LIVE from Ruby Princess 16 December 2017

Well, since things on embarkation day have gone so smoothly, figure I would go ahead and get started.

We live in the San Diego area and drove up to LA this morning. The drive was easy and uneventful with light traffic. We made a stop at Starbucks in Long Beach and pulled into the port at 1115. It took us less than 15 minutes to park, drop bags, check in, clear security and take a seat in the lounge. We waited there just about an hour before boarding, but it was pleasant, with good 4G and the time flew. I would say we were within the first 50 to 75 folks to board.

It was a quick pause to smile for the camera, dropped our backpacks and down to deck six for dining room lunch. The food was excellent and set a great tone for things to come.

For those who are worried, the waiter offered all the butter I wanted, but two was sufficient for me.

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A great start!

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And a great finish to our opening meal. I will probably be quiet until tomorrow, but will post more in depth thoughts and impressions on our first day then.

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Thanks for doing a”Live”! We did this cruise last year and really enjoyed it.....have fun!

Nice start Nd photos! Will be following.

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Ruby princess leaving port at 4:15

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Are you planning to post all week

Having just got off I know you all will have a great trip. Have fun!

Having just got off I know you all will have a great trip. Have fun!

Thank you, Steelers, we had a lot of fun following you. We were supposed to be on today's, 12/16 cruise, but accepted the offer to move over. We live just up the beach in Venice, so it was easy. We were given a 50% refund and upgraded from our corner-aft balcony to a Club Mini-suite with free beverage packages. Very good deal for us. We go in a couple months.

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Open question: on Steelers posting of the Patter, I saw no mention of the Afternoon Teas. Does anyone have info on this?

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Have a great cruise.....:):):)

Bob

Open question: on Steelers posting of the Patter, I saw no mention of the Afternoon Teas. Does anyone have info on this?

 

 

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Look in the dining guide area. It is mentioned there from three to four, it looks like daily in the dining room

Thanks for sharing. That butter looks real good if I only had some toast...:):)

Tony

Nice photos, following!

Look in the dining guide area. It is mentioned there from three to four, it looks like daily in the dining room

Found it - thanks! Silly me, I was looking for it in the hourly activities list. Geeze, could they do a better job of hiding it :rolleyes:

Have a great time. Bon Voyage and I plan to follow your reports.

Keith

Thank you, Steelers, we had a lot of fun following you. We were supposed to be on today's, 12/16 cruise, but accepted the offer to move over. We live just up the beach in Venice, so it was easy. We were given a 50% refund and upgraded from our corner-aft balcony to a Club Mini-suite with free beverage packages. Very good deal for us. We go in a couple months.

 

 

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WOW!!!!! What a deal!!!!

Following along. Enjoy your cruise.

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Okay, I got a warm running start yesterday from my phone, sodetails were a little sparse. Thismorning armed with a Latte and a laptop, I will be able to provide a littlemore detail and background.

We are a married couple from San Diego. It is close enoughto my birthday to finally admit that we are both 40 and about to celebrate 10years of wedded bliss together. This isour 12th cruise on Princess together, with a smattering of cruisesdone independently and one together on Cunard. Because I cruised some before we were married, I am on my first cruisewith the coveted black card. DW is on her next to last cruise before shegraduates from the platinum to the black card.

We have cruised the seven-day Mexico itinerary twice before,the most recent being last year at the same time (as you may notice, we lack itineraryoriginality). This cruise is great forus based on a few key factors. First, welive in the San Diego area and that means it is just a two-hour drive door tothe San Pedro terminal on a Saturday. Second, this time of year supports both of us being away from workeasily. Finally, with three port visitsin a week, the itinerary is great for relaxing, napping, reading and rechargingour batteries while enjoying the occasional margarita!

On this trip, we are booked in a Club Class mini-suite onDolphin deck located very close the middle of the ship. This does mean an uncovered balcony which canbe a deal breaker for some, but as we don’t like to tan nude outside due to ourpasty white skin it is a non-factor for us.

As I mentioned earlier, yesterday was a smooth and easyboarding process for us. We had a veryeasy drive up from San Diego. After seeing some helpful posts about delays withdisembarkation due to lack of sufficient immigration officials, we detoured intoLong Beach and got a coffee. We alsotook the scenic route through downtown Long Beach which added a few minutes tothe drive. We pulled into the port at 11:15and found ample parking at $18 per day. With a little luck, we did score ROCK STAR parking just feet from thegate that leads to the cross walk. Wehave roller bags, so we crossed easily and dropped our bags with a porter (ifyou have $20 visible, porters swarm you like a pack of birds to get yourluggage bypassing the big group of novice tourists with no cash visible). Then it was a quick walk to the check-inarea, which was deserted. We were processedvery quickly and then proceeded to the PES (Platinum, Elite, Suites) waitingarea. Altogether, from driving in tositting down, 15 minutes elapsed. Ithink we sat for just about an hour, the 4G was quick and the time seemed topass very quickly.

Boarding started at 1230 and I would say we were in the first50 to 75 passengers onboard. Boardingshowed our first instance of passengers behaving badly, including watching fellowelite passengers feeling the need to run over other passengers, not listeningto directions and generally embarrassing themselves with their poor manners inan effort to get to the security guard 5 seconds sooner. I take it all in stride and try to counteracttheir bad behavior by being exceedingly polite and deferential everywhere Itravel. We stopped for the obligatoryboarding photo and were bifurcated into two lines based on fore and aftposition of our stateroom. We had ourcards scanned, photos taken and were in the room momentarily.

