Panama Canal on the Ruby Princess 2023 Christmas cruise-photo/ video journal by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

Off the ship

We were called to disembark at 9.30, as planned, but when we arrived at the luggage hall there were still a couple of previous groups trying to find their luggage so it took us a good ten minutes of searching due to the crowding. We found a porter and he loaded our bags onto his dolly. That was a good move and something we usually do here.

Another good move was getting Global Entry some years ago. We had a short line for GE and simply had our faces scanned for recognition.

Outside was bedlam. A huge line for Uber/Lyft, little in the way of signing. We were going taxi all the way as it would be hard to connect with an Uber driver while standing in a sea of people.

I usually tip the porter $20 but today I made it $30 as he had his work cut out getting through a crowd of people going every which way and it took over 10 minutes to get to where the taxis were pulling up-right where the bow of the ship was. A 5 minute wait and we had our cab.

 

Ten minutes later we are at the Marriott Harbor Beach hotel. Driver would "prefer" cash. Well that's just too bad. We used a card.

 

The hotel was a hoppin'. Check-in time is 4 p.m. It's just turned 10 a.m but Carol checked in on line and is on a priority list for an earlier check-in.

The bellhop will store our bags. It's noisy in the lobby with a lot of people waiting hopefully so Carol goes outside to sit by a fire pit with her noise-canceling headphones (kids playing bean bag toss excitedly). I sit down at a computer desk and work on my photos on the laptop.

 

A room with a sea view is ready for us at 11.40

We can nap at will.

Ships will start to leave Port Everglades at 3 p.m.

I'll be awake for that!

Norris

 

 

Edited January 22 by Bimmer09
spelling

[Bimmer09]

Ships Sailing Away

Sky Princess

 

Ruby

 

 

 

More...

[Bimmer09]

Celebrity Apex

Remember- click on the pic to see full size detail

 

The last two ships we have sailed on, Apex and Ruby

 

Nieuw Amsterdam

 

Two shots of Symphony of the Seas in Magic Light

 

[Cdncruisecpl]

1 hour ago, Bimmer09 said:

Ships Sailing Away

Sky Princess

 

Ruby

 

 

 

More...

I'm on the Ruby you were photographing. Thank you for this.

[dani negreanu]

Thanks, N.

 

Riveting as always 👍

[Bimmer09]

A Memorable Dinner

No drive across town for dinner tonight. We are eating in the hotel restaurant 3030

which is loud due to a live musician (guitarist with backing band playing from inside his MacBook) The bar is always packed here and it's a Saturday night. We asked for a quieter table as we always do. The food we have rarely found fault with and ditto for the service.

The usual Malbec and Prosecco. Our server is the perky, bubbly Stephanie with an assist from a dynamo who didn't have our table but was looking out for us-Jason. 

My shrimp cocktail. Love the Tabasco bottle! Superb shrimp.

 

Carol's Stone Crab claw starter

 

and her wedge salad

 

My Caesar salad

 

Carol "The best fish dish I have had in my life!"

Grouper with miso glaze, bok choy, crispy noodles and rainbow cauliflower

 

My whole Branzino, stuffed with spinach and some featherlight chips. Great!

 

Carol's unusual Key Lime pie

 

My sticky toffee pudding. Yowza!

I rounded out his fabulous meal with a Sambuca and espresso.

Bill including tip was $284. No complaints!

 

It was too cold to stay outside long so it was bed at 10.30

[Bimmer09]

December 31 2023 and we are up at 5 a.m and at breakfast by 7. A nice quiet table in an alcove. The restaurant is called Riva and has a buffet plus a menu to order from.

We choose the menu. Standard and hearty American breakfasts with yogurt, toast, bagels, eggs, fresh squeezed OJ and drinkable but not great coffee.

 

Our flight boards at 11.30 so we are in a Lyft at 8.30 as we take no chances. A new batch of ships are in port but I don't stop to take photos. We check our luggage curbside at United and pass through a busy security using our TSA Pre line. We trudge to the United Club which is so packed we can't sit together. There are a number of kids in this too small club  but luckily after 45 minutes of making their presence known they are on a flight to Pittsburgh and sanity reigns again. 

 

We have a smooth flight home

 

 

about 2.5 hours later the scenery changed

snow on the rooftops

 

 

 

The jet bridge was so cold compared to the Florida one. A Chicago winter-welcome slap in the face. Luggage arrived safely and briskly and soon we were in a swift taxi to downtown Chicago and home where two cats were about to get a surprise.

 

 

 A massive feast of Asian food (Chinese and Thai) was ordered from a restaurant called Big Bowl and after scoffing some of that we celebrated our return to the cats and the coming of the New Year.

 

Next day I went down with Covid!

