Countdown to Ruby Princess LIVE - April 8th-April 23rd 2019

[XBGuy]

14 minutes ago, jlp20 said:

The old lock had slot where you inserted cruise card. The "Do Not Disturb" card either went into this slot or a larger placard went on door handle. There were posts that when new locks were installed, the do not disturb signs were removed. 

 

The "Privacy Please" indicator currently in use on the Ruby Princess is hanger that attaches to the lever that opens the door--just like hotels have been using for years.

[Cyn874]

47 minutes ago, jlp20 said:

The old lock had slot where you inserted cruise card. The "Do Not Disturb" card either went into this slot or a larger placard went on door handle. There were posts that when new locks were installed, the do not disturb signs were removed. 

 

Ok, the way it works now is there is a screen next to the door that says medallion coming soon. There’s a circle on the screen to hold your card against, then the door unlocks. The privacy/ refresh room tag hangs from your door handle.

[Cyn874]

Today has been so nice!! Weather drastically improved. Gentle breeze, mild temperatures I’m guessing in the mid 70s. I can still see some white caps on the water but the ship is only rocking gently. I don’t cruise enough to know for sure, but I’m guessing these are ‘calm seas/normal conditions.’ We fully intend to hit the hot tub after dinner tonight! 

 

We made it to afternoon tea for the first time today. That’s a huge favorite of ours but we have been missing it because I was looking at the events in patters and it’s listed with the dining times. 3-4pm in the de Vinci dining room. It was great! 

 

Dad is taking a pre-dinner nap and Ellen is reading on the balcony. Lovely, relaxing day.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, jlp20 said:

There were posts that when new locks were installed, the do not disturb signs were removed. 

They had them on the Ruby in January.

[bellebaby]

9 hours ago, Cyn874 said:

Ok, so we got to the cruise terminal just  before 10am. We went inside and had to sit until 10:30 am when check in started. Both of my parents are on canes, so we were able to use the special assistance line. They checked in Bon Voyage people first, then the Platinums and Elites, then full suites, etc. We got to check in probably around 10:45ish? Then through security. We were in Group 2. After security, we had to sit and wait for quite awhile for all the elites, etc to board, then group 1. The wait was longer than I expected, but I think we set foot on the ship at right around 12pm. Maybe a little before. Guest services line was pretty short! Just 1 or 2 people ahead of me. We then went straight to lunch and got out of lunch about 1:15 or so, and we were able to get to our rooms then. I don't know if they were available sooner, because of lunch the timing worked out well for us. 

 

I think our bags arrived sometime around 3, if I had to guess?

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

BTW...Did you go to the dining room for lunch on embarkation day?

[Cyn874]

3 hours ago, bellebaby said:

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

BTW...Did you go to the dining room for lunch on embarkation day?

 

Yes, we did! It was so good, even better than I expected. I think I had some sort of shrimp salad as a starter, beef tenderloin entree (WOW.) and the orange soufflé for dessert.

[jimbri]

Enjoying your review and photos

[PekingeseLady]

TY spinal. I'm hoping for the mid ship dining room,  as we are near the forward elevators and DH can use his cane and not his scooter to dine every night. Guess I'll be checking when I board. 

 

Thought though,  if we don't get our ship cards when we board and we can't go to our room to pickup or cards until 1:30. And the maitred is available at 1:30, it will be a dash to go verify you have what you want,  lol I guess I could seen sneak in and grab our cards from the box. 

 

Thanks again. 

[JF - retired RRT]

28 minutes ago, PekingeseLady said:

TY spinal. I'm hoping for the mid ship dining room,  as we are near the forward elevators and DH can use his cane and not his scooter to dine every night. Guess I'll be checking when I board. 

 

Thought though,  if we don't get our ship cards when we board and we can't go to our room to pickup or cards until 1:30. And the maitred is available at 1:30, it will be a dash to go verify you have what you want,  lol I guess I could seen sneak in and grab our cards from the box. 

 

Thanks again. 

If you're talking about the cards for specialty dining reservations, when we boarded the Ruby in January, the hall doors were closed and alarmed. You couldn't sneak in. As soon as the alarm sounded, someone appeared to usher you right back out.

And you verify/redo the reservation with the head waiter in a specialty restaurant (usually the Crown Grill - in our experience).

 

If you mean your "cruise" card, those are provided when you check in. You don't get on the ship without it.

 

Some other card??

