talkorpi

Day 1 Recap: What a great first day! I am absolutely loving Princess so far. I feel so dumb for spoiling myself so early on - I might never want to go back to Carnival after this and my wallet certainly isn't going to like that 🫣 The ship is in great shape. It just feels so fancy and I love the layout and venues. I was honestly a little nervous going on a class of ship that debuted before the year I was born but it’s not a problem at all - the ship is amazing (and I have been told many a time that am an old soul, maybe that has something to do with it). I love the wraparound promenade which was missing on the last ship we sailed. Looking down at the aft is SCARY on this ship since it’s basically a straight drop (definitely not used to that) but I love sitting out and listening to the wake. Crew have been outstanding so far - everyone is so friendly and helpful. I had high expectations and they are still being exceeded. Food has exceeded expectations as well. Everyone has been complaining about the quality and cutbacks and I failed to find any faults so far - everything has been very high quality. Dinner only took 75 minutes and was a very relaxed pace. Excellent waitstaff and the food was all piping hot (I literally burned my tongue on my hazelnut Soufflee, I swear it had just come out of the oven which is a GOOD SIGN!) We left Galveston a little late this afternoon (4:15ish) and the drinks package kicked in as we were in the middle of dinner at 6:00. I have ordered drinks three times and somehow gotten double orders of the drinks twice. Not sure why but I don’t really have a problem with that 🤷‍♂️ Sitting on the balcony listening to the waves as we follow the glow of the Allure of the Seas in the distance down to Roatan. I would stay up later but it has been a long day. Looking forward to a full day at sea tomorrow - lots to do with the first formal night, Colors of the World, and more!

Internet speeds in case anyone was wondering. Not amazing but most websites and texting seem to work. And hey I can attach pictures here so I guess that’s worth something

You really should! This is Ruby’s last 7-day here - after us is a short five day hop to the Yucatán and then she’ll transit the Panama Canal for her Alaska season. For 2024 and 2025, PCL is going to have Regal doing these runs out of Galveston. If the value is there for you then I say go for it!

Ordered my first Dirty Banana. Two showed up. I’m not complaining! 🤪

MDR Dinner:

Nope, not this time. Maybe some other time but taking it easy this week!

Also - there is NO ultimate ship tour being offered right now because of “pandemic precautions.” They did not know when it would return. Bummer 😞

Weather is finally clearing up in port just in time for sail away! Lots of pax very confused/irritated with the “not being able to use your beverage package” situation in Galveston. I will also note that in the “OceanNow” section of the app, the drinks don’t even appear. I guess it’s because of the whole Texas law thing, which makes sense. Will see if it updates once we are out to sea.

Thanks! Galveston is my homeport so I have embarkation pretty much figured out here (at least that’s what I tell myself to alleviate stress). We dropped off our luggage at the terminal first and the Porter handled it from there. It’s a three ship turnaround today but the traffic actually wasn’t as bad as last time we were here with just two ships. We used a private parking lot called Cruise Park - it’s uncovered and has no shuttle to the pier, but it’s just a ten minute walk to the terminal and the owners are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. There are also covered and garage options, but I just see uncovered as the chance for a free car wash 😆 Embarkation was a total breeze. Usually it takes me over an hour on a good day to get on Carnival from Galveston. I was literally walking onto the Ruby within 15 minutes of getting to the terminal. I kept thinking that we missed something because I couldn’t believe how fast it went

So when I booked this cruise I booked us in an obstructed oceanview stateroom. However, I almost immediately placed a minimum bid for a standard balcony cabin just to see what would happen. Judging by our room assignment I think it’s safe to say that I am one VERY happy cruiser right now! This balcony is HUGE!

Today’s Patter

MDR Lunch

WOW! That was the easiest embarkation EVER! It took maybe 15 minutes from walking up to the terminal to being onboard. The Ruby is absolutely beautiful and looks so much grander in person than online. Very, VERY impressed with Princess so far! I’ll get back to answer questions once we are all settled in.

Good morning, Ruby!

Wonderful driving weather today…

Day 1: And we’re off! Getting gas and then we’ll hit the road. In just a few hours we’ll be in Galveston! It’s a three ship turnaround day AND the final four is going on in Houston, so even though we are leaving rather early, I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time. See y’all soon!

