Ruby Princess Review *First Time Cruisers

[Canadian_Made]

We just finished our cruise (Jan 24-31) and we are hooked. My wife (25) and I (31) loved every minute. We enjoyed every port and experienced so much.

 

Highlights

 

Breakfest in the dining rooms (Loved each and every morning that we ate there)

 

Piazza had incredible shows, lots of great video taken

 

Ruby Princess ship was beautiful and well laid out, never really felt cluttered with a sold out ship

 

Casino, especially cause we won!

 

Dinner in the dining room were very good and we were surprised due to prior reviews that it was so good, the fettucine alfredo was great!

 

Staff were always very pleasant with the exception of a few of them

 

Shows were fantastic

 

Our room (e628) was obstructed but it wasn't a big deal, bed was very comfortable.

 

MUTS, amazing

 

PIZZA on Lido deck, hmmm soo good!

 

Minor Complaints

 

Photos taken of us were very nice but very pricey $24.99 ea or you could get a combo deal. Still very expensive especially when the rest of the ship is fairly priced (except for the internet).

 

Crown Grill - Did not like at all, server was rude and food was not "great" we found that we were more pleased with the dining rooms. We were going to try Sabatini's but this experience kept us away.

 

Age Group, it was hard for us to find people of our age group. This wasn't a big deal, we made friends with alot of people but it would of been nice to find some more passengers around our age group.

 

Overall this was our best vacation and we are already starting to plan our next cruise.

 

10+++

[chrysalis]

Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise, and glad to see you had a great time.

 

Booking the next one will be fun, as long as you don't book a cruise on Scugog:eek:

[Canadian_Made]

Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise, and glad to see you had a great time.

 

Booking the next one will be fun, as long as you don't book a cruise on Scugog:eek:

 

LOL... No no, we are only interested in the hot climates lol.

[Psee]

Very nice review, thanks!

 

Just wondering how you decided on the Ruby (and Princess) for your first cruise? (It took us a couple of tries on other lines before we settled in with Princess.)

[hllwdcruiser]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write a review. We are newbies to Princess - so I can't speak of Princess demographics except for what I've read on CC- but from my past experience, I would say that RCCL and Carnival have more passengers in your age range. So glad you had a great time anyway - I really enjoyed reading all your positive comments.:)

[Canadian_Made]

We started to look at cruises and mainly looking at the itinerary's for each cruise, this one had what we wanted and then we looked into the ship and how the reviews were and when it was built etc... this one was what we were looking for so we booked it and we were glad that it met and exceeded our expectations.

[descal13]

We did our very first cruise on Princess, too, and loved every minute of it. My husband and I are taking our dream cruise in May, the Grand Mediterranean, aboard the Ruby Princess, and so looking forward to it. Thanks for posting your thoughts!

[janabug]

Canadian_Made, I actually grew up in Whitby. Good to hear you were as pleased with Princess as my husband and I were. We had the same tiny complaint as well though, not too many 20 somethings on our cruises either. We made due though.

 

Odd Question: Did you take and pictures of the menu's by any chance? My mom will be sailing on the Ruby in March and her friend is allergic to Wheat and wants to peruse the menu's ahead of time.

 

Thanks

Jana

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[DrivesLikeMario]

No wonder you had a good time - you have a great attitude! ;)

[sunsetbeachgal]

Hi Canadian,

 

Glad to hear you are hooked! A suggestion for your next cruise-the ten day Carribbean itineraries that Emerald currently does which is switching to Ruby next season. We just returned from one, and it was fabulous. The ship does two different itineraries and we did the other one last January (or you could always do back-to-back cruises-quite a few lucky folks did!).

 

Carole

[Canadian_Made]

Canadian_Made, I actually grew up in Whitby. Good to hear you were as pleased with Princess as my husband and I were. We had the same tiny complaint as well though, not too many 20 somethings on our cruises either. We made due though.

 

Odd Question: Did you take and pictures of the menu's by any chance? My mom will be sailing on the Ruby in March and her friend is allergic to Wheat and wants to peruse the menu's ahead of time.

 

Thanks

Jana

 

No sorry, no pictures of the menu. I will be posting some video on youtube shortly.

