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Ruby Princess - Light Review, Plethora of Food Pics 12/09 to 12/16

Taer al Saefer

By Taer al Saefer,
in Princess Cruises

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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

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I don't believe so! Whenever I click it, it just brings up all the photos. Is it doing it?

 

Your site & link works OK. I uploaded there link as I was interested in possibly using it for myself on one of my cruises.

Any helpful info about creating a album using this site would be helpful. Someone asked about adding captions to the photo’s. Is this possible?

You’re learning that the internet speed can be especially slow on the ship, especially if it involves a larg amount of photos.

Thanks again😀.

Tom

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Taer al Saefer

Taer al Saefer

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Your site & link works OK. I uploaded there link as I was interested in possibly using it for myself on one of my cruises.

Any helpful info about creating a album using this site would be helpful. Someone asked about adding captions to the photo’s. Is this possible?

You’re learning that the internet speed can be especially slow on the ship, especially if it involves a larg amount of photos.

Thanks again😀.

Tom

 

I haven't been able to figure out adding captions :( I would like to since I sent the album to some aunts and they wanted to see captions as well. So far it seems fairly straightforward. No editing tool but I just use Instagram for that, I love the Clarendon filter. It appears you can pay $53 and have all your photos made into a book but I don't think my photography skills are worth that!

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trbarton "Live from...." Rare

trbarton

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I haven't been able to figure out adding captions :( I would like to since I sent the album to some aunts and they wanted to see captions as well. So far it seems fairly straightforward. No editing tool but I just use Instagram for that, I love the Clarendon filter. It appears you can pay $53 and have all your photos made into a book but I don't think my photography skills are worth that!

 

If there is a way to contact them perhaps they could explain if that’s possible. I’ve posted a question about that. I post whatever I hear.

Tom

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suec12

suec12

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Enjoying your review with food emphasis! We will be on the Ruby in a few weeks. We sailed on the Emerald last July and thought most of the seafood dishes were quite good. This is helping to refresh my memory on dishes I especially liked. We often ordered an extra side "for the table" of the fettucini that I thought paired very well with the seafood. Thanks for taking the time to entertain and inform.:)

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suec12

suec12

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Also please keep mentioning how the anytime dining is working out for you. We like to eat around 7 - I have read comments all along the spectrum as to if it goes smoothly or is just terrible.

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Taer al Saefer

Taer al Saefer

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Also please keep mentioning how the anytime dining is working out for you. We like to eat around 7 - I have read comments all along the spectrum as to if it goes smoothly or is just terrible.

 

It worked very well! Just make sure to call Dining in the morning and ask for 7pm reservations. Always in Michelangelo. Showing up there without a reservation usually ended up as a 45 minute wait. We forgot on Day 3 and the girl suggested that we head up to the Da Vinci as it was 7:15. They turned over every table by 7:25 and everyone waiting was in. Traditional there ends at around 6:30 so it was literally empty and opened at 7:30. We stopped reserving and eating at the Michelangelo after that, because 7 was a little early for us.

 

After that, the restaurants usually cleared by around 8:30.

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Taer al Saefer

Taer al Saefer

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Thus begins Day 2. We had two days at sea coming up and I was going to spend all of it relaxing, enjoying the day, and tanning!

 

By noon this was not going to happen.

 

I usually wake up around 6:30 am on work days, and maybe around 10am on Sundays, my one day off. Being that we were on vacation, I had planned to wake up after lots of sleep, and maybe enjoy a brunch shortly after. Then we got a pounding on the door. Room service. Apparently I had checked off 6:50 am instead of 8:50 am because again, stupid. Even dumber? It was an order for hot beverages, all of which would be stone cold by the time I had wanted to wake up.

 

6:58 am. Damnit. Usually I have no problem going back to sleep on the weekdays but on weekends, it's impossible. So it was to the IC we went, where I attempted the coffee again. It was warming up outside so I asked for an iced coffee. Note: don't do that it's not good oh god. The IC does have a good selection of maybe four donuts per day and it varies day by day. While they all looked delicious, I'm not a big eater right when I wake up so I took my coffee up to the promenade and sat with some older men who had the same idea as me. Only they did it with donuts.

