Just back from the Ruby Princess

[Sillyjilly]

I had a wonderful 2 weeks aboard the Ruby.

I really enjoyed the new offerings at the outside grill and at the pizza place by the pool.

Saw some new Motown and rock shows, which I loved.

Crew was super friendly.

Hope to sail on her again soon!

[Montana]

Happy to hear a good report. My first Princess Cruise December on the Ruby.

[Sillyjilly]

14 minutes ago, Montana said:

Happy to hear a good report. My first Princess Cruise December on the Ruby.

Like button hit.

[treesah]

Nice to know you had a great time on the Ruby.  We'll be boarding her in December and I was a bit worried because of some rather negative reviews.  It's interesting how cruisers on the same ship, at the same time, can have such an opposite experience.  Luck, I guess, or different expectations.

[Sillyjilly]

I've been on over 50 Princess cruises and I really enjoyed this cruise on the Ruby.

I've on had only one that was bad. Only one. And I wasn't the only one on that particular cruise.......................?????????????????????

[land lover]

Can u give us some more details about the new food choices and other updates...I was on her in April, PC & May, Alaska, so we had the new MDR menus are they still around?  What other changes did u notice to the Ruby?

[Sillyjilly]

33 minutes ago, land lover said:

Can u give us some more details about the new food choices and other updates...I was on her in April, PC & May, Alaska, so we had the new MDR menus are they still around?  What other changes did u notice to the Ruby?

 

I didn't eat in the MDR, so I can't help you there.

 

The pizza place on Lido deck now has stromboni, toasted breads with avocado and other toppings, and deep dish meatball pizza. I think there may have been more items, but I can't remember. ( I loved the bread with avocado and bacon bits.) I heard the meatball pizza was good, but didn't try it. Stromboni was good too.

The regular pizza was only cheese or the special of the day. I wasn't a fan. It used to be my favorite pizza on the sea. If you want pepperoni pizza it must be ordered from room service for 3 bucks.

The buffet had a lot of new dishes I hadn't seen before. Unfortunately, I never saw salmon for the bagels in the morning. And I never saw any shrimp. (Cocktail or fried) 

There were many different kinds of fried fish throughout the week. Very lightly breaded and delicious!

Many things looked unappetizing, but were very tasty. I decided to try new things.

The soups were delicious.

Too many rice dishes IMHO.

The Trident grill is now the Salty dog grill. Loved the all beef hotdogs. The grill no longer has bratwurst sausage, but you can still get grilled chicken and hamburgers.

Also offered were hamburgers from the Salty Dog restaurant menu for a 5 buck fee. You can now also get chili fries/dogs and they have nacho cheese. I grabbed some tortilla chips and made myself some nachos. They were super yummy!

I can't say the food was spectacular, but I enjoyed it. I was on the Ruby for 2 weeks and it's the first time I didn't get tired of eating the same items. All was appetizing.

[Cruisin Kay D]

We were on Ruby last week too.   It was our 27th Princess cruise, having sailed on most all of the ships, in particular were on Royal & Regal in January & March, 2018. 

Slice:    I was VERY disappointed in the whole new Slice area.  NO Pepperoni pizza all week!!!  In past, I LOVED getting 1 slice of pepperoni with a salad for lunch!  The Calzone (or stromboli) was was cold & not too tasty, but had a few tiny pieces of pepperoni in it.  Also I got a piece of the deep dish meatball thing, which was a bit more tasty, but the piece was way way too large (nearly the size of a plate), and again not hot.   Slice/pizza place & the coffee/ice cream stand are all together in same area, and was chaotic at times with people in 1 long line. 

GRILL:  Hubby  disappointed there was no bratwurst sausage, and hamburger meat didn't seem to be same as past.

MDR:   Not too much new in the MDR, just a new re-arranged menu layout, plus a few of the Crown Grill steak items that you can purchase.  Honestly the BEST meal all week was the MDR Lunch on Embarkation day!    MDR DaVinci & Michaelangelo seemed much louder than in past. 

International Cafe:  Went each morning for coffee, fruit bowl and muffin or donuts....their waldorf/chicken salad was good, as the tuna panini sandwich.  

Cabin Area:   New light gray carpet in hallways already stained in places.   (No more blue carpet on 1 side & mauve-pink carpet on the other side to help remind you of odd & even # cabins.)   FINALLY, the beds are made up with a TOP sheet!!!   Bed was comfortable.   The side chair has been removed from balcony cabins, so we brought in a balcony chair for hubby to sit on...(and steward put it back outside each time he saw it inside our room.)   Cabin was very quiet -- we were right across from elevator area, but were never disturbed by outside noise.   We had to ask for robes.  All papers are slid under the door since there is no "mailbox" outside your door as before.   NO MORE PUNCHING OF ROOM CARD, so you need to bring a clear plastic case to be punched in order to carry your room card on a lanyard, or else buy a new lanyard at 9.95....(and of course they still sell the old hook lanyards at 3.95 to hold a punched card, if you could punch it!).  