Well, hello, Princess forum! I figured since this will be my first Princess cruise, I might as well try out my first LIVE review, too! In a little under 48 hours, we will be sailing out of Galveston Bay on the Ruby Princess for Roatan, Costa Maya, and Cozumel. I've always wanted to do a live thread and since Princess brags about having the "best wifi at sea" then I figured I would give it a try! 😉 A little about me - I am a recent college graduate who has always LOVED everything about the cruise industry. My dream was to work for either Carnival or Princess in their deployment or newbuild departments, but unfortunately, I was never able to get any industry experience or internships (COVID shutdowns during my Sophomore through Senior college years = no opportunities) and so now that ship has sailed. Oh well, I guess I will have to enjoy myself as a passenger instead of an employee! It will be me and mom on this cruise. We travel together quite a bit so I'm excited. I've always wanted to try Princess, but unfortunately, it has always been a little outside of our price range. However, now that I graduated and have a stable income I decided to take the plunge and try it out (the super attractive fares that Princess had to try to lure people to Galveston in their first year back helped quite a bit with that). We are already off to a great start - after we booked an obstructed oceanview, I placed a minimum bid for a balcony. Not only was it accepted - we got put in one of those angled extended balcony cabins at the very back of the ship. Not too bad! I've been to all of these ports before and we honestly just plan on taking it pretty easy. I probably won't be as active as other live threads in the past as I have never really done this before but I will try to answer as many questions as I can and be thorough. (Im)patiently waiting until Sunday morning when we start the drive to Galveston! 🛳️

Ugh. Very disappointed at the Galveston offerings. One of Princess’s niches is unique itineraries - the same 7 day ports over and over gets old. I wish they would at least mix it up and throw in some calls at Grand Cayman / Jamaica / Key West (the other lines do!), or do longer itineraries to ABC islands / etc. Guess I will have to fly to Ft. Lauderdale to escape Cozumel and Belize

Thanks. I checked on one of said search engines and did not find anything. I meant a round-trip sailing calling on Bermuda alone, like Celebrity or NCL do. I am definitely not on the market for one of those long cruises - 7 days is my max for both work and budget purposes. I guess I will have to look at Celebrity for those types of itineraries. Bummer.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone knows if Princess sails to Bermuda? Wasn't able to find much online. I see they did in the past but it doesn't seem like it anymore - anyone know when/why they might not anymore? Seems like a big missed opportunity if they don't.

Hi, I did this excursion on Carnival last year. I highly recommend it. You only need to purchase ONE ticket for every two people using it. They will give you (the person who bought the excursion) either two wristbands onboard or your ticket which you then take to the chairlift and beach hut in Mahogany Bay - they will give you two wristbands there. In short - if you are a couple, only have ONE person buy it as they will give you two wristbands when you get to the beach! Hope this clears up any confusion!

Hi y'all, we are going to Mahogany Bay next week. I've been here a couple of times and really love this port, and part of the reason I picked this specific itinerary was for Mahogany Beach. However, I heard that it has been really windy the last few days and some ships have had to cancel due to wind conditions. Can anyone verify this? Never had a port cancellation and I will be pretty bummed if this turns out to be true and happens to us next week! Bonus points if anyone can explain why it has been so windy 😉

Sounds about right for NCL these days 😞

Hi cadreamer, The medallions will come with a plastic case and a small thin white lanyard as seen here:

I did the Hornblower harbor tour while I was in San Diego last year (not on a cruise though). The cruise dock is a couple piers away so it is really that close. I would make sure you knew which tour you were doing - there are three different Hornblower harbor tours - North Bay, South Bay, and Full Tour. The Full Tour just means you board for one of them and stay on for the other. The North Bay tour goes toward the ocean. This has a view of Coronado Island aircraft carriers, Point Loma sumbarine base, and the Sea Lion dock. The South Bay tour passes under the Coronado Bridge and sails down the Naval Base, giving you a look at the ships docked while the capitan explains what the purpose is of each class of ship you see. I really enjoyed this experience - we did the full tour and it was worth every penny. It was also the highlight of my time in SD and I much preferred doing this to my day spent at the Zoo. Based on my quick glance at the Princess website it looks like the excursion they offer is for the two hour cruise which is the best deal. I think you should book it - you will have a fabulous time! Another tip - I'm not sure how long you may have being docked in SD, but if you really want to cram in as much as possible, you might be able to save money using a Go City Citypass. For example, you can bundle the Hornblower Tour with the Old Town Trolley hop on/hop off, the Maritime Museum, the USS Midway, or other attractions, and it is $90 for both tickets which can save you a lot of money. Of course YMMV and you may not have time for multiple attractions if you are docked for just a few hours, but if you want to check it out, I think it would be a good option: https://gocity.com/san-diego/en-us/products/explorer