Jump to content

33 nights on the Ruby - Caribbean - TA - Med, Review with Pics


Recommended Posts

I wasn’t going to do a review of this cruise but we had such a fabulous time it is a shame not to. 33 nights on the Ruby Princess was awesome and we actually did a B2B2B…. 7 nights on the final Caribbean cruise of the season, then the 14 night Transatlantic and finally the first 12 night Med cruise of the season. So here goes…..

 

Our travel plan was as follows….. Sunshine Coast to Sydney on Virgin Australia, Sydney to Honolulu on Jetstar (not our first choice, but our original carrier went bust and this was the only airline that matched our connecting flight from Honolulu ….. might I say, Never again! I will never again fly Jetstar!.... more about that soon) Honolulu to Los Angeles on Hawaiian Air, Los Angeles to Memphis, Memphis to Fort Lauderdale on Delta.. PHEW!!!!! We were so lucky as all the flights were on time and we didn’t miss a connection!

 

We nearly didn’t get out of Sydney – The Jetstar “check-in chick” decided to wield the 4’x 2’ block of wood she carried around on her shoulder and get nasty with us. She asked us for our return tickets from America….. well we didn’t have any, did we? We were returning from Dubai in the UAE not America. Then she asked (not very nicely, I might add) for our airfare tickets from America to Dubai…. Well we didn’t have any, did we? We then explained to her we were leaving America on a cruise ship and cruising to the Med. Flying out of Venice, via Dubai and then home. She asked us for our cruise tickets….. when we showed them to her, she got exasperated and said NO!!!! I want your air tickets… OK! We said that is not what you asked for! (There was actually fire coming out of her eyes and that plank of wood suddenly multiplied into one on each shoulder!) My DH, who can’t tolerate this type of behaviour then decided to argue the point! OMG… you don’t argue with petty people on a power trip, especially ones who can stop you from getting on that all important flight! After a few kicks in the shins he stopped (sort of) after she threatened to not let us on the flight. I know English isn’t her first language but surely they could put people who were a bit more amiable into these positions of power. Oh well, this is Jetstar we are talking about….. I knew there was a reason we never fly with them, and never will again!

 

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012007-1.jpg

Honolulu from the air.... on our way to LA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyway, we finally reached our destination….. Fort Lauderdale in Florida. We love FLL and this is our third time there in two years. We were picked up from the airport by our friends Linda and Stu who were joining us on the Caribbean cruise. We spent a couple of very enjoyable days with them and I am sorry I put Stu through so much pain…. Making him go shopping with us at Sawgrass Mills. He didn’t seem to mind lunch at the Cheesecake Factory at Sawgrass Mills though, so it wasn’t all bad!

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012046-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Itinerary

15th April – Fort Lauderdale

16th April – Princess Cays Bahamas

17th April – At sea

18th April – St Maarten Netherlands Antilles

19th April – St. Thomas US Virgin Islands

20th April – Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

21st April – At sea

22nd April – Fort Lauderdale

23rd April – At sea

24th April – At sea

25th April – At sea

26th April – At sea

27th April – At sea

28th April – At sea

29th April – Funchal (Madiera) Portugal

30th April – At sea

1st May – At sea

2nd May – At sea

3rd May – Civitavecchia (Rome) Italy

4th May – Livorno (Pisa/Florence) Italy

5th May – Monte Carlo, Monaco

6th May – Barcelona, Spain

7th May – Monte Carlo, Monaco

8th May – Livorno (Pisa/Florence) Italy

9th May – Civitavecchia (Rome) Italy

10th May – Naples (Pompeii) Italy

11th May – At sea

12th May – Mykonos, Greece

13th May – Istanbul, Turkey

14th May – Kusadasi, Turkey

15th May – Piraeus (Athens) Greece

16th May – At sea

17th May – Venice

18th May – Venice (disembark)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15th April – Port Everglades

We were onboard by 12.30pm and proceeded to our cabin R736. I chose this cabin for it’s close proximity to the terrace pool and horizon court. We were not disappointed… it was a great location. We have had mini suites, balconies, and outsides many times but nowadays we book insides, we don’t spend enough time in them anyway to warrant the extra cost. We were very comfortable and managed not to go stir crazy after 33 nights.

