LIVE: Ruby Princess Dec 18-29 Western Caribbean/Mexico

[ceilidh1]

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

10xr - green lane for next Halloween cruise ... huh

I WAS green lane. Now I'm blue.

[arctickitty]

Looking forward to following along!  Thanks for taking us with you!

[bobpell]

Deck 7 shows a library. Can you advise this newbie if it has books or is it a drop off for our books that have been read?

Thanks

Bob

[Thumper007]

I am booked on Ruby in April so I am interested in your posts.  Its been years since I cruised out of Galveston so your experiences will help a lot.

[eclue]

5 hours ago, bobpell said:

Deck 7 shows a library. Can you advise this newbie if it has books or is it a drop off for our books that have been read?

Thanks

Bob

Usually it has a lot of books and also a place to exchange the ones that you have read. It is a really nice library...also has puzzles.

[Projunior]

We just returned last Saturday from a cruise on the Regal. Based on our experience there is no need to sweat about Blue vs. Green. Pre-cruise we were Blue Lane because, I assume we didn't have our Medallions mailed to us but were picking them up at the cruise terminal. I am glad we were Blue! Embarkation was delayed and no one was being allowed to board until 1PM and this created quite a backlog. Long story short, there were only two other people in the Blue Lane but about 200 people in the Green Lane. We breezed on board in a matter of minutes.

 

And the QR code sent as part of the pre-cruise online check-in process? No one looked at it and no one asked about it. 

[ceilidh1]

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go...well, not really, but definitely getting closer! I checked in for our flight without too many issues - besides the fact that I forgot to add and pre-pay my checked bag so had to go back and do that. DOH. Got my boarding passes and checked bag packed. Carry ons are almost packed, just need to throw in the last few things. We decided to go to the airport this evening rather than at 4am - we will take the last train that gets us there around 1:40am and try to find a quiet spot to nap. I figure that would be preferable to letting the kids go to "bed" only to wake them up a couple of hours later - grouchy teens are no fun. We will see how this plan unfolds...

 

I must say, I'm a little "lost" in the packing department this time around - it's cold here so thinking about warm weather clothes is tricky. Then we are doing the first three days in Galveston, which I assume will be pretty cool and looks rainy/foggy. I feel like I've packed way too much but at the same time not enough - I'm sure our bag will be over weight. I'm also sure I will remember all the stuff I "should" have packed and need to do a mad dash to Walmart!

[bobpell]

Thanks eclue about the library

Bob

[ceilidh1]

Someone on the "other" site just posted that John Padgett will be on this sailing for the first cruise back out of Galveston. All I can say is that he better not delay my boarding, cause I'm ready to get this party started. Anyone know if this is true and, if so, what he is going to be doing?

[ceilidh1]

Vacation has officially begun!

We took a nap at home for a few hours and headed out at 12:30am. It’s a 10 minute walk to the train that takes you directly to the airport. First obstacle was finding someone shooting yo in the elevator down to the platform. Rather than subject the kids to this, we hauled our bags down the stairs and made it on to the train. We were at the airport by 1:15am and got bag tags printed. I took the opportunity to weigh my bag - I guess I underestimated my packing skills as I was sure it would be overweight. It came in at an impressive 46 pounds! Unfortunately, we can’t get through security for a couple of hours as it doesn’t open until 4am, so we are looking for a comfortable spot to take a nap - spoiler, there aren’t any!

 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by ceilidh1
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[ceilidh1]

Best laid plans…the nap didn’t happen! We found a spot in the empty observation lounge and hunkered down. After a few minutes, a couple came in and decided to sit directly behind us and laugh, talk, listen to music. The entire place was empty and they still chose to sit behind us. The dirty looks I gave them did nothing so we left.

 

West Jet bag drop didn’t open until 4:15am so by the time we were able to drop our bag there was already a line for security. Thankfully we made it through and now at the gate waiting to board the first leg of our flight. At this point I’ve been awake exactly 24 hours…

[princess76021]

32 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Best laid plans…the nap didn’t happen! We found a spot in the empty observation lounge and hunkered down. After a few minutes, a couple came in and decided to sit directly behind us and laugh, talk, listen to music. The entire place was empty and they still chose to sit behind us. The dirty looks I gave them did nothing so we left.

 

West Jet bag drop didn’t open until 4:15am so by the time we were able to drop our bag there was already a line for security. Thankfully we made it through and now at the gate waiting to board the first leg of our flight. At this point I’ve been awake exactly 24 hours…

Hope you get some rest! Have a safe flight!   

hugs from Texas

[arizonaperson]

ceilidh1- looking forward to more of your live from the Ruby Princess. You are very informative.  Hope you get a little bit of sleep before you board your cruise. Sounds like quite the adventure 

[ceilidh1]

Part one of the.journey is complete! Made it safely and on time to Calgary. Happy to find out we didn’t need to collect our checked bags before proceeding to US CBP. The line was long but moved quickly and we are now enjoying breakfast before boarding our flight to Houston. 

