Live from Ruby Princess 12/9-12/16 Mexican Riviera

I forgot to post this last night. In the theater we sat next to a group of ladies in their 60s and 70s who were on their first cruise and they said the entered some kind of raffle in one of the shops and won elite status. I don’t believe they were lying but I had never heard of this. Of course they were light on the details.

Elite for the remainder of the cruise or forever?

Elite for the remainder of the cruise or forever?

No idea. They had the black elite cards.

I forgot to post this last night. In the theater we sat next to a group of ladies in their 60s and 70s who were on their first cruise and they said the entered some kind of raffle in one of the shops and won elite status. I don’t believe they were lying but I had never heard of this. Of course they were light on the details.

Yes this is true. It is elite for that cruise. This is also a prize that is given away to one person at the first time cruiser party.

My sister and her husband won this on their summer cruise but since they were already traveling in a full suite and had all the benefits already they chose to gift it to another family. My sister said they ended up with a bottle of wine which she greatly enjoyed.

Yes this is true. It is elite for that cruise. This is also a prize that is given away to one person at the first time cruiser party.

 

 

 

My sister and her husband won this on their summer cruise but since they were already traveling in a full suite and had all the benefits already they chose to gift it to another family. My sister said they ended up with a bottle of wine which she greatly enjoyed.

Thats really cool, thanks for answering!

So we barely made it down for breakfast and the dining room was packed. Apparently word has gotten out that the MDR is open and people enjoy having a plated breakfast vs the buffet. After breakfast we got ready for the day and sat in Crooners and read for a while as there was really nothing interesting on the morning activity list.

Pretty soon it was time again for lunch and we headed down to the MDR as DW wanted to have something off of that menu, I wasnt all that excited about today’s choices, but tagged along. I had to laugh because it seems like our days are basically just finding something to do in between meal times. DW had her albondigas soup and a salad and I had some really good calamari and a cheeseburger. After lunch we didn’t have much time before meeting our CC group for another fun game of dominos so we just walked around the piazza and DW got a tea from the IC.

The weather today had been perfect, just warm enough outside but not too hot, so you can actually utilize the deck and pool without freezing.

We were able to get the same table in the HC as we did the day before and had another enjoyable afternoon playing dominos and conversing with our friends. Before we knew it it was 4 and we needed to head out to get ready for our first formal night. After getting ready DW and I went to the PES lounge. I have to admit, despite the relatively empty lounge when it first opens the drink service here is terrible. I am not sure why you have to wait 10-15 minutes for a drink when there are literally 6 people in the lounge and half of them already have something to drink. But oh well, first world problems for sure!

The ship was moving pretty good at Skywalkers so DW and I made a quick exit as she was not all that happy about the motion of the ocean in this part of the ship. We walked down stairs and got our photos taken at a couple of locations since they were not busy yet. We made it to dinner and found out that one couple at our table is celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary on Thursday, and they dont look like they could be much over 60 years old, to being with. I sincerely hope DW and I age half as well as these guys do. What an amazing achievement, 60 years together!

Dinner was relatively uneventful. We are seated right next to club class dining. The only differentiation between club class and the Renault MDR is a different color table cloth and different flowers. Otherwise the CC tables are basically right next tot he MDR tables. On the first night it was empty most of the night. Tonight, it got to about half full and that was about it. I was a little jealous, as the smell of garlic permeated through the dining room from their table side prepared pasta dish of the night.

After dinner we headed to get a couple of more pictures and sat and played Christmas Movie Trivia. Afterwards we walked around the ship for a bit before calling it a night.

There is nowhere else on the planet where I sleep better than on a cruise ship. I was out like a light ad woke up just after 8 and headed out to the balcony to write this. The weather is warm and beautiful, a slight wind and sunny cloudless skies. As I sit writing this there are the occasional fish jumping out of the water around the ship. People ask why we cruise so much, and this for me is the answer. Nothing better than rolling our of bed on to the balcony to a beautiful day in the middle of December.

We are passing close to land as we near Puerto Vallarta for an expected 10 am arrival. We are in port until 8pm tonight so a nice long port call for today. Today is a holiday in Mexico and thus we received a notice in our cabins that there will be celebrations and parades int he streets which could impact traffic around the area. I don't remember the exact holiday name and DW will kill me if I keep going in and out of the balcony door to check, but it was something surrounding Guadalupe.

We have no plans in port for today and are just going to take a taxi to the Malecon and walk around. On our last visit here we did a driving tour and didnt get to spend much time there before heading back to the ship so we are excited to walk around the beautiful boardwalk area.

Here are the patters for today.

