Ruby Princess caribe balcony C400's vs C300/500

Looking to book about 7 balconies for Mexico cruise. Looks like availabilities in C 300, 400, 500 areas. All seem like good locations, with 400 being slightly more money as it's pretty much right in the middle. Is there any problem with C 400's being near atrium elevator area. Leaning towards that area if no noise issues, as past experience is we use that elevator a lot.

Or if you have any other preferences for balconies, I would appreciate your thoughts.

We'd like to get all cabins close to each other

I don't think you will have any problems at all. Lots of people seem to think the middle of the ship is preferable because of motion, but we always get an AFT cabin and prefer it because we don't want the hallway noise that might come from being closer to the elevators. Lots of people don't want to walk the entire length of the ship to their cabin, so prefer the middle.

We have been mid ship on Princess several times and NEVER had the noise issues. I think you will be fine in the area you are considering.

Looking to book about 7 balconies for Mexico cruise. Looks like availabilities in C 300, 400, 500 areas. All seem like good locations, with 400 being slightly more money as it's pretty much right in the middle. Is there any problem with C 400's being near atrium elevator area. Leaning towards that area if no noise issues, as past experience is we use that elevator a lot.

Or if you have any other preferences for balconies, I would appreciate your thoughts.

We'd like to get all cabins close to each other

I've sailed in the midship balcony cabins on various Princess ships & never experienced any noise issues from elevators or their lobby area.

I've never had an inside cabin adjacent to the elevators because of any potential noise which is more likely to be an issue if there's something other than cabins above or below you.

My wife is very susceptible to all types of motion sickness & thus avoids forward cabins which can experience more motion. She has no problems with mid-aft or aft cabins and with booking 7 balcony cabins I'd recommend considering those options. The larger (9'x9') partially covered Caribe deck balconies are our favorite ones however all balconies on Caribe are the same & we'd select an aft cabin now that the midship ones have a premium price solely because of it's location.

My personal preference would be the cabins in the 500's. While we have never experienced noise when staying in cabins near the elevators we have found that the midship elevators on the larger Princess ships (i.e., Ruby, Crown, Royal, Regal) tend to be overloaded during peak hours so we try to book closer to the aft elevators. We don't care for forward cabins because of motion.

We prefer the upper 500's to 600's cabins. We were on the May 15th Ruby in Caribe cabin 627; it was a great location. The only downside is if you do your own laundry--the laundry room was pretty far forward.

Are the C200 cabins on Ruby ok? Big balcony, partially covered?

We were in C400s on the Ruby and loved the location near the central elevators. We thought it was an excellent location.

Are the C200 cabins on Ruby ok? Big balcony, partially covered?

Any Caribe deck balcony (on the Grand class and Crown class ships) has the 9 by 9 balcony, partly covered. That is good by most of our standards.

The only thing concerning about the 200 cabins is that they are forward. Depending on the itinerary and time of year, the forward cabins can be bouncy. We have cruised in a number of C200s and loved it. The fares are cheaper, and my wife and I don't find that movement equals seasickness.

Jim

Any Caribe deck balcony (on the Grand class and Crown class ships) has the 9 by 9 balcony, partly covered. That is good by most of our standards.

 

The only thing concerning about the 200 cabins is that they are forward. Depending on the itinerary and time of year, the forward cabins can be bouncy. We have cruised in a number of C200s and loved it. The fares are cheaper, and my wife and I don't find that movement equals seasickness.

 

Jim

Jim, thanks for your quick response! I like movement and the price is right, we will book them today! :D

The only thing concerning about the 200 cabins is that they are forward. Depending on the itinerary and time of year, the forward cabins can be bouncy. We have cruised in a number of C200s and loved it. The fares are cheaper, and my wife and I don't find that movement equals seasickness.

 

Jim

Our last cruise I made the mistake of booking B202 - right at the front of the ship - on the Grand. It was a very rough ride. Didn't bother my wife but I had a hard time sleeping. (Neither of us got seasick). There was also a lack of privacy on the balcony even though it was fully covered. Anyone on the bridge could see most of the balcony.

