Just Back From The Ruby Princess Med Trans Atlantic 10-19-11

[Woobstr112G]

DW and I are avid cruisers. This was our fifth cruise in a row on Princess. It was also the third time we did this Western Mediterranean Trans Atlantic itinerary and our first cruise at platinum level. We really love the six sea days at the end of the cruise.

 

I spent the previous eighteen months planning this cruise with many other roll call members. Our group was known at the Red Hot Rubies. We had an absolutely fantastic roll call that was very informative and a great way to get to know other roll call members.

 

For our pre cruise stay we flew to Venice and spent two days at the Locanda Orseolo hotel. The Locanda Orseolo is a wonderful boutique hotel. Absolutely outstanding staff that did everything possible to ensure we enjoyed our stay. During our two stay in Venice we walked around, had some great food and wine and took in a Gondola ride. Venice is a truly magical city. As many say you don't need a map, just get lost. A truly magical moment was watching the Ruby Princess sailing down the Grand Canal when she arrived in Venice.

 

The day of embarkation arrived and a wonderful roll call member had arranged shared water taxis to the Ruby for everyone in our hotel. The entire hotel was taken up by roll call members. When we arrived at the dock we made our way to the cruise terminal. The actual embarkation was a total nightmare. Very unorganized with arranging the priority embarkation status of suite, elite, and platinum members. I was told by terminal employees that there were so many priority embarkation cruisers they ran out of priority boarding cards. Their chosen solution was to give out high numbered cards and treat them as priority cards. Needless to say this caused confusion when people I saw with lowered number cards thinking they should be boarding first.

 

We had AC mini cabin D732. This cabin is at the aft port side end of the dolphin deck. The balcony of this cabin has a larger balcony as it partially wraps towards the very aft portion of the ship. Our cabin steward James from the Philippines was great. He always had a smile on his face and did his best to ensure all our needs were attended to and our cabin was always clean.

 

The Ruby is a fantastic ship. All areas were spotless and the entire crew always had smiles on their faces while doing everything under the sun for their passengers. Our cruise director Sam and her assistant Eric did a good job as well. Sam however lost her voice towards the end of the cruise.

 

We enjoyed late seating traditional dining in the Botticelli dining room. Our table wait staff did a great job to make sure we enjoyed our dining experience. I found the food to be good to very good. Never saw our head waiter so I can't comment on him. Only saw Generoso (matri di) a couple of times at the desk upon entrance into the dining room and never saw him walking the floor. We also enjoyed dinner in Sabatinis and the Crown Grill. The service in both venues was great. The food in both was also very good. I personally like the reformatted menu in Sabatinis. I found it didn't take as long to finish dinner nor was I as full as during previous dining experiences. I found food in the Horizon court to be very good. This was a great improvement over my experience on the Golden this past February. I also enjoyed some great pizza and burgers on the lido deck. In addition, I also enjoyed the pub lunch in the wheelhouse bar. The international cafe had some tasty treats that I enjoyed over the entire cruise. My one negative comment about the IC was that in the morning it took a great deal of time to get a cup of coffee.

 

The entertainment on the Ruby was acceptable. Even though we enjoyed the production show Once Upon a Dream, I think that since it's been running for the past two years it's time to rotate it out. We also enjoyed another show called Ballroom (sorry I can't remember the second part of the name). We also saw a comedian in the explorer’s lounge that was not very funny. I did have a run in with a seat saver that ended up with her yelling at me. The Piazza had some great music entertainers.

 

Other than the showroom and lounge entertainment, there was a great deal of activities on the Ruby to keep you busy. Our fantastic roll call also had a great meet and greet that was well attended. We also had a great roll call Halloween party in Skywalkers as well as a luncheon.

 

We enjoyed private excursions in Naples, Rome, and Florence. In Naples I had arranged for three vans to tour Sorento, the Amalfi Coast, and Positano. Our entire group had lunch near Positano at a restaurant called La Tagliata. The lunch was out of this world good. In Florence (Livorno) I had arranged for one van to tour Siena and the Chianti region. We also had lunch at a great little restaurant. In Rome (Civitavecchia) we participated in an excursion wherein we visited Assisi and Orvieto. I took tons of pictures. We skipped Canne because it was raining heavily and I had come down with the sniffles. In Barcelona we took the Princess shuttle and just walked around Las Rambles. In Lisbon we just walked around a little but it was hard to find stuff as we were docked in a different area than our stop in 2009. In Ponta Delgada we just walked around a bit and stocked up on supplies for the six day crossing.

 

One downer for the entire cruise was the weather. On our two previous crossings we left the first part of October and enjoyed terrific weather the whole cruise. This crossing left on the 19 of October. Our sail away was quite windy and cold. It also rained heavily when we stopped in Canne France. The seas were also quite rough on a number of days. During our six days crossing the Atlantic Ocean we only had one real quality day of sunshine and smooth seas. In the future I will definitely take the time of year into account when choosing another transatlantic itinerary.

