Live From the Ruby Princess January 6, 2022 Mexico

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I was not planning on doing a live from thread for this sailing but given the irresponsible and unsubstantiated reporting by NBC and others I felt that those sailing after us might appreciate having some insight as to what's actually happening on board.  We have a fairly large roll call so I am really hoping my fellow cruisers will help out as time allows. 

I will do my best to answer any questions that come up.  Right now I am going to load the car and drive to the port.  Will check back after lunch (and a cocktail) today.  Send us happy thoughts for the sun to break through in SF for our sail away!!!!

[pris993]

Hope you have a great cruise; I have a friend on this cruise too.   We will board the Ruby on 1/31, so welcome your thread.

 

I live in SF Bay Area, saw a message which made me goggle to see what is going on.  From what I read a few cases on board - that cruise line shut down an entertainment show because some in cast had virus.   Does not seem like something to be concerned about. Seems ship handling well. 

[suekel]

From what I read is that all the ruckus was started by one guest.  

[DUCHESSRN]

2 hours ago, suekel said:

From what I read is that all the ruckus was started by one guest.  

I understood that to be the situation also .

[KLM3164]

2 hours ago, suekel said:

From what I read is that all the ruckus was started by one guest.  

There were 2 apparently disgruntled passengers who created some unnecessary and unfounded drama. I was happy to see the NBC report was updated this morning. The reporter said the couple was complaining about about lax protocols onboard the ship but then the reporter said “however we are learning from more passengers that may not have exactly been the case on the Princess cruise.” Other passengers were interviewed and they did not substantiate the claims made by the disgruntled couple. I was happy to see coverage of the other side of this story.

[KLM3164]

@HaveDogWillTravelThanks again for another Live From thread and happy cruising! Hope you’ll have a cocktail for me!!!🍸🍹🥂

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, KLM3164 said:

@HaveDogWillTravelThanks again for another Live From thread and happy cruising! Hope you’ll have a cocktail for me!!!🍸🍹🥂

Thanks @KLM3164I hope you like Chairman of the Board. 

[DavidsNana]

@HaveDogWillTravelThat looks simply delicious.  Have a wonderful cruise and thanks for all the"live from" threads that you have and are doing.  I am cruising on the CB end of Feb but following all these threads. 

[KLM3164]

1 hour ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

Thanks @KLM3164I hope you like Chairman of the Board. 

Sounds good to me. Very nice photo on your balcony!

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

1 hour ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

Thanks @KLM3164I hope you like Chairman of the Board. 

Aft facing balcony?  Any smoke problems?

[HaveDogWillTravel]

I went to Crown Grill for dinner, Vines and Crooners at various times for cocktails, walked through the shops, took a nap on the balcony, spent some time in the casino & went to the theater and saw Dan St Paul a comedian that I did enjoy (not in that order). So far while walking around inside I haven’t seen anyone without a mask and I’ve  seen a small handful wearing it under their nose. In crooners and vines we sit, visit, drink and take our masks off. In the theater I was encouraged that I only saw 3 people wearing their mask wrong. We were socially distanced with at least 2 empty seats between us and others. No one directly in front or behind either. We wore well fitted 95’s and refrained from drinking in the theater as this is what we were comfortable with. 
 

Last week when I looked at journeyview I swore I saw Stardust but now we have Colors of the World listed as our production show. Graces Secret is also listed later in the cruise. Karaoke started tonight in Vista lounge. I didn’t go as DH was beat.   
 

I spoke to Gusti and Marvin, the bartenders at Vines. Apparently the bartenders are now included in the crew appreciation (auto grats) just like all the other crew. So the 18% grats we pay in beverage package for our plus packages gets combined with the auto grats and split up. When things like that NBC report causes people to unnecessarily cancel the crew looses out on bunch of money. I am going to email NBC again and tell them they should pay into the crews tip pool to make up for their irresponsible reporting. The crew in no way deserves this.  
Also crew can keep any tips they are given and they no longer need to turn it in. 
 

I ordered the Princess Bouquet ($39) and the Tropical Floral arrangement ($55). They arrived in just a couple of hours. They are nice but I can’t tell which is which as neither look like what I’ve gotten in the past. Lol. It’s all good. 

