Griff4AU

Thanks for the review. We were on the Ruby for the sailing on the 20th and had a very different take on the "naughty table" (love the term).

If it (wine) was in your checked luggage, it would have been removed. They have a pretty reasonable 1 bottle per person policy, so how else do you expect them to check?

We too were sent to the "naughty table" and spent less than 15 seconds there. The gentleman asked how much we were bringing, and as I was pulling out a bottle to show him said "just two". He smiled and said "thanks, you're all set." I left the "naughty table" thinking, "Darn, I could have carried on 5 bottles." Then we boarded, bought the beverage package, and didn't even drink the wine.

So how would you suggest they handle the checking of "one bottle per person" differently?

Welcome to the world of water. I can’t and won’t pretend to be a snorkel expert, and I am sure the others who are snorkel pros on here will chime in shortly. However as a 30++ year diver who’s a divemaster, I can chime in on a few things.

 

You mentioned Pennekampe. If you’re a SoFL family, I can add a little about what impacts our visibility down here. So to answer the:

I have a few basic question. So what affects water clarity so much? Is it rain, wind? One day at John Pennekampe, just off the beach, we could hardly see anything and two days later I could see 20 feet.

.... the answer is "Yes." Down here it all does, although we tend to pay most attention to rain and surf conditions. If we have some higher tides and currents in the area, the visibility is often reduced for a few days after that – even in areas that are somewhat protected. There is no magic formula. If you become active snorkelers, get to know a dive shop where you are going to snorkel, and the day you’re going to snorkel give them a call and ask them if they have had any reports of the visibility near where you’re going. And download MagicSeaWeed on your smartphone for the current and forecasted surf conditions.

 

As for your cruise, I love diving Cozumel and Roatan (out of those 4) the best, but I cannot speak to the snorkeling. I will defer to others on the snorkeling. The viz was 150+ feet (without any exaggeration) last week in Cozumel.

 

Fogging is every snorkelers and divers dilemma. The guy at the shop offered some pretty common advice. All new masks have a film on them that must be (gently) scrubbed off. Many use toothpaste, the cheaper the better, for that. Defoggers arent good for the initial scrubbing, and they aren't designed for that. Good toothpaste can put micro-scratches on the lenses, thus I recommend cheap stuff. (remember, opinions are like..... and everyone has one). Many / most swear to never use toothpaste after that initial scrubbing. I have used the ultra high quality “Gleam” and “UltraBrite” for years on my Atomic mask and never had a fogging, or scratching, problem (plus my mask smells minty fresh). If that’s not your thing, there are some very good defoggers out there.

 

Self purging mask? I think they’re a total waste and encourage newbies and pros alike to breath through their nose, but everyone has their own opinion (see above on opinions!).

 

“Discount scuba place” in the keys? The Tusa makes a decent product, if it was fitted properly. Check some threads around here… especially from the divers… None of them will buy a mask without making sure it is a proper fit FOR YOUR FACE… A great mask for me may be total cr@p for you. That may be a reason for your fogging, although fogging just happens. Then we go back to the above, a decent defogger will make any dive/snorkel trip better. Also, I’d recommend to not even try to play with the self-purge. You trying to breath at all through your nose may be a part of the culprit. Again, I am speculating a bit here.

 

I know others with more snorkel experience will chime in… hopefully the conversation will get started soon!

 

Good for you getting the family involved in snorkeling. It's something you'll be asble to together for years....

 

 

 

Griff

I saw this thread and thought, "Damn, another whiner announcing their departure.... I hope the door kicks them in the a$$ as they walk out...."

 

I guess you got me....

 

 

Kinda funny though, you just quoted half the people on this forum...lol

True Dat!

My brother just got off the Ruby on B2B cruises. When he inquired about the package, he was told that ALL passengers in the cabin had to buy the package. Seems that not all employees have gotten the word...

Interesting as he and I may have been on at the same time, or he got on as I got off.

 

That's definitely not what I heard when we purchased the packages.

 

I'm thinking the staff isn't "selling it" the same, or are taking liberties... or Princess is seeing that it's being abused (one person ordering a drink, back to back, to get around buying 2 packages).

 

Either way, it's new and things are going to have to be tweaked until Princess is satisfied with the way it's performing. At least they haven't felt the need to have a "15 drink per day cap" that I read Carnival does.

I think Dabaras nailed it, but everyone has their own opinion..

