LIVE from the Ruby Princess: April 2-9, 2023 Western Caribbean from Galveston

[talkorpi]

14 minutes ago, parytimeson said:

We will be cruising with Ruby Princess tomorrow. Our embarking time is at 1pm, if we arrive early would they let us on?

Probably. They weren’t really enforcing boarding groups. I think they generally want you to get there around the time your boarding group is so they can have an idea what to expect but we were there about 30 minutes early and it didn’t cause any problems.

[talkorpi]

I just realized ANOTHER thing that we didn’t get - there were ZERO enrichment lectures or opportunities all cruise! I checked Journey View before our cruise and there were definitely talks scheduled about pirates and Caribbean rum making. Those never happened. 
 

Not only did we miss a ton of ports but it sounds like we also missed some of the core elements of Princess’ onboard entertainment. No Voice of the Ocean, no enrichment, no magician on our sailing (literally never seen one onboard or anywhere in the patter), and we only got one comedian on the first night (we were supposed to get another in Roatan and while they said he would be joining us in Cozumel his show never appeared again on the patter). 
 

I really do think this was one of the worst possible sailings to introduce people to Princess. Lady Luck is not on our side this week.

[satxdiver]

22 minutes ago, parytimeson said:

We will be cruising with Ruby Princess tomorrow. Our embarking time is at 1pm, if we arrive early would they let us on?

When we arrived last Sunday very early, they did not ask when we were supposed to arrive.  We just went immediately through the line and because we had first boarding privileges we went immediately onboard.  I did notice there were some seated in the waiting area to board and not sure when they were allowed to board.  Anyone arriving at a later time I am not sure of the process.  We arrived at 11 AM and was onboard by 11:20.  YMMV depending on your status.

[phatlad]

54 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

I just realized ANOTHER thing that we didn’t get - there were ZERO enrichment lectures or opportunities all cruise! I checked Journey View before our cruise and there were definitely talks scheduled about pirates and Caribbean rum making. Those never happened. 
 

Not only did we miss a ton of ports but it sounds like we also missed some of the core elements of Princess’ onboard entertainment. No Voice of the Ocean, no enrichment, no magician on our sailing (literally never seen one onboard or anywhere in the patter), and we only got one comedian on the first night (we were supposed to get another in Roatan and while they said he would be joining us in Cozumel his show never appeared again on the patter). 
 

I really do think this was one of the worst possible sailings to introduce people to Princess. Lady Luck is not on our side this week.

Yeah this is my first princess experience and I’m so glad it’s not my first cruising experience. I know I will not be doing princess again based on this experience and if it was my first cruising experience I would not be doing cruising again. 
 

this was absolutely the most bored I’ve ever been on a cruise and EVERY ASPECT of this cruise — save the bed and pillows — was 20,000 leagues below what I’ve experienced on Royal Caribbean. EVERY THING. 

[talkorpi]

MDR Breakfast. I feel like this thread has gone negative lately and I was hoping I could report on a good breakfast to turn things around.
 

No such luck. This was the worst food we have had all week. The pancakes were gummy and undercooked. The hollandaise sauce on the eggs Benedict tasted like lemon pledge. It was weird- it was like this overwhelming taste of artificial lemon flavor. Not good at all. The eggs were cooked perfectly but they were hard to enjoy with all the gross hollandaise on top!

 

Darn it! Can’t say the food was perfect all cruise anymore. 

[FrankieJayIII]

24 minutes ago, phatlad said:

Yeah this is my first princess experience and I’m so glad it’s not my first cruising experience. I know I will not be doing princess again based on this experience and if it was my first cruising experience I would not be doing cruising again. 
 

this was absolutely the most bored I’ve ever been on a cruise and EVERY ASPECT of this cruise — save the bed and pillows — was 20,000 leagues below what I’ve experienced on Royal Caribbean. EVERY THING. 

that's really sad to me bc i love royal Caribbean and my understanding was princess was a step up from that.  we have a cruise coming in may and i had the option between royal and princess and i hope i don't regret it 

[talkorpi]

I haven’t been able to find those giant speciality cakes all week. Well look at what they decided to put out for our last day…

[phatlad]

6 minutes ago, FrankieJayIII said:

that's really sad to me bc i love royal Caribbean and my understanding was princess was a step up from that.  we have a cruise coming in may and i had the option between royal and princess and i hope i don't regret it 

My understanding also was Princess was a “step up” from Royal Caribbean! I hope your upcoming cruise is as enjoyable as this one was unenjoyable. 
 

