Off the Ruby on Nov 10, 2018

[AZJerry]

Off the Ruby on Nov 10. As usual, we had a great time. Here are some random thoughts / observations:

• The MUTS screen is absolutely terrible. At least 50 stuck pixels and very blotchy. Virtually none of the square modules that make up the screen matched the ones next to it. Except for one concert video where the sound was fuzzy, the audio was fine. I couldn't tell whether any of it was 7.1 or not.
• We both really miss the mailboxes outside the cabin doors. Despite hanging a quilted mailbox on our door (based on someone's post), our mail ended up rolled up and stuck in the door handle or spread out on the bed. We even collected other passenger's trash. 😞
• The new Ocean Medallion screens outside the doors were interesting. I found that opening the doors with a cruise card was somewhat fussy. I'm not sure if it was the positioning of the card and / or slow system response. I kind of miss having passenger's names displayed but I suppose that could be a privacy thing. The display outside one cabin on our deck was just a blue screen with none of the other text or graphics.
• The new wall mounted TVs at the foot of the bed are nice. They were slowly rolling out the on-demand hookups. Ours on Monday, a friend's on Tuesday and another friend's on Wednesday. No access to restaurant or excursion reservations, portfolio accounts, etc. No button on the remote seemed to function as a "home" button. The best I could do was use the "back" button to get back to the home screen.
• Bar service was, in general, not very good, at least, not at the times and places we went. Service staff was slow to take an order, drinks were slow to arrive and the drinks were often not good with not enough alcohol. Some of the bartenders just went through the motions, not even measuring out the ingredients with just a splash of the alcohol. Several times we would have to wait for servers to finish their conversations.
• The old wine list in the restaurants but they were out of many selections. No one could suggest or sell any new selections.
• Slow Horizon coffee / drink service
• None of the Lido deck pizza selections work for me so I went without. Is it really that hard to have a standard pepperoni or sausage pizza available? The stromboli was OK. My wife really liked the Cali avacado toast.
• Despite all the new selections at the Salty Dog Grill, I only saw the standard cheeseburgers, hot dogs and fries served.
• We went several days with only one bathroom glass until I finally saw the cabin steward and complained.
• In general we like watching the game shows but the men vs women game show was really lame. I was thinking "law suit" when one guy slid across the foor when trying to get back with the requested item.
• The lotus spa pool was closed for a day. As usual, none of the "hot" tubs were really hot.
• Lots of varnishing of rails going on, a good thing.
• Peas in the corn beef hash several mornings. Really? 
• While we missed Italian night at the buffett we were there for Mexican night. No decorations, costumes, etc. The Mexican menu was beef chimichangas, unrecognizable chicken enchilladas, guacamole, salsa, that's it. No Spanish rice, no tortillas, no chips, etc.
• Buffett food frequently cold.
• The latest bar cash grab is the Bellini / Mimosa cart, morning, noon and night.
• Share was surprisingly good, both food and service. My not eating seafood was solved by giving me a second "land" choice to replace the "seafood" choice.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

Are you saying that that the cabin displays have no names?

Some have posted that they are showing 24/7.

We have never seen them showing.

[deliver42]

I hope things change before our Alaska cruise in May.

[CruiseGal999]

I have to agree with the poster.  I experienced all of these on my recent cruise on Ruby Princess. 

 

Also had a steward (NOT my steward) come into my room without knocking.  It was about 4:30 pm. I was taking a nap on top of the bedding and was not completely clothed.  I had locked the deadbolt which I thought meant the stewards couldn't get in.  

 

I did NOT like the layout of this ship.  You can't get anywhere unless you go to Deck 7 and then up or down as needed.   Aaaggghhhh 

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, CruiseGal999 said:

I have to agree with the poster.  I experienced all of these on my recent cruise on Ruby Princess. 

 

Also had a steward (NOT my steward) come into my room without knocking.  It was about 4:30 pm. I was taking a nap on top of the bedding and was not completely clothed.  I had locked the deadbolt which I thought meant the stewards couldn't get in.  

