Ruby TA 10/7/2009

[Ethel5]

I preface this by saying I have been on 21 princess cruises and don't spend a lot of time exploring the nooks and crannies of the ship. This was also my first TA and first venture to Europe.

This is my quick review of the Ruby Princess Transatlantic that started in Venice 10/07 and landed in Ft Lauderdale 10/25. We have sailed on Princess 21 times and 8 times on other ships. There were 8 in our group-2 from CA, 2 from RI and 4 from FL.

The FL people opted to leave Sun 10/4 on USAir from Tampa to Philly changing planes after a 4 hour layover to Venice. I wanted to minimize the chance of our luggage being lost. We each checked one large bag and each had a carry on. Needless to say, they lost one piece from each couple that found it’s way to our hotel on Tuesday. The flight was in coach and not too bad except for the man and his wife who reclined the seats before we took off and we had no room. The cabin attendant had to ask them to sit upright while we were eating and then they slammed them right back down.

We stayed at the Hotel Molino Stucky and booked early enough to receive a promo of 149 Euros/night. Later were were offered and “Executive” upgrade for 59 Euros/night and we took it as it included a wonderful champagne breakfast plus hearty appetizers for lunch and dinner along with unlimited cold drinks, beer, wine and some liquors. The hotel staff was wonderful and very helpful in locating the traveling luggage. The rooms were rather large with very spacious bathrooms and the bed were comfy. The Molino provides limited transportation to St Mark’s and P. Roma and we did use that a few times. They also have a taxi from Murano that will take you to a glass factory where they almost badger you into buying overpriced glass items. Had we known, we would have taken the vaporetto and gone on our own. It took them 45 minutes to call a water taxi back to the hotel. We bought a 72 hour Vaporetto pass online before we left and you get a discount and a voucher to turn into a ticket in Venice.

The 1st night we went right to St. Mark’s square and took in all the beauty there. No pickpockets were seen and no one approached us. We did find a few rude Venitians who don’t consider themselves Italians. In a market, we checked out and was waiting for a bag and when I asked for on the lady screamed at me they were 10 cents….how did I know?

We took a vaporetto ride from one end of the Grand Canal to the other just to soak in the sights. It was awesome. We took in the Secrets of the Doges Palace tour that we pre-purchased on line and it was fabulous. We also did a ship’s tour “The nighttime tour of St Mark’s Basilica” and it was worth every penny we paid.

We boarded the ship at about noon on Wednesday and used it as home base. The ship is beautiful and her crew is wonderful. We had Captain McCharming-Capt Tony Yeomans. Having been on the sister ships, we didn’t do too much exploring of the ship. We did enjoy the new Elite/Platinum lounge in Skywalkers each night. We also spent a lot of time in the Piazza people watching and using the International Café for coffees and goodies. The Chicken salad is awesome and don’t’ pass up the shrimp!

Our cabin steward was one of the best we’ve had and he made our stay memorable. Always smiling, any requests answered promptly.

The other passengers were mostly an older group of travelers. I never saw such a collection of scooters and rolling walkers in my life!!!! Some of them were quite rude-pushing on elevators before passengers got off etc. I often wondered how they got around Venice which is a walking city and getting on and off vaporettos requires a lion heart!!!

Naples was beautiful and we had a private driver take us to Sorento, Positano, Amalfi and Revalo. Beautiful little towns. The weather was perfect while Venice was hot and humid. We had a guide to take us to the Herculanium-awesome.

Rome was a marathon tour with Stefano of Romecabs. He is wonderful and I highly sing his praises. We saw things that I only dreamed of. The fountains, the Colloseum, the churches etc …. truly sensory overload!

Florence was a rainy day and we had ponchos to get around and our private driver also had umbrellas. We did the Leaning Tower and it is a beautiful building even in the rain. We drove to the town center and visited the leather market. You could gently bargain but the stuff is still not cheap.

We could not get in to Marseille due to high winds (60mph) and rough seas - 21 ft. Sounds scary but it really wasn’t. We enjoyed another sea day to rest.

Barcelona again had us in a bus with a private driver and guide and we concentrated on Segata Familia. The church is an emotional experience and I’m not that religious but was moved to tears.


We sailed through the Straits of Gibraltar and I was a bit disappointed! I remember reading the Iliad in school and remembered the “Pillars of Hercules” and was expecting two giant rocks guarding the entrance. Only one big rock. I’m told there is another rock on the African side but we didn’t see it. But is was amazing to see Africa on one side and the windmill farms on the Spanish side.

