Off the Ruby on Nov 10, 2018

[idcruisers]

Thanks so much for your review. We sail on the Ruby on December 8th. This is the most information I have seen since the dry dock changes.  We have sailed the Ruby several times and she has been one of my favorite ships! Hoping the trend will continue. The rest of our group for this cruise are first time cruisers and very inexperienced travelers so all the information I can have before we get on the ship will be greatly appreciated by all.  Can you answer a few questions? 

 

In Puerto Vallarta did ship time change to agree with local time or was it off from local time?

You mention having issues with unlocking the cabin doors? Are the door locks the same as they were where you insert the card to unlock the door or have they been changed to the ones where you just hold the card up to the sensor pad to unlock the door?

Can you provide a bit more description on the OM screens? Are they outside every cabin door? What do they display? have they taken the place of the mailboxes?

Is the Ruby now offering on demand movies in the staterooms like the Regal?

 

Thanks so much for the help!!

[clan]

We were on this cruise as well and enjoyed it very much.  My only real complaint was the internet service.  Most of the time we would get kicked off with a message that said we were disconnected due to inactivity, when in fact we were trying to connect to a website.  I think it was the worst Princess internet service I have ever encountered, but it did work some of the time.  I thought the food in the MDR was very good, our service there was great, and entertainment was generally good.  This was a California Coastal cruise, so the ports were great.  There are always a few things that could be better, but all in all it was a wonderful cruise.

[amypete]

We were also on this cruise. Had a great meal in the Crown Grill, at AD a few times and the buffet. We found the food all fine, and enjoyed the selection on the buffet most times. There was always certainly something to eat. We didn't dress up for dinner - makes a difference when you have to pack for a week and fly - only want to pack so many things! So we did not do the formal nights but did a few of the others. Food was fine. Enjoyed the crème brulee, and the caramel custard. My DH had some chocolate dessert, he seemed to eat it all!

 

True confessions, we were in VINES a lot, LOL. Did enjoy the service of Jude and Gideon in Vines as well as Marc Anthony up in Crooners. I will say it was frustrating the lack of wine that they had compared to what was on the menu but there were all good at coming up with acceptable substitutes. Good wine (for the most part)  for the first wine tasting - lousy for the cheap one, I can see why it's only $9 for the Grapevine Wine Tasting! I swear one of them smelled like my cats.....but that's what you get. We go because it's fun and something to do on a sea day. Always a wine for someone!  

 

The weather was amazing! No rocky days - the sea was pretty smooth. 

 

I would agree about the MUTS - lots of squares in the background of the movies. Good variety of movies though, watched two and the weather was also great out on the deck even in the evening. Sound was good. You just got used to the squares. 

 

After I figured out the TV I did enjoy the choices. The screens are bigger so you may have to duck around them a bit as they are bigger than the size of where the TV's are placed. 

 

We did all Princess excursions and enjoyed them all. Most also seemed to involve..... wine..... and really enjoyed Alcatraz!

 

Be happy to answer any other questions. Overall a very nice cruise!

[missscarlet]

Does anyone have any recent ruby patters they can post?  Thank you.

[Babybusser]

23 hours ago, Bemidji Ty said:

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

 

We will be on the Ruby on December 1 and I was wondering if you remember the name of the comedian that was on your cruise.

[CruiseGal999]

3 minutes ago, Babybusser said:

We will be on the Ruby on December 1 and I was wondering if you remember the name of the comedian that was on your cruise.

 

I was on the Ruby 10/22 - 10/27/18 and the comedian was Carlos Oscar.  Side splitting, crying your eyes out funny.  He had 2 different shows he did in less than a 1 week cruise.  I mean he did 2 shows with completely different material.  NOT 2 separate shows.  FYI.  He is just amazing.  Performs to PACKED venues ... get there early for good seats.  I mean EARLY ... not 10-15 minutes early.  

Edited November 16, 2018 by CruiseGal999

[Bemidji Ty]

Sorry, I don't remember the comedian.  Carlos doesn't sound right.  But I would pay to see the guy we saw.  He had a fresh take on comedy that we really enjoyed.  He played to packed venues.  Do be sure to get there early.  We ended up standing one night because we got there 10 minutes early but ended up staying through his whole show.