Edited April 11, 2019 by JF - retired RRT

[PekingeseLady]

No I was referring to the TD table assignment. The maitred meets on embarking incase you need to change. 

[Cyn874]

43 minutes ago, PekingeseLady said:

No I was referring to the TD table assignment. The maitred meets on embarking incase you need to change. 

Sorry I can’t help with that one, we have anytime dining so I don’t know how traditional works. Movie tonight is Can You Ever Forgive Me.

 

cloudy, slightly breezy and warm today. Going to watch the Quest game show this morning, then pool time!

[XBGuy]

3 hours ago, PekingeseLady said:

TY spinal. I'm hoping for the mid ship dining room,  as we are near the forward elevators and DH can use his cane and not his scooter to dine every night. Guess I'll be checking when I board. 

 

Thought though,  if we don't get our ship cards when we board and we can't go to our room to pickup or cards until 1:30. And the maitred is available at 1:30, it will be a dash to go verify you have what you want,  lol I guess I could seen sneak in and grab our cards from the box. 

 

Thanks again. 

 

I don't think you have to "dash" to meet with the Maitre d'.  He is usually in one of the dining rooms for a couple hours on embarkation day.  I just looked at the Patter from last April's AK cruise on the Emerald Princess.  On that cruise the Maitre d' was in the Michaelangelo dining room from 1:00 to 3:00.  I'm sure that if there were more people waiting to meet with him at 3:00, he wouldn't kick them out and close the doors.

 

I also checked the Patter from our cruise on the Ruby Princess. last December.  I could not find the Maitre d's meeting hours for that one.  However, I'm sure he was available in one of the mid-ship dining rooms for a couple hours.

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, PekingeseLady said:

No I was referring to the TD table assignment. The maitre d meets on embarking in case you need to change. 

No need to race. As noted, it's listed in the Patter (generally in the afternoon).

Your table assignment is on your cruise card. You may be able to go to the appointed MDR and see where your table is and how many seat mates you'll have. Then go see the Maitre D' if not happy with the assignment.

We usually wait till first night and see what we've got, then if too many at the table or someone is particularly annoying, we ask for reassignment. This has always been accommodated. Once we were moved to ATD with a reservation.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

No need to race. As noted, it's listed in the Patter (generally in the afternoon).

Your table assignment is on your cruise card. You may be able to go to the appointed MDR and see where your table is and how many seat mates you'll have. Then go see the Maitre D' if not happy with the assignment.

We usually wait till first night and see what we've got, then if too many at the table or someone is particularly annoying, we ask for reassignment. This has always been accommodated. Once we were moved to ATD with a reservation.

 

But it is not on your Medallion and ships going full Medallion do not issue cruise cards unless requested. Supposedly there is a note in your cabin informing Medallion holders what their dining assignment is.

[trystran72]

I hope you're having a great time!!  Who is the Captain on the Ruby these days?

[JF - retired RRT]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

But it is not on your Medallion and ships going full Medallion do not issue cruise cards unless requested. Supposedly there is a note in your cabin informing Medallion holders what their dining assignment is.

Oh Ho! Never thought of that.

Haven't done a Medallion cruise yet, so still thinking "old school".

[Cyn874]

2 hours ago, trystran72 said:

I hope you're having a great time!!  Who is the Captain on the Ruby these days?

 

Do they list the captain in the patter anywhere? I'm sure it's listed somewhere, but I don't see it right now. I have today's patter in front of me and the spotlight for today is on the hotel manager, which is Riccardo Capraro. I'll try to remember and update with that information when I can. 

 

Party sunny skies this morning, it's about 8am, nice comfortable breeze. We reach Hilo in the morning, so I'm hoping to start seeing some hints of land and other boats soon. 🙂 I haven't seen anything but water and a few birds since we left the port in LA! I was talking to someone in a hot tub yesterday and he said he saw some flying fish. 

 

Quest game show yesterday was HILARIOUS!!! There was a guy by himself sitting in front of me and just watching (like myself). They kept asking for things in the game and people would run up to him and drag him out of his chair and 'turn him in' for one thing or another. The funniest was when the host asked for 'a sock with a hole in it'. One lady ran up to him. "DOES YOUR SOCK HAVE A HOLE IN IT?" "No!!" he said, all incredulously. She moved on, but another lady was right behind her. "Show me your sock!" She demanded. He protested that it did not have a hole, but she grabbed his shoe, pulled it off and ran off with his sock because all socks have a hole (to put your foot in.) They didn't even know each other and he was a somewhat unwilling participant. I was dying laughing. He left soon after that, hahah. 

