Ruby Princess Review Dec 12-19 2010

[Iceberg2]

Ruby Princess Review – Dec. 12-19 2010

Embarkation: Went to lounge for Platinum status at 11:30 a.m. Barely had time to finish a coffee when we were called to check in. Wore Red Beads and were approached by roll call members which was a pleasant surprise. Check in took a few minutes, no waiting, it was a breeze. When up to our room on Caribe Deck and quickly met Denis our cabin steward. We asked for top sheets, robes and to change pillows to non allergic.

 

Left for lunch in the dining room and started our vacation. When we got back to the room from eating, our luggage was in the room as were the things requested.

After the muster drill, we went to the Outrigger bar for an impromptu Roll Call meeting. We met our computer buddies and continued to see them during the week. It was really great bunch of people.

 

Dinner was at the Da Vinci dinning room, can’t remember what we ate, but we had no complaints about the food the whole week. I went to see Bert Stratton who I have not seen in a few years. I am fan, but my cousin thought his mannerisms left much to be desired. She played trivia as she loves it and played almost at every opportunity.

 

Monday, we were woken up by the Captains message at 7:00 a.m. that Princess Cay was cancelled as the waters were very rough and this would be a sea day. There was two young ladies – the Amazing Acrobats Duo Alla Perform in the Piazza – a short show, but very enjoyable. Went to the 50 & 60’s Sock Hop Party – loved the music and saw Comedian Peter Sasso and he was terrible. Also the production show –Stardust which was pretty good.

 

Tuesday – we had our roll call meeting and had a very poor attendance With all the postings done before, we were sure that it would be a big group. Too bad for those who missed it, because had lots of fun with our cruisemates. Tuesday was formal night with Champagne Water fall, Captains Welcome Aboard Party. Again, I got to see Bert Statton

 

Wed – St Maarten – been there before, so just took the water taxi into town to visit my favourite jewellery shop and left him a donation for a new pair of earrings. Spent some time in the casino and lost my money in the 2cent slots.

 

Thursday – St. Thomas – just got off the ship to look for a new magnet. Went to see the comedian Phil Tag –he was great.

Friday = Grand Turks – beautiful island – took a bus tour and ended up at Governors Beach but the water was too rough for me to attempt snorkling. Entertainment was magician David Cats – he was very good. Saw the Pop Star heat and the talent was very good.

 

Sat at sea - \Water still very rough. Went to High Tea, but only 3 people showed up for the Mad Hatters Tea party – so I left all my gear in a bag. It was very nice. Bert Stratton played in the Explorers Lounge to full capacity and he was great. There was the final heat of the Pop Star and the winner was crowned – fun time.

 

Debarkation was a breeze – had a 11:30 a.m. flight and after having to change by debarkation time to 8:20 – I was off the ship and at the airport for 9 00 a.m.

 

Food – I am not a fussy person, so everything was good for me. I had my lobster and scampi’s, prime rib, rack of lamb, lamb shank, etc. Coffee not very good, so I bought a coffee card & enjoyed that. We mostly ate in the dinning room, had lunch in the Horizon Court.,and International Café.

 

Internet Café – had a package of 150 min and a lot of frustration. It’s very slow and I had problems logging on to my email. – There are also free cards to be sent by Princess too.

 

We met the nicest of people on this cruise, had a great time. This was my first time with a balcony on Caribe deck, the room was large and the balcony was very spacious.

 

If you have any questions, I would be happy to try to answer your questions.

[MINI-ME]

Hello, thank you for the review. I am on the Ruby on Jan. 23rd and was wondering what nights were the formal nights. You mentioned Tuesday, when was the next one? Also, I sure hope our Princess Cays does not get cancelled as that is a stop I am really looking forward to. Also, what type of performance does Bert Stratton do? What do you know about the Sanctuary? Any other tips would be great. Thanks

[Iceberg2]

Hello, thank you for the review. I am on the Ruby on Jan. 23rd and was wondering what nights were the formal nights. You mentioned Tuesday, when was the next one? Also, I sure hope our Princess Cays does not get canceled as that is a stop I am really looking forward to. Also, what type of performance does Bert Stratton do? What do you know about the Sanctuary? Any other tips would be great. Thanks

Formal nights was Tuesday and Thursday. We did not see much of long dresses, but a lot of cocktail dresses and sparkly tops with skirts or pants.

Bert Stratton is on vacation now from the Ruby - he will return for is "own" cruise for the 31st. of Jan. Bert plays the piano and sings, as part of his routine, he makes facial gestures and acts silly with all his sayings. Honestly, he does not need to do that stuff, because he sings beautifully and is an accomplished at the piano.

