Panama Canal on the Ruby Princess 2023 Christmas cruise-photo/ video journal by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

CD Natalie running a prize raffle for the kids

Piazza always looks dazzling!

 

At the end of my nap there was a call. It was Guest Services telling me there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries that had been gifted to us. Tonight was the wrong night to deliver as we were going to dinner and a show. I thought it would be a good sail away option for leaving Falmouth and asked them to save it until tomorrow. They did.

 

[Bimmer09]

3 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

Oh, that's one of the two cameras I've narrowed down my choice to. (I want an ILC for our Panama Canal cruise in 2025.) I'd ask you all sorts of questions but I don't want to derail your review thread. I have one here where I ask about what kind of camera to bring if you want to talk shop.

 

 

Thank you.

I am fine with and in fact prefer/ welcome interaction with people reading this as I am here to answer questions based on my own experience. There's no hijacking. I also welcome criticism, opinions if they differ or parallel mine. I am only going to write this once and when it's finished it will slowly disappear like Jack at the icy end of Titanic. I have 20 reviews/journals on CC now. I know where to find them but even with 20 I see I am new to some people. I have had well over a million page reads. I have photographed some cool places/ships/plates of food and have gotten more than a few laughs.

I did buy a new 4K video camera for Panama and am glad I did.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

We are eating again. Formal Night dinner. Da Vinci. We won't eat in Michelangelo or Botticelli on this trip, though we have before. We are happy here. We never have to wait. We passed by the other door and there was a line there.

 

 

As you can see there are some extra dishes you can buy to enhance your meal/use some OBC

 

We were both excited by the words Crab Cake! 

 

Alas it must have been a play on words or such. Perhaps the ship once sailed near a crab in an Alaskan harbor . If so that was the closest encounter for the crab cake filler that made up this dish. The "crab" was awol from the flavor profile. Fail.

 

 

This was my Red Snapper with black bean salsa. I think we would agree that all the fish dishes than came our way were worthy. Good job on the fish station!

 

 

Prime rib for Carol with cauliflower, broccoli and potato beignet. Hit the spot I believe.

 

 

Love Boat Dream, a tasty after dinner treat!

 

 

Carol's "Crepes Suzette". Not cooked table side . Not flat like a crepe . A dismal fail and an insult to the chefs and the people of La Belle France.

 

We retired to the International Cafe for an expresso and macchiato  before attending the show Stardust in the Princess Theater.

 

Norris

[MJSailors]

Hello Norris- I was pleased to find your present GSJ. ( Since I have read many of your cruise reviews, I know what the letters GSJ stand for on CC!).

I will frequently check here for more of your postings.

The photos of the Ruby bring back fond memories of the Crown as I think they are sister ships. We enjoyed two cruises on the Crown when she was brand new.

I agree that those Promenade decks are the best for connecting to the ocean and taking invigorating walks.

it is a pity that those decks are not an element of the newer designed ships.

Hoping that you feel better each day.

Wishing you and Carol many good days in 2024 !

MJ🙎🏻‍♀️

 

[Bimmer09]

Stardust

 

We are theater people, Opera, plays, musicals, concerts. You are not encouraged to videotape Princess shows. Celebrity encourages you to (it's publicity!) Cameras are ok if no flash so I usually take a couple of flshless shots to catch the mood/color/gist.

On this sailing strolling in late would have led to standing in the dark

 

Live seven piece band, four lead singers and eight dancers pull out all the stops-a reference to playing the organ full blast. Old 1950's and 60's hits that most cruise ship audiences know first hand. "Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket"

 

 

All singin', all dancin' fun! Ten dancers now!! Blow the budget!!

 

After the show we escape the seething crowd of 700 by using Promenade deck. Breezy night.

by morning we'll have reached Jamaica!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

December 22. Morning. That's not a greeting but rather when I woke and looked out at what was Falmouth according to my charts.

 

 

The Pilot and the Captain agreed that 37 knot winds made docking unsafe and contacted Ocho Rios down the coast. No ships there today so we turned away from miserable Falmouth and made speed to Ocho. The excursion department had to contact their vendors in Falmouth and Ocho to cobble together some tours at very short notice.

