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

[ceilidh1]

The weather got better so we decided to make the most of our last few hours. The teen had been wanting to go to the Pleasure Pier so we got an Uber down there and paid $11 per person to walk on, plus three $7 ride tickets. This was definitely the biggest rip off of our time in Galveston! Firstly, nothing on the pier was even open and the rides that the kids wanted to go on were out of order! 
 

From the pier, we walked down to Murdochs but really didn’t find any souvenirs that jumped out. Then we continued walking and ended up at Saltgrass for dinner! I have to say, it was excellent!

[ceilidh1]

Some more Galveston pictures 

[ceilidh1]

Now back at the hotel for the night and planning on packing and getting ready for cruise day tomorrow. I REALLY hope we can just get on and relax without any delays or dramas. Our Uber is booked for 9:45am, we have arrival group A, plus we are elite so priority boarding. Keep everything crossed for us!

[ceilidh1]

5 hours ago, egregious cruiser said:

In response to question about ship bars selling drinks while in Galveston.  There appears to be an unresolved issue.  Nothing in writing yet.  

Can you elaborate? I’ve never sailed from Galveston before. Are we not able to get drinks in port?

[that]

Any updates on tomorrow’s schedule with Padgett onboard?

[symui]

10 hours ago, egregious cruiser said:

In response to question about ship bars selling drinks while in Galveston

Im on a B2B and just received a note under my door.

 

”Due to local regulations we are unable to fulfill beverage package drinks containing alcohol while the Ruby Princess is in Galveston”

Edited December 18, 2022 by symui
Typo

[ceilidh1]

20 minutes ago, symui said:

Im on a B2B and just received a note under my door.

 

”Due to local regulations we are unable to fulfill beverage package drinks containing alcohol while the Ruby Princess is in Galveston”

So will we be reimbursed $50 for that day? Or is it only while in port? That’s an odd rule - in Canada they limit how many bars are allowed to be open, but they don’t restrict it completely!

[milogurd]

2 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Can you elaborate? I’ve never sailed from Galveston before. Are we not able to get drinks in port?

I've heard that Texas alcohol laws require the cruise ships to purchase any alcohol from suppliers within the state. Something about state taxes...

[ceilidh1]

3 minutes ago, milogurd said:

I've heard that Texas alcohol laws require the cruise ships to purchase any alcohol from suppliers within the state. Something about state taxes...

Thanks for the info! That’s annoying…are they able to serve as soon as they leave port or do they need to be in international waters?

[milogurd]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Thanks for the info! That’s annoying…are they able to serve as soon as they leave port or do they need to be in international waters?

International waters. I'm looking for more info.,.

[milogurd]

8 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Thanks for the info! That’s annoying…are they able to serve as soon as they leave port or do they need to be in international waters?

Here's more info on that:

 

“State law and TABC (Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) rules prohibit any practice which could reasonably be interpreted to allow or encourage overconsumption of alcohol. This includes “all you can drink” packages or other promotions which allow unlimited alcohol for a buy-in price. These standards would apply to any alcoholic beverages served or sold within Texas territory, including any waters over which Texas claims jurisdiction. Once a vessel is outside of Texas territory, the state’s laws no longer apply.”

“Like any business which holds a Texas permit to sell alcohol, any alcohol sold by the cruise lines while in Texas must comply with the state’s alcohol laws. Sec. 28.07 of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code requires that any holder of a Mixed Beverage Permit (the permit most commonly used by the cruise lines) must obtain their alcohol inventory from the holder of a Local Distributor’s Permit. Again, once the vessel is in international waters, these requirements no longer apply.”

In other words, if the cruise line didn’t get their beverages from a local distributor, then they can’t sell them in Texas.

Should they obtain alcohol from an outside source (for instance, because it is less expensive — or duty free — from another source) then the interpretation is that it would be illegal to serve this while in Texas waters. However, once in international waters the cruise line would be free to serve the “out-of-state” alcohol.

[CruisinMama2003]

Carnival's policy for the drink pkg is that it cannot be used until day 2, and you are not charged for the drink pkg for day 1. Any drinks bought on day 1 are charged to your sail & sign card. Drink menus are limited until they get into international waters, due to the type of alcohol they can serve, it has to do with the taxes they have paid on certain alcohol.

 

Now, Royal Caribbean on the other hand allows you to use your drink pkg from the minute you step on the ship, however, their menus are limited as well until you get into international waters.

[ceilidh1]

6 minutes ago, CruisinMama2003 said:

Carnival's policy for the drink pkg is that it cannot be used until day 2, and you are not charged for the drink pkg for day 1. Any drinks bought on day 1 are charged to your sail & sign card. Drink menus are limited until they get into international waters, due to the type of alcohol they can serve, it has to do with the taxes they have paid on certain alcohol.

 

Now, Royal Caribbean on the other hand allows you to use your drink pkg from the minute you step on the ship, however, their menus are limited as well until you get into international waters.

It will be interesting to see how Princess handles this since they have already charged for the package as part of their plus/premiere packages. They certainly didn’t give any of us who are not currently on the ship a heads up about it and I can’t imagine they only just found out today…

[CruisinMama2003]

8 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

It will be interesting to see how Princess handles this since they have already charged for the package as part of their plus/premiere packages. They certainly didn’t give any of us who are not currently on the ship a heads up about it and I can’t imagine they only just found out today…

Yeah i too am interested in how they are going to handle it. Im betting they do like RC does, allow pkg use day 1.

 

Cruise day is almost here for you!! Have the best time, cheers! 🍹🥂 

[caribill]

When we have cruised out of Texas before, the ship served a limited menu of beverages having only purchased a few brands from Texas distributors.

