Ruby Princess E. Caribbean photo and video review

[azrose]

Wonderful review and photos! Made me more excited to be on the Ruby in 30 days for a 2 week cruise to Hawaii!! :)

[Bimmer09]

Another entertaining, fair, well-balanced review Norris. Thank you for taking the time!

 

Thank you! "fair and well balanced"- I like that.

 

Norris

[perfect match]

Thanks Susan for the compliments!

Have a great time on the Royal.

We've just booked Celebrity Silhouette for next January due to the itinerary and number of sea days (3) including two in a row on the way back to P.E. Should be interesting to compare to Princess.

 

Norris

 

You had me a bit worried there when you mentioned you were thinking of cruising on a Royal class ship! :confused: That didn't sound at all like the Norris whose reviews I've been following for a while now! I didn't think you were interested in cruising on one of the bigger girls. I will be very interested in your Celebrity review. :D

 

We had a lovely meal. In the case of my sea bass the best I've ever had. Carol favored the meal in 3030 Ocean more and indeed that was stellar and something we will repeat next January when we join the Silhouette.

 

As we got up from the table, so did a lady who had been dining alone in the gazebo. Carol struck up a conversation with her. She had been coming to the Pillars for ten years and loves it.

 

I walked along behind them as we walked beside the pool which was lit up from the inside-looked beautiful in the gloom.

 

When we got to the end of the pool with the main dining groom in sight before us I somehow got my left foot under a low rim that surrounded the pool and tripped.

For what seemed like a minute but was a second or two I was a mass of flailing arms trying to stay upright. I was too far behind the ladies for them to catch me and unable to right myself I started to fall towards the water. Adrenalin pumped through my veins, which helps a person think quickly in situations like this or when a brown bear is trying to dine on your ass in Alaska and I realized that if I went in the water, which was a sure thing, then the cameras hanging from my shoulder would get ruined and so as I fell forward at the corner of the pool I twisted and threw myself hopefully far enough to the right to escape a dunking.

 

I landed hard on my left shoulder, left elbow and left knee right on the edge of the concrete lip surrounding the pool-but my camera bag stayed out of the water as it was over my right shoulder. Another couple of inches closer to the edge and I would have broken my fall with my face, but my head stayed off the concrete thank goodness and I was just sore and winded.

 

The ladies helped me up, shaken not stirred and nothing felt broken, just bruised and sprained. I was able to walk away and carry on a conversation to change the subject. The bruises to my elbow and knee soon healed within a week but my shoulder was stiff for 3 weeks afterwards as I came down hard on it. Ouch!

 

We said our goodbyes to the lady and walked back to the Ritz where a good night's sleep was on the menu. A bellman opened the door for us and bade us goodnight. The bed was a heavenly pillow top and it welcomed my aching body.

 

Here's a video clip of our dinner at the Secret Garden

 

 

Norris

 

I had a similar sort of fall 3 years ago on a dock next to the dinner cruise boat we were about to sail on. Like you, I fell on my left arm while trying to protect my camera and break my fall so as not to smash my face on the dock. Turns out there was a rope stretched across the dock that shouldn't have been there. My camera was fine, I didn't smash my face, but I did manage to chip my left elbow and do a lot of compression damage to my arm. I am now the poster child for NO DISTRACTED WALKING! If I hadn't been so busy taking pictures, I just might have seen where I was going. Needless to say, I am no longer allowed to use my camera or phone while walking! :p I'm glad your fall did not cause you any injury, and glad also that your camera didn't end up in the pool! :eek:

 

Thank you again for another of your amazing reviews. I will be looking forward to both your Emerald and Celebrity reviews with great anticipation! :D

 

Nancy

[jlf1]

Norris,

 

I will always follow your reviews. They are the best.

 

Judy

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[HRPro]

Norris, first I'm glad you survived the fall and kept your camera out of the pool. Thanks again for a wonderful review of the Ruby which brought sunshine and beautiful photos into our cold month of February (yes, even in the South, we've been cold). I'll look forward to your review of the Emerald in October and the Celebrity cruise next January. You're a great writer and photographer and I've enjoyed every minute as I did on your review of the Ocean Princess in the fall. Hope Spring comes early for all of us.

[Bimmer09]

Wonderful review and photos! Made me more excited to be on the Ruby in 30 days for a 2 week cruise to Hawaii!! :)

 

Rose and Steve, thanks for the compliments.

