Interested about cruising on the Ruby

[princess76021]

12 hours ago, TBfrPH said:

We have been on Ruby 3 times in the past 5 months, including most recently on the 4/11 sailing.  Overall we had a wonderful time on every sailing and found ways to enjoy the amenities that led us to choose Princess and learn to ignore the shortcomings. Just adding our opinions to some of the topics mentioned above by others...

 

-Embarkation-  You're sailing out of Texas, so it may not matter what happened in SFO.  Normally we go through the process in about 30 mins and definitely under 1 hour.  Snafus do happen from time to time, but they are not the norm.

 

-Rust-  I suppose if a company doesn't care to maintain the visually obvious, one might wonder what else is being neglected.  You will see rust on the hull of the Ruby.  If rust really bothers you, then rethink sailing on her.

 

-Food-  MDR is above average but won't blow you away.  We've learned menu items to avoid, so now we don't have a bad experience eating there.  Food in the specialty restaurants would be what I'd expect in a really good MDR on lines that tout their food.  Buffet is generally very ordinary.  On a 7-day cruise, we would maybe come across a handful of items that are truly well done.

 

-Service-  The cabin stewards that we've had are excellent, as are the MDR waiters.  We've had mixed experience with the wait staff in the lounges and buffets.  Some provide genuinely enthusiastic service.  Others can't be bothered to give a forced smile.

 

- Shows-  The production shows are generally very entertaining.  The guest performers are a mixed bag-  A show-stopping vocalist one night, followed by a very unfunny comedian the next.

 

- Live music-  On each sailing there is at least one fantastic band, sometimes three.  This is one of the two reasons why we choose to sail with Princess.  Ruby still maintains venues where one can dance to these fantastic bands.  

 

-Other activities-  We love the Yes/No game show.  We go to every ballroom dance lesson.  The gym is adequately equipped, and we enjoy swimming in the pools.  We don't drink nor gamble, so can't offer opinions in those areas.

 

-Covid-  It's possible to have a fun cruise and stay healthy.  These rules have worked for us so far:  Get all your vax.  Wear your masks all the time.  Maintain your distance from people, especially when their masks are off.  Wash hands and don't touch your face.  Only ride the elevators with masked people in your own pod.  

 

Every ship will have pros and cons.  It all depends on what is important to you, and whether you think that you will be able to enjoy the pluses in spite of the minuses.

 

thank you for your review!!  very much appreciated!

hugs

[Alwaysmorecruising]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:36 AM, tuckerboxbill said:

I agree in-principle with this philosophy, but do you think a 30% COVID rate is acceptable? I'm just LOVING being isolated at home for 2 weeks (best case)

Just curious -- where is that 30% covid rate statistic coming from?  I haven't seen anything official that states that, or any percentage.  Not saying there weren't/aren't cases on board but 30% seems awfully high to me.  If it's "30% of the Roll Call group", that I totally understand.  How many people were in the Roll Call vs how many people were on board?  It is possible that the roll call group actually passed covid to each other when they met?  The last Roll Call I attended was years ago, and we were pretty close to each other and chatted together for over an hour.  Just saying....  

[brisalta]

On 4/16/2022 at 11:49 AM, tuckerboxbill said:

 30% of the people in the roll call (and me) got COVID so do the math.

 

All this does is tell me about the people that take part in a roll call group. What about the What about the general population on the ship?

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

All this does is tell me about the people that take part in a roll call group. What about the What about the general population on the ship?

Exactly.  And how many in the group had multiple contacts, or maskless encounters, etc

[Napagirl]

I don't understand blaming Princess for covid. There's no perfect solution other than to not go. We saw the buffet filled with people eating, shows and games with nary a mask, etc. DH and I chose to do things differently and that worked for us. We masked while indoors and ate outside or in our cabin. The last couple days we decided to eat at the specialty restaurants because by then we'd avoid the dreaded quarantine. 

 

If you want to get on a ship with 2000+ people and hang out in close quarters with no mask, there's a risk. 

 

Not to "hijack" the thread but this is all to say that I didn't see anything aboard Ruby that would make me blame the cruise line for people getting covid.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Napagirl
To clarify

[Phantom of the Seas]

“Well said!”

