Review fresh off Ruby Carribean Sampler 12/22 - our first Princess Cruise and C

We just got off our first princess cruise and had a terrific time, I'm going to start with a quick review. I do have all our patters and will post after I scan in later. I did not take pictures of all the menus or food. I had planned to but I just didn't always have my iPhone on me, my daughter had her good digital professional camera though so when we she gets around to uploading I'll have more pics then.

Parking: we left from port 2 and arrived back at port 4 so parking at the port garage was fine, we brought on some soda (cherry coke zero for me which you can't get on the ship and coke for hubby) as well as wine so it was easier to Seth with luggage etc. as we were really early we carried our own baggage from the garage to the port.

alcohol check:

Checking but not extra villigent, we carried on two bottles of sparking wine and one bottle of red wine. They only mentioned one they saw on baggage X-ray but sent us to the table for that one, when they asked us now many bottles however we told to truth both with amount of bottles and that our daughter who will be 21 in April was only 20 and did pay corkage fee for one bottle and it got a stamp so we were able to bring it to dinner one night. We probably could have gotten all three on without a fee by either not saying we had three or telling them our daughter was older, but I'm a chicken and worry I'd be the one they'd catch and I bet people got wine through baggage that way. I'm not sure we would have drunk the third bottle without a stamp, as we actually met a very nice couple on board and share mimosa we had on Christmas am with them by ordering OJ for breakfast room service and having within our room in our water glasses. I had mentioned at dinner a couple of nights earlier about our tradition of having mimosas made from Asti Spumante. Every Xmas and the woman was excited as she loved Asti so we invited them, it was a lovely visit, they have recently gotten off the same ship transatlantic so had lots to tell us.

Embarkment:

We waited about 45 minutes outside the terminal 1-2 hours in the terminal in comfortable seating but because we were some of the first to arrive we got in when they started boarding non elite or platinum passengers. They started general boarding right about 12noon, when waiting to get into the Terminal we met several CC buddies for the first time including Pia and Bronx girl it was hysterical of the thousands of people boarding Ruby were were right next to each other on line ! We walked on the boat and our cabin was ready. We took CC princess veterans advice and DID NOT

Run to crowded lido for lunch but instead had the lovely salmon and orange soufflé on a near empty MDR. It's the most exclusive feel and best attention you'll get in the MDR all ship. It's a secret too it seems as hardly anyone was there.

Sail away

My favorite part of any cruise. The hassle of boarding is over, you're on the lido deck with cruise music playing , you likely have a lovely cocktail in hand and your whole cruise is ahead of you. You have such promise of good times to start. It was a little cloudy and windy but still warm enough that people were in pool and enjoying. This so alway was magnificent as so many boats were in port that day and we all lined up in a row and left the port in a line, boats included massive RCCL Allure of the Sea a carnival and HAL ship and of course The Royal right next to us on the Ruby.

drink packages and drinks

We only got a package for my 13 year old son, and we got them the ultimate package which includes sodas, smoothies, milkshakes and mocktails. I'm sure he drank every possible flavors of each and got our money's work It was like $7 a day plus gratuity and a great value, my husband drinks ice tea, beer or gin and tonic except for maybe one soda a day and I carried on little cans of coke for him, I like cherry coke zero, water, ice tea and wine so the package wouldn't do me much good, I like smoothies and milkshakes but we have enough calories on the cruise. I consolidated the coffee card as both my daughter and I like cappuccino or expression. And my daughter likes speciality teas, but we only had a couple each and lido deck and IC (ic only after hours overnight) have a wide selection of tea bags, Thier premium tea we had a violence of times was excellent gourmet tea, I had a ginger spice one one night and my daughter a green tea mint. I think we has two cappuccinos , two caramel lattes each totaling 4 and the expression I ordered in sabitinos wasn't charged to between us we had like 6 hot drinks which costs between $1.50-$2.50 so we didn't hit that $30 mark even with two of us. We for sure would have on a longer cruise and I will get the package when we go on our next cruise which I think is a 10 days one.we only ordered maybe 6