Edited January 7, 2022 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Edited January 7, 2022 by HaveDogWillTravel

[KLM3164]

36 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

 

I ordered the Princess Bouquet ($39) and the Tropical Floral arrangement ($55). They arrived in just a couple of hours.

I’ve never ordered flowers on a ship before but like the idea for our next cruise. Do you order when you arrive on the ship or before you board?

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks for doing this.  I was on the Xmas cruise so I'll follow this while waiting for my next cruise in April.  

And don't get me started on the media and cruises right now.  

[Cruise Raider]

We also received the most wonderful bouquet of flowers in our stateroom! Thanks so much J!  Just beautiful!  
 

Our experience onboard so far has been a little mixed.  
We got to the port around 11:30 and we onboard lickety split!  
we dropped off our bags in our stateroom and went to the embarkation lunch in the DaVinci dining room.  The service was phenomenal and the food was very good.  From there, we checked in at our muster station and proceeded upstairs to watch the safety video.  My DHs check mark never appeared.  He called and was told to visit guest services to check on his medallion.  It appears that his medallion just won’t function as it should.  As of now, he’s gone to the guest services desk four times but it still doesn’t work.  He will have to try again this morning.  It’s almost like the life has been drained out of it.  I’m sure he will be able to get it fixed once and for all today.  
We went to Vines after that and visited with some friends from previous cruises.  We were on this ship over Thanksgiving and ran into many of the same crew from that cruise.  We are receiving the same great service as we had on our last cruise on the Ruby!  
We never did make it up to the top deck for sail away because it was so very cold outside.  Some friends got some awesome photos of sailing under the GG, though.  
The head waiter in the DaVinci, Iulian,  remembered us and seated us in our favorite table with our favorite wait team, Alvin and Jay, as on our previous cruise!  Awesome!  Dinner was very good!  
 

While we usually stay up to watch at least one of the shows after dinner, we actually went to bed early as we were both very tired.  Unfortunately, sleep didn’t come easy for my DH as the sensor light in the hallway stayed lit all night long.  There were a few seconds it would go off but then right back on and it stayed lit for most of the night.  Using crew chat, they sent up an electrician to disable it completely.  I usually bring a small motion sensor light for the bathroom for middle of the night visits but didn’t do so for this sailing as I knew about the hallway light.  Oh well … I’ll know for next time as we have at least one more sailing booked on this ship and I’m sure there will be more.  We will address the motion light before the first night, though.  
Other than that, the ship seems to be in great shape!  The cabin Is very comfortable and the beds are awesome.  
The balcony chairs could use replacing, though.  Also, there is a handheld hair dryer in the room.  I believe that means the one attached to the wall may not be functioning,  I haven’t checked it out yet.  The bedside lamps are old and are without any USB plugs, as on the Grand Princess. 
Everything else in the cabin seems to be nice and new.  
 

As far as the couple that complained about the lax protocols onboard, shame on them.  I’m glad to hear the news reports were updated.  From what I gather, a couple of production show cast members tested positive, we’re quarantined along with the other cast members for the recommended time period.  The shows started back up again towards the end of the cruise.  That was a huge overreaction on their part … claiming they wouldn’t leave their room because there was a CoVid ‘outbreak’!  The whole story was nonsense!  Anyone could pick up CoVid from anywhere and the safety protocols are much more stringent onboard than in any other land based public forum.  As mentioned, people are pretty much adhering to the protocols.  I haven’t seen anybody try to skirt the rules set in place … and the ship is very clean!  
Like I said, I’m glad the news story was updated even though that’s a little bit like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.  
I understand our sailing was to have 1700 passengers but I think we ended up with more like 1200 instead.  How many of those were from cancellations due to that unsubstantiated news story is anyone’s guess.  

 

 

 

 

[love to cruz]

How did you order flowers for your cabin?

[PrincessLuver]

4 minutes ago, love to cruz said:

How did you order flowers for your cabin?

We just went to Passenger Service Desk and they had a binder with all the choices......they were in our room in 1/2 a day....

