Just finished Alaska Inside Passage (Glaicer Bay) on Ruby

[Flafun888]

Juneau- we did a guided hike by Mendenhall glacier. It was very nice and you avoided the the crowds at the visitor center. You also get some better views in my opinion. In the afternoon we did an Ocean Raft Adventure were they take you out at sea and show you some of the waterfalls and nature up close. Probably the best excursion of the trip.

 

So glad you had a great time...thanks so much for coming back to answer all our questions:cool::cool:

Were your Juneau and Skagway excursions through Princess or booked independently?

[Rundmchen]

I and my son did do the Escape room on the May 12, Ruby cruise. Sign ups were from 12-2pm on embarkation day. We were given a time and tickets after the fact for 5:45pm Glacier Bay Day. As others have stated it is in the chapel, but we met at a bar..and proceeded from there. Ana was our host. It had a different twist to other escape rooms I have done, which I enjoyed. There were 6 of us, 3, 30 somethings and 3 above 50, we all wanted to "escape" so quickly became a team, and a "leader" was determined after the first few minutes, generally a person who has done an escape room before, as they naturally take the lead.If you think outside the box you will solve the "mystery" rather quickly.

 

 

 

If you are not good at quickly making decisions and taking direction then this might not be something for you. 4 of us were participating and 2 immediately, sat out and watched. This often happens in escape rooms when people find out what is involved. Most of our problem solving was done by sitting or kneeling on the floor......as this increased our speed.

 

 

It was fun.....but it certainly isn't a must do.....but if you are curious go for it......and hope someone in your group has done an escape room before..it really helps....

Quick question, where did you have to go for the signups? Thanks in advance.

[land lover]

Quick question, where did you have to go for the signups? Thanks in advance.

 

 

Library was where the signups were.

[land lover]

 

Skagway..was the Chilkoot hike and float down the Taiya river.

 

Ketchican,was snorkeling what a blast, but that 7mm suit was difficult to get on and off.

 

 

Hi! Was your Skagway excursion through Princess or independently booked? Also: could you share a bit more about the Ketchican snorkeling? A lot of sea life or not too much? (I know it's totally diff than caribbean/keys, but I'm just wondering how much you see: is it worth the money and 7mm suit ordeal? :DWe love snorkeling, but would rather skip and do something diff if it's more of an okay vs great.

 

All tours booked with Princess, there are independents that do the Chilkoot hike & float, so you might be able to get some OBC like I did, because of the Guarantee. For Alaska it was so easy to compare Apples to apples on excursions, that why I decided to give the Guarantee a go and was successful. It took me longer to fill out the form for Princess then to find a vendor that was charging less. 10 is the limit on this tour.

 

 

Snorkeling was a different matter...Fred the owner has the only game in town his price 125, Princess 129.95. They can take up to 23 but we only had 9 on our ship excursion. I have snorkeled and dove in many places, Tahiti, Galapagos , Hawaii, Caribbean to name a few and I was not excited about gng to Alaska..as on my first trip 20 years ago it rained and rained ..but when I saw this snorkeling excursion..my return trip looked much brighter.....and we had sun when we snorkeled...I like to take underwater photos so it was a dream to get sun.

 

http://snorkelalaska.com/mountain-point-snorkeling/. I enjoyed seeing the vibrant sea stars and cucumbers...the tide was very low when we went..really no fish except the big one they show on their site and one teeny tiny school I swam through(size of guppies) all the sunflower stars were very small, so that was a disappointment, no kelp, coral.....But I thought it was worth my time as I love to be in the water.

 

Even though i had difficulty with the wet suit.I will say of the 9 people on the excursion, I beat everyone by about 25 years.I was traveling with my son, the 5 men on the excursion were all padi certified, the 4 ladies, one was a ship employee, one was a spouse, the other like 3 of the men's came by themselves while their significant others were doing other excursions or stayed on the ship. The ship employee used a float to stay above water...so if you just want to stand there or float it can be show and tell as they pretty much bring everything up that is under the water. They provided weight belts so u could dive down because the suits were very buoyant.

 

Enjoy.....L:Dri

 

BTW..Alaska proved to be beautiful this time only rained 2 days and really not significant to what we were doing. However helicopters /dog sledding was canceled in Juneau....That is what happened to me my first time our helicopter landed on a glacier and we had a total white out and were called back, that was an interesting ride.... all remaining excursions were cancelled, that day in Juneau 20 years ago....

 

after this wonderful trip .....I think I'll be returning again to Alaska much sooner than 20 years.....

Edited May 25, 2018 by land lover

[Flafun888]

Wow Lori - what a great TR of your excursions - especially all the great snorkeling detail. Thank you for taking the time! :) I didn't realize Princess offers a price guarantee. Great to know. I don' think Celebrity does and I usually sail with them in Caribbean.

 

Will check out that snorkeling link. I'm torn - how many people can say they snorkeled in Alaska LOL? But as a first AK trip, based upon your description, I'm kinda leaning towards skipping it in favor of the more traditional AK excursions.

 

We live within an easy drive to key largo - and 2 diff cruise ports to any Caribbean island imaginable. Feeling like maybe we should choose something for Ketchikan totally diff that we can't do here.

[Rundmchen]

Library was where the signups were.

Great. Thanks again.