 

Now since is the first time the Ruby will be entering Texas waters to start a cruise, they do not have any beverages aboard purchased from Texas distributors. I would expect they will have some Texas beverages loaded onto the ship that can be sold on future voyages during the time it is in Galveston until it leaves for the next cruise and gets out of state waters.

 

And be aware of another Texas law.

 

If you purchases bottles of alcohol to take home while on the cruise, they will be subject to Texas taxes when you leave the ship at the end of the cruise. This is true if all you are doing is getting off the ship and headed to the airport to leave the state.

 

In the past there was a table set up after US Customs/Immigration to collect the Texas taxes. Of course they must know you have made such purchases in order to tax them

[Tyskie]

9 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

So will we be reimbursed $50 for that day? Or is it only while in port? That’s an odd rule - in Canada they limit how many bars are allowed to be open, but they don’t restrict it completely!

 

In NY they just tax us! 🤦‍♀️

[egregious cruiser]

[PaperSniper4]

We're on the Ruby from Galveston March 2023. I am curious how passengers will know when we're outside "Texas waters"? We'd like to have a pre-dinner cocktail which would be around 5PM on departure from Galveston. Any idea?

 

 Doug

[Jeff_R]

14 hours ago, milogurd said:

You pay the difference, plus 18% (service charge) of the difference.

Thank you!

[CC Rider 69]

33 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

We're on the Ruby from Galveston March 2023. I am curious how passengers will know when we're outside "Texas waters"? We'd like to have a pre-dinner cocktail which would be around 5PM on departure from Galveston. Any idea?

 

 Doug

Once you sail it a couple of hours and you're in international waters. You can always bring one bottle of wine each and an opener. You can always have a cocktail; however, the choices of liquor might be different than what you are used to. I will say that Texas vodka, bourbon, and wines are really quite good.

[ceilidh1]

It’s cruise day!!!!

I had planned on waking to watch the ship come in, but that never materialized. Hopefully it’s here and waiting for us! I pre-booked an Uber as I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to get one - I know I paid over the odds, but we also watched pricing go up yesterday morning at the same time so it will be worth it. Pick up should be at 9:45am! 
 

We woke, packed , and had our last waffle at breakfast. I also had to stop by the desk and get parking charges removed from my bill. Now we are just hanging out until it’s time to leave…

[PaperSniper4]

19 minutes ago, CC Rider 69 said:

Once you sail it a couple of hours and you're in international waters. You can always bring one bottle of wine each and an opener. You can always have a cocktail; however, the choices of liquor might be different than what you are used to. I will say that Texas vodka, bourbon, and wines are really quite good.

Thanks. Couple of hours....must be around 15+ miles.

 

Are you saying that before than time we could still order something (Princess Plus) without paying that Texas tax, but that the variety might be limited since it was liquor purchased by Princess in Texas? We'd typically have a glass of wine for my wife and a gin martini for me....so not too particular about the brands.

 

 Doug

[ceilidh1]

Hotel: I would give the Homewood Suites a 6/10. We typically choose this brand as they are consistent, have a good (though basic) breakfast, and have a kitchen area if we get our own food. This particular Homewood Suites was definitely not up to the standard we are used to!
 

My first issue with the hotel was actually more on me than the hotel - I should have researched better for the location. We could not have been further away from everything, and nothing was in walking distance. We had to Uber everywhere and it became “work” to plan out. I also should have researched food options - I just assumed that there would be a restaurant/bar in the hotel or something close by we could pick up. Nope. All the Uber rides sure added up!

 

The kitchen in our room was very poorly stocked. We had three knives, forks, spoons (there were four of us), two glasses, no soap or sponge to wash dishes, one pot, no teabags, one pack of coffee. I asked for glasses and was told all they had was paper cups. I didn’t bother asking for anything else.

 

There was no bedding for the sofa bed and a call to the desk got me “you will have to come down and get it.”

 

I didn’t really expect “housekeeping” as it’s pretty standard that this no longer happens. However, in 3 days, no one emptied the trash or changed towels. I did go down and pick up clean towels on day 2.

 

The breakfast was even more basic than usual and there were no pastries or grab n go items. There was always coffee but they were out of teabags and hot chocolate almost every time we went to grab some.

 

On the plus side, the hotel was clean, quiet, and safe. The staff were helpful and friendly and it was easy to get Uber to/from the hotel.

 

I would not stay here again if I returned. It’s not as if I got this at a budget price, so definitely don’t feel I got what I paid for.

[CC Rider 69]

27 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Thanks. Couple of hours....must be around 15+ miles.

 

Are you saying that before than time we could still order something (Princess Plus) without paying that Texas tax, but that the variety might be limited since it was liquor purchased by Princess in Texas? We'd typically have a glass of wine for my wife and a gin martini for me....so not too particular about the brands.

 

 Doug

The last time I sailed Princess out of Texas was 2016, and I believe the drink package didn't kick in until 6am on the first sea day. Embarkation day, sail away and that night drinks were charged to your portfolio.

[CC Rider 69]

39 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

It’s cruise day!!!!

I had planned on waking to watch the ship come in, but that never materialized. Hopefully it’s here and waiting for us! I pre-booked an Uber as I wasn’t sure how hard it would be to get one - I know I paid over the odds, but we also watched pricing go up yesterday morning at the same time so it will be worth it. Pick up should be at 9:45am! 
 

We woke, packed , and had our last waffle at breakfast. I also had to stop by the desk and get parking charges removed from my bill. Now we are just hanging out until it’s time to leave…

It is here and waiting, arrived about 6am. Good luck with check-in, and have a wonderful cruise.