Just back from the Ruby;12 day Greek Isles

[TW6cruiser]

We just got back from the 12 day Greek Isles cruise, from Venice to Rome. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the ports. The service and food were great. We enjoyed our balcony on C level (which was a larger balcony) and we had the late seating traditional dining for two. We had outstanding dinner servers and an outstanding cabin steward. We only had one issue with one staff member but the rest was all outstanding. We took a few excursions Venice-Murano/Burano (not recommended at all) but all the others were fantastic. We took one in Olympia (the site and museum), Ephesus (Mary's House with mass, City of Ephesus), and Athens (Acrpolis and time on your own in the Plaka). We did Dubrovnik, Corfu, Mykonos, and Santorini on our own. I won't do a detailed review but am glad to answer any questions I can.

[nagingmom]

We are going on the Ruby on June 17th. Wondering why you wouldn't recommend Murano/Burano excursion?

[lovespositano]

We are going on the Ruby on June 17th. Wondering why you wouldn't recommend Murano/Burano excursion?

 

We love Murano/Burano and have done it with ship's excursion and several times on our own (vaporetto). If you are in Venice for a few days, I would recommend the latter, but it takes virtually the entire day and a lot of patience. Worth it, though.

[lovespositano]

We just got back from the 12 day Greek Isles cruise, from Venice to Rome. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the ports. The service and food were great. We enjoyed our balcony on C level (which was a larger balcony) and we had the late seating traditional dining for two. We had outstanding dinner servers and an outstanding cabin steward. We only had one issue with one staff member but the rest was all outstanding. We took a few excursions Venice-Murano/Burano (not recommended at all) but all the others were fantastic. We took one in Olympia (the site and museum), Ephesus (Mary's House with mass, City of Ephesus), and Athens (Acrpolis and time on your own in the Plaka). We did Dubrovnik, Corfu, Mykonos, and Santorini on our own. I won't do a detailed review but am glad to answer any questions I can.

 

Do you know which bands/groups were playing? We are on the Ruby in September and I'm curious already!!

[TW6cruiser]

As for the question on the excursions: We have always enjoyed our Princess excursions except this one to Murano/Burano. It was a nice lagoon boat ride from the ship. But when we got to Murano, all we did was get off the boat and went directly into a glass shop/factory. The 'tour' was just about a 10 minute glass blowing demonstration and then time in their gift shop. Then back on the boat. We did not get to walk around Murano at all or see any of the rest of the island. We were in Venice 3 years ago and had about an hour glass blowing demonstration actually right in Venice that was much more well done. After Murano, then we went to Burano. We had time to walk around there on our own which was nice. The island is lovely, there are beautifully colored houses. The lace shops are lovely and I bought a beautiful lace tablecloth. The lace making demonstration was quite nice. If I was to do it again, I'd take the ship boat shuttle into Venice and then just take the vaparetto to Murano and or Burano and walk around on my own. We enjoyed the Burano stop but the Murano stop was a waste of time in my opinion. All the other ship tours that we took were very well done.

[TW6cruiser]

I will check the Patters to get back to you about the exact names of the performing groups. A few nights they did have a string quartet playing in the Piazza area. A few nights in the Wheelhouse Bar we listened to a two person singing/piano duo which were good. The DJ seemed to be very popular a number of nights in the Explorer lounge. The best entertainment really was the night we were docked overnight in Venice, the ship had the Ventian Chamber Orchestra come on board to do a concert which was fantastic.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the input about Murano And Burano tour. We signed up for it but will reconsider. Our ship (Royal) arrives at 1 PM and the tour is that afternoon, so I thought it would fit nicely into the time frame of the afternoon.

 

The ship spends that night in Venice, then we disembark and are spending two nights in Venice so wanted to use that time to stay in Venice and explore. Our family group includes two girls ages 5 and 8 who will enjoy seeing glass blowing and lace making and probably have a shorter attention span.....what do you think about it for children? Thanks for the input!

[mskaufman]

In Athens, did you feel you had enough time in the Plaka?

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ..

[paul929207]

Thanks for the comments

[lovespositano]

I will check the Patters to get back to you about the exact names of the performing groups. A few nights they did have a string quartet playing in the Piazza area. A few nights in the Wheelhouse Bar we listened to a two person singing/piano duo which were good. The DJ seemed to be very popular a number of nights in the Explorer lounge. The best entertainment really was the night we were docked overnight in Venice, the ship had the Ventian Chamber Orchestra come on board to do a concert which was fantastic.

