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

[Taer al Saefer]

I forgot to update this! I was writing it while coming back from vacation and never uploaded.

 

So we wake up for the morning of Puerto Vallarta, and we haven't quite pulled in yet. We are expected to reach land at around 10am, but it ended up being a little earlier at 9:30am. We woke up pretty early and this started a day of confusion due to ship time vs. local time. For a breakdown, we live in Seattle (PST). On the first day of sailing, we moved forward an hour to Mountain time. We are NOW on Central time IN PUERTO VALLARTA, but the ship is still on Mountain Time. I will say that this makes sense for a convenience factor for every day but the day we were in PVR. So to clarify, the ship is one hour behind local time so when they say the ship sails at 8pm ship time, it ships at 9pm local time.

 

This would become an issue later when my mother is screaming at the Uber driver to hurry his ass up and we got back onto the ship at 6:34pm...local time. We accidentally lost 3 hours. This is also an issue because we had booked my brother an excursion at 11:30...and would NEVER have made it. We booked through a private source and they were easily able to switch him to 1pm.

 

We started the day with breakfast in the Horizon Court as my brother the non-sparkly vampire continued to snooze in the room. Breakfast wasn't bad, we enjoyed eggs Florentine, bacon, and lots of fruit as usual. The eggs Florentine looked like they were on their last breath and it looked like there had been an accident with one of them as its guts were spewed out all over the highway. That being said, the crew quickly shuffled off that sad tray and brought out a new, steaming tray of eggs for us. HC eggs benedicts/Florentines actually were a lot better than the MDR's, I daresay. But only if you get a fresh batch.

 

Plate of smoked salmon in hand for the sleeping wonder, we headed back up to the room and immediately got stuck in a stampede of ship excursion folks heading out into the city. Bruised and battered, we finally got up to Deck 8 and got everything ready to head out. The good thing about leaving a bit later than everyone else is that disembarking only takes a few minutes. We met up with Miss Fake Texas at the Captain's Circle Desk and followed her out to our free shuttle to Diamonds International.

 

I'll be honest, the trip wasn't bad at all. The driver's blasted a mix of mariachi music, 80s party music, and Taylor Swift. I am down with all three of those categories. Before we got into the vans (remember when our parents encouraged us to NOT get into white vans with strangers? Amazing what saving $10 on taxis will cause my mother to do) we walked through a group of vendors and bartenders who were there. There was also a few massage tables set up, but it was $10 for 10 minutes. For that, I'll just wait for the Lotus Spa or go home to one of my local masseuses. We pulled away from the cruise terminal quickly and were treated to a beautiful sight of indigenous Mexico - a lovely Sam's Club and a Walmart. Puts those damn Mayan ruins to shame.

 

Traffic in DT PVR is bad, but the local drivers knew how to manipulate the roads and we got to Diamonds Int'l in no time. Here's where it gets funny -- my best friend back in Seattle moved from Mexico when she was 12 and has not been back since. She was my "resident expert" for Mexico and also works in a cubicle job so we ended up using her as an impromptu tour guide. We later discovered that she's as knowledgeable as a turnip after 13 years in the United States.

 

Another fun story - an old coworker of mine who can only be described kindly as "nuts" encouraged us to visit her at the marina where she lived. Turns out she had a concussion and wanted us to help her with some household chores, so that is when we mysteriously lost cell service to that part of Puerto Vallarta.

 

We got out of the vans and headed to the door of Diamonds Intl, where we were immediately greeted by a life size banner of Miss Texas. Not seeing the real thing arrive yet, we booked it away from there before we accidentally bought some colored pebbles. Note, I am not anti-jewels in the least. In fact, I am quite knowledgeable in precious gems, diamonds especially, and this stuff is cheaply manufactured and meant to draw in unsuspecting tourists who haven't researched this before.

 

But then again, I also research fast food restaurants on yelp and FB foodie groups before getting my chicken nuggets so some might call me insane. Speaking of fast food, it was time for lunch! Yelp is a friend here, but what's important to note on yelp is to make sure that you are not just looking at the ratings. If you're looking at just ratings, you'll be heading down to Senor Frogs in no time. Which is fine, it's just not what we're looking for. I honestly don't remember the name of the place we went to, but it's an open restaurant on Ave Mexico. Here is where I discovered diet coke in a glass bottle and my life would never been the same. We ordered chips and guacamole, which also came with three fantastic salsas including an avocado crema is that is better than any...anything. We'll stay kid friendly in this review thank you. My brother and I ordered al pastor tacos, which were just incredible with very tender and flavorful pork, and my mother ordered two fish tacos. The fish tacos were the only disappointment, as the breading was too thick. That's what she gets for ordering a San Diego classic while in Mexico.

 

Uber does work in PVR, and as I am an Uber connoisseur, my brother was given a $3.64 ride back to the marina to meet his Zipline excursion. We were then treated to watching my brother wander the streets chasing the Uber as we finished our tacos. He's inherited the directionally challenged gene from my mother.

