olsonfive

I agree on 60-90 minutes for a quick visit would work just fine (that is what we did in April).

We also stayed at Doubletree on our recent stay (worked out great location wise as very convenient to train, trams, and canal cruises).

We used the 9292 app to bury train tix in advance from the airport to Centraal Station.  Very easy to book and then had e-tickets on phone for both of us which worked great.  I liked not having to get wallet or credit card out.

Good topic - thanks.  Does anyone know when to expect the 2025 NZ/AUS cruises to be available?  Looks like other lines are starting to offer those now.

Thanks to all for the responses and sharing your experiences.  Does seem to be changing dynamics and a lot of factors to consider (like in our case not wanting to miss out on sold out excursion if we rebook).  The days of more consistent re-faring were certainly easier.

Just curious if Princess has recently changed their policy regarding re-faring current bookings?  We are booked for July 31st British Isles and website shows over $1k lower now.  I reached out to TA and Princess says that lower price is valid only for new bookings (even though no mention of that on website).  In the past we have had no issues in doing so - and if that has changed there seems to be no reason to book early.  We don’t want to deal with re-booking as have already paid for some excursions that are now sold out.  Would appreciate any advice (and apologies if covered in other threads - didn’t see on search).  Thanks.

Thanks PTMary - good to know.  I called Princess and they informed me that the excursions were not available for booking (so guess that explains that error message).  Maybe at some point their IT team can get more specific.

I am having the same error message - wonder if some kind of temporary issue with webste.  Looks like excursions are available for pre-booking, but when selected don’t move into cart.  Has anyone found a fix / workaround to this issue?

It can go through your TA.

Thanks for the quick response.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Does the Amex offer need to be paid directly to Princess or can it be to/thru a TA?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

FishinChris - loving your trip report and all your pics. We were also on this cruise - actually met you and your wife in van on way to Southampton before going to Stonehenge. It's great reliving the cruise with your review. We did the fjords cruise in Stavanger - we were looking up at Pulpit Rock so enjoyed hearing and seeing from on top. Thanks!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Recently did June 24th western med cruise with stop at Cartagena. We did on our own - just walked around and visited the Roman Theater Museum (very worthwhile) and Roman Forum (mostly baths). Recommend doing on own - heard from others that did Princess excursion that they would have preferred to do on own. Like Dickinson mentioned we saw sign for combo ticket (I think 12E pp) but we chose not to hit all the sites. With other long touring days it worked out well for us just to spend a few hours there.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Others on Ruby MUTS two weeks ago were Gravity and Philomena.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Enjoy your cruise and Ruby Gator. I would second the recommendation on IC - perfect spot to enjoy a morning coffee (using card for drip) with great pastries. On sea days & sail-away we enjoyed hanging out around the terrace pool area for a more relaxing area than main pools.

Good answer Kmkub:) And I thought it was just so we wouldn't get lost! I'm sure that all those planning the couples cabana massage will enjoy it - definitely one of the highlights from our cruise. FYI - for those that haven't been there the changing rooms work out very well and they have the programmable lockers for you to store anything.

Hi Gator - hope that you have a fantastic upcoming cruise on the Ruby! Yes - the Couples Cabana massage is in the Sanctuary area. I may be wrong (since we didn't ask), but I don't believe you can stay after the massage. We were guided to the cabana by one of the therapists and she led us back to the changing room in Lotus Spa afterward. It's a perfect activity for day at Sea.

On our 3/29 cruise it was originally scheduled to stop at Grand Cayman first and then Cozumel, but a couple months in advance switched to Cozumel first. Seems like it does vary somewhat (not sure why, maybe flex based on number of ships in total at each port?). I assume for your 4/12 cruise will be Grand Cayman first per current itinerary.

Hi Gator - hope that you have a fantastic upcoming cruise on the Ruby! Yes - the Couples Cabana massage is in the Sanctuary area. I may be wrong (since we didn't ask), but I don't believe you can stay after the massage. We were guided to the cabana by one of the therapists and she led us back to the changing room in Lotus Spa afterward. It's a perfect activity for day at Sea.

We were just on the Ruby last week on the Caribbean cruise. Just thought I would offer our experience with table for two since that is what DW and I had. As Pam indicated, I was worried about the tightness given some of the previous reviews.

In our case, it turned out ok last week. In the Botticelli room there was a row of about six tables for two in a row (comfy bench seating on one side, chair on other). We were in the middle of a small section of three - there was a decent amount of space between us, but it would have been tight if all parties showed up each night in the MDR. We did enjoy some conversation the first night with adjacent party, but most of the other nights one or more of the parties were dining elsewhere (hopefully not because of us!).

I agree that good advice to check out the situation the first afternoon after boarding (we felt it would work just fine in our case). However, I should point out that there were two of the tables that were very close to each other with only a small separation which I would have thought "too close for comfort".

