REVIEW - RUBY Princess - January 29

[BettyCruiser]

It's time to tell you about the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, these are my only food pictures, it was all really yummy

 

Our friends had a corner aft balcony on the Caribe deck, so they invited us to do the Ultimate Balcony Dinner with them. We’ve done the chef’s table a couple times and decided this would be a great new experience. This was a fabulous experience! They set up two tables together on the balcony. We started with our drinks, martinis and cosmos. Our appetizer was a quiche.

Sorry, I should have snapped the picture before sampling it

 

Then we had a salad with pears, cheese and candied pecans, super yum.

 

Each couple also got a bottle of champagne; it looked like a small bottle, but still filled four glasses. We also brought one of our bottles of cava to drink after our champagne was gone.

 

I ordered lobster only, everyone else ordered surf and turf. I did get a taste of the steak and it was very good, I was just trying to avoid getting too full.

 

For dessert we had a multi-dimensional chocolate and raspberry treat.

 

Then to top it all off there was a plate of cookies which they brought to our room for us along with our flowers.

 

The package also included an 8X10 picture. This was a fabulous meal, and for the price I think it’s a better deal than the chef’s table, especially since they’ve raised the price of the chef’s table. Tonight was the deck party, but we were all too full and tired from our great meal to go out. We heard that they couldn’t have any food at the deck party because of the noro code red.

[BettyCruiser]

Thursday we were in St. Thomas. We arrived early 7:00AM and docked at Crown Bay. No fitness center or buffet breakfast today. We got off the ship and went straight into town and to Glady’s Café for breakfast. I had a mushroom and swiss omelet, yummo. We also arranged for a bunch of hot sauce to be shipped directly home, so that we wouldn’t have to pack it in our suitcases. After Glady’s we found cab and went to Emerald Beach. This is a nice mellow beach near the airport. There’s a Best Western Hotel there, they charge $7 a chair for visitors and the Caribes are $5.

We were sitting kind of tucked under some trees. As we were sitting there talking a large iguana fell out of the tree and hit my chair! I’m so glad he didn’t fall on me. He stood there for a while staring at us, I was scared he might be hurt, but then someone walked past and almost stepped on its tail and he scurried into the shrubs.

The weather was nice with a few passing showers. About 2:00 we grabbed a cab back to the port. We had some time to have a drink and a little shopping at the port; we also saw several more iguanas on the rocks.

Back on the ship we stop at the grill, a chicken sandwich this time. I had to do another load of laundry. I sat out at the aft pool while I was waiting. At 3:30 they start announcing the names of an entire family that haven’t returned yet, they finally show up just after 4:00, we were supposed to leave at 4:00. We enjoyed sail away and happy hour drinks at the aft pool. Then it was time to get ready for formal night. We took a couple pictures and went to the captain’s club party before dinner. Since I had wonderful lobster last night I decided to have beef Wellington tonight. After dinner we went to the Explorer’s Lounge to see another comedian. This time we got good seats up front and the comedian was very funny.

[suzyed]

What is the Wine Club?

[suzyed]

love the pics - and where ever did u get those reusable luggage tags>???? Genius I HAVE to have them.

 

I got them too! I will use them on the Grand in April....glad they worked out well for you!!

[dmswelch3]

I'm loving this review! We will be on this same cruise in less than two weeks....our first cruise ever! Reading your review is getting me geared up to go! Can't wait to read more and to go!!

[BettyCruiser]

What is the Wine Club?

 

It's just what they call the wine tasting that's held on the first sea day.

[M2D]

Wow how close are those planes comin in there?? :eek:

[BettyCruiser]

Wow how close are those planes comin in there?? :eek:

 

very close, and if you're in the wrong spot on the beach when they take off you'll get sand embedded in you, none of my take off pictures shows that very well, the jet exhaust blows people, sand and water. It's fun to watch them land.

[BettyCruiser]

I'm loving this review! We will be on this same cruise in less than two weeks....our first cruise ever! Reading your review is getting me geared up to go! Can't wait to read more and to go!!

 

You're going to have so much fun. Get ready to get hooked on cruising:)

[TOMMYCRUISER]

I'm loving this review! We will be on this same cruise in less than two weeks....our first cruise ever! Reading your review is getting me geared up to go! Can't wait to read more and to go!!

 

 

Hey there I'm tom(tommycruiser) I was with beth if you like a good martini and a great bartender please stop at crooners and see Adian he's top notch.:)

[ALB0711]

It's time to tell you about the Ultimate Balcony Dinner, these are my only food pictures, it was all really yummy

 

Our friends had a corner aft balcony on the Caribe deck, so they invited us to do the Ultimate Balcony Dinner with them.

 

Hi Bettycruiser - thanks for the great review!