 

I wish I liked donuts. Cookies, brownies, anything else I can take down like nobody's business but I just don't like donuts. I can do Krispy Kreme but that's about it.

 

The promenade was quiet and the views were just spectacular. I'm a big city kind of person and have never quite understood the appeal of the water until now. I think I spent about half an hour just relaxing until it got a little chilly so I went back to the room to hold a glass under my family member's noses to see if they were still alive.

 

I whispered to my mother if she wanted a latte and was rewarded with a shove out the door because I was too loud. So I took my book and headed off to the Horizon Court. Zumba was at 9am at Club Fusion and after one look I ran far far away from there. On my way up, I ran into Daniel the manager of Effy who seems to know us by name now. Not good.

 

It was about 9:15 and the HC was PACKED. It was pretty standard fare all week long, and being that it was still Day One, I loaded up on all the bacon and waffles that I normally wouldn't eat at home. I'd like to say it is because of healthy eating habits but really, I'm lazy. If you can shove a granola bar in fast enough you don't even need a napkin. I was both happy and surprised to see pork congee there all the days, as my grandma from China could have food she enjoys if she ever cruises with us. Speaking of China, cruising is very popular for the Chinese market, and seeing how so many are affluent there now, it's very common so see lots of Chinese folks on board. A trip from Beijing to Rome, 7 day cruise included as well as hotel and airfare is around 10,000 RMB, less than $1,500. I've tried to get those fares and was laughed at each time. But to an ABC (American born Chinese) like me, its fascinating to see some of the changes and benefits of having a big Chinese market does to companies like Princess. I personally think it's for the better, but I know some might disagree and that's okay.

 

Blah blah aside, we are halfway through the Tower O' Bacon and my mother is demanding to know where I am through the Princess@Sea app (LIFESAVER). I informed her that I was having fruit and egg whites for breakfast and would meet her shortly back in the room. I decided to take the stairs from Lido to Emerald to work off Mt. Baconest. A twisted foot and a trip on the wrong side of the ship later, I went back into the room. Kudos to the room service crew, 10am and the tea is still sort of hot. Woo! I had brought a plate of smoked salmon and eggs to the room which my brother promptly ate with his hands while lying in bed.

 

Class, we exemplify it.

 

Room service was good, we had ordered a mess of fruit and some croissants, and while I was still baconed out, it was nice having some food in the room.

 

By the way, my mother wanted to know, did I ever get her that latte from TWO HOURS AGO?

 

It's 11am almost, so off I stomped to the Lotus Spa to do that manicure I didn't want to do, and before I could complain about their pushy sales tactics, I was told that it's tomorrow. Not today.

 

Jokes on them because 24 HR cancellation means I get a full refund. Good thing I always show up 5 minutes early. With that done, I went to go find my family and found them at the princess shopping thing, hosted by Miss Texas. Who we found out, had never won Miss Texas. Fake news. Apparently there was a raffle. We hoisted my mother out of there, where she excitedly was telling us about Miss Texas offering a free shuttle to downtown Puerto Vallarta.

 

"There's gotta be a catch, they're probably selling cheap ass gold".

 

Reader, I was right.

 

Unfortunately, the Princess Theatre upper level is right by...you guessed it, the Effy Store. I was two seconds away from faking an asthma attack when my mother decided she wanted to go change into something warmer so off we went. It had been her birthday a week prior, but my grandpa had passed so recently and her birthday was ignored due to the period of mourning in Chinese culture. We hadn't been with her so we told Princess and they delivered. She had an adorable balloon set, card, and dessert voucher waiting for her. She also had a "VIP invite" to the champagne art auction at 1pm.

 

Yuuuup. We went to the art auction. And here's what happened.

 

Well first, we spent 40 minutes by the pool eating some genuinely awful chips and guac. Princess, PLEASE use some real avocados for this.

