Ruby Princess, 1/7/17-1/17/17 - A fine cruise

[walkingsoon]

I enjoy cruising in general and Princess specifically. I don't expect too much and tend not to be disappointed.

 

Trying to answer a couple questions I recall from other threads:

- Yes, the MDR was open for lunch on disembarkation day. Although I noticed a separate entry for Club Class, it seemed pretty low key and didn't affect, as far as I saw, the experience for those of us not in Club Class.

- Onboard entertainment included a couple of production shows: "Colors of the World" and "Magic to Do", both of which I enjoyed. We had two comedians, Jeff Burghart and Carlos Oscar and a juggler, Steven Ragatz.

 

Pluses: (affected by my own personal biases)

 

- Embarkation (and disembarkation) seemed to go about as quickly as one could walk. I was impressed by the army of retired looking folk directing traffic. I couldn't even pause for ten seconds and look around without having someone approach to offer assistance.

- A nice promenade deck. Got that, Princess? (the new) Regal, Royal and Majestic are deficient in that regard. Some people view that as important.

- Shipboard credit programs, combinable future cruise, military and stock ownership. All are great deals and, when comparing different lines' offerings for a similar itinerary, they often make Princess stand out as the better choice.

- Good overall value. This frequently overshadows other problems I might see. The price for cruising seems to have stayed about the same in real dollars over the last couple of decades and makes it a very good (though certainly not the only) travel choice, imo.

- Traditional Dining. Please keep it, Princess. I enjoyed the food in the MDR and the service.

- MUTS. The Princess public movie offerings work better than I've seen on other lines.

 

Minuses:

 

- Poor TV guide for the in cabin TV. I had trouble figuring out when movies were due to start. There was a guide station, but it frequently froze in place and wasn't comprehensive. Nor did the passenger service desk have, as I've often seen on other ships, a print version to hand out. This is a small snivel, but also an easy one to fix. The newer class of Princess ships, btw, have a really cool on demand in cabin TV system.

- The buffet, and pretty much any food offerings on the 15th deck. I didn't venture there often, but found the buffet offerings pretty limited while the pizza and burger offerings seemed mediocre. The MDR and International Café, on the other hand, were just fine. The service seemed pretty good, but they had occasional crowd control issues.

- Ship offered excursion tours. Not news to most here I'm sure, but they're overpriced and often not as enjoyable as tours that you can pre-reserve on your own or simply negotiate pierside. Going to the Princess theatre, getting a numbered sticker and having tour organizers shout at everyone gets old. Chatting with the manager of an independent tour company (that was, incidentally, really great), he described to me how the cruiselines were insisting on exclusivity for their ships while in port. It's easy to see how some operators might feel they couldn't comply with that and also easy to see how ship passengers might be missing out on some interesting experiences.

- Shopping specials. I don't shop much, but thought I might go and pick up a couple of t-shirts during one of their specials. What a mistake! It was like being stuck in the middle of a pack of wild wolves. I noted that some people seem to really enjoy them however. Again, this goes to the value aspect of cruising. If these stores, the ever present photographers and the art sales help the cruiselines keep fares low, I'm happy for them. One can choose to play or not.

[tuleia]

Thank you for your honest assessment of the pros and cons of your cruise on the Ruby Princess. It has validated the excitement our group of 10 has for our upcoming cruise at the end of March. If at all possible, and convenient for you, we would appreciate your posting the daily Patters. This would be most helpful and, I'm sure, of interest to others as well. Thank you, again, for your informative review.

[JF - retired RRT]

Very nice review...I agree about the TV guide (really miss the "old" booklet), maybe when the Medallions are out everyone will have the newer on demand system.

[greenie082756]

Thank you for your review of the Ruby Princess.

 

We have only experienced 3 of the ships and felt most comfortable on the Ruby. Totally agree on the TV guide issue. We ate breakfast and lunch in the buffet and it had what we needed. We used the IC often too.

 

The Ruby is a beautiful ship and we enjoyed the promenade as well. :)

[gosh1]

Great review of your cruise.

Any information on the smoking areas on the Ruby would be appreciated. Cruising the Mexican Riviera on Feb. 4. Thanks

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

[DUCHESSRN]

Thank you for your Review ,I board 2/25 and cannot wait.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your objective review.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Daniel1313]

TV programs really stink on all ships, other than Regal and Royal. Would be nice if the other ships were updated..

[Cruiserkenn]

TV programs really stink on all ships, other than Regal and Royal. Would be nice if the other ships were updated..