I had got my coffee and was up on deck...

Buffet overspill area near the pool-won't be empty for long

New to me-a bar called Mix. Good name.

 

 

It was time for breakfast. If we still had an excursion it was an early one. Up to Sabatini's...

 

I fueled up for a day of sightseeing and perhaps hair braiding

 

 

Carol's omelette with ham and onion

 

Between the Macchiatos and Mimosas the distance between Falmouth and Ocho Rios

was shrinking

[Bimmer09]

 

I'm watching the weather as I want to get off the ship. That's what ports are for! Carol is Queen of the Sea Day. I am all about the ports even ones like Ocho which I visited 44 + times already and wasn't impressed by it on the first one in 1985. (I worked on a Royal Caribbean ship in the mid 80's for 44 cruises)

 

It's raining all along the coast but the wind isn't  such a factor now that we are near the port

 

This is the dock, by the Dr No shed (Bond Movie) where each Tuesday from March to November 1986 with me on it Royal's first cruise ship the Song of Norway would cast it's lines ashore for a day in somewhere really unlike the Miami they had recently left. 

 

We are using a different jetty today

 

These houses are all new to me and hint at prosperity for some. It seemed like a shanty town back in 1986.

 

We're here. We made it. Ocho Port Authority sprang to life and got men out of their beds and summoned up tour busses on the fly. Very impressive. Could have been a sea day but our Captain was on the ball.

Our excursion was in Falmouth though.....bit of a drive now. We'll see.

[Bimmer09]

All tours were reworked and we were told to come to the Princess Theater at 10 a.m.Tours now focused on Ocho and Dunn's River Falls was the main draw as it had been on the Falmouth menu.

Our tour though was originally local to Falmouth and the news for our group was that the tour operator didn't want to do all that driving-F to O back to F back to O then back to base in F.  I was happy not to ride around those roads in the rain for hours just to see the ***** Great House.

We were offered a Discover Ocho Rios tour-about 3 hours total and comprising a visit to Konoko Gardens and Falls then a free hour to explore downtown. Some in our small group weren't keen on the "explore downtown" vagueness as they had heard tales of the pushy vendors and squalor-they baled in favor of staying on a dry ship.

I'll be taking pictures out the bus window so you'll see what they'd missed by staying onboard.

 

We are the last group to leave, our numbers less than 25 now and we can join that time-honored tradition of  lining up on several flights of stairs behind the previous people who were making their way to the gangway. It isn't hard Princess officers-let the people off in manageable groups. What you end up with in these bottleneck situations (besides everyone being too close) is a safety situation. If people are at a standstill they are unable to get clear if there's a fire or such or a medical situation. Give each group a clear pathway-they don't all have to get off in a long conga line.

 

Once off there's a long walk to the busses-maybe 400 yards. We passed the two sad sacks from the photo department who don't even bother dressing up as Pirates these days. They just want you to hold a dirty lifebelt for these and charge you $20 later. We used to spend $20 on photos every time we stepped off Princess ships. Now we just laugh in their faces. 

 

We're going ashore. It's warm and a bit of drizzle isn't the end. Cameras at the ready!

More soon after a Covid break.

Norris

 

 

 

 

Edited January 6 by Bimmer09
Adding the dot above the letter i

[Bimmer09]

Here's something to read while I am gone

[Bimmer09]

Eventually through the stars blockage and onto the dock and at the end of the long walk everyone gets funneled into one big room (we've learned nothing about crowding together like sardines) and we are funneled through to the proper tour line and out the other side of the building into a warren of white buses (not highway coaches-maybe 30 seaters at most) suited for city street traffic.

The driver of bus #34 is Andre and Stephanie is the personable guide who will keep up a non-stop stream of Ocho Rios info. I am staring outa side window taking iPhone pics of drizzly life on the town's streets- I can't say it is a city, let's go with town.

 

 

 

Dark shop interiors

 

Pop-up shops

Car trunk shows

 

 

School Mural at the start of the hill climb the bus will make to the Gardens and Falls. The traffic this morning is too much for the infrastructure of this town and there are no police taking an initiative to help it flow. The streets are tight. It's a Friday morning.

