Ruby, November 4-11, Caribbean Review

[Justin7984]

Recently returned from the November 4th sailing on the Ruby, so decided to write a little review of my experiences. Feel free to ask any questions.

 

We left the Hurricane Sandy battered Northeast after a few days pre-cruise after packing by candlelight, and stayed at the Sheraton Fort Lauderdale Resort (POWER! WOOHOO!). Decent place, we enjoyed it and at the Priceline rate of $80/night - it worked. It's a 10 minute walk to shops and restaurants/nightlife, and a 10 minute ride to the port. The hotel does not offer a shuttle and the cabs are pricey. It's still cheaper than renting a car, as the hotel charges $20/day to park.

 

Embarkation was good. We brought 24-packs of water and they allowed us to check them - they delivered them right to the room! We had to wait for an hour to board as we arrived a little early. Once the line moved, though, we were on the ship in 10 minutes. The Princess staff at the port is friendly and efficient.

 

Princess Cays was canceled due to damage from Sandy and we were given a $50 OBC per person, which was very generous on Princess' part.

 

I won't bore you with what we did hour by hour, but overall, the cruise was good. It was my 12th cruise, fourth with Princess.

 

The entertainment was not impressive. The comedian was awful and I was a little disappointed with the reggae band by the pool as they only performed for about 15 minutes at a clip and were just playing music over the speakers most of the time. On other lines, and on previous Princess cruises, they would play all afternoon with small breaks here and there. That's the kind of Caribbean experience I longed for! The MUTS pool was loud and obnoxious so I rarely went there other than passing through. The terrace pool is by far my favorite, but the lack of deck space means you have to arrive early to get a chair. Surprisingly, there were not many chair hogs on this cruise! We went to Skywalkers most nights for some music and drinks - great time! The crew on board was, as usual, FANTASTIC!

 

The food was pretty good. I enjoyed the pizza a lot. The buffets were suitable, and dining room food simply good. I remember the food being much better on the Emerald in 2009, but perhaps my tastes have changed. Other people I was with were very impressed with the food, and some found it downright disgusting. I was somewhere in the middle. We called for Room Service on two separate occasions and after being put on hold for 20 minutes, then hung up on both times, we decided to just go grab a slice of pizza. Perhaps they need more help down there. Coffee on the ship is absolutely disgusting (including the "gourmet" coffee at the International Cafe). This is somewhere Princess NEEDS to improve. They should do what Royal Caribbean does - contract out a specialty coffee brand like Starbucks or Seattle's Best. I was more than willing to pay for a good cup-o-joe, but it was not available. Everyone complained about this - not just me.

 

The ports were good. I've been to each many times, so it was nothing new. St Martin was definitely my favorite - perhaps it's because it was one of the only nice days we had! St Thomas was beautiful, but it was pretty cloudy much of the time. Grand Turk will never see another dollar of mine. It was dirty. The locals were not friendly. It was sad to see feral dogs running all over the place. The weather was a bust (it was cloudy and chilly). It is just not a place I would visit again, unfortunately.

 

The ship was very rocky throughout the cruise, and the captain continued to cruise at a snail's pace, which made it even more rocky. On all the cruises I've been on, I have never gotten seasick, however, on this cruise, I was very close to losing it. Not fun. On the last sea-day, the weather was so bad that people were walking around in sweatshirts. Bummer! Needless to say, we went home without a tan!

 

Disembarkation was a breeze, but once on the street it was a little confusing finding the transfer to our hotel.

 

Overall, the cruise was about a 5 out of a 10, some due to factors that Princess could have controlled and others that were beyond their control (terrible weather). I do feel that on their larger ships, Princess is joining the other mass market lines in sacrificing quality for number of passengers. I hope this does not continue.

[Working 2 Cruise]

It always amazes me... There is another review of the Ruby and these people loved their cruise!

 

Thank you for taking the time to write your thoughts... You are correct, Princess is definitely not in control of the weather... You were cruising during hurricane season, so bad weather was a distinct possibility.

 

As far as cutbacks go, you will find that most, if not all, of the cruiselines have cut back in one way or another... Royal Caribbean among others...

[pegbert]

Thank you for your review, Justin. I was on the sailing after yours (Dec 11), and agree with much of what you said.

 

Before I add my comments, let me say this (and not to the OP... just a general observation): those of us who are fortunate enough to spend time on a cruise vacation are truly blessed. While we are complaining about hard mattresses and bland food, there are untold numbers of people sleeping on the ground on a piece of cardboard, and rummaging through a garbage heap in hopes of finding a scrap to eat. Our cruise had its ups and downs, but it was still luxury beyond the wildest dreams of so many!

