Day 24: Home!

Happy July 4th!

I told myself I simply couldn’t wait as long as I sometimes do to publish a wrap up post. I know how much some of you hate that. But I also knew that we were going to hit the ground running when we returned home…and we did. But today is the holiday, I have no appointments, and all that was on the agenda was the neighborhood celebration earlier today and fireworks viewing from the deck tonight. It’s time to wrap this up!

I’d like to say we had an uneventful trip home, and in most ways we did. We went to Botticelli for breakfast before 6:30am, enjoyed one last meal being served by the delightful Marco, and were out of our cabin at 8am. We then waited in the Elite disembarkation lounge (SRO only for a while) until our number was called early, about 8:40am.

Re-entering the US was easy (facial recognition was in place) and I thought we’d have plenty of time to claim our luggage and meet up with the Lyft I’d reserved for 10am. We would have…if my suitcase hadn’t been mis-sorted and was in a different part of the terminal. We each walked and walked and walked around trying to find it. I have placed bright yellow and black striped duct tape all over our suitcases. They’re pretty hard to miss, and often the handlers actually place them side by side in the terminal. Not so that day. 

Finally they announced that all the luggage had been offloaded from the ship (kind of like the airport conveyer coming to a stop at baggage claim) and things were looking a little desperate. It was 9:50am and our Lyft driver was on the way. But, fortunately, enough luggage had been claimed and my lone suitcase with that bright tape finally stood out. Success!

After that, things progressed like clockwork. Our flight was full but on time, and we settled in for the direct flight home. When drinks were served, I ordered fuzzy water like I always do, but the person next to me ordered a Bloody Mary, and things again got interesting. 

I used to order Mr. And Mrs. T when I flew 30 years ago or so, but one time things went horribly wrong (coincidentally on a flight to San Francisco). I was dressed for the meeting I had to go to directly after landing, with my Coach purse under the seat in front of me, and the plane hit turbulence when I was taking a sip of my beverage. Tomato juice everywhere. The purse was ruined, I only had the one suit, and my white shirt was covered in red. Never again. 

We never even got that far on this flight. The flight attendant was handing the drink over my head when he dropped it, leaving my head covered in red, and juice running down my face, into my eyes, over my glasses and all over my shirt. I was so stunned I didn’t know what to do, and hands were coming at me from all directions dabbing me off with those tiny napkins.  The FA said he’d bring me anything- ANYTHING- I needed, so I asked for a can of club soda and a stack of napkins and spent the rest of the flight trying to lessen the disaster and making little red paper pill balls from the soaked napkins. 

We de-planed to a terminal that was wall to wall people, 25% of them kids and 25% of those having meltdowns, the airport looking like a movie theater after a Saturday afternoon matinee and me looking like a walking crime scene.  Summer travel is a little crazy at the best of times. The bathrooms were out of paper towels, so I was as clean as I was going to get, and decided to ignore the stares. 

After we claimed our luggage, I priced Uber and Lyft, and- yikes- demand pricing at its best (or worst). A normally $75 fare was over $200. We made a quick decision to take mass transit as far as we could and then do a pick up from there.  It was packed, with many others in the same boat we were of deciding to take a $1.25pp ride as far as they could. Less than two hours and a $25 Uber later and we were home about 10pm. 

I think I said earlier that we’ve never cruised in June before, so we were a little uncertain what we would come home to, but our neighbor mowed our front lawn to keep the HOA at bay (thank you Steve!) and everything inside the house was fine despite the heat dome we had been under and the inside of the house getting into the 90s. 

 I spent all day Sunday doing load after load of laundry and putting it away, but it wasn’t until last night that I completely finished unpacking by putting away jewelry and toiletries and washing out refillable travel containers. It’s a good feeling to have it done. 

G spent the week getting the yard caught up in the heat and cleaning the deck for the holiday weekend while I went to five appointments, got $200 of groceries in the house and collected the stack of mail. Next week will be busy, but not quite as much, and the week after that will hopefully be a lot slower so I can get the house ready for my surgery. We definitely know how to best do that by now. 