 

All in all it was a great cruise. The best part of it was meeting and having memorable times with the greatest roll call members out there.

Bob

[truckmaker]

I enjoyed reading your 'live from' and your review seems to cap it off nicely. Thank you.

[MULDOAN]

Enjoyed your review pity abt the weather however an enjoyable cruise,

entertainment was acceptable and that is all i can say,

i did this one 3 yrs ago and found subtle changes i.e alchol very pricey to say the least and no or very little entertainment in the plaza deck 5 in th late evening compared to 3 yrs ago. Met some interesting people as my kilt outfit gave rise to quite a few comments .

[Woobstr112G]

As a side note to my review, I've begun the long slow task of touching up and uploading my pictures to my flickr site. I've started with the cruise log and the patters. It will take me some time but if you want to see what I 've done so far my flickr link is in my signature. After you click on it there are indivadual buttons on the right of the page for my cruises.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Wild Bill]

Thanks Bob for taking the time to post during your cruise, and now. I have enjoyed reading about your adventures. :)

[Rockymountainsparky]

Bob, thanks for the review. I loved following your adventures.

[8 Bells]

Bob -- thank you for your review. DH and I were on the Ruby 12-day, right before your cruise. I agree: Venice is magical, and sailing down the Grand Canal is awe-inspiring.

 

The weather on our sailing was okay for the most part, but we, too, had some rocky days and nights. You are right about the time of year to take a cruise such as the one you just completed.

 

Glad you had a memorable time! :)

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

Shame about the weather.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thank you Bob. Great live from and great review!

[newmexicoNita]

DW and I are avid cruisers. This was our fifth cruise in a row on Princess. It was also the third time we did this Western Mediterranean Trans Atlantic itinerary and our first cruise at platinum level. We really love the six sea days at the end of the cruise.

 

I spent the previous eighteen months planning this cruise with many other roll call members. Our group was known at the Red Hot Rubies. We had an absolutely fantastic roll call that was very informative and a great way to get to know other roll call members.

 

For our pre cruise stay we flew to Venice and spent two days at the Locanda Orseolo hotel. The Locanda Orseolo is a wonderful boutique hotel. Absolutely outstanding staff that did everything possible to ensure we enjoyed our stay. During our two stay in Venice we walked around, had some great food and wine and took in a Gondola ride. Venice is a truly magical city. As many say you don't need a map, just get lost. A truly magical moment was watching the Ruby Princess sailing down the Grand Canal when she arrived in Venice.

 

The day of embarkation arrived and a wonderful roll call member had arranged shared water taxis to the Ruby for everyone in our hotel. The entire hotel was taken up by roll call members. When we arrived at the dock we made our way to the cruise terminal. The actual embarkation was a total nightmare. Very unorganized with arranging the priority embarkation status of suite, elite, and platinum members. I was told by terminal employees that there were so many priority embarkation cruisers they ran out of priority boarding cards. Their chosen solution was to give out high numbered cards and treat them as priority cards. Needless to say this caused confusion when people I saw with lowered number cards thinking they should be boarding first.

 

We had AC mini cabin D732. This cabin is at the aft port side end of the dolphin deck. The balcony of this cabin has a larger balcony as it partially wraps towards the very aft portion of the ship. Our cabin steward James from the Philippines was great. He always had a smile on his face and did his best to ensure all our needs were attended to and our cabin was always clean.

 

The Ruby is a fantastic ship. All areas were spotless and the entire crew always had smiles on their faces while doing everything under the sun for their passengers. Our cruise director Sam and her assistant Eric did a good job as well. Sam however lost her voice towards the end of the cruise.

 

We enjoyed late seating traditional dining in the Botticelli dining room. Our table wait staff did a great job to make sure we enjoyed our dining experience. I found the food to be good to very good. Never saw our head waiter so I can't comment on him. Only saw Generoso (matri di) a couple of times at the desk upon entrance into the dining room and never saw him walking the floor. We also enjoyed dinner in Sabatinis and the Crown Grill. The service in both venues was great. The food in both was also very good. I personally like the reformatted menu in Sabatinis. I found it didn't take as long to finish dinner nor was I as full as during previous dining experiences. I found food in the Horizon court to be very good. This was a great improvement over my experience on the Golden this past February. I also enjoyed some great pizza and burgers on the lido deck. In addition, I also enjoyed the pub lunch in the wheelhouse bar. The international cafe had some tasty treats that I enjoyed over the entire cruise. My one negative comment about the IC was that in the morning it took a great deal of time to get a cup of coffee.

 

The entertainment on the Ruby was acceptable. Even though we enjoyed the production show Once Upon a Dream, I think that since it's been running for the past two years it's time to rotate it out. We also enjoyed another show called Ballroom (sorry I can't remember the second part of the name). We also saw a comedian in the explorer’s lounge that was not very funny. I did have a run in with a seat saver that ended up with her yelling at me. The Piazza had some great music entertainers.