We did not use the Sanctuary, but it looks beautiful - those cots look like actual beds.

The pool next to the Sanctuary is small, but not a deep pool with steps to get into it for those who have trouble with the ladder.

If you are planning to take tours, check out the ports of call, many of the tour guides are less costly and give it their all. It is best to take early morning tours to be sure that you are back before sailing. These guys would not take a chance in being late as they depend on not getting bad reviews from us and losing their business.

A little tip, the internet on board offers free "postcards" - it is the cheapest way of sending email, but you must know the address before. Most of my cards were received, others went to their junk file, so if you plan to use this - tell your friends to check their junk or trash files.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time.

[MINI-ME]

Thank you for the prompt and thorough response! Too bad we will miss Bert. Any suggestions for non-princess tours/excursions? I've never been to St. Thomas and Grand Turk.

[Iceberg2]

Thank you for the prompt and thorough response! Too bad we will miss Bert. Any suggestions for non-princess tours/excursions? I've never been to St. Thomas and Grand Turk.

 

On a previous visit to St. Thomas, I used Godfrey - he can be found with a google search. He is a clean cut young man, very knowledgeable about St. Thomas. Sometimes he gets a little long winded, but you will get a great tour and even have time for some beach too. Try the Banana Daiquiri that we got at one of his mountain top stops.

We took a princess tour for Grand Turk - a little too pricey for $49 for a bus tour and drop off at a beach which was supposed to include snorkeling, but the water was too rough. Look at Ports of Call and see what others recommend.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like it was a great cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[sasysutler]

Princess Ruby Review

This cruise started off fine in Fort Lauderdale, as we went to Lester's diner, a Christmas Boat parade, and Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor. This was the beginning of a very long week I'm afraid.

DAY 1 EMBARKATION DAY... left the hotel at 10:30 and arrived at the terminal by 11:00. We sat un till 11:45 as they we still disembarking the previous guests. Got our sign and sail cards, walked past the photographers and were aboard at 12:10. We were told our room was ready, so off we went.. This started the problems. This was supposed to be a handicapped room.. Well needless to say 2 twin beds not put together and no 3rd bed in sight. Called the stateroom attendant who told me he was at lunch till noon. (Strike 1), okay on to Purser's desk.. no luck there as the entire ship is filled. Got a rollaway, we walked around, took pictures and had some lunch. Food is typical. Arrived back to unpack the suitcases and decorate our door. Muster drill, meeting up with friends and then to dinner. Food really good, service a little slow, but it's the first night. Back to room before the show.. Stateroom attendant told me I had to speak to his supervisor as my door decoration had to come down. This is a 12 x12 scrapbook paper that says "are we there yet"? With our itinerary on it. Well, according to Princess this is a "safety issue" Talked to the supervisor who still didn't give me an answer as to how a piece of paper is a safety/security issue so off to the purser’s desk again.. Asked to speak to the Hotel Manager.. NOPE..(strike 2). Told them how can a piece of paper be of concern, when the rollaway is a fire hazard, blocking the door to the balcony that we paid for? "Sorry maam". Ok, so off to see a lame comedian and to bed. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day at Princess Cay.. But after this.. It’ll be Royal all the way.

Day 2.. No Princess Cay

The captain announced about 7 am that there was no way we could be tendered into princess Cay, so it was our first of 3 sea days. There wasn’t a whole lot to do, but I spent the day reading a good book and watching “MUTS”.. Movies under the stars. The food has improved and it’s typical, but in the Horizon Court (aka windjammer} we had Matzo Ball soup. There were a lot of odd things like smoked eel, and other odd fish. For dinner I had spaghetti and meatballs, as there is a lot of shellfish on the menu. Dining room waiter is Laura and assistant is Jeff. Don’t see much of him at all. As for our stateroom attendant.. We never see him, and it’s a really good thing as I would have a few not polite words to share with him about good customer service. We went to the production show “Stardust” which again was typical. We were told to see this singer in the Crooners Lounge named Bert Stratton. This man has made the evening complete. We went at 9:15and back again at 11:15, a great combination of singing and comedy. Tomorrow’s another day.

Day 3.. 2nd sea day

We are up and dressed and ready to go to a presentation about the Captain’s circle. Similar to the RCCL program, and we will see if our Carnival points convert.

