Review of the Ruby Princess 5 Day to Cabo

Hey Everyone! Just returned from our cruise yesterday, and will be doing a small

photo review of our trip. We really didn’t hit a lot of venues this trip, as we were with a group of 16 and did more group socializing than clubs and activities.

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza LA Harbor Sunday night, with the cruise parking package. Nothing amazing, but nice and convenient. We booked our party for an Escape Room (split between two rooms) for that evening at the “Back in Time Escape Rooms”. Some in our group are avid escapees, but we had never done one. It was so much fun, and I highly recommend booking one if you have the time. The staff there was also really great.

Our embarkation was incredibly smooth— except for the part where DH managed to go over the Vincent Bridge a couple times. Well, once was on the way to the Escape room. He drove over some of our bags in the car, since he has a knee and shoulder injury. Wanted to reduce the stress of dealing with luggage in the shuttle. Once that was done and the car turned over to the valet, we quickly took the shuttle back to the port. We had arranged assisted wheelchair boarding for DH, as he wasn’t walking too well in the days leading up to the trip. Apparently he aggravated his knee a few days before. We entered the passenger area, and he was provided a wheelchair. To the desk for health forms, and on our way. Our older kids and some friends in a suite entered at the same time, and pretty much kept were on the same boarding track as we were, time wise. There was literally no waiting — we were aboard within maybe 15-20 minutes of arrival.

He was wheeled straight to our suite, and he relaxed with our youngest daughter while I went off to the Sanctuary to book for Wednesday morning. Some of our group met me there. We happily booked almost the full window section on one side. Then we popped down to the Spa to get our thermal suite stickers that come with the suite we booked before heading off to Da Vinci for lunch. There were 15 of us for lunch, at two tables. The food and service was excellent — a good omen for the rest of the trip.

Muster was quick and painless, after which we all joined up in our suite for a sailaway party. We were in the Port of Spain suite (OS) and friends were in the suite next door, so our cabin steward opened the balcony door to create one huge balcony. I sent the kids down for some cheese plates from the IC, and our steward had supplied us with s tray of wine glasses.

Which brings me to one of the very few issues we encountered on this trip. Getting anyone in room service to answer the phone. Obviously on embarkation day, that’s not unusual, which is why our steward Randy helped us out with the glassware. But, it was a trend that continued for the entire cruise, regardless of what time you called. Everyone in our group experienced this issue. Appears they are grossly under staffed at the desk for room service.

We made reservations for our entire group at Share, and used the “buy one, get one” specialty dining coupons some of us got. That was kind of strange, as there appeared to be no rhyme or reason as to why some did, and some didn’t, get the booklets. Dinner was very good, and we were happy to see that at our table (one of 3 for the group) we had Reza for our waitress. We had met her at the Sanctuary earlier in the day, and she already knew all of our names.

That’s it for tonight— will get some pictures posted tomorrow and continue with the review

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Thanks for sharing looking forward for more.

Tony

 

We made reservations for our entire group at Share, and used the “buy one, get one” specialty dining coupons some of us got. That was kind of strange, as there appeared to be no rhyme or reason as to why some did, and some didn’t, get the booklets.

There are two types of coupon booklets.

First is the one given to all passengers. Sometimes we find it in the cabin when embarking. Sometimes it is handed to us as we walk onto the ship. Sometimes you have to hunt for it at the shops.

Second is one used for Travel Agent promotions. If all in your group booked using the same TA and did it at the same time, then you all should have received the coupons if they were being offered at that time. Since the promotion comes and goes and since it is with different travel agents at different times, then using different TAs and at different times could be why not everyone in your group received the coupons.

He drove over some of our bags in the car,

Got a chuckle over this one. Had to read it a few times to actually understand what you were intending. At first i thought he was really in the dog house.

Don

There are two types of coupon booklets.

 

 

 

First is the one given to all passengers. Sometimes we find it in the cabin when embarking. Sometimes it is handed to us as we walk onto the ship. Sometimes you have to hunt for it at the shops.

 

 

 

Second is one used for Travel Agent promotions. If all in your group booked using the same TA and did it at the same time, then you all should have received the coupons if they were being offered at that time. Since the promotion comes and goes and since it is with different travel agents at different times, then using different TAs and at different times could be why not everyone in your group received the coupons.

