LIVE from the Ruby Princess: April 2-9, 2023 Western Caribbean from Galveston

[talkorpi]

One last Dirty Banana 😞

[talkorpi]

So I am a horrible insomniac and I rarely get more than 3 hours of sleep per night, but these beds on Princess are heavenly. I got like 6 hours of sleep last night and it was amazing!!!

 

I’m really going to miss these beds. I even have some cariloha bamboo sheets I got from a past cruise in 2017 at home but these beds are still much more comfortable. 

 

Goodnight! In just a little more than eight hours we will be walking off the ship an I’ll be starting the drive back home 😭👎🏻😪
 

 

[CC Rider 69]

5 hours ago, talkorpi said:

So I am a horrible insomniac and I rarely get more than 3 hours of sleep per night, but these beds on Princess are heavenly. I got like 6 hours of sleep last night and it was amazing!!!

 

I’m really going to miss these beds. I even have some cariloha bamboo sheets I got from a past cruise in 2017 at home but these beds are still much more comfortable. 

 

Goodnight! In just a little more than eight hours we will be walking off the ship an I’ll be starting the drive back home 😭👎🏻😪
 

 

I think you can order one if you like it so much. They use to be custom made from somewhere in NY if beliee.

[talkorpi]

So last night I got to see something pretty cool. We usually stay on the starboard side but since I did the random upgrade thing we got assigned to a stateroom on the port side. No big deal, I didn’t think it would make much difference. 
 

However, last night I saw a benefit to being on this side of the ship! Right before bed (11:30ish) I saw some lights in the distance that looked bigger than an oil rig. I figured out pretty early on that these were a couple of the ships that departed Galveston yesterday afternoon! The pictures turned out horrible and they looked much closer in real life, but it was so cool to see the Adventure of the Seas and the Carnival Vista pass by on their way back out to the Caribbean. 

[talkorpi]

Well we DEFINITELY aren’t in the Caribbean anymore. 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

I've enjoyed reading your report! We were on this cruise March 12-19 and it was about a near perfect trip for us.  I had to laugh when I read about your "lemon Pledge" hollandaise! The same thing happened to me.  On the surf and Turf night, the hollandaise that was served with the meal was SO delicious, so the next morning I ordered an eggs benedict so I could get some more.  Huge mistake!! It was sickly sweet and nasty the next morning.  Why isn't it delicious in the morning? We love the Ruby and are going on a 10 day to Alaska on her in June.   I hope you have many cruises in the future and continue writing reports! 

[talkorpi]

Hid our last duck and had our last breakfast. They’re already playing the 80’s playlist for the next cruise, which is one of the 80’s themed cruises with tribute bands and whatnot. Wish I could’ve stayed onboard for that one (there are a lot of B2B guests doing this that were on our cruise) but I’ve got a work conference on Tuesday…
 

Loving this playlist. Y’all are gonna have a blast if you’re on the next cruise. It’s a vibe 👾🎸

Edited April 9, 2023 by talkorpi

[Buckeye10640]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:16 PM, talkorpi said:

Okay, I’m starting to see why people have gripes about the Medallion app. The journey view section of the app is not at all accurate. Activities have been following the printed patters that I have been requesting but the announcements and whatnot tell you to use the journey view in your medallion app. 
 

For example, I was looking forward to origami lessons at 2:00 this afternoon. I showed up to the venue and no origami was going on. Turns out it was at 11:00 this morning as listed in the patter, even though the journey view says 2.  
 

Not ruining my cruise or everything but it just seems more complicated than it needs to be. I would honestly rather just have a PDF download of the day’s patter that you can scroll through on the app as that would minimize the inaccuracies.

Yes!!!  Been saying since my first medallion app cruise that they need to put a PDF  version of the Patter in the app. I just take a picture each morning and refer to it thru the day. I too have missed things due to time inconsistencies. 

[Honolulu Blue]

18 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Hid our last duck and had our last breakfast. They’re already playing the 80’s playlist for the next cruise, which is one of the 80’s themed cruises with tribute bands and whatnot. Wish I could’ve stayed onboard for that one (there are a lot of B2B guests doing this that were on our cruise) but I’ve got a work conference on Tuesday…
 

Loving this playlist. Y’all are gonna have a blast if you’re on the next cruise. It’s a vibe 👾🎸

Hi. I'm on my way to the ship - this ship. Breakfast looks yummy; I hope to have something like it at least a few days this week. I'm happy to hear about the playlist. 👍 I'm less happy to hear about the quantity of B2B passengers. 👎I hope they're not the ones who spent an inappropriate amount of time at guest services. 🙏 

[Happiest_Girl]

Omg, I am already feeling FOMO for not being on the next cruise with this 80s music they're playing! Someone said a prince tribute band too?!

 

On the topic of the educational seminars, I was talking with another couple who said that was what they enjoy doing and we're sad there weren't any. That culinary demonstration was probably the highlight of shipboard events for me! 

[Buckeye10640]

On 4/6/2023 at 4:22 PM, talkorpi said:

Haha, thank you for the thoughts. Yes it stinks but I have been really impressed with the hard products on Princess so far. Personally find the ship and food to be MUCH better than any Carnival cruise I have been on. Interactions with the crew have been fantastic as well. Entertainment is admittedly not as good but I feel like the wonky itinerary and cancellations don’t make it fair to judge as a lot had to be made up on the fly. They did a better job of that today than yesterday, I’ll give them that.
 

Don’t worry, I’m not giving up on Princess over this like so many others have said. I’ll hang on to my FCD and I still hope to use it sometime soon. Probably won’t be doing any more Western Caribbean cruises with it though 😂

 

I’ve had my eyes on the ten-day eastern Caribbean itineraries on Enchanted Princess next year, but it’s a little too much time away from work and a little too expensive for me to afford at the moment. We will see!

