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Live from the Ruby princess....

Julia’s Journey’s

By Julia’s Journey’s,
in Princess Cruises

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Pia1913

Pia1913

Posted
Posted
Julia,

 

Does the Ruby still have cheese plates on the dessert menus in the dining rooms? Hope they haven't traded those for the $4.50 ones. And how do they keep the non-suite people out of breakfast in Sabatinis? Thanks!

 

Your cruise card lists your name, so I'm sure they have a list of names of the suite passengers.

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teachergal29

teachergal29

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Your cruise card lists your name, so I'm sure they have a list of names of the suite passengers.

 

OK, this made me think of a question too. Having never sailed in a full suite on Princess, how does the crew on the ship know that you are in a suite? I know on HAL, our actual cruise card was a different color. This way when we went to disembark the ship we just flashed our certain colored card and walked right off without having to stand in line. Also, we got to have breakfast in their specialty restaurant on their ships called the Pinnacle Grill. All we had to do was show the staff our special colored card as a suite guest and no one asked us anything.

Does Princess have that kind of set up for those passengers in the full suites? We will be in our first on Princess this Dec. on the Golden. We were even hoping that we may get the breakfast in Sabbatini's. :)

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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OK, this made me think of a question too. Having never sailed in a full suite on Princess, how does the crew on the ship know that you are in a suite? I know on HAL, our actual cruise card was a different color. This way when we went to disembark the ship we just flashed our certain colored card and walked right off without having to stand in line. Also, we got to have breakfast in their specialty restaurant on their ships called the Pinnacle Grill. All we had to do was show the staff our special colored card as a suite guest and no one asked us anything.

Does Princess have that kind of set up for those passengers in the full suites? We will be in our first on Princess this Dec. on the Golden. We were even hoping that we may get the breakfast in Sabbatini's. :)

 

Why would the crew need to know you're in a full suite? The perks you get are in your suite, not out of it )i.e. free setup, video player; canapes, etc). As for disembarkation, are you referring to port stops or last stop? When tendering, priority tickets will be sent to your cabin; same as Elite status. As for Sabatini's breakfast, this is something new on Ruby only. Perhaps they'll add it to the other ships in future.

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teachergal29

teachergal29

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Why would the crew need to know you're in a full suite? The perks you get are in your suite, not out of it )i.e. free setup, video player; canapes, etc). As for disembarkation, are you referring to port stops or last stop? When tendering, priority tickets will be sent to your cabin; same as Elite status. As for Sabatini's breakfast, this is something new on Ruby only. Perhaps they'll add it to the other ships in future.

 

Well, I'm just going with the perks that are similar to the two cruise lines, HAL and Princess, for full suites. I guess I was thinking of the port days when everyone else was in line to get off the ship whether we were docked or tendered. We never got in line, just went up to the front or off to the side of the line (they had a separate slot scanner to put our card into). When the crew saw our card they just let us get off the ship then or on the next tender. No biggy, just a nice perk. Never dealt with priority tendered tickets because the color of the card just let us walk off.

You are right in the the suite breakfast at Sabatini's is a new perk and we'll see how Princess will handle it. I'm very excited about this new addition as well as others. I thought I read somewhere that Princess was intending to add some of these wonderful new additional services fleet wide. Time will tell.

I'm just excited about sailing in our first full suite on Princess expecially over the holidays. A real treat for us!!

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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Well, I'm just going with the perks that are similar to the two cruise lines, HAL and Princess, for full suites. I guess I was thinking of the port days when everyone else was in line to get off the ship whether we were docked or tendered. We never got in line, just went up to the front or off to the side of the line (they had a separate slot scanner to put our card into). When the crew saw our card they just let us get off the ship then or on the next tender. No biggy, just a nice perk. Never dealt with priority tendered tickets because the color of the card just let us walk off.

You are right in the the suite breakfast at Sabatini's is a new perk and we'll see how Princess will handle it. I'm very excited about this new addition as well as others. I thought I read somewhere that Princess was intending to add some of these wonderful new additional services fleet wide. Time will tell.