As per usual, the people that didn’t get them were told different things from the stewards about why they didn’t get one. My family was booked at the same time, via the same TA. Three cabins for us, but only two got the booklets. Some friends booked direct, and got the booklets, some didn’t. We were told the steward “ran out”, that it was a TA associated perk, etc. Whatever the reason, it didn’t appear to be consistent. But we had enough to cover our group reasonably well for the dinner, since those of us who got them, got two of the booklets per cabin.

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Got a chuckle over this one. Had to read it a few times to actually understand what you were intending. At first i thought he was really in the dog house.

 

 

 

Don

Lol — nope, no dog house. I had an excess of baggage due to the event we were celebrating. DH fell off a ladder in February and had some ankle fractures, knee messed up, shoulder seriously messed up and a nasty 10cm gash on his calf. Needs surgery for the knee and shoulder. And then just days before we left, he managed to aggravate the knee injury to the point where walking was slow going. He improved after a day or so onboard with the knee issue, although he couldn’t use the stairs all week. Was just easier to go over in the car with the bags and one of our able bodied young men (aka our daughter’s boyfriend).

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Got a chuckle over this one. Had to read it a few times to actually understand what you were intending. At first i thought he was really in the dog house.

 

Don

Poor guy, I was thinking the same.

Lol — nope, no dog house. I had an excess of baggage due to the event we were celebrating. DH fell off a ladder in February and had some ankle fractures, knee messed up, shoulder seriously messed up and a nasty 10cm gash on his calf. Needs surgery for the knee and shoulder. And then just days before we left, he managed to aggravate the knee injury to the point where walking was slow going. He improved after a day or so onboard with the knee issue, although he couldn’t use the stairs all week. Was just easier to go over in the car with the bags and one of our able bodied young men (aka our daughter’s boyfriend).

 

 

 

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Glad it got better over time. He will feel so much better once he has surgery. Enjoying the review so far.

More detail on our Share experience. We were promptly seated, and offered our choice of table configuration depending on how we wanted to portion out our large group. The staff really went out of their way to be flexible and make sure we were happy.

As I mentioned earlier, our waitress was Reza (might have the spelling wrong -- Riza?) who was excellent. The pacing of the meal was quite leisurely, but always attentive. The host (or venue Maitre D -- not sure of his actual title) came by on several occasions to check on us. His demeanor was fun and friendly, so it enhanced the experience, rather than making us feel over supervised.

At our table, a variety of 1st courses were ordered -- I got the Pantaleo Cheese -- which I enjoyed, and was surprised that the onion was the best part. Most others got a variation of the Charcuterie -- there was a garlic version, spicy version, and one more. Everyone enjoyed their choices, and there was a bit of sharing going on. Portions are very small. With so many upcoming courses, it really allowed you to just enjoy each course, since you didn't feel overwhelmed.

Second courses were the Lemon Poached Prawns (ordered by several in the group, and everyone loved it), Gem salad (several people ordered this, and it was universally disliked)

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Lemon Poached Prawns

For our third course, I had the Pork Ravioli, as did one of our daughters. It was quite enjoyable, but the texture was a bit unusual and not a "rush to order again" dish.

Pork Ravioli at Share by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

The Ricotta Cavatelli was ordered by quite a few, and really enjoyed. I tasted it, and found it to be quite delicious

Ricotta Cavatelli at Share Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

The fourth course included the Butter Poached Lobster Tail -- very good, quite enjoyed it.

Butter Poached Lobster Tail at Share by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

The Day Boat Scallops and White Corn Veloute -- didn't get photos of those, but heard from those that ordered them that they were good. The scallops were particularly well received, the Veloute was "good, but not my favorite".

Course five brought us to the Land options. I ordered the Lamb Loin, as did one of my tablemates. I love lamb, and found it to be one of the most tender lamb entrees I've ever had, with a mild lamb flavor. My friend had never had lamb before, and found it to be too flavorful in the wrong way. So my take is that if you love lamb, you will probably enjoy this selection

Lamb Loin at Share Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

A few ordered the Duck Leg Confit, which got a thumbs up. No photo of that, unfortunately. DH and a few others ordered the Strip Loin Steak. He thought it was a bit tough. I tasted it, and must have gotten a good bite, because I didn't think it was tough.

Strip Loin Steak at Share Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

The two desserts I have photos of are the Dark Chocolate Cremeux and the Toffee Cheesecake. Both were delicious. I preferred the chocolate, which is happily what I ordered.

