Just got off Ruby Princess, 7-day California Coastal

[merela]

I want to stay on the Ruby and sail with the ship to its next destination--Hawaii!

 

But back to reality. The kids need to get back to school and I need to get back to work.

 

This cruise shows that California is a beautiful state and the weather was fantastic. It's a very easy cruise for us as we are from LA.

 

If you have any questions about the ship or the itinerary, I will be happy to answer them.

[merela]

Even though we are only platinum members, we felt the platinum perks made the cruise experience that much more enjoyable. Princess excels at treating it's return customers.

[maggie.1008]

I am Elite Plus on X. Platinum on Princess. Pacific Coast are some of my favorite cruises, Will go on Princess until X does more on the west coast. They are expensive next year on the 2 X sailings and I think they are in high demand. Did one in Oct. and one in Jan. on Princess and really enjoyed. Going on the Summit out of San Juan this coming Sat. and dreading 14 hour day to get to San Juan.

[midwestchick]

I am Elite Plus on X. Platinum on Princess. Pacific Coast are some of my favorite cruises, Will go on Princess until X does more on the west coast. They are expensive next year on the 2 X sailings and I think they are in high demand. Did one in Oct. and one in Jan. on Princess and really enjoyed. Going on the Summit out of San Juan this coming Sat. and dreading 14 hour day to get to San Juan.

 

 

They are popular and and very limited but they fill up...that's why they're expensive. We wanted to do the X one this year but circumstances arose so I did not book it.

How did you find the food on Princess compared to X?

[maggie.1008]

I thought the food was about the same in the MDR. However we have not dined in MDR on X for a while. We have dined in Blu or Specialty. My cruise this coming week on Summit will be in new Suite dine room. Will be interesting to see if it is worth the price of a suite.

[hardel]

We too just got off the Ruby....great cruise but two of the cabins in our party had a terrible problem with the toilets,. The toilet in R706 did not work for 5 days...they fixed it every day and it would stop working again after one flush. And the toilet in C 706 had to be fixed about 5 times too. And no hot water one day. We thought it might be the 706 cabins but I was in C706 and no problems...but everything else was great.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thats not good. Seems to be more and more plumbing issues on ships these days. :(

[CU64]

We too just got off the Ruby....great cruise but two of the cabins in our party had a terrible problem with the toilets,. The toilet in R706 did not work for 5 days...they fixed it every day and it would stop working again after one flush. And the toilet in C 706 had to be fixed about 5 times too. And no hot water one day. We thought it might be the 706 cabins but I was in C706 and no problems...but everything else was great.

 

E724 cabin/ great & good location/ no problems, could hear thrusters really well & some light base shook bed from band below until 12PM.. no big deal/ bed & PILLOWS comfy but did not see much of cabin steward. One duvet on bed with no top sheet/ hope they wash them every time/ rang for steward to ask/ no reply and no one else showed up, so let it go...figured it had already been near my mouth...

### talked to woman last day who had similar poo problems in BR on deck 12 with constant complaints and no real satisfactory results

 

best thing on ship: International Café; Pop Star nights; Deck 15 hot dogs!

2 tables open for blackjack, only one with hand shuffle/terrible odds.....not good for this many passengers. Black Jack tournament most fun all week!

 

Fab weather; so very grateful, even tho some rough beautiful sea in SB channel

thought Ruby would outdo Diamond, Sapphire, Coral...it was beautiful but prefer X

[san diego sue]

Also just off the Ruby. Was on for Mexico one week, and Ca. Coastal second week.

Loved the ship. Also towards aft C739. First day on ship (first hour) toilet overflowed. Fortunately it was clean water coming in non stop.

Got fixed promptly. However because it had spilled over to the carpeting, started to smell pretty bad by day three. Princess was very good about replacing the whole cabin's carpet. We thought they would just take out the one area (dressing area) but they did the whole thing.

We did notice other toilet issues in cabins, but that one of those issues was what someone threw down it.Plumber told us there is a valve that periodically goes bad(and this can happen on any ship).

In December we spent two weeks on the Ruby in C722 and had no problems.

Our two weeks recently on the Ruby was fabulous. My scale can attest to the great food and desserts served on board.

Loved all the ports. In San Francisco finally made it to Alcatraz, a tour very worthwhile.

[lovevacadays]

Also just off the Ruby. Was on for Mexico one week, and Ca. Coastal second week.