 

Next cruise journal Jan 1 2025. HAL Rotterdam Christmas Cruise to Southern Caribbean December 20 to 29. Our first Holland America cruise. Neptune Suite

 

Thanks to everyone who read and commented!

Norris and Carol

[partybarbie]

Thanks for taking us along with you both. I love the Ruby. I was on her in October last year, and have a month booked in January 2025.
 

We also came down with Covid at the end of our cruise. We are all recovered, with the exception of my 78 year old aunt who has long Covid. Hope you’re all doing well now and happy cruising.

[Onelung]

Hi Norris, serial lurker here ... just caught up. Thanks for yet another great report. 

I now need to read your Apex report, I'll be interested to see what you thought, personally, I don't like the design of the ship.  I've also gone off Celebrity due to the huge price increases and decrease in service. We have Cunard and P&O booked this year so will see if we like either of them.

 

Hope you and Carol (and the cats) are all well.

 

Frankie

[Kauai Kid]

On 1/20/2024 at 4:31 PM, Bimmer09 said:

Mark, yes I was fond of the Song of Norway and sailed on her 44 times as a drummer.

Here we are in Labadee April 1986.

 

 

I got to see some fine ships in Miami. This is SS Norway which was operated by NCL

 

 

Carnival Holiday

 

 

Congrats on becoming Elite on your next sailing! We have only one cruise booked for 2024 because of a trip to Germany which always takes priority. We have 2 in 2025. Hopefully we like HAL enough to keep them in the mix. I have looked at so many lines. Some like MSC we decided Never as we had a long chat with someone who had sailed in the "Owner's suite" (she said) and never again MSC for her.

They didn't deliver on the brochure hyperbole. I am not keen on the ship within a ship concept which is turning us away from X. I have even looked at Seabourn when looking at Med cruises and most recently Regent 7 Seas but I think it is too fussy looking inside- we are not chandelier people and don't need butlers or caviar. Not worth going bankrupt over although the food looks great. We still need to have a ship with plenty going on- the show shouldn't be a guy playing solo trombone to a beatbox rhythm and we don't need a ship so small the cabaret is a guy playing spoons. HAL may be a good fit and we'll see in 11 months from today.

I did look at Cunard for a TA and for some Caribbean sailings around Xmas but the QM2  is a good ocean liner but a poor excuse for a cruise ship, upper deck wise and their dress code is not for me and I'm not a scruffy guy. It's kind of headache inducing as there are still so many choices after I cross off MSC, Costa, Royal, NCL, Virgin and Carnival. So many itineraries, prices and of course you have to consider that some are cutting back  and getting worse while some have woken up to smell the coffee and are trying to get back to an acceptable standard.  

I read so many boards and no line is perfect. Seabourn guests have complained they don't have enough places open for breakfast-a poor way to start one's day. Regent Mariner is out of bananas today a week into a World Cruise. And so on. Celebrity is losing future customers by their cutbacks and price hikes. Most migrating to HAL, Viking and even Seabourn.

Thanks for the comments and for reading along once again. 

See you after we sail the Rotterdam at Christmas.

Norris

Great pictures of you and the Song and SS Norway. SS Norway was our second cruise. We liked the Song better. Germany, one of our favorite destinations.

Enjoy your travels,

Mark

[Walt fan]

Always so sad to see a Norris GSJ end; but what a fabulous read each evening! Even with Covid you have an awesome sense of humor. Thank you for taking us along and sharing your pics and stories. Your meal at the hotel restaurant looked amazing and a great end to a vacay. Always love to see pics of your kitties. Hope you and Carol are doing much better. I have you on my calendar for the HAL cruise!!!

[Auntiejo]

Thanks Norris for another entertaining, honest and informative review! We sailed on the Ruby to the Med when she was less than a year old. We've only sailed Royal class ships for the last several years - but I have to say the ship looks fantastic and has me thinking we should consider sailing a Grand class ship again!

 

We mostly eat at the Specialty & Casual dining venues these days - we only had 1 dinner in the MDR on our last cruise and it was surprisingly excellent. The food quality there has definitely declined overall, so the delicious meal there was a nice surprise. We loved the Enchanted having 3 specialty options and dined at each twice so it was a nice variety, with O'Malley's, Gigi's and sushi mixed in.

 

Hope you and Carol are feeling better! We just returned from 10 days on the Enchanted on January 7th and we also came home w/ Covid - it's not a pleasant way to end a vacation. I'm still not feeling great and can't get rid of my sinus infection.

 

Take care!

Edited January 22 by Auntiejo

[Bimmer09]

3 hours ago, partybarbie said:

Thanks for taking us along with you both. I love the Ruby. I was on her in October last year, and have a month booked in January 2025.
 

We also came down with Covid at the end of our cruise. We are all recovered, with the exception of my 78 year old aunt who has long Covid. Hope you’re all doing well now and happy cruising.

Thanks for reading and responding! 