 

We were recently in Coz and dove with Aldora. YOu'll see a recent thread on Cozumel diving where I posted my take on Aldora. My better/smarter/better-looking half got Steel 100's (ladies) and the men got 120s, all pushed to 3500 - 3600 PSI. Our two dives were in the 70 - 86 foot range, with bottom times 56 and 66 minutes... You'll never find those kind of bottom times with AL80s or a mixed group of divers or a ship's excursion. Both sites were spectacular. We're certainly not newbies (I'm a 30 year diver / DM and she's a 150++ diver) and we both thought so highly of Cozumel and Aldor that we're going to book them for 5 straight days the next time we head down there. On the thread I mentioned above another 2 members who both seemed knowledgeable also recommended Scuba Club, so they are worth considering.

 

So for your list, I'd pick Cozumel regardless of cost. Then this may sound funny, but as for the other spot to dive, I'd pick whichever port that doesn't have a shore excursion you want to do between Costa Maya and Roatan. Meaning if Costa Maya or Belize has a shore excursion you really want to do, then dive the other port... You can have great dives in either of those two. Belize would be my 4th choice IMHO.

 

With each of those 4, I would NOT use the ship's excursion if you are a good diver who isn't an air hog. Lots of threads on that subject around here....

 

 

Have fun...... dive safely....

Not so much for the OP who is only doing shallow SNUBA, but for the rest of you: red filters are the GoTo standard as the "if you only have one filter, here's the one"

 

 

(from one of my favorite underwater photography sites, DivePhotoGuide, and all the divers here "should" know this as it was in your OW training)

 

 

Water is approximately 800 times denser than air, and this density absorbs light - quickly. Not only does this result in dull, monotone colors, but it also decreases contrast and image sharpness. New underwater photographers often get frustrated from the blue / gray hue of their images - a direct result of the properties of water and the affect of light absorption. This is actually a very common problem and there are several approaches to reintroducing color and clarity to your images.

 

Specific frequencies of ambient light get absorbed at different depths, from the longest wavelength to shortest (basically the colors of the rainbow, remember ROYGBIV?). Red nearly disappears at around 5 meters, followed by orange at 10 meters, yellow at 20 meters, green at 30 meters and eventually even blue at 60 meters.

What the Captain said.. period...

 

He's got over 40, I have well over 30 and completely concur...

 

Nothing ruins a dive or snorkel trip like a cr@ppy fitting mask....

Folks... in includes EVERYTHING except the super pricey alcohol (Johnny walker BLUE, for example) and drinks that would be over $10...

 

We were on the Ruby (4 day) last week... EVERYTHING means everything.. You can take that word literally. Juices... all the coffees... the giant bottles of water.... EVERYTHING ($10 and under)....

 

Please don't make it more difficult than it is. We all know it's new. The great thing about this package is it's simplicity. RCCL's has multi-layers. NCL's has a ton of everyday drinks that are excluded.... Last week each had many different martinis and DOTDs (Drink of the Day) and various wines (by the glass) and everything was covered. You can find some liquors and wines over the $10, but nearly everything was under the $10. We'll be on the CB when she comes out of drydock and we'll get the package again without a second thought.

 

The package follows the KISS principle, and it's great.

We'll be on the CB on May 15th... I sure hope the drydock goes well.

 

I'll report out how she looks on the 15th, but I am sure she'll look great. It's amazing how much they can do during even a short drydock.... If a ship is off the line, I have to think they'll do more than paint the hull and add some new cabins...

 

This was the ship that "re-introduced" me to cruising after a long layoff, so this ship will always be one of my favorites.

Apparently "Dress to Impress" is optional. You can still wear smart casual to the MDR.

Correct. On the Ruby a little over a week ago there was everything from formal wear to "cruise ship casual" (bummy) in the plaza and dining rooms.

No, and there is little they can do about it. I have yet to sail on a line that handles it properly (strictly).

 

This past week on the Ruby twice we were seated next to folks who dropped off and left. Once we "gave" the chairs away to a mother and her child.... the "hogs" never came back... The other time they did come back and wanted to argue with the new occupants..... we just said Princess took the towels after the chairs had been empty for an hour.. "Princess policy"... they just stormed off.

 

I think it's easier to remove "empty towels" on Princess since there is no towel fee. Don't you have to check them in and out on RCCL? I can see folks getting antsy if their towel was "moved" on RCCL.

EMT sheers simply work better for nearly everything that could possibly happen, but they just don't have the "cool factor" that knives do. That said, I have never had a problem with shears when carried in my dive bag.

 

Most have problems with the dive knives occur after the shore excursion (and not the initial boarding). Princess (our preferred line) usually asks if I have a knife in my bag after coming back from diving, and they usually look at the XRay extra hard if you say no. There are ways to get it back on board, "from what I have heard", but I am not posting it here. If you admit that you do, they will confiscate it, and let you check it back out for your next dive trip, if you are nice and speak "to" the staff and not "at" the staff... basically, don't act like a arrogant / elitist cruiser....

 

But honestly, shears are simply more effective for diving in the Caribbean....

