Currently On Ruby Princess in Med

[disnyfan]

Hi Posaune

 

Thank you for all the wonderful information you have provided in your posts. We are thinking about the reverse trip in Apr 2012. I am also curious about which would be the better side to reserve a cabin on, port or starboard? I have enjoyed your weather reports as well. I am from Marietta so I must tell you welcome back to 90 degree heat..:rolleyes:

disnyfan

[Margarita Jane]

Thank you Posaune - enjoyed your posts. We will not be on the Ruby until 2012.

 

Maggie Cruises - we used tourguides in turkey (www dot tourguidesinturkey dot com ) a couple of years ago for Istanbul. Our guide was Kale. Istanbul has a lot of traffic, so we did a lot of walking and used public transportation. I am pretty sure they also do tours in Kusadasi, but we used Ekol. We would use either company again.

 

~ Jane

[TheBestIsYetToCome]

Thanks for sharing your trip. I found the information about how soon disembarkation started after docking to be particularly helpful in planning for independent touring.

 

Sorry they sailed from Barcelona without you. There is nothing quite like watching your ship sail away...without you.

[Infi]

I have a question. I know you have to check in before 9pm the night before departure. How late can you stay out in Venice before you have to get back on the ship?

 

Also, when did they do the muster drill? Does it need to be completed before we leave port?

 

Hope Posaune doesn't mind, but I can help with this question. (We did this cruise last year.) I believe the Princess vaporettos stopped running at 2am. I don't know when the Venice vaporettos/alilaguna stopped running, but if you were using the Princess transfers, you couldn't get back after that time.

They had the muster drill the next morning at 10am. Plenty of time to watch sailaway from Venice and then attend muster afterwards. Muster has to be conducted within 24 hours of sailaway from the initial port, so this was how Princess did their drill.

 

Posaune, thanks for sharing your trip with us! I enjoyed keeping up with your reports.

[maggie cruises]

Thank you Posaune - enjoyed your posts. We will not be on the Ruby until 2012.

 

Maggie Cruises - we used tourguides in turkey (www dot tourguidesinturkey dot com ) a couple of years ago for Istanbul. Our guide was Kale. Istanbul has a lot of traffic, so we did a lot of walking and used public transportation. I am pretty sure they also do tours in Kusadasi, but we used Ekol. We would use either company again.

 

~ Jane

Thanks Marg...I just put them on my favorites list..they look great!

[Posaune]

@ Jean & Gene--Muster was at 11 AM, three hours after sailaway in Venice. The last transfer from St. Marks to the ship was at 1 AM.

 

@ mickym--The tour we took in Rome was VERY walk intensive on uneven streets with cobblestones. We covered at least a couple of miles. The only real chance to sit was at lunch.

 

@ DrSch--I did not notice anyone not in at least coat and tie. I saw more tuxes than usual.

 

@disnyfan--I really do not think it matters. It depends a lot on the particular port position. Cruising is pretty far off shore.

[mickym]

Thank you so much Posaune. I will pass the information on and that will save them a bunch of money and making the wrong choice for an important port. People like you and this site are the greatest!

[Posaune]

I was disappointed in the amount of time in this port, especially since it is a tender port. We tried to get off at 8AM, but there was another ship (smaller) docking and tendering stopped for an hour. Once we got into the port we understood why they had to stop the tendering process. The tenders had very little room and it was a major safety issue. We took a train to Nice to see a small museum and we almost did not make it back to the ship on time. It seems there was a two hour unannounced rail strike. If it were not for the fact that all the Princess tours were running late because of the tender issues we might have had a problem. We arrived at the port just at the announced last tender time (1:30 PM) and there were 400-500 people in line for tenders! Princess did a great job getting everyone back to the ship as quickly as possible. Note to independents--there are very few cabs in Monte Carlo..... you have to call them to pick you up, even at the rail station.

[Posaune]

Please forgive me for my scattered approach to the last days of the cruise, but I walked back into eldercare issues when I returned home. I had come very close to canceling our cruise before we left because of these issues.

 

We did self disembarkation once again. We were cleared for departure a little before 6 AM, but we waited until about 8 to walk off. WIth this option you have to take all your own luggage off yourself, but it was very easy in Barcelona. We exited from deck 7, so we had the Promenade to roll our luggage instead of through the crowds on the ship. There was only a slight incline ramp to get off the ship and then down a long hallway to the elevators. No stairs or escalators need be involved. We walked right past the huge room full of luggage to a cab (there were dozens lined up) and we were at our hotel within five minutes! The two of us managed quite easily with four rolling bags and a computer bag.