My first impressions of the ship are that it is inexceptionally good condition. After aday to inspect it, the preservation, cleanliness and maintenance are all being performedregularly and at a high level. As aformer US Navy XO, I have a keen eye for certain details and even when I try toshut those habits off, I can’t help but be inspecting everything, just a littlebit, while I walk around. Our room wasspotless and thus far our Cabin Steward, George, is a perfect ghost. Our cabin has the new bedding and I willprovide an in-depth review at the end of the journey and seven nights, plus yetto get counted naps, worth of testing.

Being experienced Princess cruisers, we knew everyone woulddirect us to the buffet, but that the main dining room would be open. We headed down for lunch and it struck theperfect note to begin our trip. We didmisstep just a bit in that we could have gone to the Club Class entrance, butdidn’t realize that it too was open until after we had been seated. The menu was consistent with the first dayofferings we have come to expect. Infact, when I get home and can access old digital files, I think that I can postpictures of the Avocado and Bay Shrimp from several first meal offerings, alljust slightly different and showing the style of the chef onboard. We both had the shrimp appetizer and it was great. The avocados were the perfect ripeness,really soft and probably just a day or two from being too far gone, butabsolutely delicious. The shrimp weresucculent, not over dressed and seasoned nicely. My wife went with the salmon, and it wascooked perfectly and a very nice piece of fish. I had the ravioli and found them to be well cooked, flavorful and thesauce well above expectations. Thetomato sauce with piquant with a hint of sweetness and really complimented themild ravioli perfectly. For dessert mywife went with the Nutella ice cream and I opted for the sherry trifle. I was impressed, the creamy middle actuallyhad strong vanilla flavor and it was just the right sweet bite after the meal.

We returned to our room about 130ish and our three bagsarrived in short order. In fact, by justafter 2PM, we were completely unpacked and settled in for a little nap. We got up a little after three and headeddown for the newly renamed Passenger Safety Assembly. Life jackets were not required to be carriedand the program has been refreshed with a little humor and features theoriginal Love Boat theme song and cast. Overall, I think the new program is a VAST improvement and better suitedto start of a great vacation than the previous British accent male narration andjust a touch too serious for a vacation kick off tone.

Once the assembly concluded, we wound our way up to decks 15and 16 to enjoy sailing away under a very sailor friendly red sunset. Temperatures were cool, but pleasant, the houseband was rocking and an overall jovial mood pervaded, as you would expect!!

We headed down to do a quick change, I took a fairly liberalinterpretation on evening attire with dress pants and a loud Hawaiian shirt,before heading to the PES cocktail and pupus offering in Skywalkers. I won’t sugar coat it, the guacamole wasbland. It was the right color andconsistency, but tasted of neither fresh avocado nor seasonings. Still, with a little chips and a bubblydrink, it was a good start to the evening.

Our entry to Club Class dining on Deck 6 was easy and wewere seated at a table for two attended by Teenapat from Thailand, Max fromPeru and our head waiter Franz from Austria. The service was superb and friendly and the food really struck all theright notes. The spring rolls arrivedpiping hot and crispy with mild, but distinct Asian flavors. I had the artichoke bisque and it wasbursting with great artichoke essence and a creamy finish. My main was the prime rib and my wife had theroasted pork, both accompanied by a few garlic shrimp that the head waiter hadprepared tableside (or close to it). Bothentrees got crushed! My prime rib wassurprisingly flavorful and tender, the shrimp were perfectly cooked and notoverwhelmed with garlic. My wife said that her pork was nicely prepared andwell seasoned. For dessert, we went withclassic crème brulee and cheesecake.

If you have been reading waiting for the stories of thesailor and his wife partying late into the night, you are about to bedisappointed. It was early to bed for usand a night of blissful sleep was interrupted just once by a young man lookingto delivery an extra blanket, but knocking on the wrong door.

This morning, we enjoyed the best water pressure and hottestwater I have seen at sea and then headed down for breakfast. We were once again attended by Max andTeenapat who are friendly, but not too familiar and delivered a day-starting feastin quick and efficient order. Then, weenjoyed six laps around the promenade to offset some of the caloric andslothful guilt accumulating. The weatherwas mild, but warming up and the seas were gentle with a light breeze and anice long, slow swell running. The restof the day looks to feature some trivia, lunch, a nap, maybe more trivia,reading, relaxing and then trying out Share for dinner tonight.

I would love to go tothe art auction and make a purchase, but our house is running short on wallspace and is already smartly decorated with treasures from previous cruises. However,my wife is already starting to make no to subtle hints that while the walls ofour house may be full her fingers and her ear lobes could definitely do withsome new Effie jewelry. Therefore, I willhave to do my best to keep her away from the shops on the piazza!

Time to say Bon Voyage and go experience life at sea!

Dinner on night one.

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Dessert menu...got excited and forgot to photograph the food.

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Breakfast this morning and the Vines wine list.

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Based on today's patter, afternoon tea is served in the dining room from three to four.

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That’s really lucky about the muster drill. We just got off the Ruby and not only had to bring our life jackets but they literally made us try them on before they would let us leave. They did play a pre-recorded audio tape vs the usual reading live from the bridge. I must admit I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it, even though I probably should have.

We will be getting on next Sat. as you disembark. Be sure to listen to the "Los Brillantes"

in the Atrium and Wheelhouse.

Greg