We’ve talked a dozen times about our cruise and how much we loved it. That itinerary was just amazing, and Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier were the surprise hits of the trip. We enjoyed the endless days, the entertainment, shows and live music alike, the crew, the extra MTG event we had, seeing Captain Fortezze for the first time in nine years and the layout of Ruby Princess. I would choose a Grand Class ship over a Royal Class ship every time for Alaska. 

We found the ship in general to be in great repair, wondered a bit at some of the highly expensive ADA accommodations that were installed since we were last on her, and found things like public bathrooms and hand sinks to be in very good working order. In our cabin, cabinet drawers all worked fine, and, after our first bathroom leak, we had no more issues. As I’ve said, the mattresses were really awful (but, luckily, the chiropractor was one of my appointments this week and he worked a miracle), and I was getting fed up with the shortage of hand towels and wash cloths. Come on Princess, even Motel 6 offers a complete set of towels and better mattresses. But our steward was wonderful, and I should have spoken up about the mattress in the first few days, so I share some of the blame for that. 

The food was probably my biggest gripe. Not hot, not even served safely at times…there were a few hits and lots of misses. But G gained some weight, so obviously a lot of it was edible, if not memorable. 

We would take this cruise again (and again, and again) but next year isn’t going to work because of a wedding (😉). If it’s offered again in 2027, you’ll find us on the ship! As for what’s next…I’m pretty sure we’ll be cruising again after cross country season in December, and maybe even before then if I can squeeze one in between Conference, Regional and National championships (prayers are said continuously that our athlete remains healthy and un-injured for his senior year).  And we do have several cruises booked for 2026, but haven’t yet settled on what we’ll be doing. Still, two months at a stretch is my absolute limit (one month is even better) so I don’t see any winters at sea in our near future. 

Thank you for following along!  Your emails and DMs got me over the initial hump of blogging.  I had never realized how much motivation Mom provided and how it would affect me when I no longer needed to publish posts to keep her updated.  It didn’t help that I couldn’t upload pics from the ship, but it brought back memories of blogging years ago in that regard. It still got done, but for $495 I might have expected more than 2013 functionality. 

Have a wonderful and safe summer and check back later this year for more of the good, the bad, and the (tomato) juicy. 

Life is never boring and is always good. :-)

Day 23: At Sea

Today was just amazing, and, as ready as I am to return home and live a busy life for the next 2+ weeks (followed by lots of downtime), today made me reconsider that. 

We slept in a bit, and skipped breakfast altogether. When G finally got up to shower, I sprang into action, opened a suitcase on the bed, and grabbed every one of my hanging items out of the closet. These I literally tossed in a pile on one side of the suitcase. No folding, no rolling, just toss and smash. I’ve never before done this, but realized that everything I had was going to have to be laundered or dry cleaned, so it would make no difference. It did help that my suitcase wasn’t full to begin with. Given the opportunity, I’d do it again. 

We went to lunch in Botticelli, and weren’t seated in Marco’s area, but he made sure to go out of his way to come over and say hi. I do get attached to our waiters!

Summer rolls

Paella

We had to divide and conquer a bit for the next activity.  G went to Grapevine Wine Tasting in Da Vinci and I caught part of the Princess Pop Choir in the Piazza (such a great vibe) and then went to the Princess Theater to get seats for Voice of the Ocean at 2:30pm. I got there early (very early). In fact, the doors were still closed and there was a long line of people waiting to get in. This is a very popular activity!  

G had given me specific instructions on where to sit (all those cruises without me have made him very set in his ways 😉) but by getting there early it was mission accomplished. We front row people have all gotten to know each other, and the waiting time for shows passes quickly because we are so busy chatting. 

I was never a fan of Voice of the Ocean when it was held in the evening. I like professional entertainment best, but G has become quite taken with this show on ships (we’ve never seen the original on TV). I definitely understand the appeal now. It was a lot of fun. And, after 22-nights, we knew the judges well and especially enjoyed their personas and jokes. It was a very fun time.