glasses of wine all trip one at Vines so We could have the tapas and sushi (review that later ) but we had 3 bottles on board and it was only 4 nights and we drank no wine at all last night. On a longer cruise we would purchase bottles not glasses for sure as I understand you can drink at any venue, or bring on wine and pay the corkage fee. Next cruise I'll compare which is more reasonable. I had one specialty drink that sad awful (a sickening sweet mango one featured on sail away) and a fantastic one I first had on coco cay then a couple of more times in the lounges, it was called I think a coco-loco and it was a basically a very refreshing piña colada, instead of making it with that surgery sweet creme of coconut, it's made with unsweetened coconut milk and pineapple juice . I loved it, my us and was happy with the beer selection as he a Becks drinker and I think her had a couple of gin and tonics. One wish iits would be other drinks other then wine to be offered at Vines to be able to get sushi and tapas, I think a variety of sake for the sushi and sherry for yr tapas as well as some craft beers would be a nice addition,

Ship itself

Gorgeous ship lots of beautiful wood, maybe, stained glass, Marble and art in lauding lovely murals on walls throughout. Huge ship but with a small ship feel so so many cozy areas to lounge and gather, smaller music venues, etc, I imagine would me much more enjoyed on a longer cruise where you'd have more time to linger.

Study the deck plan before going on bored. Certain stairwells and elevators may take you to floor you want to go to but not locale and you'll have to go back up and down to get to it. Midship elevators/stairs which were right next to our room but we didn't realize how important they are will take you everywhere from promenade to lido though

The ship was decorated nicely for Xmas in including lights, garland and Christmas trees throughout the ship and a little decoration outside every cabin, in addition many people, including us had decorations for their door. We had a magnetic wreath. Most cabins and doors are metal so magnetic decorations for door and inside work, I've Ben told people decorate for more holidays. We also hung a sorting of mutil colored Xmas lights above our bar area with a mirror so it made out room nice,

Cabin

We were in a OC (unobstructed) quad. For this category and such a short trip it was perfectly fine, large mirrors make the wall bigger, lots of shelves, cabinet dm closet and under bed space to stowaway belongings, only issue with this type of cabin in upper births stick out and you hit your head a lot, whether births are open or closed. Our window was nice and we had a lovely view of princess cay when docked, we had some rough seas and felt better to close curtain. Our location on the promenade midship was fantastic and unless booking a balcony We would for sure book this floor again we were steps away from international cafe, vines and the entertainment and gathering place of the piazza. Also as we were pretty much dead center mid ship the best elevator/stairs that went from 5 Lido and only like 10 steps and one flight then another 10 steps to either the theatre or the Casino. Only cons was no balcony, and our cabin was quite warm upon arrival even with AC on lowest temp. I did complain to both steward and pursers desk and magically within a couple of hours it was perfect temperature all trip

food (subjective , we understand )

Embarqment lunch

was lovely, like everyone before me had said don't miss this little gem, relaxing elegant time with a small but very nice menu. My husband and I had salmon which wax lovely my son a bacon burger which was huge and my daughter I think some kind of chicken . She had the Nutella ice cream (same as the "gelato" you pay $1.50 at IC, I had the orange soufflé with gran Marnier sauce yum (I'm going to miss desserts the most) stay away from lido day 1 head to MDR for a treat

vines

Lovely free snacks with purchase of any glass of wine only. (See comment above on my thoughts on that, to add what about a person prohibited from alcohol for health reasons? I think they made an exception as the did serve my daughter not quite yet 21 the sushi when she sat with us and my hubby and I both had the wine, servers told us sushi selection doesn't change (nigri yellow tail and salmon, a California roll, a shrimp roll I think one on a bed of green see weed salary the other on chili red hot seaweed. Tapas changes every day we were told. Day we ate there we had a spicy meatball, calamari, olives, a chicken kebob and a grape tomato and fresh mozzarella kebab,

Also most evenings they offered a wine/appetizer pairing there for $15 per person. We did not try it it passed by and it looked good

High tea

Offered every day in one of the MDR. Only orange pekoe black tea is poured. Scones with clotted cream was delish, pastries were some of same offered in IC, sandwiches we didn't get. My daughter and I were at a corner table and we had horrible service passing us by with several platters we didn't even get a taste of running to the larger tables. We went day 2, I complained maître d and never went back, we found lovely things for Tea at IC with a much larger selection of teas, tea event was one of the only things that disappointed us.