We've done 2 Christmas cruises now and a third one coming up and each one has been followed immediately by Covid. I hope the third time will be the charm and virus-free!

Cheers!

Norris

 

[MisterMet]

4 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

December 31 2023 and we are up at 5 a.m and at breakfast by 7. A nice quiet table in an alcove. The restaurant is called Riva and has a buffet plus a menu to order from.

We choose the menu. Standard and hearty American breakfasts with yogurt, toast, bagels, eggs, fresh squeezed OJ and drinkable but not great coffee.

 

Our flight boards at 11.30 so we are in a Lyft at 8.30 as we take no chances. A new batch of ships are in port but I don't stop to take photos. We check our luggage curbside at United and pass through a busy security using our TSA Pre line. We trudge to the United Club which is so packed we can't sit together. There are a number of kids in this too small club  but luckily after 45 minutes of making their presence known they are on a flight to Pittsburgh and sanity reigns again. 

 

We have a smooth flight home

 

 

about 2.5 hours later the scenery changed

snow on the rooftops

 

 

 

The jet bridge was so cold compared to the Florida one. A Chicago winter-welcome slap in the face. Luggage arrived safely and briskly and soon we were in a swift taxi to downtown Chicago and home where two cats were about to get a surprise.

 

 

 A massive feast of Asian food (Chinese and Thai) was ordered from a restaurant called Big Bowl and after scoffing some of that we celebrated our return to the cats and the coming of the New Year.

 

Next day I went down with Covid!

 

Next cruise journal Jan 1 2025. HAL Rotterdam Christmas Cruise to Southern Caribbean December 20 to 29. Our first Holland America cruise. Neptune Suite

 

Thanks to everyone who read and commented!

Norris and Carol

Brilliant as always!  Stay warm.  Looking forward to the next GSJ as well as your HAL experiences.  Hi to Carol.

Edited January 22 by MisterMet

[Bimmer09]

2 hours ago, Onelung said:

Hi Norris, serial lurker here ... just caught up. Thanks for yet another great report. 

I now need to read your Apex report, I'll be interested to see what you thought, personally, I don't like the design of the ship.  I've also gone off Celebrity due to the huge price increases and decrease in service. We have Cunard and P&O booked this year so will see if we like either of them.

 

Hope you and Carol (and the cats) are all well.

 

Frankie

You are no longer a lurker. Congrats!

Apex has two amazing features-Eden and Destination Gateway. There are some design snafus-lack of shade by the pool for one but they have fixed that on the Ascent by installing some umbrellas-brilliant!!

We and the cats are doing well now.

Hope to see you again next January.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, Walt fan said:

Always so sad to see a Norris GSJ end; but what a fabulous read each evening! Even with Covid you have an awesome sense of humor. Thank you for taking us along and sharing your pics and stories. Your meal at the hotel restaurant looked amazing and a great end to a vacay. Always love to see pics of your kitties. Hope you and Carol are doing much better. I have you on my calendar for the HAL cruise!!!

Covid was a test of my good humor. 

See you in the HAL write-up!

Thanks for following yet again.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, MisterMet said:

Brilliant as always!  Stay warm.  Looking forward to the next GSJ as well as your HAL experiences.  Hi to Carol.

Thank you Trip!

11 months to go before our next cruise but we have Germany to plan for. Have you sailed HAL?

When do you sail next?

Norris

[Bimmer09]

1 hour ago, Auntiejo said:

Thanks Norris for another entertaining, honest and informative review! We sailed on the Ruby to the Med when she was less than a year old. We've only sailed Royal class ships for the last several years - but I have to say the ship looks fantastic and has me thinking we should consider sailing a Grand class ship again!

 

We mostly eat at the Specialty & Casual dining venues these days - we only had 1 dinner in the MDR on our last cruise and it was surprisingly excellent. The food quality there has definitely declined overall, so the delicious meal there was a nice surprise. We loved the Enchanted having 3 specialty options and dined at each twice so it was a nice variety, with O'Malley's, Gigi's and sushi mixed in.

 

Hope you and Carol are feeling better! We just returned from 10 days on the Enchanted on January 7th and we also came home w/ Covid - it's not a pleasant way to end a vacation. I'm still not feeling great and can't get rid of my sinus infection.

 

Take care!

Yet another person coming home with Covid after a cruise!

Thank you for spending the time to follow along on this journal.

I have only sailed on the Regal but am drawn to the aging Grand Class.

No Princess between now and maybe 2026.

Hope you can follow our HAL cruise next January.

Thanks for the kind compliments!

Norris 

[memoak]

In 8 cruises in the last two years I got Covid 2 times only 1 in 4 not too bad. Sailing tomorrow on the Crown fingers crossed 

[MisterMet]

2 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

Thank you Trip!

11 months to go before our next cruise but we have Germany to plan for. Have you sailed HAL?

