Ruby Princess Review

First timer, pleasantly surprised.

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Ruby Princess
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Charcoal68
First Time Cruiser • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2019
Cabin: Balcony
Los Tres Brillantes performing in the Piazza.

My brother & his wife are avid cruisers & invited us along. I never thought I would enjoy a cruise so the first time he asked us to join them for a 2018 cruise I turned him down. My sister & Mom went on that cruise with them & my sister came back with such great stories of her experiences I immediately signed hubby & I up for this cruise. Embarkation & disembarkation went smooth & fast. I had heard Princess has these down to a science & though I had no previous cruise experience to draw from I have to say it went very smoothly. There was plenty of activities to choose from onboard the Ruby Princess. I dare say if you can’t find something you’d like to do on a Princess Cruise you’re probably a grump who doesn’t like anything anyway. The dining was excellent we tried the Crown Grill & Curtis Stone for specialty dining, both were as described by Princess. All of our other dinners were in the Michelangelo dining room & were excellent as well. Our Head waiter was amazing, José Fernandez, my sister-n-law has a lot of food allergies & he made sure she got what she needed each & every night. José even worked with one of the chefs to create a bread for her that was palatable. No easy trick since she is allergic to yeast, dairy, eggs & sugar. They could only use the ingredients they had on hand after all, there was no running to the store. Our last morning on the ship before disembarking José met us in the buffet as we ate breakfast & brought her 2 slices of the bread they had created that she liked to go with her breakfast. All staff we encountered were great - it takes a special kind of person to do a job like that. You work very hard & have to be able to keep the smile on your face even when people are unreasonable. Most every passenger we interacted with was polite, decent & reasonable. I felt somewhat like I was living in a shopping mall with a bunch of other Canadians for a week : D We ate at the buffet for every breakfast & most lunches & enjoyed the selection it offered. The cruise director, (Natalie from Australia) & her assistant cruise director Yessy from Peru were stand outs for me also. I bumped into Yessy a lot doing trivia, karaoke & then working with her in the Princess Pop Choir & I absolutely loved her. If she’s not a Cruise director soon instead of an assistant I’d be surprised. She has unparalleled energy & just the right amount of excess personality required for the job. All three of my favorites were in higher profile positions but I would like to say that ALL OF THE STAFF on the Ruby Princess were exceptional. We’re already booked in on another Princess cruise to the Caribbean next year, hoping to take our kids & grandkids with us on that one. I came back new!

Between the two of us we did 4 different excursions booked through Princess, all were excellent & as described.

Cabin Review

Balcony

Cabin B4

I kept hearing about how small cruise ship cabins are but when I walked in I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the cabin size was more than adequate with plenty of drawers, cupboards & closet space with about 20 hangers for our use. We also had plenty of room in the closet to stow our luggage out of the way & still tons of space for shoes. The balcony was a good size & you could sit out there & even stretch out on the lounger comfortably. Yes, the bathroom is not large but there was corner shelving for your toiletries & a large shelf running along under the sink where you could store other items, eg. pads, tampons, diapers, baby wipes etc. The safe was easy to use & a reasonable size as long as you weren’t trying to stash the Crown Jewels. The bed was the most comfortable hotel type bed I have ever slept in & I’m picky about my bed due to chronic back pain. There was the refrigerator, desk, chair, at least 3 different mirrors & a good size cupboard on right side of desk. Above the refrigerator was a large corner cabinet built over it with plenty of more space. Keep your expectations reasonable & you should be happy. You are on a ship & space is at a premium. I would say it’s about half the size of the average hotel room but the way it’s laid out & with the storage provided they make excellent/efficient use of the smaller space.

Port Reviews

Cabo San Lucas

The experience was fantastic & I chose an underwater ride. I would definitely do this again but the photos cost more than the price of the excursion & you are not allowed to take your own photos.

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