 

The movies for today are Christoper Robin, Venom and Bohemian Rhapsody. The show is comedian Robbie Printz. 

 

OH! I meant to mention this- as far as the regular (non specialty) coffee goes, I honestly cannot tell much difference between the brewed at International Cafe and the free coffee concentrate kind on Lido. It doesn't taste nearly as bad as the free coffee on Carnival Pride back in '07. I would be able to make due with it if I didn't get the coffee card, and I usually drink the free kind in the buffet with breakfast anyway.

[Greyhound3]

The Captain on our cruise (3/25 - 4/8) was Ron Wilson.

[JF - retired RRT]

I have a question for those on board now.

In January we were on the Ruby and access to the cabins was closed off until 1PM. Passage doors were closed and alarmed. If you opened the door to try to get to your cabin, someone showed up immediately to usher you back out.

Did that happen to you? Or was it a "one off"?

[Cyn874]

Hopefully someone else can speak to that, I didn’t make it to the rooms til after 1:30 or so, but I can tell you that they did have staff positioned around letting people know staterooms would be after 1. I did not see if the doors were closed or not, though.

[t-bird.tim]

What happened to Cyn874??

[PekingeseLady]

She must be having to much fun, LOL  She forgot all about us, hahaha

 

Happy cruising everyone!!!

[Cyn874]

Hi guys! Sorry, I hadn’t seen anyone really commenting or posting any questions so I took it as a lack of interest and stopped updating. I figured maybe since this is the last trip out to Hawaii before Ruby starts the Alaska season. 

 

Still having a blast. I’m really enjoying the events in the Piazza. Here are a few observations that have surprised me:

 

1. When getting back on the ship in all 4 Hawai’i ports, no one from security or princess checked or even questioned by metal water bottle which was full of water, nor was I ever asked to pour it out. In theory it could have been filled with liquor. I was really surprised they let it through.

 

2. Sanctuary seemed almost completely empty every time I looked. I waited til day 3 to go try booking a sea day afternoon towards the end of the cruise. Got 3 loungers together with no problem and they even moved us to a better location after about 45 minutes. And this was on a sold out cruise.

 

3. While the evening movie at the MUTS pool is very popular with tons of people watching from the loungers, benches and tables, no one seems to want to watch from the hot tub, which boggles my mind. I almost always have the hot tub entirely to myself and nothing is better than stretching out in a hot tub and watching a movie, drive in style.

 

4. Afternoon tea is every day, including port days! It’s also not listed in the patter events, just under the dining times on the back page, so we missed the first 2 days.

 

5. The hot tubs are nice and hot, at least to me. I got the impression they were all luke warm at best, so I was pleasantly surprised.

 

6. The showers in the spa/gym are not as big and luxurious as I read about on here. I expected them to be larger and nicer than the mini suite showers, which was not the case. Also little privacy. One was just a shower curtain and the other two have frosted glass panels with non frosted sections in between so you could kind of see through it if in use. Maybe a better option for interior or balcony staterooms.

 

7. Magic To Do was shown on night 1 while we were still getting our bearings, so we missed it. We are extremely disappointed because we really looked forward to seeing it and it doesn’t look like any shows will be repeated. I would have expected them to save that as a grand finale show on one of the last sea days.

 

8. Crooners bar has a different and much more fancy drink menu than all the other bars! My favorite bar so far. I don’t recall ever seeing the menu from Crooners posted anywhere, so I’ll try to do that when I get home.

 

I will try to add to this list as I think of more things!

[JF - retired RRT]

Cyn874 - thanks for coming back. Even though no one was commenting we were reading and enjoying vicariously.

This is a small 🤣 (rolling on the floor laughing)...someone just posted a review on the main thread about just arriving back in LA on the Ruby! I counted on my fingers and thought, "no way". I knew you were at Nawilliwilli on the 15th, cuz I have a friend on the cruise and we gave here an island tour.

DH & I figure he was on the Grand. The Grand was here on the 13th, which would put her in LA today. Too funny. 

Or maybe there's a time warp.😈

[Cyn874]

JF, I saw that thread as well, and was confused! I thought maybe they were taking advantage of some free WiFi in port and just eager to post their review. I didn’t consider the Grand!