When do you sail next?

Norris

We are trying to work out this plan:  August 3-10 on Enchanted Princess to Eastern Caribbean, and Celebrity Beyond August 10-18 to ABCs.  I haven’t  been on a Royal Class ship yet(Pam has) and neither one of us has been on an Edge Class ship yet.  Mini Suite Club Class on Princess, and Infinite Veranda on Beyond.  Figure we have to see if the IV is something we will like(something about contempt prior to investigation keeps popping into my head).  We have some nice benefits on both lines (Pam is Platinum on Princess and we both are Elite on Celebrity).  We’ll be able to pop on lots of onboard credit to both sailings via branded credit cards as well.
 

I think we can swing it if we get someone to watch our Golden Retriever Graziella (Grazie) for those two weeks+.  We may also have committed to a trip out west to Idaho/ Yellowstone, but may push that off a couples of years.  Never done side by side before and the ships are intriguing. It also gives me a chance to do some comparative reviews for CC.
 

Pam sailed Holland America about 30 years ago, but hasn’t recently.  I have yet to sell Holland America.  We haven’t really looked into them yet.  We love Celebrity, and think Princess is very good too..  Perhaps we should look into HAL as well?  I think part of the reason we haven’t looked at HAL yet is that Pam wasn’t in their demographics when she sailed with them.  Now we’re both in their target market.  I am looking forward to hearing what you think about HAL.

 

I’ve truly enjoyed being on the journey you and Carol have brought us all on  during this review.  Judging by the comments on these pages, so have many others!

 

Give the cats a scratch from us,  Travel safely to Germany.

 

Trip and Pam

Edited January 23 by MisterMet

[Bimmer09]

9 hours ago, MisterMet said:

We are trying to work out this plan:  August 3-10 on Enchanted Princess to Eastern Caribbean, and Celebrity Beyond August 10-18 to ABCs.  I haven’t  been on a Royal Class ship yet(Pam has) and neither one of us has been on an Edge Class ship yet.  Mini Suite Club Class on Princess, and Infinite Veranda on Beyond.  Figure we have to see if the IV is something we will like(something about contempt prior to investigation keeps popping into my head).  We have some nice benefits on both lines (Pam is Platinum on Princess and we both are Elite on Celebrity).  We’ll be able to pop on lots of onboard credit to both sailings via branded credit cards as well.
 

I think we can swing it if we get someone to watch our Golden Retriever Graziella (Grazie) for those two weeks+.  We may also have committed to a trip out west to Idaho/ Yellowstone, but may push that off a couples of years.  Never done side by side before and the ships are intriguing. It also gives me a chance to do some comparative reviews for CC.

 

I’ve truly enjoyed being on the journey you and Carol have brought us all on  during this review.  Judging by the comments on these pages, so have many others!

 

Give the cats a scratch from us,  Travel safely to Germany.

 

Trip and Pam

If you can push the Idaho visit  back that would give you a great B2B on some fine contemporary ships and the Beyond itinerary is very compelling.

The IV cabins also feature on Icon of the Seas. 

I'll look forward to that comparison review!

Thanks for following! I'll let you know how we like HAL.

Best wishes,

Norris

[zukecruiser]

Will be on the Ruby this March for 2 weeks for a Circle Caribbean Cruise.  Have enjoyed reading your posts since you started, very informative.  Have the Plus Package so enjoyed you naming various cocktails that I never heard of before, will have to try them.  Enjoy your future cruises and stay healthy.

 

Mike

[Bimmer09]

21 minutes ago, zukecruiser said:

Will be on the Ruby this March for 2 weeks for a Circle Caribbean Cruise.  Have enjoyed reading your posts since you started, very informative.  Have the Plus Package so enjoyed you naming various cocktails that I never heard of before, will have to try them.  Enjoy your future cruises and stay healthy.

 

Mike

Thank you Mike!

You'll enjoy the Ruby-she's in good shape

Thanks for reading along!

Norris

[yoshi]

Problem with cruises? They always end too quickly!

Thank you for your review Norris & Carol, glad you both seem to be feeling better too.

Do you think you may try Azamara again? I really wanted to but not sure now since they left RCL group. 

[Bimmer09]

8 hours ago, yoshi said:

Problem with cruises? They always end too quickly!

Thank you for your review Norris & Carol, glad you both seem to be feeling better too.

Do you think you may try Azamara again? I really wanted to but not sure now since they left RCL group. 

Yoshi, glad you enjoyed the review!

I would imagine we'll try Azamara again for an intensive itinerary but with 3 cruises already booked it will be late 2024, early 2025 before I Iook for another one. Like many I shied away from them when the chaos ensued in their head office after the new owners took over. I read the Az board at least once a week so am keeping an eye on them. We both enjoyed our two cruises with them.

Thanks for the good wishes!

Norris