The Ruby in Mexico: A Super Late & Sorta Short Review

Beautiful pictures! Thank you for posting.

We woke up early Sunday morning, checked out, and drove to nearby Placerita Canyon. The superbloom was in full force and it was gorgeous. We did some hiking and took some pictures.

Walking through the canyon:

 

 

Also very happy to learn about the Gentle Barn, as we live in the area. Have to check that out too!

Definitely go visit them! And check them out on Facebook and Twitter if you're on those sites, the Gentle Barn always has adorable posts about their animals.

I'm going to scan them this weekend. Last time I tried to scan daily schedules the text was too small to read, but my old scanner was from 2007. Hopefully my brand new one will do a better job. If not, I can type some of it out to give you an idea of activities, entertainment and times.

This would be so great. And thank you again- the Patters for this cruise are nowhere to be found so I know you'll be helping a bunch of people.

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Thank you for your review I look forward to reading the rest of your review. My wife and I will be doing the same cruise in March. We love Cabo and are really looking forward to it.

Thanks for all the info! Looking forward to the rest of your review. We will be on the Ruby in less than a month! So looking forward to it! I hope we get offered a balcony too! This will be our first inside room.

Thank you for taking the time to do this review! I am enjoying it and looking forward to the rest...

We are on the Ruby in Feb for 7 day Mexican Riviera

Getting so excited!

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I still hadn't changed clothes yet and was probably the only person in Hollywood at the time with hay and straw all over my pants from sitting with chickens, turkeys and pigs, so I changed in the car and put in the address for Grauman's Chinese Theater, 6925 Hollywood Blvd Los Angeles, into my GPS (we always pack our GPS from home).

We found parking at the Hollywood and Highland mall. There are entrances on Highland Ave. and Orange Dr. right by the Chinese theater. Parking is cheaper with validation from stores, restaurants or the theater, but $15 is the max per day no matter what. If you look up the Hollywood and Highland mall website, click on visitor information and then parking, there’s exact directions.

We checked out all of the handprints in front of the theater and walked along the stars on the sidewalk. I feel that if you go a few blocks in either direction from the Chinese theater the crowd gets sketchy, so we didn't venture far. Later on, during our cruise, we met a couple that said a guy stopped them, offered them his CD and signed it for them, then wanted $20 for it. A silly scam, but just be careful in general.

If any of you are in the area, go inside and see a movie. It's a beautiful theatre!

Patters:

I haven't had reliable internet at home since Saturday :o I live in a rural area and if it is windy or rainy (or worse, both) our internet goes out. So I decided to bring the Patters to work today and scan them. They're black and white PDF's, so I can't attach them as pictures on this website, but if anyone would like them now I can send them out individually. Either leave your email address here or send one to me at sjmbruce at gmail dot com.

If any of you are in the area, go inside and see a movie. It's a beautiful theatre!

 

 

Thank you for sharing these! What a gorgeous theater.

After we saw our cabin, we walked around the ship checking out different areas. We ran across Share by Curtis Stone. I was impressed with the space and the menu looked interesting. What I really loved were how many pools are on this ship. There was one with Movies Under The Stars, one without a movie screen, the lotus Spa pool, the Terrace pool near the back, and I swear one more pool that I have pictures of but can't find on the deck plans now. We stumbled upon Cafe Caribe and although buffets are always zoos during the first lunch, we decided to eat here.

Share:

Pool without the movie screen:

Pool with the movie screen and stadium seating:

A few more pictures of the ship:

Salty Dog and Wheelhouse Bar:

The Princess Theater:

The library:

All aboard was at 3:30. The first safety/muster drill was scheduled for this time as well. There was another one a little later in the day for those who boarded last minute. Our assigned area was the Explorer's Lounge. As a whole the drill went fine, but there wasn't enough room for everyone to have a seat. They weren't letting people just stand in the back, resulting in passengers sitting on the floor and stage. Around 4:15 we sailed away from port.

Thanks. The MR is my favorite cruise.

Usually I write my reviews chronologically, but for this one it doesn't make sense. Why? Most of the time we laid by one of the main pools. We did practically nothing during the day. All of our vacations are usually extremely busy and active and it's not unusual for us to be up by 5:30 in the morning to make the most out of our day. Our trips are always fun and adventurous but usually not relaxing. I wanted this vacation to be different. I didn't want to schedule anything. So instead of a day by day account, I'll comment on different aspects of the cruise itself and then talk about what we did in port.