I'm just excited about sailing in our first full suite on Princess expecially over the holidays. A real treat for us!!

 

Even with our zillion Princess cruises, we've never yet had a full suite. And, we never will. Unless of course Princess deems us deserving of one in lieu of our assigned accomodation. :D

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teachergal29

teachergal29

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Even with our zillion Princess cruises, we've never yet had a full suite. And, we never will. Unless of course Princess deems us deserving of one in lieu of our assigned accomodation. :D

 

You never know. We had a BB on our June,'08 Alaska cruise and had it "pegged it" not to upgrade. About 3 weeks out from the cruise, our TA called and asked if we wanted to be upgraded to a mini-suite. Princess was upgrading us. Even though we gave up our coveted aft balcony(C752), we opted for the extra room and bathtub of the mini over the wake.:)

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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You never know. We had a BB on our June,'08 Alaska cruise and had it "pegged it" not to upgrade. About 3 weeks out from the cruise, our TA called and asked if we wanted to be upgraded to a mini-suite. Princess was upgrading us. Even though we gave up our coveted aft balcony(C752), we opted for the extra room and bathtub of the mini over the wake.:)

 

Minis are not full suites. We've gotten mini upgrades many time. Hey Princess..........still waiting for the big one. :D

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Sunviking

Sunviking

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Princess does not have a special card for suite passengers. Your card is based on your status in the Captains Circle (Platinum - silver card, Elite - black card). There is also no priority disembarkation at regular ports. At tender ports you do have priority tender tickets delivered to your room so you can get off whenever you wish to.

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Lynda90

Lynda90

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Greetings from the beautiful Ruby Princess! I am typing this in msworks and hope my copy and paste works ok. I want to try to preserve some my the precious internet time. BTW, I brought my new baby acer laptop with me and am using wifi in my cabin. Such a pleasure.

 

Embarkation was a breeze for me. Stayed at Hampton Suites in Plantation, FL where they provided a free shuttle from a/p and to pier. Also have free parking for those who drive. Signed up for 10 AM shuttle and got to pier shortly before 10:30. Porter waiting and immediately took our bags. Walked into building and was told to go to Plat/Elite area. They started boarding around 11:15 or so with those needing extra help and then Elite, etc. I was checked in and went to my cabin by around 11:30 AM. An absolutely painless embarkation.

 

I immediately called to try to make reservations for Ultimate Ships Tour for 3 of us. They were all booked up and even the waitlist was booked up????? How does that happen so quickly you ask. That’s what I would like to know. Not happy but will try to get in on week 2 of my b2b. Fared better with Chef’s Table which will be tomorrow night. We have a large group from roll call going to the Crown Grill on Wed.

 

Our official M&M was a huge success thanks to dsawyer from our roll call. She had personalized invitations made up and sent them to staff. We also had some other wonderful members who made buttons and door magnets for us. dsawyer also took care of getting everything set up and providing Ruby Inaugural nametags for all of us. Thank you Dorothy!

 

Well to my surprise and the highlight of our M&M, guess who showed up---yep, Captain McCharming himself (Tony Yeomans). And charming, witty and personable he is. And guess what else---he reads these boards and commented on this thread in particular. So I am trying to butter him up so he will comp my next cruise! Yeah, like that would happen. :rolleyes: But, he is just great. He spoke to us for quite some time, let us take all the pictures we wanted with him and answered our questions.

 

An interesting point the Captain made was whether cruise critic was an appropriate name for our group. Because it seems to suggest that we are all critics and that is not what this group is really about. At least I don’t think so. Something else that he put to rest is the rumor that’s been going around this board for the past year about another level after Elite. Captain Yeomans told us there are no plans whatsoever for this to happen.

 

The staff ranges from excellent to down right rude. I have heard this from time to time from others on other ships but had not experienced it myself. Well I have on this trip. I called passenger services with some questions and was greeted with some curt and snippy answers. I couldn’t even get my full question out before I was given an answer to something I wasn’t even asking about. Julia also had this happen and was not happy about the treatment she received. On another occasion I called just to find out what night the Chef’s Table was and once again I was not allowed to complete my question and was answered that they were all full and had no spots available???? Not the question I needed an answer to. Other staff members are excellent and very helpful. My cabin steward is very nice and accommodating. Could not ask for a better one. His name is Lito and you will be lucky if you get him.