Then it was back to the cabin for me, where I showered for the last time and then packed most of my toiletries, while G went to Club Fusion for Snowball! Jackpot! Bingo!!  He bought two sets of bingo cards and made it only as close as three away. Still, you don’t have a chance if you don’t play. 

We were sad to go to our final dinner on board. We had a great waitstaff team, and our tablemates on either side of us were very enjoyable. It was funny that Lana and Howard already knew G and on the other side was a mother-daughter pair from Brisbane, so we had talked about Australia quite a bit. 

Salmon cake. Much yummier than it looks

Cauliflower steak

I had this on the Sapphire and thought it was one of the best things I’d ever eaten in my life. 

This one was very NOT good.

So for all those people who ordered it because I raved about it:  I’m sorry. Some ships apparently do it better than others. 

Finally it was time for the show I was most looking forward to, the Princess World Orchestra- Rock Edition, held in the Princess Theater.  As I listened to the pre-show playlist, I was immediately struck by how this wasn’t a typical Princess playlist.  It was way edgier, like the kind of music we heard on the Carnival Jubilee last fall. Frankly, I wondered how some of the older guests (those even older than me) were enjoying it. In the end, I decided it was a perfect warm up, because the Rock Edition of the Princess World Orchestra was all that and more. 

Did you ever think you’d hear these songs before a Princess Theater show?

Princess World Orchestra was performed by the show band, party band Topaz, three of the production show vocalists and the two lead singers of Topaz, so two bass players, Two drummers, two guitarists, etc. If I had ever considered that maybe their standard entertainment fare was the limit of the musician’s talents (I hadn’t), this rock concert blew away that theory. They performed 45 minutes of rock classics, mostly from the 70s and early 80s. My times!  Music by Def Leopard, AC/DC, Heart, Eric Clapton, Queen, etc. It was loud, it was wild and I thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen on Princess. 

And I think it may have put Frank Sinatra to rest on the Ruby Princess for good. 

We walked out of the theater with CD Aaron. He said that this was the premier of this event, and people had told him he couldn’t have that kind of show on Princess. Au contraire!  Those of us who’ve sat through Stardust umpteen times needed exactly that kind of show. He was thrilled that we had loved it. 

We stopped by the Farewell Party in the Pizzazz for just a few minutes, but wished we could have stayed longer. It looked like a hugely fun time, and the Piazza was packed. . Let’s just say the entertainment staff knocked it out of the park this last night of the cruise. 

Suitcases had to be set out by 9pm, and we just barely made it. I took out my contacts, a wordless signal to G that my day was over, and he contemplated going back out, but instead just brought some ice cream back to the cabin. We had an early alarm set on disembarkation day, and some solid sleep wouldn’t hurt. 

Day 22: At Sea

While I love many things about this unique itinerary, one of my favorite things is the two sea days at the front and the end of the cruise. While there was some bumpiness on the northbound route, I’m feeling none of that on the southbound. Instead what we have are two restful days to enjoy the last of the ship’s offerings, adjust our mindset to going home, and getting packed up. In fact, many people I talked with said they got packed today. I haven’t gone quite that far (I really didn’t bring that much stuff), but am happy knowing I’ll have plenty of time tomorrow to get it done. 

After a much better night’s sleep- the antibiotics immediately started to knock out my sinus infection, and turning the mattress addressed 75% of that issue- I was up and dressed early and went to breakfast with waiter Marco in Botticelli. Marco is my guy first thing in the morning. He knows exactly what I want without even asking (three orders of orange segments, two rosettes of smoked salmon and orange spice tea). 

I listened as I sat there alone to the all coughing going on around me. This cruise has reaffirmed to me that a ship starts to turn sick two weeks into a cruise, and in a perfect world, I would only cruise 14 days or less. Happily, I am well on the way to recovery, and so will be able to hit the ground running when we return home, as my schedule will require me to do.

Still, I spent until dinner in the cabin, finally starting an ebook I had gotten from the library over two weeks ago and which is due back in three days. The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah is set in Alaska in the 1970s and I thought it would be a perfect read on this cruise. However, I don’t easily get around to reading, instead spending most of my free time on blogging, and, on this cruise, uploading pics to the blog. I’ll have to put The Great Alone on hold again. Maybe I’ll finish it during my recovery from surgery. 

