Ruby Princess November 11, 2012 Trip Report with Pictures

[CarlaMasterson]

Thanks for the detailed review. We are going on the 12.16.12 cruise. I look forward to reading about the rest of the cruise.

 

Hey my family will be on this cruise too! Can't wait. This will be our 1st Princess cruise.

[Cupcrazy]

Oh Happy Day! Finally the day we'd been waiting on for so long had arrived. We woke up to a bright sunny day in South Florida.

Because we had rented 2 cars (Grand Caravan & Toyota Camry) and had a lot of luggage between all of us we decided to get an early start to the day. We drove both cars to Port Everglades, Terminal 2, for 10:45am and dropped off our luggage along with Allison, Caleigh & Jodi. Aaron & Dave and Felicia & I then went to return the rentals. The van had to be returned to Dollar which had a location close to the port. Felicia & I picked up Aaron & David from there and we all drove to the Ft. Lauderdale airport, 5 minutes away, to return the 2nd car to Alamo.

The good thing about renting a car from the airport is they have free shuttle buses that take you from the rental facility to the port. We must have just missed a shuttle as we were the only ones in line for a couple minutes. We had to wait about 15-20 minutes for the next shuttle to arrive. The driver requested to see everyone's rental papers as that shuttle was only for Alamo & National customers. There ended up being about 15 people on our shuttle.

The whole drive from dropping them off at the port to getting back to the port was about an hour & a half. We got back to ship at approx 12:15 and headed into the terminal. There was basically no lineup at security and then about an 10 minute wait in line to check in. It was then up an escalator and onto the gangway. It took us 20 minutes from entering the terminal to boarding the ship.

The one thing I noticed was instead of taking your picture for your cruise card at check in they did it as you boarded the ship. I'd never seen that before.

 

First glance at Port Everglades (Allure of the Seas & the candy cane smoke stacks)

 

 

 

Allure is a BIG lady

 

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

Map of Port Everglades

Ruby Princess - Terminal 2

Coral Princess - Terminal 4

Allure of the Seas - Terminal 18

Carnival Freedom - Terminal 24

Nieuw Amsterdam - Terminal 26 (I think)

 

First sight of the Ruby

 

 

Coral Princess beside us

 

 

Waiting for the shuttle at the the airport rental facility. I forgot to take a picture of the actual shuttle bus.

 

[Cruisin' Chick]

Loving your review thus far. Good details, good spelling/grammar (which makes it easier to read for many of us), great photos. Can't wait to see more. And it's so much better than this other guy's review (he was posting drips of non-info, and then when others were commenting that they were waiting for the actual review, he starts insulting them...I gave up reading after the first page).

 

I was so glad to see that there's still made-to-order omelets in the Horizon. I had read in someone else's thread, maybe a few months ago, that this special service was no longer available -- and was dreading telling my hubby, as he's been getting his specially made omelets for the past two cruises. So hopefully on our upcoming cruise on a different ship, he won't be disappointed.

 

Sorry to hear that your ship was taken over by the Expedia group. It's ridiculous that the dining should be impacted, including the odd times and stealing of staff to take care of this group. I imagine some of the passengers will complain about this (and I wouldn't blame them). On one of our cruises, there was two groups that I was aware of (a travel association -- only knew about this from seeing signs on individual cabin doors -- and a cardiac technology conference -- I think they took over a lounge one or two days for their meetings, but I don't think anyone really cared, and I imagine if anyone had heart problems on the cruise, there were plenty of doctors and machines).

 

I don't remember in ten cruises on Carnival and Princess ever having my photo, for embedding into the cabin card, taken at the check in desk. Always at the entrance of the ship. We haven't had towel animals in our four Princess cruises, but that's okay. Our last cabin steward would leave a wrapped plate with a muffin or cookies on our desk on many a day, without asking. Supposedly for our teen, but most of the time, I took care of the goodies.:)

[Cupcrazy]

Loving your review thus far. Good details' date=' good spelling/grammar (which makes it easier to read for many of us), great photos. Can't wait to see more. And it's so much better than this other guy's review (he was posting drips of non-info, and then when others were commenting that they were waiting for the actual review, he starts insulting them...I gave up reading after the first page).

 

I was so glad to see that there's still made-to-order omelets in the Horizon. I had read in someone else's thread, maybe a few months ago, that this special service was no longer available -- and was dreading telling my hubby, as he's been getting his specially made omelets for the past two cruises. So hopefully on our upcoming cruise on a different ship, he won't be disappointed.

 

Sorry to hear that your ship was taken over by the Expedia group. It's ridiculous that the dining should be impacted, including the odd times and stealing of staff to take care of this group. I imagine some of the passengers will complain about this (and I wouldn't blame them). On one of our cruises, there was two groups that I was aware of (a travel association -- only knew about this from seeing signs on individual cabin doors -- and a cardiac technology conference -- I think they took over a lounge one or two days for their meetings, but I don't think anyone really cared, and I imagine if anyone had heart problems on the cruise, there were plenty of doctors and machines).