Our cruise critic roll call had a sailaway party at the Outrigger Bar at the Terrace Pool. It was well attended.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012077-1.jpg

I will make this leg of the cruise quick as I know a lot of you have been to the Caribbean many times and to all the ports many times. I have the patters for each day so if there is any questions, fire away. I will do a quick recap of each day and I think photos make it more interesting and tell their own story….

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012072-1.jpg

This Carnival ship got a bit close when she was leaving :eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16th April – Princess Cays, Bahamas

We hadn’t been to Princess Cays before so we took the tender ashore, walked around a bit and then we were back onboard again for lunch. It didn’t hold much interest for us as we live in a beach community back home with, dare I say it, much better beaches than that. We left the beach and the sunbaking to those who don’t experience it all the time. I must say that Princess has done a stellar job in turning the island into a beach playground with all the huts, lounges, water sports and the BBQ area.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012087-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012086-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012085.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012083-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17th April – At sea

Our formal meet and greet was today and was well attended. We had the usual gift exchange. All the ships officers were invited but none came. Must have been busy. Would have been nice to see at least the Cruise Director but it was not to be. Dinner was in the MDR with our friends. We are doing anytime dining which we don’t usually do or like but our friends like it, so we are doing it too….. the things we do for friends! We have stumbled upon a wonderful team, Amelia and Valentin and have requested to be seated at the same table each night….. so even though we are doing anytime dining to suit our friends, we have ended up doing traditional dining LOL!!! Tonight was our first formal night.

18th April – St Maarten, Netherlands Antilles

I have organised a private tour for this island. We have been here before but we only went shopping so this time we decided to book a tour with Bernards Tours for 50 people. I don’t think Bernard knew what hit him when our lot arrived…. I believe he had to replenish the esky with beer and rum punch a few times…. There were some very merry people towards the end of the day LOL! We did the usual places on the island and finished it up with a sojourn at Maho Beach to watch the planes come in. We were dropped off in town as we wanted to do some shopping after which we walked back to the ship.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012103-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012104-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012108-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19th April – St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

We didn’t do much more than wander around the shops. We found the prices much higher than St Maarten so we were glad we bought most of what we wanted in St Maarten.

20th April – Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

Not having been to Grand Turk before we decided we would go and check the place out. Not much there actually. Margaritaville was there if you wanted to spend the day sitting around a big pool drinking. We were back on the ship way before lunch which we had in the MDR. Lazed around the sanctuary pool in the afternoon, there was no-one there, they were on the island.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012126.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012135.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012137-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21st April – At sea

We slept in, missed breakfast and met our friends for lunch. Played some Sequence in the afternoon. (A fantastic game – we take it on all our cruises and have turned many people into Sequence addicts!) Tonight was the second formal night. The Maitre D rang to ask where we would like to sit on our next cruise and what size table. I said a six person next to the window and I proceeded to tell him who I wanted to sit with on the next leg. (My DH and 2 other couples from our roll call) He was very obliging and said it would be done.

 

22nd April – Port Everglades

Back to where we started. Our friends took us to Total Wine and the Chemist (a pharmacy or drug store) to stock up on essentials for the next leg. We bought beer for DH, iced green tea and cranberry juice for me and red wine for both of us. As we were transit passengers, getting back onboard was a breeze. The customs guy just laughed when he lifted the bag with all the goodies up on the conveyor belt, I hope he didn’t put his back out!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23rd to 28th April – At sea

These were all sea days. We love sea days, I think we made it to breakfast in Horizon Court a couple of times but mostly we were only having 2 meals a day during this time (maybe that contributed to the fact we only put on 4kg each during the entire voyage) We relaxed, doing the usual activities one does on sea days, trivia, shows, playing Sequence etc. It could have gone on forever, as far as we were concerned.