We just docked into beautiful PV in berth 3. It’s warm out but not too hot.

Looks like you have a nice Caribe Balcony. My favorite Princess Balcony to be in.

Hi! Quick question, same cruise here, the ship is operating an hour behind PV time so it's 8pm ship time, 9pm PV time that its sailing, yes? Don't want to get left behind!

Thanks all

Hi! Quick question, same cruise here, the ship is operating an hour behind PV time so it's 8pm ship time, 9pm PV time that its sailing, yes? Don't want to get left behind!

 

Thanks all

Yup. All aboard is 7:30 ship time, departure of 8pm ship time.

We are already back on board so no missing the ship for us.

Yup. All aboard is 7:30 ship time, departure of 8pm ship time.

 

We are already back on board so no missing the ship for us.

Thank you! We are stumbling around the Malecon looking for a specific shirt that my mother wants, while trying to not eat every taco we see. Enjoy the peace and quiet onboard!

We got down to breakfast in time before they closed the dining room. Afterwards we headed up to the cabin to get ready to go out. DW thought the bathroom was flooding with the noise coming from there when we got back to the cabin, but thankfully it was the opposite issue, it was stuck on vacuum and there was no water in there. Fearing that it was going to flood, despite my objections, she called passenger services and asked them to send someone up now. So I packed a bag and headed to the spa to take a shower since we had no idea when they would come to look at it. I said we should shower before calling them, but I was overruled and capitulated. We headed out and on our way we overheard an engineer talking and apparently someone broke the toilets on our deck and they were working to fix it, oh well atleast we weren’t the ones that broke it!

We grabbed a taxi and headed to the Malecon for some walking around. We bounced in and out of shops and there were a lot of street vendors selling food and goodies for the Guadalupe celebration taking place. Traffic around the area was even more of a nightmare than usual.

I got hungry (DW claimed to not be hungry but then after I ordered managed to eat half of what I got) and we stopped into Senor Frogs. I know, tourist trap, but it was nice, clean, open air and had a great view, so I ordered tableside guacamole and salsa. I had never had anyone prepare tableside salsa before and it was delicious. They muddled up some freshly roasted tomatoes with a bunch of onions and seasonings, it was great. All of that plus 2 beers and a large bottle of water was $20 with tip, couldn't beat that!

Afterwards we wandered around for a little longer and caught a cab back to the port. Sun story, on the way back our cab driver ran into a friend, another fellow cab driver with a fare as well. They rolled down their windows and while driving our driver’s friend proceeded to ask him if he wanted to smoke marijuana with him. After declining the offer, his friend then inquired about cocaine, our driver declined that as well and his friend called him cheap and pulled away. I am thankful that he declined the offer, but then realized that there was probably a reason the guy offered it in the first place, and I just hoped, as we rocketed down the street weaving in and out of traffic, that he declined because he was out of money and not because he had just partaken shortly before picking us up.

But alas we made it back in one piece and the driver was very nice. We headed up to the buffet for a quick salad since dinner wasnt too far away and found our dinner tablemates and sat and had a great conversation with them before heading to the cabin to get ready for dinner.

The Grand happened to be in port with us as well. I’m guessing they are doing a PC trip as Marine Traffic has them heading south from here.

Here is tonight’s dinner menu

 

on the way back our cab driver ran into a friend, another fellow cab driver with a fare as well. They rolled down their windows and while driving our driver’s friend proceeded to ask him if he wanted to smoke marijuana with him. After declining the offer, his friend then inquired about cocaine, our driver declined that as well and his friend called him cheap and pulled away.

 

I do not pretend to be particularly knowledge about these things, but do you thing these offers were actually meant for you?

:confused:

I do not pretend to be particularly knowledge about these things, but do you thing these offers were actually meant for you?

 

 

 

[emoji782]

lol, no they were clearly for the driver. They had quite the conversation going, and we were clearly just in the way.

Just got an E Mail from Princess asking us to give up Cabin on Ruby next week ..several incentives but no way ...

I am really enjoying your report, as we are going on the same itinerary in January. I am trying not to look at the menus and Patters though, I enjoy the element of surprise :D. We also have a Caribe balcony, farthest aft on the starboard side.

Here is today’s Patter

We were on the cruise just before the OP that ended on the 9th. DH also said that the veggie burger was awful. We also had plentiful butter: the waiters would ask anyone if they wanted some and it came promptly.

In PV we did not think to check the time before we left for the day, and we ended up back on the ship an hour early because we were unsure if departure was ship or local time. We erred on the side of caution. Later a crew member told us they don't change at PV because during daylight savings time there ends up being a two hour difference, which is hard on pax for just one day there.

