Ruby Princess Alaska Cruise Review May 19 to 26, 2018.

[idahospud]

I saw him too, said he has been coming on Princess ships for 30 years..since he was playing while in port not to big of a crowd.

 

 

for a week after his performance ...this was singing in my head "north to Alaska, go north the rush is on......";p

 

Is it still playing in anyone else's?

 

Hi idahospud...any big payouts from gambling recently?

We've been seeing him forever, too. And yep, his North to Alaska sticks with me even now.

 

Just the big payout last week on the Golden. Did you see that one?

[idahospud]

Thank you for supplying that, and reading along!

I always like seeing what other people are doing in Alaska. Thanks for all the beautiful photos!

[Sparkklie]

Thank you for the review, I will be on the Emerald in Sept for my second trip back to AK. I am so excited to get back on the boat, and how nice it is to live in a state that has a port. I am only about 45 mins from the port in Seattle.

[ROWSE]

Thank you for the review, I will be on the Emerald in Sept for my second trip back to AK. I am so excited to get back on the boat, and how nice it is to live in a state that has a port. I am only about 45 mins from the port in Seattle.

 

Thank you for joining in! You live very close! Hopefully away from some of the traffic that IS Seattle. We travel over often to see our son and daughter. That traffic always frustrates us.

[ROWSE]

Day 5 -Glacier Bay

 

In my five times to Alaska, only my first was through Glacier Bay in 2001. The other trips were in Tracy Arm, and while it is amazing and lovely in a different way, I think after this trip I preferred Glacier Bay.

 

The last trip before this one was scheduled for Tracy Arm, but I must add that we did not get there. I was with my husband, daughter, son-in-law and his parents. We woke up bright and early and as we stood out on deck, we had inside rooms, it came over the PA system that a passenger was very ill and there was no way to helicopter him out or boat out or it could cause harm. We immediately made way for Juneau. I am glad the young man with the appendicitis made it to port, but you can imagine all of our disappointment. We had visited before, but our son-in-law and his parents were on their first Alaska cruise. Hopefully they go again someday and I would recommend Glacier Bay next time.

 

I feel so blessed to have had a balcony this time around and to experience most of the day from that view point.

We were positioned and ready at 6:00 a.m.

 

 

 

 

 

They say when going on an Alaskan cruise layering is key. I agree! I had every layer on that I brought with me. Sort of felt like the kid in the movie A Christmas Story where he couldn't even put down his arms.

 

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

Another key thing to bring to Alaska is binoculars. The following picture is not very good but in the center you can see small white dots and through the binoculars I was able to see these amazing Mountain Goats. They were laying down here but just to the right where my camera cut off they were milling around. There was possibly 20 goats.

 

 

The scenery through the whole area was spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

We were not as close to the walls as in Tracy Arm, but still able to see waterfalls.

 

 

 

We start to see small ice chunks in the water.

 

 

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay Cont.

 

We see hanging glaciers along the way.

 

 

The ice chunks were definitely getting bigger.

 

 

AND then we were there at Marjorie Glacier. Our side of the ship was not first to see the glacier, but the captain turned us in a half hour. We couldn't wait and ran up to the secret Lido doors. I am sure everyone knows about those, but just in case, you go to the bow on the Lido deck till you find doors that looks like you shouldn't go out there. DO IT ANYWAY! Then you are on this amazing deck area.

 

Our first view...

 

 

A view looking down into the crew area..

 

[Sparkklie]

Thank you for joining in! You live very close! Hopefully away from some of the traffic that IS Seattle. We travel over often to see our son and daughter. That traffic always frustrates us.

 

I live south of Seattle and recently found the light rail takes you right into Seattle at a very small cost compared to parking. I don't know if I will ever drive into Seattle again.

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

A little perspective of how large this thing is...

 

 

When the Captain turned the ship we ran down to our balcony.

 

 

A panoramic...