 

With lunch finished, we didn't have anything to do so decided to just walk to the Malecon. On our way, we went into a large store that sold crafts and sadly discovered that we didn't have enough room in our bags to purchase the beautiful hand carved bowls and wooden spoons we wanted. I think I forgot where I was, because the shop owner was an ex-pat.

 

"How much is that wall art?"

"10,000"

"HUH WHAT CHOO SAY"

"pesos?"

"oh."

 

We walked to the big church and had an interesting time because it was actually The Holiday of Guadalupe. Our resident Mexican guide spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out what holiday it is and encouraged us to head to the church because there was sure to be a festival there. Thank you Rubi, the church was empty and the festival was a mile away. We were able to get some beautiful photos though, and my Catholic mother enjoyed it greatly.

 

The rest of the early afternoon was spent walking the Malecon. It was a perfect day at 83 degrees and we enjoyed just going into every shop and taking photos of the beautiful ocean. I've been told that it's dangerous to swim there, and if you want to swim you need to head to one of the resorts. I also learned that it's not proper to toss back tequila the way that we do in the States. Oops. We got to the end of the Malecon and walked back on the closed street with the festival. There were SO many vendors there selling the most delicious looking food, but my mother was hanging on to all the pesos and with her (imo wrong) opinions on street vendors, we sadly had to walk past all of it. My mom became obsessed with the traditional white Mexican shirt with floral embellishments and every vendor got asked "quanto por esto?" I was later told that "quanto" is all we need to say and I was being very formal. Thanks, Mexican tour guide friend.

 

We headed into a small beachfront restaurant called Oasis. They had a chalkboard outside advertising BOGO margaritas for $3.75 USD. SCORE. Unfortunately they were out of mango and strawberry, but we're okay with that. We ordered a platter of ceviche and a fried red snapper. We were given a table right by the water in the sand we confirmed that food always tastes better when your shoes are off and feet in the sand. The food was incredible, and the snapper came with the most delicious coconut rice. There were two cats and the orange one ended up adopting us as the feeders...she ended up biting and scratching at us until we gave her about half the fish. Good news is that it was $6 so we didn't have too much of a loss. Unfortuantely, the fish was delicious and we wished we had more! The restaurant wasn't super busy so we stayed there for a little over an hour until my directionally challenged brother managed to find us. He's not the biggest sharer, so I have no idea what happened during the ziplining tour, but I know he had a great time. Our TA offered us a 50% discount and I think he ended up paying about $90 instead of $160. He was also given a fried fish and around 5pm is when my mother started hollering that we were late and the ship was ready to leave without us.

 

Fact. It was 4pm ship time.

 

Fact. Final boarding is 7:30pm.

 

Fact. It's a 10 minute drive back to the marina.

 

Fact. She chased us back out to the main road until I called an uber, screaming the whole time that we were going to be left behind in PVR.

 

Fact. As we went up the gangway at 4:45pm, she asked why we were going back so early.

 

GEE, I DON'T KNOW.

 

We went back down the gangway and enjoyed a couple of drinks before heading back in.

 

We agreed to meet at the dining room at 7:30pm and split up for a bit. As for me, I headed up to Deck 7 with a book and a coffee and watched as everybody made their way back up to the ship. I made a new drunken friend in the elevator that I've already forgotten the name of but it also started with a J.

 

Dinner was in The Da Vinci tonight, and I believe it was the Captain's Gala dinner? We started with the goat cheese soufflé and I considered dying forever. I had asked them to cook mine a little longer because I wanted extra crispy cheese, and they sure as hell delivered. My brother had the same thing, but as he isn't a fan of cheese, I gave him the gnocchi appetizer I had also ordered. I don't know if we got a bad batch, but the gnocchi was tough and chewy. I'm not complaining though, I got an extra soufflé! Mother had the green salad ,which came with a nice vinaigrette. She was still feeling the fried fish we ate and so she wanted to eat light today. My brother didn't quite have the same idea, because he ordered the Diver scallops entrée as well as the fried chicken. The palate cleansing sorbet was strawberry and was very sweet. I'm the biggest sweets fan so I was the only one who finished mine. All three of us ordered the scallops, and they were just okay. They were either not seared, or cooked after searing so that the crust became soggy again. The cream sauce and potatoes they came with were delicious though. The fried chicken tasted just like Kentucky Fried Chicken, which for us is never a bad thing. I don't eat KFC/McD's more than twice a year, but when I do, it's OG recipe all the way. Dessert was a trio of chocolate and another chocolate love boat. I'm not sure if I was just tired, but nothing really stood out that day. Might still be the ceviche talking. I may have also had quite a few margaritas.

 

Um I honestly can't remember what happened after this. Cheaza was singing, and by all accounts she was amazing, and I do love Whitney Houston tributes, but I don't remember why we didn't go.

 

OH.