 

Other than the showroom and lounge entertainment, there was a great deal of activities on the Ruby to keep you busy. Our fantastic roll call also had a great meet and greet that was well attended. We also had a great roll call Halloween party in Skywalkers as well as a luncheon.

 

We enjoyed private excursions in Naples, Rome, and Florence. In Naples I had arranged for three vans to tour Sorento, the Amalfi Coast, and Positano. Our entire group had lunch near Positano at a restaurant called La Tagliata. The lunch was out of this world good. In Florence (Livorno) I had arranged for one van to tour Siena and the Chianti region. We also had lunch at a great little restaurant. In Rome (Civitavecchia) we participated in an excursion wherein we visited Assisi and Orvieto. I took tons of pictures. We skipped Canne because it was raining heavily and I had come down with the sniffles. In Barcelona we took the Princess shuttle and just walked around Las Rambles. In Lisbon we just walked around a little but it was hard to find stuff as we were docked in a different area than our stop in 2009. In Ponta Delgada we just walked around a bit and stocked up on supplies for the six day crossing.

 

One downer for the entire cruise was the weather. On our two previous crossings we left the first part of October and enjoyed terrific weather the whole cruise. This crossing left on the 19 of October. Our sail away was quite windy and cold. It also rained heavily when we stopped in Canne France. The seas were also quite rough on a number of days. During our six days crossing the Atlantic Ocean we only had one real quality day of sunshine and smooth seas. In the future I will definitely take the time of year into account when choosing another transatlantic itinerary.

 

All in all it was a great cruise. The best part of it was meeting and having memorable times with the greatest roll call members out there.

Bob

 

bob, like the poster before you, TAs seem to fit your lifestyle. I think I would enjoy one (we did do a Northern TA a few years ago, with more ports than the basic TAs) but hubby leans more toward port intensive. Our last cruise (a few weeks ago) was a bit too port intensive for both of us.

 

Nita

[Host CJSKIDS]

Thanks Bob for the review. Sounds like you had a great cruise.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review. I have been following your adventures and it sounds like you had a great time! Thanks for sharing.

[lovevacadays]

Thanks for the wonderful review and the live from thread. It was a pleasure "cruising" with you. Ahhh, now you are back in Lancaster with our chilly morning and evening weather here in So Cal ( I know - we are very lucky compared with other areas in the US!) I grew up in Victorville and still have friends there. They've said mornings are really cold which probably means cold in Lancaster. You'll have to "channel" some of those lovely cruise days:)

[Pam in CA]

Thanks for the review. I'm on the Ruby next October for her TA. Interestingly, I checked availability at the Locando Orscelo last July and they were already full for next year. :(

 

Bad weather and lots of sea days never bothers me. Love 'em. :)

[pklein9747]

Bob,

 

Thank you so much not only for your review but for also posting the Patters and your pictures! It is people like yourself that make this site so great!!

 

We will be on the Ruby next October and this will be our first TA. Could you tell me if people tend to dress up more on formal nights on a TA than on a Caribbean cruise? We already know that we will be renting a tux for my husband as we don't want to take up the room in our luggage, but I'm not sure if the women tend to dress much more formally than I am used to taking a 7-day cruise to the caribbean.

 

Pat

[Woobstr112G]

Bob,

 

Thank you so much not only for your review but for also posting the Patters and your pictures! It is people like yourself that make this site so great!!

 

We will be on the Ruby next October and this will be our first TA. Could you tell me if people tend to dress up more on formal nights on a TA than on a Caribbean cruise? We already know that we will be renting a tux for my husband as we don't want to take up the room in our luggage, but I'm not sure if the women tend to dress much more formally than I am used to taking a 7-day cruise to the caribbean.

 

Pat

 

Pat;

 

Thank you for the kind words. I really can't say much about the Caribbean since I haven' done a cruise there since 1996. As for the T/A, women did get dressed up (those that elected to do so). Their clothing ran the gamut from pantsuits to full on evening gowns. You will enjoy the formal nights. I love putting on my tux. As far as the tux is concerned, make sure your DH tries it on well before the first formal night to ensure it fits. This way if the sizing got messed up, the ship can make the appropriate changes.

 

I so much wanted to do next years T/A because of the addition of Casablanca. Reality set in however and we had to skip cruising in 2012 so I could pay off some bills.

 

Keep checking my Flickr page. I should have the rest of my pictures uploaded in a week or so.

 

I'm sure you'll have a fantastic cruise. It's the best itinerary around.....:):):)

 

Bob

[caribill]

We will be on the Ruby next October and this will be our first TA. Could you tell me if people tend to dress up more on formal nights on a TA than on a Caribbean cruise?

 

 

Picture below was taken on a formal night on a TA this past May. Hopefully this will answer your question.

 

[Woobstr112G]

Good evening everyone. Well, I'm finally finished with my pictures. I ended up with 1155 uploaded to my flickr site (link is in my signature). I may add additional, but probably no more than a couple here and there once I get DW's film pictures developed.

 

Hope all are well.....:):):)

 

Bob