Alaska Pros and Cons

Item: Ruby Princess
Rating: 4.3
Author: Sunriseonthesea

Ruby Princess Cruise Review

Sunriseonthesea

Contributor Level: Purser

101 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 4

Overall rating:

4.3 out of 5

7 Night Alaska Inside Passage (Vancouver Roundtrip)

Sail date: July 23, 2024

Ship: Ruby Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: C101

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 3 months ago

Review summary

We enjoyed our cruise to Alaska even if we didn’t see much wildlife. The cruise had plenty to do onboard but know that public areas are very crowded and quite noisy. The food was hit or miss and not consistently of great quality. The entertainment was also hit or miss , the theatrical shows were not as high quality as on other ships but the game shows and nature talks were great! The service was excellent throughout!

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Cafe Caribe

3 out of 5

The buffet on this ship was very crowded and you had to be strategic about when to eat in order to get seating. The serving areas are extremely congested as they are not spread out as we have seen on other ships. Breakfast had many options but nothing special from day to day. The pastries and muffins were disappointing, often dry and commercial tasting. The music is loud and looped and annoying especially first thing in the morning when we simply wanted to enjoy a cup of coffee and the Alaskan scenery and not have to listen to 90s pop. The servers were attentive and helpful.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

4 out of 5

Explorer's Lounge

4 out of 5

We enjoyed the many trivia games and the karaoke night got was so much fun! It does fill up quickly so arrive early to get a seat,

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

The ship was immaculate at all times. We found it tricky to navigate because not all elevators go to all floors. Better signage when exiting elevators would possibly help with confusion about the direction ( aft vs foreword) of the ship. So many people got on and off the elevators saying the same thing.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

I gave this a 4 simply because it is outdated ( a late 90s feel). We were fortunate enough to get an upgrade to this balcony room which was spacious and very bright. There was plenty of storage as well. Our balcony was the first one which allowed for a wider scope but we smelled cigarettes a few times ( smoking deck below?) The bed was super comfortable and the room itself was immaculate. The bathroom was as one would expect in terms of size but I am not a fan of shower curtains. The soaps and shampoo were refilled daily, but there was no conditioner.

Ship tip

This is not a quiet cruise and it was hard to find peaceful public spaces

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Skagway, Alaska

4 out of 5

CRUISE ENDICOTT ARM & DAWES GLACIER

5 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5

Juneau, Alaska

3 out of 5

Did not find this port of much interest . We went on an excursion to the Mendenhall Glacier which was beautiful but hard to see from afar. The hike to the waterfall was lovely.

Thumbs Up 0

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

3 out of 5

This was by the far the most confusing disembarkation. We filled out a form to indicate that we would disembark with no assistance. We were given tags that aligned with a meeting place at a designated time. We waited over 10 minutes for the elevator and literally fought crowds to get to the meeting place. When we got there we were asked if we had all our luggage ( we did) and then told to exit the ship. We then had to go through the crowd again and line up (no one checked the tags) to disembark. I don’t know if we missed something but it didn’t make much sense. After that, it was very quick. We appreciated that the Vancouver terminal had attendants for the taxis and it was very efficient.

5 Comments

Gwbigdog 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing

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karlgrgurich 3 months ago

Glad parts were good

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javawoody 3 months ago

Appreciate the post

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HeavySeas 3 months ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and glad you enjoyed your cruise

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cruising2004 3 months ago

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thank you for your review.

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