Just of the Ruby June 1 to Alaska

[LXdad]

Wanted to thank everyone here for all the help leading up to our trip. We had the owners suite A753, which was amazing. We got a great deal on an upsell, so it's going to be painful going back to our normal balcony. The full suite breakfast in the Crown Grill was our favorite suite perk. Club class dinning is wonderfull. Over all we liked the food, it helped to add salt to everything . We used same day laundry and it worked great. Also did the ultimate ship tour which lasted 3 hours and I highly recommend it.

Our 2 sons enjoyed the kids club. There were over 100 kids just in thier age group. 

No real negatives, other that the short port time in Ketchikan.

Feel free to ask any questions. 

[13cheermom]

10 hours ago, LXdad said:

Wanted to thank everyone here for all the help leading up to our trip. We had the owners suite A753, which was amazing. We got a great deal on an upsell, so it's going to be painful going back to our normal balcony. The full suite breakfast in the Crown Grill was our favorite suite perk. Club class dinning is wonderfull. Over all we liked the food, it helped to add salt to everything . We used same day laundry and it worked great. Also did the ultimate ship tour which lasted 3 hours and I highly recommend it.

Our 2 sons enjoyed the kids club. There were over 100 kids just in thier age group. 

No real negatives, other that the short port time in Ketchikan.

Feel free to ask any questions. 

What itinerary were you on?  What was the weather like?  We have Ruby booked for next May for 7/day Inside Passage with Glacier Bay.  Interested to hear your experience with the Ruby Princess.  Thanks!

[Derek King]

Thanks for posting this.  we are going in August with our 2 kids (age 6 and 😎 in A752.

Can i ask how old the kids are and what were the sleeping arrangements in the owners suite for them?

 

Also on the balcony was there a table for 4 where you could all eat room service or only for 2?

Lastly i've read a lot of posts on here but any specific things to consider making the most of the suite services on the ruby?

I know you mentioned club class and suite breakfast and i know those are big.  how smoothly did the laundry work?

This is our first suite experience on Princess.

 

Thanks!

[LXdad]

4 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

What itinerary were you on?  What was the weather like?  We have Ruby booked for next May for 7/day Inside Passage with Glacier Bay.  Interested to hear your experience with the Ruby Princess.  Thanks!

It was inside with Glacier Bay. The weather was cloudy and cool with some occasional rain for Juneau and skagway, and warm and sunny for Glacier Bay and Ketchikan. We loved the Ruby, there were some long lines for things like the excursion desk and getting off at the ports, but not too bad. The crew was very friendly and I would be happy to sail on the Ruby again. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

Thanks for the review.  Welcome home!

[LXdad]

2 hours ago, Derek King said:

Thanks for posting this.  we are going in August with our 2 kids (age 6 and 😎 in A752.

Can i ask how old the kids are and what were the sleeping arrangements in the owners suite for them?

 

Also on the balcony was there a table for 4 where you could all eat room service or only for 2?

Lastly i've read a lot of posts on here but any specific things to consider making the most of the suite services on the ruby?

I know you mentioned club class and suite breakfast and i know those are big.  how smoothly did the laundry work?

This is our first suite experience on Princess.

 

Thanks!

Hi,

My sons are 10 and 8. There is a pull out couch bed and they brought a rollaway bed. The rollaway is small but perfect for a kid. The rollaway was set up between the dinning table and the couch. Plenty of room and during the day they move it out of the way. The only issue was the postion of the TV in the living room. It kinda points at the balcony and it wouldn't swivel, so the kid on the rollaway can't see it. 

The ouside table is plenty big enough for 4 to eat, but we ended up eating in the room because it was kinda cold. 

Laundry was super easy. There is a form and bag, the form has a red "complementary" stamped on it. The room steward took it and it was back that evening and hung up in the closet. 

Full suite breakfast is in the crown grill every morning at 730. It's amazing. The first night you can go-to the crown grill or share. We went to the crown grill. We just showed up when we wanted to eat and they seated us. It was good. 

