What is happening with the Ruby Princess???

[cvpends]

I am currently  on the Ruby, and I am really weirded out about some things that make me wonder if they are just running through the motions with plans to jettison her from the fleet.

 

1) there is a lot of rust and the paint is slopped on with no prep work and there are drips of paint everywhere on decks and balconies, showing lack of care.

 

2) there are no Elite upgraded amenities in the bathroom, and the steward said they don't have any on board.

 

3) there is no lemonade, and the Lido server said no more on board.

 

4) as discussed in my other thread, no peanut butter cookies.

 

The entertainment is excellent, so that's the good news.  But if they didn't provision the ship and aren't properly maintaining it, it make me wonder why.

 

What have you heard about the future of the Ruby Princess?

[Ferry_Watcher]

Pandemic - supply chain issues - other ships, other cruise lines have similar issues.

 

Unfortunate, but it is the current times.  Hopefully, we will be getting back to what we use to experience.

[DUCHESSRN]

I agree and also on the Ruby now . There are areas on the Lido deck that the floor is coming up , cracks around hot tub . 
The staff are wonderful .

[cruzin4us]

Waahhh, I'm sorry to hear that seeing as we have a 10 day Alaska cruise in June and a 15 day Hawaiian cruise in November.    

Does anyone know if she is going to be dry docked anytime soon?   I thought she had her last dry dock in Oct 2021?

 

[cruzin4us]

I also believe it's a supply issue.   We experienced in on the Majestic in Oct 2021.  They ran out of all kinds of things.   My folks were on HAL in January and they said they experienced the same thing.    

[satxdiver]

We were on the Enchanted end of February and there were some things in short supply.  We have been on several other cruise line ships since October and they were also having the same supply issues.  This seems to be the present condition now on the seas and at home.  With the war in Ukraine it may be getting worse not better. 

[rj59]

The Majestic doesn't have upgraded amenities, just a toiletry bag full of useless junk. The same with the minibar, where my cruise just had gin and whiskey minibottles. Personally, I'm just grateful that Princess has such a robust West Coast presence right now, especially since no other line has regular cruises from SF. Royal and Norwegian only have one ship each, and while Carnival has 3 out of Long Beach, I was so revolted by my last Carnival cruise that I can't bear to try them again. The Ruby also allows Princess to do Hawaii trips, and the extra ship in LA allows a unique 10-day cruise with La Paz and Loreto. I'll be on the Ruby next month, and cookies and rust won't be on my mind at all, and instead I'll enjoy not having to wear a mask. If you're concerned by trivialities, then the major issues of food shortages and high fuel costs will have more of an impact, and as passenger demand increases, so will prices and difficulty in obtaining food supplies. Then you have over a million people leaving their country with nothing, leaving their fathers and husbands and brothers behind to fight, and cities under siege without food and water, so you might spare thoughts for the Ukrainians on board--I know I fear every day for Ukrainians I met in October who were heading home soon after their contracts ended. 

[justafem]

We were on the Ruby last month and will be back on her next month.

 

I also noticed the paint splatters.  Just wait to see a 'behind the scenes' area.  They frequently opened the supply room on deck 15 (16?) smoking area, that was an eye opener!  

 

Our balcony seemed a bit neglected too and there was a horrible 'bump' right in the middle of the floor.  We lifted the matt and saw a very rusty, smelly drain.  

 

We had peanut butter cookies and lemonade.

 

I have friends/crew on several ships right now, there's supply issues everywhere.  (better stock up on the TP!  GRINS)

 

Oh and @rj59 carnival starts leaving from SF next month. We have our first carnival cruise scheduled in May.  How bad was it?  And why was it so bad?  Really want to know!

[MISTER 67]

We were on the Caribbean Princess in November and again in December and I thought the ship considering she is almost 20 years old was in fine shape. We have sailed on her 10 times now and I will say right before her dry dock a few years ago I thought she was badly in need of some work.  There were some things that were showing her age as the carpeting in our cabins was the original and has never been replaced, new carpeting was evident throughout the rest of the ship. As far as painted areas, they all looked fine and didn't look like they were slopped on. We noticed no shortages of food items and IIRC they did have peanut butter cookies, DW had some, not me as they aren't my favorite cookies. There was some hand lotion in the cabins and we did receive our Princess bags. As a mentioned a while back none of the clocks out on the open decks were working but the time was always correct on all the HD TV info screens throughout the ship.

