Ruby Princess Review - Cabo 24 Apr 17

[damiross]

Just got back from a 5 day LA - Cabo San Lucas - LA cruise on the Ruby Princess. This isn't going to be a comprehensive review.

 

What made the cruise special was that it was the first time my wife and I traveled with others. Two of my brothers, a sister-in-law, and my mom went with us.

 

24 Apr 17 (Monday)

Embarkation was easy. We (my brother (gold level), my wife, and myself (both ruby level) boarded with mom (platinum level) with no problem. We basically checked in and walked on. My other brother and his wife joined us later.

 

My wife and I only had one piece of luggage waiting for us when we got on board. The other piece showed up later. The luggage was placed outside the cabin rather inside like it was done on my Crown and Grand cruises.

 

We ate in the Horizon Court. The buffet was nothing to write about. The selection was limited and the food only average. This was true for all breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

 

We saw the comedian Robbie Printz in the Princess Theater. He was quite good - very funny!

 

25 Apr 17 (Tuesday, Sea Day)

A problem occurred on the second day of the cruise. This was a sea day. It was also the day that my grandmother's ashes were to be scattered at sea.

 

Unfortunately, Princess screwed up. Corporate was suppose to send an email to the staff of the Ruby and to my mother. Neither got it. We had a discussion with the staff (I believe he was a representative of the passenger services). He said it couldn't be done because there was no email. Long story short about 4 hours later (around 3:45 p.m.) my mom was notified that the captain okayed the scattering. My wife and I, just as we were going to the Captain's Circle meeting for Ruby level, were told by my mom that permission had been granted and we had about 10 minutes to get to the aft end of the ship.

 

As a result of the last-minute notification we were not able to go to the meeting. When I talked to the Captain's Circle representative the next day she said she would not break her policy of giving out vouchers available at the Captain's Circle the next day. Even though I explained the situation to her she said that we should have contacted her before the meeting. I pointed out to her that it was impossible to do so because we were given extremely little notification of the scattering. But, as she said, policy (her's) was policy and if she did it for me she'd have to do it for everyone. She was nearly rude in letting me know this.

 

Robbie Printz had a show in the Explorer Lounge this night. It was a different show but just as funny. I think the venue was much better for this type of act than the Princess Theater.

 

The trivia this night was "Who Sang It? '70s Sounds'". My two brothers - one born at the start of the 60's and the other at the end of the 60's - did pretty good.

 

26 Apr 17 (Wednesday, Cabo San Lucas day 1)

Cabo San Lucas is a tender port. With this being the only port on the cruise the tendering was slow. It took us over an hour to get a spot on the tender. Cabo San Lucas, at least the part my wife and I saw, was just a crappy tourist trap with people hawking their crap (usually water taxi service to the arches) all over the place.

 

Dinner was in the Michelangelo room. It was Italian night. The service was okay and food good.

 

The show we saw this night was RJ Lewis, a comedian magician. He was above average. The show was in the Explorer Lounge.

 

27 Apr 17 (Thursday, Cabo San Lucas day 2)

Five of us (one brother, sister-in-law, wife, mom, and me) went into Cabo San Lucas again. Actually, it was the first time on this cruise for my mom going into port. My mom wanted to get something for her great-granddaughter and my wife wanted some postcards. Tendering was much easier this day.

 

One of my brothers got his toe broken when the door was slammed shut by the wind. He went to the doctor on board. An investigation was started but I doubt anything will come of it because it was Princess investigating themselves, not an independent third party.

 

Breakfast was in the Da Vinci dining room, like it was the previous day for all 6 of us and on the 2nd day for my wife and me. The breakfast was above average but not quite great.

 

"Rock the Room Game Show" was held this evening. It was fun. The room was divided into two teams (Dolphins and Sharks). Yours truly was the captain of the Dolphins. Questions and actions were asked of the teams (e.g name the singer, get a picture with a host, etc.). A team member then ran to the captain and told him the answer or showed him the picture, etc., and the captain had to tell or show Raymond (on the entertainment staff) the result. the Dolphins won by the slimmest of margins (but we won so who cares how many points we one by!).

 

The Marriage Match Game Show was held this night. It was a riot! Three husbands were asked questions about their wives and the the reverse happened. The couples were married for 1 year, twenty something years, and 40 something years.

 

28 Apr 17 (Friday)

A Culinary Demonstration and Galley Tour was held this morning. I'd seen this on the Grand last year. The Ruby's version was just as good. The Head Chef and Hotel Manager demonstrated creating 3 dishes. Like the Grand they conducted the demo with a comedic touch. A tour of the galley was then held.

 

We saw the production show "Magic to Do". While the actors and the band were great, I didn't feel any magic from the show. Of all the production shows I've seen on 3 cruises, these was the most mediocre one.

