Embarking the Ruby Princess

Happy cruise day! I took the Princess shuttle from the airport to the ship today and it took forever. I got back to the airport at 10:15 and didn’t get onto the ship until after 1:00. With it being Fleet Week, a Saturday, and great weather, the waterfront area in San Francisco was packed and the traffic was nuts.

Once onboard I headed straight to my muster station and found out rooms were ready. My luggage arrived within the hour.

My room on Aloha Deck

After unpacking and changing into clothes more appropriate for the warmer weather I headed to the pool deck to sit in the sun and wait for the sail away party. As I waited I got to watch the air show. It was supposed to be the Blue Angels but they’re shutdown because of the shutdown. Canada Snowbirds to the rescue! They did all kinds of tricks and even flew over the ship. 

I took a video of the air show but the WiFi is too slow for it to upload so I’ll try again later.

Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge is always special.

I had dinner at the buffet tonight. They have a different theme each night.

BBQ ribs. Oh, yeah.

A little detour to the casino to use my free play was my after-dinner entertainment. Spoiler alert: I lost it all. 

Hello casino play guy. Why couldn’t you be my friend? 

It was almost dark when I made my way back to the cabin. It was there the Captain announced we have 50-60 knot winds causing the ship to list. No wonder it feels like I’m running down a hill trying to get to the bathroom and climbing a hill to get back to the bed. And you should hear my door whistling! He tells us we’ll have at least another hour and a half of this situation. 

This week’s itinerary

Up tomorrow, a hopefully calmer and quieter sea day. See you then!