Loved the ship. Also towards aft C739. First day on ship (first hour) toilet overflowed. Fortunately it was clean water coming in non stop.

Got fixed promptly. However because it had spilled over to the carpeting, started to smell pretty bad by day three. Princess was very good about replacing the whole cabin's carpet. We thought they would just take out the one area (dressing area) but they did the whole thing.

We did notice other toilet issues in cabins, but that one of those issues was what someone threw down it.Plumber told us there is a valve that periodically goes bad(and this can happen on any ship).

In December we spent two weeks on the Ruby in C722 and had no problems.

Our two weeks recently on the Ruby was fabulous. My scale can attest to the great food and desserts served on board.

Loved all the ports. In San Francisco finally made it to Alcatraz, a tour very worthwhile.

 

Gloria, sounds like you and Lew had a great cruise.:):):) I am with you. I love Alcatraz. I found it very interesting.

[san diego sue]

Hi Michelle,

We totally love the Ruby. It is such a nice addition to our West coast cruising.

Too bad the port parking has been raised to $16.00 a day (from $12.00).

Gloria:D

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Thanks for your review! I have a family member who also just got off the Ruby yesterday from the CA coastal. She had a midship cabin in the 400s on the Baja deck, had no plumbing issues at all, but heard that some did in other parts of the ship.

 

One thing that I hadn't heard about on Princess before regards TD. My family member had early assigned TD. She said that so few people showed up some nights that rather than having some diners alone at their assigned table for six or eight, diners were asked if they wanted to be seated at another table with others instead. A waiter said that many on this cruise were dining in the HC or going to ATD even though they had assigned dining :(.

Edited April 6, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[san diego sue]

It's a shame that people tie up fixed dining and go to buffet instead.

They are taking that space away from people that would have preferred

the opportunity to have assigned dining rather than anytime.

We were on for two weeks. The first week for Mexico, our late dining was pretty empty, but on Formal nights most showed up. Second week on the Coastal, much more went to their assigned tables.

[caribill]

We were on for two weeks. The first week for Mexico, our late dining was pretty empty, but on Formal nights most showed up. Second week on the Coastal, much more went to their assigned tables.

 

Our experience is:

o Some passengers attend only on formal evenings

o Some passengers attend only on smart casual evenings

o Some passengers attend every (or almost every) evening

o Some passengers never show up. (I think in some cases they are new to cruising and a TA did not explain options properly so they were assigned to TD without realizing what it was. (I remember one post on Cruise Critic about a couple that never went to the dining room because they thought it was an extra charge each night. They ate in the buffet every evening.)

[CU64]

Our experience is:

o Some passengers attend only on formal evenings

o Some passengers attend only on smart casual evenings

o Some passengers attend every (or almost every) evening

o Some passengers never show up. (I think in some cases they are new to cruising and a TA did not explain options properly so they were assigned to TD without realizing what it was. (I remember one post on Cruise Critic about a couple that never went to the dining room because they thought it was an extra charge each night. They ate in the buffet every evening.)

 

Lines, lines, lines. Reservations only for 5:30 and 7:30. We are going back to traditional. People think they can go to ATD whenever they feel like it even if they are booked in traditional.

[SingerEsq]

We got off the Ruby on Saturday, too! C222 and C226. Great cabins. Opened the door between the balconies for the first time. That made it fun, too.

 

We all felt the food has improved quite a bit in the MDR, and assumed it was because of the 50th Anniversary. Hope it stays that way.

 

As others have said, no weather complaints, though the seas were a bit rough. But that's how you know you're on a ship!

 

Got to see and visit with Generoso, the Maitre D' Hotel from our Ruby cruise to the Med in 2009. Such a pleasure to see him again. The Consummate Host. I think the Patter said he has now launched 8 ships with Princess. And, for anyone interested, Godwin will be returning to the Ruby later this month.

[Eddieboysr]

We too just got off the Ruby....great cruise but two of the cabins in our party had a terrible problem with the toilets,. The toilet in R706 did not work for 5 days...they fixed it every day and it would stop working again after one flush. And the toilet in C 706 had to be fixed about 5 times too. And no hot water one day. We thought it might be the 706 cabins but I was in C706 and no problems...but everything else was great.

 

 

We were on it the week before you and they shut off the hot water for a while one day.

[Eddieboysr]

Lines, lines, lines. Reservations only for 5:30 and 7:30. We are going back to traditional. People think they can go to ATD whenever they feel like it even if they are booked in traditional.

