Panama Canal on the Ruby Princess 2023 Christmas cruise-photo/ video journal by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

We like to eat breakfast outdoors at this hotel but the breeze  off the sea said eat indoors. The grub is good, the service good but the portions are huge.

 

My Cuban burrito with crispy potatoes

 

Carol's scrambled eggs, well done English muffin, scorched Earth bacon shrapnel. Great OJ (not Simpson)

 

[Bimmer09]

Today is the exciting day when the Princess luggage labels get attached

Yonder waits the Ruby at berth 2.

 

 

 

No kids in the pool. Breezy.

 

 

Next stop-Ruby Princess!!

Edited January 3 by Bimmer09
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[Bimmer09]

LYFT to port=about 12 minutes. Very busy at 11 a.m. Luggage hand-off plus $10 "insurance" against luggage falling off quay accidentally.

Long line of people to board. Some signs would be a good idea..."Green Lane/Blue Lane" we found out by asking a Princess rep. We were moved to the front of the green line and thence in the door. Get some banners and hang them outside. Green Lane/Blue Lane. Less chaos.

We had new photos taken and were good to board. But first the photo. No more backdrops of the ship in question-I guess they'll photoshop that later. I took a photo of the entry to the ship's gangways. I see my name...

 

We were told we must have one hand free to hold on to the escalator. Next the gangways-two of those, one forward one midships. We were directed to the forward one. I told the Princess Rep that we were aft and she was directing us to a forward gangway. No-this is the one you want! I could see the bow while we were talking to her. She was  a dumbass. An announcement said the staterooms weren't ready yet and should be ready by 1 p.m. Not used to that on Princess.

Carol wanted to get away from the boarding chaos and din so we went out to sit on Promenade Deck.

That's where I first saw the "We're on it" sign. 

It's a sign I would see often over the next ten days. I would look around to see where the "we"

were but no sign. In the photo above I waited ten minutes until the crewmen came along and then took a photo. They were on it!

 

We always like to have an MDR lunch on boarding. Hours are 12 to 1.30 in Da Vinci.

A voice came over the PA to say "Staterooms are ready" at 12 noon" Hoorah!!

 

[Bimmer09]

As we were forward we stayed so and went to deck 9 which was our deck (Dolphin). When we arrived the  access to the cabins were blocked by watertight doors. We were told it was time to go to our cabins and by golly I was not to be denied! I opened the hefty door and a  siren sounded. Yikes! Immediately no one came springing to their station to find out who was breaching the castle walls. I closed the door to stop the ear-shredding din.

We panned to walk the long corridor from forward to aft to avoid elevators. As we walked we stopped and moved out of the way to allow a woman approaching to pass.

She passed and we moved on.

"Are you Norris?" said that woman. I stopped.

"Yes I am"

"Hi I am Annie" said she

Annie is the CC member called rdsqrl

I told her my itinerary- move into cabin, lunch in Da Vinci, then Tradewinds Bar deck 16 a good place to meet before sail away.

And that was the last I ever  saw of her, despite my keeping a sharp eye out for her.

 

Before we got too far we changed from Port to Starboard to make it to our suite-The St John Suite or D737. It was a nice short walk from the aft elevator bank.

 

 

 

 

Carol set about Cloroxing all the surfaces we are likely to touch. Once satisfied we made a bee-line (we had brought a few bees) to Da Vinci, midship for a tasty lunch .

Edited January 3 by Bimmer09
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[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

Following. Thank you. We will be on the Coral for a 16 day Panama Canal full transit. Then the Ruby for a 22 day Alaska in 2025. Looking forward to your reviews on both. 

[Bimmer09]

Da Vinci at 12.30 and enter on the right side. We are being led across the room to the left side and as we are nearing a two top I say to the waiter-what about that table? I liked the look of it. "Oh that's for Suites sir"

"We are in a suite" quoth I.

"Let me speak to a manager " said he.

The Dining Room Manager, named Moises from Portugal came over and confirmed that Sir Norris and Lady Carol belonged in what is known as Reserve Dining.

We sat down at our chosen table.

A waiter came to take our order. Little did I know I had struck comedy gold with this guy-a perfect stooge for my nonsense.

