On Board the "Ruby Princess"

Princess Cruises is one among the popular cruise liner companies. With 16 cruise ships and new ships being added from time to time, this company runs cruises all over the globe. Princess Cruises cover all the seven continents.  Ships of princess cruises use the famous "Sea Witch" logo and run cruise trips to Caribbean, Canada, South America, Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, Asia, Europe etc. besides Alaska specials. The conduct of cruise trips from on-boarding the travellers till they are disembarked at conclusion of the trip has to go like clock-work and coordinated between various agencies throughout the tour. Picture given above is taken as the ship is leaving Seattle harbour and shows the Seattle downtown skyline.

S.S. Pacific Princess, a ship of the Princess Cruises family, was used for making the famous serial for ABC Television series "The Love Boat" telecast between 1977 and 1986. The show's 249 episodes spread over 9 seasons and 5 specials was hugely popular.

How does a modern cruise ship look like? What are the facts about its size, facilities available and safety aspects? These would be interesting questions for someone who has not travelled aboard a modern luxury cruise liner. The answers to these questions also encourage an attempt to take a vacation on a cruise ship. Modern cruise ships are provided with various amenities and the facilities available to the travellers are to be experienced to have a first hand knowledge about them. This is also a testimony about evolving of sea travel and vacation on seas.

Our Seattle-Alaska-Seattle roundtrip in July, 2019 was scheduled on the ship "Ruby Princess". The following facts about "Ruby Princess" may give an idea about the size, facilities and overall physical contours of the ship:

• Built in 2008 and refurbished in 2018, Ruby Princess cost 400 million USD (about Rs. 2,800 crores at current exchange rates). In comparison, the cost of a standard Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet now is about 250 million USD.
• It can carry 3,100 travellers along with 1,200 crew and staff members.
• It has 19 Decks with 1500 guest cabins.
• It is 951 feet long and 195 feet wide. The area is more than the size of three football fields.
• The total area is bigger than many modern malls and hotels.
• There are many types of rooms; inside rooms on lower decks, sea-facing rooms, rooms with balconies, suites etc. 900 rooms are with balconies to provide an uninterrupted view of the sea to the guests.
• The rooms provide comforts comparable to a room in a star hotel.
• 24 hours Room Service is available.
• There are many dining halls with anytime dining as well as special dining rooms with reservations.
• A wide choice of Wine and Liquor is available against payment. The liner has secured the "Best Wine Bars at Sea" award by USA Today.
• Vegetarian and non-vegetarian food is available. The number of dishes and variety of non-vegetarian food is a treat to non-vegetarians.
• There are shops, coffee bars, cafeteria, pizzeria, bars, casino, library, spa, theatres, swimming pools, night clubs, a 9-hole putting course, art gallery etc.
• There is a Las Vegas type Casino to gamble, where lessons on Roulette and BlackJack are given to first time gamblers!
• Stage shows, movies and music program provide entertainment to guests who stay back on the ship instead of going out during day time.
• There are programs for children of different age groups, youth and teen programs, and programs of interest to any age group of guests.

In short, all facilities that can be expected by the travelling public in a modern star hotel is available on the ship. Use of some of these facilities comes with booking a tour while for some other facilities payment has to be made as and when used, depending on the usage.

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How much luggage one can carry on such a trip? There are no restrictions on weight and number like air travel and any reasonable quantity of luggage can be taken abroad. The luggage would be scanned, checked and handled as in airports. The only restriction is about carrying liquor. A traveler is permitted a maximum of two bottles of wine for personal consumption. Other types of liquor is not permitted, but available on the ship against payment. The larger pieces of luggage are received at the pier by the representatives of the ship and tagged. They would be available at the cabin doors by the time the guests complete other checkin formalities and reach their cabins. The checkin formalities include identification of the guest with appropriate documents, copying of their passports and visas etc. 

Keeping a count and control over the guests during the voyage as well as during the day time when the guests leave for excursions on the land is indeed a big challenge for the crew members. Technology has solved this problem admirably. At the time of checkin, each guest is given a chip card which he is required to carry with him always. This card serves multi purposes; it acts as an identification tool, a key to lock and open the cabins, and also for making payments for all purchases and services on the ship. Guests need not carry their debit or credit cards or cash etc. All payments are accounted through this card and final aggregate amount is debited to the registered credit card once on the last day before disembarking from the ship. guests will be able to view their expenses on the net, of course. Wi-fi facility is available in the cabins and ship during the voyage, on payment of prescribed charges.

These cards are scanned as and when the guests leave the ship for going out during the daytime and again scanned while they return to the ship in the evening. This process gives the ships crew actual head count of the guests at any point in time.

The infrastructure and facilities at the pier for on-boarding the guests is excellent and the process is smooth. The staff are very cooperative and guide the guests wherever required. The charges for the cruise trip include tips for the staff as well and hence separate tipping is not required, unless the guests so desire.