Last April I was able to snag a great price for a 5-night cruise to Cabo San Lucas out of Los Angeles on the Ruby Princess.  We booked a transfer from the airport to the ship; which I would recommend, LAX is a disaster of an airport. It saved us so much hassle. The check-in process at the cruise terminal was a breeze, we were on the ship in less than 10 minutes.

The cruise was only 5 days; and since it was less than 7 days Princess did not do the champagne waterfall or the balloon drop, which was disappointing. However, the ship itself was so beautiful! The Ruby Princess has 4 pools, a great sanctuary at the front, the piazza was classy with a 24-hour cafe, and an outdoor movie screen.  The promenade deck is nice and wide, the pools are large and not usually very crowded. Movies Under the Stars played newer movies.

The food was VERY good! I am not a big meat eater, but I became very carnivorous on my vacation. The gelato was outstanding and was totally worth the $1.50 for 3 scoops.  The 24-hour cafe is on deck 5 and has a decent variety. The weak point was definitely the buffet. The food was decent but it was the smallest I have ever seen, leading to major congestion. Plus, they bring you your drinks, no drinks on tap. One of our tablemates waited over ten minutes for a glass of milk. Everyone is nice and they try; there just isn’t enough staff to meet the demand.

The shows and comedians were just outstanding. Magic to Do was very fun and best of all, Princess used locals from Cabo for performances, both in the showroom and in the Piazza.  We both enjoyed the Festivals of the World featuring the local songs of Mexico. They also had very colorful skull banners in the Lobby. 

Of course, it being a Princess cruise, we had to celebrate the whole “Love Boat” theme, with a really cool deck party and videos of the cast and crew on the big movie screen on the pool deck.

The aft pool was my favorite, it is a terraced area which is great for viewing and close to an extended part of the buffet. The Schooner Bar has great replicas of tall sail ships and Princess partners with Norman Love for some amazing chocolates.

Cabo itself is really beautiful. The beach goes on forever, the rock formations are interesting. The vendors are beyond pushy!  We were supposed to go snorkeling but they canceled the excursion due to choppy waters. So we hung around the beach, found a great place to eat; Senor Sweets, and a cool surprise. The Avengers! Next to the shopping mall is a comic book store with life-size replicas of my favorite superheroes! We saw Spider-Man and the Joker too. 

Since we had no excursion, we ended up taking a glass bottom boat out to the arches and to see colorful schools of fish. The sea was rough which made the waves coming through rock formation even better. There was a large colony of sea lions enjoying the sun, barking up a storm.

Even though I never did get to go snorkeling and I was bummed there was no champagne waterfall, and Princess should spend more money on adding staff; overall I loved the Ruby Princess, the whole experience struck the right balance between having plenty to do and enough downtime to relax and unwind-the Sanctuary is a great place to spend an afternoon chilling, being pampered and enjoying the sea. It’s also the best place to have the afternoon tea!

One last thing, Princess will close off access to 5, 6 and 7 which is where many public venues are. So you have to walk outside around and come back in, but if go to the photo gallery on deck 7 it traverses the whole length of the ship.  There are no water slides or rope courses on this ship and the miniature golf is a joke, but the Ruby Princess is a great, entertaining and beautiful ship and I hope to sail on her again soon.