jsmac3

We were on this cruise as well . . . had a good time!

Agree about the food . . . average and sometimes hard to find something appealing on the MDR menu but I definitely didn't go hungry. Was surprised that except for embarkation and debarkation days the Horizon Court never seemed crowded for breakfast or lunch. Never had difficulty finding a table or being served beverages although it would have been faster to serve yourself.

Finally able to make our tours to Coba (Cozumel) and Xunantich (Belize) - cancelled due to weather last time.

Had great waiters in the MDR & good cabin steward - most of the crew was very friendly.

Port of Houston terminal is a very nice facility . . . we waited until 2pm to embark - took 5 minutes. We disembarked around 9:15am - took maybe 15 minutes.

Nice ship.

Great news - thanks for posting the good news!

You can either make reservations using the Carnival website - manage my booking/activities/steakhouse reservations or email the steakhouse directly.

And as SNJCruisers posted above:

If you want to eat, go to the buffet.

If you want to eat better, go to the MDR.

If you want to dine, go to the steakhouse.

Like this!

Same thing with us, had it worked out, we would have been singing the praises of EZ Air, instead it was not a good experience. We'd call Princess, they'd say they couldn't help us, call the airline; we'd call the airline and they'd tell us to call Princess.

We had the same problem.

I believe what really slayed us . . . we had an 11am departure flight out of Barcelona which could be "iffy". It was changed to a 9:55am flight which was even "iffier". Princess said "no problem" and it wasn't a problem if you didn't mind rising at 400am and meeting in the Botticelli dining room at 6am. We were at the Barcelona airport at 6:50am. Not an ideal way to end a cruise and prepare for a LONG day of flying.

Insult to injury . . . shortly before boarding our flight, we recognized people from the cruise arriving . . . they were booked on our original flight.

The group shuttles mentioned are Super Shuttle and Prime Time. I would also suggest staying in San Pedro rather than by LAX. You will have a more relaxed embarkation morning not worrying about traffic.

 

 

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And the scenery is better at San Pedro.

A little update on our E-Z Air experience. After landing what we thought were pretty good flights and prices for refundable/flexible airfares through multiple airlines (although they are operating partners) things changed pretty quickly.

 

To make a long story short (or to at least try anyway), both airlines, along with Princess EZ Air played the blame each other game when the itineraries were changed. We wound up canceling our flexible/refundable fares with Princess EZ Air after many calls to Princess (and not being able to speak directly to them, but only Princess C/S reps, which wasn't helpful) asking for an honest explanation. Got none. Ironically, the original flights through both airlines are still listed on our frequent flier reservation pages as being active, even after we canceled the flights through Princess more than a week prior. One flight that Princess EZ Air says the airline canceled was listed as active on both airline sites and the Princess EZ Air reservation page as well. Since the airlines are the ones actually operating their own flights we called the airlines and confirmed that at least one of the two changes came from Princess. We came to the conclusion that the EZ Air department was pulling a CYA as their fares that were probably listed too low or were over booked and thus changed.

 

We were disappointed with the way Princess C/S interfaces with their own Air Reservations department (too much "hold on and we'll call them for you" stuff). We can now understand some of the earlier posts regarding some poor experiences with EZ Air.

 

If you're looking for air reservations, you may want to go directly to the airlines themselves and look into getting travel insurance to cover the non-refundable tickets. You will definitely save $$ compared to the cruise line websites, and if anything changes, you only have to deal with the airlines!:):):)

We had a very similar experience with EZ Air last November for transportation to and from our Med cruise beginning in Venice and ending in Barcelona. We began with very convenient flights and then about 3 weeks before the cruise, everything changed.

It seems as though in some cases this is a "bait and switch" gimmick . . . you sign up for some decent flights and then get slammed into something less than . . . I am sure this works out perfectly for some people but didn't for us.

I emailed our Maitre D and received my "read receipt", but no response. I was debating if I should send another email the day before departure to confirm our seating arrangements. Hate to stalk them and make them grumpy though. :-/

 

 

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We normally just go by there after boarding . . . there is normally a line but if you just want to check on what type of table you have and its location, one of the assistants can normally tell you pretty quickly.

It is easy for us now because we always request a table by number and we can tell by looking at our Sign n' Sail card.

send him an email now and then check where you are sitting when you board, you may not have to talk with him, he should be able to put you at a 4 seat table without any problem.