Rainy day, kind of cold, so it’s day to read a good book. Formal day was great as mort people dressed up, plus they had a champagne waterfall which was really neat, but everything good seems to happen in the Piazza about 7pm which is right in the middle of 1st seat dining. After that it was on to watch Bert Stratton and then bed as tomorrow if St. Maarten.

DAY 4, St. Maartin

We arrived in St Maartin very early and disembarked by 7:30am. Nothing was open, but we got our pictures and spent the morning back on ship. Our tour was of the island with a beach break at Orient beach. We toured both the Dutch and French sides with our tour guide “Jimmy” who was very informative and warned us of placed that we should not go to for our safety. Orient Beach is a “clothing optional “beach, but we were not taken to that part of it. Disappointed to find out that the beach is in the Atlantic Ocean and NOT the Caribbean. Back on ship at 5:30 and time to get ready for dinner and then the Magician. Spent the night again listening to Bert Stratton and then off to bed.

DAY 5 St Thomas

The day started off cool and rainy, but that didn’t last long, and then it was off for a tour of the island, with stopping for a picture stop at Drakes landing and overlook to Maegan’s Bay. We had a 2 hour stop at the Bay for swimming and we found 2 Iguana’s. We took the tour of Blackbeard’s Castle and then shopping in downtown for 2 hours. Since I had nothing I really wanted to buy, this was a really boring 2 hours to wait for our water taxi. Back on ship for formal night, and then an early bed night since we were all exhausted. This was the New Years Eve party night, but did not go.

DAY 6 Grand Turk

We spent most of the morning taking last minute pictures of the ship as we didn’t arrive in Grand Turk until 1PM. We did a tour of the island which was very informative, and then toured the small shops at the pier and Margaretville. The beach is right at the ship and is beautiful, but the beach into the water is extremely soft and you sink with no real feel to the bottom. We decided to go back to the ship and spent time in the pool. We waited for pool games which never happened due to “lack of participation” One of the things about this cruise is the lack of interest in the Cruise Director. We have only seen her on the first day, but the Deputy C.D. Tim is out there sometimes. We went and saw the comedienne and the Bert Stratton again. Tomorrow is a sea day and packing for home.

DAY 7.. Sea Day

COLD!! Not the weather that I like, so we will see. Did the galley tour, and the backstage tour. Bert Stratton at night, packed and ready to go home.

Disembarkation...

Never saw this, but our color was at 9:20. We waited and were off the ship at ten. Now.. You wait, get your entire luggage that you couldn’t carry the night before and THEN go to customs with this entire luggage. Next time.. One carry one is good for us.

All in all, the cruise was ok... Not the worst, not the best, but it was a cruise.

[mrsgrammy]

Ruby is beautiful- the service not up to expectations!

 

We traveled by vehicle to board the ship,arriving in FLL the day before embarkation. Arrived at the port sometime between 12:30-1:00 p.m., we were able to get through security and processing very quickly. Personnel in the terminal area were very pleasant and accommodating. Once on board,we found our interior cabin which seemed a little on small side for 3 people,but worked out a-ok as the week went on. Beds were just as hard as has been described on the CC boards,but we were prepared with polyester filled mattress toppers we'd purchased on-line and put into Space Bags and our luggage to bring on board.We were very thankful during the next week we had gone to the expense and added luggage etc to sleep on those toppers! Originally, we'd faxed request to Princess for their foam egg crates which were supposed to have been in cabin upon arrival but never showed up the entire week,but we didn't pursue the issue since we had brought along a much better solution. We had requested robes as well and they were not in cabin either. (They were finally delivered on 2nd day of cruise after requesting them again from cabin steward.)

Met our cabin steward,Juan, who was not any too friendly upon that first meeting. This was first cruise we were ever on that the steward didn't go out of his way to be friendly and helpful upon that first meeting and going forward! (not off to good start re service!)

 

We explored the ship and found it to be beautiful. Our one concern during the whole cruise was the attitude and lack of friendly,good service among many of the crew. It appeared to us that ship was understaffed and crew thus overworked in the dining rooms, buffet areas and cabin steward areas. We witnessed Cafe Caribe manager, Peter, berate and discipline 2 different employees in front of all the pax ( which displayed very poor management training.) In one instance, he grabbed a girl's arm and dragged her a distance across the d.r. We had opted for anytime dining and because of the Princess decision to close the Da Vinci D.R. to A.D. during the early evening, the wait at the only other one was at least 45-1 hour each night. We only endured this poor service for 2 nights and then opted to eat in the buffet each evening-not really what we had planned on doing on this cruise! We even missed the Champagne waterfall and Captain's welcome due to long wait and very poor service in the Michelangelo D.R. on the first formal night. So, on second formal night we were eating up in Cafe Carib and skipped our formal attire-what a waste of luggage space...