 

[Jasperdo]

Sorry I'm a bit late for the party this time, Norris. Just wanted to let you know I finally boarded. Now I need to go get caught up.

John

[Bimmer09]

KONOKO GARDENS

We have an hour here among the greenery and the sound of a gentle drizzle and birdsong.

 

Welcoming committee

 

The bus is parked in the small parking lot and we are handed over to a new guide who works here.

 

 

I deduce these are restrooms and pop inside. Everyone in our party will have the chance to do likewise.

 

The local museum is also here

 

 

We'll return outside to the beauty waiting...

[Bimmer09]

 

 The lushness, like the emerald green in Ireland is because of the rain so I can't complain. I have no umbrella and no extra hand to hold one and work a camera. The rain is warm and there is no wind.

 

Coi pond

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More beauty ahead...

[Jasperdo]

58 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

The driver of bus #34 is Andre and Stephanie is the personable guide who will keep up a non-stop stream of Ocho Rios info. I am staring outa side window taking iPhone pics of drizzly life on the town's streets- I can't say it is a city, let's go with town.

Norris's legendary from the bus photos. Loving it!

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

 Just ignore the Covid sign as someone found a cure a year ago and it has been eradicated around the world and...wait a minute...I've got it!! It is very nasty and to be avoided. Everyone has let their guard down and seems willing to roll the dice. I did.

[Deck Chair Queen]

<< It seemed like a shanty town backin 1986.>>

 

Carol here, aka DeckChair Queen. I’m here to speak up for Ocho Rios in the sixties. I am officially half Jamaican as my mother hailed from Kingston born of many generations of Jamaicans. It’s a long story but many Spanish and Portuguese Jews ended up in the West Indies in the diaspora. I have relatives buried in the Falmouth cemetery, my cousin tells me. I spent all my childhood and teenage summers in Kingston in the fifties and sixties visiting my grandmother and relatives. We would often rent a house near Ocho Rios for a beach vacation. I remember fondly the incredible natural beauty, great street food, and the warm and funny inhabitants. My biggest disappointment about our cancelled excursion was missing a chance to eat homemade Jamaican food at the Great House near Falmouth. Seeing the lovely Konokos gardens compensated to some extent (they were too far from Falmouth but changing ports made them accessible). By the way, I don’t have Covid yet but it’s nearly inevitable that I will—impossible to isolate in a loft. 

Edited January 6 by Deck Chair Queen

[Bimmer09]

At one time Covid precautions were in place. The sign stays. As does the virus. The precautions don't.

 

 

 

A view out of the park

 

 

 

 

The Raging Falls

 

 

They climbed the falls. Well done!

[MisterMet]

1 hour ago, Deck Chair Queen said:

<< It seemed like a shanty town backin 1986.>>

 

Carol here, aka DeckChair Queen. I’m here to speak up for Ocho Rios in the sixties. I am officially half Jamaican as my mother hailed from Kingston born of many generations of Jamaicans. It’s a long story but many Spanish and Portuguese Jews ended up in the West Indies in the diaspora. I have relatives buried in the Falmouth cemetery, my cousin tells me. I spent all my childhood and teenage summers in Kingston in the fifties and sixties visiting my grandmother and relatives. We would often rent a house near Ocho Rios for a beach vacation. I remember fondly the incredible natural beauty, great street food, and the warm and funny inhabitants. My biggest disappointment about our cancelled excursion was missing a chance to eat homemade Jamaican food at the Great House near Falmouth. Seeing the lovely Konokos gardens compensated to some extent (they were too far from Falmouth but changing ports made them accessible). By the way, I don’t have Covid yet but it’s nearly inevitable that I will—impossible to isolate in a loft. 

Carol,

 

Must be great to get back to an ancestral home every now and then.  Got to Ireland twice.  Still need to get to Slovakia (I know, a horrible combination😆😆)

Love it when we get to hear from you too for your thoughts.  

