Grand Princess?? or Back on Ruby?

[Austykatie]

Just wondering if anyone can help? Our first cruise was this Jan on the Ruby. We feel in love with cruising and booked our next cruise on the Grand for this Jan. Now I have read alot of different reviews on the Grand. We are about to make final payment and I was just wondering if anyone who has been on the Grand and Ruby can tell me if I will be disappointed with the Grand? We would have done the Ruby again but we didnt care for Grand Turk and this cruise goes to San Juan. We did get a great price this time around I am just not sure what to think, I am totally second guessing which one we should do!

 

Please help!

 

Thanks

[geoherb]

We loved our Grand Princess cruise--and that was before the refurb added some things that should make it closer to the Ruby. For Princess, I book more for the itinerary than by the ship.

[pcsunlover]

I've never been on the Grand, but I have been on the Star which I believe is similar. I was also on the Ruby this past April.

 

Obviously the Grand is an older ship, but reviews have said that she looks good after her drydock. On the Star, the rooms were a little more worn than on the Ruby, but otherwise the same. That will probably be the case on the Grand too, as they didn't redo them during the drydock. There will be less people on the Grand because there is no Riviera deck. MUTS will be over Neptune's Reef pool. Apparently there are no stairs midship, only elevators. I'm sure people who have been on both will be able to tell you the other differences.

 

I almost booked a cruise on the Grand next spring over the Ruby just to check out the ship, but ended up booking a southern Caribbean cruise on the Caribbean princess instead. We enjoyed our Star cruise over the Ruby cruise, but it was more for the people we met, weather, etc., than the ships themselves. I'm sure you'll have a great time if you don't worry about making too many comparisons. Happy cruising!!

[Crzn-Life]

We sailed on the Ruby and truly liked the captain and maitre d' who both did everything they could to make the cruise special. We had great service throughout the cruise. With that said, we still prefer the Grand. We were booked on the Emerald (identical to the Ruby) for b2b's in Feb and cancelled those and booked b2b's on the Grand.

 

The Grand is an older ship but has been upgraded. The rooms are a tad weary, but the major difference for is that the Grand doesn't feel as crowded as the Ruby.

 

It's a matter of personal choice. Some folks "love" the Ruby while we only "like" the Ruby. That extra deck just adds too many people. Our preference would be the Grand if we had to choose between the two.