 

The coffee issue...... oh dear. I agree with you completely, Princess NEEDS to fix this. The "free coffee" in the HC and diningroom is awful. I am not a coffee connoisseur by any stretch, but I do like a decent mug of coffee in the morning. If basic hotels/motels can provide free, name-brand coffee in the lobbies, surely a luxury cruise line can step up! My thoughts:

 

1) Those useless,espresso-sized cups in the HC need to go. How about a stack of paper to-go cups (with lids) for those who just need hot water to make their own beverage? They have them at the IC, so we know that they are out there!

 

2) If you are lactose-intollerant, take note that Princess does NOT have any dairy-free creamers. If you buy your coffee at the IC, you can ask them for the vanilla bean powder instead of cream.

 

3) I found the brewed coffee at the IC to be decent (not gourmet, but comparable to what we get from ol' Mr Coffee at home). However, they only fill the cups 2/3 full; so I ended up buying two cups, drinking from cup one, and topping up from cup two. A bit involved, but at least I got my morning coffee, and could actually stroll around the ship with it!

 

The MUTS deck...... agreed. We liked the "idea" of MUTS, and really enjoyed watching MNF. However, the volume on that thing was obnoxious. In fact, when we were walking on the beach in Grand Turk, we could hear MUTS roaring away on the ship!! Is it necessary to have it blaring all day long, whether it's a movie, concert, or not-so-subtle advertising for Diamonds International? I think there are ways to make this work so that everyone can enjoy the pool decks. How about having set times for movies, and turning it off the rest of the day? What about headphones, or wireless tabletop speakers for those who want to listen? Or how about just turning the volume down? For those who say "If you don't like it, you can move to another pool. OK, we tried that.... here's how it unfolded:

 

- started at MUTS pool when it was quiet. Movie came roaring on. Packed up our stuff, moved over to the Neptune pool..... could still hear movie, but it was better. No sooner did we open our books, and the band started up.... good music, but they had to crank the volume to be heard over the movie next door! So now we have blasting music over blasting movie, and everyone around us is yelling at each other to be heard over both. OK, get up, move again, this time to Lotus pool, where there are only a few chair around the pool... all taken. We settle on the "freebie" chairs outside of the Sanctuary area. Can still hear both the movie and the band. Did I mention there is no (or sparse) bar service on this deck if you are not part of the Sanctuary, so you have to walk back to the loud decks to get a beverage yourself. OK, well at least it's not quite as loud. Wait a minute.... what is that rotten egg smell?? It's the perm chemicals that waft out of the Lotus spa every time someone opens the door to the pool deck! At least we both have a good sense of humor, so we were able to shake our heads and laugh at the whole thing.

 

But seriously, if someone spends good money on a tropcial (= sun) vacation (= relaxation), they should not have to spend the entire trip hunting for somewhere quiet to relax in the sun. To "escape completely" should not mean that you have to go to your cabin and shut the door. Princess, MUTS is a great idea, but please turn the thing down during the day!!

 

The food was pretty good, but not spectacular. Some dishes were really good (I had lamb in the diningroom that was to die for, and the fettucini is out of this world). We liked the huge bowl of mixed greens (no iceberg lettuce, yeah!) in the HC, and had it pretty much every day for lunch. We did miss hot food actually being hot, but it's expected with so many people to feed at once. We only went to the diningroom three times, because although they "accommodate" tables for two, they apparently don't prefer them, and we always ended up squished in next to some service station. One night our "table for two" was actually a table for six, with about 4" between tables..... too funny!!

 

The best part of the experience was the staff..... most everyone was extremely friendly, courteous, and professional. From the room steward, to the security team in ports, everyone was awesome! Congrats and thanks to all!

 

I can't really figure out what "score" to give, as the OP did. The MUTS insanity was the biggest problem for us; we never did get to "relax on deck", which was the whole purpose of the vacation. So if you take that out of the equation, I'd probably give it a 8 or 9. However, let's suffice it to say that if Princess is going to keep blaring MUTS all day and night, we will likely look elsewhere for a vacation destination where we can relax, doze, read, sunbathe in relative peace and quiet during they day, and then kick it a few notches for a fun, lively, and entertaining evening.

[caribill]

However, let's suffice it to say that if Princess is going to keep blaring MUTS all day and night, we will likely look elsewhere for a vacation destination where we can relax, doze, read, sunbathe in relative peace and quiet during they day, and then kick it a few notches for a fun, lively, and entertaining evening.

 

 

In your post-cruise evaluation (e-mail sent from Princess), did you let Princess know your feelings about MUTS sound levels?

[will773]

Thanks for the review! My grandparents just returned from the Grand Transatlantic and agreed that the entertainment wasn't "Grand".

