Live From The Ruby Princess CA Coastal March 10-17, 2019

[Colo Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Calimari62 said:

Hi Bob, Thanks for the updates.  We will be taking this cruise from Mar 17 - Mar 23.  As first time cruisers, what time is the best time to show up for embarkation?  Looking forward to your updates!  Have a great trip!

 

They will hand out boarding group cards in order of arrival.

Preferred groups Elite/Platinum/Suite first to board then regular groups after that.

The earlier you arrive the earlier you will board.

Recently boarding seems to start around 11:00am so I would think you could be onboard by noon if there are no issues.

[Colo Cruiser]

35 minutes ago, Woobstr112G said:

An early good morning (0632 local time) from the Ruby Princess.  TOday is our first of two sea days for this voyage.  I just got back from the IC for my daily Americano with an extra shot.  After I got my coffee, I walked around the ship a little taking some pictures.  I am still getting reacquainted with a Crown Class ship and trying to remember the way the Ruby looked back in 2011.  I'm sure they've updated/refreshed things.  So far, I like what I see.  One thing I did notice, unless my mind is playing tricks on me, is there seems to be darker woods throughout the ship that gives a more nautical feel.

 

Last night, Holli & I, along with her DS and DS's hubby enjoyed dinner in the Crown Grill.  Three of us had the fillet while one had the porterhouse.  All selections were quite good.  The onion soup was, as always, fantastic.  Our waiter was also very attentive.  

 

Holli & I plan to try the suite breakfast in the Crown Grill at 0900.  I'm very much looking forward to it.  Today, is our first formal night.  A little later, I plan to try on my rental Tux (Cruiselineformalwear) to make sure it fits.  Holli has a hair appointment later in the Lotus Spa that she always enjoys.  We also plan to do a little window shopping after breakfast.  

 

That's all for now.  I'll post a wake view sunrise picture a little later when it's lighter outside.

 

Hope all are well.....

 

Bob

Enjoy your sea day guys!  😎

[Woobstr112G]

 

As promised.....

 

Bob

[rpbanks]

Hi Bob,

 

Are they offering any kind of wine package? Any info about it would be appreciated.

 

Also, looking for the email address of the Hotel GM. 

 

We are on the 15 day Hawaii cruise on the 24th.

 

Thanks

[Woobstr112G]

16 minutes ago, rpbanks said:

Hi Bob,

 

Are they offering any kind of wine package? Any info about it would be appreciated.

 

Also, looking for the email address of the Hotel GM. 

 

We are on the 15 day Hawaii cruise on the 24th.

 

Thanks

I will see if I can find out and let you know.....

 

Bob

[mjceditor]

Thank you for posting your Internet Speed Test results. Not bad for your location on the Ship.

 

Here's another question, We should be at San Pedro around 10:30. Do you think we will board early even tho we have very few

cruises on Princess?

 

Thank you!

Mike

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

As promised.....

 

Bob

beautiful

[cristine]

27 minutes ago, c-boy said:

beautiful

Love it

[senior lady]

1 hour ago, mjceditor said:

Thank you for posting your Internet Speed Test results. Not bad for your location on the Ship.

 

Here's another question, We should be at San Pedro around 10:30. Do you think we will board early even tho we have very few

cruises on Princess?

 

Thank you!

Mike

You'll be able to get on the ship as soon as it's cleared and they start boarding.   It seems the new rule is that you can't get into cabins until 1pm now.   

[mjceditor]

17 minutes ago, senior lady said:

You'll be able to get on the ship as soon as it's cleared and they start boarding.   It seems the new rule is that you can't get into cabins until 1pm now.   

Thank you!

 

[Michelle1234]

Thanks for posting the movie list. We are on the Coral shortly and they only sent us the name of 2 of the movies. I bet they both have the same so I'm going to look up the ones you listed to see what I'm interested in.

[TLC535]

4 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

As promised.....

 

Bob

 

Ahhhhhh...can't wait for that view...beautiful photo Bob...Thanks ! 

[jwattle]

5 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

As promised.....

 

Bob

Can't wait to see that from the Coral in September. Really enjoying your "Live from" thread! Thank you for taking the time!! 😃

[Cyn874]

Could you post some pictures of the Day 1 patters (and any additional days would be great, too!) And maybe some menu pictures from MDR?

[ShyannDay]

21 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

They change every 10 weeks.

 

So... does this mean that the whole staff changes or just the Captain?  I'm curious because I really like the Hotel Manager Riccardo Capraro and hope he will be on my cruise in early May.  Thanks in advance!

[Colo Cruiser]

 

12 minutes ago, ShyannDay said:

 

So... does this mean that the whole staff changes or just the Captain?  I'm curious because I really like the Hotel Manager Riccardo Capraro and hope he will be on my cruise in early May.  Thanks in advance!

Captain/Staff Captain 10 weeks on10 weeks off.

HGM can be 3 or 4 months on and 2-3 months off depending on staffing needs. 

This is not the case for all crew. 

Wait staff and housekeeping can be 7-9 months on with several months off.