MDR

we ate in MDR 2 nights, we had early seating, but it didn't fit in well with the other food available earlier in day and were told by reservations we could just walk into any dining room, any time we liked so we never had the same waited or table mates. First night we met two lovely couples w had great conversation with but service was slow. Food was yummy though, one night I had a melon appetizer with mint an port wine that was yummy followed by their fettuccine Alfredo who was excellent, you can taster real cream and butter and a creme brûlée, husband I think had prime rib, daughter jerk chicken everyone liked we also ate in MDR last night for Christmas dinner. I had truffled pate foi gras, turkey (loved the chestnut sitting and pumpkin polenta, a "festive salad with greens & beets and gingerbread soufflé, hubby had the filet in a port wine sauce which he loved and an appetizer of crawfish, shrimp, scallops and 3 types of caviar, daughter had a crepe amd fontina cheese appetizer and jumbo screwed shrimp and a tangerine sorbet, we took the assorted Christmas cookies and mince pies back to our cabin rolled in a dinner napkin and they were also yum.

princess cay BBQ

Bleh, boring, hated it, I had a bratwurst and some fruit. It was basically the pool grill moved to the island, burgers, bratwurst, hotdogs, dry looking BBQ chicken, potato salad, fruit. Drink cards don't work on island, they say because they only have cans and not fountain soda but my son had to pay for a virgin piña coloda cocktail two and no cans involved.

,

Trident grill:

Son ate almost every meal there. He's 13. I didn't eat there at all, it's burgers and hot dogs Bleh

Pizza:

Yup bes pizza I've had a cruise, only had one slice once but it was delish crust isn't up to NYC perfection but the sauce was superb. Better pizza Thant carnival or RCCL hands down though

Lido Buffett ( I couldn't keep track of which is which there are two open for lunch only. 1 open for dinner

Pros: Almost every dish in MDR was offered there plus extras, not in main dining room , much more selection especially at breakfast, eat anytime just walk in.

Cons: presentation no where near as nice, although food as MDR plus presentation is cafeteria style and you have people pushing in online and you get to observe gluttony in full swing which I laugh at to myself, but some find unbearable to watch, I'm no skinny Minnie and love to eat but some people pile on high and often, if watching this bothers you or occasionally getting cut off, don't go there, I had a guy accuse me of cutting him when I hadn't I watched him to it to others, to I. Think he was looking for a reason to be aggravated, I laugh this off but if dealing with others at buffets bother you, go to main dining room. We found if convenient ate there almost every breakfast and two lunches, I got a few things there the night my son and daughter were I'll,

sabitinis- speciality dining $25 pp extra cover charge, we WON two meals here on the scavenger hunt and paid for our daughters meal, my son as usual preferred a burger with his friends at the pool. This was hands down the best meal we had. Everyone gets a chefs selection of prosciutto, olives marinated in orange and lemon assorted breads and breadsticks, and the pasta of the day (ours was penne with short ribs and oxtail ragout, yum!) served family style for sharing then orders own appetizers, entree and desserts. I had fried soft shell crab on a green salad with a balsamic glaze, my husband calamari and my daughter a artichoke soufflé, my husband and daughter each had lobster 3 ways which include a humongous lobster tail (not tiny ones you get in MDR formal nights) with lobster sauce and lobster risotto. My daughter couldn't finish her lobster, I had a giant tender yummy veal chop with a wine sauce it was severed with mashed potatoes (I ate none) and vegis. For dessert I had the expresso creme brûlée with an anise cookie and daughter had some really fancy three layer napolian I forgot what was in it. We had such excellent service it was as if we had our own private waiter. It was like a 5 star restaurant in food quality and service,

International Cafe saved for last.this is the Mecca of the ruby, where everyone gathers, and always a place to find something yummy an unexpected, a few things I can remember : strawberry cheese are, chicken curry salad with pineapple OMG good, shrimp salad (most popular) , chocolate croissants, donuts I the am, every pastry ,pudding, quiche, sandwich you can imagine and get this 24 hours per day! And it was like 20 steps from our room , coffees cost xtra there except late night coffee and tea after lido closes and also I asked one evening for a chocolate milk for I by and they give it or regular milk free, but orange juice, soft drinks, thier ice tea, coffee etc you pay for.

