Group Live Ruby Princess 4/16-4/30

[PacnGoNow]

15 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

We interrupt this thread for a brief moment of happiness.

 

We just received these flowers from a Ukrainian crew member who was so thankful for the Ukrainian candies we brought on board. I’ve always felt that there is nothing better than a little taste from home to make one happy. Another crew member from the Ukraine gave me a huge hug when I handed her a 3x5 Ukrainian flag. I told to you hang it in her cabin, or wrap herself in it if she’s feeling sad.

They are so grateful knowing that others care about them in these tough times.
I am so touched by this, and just wanted to share this with everyone.

 

How did you get candles onboard? Those are forbidden.  

[DMRick]

7 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

How did you get candles onboard? Those are forbidden.  

Candies, as in chocolate, not candles.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

Maybe a typo, cuz I remember reading candles too.... 🤷‍♂️

Glad it was Candy.

[cruzin4us]

9 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

I’ve been told off the record that the dining problems are not due to a shortage of servers, but a shortage of kitchen staff. Cooks are working multiple stations, and even their own lunch breaks were cancelled the other day because they needed to prep for dinner.

 

We are cancelling our remaining specialty dining reservations, and I hope they are smart enough not to fill our spots with other guests. I have never seen a line at Crown Grill before…..it was long all night. 
They are clearly overwhelmed.

 

This is our 4th post-Covid cruise, and clearly the worst. The other 3 were all excellent.

We experienced almost the same thing on the Zuiderdam during our Sea of Cortez cruise in the beginning of April.   We had a server who not only was our server, but also the waiter/busser/drink pourer/wine steward and everything else in between.   No fault of the server.   When I asked the head chef and the maitre 'd, and both said they were not short staffed???    90% of our food was cold and over cooked and we ate in there 8 nights.    The servers were literally running thru the Pinnacle trying to keep up with all their tables.   If I'm going to pay $49/pp (Pinnacle prices) then I expect more.     I'm not sure who was to blame, lack of cooks, lack of servers, Princess, covid, or something else.      I'm hoping our Princess cruise (on the Ruby in June) will be better but now I'm questioning it.    We tend to eat in the Specialty restaurants every night because we enjoy it.   I don't mind the cost if the service & food is good/excellent.   I understand the shortages, yada yada......but common, they've been sailing for almost a year and that's enough time for them to get their s..t together.

[PescadoAmarillo]

22 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

This is our 4th post-Covid cruise, and clearly the worst. The other 3 were all excellent.

I don’t doubt your experiences; I hope no one else does, either. I will say the HGM, hotel management in general on the Ruby Princess seemed the most unengaged I’d ever seen on any Princess ship. It very much seems to  me to be a lack of leadership. The crew members I met were fantastic, very memorable and got mentions in my post-cruise survey. And it’s quite possible the problems we saw were a lack of adequate staffing resources. But I also saw no effort on the part of *anyone* to address those problems. Or if efforts were being made, there were no discernible results.

 

Unacceptably long embarkation lines outside the terminal cruise after cruise after cruise? The Terrace Pool closed and under maintenance for multiple cruises? The smoke coming from the casino that went unabated for 72 nights? My husband managed to enjoy his cruises on the Ruby Princess despite these and one other notable issue but agrees with you that the product was far below the other four post COVID cruises he’s taken. 

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, DMRick said:

Candies, as in chocolate, not candles.

Thank you!  I can’t read.

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Thank you!  I can’t read.

Same. 😆  But I already knew that. 

[VibeGuy]

Saaaaame.  I don’t *need* schmoozing but I did find it odd that after 70 nights on board, I couldn’t have picked out more than two hotel officers in a lineup.  I admit I tend to blend in in crowds and am hard to single out as someone you’ve seen for months on end.  </sarcasm>.
 

Crew and staff were remarkably good, however.  
 

I wonder if galley staff have been. . . poached. . . to other ships as their contracts have ended - everybody onboard since the start restart has had a leave now and they were “overstaffed” relative to passengers until recently.  Fleet staffing could have seen low-hanging fruit to get additional ships online by levelling out galley crew across fleets. Which sucks because I maintain galley crew has sort of an inelastic demand in that once you’re doing the menu for 1000, it doesn’t take double the labor hours to do it for 2000, but it also doesn’t take half as many to do it for 500. 

[panda64]

18 hours ago, Ombud said:

Yes @CineGraphic (Eric) that's her. We were all just watching on 5th floor

We may have seen the same person yesterday -a couple in scooters got separated for dinner  last night ( and with one yo two elevators not working, everything was taking a long time!) and others were trying to help them " reunite" at the DR. Because of the weight of the scooter others were asked to get off -her response -a loud FU!  Thankfully so many other kind people were there to help! So she may also be in need of the new Princess Plus Plus package! 

[Ombud]

39 minutes ago, panda64 said:

... -a couple in scooters  ... her response -a loud FU!  

No. She didn't need scooter. I spoke with the Hotel Mgr & Bar Mgr and told them that they needed authority to cut someone off. Even if they had only had 10 drinks by noon. And I will also tell corporate. Guests behaving more like they're on Carnival. 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Ombud

[VibeGuy]

I, too, seriously wonder what it takes to get cutoff.  It’s not even a question of before/after the 15 drink limit - those cutoffs are generally merely financial - you can keep buying drinks at the published tariff.  I’ve also seen those cut off at Bar A move to Bar B without incident. There have been several incidents of overservice that I’ve witnessed fairly early in the day.  
 