His name was Kevin and he was about to become our waiter for the next 10 days.His assistant was 

Rizza. She asked what kind of water? Sparkling or regular?

I'd like some seawater/harbor water/water from the men's restroom on deck7....these weresome of the options  I gave her over the next 10 days and she laughed at each and offered her own such as Alaskan salt water/Pnama Canal water. Both Kevin and Rizza are from the Philippines where great waiters grow on trees.

Looking forward to a good lunch.

 

I love me a hearty soup and this here Tuscan farmhouse soup hits the spot. I licked the bowl but alas got my face wedged in it.

 

Carol's shrimp and avocado

 

and her green salad

 

My medallions of beef, always a sure bet!!

 

Carol's spinach and ricotta ravioli

 

My must-have orange souffle!

 

We had opted for the Princess Plus package. I was having a glass of Malbec. A very tasty lunch!

 

 

[anon2k2]

I was also on this cruise, and in fact stayed at the same pre-cruise hotel. Wonder if you happened to see this sign on the bottom floor near the hotel gift shop?

[JF - retired RRT]

On 1/1/2024 at 5:48 PM, Bimmer09 said:

 

You have a LOT of patience. We would have walked out when we heard the noise.

If we made it past the noise, we would have walked out when we got to this part.

Paying that kind of $$ for a poor dining experience is unacceptable.

[Bimmer09]

After lunch I went up to the Tradewinds bar for a beer. They had Guinness in a can! Excellent. Celebrity Apex had run out of it after I drank my first two!

 

 

Back in the stateroom some munchies had been added to the overstuffed fruit bowl.

 

Next up- our first ever 3 p.m sail away!

[Bimmer09]

It's time to go to sea! We have a couple of tugs to help us fight the wind. This is the first of my 4K videos which means that when it plays on your computer on YouTube make sure the setting is for 2160p.

 

 

Edited January 4 by Bimmer09
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[Bimmer09]

.We are free of the quay and have Tuggie the whistling tugboat pull us away.

 

 

Eurodam and Evrima by Ritz Carlton Cruises

 

Viking Sky which we last saw in Reykjavik.

 

 

We are turned to face the channel now

 

 

Bye bye comrades!

[Rick&Jeannie]

Very nice reporting so far!  I'm going to have to show my ignorance, though!  I'm not familiar with your past works...so I have NO IDEA what GSJ means... ???

[CRLess]

Norris,

Hope you and Carol are feeling better.  Selfishly, we need you to speedy this review up before we board in 2 weeks.  Can't wait too long to make adjustments to our plans, based on your good or bad experiences.

[CruisinMama2003]

1 hour ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Very nice reporting so far!  I'm going to have to show my ignorance, though!  I'm not familiar with your past works...so I have NO IDEA what GSJ means... ???

Gentleman's Seafaring Journal 🙂

[perfect match]

Hi Norris! I’m here, and you’re only on page 2 so I’m not too late! I can send you a note to excuse my tardiness if you need it, or maybe just a virtual Guinness will serve in place of a note! 
 

I knew that you and Carol would be cruising at some point around Christmas, but I couldn’t remember exactly when. Something told me to come looking, and there you were! I’m all settled in and will be here for the duration. I can’t wait to see what adventures you and Carol find to go on this time. 😀

 

I hope both you and Carol are feeling better. I would hate to have to ban you from any future Christmas cruises 😜 so you won’t keep coming home from them sick. I’d much rather see both of you coming home healthy, happy, and excited to tell us all about your cruise.

 

Carry on, Sir!

[Marvy Mare]

20 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

I've told you all before-I am blessed with a Spidey-sense. If I set an alarm for say, 4.30 a.m. I wake at 4.25 and turn the alarm off before it has a chance to shatter my sleep.

This morning my eyelids popped open at 5 a.m.

I could sense ships and stepped out onto the balcony. Lights out at sea. I put on my luxurious terry robe and got the camera...

RUBY 5.20 a.m.

 

EURODAM

 

Satisfied that Ruby is here to carry us away at 3.p.m I went back to sleep, perchance to dream.

 

 

 

[Marvy Mare]

Just now, Marvy Mare said:

I love watching those ships come into port in the dark  we may just have to check out that hotel for our next cruise. So glad I found your review. Always a great read  

 

[Bimmer09]

Back again after a normal length sleep. Help will arrive in the form of Paxlovid today. Where were we?

