Ruby Princess - long review!

[htowncruiser]

Hi all! We cruised on the Ruby Princess from February 6th – 13th. We are a couple in out mid 30’s, and we travelled with a few other couples ranging from 35 – 65. This is our 6th cruise, the 2nd with Princess; the others were with Royal Caribbean and Carnival (all Caribbean itineraries). We arrived in Fort Lauderdale one day early and stayed at the extended stay suites. The hotel itself was ok, clean enough, we choose it mainly because there was a free shuttle from the airport as well as a shuttle from the hotel to the cruise port and it is in a great location. Once we checked in to the hotel we walked to total wine. We are from Canada and this was exciting for us, so many choices and everything in one spot – love total wine. We choose 7 bottles of wine, and 2 bottles of liquor. We carried this onto the ship in our carry on and had no problem.

We arrived to the cruise port at noon and were in our room by 12:15. This was an amazing experience. So efficient and organized, was very pleased with the boarding. The muster drill was painless, took place in a variety of common areas. Mine was in the princess theatre.

Ship in general: It is a beautiful ship, very clean. Nice common areas and bars. Husband used the gym a few times, well equipped but you cannot go on an elliptical if you are on the tall side, DH put his head through the ceiling - he used the bike the rest of the week J. Pools were nice but crowded, hard to find a chair. Most still do the towel on the chair thing. There are signs that they will move your belongings if you are gone for more than 15 minutes or something but I didn’t ever see anyone enforcing that. The 2 main pools are loud. One was usually showing a movie and the other had a VERY loud band but this didn’t bother us. Didn’t get to see very many shows, went to a magic show and a comedian which were good. You need to get to the comedy shows early if you want a seat (if they are in the explorers lounge). We did the movies under the stars one night and it was very good, fun idea. We spent some time in the casino each night. We used the tip we found on here and added money to our cards on a slot machine and then cashed it out to get cash to play on the tables. You are only allowed to do this 2 times then they charge you 3%.

Dining: We did anytime dining. First night we went to the dining room they said it would be 30-40 minutes. Ok...moved to the next anytime dining room and they took us right away. Tip: for anytime dining make a reservation in the morning for that evening. I found the food in the dining room was average, nothing really memorable. The service was also very disappointing in the dining room. We always felt rushed; nobody went out of there way, not accommodating at all and always felt like I was putting them out. I think this might just be for anytime dining though because we were able to join our other friends who had fixed late seating and it was totally different, much better service and atmosphere. We would not do anytime dining again.

Food/drink in general: Buffets were good, we had buffet for dinner one night and it was one of the better meals we had so I say try it once for dinner for sure. The late night buffet was almost exactly the same every night but really by then do you need to have another meal? In my group apparently the answer is yes. We often went and did the make your own sandwich with some cookies. The international cafe was a great little gem. We ate there all the time. Great little egg sandwiches for breakfast, quiche and nice sandwiches for lunches and the yummiest desserts. We went everyday and never had trouble finding a seat. We brought some of our own alcohol (as above) but still managed quite the bar bill. We were expecting this so it was not a shock - beer was I think $5 and a cocktail somewhere between $6-7 sometimes more... We didn’t buy any wine but the list looked pretty good and there were some very reasonably priced selections. We often brought our own wine to the table, and there was a $15 corkage fee which was ok. The one good thing was when we brought a bottle of wine that they sell on princess we did not have to pay the corkage fee! We were honest and told him that we brought it on the ship with us and he told us it didn’t matter if we brought it on there was no corkage fee if it is a bottle they sell.

PORTS

Princess Cays: This was a tender port, thankfully, the only one in the itinerary. Getting to the island was well organized, you pick up a card in the dining room and when your number is called you get on a tender boat. Princess Cays itself was nice, I found the water too cold to go in but we took a long walk down the beach. I do suggest water shoes or something as it was quite rocky. We paid $29 for the clamshell. We got there late and there were not very many choices left but that was our problem for sleeping in! I am happy we got the clamshell as I am not one to sit in the sun and there were not that many shady spots or beach loungers. Once we spent a few hours at the beach, and had the BBQ lunch we decided to head back to the ship. Apparently 3000 other people had the same idea. The line to get onto a tender was ridiculous. We ended up finding a few empty loungers in the shade and relaxing for another hour and a half while the line sort of died down. Sail away from princess cays was at least an hour or so later than planned.