[Thrak]

 

Wow. That doesn't seem like the speeds I've seen posted for Medallion Net. The speed shown here, while better than I've ever gotten on a Princess ship, is like "really good ADSL".  ADSL offers speeds "up to" 5 Mbps but usually never gets faster than 4.5 Mbps or so. While this is a huge improvement over the speeds I've experienced onboard it's nowhere near the 200 Mbps reported by someone else on these boards. (He also included a screen shot to back up the claim.) That is also a truly long Ping time but I don't know what is the norm for a satellite connection at sea.

 

Ah, well. Internet speed is something quite low on my list of needs for a good cruise. Loved the pic of sunrise. We're never up early enough for that. We rarely make it up in time for breakfast in MDR. I have a feeling you must go to bed much earlier than I do.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Thrak

[ShyannDay]

9 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

 

Captain/Staff Captain 10 weeks on10 weeks off.

HGM can be 3 or 4 months on and 2-3 months off depending on staffing needs. 

This is not the case for all crew. 

Wait staff and housekeeping can be 7-9 months on with several months off. 

Thank you.  That sounds like the guy we like might not be on our cruise.  😞      Do you know of any way to find out the crew on a future cruise (May 5 2019)?

[Colo Cruiser]

13 minutes ago, ShyannDay said:

Thank you.  That sounds like the guy we like might not be on our cruise.  😞      Do you know of any way to find out the crew on a future cruise (May 5 2019)?

I know Ricardo. He is awesome.

 

Best to just watch for the embarkation day Patter posted by people off close to your cruise.

[Woobstr112G]

3 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

Could you post some pictures of the Day 1 patters (and any additional days would be great, too!) And maybe some menu pictures from MDR?

I scan and post all the Patters to my Flickr account.  The link is towards the bottom of my signature.  I won't be posting them however until I get home.....

 

Bob

[Woobstr112G]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Wow. That doesn't seem like the speeds I've seen posted for Medallion Net. The speed shown here, while better than I've ever gotten on a Princess ship, is like "really good ADSL".  ADSL offers speeds "up to" 5 Mbps but usually never gets faster than 4.5 Mbps or so. While this is a huge improvement over the speeds I've experienced onboard it's nowhere near the 200 Mbps reported by someone else on these boards. (He also included a screen shot to back up the claim.) That is also a truly long Ping time but I don't know what is the norm for a satellite connection at sea.

 

Ah, well. Internet speed is something quite low on my list of needs for a good cruise. Loved the pic of sunrise. We're never up early enough for that. We rarely make it up in time for breakfast in MDR. I have a feeling you must go to bed much earlier than I do.

Keep in mind this was the speed I was getting on my aft facing balcony with the door closed.  I have yet to run a test inside of the ship.....

 

Bob

[Astro Flyer]

On 3/9/2019 at 5:57 PM, PekingeseLady said:

I thought all cruises 10 days or over had the wine package.  This is a bit upsetting to me.  I have a 12 day on the Ruby coming up and was prepared to purchase the wine package.  Sounds like I better carry a case on with me.

 

 

On 3/9/2019 at 9:03 PM, Kartgv said:

 

There hasn't been a wine package offered on our last 3 cruises - the recent Ruby 10 day, a 12 day RT on the Golden from LA to Alaska, or a 15 night RT on the Star between Vancouver & Hawaii.   Sorry - we were disappointed too.    We asked several times and got no real answers, just "Sorry, they're not available on this cruise".    

Hopefully that’s just a temporary problem with inventory as the new wine list is slowly being implemented.  

 

I’ve read several posts about that being the reason why availability has been inconsistent on 10+ day cruises.  The new wine list has only a few bottles at the $31 silver package’s limit & have read posts about that’s why the silver packages were eliminated.

 

Hopefully by my Fall cruise the inventory problems will be corrected & the wine package will be available on that long cruise.  We can drive to our other cruises (7 days) and will bring our favorite wines from home to pay the fee.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[Thrak]

There have been a number of posts by folks who purchased wine packages only to find that many of the wines they had counted on were no longer being stocked. Princess has been revamping their wine offerings. Hopefully things will settle down eventually so people who want the wine packages can once again have that option.

[Woobstr112G]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

Wow. That doesn't seem like the speeds I've seen posted for Medallion Net. The speed shown here, while better than I've ever gotten on a Princess ship, is like "really good ADSL".  ADSL offers speeds "up to" 5 Mbps but usually never gets faster than 4.5 Mbps or so. While this is a huge improvement over the speeds I've experienced onboard it's nowhere near the 200 Mbps reported by someone else on these boards. (He also included a screen shot to back up the claim.) That is also a truly long Ping time but I don't know what is the norm for a satellite connection at sea.

 

Ah, well. Internet speed is something quite low on my list of needs for a good cruise. Loved the pic of sunrise. We're never up early enough for that. We rarely make it up in time for breakfast in MDR. I have a feeling you must go to bed much earlier than I do.

 

 

I just ran these two tests in my cabin.  The first one was with the door closed.  With the second one, I switched servers in Ca and opened my door.....

 

Bob

[Astro Flyer]

9 hours ago, Woobstr112G said:

 

As promised.....

 

Bob

Bob...looks like you lost your tail you posted in the r/c photo.  First at BC & now during sailaway...there seems to be a trend for you. 🤣

Edited March 11, 2019 by Astro Flyer