 

A big reason we choose full aft cabins is the foamy suds we leave in our wake!

 

 

That's a new convention center being built opposite the Renaissance Hotel

 

 After sailing past the PTZ camera in the condo building far left we are ready for anything Davy Jones or Neptune can throw at us. Wasn't Davy Jones the cute one the Monkeys? What his locker that people talk about-even the pirates in those old moves. And what was with the dentistry back in the pirate days?

Sorry, I tend to digress and I am already behind on writing this thing.

 

That's our hotel on the beach. Wait a minute I'll get you a closer shot...

 

 

 

My days of walking the dark beach from the hotel to the rocks at the channel are behind me but I got many close ups of ships coming home at 5 a.m. I think this is my 20th review on CC.

 

 

Something I noticed- the further you sail the smaller things behind you get....case in point. Cue next slide...see?

 

Time to go inside and make a reservation at Sabatini's for our complimentary first night feast.

Norris

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

I am wondering, You stated,  Back again after a normal length sleep. Help will arrive in the form of Paxlovid today. Where were we?.

Does this mean that you had Covid and needed to tske the Paxlovid?

[Bimmer09]

8 minutes ago, DANCING GRANDMOMMY said:

I am wondering, You stated,  Back again after a normal length sleep. Help will arrive in the form of Paxlovid today. Where were we?.

Does this mean that you had Covid and needed to tske the Paxlovid?

I've had Covid since Tuesday and it's a strong dose. I had it in January last year after a cruise on Diamond Princess. Last year I just had to wait it out.

Norris

[DANCING GRANDMOMMY]

50 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

I've had Covid since Tuesday and it's a strong dose. I had it in January last year after a cruise on Diamond Princess. Last year I just had to wait it out.

Norris

Hope you recover quickly.

[Bimmer09]

SABATINI'S? 

Before I make our reservation I must address an instant message (we call them IMs) I got from someone with their shorts in a bunch (we call them cargo pants nowadays) saying I was "dissing" Davy Jones of the Monkees earlier. Not true- The guy was a classically trained tambourinist and gave us some memorable solos!

This isn't Sabatini's I said to the staffer prepping for dinner. Last time  I was in this room was in January 2015 and it was an Italian looking space that spoke of Pavarotti, Vespas and Tuscany.

This wasn't it. The entrance was the same but...

 

 

 

 

 

No-this is the decor of the since defunct SHARE by Curtis Stone a fine chef from Australia who had a link with Princess and had restaurants made out of Sabatini's for a few years. They didn't bother to change the decor which is a pity as it's all hard surfaces. When you move your chair on the wooden floor to leave your seat the other diners are startled by the  sudden wooden shriek and exclaim "oh my lord, what was that?!! and waiters dive for cover.

 

The few Curtis Stone dishes I ever ate were flavor bombs which are  dishes Princess could do with now. I see from my 2015 Ruby review Carol and I had the very same dishes for our embarkation lunch in Da Vinci. That was 8 years 11 months ago.

 

The view from Sabs is still the same-don't ever change that!

Edited January 4 by Bimmer09
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[Bimmer09]

In the distance-Miami, a city I have sailed out of 46 times.

 

 

 

 

We were heading for Falmouth, Jamaicky to load the ship to the gunwales with barrels of cheap grog!

(Pirate speak and part of my DNA-Do Not Ask)

[Bimmer09]

This was HQ for taking the sail  away photos and videos.

 

our spacious aft balcony /verandah/porch/stoop

 

Sustaining nourishment provided gratis

 

[Bimmer09]

The ship was sailing at 19 knots and it was dark and all lit up and indoors where everyone would now be was dazzling and crowded with happy families and couples and solos ready to flex the Princess Plus muscles and-live a little, live their best lives. 

One of them was enjoying a class of Cabernet Sauvignon in the excellent but easily-packed Vines wine bar.

 

 

I later moved over to the International Cafe which is unusually generous in its hours of operation- you can't complain about 24/7!! They have some drinkable Italian coffee now-Lavazza, not Illy but it's a step up from the nonsense they once served. Was it Folgers or Nescafe?

 

Next up our first dinner at sea....