 

It was the bbq night at the Trident Grill and we headed down to see what they had, because we hadn't quite eaten enough that day. The man in charge there was quite upset that we only wanted a sample of the ribs and didn't want two full plates. He compensated by giving us ONE full plate! I love that the staff on the cruise line always kept us (too) well fed, in Chinese culture, feeding people is the best way to show that you care, and as so many staff members came from Asia, we could tell that they cared.

 

BEDTIME. Mazatlán tomorrow, and we had booked the Stone Island Beach Break! We were promised white sand beaches, a luxury craft to take us there, and lunch!

 

HA.

 

Quote coming up:

"As we come up to the island, keep your hearts and minds open. This is a very rustic place."

[suec12]

Glad you have returned! Was this the third night dinner? On our upcoming cruise we plan to eat off the ship on the third night (in SF) but if I miss that goat cheese souflee I will be one unhappy camper!

[greenie082756]

Have a margarita with Don Julio tequila in it. You will not need many of those...take my word for it!:')

 

Love your writing style..

 

Thanks!

[Taer al Saefer]

Glad you have returned! Was this the third night dinner? On our upcoming cruise we plan to eat off the ship on the third night (in SF) but if I miss that goat cheese souflee I will be one unhappy camper!

 

This was Dinner 4!

[tompeter]

What a great review!!!

[clw1624]

...I also research fast food restaurants on yelp and FB foodie groups before getting my chicken nuggets so some might call me insane. Speaking of fast food, it was time for lunch! Yelp is a friend here, but what's important to note on yelp is to make sure that you are not just looking at the ratings.

 

 

Loving your review, especially after reading that Yelp works!!! Looking forward to checking out Oasis and reading more of your review. Thanks!

[CruiseVA]

Hilarious and very informative. Having cruised the Ruby many times, spot on.

[Taer al Saefer]

Day 5 - Mazatlán Day!

 

We are expected to get into port at 8am, but our Stone Island Beach Break excursion booked through Princess is not until 9:45 am, with a meeting spot by where the ship is docked. Two of us woke up at 8am and headed down to the MDR for breakfast. Breakfast today was an English full breakfast, which is fairly decent. For those who haven't had any, it's eggs, bacon, roasted tomatoes, hashbrown, beans, and a bit of toast. A very Americanized English Breakfast using products that aren't quite British, but still good. What we're really liking about MDR breakfast vs. the buffet is that it's very quiet and slow paced, as opposed to the buffet where it feels like we're just shoveling as much food in as quickly as possible.

 

We went back to the room and got our bags ready for the private island beach break thing that sounded very glamorous on paper. I had wrestled a $10 tote bag away from some older ladies at the $10 sale two days ago, since my packing failed me and I had only brought a small purse. Out of the crap that's sold at the sale, this was actually a pretty good one. As evidenced by the three older ladies who grabbed at it while the Princess staff wrote down my cabin number.

 

We rushed off the ship sprinting two by two on the stairs because my brother couldn't find his shoes, and made it down to the dock with -4 minutes to spare. Luckily, we weren't the only ones late and got ushered quickly past the photo ops and onto a private catamaran. Aka, it looked like a cheap tugboat. The day was gray and dreary and somehow made the boat look even dingier.

 

Note: I absolutely loved the excursion. I enjoyed how simple and straightforward it was, and quite frankly, if it had been a St. Bart's style resort type, I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. I'm not one for formalities, which we will find out about at my experience during the next formal night. However, Princess advertised it as something quite different than what it was. My dad grew up on a very poor farm in China, and our route to the restaurant (Victor's, I think) reminded me of his past life. Princess advertised the excursion like a fancy private beach tour, with a catamaran taking you to places. My mother, who lived like that as well, did not find the excursion appealing, at the risk of sounding elitist.

 

We are on the boat for about half an hour, and the guy downstairs is furiously mixing margaritas, mai tais, and pouring beers. He was a very, very, very generous man and I found him to be a wonderful person, three margaritas in. He also seemed to not care about drinking age, because the 15 year old in front of me was quite cheerfully enjoying a mai tai. The tour took us around the island and we were able to get some beautiful shots of the Ruby.

 

Here's where it gets funny, and my friends from Mexico nearly died laughing when I told them this story: the tour guide was pulling the boat up on the other side of the island, and told us that the green vehicle that is coming up will be our "Mexican limousine", and that we must keep our "hearts and minds open" for this was a "rustic tour". "However, we do have running water!" We were also told not to buy anything from the vendors if we don't want to and that there would be food at the restaurant. And so we clambered into a wagon pulled by a tractor and off we went through the village. It's a bit bumpy, but nothing too bad if you sit still and hold on.

 

The restaurant was nice, and again they had a wonderful open bar with a very generous bartender. We sat with some folks from California but they were mostly keeping to themselves. Fun fact, another table by us was filled with people from our little town in Washington, and they may have even been our customers! We were right on the beach under shade, and the beach was maybe 50 yards away. We were given a meal of chips, salsa, roasted chicken (super tasty), rice, beans, and some sort of fried fish.

 

To be cont'd