Ok I'm going to take a break now and will review entertainment, port, staff, shopping, casino and overall experience in next post as well as scan in patters,cut until I do here is a picture of me and the Commodore who was very visible and available to speak with throughout the whole trip. I have never ever seen a captain this often on any other voyage, here he is next to me during the gingerbread house competition

Thank you for reviewing your cruise. I'm looking forward to your future installments.

great review, what times do they have the lunch on embarkation day and do you remember which dining room? i've never done it and think i'll give it a try in january :)

Looking forward to the rest of your review, as this will also be our first Princess Cruise!

Great review and glad you had a wonderful first Princess cruise....hope many more to follow;)

Hi MovieGirl --

I am in Winter Springs and will be taking this cruise on February 1. Thanks for the review. I am looking forward to a few days of R&R.

Thank you for sharing! I'm anxious to read more.

Thanks for the review.

Thanks for starting your review.

I'm going to comment on the entertainment/activities I actually saw or my family saw and told me about. There was much we missed 1. Just getting accustomed to the new boat and what time best for meals 2. Because half of our party was cabin bound with seasickness one evening.

Day one-sail away from ft Lauderdale First thing we did was put our luggage have lunch in the MDR after lunch, muster drill (our station was in the casino , it was boron but necessary and the captain (commodore) paid us a visit during and was very pleasant

we did the scavenger hunt. We've seen these on other cruises but never tried. Of course they take you to areas that want to seek (photo, boutique, spa, etc) but homes after our last cruise on carnival tge sales pitch seemed mild. Only real strong sales presence we felt was art auction and the was fairly easy to avoid, just don't go to the cheap change events.

We then went to the sail away party, we had on our bathing suits but live in Florida it is it was not warm enough for us to go into the pool but many did, because pool was a little chilly hot tubs in sail away party area were pretty full, mostly with children. We danced and got some tickets for dancing the usual line dances on cruise ships, hubby and I also did some salsa dancing and hustle. We are pretty good but there was one couple out there that was outstanding and had us all beat

We did a glass of wine with sushi/tapas at vines then changed, our 13 y/o went off to the teen club, remix, where we lost him to just about the rest of the cruise. We then had dinner in the MDR where the service was very slow. We missed the first production show because of it and couldn't go to the 2nd as it was during the main event our daughter wanted to attend.

My daughter did the pop-star challenges karaoke first night, she has a trained singing voice and a good stage essence but the timing on the karaoke was a bit off and she was a little edgy in her rendition and the crowd seemed to respond more to the one genre we do not particularly like but most other people seemed to there- country. Also some of the contestants seemed to have several tables of friends/family and for us it was just me and hubby in attendance, so she didn't win, we tried to encourage her to go the the second heat the next night but I guess she felt beat. Karaoke books was huge and had a very wide selection of songs for stone interested in it. We tinkered around in the casino, for like 15 minutes and kit a couple of the lounges We drank quite a bit the first night, actually the only night we did. We were up in the casino at the back and very top floor of the ship. We saw a whole section of crew members in officer uniforms dancing and I asked our server about it and she said they were all party of the medical team. Me being an RN went over to talk to them. I was fascinated to learn how much medical staff there were. This is approximate as I had had a few cocktail but two physicians were there and the head doctor and head nurse are who talked to me, they were very nice and shared a but with me after I told the, I'm an old ER nurse, there was also a younger female doctor there and I believe the nurse said they had 5 additional nurses and 5 paramedics. The chief doctor said they treat everything there toothaches to critical illness and had a fully functional 7 bed hospital. I'm glad I didn't have to visit them in the actual medical center as another passenger we me who had been on a transatlantic flight told us that a few hours in the clinic for some tummy issues, blood work and an IV and a bag of pills for the boat resulted in an over $1k bill. After hearing this my stand understood more why I caked a complete first aid kit, bandages, OTC meds, asthma meds, an extra solimedrol dose pack I had, aspirin, antacid , anti gas uti medicine, anti nausea medicine cold medicine allergy medicine etc Etc ,