Gotta agree with the Captain on this one... Nassau is our least favorite place to dive in the Caribbean.. But it is all relative to what you are used to.

 

I think we may actually stay on the ship the next time we're in Nassau... and we never pass up diving. Nassau just needs a few years (like 20) away from the cruise ships so maybe it will get some of it's character back.

 

As for excursion or independent, most true divers (not the 2 dives a year, and only when we're on vacation - type) will share with you pretty consistently that you'll get a better dive, with better divers, that's FAR less crowded, for less money, with the independents. They live of the word of mouth of other divers... we have never come close to missing the ship using an independent. Never. I have heard that Stuart's Cove in Nassau may be the exception, but honestly we've been trying to avoid Nassau for years so I can't comment on that part. I just happen to hate "cattle boats" that most excursion operators use.

Well played... this really helps.

 

Thanks for letting us know...

I assume that's a Princess Excursion?

 

You might be better off asking this in the Cozumel section of the forum as you'll get the visitors from all cruise lines that visit Cozumel (Carnival and RCCL send a lot of ships there)....

Of course you're going to get a Princess bias here... that's to be expected.... but to me, the question isn't even a real question based on those two ships...

 

 

I've been on the Caribbean Princess twice, and am going again in May. She's a great ship that's the right size with loads to do and a great variety of passengers on her.

 

Carnival does attract more of a party type cruiser.. it just does, especially on her shorter sailings, but they absolutely do a nice job on their cruises...

 

The Inspiration was built in '96, with I believe her last refurb in 2010. The refurbs were nice (I have been on a sister ship to the Inspiration), but personally it is too much neon for me. The Caribbean Princess' last refurb was in 2011, but she is doing in for a short dry-dock in May and will be spruced up quite a bit.

 

Price per day is about equal. I'd always chose 5 days over 4, but that has to be decided by your schedule and pocket-book.

 

The ports of call decision is yours to make...

 

But based solely on the ship and the cruise line... Princess every single time...

No. That's tongue-in-cheek.

 

But pretty darn funny!

I didn't realize the Royal only has a 66% approval rating. That's shocking to me, although I have been away from Princess for a while. Dang, we were thinking about heading to Venice to pick up the new Regal in August...

 

I also notices that the new RCCL ships, while still being enormous, will actually have slightly fewer passengers than the 5,400 person shopping malls... "trimming down" to 4,900..

 

Maybe I'm a closed-minded fool (well, definately a fool), but I just think the CB, Ruby, Emerald and Crown is just the right amount to big ship amenities and small ship feel...

You should also consider the Panasonic DMC TS4 Lumix. It is under $300 and is rated one of the best all round point and shoots out there. We have used it on the Colorado River and Snorkeling all over the Caribbean. Why have one camera for water and another for land when this one is great for both.:)

 

I can't agree more with this... Well said... Not sure we have that same model, but Lumix (yes, Panasonic) it is excellent.

 

Can't disagree more with the Captain's SeaLife recommendation above. We are both active divers (over 30 years in my case) and while the SeaLife Mini is waterproof, the optics are total junk (in my opinion)... The Lumix images are significantly better and we use it for all diving down to about 20 feet (although it's rated deeper)... While SeaLife does make some decent cameras (we have a DC1200), I think the Mini is crap.

 

Lumix for snorkeling and shallow diving... It will quickly become your every day, every occasion P&S camera.... And a GoPro for non-professional deeper diving... and you'll be very happy.

The OP does sound like they're hating the bigger ships, but I don't feel like the the Regal / Royal bumping up to 3,600 pax is going overboard compared to the other lines.

 

I'll admit I really like the CB/Crown/Emerald / Ruby, and 3,000 pax is the "right amount" of pax for me. But the Regal/Royal bumping up to 3600 doesn't phase me.

 

If you're going to "find another favorite" Like what? That's a fair question that several have asked... The newer RCCL ships (most often the line most compared to Princess) is building 5,400 passenger ships. I'll never go on a floating shopping mall. They haven't built a ship with under 4k passengers since 2004. On their older ships, the staterooms (which we rarely spend time in) are the size of a postage stamp.

 

Celebrity (another frequent comparison to Princess) would be a pretty good bet and I really do look forward to trying them. Their newer ships are bumping to 3k. Maybe that will be a line to try.

 

The newer NCL ships are also 4k pax, and in some areas look like they picked their colors from the "art deco" section of the CCL designer handbook. Sorry, I am biased, but even though I get some screaming good deals on NCL, I won't go back....

 

HAL.... ? They do have smaller ships..

 

I guess I understand your point, but if Princess is your "sweet spot" in terms of cruise lines, there just aren't many good alternatives...