Our last cruise I made the mistake of booking B202 - right at the front of the ship - on the Grand...There was also a lack of privacy on the balcony even though it was fully covered. Anyone on the bridge could see most of the balcony.

I was told by a crewmember that all balconies can be seen by security cameras. Not sure if this is true, but these days I wouldn't be surprised.

There are some balcony cabins in the 500's on the Ruby Caribe deck that are adjoining cabins(from inside, like hotel rooms). We have 4 of them this December. Works great if you have kids in separate cabins.

Doesn't work well if you don't want that interior door. On the Princess web site if you put in adjoining cabins, these will come up. We have cruised Princess for many years and never knew this till we actually wanted adjoinings. There are 5 on each side of ship on both Caribe

and Baja decks.

For us, we usually book Towards the aft on Caribe deck. Nice and quiet back there in the 700's.

There are some balcony cabins in the 500's on the Ruby Caribe deck that are adjoining cabins(from inside, like hotel rooms)...

I wonder why Princess doesn't indicate this on deck plans they way HAL does, for instance? It would be very helpful to those who specifically do (and don't) want this type of cabin.

There are some balcony cabins in the 500's on the Ruby Caribe deck that are adjoining cabins(from inside, like hotel rooms). We have 4 of them this December. Works great if you have kids in separate cabins.

Doesn't work well if you don't want that interior door. On the Princess web site if you put in adjoining cabins, these will come up. We have cruised Princess for many years and never knew this till we actually wanted adjoinings. There are 5 on each side of ship on both Caribe

and Baja decks.

For us, we usually book Towards the aft on Caribe deck. Nice and quiet back there in the 700's.

We are booked for Aug 5 in Alaska and have just been informed that the 3 (unconnecting) rooms we have in the 500's are "twin only" meaning families that sleep 3 or 4. That will put my pregnant daughter sleeping on an upper bunk, as her youngest is too little to sleep in uppers. We are beyond disappointed with our TA, but wondering if the bottom bunks can be put together and the mattress from the upper laid on the floor for the littles?

I wonder why Princess doesn't indicate this on deck plans they way HAL does, for instance? It would be very helpful to those who specifically do (and don't) want this type of cabin.

We are booked for Aug 5 in Alaska and have just been informed that the 3 (unconnecting) rooms we have in the 500's are "twin only" meaning families that sleep 3 or 4. That will put my pregnant daughter sleeping on an upper bunk, as her youngest is too little to sleep in uppers. We are beyond disappointed with our TA, but wondering if the bottom bunks can be put together and the mattress from the upper laid on the floor for the littles?

If not, perhaps your/her next best option would be a small inflatable (such as a pool raft) for the little one to sleep on. The room steward could put sheets on it at night and it would be small and light enough to stand up and tuck away during the day. The problem with putting the upper mattress on the floor is that it would be too big and heavy to put away each morning and it would be in your way during the day. The only floor space for it would be in front of the desk/refrigerator and the balcony door. I would think tripping on it would be a pretty big hazard, especially for a pregnant woman.

Thanks, leaves me hope that the bottoms can be made into a queen anyway. I'm taking 4 engineers with me, so we'll figure out something. I'll try to remember to post our results when we get back. We are C530, C534 and C535 and apparently the ship is totally booked.

Thanks again!

The lower beds can be put into a queen when there are no upper bunks in use. The only problem with making the bottoms into a queen is that they are not supposed to do that when there are 3 or 4 people booked. With the upper bunk(s) occupied the lower combined bed gets in the way of the access ladder and the steward has to stand on the combined bed to make up the upper. So the computer won't allow you to request it if three or more are booked into the room. Some stewards are fine with it if you ask once onboard. However, the adults using the lower bed will need to be a little bit of contortionists to get into the bed, as they must crawl in from the end or stoop and duck walk along the edge.

If your grandchild will not use the upper bunk and will be sleeping on the floor on a blow up, there is no problem putting the lowers together. Tell your engineers to look also at the closet floor space. A lot of folks put the little kiddo in there on a sleeping mat.

LBNL, While none of your cabins connect with each other, cabin C530 is a connecting cabin (with C526).