 

I did NOT like the layout of this ship.  You can't get anywhere unless you go to Deck 7 and then up or down as needed.   Aaaggghhhh 

 

 

Hope you reported this to security!

[jennybenny]

3 minutes ago, CruiseGal999 said:

I have to agree with the poster.  I experienced all of these on my recent cruise on Ruby Princess. 

 

Also had a steward (NOT my steward) come into my room without knocking.  It was about 4:30 pm. I was taking a nap on top of the bedding and was not completely clothed.  I had locked the deadbolt which I thought meant the stewards couldn't get in.  

 

I did NOT like the layout of this ship.  You can't get anywhere unless you go to Deck 7 and then up or down as needed.   Aaaggghhhh 

 

 

Creepy!!  Hope you reported it.  It was probably difficult to see who it was but yuk!

[jlp20]

Was OM available, or did you opt out? Were you able to customize door display via cabin TV?

[CruiseGal999]

1 hour ago, jennybenny said:

Creepy!!  Hope you reported it.  It was probably difficult to see who it was but yuk!

 

 

Yes, I did report it.  I didn't see him clearly ... you're right.  I only heard his voice saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry ... "  and it was clearly NOT the voice or accent of my steward.  But nothing could be done.  I just don't know why he was able to open the door with the deadbolt in place.  And it was creepy.  Then I kept thinking ... WHY is this person coming in to my cabin at this time of day?  It was that in between time when all of the stewards were done with their cabins and NO ONE was in the hallway when I came back to my cabin. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by CruiseGal999

[Colo Cruiser]

1 hour ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

 

Yes, I did report it.  I didn't see him clearly ... you're right.  I only heard his voice saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry ... "  and it was clearly NOT the voice or accent of my steward.  But nothing could be done.  I just don't know why he was able to open the door with the deadbolt in place.  And it was creepy.  Then I kept thinking ... WHY is this person coming in to my cabin at this time of day?  It was that in between time when all of the stewards were done with their cabins and NO ONE was in the hallway when I came back to my cabin. 

They can read the door lock and see who's key opened the door.

[jennybenny]

2 hours ago, CruiseGal999 said:

the

 

2 hours ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

 

Yes, I did report it.  I didn't see him clearly ... you're right.  I only heard his voice saying "I'm sorry I'm sorry ... "  and it was clearly NOT the voice or accent of my steward.  But nothing could be done.  I just don't know why he was able to open the door with the deadbolt in place.  And it was creepy.  Then I kept thinking ... WHY is this person coming in to my cabin at this time of day?  It was that in between time when all of the stewards were done with their cabins and NO ONE was in the hallway when I came back to my cabin. 

Ugh, so sorry  you went through that.

no one wants that to happen on vacation 😔

[CruiseGal999]

1 hour ago, Colo Cruiser said:

They can read the door lock and see who's key opened the door.

 

 

Guest Services never offered that info. to me.  

[Colo Cruiser]

Just now, CruiseGal999 said:

 

 

Guest Services never offered that info. to me.  

They won't its not public knowledge. Security should have been notified.

[CruiseGal999]

Oh ... another negative on the Ruby was ZERO ... NONE ... ZILCH internet service.  Tons of passengers were REALLY angry that they paid a lot of money for internet service package and didn't get any connection.  I had to FIGHT to get my measly money back  I paid for internet service. 

[Cyn874]

This is all really sad to hear- I've only heard mostly good things about Ruby until now. 

 

Regarding the pizza selection, what pizza was available?

[MauiLvrs]

That’s sad to hear.

We were in the Ruby last h=year for our 4oth and everything was great.

Hope they get it fixed and this isn’t a trend foe the normal.

[AZJerry]

OM was not available. The screens will be used for that when the full OM roll-out begins. From what I've read elsewhere the info shown will be completely different.