[perfect match]

On 1/5/2024 at 11:14 AM, Bimmer09 said:

 

NEXT UP   .."another fine lunch you've gotten me into"

( I take an anti smoking drug called Chantix that when it kicks in (just now) I fall asleep within minutes-i.e it is nap time)

 

Norris, I’ve noticed that there was something different about this review, but I hadn’t been able to identify what it was until I read this! I don’t know what motivated you to take what must have been a huge step for you to decide to quit smoking, but I’m very proud of you for doing it and hope that you are able to stay the course. Hang in there, my friend!

 

I’m sorry your ship wasn’t able to dock in Falmouth, but I’m glad you seem to be having an enjoyable day in Ocho Rios, wet though it may be. As you said, at least it was a warm rain. 

[Bimmer09]

Our Konoko visit is winding down. Far below sits our home from home.

 

 

 

The guide reminds the group that she appreciates tips while we are taking a quick break from the rain. I give her $5 , not knowing Carol would also do so.There wasn't much in the way of guiding.

Back on the bus on the way downtown the other guide reminded us of her similar regard for the tipping culture. We greased her palm.

The one hour to explore downtown was to be spent in a specific Diamond/Tanzanite store called Palace Jewelers . Carol stayed rightly on the bus with the A/C on. We were parked in a tiny square of jewelry stores and watch stores predominately. I saw a bar on the corner and went there for a beer.

 

 

$5 US for a Red Stripe. It was cold and wet.That's all that mattered. I spoke to a couple from the ship who had finished eating a plate of coconut shrimp. How much was that? "we're not sure. It wasn't worth it whatever it was". Buyer beware.

 

The bus crawled through the streets again and took us back to the gated port. We got off and paid our tip as we do. A man called out to me-"I want you to come and look at my wares" he pointed to some wood carvings spread on a blanket. "Naw, I'm done shopping" . They were the kind of carvings that one sees at yard sales after people return home from cruises and clutter up their house and a few years  of arguments over them later, garage. You won't find any 4ft sombreros at the back of any closet in our home. 

Up ahead Carol had stopped at a little stall to buy some coffee that had been recommended by the port lecturer on the ship. She paid $30 for the 1lb bag below (same on Amazon she says)

 

We each gave it a critical taste test once we came home to Chicago. Expectations were indeed high. It found its way into the trash can that morning. 

Score on the Flavo-meter....barely recognizable as a coffee-oriented beverage. 

 

It IS a coffee Experience Beyond Compare-I'll grant them that!! Avoid.

 

[Bimmer09]

8 minutes ago, perfect match said:

Norris, I’ve noticed that there was something different about this review, but I hadn’t been able to identify what it was until I read this! I don’t know what motivated you to take what must have been a huge step for you to decide to quit smoking, but I’m very proud of you for doing it and hope that you are able to stay the course. Hang in there, my friend!

 

I’m sorry your ship wasn’t able to dock in Falmouth, but I’m glad you seem to be having an enjoyable day in Ocho Rios, wet though it may be. As you said, at least it was a warm rain. 

Nancy re the smoking- you may have missed the "Hospital stay ending" of my Celebrity Apex review.

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Back upon the ship after 3 hours away. Carol summons Room Service which only she can comment on as I usually eschew it. I instead went to the Salty Dog Grill by the pool.

Carol

 

Norris

Chicken sandwich, good chips

[Bimmer09]

Our surprise gift had been delivered by the time I arrived back at base

 

 

Thank you, friend!

Edited January 7 by Bimmer09
spolling

[Bimmer09]

Lest I forget, I got a nice shot of the Ruby from the drizzly dock

[CRLess]

12 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Our surprise gift had been delivered by the time I arrived back at base

 

 

 

 

From a friend who is the best Maitre 'd in the Princess Fleet in our opinion from sailing with him 3 times.*

 

*The current MD we saw for the first time on our last sea day. Our friend is visible everyday, everywhere...legend says there are two of him. Crew whisper his name...

 

BTW the title is now Director of Restaurant Operations which has lost all the flair and romance of Maitre 'd Hotel

He most certainly is the best in the fleet!  We too have sailed with him three times.  Those boarding the Regal tomorrow and for the next several months are lucky...he flew into IAH today.