For Current Ruby passengers....a few questions

[Cessna140]

Hi,

Just wondering if you know of any covid on the ship?  Much mask wearing?

And has the dining room situation gotten any better? People on past cruises reported long lines and table issues.

How has the weather been? 

Thanks!

 

[sammyjoanne]

Not quite a current Ruby passenger, we went April 16th for a week and the change was happening at that point. At the very start of the cruise we all wore masks. Be it in the lift, walking through horizon court, or deck 7, and would take it off in the room, or outside. Then the CDC changed the rules 18th of April and whilst we was in LA on the 19th, and we was being told that masks were no longer required on buses and transportation. Then after that the passengers did not wear a mask as much. Lifts yes, but inside walking around it was about 20% mask wearing, 80% not.

MDR dining, we had any time dining and was in the davinci at 5pm and we waited about 15 mins for an unbooked table. Bottecelli we booked for a half past 8 table and got straight in. With the davinci we did notice there was a bit of unorganisation in the queueing at the entrance. No one knew which side was anytime waiting side, or the prebooked side; so we did see the staff trying to filter everyone through the right way, so people were not missing thier booked times.

When it comes to mask wearing you do what feels comfortable. For me I felt better wearing a mask on the lifts, and in the queue for leaving the ship, and making sure I had my sanitizer on me. When it comes to dinner in the MDR; if you do not have a show on, the later slots were no queue at all, where as 5pm was busy, so worth a though if you are alright eating later than usual.

[marden1970]

Hi Sammyjoane - has the promanade deck been opened all the way around (I know you need to go to deck 8 at the bow).  For some cruises on the Ruby the aft area was closed off to allow for crew smoking.  Thanks,

[calval]

We were on the April 11 sailing. The aft promenade was open some and closed some. It was closed in port one evening and we didn't know why.

 

We had dining reservations at 6pm each night. We never had a wait. But when we would exit there long lines. One possible reason could have been the ship was 60 some percent full and they had one dining room closed. 

[Steelers36]

12 minutes ago, calval said:

We were on the April 11 sailing. The aft promenade was open some and closed some. It was closed in port one evening and we didn't know why.

 

We had dining reservations at 6pm each night. We never had a wait. But when we would exit there long lines. One possible reason could have been the ship was 60 some percent full and they had one dining room closed. 

Bit of a bummer, but I keep reading they are short-staffed.  And I will close with some math.  If the ship is 100% full, then 33.33% of the passenger load can be distributed among the DR's.  That means that TWO DR's should be able to handle a 66.67& passenger load with no noticeable degradation in wait-times or service level.  Therefore, a 60% load should be handled with two DR's comfortably.  But that's math and there may be other factors involved.  Or, it's just normal again as there were waits at prime time. 

 

What is a "long" line?  To some, it may involve a five minute wait.  To others, more than 15 minute wait.  I have seen lines myself, but never in one.

 

[Cessna140]

Thanks everyone!

[HaveDogWillTravel]

13 hours ago, marden1970 said:

Hi Sammyjoane - has the promanade deck been opened all the way around (I know you need to go to deck 8 at the bow).  For some cruises on the Ruby the aft area was closed off to allow for crew smoking.  Thanks,

April 23-30 the aft was closed for crew smoking. The smoke was very evident on my aft facing vista suite balcony D736 throughout the day and night. 

[cruzin4us]

44 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

April 23-30 the aft was closed for crew smoking. The smoke was very evident on my aft facing vista suite balcony D736 throughout the day and night. 

Was the crew smoking section on the port or starboard side?    I'm sweating bullets cuz we have 2 cruises on the starboard side.....both aft (C753 last cabin on the starboard aft & E731 which is aft facing).   My DH's gonna have a fit.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

10 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Was the crew smoking section on the port or starboard side?    I'm sweating bullets cuz we have 2 cruises on the starboard side.....both aft (C753 last cabin on the starboard aft & E731 which is aft facing).   My DH's gonna have a fit.

It was the entire aft section facing the wake.  If we stayed away from the railing and the wind blew in our favor it was okay. So we would be out on the balcony and you’d get a big whiff of smoke then it would dissipate….wash, rinse and repeat. Standing at the railing it was bad most of the time. Dolphin deck sticks out further than Emerald deck, I imagine that deck must be worse. I never saw anyone smoking on the sides toward aft. They always walked to the wake. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, it just means I didn’t see it. 
 

There’s no telling if this policy will stay in place or not. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by HaveDogWillTravel

[sammyjoanne]

14 hours ago, marden1970 said:

Hi Sammyjoane - has the promanade deck been opened all the way around (I know you need to go to deck 8 at the bow).  For some cruises on the Ruby the aft area was closed off to allow for crew smoking.  Thanks,

I didnt walk the way round but my husband did. It was only when it docked in sanfrancisco for elaving they closed it.