Room service was easy, just order what you want. 

Suite boarding, when you get to the terminal there is a special line, follow the signs. We got there at 1130 And didn't even have time to get a drink in the suite lounge. We were sitting in club class lunch at 1145. 

For you kids there is a wonderfull park right next to the space needle , it has a bunch of things to climb on. We ended up waiting for our flight there and it was much nicer than the airport. 

 

[13cheermom]

1 hour ago, LXdad said:

It was inside with Glacier Bay. The weather was cloudy and cool with some occasional rain for Juneau and skagway, and warm and sunny for Glacier Bay and Ketchikan. We loved the Ruby, there were some long lines for things like the excursion desk and getting off at the ports, but not too bad. The crew was very friendly and I would be happy to sail on the Ruby again. 

Thanks for the info.  We have booked 2 aft extended balconies at the rear of ship, for us and our 2 adult children. This will also be our first cruise with Princess, so all new to us.  I've been told the balconies have a small door to connect to one another, so looking forward to sharing the space.  We are excited about this trip, but finding there is a lot more to plan when flying across the country since we live on the east coast.  So just looking for any helpful hints or tips along the way.  Glad you enjoyed the Ruby, and your cruise was a good one!

[LXdad]

19 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for the info.  We have booked 2 aft extended balconies at the rear of ship, for us and our 2 adult children. This will also be our first cruise with Princess, so all new to us.  I've been told the balconies have a small door to connect to one another, so looking forward to sharing the space.  We are excited about this trip, but finding there is a lot more to plan when flying across the country since we live on the east coast.  So just looking for any helpful hints or tips along the way.  Glad you enjoyed the Ruby, and your cruise was a good one!

Yes there is a white glass and metal divider between the balconies. I've been told it can be opened , but I have not experienced it personally. We are also on the East coast and flew in a day early. It took alot of pressure off and Seattle is a fun city to explore. 

[SunNFunCruzer]

Hi LX Dad... thanks so much for fielding questions.  :-)

 

Did you happen to notice (or do you happen to have any photos to refer to) if the outside decks upper and/or promenade had lounge chairs and sitting chairs on them while you were transiting Glacier Bay?  Or does the crew remove them?

 

I have an injury and cannot sit or stand too long (yes... it sucks!) so I will have to alternate between sitting and standing.  We are coming off a private balcony cabin on the Eurodam but have an oceanview booked on the Ruby.  If there are no chairs or loungers on the public decks we may have to consider upgrading to a balcony on the Ruby as well.  

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience!  And Welcome Home!

 

PS:  when you say too "cold" to use the balcony, are you talking about wind? Or ambient temperature?  And... about how cold was it? 40s? 50s? ... 30s? brrrr

[SunNFunCruzer]

2 hours ago, LXdad said:

It was inside with Glacier Bay. The weather was cloudy and cool with some occasional rain for Juneau and skagway, and warm and sunny for Glacier Bay and Ketchikan. We loved the Ruby, there were some long lines for things like the excursion desk and getting off at the ports, but not too bad. The crew was very friendly and I would be happy to sail on the Ruby again. 

 

One more question... does the Ruby have any covered public decks to enjoy the scenery if it's raining?

 

Thank you again!

[capriccio]

29 minutes ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

One more question... does the Ruby have any covered public decks to enjoy the scenery if it's raining?

 

Thank you again!

The fully covered outdoor promenade with some chairs and benches is on deck 7.

[capriccio]

1 hour ago, 13cheermom said:

 I've been told the balconies have a small door to connect to one another, so looking forward to sharing the space. 

We did this cruise on the Ruby Princess last summer with our 2 grown children, their spouses, and our granddaughter in 3 adjacent mini-suites (two had a connecting internal door) on deck 8 aft.  When you meet your steward just ask him to open the balcony doors (he has to secure them open).  While it doesn't give you one large open balcony, it is easy to converse or visit each other via the balcony.  The last aft mini-suites on Emerald deck (E730/E731) have an extended balcony (double the size of the regular mini-suite) which doesn't show up on the deck plan. 