St. Maarten: We took the water taxi over to the downtown area and did some shopping. I thought the shopping was good here. After shopping we walked down to the beach and my husband rented a jet ski - I think it was $50 for a half hour. I bought a nice watch for a great price (compared to at home). Then we hung out at the get wet bar (owned by Canadian’s) and ate some poutine. Super great day!

St. Thomas: Left first thing in the morning and took a cab to Magen's Bay. I think it was $9 one way and $4 to get into the beach. Because we went so early there was nobody on the beach when we arrived. It was absolutely beautiful. It got very crowded quickly, so we stayed for a few hours then headed downtown to do some shopping. I thought the people were pushier in St. Thomas and preferred shopping in St. Maarten.

Grand Turk: Got off the boat and headed to the beach (the ship docks right beside the beach). There are tons of lounge chairs at Margaritaville, free of charge. Drinks were expensive though....2 pina colada’s were $21.00. Did some snorkelling and saw some pretty good fish. Don’t save your shopping for this day because there are only a few shops. We had a great day here; we didn’t pick a lounger too close to the pool so it was nice and relaxing.

The biggest negative was the movement of the ship. This is our 6th Caribbean cruise and I have never had such a rough ride, it was constant, it moved so much we didn’t sleep the first two nights because there was a loud creaking in our room from the movement. I don’t know if it was just the weather or a problem with the ship maybe not using stabilizers? It did get better once we got into the Caribbean but there was still a lot of movement which is something we have not experienced on other cruises.

We did the express walk off with our own luggage and left the ship at 7:20am - we were at the airport by 8:30am!

Overall we had a great trip. The highlight was visiting the ports which were all amazing and the weather was super. The Ruby is a nice ship, with some great activities and facilities, I felt the service in general was lacking (with the exception of our room steward he was awesome!!) but overall we had a fabulous time. A great break from the cold Canadian winter.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

Kirk

[srpilo]

Good stuff ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for sharing it

Srpilo

[Rockymountainsparky]

Thanks for your review. We have a long wait for our Ruby cruise.

[LARGIN]

Thanks for the review.. Where was your cabin located?

[Toddy709]

Enjoyed your review! We're headed that way in 29 days!

 

You mentioned a lot of motion, what part of the ship were your cabins in, if you don't mind me asking? Motion doesn't bother me, but we're traveling with a group and we have aft facing cabins and I want to be able to prepare them for what to expect.

[Clutterlady]

Thank you for your fair and honest review!

[Murphey]

Very surprised at the new rule in the casino. We always put $ on our card and check out each night (if there are any winnings!). Now we will not be able to do that??

 

Thanks for your review...fair and balanced,

[LARGIN]

Very surprised at the new rule in the casino. We always put $ on our card and check out each night (if there are any winnings!). Now we will not be able to do that??

 

Thanks for your review...fair and balanced,

 

Yes you can still do it as long if you are playing the slots and not just adding $$ to your card at the slots and instantly going to the cashier to cash out.

[htowncruiser]

Enjoyed your review! We're headed that way in 29 days!

 

You mentioned a lot of motion, what part of the ship were your cabins in, if you don't mind me asking? Motion doesn't bother me, but we're traveling with a group and we have aft facing cabins and I want to be able to prepare them for what to expect.

 

We were in cabin E105 which is right at the front of the ship. I expected a lot of movement in the cabin due to the location but it didn't seem to matter where you were, on deck, dinner, you were always moving! Our friends were are the mid-back on deck 9 and they felt it too - they had to put all their hangers on the floor because they kept knocking against each other. I didn't bother us too much (other than the creaking). Princess was really good though and sent some earplugs and some chocolate covered strawberries which I thought was really nice.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. We sail on her in October for a Med T/A. Good to hear the buffet food is good. On our recently completed cruise on the Golden, the buffet food was not so good.....

 

Bob

[Putterdude]

Thanks for your review, your experience in the DR was rather similar to ours a month earlier, in our case it was not a matter of staff going out of their way, it was more of a disconnect between the staff and the kitchen.

[Wishing on a star]

I found the food in the dining room was average, nothing really memorable. The service was also very disappointing in the dining room. We always felt rushed; nobody went out of there way, not accommodating at all and always felt like I was putting them out.

 

Thanks for the review!

I can agree with most of it.

Ruby is beautiful.. We had a great cruise.