Dark Chocolate Cremeux at Share by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Toffee Cheesecake at Share by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Not going to over do the "day by day" info of the cruise, since a lot of it was centered around hanging with our friends. But will take this opportunity to post a little about our cabin and sail away photos.

I had intended on doing complete cabin photos and video, but under estimated the demands of hosting a largish group. As mentioned, we were in an Owner's Suite. A big splurge for us, but frankly, the price was right and the space ideal for this trip. We could not have asked for a more perfect hosting space, especially for the fare we booked at.

It was our first aft cabin, and definitely not our last. The motion didn't phase us at all, it was incredibly quiet, with zero foot traffic other than our friends and family. The cabin was well maintained, the decor was soothing and it was comfortably appointed.

The bed was luxe -- the mattress was on the firm side for me, but DH thought it was perfection. The bedding was heavenly to climb into at night, after a hard day of socializing ;) Closet was smaller than I expected from videos I had seen, but still nice. There was tons of cupboard and drawer space -- more than we needed.

Bathroom set up worked really well, and DH said it was the most comfortable tub he's ever been in. I missed checking that out, so will have to book this cabin again, lol.

Here are a few random pics of our sail away party and cabin space

Wet Bar A752 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Living area A752 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sailaway by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sailaway view from A750 looking towards A752 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Balcony Vibe A752 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Hanging out with family by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Hanging out with friends by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Hanging out with friends by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

One of the reasons I had extra baggage this trip, is because I wanted to decorate the cabin in the spirit of a "wedding" event. I spent a lot of time considering what options would be easily transported (small, lightweight, not too fragile, cost effective, easy to put up and take down). I settled on Chinese lanterns with radio controlled battery lights, silk flowers and magnetic hooks. I also brought some of our original wedding photos to put around.

I planned a tea party in our suite for Tuesday -- didn't get any photos (argh) but it was great. I had the decorations up, the tea service was delivered on time (ordered for 10, with 16 attendees -- it was perfect other than being short on cups). Even the guys showed up and enjoyed it. We also squeezed in the Maitre D's wine tasting just before hand. Here are some pics of the decor I came up with:

Renewal Decor Wetbar by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Decor at desk, A752 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Wet Bar Decor, angle 2 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

With the lights turned on:

Decor lit up by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Tuesday night was Formal Night -- I had purchased the All Inclusive package just for this purpose. Our group met up and lined up for various photo ops. I won't bore you with many :p. I've just discovered, when downloading my ship flash drive, that they didn't give me the digitals for our larger group photos. So annoying -- now I have a scanning task ahead of me, with reduced quality in the resulting image. I think they are now using a facial recognition program to pull out your images for the digital copies -- and it didn't work on the large group shots.

One note of issue with the actual photo taking. Generally, the photographers were personable and worked with us, but the first guy (at the ship background) was not so thrilled with our group size. He said he could only shoot a max group of 8, so we did our family shots first, then a few with DH and I with each family in our group. This annoyed him. Presumably because this held up the line?? Not sure. All the families involved, had also waited in line, and didn't take a family shot of their own, since they didn't plan on ordering any. So as far as I'm concerned, it was not inappropriate to get the shots we had waited in line for.

The staircase set up allowed large groups, so we did get some there, which were not on my flash drive. Ultimately, we are happy with our images, but figured I would mention it for future cruisers traveling in a larger group.

Core Family by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

alx_6897_r by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

After photos, we went to the DaVinci Dining room for dinner. This ended up being our big service issue, other than the room service line never being picked up.

So half of our group had Club Class, and half didn't. We had zero expectation or intent that we could get all of us seated in Club Class, but when we arrived at the host area for Club Class, I asked the hostess if she was aware, or if we could coordinate so that our non-club class people could be seated at least on the same side of the ship as the CC section. Note, that we waited to go to the MDR until just after 8pm, knowing that a later arrival time is usually less crowded. She called over the head waiter, who said "no". OK, no problem. I said something like, "we will just meet up with them again after dinner, and so we need a table for 6 in club class". To which he replied "No, you have to go to the MDR entrance to be seated". I thought he misunderstood, and repeated that all 6 of us were in suites, and that we therefore needed a table for 6 in CC. The resulting back and forth included "You should have shown up at your assigned time". ???? I replied Club Class is Anytime, and there is no assigned time. He says "You came too late, we close in 20 minutes" -- it was 8:15, so that was a lie, they did not close in 20 minutes, and it shouldn't have mattered, we were there before closing, period. He finished with "It's difficult to seat such a large group, you will have to go elsewhere". SIX?? Didn't know the was an excessively large group.