G went to a second Military and Veterans get together at 3pm, and I’ve took advantage of the time he was out of the cabin too get ready for tonight’s formal night, our third of the cruise. G simply wore a dress shirt and tie, and I would estimate that that was pretty much the most popular way for men to dress. A few wore a sport coat or suit, a few didn’t dress up at all. Alaska cruises are very different than Mediterranean cruises. So don’t stress formal night attire, please. 

I was very hungry for dinner. There’s been a lot of light and missed meals the past couple of days. And tonight’s menu was a feast. Those cheesy spiral rolls, G and I split an escargot starter, and he had the surf and turf with no surf and an extra turf. I had salmon again, but got a pic of our neighbor’s surf and turf for your enjoyment. Look at the size of that lobster tail!  Yes, lobster is alive and well on the Ruby Princess. No, wait…that’s not quite right. You know what I mean. We completed our dinner with mandarin sorbet for dessert. Perfection. 

I’ll confess to two bites

These rolls are like crack!

G’s double filet-no lobster dinner


The standard presentation 

After dinner we went very early to the Princess Theater to get seats for production show Magic To Do. It was extremely popular, and there were no seats available 30 minutes ahead of time. We had not seen this show in years, and sat close to see the costumes and makeup, which I remember being two of my favorite parts. Oh, and Colors of the Wind. I love love love that song and it was beautifully performed last night. Even happier, they hadn’t shortened the show at all; it was 50 minutes long and well worth the 70 minutes we had sat in our seats ahead of time. 

Colors of the Wind

My favorite part

If you happen to do this itinerary next year, please don’t be surprised by the fact that there are only three production shows. The usual cruise length for this ship in Alaska is 11 nights, and these same three production shows are performed on those cruises. The cast hasn’t learned, and there are not sets and costumes on board for more than that. 

Our entertainment has been nicely filled out by guest entertainers. In fact, G said that he thought the vocalist Todd Adamson who performed Victoria night (and I didn’t see) had the best show of the entire cruise, and that is saying something. Todd also plays the magic man in Magic To Do. We also had an indigenous folkloric show Vancouver night, which we didn’t see. 

After the show, we watched dance contest Do You Wanna Dance in the Piazza (you can tell I am feeling so much better) and then went up to the Lido Deck for G to get a slice of pizza and then ice cream while I drank tea in the buffet. It was International Night in the buffet and the buffet stewards were in rare form, wearing aprons of the different countries and some of them were wearing German hats and they were having a good time and posing for pics. 

And then we were told by the supervisor that they were putting on a magic show in the back corner of the buffet and we had never heard of anything like this before, so, of course we went to see what it was all about. A Brazilian waiter from (we think, based on his uniform) the Crown Grill was the magician and he had an attentive audience of 30 plus people there to watch. Between his accent and his repeated claims that he was so new at this and was nervous, and then the bags of popcorn that were brought in for our enjoyment, he had us eating out of the palm of his hand and we wildly cheered everything he did. He then took photos of his audience (for his happy memories, he said) and selfies and the whole thing was so unexpected and so innocent and so cute that he could have showed us how an eraser disappears pencil marks and we would have gone wild with excitement.  

We have no idea how or why it came to be, but loved it. So glad we just happened to be up there for post-dinner snacks!

It was quite late by then, way past my bedtime, and I was happy to return to the cabin. This southbound route is smooth as can be, and, having had an huge dinner, we can sleep right through breakfast tomorrow.

Life is good. :)

Day 21: Victoria

Today our increasingly “sick ship” caught up with me. I had had head cold symptoms a couple of days ago, but they passed quickly and I thought that perhaps all the measures I’ve taken to boost my immunity since getting sick on the Regal have paid off. It’s been a concerted effort- planning and documenting all my food and working with a nutritionist to supplement where necessary- just trying to prepare myself to take this cruise. 