 

 

[Eaglecw]

We are loving your review. We sail tomorrow on the Ruby. We were supposed to have been on the Emerald June 10th but got a call yesterday afternoon offering us big money, a cabin upgrade to sail on the Ruby instead of the Emerald. We had to take it so it’s crunch time getting everything ready to go a day early. Living in Western Washington makes it a little too easy to take these cruises. This is our 13th cruise to Alaska.

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

Most of my shots here were videos and I got one of the most amazing calving videos. They say we all got to see more calving than usual. Amazing! I have no idea how to get a movie on here, let's face it, I can barely put the pictures up. If anyone can give me step by step on how to possible do that on my Mac from Google Photos, I will put one up.

 

BUT.. for now it has to be just still shots. Marjorie Glacier is a replenishing Glacier. It looses 60 feet a day and snow falling way above the mountains and forming compressed ice replaces it. Hubbard Glacier is a growing Glacier meaning it grows. Most other glaciers are receding. The Glaciers that touch the ocean are called Tide Glaciers.

 

All too soon it was time to leave. We had to let the Eurodam come in for their turn.

 

 

 

 

We traveled to another arm of the Bay and up to just take a peek at Hubbard Glacier....

 

 

Another area where a Glacier had carved out this massive area.

 

[ROWSE]

We are loving your review. We sail tomorrow on the Ruby. We were supposed to have been on the Emerald June 10th but got a call yesterday afternoon offering us big money, a cabin upgrade to sail on the Ruby instead of the Emerald. We had to take it so it’s crunch time getting everything ready to go a day early. Living in Western Washington makes it a little too easy to take these cruises. This is our 13th cruise to Alaska.

 

Oh my goodness, how exciting! I am sure you will have an amazing time! Great job on the deal!!!

 

Thank you for reading along while you can.

 

Have a wonderful cruise!

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

I loved the colors on this rock formation!

 

 

 

 

Another large glacier located in this neck of Glacier Bay was Lamplugh Glacier...

 

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

 

Just a side note. They specifically asked all of us not to feed the seagulls as they were everywhere and it is

bad for their diet and bad for making them a pest problem. Did people listen? NO!!! This fellow flew

right to the railing beside us.

 

 

 

As we leave Glacier Bay, I got one more great shot of an interesting iceburg...

 

 

Later in the season I think you would see more seals on these iceburgs. Be sure to watch for that if you are soon to cruise!

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

At the end of our time in Glacier Bay, a boat came to pick up the Rangers who board when you begin the trek.

 

 

Good bye to them and thank you for a glorious day!

 

 

 

We literally stood all day! My feet were tired! When I walked on deck 7 later my feet let me know

that I am not use to that. We went up today to the buffet for lunch and a lovely couple from Tennessee shared their table with us! I love how everyone is so friendly when we cruise.

 

After lunch we had another beautiful viewing area and again stationed ourselves on the balcony.

 

 

At this time of day, it was warm enough to shed some of the many layers I had earlier.

 

 

The most fun thing about this area was the massive amount of Sea Otters that floated past us. Most floated

on their backs and some even had babies on top of them. They say they were almost extinct once and now this area has 8000 otters. They were adorable but impossible to show in a photo. This is where you can wish you had a professional photographer with a zoom lens giving this review. LOL

[ROWSE]

Glacier Bay cont.

 

This was another evening we ventured up to the Skywalkers for the Platinum/Elite Lounge. With so few of us

onboard it was so quiet up here. I had a dirty banana, which I love, but is not part of the Lounge special. If you

ask me none of the drinks on special are very good.

 

 

The service was perfect, but they had so much free time they watched the sports events!

 

 

We went to the early show tonight which was comedian Steve Caouette. If you are lucky enough to have him on your

cruise, GO see him. He had us rolling on the floor laughing.

 

At dinner that night they made a pasta dish on the floor. It is suppose to be a bit spicey, BUT oh my, they seem to have lost the red pepper flakes. I love spicey but I couldn't even eat it. My eyes were watering and I needed a lot of water!