[ceilidh1]

We made it into Houston ahead of schedule. The flight was uneventful other than having the most annoying kid sitting behind us. Definitely old enough to know better but spent the entire flight banging the tray table up and down or drumming loudly on it. After a while I just turned around and politely asked her to stop. Her mom slept the entire time. Sigh

 

Collecting bags was a bit of a cluster as there was only one carousel open for all the flights that had just arrived so there were people everywhere! Thankfully ours came off quickly and we met up with our friend who had flown in from Boston. At that point I texted our ride and she was with us within 10 minutes. I highly recommend her company as the long ride was entertaining and the car was roomy and comfortable. As a bonus she stopped at Buccees and we stocked up on food, wine, and tacky souvenirs! https://highrollersbyshugg.com/
 

 

 

[ceilidh1]

We are staying at the Homewood Suites at the very end of the island, near Stewart Beach. First impressions are good - one bedroom suite with a huge bedroom. The sitting room and kitchen is smaller and we don’t appear to have things like dish soap, etc but nothing we can’t deal with. I will get more pictures when it’s not such a mess - we literally dumped all our bags everywhere. This is the bedroom area.

[princess76021]

51 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

We made it into Houston ahead of schedule. The flight was uneventful other than having the most annoying kid sitting behind us. Definitely old enough to know better but spent the entire flight banging the tray table up and down or drumming loudly on it. After a while I just turned around and politely asked her to stop. Her mom slept the entire time. Sigh

 

Collecting bags was a bit of a cluster as there was only one carousel open for all the flights that had just arrived so there were people everywhere! Thankfully ours came off quickly and we met up with our friend who had flown in from Boston. At that point I texted our ride and she was with us within 10 minutes. I highly recommend her company as the long ride was entertaining and the car was roomy and comfortable. As a bonus she stopped at Buccees and we stocked up on food, wine, and tacky souvenirs! https://highrollersbyshugg.com/
 

 

 

Welcome to texas!!!  

Hugs from North texas!!

Edited December 16, 2022 by princess76021
Additional info

[ceilidh1]

Good Morning from Galveston!

It was great to finally get into bed and sleep last night after a long 36 hours of travel! I use the term bed loosely as I ended up on the sofa bed with DS while DD and our friend took the bedroom with the two beds. On pulling out the sofa bed  we found we had to rearrange all the furniture first so that was quite the ordeal. Then there was no bedding for it. I called down to the desk and they told me to come down and pick it up. Ugh. I was already sun my PJs and not going to get changed again so I threw on my jacket and traipsed down. Other than that, I slept pretty well - I did hear other guests coming and going a few times but nothing more or less than other hotels. 
 

When I woke this morning I got a good look at our ocean view!

[ceilidh1]

Everyone was still sleeping when I woke up so I headed downstairs in search of coffee. We like Homewood Suites as they have the waffle makers at breakfast. This was no different but they had no whipped cream for them 😢 I had one anyways, along with some hash browns, omelette, and sausage patty.

[CC Rider 69]

19 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Good Morning from Galveston!

It was great to finally get into bed and sleep last night after a long 36 hours of travel! I use the term bed loosely as I ended up on the sofa bed with DS while DD and our friend took the bedroom with the two beds. On pulling out the sofa bed  we found we had to rearrange all the furniture first so that was quite the ordeal. Then there was no bedding for it. I called down to the desk and they told me to come down and pick it up. Ugh. I was already sun my PJs and not going to get changed again so I threw on my jacket and traipsed down. Other than that, I slept pretty well - I did hear other guests coming and going a few times but nothing more or less than other hotels. 
 

When I woke this morning I got a good look at our ocean view!

Welcome to Texas.You picked a Chamber of Commerce weekend to visit, next weekend have ayour Canuck gear it will be Texas cold. That's the RV park we stay at when we visit Galveston. We're on the Ruby in March, maybe sooner, so we'll are looking forward to your review of the ship.

[ceilidh1]

9 minutes ago, CC Rider 69 said:

Welcome to Texas.You picked a Chamber of Commerce weekend to visit, next weekend have ayour Canuck gear it will be Texas cold. That's the RV park we stay at when we visit Galveston. We're on the Ruby in March, maybe sooner, so we'll are looking forward to your review of the ship.

Any recommendations of where we should go or what we should see today? I was thinking of walking the Seawall until I saw how long it was! Lol

[ChutChut]

Thanks for taking us along on your awesome cruise!

[ceilidh1]

A few more room pictures- the sofa bed pulled out and the room a little neater after we put away our junk!

[CC Rider 69]

49 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Any recommendations of where we should go or what we should see today? I was thinking of walking the Seawall until I saw how long it was! Lol

Moody Gardens Festival of Lights, it's on the west end of the Island, you can Google for directions. It's not hard to find. Galveston Brewing Co. is also in that direction and are both kid and pet friendly.

Go to The Strand tomorrow, two CCL ship arrive on Saturday plus you can do some tacky t-shirt shopping. There are some decent restaurants on Post Office Street (2 or so blocks south of the Strand). There are a couple of seafood places at Pier 21, Katies is my preference, not as touristy, but it's your vacation, eh.

A fan favourite of ours for breakfast is The Sunflower Bakery and Cafe on 14th Street, but it is pricey $$$, and usually a wait to be seated.

And if you have time, go to Pleasure Pier if it's open. It too can be pricey, and not all the rides are running, at least when we were there earlier this year and this month.

Sorry for the rush writing but off to do the dreaded Christmas shopping thing.

[extiger1]

Also recommend Katies.