 

Re pizza: A Marguerite(sp?) was available every day and there was a daily special (anchovy, chili, Hawaiian, something with artichoke, etc). I didn't check everyday but the 5 days I did check were not appetizing to me.

 

Re layout of the ship: That's the way it is for all the Grand and Coral class Princess ships. I imagine the other classes are the same.

[lets_dance]

Oh! This makes me sad.  We leave in 3 days for our first princess cruise on Ruby.  My hubby is not a big fan of cruising so I hope we have a better experience so that he doesn't decide on never cruising again.

[AZJerry]

I wouldn't worry about your hubby. He's likely to make his decision on whether he likes cruises or doesn't based on the whole cruise experience and, probably, not one or two specific things. As I said at the top, we have a great time overall. If some small things are less than satisfying, Oh Well!. Hopefully the next cruise will be better.

[Cyn874]

13 hours ago, lets_dance said:

Oh! This makes me sad.  We leave in 3 days for our first princess cruise on Ruby.  My hubby is not a big fan of cruising so I hope we have a better experience so that he doesn't decide on never cruising again.

 

I hope you have a fantastic cruise! Will you be doing a report when you get back, even if brief? I'd love to know if these problems persisted or if they were just having an 'off week'.

[Bemidji Ty]

We are on the same cruise. The Ruby has been one of our favorite ships.  She looks nice after drydock.  Overall, the staff was good though some need additional training.  We had some issues with drink service being slow or getting drinks wrong (Black coffee, Bombay and Tonic).  Our cabin steward was wonderful.  SHARE was really exceptional.   Overall, food was good to very good.  I was able to use the internet on my phone just fine.  The music was really good with one exception.  He is easy to pick out. The comedian was very good.  We had wonderful weather.  Using the room key was a little tricky but we quickly figured it out.

 

While we met some interesting and fun people from all over the world, we did see several folks whose manner and dress were more suited to camping by themselves.  More than once, we saw middle-aged to older ladies putting their bare feet on cocktail tables outside the Explorer Lounge.  One night at ATD, we were seated next to a fellow in jogging pants and T-shirt who kept touching my bread plate and utensils. (I got new ones and placed them out of his reach.)  He was a non stop talker even when his mouth was full of food.  Yikes.  Also watched a woman put all her belongings next to the "Adults Only" sign by the aft pool and take her baby in with her.

 

I know we got a really good deal on this cruise with added OBC and low cost upgrade.  This may account for some of our fellow passenger's behavior. 

 

We had a good trip but seemed to have a few more bumps than usual. 

 

Cheers

 

[deliver42]

Yikes!! Sounds like they are Carnivalizing Princess. 

[Cinerama]

They allow t-shirts and jogging pants in the MDR? We only do Traditional and never experience that. 

[SeaMatesNYC]

OP - re: dress code, any issue of gentlemen being turned back from MDR on Formal Night for lack of a jacket and tie?  My DH currently wearing an arm brace that will not go comfortably over or under a jacket. I have confidence he will don a tie at my request! Thanks in advance for your insights.

[Bemidji Ty]

While I wore my tux, we sat with folks in sports jackets with and without ties.  One gentlemen at our table had a dress shirt with no tie.  Didn't seem to be a problem for anyone. 

 

The fella with the T-shirt, jogging pants, hands and mouth was on a non-formal night.  I have seen people turned away at the front door and asked to leave from my table who were similarly dressed.

 

Cheers

[SeaMatesNYC]

15 minutes ago, Bemidji Ty said:

While I wore my tux, we sat with folks in sports jackets with and without ties.  One gentlemen at our table had a dress shirt with no tie.  Didn't seem to be a problem for anyone. 

 

The fella with the T-shirt, jogging pants, hands and mouth was on a non-formal night.  I have seen people turned away at the front door and asked to leave from my table who were similarly dressed.

 

Cheers

 

Thanks for the feedback. We do enjoy wearing our tuxedos, but with hisself in the brace it just would be too much, given I’d have the duty of dressing and undressing for two, with studs and cuff links and bowties!  Next trip!