 

The Sun Princess has the new, on demand TV system, with new flat screen televisions. So many movies, you couldn't watch them all if you cruised the Sun all year. News channels were available, too, both from Australia and from the U.S.

 

It was wonderful!

[Cruiserkenn]

OP - thanks for the good thoughts on the Ruby's promenade deck. So good!

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Daniel1313]

The Sun Princess has the new' date=' on demand TV system, with new flat screen televisions. So many movies, you couldn't watch them all if you cruised the Sun all year. News channels were available, too, both from Australia and from the U.S.

 

It was wonderful![/quote']

 

Good to know... Thanks

Hopefully all ships will update eventually

[Astro Flyer]

walkingsoon...thanks for sharing your experiences & enjoyed reading your review. We haven't sailed on the Ruby but have enjoyed sailing her sister ship the Crown several times.

 

I agree with your thoughts about so many shopping options but if it helps to keep our cruise fares lower then it's a good thing. Although their daily Shopping Spotlight flyers are getting ridiculous by referring to sales pitches as an "Enrichment" Article. The Star not only has a Shopping Host but also a new Effy Ambassador. After looking at the Effy shopping catalog in the cabin, the cheapest item I could find was about $450 so Effy doesn't appear to be within the price range for the average Princess passenger...definitely not within my price range.

Edited January 24, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[fishywood]

Good to know... Thanks

Hopefully all ships will update eventually

 

Plans for adding the on demand system fleetwide were scuttled by Princess quite some time ago, though they did complete three ships in the Pacific rim (Diamond, Sapphire and Sun).

[walkingsoon]

Tuleia - I didn't keep the daily Patters. Sorry :-)

Gosh1 - Without seeking out the smoking areas, I did note that there's at least one spot on the promenade deck and I think a portion of the casino also allows smoking.

[fishywood]

As for the original review

 

(affected by my own personal biases)

 

Minuses:

 

- Poor TV guide

- The buffet, and pretty much any food offerings on the 15th deck. I didn't venture there often...

- Ship offered excursion tours...Chatting with the manager of an independent tour company (that was, incidentally, really great)...

- Shopping specials. I don't shop much...

 

Three of the four "minuses" are items that the reviewer states they already have little to no interest in, or have found their own alternative to. Why bring them up at all? Matter of fact the whole "review" just comes across as a list of pros and cons the author has gleaned from Princess without necessarily any connection to their recent cruise on Ruby. Now I do get the point that the author did and does enjoy sailing Princess--and I guess the "my own personal biases" disclaimer does excuse the utter contexlessness of these "lists". But I have to laugh at the earlier response thanking the author for their "objective review" :D

[ar1950]

As for the original review

 

 

 

Three of the four "minuses" are items that the reviewer states they already have little to no interest in, or have found their own alternative to. Why bring them up at all? Matter of fact the whole "review" just comes across as a list of pros and cons the author has gleaned from Princess without necessarily any connection to their recent cruise on Ruby. Now I do get the point that the author did and does enjoy sailing Princess--and I guess the "my own personal biases" disclaimer does excuse the utter contexlessness of these "lists". But I have to laugh at the earlier response thanking the author for their "objective review" :D

 

Seriously, a review of the review? :confused:

[spleenstomper]

2010 article about Effy: http://sfpublicpress.org/news/2010-07/macys-sells-rubies-filled-with-glass

[vmom]

As for the original review

 

 

 

Three of the four "minuses" are items that the reviewer states they already have little to no interest in, or have found their own alternative to. Why bring them up at all? Matter of fact the whole "review" just comes across as a list of pros and cons the author has gleaned from Princess without necessarily any connection to their recent cruise on Ruby. Now I do get the point that the author did and does enjoy sailing Princess--and I guess the "my own personal biases" disclaimer does excuse the utter contexlessness of these "lists". But I have to laugh at the earlier response thanking the author for their "objective review" :D

 

 

The reason we should thank a reviewer is that it takes Time and effort to put together a review. How many people cruise and come back and don't post anything. Instead of being so skeptical and critical we should thank people for taking the time and effort to express their experiences.

 

If you didn't like the review why say anything, better to take the gracious way and be silent.

Edited January 24, 2017 by vmom

[XBGuy]

the reason we should thank a reviewer is that it takes time and effort to put together a review. How many people cruise and come back and don't post anything. Instead of being so skeptical and critical we should thank people for taking the time and effort to express their experiences.