But the one thing I did not pack enough of was Dramamine. After the disco that night (seas were rough and we were dancing and drinking ) my husband and I left our adult daughter there with new friends she made and went back to the cabin, hubby fell asleep but I was very queazy. I took a Dramamine and an anti nausea rx pill I had from when I was on chemo meds, went to sleep and woke up fine. To another sea day

It started out great after a MDR breakfast we went to the drawing for the scavenger hunt and found out we won a dinner for two at sabatinis, !!! Woo hoo a $50 value!

We then entered the gingerbread house decorating contest, the teams were supposed to have 4-6 people and we only had three (couldn't find son n teens center ) but we met two boys from Miami who we looking for a team and they joined us and I think we disc great job, all the head chefs and highest level officers including the commodore came and judged, we didn't win but mostly because we had a really hard time getting her to not collapse and didn't have detail of tome other cruises. If we ever go on a Christmas cruise again we will be sure to bring toothpicks, paperclips etc to help our engineering, the picture in my first post

With the commodore was taken in the

although the ship had no formal formal night, (and no lobster in the MDR ) the photo department called that night the "dress to impress" night so we made our reservation to sabinitinis and hubby went back to room to try to nap.

Daughter and I walked around the boat, sat outside and read some, watched some acts in the piazza (I can't remember which what afternoon without the patter in front of me ) we went back and daughter and I really dressed by that I mean nice short dresses, I blew and flat Irene my hair, full makeup, heels the works, hubby woke up still not feeling perfect but was worried wed lost the prize if we cancelled our reservation late and trying to be a good sport made it to the lido deck where he almost fell down and almost barfed on deck. I ran around in 6 inch wedges trying to figure out how to get from lido deck to sabitinis and left him sprawled out on a pool chair . I think he had a hangover/seasickness combo) we definitely all felt better on our lower deck cains but got queazy tart first sea day when on upper decks. Anyway they were so nice at Sabitinis and agreed no issue with us changing reservations unto next day that night there was a magician/comedian in the theatre but I tended to hubby making sure room service brought him green apples, crackers and ginger alec then daughter said she felt queasy and took a Dramamine too, it was still fairly early so I went to pursers desk to ask for more Dramamine as I Only had one more pill left and this is import first time princess cruisers PRINCESS PURSERS OFFICE DOES NOT HAVE DRAMAMINE LIKE OTHER LINES.! Lucky the shops were still open so I bought 3 packs of two pills each for $3.99 a pack. Lesson is everyone needs to bring own Dramamine on cruise. My husband has never gotten sea sick and this was his 5th cruise, and he's ridden in speed boats, small aircraft, even sky dived, so never assume you won't get it. The girl in the shop told me she even had to take one that night and it was the most sold item of the day, room service also told me many ppl were taking the crews recommendation and ordering green apples and crackers too, if you don't have Dramamine and are sick after hours you are going to wind up in the medical department , which isn't covered upfront by any insurance and only reimbursed if you have an international travel insurance rider. So bring it. My husband got so very I'll this time he said he'll get the prescription strength ear patches next time,

So my dinner that night as son ate with teen club, husband ate green apples, daughter and I ordered room service she had a tuna sandwich , me a turkey club and we shared a couple of cookies . It was passable, not bad, would be great if in a hotel but not what you want to east one dinner of only a 4 night cruises I did wander out and tinkered in the casino a little and went to see my son in teen center, but otherwise evening was a flop. They did have some good movies on TV, new to DVD but not yet on TV, so we watched TV, read etc,