Enjoy the Ruby and Hawaii-sounds like a good pairing!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

You had me a bit worried there when you mentioned you were thinking of cruising on a Royal class ship! :confused: That didn't sound at all like the Norris whose reviews I've been following for a while now! I didn't think you were interested in cruising on one of the bigger girls. I will be very interested in your Celebrity review. :D

 

Thank you again for another of your amazing reviews. I will be looking forward to both your Emerald and Celebrity reviews with great anticipation! :D

 

Nancy

 

Thanks Nancy, yes I was open to the Royal and the Regal-Royal mainly as it had an itinerary we hadn't done (although I had done it 44 times long ago) but the main reason was to stick with Princess and get points that would make us Elite before we branch out and try something new. I thought Carol would like the classy interiors too.

 

I did a spreadsheet Royal vs Silhouette and SIL came out way ahead financially and had 3 sea days .

 

Hope to talk to you again in September and January!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris, first I'm glad you survived the fall and kept your camera out of the pool. Thanks again for a wonderful review of the Ruby which brought sunshine and beautiful photos into our cold month of February (yes, even in the South, we've been cold). I'll look forward to your review of the Emerald in October and the Celebrity cruise next January. You're a great writer and photographer and I've enjoyed every minute as I did on your review of the Ocean Princess in the fall. Hope Spring comes early for all of us.

 

Many thanks HR!

 

Yes the weather has become tiresome and the sooner Spring gets here the better.

I'm glad we have two cruises booked and both to warm climates.

 

Thanks for following along and I'm glad you were aboard for the Ocean Princess one as that was a special itinerary.

 

See you here in October!

 

Best wishes,

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

I will always follow your reviews. They are the best.

 

Judy

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

Thank you Judy-I'm so glad you came along on this trip with us.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Truly enjoyed your review, photos and videos. They added to my excitement of being on the Ruby for the first time this August.

 

Thank you so much for sharing with all of us.

 

My pleasure Mary and thanks for coming along on this journey!

 

Norris

[Deck Chair Queen]

My post script. Sorry I did not chime in at the appropriate moments but I tend to fall way behind because of an inhuman work load. Which, by the way, is why you don't see me in those early dawn videos or photos. In real life I work a 10-11 hour day and never catch up on my sleep, so on my vacation i do like to sleep in as late as I can. I still set an alarm and meet Norris for his second breakfast at 8 or 9.

 

One thing I do more of than Norris is see the live entertainment. I saw every live show on this cruise except for the comic's full show. The production shows are always marvels when it comes to imagination, creativity, costumes, and sets. The singing was good enough and I think the lead singers were live - at least they all had headset mikes on and unless they were amazing lip synchers they were singing live. But the background vocals and the orchestra were definitely taped, which is a gyp and below the standards set on other Princess ships. The dancers, however, were amazing. Most seemed to be from Russia and their classical training really showed. I enjoyed every show I saw despite the taped music and also the solo performers such as Rick Steele and the mentalist. The guys in the piazza were all great if unappreciated by most.

 

Also I attended the culinary demonstration (Norris chose not to) and this one was a standout. The chef and the Maitre d' were from different regions of Italy and both were chefs and very passionate about cooking. This made for some great rivalry but also interesting regional takes on ingredients and techniques. I actually learned something and also was very entertained.

 

I also wanted to correct any impression that we had not been to Europe before the Ocean Princess cruise We have had many land vacations in Europe, mostly to see opera, in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France (Alsace) together and Italy, France, Britain, Scotland for me and Spain, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Holland, and of course Britain for Norris. I've also been to Australia three times to visit family. But we'd never cruised to Europe before and it was a revelation and we're doing it again as soon as we are able!

 

As for The Accident, it was one of the scariest moments of my life helplessly watching him go down. With his panther-like reflexes he almost caught himself but I think trying to protect the cameras is what sent him down. He is not a whiner and I had to force Advil upon him and he never once complained about the pain he was in. I know that people our age and older often fall when on vacation or away from our usual surroundings so I am ridiculously careful, especially in the bathtub :-)

 

It is very gratifying to read all your wonderful comments and I know it makes all this work worthwhile for Norris.

 

Carol, aka Deck Chair Queen

[Deck Chair Queen]

One more hopefully helpful tip from me. It's taken me seven cruises but I think I know now how to optimize the use of my Internet minutes and still get my newspapers every day on my Kindle. Kindle has a great deal where you pay only five or six bucks for international delivery for the whole week. But this only works when you are in a port with 3G service (and of course you have to have a 3G Kindle). Otherwise using ship wifi it took me nearly 20 minutes to download a Wall Street Journal. On sea days I had no other choice. But otherwise I did all my Kindle downloading in port (you can do it on the ship in port even if you don't leave the ship), Tips on international data usage are less clearcut but do get a package from your carrier ahead of time. I just checked my bill and they actually prorated the fee for the global data package for only the days when I was traveling. But you have to remember to wait to start the global plan until the day you need it and to cancel the global plan as soon as you don't need it any more. With Verizon you can do this in their app so it's easy. Hope this made sense and is helpful to those with Kindles who, like me, must have their daily papers.