[Wavesprite]

We just got off the Ruby yesterday.  We masked the whole time. I think masking got less and less by others as the cruise went on.  I never heard of any Covid, but I swear our neighbors had it and were hiding out in their cabin because ice never heard coughing like that in my lifetime.

 

We were never able to walk around the whole promenade.  

 

They had all three dining rooms open. Crown and Sabatini’s was flip flopping open nights. 

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

5 minutes ago, Wavesprite said:

We just got off the Ruby yesterday.  We masked the whole time. I think masking got less and less by others as the cruise went on.  I never heard of any Covid, but I swear our neighbors had it and were hiding out in their cabin because ice never heard coughing like that in my lifetime.

 

We were never able to walk around the whole promenade.  

 

They had all three dining rooms open. Crown and Sabatini’s was flip flopping open nights. 

 

Thats the scary thing.  People Not reporting being sick.

I would have called Guest services or Medical center & reported their cabin#.

Don't know if it does any good, but I wouldn't want the probable covid coughers next door.

 

[CineGraphic]

24 minutes ago, Wavesprite said:

They had all three dining rooms open. Crown and Sabatini’s was flip flopping open nights. 

 

They started doing this during our 2nd week on board. (April 23-30) The prior week everything was fine.

Service in the one specialty dining room that's open each night suffers, because they try to accommodate everyone who had reservations for the other venue. I saw the Crown Grill still serving dinner around 10-10:30 one night. We cancelled all of our specialty dining reservations, even though they were comping meals left and right.

I hope that Princess gets their act together. I can see letting a few things slide for a reduced "drop & go" fare, but those of us who've paid full price a long time ago shouldn't find this reduced level of services or available venues acceptable.

[memoak]

43 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Thats the scary thing.  People Not reporting being sick.

I would have called Guest services or Medical center & reported their cabin#.

Don't know if it does any good, but I wouldn't want the probable covid coughers next door.

 

Be advised many of us who have allergies cough all the time. Don’t assume all people who cough  have covid

[nunuc2000]

40 minutes ago, memoak said:

Be advised many of us who have allergies cough all the time. Don’t assume all people who cough  have covid

THIS!!  I have allergies, and take allergy meds, but still cough and sneeze many MANY times a day - I even occasionally have what I call a "hack attack" in which I seeming choke on my own air and take a few minutes of hard coughing to recover... often when I lay down for bed at night - we're talking tears streaming down my cheeks and all! HAHA!!  But I am concerned that there will be fellow passengers on our upcoming cruise that are convinced I'm a walking covid cesspool and will "tell on me".  🙄

[cruzin4us]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

They started doing this during our 2nd week on board. (April 23-30) The prior week everything was fine.

Service in the one specialty dining room that's open each night suffers, because they try to accommodate everyone who had reservations for the other venue. I saw the Crown Grill still serving dinner around 10-10:30 one night. We cancelled all of our specialty dining reservations, even though they were comping meals left and right.

I hope that Princess gets their act together. I can see letting a few things slide for a reduced "drop & go" fare, but those of us who've paid full price a long time ago shouldn't find this reduced level of services or available venues acceptable.

 

We book specialty dining for at least 75% of our cruise and mamas' not gonna be happy if I have to screw with this while on our cruise.  I purposely paid for (in advance) and scheduled where I want to eat and when.  I did this specifically so I won't have to mess with the dining and its current cluster F.    Argh

Edited May 11, 2022 by cruzin4us

[miagirl]

27 minutes ago, nunuc2000 said:

THIS!!  I have allergies, and take allergy meds, but still cough and sneeze many MANY times a day - I even occasionally have what I call a "hack attack" in which I seeming choke on my own air and take a few minutes of hard coughing to recover... often when I lay down for bed at night - we're talking tears streaming down my cheeks and all! HAHA!!  But I am concerned that there will be fellow passengers on our upcoming cruise that are convinced I'm a walking covid cesspool and will "tell on me".  🙄

I have allergies too.  I've gotten in the habit, following a sneezing or coughing attack to mutter loudly "ALLGERIES"  and people seem to relax around, some even chuckle.

[CineGraphic]

7 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

 

We book specialty dining for at least 75% of our cruise and mamas' not gonna be happy if I have to screw with this while on our cruise.  I purposely paid for (in advance) and scheduled where I want to eat and when.  I did this specifically so I won't have to mess with the dining and its current cluster F.    Argh

 

And unless things have changed, the app was still allowing folks to book reservations while on-board, even though the venue would be closed.