It just felt burning for ages after. My friend tasted, who also loves spicey, and she agreed it was way over the top.

 

I just had to wave the white flag and order something else.

 

I asked the waiter and he said they had kept tasting it and didn't think it was hot enough so kept adding. WELL, it must have been a delayed reaction somehow. I wonder if anyone else was on this crise and had it?

 

Off to bed as Ketchikan was a 7:00a.m. port. It was another incredible day!!!

[Bimmer09]

ROWSE, glad to see you posting again and from one of my favorite cruise destinations, no less!

Following along and enjoying your photos, as always.

I could help you with embedding your videos if they were loaded into your iMovie program. I don't use Google photos, even though I have it on my MacBook.

Hopefully someone else can chime in!

Cheers, and thanks for posting this!

Norris

[Lucky TGO]

Hi Kitty, Great review I love all the pictures!! Margie said to say hi.

Tony

[Beachiekeen]

Amazing pictures!

[ROWSE]

ROWSE, glad to see you posting again and from one of my favorite cruise destinations, no less!

Following along and enjoying your photos, as always.

I could help you with embedding your videos if they were loaded into your iMovie program. I don't use Google photos, even though I have it on my MacBook.

Hopefully someone else can chime in!

Cheers, and thanks for posting this!

Norris

 

Hi Norris!!!

 

I am so excited to see you reading along! You are my inspiration for what a great review can be! I can only hope to be a fraction as good as you are at it.

 

I have iphotos but don't think I have imovie, thank you for the offer to help, it is probably way above my pay grade to figure this out anyway.

 

Hope you and your lovely wife have a fantastic summer!

[ROWSE]

Hi Kitty, Great review I love all the pictures!! Margie said to say hi.

Tony

 

Hello Tony!

 

Give Margie a big hug from us!

 

Every time I see one of your posts, I smile remembering the fun we had cruising with the two of you!

 

Thank you for reading along!

[ROWSE]

Amazing pictures!

 

Thank you for the compliment! Alaska is so beautiful. I am lucky that beauty can hide how amateur I am and ill

equipped at taking photos.

 

It is fun to have them anyway to remember and to add to a review. Thanks for joining me on remembering it.

[ROWSE]

Ketchikan

 

Up early again! Eventually got some food from the Buffet and brought it down to the Balcony. Brisk out, but one of the warmer days so to speak.

 

Our ship was at one of the farthest docks from town center which was probably at most a 10 minute walk. Our port time was 7:00 a.m. and our goal was to get over to buy tickets for the Lumberjack show at 7:30.

 

 

 

 

Excited and ready to go on whatever adventure comes today...

 

[ROWSE]

Ketchikan cont.

 

If possible, there was even more confusion for getting off the ship today. Lines snaked everywhere and we actually followed one to the end that was a complete circle going nowhere. Finally someone broke the line and took us down a hall to stairs and we were out!!!!

 

We walked as quickly as possible but were still barely at the ticket area at 7:30. Lucky for us they hadn't even taken people into the Lumberjack show yet. This was a very laid back group! Lovely covered seating area with heated seats met us. No need for that today though as the sun came out and we were actually pretty warm.

 

The show started very late as I am assuming they waited for the cruise ship excursions to come.

 

I have been to Ketchikan a total of 5 times now, and this was the first time I have done the show. It is great fun watching burly young men raze up the audience and compete between two teams demonstrating the skills lumberjacks use every day. Sadly, our team lost.

 

 

Hard to tell in the picture, but our lumberjack who had been on board with us on the Ruby during the Lumberjack

axe throwing presentation, made a great show of carving wood. It looked like a pathetic rabbit, but in the end

it was the cutest little chair. He is sitting on the chair in the following picture.

 

 

We had fun at the show, but glad it had not been my choice on those other visits. There are a lot of

things to see here before I would suggest this show.

 

We walked on over to Creek Street and saw Married Man Trail and the creek was running heavily.

It was way to early to see the Salmon yet, but future cruisers will find them in this water.