Lisbon brought another private tour and we saw all the statues of Prince Henry the Navigator and explorers. Of course we stopped in Belem for the tasty pastries!

Ponta Delgada took our hearts away. We went with Amazing tours and it truly was amazing. Beautiful country-peaceful, clean and friendly. We will go back that again. We went to the top of the mountain and saw the crater lakes. Awesome times three.

After Ponta delgata, we have 6 nights at sea and we needed them to recover from the hectic pace we set for ourselves. The sip provided entertainment and of course the casino was always open.

The food on the Ruby was better than good bordering on great. They were trying out several new menu items-most were good with one clunker as in anything new. We ate in the DR for all meals except for a rare deviation for waffles for breakfast or Pizza for lunch. We had fixed early seating and our server Alex caught on to like and dislike quickly and made appropriate suggestions. After the first night, we didn’t have to ask for tea-it was waiting for us. Great service.

All in all it was a trip of a lifetime and we are planning to do it again next year. I will pack differently-taking more capris and fewer long pants. My touring shoes were comfy but I developed blisters on my swollen feet from the shoes worn on the ship for dinner.

If I’ve forgotten anything, please ask and I will try to answer. So much for a quick review!!!!!

[Pia1913]

Thanks Donna. Enjoyed it. Our friends were on there with you so I got their report on Sunday.

Having already been on the Ruby, we're still looking forward to our upcoming 40 days in April. I also hope Capt. McC is still there at that time.

[coconutmonkey]

Donna, can you tell me what the seas were like on your Atlantic crossing? I would love to do a transatlantic sailing next fall but am concerned about rough seas for days on end. Thanks.

[mollyanne]

Originally Posted by coconutmonkey

Donna, can you tell me what the seas were like on your Atlantic crossing? I would love to do a transatlantic sailing next fall but am concerned about rough seas for days on end. Thanks.

And could you mention the air temps during the crossing? Were the pools used much?

Thanks!

[Ethel5]

Originally Posted by coconutmonkey

Donna, can you tell me what the seas were like on your Atlantic crossing? I would love to do a transatlantic sailing next fall but am concerned about rough seas for days on end. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Mollyann

And could you mention the air temps during the crossing? Were the pools used much?

The only real weather we encountered was Marseille. The actual crossing was about as smooth as glass (seas 2 to 4) with the exception of one night where there was some rocking that lasted about 4 hours. The rest of the crossing was mostly gentle swells. Air temps were in the high 70's, low 80's and it got warmer and more humid the further south we came. The last 4 sea days there were a lot of sunbathers. I was not cold on this trip at all but there were some Lil Ol Ladies complaining about how chilly it was-go figure.

[ggprincess2004]

Thanks for review Donna, and welcome home!!! Lots of great info and great memories....looks like it it is the med and crossing for us in 2011, so I will be in contact w/you for the shore excursion info - sounds like you had winners each time.

Ginger

[Umbarger]

Originally Posted by Ethel5

The other passengers were mostly an older group of travelers. I never saw such a collection of scooters and rolling walkers in my life!!!! Some of them were quite rude-pushing on elevators before passengers got off etc. I often wondered how they got around Venice which is a walking city and getting on and off vaporettos requires a lion heart!!!

Don't talk until you have walked or wheeled in their shoes.

Do you realize scooters have to push on an elevator or they don't get on. Able bodied people (who can do stairs, by the way) usually crawl over my mom (who uses a scooter) so they can get in the elevator before her. We often have to wait on elevator after elevator because of quicker abled bodied people who get on before us even tho we waited longer. I bet these disabled people would have loved to use the stairs if they were able. I know my mom would.

Instead of complaining about walkers and scooters you should be thanking your lucky stars you don't have to use one......yet.

[Ethel5]

Originally Posted by Umbarger

Instead of complaining about walkers and scooters you should be thanking your lucky stars you don't have to use one......yet.

I wasn't complaining that the scooter people were the pushy ones! It was the able bodied ones who were pushing to get on an elevator before passengers got off. My comment was mainly a wonderment about the amount of scooters etc lined up in the dining room and an honest pondering about how they got around VCE. You don't need to remind me to be thankful as you don't know what shoes I'm walking in, now do you?