This is my girlfriend’s first cruise and she is underwhelmed for the price we paid. I know for most people on these boards cruising is a drop in the bucket for their yearly expenses but for the lower middle class it’s a HUGE investment and to have that much of your budget basically decimated leaves a very sour taste.  

[talkorpi]

18 minutes ago, phatlad said:

My understanding also was Princess was a “step up” from Royal Caribbean! I hope your upcoming cruise is as enjoyable as this one was unenjoyable. 
 

This is my girlfriend’s first cruise and she is underwhelmed for the price we paid. I know for most people on these boards cruising is a drop in the bucket for their yearly expenses but for the lower middle class it’s a HUGE investment and to have that much of your budget basically decimated leaves a very sour taste.  

Yeah I can agree with this sentiment. I just graduated college and I still have a pretty nasty monthly student loan payment. I know I really shouldn’t be spending this much on travel but I have always wanted to try Princess ever since I was little and I figured I could justify this as my “one-time first adult purchase splurge” that I otherwise wouldn’t normally be able to afford. It does kind of leave a bad taste in my mouth given that I wouldn’t normally spend this much money (even if this cruise was cheaper than usual) and considering how I can’t just drop this much $$$ on cruising all the time like you also said. 
 

I’m sorry y’all aren’t having a bad time. We really did pick the worst possible week to try Princess. Whoops.

Edited April 8, 2023 by talkorpi

[wrongwaywatson]

11 hours ago, ingesey said:

I can understand that having been on 50 cruises, it may not be a big deal to miss the majority of the ports of call on a cruise. However, this is my 4th cruise, and I am turning 42 on Monday. I work in public education so in spite of my graduate level education, I earn 1/2 of what I would in the private sector, so this trip was a splurge for me. This is not one of multiple cruises we are taking this year, this is our ONLY family vacation. So it does matter, if to no one else but me. And I do not understand why the multibillion dollar cruise industry gets a pass. Can you imagine an airline not refunding or rebooking a flight that was canceled due to the weather?!? A hotel not refunding guests for a service that was not provided due to the weather?!? This cruise has made a ton of money, and even more so when ports of call are canceled, because guests are spending all of their money on the ship. The $75 onboard credit is money they are getting back (not losing), but are just taking a small decrease in their profit margin. But like I said, I guess cruising is not my cup of tea….

How do you figure that the cruiseline makes more money when you are onboard instead of in port?  It costs them more money to have the passengers onboard instead of in port.  They are consuming food and drinks while onboard.  Also, if you have the plus or premium package, you are drinking alcohol or specialty drinks that you wouldn't be consuming.  They also make money off of the excursions that were booked.  So, no, they make more money going into ports than on sea days.

I wasn't expecting any OBC from Princess.  It was nice, but not necessary, in my opinion.  I'm astounded that anyone would think they they should get more.  

[FrankieJayIII]

20 minutes ago, phatlad said:

I know for most people on these boards cruising is a drop in the bucket for their yearly expenses but for the lower middle class it’s a HUGE investment and to have that much of your budget basically decimated leaves a very sour taste.  

i have never paid as much as i have for a trip for this upcoming cruise.  we are doing a 10 day to alaska in a premium balcony with the premiere package and all the excursions . you can imagine the bill.   it is a 15 year anniversary trip.  we are imagining the trip of our lives.   i feel your pain and i'm sorry this happened to you. 

[TexasBrit]

8 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We went to the Captain's Circle party tonight.  The captain can be pretty funny as he told stories mostly about himself.  Probably the most personable captain we have ever come across.  Here are the statistics for our cruise for those interested:

 

First timers 1956

Gold (after one cruise) 558

Ruby (after three cruises) 199

Platinum (after 5 cruises) 298

Elite (after 15 cruises) 132

 

1st most - 1799 days

2nd most - 1034 days

3rd most - 993 days

 Earlier I was told 360 minors aboard.  

Many of those first timers may have been on cruises with other companies before.

 

I understand that Princess was undercutting Carnival and RC prices for the Galveston cruises in order to get people on board, as this is their first time back in Texas after many years.

