Untouched, Unbelievable, Beauty...Alaska Cruise
Ruby Princess Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 53
7 Night Alaska Inside Passage With Glacier Bay (Seattle Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 22, 2019
Ship: Ruby Princess
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: D526
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
This was overall, a wonderful time and cruise. No rain, plenty of wildlife and adventures, but most of all it was just time for us as a family to experience and share together something that is rare today. Untouched nature and beauty. We would definitely do this again!!Embarkation
Easy!! This was an easy process, completed within 10 minutes top, walked right on to the ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
While there was plenty of food to be found on the ship, regardless of the time of day, I felt the quality was missing. Most of the time it wasn't much better than normal cafeteria food, including in the dining rooms. It felt like everything was microwaved, it was the most disappointing part of the cruise for me, but hey... I didn't gain any weight. (haha)
Onboard Activities
The pools were full on pretty days, we didn't get to use them due to our schedule, but there were plenty on the ship (5 I think), and people seemed to enjoy them. We used the fitness center and it was large for a cruise ship, plenty of tread mills and weights. Very nice, very clean and located on the front of the ship, beautiful view.
Entertainment
We really enjoyed the game shows the most, then the comedians, magicians and then the production shows. In that order. There was plenty of entertainment, we wish we could of made it to more game shows, we really loved the interaction with the passengers and entertainment crew.
Children's Programs
We did not use this service, but we did register for it so we got a schedule of what was offered and for our 14 year old there was a lot she would of liked to do, but it just didn't fit our schedule. They had private dinners and Mario Kart and Smash tournaments. It looked like a good time with plenty to do.
Service and Staff
The service from our steward and waiters were fantastic. They all seem happy and we discussed
Ship Quality
The layout of the Ruby is easy to learn. The ship was pretty clean and maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
We had 3 in this room. It was a good size with balcony. We had plenty of storage room to be able to store everything and not live out of our suitcases. There was a full closet with shelves floor to ceiling. A full size hanging rack/closet too. We were also able to put our suitcases (4) in that closet and out of the way. The bedside tables have 2 drawers a piece, the desk area had another cabinet with a shelf. There is also a semi-circle counter with storage underneath with the mini fridge on one side. The bed was comfortable. There was also a pull out sofa, that was okay, a little bit more comfortable than a cot, but seemed a little worn out. The bathroom has a full size tub if that is important to you and was a suitable size. It too had good storage under the sink and then 3 small shelves to the left of the counter top. We were pleased with our room.
Ship tip
There is breakfast offered in one of the main dining rooms , so you don't always have to go to the buffet. We did not know this till the last day. Also, turn on the TV, they have a morning WAKE show telling you all going on for the day. We found that the last day too, simply because we didn't have the tv on ever, but that last day we watched all about the ports we had been in and the morning wake show. That would of been a good way to start the day.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
We flew in a few days early because we had never been to Seattle. We really enjoyed it. We went to the Needle for sunset, Pike's Market for breakfast, took a harbor tour, rode the ferris wheel, toured the Century Link stadium and walked all over. We did the "city pass", well worth the money. You can just google city pass Seattle. The only issue with Seattle is the homeless population is horrible. They don't bother you, but they are everywhere. When I spoke to people from there they felt that this had been a recent development, in the past year, so hopefully they will be able to help this situation out more. It was heartbreaking walking around.
We did the Glacier walk (1 mile) and whale watch. This was excellent!! We saw humpbacks and orcas, seals, eagles. After the whale watch we went to a national forest and took an easy flat trail and got to see some of the native plants, as we walked to an opening spot to view the glacier. It was really nice, we needed bug spray, but no rain and we learned alot about the trees and native plants, and beavers. The glacier was gorgeous and we took pictures and then walked back to the visitor center to get a bus right back to the ship. We had time to walk around town too. We are not big shoppers, but the town was clean and pretty. We also did the sky tram. You really can't get a view in the tram unless you are on the outside, they "pack" you in the tram, but the view above was gorgeous, and we had a light snack at the top. There were some trails you could take and a nature center, but the line to go back down was so long we didn't have time to do those, so we just got back in line.
We went on the White Pass railroad, and Kayak excursion. We loved this!!! It was a beautiful day and we rode on a bus up to Yukon territory and went Kayaking on Lake Bernard. It was breathtaking. We had 3 guides, and only 19 kayakers, so plenty of attention and people to answer questions. We took breaks as we kayaked, so you don't have to be a pro to do this excursion. It was peaceful and beautiful. We would stop for pictures also. In total it was about a 3 mile kayak but at a super slow pace. Then we got on the railroad for about an hour and 40 min ride back to Skagway. We loved the railroad, it was impressive and the views just never stop. Amazing.. We would do this again. We had about an hour to walk around Skagway after we got back and we really loved that the town had cleared out and was not as crowded as it had been in the morning. They have some nice cultural museums that we poked into, and of course all the shops, but like I said, we aren't big shoppers.
This you just have to see!! It is hard to even explain this wonder.
Princess had a naturalist on board, over the loud speaker explaining the formation and life of the glaciers. It was so beautiful it looked fake. The sounds of the glaciers moving was amazing, and we did get to see one calving. Just Amazing!!
We loved Ketchikan. We wished we had more time here. We went on the boat trip to Mysty Fjord. This was lovely. We saw seals, bears, black tailed deer, eagles and orcas on this trip. The Fjord itself was amazing, waterfalls, and the colors and trees growing out of these huge mountains where you could see where glaciers had been. We had a great crew and captain, and they explained all the surroundings we were viewing, answered questions and gave us time to take pictures, even turning around so everyone could have an opportunity to see some eagles. When we got back to port, we had to go straight to the ship and this was a bummer because we would of loved to walk around. The town was adorable and the biplanes taking off and landing were fun to watch. We would of loved another hour here!
We did the whale watch here and saw over 10 Orcas very close in and basically followed them till dark. amazingly beautiful!! When it got dark our captain took us on a harbor tour of the city since we had a few minutes left. It made us wish we had time to walk around. There were lots of lights and live music at some pubs and just seemed like a neat place to visit. Again, we only had a few hours here, but it would of been nice to have a few more. This was an evening port. We got there around 7pm, so it was kinda neat to have the day on the ship and then do something in the evening. We liked that.
Disembarkation
This was so easy. We used the Port Valet service that was offered to us the 2nd day on the trip. This service is free, and lets Princess check you into your flight, provides you boarding passes and luggage tags so your luggage goes straight from the ship to the airport and on to final destination. This was wonderful because although we got into Seattle at 8am, off the ship at 9:30, but we didn't have a flight till 10pm. So we ran around Seattle for another day, caught a movie and went to a couple of museums, and the aquarium. Wonderful service and another good day in Seattle.
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