 

29 Apr 17 (Saturday)

Disembarkation was easy. Again, we disembarked by going to the Club Fusion rather than the Princess Theatre because of my mom's Captain's Circle status. This was actually much better for my brother with the broken toe because there were no steps to worry about. My other brother and his wife had disembarked earlier.

 

Disembarkation went fairly fast. Our time was suppose to be around 8:30. We were off at 8:20 and through customs about 20 minutes later.

 

Overall

I've been on 3 Princess cruises now (and, coincidentally, 3 cruises total :)). The entertainment staff on all three were great. The cruise director on the Ruby - Matt - was the best. He and his staff were very energetic and interacted well with the passengers.

Edited April 30, 2017 by damiross
added travelers

[donswife]

Thank you for the review. I am sad to hear of the poor handling of your ceremony. Will you follow up with corporate about the e-mail mishap? Scattering ashes is such an emotional thing, it doesn't need any extra emotional baggage (like frustration) along with it!

[cubfan63]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother, and the miscommunications related to her ashes scattering. I'm glad it was able to happen even if notification was sudden and interfered with your other plans.

 

I'm hoping that not being able to get your Gold/Ruby Captains Circle free drink coupons really didn't ruin your cruise too much.

[victory2020]

What was the Captain's Circle meeting for? I'm Elite & never heard of a meeting.

[Mare10]

Enjoyed your review and so sorry about the mix up regarding scattering the ashes.

 

Did you ever go to Crooners at night? We'll be on the Ruby May 13th and would love to know who is at the piano!

 

Thanks.:)

[easyboy]

Sorry about the unfortunate incidents you and your family encountered.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Forums mobile app

[shepp]

What was the Captain's Circle meeting for? I'm Elite & never heard of a meeting.

 

I believe they were talking about the CC reception, the one you get the blue-and-white invitation for?

[damiross]

I'm sorry to hear about the loss of your grandmother, and the miscommunications related to her ashes scattering. I'm glad it was able to happen even if notification was sudden and interfered with your other plans.

 

I'm hoping that not being able to get your Gold/Ruby Captains Circle free drink coupons really didn't ruin your cruise too much.

Yes, I'm contacting Princess Corporate. I had to call customer service to get an email address because the form to contact Princess is badly flawed. It allows only a thousand characters for the issue and 100 for what I expect the resolution to be. However, the form would kept saying there was a parsing error when I tried to send the email even though I was under their limits.

[damiross]

What was the Captain's Circle meeting for? I'm Elite & never heard of a meeting.

It's just a meet-n-greet type thing. We had one on our last cruise in March 2016. However, we didn't get to meet the captain because he was officiating at the renewal of vows for a couple who had been married for 60 years.

 

There was an invitation in our cabin when we got to the cabin on embarkation day.

[damiross]

Enjoyed your review and so sorry about the mix up regarding scattering the ashes.

 

Did you ever go to Crooners at night? We'll be on the Ruby May 13th and would love to know who is at the piano!

 

Thanks.:)

We didn't get to Crooners. We did hear some good music as we passed by

[damiross]

Here's a couple of more things to add to my review.

 

The weather was pretty good heading south. Going north was a different story. The winds were up to 45 knots and the water rough. The pools were closed because they were sloshing so bad. The ship did rock but it wasn't that bad.

 

We were in Baja 601. Though I would have liked a lower deck I don't like the fact that the lower decks have no privacy on their balconies. Baja and Aloha decks have private balconies.

 

One of my brothers and his wife were in C752. He had always wanted to try an aft cabin. He said it was pretty good except that it wasn't possible to leave the balcony door open due to the noise of the wake. His, like all other aft balconies, was a private one.

[Luvmyrotti]

Here's a couple of more things to add to my review.

 

The weather was pretty good heading south. Going north was a different story. The winds were up to 45 knots and the water rough. The pools were closed because they were sloshing so bad. The ship did rock but it wasn't that bad.

 

We were in Baja 601. Though I would have liked a lower deck I don't like the fact that the lower decks have no privacy on their balconies. Baja and Aloha decks have private balconies.

 

One of my brothers and his wife were in C752. He had always wanted to try an aft cabin. He said it was pretty good except that it wasn't possible to leave the balcony door open due to the noise of the wake. His, like all other aft balconies, was a private one.

 

Your brother's perspective on the wake sound is intersting. We sail in the caribe deck vista suites because we love the sound of the wake. We often sleep with the door's open to hear it (shhhh, don't tell those who will slay me about leaving the doors open) and during the day, I love nothing more than sitting on the balcony, reading and listening to the wake. Different strokes and all I guess.