[13cheermom]

1 hour ago, LXdad said:

Yes there is a white glass and metal divider between the balconies. I've been told it can be opened , but I have not experienced it personally. We are also on the East coast and flew in a day early. It took alot of pressure off and Seattle is a fun city to explore. 

Small world, curious about airfare, did it seem reasonable RT Seattle for this time of year?  We are waiting for EZ-Air to become available to try and secure some seats just incase with their flexible plan.  Since we haven't been to Seattle before we also are trying to fly out on Wednesday, to have a couple of days to explore.  It was kind of like sticker shock on the hotel rates in Seattle for that time of year.  But we also fly in early prior to cruise at least day before or more.  Were there any really outstanding things that you did and really enjoyed at any of the ports?  

[13cheermom]

12 minutes ago, capriccio said:

We did this cruise on the Ruby Princess last summer with our 2 grown children, their spouses, and our granddaughter in 3 adjacent mini-suites (two had a connecting internal door) on deck 8 aft.  When you meet your steward just ask him to open the balcony doors (he has to secure them open).  While it doesn't give you one large open balcony, it is easy to converse or visit each other via the balcony.  The last aft mini-suites on Emerald deck (E730/E731) have an extended balcony (double the size of the regular mini-suite) which doesn't show up on the deck plan. 

According to Princess, it is a small door that opens, but will give us another option to get to one cabin or the other instead of going out in the hall.  The premium balconies at the aft are a little deeper than the regular rooms, but it seems that there are only 2 chairs on each balcony, wish you could move them back and forth.  I'm sure there is plenty of room from the youtube video I watched of one of our rooms.  It's nice to be able to cruise with family, every couple of years our girls join us, so we are looking forward to next summer.  Guess they will be getting their bucket-list cruise done much younger in life than their dad and I will, 😂.

[capriccio]

1 minute ago, 13cheermom said:

According to Princess, it is a small door that opens, but will give us another option to get to one cabin or the other instead of going out in the hall.  The premium balconies at the aft are a little deeper than the regular rooms, but it seems that there are only 2 chairs on each balcony, wish you could move them back and forth.  I'm sure there is plenty of room from the youtube video I watched of one of our rooms.  It's nice to be able to cruise with family, every couple of years our girls join us, so we are looking forward to next summer.  Guess they will be getting their bucket-list cruise done much younger in life than their dad and I will, 😂.

There is no problem (other than limited space) moving furniture from one balcony to another.  As we were departing Glacier Bay, we had afternoon tea on our extended balcony.  We moved all three tables (tea, coffee, finger sandwiches and sweets take up a lot of room!) onto it and kept a couple of chairs.  It was great fun plus we saw 3 orcas swim by!

 

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.  We all did.  In fact, I'm thinking about another family cruise (when there will be one more granddaughter) next summer.

[capriccio]

11 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Small world, curious about airfare, did it seem reasonable RT Seattle for this time of year?  We are waiting for EZ-Air to become available to try and secure some seats just incase with their flexible plan.  Since we haven't been to Seattle before we also are trying to fly out on Wednesday, to have a couple of days to explore.  It was kind of like sticker shock on the hotel rates in Seattle for that time of year.  But we also fly in early prior to cruise at least day before or more.  Were there any really outstanding things that you did and really enjoyed at any of the ports?  

We flew from Washington, DC a day early and stayed at the Homewood Suites downtown the night before and the night after the cruise.  It's a very nice hotel, convenient to the port, Chihuly, and the Space Needle and within a 1 mile walk to downtown Seattle including Pike Place Market and the Aquarium (all of which we visited). We booked as early as possible with EZ-Air and saved over $100 per person (for 7 people!) compared to buying directly from United. 

[LXdad]

1 hour ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

 

One more question... does the Ruby have any covered public decks to enjoy the scenery if it's raining?

 

Thank you again!

Yes deck 7 (which becomes deck 8 at the front) and parts of deck 15 for sure.