 

The first painting went for $52,000. I am pretty sure it was a plant buyer because ***? If I had $52,000 to drop on a Peter Max, I probably wouldn't be on a cruise! I also now know everything about Peter Max, because we went to THREE art auctions. Count em, THREE.

 

So how did this happen? I won the raffle. Twice. And received two $100 off coupons. So now I can have a Peter Max for $51,900 + shipping. We were also offered a copy of a painting if we applied for a credit card.

 

My credit card goals for the branch in a quarter is less than the number of cards they sold in one afternoon because of a PAINTING. Never mind the travel points, 5% cash back, 0% international fees that come with a bank backed credit card, lets all go for the card that only works with Princess Art and is at 20% interest.

 

I digress.

 

So we finally finish the art auction at 3pm and I am absolutely starving. We went to Afternoon Tea and it went...not well. We were there for 45 minutes and the cakes tray came by 6 times, and not a single sandwich was to be seen. Service was just...weird. Lots of people standing around not doing anything but no food. So I went to get pizza instead and my mother went to wander the Promenade. At least it's in a circle so she couldn't get lost.

 

Pizza's been discussed to death on these boards, but I honestly thought it was really good. The first day was pepperoni, margerita , and I believe a 4-cheese with white sauce. During lunch hours they also had Stromboli slices and sandwiches, but I did not try any. I got one slice of pepperoni and one of the cheese and found it all to be hot and delicious, especially with pepper flakes. I ended up going to two trivia events, one just general trivia and one for musical theatre. For the record, I sucked at regular and came in third for musical theatre. The winners of the trivia challenge gave me a magnet from the bag of stuff they won.

 

I went to the pool at around 6pm since we didn't want to eat so early, and found my brother the only one swimming at the MUTS pool. He asked me to peek in the buffet where I found that it was sushi night. We had some grilled shrimp with sambal that was delicious, and I took a plate of sushi as well. Whoever sliced the sashimi did a pretty horrible job with it, but I was impressed at some of the sushi rolls. With that, it was time to get ready for our dinner

 

***

We missed our 7pm reservation because we, ok,I wanted to go to the musical theatre trivia, and the wait looked crazy. We were told to go upstairs to the Da Vinci, where they reopen at 7:30. We ended up eating there the rest of the time and found our favorite waiter there, Richard. We ordered the wagon wheel pasta with oxtail (delicious), game and port terrine (with a very nasty aspic), and the crab and artichoke dip (meh). What REALLY hit the spot was pasta aglio e olio they were making fresh. So so so good, and Richard brought a big portion. He tried to bring more too but we had all ordered the surf and turf. He was very disappointed to hear we had all ordered the same thing, and dropped of the seafood skewers for us as well. Thank goodness he did because it was so good. Bok Choy, rice, and perfectly cooked salmon, shrimp, halibut, and scallops. The surf and turf were good, if inconsistent. My medium rare was cooked more rare than my brother's rare, but it was still very tender. The shrimps were fresh and had more of a bite than the shrimp downstairs in the salads so it was of higher quality. Richard kept trying to bring us more food, but my mother and I were stuffed. My brother...apparently has a long hidden love for Ling Lings Chicken Potstickers and was dreaming of heading to the buffet for some. This was our first dinner MDR dessert, and it did not disappoint. Love Boat mousse and Creme brûlée. The brûlée was delicious and sugar crispy, but I love the little madeleines that come with it. The chocolate love boat dream is just out of this world and I am desperately trying to recreate it at home. Apparently my palate sucks though, as I thought it was raspberry sauce the whole time and it was strawberry. My mother got up first to go to another Effy auction and my brother and I headed to see the comedian Oscar Carlos (maybe) perform. After four bad jokes, we were out of there again.

 

Don't let this fool you, a lot of people thought he was hilarious and we heard laughter all the way up from our room above the theatre. But my brother and I have a very particular type of humor. We love darker, ironic, humor. We prefer Hasan Piker and Jon Stewart to your average comedian. What this means though, is we find it hard to appreciate just straight up good jokes, and I personally find that unfortunate. It is what it is.