 

Thanks for any info. Based on what you say above, it doesn't sound very encouraging - I have never taken a Princess cruise where the DJ was in Explorers. EEEEK!! The DJ is normally in Skywalkers and there's a live band in Explorers. The string quartet is pretty standard but is for listening, not for dancing. EEEEK again!!

[smithm1986]

Glad you had a great time...will be sailing the same itinerary backwards in August. I was wondering who your Cruise Director was? Thanks.

[lovespositano]

Thanks for the input about Murano And Burano tour. We signed up for it but will reconsider. Our ship (Royal) arrives at 1 PM and the tour is that afternoon, so I thought it would fit nicely into the time frame of the afternoon.

 

The ship spends that night in Venice, then we disembark and are spending two nights in Venice so wanted to use that time to stay in Venice and explore. Our family group includes two girls ages 5 and 8 who will enjoy seeing glass blowing and lace making and probably have a shorter attention span.....what do you think about it for children? Thanks for the input!

 

Yes, the timing is perfect for that ship's tour and that's what we did the first tine we were in Venice. But it is exactly as stated above, about 10 minutes in Murano, then rush off to Burano and spend about an hour there - not much time to see anything and you're herded and rushed along.

 

Burano, especially, is a quaint and interesting place, worthy of the trip and time to browse and enjoy. So if you're spending two nights in Venice, you will have time to do Murano/Burano on the vaporetto (but it takes almost a whole day because of the long return from Burano). The girls might like to see the Doge's Palace (Secret Itineraries Tour which you can book online). You can also book a time to enter St. Mark's online which allows you to bypass the queue. At night there are quite a few venues where you can see music performed - one of these is in St. Mark's square just near the fountain on the side of St. Mark's, which we loved. And you can book your own gondola and take an evening ride, which the girls should love.

[Are.we.there.yet?]

Hi TW6cruiser!

 

I've been waiting for somebody like you to stop by! There hasn't been many threads on the Ruby recently.

 

We are sailing her next week and I was curious about the dining situation while the ship does the overnight in Venice. We have traditional dining and I was wondering if the entire ship was open seating that first night or if the assigned dining times hold true?

 

How was the dress aboard this ship? I'm not one to over-dress and I try very hard not to under-dress. Did you find most people dressed for dinner?

 

Could you tell me what was showing on MUTS? Princess notified us about showing Safe Haven and OZ but I'm curious about other options shown.

 

Any tips or secrets???

 

Thanks so much for your help.

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

Thanks for checking in after your cruise. Soundls like you had a very enjoyable vacation. We love the Ruby. We did two T/A's on her. Loved them both.....:):):)

Bob

[mommasaurus]

We are sailing on the Ruby on July 23. I was just curious about what you did in Santorini on your own. We will be travelling with our kids (9 & 12). I have read about the hike to Oia, but I think that it will be too long for the kids as I read that it will take about three hours of walking. They are athletic kids but with potentially high temperatures, I think that it could be exhausting not just for them. I was also wondering about Corfu.

 

We sailed on the Ruby last summer and enjoyed it very much. We are looking forward to this cruise as it will have a few new ports for us.

[mommasaurus]

Hi TW6cruiser!

 

I've been waiting for somebody like you to stop by! There hasn't been many threads on the Ruby recently.

 

We are sailing her next week and I was curious about the dining situation while the ship does the overnight in Venice. We have traditional dining and I was wondering if the entire ship was open seating that first night or if the assigned dining times hold true?

 

How was the dress aboard this ship? I'm not one to over-dress and I try very hard not to under-dress. Did you find most people dressed for dinner?

 

Could you tell me what was showing on MUTS? Princess notified us about showing Safe Haven and OZ but I'm curious about other options shown.

 

Any tips or secrets???

 

Thanks so much for your help.

 

We sailed on the Ruby last summer and are sailing again on July 23. My husband typically wore khaki pants with a short sleeve button down shirt to dinner. On formal nights, he wore black pants and a button down shirt and tie. I wore casual skirts, capris and on formal night a cocktail dress. We will plan for the same this summer.

[jkocpa]

Glad you had a great time...will be sailing the same itinerary backwards in August. I was wondering who your Cruise Director was? Thanks.

 

We got off the Ruby two weeks ago. The CD was Dan Styne (one of the very best IMHO) and he told us that he would be on until Mid Sept. I loved the cruise. By the way, the piano vocalist in Crooners is Arny G......the absolute best!

[recia]

Did you notice if the duty free store is still operating in Venice and if Princess allowed the purchases to be taken on the ship?

Also, we are on the 8/28 sailing, it is to leave at 6 PM on 8/29 did you leave in the evening or the morning?

did you sail past St. Marks Square as you left or have they change the route for departure?

