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

[Steelers0854]

I am also sad to report that the posts on the decline in Princess Pizza are true. There is little to no flavor and they give a new meaning to “thin crust” pizza. It’s really too bad because I thought the pizza was one of the best both on land and at sea.

[abbydancer2003]

Great thread. We were on this cruise a year before you, and had a blast. It's fun reliving it.

 

We're back on the Ruby for the 5 day Cabo trip in February.

[oh4nono]

I am loving your post and thank you for sharing. I am noticing that the main dining room menu does not seem to change much.

 

doing this cruise in Jan 2018

[Steelers0854]

Today’s lunch menu

 

 

Today’s dinner menu for our last formal night

 

[Taer al Saefer]

Thank you, I was just going to walk down there to take a look, you saved me a trip!

 

Did you guys make it out to Cabo today? I lasted half an hour before I went back inside.

[Steelers0854]

Thank you, I was just going to walk down there to take a look, you saved me a trip!

 

Did you guys make it out to Cabo today? I lasted half an hour before I went back inside.

 

 

 

We planned not to go to Cabo today and the weather only confirmed it for us. We were here for 2 days in July on a Carnival cruise. Given the short time in port (we are NOT early risers [emoji6]) and DWs adversion to little boats we headed to the spa instead.

[Steelers0854]

Today’s Patter

 

[Taer al Saefer]

We planned not to go to Cabo today and the weather only confirmed it for us. We were here for 2 days in July on a Carnival cruise. Given the short time in port (we are NOT early risers [emoji6]) and DWs adversion to little boats we headed to the spa instead.

 

We're from Seattle and can make it down here cheaply and quickly...not sure why the rest of my party yanked me out of bed at 7:45! Our tender there was particularly problematic, nobody wanted to sit on the wet seats which left no room for the last people on to stand...which just so happened to be us. Enjoy the spa, wish I had done that as well!

[cvpends]

I am also sad to report that the posts on the decline in Princess Pizza are true. There is little to no flavor and they give a new meaning to “thin crust” pizza. It’s really too bad because I thought the pizza was one of the best both on land and at sea.

 

This is sad news, as one of my talking points for suggesting this cruise to my family for New Years this year was the pizza.

[Steelers0854]

Ok so I have one complaint for today. What the heck are they doing putting disembarkation materials on my door with more than 2 full days to go?!? No one wants to see that! Dinner tonight was the seabass for me and DW had the breaded chicken. The fish on this cruise (and really all of the Princess cruises I have been on) has been outstanding. DW said the breaded chicken was just so so, nothing to write home about.

 

We called it an early night since we had been running around all day and there wasn't anything interesting to see show wise right after dinner. Although I did hear that the Whitney Houston tribute singer did a good job this evening. We watched a movie in the cabin, boy how I wish every ship had the Royal’s on demand TV system, and were out by 10pm.

 

I got up just as we pulled into Cabo. The dreary day from Mazatlan had unfortunately followed into Cabo and the rain came with it. It was slightly cool but unfortunately rained on and off throughout the day. So we had a relaxing breakfast in the MDR before heading to the spa to get messages since we had some OBC we still needed to burn through.

 

 

Yes, the spa onboard is rather expensive when compared to places on land, but I still very much enjoy getting a massage while on a cruise, to me its just another way to relax on board and I don't mind paying the premium for it. I have had bad massages on land, but knock on wood I have yet to have a bad experience on board the ship. Plus, I generally get a massage you cant find on land, today was the seaweed and float bed, I love that bed as you feel like you are suspended in air wrapped in a warm blanket, its a fantastic experience. DW found a coupon for the ginger and lime sugar scrub massage and said it was also excellent.

 

Afterwards we headed to the buffet for lunch as the MDR was going to close soon. We sat out on deck and waited for sailaway. It had stopped raining at this point but was still very cloudy. We saw off in the distance a cluster of boats in our path and hoped that meant we would see a whale as we left.