[LXdad]

1 hour ago, SunNFunCruzer said:

Hi LX Dad... thanks so much for fielding questions.  🙂

 

Did you happen to notice (or do you happen to have any photos to refer to) if the outside decks upper and/or promenade had lounge chairs and sitting chairs on them while you were transiting Glacier Bay?  Or does the crew remove them?

 

I have an injury and cannot sit or stand too long (yes... it sucks!) so I will have to alternate between sitting and standing.  We are coming off a private balcony cabin on the Eurodam but have an oceanview booked on the Ruby.  If there are no chairs or loungers on the public decks we may have to consider upgrading to a balcony on the Ruby as well.  

 

Thanks again for sharing your experience!  And Welcome Home!

 

PS:  when you say too "cold" to use the balcony, are you talking about wind? Or ambient temperature?  And... about how cold was it? 40s? 50s? ... 30s? brrrr

There where chairs and loungers. Most people stood on the upper decks and forward on lido that has a big deck over the bridge. 

 

Our balcony didn't really have a wind issue, it was in the 50s to as much as 70. But my kids are very skinny and don't like even a little cold. 

[SunNFunCruzer]

2 minutes ago, LXdad said:

Yes deck 7 (which becomes deck 8 at the front) and parts of deck 15 for sure.

 

Thank you!  Did you happen to notice if the decks you mentioned had chairs or loungers available throughout the cruise?

 

Thanks again!

[SunNFunCruzer]

Just now, LXdad said:

There where chairs and loungers. Most people stood on the upper decks and forward on lido that has a big deck over the bridge. 

 

 

 

Perfect!  Thank you!!! Our posts crossed!  No need to upgrade!  And 50's in Alaska IS balmy!  😉

[LXdad]

58 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Small world, curious about airfare, did it seem reasonable RT Seattle for this time of year?  We are waiting for EZ-Air to become available to try and secure some seats just incase with their flexible plan.  Since we haven't been to Seattle before we also are trying to fly out on Wednesday, to have a couple of days to explore.  It was kind of like sticker shock on the hotel rates in Seattle for that time of year.  But we also fly in early prior to cruise at least day before or more.  Were there any really outstanding things that you did and really enjoyed at any of the ports?  

I'm blessed with alot of airline miles so we all flew first class. So I can't help there. We stayed at the Charter hotel and once again I used Hilton points. Charter hotel is in an amazing location. 

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We took an upsell to a suite on the Regal. Two cruises later, we booked an inside. That's really going backwards.

[LXdad]

1 hour ago, geoherb said:

Thanks for posting your review. We took an upsell to a suite on the Regal. Two cruises later, we booked an inside. That's really going backwards.

We kept telling our kids "DO NOT GET USED TO THIS!!!" 

[Derek King]

22 hours ago, LXdad said:

Hi,

My sons are 10 and 8. There is a pull out couch bed and they brought a rollaway bed. The rollaway is small but perfect for a kid. The rollaway was set up between the dinning table and the couch. Plenty of room and during the day they move it out of the way. The only issue was the postion of the TV in the living room. It kinda points at the balcony and it wouldn't swivel, so the kid on the rollaway can't see it. 

The ouside table is plenty big enough for 4 to eat, but we ended up eating in the room because it was kinda cold. 

Laundry was super easy. There is a form and bag, the form has a red "complementary" stamped on it. The room steward took it and it was back that evening and hung up in the closet. 

Full suite breakfast is in the crown grill every morning at 730. It's amazing. The first night you can go-to the crown grill or share. We went to the crown grill. We just showed up when we wanted to eat and they seated us. It was good. 

Room service was easy, just order what you want. 

Suite boarding, when you get to the terminal there is a special line, follow the signs. We got there at 1130 And didn't even have time to get a drink in the suite lounge. We were sitting in club class lunch at 1145. 

For you kids there is a wonderfull park right next to the space needle , it has a bunch of things to climb on. We ended up waiting for our flight there and it was much nicer than the airport. 

 

 

Thanks so much for such a detailed response and answering my questions.