Next day was princess cay. Hubby and daughter both felt 100% better son even came with us to island. We were hopeful as this was not a private island by a private section of a public and residential island we'd get someone to take us into town, we went to the gate where you leave princess cay (you must have photo ID to renter cruise card alone will not work ) but the heapest fab service to the parts of town that were interesting to travelers was $60 per person ! We bartered like you have to do with the locals but the absolute lowest he'd go was $50 pp and a $200 cab ride wasn't in our budget. We sat on the beach we had gotten there early so had a free cabana shade thing and nice loungers, got bitten alive by some insect not seem we imagine the no-serums, water was too cold for us to go in. Now many people were in the water, but we are from Florida so December is just not beach water. And Bahamas weather is very similar to Florida weather, so we didn't stay long. We went to the horrid lunch buffet (worse meal of the cruise) and wound up leaving our son with his teen group and paid for him to go snorkeling with them, I was very nervous about leaving my minor son in a foreign country alone, but it was all fine and he made it back to the room prior to the agreed upon latest time, so princess cay was basically a wash for all but our son, who played volleyball, swam and snorkeled there. We did take pictures with a beach looking Santa and evokes with sunglasses . We did find out the princes Charles and Princess Diana vacationed there so the island is nice, promise, we just like something different, We plan on going on more Princess cruises but will on and princess cay day be taking advantage of reduced spa rates or uncrowded on board pools and activities ,My husband loves ports and was very disappointed in this day, he loved princess as compared to the carnival and royal Caribbean lines we sailed before but hated that there were no good ports to him (and we realize this is subjective and those cruising from northern states probably adores princess cay.

Things did get much better this evening, it was Christmas Eve and in the atrium guests gathered around and stood on stairwells and were passed out song sheets and we sang with the. Crew including the commodore it was so joyous and lovely and when they played let it snow it SNOWED in the middle of the atrium!!!

we then got dressed, (I worse something similar I had the night before but didn't bother with lots of makeup or hairstyling, we went to the dinner at sabatinis and it was so lovely (details above post ) we tried to get into the comedy show in the theatre but it was packed, we ha planned on midnight mass and went back to the room to rest for a bit but daughter and hubby was exhausted , and I didn't want to do to mass alone, so I turned on the TV and BBC had the Vatican love mass which I fell asleep on myself, after making sure Santa paid a visit ! He left us a stocking filled with candies for our cabin too! That was a nice surprise

Christmas morning we opened gifts to each other, we ordered OJ and put in fridge, ran up and had breakfast on the terrace overlooking the forward pool, then rushed back to the atrium where they connected us to the brig and we hear the helicopter land and Santa appeared with two Rockettes looking sexy female helpers on gold glittery miniskirts, I even got to high if be him, we were watching from above but on plaza level they had a fair with cookie decorating, crafts making coloring,betc for children of all ages. He handed out presents to all kids under the age of 18 (my son was legible bite and his friends chose not too. I had worried about that in a pre cruise post, lol .we invited a couple we met back to our room for mimosas and we had a lovely chat we saw the magician we missed the prior day in a short show in the atrium and he was great, we saw other great short shows in the atrium including a piano player, Christmas carloers dressed in dickens attire, a steel drum player and a juggler/ combo calles " physical magic" . Only gambling we did was me at slots and husband probably dropped about $30 trying to win that dollar cube game, he lost thirst I was about $47 ahead at end of cruise.

We heard they had a brunch with complete entry eggnog somewhere but we didn't find it, we on lido deck lunch and decided we'd get in and mean shows as possible out last night. We wonder up eating dinner in MDR which was very festive we then went to the 830 pm broadway show which was excellent . Singers were great and set design was eye popping and awesome for a cruise. My husband was exhausted and went to bed but daughter and I went to see the Beatles cover show in the explorer lounge which was great and we Sang along and then the tail end of the pop star challenge where we say a cute video of crew members all over ship singing and amd the winner of the challenge, we then ran to the theatre to get a good seat to the 1030 pm Christmas show featuring the singers and dances of the cruise and the cruise director and activities department putting on a comedy sketch, it ended with a sing along with all on stage and the audience, we went back to the room packed, and fell asleep watch the great gatsby is movie I've been wanting to see (will have to rent now as we didn't make it to end)

We gave an extra tip both before and after cruise to our steward Marion who was most excellent

Also we had a fantastic bartender at princess cay an in the casino who remembered our name and was very funny and entertaining and told me I'd win at a slot machine I was sitting at and I did, his name was NEMO like the Disney fish so everyone remember his name too,

Also I give a big shout out to George a first class waiter at Sabitinis who we also saw serving at princess cay and coffee on disembark meant on the lido deck.

These guys all work hard and have multiple duties please tip them well. Also fill out the recognition cards and do the survey" mentioning them by name ! I have been told by many crew members on this and other ships this means more than money as our recommendations are thier key to true promotions and $$$

Disembark day was super easy basically out of room by 8 am then leave at your own leisure withi in reason, we had breakfast at 7 was out of our room by 730 and in our car by 8. Easy disembark ever !!

Overall we had a great great time,p besides for port and the time we lost because of sea sickness

I'd go on a Ruby again in a heartbeat. Not sure about Xmas again though once was nice but we didn't have entire extended family with us, and for sure we'd want better ports

We paid the deposit on our future cruise and right now I'm looking at the 5 or 6 night Carribean princess to cayman island hondorus and Cozumel (it also has primcess cay but we will stay on ship ) and really want to do the southern carribean 10 nighter in the royal,

To everyone reading this because they are about to go on Ruby soon, I am confident you will have fun,!

I'm going to scan the patters in tomorrow,! Vplease excuse any typos, I'm typing this on an iPad and am sleepy ! First night in 5 in my own bed!

Bon voyage to you and I hope you got some valuable or interesting information from my posts, I will use them as my ship log to help remember our cruise. If you have any questions ask away and I'll try to answer,

Hi MovieGirl --

I am in Winter Springs and will be taking this cruise on February 1. Thanks for the review. I am looking forward to a few days of R&R.

You'll love the cruise, I've cruised before to the Bahamas in early February and it was too cold to go into pool or beach, but this boat has more hot tubs than the ship I we on, and there is a lot to do. People do to in the pools but mostly people from up north or England or Germany etc. I suspect if you live in winter springs you might feel the same way about what temp you swim in as we do, if you have the leg that goes to Cozumel though you should be fine of swimming and even turqs and Caicos may be a little warmer..l or maybe it will be unseasonable warm swimable weather

great review, what times do they have the lunch on embarkation day and do you remember which dining room? i've never done it and think i'll give it a try in january :)

Lunch is from 12-130pm only. Dining room differs, it will be on the back of your patter at will be outside your door in your room or you can ask at any dining venue and they should know which one it's either Michelangelo or Davinci though

Lunch is from 12-130pm only. Dining room differs, it will be on the back of your patter at will be outside your door in your room or you can ask at any dining venue and they should know which one it's either Michelangelo or Davinci though

That is the MDR lunch if you eat the lido lunch it goes for hours, but do the MDR one it's lovely another CC advised today not to do the beef though. My daughter had the ravioli and liked it but we had salmon and everyone seems to like it,

Thanks for your review, but I believe your coffee card would have gotten you free coffee in the IC

Wow, I can't believe we were ON the same cruise! I thought those were the calmest, flattest seas ever and would have bet NO ONE on board felt sick. I had lots of Dramamine. I don't use it, but brought it in case my DM needed it.

Wow, I can't believe we were ON the same cruise! I thought those were the calmest, flattest seas ever and would have bet NO ONE on board felt sick. I had lots of Dramamine. I don't use it, but brought it in case my DM needed it.

Well when I bought Dramamine on the ship one other girls in the gift shopped advised she had taken one. Our cabin was a great location to prevent motion sickness. (Deck 5 mid ship) but I think what happened esp to my us and was 1. The most alcohol consumption was on first night, and it ended with a couple of hours up in sky walkers when the sea was at the most I think . He also don't do like I did when I got to the cabin I had Dramamine, ginger mints and a large bottle of water to compensate for drinking, he just went to sleep. He also went into the sauna they day too which I think he may have compounded the issues and although he had no alcohol that second day, he was the sickest that evening.

Husband has had major microsurgery in his ear and online ear issues for decades. He gets woozy on the teacups at Disney or any spin ride due to inner ear issues. All though we've cruised before and this never happened and he used to own a speedboat which is more more turbulent. After this time I am going to insist he get the prescription strength scopolamine patches from his doctor before our next cruise. I do not think he is coming with me on a 5 day cruise I'm taking my daugter in the spring but he will for sure be taking that ear patch before we head out on the Panama Canal cross in the fall and then the South American cruise in 2015 which I'm sure will have rougher seas.