[Canadian_Made]

Yes we noticed that the Ruby is switching next year... hopefully we can do it again as soon as next year and that one that your referring to is what interests us.

[lunchcutter]

thank you for taking the time to submit your review:p

[rdsqrl]

Thank you for your review; it's always fun to see a cruise through first-timers' eyes. So glad you enjoyed cruising -- welcome to the addiction. Hope you bought Future Cruise Credits!

Just out of curiousity, how obstructed was E628?

[stanford's girl]

Photos taken of us were very nice but very pricey $24.99 ea or you could get a combo deal.

Wow, $24.99 for an 8 X 10 is expensive!! Carnival and RCI are only $19.99 a pic. Do you remember what their "combo deal" was?

[Canadian_Made]

The view was not bad at all, attached are a couple of pictures.

[Canadian_Made]

Wow' date=' $24.99 for an 8 X 10 is expensive!! Carnival and RCI are only $19.99 a pic. Do you remember what their "combo deal" was? [/color']

 

I don't remember all the details... I think it was buy 3 and get one free or buy 2 and get the Reflections DVD for $10 instead of $34.99

[Canadian_Made]

Here is a video I took of the Piazza Entertainers...

 

[Adventures ahead]

Canadian Made,

 

So glad you gave cruising a try at such a 'young' age. Most 'kids' want to do all-inclusives but we love the adventure of waking up in a different country (almost) every day and going to a different beach (almost) every day or some other adventure. Our first cruise was at 25 as well... 25 years married! Ha! Now, 13 years later, #8 is the Emerald this Feb and #9 is the Ruby Greek cruise this June. Alot of people, young and old(er), who knock cruising before they try it, worry that a cruise will be too restrictive but, I ask, what's more restrictive than an AI where it's same thing, different day and the entertainment doesn't compare.

 

I think you'll find a younger crowd on 7-day cruises, and there are lots of them out there - less $ for couples starting out and families or anyone looking for a getaway. We've cruised Royal Caribbean the most (similar to Princess, IMHO), and were really disappointed with Carnival the one time we tried it. The dining room experience is big for us, and it was awful, in a bad way, but it may have been luck of the draw.

 

Cheers to you!

[kerrytens]

Thanks for taking the time to review your cruise, and glad to see you had a great time.

 

Booking the next one will be fun, as long as you don't book a cruise on Scugog:eek:

First, thanks for the review!!!! So nice to hear you loved your cruise and the Ruby in particular. Can't wait to sail her one day too!

Now, Chrysalis - Scugog?? How do you know Scugog??? OMG, the 3 of us must all be from the same area of the world! No 'cruising' in swamp central (or worse) for this gal :eek:

Miriam (who is working on cruise #2 right now!)

[F5Loar]

Our 32nd cruise was on the Ruby a few weeks ago and it sounds like you had the same experience we had. I too found the Crowne Grill not up to par or at least not worth the extra cost when your meal in the main DR is already paid for and just as good. The Ruby and other Princess ship like her have a lot to offer and would be a great first timers ship to experience. As far as age groups that varies every week. Remember you can pick the ship, pick your date and where you want to go but can never pick the other 2000+/- people going with you that week. So don't let that bother you. You picked a great ship and with great places to go on a great time of the year to go.

[Aquarius12]

Thanks for your review. Nice to hear that the Ruby is a great ship. We just got off the Grand Princess Jan 30 and we really enjoyed it. My husband and I are thinking of going on the Ruby next. We really like Princess cruise lines and are looking forward to planning our next cruise on Princess.

 

This was our 3rd cruise and we were addicted after our first one. We are both 36 and enjoyed meeting people of all ages but we did miss the younger crowd at Skywalkers. We would go dancing there every night and most nights there was hardly anyone there. The DJ was great though so we still danced away. :-)

 

We were told that the Ruby and Emerald would have a younger crowd but I guess it depends when we book.

[Dorset Cruiser]

I don't remember all the details... I think it was buy 3 and get one free or buy 2 and get the Reflections DVD for $10 instead of $34.99

 

 

My DIL said she bought three of their formal photographs and got the fourth one free.

[Canadian_Made]

Yea, there were a few combo deals available on the ship. They still were quite pricey imo