 

I don't remember in ten cruises on Carnival and Princess ever having my photo, for embedding into the cabin card, taken at the check in desk. Always at the entrance of the ship. We haven't had towel animals in our four Princess cruises, but that's okay. Our last cabin steward would leave a wrapped plate with a muffin or cookies on our desk on many a day, without asking. Supposedly for our teen, but most of the time, I took care of the goodies.:)[/quote']

 

Patty,

Thank you for the kind words. I don't like reading reviews, or anything for that matter, with bad spelling or grammar. Especially when there is spell check. The Expedia group didn't really take over the ship. After the first night in the MDR we didn't have any other problems. Princess wanted to treat them really well because the TAs sell their cruises. On sea days the group had their conference so the pools weren't as full as normal.

My brother loves the made to order omelettes. Like your husband he would have been a little upset if he couldn't get them anymore. Not many people know about them because its not an actual station. You have to ask one of the cooks to make it. But most of the time there was someone standing there taking orders.

 

Nathaniel

[Cupcrazy]

I forgot to mention a funny moment when the shuttle arrived. The driver takes everyone's luggage and puts it on the bus so you don't have to. When she got to us she said "Wow, you guys are traveling light". We told her we already dropped off our luggage at the port. She said "Cheaters!". She was joking around but I think she thought we wouldn't tip her. We still did.

[Cupcrazy]

After boarding we went to our cabins C504, C506, C510 mid-ship port side to drop off our carry on items. While there I took a bunch of pictures of the cabin.

 

 

 

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

 

 

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

 

We met our room steward Noel. He was great to us the whole trip and immediately unlocked the doors between each of our balconies. There are hooks to keep the doors open. Some other ships I’ve been on haven’t had hooks and the doors would flop around unless you put a chair or something in front of it.

 

 

 

 

The cabins below us had regular sized balconies and stick out past ours. Part of our balconies stick out past the balconies above us. Not much privacy.

 

[Cupcrazy]

After dropping our stuff off in the cabins we went up to Lido Deck to grab some lunch in Horizon Court (buffet). The Muster Drill was at 3:15. We were in station D which was in the Explorers Lounge and Crown Grill along Promenade Deck. It took a few minutes until everyone arrived. It was very crowded and there were no seats anywhere. We ended up standing outside the Crown Grill side-by-side in 3 rows. They then had to go around scanning everyone's cruise card to make sure everyone was there and in the correct station. The scanning of everyone's cards seems like a pretty tedious process. The drill began and they went through emergency procedures and how to put your life vest on. The whole thing probably took about 30 minutes give or take a couple.

 

After the Drill we all headed down to the cabins to put our life vests away and get ready for sail away. Everyone decided to watch sail away from the balconies. I wanted to be where there was a little more action so I walked around Lido Deck. I Went up to Deck 16 forward in front of the gym. There were 2 younger couples from Utah I started talking to. It was their first cruise. While standing there they noticed a couple people below us standing on top of the bridge. One of them asked how to get there. I said I was about to head there myself and would show them.

 

There is a secret door that leads you out above the bridge. Go to Lido Deck (15) and go all the way forward past the cabins. You will see a door. Go through the door at the end of the hallway then there will be another door that leads to a few steps leading to this deck. This is great place to be for sailaway. Most of the time the doors are locked while at sea because it is too windy. While I was up there watching our sailaway it was extremely windy. I can only imagine how much worse it would be in open water.

 

You can partially see the deck above the bridge in this picture

 

The Hyatt, site of the Ft. Lauderdale Webcam

 

 

 

 

This boat was getting to close to our ship so the Police boat had to swoop in and yell over the loud speaker to move.

 

Edited November 28, 2012 by Cupcrazy

[Cupcrazy]

Another boat came too close to us. This time they came within a few meters of the ship. The Police really yelled at these guys.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2012 by Cupcrazy

[Cupcrazy]

The crew pool is visible from above the bridge

 

 

Looking down the port side of the ship from over the wing of the bridge

 

 

 

Coral Princess

 

Allure of the Seas

 

[Cupcrazy]

Carnival Freedom was the first ship to head out

 

 

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

It was finally our turn!

 

 

 

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

 

The famous Flowrider house

 

 

 

House for Sale. I want it!!!

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

Heading out of the inlet

 

 

The building which houses the Port Everglades Webcam

 

 

 

You can see the Webcam hanging from the top of the 3rd floor balcony

 

 

[Cupcrazy]

 

 

 

 

It was very windy as we were leaving Port Everglades. The waves were pretty big.

 

 

This ship was rocking back and forward pretty hard and then crashing into the waives

 

[dmwnc1959]

The Muster Drill was at 3:15...After the Drill we all headed down to the cabins to put our life vests away...

 

Princess still does it the old way? I thought the new rules post-Concordia was that life-jacket stowage was suppose to be "in close proximity to either muster stations or lifeboat embarkations points", not in the cabin?.