[AnyMajorCruiseDude]

1 hour ago, Napagirl said:

I don't understand blaming Princess for covid. There's no perfect solution other than to not go. We saw the buffet filled with people eating, shows and games with nary a mask, etc. DH and I chose to do things differently and that worked for us. We masked while indoors and ate outside or in our cabin. The last couple days we decided to eat at the specialty restaurants because by then we'd avoid the dreaded quarantine. 

 

If you want to get on a ship with 2000+ people and hang out in close quarters with no mask, there's a risk. 

 

Not to "hijack" the thread but this is all to say that I didn't see anything aboard Ruby that would make me blame the cruise line for people getting covid.

Couldn’t agree more.  Ruby is a great ship and would certainly recommend booking it!  

[PrincessLuver]

1 hour ago, Napagirl said:

I don't understand blaming Princess for covid. There's no perfect solution other than to not go. We saw the buffet filled with people eating, shows and games with nary a mask, etc. DH and I chose to do things differently and that worked for us. We masked while indoors and ate outside or in our cabin. The last couple days we decided to eat at the specialty restaurants because by then we'd avoid the dreaded quarantine. 

 

If you want to get on a ship with 2000+ people and hang out in close quarters with no mask, there's a risk. 

 

Not to "hijack" the thread but this is all to say that I didn't see anything aboard Ruby that would make me blame the cruise line for people getting covid.

 

Princess promotes itself as doing everything in it's power to promote healthy sailing but in reality, since it dropped its' Covid protocols, it has knowingly sailed with active cases on the ships and done little to inform or protect other passengers from getting sick as many have.

 

It has set up a false narrative and all the Pollyannish thinking is not going to change that.  

 

Princess does need to own its' part by being more transparent in regards to Covid cases on its' ships.  And no, the suggestion of staying home is not a solution when Princess is saying "come aboard because you will have a safe and enjoyable time."

[VibeGuy]

1 hour ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Princess promotes itself as doing everything in it's power to promote healthy sailing but in reality, since it dropped its' Covid protocols, it has knowingly sailed with active cases on the ships and done little to inform or protect other passengers from getting sick as many have.

 

It has set up a false narrative and all the Pollyannish thinking is not going to change that.  

 

Princess does need to own its' part by being more transparent in regards to Covid cases on its' ships.  And no, the suggestion of staying home is not a solution when Princess is saying "come aboard because you will have a safe and enjoyable time."

This.  Doing the minimum the law requires isn’t a world-class experience.  
 

They need to mandate Up To Date/Vaccination Standard of Excellence *and* 100% pre-departure+pierside serial testing if they want to be seen as being serious about the problem.  Screw the passenger issues - this is about keeping crew healthy and productive. 

[Katarina5391]

Enjoy reading al the comments and discussion. After being on cruising hiatus for a good two years, I'm sailing on the Ruby this fall on B2B coastal cruises - Pacific Northwest and Southern California. I'll be traveling with my 72-yo mother who is immunocompromised. We'll both wear masks when we're in public and crowded areas and on shore excursions, and we will reserve a private table for just the two of us in the MDRs. I'm hoping that the ship will still be sailing below maximum passenger capacity to allow more distancing, but who knows. There's never going to be zero risk, same as in going to the supermarket or riding a bus. It's really out of our control as to what our fellow cruisers do, whether they choose to mask up or not - that's totally their choice - and the cruise company can only do so much as well. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst. Such a cliche, but true.

[PescadoAmarillo]

10 minutes ago, VibeGuy said:

 Screw the passenger issues - this is about keeping crew healthy and productive. 

Exactly this. When someone from the Ruby Princess 3/27/22 Hawaii cruise made a call to advise Princess that they had tested positive immediately after they returned home, they were flat out told that a supervisor said that Princess did not need to know, that it is what it is and people catch COVID. That last item is obviously true, but I’d like to think that Princess cares enough about its crew members, who don’t leave the ship with their germs at the end of every cruise, to at a minimum know numbers of positive cases that were very recently on their ships.  Contact tracing would be even better. 

[VibeGuy]

The only capacity controls in place today are those due to blocking quarantine cabins.  Ruby is selling as many cabins as the market will buy. 
 