We thought Peter Tredgett was a very good CD. Agree with the OP that sea day activities were not much to our liking (as active 50-somethings who don't shop or spa).

We skipped the PES lounge tonight as it was chips and salsa and we were all salsa’d out. So we headed down to the piazza and listened to the Mariachi before heading to dinner.

Thrak asked earlier about the CD saying he was one of his favorites. I have to admit as I had mentioned earlier I’m not really a fan this far. I think the scheduling of activities has been terrible, with key events often conflicting with traditional dining times and with relatively little to do during the day that doesn’t involve some kind of sales pitch. As I mentioned before I don’t really need a lot, or much of anything, to keep me entertained but this cruise in particular had very few options which was too bad.

At dinner I had the pork tenderloin which was delicious and DW had the gnocchi which she said was excellent. The dining room was a ghost town since all aboard wasn’t until 7:30 ship time I imagine a lot of people chose to hit the buffet instead of the 5:30 dining time.

After dinner we went and found the one good portrait from the previous nights photos and picked it up then headed for a long title trivia before heading to our balcony to watch the sailaway. The weather was perfect outside and we really love sitting on the balcony. We relaxed for about an hour before calling it a night. We had to set an alarm for tomorrow for our walking cathedral and city tour tomorrow. Oh the horror of the dreaded alarm clock!

So not only did we wake up to a blaring alarm clock at 6am but we walked outside to a dreary, cool and drizzly morning as we docked in Mazatlan.

We quickly got ready and headed to a surprisingly empty buffet for a quick breakfast before heading to the Princess theater to meet our tour. This is the first time in a while we have done a Princess tour. They were very organized and it was easy to figure out where we needed to go.

LOL. I will have to see!! As a vegetarian I can appreciate vege burgers better then a non vegetarian. But somethings are just awful. Will be prepared. Thanks!!!!!

Well I am a vegetarian and the veggie burgers are the worse thing I have ever attempted to eat.

Great review so far. Thanks for posting.

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I love your review some things will change you are there during the holiday season we are going in February in fact we will be there on valentine day it would be great if they would do something special on that day has any been on a cruise on valentine day

I love your review some things will change you are there during the holiday season we are going in February in fact we will be there on valentine day it would be great if they would do something special on that day has any been on a cruise on valentine day

I have been on two Princess cruises during Valentine's Day. I was on board for Valentine's day on the Ocean Princess doing French Polynesia in 2014 and on Crown Princess doing Mexican Riviera in 2016.

There will be some decorations on the ship, nothing over the top but some areas will be decorated with hearts and cupids and red/white streamers. There were some special cakes and displays in the buffets with a Valentine theme. There was a mass renewal of vows ceremony done that day on the French Polynesia cruise, don't remember if this was done in Mexico. The specialty restaurants were busy that night so if you want a special dinner, book ahead online or asap when you get on board. As well there were special options for flower and chocolate deliveries to your cabin for your significant other.

Based on past experiences, I would say that yes, there will be some things done on your cruise by Princess to acknowledge Valentines Day.

We signed up for the walking city and cathedral tour. The weather for today actually ended up being perfect for our tour as it was not warm and only had the occasional rain drop. We headed by taxi to the beautiful cathedral and spent some time walking around.

Our guide then walked us to a local opera house, that was restored within the last 20 years or so after being neglected for a long period of time. The place was beautiful and hosts nightly performances.

From there we walked to the Malecon area and to a silver store where we browsed but didn't buy anything.

Finally we headed to see the cliff divers.

Our guide said the tide has been very low and the divers all work for tips alone. He said several have gotten hurt recently. I tend to believe the tour guide as he seemed reputable throughout the tour but you never know if the stories are just mean to help the diver’s increase their tips. Either way, I certainly wouldn’t jump off those rocks, so thats worth a couple of bucks to me!

Our final stop was at a restaurant called El Shrimp Bucket, where they provided a free drink as well as chips and salsa. This place ended up being just ok. I ordered a small “bucket” of 10 different types of shrimp (beer battered, coconut crusted, and breaded) and it was just ok, but for $11 it was worth trying. Being in Mazatlan I would be remiss if I didn't atleast try some of the local shrimp. DW doesn't eat anything from the sea so this serving of shrimp was just for me.

From the restaurant they provided a taxi ride back to the ship. While it was still cloudy it was starting to warm up and we got on board and headed to the lido deck for some food and a swim. The pool was almost empty as most people were still out and about, all aboard isn't until 4:30 today. It was nice to have a refreshing swim in a cool pool without any kids or anyone else crowding the water.

Here is the dinner menu for tonight. It’s Italian night!