 

Please feel free to ask any question and I will try to answer!

[flcruiser3]

Posaune,

Thanks so much for your review! I do have a few questions if you or anyone else can answer them.

 

What time did you sail away from Venice? Where is the best place to view the sail away? (I have heard that it is spectacular)

 

I am doing the exact cruise. For what major sites do you recommend pre-purchasing tickets?

 

Do you think I can wear a sundress that hits just above my knees with a sweater into the churches, or are they very strict about the knees not showing?

 

Thanks again, your review was enjoyable and helpful!

[maggie cruises]

I was disappointed in the amount of time in this port, especially since it is a tender port. We tried to get off at 8AM, but there was another ship (smaller) docking and tendering stopped for an hour. Once we got into the port we understood why they had to stop the tendering process. The tenders had very little room and it was a major safety issue. We took a train to Nice to see a small museum and we almost did not make it back to the ship on time. It seems there was a two hour unannounced rail strike. If it were not for the fact that all the Princess tours were running late because of the tender issues we might have had a problem. We arrived at the port just at the announced last tender time (1:30 PM) and there were 400-500 people in line for tenders! Princess did a great job getting everyone back to the ship as quickly as possible. Note to independents--there are very few cabs in Monte Carlo..... you have to call them to pick you up, even at the rail station.

 

We have done most of what there is to do at this port..Cannes, St. Paul de Vence, Nice, Cathedral, Prince's Palace....so on our cruise next year we will just walk around and the one place we missed last time was the Oceanographic Institute.

 

My question is..The Institute is directly across from the Cathedral so will we be able to walk from where the tender drops us off and go up to the Cathedral area without a cab?

 

Last cruise tendered in Cannes so we had a private driver.

 

Thanks

 

NB..I though they were building a new dock in Monaco so that tendering would not be needed.

[maggie cruises]

Please forgive me for my scattered approach to the last days of the cruise, but I walked back into eldercare issues when I returned home. I had come very close to canceling our cruise before we left because of these issues.

 

We did self disembarkation once again. We were cleared for departure a little before 6 AM, but we waited until about 8 to walk off. WIth this option you have to take all your own luggage off yourself, but it was very easy in Barcelona. We exited from deck 7, so we had the Promenade to roll our luggage instead of through the crowds on the ship. There was only a slight incline ramp to get off the ship and then down a long hallway to the elevators. No stairs or escalators need be involved. We walked right past the huge room full of luggage to a cab (there were dozens lined up) and we were at our hotel within five minutes! The two of us managed quite easily with four rolling bags and a computer bag.

 

Please feel free to ask any question and I will try to answer!

did you notice any van type cabs that could fit 6 pax? By any chance do you know how much a cab ride to the airport was?

[Posaune]

@ Maggie -- I did not see any vans in the line. I did see a couple of small station wagons, but nothing to handle 6. Our cab with two people and 4 bags ran 35 Euros to the Eurostars Grand Marina.

It looks to be very walkable to the Oceanographic Institute. There is a small dock, but nothing anywhere near big enough for the Ruby.

 

@flcruiser3 -- I saw people get turned away that I thought would be ok, I also saw people admitted that should not have been let in. It depends on the guard and how crowded it is.

 

From previous trips I would say the Vatican Museum might be the one to purchase ahead.

[Posaune]

We went out of Venice about 8 AM, however I believe that does vary a bit cruise to cruise. We went out on the "secret deck" through the front of Lido deck for great viewing.

[meemeec]

Tendering in Monaco is not always necessary. When we were there on the Ruby recently we did dock!! It was great!!! We were the biggest yacht in the harbor!!!!

[Jean&Gene]

Hope Posaune doesn't mind, but I can help with this question. (We did this cruise last year.) I believe the Princess vaporettos stopped running at 2am. I don't know when the Venice vaporettos/alilaguna stopped running, but if you were using the Princess transfers, you couldn't get back after that time.

They had the muster drill the next morning at 10am. Plenty of time to watch sailaway from Venice and then attend muster afterwards. Muster has to be conducted within 24 hours of sailaway from the initial port, so this was how Princess did their drill.

 

Posaune, thanks for sharing your trip with us! I enjoyed keeping up with your reports.

 

This really helps! I've heard that Venice is not a 'party' city and there isn't much to do late at night. I'm sure that we will be safely on board, long before 10pm. Glad we don't have to do muster as we depart, or before. I wouldn't want to be at the drill in my jammies! :D

[srpilo]

Tendering in Monaco is not always necessary. When we were there on the Ruby recently we did dock!! It was great!!! We were the biggest yacht in the harbor!!!!