However, starting late last night I could feel something coming on. When I woke up today I knew from the way my teeth, face and ear hurt that it was a massive sinus infection. I got dressed and got breakfast in Botticelli, and thank God I did. It was all I ate today. This is where not having the Plus package really hurt. I would have loved having soup throughout the day, but wasn’t willing to activate Ocean Now to get it. 

G offered to bring me anything, but I instead snagged a couple of fries off of the burger he brought back to the cabin for himself (the first food that’s been eaten in our cabin all cruise…we don’t usually like doing that, and hate leaving dishes for it steward to clean up). 

Last night G went to dinner and the show alone, and I finally started on a prescription for doxycycline that my doctor has me cruise with for just such an eventuality. 🤞🏼 it works fast. 

I also flipped my mattress around head to foot while G was out of the cabin. I haven’t said much about it, but both our mattresses are horrible. Mine is sunken down the middle so much that I’ve been sleeping either smashed against the cabin wall or, when that hip gets too sore at night, I flip over and cling to the very edge of the bed. Last night (fairly sleepless) I ended up flipping around head to foot in the bed and thought that was a little better. 

Today I tried flipping the mattress entirely but the bottom is completely shot, so I did the head to foot turn. I think it’s an improvement; tonight will tell. I should have said something to our steward early on, but I really thought I could cope. However, I am walking more like Tim Conway’s little old man every day, and going to breakfast this morning could barely lift my feet. I have to somehow get well enough and flexible enough to fly home on Saturday. 

We love our cabin steward, but there have been a few misses in the cabin side of things that will get mentioned in our post-cruise survey. This ship experience has been worlds better than the one I had in April 2022 but is still falling short of what we enjoyed during our 100+ days on the Ruby in Australia in 2019-20 (perfection).   But this itinerary has more than made up for it, and I’m so glad we did this cruise. 

Day 20: Vancouver

We again slept in a bit this morning, but made sure we had our breakfast and were sitting on the Terrace Deck as we arrived in Vancouver. We usually cruise through this part of the approach in the dark, so it was beautiful to see the sights on either side of the ship in the few hours before we arrived at noon. 

What we were most waiting for, of course, was to cruise under the Lions Gate Bridge, and it looked like the ship would barely clear it…until it was right under, when you can see there is room to spare. 

Will we clear it?

Lots of room

Today was a beautiful day weather-wise, and we continued to sit on the Terrace Deck while the gangway was set up and the ship was cleared. Here’s the interesting thing about that:  we never had to go through immigration to enter Canada. We listened to the announcements and read and re-read the Patter but there was no indication we needed to take our passports off the ship. 

While we waited, we immensely enjoyed watching all the harbor traffic- RORO ferries, sightseeing boats, helicopters, freighters, barges and lots of float planes, which took off and landed right next to the ship. We are fascinated by all those things, I guess because we didn’t have them at home. 

Still we couldn’t sightsee for too long. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed off the ship in time for our reservation at Flyover Canada, right next to the ship. I’ve wanted to do this for years, and was thrilled it finally worked out today. 

Flyover mixed motion seats (like on a roller coaster) with wind, mist and 3D video to provide the sensation of flying over different land features, in our case the Canadian Rockies. Now, while I love this sort of thing, I am not a fan of riding in helicopters or small planes, so being able to do it this way was perfect. 

Afterward, we walked around Canada Place and the harbor area. There an electric scooter track on the point of Canada Place, and we watched for awhile as kids did death-defying stunts while nearly colliding (that can’t be what it’s intended to be used for, can it?), and then returned to the ship in time for dinner. 

Tonight’s dinner was our first real miss. We saw over 100 crewmembers changing over today in Vancouver (one set leaving at the end of their contracts, and new crewmembers coming on) and we were left to wonder if everyone in the galley tonight was new. First, neighbor Lana’s panko crusted pork cutlet was red raw, then my always available chicken was so overcooked it couldn’t even be cut or torn, and then they served strawberry ice cream instead of strawberry sorbet.  Even though I soon realized it, it wasn’t in enough time to allow me to feel like going back off the ship as we had planned to do after dinner. I am highly sensitive to ice cream and milk. Not our best dinner experience. And Errol and Heifa, who provide the best service always, were very concerned. No worries, tomorrow is another day. 

