phatlad

Nobody is answering OP's question about soda. Any soda that they can shoot from the gun is included. Any canned soda, you have to pay for. Completely stupid, IMO. But red bulls are included for some reason.

Their website is frustrating and it sucks. I can't log into my account on their website for over a year, and every time I call, they say "IT is aware if the issue." It's dumb, and it's definitely offputting and frustrating.

Don't forget them!

Glad they're smoking, because it keeps me from losing money there. If it was non-smoking, I'd spend way too much time in there.

Only on one nightstand.

Not sure what Galveston has to do with it? Getting on and off the ship was a complete breeze. My dislikes: I was extremely disappointed in Main Dining Room. From service to options, it was incredibly subpar. Definitely not a 5-star experience I’m was used to on Royal Caribbean. I don’t think they have enough wait staff. I was constantly waiting for refills on water/tea/soda. On RC, my cup never even had a chance to reach less than half full before it was filled back up. Alcoholic drinks took quite awhile in the MDR. Overall, the MDR was uninspired with a lack of options. On RC I struggled to pick just one from each option and often would order more than one. Not the case on Princess. Severely disappointed in each night’s options. It tasted fine. Not amazing; just fine. There was an overall lack of taste in the courses and desserts, as if the meals were prepared for people whose palate were incredibly bland. MDR breakfast and lunch were abysmal, with a complete and utter lack of choices (No eggs benedict for breakfast?!) Service was extremely slow for both breakfast and lunch. I'm used to eating in the MDR every meal if it is available, because I can't get that quality of food in my normal, daily life. On Princess, I skipped all but one lunch and all but one breakfast. The menus kept me from even attempting to go back to the MDR for breakfast or lunch after my first experience with those meals. It was just pathetic. Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was on par with Golden Corral with less choices. Layout of the ship’s common area is closed, confined and confusing. Entertainment (shows) was D+. I walked out of two of them. Just BORING. Activities a D+. They often overlapped activities, so you would either have to leave early from one to make the other or arrive late to the other. They even had two separate trivia contests STARTING AT THE SAME TIME IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. What gives? Princess app showed different times/info than the daily patter. App can't be trusted; I just ended up taking a picture of the patter and referring to it throughout the day instead of the app. Slice pizza: One of the top five worst things I’ve ever voluntarily put in my mouth. Looked amazing but Christ was it awful. Nice big piece. Took one bite and left the plate where I was. My god was it bad. Equally as bad was the BBQ sandwich from the Salty Dog. I’ve had tastier BBQ sandwiches at gas stations. Room service. Tried thrice. Canceled our first order after we didn’t have it after waiting 100 minutes and we had somewhere to get to. Other two times the food was delivered in about 45 minutes (These were post-9 p.m. orders, so I think if you order later, it will be delivered quicker). As much as they tout Princess Anywhere, it should work. It was awful. Over an hour wait time for a drink and food to be delivered. By no means was I expecting it to be there in an instant but if they make it seem like this magical thing, it should be. They tout it like it’s amazing. It’s not. (In theory, it is, but the fastest we ever received anything was 45 minutes). After the third time of waiting forever, it's clear that's the normal. But they certainly didn't tout it like that. They made it seem like this magical thing. It would've been faster to walk down and up the stairs from the pool to the casino bar and back to the pool -- than to utilize the service.

I was on the Ruby Princess sailing out of Galveston April 2-9. First Princess cruise. Most likely my last Princess cruise. It was so far below my expectations I'd rather cruise Carnival. And it wasn't just me. Everyone we talked to in the lounges and in the MDR said it was the worst cruise they've ever been on. Also spoke with several first-time cruisers who had no idea why anyone would want to cruise if "this is what it is." I told them not to let this experience ruin them from crusing, because there are much better cruise lines out there.

Service? Great. The employees on the ship really do their best. The problem is there's fewer of them. A lot of other things, however, are lacking. Food quality and entertainment being the top 2.

Loyal RC here. I found Princess underwhelming compared to RC. Which surprised me, because I thought it would be a step up. HOWEVER, that comes with the caveat that I haven't sailed RC post-COVID, so I'm comparing pre-COVID RC to post-COVID Princess. I'm afraid my biggest complaint about Princess (the food) I would now be complaining about on RC. Here's my review: Cliff's notes: (if you don't feel like reading my wall o' text) I found Princess Plus absolutely worth it, and the beds and pillows were AMAZING. Food in all areas of the ship was ridiculously bland with an overall lack of options, Princess Anywhere was supremely underwhelming (for as much as they tout it), and the entertainment was 2,000 times worse than RC.

Don't want to hijack this thread, but here are my issues here:

If Princess is back based on my April 2-9 sailing on the Ruby Princess, then it sucked all along.