 

Cheers

[CruiseGal999]

4 hours ago, Bemidji Ty said:

Sorry, I don't remember the comedian.  Carlos doesn't sound right.  But I would pay to see the guy we saw.  He had a fresh take on comedy that we really enjoyed.  He played to packed venues.  Do be sure to get there early.  We ended up standing one night because we got there 10 minutes early but ended up staying through his whole show.

 

Cheers

 

There was a 2nd comedian on the Ruby the week I was there and he was good.  But nothing like Carlos Oscar.  The other comedian used his guitar and songs for comedy.  Got old VERY quickly.  His name was Mark ... something.  

Edited November 16, 2018 by CruiseGal999

[XBGuy]

On 11/15/2018 at 12:04 PM, amypete said:

 

True confessions, we were in VINES a lot, LOL. Did enjoy the service of Jude and Gideon in Vines as well as Marc Anthony up in Crooners.           I will say it was frustrating the lack of wine that they had compared to what was on the menu but there were all good at coming up with acceptable substitutes.              Good wine (for the most part)  for the first wine tasting - lousy for the cheap one, I can see why it's only $9 for the Grapevine Wine Tasting! I swear one of them smelled like my cats.....but that's what you get. We go because it's fun and something to do on a sea day. Always a wine for someone!  

 

 

Can you expand a bit on your comment that I have highlighted above?

 

Are you saying that a number of wines were listed on the wine list, but, when you ordered them, you were told that they were not in the ship's inventory?

 

Was this specific to Vines, or did it happen in other venues?

 

Just from your comment above, I'm inclined to think that the new wine list has not been deployed on the Ruby Princess, and they are trying to deplete their inventory from the old list.  This is purely speculative on my part.  Did they have the new wine list on your cruise?

 

Like Babybusser, we will be on the Dec. 1 cruise.  As usual, I will be bringing a stash of my own wine, but I always like to keep up to date on the ship's offerings.  As often as not, if I bring a red wine to dinner, Mrs. XBGuy will order a white off their list.

[AZJerry]

The door locks I saw had all been replaced, IE no place to insert a cruise card in the lock. We had no problem unlocking the door, it just took awhile.

 

As far as I could tell, the dining rooms had the old wine list.

 

Here's a picture of the MUTS screen. Don't be alarmed by the coloring of the squares. The screen colors were normal. It's just that every square was slightly different than the surrounding squares. You can also see a number of the stuck pixels.

[Cinerama]

That is terrible. Is this the new LCD screen and did they just upgrade the sound? The only good thing is years ago they use to show a 1.33 image stretched to fit the screen.

 

[AZJerry]

This is, allegedly, the new screen installed during drydock. Like I said, don't worry about the weird coloring. Colors were "normal", just the diffferent blocks were slightly lighter / darker. It's quite noticeable in areas that are the same color (wall, sky, etc), not so much in "busy" areas.

[amypete]

If that was a new screen for MUTS, they need a new vendor....

 

As to the wine. it was in both the DR and Vines. And it wasn't that the wine choices were crap, they just weren't what was on the menu. I'd ask and they'd say they were expecting to get more but never really did. At one point, they were out of an under $12 Cab in Vines (I can't remember if they had the $16 one as we had the PBP so weren't going to get that) so they were able to scrounge up the Simi Landslide (which was fine with me as I LIKE that one and they had told me earlier they were out of it! - Hard to figure that out) They had different wines in different bars, and it wasn't what was always on the general menu. For instance, at Club Fusion they had a Genesis Cab but told me they only had 4 bottles of it left. I also like dry Rose'....and they didn't have that, either. 

 

I'd say over all the wine inventory was confusing. And it changed all the time. They had decent ones for the most part - you just couldn't rely on a certain kind to be there. That doesn't mean they don't have it now - but it doesn't mean they do. 

 

Sorry that was as clear as mud.....

[jlp20]

1 hour ago, AZJerry said:

This is, allegedly, the new screen installed during drydock. Like I said, don't worry about the weird coloring. Colors were "normal", just the diffferent blocks were slightly lighter / darker. It's quite noticeable in areas that are the same color (wall, sky, etc), not so much in "busy" areas.