 

Us too in 2009..

 

 

 

Big ships definately dock when there's space

Srpilo

[maggie cruises]

@ Maggie -- I did not see any vans in the line. I did see a couple of small station wagons, but nothing to handle 6. Our cab with two people and 4 bags ran 35 Euros to the Eurostars Grand Marina.

It looks to be very walkable to the Oceanographic Institute. There is a small dock, but nothing anywhere near big enough for the Ruby.

 

@flcruiser3 -- I saw people get turned away that I thought would be ok, I also saw people admitted that should not have been let in. It depends on the guard and how crowded it is.

 

From previous trips I would say the Vatican Museum might be the one to purchase ahead.

regarding purchasing tix ahead of time.....I did that for my last Med cruise for the Doges Palace in Venice....then CCL changes the itin order making us call in Venice on a different day..

 

The company would not refund me nor would they let use it on the day we were there...these Italian tix companies are known to be very stubborn..

 

so instead of letting it ruin my trip, I just let it go...but thinking back I should have filed a claim with the insurance as the delay in the ships schedule is what caused it...but live and learn..

 

 

so..if you are buying tix to the Vatican Museum ahead of time just think about that...and from my experience another time while in Rome...I found that if you book a private tour thru an individual company...we used RomeCabs and the great Stefano!!...that they will reserve your tix and you don't have to pay..in cash of course...until tix are in your hands.

 

Apparantly, these tour ops in Italy are not concerned about cancelations and they won't lose money should you be delayed or cancel or whatever.

[podemos]

Thanks for writing about your experience. I will be on this cruise in August and am excited to go on after reading your posts.

 

For most of the ports, it says that the ship arrives at 0800h. But from your experience, what is the soonest time that you can get off the ship? Just want to be on time with the tours I'm booking...

 

Thanks in advance!

[Posaune]

From our experience, we were always docked slightly before the announced time and permission to go ashore came at or slightly after (10-15 minutes) after the announced arrival time. This has varied on previous cruises because of shore side immigration approval from the port, but did not happen on this cruise. If you are on independent tours in a tender port, go get your tender ticket EARLY unless you are Elite on Princess. Princess tours will have a bit of tender priority. We learned this the hard way in Monte Carlo & then add that tendering was shut down by the port authority for an hour because of a ship docking. Be flexible! The tour companies are used to dealing with people trying to get off the ship.

[HogTide]

Posaune, Thanks so much for such informative reviews. The wife and I will be on the Ruby again in August for the Barcelona to Venice trip. Your posts make the next 60 days seem too long.

[Posaune]

We have done this cruise in both directions. I much prefer the Barcelona to Venice route. First, embarkation in Barcelona is much easier than in Venice. Second, you end the cruise with a sea day and then the overnight in Venice. That is very relaxing after eight days of ports with one sea day in the middle. The 8-10 hour excursions every day can really be tiring in the August heat! Make sure that you are on deck (especially out on the front of Lido deck on the bow) for the sail in to Venice. If this is your first time in Venice it will absolutely blow you away. Princess does a great job with music in the background.

[srpilo]

We have done this cruise in both directions. I much prefer the Barcelona to Venice route. First, embarkation in Barcelona is much easier than in Venice. Second, you end the cruise with a sea day and then the overnight in Venice. That is very relaxing after eight days of ports with one sea day in the middle. The 8-10 hour excursions every day can really be tiring in the August heat! Make sure that you are on deck (especially out on the front of Lido deck on the bow) for the sail in to Venice. If this is your first time in Venice it will absolutely blow you away. Princess does a great job with music in the background.

 

I agree with you, we done it both ways also, and starting in Barcelona and ending in Venice with a night onboard equates to a more relaxing finish to the cruise.

 

And yes also, Venice is the absolute bomb :)

Srpilo

[travln1]

We are six single women going on the Ruby, Aug 20th, Barcelona to Venice. Does anyone have suggestions of which excursions are great? We would love some advice on excursions in Florence - Cinque Terre?

Naples, which is better, the Capri, Sorento, Positanco, etc?

Any recommendations? We heard Romeinlimo is a great tour service in Rome.

[DrSch]

We are six single women going on the Ruby, Aug 20th, Barcelona to Venice. Does anyone have suggestions of which excursions are great? We would love some advice on excursions in Florence - Cinque Terre?

Naples, which is better, the Capri, Sorento, Positanco, etc?

Any recommendations? We heard Romeinlimo is a great tour service in Rome.

 

 

Will let you know when we get back in a few weeks..