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

[talkorpi]

20 minutes ago, pink845 said:

Following along.  We were on the Ruby ages ago. Glad to hear she is still looking great. Love those Dirty Banana drinks.  We have always wanted to try a cruise out of Galveston.  Seems like the prices are always very decent.  Would mean us having to fly into Houston International or the Hobby Airport, and then renting a car. Each time we looked into the car rental, there was a hefty one way drop off charge and we have hesitated.  I guess we could take the Princess transfer and rent our car and spend a few days prior in Houston seeing the sights there first.  Never been before to Houston except on my way to Hawaii.  

You really should! This is Ruby’s last 7-day here - after us is a short five day hop to the Yucatán and then she’ll transit the Panama Canal for her Alaska season. 
 

For 2024 and 2025, PCL is going to have Regal doing these runs out of Galveston. If the value is there for you then I say go for it!

Edited April 3, 2023 by talkorpi

[talkorpi]

Internet speeds in case anyone was wondering. Not amazing but most websites and texting seem to work. And hey I can attach pictures here so I guess that’s worth something

[talkorpi]

Day 1 Recap:

 

What a great first day! I am absolutely loving Princess so far. I feel so dumb for spoiling myself so early on - I might never want to go back to Carnival after this and my wallet certainly isn't going to like that 🫣

 

The ship is in great shape. It just feels so fancy and I love the layout and venues. I was honestly a little nervous going on a class of ship that debuted before the year I was born but it’s not a problem at all - the ship is amazing (and I have been told many a time that am an old soul, maybe that has something to do with it). I love the wraparound promenade which was missing on the last ship we sailed. Looking down at the aft is SCARY on this ship since it’s basically a straight drop (definitely not used to that) but I love sitting out and listening to the wake. 
 

Crew have been outstanding so far - everyone is so friendly and helpful. I had high expectations and they are still being exceeded. 
 

Food has exceeded expectations as well. Everyone has been complaining about the quality and cutbacks and I failed to find any faults so far - everything has been  very high quality. Dinner only took 75 minutes and was a very relaxed pace. Excellent waitstaff and the food was all piping hot (I literally burned my tongue on my hazelnut Soufflee, I swear it had just come out of the oven which is a GOOD SIGN!)
 

We left Galveston a little late this afternoon (4:15ish) and the drinks package kicked in as we were in the middle of dinner at 6:00. I have ordered drinks three times and somehow gotten double orders of the drinks twice. Not sure why but I don’t really have a problem with that 🤷‍♂️
 

Sitting on the balcony listening to the waves as we follow the glow of the Allure of the Seas in the distance down to Roatan. I would stay up later but it has been a long day. Looking forward to a full day at sea tomorrow - lots to do with the first formal night, Colors of the World, and more!

Edited April 3, 2023 by talkorpi

[satxdiver]

Talkorpi we are on the ship with you on this cruise.  We have a balcony near the aft elevators.  Since we have been on the Ruby before and many other Princess cruises we are looking forward to your reports.  Perhaps we will run into you sometime this week.  Having been to these ports many times we will be just kicking back and enjoying the views.  

 

Checkin was a breeze but we checked in at ~11 AM so just walked through to the ship.  I have never seen it that easy.  For the first time they were telling pax that lunch was available in the MDR while before they would deny it (liars!).  Result was that the MDR was very busy.  We actually left port around 1500 which I had never seen before so one for Princess.  

 

We can see a ship lights in front of us and one behind us.  Allure will be with us at all ports and return to Galveston!  We stayed last night in a hotel in the NASA area as it is more reasonable and the restaurants are plenty.  Short 45 mile down I45 to the port.  We had made reservations at our usual parking lot and they took us to the ship after parking.  For those coming in the future parking was at a premium so make reservations!  

 

Looking forward to your posts. 

[caribill]

On 3/31/2023 at 9:43 PM, sirclean said:

 

We got off the Ruby just Sunday!  It was pretty crowded as it was still Spring Break around the US.  Lots of kids and college students able to drink at 18!

 

 

I assume this refers to drinking in the ports as on board the ship the minimum age is still 21.

[talkorpi]

Well, good morning everyone. Woke up to a rare sight: accompanying the sunrise was the Allure right next to us. Yes, it looks much bigger and much closer in person!

[satxdiver]

The gargantuan ots will be with us all week in every port.  She is traveling on our port side this morning.  In Roatan we will be in Mahogany Bay with the Carnival Mardi Gras while the gargantuan will be at Coxen Hole.  Saw the band Symphonee last night in the explorer's lounge.  Hopefully they will get better as we go but will not be here tonight.  It will be the piano bar for us tonight.  This is the first formal night with the champagne waterfall.    

Edited April 3, 2023 by satxdiver

[talkorpi]

MDR Breakfast (the menu is pretty much the same everyday so I will just post it this once)

 

Not pictured: whole milk, skim milk, coffee, and hot chocolate

[talkorpi]

Today’s patter. I would like to note that the journey view in the app does NOT match up with the paper patters. I’m going to trust the paper versions

[talkorpi]

Been a busy morning. Had our first trivia of the cruise - I did terribly (only got 6 right) but the winner only got 11/22 so I would say it was pretty rough all around. After that we had the martini demonstration which was pretty entertaining and impressive. 
 

