Ruby or Emerald?

[shakeNbake]

14-day cruise, the same itinerary, is it worth approx $200  total extra to sail on the Ruby?  Sailed Ruby for her inaugural way back?   Thanks

[mtnesterz]

Ruby is one year newer. They're the same class of ship.  

If your travel days work out better one over the other, there's your answer.

If you've sailed with Princess before, check the sticky at the top to see if any senior staff are to your liking.  Doesn't explain difference in price unless sailing includes a holiday.

Edited March 10, 2023 by mtnesterz

[ocean happiness]

Does The Emerald Princess have sinks at the entrance of the buffet to wash your hand?.  I think I read the Ruby did not have the sinks.  Thank you

[texswamper]

2 hours ago, ocean happiness said:

Does The Emerald Princess have sinks at the entrance of the buffet to wash your hand?.  I think I read the Ruby did not have the sinks.  Thank you

On the Ruby now & definitely no sinks. 

[Coral]

Pick whatever date and price work. Ship's are nearly identical.

[13cheermom]

3 hours ago, ocean happiness said:

Does The Emerald Princess have sinks at the entrance of the buffet to wash your hand?.  I think I read the Ruby did not have the sinks.  Thank you

Emerald does, we sailed on her last March 2022.

[snoozecrooze]

Emerald simply because of the way they redesigned their buffet setup to the World Fresh Marketplace in 2019 (only Caribbean has a similar design and they were both done pre-pandemic). The remodels were definitely supposed to be applied to the rest of the fleet, but who knows if that will ever happen now.

 

Anyways, what's so much better about the buffet? You do have the sinks. The buffet set up is significantly more modern and open. The variety in seating is a huge plus. The Ruby still has the old-style tables and chairs and if you're just a solo cruiser looking for options, it's much harder to find a seat there, in my opinion.

 

Examples:

Emerald buffet seating

Emerald buffet

Ruby buffet seating

Ruby buffet

 

I can't think of anything else too different, though.

If you like production shows, Emerald does have Rock Opera and that's one of the three newest shows on Princess.

[sammyjoanne]

Sailed Ruby last year, and sailing Emerald in 3 weeks, so will be interesting to see which one I like more with them being sister ships