Just back from Ruby -- Mar 31-Apr 7

[RhondaC]

Just got off a very nice cruise on the Ruby! A few random thoughts...

 

We were in inside stateroom A204. Deck 12 (Aloha) way in the front. It was a very noisy room! Crew area next to it had a metal staircase, so we continually heard the stomping up and down the stairs, as well as other banging and clanging from the area. It also must have been some type of smoking area for the crew because the hallway directly outside the room always smelled terribly of smoke. But that did not come into the room though, so it was ok.

 

We had Anytime Dining, but only ate in the dining room once. The rest of the time we ate at either Crown Grill, Sabatinis, Cafe Caribe, or Horizon. The one time we ate in the dining room, I had the sirloin filets from the "always available" menu. They were round circles of "beef and water product". LOL! Definitely not real steaks. We weren't thrilled with the menu in there the rest of the evenings, so that's why we didn't go back.

 

The food at the specialty restaurants was fantastic! And the Bavarian buffet in Cafe Caribe one night was also very good! Horizon was hit or miss, depending on what you chose. Pizza on deck was, as always, the best pizza at sea! The burgers, not so good.

 

I was able to trade my Elite mini bar setup for 2 coffee cards, by calling room service! We spent a lot of time at the International Cafe. The staff working there is great, and we got to know all of them very quickly!

 

We also reserved 2 chairs in the Sanctuary for the entire week, for the reduced price of $15 per day, per chair. So worth it!!

 

For those of you wondering, the drink special every night for the Platinum and Elite event in Skywalker's is still $3.99. I read a rumor that it was $5, but it was still $3.99 on the Ruby.

 

Feel free to ask any questions! :)

[caribill]

I had the sirloin filets from the "always available" menu. They were round circles of "beef and water product". :)

 

 

Your description or Princess' description?

[RhondaC]

Your description or Princess' description?

 

Lol! The description DH and I came up with. ;)

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments, you were lucky to get 2 coffee cards for 1 setup. Its listed as 1 coffee card for 1 setup.

[RhondaC]

Thanks for the comments, you were lucky to get 2 coffee cards for 1 setup. Its listed as 1 coffee card for 1 setup.

 

Really? I didn't even know it was listed anywhere! I just read here someplace before I left that somebody else had asked for 2 coffee cards, and received them. So, I figured I take a chance! They did it, no questions asked! :)

[lucajean]

Can you please tell me if they were checking you luggage for alcohol? I heard that they were taking the alcohol out of the suitcases but I didnt hear if they were doing this in ft. Lauderdale. Any info would help as we will be on the Ruby in late April.. thanks

[RhondaC]

I'm sorry - I don't know if they checked the luggage for alcohol, since that would be done in an area where we couldn't see it. I didn't have any in my luggage (this time), so there was probably no reason for them to peek in it.

[iloverags2]

We swapped the booze in our minibar set-up for Cokes. They gave us a dozen Cokes for the 10 mini booze bottles and the two beers. I prefer my fruity bar drinks with tequila or rum to the whiskey and gin in the stateroom. We took a chance and asked if we could swap out all the booze for Coke, and they showed up with the dozen Cokes...I was happy enough with that because the booze would have been wasted on us.

[RhondaC]

We swapped the booze in our minibar set-up for Cokes. They gave us a dozen Cokes for the 10 mini booze bottles and the two beers. I prefer my fruity bar drinks with tequila or rum to the whiskey and gin in the stateroom. We took a chance and asked if we could swap out all the booze for Coke, and they showed up with the dozen Cokes...I was happy enough with that because the booze would have been wasted on us.

 

That's a good idea too! We had the ultimate soda package Hugh, so coffee cards worked better for us. :)

[Happy2cruise]

We swapped the booze in our minibar set-up for Cokes. They gave us a dozen Cokes for the 10 mini booze bottles and the two beers. I prefer my fruity bar drinks with tequila or rum to the whiskey and gin in the stateroom. We took a chance and asked if we could swap out all the booze for Coke, and they showed up with the dozen Cokes...I was happy enough with that because the booze would have been wasted on us.

 

We do the same thing but swap out for Sprite and Water....never had a problem doing it.

[lovevacadays]

Thanks for posting. Sounds like you had a good cruise. Sorry to hear about the noisy room.

[cattolica]

We were on the same cruise. Since food is always subjective this is our experience. The food was great at all meals in the dining room. We ate in an Anytime MDR every night except formal nights. Oh, and we never waited since we were willing to share since we really like meeting new people. Those who wanted a table for 2 were waiting for 30 to 45 minutes. Those who want smaller tables need to realize that cruise ships are not set up to accommodate too many requests. I have always realized that cruising is a social vacation and not like a land based restaurant where there are more smaller tables.

 

I just wish that people would realize that they don't need to yell while out on their balcony. There were large groups traveling together and instead of using the phone to check in they would yell several cabins down to see if the rest of their party was ready. Just a little hard to relax and enjoy the cruise. Also too many slamming doors.....not really necessary......it is easy to catch that door so it doesn't slam.

 

Our biggest complaint was the amount of children on board and the lack of parents making sure they were using the proper manners. It was near to impossible to use the pools. The only time it was quiet enough was the late morning in St. Thomas and during the day Princess Cays.

 

We thought spring break ended at Easter and realize we need to do more thorough research in the future.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ..

[CFD130]

Not sure how everyone made out getting off the Ruby this am. We did the walk off and were among the first off. At that point there was only one customs agent. We had no problems but I am guessing that as the morning went on the lines got very long. It was a wonderful cruise.

[WarEagle76]

We thought spring break ended at Easter and realize we need to do more thorough research in the future.

 

Some even later. Atlanta city schools are on Spring Break through next Friday.