[MGnut]

Carol, I've commented a few times to Norris (I don't like to be a nuisance), but I have never thanked you for your comments. They really do help to fill in on Norris's dialog. You give us a little different perspective in your trip reports, so thank you. I do hope to meet you both on a cruise some day. I feel I know you somewhat already.

 

Regards,

 

MGnut

[midwestsolo]

Norris,

 

I will always follow your reviews. They are the best.

 

Judy

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

Norris, like Judy, I will always now look for your reviews. The long winter has gotten me down and your review has lifted me up daily..I enjoyed your comments(I am a limited type tee shirt person also) and even enjoyed seeing the O'Hare pictures on your return, as O'Hare is my connecting airports for most flights. Take care, and bless you for this review.

 

Pam in Iowa

[Bimmer09]

Norris, like Judy, I will always now look for your reviews. The long winter has gotten me down and your review has lifted me up daily..I enjoyed your comments(I am a limited type tee shirt person also) and even enjoyed seeing the O'Hare pictures on your return, as O'Hare is my connecting airports for most flights. Take care, and bless you for this review.

 

Pam in Iowa

 

Pam- thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed glimpses of the sun through the review.

 

Am very much looking forward to the Emerald trip as the itinerary is much richer.

 

See you then!

 

Norris

[wobblybob74]

Norris,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review. It has been an utter pleasure to read, and I have especially loved the way you interact with other CC members. You seem to be a thoroughly spiffing chap.

 

Your review has brought back lovely memories of our two previous cruises on the Grand Princess, and has made me even more impatient for our forthcoming Spain, Portugal & Canaries cruise on P&O's Ventura in June.

 

All the very best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review. It has been an utter pleasure to read, and I have especially loved the way you interact with other CC members. You seem to be a thoroughly spiffing chap.

 

Your review has brought back lovely memories of our two previous cruises on the Grand Princess, and has made me even more impatient for our forthcoming Spain, Portugal & Canaries cruise on P&O's Ventura in June.

 

All the very best.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Thanks Bob- nice to see a new face dropping in. I was brought up to be civil and fair-minded, so thanks for your observations on my responses. We are all here through a shared love of ships and cruising and whether on CC or on a ship we're not strangers for long, given the opportunity to meet.

 

We berthed near the Ventura in Dubrovnik-looks just like the Ruby with a different paint job. I believe it was the Azura who was tied up next to her.

 

I was wondering if you are excited by the new Britannia? My sister sails P & O and has sailed most of the UK fleet.

 

Cheers!

 

Norris

[wobblybob74]

I was brought up to be civil and fair-minded

 

Well, that certainly shines through. Your parents obviously did a grand job [emoji1]

 

I was wondering if you are excited by the new Britannia? My sister sails P & O and has sailed most of the UK fleet.

 

 

I'm not sure if I am, to be honest. Obviously, a nice shiny new addition to a cruise line is a Very Good Thing, but I'm a little concerned that the cruise companies are going a bit too big.

 

I'm a little wary of our forthcoming P&O cruise. The two previous ones we did with Princess have been superb in nearly every way but I gather that P&O don't have some of the features that we enjoyed so much on Princess. There is no equivalent to the International Cafe in the atrium, which is a big drawback as I used to really enjoy getting up early on a sea day (06:00 or thereabouts) and going to the IC, ordering an espresso and watching the heart of the ship wake up. The waiters there soon began greeting me by name and I wouldn't have to approach the counter; they'd just tell me to sit down and would keep on bringing me coffee until I told them to stop! And there was never a question of my coffee card being punched. Talking of coffee cards, P&O don't really have a direct equivalent to the Princess one. Rather, theirs is good for 20 servings at the Costa coffee outlet, although you do get pastries and other delightful comestibles free with each drink.

 

These are very minor niggles though, and there is a lot to commend P&O for, not least the staggeringly cheap bar prices. Bottle of exceedingly good quality Merlot sir? That'll be £18.95, sir.