[TrueNorth21]

Did u have a balcony room? If so how was it? Also in Victoria did you go to Butterfly garden? Can’t wait to go.

 

 

We did have a balcony. It was nice for glacier bay to avoid the crowds on deck and also when arriving and departing ports. I say for Alaska its worth the splurge.

 

We did not do the butterfly garden. Since we got in at 7 PM we just decided to explore on our own. Victoria was very nice...wish we had more time there.

[TrueNorth21]

So glad you had a great time...thanks so much for coming back to answer all our questions:cool::cool:

Were your Juneau and Skagway excursions through Princess or booked independently?

 

We booked all the excursions through princess

[TrueNorth21]

Do you know what post-cruise excursions were offered for Seattle the day you returned? Our flight doesn't leave until 5:45 so we have a good part of the day to do something rather than sit at SeaTac but don't want to rent a car.

 

Thanks.

 

I do not recall. I know there were only a few. I'd guess tours of the city but I'm not 100%

[Sandi07054]

I was wondering if you can text others on the ship from your phone. I read something about Princess at Sea app?

Thank you

[capriccio]

I was wondering if you can text others on the ship from your phone. I read something about Princess at Sea app?

Thank you

 

Check out https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2635785, post #36. It has the first day's Patter from an Alaska cruise and the first attachment includes the description of and instructions for accessing the Princess intranet where, among other things, you can text others on the ship. Just be aware that when texting the recipient does not receive a signal that a text has arrived so it is probably best to set a schedule for texting with your fellow travelers.

[Sandi07054]

Thank you I will check that link. We are going with another couple so we’d like to be able to find each other on the ship

[Utahbelle]

Do you know what post-cruise excursions were offered for Seattle the day you returned? Our flight doesn't leave until 5:45 so we have a good part of the day to do something rather than sit at SeaTac but don't want to rent a car.

 

Thanks.

 

Our flight doesn’t leave until 4:30. We are doing an excursion through Princess that takes us around Seattle and then drops us at the airport. We go to the space needle, Pike place market, and a few other places. Like you, I did not want to sit at the airport all day! This way we have a ride to the airport, have so where to keep our luggage, and will get to see some highlights of Seattle. I believe the excursion is $85 a person.

[Firsttimer9]

Did you dine in the Crown Grill or Chris Stone restaurants?

[Firsttimer9]

What deck were u on? How was it?

[land lover]

Did you dine in the Crown Grill or Chris Stone restaurants?

 

I dined in CG on Ruby on May 17, service was slow but food was better, than my last few times to the CG on other ships.

This was the first time I choose the porterhouse and was pleased with it.

 

 

I dined in Share on Ruby April 6...and found it to be very very good. We had tried it previously with the old menu....over a year ago and did not think it was worth the cover charge, this time we were pleasantly surprised, service excellent.

[land lover]

What deck were u on? How was it?

 

We were on Caribe, right by the forward elevators loved the location, spent most of our time out on deck for better views.

[cruisefan2012]

Were you docked in Skagway on Tuesday 8th May - I was on the Star Princess in Skagway on the same date, Was surprised to see Ruby Princess docked behind us - Got some good pictures of the ship from the Skywalkers nightclub on Star Princess

[TrueNorth21]

Were you docked in Skagway on Tuesday 8th May - I was on the Star Princess in Skagway on the same date, Was surprised to see Ruby Princess docked behind us - Got some good pictures of the ship from the Skywalkers nightclub on Star Princess

 

Yep. Saw the Star there also.

[TrueNorth21]

Did you dine in the Crown Grill or Chris Stone restaurants?

 

Also dined at the Crown Grill as we had a free specialty dining voucher. It was very good IMO. Like Land Lover also had the Porterhouse. Great choice.

[land lover]

Also dined at the Crown Grill as we had a free specialty dining voucher. It was very good IMO. Like Land Lover also had the Porterhouse. Great choice.

 

We had the same promo. My son had a filet and several waiters came by and teased me about having the porterhouse. What they did not know is that at 4:40 we went in the MTDR and had escargot and lobster, then I went to the Captains party and had some appetizers and 2 drinks, also my name was drawn for the Korbel, next met my son at the grill at 8pm. It was his birthday, so we had to indulge.....I don't think I have ever eaten that much in my life...glad we had already paid the bill.

 

I must confess, I couldn't finish the porterhouse....did you? The filet on mind was exceptionally tasty.

 

enjoy!

[Firsttimer9]

Did you do Whale Watching excursion

[land lover]

Did you do Whale Watching excursion

 

No..but everyone that I spoke to who did, had a wonderful time, whether on a large ship or small zodiac, Private or with a ship excursion......several whales were seen in the Juneau excursions.

[cakelover]

We did have a balcony. It was nice for glacier bay to avoid the crowds on deck and also when arriving and departing ports. I say for Alaska its worth the splurge.

 

We did not do the butterfly garden. Since we got in at 7 PM we just decided to explore on our own. Victoria was very nice...wish we had more time there.

 

May I ask which side of the boat your room was located? Does it matter to choose one side over the other? Thank you.

[cakelover]

We were on Caribe, right by the forward elevators loved the location, spent most of our time out on deck for better views.

 

Your room were close to the elevator? Would that cause a lot noise? I am checking on the possible cruise date and some rooms are near elevators. Have concern if I should pick any room nearby though.