Grapevine Wine Tasting:  As Elite, it's always Free, and we received an invitation that we had to present at the door.....NO INVITATION now....just a teeny tiny notation in a corner of the Patter saying it was free for Elites, which I never saw!!   As a result, we didn't get to go to a Wine Tasting.   Elite Laundry now takes minimum 3 days!  So if you want to have them do laundry when on a 7 day cruise, bring some dirty clothes with you!

Movies shown on big screen outside by the pool ARE NOT available to view in your cabin!    Quite a few movies you can choose to see on the room TV, but choices were pretty awful!

The Captain came to our Meet & Greet, as well as the Entertainment manager.  The Captain was just delightful!!!   

Very very smoky at San Fran last Monday (12th), so NO view of Alcatraz or across bay from north side of Golden Gate Bridge & NO view from Twin Peaks.   Beautiful day at Monterey & San Diego!!   Pacific Ocean was soooo flat & calm, simply amazing!   Saw some dolphins, seals & whale in the water from the ship!

Edited November 19, 2018 by Cruisin Kay D

[yogi_6977]

is there a reason they wont punch your room card. harder to loose it on the hook lanyards.thanks.

 

 

 

 

[Colo Cruiser]

3 minutes ago, yogi_6977 said:

is there a reason they wont punch your room card. harder to loose it on the hook lanyards.thanks.

 

 

 

 

Embedded with chip stuff now.

[Sillyjilly]

25 minutes ago, yogi_6977 said:

is there a reason they wont punch your room card. harder to loose it on the hook lanyards.thanks.

 

 

 

 

Because it won't open your door if you punch it. Many people had a lanyard that held their card in a sheath.

[land lover]

Thanks all for the details...I am always game for new experiences food choices ...Princess definitely needs to spice things up.....Just returned from the Sea Princess, a 20 year old ship with 2,000 PAX, sailed 40 days, with AUD as currency it was if I had walked back in time.

 

They automatically punched every card on that ship, 70 % of the people wore lanyards most given to them by their travel agent.

So many things were unique on these sailings, a 10 day Queensland and 28 circumnavigation from sailing anywhere else in the world. Had a great time...but I do think the Aussies are spoiled.

That's Princess Australia for ya...

 

Anyway thanks for all the  info  Jill & Kay D ...very informative.

 

How wonderful Kay D to have such a smooth sailing..doesn't happened to often on a PC. Like your comment of bringing dirty clothes with u....Glad to see IC has not changed much. Will miss the color coded carpet and "mail boxes."

 

Jill ...glad to hear the variety of food for 2 weeks kept you interested.

 

How was the entertainment?

 

 

  

Edited November 20, 2018 by land lover

[Sillyjilly]

1 hour ago, land lover said:

Thanks all for the details...I am always game for new experiences food choices ...Princess definitely needs to spice things up.....Just returned from the Sea Princess, a 20 year old ship with 2,000 PAX, sailed 40 days, with AUD as currency it was if I had walked back in time.

 

They automatically punched every card on that ship, 70 % of the people wore lanyards most given to them by their travel agent.

So many things were unique on these sailings, a 10 day Queensland and 28 circumnavigation from sailing anywhere else in the world. Had a great time...but I do think the Aussies are spoiled.

That's Princess Australia for ya...

 

Anyway thanks for all the  info  Jill & Kay D ...very informative.

 

How wonderful Kay D to have such a smooth sailing..doesn't happened to often on a PC. Like your comment of bringing dirty clothes with u....Glad to see IC has not changed much. Will miss the color coded carpet and "mail boxes."

 

Jill ...glad to hear the variety of food for 2 weeks kept you interested.

 

How was the entertainment?

 

 

  

 

Really enjoyed the entertainment. They had a Motown trio of men that were super good and the next week there was a Pat Benatar kind of woman who did 70"s rock like no other. Not sure how the older generation liked it, but I loved her. ( This was an addition to their regular musical performances and comedians.)

[jasbo49]

On 11/18/2018 at 11:51 PM, Cruisin Kay D said:

 

Cabin Area: ...  FINALLY, the beds are made up with a TOP sheet!!!   Bed was comfortable.   The side chair has been removed from balcony cabins, so we brought in a balcony chair for hubby to sit on...(and steward put it back outside each time he saw it inside our room.) 

Top sheets are great. Missing chairs are not.

 

Princess is already the only mainstream cruise line (that I know of) that doesn’t have some kind of sofa in a standard balcony cabin. And now they’ve removed the only chair other than that little one under the desk, at least on the Ruby. That’s a bad move.

 

Jim