Food quality wasn't as good as what we've experienced on previous cruises on other lines,but we understand that this appears to be an industry wide decline. We enjoyed the Int'l Cafe as well as the pizza and hamburgers served on the Lido deck.

 

We dined one evening at Sabatini's and the service was wonderful. We had Daniela and her partner as our servers and they were very friendly and did an excellent job of keeping our plates full at all times. The food was good,but we would not do it again. Cuisine is probably more to our liking in Crown Grille and if we would decide to do another Princess cruise that might be what we'd choose instead.

 

We were not impressed one bit with the cruise director,Lisa Ball! Her assistant should be the C.D. She does not have a C.D. personality and having read negative remarks about her on C.C. boards, we totally agree. We attended some of the production shows and found them better than on some other cruise lines. We enjoyed the comedian very much and were glad we caught his shows. We caught a brief part of Bert Stratton's show one evening ,but didn't stay long enough to really judge whether we "loved or hated" him.

 

The one really bright spot to our cruising experience were the great folks we met and shared some good times with during the week. We had joined the roll call for this cruise and were quite disappointed that many folks who we thought would attend the meet and greets never bothered to show their faces after being so active on the roll call message board. That was their loss, for we met so mighty fine folks in person!

 

We took 2 Princess shore excursions and enjoyed both of them very much. We especially enjoyed the ferry ride and safari tour on St John's U.S.V.I. Our bus tour of St Martin.St Maarten was so informative and fun due to fantastic tour guide, Dennis.

 

Disembarkation took the longest time on any cruise we have ever taken. As the morning wore on,they kept getting farther and farther behind the published schedule. We were almost an hour later than published in getting off the ship. There didn't seem to be enough porters to handle the amount of passengers and their luggage needs and the lines to get through the immigration process were way too long causing even more delays in getting to the outside of the terminal building. We heard a lot of passengers saying this whole process would give them reason enough to not consider doing a Princess cruise again. Someone mentioned that they'd been on the Oasis with over 5500 pax and disembarkation had gone so much faster! Princess take heed.....

 

Now the question to be answered-Will we be willing to try another Princess cruise?(this having been our first time on a Princess ship) To be perfectly honest, the 3 people in our family are not real sure about the answer to that after having some time back at home to think about it.

 

As stated, we loved the ship and the ports of call,but the one big negative factor for all of us was the lack of a friendly, efficient and smiling crew in many areas of the Ruby. We hope someone from Princess Customer Service reads these C.C. reviews and passes on passenger comments and concerns to appropriate departments within the Princess organization.

[Iceberg2]

Three of us posted different versions of the same cruise.This is what makes the world go round and everyone has the right to express the story of their experiences. Each one was so different. That's the great thing about boards. Remember to take what you read with a grain of salt. There is no right or wrong, an opinion is their own, please don't shoot the messenger.

[RASHOPPER2]

I am so surprised about the info about poor service on the Ruby. We were on her for 12 days in late September and early October, and we had marvelous service. In 8 Princess cruises, this was the best we had ever had. Perhaps some of the regulars were on vacation. Was Godwin in the DaVinci dining room? He is the best, and runs a great restaurant. I agree about Lisa - she is not a very visible CD.

[CANTFINDUSERNAME]

How was the smoking? asthma Didn't get balcony because had smokers on both sides on Carnival and hated it. Thinking we made a mistake by not taking 2 this time! Oh well

[Iceberg2]

How was the smoking? asthma Didn't get balcony because had smokers on both sides on Carnival and hated it. Thinking we made a mistake by not taking 2 this time! Oh well

 

We did occasionally get a whiff of some cigarettes, but it was not too often. I also find the smoke offensive and enjoyed the two smoke free nights at the casino.

[Baileytess]

Is is your opinion that men should weae suitcoats on formal nights???????? Is there a hair dryer in the room??

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for letting us know.

[1 HappyCruiser]

A little tip, the internet on board offers free "postcards" - it is the cheapest way of sending email, but you must know the address before. Most of my cards were received, others went to their junk file, so if you plan to use this - tell your friends to check their junk or trash files.

 

I sent myself 2 emails for a test when on board the ship & they were never received when I got home. It could be that they haven't worked out all the bugs yet.

[1 HappyCruiser]

Is is your opinion that men should weae suitcoats on formal nights???????? Is there a hair dryer in the room??

