After several couples mentioned how much they loved this cruise, we decided, along with 2 other couples, to take it and were absolutely delighted we did! It turned out to be above and beyond our expectations in every respect. Embarkation was a breeze as was disembarkation. The service was extraordinary and the staff bent over backwards to accommodate your every need. Loved the ship, cabin, staff, food, activities, etc. So much to do on the days at sea that they flew by as we enjoyed participating in whatever we could manage to fit into our very busy schedule!! All the ports we visited were wonderful and we were most fortunate in having calm seas and beautiful weather throughout the trip. The entertainment was exceptional-especially the production shows along with all the other performers who took center stage as well as in the explorers lounge. Overall, just had a fantastic time and would definitely recommend it and most likely will do it again. Read Less

This was a fifteen day cruise. There were many days at sea.The ports in Hawaii are all beautiful. I did grow weary of the days at sea on the way over. We had a two bedroom suite, not as spacious as it has been on the other cruise lines. The ship itself is starting to show a little bit of age but is still in good condition. The theater was always crowded and if you arrived less than half an hour before the performance it was nearly impossible to get a seat. I believe this was true for both shows. For suite guests they have a new program, at least a new program to me, called Club Class. Part of the da Vinci dining room is set aside for suite guests, the service was very good some of the best I've ever had. The ports were all good and I even enjoyed Ensenada. I think that Princess is the only cruise line to offer selling form LA to Hawaii and back. Read Less

We didn't get a chance to explore LA not enough time the arrangement were great. The best part was the embarkation and disembarkation process was smooth it was about 30 mins off however smooth in total. The Ship, the Cabins & Dining area were very clear and everyone was very polite and courteous waiting on us for our every need. We only made it to about 2 Entertainment shows our time was bad cause of our dining area arrangements. We were on anytime dining but it got changed to a late dining time that was disappointing.The Ports and Shore excursion were a little disappointing they were a little high for our budget. We didn't bring children with us however there were a few on this cruise which we didn't see much. We would do this cruise again but would have like to see the Whales. This was a huge celebration for us. Read Less

We’ve sailed with Princess in the past and know we will get a high quality ship and experience. Our recent cruise from LA to Hawaii and back was no different. Beautiful ship, comfortable mini-suite, fun activities, terrific crew, and a bunch of food. It took 4 days to get to Hilo. We visited Hilo, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui. Then 5 days to Ensenada, Mexico and one final day to LA. The boarding and disembarkation processes were very smooth. All of the islands were beautiful & offered different sites. Hilo is full of volcanoes. Honolulu has Pearl Harbor and Luaus. Kauai has waterfalls and beaches where movies were filmed. Maui is the nicest. Nice downtown near the port with plenty of shops. Would recommend Kimos for lunch. Right on the Pacific, great fish tacos and a huge Ice cream cake desert. Ensenada was a disappointment though. Not much to see or do. Read Less

We chose this cruise because it was pretty cheap and embarked from the west coast. We love cruises that are more than 7 days. Hadn't been to Hawaii in a few years. When we cruise we're essentially onboard for the boat ride, we don't spend hardly anything onboard... we like to go cheap and go a lot. We are Elite level cruisers on Princess, Royal and Celebrity. OK, Ruby Princess surprises: Positive Surprise - touch your card on the panel and the stateroom door unlocks, no more swiping the magstripe. Positive Surprise - Stateroom TV is huge, maybe 40" diagonal, and its HD. There are tons of free TV Shows and Movies, good ones, all for free ON DEMAND 24/7. Positive Surprise - we actually found a hut tub that was HOT, unbelievable! Its the one way aft on deck 17, and bonus... no kids allowed. Positive Surprise - We were able to go for the entire length of the cruise without going to the main dining room once... huge plus since it wastes so much of one's time. Negative Surprise - they've changed the whole internet thing. The new thing is "Medallion Net". Now offers daily service which really works better for handheld devices. They heavily favor it, to the point that they've made the "minutes" plan extremely hard to use, error prone and confusing as possible. Get this, whenever you log off the internet you have to type in your credentials again, then go through 3 pages of stuff where you say Go Online on each page. I used up all the minutes on my plan, so I wanted to start to use my wife's plan (we both get 250 minutes for being Elite). Their software would not allow me to switch to the other plan on the same device, insisted I sign up for a daily plan. I couldn't even get to my shipboard account without signing up for more internet. So here's the logic, lets give our crappiest alternative away for free to our best customers! Negative Surprise - Ruby is larger than the Grand Princess, a ship that we love and have cruised on at least 6 times. We really felt crowded on this ship. For Trivia and any sort of entertainment in the Explorer's Lounge, they routinely set up several rows of chairs at the back of the room to attempt to accommodate the overflow. Theater was jammed most every night. Negative Surprise - The demographics on this one... too many MAGA hats, I mean it was spooky. Nothing Princess could do about that just, be prepared. End of surprises... We probably would NOT do the Ruby Princess again because of the crowdedness. While onboard, we decided that we've pretty much exhausted the Princess thing on the west coast and are planning on cruising out of Florida for a while on Royal and Celebrity. Read Less

