Ruby Princess 1-27-14 Random thoughts

[Eileen G]

Ruby Princess 2014

Just returned from the Ruby 1-27-14 five day cruise to Princess Cay and Grand Turk. This is not really a review but just some random thoughts about the cruise. This was our 9th Princess cruise.

 

We arrived at the ship at 12:30 and the embarkation was one of the best we have done. We were on board by 12:45 and the rooms were ready. The buffet was extremely crowded. We searched all over for a table and finally found one out by the pool.

 

We parked at Park & Go and this worked very well. It was $7.99 a day. Their shuttles run frequently but it is valet parking so you leave your keys in the car and the car is unlocked in the lot. There is always someone in attendance so the lot is never left unguarded. There was a shuttle waiting right as we left the cruise terminal. We were at a different dock from where we left so anyone who parked in the port parking had to take a shuttle back to the parking garage. I don’t know how this worked but using Park & Go it didn’t matter where we docked. We were back to our car quickly and on our way home by 9:00.

 

It had been two years since we sailed Princess and I had forgotten the one big flaw in their ships. The theater only seats 800 people and on a ship with 3000+ people that means a lot of people don’t get to see the shows. The first night we arrived at the theater 15 minutes early and there wasn’t a seat anywhere. It was the welcome aboard show so we just skipped it. There were two shows one at 8:15 and the second at 10:15. The rest of the nights the shows started at 7:30. The new Colors of the World there were three shows 7:15, 8:15 and 10:15. So you really need to get there 30 minutes early if you want a good seat.

 

The Anytime dining didn’t work well this cruise. Most of the passengers wanted to eat early. People started lining up at 5:00. The first night by the time we went to eat at 6:15 the line was out into the Plazza and that was just to get a pager. We ate in the buffet instead. After the first night they really tried to accommodate everyone and use every available table even in the traditional dining room. We would go to the Michalango dining room which served as the clearing house for all the dining rooms. The hostess would then send you to whichever dining room had a table. We even ate in the Botticelli dining room one night. We usually ate between 6-6:30 and didn’t have a long wait. The last night we finally remembered to make a reservation and were able to just walk in.

 

One of our favorite things about Princess is how well they do tendering. I really don’t know why Royal Caribbean hasn’t figured this out yet. Princess makes it so simple. You just go to the Michalango dining room when you are ready to get off the ship and get a tender #. Then you sit at a table in comfort while you wait for your tender # is called. They take everyone in the group and walk them down 2 flights of stairs to the waiting tender. They started tendering into Princess Cay at 9 and when we went down at 10 there was about a 10 minute wait. Very well done.

 

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather. We went swimming in both Princess Cay and Grand Turk. Both stops were great beach days.

 

Disembarkation worked well for us. We had walk-off 7 which met in the Michalango dining room at 8. We just walked right off the ship with our luggage. Since we had three pieces of luggage they made us take the elevator which was OK since there was no line and we were able to go right down. When we got to immigration there wasn’t too bad a line but it sure got long fast. It moved pretty quickly but we could see the line behind us getting longer and longer. We were glad we were off the ship by 8:00.

 

We had a great time on this cruise and it made it even better getting the credit back. The credit showed up on “MY Princess” on Thursday before we even got off the ship on Saturday. Everyone on the cruise got the credit weather they knew about it or not. We met several people that didn’t even know about it and boy were they surprised. Now we just need to book another cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments.

[SeaScout]

We were also on this cruise. A few quick comments: The pool temps were quite cool when we arrived. They started to warm towards the end of the cruise. Not sure why the heaters were not turned on.

 

We enjoyed the cruise but I have to admit that it was a much older crowd than we anticipated.

 

The food in the buffet was excellent but the layout was chaotic at best. Can't comment on the dining rooms as we did not eat there at all. We did talk to a few fellow passengers that were disappointed with the seating during anytime dining. (long waits for larger families and others were told a table for two would be "problematic").