 

I'm in a corner Dolphin mini on my upcoming Ruby cruise and also planning on doing the ultimate balcony dinner. I'm wondering if you had any wind issues? Also - what day did you decide to have the balcony dinner? I'm thinking either Monday or Wednesday so we can still enjoy formal dinner in the MDR.

[BettyCruiser]

Hi Bettycruiser - thanks for the great review!

 

I'm in a corner Dolphin mini on my upcoming Ruby cruise and also planning on doing the ultimate balcony dinner. I'm wondering if you had any wind issues? Also - what day did you decide to have the balcony dinner? I'm thinking either Monday or Wednesday so we can still enjoy formal dinner in the MDR.

 

We were on an aft balcony, so there is normally less wind on those balconies, but I seem to remember my hair blowing around a bit. They use clips to keep the tablecloth on the table, so that doesn't flap around. I don't recall the wind being a nuisance. We chose to do the dinner on WEdnesday at 7:30, so it was dark and we were sailing, we missed the Caribbean menu, which is most people's least favorite. Wednesday is also the deck party night. Monday we thought since we would still be as far north as the Bahamas still that it might be cooler that night. If you are worried about wind you might consider coming back to the ship early on Friday and have the dinner while still docked in Grand Turk.

 

UBD was a fabulous experience and I highly recommend it:)

[BettyCruiser]

Friday we were at Grand Turk. Back to the fitness center and buffet for breakfast. Since we weren’t scheduled to arrive at Grand Turk until 1:00 we sat at the MUTS pool and watched Paul McCartney and then Moneyball. By the time Moneyball was over, we were there.

[BettyCruiser]

This was our first time to Grand Turk. We had heard a lot about Jack’s Shack, so that was our first stop. We tried several different

drinks, had our free shot of rum and also had some jerk chicken.

 

[BettyCruiser]

Then on the way back to the ship we stopped at Local Village for some conch, Jack’s was out of conch. We had conch salad, fritters and tenders. We went back to the ship about 5:00 and watched the Glory sail away from the aft pool. We went to Adagio again before dinner. I don’t remember what I had for dinner tonight.

[BettyCruiser]

Saturday we were at sea. This morning I skipped the fitness center, but still went to the buffet for breakfast. Then we sat at the MUTS pool. The concert this morning was a group I had never heard of before. At noon was Dolphin Tale, which was a fun movie to see on the ship. I had pizza for lunch. Today the special pizza was Hawaiian, pineapple and Canadian bacon. Our luggage tags and debarkation information was delivered to our room. We went to exchange our tags for Navy 6, which was the last on the list since we were spending the night in Fort Lauderdale and not flying right home. I did some packing in the afternoon. We also did some shopping, bought a few t-shirts. We happened to stop at Crooner’s during the Princess Pop Choir concert in the Piazza. They sounded good and looked like they were having fun.

We stopped at Adagio one last time before dinner. I’m not a fan of the Landfall menu, I ordered the steak, while the flavor was good, and it was very tough. I think from now on we’ll stick with the Crown Grill on the last night. After dinner we went to the room to change and put out the suitcases, and then we went to Crooner’s for a last drink.

[BettyCruiser]

Sunday, the day we must leave the Ruby Princess. We packed our remaining stuff into our carry-ons and head to the dining room for breakfast at 7:30. I had the French Toast and it did not disappoint. After breakfast we found a spot to wait in the Piazza until 9:00 when we were to report to the Michelangelo Dining Room for debarkation. At 9:00 we entered the Michelangelo Dining Room and sat there until 9:45 when they called Navy 6. Once we were called we were off the ship, found our luggage and were through customs and immigrations very quickly, probably ten minutes or so. We were staying over night at the Renaissance on 17th Street. So we opted to walk and pull our suitcases since we were docked so close, it’s only about three blocks. We got to the hotel about 10:15. I stopped at the desk to check in, of course our room wasn’t ready yet, but that was okay. We sat out by the pool for awhile; our room was ready about 12:15. The Renaissance is my favorite hotel for pre and post cruise stays on 17th Street. After getting our room, it was time for lunch; we went to Southport Raw Bar. We got a nice table outside and ordered raw oysters and then fish tacos. Both were very good. We stopped at the liquor store on the way back to the hotel. We had thought about riding the water taxi or trolley today, but weren’t very ambitious, so we went back to the pool at the hotel. While sitting at the pool we could hear the muster drill on the Ruby before leaving port. We intended to go to Duffy’s to watch the Super Bowl, but again lacked the ambition; instead we walked to Giorgio’s for pizza. The pizza was good, but not great, the crust seemed to be missing something, it had no flavor. After our pizza we went back to our hotel room to watch the Super Bowl.

[BettyCruiser]

Monday we flew back home. Our flight was at 7:30; we left the hotel about 6:00, checked in and even at that early hour had to wait for what seemed like forever in the security check point line. I found a breakfast sandwich to eat before boarding the plane. Our direct flight left on time and landed a bit early.