[nzOdy]

We had a mixed day on our first day. We didn't get test results in time so had to do testing at the port. DW's first rapid antigen test was returned as "inconclusive", so she's called back for a 2nd rapid test,  and they also did a deeper PCR sample which takes a longer time to determine result,  but it's stronger for getting a definitive result. So while all this is going on,  we see at least one person being told they tested positive and being escorted to a different section.  My wife begins to stress and worry about what's going to happen if she is positive. Also, they have been holding my result while they determine hers so I'm also wondering what is happening as we see passenger after passenger come and go. What should have been a simple test and 15min wait turned into an hour and 15m ordeal. But we were both eventually declared negative and cleared. The testing outfit they are using are diligent and serious about their work. 

 

After all that stress,  we got aboard, dropped our bags and wondered around the ship a little bit. Grabbed that essential first cocktail and tried to relax.  The ship was looking empty, and everyone as far as we could tell was respecting the masking protocol. The staff were exceptionally friendly and eager to attend to our every need. 

 

Sailaway was a normal Princess experience,  with Entertainment staff dancing by the pools, trying to get passengers moving. It was pretty frigid and foggy but it's always great to sail under the Golden Gate with shops horn blaring, knowing you're on your way to sunnier times!

 

Before dinner we attended one of the "shows" at Good Spirits. The artisan cocktails were awesome and it was pretty entertaining watching the grandiose performance of them being made and explained. 

 

We had dinner at 6:40 in Da Vincis and had a wonderful meal,  our party of 6 all seated together by a window with a very entertaining wait staff. With dessert and after dinner aperitif and/or coffees in us, we stopped by guest services to check on a balcony meal we had ordered for someone else in our group and while there asked the agent how many folks were aboard, he quickly replied 1085, almost 1/3 capacity.

 

After dinner we rotated between shops, live music in Crooners and Explorers. We eventually ended the night in Explorers where myself, DW & DS played the Movie Poster trivia and won! We got 29 out of 36.

 

It was a great first day, music venues and lounges were awesome,  people are respecting protocols and crew are wonderful as usual!

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Good morning @CruiseRaiderand @PrincessLuverthank you fir fir posts. I knew cruiseraider had more information regarding the very small number CoVid cases among the cast so I’m very happy they posted. I will echo that the crew strictly follow all safety protocols at all times. Their masks are 95s and fitted properly. I definitely feel MUCH safer on board than at my local Home Depot or Costco! 
 

I’ll post some pictures from crown grill last night. The filet was ordered medium rare to rare and it came out perfect! As did DH rib eye at medium rare. Everything was excellent. We arrived at 6:15 and were done by 8. Nicola is an excellent server!  Since we had a coupon book ( the guest services desk will print it out for you as we usually don’t get the email with it). We used it for the free bottle of wine on embarkation night specialty dining. The choice was between a Chardonnay by Mondavi, a merlot, a sauvingnon blanc or Chianti. We got the Chianti and rather enjoyed it. 

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

17 hours ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

 

Are those the "new" hor d'oeuvres for formal nights?

[KLM3164]

@HaveDogWillTravel I love the shrimp appetizer at the Crown Grill and your filet looks wonderful. Love a good medium rare steak!

Edited January 7, 2022 by KLM3164

[deadzone1003]

HaveDogWillTravel,

 

If you said you had a Chianti, how come you are showing a picture of that Banfi Rosso di Montalcino?  If you had the Banfi too, how was it?

[KLM3164]

2 hours ago, nzOdy said:

Grabbed that essential first cocktail

That’s how I like to start my cruise too! So sorry to hear about your testing stress but glad everything worked out in the “negative” for you.

[SeaYouThere]

Happy Birthday @HaveDogWillTravel!   This reminds me of a fun time on the Majestic in November.  We were waiting outside the lounge for Captains Party and wished the couple ahead of us in line a Happy Anniversary.  They didn’t notice the portal lighting up with their anniversary message and wondered how two strangers knew it was their anniversary.  Soon others in line behind us were conveying their best wishes too.  We all had a laugh about it.  
Thank you for sharing your voyage with us!

[HaveDogWillTravel]

44 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

HaveDogWillTravel,

 

If you said you had a Chianti, how come you are showing a picture of that Banfi Rosso di Montalcino?  If you had the Banfi too, how was it?

Hilarious!  Nicola said it was a Chianti and I just believed him. It was very good. Had a lovely tannic structure that went well with our steaks.