 

[Steelers0854]

We headed to the viewing deck on top of the bridge to try and get a good viewing angle and knew we could easily see both sides of the ship from up there. We took off after waiting for 2 late passengers and the remaining crew to board from the tender operations. As we approached the boats it looked like most were fishing boats and one in particular didnt look like it was going to get out of our way. We certainly were not going to stop, but we got closer and closer to them. Finally someone on board run up to the controls and reversed out of our way, the captain gave him a good honk of the horn to “thank” him for moving out of the way, because it would have ended poorly for them had he not. We didnt see any signs of whales so we headed back down to the cabin to hang out before getting ready for dinner tonight. We were on the balcony when DW spotted a while about 100 yards away from the ship as we sailed out. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera out he was too far in the distance to get a good picture. But he gave us a couple of good tail waves and water spouts as we left him behind. A great way to end the day in Cabo!

 

Dinner tonight was our last formal night, and one of my favorites as it had the escargot and lobster tails on the menu. DW being as picky as she is ordered the fettuccine Alfredo and the chicken tenders off the kids menu. Princess does still make great chicken tenders, its just too bad the pizza is now so terrible. I had the short ribs which were excellent and the lobster which was perfectly cooked. We told our waiter the night before about our tablemates anniversary and he had a cake and song waiting for them for dessert.

 

After dinner we headed to the Princess Theater for the Magic to Do show. Now, I usually take cruiseship entertainment with a grain of salt, and have lowered expectations. I am a pretty laid back person, it doesn’t take much entertain me, and I really rarely complain. But I had read a lot of great things about Magic to Do and Princess has been promoting it heavily so I was excited to see the show. What a disappointment. The show, in my opinion, was just terrible. Let’s start off with he first part, the Magic. If your key magic tricks for the show are the handkerchief from the hand, the “magic” rings, and the cutting the woman in half tricks, I knew we were doomed for failure. Literally the worst magic I have seen, ever. Then there was the story line, at least I think there was supposed to be a story line, I had a hard time finding one in between the random performances from other broadways muscials. It was really too bad, and I guess partially my fault for getting my hopes too high before going, but Princess really should watch Amaerica’s Got Talent, and get their magic acts from there. So many talented people in this world, why on earth they went this route is beyond me. If you miss this show you wont be missing anything!

 

We called it a night after the show.

 

Alas, its our last full day on this trip. This is always the worst day IMO because you know of the impending departure tomorrow. I am writing this from our balcony on a perfectly clear, sunny morning in the midst of a cool breeze and fairly significant waves. It was pretty rough last night and apparently has continued this morning. What’s on the agenda for today? Nothing, with some reading and more nothing! I hope it warms up a little bit today as I expect to be out on deck or on the balcony finishing up a great book before the end of the day.

 

Here is todays patter:

 

[Steelers0854]

I meant to post this earlier. When you know you spend too much time on CC, your cabin looks like this:

 

[Steelers0854]

Sadly here are the final menus for the cruise.

 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Enjoy your last night of your cruise!

[Mike45LC]

So sorry you are getting kicked off. Worst thing about all of my cruises has been that they have to come to an end.

 

(Although the noise from the nightclub on one Carnival cruise was pretty bad, it was still better to be on a cruise ship than to be on land!)

[cougaraz]

We are getting on the Ruby tomorrow....thanks for the great review, really got us excited!

 

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[cruise4kicks]

We're embarking the Ruby tomorrow, too! THANK YOU for all the great information!!!

[Lucky TGO]

Have a great cruise. Thanks for sharing.

Tony

[littleboy]

Thanks for a great review will not be boarding till feb we will be on ship on valentine does anyone know if they do anything special

[Steelers0854]

We were not up in enough time to make breakfast in the MDR so we grabbed a small bite to eat in the buffet. We walked around the piazza and found a spot to sit and read for a couple of hours. They were doing some kids crafts and activities in the piazza and it was pretty loud, but it was way to cold to hang out on deck. We headed to the MDR for lunch and ended up at a table with some folks we had lunch with previously in the trip and one of the couple from our dinner table. After lunch we met up with our friends from the M&G and played another heated game of domino’s until it was the dreadful time to go pack and get ready for dinner.