 

 

My dad was told this but he was able to get a 6:30 reservation every night.

[geocruiser]

Thank you for your review. Some day I would love to take the same cruise.

[LaurieHoffman]

Looks like many of us were on the Ruby 3/28 cruise too..

I loved the cruise, the food and ports and weather.

Didn't like the rougher seas on sea days... To much rocking for me.. but I slept it off on Tuesday.

Anytime dining in my opinion was a mess. The first night was insane. Tried to make reservations for dinner a couple nights but they had nothing until 7:30 PM. One night they did sit us with a table of set diners because the people at that table didn't show...

We did the 9:10 trip to Alcatraz and it was great. Wish we were in San Diego a bit longer....

[pablo222]

It's a shame that people tie up fixed dining and go to buffet instead.

 

Wow. So, if I sign up for traditional, I can't even go to the buffet???

 

Who knew.

Edited April 7, 2015 by pablo222

[7leagueboots]

We too just got off the Ruby....great cruise but two of the cabins in our party had a terrible problem with the toilets,. The toilet in R706 did not work for 5 days...they fixed it every day and it would stop working again after one flush. And the toilet in C 706 had to be fixed about 5 times too. And no hot water one day. We thought it might be the 706 cabins but I was in C706 and no problems...but everything else was great.

 

I can sympathize . . . had a similar problem for the first couple of days on a 14 day trip - not pleasant.

[Sir Eatsalot]

This is somewhere around my 25th cruise, and it wasn't one of the best. But then, I haven't cruised in over five years, and maybe this is the way things are now.

 

First some kudos: the Crown Grill steakhouse was well worth the $25/head extra. And the production stage shows were very well-done.

 

Now some lumps of coal:

 

Not Princess's fault, but the Port of San Pedro was not a pleasant experience compared to other ports I've been to. Mainly the long lines, the first 15-20 minutes or so being outside in the open. Thank heavens the weather was good.

 

As for Princess, lots of little things made me think that some serious cost-cutting was in progress:

 

• The cabin door wouldn't fully unlock from inside when you turned the handle. You had to fiddle with the deadbolt to make it work.
  
• The toilet seat was scratched and scarred. Not a lot, but more than I'd expect. (No problems with the toilet working for us, thank heavens. Baja deck, midship.)
  
• Hot water was unreliable. The shower usually had some, although sometimes you had to hit the override button to turn the knob into what it thought was the "scalding" territory. The sink's hot water generally ran something like five seconds on and 10 seconds off.
  
• The shower "gel" provided was runny like water.
  
• The lifts were unreliable. I never saw them all working at the same time. Friday morning, three of the midship lifts were all out of service. Going to the Lido Deck (15, where the pools and buffet are) on Lift T was an adventure; it might take you there, or it might just turn around when it got to deck 14.
  
• The mustard at the burger/frankfurter grill was runny like water.
  
• The ranch dressing was almost runny like water.
  
• Cabin service was stretched quite thin, with attendants working around the clock. It wasn't unusual to find that our cabin hadn't been made up yet at noon, or at 10 PM, even though we'd put out the Service My Cabin sign many hours before. The hallways were an obstacle course of housekeeping carts and vacuum cleaners at all hours of the day.
  
• With the ship docked 'til 11 PM in San Francisco, the headwaiter at the Botticelli dining room waved us in with, "Open seating. Sit wherever you want." We picked a table and sat down, and an assistant waiter came up and said, "What are you doing here? You can't just sit wherever you want. It messes up our table control." A waiter quickly stepped in and apologized, but we were already dumbstruck.
  
• The baked goods (rolls, etc.) were seriously substandard. This is something that I tend to gauge eating establishments by, so I'm probably over-sensitive.
  
• The Room Service menu lists only one kind of cookie: chocolate chip. We ordered chocolate chip cookies from room service (along with our meals), and they sent us oatmeal raisin. The next time we said, "Please send chocolate chip cookies, not oatmeal raisin like last time." They sent 2 chocolate chip cookies covering two oatmeal raisin cookies. What the... ???
  

None of those alone would be any concern. Even two or three aren't a big deal. But these little indications that Princess was pinching pennies were almost continuous. It certainly wasn't anywhere near enough to "ruin the cruise," but it wasn't what I've come to expect from cruising on a big-name line.

 

All-in-all, though, it was a good cruise and we paid an attractive price. I suspect we'll go with a different line next time, though.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Deleted.

Edited April 8, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Deleted.

Edited April 8, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78