[Gmanfl]

Just got off a very nice cruise on the Ruby! A few random thoughts...

 

We were in inside stateroom A204. Deck 12 (Aloha) way in the front. It was a very noisy room! Crew area next to it had a metal staircase, so we continually heard the stomping up and down the stairs, as well as other banging and clanging from the area. It also must have been some type of smoking area for the crew because the hallway directly outside the room always smelled terribly of smoke. But that did not come into the room though, so it was ok.

 

We had Anytime Dining, but only ate in the dining room once. The rest of the time we ate at either Crown Grill, Sabatinis, Cafe Caribe, or Horizon. The one time we ate in the dining room, I had the sirloin filets from the "always available" menu. They were round circles of "beef and water product". LOL! Definitely not real steaks. We weren't thrilled with the menu in there the rest of the evenings, so that's why we didn't go back.

 

The food at the specialty restaurants was fantastic! And the Bavarian buffet in Cafe Caribe one night was also very good! Horizon was hit or miss, depending on what you chose. Pizza on deck was, as always, the best pizza at sea! The burgers, not so good.

 

I was able to trade my Elite mini bar setup for 2 coffee cards, by calling room service! We spent a lot of time at the International Cafe. The staff working there is great, and we got to know all of them very quickly!

 

We also reserved 2 chairs in the Sanctuary for the entire week, for the reduced price of $15 per day, per chair. So worth it!!

 

For those of you wondering, the drink special every night for the Platinum and Elite event in Skywalker's is still $3.99. I read a rumor that it wmas $5, but it was still $3.99 on the Ruby.

 

Feel free to ask any questions! :)[/quote

I did this cruise in 2011 and am doing it again next week. I thought the same thing about the Formal nights and I too had the Beef and water medallions. Last time I did a formal night. I think the menu's in the specialty restaurants are way better and better tasting food. I loved the Ruby and the staff. Spent alot of time in the casino. Glad you had a good cruise and thanks for sharing.

[iloverags2]

Not sure how everyone made out getting off the Ruby this am. We did the walk off and were among the first off. At that point there was only one customs agent. We had no problems but I am guessing that as the morning went on the lines got very long. It was a wonderful cruise.

 

After the first group was off there was a bit of a delay. We were scheduled for 8:40. Were off I want to say around a little after 9 I believe. There were four or so customs agents by the time we walked through.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts.....:):):)

 

Bob

[cruiseclues]

Thanks for your report...especially on the MDR...it was good when we were on it...but that was 5-6 years ago. :)

[RhondaC]

There were 3 customs agents working when we got off and the line was backed up. But the agents were just sailing people through.

 

Our passports expired in December, so we had our BC and licenses with us. I was holding them in my expired passport though. I told the agent it was expired and he didn't care! Didn't even look at my BC! They were more interested in getting people through the line quickly.

[charcoalt]

We were also on this cruise. We were upgraded during the last week from an inside cabin on the Lido deck to an oceanview on the Plaza deck. Great room. Quiet and got some sunlight to wake up to in the morning.

 

A few other observations: We ate in the MDR 5 out of the seven nights. As with most restaurants, some things were excellent and some were okay. I started asking the waiter what the best thing was on the menu and came away with some excellent food. We found that we liked the desserts at Horizon Court better, though and usually skipped it in the MDR.

 

Some entertainment was just okay and other was excellent. David Cats, the illusionist is amazing as is the comedian Gary Delena. We also enjoyed Once upon a Dream. But I swear the Princess Theater is drugged. Is didn't matter how awake we were, after sitting in their for five minutes and feeling the gentle sway of the bow of the boat, we were both fighting sleep.

 

Loved St. Thomas/St. John. Wish there was more time there. Too bad about Grand Turk, Nassau for a morning was a waste. St. Martin was dry and kind of ugly except for the beaches. Princess Cays had gorgeous water, but was crowded with kids.

 

Overall, a great cruise that we would recommend. We also reserved the Sanctuary for the week. Amazing staff and great place to get away from the spring break kids. We used it on four of the days.

[Beach_gal]

Was your itinerary altered? I take it you went to Nassau instead of Grand Turk?

[charcoalt]

Yes. Nassau for 1/2 day, sea day, St. Martin, St. Thomas, Sea Day, Princess Cays and then back

[RhondaC]

We love St Thomas too! It's so beautiful!

 

On St Maarten, we hopped a bus over to Marigot(French side) for lunch. They have much better food over there! We always eat at Rosemary's. it's a little open-air place (called a Lo-Lo). She's been there for 40 years and has the best jerk chicken and ribs we've ever had! Buses are only $1.50 each way, and are faster than taking a cab. Cabs are better though if you want an island tour on the way there. :)

 

Shopping is good in St Maarten too. Most cruise ships go to St Thomas first, so people always get their shopping done there, and have no money left for St Maarten! Lol. But we've found that prices are usually better on St Maarten, maybe because of that. There is a very nice jeweler in St Maarten, called Princess Jewelers, that we've bought a few pieces from. He and his wife own the business, and they are so nice. Their prices are very good, and jewelry is very good quality. So, of course, I had to drag DH there, since it was our anniversary. ;)

[momto3As]

Just off as well. As a family sailing with "well manner children" we had a great time.

Dinner in the MDR was hit or miss with selection choices but what I did order was great. The head waiter fell in love with my "well mannered daughter" and brought us smoothies, plates of cookies, shrimp and calamari each night.

We were also on deck 12. Great location, not too loud. Doors did slam if the patio door was left open.

Muts was great, music and entertainment was varied and great.

We loved Vines and the International Cafe.

We each carried on a bottle of wine but didn't have any in our luggage.