[tuckerboxbill]

8 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

All this does is tell me about the people that take part in a roll call group. What about the What about the general population on the ship?

It's a sample of the general population. samples are used to extrapolate the percentage against a whole population to estimate a possible amount of infections. 

[tuckerboxbill]

4 hours ago, Napagirl said:

I don't understand blaming Princess for covid. There's no perfect solution other than to not go. We saw the buffet filled with people eating, shows and games with nary a mask, etc. DH and I chose to do things differently and that worked for us. We masked while indoors and ate outside or in our cabin. The last couple days we decided to eat at the specialty restaurants because by then we'd avoid the dreaded quarantine. 

 

If you want to get on a ship with 2000+ people and hang out in close quarters with no mask, there's a risk. 

 

Not to "hijack" the thread but this is all to say that I didn't see anything aboard Ruby that would make me blame the cruise line for people getting covid.

Have you sailed during a NoroVirus outbreak?? The first thing they do is STOP self-serve at the buffet and sometimes menus/salt/pepper shakers, in other words contagion transfer points. They had an outbreak on the previous cruise and already had infections on board and did NOTHING.  I'm glad you didn't get Covid, but myself and a bunch of others did, over 30% of the Roll Call.

[tuckerboxbill]

8 hours ago, Alwaysmorecruising said:

Just curious -- where is that 30% covid rate statistic coming from?  I haven't seen anything official that states that, or any percentage.  Not saying there weren't/aren't cases on board but 30% seems awfully high to me.  If it's "30% of the Roll Call group", that I totally understand.  How many people were in the Roll Call vs how many people were on board?  It is possible that the roll call group actually passed covid to each other when they met?  The last Roll Call I attended was years ago, and we were pretty close to each other and chatted together for over an hour.  Just saying....  

A great question but we did not attend any roll call activities at all.

[VibeGuy]

I didn’t hang out with anyone from the roll call either.  I didn’t get on shorex buses, I didn’t hang out in Skywalkers, I didn’t breathe heavily in the gym. 
 

I still got sick because, in part, Princess changed how they approached boarding new passengers of mixed COVID statuses and because they do not conform to the CDC’s voluntary Standard of Excellence vaccine program. 

[Alwaysmorecruising]

4 minutes ago, tuckerboxbill said:

A great question but we did not attend any roll call activities at all.

Ah, my apologies.  I didn't know there were roll calls without at least one gathering.  Nevermind my questions then. 🙂

[tuckerboxbill]

1 hour ago, Alwaysmorecruising said:

Ah, my apologies.  I didn't know there were roll calls without at least one gathering.  Nevermind my questions then. 🙂

oh there probably was but we didn't attend this time. We would normally do the 'meet and greet' and the 'slot pull' and 'cabin crawls' but since the restart we've attended only a few. I think I may have got it at Ukulele classes (lots of coughing was heard and hardly any masks on the coughers) or maybe Vines. But in our regular group of 4, 3 of us got it.

[cruisensmooze]

On 4/20/2022 at 2:36 PM, Napagirl said:

I don't understand blaming Princess for covid. There's no perfect solution other than to not go. We saw the buffet filled with people eating, shows and games with nary a mask, etc. DH and I chose to do things differently and that worked for us. We masked while indoors and ate outside or in our cabin. The last couple days we decided to eat at the specialty restaurants because by then we'd avoid the dreaded quarantine. 

 

If you want to get on a ship with 2000+ people and hang out in close quarters with no mask, there's a risk. 

 

Not to "hijack" the thread but this is all to say that I didn't see anything aboard Ruby that would make me blame the cruise line for people getting covid.

Sorry to jump in but can't figure out how to send a PM... we are going on the 10 day Alaska cruise on the Ruby 4/30 and I noticed you had mentioned in a post a preference for vegan food.  Our vegan son is coming with us and I wonder if you have any suggestions?  He will select the Vegan preference in the Medallion app and I also know the Head Waiters in the MDR (lunch) as well as Botticelli's (dinner) and will ask them to help.  Is there a special person I should ask for?  Thank you!