Just back from Cozumel and wanted to give a report on Aldora (I copied this from the other current Cozumel dive thread).

 

I am emphatically stating that Aldora is a class operation. They attended to everything on board and took us to two outstanding spots. The surface interval was adequate and allowed us some beach time to get something to eat. Fortunately our group of 5 divers were all experienced divers, so our dives were to 80 and 70 feet. The DM's octo had a 7' hose in case there were any air hogs, with his rational being if someone was running low, yet everyone else had plenty of air, he would let them use his long octo so we could continue the dive. Fortunately everyone managed their breathing well.

 

What sets them apart is they do NOT use AL80s. A Steel 100 for the ladies, and a Steel 120 for the guys, are standard. The steel tanks pushed to 3500psi allowed a 56 minute and a 68 minute dive. You're not likely to see that with a diverse group of divers to these depths with AL80s.

 

An excellent DM, very good crew, and the use of steel tanks set Aldora apart in my opinion. This, by no means, is any reflection of Scuba Club, which two of our forum members give very high remarks to. Good operators need "air time" (positive publicity) from knowledgeable divers. So it sounds like we have two good operators to choose from, Scuba Club and Aldora.

Yes.

 

Ditto... Until we got to know a few of the servers, all of the servers/bartenders required seeing both cruise cards with stickers when ordering more than one drink at a time.

....I was looking forward to MUTS on this cruise as I haven't seen a few of those movies & thought this would be a good place to do it. Now, it sounds like I might as well dial in a movie on tv.... will not have high expectations for this one.

 

Please understand that I think both Kmkub and I are saying that this was a wonderful 4 days... I'd do it again tomorrow if we could (I do only have a 20 minute drive to the port!). However the Ruby and her staff/Service weren't quite as sharp as they usually are. I'd take a Princess boat on her WORST day over an NCL or Carnival on their best days. However this sailing wouldn't convert any RCCL or X loyalists over to Princess.

 

If you haven't enjoyed MUTS before, then it's still a very enjoyable experience. I think what we were both trying to share is that both the screen and speakers weren't as clear as they have been and should have been. I'd still take MUTS (we watched both Captain Phillips and Gravity on MUTS, although we had already seen them in the theaters) over TV any day. We watched the 2 movies and the Coldplay concert, so the screen wasn't terrible... just not up to Princess standards.

 

So I hope you do have great expectations for your sailing. You're going to have a wonderful time. The Ruby just happens to have fallen a bit below the Princess standard. I'm still thinking you'll "escape completely" and then "come back new...."

Any recommendations for a good bar with a good bartender? We had a couple of favorites on the Coral last year. Thanks.

 

This is Kmkub'sa thread, so I don't want to steal their thunder... but for my Two Abe's (two cents) worth:

 

Atin from India as the bartender up at the pool/Calypso bar was the best...

 

 

Nemo from Serbia as the bar server for the theater / Wheelhouse... get to know him and you'll never wait for a drink again (if you're nice)....

 

 

"Joe", the waiter from the Philippines who was in the Michangelo (anytime dining) was exceptional and worth asking for his station (and even waiting for it)....

We just got off the Ruby too. It was tough making the 20 minute drive to the office after such a wonderful 4 days.

 

I agree with your overall assessment. I think you touched on some of the "downers" more than the positives, but I think you were bang on.

 

As for the drink package, we loved it. This was only the 4th (or 3rd) sailing on the Ruby with the package, so they are learning.

 

Agree with having to find servers anywhere other than a pool area. Completely agree about Crooners... Good voice.. poor service.. good martinis... Too bad they just can't clone Bert on all of their ships...

 

Don't agree about the food, but then again it's been 7 years since I have been on Princess having mainly sailed NCL (friend who is in sales for them) and compared to NCL we thought the food was very good. 100% all the time? No, but at no point did we not find something that didn't wow us (in a good way)... We loved getting small sushi / tapas at Vines since we had the drink package.

 

As for the Art, can't agree any more... Significant dropoff with bringing in Park West. Significant... We were looking for some Britto's and are pretty familiar with his pricing considering he has a pretty large gallery in Miami... Every piece was priced (minimum bid) noticeably more than we could get it directly from the gallery. As many others have said, Park West simply sucks... We left the 1st auction early and skipped the 2nd.. we NEVER do that.....

 

 

MUTS... Love it.. but the screen and speakers need a refurb...

 

 

Again, your summary was pretty much on the spot... but honestly we had an extremely enjoyable 4 days... I was hoping the Ruby would be strong enough to sway the GF's preference for RCCL (we are so DONE with NCL), but it wasn't to be. While the Ruby was VERY good, I wouldn't put it as great... short sailings are just so hard to judge... and maybe our May sailing of the CB will help convert her some more.