 

With that, we headed off to Logo Trivia, where we excitedly knew the Panda logo to be Panda Express! Fine Chinese food! We knew that logo very well, and were s happy to write it down!

 

World Wildlife Association we are so sorry we thought you were the King of Orange Chicken and will be donating to you shortly.

 

We trekked off to the buffet because well, Ling Lings apparently and watched as my brother ate enough to feed all of Shanghai. Tonight I actually sampled a few things as well. There was a pretty good roasted pork belly, and a very nice sautéed corn and pepper dish. Bit of a personal story here: there's a peasant Chinese dish called 醋溜白菜, vinegar braised Napa cabbage, that even Chinese folks don't know about. It's very regional to where my family is from and is a dish we all grew up with in the family. We were SHOCKED to see that Princess had some and needed to sample it.

 

One bite and we were shocked again. Nope.

 

We walked past MUTS where they were playing either Planet of the Apes or Kingsman. I can't remember which night was which.

 

Bed time!

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Luv Cruising Land or Sea

Luv Cruising Land or Sea

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Loving your review as a "newbie"! Sometimes it's hard to remember how confused and awestruck we were when we first stepped onto a "big ship"!

 

We are on the Ruby this coming Saturday and coming from the frozen tundra in New England we can't wait to get warm (although we have hit a balmy 34 degrees today!) This is our second time on the Ruby the first being her inaugural cruise back in 2008!

 

Please keep the review coming - love your sense of humor and writing style!

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Taer al Saefer

Taer al Saefer

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So we begin our second full day atsea. Our itinerary was 2 days at sea,followed by Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and a half day in Cabo. One more day at sea and then it’s back to LosAngeles. In hindsight, I think I wouldhave chosen a trip that either had more ports, or at least gave us some moretime in Cabo.

We started the day by going downto the International Café, and got our usual coffee order. Vanilla latte for Mother and three shots ofespresso over ice for me. I drink mycoffee with a little half and half, but the cream on the ships were straight upCREAM. The good news was, I had only putin a little bit before I realized that it was almost a solid butter substancethat I was pouring into my coffee. Theservice at the coffee bar is fantastic. They’re a little slow, but it’s a few people working bone-tiring shiftsto get a lot of coffee out. The womanwho was at the front told me on Day 1 that she would remember my name, and shenever forgot it til the end of the trip. If you ever see me at work, or in public to be honest, I always greetyou with a friendly “hello there my friend!”. It’s because I can’t remember your name.

The café was on point as always,we enjoyed a couple of almond croissants and apples before heading to theInternet café. We had booked through atravel agency and were offered half off shore excursions. We were a little nervous about not making itback to the boat for Mazatlan and Cabo, but with such a long day in PVR, we hadbooked my brother a ziplining excursion…only I had forgotten his tickets. The money we had saved on the excursion wasrecouped by the ship as we frantically attempted to print the tickets out inOlympic speed before wracking up charges. Total damage? $7.

With that, it was up to theHorizon Court for a breakfast that would have some more sustenance and we madeour way through the buffet line. Funstory: I got yelled at for “lying” to a woman about Pork Congee. Congee is porridge made out of rice, andnormally eaten savory, with a little bit of pork pieces added in forflavor. I helpfully answered the “whatis that” question and apparently, my answer of “rice porridge” did not satisfybecause “NO THAT IS A LIE IT SAYS PORK”. We ended up eating eggs Florentine, fruit, and some smoked salmon. The smoked salmon on the ship is very onpoint, and we had some every day. Service was good as always, and the man who was shouting “FILLERUP” atthe waiter with the orange juice received about 6 refills with ease.

Maybe he was fighting off scurvy.

With breakfast done, we headedtowards the FIRST EVER EFFY AUCTION!!!! Or at least that’s what the Effy team said.