Why they’re tolerating a second incident of disruptive behaviour is a mystery to me.  Not every person who shows up and pays in full should expect to remain on board no matter their behaviour to staff, crew and other guests.  

Edited April 26, 2022 by VibeGuy

[travellingnana]

21 hours ago, redtop101 said:

I guess unless you are a frequent user of CruiseCritic then this requirement to fill out the ArriveCan app prior to embarkation is not well known. From what I have researched, the cruise lines themselves do a pretty bad job in communicating this requirement. It is very often buried deep in the FAQ’s of the cruise lines, and it is just unfortunate that this lack of clear communication leads to long lines at embarkation. 

Very true.  I'm embarking on the 30th and today got two emails with the heading:

Super Important Boarding Info!  which, of course included info about ArriveCan.  Maybe Super Important will get people to pay attention

[nunuc2000]

2 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

I, too, seriously wonder what it takes to get cutoff before the 15 drink limit.  There have been several incidents of overservice that I’ve witnessed fairly early in the day.  
 

Why they’re tolerating a second incident of disruptive behaviour is a mystery to me.  Not every person who shows up and pays in full should expect to remain on board no matter their behaviour to staff, crew and other guests.  

I don't wish covid on anyone... but perhaps if she were to develop it, they could forcibly confine her to an isolation room, and only a few unfortunate crew (preferably cranky security staff) would have to deal with her - it sounds like it would improve the overall enjoyment of the cruise for everyone else, passengers and crew! 

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

I, too, seriously wonder what it takes to get cutoff.  It’s not even a question of before/after the 15 drink limit - those cutoffs are generally merely financial - you can keep buying drinks at the published tariff.  I’ve also seen those cut off at Bar A move to Bar B without incident. There have been several incidents of overservice that I’ve witnessed fairly early in the day.  
 

Why they’re tolerating a second incident of disruptive behaviour is a mystery to me.  Not every person who shows up and pays in full should expect to remain on board no matter their behaviour to staff, crew and other guests.  

It should be an easy IT update to program the staff smart devices and then a guest could be flagged so wherever their Medallion shows up, the bartender or waiter would know they are denied alcohol for the rest of the day/voyage.

[VibeGuy]

I suspect the function is already there - I’ve definitely seen accounts where the holder could not purchase alcohol despite being of age.  I just think there is a reluctance to use it.  Whether that is on the staff, crew or management, I’m not sure. 

[Ombud]

I can't find any classical music. Guess that's because the Ukrainian musicians aren't here.

 

Also found jazz once. For those onboard, where are you finding them? The pianists make it to piazza but that's about it.  Guitarist in Wheelhouse. I'm ready for a new genre

[CineGraphic]

 New crew members boarded  yesterday in Seattle.
We had pre-dinner drinks in Explorers tonight and our waiter mentioned that he just boarded. He said he had no idea if it was Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday after flying from the Philippines to Japan, then to San Francisco, and finally to Seattle. Hopefully he’ll be able to adjust to the time zone changes in a few days.

 

After all of the trouble so many folks had with the ArriveCAN app, nobody checked a thing as we disembarked in Vancouver this morning. 

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

14 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 New crew members boarded  yesterday in Seattle.
We had pre-dinner drinks in Explorers tonight and our waiter mentioned that he just boarded. He said he had no idea if it was Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday after flying from the Philippines to Japan, then to San Francisco, and finally to Seattle. Hopefully he’ll be able to adjust to the time zone changes in a few days.

 

After all of the trouble so many folks had with the ArriveCAN app, nobody checked a thing as we disembarked in Vancouver this morning. 

 

 

Hmmm… no crew quarantine now?

[Thrak]

41 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

After all of the trouble so many folks had with the ArriveCAN app, nobody checked a thing as we disembarked in Vancouver this morning. 

 

So no checking of the ArriveCAN app.  Did Princess offer testing for those flying to the US?

[CineGraphic]

46 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Hmmm… no crew quarantine now?

I hadn’t even thought of that. Good catch!

One would hate to think that they avoided quarantine for the sake of improving service at the risk of our health.

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

I hadn’t even thought of that. Good catch!

One would hate to think that they avoided quarantine for the sake of improving service at the risk of our health.

Agreed!

[CineGraphic]

20 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

So no checking of the ArriveCAN app.  Did Princess offer testing for those flying to the US?

We walked right off of the ship as soon as they announced we could. We walked all through Canada Place. Nothing was set up, and nobody stopped anyone…and we were in the hundreds if not thousands.

 

Not sure why anyone would fly to the us from here as the cruise returns to San Fransisco on Saturday.

[chicopaige]

I am currently also on the Ruby and agree with all who have had complaints about this cruise.  This is my 6th cruise since the startup and I think I got spoiled with all the light loads previously.  The crew has been great for the most part.  It seems though that the leadership is weak (just my opinion). Everywhere you go there are long lines and people getting more frustrated and impatient.  I have decided to just sit back, get some great people watching in and not stress.  I will be postponing any future Princess cruises though for awhile.

The product is weak right now.

[CineGraphic]

Here are some shots I took while we were docking in Vancouver.

 

 

[that]

46 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

I hadn’t even thought of that. Good catch!

One would hate to think that they avoided quarantine for the sake of improving service at the risk of our health.

perhaps it would depend on current crew quarantine requirements