 

The staff. Excellent for the most part. Our room steward Andrie will most certainly receive high marks on our customer satisfaction survey.

 

The shows and casino. Typical cruise fare.

 

Princess Cay. We had an great time. Weather was good, service and tendering was good. Have to admit though that the beach at the competitions private island is much nicer than Princess cay, IMHO.

 

Grand Turk. Did the dune buggy excursion. Enjoyed it. Got to see most of the island and the buggies were fun to drive. The beach at Grand Turk near were the ship docks is quite rocky under the water. If you want a nice sandy beach and a rock free place to swim, head down the beach to Jack's Shack. The beach there is much nicer than near the ship. It's about a 5 minute walk down the beach. If you are lucky, Topher the golden doodle dog will hanging around ready to play. (he belongs to the owner of Jack's Shack). If you head over to the right of the ship a WARNING to you. Watch out for the sand fleas or whatever biting insect it is. My girlfriend got a handful of very itchy bites.

 

Sea days: Hmm, not really the amount of activities that we are accustom to on other cruise lines. To be honest I was a bit bored on the sea days. But then again I'm the type of person that has a hard time sitting down and relaxing.

 

Disembarkation was quick and easy. We walked off with our luggage and had no issues.

 

All in all, a good cruise with no major complaints. Would I sail on Princess again? I'm not sure. There was nothing wrong with this cruise but I also didn't have that "WOW" moment. The cruise accomplished our objected to get out of the bitter cold weather to get a bit of warmth and sun. So mission accomplished.

 

Saw a few other ships during our travels that caught our interest. Wish we had been wowed and could say my next step was to book again on Princess (this was our 4th cruise with them), but I'll consider all the options next time around.

Edited February 2, 2014 by SeaScout

[alli]

Seascout,

 

I was also on this cruise and agree with several of your sentiments. It was a much older crowd than we expected! We did a HAL cruise in November and this cruise made the Hal passengers look like teenagers.

 

Typical cruise fare...didn't have that WOW moment...

 

Yup!

 

It was all very pleasant( well, except for the horrible Anytime dining experience every evening), but there was nothing that stood out on this cruise. It was like the crew was just going through the motions.

 

We have the cruise credit from this trip and I don't know that we're even going to use it. Already looking to purchase our spring vacation and I doubt we'll be returning to Princess.

[PhotoFlo]

We too were on this cruise and found the Anytime Dining to be a challenge. The first night, when we arrived at 5:30, the line was so long we just went to the buffet. We like to have a table for two so for the remainder of the cruise, we would get to Michelangelo when it opened at 5 pm (1/2 hour earlier than usual). On the second night of the cruise, we were seated at a table with an excellent waiter so we tried to make reservations to be at his table for the remainder of the cruise, but were told that no more reservations were being made although eight tables for 2 in that section were already reserved. I feel that reservations were a major part of the Anytime Dining problem on this cruise.

For each of the 4 nights that we sat in that section two tables did not have guests until 6-6:15; three of those tables would remain open until after 6:30! I have no idea of what time the reservations were made, but with the lines waiting to come in, those reservations should have been handled differently. Other guests could have come and gone by the time the reservation guests arrived, if they did at all.

Another table for 4 was also left open on two nights in the same section waiting for reserved guests. There also seemed to be quite a bit of confusion in our section with people being seated at tables for four and then asked to move to other tables after several minutes on tow occasions.

I think that reservations for Anytime Dining should either be eliminated or made for when the dining room opens and at intervals of 1.5 hours. Also, If people are going to make reservations and then decide to dine elsewhere, they should have the common courtesy of calling the dining room and cancelling. And at the very least, Princess should give the table to those waiting no longer than 15 minutes after the the reserved guest has not arrived. I am sure that would have helped tremendously on this cruise.

[ar1950]

............

Typical cruise fare...didn't have that WOW moment...

 

We have the cruise credit from this trip and I don't know that we're even going to use it. Already looking to purchase our spring vacation and I doubt we'll be returning to Princess.