We have done the 10 day southern Carribean on Enchanted the last 2 years. Highly recommend it!

[mrmarklin]

Seems like a good cruise. The food was highly rated byOP. One cannot blame Princess for missed ports due to weather. 

[talkorpi]

That was the easiest debark ever. We were on the road by 8:15 this morning. Making an obligatory pit stop at Buccee’s before we get to the giant stretch of I-10 between Katy and Seguin with not much in between. Got a DP Zero and I did NOT like having to pay for it - I almost found myself tapping my medallion on the credit card machine 😂😂

 

Should be home by 12:30. Sad the week is over but gotta go get ready to get back to reality tomorrow!

[talkorpi]

Thank you for joining me this week everyone! I’ll be back with a full post-cruise review and breakdown that I’ll post here over the coming days, and I’ll answer any questions I get too. 
 

Overall, while there were certainly a lot of issues that made this a very out of the ordinary cruise, I was still very impressed with Princess! The food, service, and ship were all incredible. 
 

Until the next adventure! 😎🌅🚢

[station10fd]

In Transit this morning was very smooth. We met at the Wheelhouse bar, an officer came on board, checked our passports, and we were free to roam the ship. 

[princess76021]

30 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Thank you for joining me this week everyone! I’ll be back with a full post-cruise review and breakdown that I’ll post here over the coming days, and I’ll answer any questions I get too. 
 

Overall, while there were certainly a lot of issues that made this a very out of the ordinary cruise, I was still very impressed with Princess! The food, service, and ship were all incredible. 
 

Until the next adventure! 😎🌅🚢

Thank you for taking us!!!

Safe travels

Hugs!!

[Bemidji Ty]

Thanks for your review.  

 

 

[satxdiver]

On 4/9/2023 at 9:55 AM, station10fd said:

In Transit this morning was very smooth. We met at the Wheelhouse bar, an officer came on board, checked our passports, and we were free to roam the ship. 

That is a lot better than what we have experienced in Galveston on turn-around cruises.  Since it has been 6 years since Princess has been to Galveston things may have changed.  We were on a B2B cruise last year on a Carnival and they had us gather in one of the bars and after all had left the ship took us as a group into the terminal where an agent checked our passports and then back on the ship.  They did it in the baggage claim area.  Glad to hear that they have changed their requirements.  

 

I wondered many times this past week why we did not book the 5 day follow on cruise and in fact I had booked it originally when I booked last week's cruise but later canceled the 5 day for some reason I cannot remember.  I love 70's - 80's R&R.  Dumb move!  Sadly we had to leave the Ruby.  🤔

 

We met a couple from SF that were staying on the ship until they arrived home in SF.  I was envious but did not want the convenience of driving to the port.  We will be on a LA to FLL cruise next April for the TSE and passage through the PC.  It will be the second time for a complete passage.  

Edited April 10, 2023 by satxdiver

[satxdiver]

Last morning on the ship I ordered eggs benedict which I love.  The meal was served cold, the eggs were overcooked and the hollandaise sauce had a real funny taste almost like it was left over from the sauce they put on steaks and seem to be very thick.  It was a total loss to me.  The other food I had onboard was great per usual.  

[beckntom]

On 4/8/2023 at 7:26 PM, talkorpi said:

It’s funny - the morning after the second port cancellation, people were screaming at the crew and fellow passengers about how horrible this was and how they couldn’t WAIT to get off the ship for good. Now, suddenly, nobody wants to get off anymore.

Missing two ports would not have ruined this cruise for us. Witnessing shameful passenger behavior like this might have.  

[snoozecrooze]

I don't want to detract from the entire wonderful thread here, but I did want to ask @Honolulu Blue how your 80s cruise is doing! Have you had fair winds and calm seas? Is it Captain Mario now? Hoping everything has gone off without a hitch on the Ruby and that you've had a good cruise!

[Honolulu Blue]

13 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

I don't want to detract from the entire wonderful thread here, but I did want to ask @Honolulu Blue how your 80s cruise is doing! Have you had fair winds and calm seas? Is it Captain Mario now? Hoping everything has gone off without a hitch on the Ruby and that you've had a good cruise!

I'm doing wonderful, thank you very much! The weather has been excellent and the waters smooth. We're leaving Cozumel in a few minutes.

 

Yes, Mario is the Captain. I just heard from him a few minutes ago. 

 

DSB was great. I'm hoping for the same from WANTED tonight and Red Corvette on Thursday.

 

There have been hitches and glitches, but minor compared to everything else. More details in our roll call thread.

[BermudaBound2014]

Glad it’s going well!! I also saw “slippery when wet” on the Allure. I can’t remember which one I liked better- both excellent. One has a lead that looks a bit like Richie before all his plastic :).

 

Keep on keeping on!!

[wrongwaywatson]

I can't remember who it was, but someone earlier that was upset with Princess for missing the ports and said that they would stick with RC from now on.....I just heard something interesting.

 

The Liberty of the Seas was supposed to go to two ports - Nassau and their private island Perfect Day at CocoCay.  With two sea days thrown in after embarkation day.  Well, after they set sail they announced that, due to the high winds they could not safely go to either port and they arranged to go to Labadie, Haiti, instead.  They changed it to one port day and all of the rest sea days.  They were not offering any compensation or OBC.

 

My point?  The weather can and will affect the cruise ships ability to get into port.  It is unusual, but it does happen to ALL of the cruiselines.  It isn't always the strength of the wind, sometimes it is the direction of the wind.

 

I was disappointed, because I had two excursions cancelled that I really wanted to do.  But, I wasn't upset with Princess and I really didn't feel that the OBC was necessary, but it was appreciated.

[geocruiser]

Enjoyed reading about your cruise.