[Napagirl]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:46 AM, cruisensmooze said:

Our vegan son is coming with us and I wonder if you have any suggestions?  He will select the Vegan preference in the Medallion app and I also know the Head Waiters in the MDR (lunch) as well as Botticelli's (dinner) and will ask them to help.  Is there a special person I should ask for?  Thank you!

We never ate in the MDR because we figured that's where most of the exposures were happening. In the past, the MDR was always my best bet. On the first night you talk to the host and let them know. They should bring out a menu each night for the next night.

As for everywhere else, it was pretty rough, I'm sorry to say. I think it might be due to the current situation, as previously I ate like a queen, though it had been several times on the Grand. But here is what I found:

Room service has a vegetarian sandwich which is really a vegan sandwich. If he's hungry, order two. The chips and guac are decent but tiny - order two or three. Fruit plate is ok too of course.

 

The Salty Dog at the pool has the best options. *I didn't inquire as to all ingredients* but they had a veggie burger, fries and veg tacos.

The Salty Dog specialty restaurant can accommodate a salad and the Beyond Burger, but no dessert.

Sabatini's can create a pasta with garlic, olive oil and peppers. No dessert but they brought me berries and they can do a salad to start. I didn't ask if the bread was vegan.

 

Buffet was really hit and miss but I could always find *something*. Don't be shy to ask! 

So as long as he doesn't expect anything too great, he'll be fine. Of course that's normally our expectation, we're kind of used to it LOL

I hope that's helpful! 

[cr8tiv1]

On 4/20/2022 at 7:33 PM, tuckerboxbill said:

It's a sample of the general population. samples are used to extrapolate the percentage against a whole population to estimate a possible amount of infections. 

 

I am not a statistician, but I did crunch some number according to news reports.

 

You say 30% of roll call is a sample.  Yes, valid for the Roll Call.

But, 143 passengers out of 2500 (crew and passengers or more) is 5.7%.  

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/23/covid-19-outbreak-hits-another-bay-area-cruise-ship-voyage/

 

Still a high number.  I don't think anyone is disputing the amount of covid happening on ships.  For me, it's the way Princess is handling the cases and not being more proactive.  

 

[pris993]

The Ruby is one of my favorite ships, we have done 3 cruises on it.  A 7 day in the Caribbean, when it was new, followed by 16- day TA a year or so later, plus a recent cruise in Feb of 2022 to Mexico from San Francisco.   I was happy when it was announced the Ruby would be homeported in San Francisco.   Now it has been moved to Texas.  

 

We had a great time on it in February, was planning on another cruise in December to Hawaii but Princess switched ships, so now on the Royal.   We have 30 cruises on Princess.  Suggest you take a look at youtube videos on the Ruby, am sure you will be able to check out the ship that way.  Not sure what you are wanting to know.  

[tuckerboxbill]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am not a statistician, but I did crunch some number according to news reports.

 

You say 30% of roll call is a sample.  Yes, valid for the Roll Call.

But, 143 passengers out of 2500 (crew and passengers or more) is 5.7%.  

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/04/23/covid-19-outbreak-hits-another-bay-area-cruise-ship-voyage/

 

Still a high number.  I don't think anyone is disputing the amount of covid happening on ships.  For me, it's the way Princess is handling the cases and not being more proactive.  

 

and I can confirm beyond doubt, that 143 is JUST the number reported ON the ship. 3 out of the 4 people in our regular group were positive when we got home.

[cr8tiv1]

26 minutes ago, tuckerboxbill said:

and I can confirm beyond doubt, that 143 is JUST the number reported ON the ship. 3 out of the 4 people in our regular group were positive when we got home.

 

I am not doubting the numbers.  I had two friends who became infected on this cruise.  I do not see a correlation between roll call percent and total passenger numbers.  If you use 30% and 2500 +/- you will get a total of 750 cases.  We will never know the exact percentage or number count.  

 

I repeat:  For me, it's the way Princess is handling the cases and not being more proactive. 

[tuckerboxbill]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am not doubting the numbers.  I had two friends who became infected on this cruise.  I do not see a correlation between roll call percent and total passenger numbers.  If you use 30% and 2500 +/- you will get a total of 750 cases.  We will never know the exact percentage or number count.  

 

I repeat:  For me, it's the way Princess is handling the cases and not being more proactive. 

Totally agree.