Off Ruby Princess report

[Qcruise]

We just left the Ruby yesterday and wanted to get information here before forgetting.   Having sailed her before we were glad to see the updates to the ship with new carpet everywhere and in cabins too.  The beds are fabulous as you've heard.....new system in place getting ready for medalion so screens you put your card up to for entry.......no more punching holes in cards for lanyards.  Food was good in MDR we had late seating traditional as we were a group of eight.....service was great for us.  Entertainment was very good we thought singer "Teacake" was fantastic with Motown music very energenic and great voice.  Comedian Jamol was great as well.....very funny and no foul mouth or politics.....thank you.  The Ruby does have some plumbing issues I hope they can address.  We had toilet issues one day and our friends had to be moved to new cabin last night due to water leak flooded their cabin in Baja deck.  The new food menu at the pools is good change but I think the system needs adjusting,  we ordered the Ernesto burger beer combo for $8 bucks and a server will get your beer and bring your food to table but took a very long time to get our food.  It was good but when compared with Guy's burgers on Carnival they do it better.   Overall great cruise,  fun with the Faithful 49ers on board their praise events were great.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for your review.

[greenie082756]

Love the Ruby! Thanks for sharing.

[JGB]

Thank you for the review 

2?    How was the internet re speed and reliability and the cost?

also did you make it into the casino 

curious about the variety of machines and the video poker and video keno 

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Does the Ruby have on demand TV programming including TV shows?

[tango55]

just back from the ruby (jan.26-feb.2). room #a341.3 days of toilet problems.other people had toilets overflow.very unhappy with princess response.having to go to a public restroom was not what my wife and I wanted to do.no suction in the toilet.maintance would manually flush it.then it would stop working.internet system was new on the cruise.lot's of people complaining about the slow connections.besides these problems the cruise was great.did stone island and took the bus up to buceris in p.v.

[Qcruise]

We kept trying to get on to "Princess@sea" which we used to be able to get before the upgrades.  Could not find it but the Ocean ready thing kept trying to get us to sign into for a fee.  We did not use the internet so can't give report.  Casino had those machines our friends played them don't know how many there are.  Enough slot machines variety and amount to keep crowd content.  On demand is available we did not use it,  TV channels are minimum.  One can't get your foilo on TV yet,  hope that happens.  MUTS might have happened but with the weather we did not try.  We were going to get the thermal suite but cost was $149 for two people we thought that was too much $$ for the three days we could use it.

[Silverspringcruiser]

We were also on that cruise. We usually do Carnival but wanted something different. I liked how there were more indoor afternoon activities than just trivia, including arts & crafts and language lessons. (If you went to the martini tasting I was the guy dancing for the Milky Way martini). I liked that the prizes weren't just ships on sticks, so now I have two water bottles. Also appreciated that the menu featured classic cocktails at reasonable prices and not just overpriced tropical drinks and martinis.

 

On the other hand, the cabins are small compared to Carnival. No couch (and now no chair), and less shelf space. The burgers don't compare to Guy's. Also the theater is dreary and uncomfortable, you can't get a drink there, and even if you could your tiny little school desk of a table is tilted so you can't even put it down.

 

[Cruisin Dave]

Thank you for the report. We sail in a few weeks. Sorry to hear about the toilet. 

 

[milogurd]

We were on this cruise too.

 

Internet - We've been on the Ruby 3 times in the past 4 months. The internet was as slow as molasses until this sailing. Much improved for us this time. We were actually able to stream the broadcast of the Daytona 500 NASCAR race on Sunday. Setting up the account to use the internet was not so "user friendly" and some people may find it confusing.

 

Ocean Ready/Princess@Sea - It was awkward at first to figure out how the new system works. After getting it set up it was just like Princess@Sea used to be. Onboard account, Events, etc. all there like before.

 

On Demand TV - Live TV was MSNBC/FoxNews/CNN/BBC/ESPN International/ESPN2 International. On demand TV shows were 3 to 5 old episodes of The Good Place, Big Bang Theory, and The Middle. Other older series were available too. Movies were available (some Oscar contenders) and luckily after a movie was shown on MUTS (it was cold outside), it became available on TV the next day.

 

Plumbing - No issues.

Edited February 19, 2019 by milogurd

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your comments on your cruise.

 

All the Princess ships we have sailed on have had plumbing issues.

If not in our cabin then other passenger cabins as well as public rest rooms etc.

It is inherent and something that will probably never be fixed completely.

They address it 24/7. 

[memoak]

There was an excellent mix of "on-demand" movies we were able to watch 2 academy award nominated films that we had missed in the theatres

[milogurd]

Almost forgot!

On the 14th, when we left San Pedro, we were in port with the MV Artania which was the original Royal Princess from 1984-2005.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Artania

 

[deliver42]

Thank you for your comments. We will be on the Ruby May, 11, and are very excited.

[Yukonjake]

Thanks. On Ruby in two weeks; practically vibrating!

[cr8tiv1]

If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions:

 

What time are the Princess Theater shows?