Entertainment: We honestly didn't do much. We didn't do anything during the day and actually left the Calypso Pool once a trivia game started. We attended a few events in the evening. The first night there was a comedian in the Princess theater. He was so funny we went to see him the next night in the Explorer's lounge. There was a larger production show, Magic To Do, on the last night in the Princess Theater. A lot of people rave about it, but I'm picky about my musicals so we left after 15 minutes or so. There was a Mariachi band called Los Brillantes that played often in the Piazza. They really added to the ambiance of the cruise.

Once we were in Cabo the ship was decorated a little bit.

Dining: We didn't go to any specialty dining areas. I kind of wanted to go so I could report back here about Share and the Salty Dog, but I didn't want any reservations on this cruise and the included food was good enough that we didn't feel the need to go elsewhere.

I wasn't overly impressed with the selection and quality of the food at the buffet, but it was good enough and we ate there for every breakfast and lunch. I liked that during busy times there was an employee standing at the beginning of the buffet line with hand sanitizer. While it doesn't replace hand washing, I'd like to think its better than nothing. What I didn't like was how compact everything was - it was a small crowded space but I guess that leaves more room for tables. Café Caribe was even worse when it came to space for the buffet serving line. I did like that it was open with snacks when the main buffet was closed preparing for dinner. Our 3:00 guacamole and salsa snack become a staple.

Horizon Court, the main buffet:

I was really happy to have a full sized International Café onboard. There wasn't one on the Island and the Coral's is a little small. It was nice to grab a sandwich or one of their interesting cold salads. The coffee bar was also here as well as a regular bar. Gelato can be purchased and is located to the far right of the Cafe. We only used room service twice. Although this menu on Princess may not be as plentiful as other lines, I was really happy that there isn't a fee for room service and the menu options were varied enough for us.

We also went to Vines on a few occasions. My husband would drink a glass of wine, I would eat the sushi offered with it.

Speaking of alcohol, my husband had the all inclusive package. We pre purchased it online. I didn't have one, as I rarely drink and it wouldn't be worth it for me at all. I think I bought three drinks the entire cruise. My husband on the other hand will have a couple of fresh brewed coffees in the morning, a few beers by the pool, and a couple of glasses of wine before and during dinner. Throw in a mixed drink here and there and I think he at least broke even. I was so grateful that Princess allowed him to have the drink package without me having to purchase one as well. The only kink in the plan was when he would grab a bottle of water from a bar and bring it back to the room. The room steward would see the empty bottle and leave us a bill for the water that is in the refrigerator. We'd then leave him a note explaining that we had a drinks package and that the discarded bottle was from a bar on the ship. Not a big deal, it just got to be a little irritating. We would buy my husband the package again, but only if he could have it without me having to buy one as well.

My wife and I will be taking this cruise next March so it is great to get a sneak peek! Thanks for your review and looking forward to reading the Patters.

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Thank you for your review. We haven’t sailed on princess for many many years and are thinking of going again in March. We really enjoyed reading all the information we can thanks again!

Wendy

Thanks for all the photos and your review!

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My wife and I will be taking this cruise next March so it is great to get a sneak peek! Thanks for your review and looking forward to reading the Patters.

 

 

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Thanks for reading! Right now the Patters are stuck in PDF limbo, so if you'd like to see them now, send me an email at sjmbruce at gmail dot com and I'll forward you the copies.

We chose anytime dining for the main dining room. I wasn't a huge fan of having to wait but reservations seemed like the greater of the two evils. A couple of nights we only had to wait 15 minutes or so. One night our wait was long enough we had time to sit down at Vines, have a glass of wine and watch part of a dance/martini competition in the Atrium. Each of these times we requested a table for two and were given a pager. One night we were directed to another dining room for immediate seating. The food in the main dining room was delicious and I have no complaints about taste or quality. However, the service was not very good. It wasn't enough to ruin our dinner but it definitely was not what was expected. We also witnessed a few odd things with other passengers, such as a small group being sat at a table with other passengers who were already halfway through their meal. Not a huge deal, but everyone was obviously uncomfortable and a few voiced their dislike of the arrangement.

Overall, we were happy with the food options and quality. We certainly did not go hungry!

And some dessert:

One of the menus: