Knickearth

Reading all these responses is heartwarming.  I remembered the 2 transatlantic we did, one was on the new noordam’s first crossing, but both TAs had British bands and one performed Glen Miller music.

also we were with sone single women who wanted to dance and the ship had male dancers whose job was to ask single women to dance.  
 

the ambiance on the cruises is unequaled.  

We have not been on Holland America since 2006.  We are 3 star.  We did a few transatlantic trips and they had big bands onboard.  What a blast.  We had terrific times and got to meet great individuals.  Do they still have the big blanc crossings?

thanks

We use to bring ( on longer than 20 days) a dozen bottles of really good wine since we live near Napa and all the other wine cities.  After going thru security we went to the wine table and paid corkage for all our wine.  Stickers were put on the bottles.  Once t there was no table set up and so when everything went thru X-ray, they pulled our wine.  Upon entering our cabin the phone rang and I had to go to deck 4 and pay corkage.  Never any problem.

advantageis that if you bring a bottle to MDR you pay corkage and gratuity.  Paying ahead there is no gratuity added.

all that written, our recent cruise included the princess plus package.  We did not bring wine onboard.  We are not heavy drinkers but we enjoyed the fact we did not have to watch charges to the statement at end of cruise and got to try different drinks.

I have to agree with Steelers in general.  I went on one NCL cruise years ago and can’t think of anything positive.  Funnily enough, the girlfriend I was with made a photo album for me.  Each page listed an item, I.e. buffet on a cruise with a beautiful looking layout of a variety of food.  Then a picture of what we actually got.  If it wasn’t so funny we would have cried.  I will never go on NCL again

I keep reading that since charging for Alfredo’s, there isn’t any crowd anymore.  I for one will no longer eat there now that there is a charge, just not worth it.  Rather eat in MDR or buffet.

13 hours ago, grak said:

In the morning with room service is the coffee the good coffee or the syrup coffee?

The Ruby converted to lavazza a month ago.  It was wonderful

8 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

I have never heard this before nor seen it in practice.  

3 hours ago, memoak said:

The plus package includes 15 alcoholic drinks. There is no limit on soft drinks or coffee drinks. Believe me if they did I would not make it all day long. Read the description of the plus beverage package on the website

We just got off Ruby recently.  Specialty coffees were charged against the 15 drink limit but none of us ever even reached 5 drinks a day so we didn’t care.  But when I wrote that previously individuals were outraged that coffee was taken as one of the 15.

On 8/3/2023 at 2:27 AM, leck57 said:

 

Agree with you. I stop by Vines quite a few times on every cruise we have done but I was surprised to read you could get food there. I mustn't be very observant but I've only ever seen people drinking or ordering wine there and if eating, it has been a snack brought over from the International Cafe. 

For me, that's way I'll keep it.

Since 2006 4 of us have gone nightly to the vines and get glasses of wine.  At 5 pm you were always able to get tapas and/or sushi.  We loved it as it was a small plate so when we went for dinner we were hungry.

On our cruise earlier this month we ended up going to the elite lounge.  They have a small buffet of food so we could get something with our drinks.

13 hours ago, ChristiCruising said:

We have a full suite booked for an upcoming cruise but we will be traveling with family who are staying in a balcony cabin. Since we we will want to spend our time with our travel companions it is unlikely we will take advantage of most of the suite perks such as reserve dining and specialty breakfasts.
 

Looking for opinions whether it is worth it to spend the extra money on our full suite for the space when we won’t be taking advantage of many of the additional perks?
 

We need a wheelchair accessible cabin and the only other option available is an interior cabin which is half the price but I do get a little claustrophobic. Has anyone stayed in an interior cabin lately and have any comparison to a suite and whether it be worth the savings to stay in one for the cabin alone? 

 

We were recently in your shoes.  We reserved and stayed in a full suite and our traveling companions had a balcony.  Since they live on the east coast and we are west coast, we passed up the free specialty dinner the first night to eat with them.  We did get one special suite breakfast and altho good wasn’t as great as we were lead to believe and once again friends couldn’t join us.  In the end the perks were a bouquet of flowers, two glasses of champagne, canapés in the cabin to greet us.  So now I am bypassing full suites unless traveling alone.  Just my opinion.

15 hours ago, lbfluffy said:

We have the Discovery booked for Hawaii March 2024. Due to the tragedy in Lahaina, our cruise dropped Lahaina. Plus Kauai wasn’t on the itinerary when we booked the cruise. So now we are down to two ports, Kona and Honolulu both overnight. We discussed with our friends and have decided to do a different trip. We chose Panama Canal for March. We have a  choice between the Emerald or the Ruby. We have to go in March because my friend is a nurse and must be back early April. So for anybody that has been on those ships, what are your thoughts. I think we went on the Ruby a while back. I’m trying to figure out when. We have done so many cruises, I forget the details. Thank you.

We have been on both ships.  I personally have preferred the Ruby, but have no specific reason.

that said, we got off the Ruby in august and I can tell you it had the happiest crew I have seen in my years of cruising.  They were also the most accommodating crew as well.  It made a huge difference in our enjoyment.  

1 minute ago, ExploringTheGlobe said:

I disagree with people saying this is nickel and diming.  Of all the dining locations now categorized as Casual Dining, Alfredo's/Gigi's is the only one that was complementary before.  All the others had a charge. Now if you have a fare package, all those locations are included, either twice with the Plus or unlimited with Premier.  To me, this is making all these options more inclusive and I like it!

Sorry, but we always went to the vines before dinner and had drinks.  We could get tapas or sushi with no charge.  Both items are gone and have been replaced and called casual dining.

11 hours ago, 4cats4me said:

yep, nickel and diming for sure. 

Nobody from there has called her since October of last year (maybe November. )
she did call you  back in October and spoke with you for a couple minutes and then you had to cut her off because you were at a meeting, and said you would call her back and she waited and the call never came She felt very hurt by that. 
it took a lot for her to place a phone call especially with all she’s been through
Bonnie hasn’t called since July 2022.  
I can see who’s calling and who’s not

she does not know how to dial out  on Her own. 

 

she has had a couple more strokes. 

 

Thanks so much for letting me know.  We did call a few times and never managed to connect.  I will try later today.  Please let her know we still love her.

so sorry to learn she has had more strokes.

On 9/3/2023 at 4:52 PM, 4cats4me said:

Same here. Once we can cruise again, we plan on sailing with Virgin Voyages, Oceania, and Silver Sea.  
On Virgin the food looks spectacular and everything is included.  No upcharge venues.
And all adults, an added benefit.  😊 

I agree 4 cats.  Princess is nickel and dimming us.

how’s your mom?  We called her but she doesn’t answer or ever call back.

hope you r well.

1 hour ago, MissP22 said:

They simply don't care what their passengers think as there are to many people sailing lately.

Soon, all will be forgotten and people will just accept the new pricing without hesitation. (just like the loss of coffee cards, internet minutes, loyalty credit, candies on the pillow, bars of soap, wine and flute glasses in the cabin when boarding, beef medallions, etc.)

Pls stop, the memories are making me cry.  Lol

25 minutes ago, 1965 said:

We get standard. We're elite so we get half off wifi & only use 1 device. Our free mini bar set up takes care of our alcohol needs since we seldom drink. I like the free coffee in the buffet just fine. I did the math & for us $60 per day per person for plus or $80 per day per person for premier is not cost effective. I know for many the packages do make sense. I think you need to do the math to be sure one way or the other. 

Ok we got princess plus on our very recent cruise.  Nice not being concerned with charges for drinks, specialty coffees, crew appreciation and Wi-Fi.  We have a cruise in 2024 where they have given the two of us 900. In obc and we get another 250. For stock.  So we will take std package.  We only have a glass of wine a day at the most.  I was interested in knowing on std package can we remove still the crew appreciation amount?

we use to tip the waiter and the assistant as well as the cabin steward.  Others only if we felt they would go above and beyond.  I hear rumors that the crew appreciation is given out fleet wide, not to just the ship I am on.  Anyone know if this is true or not?

