A Little Disappointing

My family traveled from Australia and did the seven night Alaska Cruise (Inside Passage) out of Seattle in May on Ruby Princess. The family have sailed many times on a number of cruise lines, however this was out first with Princess.

The Good: Checking is was very easy and checking out was a breeze with Princess forwarding on our bags with our airline which we picked up in LAX. The ship itself was very clean and the staff very happy and helpful and made the kids, wife and I very at home. We had an inside cabin which we found to be of a good size and enjoyed the separation by the open wardrobe between the main cabin and bathroom and allowed some privacy when changing. In fact we think is one of the better design cabins we have been in.

The commentary during the days cruising the glaciers was fantastic and plenty of blankets were available for those who just wanted to sit and watch the wonders of Alaska pass you by. The tours available were great, some a little expensive but well worth the cost. In Skagway we did the all included tour that included a bus tour of Skagway and drive up to Frazer in Canada, the train ride back, lunch at liarsville and tour of the Red Onion Saloon, well worth the expense and still had time to wonder the town. Juneau we did the zip line adventure and we all found this very exciting and the kids loved it. Ketchikan we did the ATV Rain forest tour and again well worth the cost.

The Bad: And this is why we gave the cruise a average rating, we found the food on board to be below standard and not much variety compared to other cruises we have been on. In the dinning room one night I decided to pay the extra for a steak and was very disappointed in what I got. It was mostly fat and of a very low standard and when I pointed it out all we got was "sorry". While speaking to others on board they all seem to have similar complaints about the standard and quality of food. At the hamburger stand you got one small piece of lettuce and one slice of tomato dished up to you. Now we could say we have properly been spoiled on cruises out of Australia but still it was not what we were use to.

The ship itself was also a little disorienting and had trouble finding where we were. I thought it was just me, but you could see others with the same problem and I think it was because there was no central point on the ship, while in the past our kids were happy to wonder the ship, this time they were not. The other thing i found strange was that Princess closed half the spars and pools sighting it was a condition put on them by the government when traveling through parts of the inside passage. This meant you just could not get into the spar/whirlpool if you tried. The other interesting point was that the kids (kids being kids) were forced to use the COLD pool yet they had several other pools that were heated and they could not use. We usually said at the back of the boat and where there was a heated pool, and in the 7 days were only saw a small number of adults use this pool. Why would you now open it up for the kids for a few hours in the afternoon !!!

Kids wise, this ship was not for them and they found it very boring and not liking it at all. No arcade area, cold pools and as previously indicated they felt disorientated because of the ships layout. Look !!!! I think traveling out of Australia and Asia we are spoiled for choice of ship and quality of food and they cater for kids better as well. So maybe was just got the wrong ship in the wrong place. We plan to do this trip again but not with Princess, Sorry

We had a inside cabin and found the cabin to be well appointed and of a good size. There was a separation wardrobe between the main cabin and bathroom which allowed you to change in privacy. We had a double bed and two Pullman style beds for the kids.