We ended up returning to the Terrace Deck and continuing where we left off earlier, watching the lights off the city and harbor and all the goings-on at Canada Place right next to the ship. It was a busy summer evening, and there was much to keep us entertained. 

Day 19: At Sea

We had a lazy, uneventful day followed by a fun evening, so it was a perfect way to spend a sea day. We awoke to see heavy rain drops on the Bridgecam, so we crawled back under the covers for a couple more hours. At home, we are up by 6:30am every morning (G even earlier). Not having to do that is one of the greatest joys of being on vacation. 

It also allows us to keep our meals to two a day (well…plus afternoon tea today).  We went to the buffet about 11 am, where G grabbed items from the breakfast and lunch lines, and I waited until the lunch line opened at 11:30am. It was the bouillon soup with add ins today and watermelon for me today. Funny note:  a younger man in front of me was very sweet at the soup area and handed me a bowl and offered to let me go ahead of him, which I declined. Turns out, he was our entertainer tonight, Jared Freiburg. 

Lunch, nearly everyday

By 3pm, G was hungry again, and we went to tea in Botticelli for the second time this cruise. I really enjoy afternoon tea on the Ruby. On some ships, I get the impression that the waiters would rather be elsewhere, but not so here. They make it a lot of fun. What wasn’t so much fun was G’s comments on the heavy engine sounds and shaking in Botticelli. Lots of comments. It’s not his favorite dining room. And, to his credit, it IS a different ambience than the midship dining rooms. 

I had forgotten to mention that our Elite minibar setup contained two different alcohol elements than we’ve ever seen before:  two amaretto di Saronnos and two Tia Marias in cold brew. Sorry, I can’t tell you what they replaced because I didn’t pay that much attention. I do know G traded the rest for beers. Anyway, I remember this today because he took one of the Tia Marias to tea and put it in coffee and said it was good. The amarettos will probably go home for me to enjoy in a weak moment. 

It wasn’t long from tea to dinner (which is why I didn’t eat at tea) in Michelangelo. I felt kind of bad again wearing a fleece to dinner but took a good look around tonight for the first time. People are wearing sweatshirts, hoodies, T shirts…this really is a casual cruise. Dinner was salmon and broccoli for me as it has been quite a lot, plus grapefruit sorbet for dessert, which is a favorite for both of us. 

I wore a fleece tonight because we planned to return to the Princess Theater after a few nights away (MUTS movie one night, enjoying the Terrace Deck in Juneau the next night, and the cocktail party last night). We sat up higher tonight, to make a quick escape to Club Fusion after the show, and it was considerably less chilly up there than down in front, but I still wasn’t dressed too warmly. 

The pre-show playlist featured late 70s rock songs which I enjoyed immensely (My Sharona on blast could raise my father’s blood pressure like nothing else) and I was hopeful that was the kind of music we’d hear in the show. Alas, this rock show was more hit songs of the late 50s, but the really good ones. When the curtain went up, I realized Jared Freiburg of Jared Freiburg and The Vagabonds was my soup saint from the lunch buffet. I really loved this show, and expected G to feel the same. He liked it, but was a little more neutral, so your views on the show may vary. 

It was a quick dash down the outside Promenade Deck afterward to Club Fusion for Mike Wilson’s comedy show. He was ok, but Princess comedians will never be as funny as those we saw on Carnival. They’re just not as edgy. 

Afterward we went to the buffet where I drank still more tea and they made hot chocolate especially for G who was the one who was freezing tonight, after that walk across the Promenade Deck. We were able to find our location on Google Maps and could see that we were between Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. We could see land on either side of the ship, but not closely. 

And we returned to our cabin via the Terrace Deck. When we stepped outside, we were met with an orange blaze so bright that my first thought was that it was a beacon right behind the ship. No, it was the sunset, and the pics I took do not do it justice. It was breathtakingly beautiful, a perfect ending to a day at sea.