My wife and I sailed on the Ruby 5-nt West Caribbean cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale on March 29th. Thanks to all that offered advice and here are some highlights and thoughts from our cruise.

We arrived the night before and stayed at the Fairfield Inn by FLL airport - the hotel worked out fine from a location standpoint. Before catching the shuttle from hotel ($8 pp one-way), we took a quick walk to close-by Mobil convenience store to buy some soft drinks and water to take with us.

We took the 10:00 shuttle from the hotel to port - it did take a little while to get to Ruby as they had two other stops and the area was crowded at each. The check-in process was very efficient at Princess and everyone was nice and welcoming. At around noon we were able to board - and we were hungry so took a direct line to the Horizons buffet (at that point it was not too crowded and we were able to get a table with no problem).

Then it was time to find our cabin - we booked an outside obstructed, but a few days in advance offered an upsell to balcony ($69pp) so ended up with C718. Our one other Princess cruise was Alaska Southbound and we love the Caribe deck balconies. Although the location was far aft, it was convenient to stairs/elevators, horizon buffet, Botticelli dining room, and the Terrace pool (which we really enjoyed on sea days). We didn't experience any issues with motion at all, but arriving into Cozumel and Fort Lauderdale we could feel/hear the engines (thrusters?) a bit.

Overall I thought the ship compared very closely to Diamond Princess from a few years ago. The room was almost identical - again love the Caribe balcony space and room layout is efficient and well-designed with plenty of closet space to keep organized. We also brought two small fold-down closet "shoe" organizers which help to store extra toiletries and other small misc. items like chargers etc.

The itinerary worked out great to have stops in Cozumel and Grand Caymans sandwiched between two days at sea. In Cozumel we took the Princess excursion to Passion Island on the catamaran - we really enjoyed the beautiful and relaxing island (as others review the food was just ok there). The next day we took the Stingray City and Caymans highlights tour which was fantastic - the large Princess group split up into 3 smaller buses (each holding about 16 people) to visit Hell & Turtle Farm and then met up at end to all take boat out to see the stingrays. Although the boat was crowded, the crew did a great job making sure everyone had a chance to interact individually in small groups/couples with the rays. The photographer Dwayne did a great job in capturing pictures (which we appreciated as I forgot to bring an underwater camera).

All the ship entertainment was fantastic. We enjoyed the two shows with the Princess singers/dancers, Al Katz did a great comedy show, and there were tons of various other activities like trivia going on all the time. On our last day at sea, at 10:30 we attended the Cooking demo by MD and Head Chef which was excellent and ended with interesting galley tour. Because we were busy with other activities, we did not catch any of the MUTS movies. However, being from WI we did catch the Badgers "elite eight" game on the first night of the cruise - it was a great atmosphere watching on MUTS, but unfortunately they switched to Gravity movie at the end with no notice (other than Patter schedule I guess) much to the chagrin of many Badger fans! We were able to see the end of the game in our room though, the Badgers won in OT, but unfortunately lost last night in final four vs. KY which is another story.

On our first day at sea we had a couples cabana massage which was fantastic (very peaceful and relaxing, albeit fairly expensive at $269 - +15% gratuity was added). That night we also ate at Crown Grill. All the other dinners were at the Botticelli dining room for our 6:00 seating for two. Again we thought the food was similar to our experience on Diamond - Princess does a great job on that end (and attending the cooking demo makes you appreciate the magnitude of the operation while still cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients). Similar to other reviews, we found the Terrace Pool area very nice - on the first day we enjoyed that area while the ship left port. We were able to locate a couple chairs without much trouble when we went there (at times on upper level) and on the most part didn't seem to be a huge issue with chair "savers" on the cruise.

The entire disembarkation process was very smooth. We had a 11:30 flight at FLL - signed up to take luggage with us. We had 8:10 time and when we got to 6th floor dining room there was no wait and just walked right off and sailed through customs with little wait (they had 3 agents). Catching a taxi was no problem and we actually had a couple hours to wait at the airport with no worries of catching flight.

Thanks again to all the CCers for all the advice. Learned all about FCCs here so made our deposits onboard and already starting to plan a couple more Princess cruises.

We were just on Ruby last week. After boarding at around noon we first went to Horizon buffet. Then we went to room - soon after called Dine number from room for Crown Grill reservations for the next night. Loved the great food and service there!

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thank you very much rburtz - we'll go with that one based on your reco. Sounds like we will first go to Lotus Spa which is also good to know.

For my wife's birthday I want to surprise her with a couples massage on day at sea on Ruby in Caribbean at end of March. Wondering if anyone has any advice on which to book - either the Couples Full Body Massage (in Lotus Spa) or the Couples Cabana Massage (assume outside)? Thanks.