It’s a hot and sunny day in the middle of the gulf so the pools are all packed to the brim. We had Salty Dog grill for lunch (sorry, no pictures.) Tacos and burger were great. I might get crucified if the Carnival forum ever finds this out but I liked this burger better than the last Guy’s Burger I had on CCL last year 😳

 

Resting now before tonight’s busy formal night. We have since passed the Allure - idk why she is going so much slower than we are if we are going to the same port!

[talkorpi]

One thing that I am pretty disappointed with (my first negative so far) is the merchandise available onboard. I always get a baseball cap from every vacation I go on as tradition and there are very few options onboard (only two choices, a bright pink foam trucker hat or a khaki colored baseball cap that I don’t really love). There’s no sweatshirts or polos either, only long sleeve t-shirts and some leftover “real love boat” merchandise. 
 

Perhaps the biggest violation is that there are no ship models either. I was hoping to get one for my collection since it’s my first Princess cruise but I was told they didn’t even have any in stock on day one of our cruise. Very disappointing.

 

Maybe I just caught the ship at a bad time - it is moving to Alaska in a week and a half after all and there are already a lot of cold weather items and jackets out - but I was hoping there would be at least a decent selection of merchandise onboard. Guess I’ll have to hunt on eBay over the coming weeks.

[talkorpi]

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.

[BermudaBound2014]

Aloha, Thank you so much for this live review!! Much appreciated.

 

If you get a chance, can you ask about the next date for refurbish? There is a month blocked off in Ruby's schedule from September 24-October 22nd. I'd like to know if she is going in for dry dock and if so, what is planned? 

 

I know that's a big ask, sorry.

[CC Rider 69]

Go to Guest Services when it's not crowded and see if you can get a passenger count breakdown for the April 9th sailing.

[talkorpi]

Hi all. Been a busy evening. Will get to a full rundown later. Right now we are trying to watch the NCAA national championship game on MUTS but for some stupid reason they put away all the lounge chairs in the stadium seating area so there’s nowhere to sit. Whoever made that decision - I have some questions

[BermudaBound2014]

40 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Hi all. Been a busy evening. Will get to a full rundown later. Right now we are trying to watch the NCAA national championship game on MUTS but for some stupid reason they put away all the lounge chairs in the stadium seating area so there’s nowhere to sit. Whoever made that decision - I have some questions

 

Oh man, that's frustrating. My DH would be calling for assistance from someone. Sometimes cruise ship have wacky policies. Hope you find a place to squat.

[deja moo]

Eggs Benedict can be had in the mdr for breakfast if you ask. They were not on the menu.

 

[talkorpi]

7 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Aloha, Thank you so much for this live review!! Much appreciated.

 

If you get a chance, can you ask about the next date for refurbish? There is a month blocked off in Ruby's schedule from September 24-October 22nd. I'd like to know if she is going in for dry dock and if so, what is planned? 

 

I know that's a big ask, sorry.

Hi! So I asked and they said that she is in fact going in for dry dock but they didn’t know if there would be any changes, if any. I’ll let you know if I hear more details but for now that’s all they were able to tell me.

[talkorpi]

Ended up pulling some outdoor dining chairs to watch the game. Not the big cushy loungers but those were in very limited supply and watching this on a cruise ship is a pretty unique experience so I’m still happy!

[talkorpi]

I ordered a drink on ocean now while watching one of the game shows (music bingo) in Explorers. Made it through the whole game show and it never showed up. Hoping I don’t get a knock on the door at midnight with my london lemonade

[BermudaBound2014]

4 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Hi! So I asked and they said that she is in fact going in for dry dock but they didn’t know if there would be any changes, if any. I’ll let you know if I hear more details but for now that’s all they were able to tell me.

You are a gem!! Sending you lots of positive aloha energy. A great big Mahalo!

[FrankieJayIII]

Can you send photos of the oceanNOW for the gifts and other things that aren't food you can order?

[talkorpi]

MDR Dinner (Formal Night #1):

Crab Cake (very good, had a slightly spicy flavor which was unexpected but a very nice surprise)

 

Gnocci in Truffle Cream Sauce (really good but really rich - couldn’t finish)

 

 

Pan-Fried Snapper (Good, interesting flavors)

 

Duck a la Orange (The best thing I have eaten so far - cooked perfectly, excellent taste, crispy skin with moist meat, really good side pairings)

Crepes Suzette (we didn’t love this - the batter had too much egg and so it kind of tasted like ice cream with scrambled eggs 🥴)

 

Chocolate Hazelnut Bar (really good, super sweet and rich dessert so the small portion was perfect)

[talkorpi]

18 minutes ago, FrankieJayIII said:

Can you send photos of the oceanNOW for the gifts and other things that aren't food you can order?

Sure. Here is everything that is listed. 
 

Honestly, I would rename this section to be “oops I forgot my toiletries” - feel like that would be more fitting

 

Edited April 4, 2023 by talkorpi

[talkorpi]

Y’all, it has only been ONE DAY and I already have a sunburn. That is one of the blessings of being Nordic/Scandinavian - I go straight from looking the color of sour cream to looking like a tomato in fifteen minutes 🫠