No Airplanes , stateroom great , Glen did a beautiful job. Beds great Bathroom and services were Excellent . I was in a suite and it was as usual excellent with water, ice ,fruit , canapés, kept full at all times . If we needed anything extra all we had to do was ask. no problems with anything in suite R 410 . I had seen many negative reports , that were not true. they did a complete flush of the whirlpool , which is done every 6 months. I found the service in Club Class to be beyond excellent, all very attentive . I found Lobster , steak, all on the menu at no extra cost, along with a great assortment. If you wanted a Steak or Lobster from Crown Grill they would get it for you with an extra charge. Breakfast every morning in Crown Grille was magnificent as always with Great service .Entertainment on deck 5 was great ,again as usual. We had excellent dinners in all venues, and I don't remember any tough steaks or... this was our 24th trip on Princess. Embarkation and disembarkation was smooth. Ableseaman Read Less

Arrived day prior to sailing and stayed at the Best Western, San Pedro. Great accommodations. Free shuttle to port next morning. Arrived at 11:00am and after clearing boarding formalities we were in the buffet enjoying lunch by 11:45am. Luggage in cabin at 1:00pm. We selected Any Time dining in the MDR shared tables most evenings. Did not wait once. Food and selection choice was good. Did not try the specialty restaurants as we were more than satisfied with what was offered in the MDR. Drink selection and service in the bars and lounges was excellent. The nightly shows were very good, especially the guest artists who included Teacake and Bryan Cheatham who were amazing. Big shout out to Gary Golding, Cruise Director, who kept the entertainment bubbling throughout the cruise. Gary and his staff were very interactive and provided lots of laughs and fun filled events. Also enjoyed music in the lounges provided late into the evening. We were unsure as to whether we would enjoy the sea days on this cruise but found that it worked out well with lots of activities and also down time on deck. The weather was good after the first two days at sea which were cool and cloudy. Ship never felt crowded. The islands of Hawaii were beautiful. Took excursions in the four ports of call. Most enjoyable was the snorkling trip to Molikini Island and Turtle Bay by Zodiac. We swam with turtles who were as inquisitive of us as we were of them. On our way to the island we saw pods of Humpback whales. The skipper of the boat took us within a couple of hundred feet of the whales as they rolled and swam by us. The highlight of our trip. Overall, an excellent vacation. We met some wonderful people and we look forward to our next cruise. Read Less

We have gone to Hawaii on Princess before and had a great experience. We wanted to go again and explore more. We had Princess arrange our flight and travel to the ship. This went very smoothly. We did wait at the airport for about 1 hour because our flight arrived at approximately 10:00 a.m and embarkation was not until 1:00 supposedly. When we arrived at the Embarkation facility, it was very well organized and the lines were kept short. Princess has really refined this procedure. We originally sailed on the Ruby shortly after it was built (2009) and it was shiny and new back then. Even though it has gone in for refurbishment recently it appears most of this has been technology based. The ship itself is showing its age. There is some wear and tear in places. (sun fading in the rooms, wear on the wood on the chairs in the common areas). Not enough to make us unhappy but if you are looking for a bright, new ship, this one is not for you. We were in Baha 748 which was a rear facing balcony. I can't recommend this room enough! The balcony was larger than the traditional balcony and we had wake views for our sailing. The bed was marvelous and the bedding was luxurious. My husband is generally picky about his mattress and he slept well the entire time with no aches or pains. Our room steward was fantastic! We tipped him daily and really developed a relationship with him and it showed in the care he kept in our room. We did not access a lot of the entertainment but did go to the Piazza everyday and interacted with the cruise director staff. Jerry was a new staff member and he was very engaging. We really enjoyed him. We chose the early dining option in the Botticelli dining room and the food was very good. Our wait staff were not really engaging which was disappointing especially as the next section over had a very good server who was super friendly and great with his guests. I think you have the luck of the draw on this one. Our shore excursions were all private ones except the Adventure to Hana which we booked through Princess due to time constraints. We did an small plane flight above Kauai and found it the most enjoyable excursion we took. I highly recommend it. The vendor was Wings over Kauai. I would love to take this cruise again and will continue to cruise with Princess. Read Less

My cousin had said that they had good time on their last cruise . They came with us on this cruise . They also said that cruise was bad. Service was unfriendly . ship needs to be up dated . Carpets were worn out. My cousin room carpet was wet due to leak in ceiling. There also was a leak in ceiling in Crown grill. Getting on and off the ship went well and fast. my cabin steward and two bartender( Crooners Bar) were the only two that made my trip so what happy. Your dining staff needs more customer service skills very unhappy with the way we were treated. There was only one show. Your staff was unfriendly until the last two day. Why you ask is because they wanted to get a tip. They tried to be your best friend on the last two days. All smiles and talk to you like you were their best friend. Very unhappy with the service. I paid a lot of money for this trip Read Less

I did this cruise 2 years ago and had a great time. This time everything was changed. They said the ship was newly renovated but what they really did was add 100 staterooms. The result was less seating on the promenade deck inside. They also changed the menu which affected the dining rooms and the buffet. The quality took a dive with a less appealing menu and an addition of things like steak and or lobster or surf and turf added at the bottom at an additional charge. If lamb is not at the top of your hit parade, stay off this ship. The buffet had a good selection of fruits, melons and desserts but the entrees seemed to be left overs from the dining rooms. There where still additional dining opportunities at additional charge's but less because of less deck space to put them. I had the drink package ($1000 plus) but was still charged for the initial bottles of water that were in our stateroom when we boarded. It appeared there were less room stewards as well and if you were not out of your cabin during certain hours, you room was skipped until the next specified hours. I have sailed with Princess before and enjoyed it but was told , what we experienced was the new Princess way of doing things. I will not sail with them again. Read Less