I will comment about people who use scooters who don't need them as witnessed by us in the Piazza. She got off her scooter and danced the night away-and not just the slow ones, then got back on her scooter and drove off. If she can dance fast dances, then she can certainly walk.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review.

[cusyl]

Cruises are a God send to people who could not vacation otherwise. Although I have had my share of land vacations, cruises are the only thing I can do now.
I too have waited for elevator after elevator before I could get on.

[Clutterlady]

Thank you for the wonderful review! Would love the do the TA in the future.....it would be a once in a live time event for me

[Ethel5]

Originally Posted by Clutterlady

Thank you for the wonderful review! Would love the do the TA in the future.....it would be a once in a live time event for me

You're welcome!

I treated it as a once in a lifetime event but I also went and booked it again for next year. We will be doing other tours to different places.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Thanks for the review. It sounds like the perfect balance of seeing/doing a lot and then having all those sea days to relax.

[Quilter n Cruiser]

Thanks Donna for the reveiw. I really enjoyed it as DH and I missed it due to his sudden discovery of colon cancer and we had to cancel the cruise. We definitly want to do this trip and are thinking of 2011. We have 2 other cruises booked for next year so have much to look forward to after a recovery time for hubby. I really enjoyed the roll call and all the dreaming and chatter in anticipation of the TA. Maybe we will meet on a future cruise.
Sharon C.

[CruzinNoony]

Hi Donna, Thanks so much for your great review. We are going on a TA next April on the Star and 2 of our ports are the same as yours. Who did you have as a private guide in Lisbon? Do you recommend him? Also, Ponta Delgada. You mentioned Amazing Tours. Do you remember your guide's name?

[Ethel5]

Originally Posted by CruzinNoony

Hi Donna, Thanks so much for your great review. We are going on a TA next April on the Star and 2 of our ports are the same as yours. Who did you have as a private guide in Lisbon? Do you recommend him? Also, Ponta Delgada. You mentioned Amazing Tours. Do you remember your guide's name?

I didn't set this one up but we used Alliance4Drive. the bus was comfortable for 16 but we sure could have used a PA system. With that in mind, it was a nice tour and we did see a lot.

I highly recommend Amazingtours dot se for Ponta Delgada. Ricardo even called me to tell me about the itinerary and then when we got closer, he called again to see if I had questions! Our driver was "Roy" who has a Portuguese name but introduced himself as Roy. Ricardo was there at the pick up area to meet me.

[Ethel5]

Originally Posted by Quilter n Cruiser

Thanks Donna for the reveiw. I really enjoyed it as DH and I missed it due to his sudden discovery of colon cancer and we had to cancel the cruise. We definitly want to do this trip and are thinking of 2011. We have 2 other cruises booked for next year so have much to look forward to after a recovery time for hubby. I really enjoyed the roll call and all the dreaming and chatter in anticipation of the TA. Maybe we will meet on a future cruise.
Sharon C.

Hope that Hubby will be fully recovered and that you both enjoy many more cruises.

[awhcruiser]

Originally Posted by Umbarger

Don't talk until you have walked or wheeled in their shoes.

Do you realize scooters have to push on an elevator or they don't get on. Able bodied people (who can do stairs, by the way) usually crawl over my mom (who uses a scooter) so they can get in the elevator before her. We often have to wait on elevator after elevator because of quicker abled bodied people who get on before us even tho we waited longer. I bet these disabled people would have loved to use the stairs if they were able. I know my mom would.

Instead of complaining about walkers and scooters you should be thanking your lucky stars you don't have to use one......yet.

[coiran]

Originally Posted by Umbarger

Don't talk until you have walked or wheeled in their shoes.

Do you realize scooters have to push on an elevator or they don't get on. Able bodied people (who can do stairs, by the way) usually crawl over my mom (who uses a scooter) so they can get in the elevator before her. We often have to wait on elevator after elevator because of quicker abled bodied people who get on before us even tho we waited longer. I bet these disabled people would have loved to use the stairs if they were able. I know my mom would.

Instead of complaining about walkers and scooters you should be thanking your lucky stars you don't have to use one......yet.

I think you interpreted the comment to your own satisfaction. I was there and also witnessed older folks, disabled and others pushing onto the elevator before we had a chance to get off. It is simple elevator etiquette for anyone. It isn't necessary to "walk in their shoes" unless "walking in their shoes" includes being rude and pushy.

Ron

[Lynda90]

Donna, thanks for the wonderful review. I certainly hope I one day have the opportunity to cruise this itinerary!