Was on the Ruby Princess April 2-9 sailing out of Galveston. It was my first time with Princess. I was not impressed at all. I originally was excited, because my understanding was that Princess was a "step up" in the cruise experience I'm used to. It was my fourth cruise overall. The three previous with Royal Carribbean. All four cruises have departed out of Galveston. Also this is my first post-COVID cruise. Overall, my experience was extremely underwhelming. I was extremely disappointed in Main Dining Room. From service to options, it was incredibly subpar. Definitely not a 5-star experience I’m used to on RC. I don’t think they have enough wait staff. I was constantly waiting for refills on water/tea/soda. On RC, my cup never even had a chance to reach less than half full before it was filled back up. Alcoholic drinks took quite awhile in the MDR. Overall, the MDR was uninspired with a lack of options. On RC I struggled to pick just one from each option and often would order more than one. Not the case on Princess. Severely disappointed in each night’s options. It tasted fine. Not amazing; just fine. There was an overall lack of taste in the courses and desserts, as if the meals were prepared for people whose palate were incredibly bland. Two meals stood out as “great” – surf and turf (the steak was really good) and the jerk chicken (the most flavorful thing that entered my mouth all week). MDR breakfast and lunch were poor compared to RC, with a complete and utter lack of choices (No eggs benedict for breakfast?!) Service was extremely slow for both breakfast and lunch. On RC, I ate at the MDR every meal it was available. On Princess, I skipped all but one lunch and all but one breakfast. The menus kept me from even attempting to go back to the MDR for breakfast or lunch after my first experience with those meals. Buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner was on par with Golden Corral with less choices. (However, after reading many reviews of RC's recent dining changes, I'm afraid I would be underwhelmed on RC now as well.) Layout of the ship’s common area is closed, confined and confusing. Entertainment (shows) was D+. I walked out of two of them. Just BORING. Activities a D+. They often overlapped activities, so you would either have to leave early from one to make the other or arrive late to the other. Princess app showed different times/info than the daily patter. App can't be trusted; you should just take a picture of your patter and refer to it throughout the day instead of the app. Slice pizza: One of the top five worst things I’ve ever voluntarily put in my mouth. Looked amazing but Christ was it awful. Nice big piece. Took one bite and left the plate where I was. My god was it bad. Equally as bad was the BBQ sandwich from the Salty Dog. I’ve had tastier BBQ sandwiches at gas stations. Room service. Tried thrice. Canceled our first order after we didn’t have it after waiting 100 minutes and we had somewhere to get to. Other two times the food was delivered in about 45 minutes (These were post-9 p.m. orders, so I think if you order later, it will be delivered quicker). As much as they tout Princess Anywhere, it should work. It was awful. Over an hour wait time for a drink and food to be delivered. By no means was I expecting it to be there in an instant but if they make it seem like this magical thing, it should be. They tout it like it’s amazing. It’s not. (In theory, it is, but the fastest we ever received anything was 45 minutes). Pros: Princess Plus (if you want the drink package) is worth it. I'm always going to prepay gratuities, and I'm always going to get internet. Never had the drink package on RC as it was too expensive and I'd never drink 15 drinks in a day; always just used a couple of rumrunners instead. But the Princess Plus was the right pricepoint for me. Dirty banana drink was better than any dessert I had all week. Beds and pillows. Absolutely amazing. Bars were better and larger than RC. (Service was slow, but not the fault of the bartenders. They need to hire more employees in just about every area of the ship). Sports betting was a huge plus. Casino was roomier and way less smoky than RC, but still way too smoky for my liking. Goat cheese soufflé 100 percent lived up to the hype/its billing. Unfortunately one of the best things I had all week. Burger from Salty Dog was really tasty. (Fries, however, were not. You can safely skip them). Overall I’m extremely disappointed in my experience. Didn’t do near enough to make me want to make the switch. I won't go as far to say I won't say Princess ever again, but that was my first thought the entire time "I'll never sail this cruise line again." However, after coming back and reading on RC's recent changes and people having similar experiences on RC, clearly something has changed across the cruiselines for the worse. It was just an incredibly average experience. They didn’t do anything to make me want to stay with them. In fact, I’d pay more to sail RC than Princess again. And if you put a Carnival Cruise for the same price as Princess, I’d pick Carnival (I have no experience with Carnival, but prior to this Princess experience, I easily would have picked Princess over Carnival based on their reputations alone). Demographics were slightly older. Wasn't a noticeable difference from previous cruises with RC.

Yes. I'm more concerned about how they act than what they wear.

Just got off the Ruby Princess, and I, too, sleep on the left side of the bed with a cpap. I told the cabin steward I needed an extension cord for my cpap and he got me one less than 10 minutes later. I ran the cord along the wall in the space between the mattress and the wall with no problem. We both managed to fit our suitcases under the bed with no problem as well.

It showed a charge for me in the app after ordering, but my card never was charged for shipping.