Thanks for your review, but I believe your coffee card would have gotten you free coffee in the IC

I didn't get a coffee card, we drank about 5 coffees or teas between us, otherwise there regular room service, MDR and buffet coffe/tea (they have a varied tea collection including mint, earl gray, etc. I had a cup of expresso. With my dessert at sabitinos which we weren't charged for that we could see

Great review, Moviegirlnyorlando! We're planning on sailing on the Ruby on February 1st for a girls only cruise! Do you happen to remember how expensive the drinks were? Did you play mini golf? Are any if the pools heated? We are from WV, so I'm sure it will feel very warm to us anyway!

Great review, Moviegirlnyorlando! We're planning on sailing on the Ruby on February 1st for a girls only cruise! Do you happen to remember how expensive the drinks were? Did you play mini golf? Are any if the pools heated? We are from WV, so I'm sure it will feel very warm to us anyway!

I didn't go in the pools but I hear they are heated

My kids played mini golf

Drinks with $5-11 each depending on amt and premium of liquor. You can bring me bottle of wine per adult on the cruise for use in cabin only. Wine only. You can bring additional wine but willie charged a $15 bottle cork fee but that wine can be brought to bars and restaurants

Thanks for the review. We're planning on the Ruby 4/17-22. We're booking the room this weekend and we would like to be on 5th floor, plaza deck, close to the International Cafe. Is that the floor you stayed on? We would either have the casino or the theater above us. Can you hear either one if this was your floor? Thanks:)

"Cabin

We were in a OC (unobstructed) quad. For this category and such a short trip it was perfectly fine, large mirrors make the wall bigger, lots of shelves, cabinet dm closet and under bed space to stowaway belongings, only issue with this type of cabin in upper births stick out and you hit your head a lot, whether births are open or closed. Our window was nice and we had a lovely view of princess cay when docked, we had some rough seas and felt better to close curtain. Our location on the promenade midship was fantastic and unless booking a balcony We would for sure book this floor again we were steps away from international cafe, vines and the entertainment and gathering place of the piazza. Also as we were pretty much dead center mid ship the best elevator/stairs that went from 5 Lido and only like 10 steps and one flight then another 10 steps to either the theatre or the Casino. Only cons was no balcony, and our cabin was quite warm upon arrival even with AC on lowest temp. I did complain to both steward and pursers desk and magically within a couple of hours it was perfect temperature all trip "

Thank you for all the details in your review. :):):):)

 

Cabin

We were in a OC (unobstructed) quad. For this category and such a short trip it was perfectly fine, large mirrors make the wall bigger, lots of shelves, cabinet dm closet and under bed space to stowaway belongings, only issue with this type of cabin in upper births stick out and you hit your head a lot, whether births are open or closed. Our window was nice and we had a lovely view of princess cay when docked, we had some rough seas and felt better to close curtain. Our location on the promenade midship was fantastic and unless booking a balcony We would for sure book this floor again we were steps away from international cafe, vines and the entertainment and gathering place of the piazza. Also as we were pretty much dead center mid ship the best elevator/stairs that went from 5 Lido and only like 10 steps and one flight then another 10 steps to either the theatre or the Casino.

I asked this before but maybe you didn't see it so I will try again:) did you hear the casino or the theater above you? Thanks! We booked P232.

I asked this before but maybe you didn't see it so I will try again:) did you hear the casino or the theater above you? Thanks! We booked P232.

I have been in cabins on Plaza deck on the Ruby and never heard noise from casino or theater, we did hear noise from the Piazza if the passage door was left open but not enough to be bothersome.

Those are great cabins:D

I have been in cabins on Plaza deck on the Ruby and never heard noise from casino or theater, we did hear noise from the Piazza if the passage door was left open but not enough to be bothersome.

Those are great cabins:D

Thanks Julia! I thought it would be cool to be close to my favorite place, the International Cafe!

did you ever post the patters etc from your trip?