The second sea day was our official meet and greet with the roll call. Unlike the first leg this was attended by many of the officers, even the Captain! He is very amusing when he starts chatting!

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012148-1.jpg

 

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012149-1.jpg

 

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012151-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29th April – Funchal, Madiera Portugal

What a delightful place this is. We actually had breakfast this morning in the Horizon Court and headed down to vines to meet up with another 2 couples as we were doing a private tour. We were picked up at the port and taken to the cable car for our ride to the top. The driver met us at the top.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012182-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012183-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012209-1.jpg

The views from this cable car were fantastic. When we got to the top we wandered around the gardens for an hour and then came out to watch the wicker sled rides. It looked quite dangerous, so we just watched for a while as they wove their way around the cars and skidded around the corners. EEEK! We were then taken for a scenic drive around the island and stopped at the lookout which had stunning views of Madiera. We thought it was a lovely place and very clean and friendly.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012234-1.jpg

That's the ship's photographer with a CC member - Cathy!

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012273-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eileen-

This is an awesome review! Loving the photos and narrative...

and I am intrigued by the wicker sled rides (this might become a bucket list item!).

 

Looking forward to the next installments!

TL:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow...loving your review!! Thanks for all of the work you have put into it!!

 

Eileen-

This is an awesome review! Loving the photos and narrative...

and I am intrigued by the wicker sled rides (this might become a bucket list item!).

 

Looking forward to the next installments!

TL:)

 

Thanks for the encouragement!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

30th to 2nd May

More sea days…. Well we had to get over our busy day out yesterday in Madiera.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012278-1.jpg

3rd May – Civitaveccia (Rome)

Wow what a day! I booked a private tour for some of our roll call (32 people) with Rome in Limo. We had a wonderful day visiting all the popular tourist spots.

First off the Vatican.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012289-1.jpg

Because we were on a private tour we were dropped right at the Vatican entrance where we met our Vatican guide, Guilia (if you are going to the Vatican I recommend that you hire a guide) who then took everyone to the front of the line and we all went inside (no waiting 1 -2 hours for entry LOL)

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012294-1.jpg

Our guide Guilia (what a passion she has for the Vatican!)

It was still reasonably early so the crowds inside were not too bad yet so we were lucky.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012296-1.jpg

Inside the vatican

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012309-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012316-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We went to the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica – WOW, WOW, WOW….. unless you have been there, you can’t understand the awesomeness of this place! After saying goodbye to Guilia we were taken to a row of cafes, restaurants and takeaways where we could choose what type of lunch we wanted to get.

I am sorry there is no photos of the Sistine Chapel, but it was forbidden to take them as the church has the copyright!

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012345-1.jpg

St Peter's Basilica

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012346-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012366-1.jpg

See the people up in the rotunda below....

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012365-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012371-1.jpg

The Vatican guards in their finery (looked more like court jesters to me!)

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012372-1.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were driven right up to the Trevi Fountain where of course we had to throw the coins in the fountain.

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012429-1.jpg

RubyPrincess-CaribbeanTAMed2012422-1.jpg

The beauty of booking a private tour as opposed to a Princess tour is that the small vans of eight people (we had 4) were allowed to drive into the narrow streets of Rome and were not restricted at all. The large buses Princess hires are not allowed and have to drop the passengers KM’s away from the attractions so those people unfortunately are exhausted at the end of the day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a wonderful review! Thank you so much for going to all that trouble and hard work for us, but rest assured, it is very much appreciated!

 

I will be going on my first TA on the Royal Princess with the same itinerary next year and your posts are giving me an idea of what to expect.

 

Thank you, thank you and thank you!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20th April – Grand Turk' date=' Turks and Caicos[/font']

Not having been to Grand Turk before we decided we would go and check the place out. Not much there actually. Margaritaville was there if you wanted to spend the day sitting around a big pool drinking. We were back on the ship way before lunch which we had in the MDR.

 

 

 

 

Was the MDR open for lunch on any other port days, or just at Grand Turk?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...