Possible each screen has individual controls that have to be fine tuned as a whole. 

As to service and wine, Ruby was dry dock for ten days. Possible most  crew on hotel side were new to the boat and lack of experience cause of poor service. ALL LIQUOR was removed from the ship prior and restock not complete.

[wocheez]

I have to say this review was spot on.  We just got off Ruby this morning and I have to say worse Princess cruise we've ever been on.  The bar service was REALLY bad they were slow but the real problem is that they just didn't seem to have any knowledge of how to make a drink..i.e. a dirty martini not a hard drink or a jack and diet coke.  Our room steward was probably the most experienced staff person we had.  SHARE was excellent, the MDR was a hit or miss some food good some down right awful.  The MUTS is horrible the screen is badly pixelated which makes it hard to watch anything on the screen.  The new TVs in the rooms are great when they work, we had to call daily because every time we turned it on it asked for a special code and for what ever reason they could not get it corrected.

[Sillyjilly]

On 11/13/2018 at 6:13 PM, 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. 

 

Is it possible it was someone bringing canapes? I usually get mine between 430 and 5.

I always put my Do Not Disturb sign up when I'm taking a shower or a nap.

Also, when the service is really bad, you can ask for a refund or partial refund even.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Sillyjilly

[Sillyjilly]

On 11/13/2018 at 9:25 PM, CruiseGal999 said:

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. 

 

I was on this sailing too, and my internet worked better than usual. Used it almost every day.

Also, when the service is really bad, you can ask for a refund or partial refund even.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Sillyjilly

[CruiseGal999]

1 minute ago, Sillyjilly said:

 

Is it possible it was someone bringing canapes? I usually get mine between 430 and 5.

I always put my Do Not Disturb sign up when I'm taking a shower or a nap.

 

I don't think so.  I never got Canapes delivered ... ever ... on any cruise I was on.  Is that only when you're in a Suite?

[Sillyjilly]

On 11/15/2018 at 8:18 AM, SeaMatesNYC said:

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.

No, he will be fine. Just wear a nice shirt and slacks.

[Sillyjilly]

On 11/14/2018 at 8:35 AM, 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 was on this same cruise and it was one of my best. Very relaxing, plenty of food, and great service.

I love the men vs. women games show. I didn't see any one sliding on the floor. I liked it so much I played it the following week.   ( b2b)

[Sillyjilly]

5 hours ago, wocheez said:

I have to say this review was spot on.  We just got off Ruby this morning and I have to say worse Princess cruise we've ever been on.  The bar service was REALLY bad they were slow but the real problem is that they just didn't seem to have any knowledge of how to make a drink..i.e. a dirty martini not a hard drink or a jack and diet coke.  Our room steward was probably the most experienced staff person we had.  SHARE was excellent, the MDR was a hit or miss some food good some down right awful.  The MUTS is horrible the screen is badly pixelated which makes it hard to watch anything on the screen.  The new TVs in the rooms are great when they work, we had to call daily because every time we turned it on it asked for a special code and for what ever reason they could not get it corrected.

 

I guess I was lucky. I never had slow bar service. I guess I was in the right place at the right time. 🙂

I loved the cruise and the one following it. One of my best Princess cruises to date.

[Sillyjilly]

16 minutes ago, CruiseGal999 said:

 

I don't think so.  I never got Canapes delivered ... ever ... on any cruise I was on.  Is that only when you're in a Suite?

 

No, Elites get them. Not sure about Platinum. Every Formal night.

 

I have had people enter my cabin before so I always use the Do Not Disturb sign. Even if I'm only going to the potty.

Edited November 18, 2018 by Sillyjilly

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Sillyjilly said:

 

No, Elites get them. Not sure about Platinum. Every Formal night.

 

Platinum do not get them.

[Sillyjilly]

I guess I'm spoiled. I don't remember not getting them in the past. LOL

[gamajr]

I'm also on the December 8 Ruby cruise.

 

A quick question. Someone mention the new TVs being wall mounted. Does this mean that in the mini suites we will now have two more shelves available to us in the room?