 

We would be happy to take those credits off of your hands as we aren't so big on "WOW moments" these days........ :cool:

 

Really. though, we have found some cruises are just better than others and it is not necessarily any one thing that makes it good or bad every time.

 

Enjoy what ever you decide comes next.

[seamwoman]

We were also on this cruise. It was our 6th on Princess but all of the others were 12 days or longer. We live near Fort Lauderdale it took about 45 minutes to get to the port. We arrived at 12 and were in our stateroom at 12:30! We went to the dining room and had a lovely quiet lunch. Lately we have had anytime dining but on this ship it was a huge disappointment! The first night we got there at 6 and stood in a long line to get a beeper. We were finally seated at 7 at a table for 10. It took 2 hours to eat so we missed the first show. The next day I hung on the phone for 20 minutes to make a reservation for 5:45. We were seated with four friends from Delray Beach. There were empty tables all around us??? Formal night we had a lovely dinner in the Crown Grill but got out too late to get a seat in the theater. Made a reservation quickly for 5:45 for the next night and were seated at a table for six with one couple from the first night.

We got a seat at the back to see the comedian. Another reservation got us seated at a table for six with four friends from the west side of the state. Lines were out the door every night. My husband would prefer a table for two but was told only sharing was available. Moral to the story: we are returning to early traditional dining.Service in the dining room and all over the ship was excellent.

Other criticism was the chair hog situation. Many empty lounge chairs with a towel, book and bag to save it.

 

This cruise was just the relaxing getaway we were looking forward to and will will still cruise Princess. We are looking forward to the 28 day South Pacific cruise on the Golden in April! Karen

[Woobstr112G]

Ruby Princess 2014

Just returned from the Ruby 1-27-14 five day cruise to Princess Cay and Grand Turk. This is not really a review but just some random thoughts about the cruise. This was our 9th Princess cruise.

 

We arrived at the ship at 12:30 and the embarkation was one of the best we have done. We were on board by 12:45 and the rooms were ready. The buffet was extremely crowded. We searched all over for a table and finally found one out by the pool.

 

We parked at Park & Go and this worked very well. It was $7.99 a day. Their shuttles run frequently but it is valet parking so you leave your keys in the car and the car is unlocked in the lot. There is always someone in attendance so the lot is never left unguarded. There was a shuttle waiting right as we left the cruise terminal. We were at a different dock from where we left so anyone who parked in the port parking had to take a shuttle back to the parking garage. I don’t know how this worked but using Park & Go it didn’t matter where we docked. We were back to our car quickly and on our way home by 9:00.

 

It had been two years since we sailed Princess and I had forgotten the one big flaw in their ships. The theater only seats 800 people and on a ship with 3000+ people that means a lot of people don’t get to see the shows. The first night we arrived at the theater 15 minutes early and there wasn’t a seat anywhere. It was the welcome aboard show so we just skipped it. There were two shows one at 8:15 and the second at 10:15. The rest of the nights the shows started at 7:30. The new Colors of the World there were three shows 7:15, 8:15 and 10:15. So you really need to get there 30 minutes early if you want a good seat.

 

The Anytime dining didn’t work well this cruise. Most of the passengers wanted to eat early. People started lining up at 5:00. The first night by the time we went to eat at 6:15 the line was out into the Plazza and that was just to get a pager. We ate in the buffet instead. After the first night they really tried to accommodate everyone and use every available table even in the traditional dining room. We would go to the Michalango dining room which served as the clearing house for all the dining rooms. The hostess would then send you to whichever dining room had a table. We even ate in the Botticelli dining room one night. We usually ate between 6-6:30 and didn’t have a long wait. The last night we finally remembered to make a reservation and were able to just walk in.

 

One of our favorite things about Princess is how well they do tendering. I really don’t know why Royal Caribbean hasn’t figured this out yet. Princess makes it so simple. You just go to the Michalango dining room when you are ready to get off the ship and get a tender #. Then you sit at a table in comfort while you wait for your tender # is called. They take everyone in the group and walk them down 2 flights of stairs to the waiting tender. They started tendering into Princess Cay at 9 and when we went down at 10 there was about a 10 minute wait. Very well done.

 

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather. We went swimming in both Princess Cay and Grand Turk. Both stops were great beach days.

 

Disembarkation worked well for us. We had walk-off 7 which met in the Michalango dining room at 8. We just walked right off the ship with our luggage. Since we had three pieces of luggage they made us take the elevator which was OK since there was no line and we were able to go right down. When we got to immigration there wasn’t too bad a line but it sure got long fast. It moved pretty quickly but we could see the line behind us getting longer and longer. We were glad we were off the ship by 8:00.

 

We had a great time on this cruise and it made it even better getting the credit back. The credit showed up on “MY Princess” on Thursday before we even got off the ship on Saturday. Everyone on the cruise got the credit weather they knew about it or not. We met several people that didn’t even know about it and boy were they surprised. Now we just need to book another cruise.

 

Thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts. Glad you enjoyed the cruise.....:):):)

 

We too were on this cruise and found the Anytime Dining to be a challenge. The first night, when we arrived at 5:30, the line was so long we just went to the buffet. We like to have a table for two so for the remainder of the cruise, we would get to Michelangelo when it opened at 5 pm (1/2 hour earlier than usual). On the second night of the cruise, we were seated at a table with an excellent waiter so we tried to make reservations to be at his table for the remainder of the cruise, but were told that no more reservations were being made although eight tables for 2 in that section were already reserved. I feel that reservations were a major part of the Anytime Dining problem on this cruise.

For each of the 4 nights that we sat in that section two tables did not have guests until 6-6:15; three of those tables would remain open until after 6:30! I have no idea of what time the reservations were made, but with the lines waiting to come in, those reservations should have been handled differently. Other guests could have come and gone by the time the reservation guests arrived, if they did at all.

Another table for 4 was also left open on two nights in the same section waiting for reserved guests. There also seemed to be quite a bit of confusion in our section with people being seated at tables for four and then asked to move to other tables after several minutes on tow occasions.

I think that reservations for Anytime Dining should either be eliminated or made for when the dining room opens and at intervals of 1.5 hours. Also, If people are going to make reservations and then decide to dine elsewhere, they should have the common courtesy of calling the dining room and cancelling. And at the very least, Princess should give the table to those waiting no longer than 15 minutes after the the reserved guest has not arrived. I am sure that would have helped tremendously on this cruise.

 

I agree. IMHO, allowing reservations in ATD is one of the reasons you always hear about problems.....

 

Bob

Edited February 2, 2014 by Woobstr112G

[Eileen G]

This cruise did have a lot of retired people because it was a 5 day that left on Monday and returned on Saturday. Anyone working would have to take off the entire week and most people don't want to do that for just a 5 day cruise. The only reason we booked it was because of the credit which just about made it free but we have unlimited vacation time so taking off 5 days of work was no big deal. I have heard that the 4 day cruises that include a weekend have much younger passengers.

Because of the older crowd the anytime didn't work. Most everyone wanted to eat early. Lets face it no one wants to have a 2 hour dinner at 8 and then go to bed at ten. So please don't make judgments about sailing on Princess based on this cruise.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the review...

 

I have never done a short cruise, so think I had better keep that record intact!! :D

[geoherb]

You can always string together short cruises into back-to-back ones to make it worthwhile. We had a fun time on the Ruby in December on our back-to-back cruises--4 nights each. We never had a problem finding seats in the theater. We had second seating traditional, so we never had the problem anytime diners do of having to wait.

[Hlitner]

Take a 5 day cruise, M-F, out of a Fl port when school is in session, and you are going to get an older crowd (many retirees) with an awful lot being from FL where "early birds" are almost a religion. So then you try to go to dine early (some of us would call it a late lunch time) and you are probably going to have a queue. Add to that the impatience of many seniors (and we are also seniors) and it is a recipe for a less then fun experience. So, try being a bit of a contrarian and go to dinner a bit later, go to the shows not attended by the early diners, and things often go much smoother.

 

DW and I have developed a simple rule when cruising (and traveling). We have become adverse to waiting in lines (queues for you Brits) and have discovered that if you simply follow a "contrarian" schedule there are few to any lines. It is the same at the lunch buffets. Go to the Lido at 11:45 -12:45 and there will always be lines. Go about 1 and suddenly there are much shorter to no lines.

 

A few years ago we were cruising on one of the Grand Class ships and happened to be sitting at a bar (with a cocktail) and noticed a line forming for dinner at the restaurant that hosted the fixed early seating (which was not for another 20 min). We finally asked a passenger why they were waiting in line and they told us it was for dinner. I then asked them if they had a reserved table and they said that everyone had a reserved table at the fixed dining (we already knew this answer). So then I asked why they would wait in line for a half hour when they could simply walk in the dining room a half hour later (with no wait) and go to their assigned table. The lady quickly explained that they liked to be the first at their table (we wondered if they had a table for 2). Go figure.

 

Hank

[karena1]

Ruby Princess 2014

Just returned from the Ruby 1-27-14 five day cruise to Princess Cay and Grand Turk. This is not really a review but just some random thoughts about the cruise. This was our 9th Princess cruise.

 

We arrived at the ship at 12:30 and the embarkation was one of the best we have done. We were on board by 12:45 and the rooms were ready. The buffet was extremely crowded. We searched all over for a table and finally found one out by the pool.

 

We parked at Park & Go and this worked very well. It was $7.99 a day. Their shuttles run frequently but it is valet parking so you leave your keys in the car and the car is unlocked in the lot. There is always someone in attendance so the lot is never left unguarded. There was a shuttle waiting right as we left the cruise terminal. We were at a different dock from where we left so anyone who parked in the port parking had to take a shuttle back to the parking garage. I don’t know how this worked but using Park & Go it didn’t matter where we docked. We were back to our car quickly and on our way home by 9:00.

 

It had been two years since we sailed Princess and I had forgotten the one big flaw in their ships. The theater only seats 800 people and on a ship with 3000+ people that means a lot of people don’t get to see the shows. The first night we arrived at the theater 15 minutes early and there wasn’t a seat anywhere. It was the welcome aboard show so we just skipped it. There were two shows one at 8:15 and the second at 10:15. The rest of the nights the shows started at 7:30. The new Colors of the World there were three shows 7:15, 8:15 and 10:15. So you really need to get there 30 minutes early if you want a good seat.

 

The Anytime dining didn’t work well this cruise. Most of the passengers wanted to eat early. People started lining up at 5:00. The first night by the time we went to eat at 6:15 the line was out into the Plazza and that was just to get a pager. We ate in the buffet instead. After the first night they really tried to accommodate everyone and use every available table even in the traditional dining room. We would go to the Michalango dining room which served as the clearing house for all the dining rooms. The hostess would then send you to whichever dining room had a table. We even ate in the Botticelli dining room one night. We usually ate between 6-6:30 and didn’t have a long wait. The last night we finally remembered to make a reservation and were able to just walk in.

 

One of our favorite things about Princess is how well they do tendering. I really don’t know why Royal Caribbean hasn’t figured this out yet. Princess makes it so simple. You just go to the Michalango dining room when you are ready to get off the ship and get a tender #. Then you sit at a table in comfort while you wait for your tender # is called. They take everyone in the group and walk them down 2 flights of stairs to the waiting tender. They started tendering into Princess Cay at 9 and when we went down at 10 there was about a 10 minute wait. Very well done.

 

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather. We went swimming in both Princess Cay and Grand Turk. Both stops were great beach days.

 

Disembarkation worked well for us. We had walk-off 7 which met in the Michalango dining room at 8. We just walked right off the ship with our luggage. Since we had three pieces of luggage they made us take the elevator which was OK since there was no line and we were able to go right down. When we got to immigration there wasn’t too bad a line but it sure got long fast. It moved pretty quickly but we could see the line behind us getting longer and longer. We were glad we were off the ship by 8:00.

 

We had a great time on this cruise and it made it even better getting the credit back. The credit showed up on “MY Princess” on Thursday before we even got off the ship on Saturday. Everyone on the cruise got the credit weather they knew about it or not. We met several people that didn’t even know about it and boy were they surprised. Now we just need to book another cruise.

 

Our credit is already there also, so that is really cool

[karena1]

We were on the same cruise, so I will add my thoughts to yours

 

1. Thought embarkation was very easy, we were there early, sat in the Elite lounge until we could get on the ship. Dropped our stuff at the cabin and headed to the pool

 

We loved the cruise so none of my comparisons are to say one is better than the other, just my thoughts on the differences.

 

2. I will do some comparisons since we have been on Royal so many times so here is what we thought.

 

a. Princess Cays does not even compare to CocoCay. Coco is way bigger and nicer, not the rocks in the water the way Princess was.

 

b. We talked to a lot of people and everyone we talked to thought the Anytime Dining was horrid. On Royal we never wait more than 10 minutes to get seated. On Ruby, it was at least 20 minutes every night no matter when you went. The worst was that once you were seated, there were empty tables all over. So it was obvious that they were not staffed for it. We only ate there 2 x since the wait was so bad but the 2nd night we ate there the head waiter actually waited on us

 

c. Now the flip side to that is we thought the buffet on Princess was way better than the buffet on Royal. We ate at the buffet 3 nights due to the mess with anytime dining and we really liked the food there.

 

d. Ships' demographics are way older. We are not youngsters (70 and 57) but there was a much older group than on Royal. Good from some points, others not so much. But Princess does not cater to families so it was expected

 

e. Nice to not have so many announcements like there are on Royal. But missed the music!!! other than 45 minutes of steel drums and one hour of the band, there was no pool music. All you heard was the movie from the other side of the pool. So missed that. We like having music at the pool

 

f. Grand Turk - loved it, just a really nice beach, lots of nice sandy water to get in. Little cool, but still got in there a couple of times.

 

g. Shows were the same caliber as Royal but since we have not been on Princess in a long time we really enjoyed the 2 production shows. Very colorful, and innovative. Great singers.

 

h. Ship at times was like walking through a maize. Seemed weird to have to walk by cabins after getting off the elevator just to get to the pool. Ship was gorgeous, just thought it was a little cut up in parts.

 

i. Although we thought the food in the buffet was better, I like the layout of the buffet on Royal better. Princess's buffet is very closed in. Royal's is way more open. Hubby was also disappointed that Cafe Caribe was hardly ever opened. Finally on the last day they were open for 1.5 hours during lunch. To my knowledge, never open at night

 

j. Gym - royals is way better. Couple of reasons - I like to get there early. Royal never locks theirs so even if I am up there at 5:30 I can get in. Ruby, it was locked until 6 am on the dot! So most mornings had to sit there and wait for it to open. I also like royals gyms are bigger than on Princess. Really did not matter to me since I got there so early but I heard many people complain the lines were out the door waiting for machines after 8 or 9 am.

 

k. Perks - I think the Royal D+ perks are better than Elite on Princess. We enjoyed the nightly event, but it is not like Royals with the complimentary cocktail hour each night. Even the Captains party you could not get a variety of drinks like you can on Royal. Not a big deal, again, just observations and comparison. Was nice to get the bar setup in the cabin. Called for the things we wanted to switch out and it was there within 30 minutes.

 

l. Staff is more formal than Royal. We thought they were great, again, just the difference b/t the 2 lines. Princess is way more European staff and Royal is more Caribbean/Phillipine staff. Our cabin guy was awesome. Uniforms are much more formal also than on Royal.

 

Overall a great trip and have no issues with going again. Will use our credit from this cruise to book a 7 nighter in Dec probably on Ruby again. Any specific questions, I will try to answer them

[zoethesailor]

I was also on this cruise, and so here are my thoughts:

 

Like everyone else embarkation was a breeze. We went straight to the dinning room with no wait, and the food was great.

 

The Anytime dinning experience was the talk of the ship, not many people were happy. I was astonished at the long lines, and was happy that we had chosen early traditional. We were at a table of 8, but there was only 6 of us. I also noticed empty tables, and empty seats at most of the tables.

 

Our meet and greet was small, but everyone who did attend were very nice. I was surprised the captain, Fabrizio Maresca, and several of his officers came. It was great meeting them. The captain talked and answered everyone's questions. The officer in charge of food and beverages was also there (sorry I forgot his name), it was great to give him our feedback on the anytime dinning fiasco. He had only been on the ship for 2 days, and noticed the problem. He mentioned that he had a meeting set up with the person in charge of the shows to see if they could make some changes. It was not long after this that I noticed the dinning lines went down, and the times of the shows had changed.

 

To give you some information up front I dislike production shows, I think they are just a continuation of the shows in high school. Well, I ended up going to two of them, one was "Colors of the World, it was awful, I could only stay for 4 songs and had to leave. The second show "Once upon a Dream" was very enjoyable. I liked that it had a story, and decent costumes. Not only did I stay the entire show, I gave it a standing ovation.

 

The comedian Phil Tag was enjoyable, he is naturally funny, and I love his imitation of a Boston pirate. Guitarist Toby Reilly who played in the Piazza was refreshing. I only caught the second half of the magic show and what I did see was great. These are the only performers I caught so I cannot comment on the others.

 

The food in the dinning room was great, one of the best I have had in 16 cruises. My favorite was a chicken dish that was lightly fried with a sauce and mushrooms, it was fantastic, I only wish I could remember the name. My husband on the other hand had a hard time finding vegetarian dishes he like, there was very little to choose from.

 

Tea every afternoon was also nice, they have the best scones I have every had, yummy!

 

This ship seemed to have more activities than the Golden did in November, but I think they need more. My husband likes trivia, and games so he was happy. We would have liked to see the Marriage Match Game Show, but it was on too late, and on the last day we needed to get to bed early for a long flight home. Another suggestion, is I wish they would come up with better prizes, or at least a better variety.

I like the arts & crafts, but they need more more variety on the last three cruises they offered cards. I also went to a drawing class. It was very refreshing to see something new. The teacher was great, the location was much too small, it was hard to see his demonstration. Many of the other students complained of the same. Thank you Princess for something new, keep them coming!

 

Culinary Demonstration was well attended, as well as the Zumba, and dance classes (it was very tight). I would to have liked to see the exercise stretch class in the Patters, it wasn't until the last day that I found out they were offered :eek:

 

Overall it was a very nice cruise. I am glad we went, and now I need to find another cruise to use my FCCs.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

This cruise did have a lot of retired people because it was a 5 day that left on Monday and returned on Saturday. Anyone working would have to take off the entire week and most people don't want to do that for just a 5 day cruise. The only reason we booked it was because of the credit which just about made it free but we have unlimited vacation time so taking off 5 days of work was no big deal. I have heard that the 4 day cruises that include a weekend have much younger passengers.

Because of the older crowd the anytime didn't work. Most everyone wanted to eat early. Lets face it no one wants to have a 2 hour dinner at 8 and then go to bed at ten. So please don't make judgments about sailing on Princess based on this cruise.

 

 

We are booked on one in a couple of weeks leaving Thurs and returning Monday, even though we both work we booked it as it falls over our Anniversary, We prefer eating between 7.30 - 8pm and always do anytime so hopefully everyone is eating at 5.30pm:D:D:D

I have found entertainment really lacking on Princess the last few years, unless you do trivia 5-8 times a day it's same old, same old.

We still like the Princess product but have booked our first RCL cruise for this year.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

We were on the same cruise, so I will add my thoughts to yours

 

 

Overall a great trip and have no issues with going again. Will use our credit from this cruise to book a 7 nighter in Dec probably on Ruby again. Any specific questions, I will try to answer them

 

Thanks for the comp :D

[OCruisers]

Ruby Princess 2014

Just returned from the Ruby 1-27-14 five day cruise to Princess Cay and Grand Turk. This is not really a review but just some random thoughts about the cruise. This was our 9th Princess cruise..

 

Thanks very much for your time to do this.

 

We were on the Crown Princess who was in Grand Turk last week with you.

Very crowded there but still fun.

 

Your thoughts are also helpful to those who will be on Ruby in 2015 when she will be doing 7 night cruises (Eastern & Western) which will make into great B2B cruises. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Belle]

It works the best if you eat after 7:30.

[caribill]

My husband on the other hand had a hard time finding vegetarian dishes he like, there was very little to choose from.

 

 

My wife is also vegetarian and has no problem. Each evening she meets with the headwaiter who has the menu for the next evening. They pick foods which are either vegetarian to start with or which can be modified to be vegetarian.

 

For example, the French onion soup is normally prepared using beef stock. The headwaiter can arrange for it to be made without using beef stock for someone who is a vegetarian.

[karena1]

It works the best if you eat after 7:30.

 

 

Not really - not on this cruise. We went down 2 nights after 8 and the lines were still crazy long. Why we opted for the buffet 3 out of the 5 nights. It was a universal complaint on the ship - anyone you talked to that had Anytime Dining thought the lines were awful. We do flexible dining always - have since it started on both Royal and Princess and never had we had waits like we did on Ruby. They either did not have enough people seating or not enough wait staff b/c once you got seated there were empty tables all over the place.

[chamima]

We were on the same cruise, so I will add my thoughts to yours

 

1. Thought embarkation was very easy, we were there early, sat in the Elite lounge until we could get on the ship. Dropped our stuff at the cabin and headed to the pool

 

Overall a great trip and have no issues with going again. Will use our credit from this cruise to book a 7 nighter in Dec probably on Ruby again. Any specific questions, I will try to answer them

 

59 Royal Caribbean Cruises, 4 Princess Cruises, 1 Celebrity Cruise

 

 

 

Just curious bow you are Elite after 4 Princess cruises?

 

I agree that these short cruises midweek tend to fill up with people who live nearby and don't work - read retirees - .

We went on a three day out of LA in November that was over a weekend and it was one of the youngest groups we've ever sailed with. Bars and the Casino were packed!

[msmoger]

So does anyone have any knowledge as to why the Anytime Dining was (is) such a problem on these short cruises? We've taken 6 Princess cruises, have always had Anytime Dining and have never encountered these problems. We've had waits once in a while, but never that bad or chronic. We do eat later (8:00 to 8:30) but from the comments, that doesn't seem to be the issue.

 

Thanks,

[stunnedinva]

So does anyone have any knowledge as to why the Anytime Dining was (is) such a problem on these short cruises? We've taken 6 Princess cruises, have always had Anytime Dining and have never encountered these problems. We've had waits once in a while, but never that bad or chronic. We do eat later (8:00 to 8:30) but from the comments, that doesn't seem to be the issue.

 

Thanks,

 

We didn't have any issues with Anytime Dining on the 4-day cruise prior to this one--even dining early, we didn't have to wait more than 5 minutes. I'm not sure why the 1/27 5-day cruise was so different, but the lines sometimes stretched almost to the IC.

[smtcan]

We were on the 13 & 18 January Ruby cruises. We had no problem with any time dining after the first night, but we usually ate between 7:30 and 8 pm. We did speak to one couple who had early dining, but said it was to early for them so they went to any time. This must compound the problems. On our Celebrity cruises, we had to give our cabin number as we went into the Select (any time) Dining section, and if you were not on the list you were either refused admittance or told to come back really late when there were empty tables.

 

Sheila