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

[Florida_gal_50]

To the op I know this is different but I had a very close connection coming back from my last cruise.  I originally had an hour and 20 min between flights.  We left San Diego 40 min late.  By the time I got to Vancouver it was 5 pm, next flight at 5:50.  My gates couldn’t have been further apart and I’m old and slow.  Had to clear customs in Vancouver.  I barely made it and my luggage did too so I think you may be ok coming home.

[ceilidh1]

Our Uber showed up at 9:45am and we were dropped off at 10am. Porters took our bags and it was a longish walk down to check in. The doors weren’t open yet and there were about 100 people waiting in the line up that already had medallions. We were sent to a line for medallion pick up with only 6 people in line. The doors opened at 10:30am and we quickly and easily picked up medallions and went through security. There was no line at check in but it was a slower process as the staff weren’t really sure what they were doing. We were then directed to the priority boarding area, where we are currently sitting. Estimated boarding is at 11am

[ceilidh1]

[PaperSniper4]

1 hour ago, CC Rider 69 said:

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.

 

1 hour ago, CC Rider 69 said:

 

Hopefully that's no longer the case, to loose an entire day of the drinks package.

 

[ceilidh1]

On board! 

[CC Rider 69]

18 minutes ago, PaperSniper4 said:

 

Hopefully that's no longer the case, to loose an entire day of the drinks package.

 

But they only charged for 6 days instead of 7, so all was sort of good. We're going on March 19th, when are y'all going?

[ceilidh1]

Rooms aren’t ready yet so we headed to international cafe and found my favourite chocolate mousse! The server assured me I could use my drink package. We shall see. If I get charged for a beer, it’s not the end of the world…

[ceilidh1]

Now the server came back with a small menu of drinks available in Galveston and confirmed that, yes, we need to pay for them!

[ceilidh1]

First choco banana and the first beer. Tradition.

[princess76021]

21 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

On board! 

Yay!!!   Got my drink, let the party start!!

Hugs from North Texas

[ceilidh1]

E514 obstructed oceanview

[ceilidh1]

No elite amenities, no mini bar set up, no notice about drink package not working. We did get the patter and the elite events.

[ceilidh1]

Padgett is on board. I’m steering clear.

[ceilidh1]

The ship looks beautiful 

[ceilidh1]

Lunch menu - sorry for he reflection 

[ceilidh1]

We went for the salmon and the chicken cacciatore. Both were excellent.

[BabsinTX]

16 hours 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...

Texas has the stupidest liquor laws for cruisers.  Along with the above-mentioned rule, expect there to be state employees when you disembark who will require Texas sales tax to be paid for your onboard liquor purchases.

 

Now I'm wondering if our suite in January will have the standard minibar setup on embarkation day, or will they be delivered after we enter international waters?

[ceilidh1]

Sailaway dinner menu

[ceilidh1]

Exploring the ship

[ceilidh1]

No sign of any bags yet! It’s been a long time since I sailed on this class of ship and it feels pretty small and crowded already! 

[ceilidh1]

I three of our four bags were delivered. Hoping the fourth makes it as that’s the one with all our gifts! Got the doors of our four cabins decorated!

[Cruise4Jesus]

Hello Ceilidh1.  It looks like you had a picture of the lunch menu, can you confirm that they had the main dining room open for lunch upon boarding. Thanks in advance.

[ceilidh1]

1 minute ago, Cruise4Jesus said:

Hello Ceilidh1.  It looks like you had a picture of the lunch menu, can you confirm that they had the main dining room open for lunch upon boarding. Thanks in advance.

Yes they did! Da Vinci was open from 12-1:30

[ceilidh1]

Sailing from Galveston is definitely not up there on my “repeat” list! Firstly the dumb alcohol thing but now they appear to have shut off the ability to order drinks on the app while in port. No biggie. Went to the bar to order choco banana - sorry bananas aren’t ripe. Went to next bar. Sorry, can’t serve those drinks in Galveston. Ummm. There’s no alcohol in this drink and we’ve already had two since being here….

[sunviking90]

Thank you for taking the time to do this “live” thread. We are considering the Ruby Panama Canal in April so I’m really interested to hear your thoughts. We were recently on the Emerald after sailing the Royal class for many cruises and loved the size. There were also so many neat outside deck areas particularly aft. I agree about Alfredo’s though! Missed it SO much!

I travel to Houston at least once a year to see family and have flown almost every route from direct to through Dallas(never again!- too many weather delays), Calgary, Denver, etc. Calgary isn’t my favorite but coming back last time I also had a tight connection and did make it only to find my yyc-Yvr flight delayed 30 min. I was sweating running down there though. They are very good getting you through connections there so you should be fine. Nexus will help if you have it. A word of advice: make sure your devices are charged! Last time there were only 2 outlets near the gate, and the outlets on the plane to Yvr also weren’t working.

Edited December 18, 2022 by sunviking90