Drews_Cruise

We were so dissapointed in the condition of the Ruby rust bucket last year when we compared it to the ship it once was. It was really showing its wear, so I hope they did enough to make people feel like its an up to date ship again. It was hit and miss though as our friends next door had beautiful new carpet and ours was old, faded and worn. It may have been a premium balcony due to the size but it was not "premium " due to the old decor. Its not the all and all to have a new ship every time but you certainly don't want to be on a ship that is tired and old looking. At least its not our preference. It would be interesting to hear fro so previous sailors as to what they think now.

Again, I welcome anything new to Princess. it was getting a bit stale and the new Sun Princess is very exciting.

Finally something different from Princess. I welcome new ideas for cruise entertainment on this line. I can't wait to see this small theatre experience.

Looking forward to hearing how this cruise goes, We've dumped Princess until such time we hear something positive out of them. Enjoy your cruise!

Our group is up to 14 people now so I'm not sure we can even book a table that large for every night. I will certainly try though....lol

I was not able to book anything either but figured it was too early. How long before sail date can you start booking dinner reservations on HAL?

We don't eat at the buffet ever. Way too many people coughing, breathing and handling utensils for us so I hope there are other options on the Koningsdam next year. We are hoping for the MDR for sure.

I will print a screen shot for sure. This additional charge of "just the difference" was the policy of our last cruise on Princess, and it worked well and worked often (for us). We loved having a few extra special drinks without having to buy the whole package. I hope HAL adopts it across the board as its a program that makes sense for everyone.

Great reporting, We are a group of 10 who are doing this same cruise next year around the same time. Looking forward to hearing everything you experience. Thanks for sharing.

I'm going to follow this question because I'm looking for the same answer. We have a group of 10 but it seems you can only book a table for 8. Were not sure if we are at a specific time or if we need to adjust it once on board. We're used to Princess, and HAL doesnt seem to have the same clarity with regards to dining as we are used to.

We only did one HAL cruise about 5 years ago and we continue to get free balcony cabin offers all the time. Princess has always been our “go to” but we’re done with them after a terrible experience. We couldn’t find any sailings we liked for free, but got a substantial price reduction with a casino credit for our return to HAL.

I know what you mean, We were beside the Majestic Princess in Ensenada in April, and people getting off the Majestic were saying how bad the Ruby looked as we sailed in. The flooring around the pool was so cracked and peeling that people were tripping on it, the pipes on the balcony were rusted and broken (leaking crap out of them). The door rattled all night, and the entire ship needs a lot of work as we saw it. I'm glad some people are enjoying their time on her though because there is lots more to cruising than just the condition of the ship. As for us, never again. Their credit for the days in isolation will go unused. I sent the letter to Princess explaining the many issues we had and they offered us $100.00 on board credit to get us to "Come back" but there isn't a chance. Not in the next few years anyway. We're moving to Celebrity or HAL. We were such champions for Princess but never will we get treated like that again. We do hope everyone enjoys their time on her if you're not too fussy and willing to take the risk.

Nice to follow along, thanks for sharing everyone. I'm hopeful your experience is superior to ours on the Ruby Rust-bucket back in April. By the way those elevators are a covid hotspot so I'd mask up if I were you. Same with getting on and off the ship. lol Enjoy everyone.

I agree, but we were able to use the app for the menu. How did you get your order placed? nobody answered the phones for us.

great blog, Exactly as we experienced it.

You are absolutely correct, however, don't count on it. Near the end of the cruise to Hawaii, there were dozens of people sneezing and coughing on the ruby with many people discussing how they shouldn't report it if they don't want to get locked up. It's unfortunate but many people don't do the right thing.

The staff is poorly trained on many things right now, but the service elevator was inside that corridor so it would be one option for escape. If I could have arranged for a helicopter, I would have used that elevator to get to the sky deck. Nobody told us what to do though and we were never even given a new muster station. Any evacuation would have been disaster for the entire floor that was in isolation.

Yes I meant "inferior" If you are in a mini suite or a "premium balcony such as true aft" you got moved to a standard balcony. Its ok but was not expected. In our case, the stateroom had worn older design of carpet and it was not at all clean, an old scratched and improperly caulked shower that looked like a 2 start hotel, Stains on the walls (who knows what it was) the Hair dryer didn't work, the balcony door was so tight that my wife couldn't open it to get out to the balcony. And the entire cabin including the doors and walls that squeaked and rattled all day and night. To us that's inferior. Trust me, we are not that fussy but it was not at all an acceptable cabin that I would have stayed in given the option to get out of it.

Yes our experience in Jail was horrible on the Ruby. We also voluntarily got tested as my DW had symptoms. We knew what would happen…but knew we had to protect others. When I say we knew what would happen it was a “sort of” because we didn’t realize that quarantine was not the same as isolation. We had no idea the we would have to move to an inferior cabin ( although it sounds like that may have changed). The reason we call it “prison” is that there was no way to get a hold of people for food or drinks most of the time. Literally hours on the phone only to get a wrong order or no order delivered. You can’t lock people up and leave them without service. It’s just unacceptable. They were always apologetic but it never changed. It was 7 days of hell. When we got home, all cruises now cancelled. We were told we would get credits for the days in isolation but nothing received so far and there has been no response to any of our written concerns. They seem to be really backed up. To be honest, we have no need for any future credits. We cannot let them treat us like that again. Traveller beware….be safe and good luck!

We did the same in April and received our cheque around a month after we got home. It should come!

Reading this thread has shown that some of the Ruby protocols seem to have changed for the better since our cruise in March and April. We were isolated in inferior cabins and struggled daily to get food. It was a horrible experience and it appears that filing complaints has fallen on deaf ears so far. We continue to wait for a response to their short comings. It seems that the IC has much more choice and the return to butter and buns on tables is a nice touch. Maybe turndown service and chocolates on the pillows are not too far behind? Hopefully the painting of the hull happens soon too because the pouring rust was just an embarrassment. We called it the Ruby Rustbucket. The ship looked totally un-serviced but remember how beautiful it was when we were on her during the first year of service. Hopefully most people are enjoying this sailing.

Dry slide all the way.

Good luck to you both, We went through it on the Ruby in March/April and the isolation chamber was horrific. (I have no other words for it) Mask wearing was rare and the number of people that went home with covid was unacceptable in my opinion. Princess needs to have better and more frequent communication, more feedback into cases on board and more protocols around large groups to protect people. These things seemed non-existent to us while on board and lots of unsuspecting people thought there were no cases on board.

Sorry for the confusion, yes I meant the ship wasn't going to be ready for the inaugural sailing that we had booked. I was looking forward to trying out that slide but cannot do it now as our sailing was cancelled and we wont pay those prices for the rebooking of another date. Every time I see a new photo of ship progress (or the lack of it) it adds to my disappointment that we aren't going.. I need to stop following this topic I guess. cheers

I was so looking forward to that slide....Complete disappointment that it won't be ready on time.