 

If you didn't like the review why say anything, better to take the gracious way and be silent.

 

+1!

[jennybenny]

I enjoy cruising in general and Princess specifically. I don't expect too much and tend not to be disappointed.

 

 

 

Trying to answer a couple questions I recall from other threads:

 

- Yes, the MDR was open for lunch on disembarkation day. Although I noticed a separate entry for Club Class, it seemed pretty low key and didn't affect, as far as I saw, the experience for those of us not in Club Class.

 

- Onboard entertainment included a couple of production shows: "Colors of the World" and "Magic to Do", both of which I enjoyed. We had two comedians, Jeff Burghart and Carlos Oscar and a juggler, Steven Ragatz.

 

 

 

Pluses: (affected by my own personal biases)

 

 

 

- Embarkation (and disembarkation) seemed to go about as quickly as one could walk. I was impressed by the army of retired looking folk directing traffic. I couldn't even pause for ten seconds and look around without having someone approach to offer assistance.

 

- A nice promenade deck. Got that, Princess? (the new) Regal, Royal and Majestic are deficient in that regard. Some people view that as important.

 

- Shipboard credit programs, combinable future cruise, military and stock ownership. All are great deals and, when comparing different lines' offerings for a similar itinerary, they often make Princess stand out as the better choice.

 

- Good overall value. This frequently overshadows other problems I might see. The price for cruising seems to have stayed about the same in real dollars over the last couple of decades and makes it a very good (though certainly not the only) travel choice, imo.

 

- Traditional Dining. Please keep it, Princess. I enjoyed the food in the MDR and the service.

 

- MUTS. The Princess public movie offerings work better than I've seen on other lines.

 

 

 

Minuses:

 

 

 

- Poor TV guide for the in cabin TV. I had trouble figuring out when movies were due to start. There was a guide station, but it frequently froze in place and wasn't comprehensive. Nor did the passenger service desk have, as I've often seen on other ships, a print version to hand out. This is a small snivel, but also an easy one to fix. The newer class of Princess ships, btw, have a really cool on demand in cabin TV system.

 

- The buffet, and pretty much any food offerings on the 15th deck. I didn't venture there often, but found the buffet offerings pretty limited while the pizza and burger offerings seemed mediocre. The MDR and International Café, on the other hand, were just fine. The service seemed pretty good, but they had occasional crowd control issues.

 

- Ship offered excursion tours. Not news to most here I'm sure, but they're overpriced and often not as enjoyable as tours that you can pre-reserve on your own or simply negotiate pierside. Going to the Princess theatre, getting a numbered sticker and having tour organizers shout at everyone gets old. Chatting with the manager of an independent tour company (that was, incidentally, really great), he described to me how the cruiselines were insisting on exclusivity for their ships while in port. It's easy to see how some operators might feel they couldn't comply with that and also easy to see how ship passengers might be missing out on some interesting experiences.

 

- Shopping specials. I don't shop much, but thought I might go and pick up a couple of t-shirts during one of their specials. What a mistake! It was like being stuck in the middle of a pack of wild wolves. I noted that some people seem to really enjoy them however. Again, this goes to the value aspect of cruising. If these stores, the ever present photographers and the art sales help the cruiselines keep fares low, I'm happy for them. One can choose to play or not.

 

 

 

Thank you for sharing.

The Ruby is my (current) favorite ship!

I agree with a lot of what you mentioned in both your pluses and minuses and appreciate having the opportunity to read your opinion of the ship!

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jjones]

Someone asked about smoking areas. Indoors is Churchill's (cigar bar) beside casino entrance, outdoors starboard promenade deck at the rear and Deck 16 above the outdoor pool. I also heard about a starboard spot on Deck 17 aft but never went there so can't confirm.

[latebloomer56]

Someone asked about smoking areas. Indoors is Churchill's (cigar bar) beside casino entrance, outdoors starboard promenade deck at the rear and Deck 16 above the outdoor pool. I also heard about a starboard spot on Deck 17 aft but never went there so can't confirm.

 

 

Didn't ask the question but thank you for posting. We are traveling with 2 others this time and they are smokers. I thought 7 starboard aft area was smoking as we have been on 8 E723 before and could smell it, so glad I was correct. Now they just need to go down 1 flight.

[Katjoy]

Thank you for your Review ,I board 2/25 and cannot wait.

 

We will also be on this cruise. I am so excited. I've wanted to Cruise on the Ruby since she was new.