After having to spend last Valentine's day away on business, this year I booked the Ruby Princess to Hawaii to make up for last year in Minneapolis. We met up with a couple that had been on our last cruise, a transatlantic from Spain. The Hawaii trip is starts with 4 sea days, then spends a day at each of the following islands, Hilo, Oahu, Kauai and then Maui followed by 5 sea days to Ensenada for the day, then back to L.A. To follow the beautiful islands of Hawaii with Ensenada is such a disappointment, but a necessity to satisfy to avoid Jones Act restrictions.
Overall the cruise was very good. After spending a couple of weeks on the Emerald Princess the Ruby was nearly identical, and felt so familiar. The ship was clean, although looked slightly more worn then the Emerald. The trip from the Airport was a nightmare on the Princess chartered transfer. Even though we arrived at 11:30, it was 3:30 before we were on board. Even though it was a Sunday, we spent the last hour sitting on the ramp to the port while the California driver's rode in the non ramp lane and pushed their way in at the very last moment. We could see the ship, but we crawled off the ramp. Where was Ponch and John when you need them!
Check-in went real quick once we got to the ship, but didn't get a chance to grab anything to eat before the lifeboat drill. I had hoped to arrive in time to spend a little time over at the Battleship Iowa which is docked next door.
Included City tour, Macadamia Nut Factory, and lunch at Nani-Mau Gardens. Tour Guide/Driver was excellent!
Also included a city tour and Macadamia nut factory tour and the Volcano National Park
You can see the best of Ensenada from the ship, don't bother to get off. Go over to the starboard side, snap a picture of the giant Mexican flag, take a picture or two of the sea lions playing next to the ship. and grab a picture of the port garden. This is the best of Ensenada. At least this way you avoid the smell and the hundreds of pan handlers and beggars waiting on you to exit the port gates. The front streets of Ensenada look like the back streets of Cozumel. Thank the Jones Act for this stop.
Did not book this tour, but the bus driver errored and took us here instead of Iao Valley. The Aquarium is fair, but I wouldn't book it.
This was included with the Iao Valley tour, and is a very lovely spot. Very picturesque. Avoid the gift shops as they are WAY overpriced. The tour company attempted to correct the error of going to the aquarium instead of the Iao Valley, however we ran out of time and did not get to see Iao Valley due to our time conflict with whale watching. Princess and the tour company did make it right.
Really good tour, saw lots of whales, and they come up right to the boat. Real exciting, and would do it again.
The Kauai Plantation railway was a bit disappointing. The Falls and other stops were good
This was the East Island tour and stopped at Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Pali Outlook and few others. There was one stop at the Hawaiian Temple (pile of rocks) that was a bit of a let down. Should have warned us there was no temple, but a rock shrine.
Traffic at the port was horrible and we were not able to do anything in L.A.