1 minute ago, sunsetme said:

last time it was very poorly attended and nobody was looking at your medallion

I think with the casual dining included the vines, more people will attend pes

31 minutes ago, sunsetme said:

they never checked last cruise

Our recent cruise, one waiter went around the room nightly to ensure pes people were there at 5.  We watched him request non pes people to leave.

33 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

It is a reception each evening for Platinum, Elite, and Suite passengers. It has some snacks and some drink specials. The drink specials don't make a difference to those with Plus or Premier, but the snacks are sometimes good.

Just off a ship.  Sorry the platinum, elite and suite happy hour had no “specials”. At least no discounted pricing if you don’t have the drink package.  We loved going to the vines and getting either tapas or sushi with our wine.  It did not spoil our dinner.  The pes has more food to offer buffet style and so we eat more.  But the vines has lost its loving feeling.

17 hours ago, aprilsp88 said:

@ceilidh1  When you get a chance, would you please find out if the Lavazza is brewed, not from syrup?  I really appreciate it.

When they made the change to lavazza on the Ruby and we noticed it immediately - our waiter actually pulled out a bag of the lavazza they use to make the coffee.  Definitely no syrup.

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

What do you all think about the Lavazza?

Hoping it is good coffee!

But, we are 'smooth' Dunkin' people, so...

Sorry, not good coffee - but great coffee.  Recently we were in buffet on Ruby, and without any notification one morning during breakfast I asked for a cup of coffee and one small taste I turned to table mates and said - this is great coffee.  I mentioned this to the waiter and he said, five mins ago they switched to the new coffee.  Thank goodness no more syrup undrinkable coffee.

2 hours ago, hobo1937 said:

Sounds wonderful. Enjoy!

Have been on Grand tons of times and love the old boat.  Please enjoy your anniversary cruise.

On 8/23/2023 at 11:54 AM, Cruise Raider said:

Awe .. happy 40th anniversary.  We are here celebrating our anniversary, as well.  
The PES event is in Skywalkers and we love that location.  The food up there has been so very good.  It’s perfect as a nice light dinner.  It is held every evening from 5 PM until 6:30 PM or so on every evening except for the Captain’s Party night, which is the second formal night on this 10 day itinerary, which incidentally, is tonight.  
I have a feeling you will love the suite life!  That’s a great splurge for a special occasion such as a milestone anniversary.  

We recently got off the Ruby.  We celebrated our 50th anniversary and splurged on the owners suite.  If you have not read my previous postings after many trips on princess ships, this was the happiest crew and most accommodating crew ever.  So it was a wonderful cruise.

On 8/20/2023 at 10:15 PM, Jayl1965 said:

I’m thinking of booking a 10 day Panama Canal partial cruise on the Ruby Princess in December out of Fort Lauderdale. The cruise fares are substantially less than other ships. I’m concerned about the reasoning for this. Is the ship and staff up to the same standard as the rest of the Princess fleet? I know it’s going into dry dock before the cruise date. Any insights would be helpful. Thanks

As someone who recently disembarked on the Ruby, the ship looked fine - I have seen other ships with ripped furniture and overly worn carpeting.  Further, you could only wish for a staff as great as on the Ruby.  For the almost 20 yrs of traveling on princess, this was the best crew ever.  This crew was also the happiest we have ever seen.

1 minute ago, c-boy said:

are there wait times of an hour or longer in the main dinning room ?

Just got off the Ruby,  with the exception of the first night, no real lines in Michelangelo dining room.

3 hours ago, princesselite123 said:

Hi everyone - we will be sailing on the Sky for the third time on the Southhampton to Lauderdale cruise in November 2024. I'm having second thoughts because of weather. Can anyone tell me what to expect? Thanks in advance.

 

We have taken several transatlantic cruises in November to NY or Fla. and was thrilled all were smooth sailings with wonderful weather.  This was from 2000 to 2018.  We were on H-A and Princess.  We are look into 2024 now for a transatlantic.