 

We have anytime dining and it’s worked fine for us. But we eat late so we are not good indicators. I know those in late, traditional were complaining about very slow service, no dessert menus until they finally asked and then not having time for it if they wanted to make the show.

 

The new English Pub is wonderful; superb service and we had delicious fish and chips and cottage pie at our table. Other food we’ve had has been good and our anytime dining staff gave us great service. Had same staff both nights.

 

Went to a fabulous show last night in the Princess Theatre called Adbacadabra (yes, it’s spelled correctly). I thought I was at an Abba concert. They put on an absolutely terrific show and are excellent performers. I didn’t go to the Welcome Aboard show but heard it was very, very good.

 

Our itinerary has been changed slightly due to the hurricane but we are able to get to all ports. Today was Cozumel and the weather couldn’t be any better and actually we’ve had great weather the whole time. This is my first cabin without a balcony and so far I haven’t missed it at all. I am on the Emerald deck in an aft cabin and I’m completely satisfied with it. That’s all for now as it is time for some fun in the sun followed by a high tea. Ciao! :p

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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Hi Linda, and thanks for adding to what Julia's already written. I'm looking forward to meeting Capt. McCharming (love the name) at the Most Travelled Lunch. I assume you'll be attending them, yes?

 

I hadn't planned on packing yet for Nov. 22nd, but with all this good Ruby stuff flying back and forth I'm getting anxious. Suitcases are coming down tomorrow!

 

Keep enjoying it all and I'll keep reading it all.

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Lynda90

Lynda90

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Hi Linda, and thanks for adding to what Julia's already written. I'm looking forward to meeting Capt. McCharming (love the name) at the Most Travelled Lunch. I assume you'll be attending them, yes?

 

I hadn't planned on packing yet for Nov. 22nd, but with all this good Ruby stuff flying back and forth I'm getting anxious. Suitcases are coming down tomorrow!

 

Keep enjoying it all and I'll keep reading it all.

Hi Pia,

 

No lunch, there is a cocktail party. I won't get invited this week; maybe next week. There are over 300 Elite on this cruise. I am so far down the list, I'm not even an honarable mention. :p

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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Hi Pia,

 

No lunch, there is a cocktail party. I won't get invited this week; maybe next week. There are over 300 Elite on this cruise. I am so far down, the list, I'm not even an honarable mention. :p

 

OMG! I thought you had a zillion days. You never know.

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CassCruise

CassCruise

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Waving a big HI Lynda and Julia:cool::D:) - thanks so much for all the info - awesome - sounds like so much fun - Julia how could you have slept through such a meet and greet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to hear about the Crown Grill and also the Chef's Table - are Julia and Aub going to that as well???

 

Jane

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Pia1913

Pia1913

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Lynda,

Do you have a picture of Captain McCharming? I am going on the Ruby 3/21/09 and would love to see him ahead of time. :p

Have a wonderful time!

Thank you

 

Peg

 

Here's the Captain, along with Gavin McLeod and Trista & Ryan Sutter

 

 

Ruby_Princess_Naming_16.jpg

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singwithjoy

singwithjoy

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Who cares what color the bedspread is! Tell me what the choice of entertainment is? What is playing on MUTS?

I want to know if they are doing almost the same kind of entertainment on Ruby as they did on the CB. We went two years in a row on the CB

They had the exact same shows and entertainers as the last year.

That got old. If they do this on the Ruby we wont be going.

Is the Horizon Court Buffet a crowded mess? Especially at breakfast.

By the time you found a seat your eggs were cold. Please tell me they improved this on the Ruby? Is the coffee at the buffett good?

There were a lot of complaints about the coffee on the CB.

Has Hurricane Paloma bothered your cruise at all?

Thanks for the information have a fun cruise!!

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