We are sailing with HAL on the Rotterdam on March 20, will be interesting to see if there are shortages of anything on our cruise.

Edited March 8, 2022 by MISTER 67

[STREETKING]

I thought the Ruby recently went through dry dock. I can understand the supply issues but maintenance issues are concerning.

[cvpends]

5 hours ago, justafem said:

 

Oh and @rj59 carnival starts leaving from SF next month. We have our first carnival cruise scheduled in May.  How bad was it?  And why was it so bad?  Really want to know!

I wouldn't worry about one person's opinion.  We were on Panorama in November and Miracle in December, and both ships were lovely and we had a wonderful time on both cruises.  Carnival has really stepped up their food!   And every Carnival balcony has a sofa, which I love.

[cvpends]

By the way, this post wasn't meant to discourage anyone from enjoying a cruise on the Ruby Princess.  She has many assets, including the staff, the entertainment, the home port and the dining room food.  I have a couple more sailings booked on her and fully plan to sail those dates. I just wondered if anyone had heard anything that might explain the things missing that I have always had on Princess and some lack of maintenance. 

[cvpends]

Reason to sail Ruby: two decks of huge balconies.  My mini on Majestic had a tiny balcony, and no huge Caribe balconies.

[memoak]

5 hours ago, STREETKING said:

I thought the Ruby recently went through dry dock. I can understand the supply issues but maintenance issues are concerning.

She was in dry dock here in Portland not 6 months ago

[cvpends]

Another reason to sail Ruby:. She has yummy Chai tea on the Lido everyday, and always a vegetarian Indian curry.  And lots of fresh fruit.

[Coffeeluvr05]

4 hours ago, cvpends said:

Reason to sail Ruby: two decks of huge balconies.  My mini on Majestic had a tiny balcony, and no huge Caribe balconies.

Just curious, which decks are those?  We are on deck 9 in a mini suite in May and as I understand it, there is no covering.  Is it one of these?

[cvpends]

37 minutes ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Just curious, which decks are those?  We are on deck 9 in a mini suite in May and as I understand it, there is no covering.  Is it one of these?

Deck 9 has the uncovered mini suites. Deck 8 has some covered mini suites.  Deck ten is Caribe deck above the minis on 9.  The cabins themselves are regular balcony cabins but the balcony for those cabins is extra large.  The cabin is partly covered by the balconies above, and partly uncovered -- as you see in the picture I took today when going through the Panama Canal. If you ever want a balcony cabin instead of a mini, you definitely want to be on Caribe deck on a Grand class ship.  

[cvpends]

Another reason to sail Ruby: she goes cool places like Panama Canal.

[Thrak]

15 minutes ago, cvpends said:

If you ever want a balcony cabin instead of a mini, you definitely want to be on Caribe deck on a Grand class ship.  

 

Agreed. That's why we booked a Caribe Deck balcony on Sapphire Princess for our upcoming 12 day Alaska cruise. We love those large balconies. Sadly, Princess switched the cruise to Royal Princess. We have the same cabin but the balcony will be minuscule.  😒

[cvpends]

Another reason to sail Ruby:. Vines!

[cvpends]

Yet another Ruby asset: Good Spirits at Sea.

[cvpends]

Ruby serves beautifully plated and delicious food in the MDR.

[Coffeeluvr05]

1 hour ago, cvpends said:

Deck 9 has the uncovered mini suites. Deck 8 has some covered mini suites.  Deck ten is Caribe deck above the minis on 9.  The cabins themselves are regular balcony cabins but the balcony for those cabins is extra large.  The cabin is partly covered by the balconies above, and partly uncovered -- as you see in the picture I took today when going through the Panama Canal. If you ever want a balcony cabin instead of a mini, you definitely want to be on Caribe deck on a Grand class ship.  

Any idea which ones on deck 8 are covered or how to tell which ones are?

[cvpends]

6 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Any idea which ones on deck 8 are covered or how to tell which ones are?

Absolutely.  All 12 mini suites in the aft of deck 8 are covered, and their cabin numbers are E720 through E731.  If you are not a smoker I would avoid the minis on the starboard side, however, as the smoking area in deck 7 is below and just forward of those cabins.  I am not speaking from experience on this issue, just guessing that for me that would be a problem.  

[pris993]

9 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Just curious, which decks are those?  We are on deck 9 in a mini suite in May and as I understand it, there is no covering.  Is it one of these?

Deck 9 are mini suites so has largest balcony; it is the lower level shown in the picture.