Ruby Princess Embarkation

Thursday, February 19, 2026

I woke up several times during the night hearing the rain pelting against the window. I finally got up at 6:30 and showered and washed my hair before Bob was up. The two of us went down to the lobby for breakfast and Michelle showed up a little later. Jon was still back in their room trying to figure out what to do with the cash from last night. Apparently it is illegal to just keep money that you find and even if it wasn't, Jon would still attempt to find the legitimate owners. 

After booking the cruise over 200 days ago it is finally time to sail!

Because there was some foreign currency from a certain country in the envelope, Jon assumed it must have been an international guest that had lost it. He didn't want to just turn the money over to the front desk employee but he did ask if there had been any foreign guests in their room. They checked the records back a couple of months but nothing matched. Who knows how long the money had been there.

Jon decided that he and Michelle would go to the pier early to drop off luggage and then Michelle would wait there while Jon took the money to a nearby police station. When Jon was on the way to the police station, he told the taxi driver about the money he had found and how he was going to turn it in. When they arrived, the driver insisted Jon's ride was free and said "If you do something nice for someone then I do something nice for you."  Jon filled out the report and the police told him that if no one claimed it in three months he would get the money back. We will see!

Bob and I were keeping an eye on the weather and when the rain stopped, we checked out of the hotel and called an Uber to go to the pier. Our driver was a fun guy from Brazil. The traffic was horrendous, but we did have fun conversation on the way.

Bob expressing his thoughts on my heavy luggage!

Jon & Michelle had already checked in and were waiting for us when we boarded. When setting up our accounts on the Princess app, I had re-done my photo several times (gotta look good you know 😉) and somehow my picture ended up on Bob's profile. Both of us had to have our photo take again as we boarded to get the mess straightened out. Besides the photo snafu, getting through security and onto the ship was relatively painless.

Nothing like the feeling of walking onto a ship knowing the cruise is almost ready to begin!

Our rooms weren't ready yet so we met Jon & Michelle at the Botticelli Dining Room rather than fighting the crowds at the buffet. Our appetizers and main courses came out quickly, be we waited forever for dessert (espresso ice cream for me!!) Knowing we had 27 days to enjoy the ship, there was no reason to hurry. It was after 1:30 when we finished and by then the rooms were ready. 

We have cruised with Jon and Michelle multiple times, but this was the first time we have gotten rooms adjacent to each other. We spent some time unpacking and when Del, our room steward, came by he opened the balcony divider between our rooms. 

Our cabin, C710. It would have been perfect if only it had a couch! 

Our cabins, C708 and C710, have extended balconies which gives us enough room for all four of us to hang out together. It was a little tricky getting the chairs through the small opening between the balconies however! 

Loved the extended balcony!

We watched sail away from the balcony. It was cold, but still exciting to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. Once we reached the open ocean, the sea became very rough and we retreated back into our room. The captain announced that we would encounter 14 foot swells overnight. 😲

Our extended balcony on deck 10 was partially uncovered.
The balconies below us on Deck 9 were totally uncovered. 

When Michelle was getting on the ship she overheard the family of this poor lady. The woman thought she could sail with just her driver's license as an ID. The family was scrambling to find some way to get access to her birth certificate but it did not happen. She was denied boarding and stood on the dock yelling to her family as they sailed away without her. 😞

Alcatraz. (I had to take this photo for my 9 year old granddaughter. She is intrigued by Alcatraz and can recite all kinds of facts about the former prison!)

San Francisco skyline from the ship.

Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Once we left the protected waters in San Francisco Bay, the sea got very choppy.

I hadn't made any dinner reservations for the first night, but when I checked on the app there were openings for a private table for four. I went over to Jon & Michelle's room to find out what time they wanted to eat and when I walked in their room it WREAKED of hairspray! That can of hairspray that Bob and Jon had walked 6 miles to purchase the day before had somehow completely discharged inside of Michelle's luggage. 😲 Everything inside was soaked with the spray! 

Prior to the cruise I had made dinner reservations for all of the sea days at 5:20 pm. At the time, the app was showing that the early show in the theater was at 7:30 so I thought the time would work well. A couple of weeks earlier, the schedule changed to have the show at 7:00 every night but by then there were no reservations available any earlier. We stuck with the 5:20 time for this first night as well.

We were seated at Table #51 for dinner in the Botticelli Dining Room and we loved the waiters Lokesh and Ian so much that we arranged to have dinner with them each night. It was a little rushed to get finished in time to get seats for the show but even with dessert, Lokesh managed to get our food served in time. 

AJ Clark (one of the regular Princess singers) did a one-man show in the theater with songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Excellent entertainer! Besides performing in the production shows, AJ also entertains on other nights in Crooners Bar.

Cruise Director, Holly Nimens, welcoming everyone.
I loved having a live band for the shows!

A J Clarke

If you have read any of my previous blogs, you might know that when we travel with Jon and Michelle we play cards...a lot of cards. And you might also know that playing cards isn't something I really enjoy...but I try. Our first evening  onboard ended with us playing in the Cafe Caribe area of the buffet. At that time of night there were only a few other people so we didn't feel like it was a problem using one of the tables. Also being in the buffet means we have easy access to the drink station so we can all get a cup of tea while we play!