The kicker is, there was an empty table for 8 in front of us, prepped for diners. It was part of the regular MDR (white tablecloth) but it was right there, empty, next to the CC section. If I had been in his position, I would have said "one moment" and checked with the MDR team to see if he could seat our party of 6 at that table for CC service. But nope, we just got turned away.

I marched straight over to the passenger services desk and complained -- the staff member was visibly stunned. He said someone higher up would contact me, which never happened. After filing my complaint, I gathered up my group and we all went to the regular MDR hostess, and were all seated within minutes, and treated to outstanding service for our meal.

Needless to say, I made no attempt to ever eat in the CC section the rest of the trip, I was that irritated. We ended up ordering in several times over the rest of the cruise, and enjoying our suite and balcony. I did have to call the passenger services desk to actually get thru to the room service people ;p but it was worth it. We also ended spending a lot more in tips, because in room dining for 10-12 people at a time is a lot of extra work for the room service staff, as well as our steward. I also made all our guests scrape and stack the dirty dishes, to reduce the work load for Randy. ;)

I forgot that earlier that day, DH, DD3 and I had lunch in DaVinci (regular section, DD3 did not have CC). The wait staff were excellent, and the food was delicious.

Starters are self explanatory:

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

I ordered the Chicken Korma for my entree, which was fantastic. Really, really good. I'm going to have to learn how to make it.

Chicken Korma by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

DH ordered a fish entree

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

DD3 ordered a phillycheese steak sandwich, so didn't get a photo, as most know how that looks.

Dessert was a Pear Turnover

pear turnover by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

A fruit tarte

fruit tarte by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

and I forgot what DH ordered. He took his own pic, so I have no visual reminder at hand :D

Enjoying the beautiful photos!

Enjoying the beautiful photos!

So glad!!! Thanks for letting me know :)

I am enjoying your review. Thank you for taking the time to do it. Love all the photos. You have a lovely family.

Wednesday morning we had booked the Sanctuary. It was a bit chilly for the first half or so, then perfect temps as we got later in the morning and further south.

It was not crowded, and the attendants were readily available and friendly. We had blankets as needed, drink service, and later in the morning, food. I just love the ambiance there -- definitely puts me in my happy place. We did book the starboard side, which for this particular morning was a mistake -- port side had the amazing views of the Arches and Los Cabo when we arrived. Didn't stop us from thoroughly enjoying our morning, though.

Sanctuary by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

DD1 and BF1, almost by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

DD1, BF1, DD2, BF1 by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sanctuary Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

I forgot that earlier that day, DH, DD3 and I had lunch in DaVinci (regular section, DD3 did not have CC). The wait staff were excellent, and the food was delicious.

 

Starters are self explanatory:

 

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

 

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

 

I ordered the Chicken Korma for my entree, which was fantastic. Really, really good. I'm going to have to learn how to make it.

 

Chicken Korma by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

 

DH ordered a fish entree

 

Ruby Princess Dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

 

DD3 ordered a phillycheese steak sandwich, so didn't get a photo, as most know how that looks.

I'm sailing on the Ruby later this year. Thank you for the photos and review.

I have to say, personally, I don't think the Chicken or Fish dishes looked very appetizing. They may have tasted fine, but the mono color and mushy looking texture just didn't look appetizing to me.

Sanctuary Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sanctuary Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sanctuary Ruby Princess by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Sanctuary dining by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

Arrival in Cabo

Cabo from the Sanctuary by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

cabo by Elisa of PetraElise, on Flickr

I'm sailing on the Ruby later this year. Thank you for the photos and review.

 

I have to say, personally, I don't think the Chicken or Fish dishes looked very appetizing. They may have tasted fine, but the mono color and mushy looking texture just didn't look appetizing to me.

Yes, I do basically agree. The Korma is not a visually appealing dish, but the flavors were wonderful. I love Indian food, so I'm willing to overlook the visual ;). That fish entree didn't look appetizing to me at all, but DH liked it. He liked mine better though :D