 

But, unfortunately, I have to agree with you that the 'service' we experienced was either non-existent or downright rude. This was the same for every food and beverage venue that we experienced on the ship. Really quite sad... And, not even to be believed for a cruiseline that bills itself as The Consummate Host. We have heard several on that sailing to say the same thing.... And, there have been several comments to this effect posted here on CC. Princess really, really, needs to take actions in this area.

[Wishing on a star]

PS: Just a note... We were not on this latest sailing... It has been a while... I am afraid that my comments may have been confusing about that!

[BballinQT24]

Thanks for posting your review. We went on the same itinerary a couple years ago and really liked all the ports. We are thinking about doing it again on the Ruby later this year, so I appreciate you taking the time to post your thoughts on it.

[Toddy709]

Thanks for the review!

I can agree with most of it.

Ruby is beautiful.. We had a great cruise.

 

But, unfortunately, I have to agree with you that the 'service' we experienced was either non-existent or downright rude. This was the same for every food and beverage venue that we experienced on the ship. Really quite sad... And, not even to be believed for a cruiseline that bills itself as The Consummate Host. We have heard several on that sailing to say the same thing.... And, there have been several comments to this effect posted here on CC. Princess really, really, needs to take actions in this area.

 

I hate to hear this. I took a group of people new to Princess on the Golden in July and thought the service was "lacking". Not rude, just nothing special at all! Couldn't even tell you the name of our waiters in the MDR nor our room steward. It's the only time I've never felt any desire to tip over and above the auto tip. Now I've convinced the same group to go on the Ruby next month:eek:! I hope things improve!!

[cruisenewbie1]

Wonderful review. Thank you for taking the time to write and post this review. it was nice reading about the ruby. We are going to be on her a year from now and looking forward to it. 400 days to go.

[mpwarder]

Thanks so much for this review. I am taking this sailing in April and was wondering if you could tell me how much time you had in Grand Turk?

[Putterdude]

Grand Turk for us last month was 1pm until 7pm but this information will be on the itinerary section of your personalizer.

[htowncruiser]

Thanks so much for this review. I am taking this sailing in April and was wondering if you could tell me how much time you had in Grand Turk?

 

It was 1-7 for us too. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough time since it is only a half day but it was perfect. We were the only ship in port so it was wasn't that busy.

[cruisenuts4life]

Ruby was one of the only ships that I didnt feel any movement on board.I couldn't even feel when we left port.Maybe it makes difference what time of year you sail,we sailed in April.:)

[Coolmama_1]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing!

[Rob & Beckys mom]

Thanks for the review, especially the tip about no corkage fee if it is one of their wine brands. Was not aware of this:)

 

Jan

[ksm77]

I hate to hear this. I took a group of people new to Princess on the Golden in July and thought the service was "lacking". Not rude, just nothing special at all! Couldn't even tell you the name of our waiters in the MDR nor our room steward. It's the only time I've never felt any desire to tip over and above the auto tip. Now I've convinced the same group to go on the Ruby next month:eek:! I hope things improve!!

 

We were on the Ruby in November. We had a great experience. We thought the service was the best we experienced on Princess. This was our 8th Princess cruise. I do agree about the anytime dining we had fixed late. Our wait staff couldn't have been better. We also went to Sabatini's it was amazing the service was outstanding. If you go to Sabatini's go hungry. My friend & I ate lunch in the International Cafe almost everyday. Our DH's ate at the grill they called IC girly food. LOL I have been on ships when I thought the service was not up to par and someone else thought it was great. We happen to be in areas where the service was great on the Ruby. The Ruby is my favorite ship out of 25 cruises. I loved her and I think you will too.

[crusinpeg]

We were on the Ruby in November. We had a great experience. We thought the service was the best we experienced on Princess. This was our 8th Princess cruise. I do agree about the anytime dining we had fixed late. Our wait staff couldn't have been better. We also went to Sabatini's it was amazing the service was outstanding. If you go to Sabatini's go hungry. My friend & I ate lunch in the International Cafe almost everyday. Our DH's ate at the grill they called IC girly food. LOL I have been on ships when I thought the service was not up to par and someone else thought it was great. We happen to be in areas where the service was great on the Ruby. The Ruby is my favorite ship out of 25 cruises. I loved her and I think you will too.

 

That's great to know about the service being good. I was beginning to be concerned over all the negative service posting of the Ruby I've been reading.