[cruzin4us]

1 minute ago, CineGraphic said:

 

And unless things have changed, the app was still allowing folks to book reservations while on-board, even though the venue would be closed.

lovely.....way to add to the confusion.    I'm really frustrated that they are expecting people to pay for a cruise and then they aren't performing on their end.   They've had enough time to get their act together.

[Wavesprite]

3 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

 

Thats the scary thing.  People Not reporting being sick.

I would have called Guest services or Medical center & reported their cabin#.

Don't know if it does any good, but I wouldn't want the probable covid coughers next door.

 

Oh we would never call guest services.  They could have been coughing for any number of reasons……we just noticed a lot of coughing…..

[Ombud]

Also not exactly current ..... last off 4/30/22. 

 

I became so frustrated with DMW on Majestic 8/15/21. Then it was worse on Emerald 12/9/21 as they continually tried to seat me in Deck 6 Aft. Canceled all future reservations on that cruise but they still tried. Didn't try DMW on 4/23/22 cruise and not using it on future cruises. Back to firmly ATD but dine in Deck 6 midship sometime around 7 (unless at the production then it's 8:30).

 

The longest wait I had for a 2 top was 5 minutes on the Emerald Princess. But I did see lines at 5 for dinner and 1/2 hour for lunch at noon on the Ruby Princess. So if you eat later, you will be fine IMHO. 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by Ombud

[CaliforniaCruiseCocktails]

3 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

I just sailed on discovery and rented a cabana for the whole cruise. It was divine. . Ruby is a grand class ship and has no cabanas. That said I have booked loungers for the length if the cruise on both the Ruby and the Grand Princess to Alaska in early May many times. The service has always been over the top great. I bundle up and use blankets. Not for the faint of heart.  I love it but most people don’t like the cold as much as I do. 
 

What department are you in?  I recently retired as a professor of mathematics, but with my graduate degree in statistics that was my true passion. 

 

23 hours ago, Cessna140 said:

Hi,

Just wondering if you know of any covid on the ship?  Much mask wearing?

And has the dining room situation gotten any better? People on past cruises reported long lines and table issues.

How has the weather been? 

Thanks!

 

We just returned from Discovery Princess two weeks ago. Our neighbors both caught it onboard (Tuesday packed tender in Santa Barbara) and tested positive on Friday. Line moved them to deck 9 luxe suites. I have asthma and relate to coughers (if my rescue inhaler or steroid hasn’t kicked in I wheeze). We had a notorious Covid Queen aboard Discovery: complaining night 1 she was feverish, exhausted, killer headache and coughing seated next to us. Notified maitre d and he moved us. She spent next week bundled up poolside with chills and coughing. No one isolated her🙄. We steered clear, masking in elevators, hallways and are fine, testing negative twice after returning. Assume some cruisers have it, take precautions and don’t sweat it🤷🏻‍♀️

[Steelers36]

8 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

And unless things have changed, the app was still allowing folks to book reservations while on-board, even though the venue would be closed.

You don't know whether to laugh or cry at these head-shaker misses.  DMW should be scrapped and re-built from the ground-up after getting input from long-time cruisers - both TD and AT fans - and from two of the most experienced DRO's.  They sold us the Moon and delivered a pile of dust (you can insert your own 4-letter word here).

[travellingnana]

On 5/10/2022 at 3:56 PM, Cessna140 said:

Hi,

Just wondering if you know of any covid on the ship?  Much mask wearing?

And has the dining room situation gotten any better? People on past cruises reported long lines and table issues.

How has the weather been? 

Thanks!

 

We got off yesterday. Mask wearing was minimal. We ate in the Michelangelo Dining Room towards the back which never felt crowded.  Had the same table/waiters every night and after walking up and tapping our medallions, we just walked in like traditional dining.  We were able to walk the entire promenade multiple times. Don’t know about covid but Aloha port side was blocked off.  Alaska was beautiful, ship was great. You’ll have a wonderful time. 

[doctork]

On 5/11/2022 at 8:44 AM, memoak said:

Be advised many of us who have allergies cough all the time. Don’t assume all people who cough  have covid

I too have allergies & asthma (and I'm fully vaccinated and boosted) with coughing and sneezing all the time for at least the past 6 weeks,  But before proceeding to an indoor restaurant for a Mother's Day brunch I decided it would be prudent to run a quick home test even though I felt fine.  POSITIVE for Covid!

 

Late that night I began feeling tired and ran a low grade fever.  Other than being an asthmatic with an increased risk for Covid if dining indoors, I wouldn't have tested and wouldn't have realized I was exposing others.  There is no 100% guarantee even with precautions.