Closing thoughts…

Norovirus, it took 30 cruises before I sailed on a norovirus cruise. The changes due to the noro red alert didn’t adversely effect my enjoyment of the cruise. I felt bad that the crew had to work so much more. I heard all kinds of theories regarding the noro breakout on board; it’s because of the blue cards, it a certain ethnic group of passengers, etc. I think it just comes down to cleanliness, if everyone washed their hands properly after using the restroom, it wouldn’t happen. Even during the alert people were seen leaving the restroom without washing, that’s gross.

A lot has been said about the beds on Princess and most of it not good. I did find the beds to be more firm than I prefer, I did like the pillows though. I’m not sure if the beds were the reason that I didn’t sleep well. But it might have been the coffee with dessert or the fact that I made it the whole without having to take any Bonine.

We encountered a couple cranky and entitled people but didn’t let them put a damper on our good time.

I had intended to go to the casino on formal night when it was smoke free but never made it. I heard that it was super smoky smelling even on the smoke free nights and when it was closed when we were in port. The only time I was bothered by smoke was the one time we went up to Skywalkers. I was trying to figure out which side was the smoking side but both seemed equally smoky, so we sat in the middle where it was kind of smoky. I spent a lot of time at the aft pool, during the day they opened the patio of Sabatini’s as a smoking area. I was never bothered by smoke down by the aft pool.

Bottom Line…

I had a great time on my Ruby Princess cruise highlighted by fantastic food and service in the dining room even with the added tasks required by the noro red alert, fun and friendly service by bartenders and servers, fun and relaxing island time and quality time with friends and a memorable Ultimate Balcony Dining Experience.

I hope my review and pictures have provided some valuable information for those reading. If you have any questions just ask.:)

[Posaune]

Thanks for the nice review! I really enjoyed seeing your photos since I was confined to my room with Noro! The only port I got to see was Princess Cay!

 

I am always very very careful, but I feel that I was exposed to the virus in the departure lounge.

 

Thanks again for posting the photos!

[cruisenuts4life]

Thanks for a very nice review,we were on ruby in 2010 and going again in April.I love the ship cant wait till we are on board.

[TOMMYCRUISER]

Thanks for the nice review! I really enjoyed seeing your photos since I was confined to my room with Noro! The only port I got to see was Princess Cay!

 

I am always very very careful, but I feel that I was exposed to the virus in the departure lounge.

 

Thanks again for posting the photos!

 

I was with bettycruiser and have to agree with you I don't believe I ever seen so many people coughing and hacking as I did in the lounge and to top it off I bet they signed there forms saying they were fine:mad::rolleyes:

 

Tom

[lynwar]

Hi

WONDERFUL REVIEW with PICTURES!! I am reliving our cruise the week before yours, but we didn't do as many exciting things as you have, so far.

Was your hotel the old Yankee Clipper?? I kind of recognize the building. I know it is a Sheraton Hotel. When you go out the back on the beach, the cruise ships look so close as they are leaving port.

 

Fathercop---Trevor and I are thinking about cruising on the Royal the first year, too. He has it in his sights!!! And, it will have to be from Ft. Lauderdale because we don't fly. It's a good job we live in Florida. We were on the Ruby with you for the Inaugural, and I think we saw Adrian in Crooner's on our delayed Emerald cruise in 2007. Did his buddy play the piano. I have pictures!! We see our meet and greet pictures on our desktop as they revolve all day long.

 

Bettycruiser and Tommycruiser-we will be looking forward to your next post!!!

 

Lynne

[TOMMYCRUISER]

Lynne we are also going to book the royal probable early nov it's due in fort lauderdale october 27th.

 

Do you remember adrians last name??

[lynwar]

Tom

I'm afraid I don't remember Adrian's last name. I only remember the fact that he or his partner always kidded around with me and one of them played the piano at a break. However, that being said, it might have been on the Dec. 6, 2007 Emerald Princess when I saw them. As stated, we were on the Ruby Inaugural cruise with Rich (fathercop) and I was in Crooners almost each evening.

If you don't mind, I can email you the pictures of them and see if we're talking about the same two fellows.

ALSO Southport Raw Bar is one of our FAVORITE places to go. Trevor's family has been going there for years and one of the "in-laws" used to tie his boat up at the back. Beach Place is the place my son frequents when we take him down here on his annual visit. So, we'll be down there in April, again. Kelly's Landing is a spot recommended by another cruise friend, so I'm glad you went there.

 

Again, great cruise review. I hope that all of us can cruise together some day. We've been taking one a year (once 2) since 2001, and our first was in 1998.

Enjoy your adventures together. It sounds like you're having a great time.

Lynne (I'm also on facebook-Lynne Warman)

[TOMMYCRUISER]

FEEL FREE TO E-MAIL ME LYNNE

 

Thomas.borries@compucom.com

 

sorry about the caps:o