[pegbert]

In your post-cruise evaluation (e-mail sent from Princess), did you let Princess know your feelings about MUTS sound levels?

 

Yes, I certainly did - but I was also very complimentary regarding other issues, and there were many things done very well.

 

I didn't mention in my original reply, but I have sailed with Princess three times in the past (albeit 12+ years ago). DH is living with a progressive lung disease, and works in a very stressful job. The reason we chose Princess over other lines was specifically because it is NOT known as a 24-hour party boat. So it was disappointing that we did not get the true relaxation that he so desperately needed.

 

On another note, we both LOVE LOVE LOVE Las Vegas - got married there! So we are not old sticks-in-the-mud. But we like to laze around the pools during the day - recharge the batteries, so to speak, maybe some low, tropical music in the background.... then head out onto the craziness of the Strip for the evening - the best of both worlds! I *thought* we were going to get this on Princess, because that's how it was on my previous Princess cruises. I guess times change, and entertainment expectations along with them. We just don't need to be entertained 24/7.

 

I really hope that Princess rethinks their MUTS policy, because we do want to sail again - soon!! :D

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review!

[Magellan321]

Thank you for the review....we'll be sailing on the Ruby in January :D.

 

I so agree with you about MUTS ....it's so dang loud during the day. We do however enjoy watching MUTS at night with our blankets, cookies, and cup of tea.

 

DH was very happy to hear that the pizza is still good....he could live on it!

 

The coffee....yup it's not great. I wasn't a fan of RCI's or HAL'a either. I loved Celebrity's....the price tag was a little hard to swallow:p. I think I may be bringing my own french press in January....thankfully we can drive to the port. If you sail with Princess again...try the roomservice coffee in the morning....for some reason it seems to be way better....or maybe it's because I'm in my robe and not standing in line.

 

Thanks again for the review!

[akeasley]

I have noticed the coffee on the buffet line is terrible on Princess Ships. Getting it from room service is really good though, although not as hot as I would like it to be.

[dmwnc1959]

To "escape completely" should not mean that you have to go to your cabin and shut the door.

 

Sounds like I'm going to hate MUTS. I do enjoy my quiet and none of my previous cruises were on ships that had this type of system. :(

[sueandkent]

Interesting. We were on the 11/11 sailing of the Ruby and of our 5 Princess cruises we thought this was by far the best. We had 4 new cruisers with us who are now hooked on Princess. We found the food, service and entertainment to be the best ever. We avoided the pool with MUTS for the reasons stated by others but found Neptune's pool to be perfect. We actually commented on the lack of noise bleed from one pool to the next. Funny how opinions do very.

Also, none of our group of 6 had any problems with the beds. Our cabin steward Luca was the best. We had such a good time we booked the Crown for Feb within a week of being home.

One more note, we arrived at the port around 11:15, DH dropped us all off then returned the car to Budget right outside the port. He was back in 20min. No more than a half hour after we were on our balcony...it was seamless.

[sueandkent]

I forgot to add, we had ATD, we arrived at the dining room 6:30 to 6:40 and never waited. Right in to our own table of 6 each time. Did Sabitini's second formal night, waste of money, MDR better but we didn't want to dress again for dinner. IMO, 7 day cruises should have only 1 formal night, especially port intensive ones like this cruise.

[TravelingEA]

1) Those useless,espresso-sized cups in the HC need to go. How about a stack of paper to-go cups (with lids) for those who just need hot water to make their own beverage? They have them at the IC, so we know that they are out there!

 

Thanks for the review! We normally bring our travel mugs with us for coffee, rather than using the cups from the HC. They also fill them in the IC with our coffee card.

[Justin7984]

Interesting. We were on the 11/11 sailing of the Ruby and of our 5 Princess cruises we thought this was by far the best. We had 4 new cruisers with us who are now hooked on Princess. We found the food, service and entertainment to be the best ever. We avoided the pool with MUTS for the reasons stated by others but found Neptune's pool to be perfect. We actually commented on the lack of noise bleed from one pool to the next. Funny how opinions do very.

Also, none of our group of 6 had any problems with the beds. Our cabin steward Luca was the best. We had such a good time we booked the Crown for Feb within a week of being home.

One more note, we arrived at the port around 11:15, DH dropped us all off then returned the car to Budget right outside the port. He was back in 20min. No more than a half hour after we were on our balcony...it was seamless.

 

I wonder if the comedians were different? Our guy wasn't funny at all, and going by the lack of laughter in the audience, others thought so as well. :o I hope you had better weather than we did! Certainly not the cruise line's fault, though.

 

I do think that the beds on the Ruby were among the most comfortable of any cruise I've been on, however!