Cabin position - far forward or far back on Ruby Princess to Hawaii?

[BearlyRob]

I'm booking a cruise on the Ruby Princess from Los Angeles to Hawaii, and the only mini-suites available are either very far forward or very far back. I've read both good and bad things about both options, but has anyone on this board sailed to Hawaii in a cabin that is either far forward or far back/aft? What would you recommend? I don't usually get sea sick, but if the front is extremely rocky, I might take my chances in back (even though the cabin is right across from the self-service laundromat, which I'm not crazy about). Thoughts? Thanks!

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm booking a cruise on the Ruby Princess from Los Angeles to Hawaii, and the only mini-suites available are either very far forward or very far back. I've read both good and bad things about both options, but has anyone on this board sailed to Hawaii in a cabin that is either far forward or far back/aft? What would you recommend? I don't usually get sea sick, but if the front is extremely rocky, I might take my chances in back (even though the cabin is right across from the self-service laundromat, which I'm not crazy about). Thoughts? Thanks!

 

Out of the 2 I would pick aft. Less movement.

We have sailed in an aft cabin to Hawaii. Do to the possibility of a lot of movement I would not pick forward.

[BearlyRob]

Out of the 2 I would pick aft. Less movement.

We have sailed in an aft cabin to Hawaii. Do to the possibility of a lot of movement I would not pick forward.

 

Thanks!

[Coral]

I hate forward cabins and love cabins more aft or aft.

[Cruisin' Chick]

We had an aft inside for our last cruise which was to Hawaii. We liked it especially as we were just a few steps from the back door and one stair flight away from the Horizon back door.

 

Our last far forward cabin was on our Alaskan cruise which was very smooth, sea motion wise. I'm the one in the family who suffers from motion sickness but I was fine on that cruise. I wouldn't be fine for a Hawaiian cruise far forward and we have turned down possible cabins while waiting for cabins to open up while waitlisted.

[jasbo49]

Never cruised to Hawaii, but we tend to book forward cabins, because:

 

1. We like the feeling of being on a ship at sea.

 

2. We are really thrifty. We'd rather have a mini-suite in the forward section than have a balcony at midship.

 

Jim

[OCruisers]

Given that choice ... We'd pick way forward on Ruby. :)

[msw.delafield]

Ruby is unique as it has balcony cabins aft on Riviera deck. Check out R748 through R751.

 

These cabins are a great location facing aft, just steps away from the Terrace pool and Cafe Caribe / Horizon Court.

[cruiserjanet]

We've been to Hawaii three times, twice in an aft cabin. Less bounce. I would definitely choose aft.

Edited December 2, 2015 by cruiserjanet

[Working 2 Cruise]

Keep in mind that the seas can be rough on the way to Hawaii. This doesn't bother some, but some don't!

 

Any forward location will be rough if the seas are moderate and up, which is likely, although not always. We're lucky that we don't suffer from motion sickness, so, we're happy anywhere!

[XBGuy]

This is pretty funny. I guess my wife is a "foul weather cruiser." We have taken two roundtrip cruises out of Los Angeles to Hawaii. On both of those cruises (on the Sapphire and the Golden) we were in cabin A201. She wants to be as far forward and as high up as she can get. She wants to feel the motion. So, she was pretty disappointed that on both cruises the most serious weather we hit were a few white caps and a couple squalls. On many of our sea days the ocean was glassy smooth. I explained to her, "It's the Pacific Ocean. 'Pacific' means 'peaceful.'"

 

"Oh."-

 

That being said, the day before departing for our second Hawaiian cruise, this was the one on the Golden, I receieved all kinds of e-mails and telephone alerts from Princess advising that the Golden had hit some serious weather on its return from Hawaii, and would be delayed arriving into Los Angeles. So, we should delay our arrival at the port. On departure day I checked the web cam from the Golden and saw that it had berthed on time in Los Angeles.

 

On the cruise prior to ours they had, in fact, run into the dregs of a hurricane and were slowed by seas that were quite high. Chatting with the servers in the various restaurants, it sounded pretty exciting. I guess it was quite difficult to pour wine or coffee into glasses or cups.

 

I'm sorry. I really don't have any advice for you--other than that, normally, the Pacific Ocean is pretty calm. I just wanted to brag about my foul weather sailor wife. We are always on the Aloha deck as far forward as possible. I really can't tell you if you fell the motion of the sea more forward or after. Another cool thing that my wife likes about being forward, though, is that she occasionally gets to wave to bridge personnel.