 

I'm a firm believer of getting out of a holiday what you put in. If you go into a holiday full of positivity and joy at the experiences ahead then you'll more than likely have a wonderful time. If you go into a holiday determined that you're not going to enjoy it, why on earth bother going in the first place?

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited March 10, 2015 by wobblybob74

[wobblybob74]

Forgot to say - I found Malaga in Spain to be very similar to how you found Palermo. Superficially nice, but once you walked a street or so behind the touristy bits, it was rather dirty and frankly it smelt. Not somewhere I'd rush to again.

Edited March 10, 2015 by wobblybob74

[laurieal]

Loved your review! Your pictures are beautiful, you have a great sense of humour, and I love your vacationing style and attitude. I really hope I'll get to catch another one of your reviews in the future, but in the meantime I have bookmarked the ones in your signature.

 

Thank you for sharing!

[Bimmer09]

Loved your review! Your pictures are beautiful, you have a great sense of humour, and I love your vacationing style and attitude. I really hope I'll get to catch another one of your reviews in the future, but in the meantime I have bookmarked the ones in your signature.

 

Thank you for sharing!

 

Thanks for the compliments!How did you find the Ruby review? That review must be well buried among the pages by now.

 

Regardless, I am glad you enjoyed it.

 

Next review will be Emerald Princess Rome to Barcelona early October

 

Followed by Celebrity Silhouette on the Celebrity Board late January 2016 which is likely the only cruise we'll take in 2016 as we've been neglecting the land.

 

Norris

[laurieal]

Thanks for the compliments!How did you find the Ruby review? That review must be well buried among the pages by now.

 

 

 

Regardless, I am glad you enjoyed it.

 

 

 

Next review will be Emerald Princess Rome to Barcelona early October

 

 

 

Followed by Celebrity Silhouette on the Celebrity Board late January 2016 which is likely the only cruise we'll take in 2016 as we've been neglecting the land.

 

 

 

Norris

 

 

Your review popped up in the "recent" section of the app I use to browse CC. I bookmarked it at the time and just got to actually reading it.

 

I'll be in Barcelona for the first time in early October (although not on the same ship). Do you plan on doing a review for that trip, too? If so, I'll be looking forward to it!

 

I'll be on the Silhouette in April. I'll make sure everything's shipshape for your January cruise :-)

[Bimmer09]

 

I'll be in Barcelona for the first time in early October (although not on the same ship). Do you plan on doing a review for that trip, too? If so, I'll be looking forward to it!

 

Yes Laurieal, I will review the Emerald and particularly the ports some of which will be new to me. We have 2 Rome days and 2 Barcelona days at each end.

Although we were in Rome in September "been there, done that" does NOT apply and neither of us have been to Barcelona. I've been to Spain a few times but they all happened over 30 years ago.

 

Meantime I get to practice more with my camera and brush up on my Italian.

 

We are in Barcelona Oct 3 to 5. Which ship will you be sailing on?

 

Norris

[laurieal]

Yes Laurieal, I will review the Emerald and particularly the ports some of which will be new to me. We have 2 Rome days and 2 Barcelona days at each end.

Although we were in Rome in September "been there, done that" does NOT apply and neither of us have been to Barcelona. I've been to Spain a few times but they all happened over 30 years ago.

 

Meantime I get to practice more with my camera and brush up on my Italian.

 

We are in Barcelona Oct 3 to 5. Which ship will you be sailing on?

 

Norris

 

I'll look forward to your review. I'm sure it will bring back great memories of Barcelona!

 

I'll be on the Explorer of the Seas. Southampton to Barcelona and then three more days in Barcelona.

 

I hope you'll have a wonderful trip! Have fun brushing up on your Italian in the meantime!

[Matcodixon]

Hi Norris,

A bit late to the party again. If you have not seen it yet, I left a parting post on your Ocean Princess Cruise review. Once again, you and I have some more things in common. The Ruby Princess and The Island of St John.

I lived there for a year after I departed college. Since it is Mostly National park, most of the island is unchanged. Our last visit was during our Caribbean cruise several years ago. Since we had no real desire to spend any time on St Thomas, this is what we did:

We took a taxi to Red Hook and jumped on the Ferry to St John from there. It is a much shorter ride than the ferry from the cruise ship ports that way. We rented a Jeep and spent the day travelling around the island, stopping for a swim at Cinnamon Bay, where I stated as a camper for a part of my time there on the island. Took the Red Hook ferry / Taxi ride back to the ship. We were able to spend quite a bit of time there on St John as a result. BTW Driving on the left is not that difficult.:cool:

 

PS Excellent reviews! thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

Dixon