Back from Ruby

[XBGuy]

5 minutes ago, fishywood said:

Still unclear to me as to who the OP said something to. The way I read it is that they simply knocked on the door of the miscreant's cabin and were summarily dismissed. More information is necessary before we blame Princess for a service failure here: did you call the purser's desk, or go down in person? Did you stop after just one request? (And why the heck did you wait until the final night in the first place?)

 

In Post # 7 the OP indicated that he/she called "the staff at the desk." 

[fishywood]

OK, OK, the OP did call the Purser's desk. But why stop after one clearly unprofessional and uncaring response? I would have gone down to the desk in my jammies (or less if that is what one sleeps in) and screamed bloody murder until a security officer accompanied me back to my deck.

 

But honestly, while everyone rails against three to five night Caribbean sailings as "booze cruises" based on what I read on these boards the ones out of California are much much worse. A bit of assumption of the risk for anyone not of similar mind booking one.

[greenie082756]

Noise level that high @ 3:00 am is unacceptable. Does not matter if its a 3 day cruise or a 12 day cruise.

 

I would of asked that the Hotel Supervisor get his sleep interrupted and take a walk down the hallway so that he/she could experience it.   

[california and cruising]

I appreciate all your feedback. We should have complained sooner. The first night we just thought they were celebrating, we did see them earlier and they were all so elated that we just let it go. 

Then the other 2 nights we let it go as we could sleep in. (BIG MISTAKE) 

The last night we couldn't believe that it started again when we had to get up and get off the ship.

I complained 3 times that night. But they have rights. So I did compose a email to passenger relations and cc Jan Swartz not sure what they will do, but if nothing we will move on to another cruise line unfortunately.

[jasbo49]

11 minutes ago, california and cruising said:

I appreciate all your feedback. We should have complained sooner. The first night we just thought they were celebrating, we did see them earlier and they were all so elated that we just let it go. 

Then the other 2 nights we let it go as we could sleep in. (BIG MISTAKE) 

The last night we couldn't believe that it started again when we had to get up and get off the ship.

I complained 3 times that night. But they have rights. So I did compose a email to passenger relations and cc Jan Swartz not sure what they will do, but if nothing we will move on to another cruise line unfortunately.

Please, don't apologize for not complaining sooner. Most of us understand the inclination to not turn your vacation into a war zone. And many who say, "Well, I wooda screamed bloody murder" maybe don't understand that many of us would have thought a single night's revelry isn't worth getting worked up over.

 

But I'll have to say Thrak's pithy argument that their fist's rights end at your nose is a legit one.

 

Just one other comment. Your first sentence on this thread, pretty much lost in the discussion of noisy neighbors, was that the food on the Ruby was bad. I don't know about your cruise, but we were on the cruise just before dry dock and thought the food, at least in the main dining room, was as good as we've had on any cruise.

 

Jim

[fishywood]

4 minutes ago, jasbo49 said:

 And many who say, "Well, I wooda screamed bloody murder" maybe don't understand that many of us would have thought a single night's revelry isn't worth getting worked up over.

 

But I'll have to say Thrak's pithy argument that their fist's rights end at your nose is a legit one.

 

 

Speaking for myself, I would not have gotten worked up over the lost nights sleep--if only because it would be hypocritical to do so on the final night when the same complaint was not filed the previous three nights. My ire would be directed at the crewmember who was so dismissive of my call--they are in desperate need of both retraining in the definition of customer service and a Red-Foreman-foot-you-know-where.

 

As for the nebulous concept of "rights": rights exists between and individual and their government. Not between two individuals, or a group of individuals and hotel management. If that crewmember actually believes that asking someone to can the 3AM drunken revelry is an impingement on their rights to free speech/free assembly/free whatever, perhaps a fortnight spent in North Korea, Sudan, Myanmar, Syria or Turkey would prove enlightening...

[Mike45LC]

Jim, I appreciate your comment about the food.  The OP's statement, that the food had gone down, disturbed me more than the rowdy neighbors did.  After all, those neighbors will probably not be on my upcoming cruise, but the food department will be!

 

[california and cruising]

In response to the food. I ordered short ribs, I couldn't even cut the meat off, they must have not cooked them long enough. I did reorder and had fish, which was pretty good. I also ordered scaloppini one night and it was so salty, I had my husband taste as he over salts everything and he agreed, so that went back and I again chose a fish dish which was pretty good. I guess it depends really on what a person ordered in the MDR. So indeed the food is good, but not as good as it was a few years previous. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

Please keep us posted if you get a response from Princess.  I totally agree with the others that have said there needs to be an end to noise after 10pm.  There are plenty of places on the ship to whoop it up after that time period but the cabin areas should be quiet. 

[california and cruising]

Yes as soon as I receive a response I will post it here.

[riclop]

Quality has gone down everywhere.

[california and cruising]

Yes it has.

[california and cruising]

Just to let everyone know. Lisa from Princess called me in regards to my concerns. She said that of course she was sorry about the experience that we had. That it probably should have been handled differently and for our inconvenience she will  place on our account a $100pp onboard credit good for one year.

Unless there is some kind of awesome deal, we will not be sailing with them in the future. That's all I can say about it.

[nasa1974]

14 hours ago, california and cruising said:

Just to let everyone know. Lisa from Princess called me in regards to my concerns. She said that of course she was sorry about the experience that we had. That it probably should have been handled differently and for our inconvenience she will  place on our account a $100pp onboard credit good for one year.