[Working 2 Cruise]

It seems your wife is like me! Let's say out of my 4 cruises to Hawaii, we've had rough seas twice and moderate seas once.

[Sea Day Cruiser]

I was just in an aft cabin to Hawaii and it was okay. It was also very close to the laundry and I never heard any noise at all. I would definitely pick an aft cabin over the front of the ship.

[FritzG]

We only sail in mid ship to aft cabins, anywhere in the 600's and further aft. We've been on 2 spring ta's on the Ruby,and we were in Baja 609 and 629. Both cruises ran into storms in the Atlantic, and we were very comfortable in our cabins. When we were in the theatre which is all the way forward it was pretty bouncy.

[XBGuy]

I did think of something else. I think the forward cabins may be subject to more noise from the bow hitting the waves than the after cabins. Having very sailed in the after section I can't say definitively. However, I can tell you that Mrs. and Mr. XBGuy enjoy listening to the sounds of the sea while we are lying in bed. If you are not comfortable with the thought of listening to those sounds while you are trying to sleep, then you might give that some consideration.

[19woody19]

We used to like forward, then tried mid, both of which were great...then we booked an aft corner cabin and we are hooked. The view of the wake is spectacular and there is far less traffic in the hallway. Some say the noise/vibration from the thrusters is annoying but it never bothered us at all. Leaving L.A. can be a little rough the first day or two but then smoothes out. We took this cruise last April and it was great. Enjoyed it so much we booked this cruise and another for October. We all experience sea days differently so it is hard to predict how you will feel but, its still better than sitting home wishing you were sailing to Hawaii.

[VibeGuy]

Emerald, Ruby and Crown, in particular, have a "shimmy" or "fishtail" motion up high aft that I do not enjoy. Forward, the motion is largely pitching up and down, which I enjoy.

[rockdoctor]

Apologies, if you know this already. We don't like the open or partially covered mini suites on the Ruby. Might not be fun with all those sea days in the sun.

[paul929207]

We were in Dolphin 218 to Hawaii on the Grand Princess in October. We loved it.

[rob2102]

Further aft makes, you closer to the horizon court. Movements and noise levels are about the same.

[JimmyVWine]

The design of Princess ships has to be taken into account. Ruby, like all Princess ships, has an aft that cuts off abruptly. It isn't like old, classic ships where the fore and the aft were more or less symmetrical, like this:

 

 

Instead, if you have a cabin at the very aft of the ship, you are, quite literally, at the back of the ship.

 

 

Conversely, if you have the most forward cabin on the ship, you are still over 100 feet from the bow.

 

 

The way the pitch of the ship works, the tip of the bow and the tip of the stern move the most. When you are in an aft cabin, you are at the tip of the stern and get the maximum amount of pitch. When you are at the forward-most cabin, you are nowhere near the tip of the bow and get less pitch. So for the rocking pitch of up and down movement, you get more with aft cabins. However, when it comes to the bow plowing through rough seas and taking waves head-on, the forward cabins feel that more.

[beg3yrs]

I might take my chances in back (even though the cabin is right across from the self-service laundromat, which I'm not crazy about). Thoughts? Thanks!

 

Before we qualified for free laundry we tried to get cabins reasonably close the the laundromat. On our Hawaii/South Pacific cruise we were directly across from one and did have some concerns before the journey.

 

Turns out everything was fine. Infrequently we could hear some hallway conversations outside the laundromat door but noise from the door opening and closing as well as from the machines was never an issue. Note, we were across the hall, not on the same side as the laundromat.

 

All that said, it was one of the best locations for doing your own laundry with no hikes up and down the hall carrying loads of dirty clothes.

Edited December 19, 2015 by beg3yrs

[Keith1010]

I have sailed Hawaii in a room very far back and would do it this way over one that is all the way forward.

 

Keith

[Hawka]

was on golden in one of the first cabins on deck 10 only felt slight role from waves , heard the odd head on bang from a wave which was a rare thing to be honest , the role sent me to sleep i loved it

[NANCYR2]

We were on the Ruby Nov 15th sailing this year. Have done this sailing before and knew seas can be rough the first and second nite leaving and returning.

 

Cold front was approaching California coast as we were leaving on Nov 15th. Captain warned it may be windy and rough!!!!! We had 28ft plus seas and 60 plus MPH winds-many seasick. that ship rocked and rolled. Glad we were midship.