[Cupcrazy]

Princess still does it the old way? I thought the new rules post-Concordia was that life-jacket stowage was suppose to be "in close proximity to either muster stations or lifeboat embarkations points", not in the cabin?.

 

They have big cabinets around the promenade deck with tons of life jackets in them.

 

[Cupcrazy]

After we left the inlet I headed down to the cabin to hang out with everyone on the balcony. At the sailaway party on the Lido Deck the band was playing.

 

 

Tip: All of our balcony railings were completely covered in salt. I don't think they had been cleaned in a while. Baby wipes are a great way to clean the salt off.

 

Caleigh wore her sailor outfit for embarkation

 

Coral Princess followed us out of port

 

 

Dave was lying on his bed when Aaron decided it was a good time to jump on him.

 

[Cupcrazy]

As embarkation day was November 11, which is Remembrance Day in Canada & Veterans Day in the States, Commodore Romano came over the ship's PA system at 6pm to lead everyone in a moment of silence to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

I feel like this needs its own post.

[Cupcrazy]

We relaxed in the cabins and on the balcony until it was time to go to dinner. While sitting on the balcony Caleigh fell asleep on Dave. When he stood up his shorts fell off. We couldn't stop laughing. He'd probably kill me if he knew I posted this picture.

 

 

We went to the dining room, Da Vinci on Fiesta Deck (deck 6), for 8:30. When we walked in people were already eating. This cruise had 8, 8:15 & 8:30 dinner times in the same dining room. We got to our table and met our waiter Russell. He was great. It was weird that we never saw an assistant waiter at our table the whole night. Russell was doing everything. He took our order, brought our drinks & food, cleared the dishes. Things were weird from the start when we only received 4 menus for 6 people. Russell had to go searching for 2 more. Our orders were taken and 15 minutes later we realized that nobody had asked us what we wanted to drink. We asked Russell and took our drink orders, something the waiter doesn't normally do. After our appetizers our plates sat on the table for 10 minutes. Again, normally dishes are cleared within a minute or 2 of finishing. Our entrees didn't arrive at the table until 10:05, an hour & a half after we sat down. I ordered the tri tip and it was very good. The dessert menus were brought at 10:15. The same time the Welcome aboard show was starting. Felicia & I wanted to watch the show, so we skipped dessert. Before we left we talked to the head waiter, Flaveau, about our dining room experience and how we've never seen anything like that before. He kept placing blame on Russell and we kept saying he did nothing wrong and he was doing everything he could. The overall reason for the problems was a combination of the galley being too busy and short staff in our dining room. There was a large group of travel agents from Expedia Cruise Ship Centers on their annual conference eating in Michaelangelo’s at the same time as us. With them were executives from some of the other big cruise lines. Because of this, Princess had taken some staff from our dining room and placed them in Michaelangelo so the TAs would have better service and would sell Princess on having great service. Flaveau said tomorrow night's dinner would be better for us.

[caribill]

Princess still does it the old way? I thought the new rules post-Concordia was that life-jacket stowage was suppose to be "in close proximity to either muster stations or lifeboat embarkations points", not in the cabin?.

 

The new rules say they must be available there, not that there could not be additional life jackets in the cabin.

 

In addition, I think the new rules apply only to new construction. However, I think Princess has said they will comply on all the existing Princess ships.

[Cupcrazy]

Felicia & I went to the Princess Theatre, decks 6 & 7 forward, to watch the Welcome Aboard Show. Our cruise director Ron Goodman introduced himself and his staff. Ron talked about all the activities that were going to happen over the cruise and the ports we will be calling on. It sounded like there was going to be a lot going on. The "Princess Singers & Dancers" (they need to come up with a better name for them) performed a few random songs but there was nothing in the show that said welcome aboard. I was expecting a little more. The singers & dancers were very good.

Halfway through the show 2 flamenco dancers came out onto the stage. They were very good. No way I could do those moves. As good as they were the little performance seemed that it didn't belong. I was looking around and it looked like a lot of passengers were finding it boring. After the 2nd of 3 dances the female dancer took the microphone and said "they told me to say something, but I don't know what to say." It was pretty awkward.

 

On our way out of the show we walked through Gatsby's Casino (deck 6 midship) and saw Dave playing Let it Ride. He had just hit a 5 card flush. Too bad he only finished the night up $10. But, as they say, up $10 is better than being down $10. I was going to play something but all the tables were packed and the stench of smoke was too much. In Ontario smoking indoors is illegal so when you're around all that smoke it gets to you. I said I'd wait until tomorrow or one of the non-smoking nights. Felicia said she was going back to the room so I walked her back as she didn't know where she was going. I joked saying she would figure out her way around the ship by Saturday.

 

When we got back to the cabin there was a reusable tote bag for us as a gift from Princess. We received one on our last cruise as well and its a great bag to bring to the pool or beach.

 

 

[JLC@SD]

I have enjoyed your cruise and photos, thanks for posting them.