This has always worked for us - at least for the last five or six cruises. We normally wait until about two weeks before the cruise before sending.

I know what John H said about this, but it always works - only once however, did we receive a response.

We only cruise Spirit class ships on Carnival and we always have late seating . . . there seem to always be plenty of vacant tables during late seating.

Is their any way to be able to request table for 2

 

 

 

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You can email the maitre'd about 2 weeks before you cruise with your request.

Speaking about the Ruby Princess, has anyone had progressive cruise check-in where the boarding is done by decks? If so, was it enforced or just a guideline?

 

What was your muster drill like? Did you need life jackets?

 

Any other tips or hints would be appreciated.

Have not experienced progressive cruise check-in that I know of . . . our only cruise on the Ruby was from Venice . . . we showed up about 1pm and they told us to board immediately . . . I know there were people seated and waiting . . . we are platinum so I don't know if they were waiting with priority numbers or waiting for their deck to be called.

We took our life jackets to the theater and after the demonstration put them on.

I am not sure if this is a Ruby thing or just happened on the 12-day Med cruise, but one morning in the lido buffet they had this chocolate thing . . . chocolate covered doughnuts, chocolate milkshakes . . . I've never seen anything quite like it - especially at 6am.

We are platinum on both Princess & Carnival. We prefer Carnival's MDR food but prefer Princess' buffet - normally breakfast & lunch.

Where is Cabbage Beach?

I was wondering the same.

Sorry - double post.

My response is based on my experiences on 2 Carnival 9-day cruises, and a 14 and 15-day Panama Canal cruise.

If you will meet the requirements for platinum status during a cruise, then you should be in platinum status for the entire cruise.

Just like a 7 day cruise, our 14 and 15 day cruises had only two elegant nights.

The menu should be different every night - however, the meals served during the 2nd leg most likely will be the same and in the same sequence as the 1st leg.

Don't know about cheers.

Hopefully, this is helpful.

If you go to the ground transportation area, there are shuttles that operate between Fort Lauderdale & Miami airports - off hand, I can't think of their specific names but seem to be AAA, Super Shuttle, Blue Shuttle - it used to be $15 either one - probably a little more now.

We've stayed in 5134 on the Pride in 2005. We normally book 5124. We've been on all four Spirit class ships and always stay in an extended balcony in this area - forward. These are great cabins - staying in them has spoiled us. I believe we're booked in 5124 for the Pride relocation next March.

From Kansas City? What kind of hints?

We live in Lansing and got a great deal from Southwest for 2 from KC to Houston (Hobby) - during December.

We thought about driving until we saw the price. Of course, if there are more than two of you, that is a factor.

I did this search 10 years ago and the best price I found was in the gift shop on the Sun Princess.

Also, agree that the best prices I've seen on Seiko's in the last few years are at Macy's.

You can easily lose 15% of the value of your $$ when converting them to Euros on a Princess ship. 1 and 2 Euro coins will not be available on the ship, so 5 Euro bills would be the lowest you might get.

 

We get our Euros at an ATM using a debit card with no foreign transaction fees from our bank.

This is good advice . . . also try to convert your remaining Euros in Europe before returning to the US.

If Princess offers it, the Rhythms of the Night excursion is one of our all-time favorites.

Of course, your departure will have to be late - at least 9 or 10pm.

We'd take the Grand. The Ruby is a wonderful ship but any of the restaurants can be very crowded on sea days or for breakfast during port days.

If Carnival or any other cruise line is operating some sort of misinformation campaign be it as a cheerleader for the new menus or anything else, it is pertinent to any of these threads.

Thanks for posting some "good" news.

my husband I are thinking about staying on-board at both ports, Cozumel and Progresso. (Been there- done both) Sure I know availability will pop up eventually, but it sounds kind of nice to just relax and enjoy a quiet ship. We have always gotten off at each port, but this time, no kids in tow! ;)

For those who stay on board

1. Will a dining-room be open for meals or just the buffet?

2. Will the Serenity deck be even more serene?

3. Are all the pools and hot-tubs open?

4. What do you like to do when you stay on-board at port?

 

Thank you!:)

It has been our experience that the dining rooms are closed for lunch while in ports.

The Serenity deck is usually nearly empty.

Sometimes the crew uses the time while the ship is in port to service some of the pools and hot tubs.

We normally just sunbath in the serenity area and enjoy an un-crowded lunch in the buffet.