 

This may have tempted people who may have taken a cruise from Galveston anyway to select Princess this time, as well as totally new cruisers who suddenly could afford the prices being offered by Princess but Carnival and RC were out of their price range. This may have been particularly true for those cruises during the Spring Break weeks that were fully booked and had hundreds of children aboard.

 

It is a pity that everyone had bad luck with the weather situation on this particular cruise.

I think that people who were on many of the previous weeks cruises on Ruby were very pleased with their experience.

[talkorpi]

Time for the Culinary demo! Bummed I have to miss trivia and the egg drop for it but I have been looking forward to this all week so I’m excited!

[Honolulu Blue]

6 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

Time for the Culinary demo! Bummed I have to miss trivia and the egg drop for it but I have been looking forward to this all week so I’m excited!

I'm glad you're excited about something!  I hope it lives up to your expectations!!

[talkorpi]

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I'm glad you're excited about something!  I hope it lives up to your expectations!!

It was great! Very entertaining and very funny. It was cool to see the galley too. Was probably the best thing we saw in the theater all week. 

[KLM3164]

For all you first time Princess cruisers who will never get back on a Princess ship…..never say never.

 

I too had the worst experience on my first Princess cruise back in 1995. The ship’s a/c was broken and people getting off the cruise before us told us how hot and humid it was on the ship, so obviously Princess knew there was a problem. On our cruise we were sailing around a hurricane so the rough seas and the lack of a/c made for a very miserable sailing. I think they offered us $100 to take another cruise and my response was “I’m never going on another Princess cruise”.

 

Well I did get back on another ship 20 years later because I wanted to sail with my parents and this was their cruise line. My DH and I now have 14 cruises on Princess and will be Elite after our next cruise in November. All cruises since the first one have been excellent and I’m glad I gave Princess another chance, even though it took 20 years to get me back on another ship.

[talkorpi]

It was cool to see the galley. It still amazes me how huge they are. Everything was crystal clean and it seems like everything is a well-oiled machine. 
 

Also had some cool carvings on display! 

[talkorpi]

One thing I was NOT happy to find in the galley…

[CC Rider 69]

47 minutes ago, talkorpi said:

One thing I was NOT happy to find in the galley…

According to buoy 42019 (100 mi offshore) in the gulf, Max swells are forecasted as 6-8 with a 6 second between crest. Windy predicts a NE wind 22mph. Wave height will remain however winds will subside t3mph when you're alongside tomorrow.

[satxdiver]

Ah the Gulf is showing its usual self.  I have cruised out of Galveston on CCL, RCL and PCL and experienced how rough the Gulf can be.  We have been lucky so far but appears that luck is about to play out.  The back part of the Gulf can be very rough.  

[Thrak]

16 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Sailing on April 9, Ruby Princess will embark on a five-night ’80s-themed Caribbean getaway, transporting guests back in time with various themed events, music, and activities. The cruise will feature live music sets from a Journey tribute band, a Bon Jovi Tribute band, and a Prince tribute band.

 

Passengers can also enjoy ’80s TV shows in their staterooms and watch ’80s blockbusters by the pool. Other themed activities include an ’80s deck party, live music, dances, trivia, costumes, and dress-up night.

 

[Colorado Coasty]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

Finally, something I can relate to.

[talkorpi]

Sorry for being so quiet today. Trying to enjoy the last of our time onboard. 
 

It’s funny - the morning after the second port cancellation, people were screaming at the crew and fellow passengers about how horrible this was and how they couldn’t WAIT to get off the ship for good. Now, suddenly, nobody wants to get off anymore. 
 

Funny how that works…

[talkorpi]

MDR Farewell Dinner:

Seafood Medley

Spinach Pesto Ravioli

Ceasar Salad

 

Mahi w/ Pineapple Salsa

Lamb Shank (one of the best things I have eaten all week)

 

Cherry Sorbet. 
 

All excellent. Big shoutout to Richard and Wilson in Botticelli for being such great waiters for us. The food this week has all been FANTASTIC!!!

 

[talkorpi]

You can tell we are getting close to Texas because it got cloudy and colder. A front was moving through for the last few days because I kept getting storm alerts on my phone for our house 😂

 

Also, IS THIS NOT A BEAUTIFUL VIEW?!?

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by talkorpi