Ruby Princess Review
A "bucket list" trip and the Ruby Princess is a great way to experience Alaska
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose Alaska as the destination for our 30th wedding anniversary and we chose the Ruby Princess because we had read good reviews of the ship. We booked 9 months in advance and our Princess vacation planner (Leticia Woolum) was terrific at walking us through all the options. We took our adult daughters with us (ages 22 and 20) and booked adjacent rooms where the balconies connected once the partition was removed. Our oldest can become seasick so Leticia chose the Aloha deck (higher up) and cabins that were mid-ship (A619-A623) to minimize the amount of motion we would likely feel.
We flew into Seattle the night before the cruise and stayed at the W Hotel near Pike’s Market. It’s a trendy, hipster place with a great staff. We took an Uber XL over to the pier around 2:15 pm (our assigned time to board was 2:30 pm). We used the porters to take our luggage and walked right into the terminal – there were no lines at any of the checkpoints. We were literally on board in about 5 minutes. After checking out our cabins and meeting the steward, we got a bite to eat and the luggage had been delivered to the rooms by the time we returned.
We used the Princess@Sea app on our iPhones (in addition to the Princess Patter newsletter) to decide on board activities. The app is terrific, and we used it extensively to message each other while on board. The only negative is that you do not receive a push notification when someone sends you a message (as you typically would for normal texts). So, when we were separated on board, you had to remember to look at the app every few minutes to make sure you didn’t miss a message (for example, “hey, bring me back a piece of pizza”).
Cabin Review
Balcony
Our cabins were spacious and had plenty of hangers (20) in the closet and room to store the luggage without having to nest them one inside the other. The bathroom and shower were tight but not too bad. Décor was modern. We had watched several YouTube videos from people that had taken this cruise and followed their advice to bring power strips since the rooms only have 2 outlets. This way we could plug in all of the iPhones, Fitbits, wireless headphones, etc. The best part of the cabin was the adjoining balconies between our room and our daughters. Made it very convenient to move back and forth, plus we enjoyed all of Glacier Bay National Park from our balconies! The ship gives equal time to both the port and starboard sides of the ship at the two main glaciers we visited (Margerie and Lamplugh).
Port Reviews
Glacier Bay
The highlight of the trip. When the ship enters the bay, National Park Service employees board the ship and act as tour guides - using the ship's PA system to provide commentary. The best part of the cabin was the adjoining balconies between our room and our daughters' balcony. It made it very convenient to move back and forth, plus we enjoyed all of Glacier Bay National Park from our balconies! The ship gives equal time to both the port and starboard sides of the ship at the two main glaciers we visited (Margerie and Lamplugh).
Seattle
We flew into Seattle the night before the cruise and stayed at the W Hotel near Pike’s Market. It’s a trendy, hipster place with a great staff. We had brunch at a local place near Pike's market and then returned to the hotel to retrieve our luggage. We took an Uber XL over to the pier around 2:15 pm (our assigned time to board was 2:30 pm).