[TW6cruiser]

I'll try to answer all the questions. If I have missed one let me know:

 

kids and Venice: I would think that the young ones would really enjoy the boat ride to Burano. The lace making demonstration was not long so they would not be restless. Burano is easy to walk around and I think they would like to see the brightly colored homes and stores.

 

Venice: We boarded in Venice and yes, there is a duty free shop in the cruise terminal which was open. It was after you got through the Princess security so they would have to let you take items onboard as there would be no place to put them. The duty free shop is the last part of the cruise terminal before you walk on the ship. We did not buy anything there though so I can't comment on what they had there.

 

For the first night on board that we were docked in Venice, dining was the same as the other nights. We had traditional late dining in the Botecelli dining room. We had requested and received a table for two. We did notice that the first night the dining room was not full, as we assumed many people were eating in Venice.

 

Most people were 'nice casual' in the dining room on the regular nights. My husband wore button down long sleeve shirts or nice golf shirts those nights, and I wore nice capri's or skirts and tops/sweaters, some more dressy than others. On the two formal nights we got more dressed up (tux/cocktail dresses). But there were people in suits and they did let in some guys without jackets even on formal nights.

 

We did sail pass St. Mark's on our way out of Venice. It was great to get extra pictures from our balcony. Even though we had taken pictures on our excursion to Burano/Murano, we got even better pictures as when you are leaving the port on the ship the photos were from a higher vantage point than from the excursion boat.

 

MUTS: they had a lot of movies in the theatre and also outside by the pool. They had "Silver Lining Playbook" which we saw in the theatre. They also showed "Quartet" in the theatre. For MUTS they had some concerts during the day/afternoon (Barry Manilow, James Brown, Stevie Wonder) , older movies like Big with Tom Hanks, and THe Devil Wears Prada, and then newer movies like Skyfall (the newer James Bond), Life of Pi, Jack Reacher, and Les Miserables.

 

Santorini: I would not hike between Fira and Oia as it is a long way and you can see the same views from the bus between the cities. We did not take a ship tour. When we got off the ship's tender, we decided to take a boat from Fira to Oia. I had read about that on the Greek Islands portion of the Cruise Critic web site. We paid 20 euro each and took the boat from Fira to Oia. We had great views of the island on the short ride. Then they met us immediately and took us in a mini bus from the small port in Oia up to the main town (just a few minute ride). We then got vouchers (included in the price) to take the NST bus from Oia to Fira (times available for return were 11, noon or 1 pm). We then had all morning to walk around Oia at our own pace. The only downside was we had to wait in Fira for about a half hour until the boat left but other than that the combo boat/bus trip was good. The views are amazing and we enjoyed the morning walking around Oia town. (again, see the Greece section of the forums for pictures and info on Santorini). Then we took the noon bus to Fira and walked around some and shopped a bit. Fira was starting to get crowded so we did not stay very long. It is much more congested than Oia. After some snacks, we took the cable car back down to the port from Fira (tickets not included in the price above) and took the ship tender back to the port.

[TW6cruiser]

P.S., yes our departure from Venice was at around 5:30 pm or 6 pm. We had the muster drill that afternoon (the second day) and then had enough time after that to get outside to watch the sail away from Venice.

[TW6cruiser]

I knew I would miss one question, as for Athens, yes we thought we had enough time in the Plaka on our own as a part of the tour. To make the most of our time, we bought lunch (gyros, what else!) from a restaurant on the main street that had both sit down lunch service and also window service for gyros. That way we had more time to walk around and look in the shops.

[TW6cruiser]

regarding the Corfu question: it was easy to do on our own. There was a shuttle bus at the terminal that was very inexpensive and takes you right to the edge of the 'old town'. The town is easy to navigate on your own. We walked up to the New Fortress and there were beautiful views over the city and the water from the top of the Fort. Unlike going up the walls in Dubrovnik, there was no fee for the Fort and it is in a smaller area. There are a lot of steps but they are manageable. We also went into the Palace of St.Michael and St. George. The fee was low but it was not really worth the stop. The palace itself has been turned into an Asian art museum. There were some areas with photos from around Greece but it was hard to get into seeing Asian art in Greece.

[mommasaurus]

Thanks for all the great info. I didn't know that there was a boat from Fira to Oia. We were just considering the cable car up and then the bus to Oia and back.

[OttawaCA]

We are cruising on the Ruby later this year.

 

What ports would you recommend for "do it yourself".

 

We tend to take mostly ship tours but we like to just walk around at a port or two. Having said that, it is hard to know which ports are the most accessible for this sort of thing.