picky or "snobby" eaters. We lived in Europe for 18 years and traveled all over the world. We like food from many cultures. We normally eat at chain restaurants at home in the US and like them just fine. We also enjoy finer dining when we visit such establishments on special occasions. It was not a matter of having highly refined tastes. The food was just not what we have come to expect on Princess.

I never said ALL the food was bad. The salmon upon embarkation was excellent. I also mentioned other things that were good. I also said that we liked the buffet food better than the dining room food. But for the most part, the food we had was not up to par with what we have experienced on Princess previously. It has been about 2 years since our last Princess cruise, and if this ship is an indication of what is happening fleetwide, it has gone downhill since last time we sailed. I understand that Princess loyalists will always be quick to defend their particular "brand," as do others who are loyal to other lines. We are not loyal to any particular cruise line as we have sailed with many. I was simply making my honest observation about this particular ship and this particular cruise.

To the person who suggested sending back meals, we did that. The new ones we got were a little better. And sometimes we didn't send back what we had but just asked for additional meals to find something we liked from each one.

To the person who is afraid they made a mistake booking Princess, I can assure you that there are enough good things about the cruise that you will enjoy it. We're already talking about going back to Alaska.

We just got off the ship Sunday night, May 31st. Our cruise had a female cruise director. We got the impression she was new on the job, and we didn't see her a lot as we didn't attend a ton of events. But she seemed energetic and pleasant and truly excited to be doing what she is doing.

We did have the TV channel of the forward viewing web cam on in our cabin while sailing Tracy Arm Fjord. There was no commentary on it from the naturalist. We simply could see ahead where the ship was going to the accompaniment of nice music.

As far as Holland America's choice locations in ports, it was what it was. When we arrived in Skagway, Holland America was not there yet. But they still got the berth where the train came right up to their ship. Don't know how all that works. I just reported what I saw.

That's all the questions I can remember without going back and re-reading the comments. So I will post more after a quick review of them.

OK, I didn't see many people in the pools except in Ketchikan when it was sunny and temps in the 70s. But I think I heard or read while onboard that one of the pools is heated.

Some of the Alaskan dishes? There is a salmon dish on the Always Available menu that is advertised as a special "Alaskan" recipe. I ordered it and sent it back after one bite in exchange for spaghetti and meatballs (which were actually pretty good). The way the salmon was prepared tasted strange. Maybe the spices used, I'm not sure. But it wasn't tasty at all.

The king crab as I said was not too good. There was another Alaskan advertised dish that we tried. Can't recall what it was at the moment as we don't have menu copies. But it wasn't impressive.

Someone asked about lunch suggestions. There is a pub lunch (British food) on the sea days at lunch. We didn't try it, but we've heard a lot of people like it. We ate most days in the buffet. Ate in the dining room three days at lunch. You don't get as much variety there as in the buffet. But the best meal we had all week (salmon in dill sauce) was at lunch on embarkation day in the dining room.

For the person who asked about suggested nights to go to specialty restaurants, please see my original post. Italian Night (Juneau) or first formal night (Monday, first sea day) would be my suggestions.

Someone asked if they should attend the first formal night where the chef's special menu commemorates Princess' 50th anniversary for the "experience" of it. Actually, other than it being formal night, there wasn't any special experience...just fewer choices on the menu. It was pretty much a set menu with two selections in each category plus the Always Available menu.

One thing to add...DO try the sorbets in the dining room! I sometimes asked for 2-3 scoops of the sorbet of the night as my dessert since the desserts weren't very sweet.

Can't speak to the mixology or wine tasting as we are tee-totalers. But there were no "on demand" movies in the cabins. Seems that there was a children's TV channel however for your kiddos.

I think I've covered everything thus far. Happy Sailing!

What time did they start self disembarkment?

What time did they start regular disembarment?

Did they offer as a excursion for Tracey Arms?

Do you know if the Ruby has the Princess @ Sea available? We leave Sunday and would love to stay in touch onboard with a couple of teens!

Marilyn :)

 

But on to the Ruby Princess...

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at about 10:45 and were finished checking in and seated in the waiting area within 15 minutes! No kidding! They let us on the ship around 11:30, and we could go immediately to our cabins and drop off carry-on luggage. That was nice! Disembarkation back in Seattle was also done quickly and efficiently. No problems at all.

Thanks for the kind words. We try to make your time at Pier 91 as smooth and efficient as possible and it's nice to hear that we performed to your satisfaction. Hope to see you again on another cruise to Alaska! ;)

Tom

Glad you had a good cruise. We love the Ruby and have probably more time logged on her than any other ship in the fleet. Our only disappointment was that she was homeported in Seattle this year rather than Vancouver where we could see her sailing by our front window once a week.

OK, a quick comment about the food situation on the Ruby. We sailed on her last year (March 2014) in the Caribbean and the food was excellent. We sailed on her again on a repositioning cruise this last spring (April 2015) and found that the food was not nearly as good. I was hoping that it was a one-off due to repositioning because we have an Alaskan cruise coming up in August. I mean I got an egg sandwich in the IC (that would be an egg, ham and cheese English muffin sandwich according to the menu posted) and it had no cheese. Hmm, the guy at the IC when I pointed out that there was no cheese simply said we don't make the food here. OK, whatever. I think that it is wholly dependent on the on-board head chef how good, or, not so good, the food is. We experienced the same food issue years ago on the Sun Princess in the Caribbean cruise (food pretty marginal) yet a few months later on the Grand Princess Western Caribbean cruise, some of the best food ever. Food is always subjective and there is never a lack of venues to try when one of them is not as satisfactory as you would have hoped for. BTW, we never have starved on any cruise (all the more unfortunate for our waistlines). :cool: