1st Princess cruise. Do tell...

[Nicki61]

1st Princess cruise just booked on the Ruby 11/29/08.

 

We have sailed Carnival, NCL and HAL.

 

All you Princess cruisers must have things you love about Princess.

 

Do tell!

 

Tell me why Princess is your choice.

What will I love about it?

What should I avoid?

Secret places to visit on the ship? HAL had a couple.

What food not to miss? HAL had the chocolates and cookies.

 

You know, I want to know EVERYTHING! :D

 

I am really surprised at the location of the mini-suites,

not being higher on the ship.

Tell me about the sanctuary.

 

Thanks, Nicki

 

 

[chrysalis]

Take a look (search) for reviews and threads about the Emerald and the Crown, since they are sisterships of the yet-to-be-launched Ruby.

[Nicki61]

Take a look (search) for reviews and threads about the Emerald and the Crown, since they are sisterships of the yet-to-be-launched Ruby.

 

Yup been doing that. That is how I actually was comfortable enough to book a new ship.

[penkitten86]

you are going to love everything about princess. I did. What not too miss. Well if your a ice cream fan. Every afternoon in the horizon court buffet area they have a ice cream sundae bar. The time is about 3:30 or so.

Second thing not to miss is the 50 to 75 percent off sale in one of the main dinning room. I don't remember the day. And maybe some one on here could kindly tell me if they remember but they bring all the access clothing jewerly and other items to the one big room and everyone on the tables is 50 to 75 percent off. So if you a big shopping fan. Do go to that.

I have been on two princess cruises One was great. Second was okay. If I had had my big luggage bag :(.

Anyway have a fantastic, wonderful and enjoyable time.

edie

[Rob & Beckys mom]

I love the fact that you can buy future cruise credits for only $100 each & can use these as your deposit on a cruise later plus get shipboard credit when you use them. Never leave the ship without buying at least one of them.

My favorite thing about Emerald was the International cafe. The sanctuary was empty most of the time, but it got raves from those that did use it.

The caribe deck has the biggest balcony's & are half covered for shade & half open for the sun.

Favorite food has to be the escargot, be sure & ask when it will be served as it is not always on the menu lately. Free ice cream everyday in the horizen court from 3pm to 4pm. Go early there will be a long line:) . Also at that same time there will be leftover tea goodies there as well. We usually take back some to our room for our private cocktail party on our balcony.

Happy to answer any questions that I am able to. Not an expert by any means...only been on 8 cruises. Our last cruise a couple at our table were on their 84th!!

 

Jan

[Princess Chatterer]

Nicki, since you have made 399 posts on Cruise Critic with all of your recent ones in the Princess discussion boards I thought you would be a Princess expert by now.

[Nicki61]

Nicki, since you have made 399 posts on Cruise Critic with all of your recent ones in the Princess discussion boards I thought you would be a Princess expert by now.

 

 

Not quiet yet an expert, don't know if I will ever make "expert" status. I have to read and ask quesitons before I make a decision. I did ask enough questions to book my cruise though. Now I am getting information.

 

Not really all that many on Princess boards either, I just checked.

 

Nick

[Princess Chatterer]

I believe Princess is the best cruise bang for the buck, period. Get on board as soon as they open the gangway on embarkation day. 1. Check and see if they are serving lunch at either of the atrium dining rooms. 2. Head to your cabin and grab your Princess Patter newsletter On that day's schedule there will be several walking tours offered covering the entire ship. 3. Make a reservation that afternoon, outside Explorer's lounge, for early dinner that night at Sabatini's. Great food and never crowded on embarkation night. 4. Go to the CC sail away party (See roll calls).

 

P.S. I'm on the 11/15 Ruby cruise. We'll leave the light on for you. ;)

[kittikat]

I talked to my travel agent who called Princess and was told on the Ruby the Aloha and Baha balconies are covered and the Caribe and Dolphin are exposed. No half and half on Caribe deck on the Ruby. can anyone verify this?

[Princess Chatterer]

The Ruby construction photos I've examined strongly suggest that the balconies on the Ruby on all decks are identical to the balconies on the Crown and Emerald.

[Guest arowe6]

1st Princess cruise just booked on the Ruby 11/29/08.

 

We have sailed Carnival, NCL and HAL.

 

All you Princess cruisers must have things you love about Princess.

 

Do tell!

 

Tell me why Princess is your choice.

What will I love about it?

What should I avoid?

Secret places to visit on the ship? HAL had a couple.

What food not to miss? HAL had the chocolates and cookies.

 

You know, I want to know EVERYTHING! :D

 

I am really surprised at the location of the mini-suites,

not being higher on the ship.

Tell me about the sanctuary.

 

Thanks, Nicki

 

 

 

1. We chose Princess based on a reccomendation from my best friend. She said we'd love it....we did. Plus she was always great for answering questions as well as fellow CC'ers.

 

2. We love the wide variety of people. Not all old. Not all drunk. A great mix. The overall "class" of the ship is nice too. Not too stuffy. Not too party. Just a wonderful variety.

 

3. Avoid the buffet at peak times. Yuck!!!

 

4. On some ships (I think Grand Class) there is a 'secret' deck above the bridge offering a great view. Go on the lido deck and walk all the way forward. You'll find it.

 

5. We found the food to be good overall. We loved the Escargot, sorbet and the Beef Wellington.

 

 

Enjoy your cruise. It's all what you make of it.

-Andrew :)

[CalGal254]

Andrew, thanks for the info on that Lido deck area. Our stateroom on the Golden (which I believe is a Grand class) is on Lido, and I kept looking at the deck diagram and thinking it looked like there was an observation deck there, but I couldn't find any information on if it was actually a passenger-accessible deck or not. So thanks for solving that mystery. This is our first Princess, too, and we're really looking forward to it; we've heard so many nice things about Princess!

Irene

[Guest arowe6]

Andrew, thanks for the info on that Lido deck area. Our stateroom on the Golden (which I believe is a Grand class) is on Lido, and I kept looking at the deck diagram and thinking it looked like there was an observation deck there, but I couldn't find any information on if it was actually a passenger-accessible deck or not. So thanks for solving that mystery. This is our first Princess, too, and we're really looking forward to it; we've heard so many nice things about Princess!

Irene

 

The first thing we did once we got on the ship and in the cabin was go out onto that deck and enjoy the sights. Because we were one of the first groups to board, the ship was pretty much empty when we got on so we had the deck all to ourselves. It was beautiful!!!

 

Enjoy your cruise.

-Andrew:)

[Nicki61]

Thanks for the information. I will be eating ice cream and cookies at 3, shopping on the discount day, not hitting the buffet at peak times(which is me anyway, I always go later) and trying to find the secret deck .

 

thanks...

[Nicki61]

I love the fact that you can buy future cruise credits for only $100 each & can use these as your deposit on a cruise later plus get shipboard credit when you use them. Never leave the ship without buying at least one of them.

 

 

Jan

 

 

Jan can you explain Future Cruise Credits to me?

 

Nicki

[caribill]

can you explain Future Cruise Credits to me?

 

When onboard, you can purchase FCCs for $100 each. They must be used within four years or you can request your money back.

 

The benefits:

a) Reduced deposit of $100 per person for two people in a cabin when you do make a reservation (either while on board or within the four years). The $100 that you pay for a FCC can be used as that deposit for one person and you can pay $100 for the deposit for the second person. So at this point, the FCC has cost you nothing as you have used it to pay part of your next Princess cruise.

b) An onboard credit for both people in the cabin based on type of room and length of cruise. Starts at $25 each for an inside cabin for a 7 day cruise. Gpoes up to $150 per person for an outside cabin for 16 or more days. Basically, it is free money.

[Mangojh2]

My favorite thing is the pool. Not sea water, not chlorine. I could stay in the pool all day long.

 

Also you aren't assigned tables which is a big deal to my boyfriend. He prefers to dine just the two of us.

[Nicki61]

Thank you for the explanation. Now it makes sense.

 

Nick

[Diane Rose]

I am really surprised at the location of the mini-suites,

not being higher on the ship.

 

 

This is our first Princess cruise also. Does anyone know the answer to this question? Every other line that I have been on always seems to put the mini-suites near the top. I find it convenient in the morning when I am walking up to fill our travel mugs with coffee. Maybe it's to make me walk so I can get some exercise to work off the extra pounds I will put on.:D

[Boiler Cruiser]

This is our first Princess cruise also. Does anyone know the answer to this question? Every other line that I have been on always seems to put the mini-suites near the top. I find it convenient in the morning when I am walking up to fill our travel mugs with coffee. Maybe it's to make me walk so I can get some exercise to work off the extra pounds I will put on.:D

 

Go to the Princess website. You will see the deck plans for all the Princess ships there. I think that you will find that with about 85% of the accommodations having balconies throughout the fleet, that the upper decks do have minisuites.

 

I am going to be on the Island Princess and we are on the Baja Deck and have a minisuite.

[Nicki61]

boiler Cruiser- I have and I just rechecked the deck plans of the Ruby(although I have to use Emerald or Crown) and there are no mini suites above the Dolphin deck. In fact there are only mini-suites on the Dolphin deck. AA, AB, AC or AD. There are hundreds of balcony rooms, but not mini suites.

 

 

[CKDoodle]

We've cruised all the lines you have. We took our first Princess cruise in February. We've booked another Princess cruise next year. We LOVED everything about it!!! HAL is a close second, but we will go Princess from now on if the itineraries we want are available.:D