 

Most guys do wear a jacket but if you're tight for room in the suitcase you can eliminate the jacket & just wear a long sleeve shirt & nothing will be said.

[Iceberg2]

Is is your opinion that men should weae suitcoats on formal nights???????? Is there a hair dryer in the room??

Yes there is a hairdryer in the room - usually on the wall near the telephone. You might want to bring a small extension cord if you use a curling iron, or to charge up batteries etc.

I know that my husband does not like to wear a jacket, but I really think that a shirt and tie would be acceptable.

[blueridgemama]

First off let me say I am not finding fault with anything negative that was reported. I am just wondering if these concerns have been reported directly to Princess rather than just posting them here on CC forums and hoping that someone from Princess will read them??

[Iceberg2]

First off let me say I am not finding fault with anything negative that was reported. I am just wondering if these concerns have been reported directly to Princess rather than just posting them here on CC forums and hoping that someone from Princess will read them??

Its unfortunate that not everyone knows how to lodge a formal complaint with Princess. In the past, I have had some problems and sent a letter directly to Princess. The letter was not in a nasty tone, it gave compliments and then the rest was the issue that required attention. I received replies and was satisified with the response received. So there are other options that are available. What botters me is that someone who is not familiar with Princess may take the negative review as the standard. Yes, the complaints might be valid, some maybe because not enough questions were asked inadvance, or an inexperienced cruiser would not know to enquire. As I said before, we had a great cruise and will be returning to Princess again.

[blueridgemama]

Thanks for your reply. It is nice to know that Princess has responded to your concerns when they are contacted directly. Are there cruise satisfaction surveys routinely given to departing passengers?

[mrsgrammy]

First off let me say I am not finding fault with anything negative that was reported. I am just wondering if these concerns have been reported directly to Princess rather than just posting them here on CC forums and hoping that someone from Princess will read them??

 

Just to clarify for you and anyone else reading this thread: YES, we most definitely have reported all our service issue concerns with Princess re the email survey that was sent soon after our return home. We told it just like we experienced it- the the positives and the negatives of the week long cruise. In our review here on CC, we didn't even mention the fact that our liquor purchased on ST Maarten and turned over to Princess crew upon reboarding turned up missing on the Saturday when it was to have been delivered to our stateroom. My husband was advised by person at passenger service desk around 7pm Sat. evening that they had "missing alcohol problems" Can't imagine that Princess Corp would be too happy to know that employees are as much as telling pax that no one knows what happened to the alcohol!! Long story short, after telling passenger service desk that missing liquor issue had to be settled by either a credit to account for our cost of the purchased liquor or they could go to ship's store and get us replacements, they showed up at our door with replacement bottles they had evidently gotten from the ship's store. FYI- the person who delivered it didn't even bother to aplogize for any inconvienence to us..... Princess is being directly contacted via a letter about the issues and concerns we encountered that week. How they respond to our concerns (a formal apology would be nice) will probably determine if we decide to ever try the Princess line again. As stated in the original review, we have some very pleasant memories of many things we did and the wonderful folks we met that week on the Ruby.

[Dollydutch]

Going on the Ruby Princess Jan 23 - Jan 30....Princess Cay, St. Thomas, St. Marteen, Turks & Caicos.....does anyone have any suggestions for a nice resort nearby on the T&C islands where we can spend the day and use the beach, pool, eat, etc......??? How about St. Marteen also?

[twortman]

Does anyone know if the Ruby Princess offers Free Ice Cream self-serve? My kids were really disappointed when the Caribbean Princess didn't have free self-serve ice cream?

[mrsgrammy]

Going on the Ruby Princess Jan 23 - Jan 30....Princess Cay, St. Thomas, St. Marteen, Turks & Caicos.....does anyone have any suggestions for a nice resort nearby on the T&C islands where we can spend the day and use the beach, pool, eat, etc......??? How about St. Marteen also?

 

When you dock at Grand Turk you just have to walk a short distance on the dock and you are right at a lovely beach and right behind the beach area is a shopping plaza that includes a Jimmy Buffett Margaritaville with a wonderful pool area(even a flow rider). There are many lounge chairs both at the beach and also around the pool at Margaritaville. We really enjoyed our time spent right there while docked at Grand Turk. Can't speak about any resorts on St Maarten or St Thomas since we took ship excursions that included an air conditioned bus tour of St Maarten/St Martin and upon early morning arrival in St Thomas we boarded a ferry boat for trip over to St John and took a safari bus tour of that beautiful island(the best part of our vacation was touring St John).