 

Dinner tonight was all american, and nothing really looked all that appealing for some reason tonight, so DW and I actually both ordered the chicken tenders off the kids meal. Not sure how this is kid portioned, because you get 3 chicken strips, 2 onion rings and a pile of French fries, it was the perfect sized dinner. I hevant really talked much about the desserts in the MDR. I am trying to be better this trip and not get 3 desserts a night, its hard because they are soooo good. But Princess also makes great sorbets. And while not low cal, they are just the right amount of a sweet treat and its wonderful the floor changes daily.

 

After dinner I knew despite the extra hour of sleep I was going to get (roll the clocks back an hour tonight) I would never make it see Carlos Oscar tonight at 9:30, oh well maybe next cruise Ill find more energy, but this trip was a much needed re-charge from a hectic work schedule.

 

We got up this morning and it is a very cool morning in port. Disemarkation has been delayed for some unknown reason, and they literally just started with walkoffs now at 8:35, almost a full hour late.

 

Some notes from this trip (with some repeat of key things from the trip):

 

-The dress code police would not be happy this trip as I saw about as uneven enforcement of the dress code as you can get. One night a gentleman with t-short and shorts was turned away, but the next night a male with shorts, flip flops, and a hat was allowed in, go figure. Also on formal night a family came in wearing t-shirts and jeans. TBH, it really makes no nevermind to me what people wear, but given the constant posts on the forum asking about what you can wear, really the answer is just about anything you want.

 

-Maybe I am behind the times and this has been available for a while but getting an FCD onboard has never been easier. You can do it via the Princess@Sea site right on your phone. Simply select how many per person you want, click and check box and hit submit and you are done. It is billed to the CC you use for payment of the onboard account. It takes about 2 days to process because I found out the Future Cruise Consultant actually gets notified and then processes your request manually. Make sure you get your confirm email before getting off, because I could see how it could get skipped over, but ours worked flawlessly.

 

-Butter was on the tables in the MDR for dinner, on demand for lunch and breakfast but they will give you as much as you want any time you want.

 

-Pizza is now terrible (lido deck, no Alfredos on board so cant comment there)

 

I am sure ill think of some more as the days pass. We had a great vacation, met some wonderful people on board and despite some minor annoyances really have little to complain about. The Mexican Rivera was fun and we felt completely safe the entire time we were there. Im not sure when we will be back, but we definitely wont hesitate to book this cruise again in the future.

 

Thanks fro following along

[cvpends]

Thank you for your trip report! You've got me excited for our own cruise on Ruby in a couple of weeks :)

[Steelers0854]

Disembarkation update:

 

This is all 3rd hand information but apparently a very long line for walk offs and customs officials are stopping quite a few passengers are accounting for very long delays. Apparently Princess is very concerned as it has never been this bad before. Again this is all from someone who spoke with someone, and they have only called walkoffs and no one else.

[Steelers0854]

Spoke with a Princess Rep as they just called the first groups on non walkoff passengers.

 

Apparently the delay is due to customs having 4 agents to process the entire ship. It’s a good thing they are doing verbal declarations or this would take forever. I would estimate they are on hour, if not more behind.

[Steelers0854]

It didn’t take us too long to get through customs once we got off the ship. They were up to 7 agents clearing passengers when we got to customs.

[Kingofcool1947]

It didn’t take us too long to get through customs once we got off the ship. They were up to 7 agents clearing passengers when we got to customs.

 

Nice report. PAX FUD about the number of Customs Agents? Never trust hearsay. ;)

 

Question:

 

Did you do early debarkation and carry off your own luggage?

 

Do you like the Mexican Riviera or Caribbean cruise better?

Edited December 16, 2017 by Kingofcool1947