So…they had signs and postersstating that it was the first ever Effy auction, and with the lack ofauctioning experience and sheer mess that the auction was, I’m inclined tobelieve them. But since then, I’ve seentwo subsequent patters that also say FIRST EVER EFFY AUCTION!!! So I’mwondering if either the ship is stuck in a Groundhog Day loop, or if perhapssomething sketch is going on.

Either way, we didn’t buy anythingand ended up with another free rhinestone pendant to add to ourcollection. This auction was held in theWheelhouse Bar and another lecture was trying to shove everyone out of therebecause they had gone over, and so the entire auction was shuffled back to theEffy shop. Not really the best thing we’veseen.

We headed back to theInternational Café for a little lunch, curry and green bean shrimp salad thistime, and a really nice chicken waldorf salad. For the life of me, I can’t remember what Idid for a few hours after this. I thinkI went down to the MUTS pool and watched Christmas With The Kranks, but I’m notsure. I DO remember getting a bratwurstand thinking that it was pretty damn good.

Off we went to the lightning speedart auction, where we had heard that items were all going for under $500 today,and being that we had two $100 discounts, we were going to get us some art!

When the first painting went for$14,000 we discovered that we really can’t trust ourselves these days. We did see two ladies win the champagne forbeing the most enthusiastic, and purchase quite a few beautiful pieces so wewere just happy to people watch. Ifanything, we did learn quite a lot about art over the two days, and now I amable to be culturally superior to my friends.

Sort of.

Guardians of the Galaxy II wasplaying on the MUTS screen and we always enjoy watching it. Or any Marvel movie, to be honest. It was a cruise of superheroes, because myfavorite Wonder Woman and Spider-Man: Homecoming also were playing during theweek. We had some snacks – salami,cheese, guac—and my brother discovered that the Trident Grill cooks up somegreat chicken breasts. It got a littlechilly up on Deck 17, so we decided to get ready for dinner, the first formalnight.

Formal night is full of photo ops,as we all know, and it was interesting seeing people in their finery awkwardlyposing. Princess has excellentphotographers though, and we took home a couple of nice pictures from the firstformal night. It’s a good thing we wentall out and dressed up, because we were all battling seasickness the next oneand looked like the evening after a good formal night when we trudged down todinner. The mimosas weren’t superstrong, but they were pretty good and we just poured a little extra champagnein them to get them more to our taste. The canapes were…not good. Literally it was just egg salad on top of a tiny piece of bread? What happened to the rest of the bread, andhow long had it been sitting out?

Luckily, MY dinner was muchbetter. We sat with Alvin today in theDa Vinci Room. Still no wait at 7:30 ifyou line up by 7:15 and we were plowing through rolls in no time. They ordered the duck breast appetizer, andboth thought that the jam added a really nice touch to it. I ordered the French onion soup and it hadgreat flavor, but was lukewarm. Myfamily ordered the lamb leg, which they found tasty but chewy, and I had theroasted Cornish hen. That hen was SOgood! I think it was Italian seasoningthat they used, and the chicken was extraordinarily tender. I couldn’t finish mine so my brother polishedit off for me, happily. Dessert wasbananas foster, which was ripe and perfectly flambéed, and the Norman Lovechocolate hazelnut bar.

I won’t talk about the chocolatebar, I just started chewing my sleeve because I’m on a New Years diet and Isimply cannot right now. I can’t even.

We had a bit of an argument after dinner becausemy mother has signed us all up with Miss Texas to join her shopping trip toDiamonds International tomorrow because of the free ride to the city. Uber can get you there for $3, and you don’thave to listen to Miss Texas wax poetic about Tanzanite.

We ended up making our way toKaraoke, and promptly left again because a man was giving a delightfulperformance of Baby Got Back, as his three daughters shook what their mama gavethem for all of us.

Yikes.

 

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SquishTheWhale

SquishTheWhale

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I am loving your review, it's hilarious.

 

On a side note, my mother in law is Chinese and my husband is always telling her off over the phone for 'only eating Congee'. I have never actually thought to ask what Congee is- so now I know. So thanks for being both educational and amusing :D

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