 

Does Starboard and Port side rugs have different colors?

 

Who is playing in the Wheelhouse (or who plays dance music)?

 

Is Medallion working?  (I called Princess today and they said "not really")

 

Thanks

[Colo Cruiser]

59 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions:

 

What time are the Princess Theater shows?

 

Does Starboard and Port side rugs have different colors?

 

Who is playing in the Wheelhouse (or who plays dance music)?

 

Is Medallion working?  (I called Princess today and they said "not really")

 

Thanks

Wow.......that may very well be an accurate answer! Fancy that.  😳

No additional calls needed?   😀

[Cyn874]

4 hours ago, Silverspringcruiser said:

 

 

On the other hand, the cabins are small compared to Carnival. No couch (and now no chair), and less shelf space. 

 

 

When you say 'no couch', what size cabin were you in? I'm traveling with my family in a mini suite and I certainly hope the couch is still in the mini, or I might be spending 15 nights sleeping on the floor.  As I understand, the couch turns into a bed which is the place for a 3rd person to sleep.

Edited February 20, 2019 by Cyn874

[DrivesLikeMario]

54 minutes ago, Cyn874 said:

 

When you say 'no couch', what size cabin were you in? I'm traveling with my family in a mini suite and I certainly hope the couch is still in the mini, or I might be spending 15 nights sleeping on the floor.  As I understand, the couch turns into a bed which is the place for a 3rd person to sleep.

Yes, the minis still have a couch.  I'm assuming the OP was in a balcony cabin.  On Carnival, RCI and most others, you have a small sofa in the cabin.  Not with Princess' regular balcony cabins.  There used to be a barrel chair but now that is being taken away too.  Only chair is an utilitarian desk chair now.

[milogurd]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

If you wouldn't mind answering a few questions:

 

What time are the Princess Theater shows?

 

Does Starboard and Port side rugs have different colors?

 

Who is playing in the Wheelhouse (or who plays dance music)?

 

Is Medallion working?  (I called Princess today and they said "not really")

 

Thanks

 

Princess Theatre shows were at 7:45 and 9:45.

 

Rugs the same on both sides. Remember, LEFT/PORT and EVEN numbered cabins all have FOUR letters.

 

Wheelhouse had Robert Deans and Guitarist and Vocalist Mary Simon (not sure if they played dance music).

 

For other dance music, Los Tres/Quatro/Cinco/Seis/Siete/Ocho Brilliantes were ALWAYS in the Piazza. They are very good. Dance music is usually available in many venues each evening.

 

Medallion? For cabin doors, yes. For wifi/internet, kinda. For everything else, no.

[philabos]

Curious what dining room you were in.

We had the late seating as well. Service was very slow.

Second night we were seated at 7:30 and had to chase down a head waiter at 9:00 since the entre was still absent.

Waiters said they could not get food out of the kitchen, but I believe the same kitchen serves all of the MDRs?

 

As far as public restrooms, this ship seemed to be the fairly good for Princess.

Another line we have sailed on for four years never seems to have the problem.

[Silverspringcruiser]

2 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

 

When you say 'no couch', what size cabin were you in? I'm traveling with my family in a mini suite and I certainly hope the couch is still in the mini, or I might be spending 15 nights sleeping on the floor.  As I understand, the couch turns into a bed which is the place for a 3rd person to sleep.

 

2 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

 

When you say 'no couch', what size cabin were you in? I'm traveling with my family in a mini suite and I certainly hope the couch is still in the mini, or I might be spending 15 nights sleeping on the floor.  As I understand, the couch turns into a bed which is the place for a 3rd person to sleep.

Baja deck balcony.

[milogurd]

3 minutes ago, Silverspringcruiser said:

 

Baja deck balcony.

Baja deck has standard balcony cabins.

 

Dolphin deck has mini suites. Not sure about couch.

[cr8tiv1]

51 minutes ago, milogurd said:

 

Princess Theatre shows were at 7:45 and 9:45.

 

Rugs the same on both sides. Remember, LEFT/PORT and EVEN numbered cabins all have FOUR letters.

 

Wheelhouse had Robert Deans and Guitarist and Vocalist Mary Simon (not sure if they played dance music).

 

For other dance music, Los Tres/Quatro/Cinco/Seis/Siete/Ocho Brilliantes were ALWAYS in the Piazza. They are very good. Dance music is usually available in many venues each evening.

 

Medallion? For cabin doors, yes. For wifi/internet, kinda. For everything else, no.

 

Thanks for your responses.  I do know my left from my right, but those different colored carpets were so helpful to newbies.  

 

Not good about Wheelhouse duo.  I was hoping the there would be a dance band (other than the one in Explorer's Lounge).

[Cyn874]

Did you receive a Medallion in the mail to bring on  your cruise? I'm a little unclear if we're getting them for our April cruise or not. I understand that the Ocean Medallion is not fully functional on Ruby yet, but I also have heard that you can open your state room with it. Did they send it to you in the mail like they are for fully functional Medallion ships, or did they just give it to you on Embarkation day?