Unless there is some kind of awesome deal, we will not be sailing with them in the future. That's all I can say about it.

Sorry to hear about your experience aboard the Ruby.

Not sure what kind of response you were expecting from Princess after writing to them to explain your situation.

I'm not sure how many times you have sailed with Princess, but it's too bad this one experience has turned you off to Princess cruises.

[menkot]

We were on the on the Sept. 15th sailing. The desserts were spectacular. A few of the entrees and appetizers were spectacular. A lot of them were absolutely terrible. Some things were odd. Lobster terrine would have been good except for the whole pieces of broccoli and carrots shoved in the center. Odd! Supper at the buffet was really bad.  This was our first princess cruise. We have done carnival and rcl. The food did not even compare (and not in a good way). We loved everything else about Princess though. 

 

  I realize food is subjective,so this is just my opinion. 

[Thrak]

We had one cruise where the chef changed mi-voyage for some reason. In the beginning we were totally "underwhelmed" by the food in MDR. Suddenly the food got really good. The staff told us the head chef had changed. Perhaps the chef had been off on vacation and just joined us mid-cruise at one of the port stops. Whatever the case, it seems that the head chef can make a world of difference.

[mthomp5]

18 minutes ago, menkot said:

We were on the on the Sept. 15th sailing. The desserts were spectacular. A few of the entrees and appetizers were spectacular. A lot of them were absolutely terrible. Some things were odd. Lobster terrine would have been good except for the whole pieces of broccoli and carrots shoved in the center. Odd! Supper at the buffet was really bad.  This was our first princess cruise. We have done carnival and rcl. The food did not even compare (and not in a good way). We loved everything else about Princess though. 

 

  I realize food is subjective,so this is just my opinion. 

We were on the same sailing as you and sadly, have to agree.  I was not impressed with the menu which seemed reduced in options from past cruises.  I am a foodie and love all kinds of food. But there was one night when I had a hard time finding something that appealed to me.  Granted...in the past, I would have defaulted to the fettuccine but I’m watching my carb intake these days.  And I didn’t want to pay the upcharge for the Crown Grill items in the MDR.

 

It was the only weak point I mentioned in the post cruise survey.  Everything else about the cruise was great!

[california and cruising]

Yes I could not believe that they had the Crown grill offerings for the same price as in the Crown without everything else. I did not think that is a good call at all, maybe a slight upcharge but the same  cost totally not worth it.

[Mike45LC]

51 minutes ago, california and cruising said:

Yes I could not believe that they had the Crown grill offerings for the same price as in the Crown without everything else. I did not think that is a good call at all, maybe a slight upcharge but the same  cost totally not worth it.

I agree, they should charge "only" $15 or so, because we should not have to pay the entire Crown Grill upcharge without getting the entire experience.

 

[menkot]

We went to the crown grill one night. It was not a great experience nor was it a great steak. It was pretty basic. We ordered. They brought our food. We got no flavored salt or anything else to make it special. It was a good steak but definitely not a great steak. It was like getting a steak at a restaurant that served steak along with other things instead of a steak house. The steak we had in the mdr was actually better, and it was off the regular menu. The petit filet and the medallions of beef in the mdr were definitely part of the meals that were spectacular. 

[california and cruising]

Seriously, and it is 29 pp uncharge and not that much better. I almost wish they would just charge more and serve better quality. 

[Sally2018]

On 10/22/2018 at 1:34 PM, california and cruising said:

Questions to fellow cruisers.

The quality seems to have gone down in the food department, is this the new norm?

 

Also on our last 4 night cruise a few years back, they still had a somewhat formal night when they had lobster tail and steak, also escargot. Also more to choose from in the morning breakfast and lunch buffet.

 

Also, there was a group of I believe bachelor and bachelorettes that were having a get together, but they were having a in cabin party once the activities closed they brought it back to the cabin, with rap, loud base music each night. The last night the same and we finally had to say something as we were exhausted already. The answer we received is that they have rights. Is this the norm? After all it was in the middle of the night each night. The ship was packed so nowhere to move to.

 

I believe I know why it took so long to assign our guarantee as the whole section was with them and my husband and I were sandwiched in-between them all. I believe someone from their group canceled and that cabin became available.

 

Any thoughts?

 

[caribill]

On 10/31/2018 at 8:47 PM, california and cruising said:

Seriously, and it is 29 pp upcharge and not that much better. I almost wish they would just charge more and serve better quality. 

 

Better yet, take less of a profit on the specialty restaurant and serve better quality.

[San Diego Ellie]

We just got off three weeks on Ruby, and we had no complaints about the food.   We found the entrees we had to be good to excellent.  The salmon, which we had several times, was better than on almost all of our previous cruises.  The sea bassa served the first night of each week was excellent.  We have 40 cruises on Princess, and found the food on this one to certainly be in the upper half of those cruises.

 

We do not typically eat at the specialty restaurants, but we did eat at Crown Grill one time, and the food was definitely excellent.  We had eaten there (not sure which ship) several years ago, and found the quality much more disappointing then.

[happy cruzer]

So if you are moving on from Princess after a "bad" 4 night cruise, what line will you go to for a "good" 4 night cruise?  I think the issue is that the shorter cruises have a different crowd and the staff can't control the partying without getting even more complaints than from the traditional cruise folks.