tbat205

Good morning!

 

I'm currently sitting on one of the 4 brand new aft facing balconies on the Island sailing between Venice and Istanbul on the Grand Mediterranean itinerary. Before I left, I said I would report on the room and ship since it's drydock.

 

So far, so good. I know that there was a problem with one of the engines or something on the previous cruise (I'm typing this offline, so I can't check the specifics), but I'm happy to report that everything is fixed and we are traveling at full speed on this first of 2 sea days.

 

As far as the new balcony room, we are in B741 and are one of only 4 rear facing balconies on the whole ship (with the exception of a couple of suites). The balcony room is a tiny bit smaller (the only thing I noticed is that there is a *tiny* bit less room at the end of the bed, but it's really not very noticeable. When you first walk into the room, you need to use your cruise card to make the lights and a/c work (I put my JoAnn Fabrics teacher discount card in the slot...any flat, plastic card will work...so I could have the a/c going while out of the room cause it's hot here). When you put the card in the slot, all the lights turn on and they are VERY bright LEDs. One change is that the 2 switches by the door don't control closet area for one and the bedroom area for the other. The closest switch to the door turns on 2 small canister lights over the bed and the switch further from the door controls extremely bright lights in the closet area as well as the bedroom area. The problem I found with this was that if you want to take a shower the morning and then get dressed in the closet area, you will wake up the other person in the bedroom area if you turn on the closet area lights. Otherwise, you just have to get dressed in the dark. The closet area itself is exactly the same as other ships, along with the cabinet with the safe. There's a coat hook on the wall behind the front door, which is different.

 

The bathroom is where I saw most of the changes. There is no longer an overhead light. Instead, there are 2 lights built into the mirror. They work fine and I think they're actually better than the overhead. The shelving near the sink is more spacious (I can actually stand my electric toothbrush up in it!). The sink is awesome! It's a large rectangle. There's so much more space. I was able to wash a few clothing items in the sink without the worry of splashing water everywhere. There's also a free standing soap dish. The shower is HUGE! I haven't smacked my elbows into the side of the walls once! Instead of a square, it is a rectangle with a shelf on one end (you could put your foot up on it) and the shower at the other (it's a pull down shower head where you can adjust the height of it). There is also a soap dish shelf near the shower head like in other ships. The only thing I don't like is where the toilet paper is located. It's kind of behind the toilet, under the sink, so you have to twist around to get to it. Other than that, the bathroom is pure awesomeness.

 

OK, moving out to the bedroom area. The beds are brand new. We always ask for egg crates, but didn't need them for these beds...so much better than usual (I do realize that we are only the 3rd people to sleep in them, so that's probably why). The TV is mounted on the wall directly opposite the beds and is quite big. They have installed Samsung smart TVs and I'm sure they're for when the ship gets upgraded to the Princess@Sea and OnDemand, which hasn't happened yet. Anyway, having the TV out of the corner gives you and extra flat storage space above the mini bar fridge which is wider than before. You still have the small table next to the mini bar and the desk with chair on the opposite side if the room, along with another chair. Oh! You won't find the hair dryer on the wall near the desk. I was very confused and thought they had need eliminated. They have new hairdryers (much higher quality) in the top, left hand drawer of the desk. It is already plugged in, so just pick it up and hold down the button to use it. There are 2 US outlets and 1 European outlet on the desk and 1 US outlet and 1 European outlet in the bathroom. Our stateroom steward said that the bathroom ones were fine for charging or using with 2 pronged US cords, but 3 pronged cords needed to be used at the desk.

 

The balcony is really nice. If you look at pictures of the rear if the ship, our room is right smack in the middle of the big white wall. We are the farthest square to the right. It's actually pretty great because there are actual walls on all sides instead of the partitions between balconies. The glass fence area is higher than on the sides of the ship. There are 2 chairs and a table and the balcony itself is deeper than I expected. Not as deep as a Caribe balcony, but I can sit in the chair with it all the way back to the door and not quite touch my toes to the glass.

 

Oh, we're elite, so we get a free mini bar setup. We always switch out the alcohol for pop. The choices this time were ginger ale, Aranciata (which is like Orangina), Coke, Coke Light, Sprite, and Sprite Zero. We also get free canapes and the chocolate covered strawberries have disappeared off of the list. *sniff* So sad. Those are my favorite. They've also added ChapStick with SPF to the elite bathroom pack, along with a gel eye mask that I hadn't seen before. We're storing it in the fridge.

 

Since we're in the new cabins on the back of the ship, they created a new area for our muster station drill. We went down the crew stairs at the back if the ship to the gym on deck 6.

 

There have been questions about the vibrations in the aft balconies. During our 2 days in Venice there was little to no vibrations in our room. After sailaway, the cabin did start to vibrate some, but it's not horrible at all. Currently, we're in motion and I don't hear any glasses shaking and nothing in the bathroom is falling over. While lying in bed, you can feel the vibrations, but it really just feels like a light massage. I had no problems sleeping at all. It's really not that different than any other room on a cruise ship that I've been on before.

 

If you're on this Grand Mediterranean itinerary later, you might like to know that Princess offers shuttles into town for Venice-boat to St. Mark's Square ($29), Istanbul-bus to Grand Bazaar ($10), Mykonos-bus to town ($8), Livorno-bus Piazza Grande (€5), and Toulon-boat to downtown ($20). The port talks are also happening well before the cancelation times for the tours, so we've ended up dropping some of our tours since we sort of know where we want to go and we have plenty of time to get it done with the shuttles.

 

The cruise director is Richard Joseph. The deputy is Duke. The maitre d'hotel is Giuseppe Gelmini. Captain is Andrea Poggi.

 

I think that's all for now. If you have any questions, you can ask, although I can't guarantee that I can answer them (I don't have access to other cabins, so I can't answer those questions) because of internet access and such.

 

Bonnie

soon we will be doing the ta in the cabin next to you 740, so are really greatful for insites. Wife and i love to be swept into sleep with the vibrations. sounds like huge improvements as showers are always a tad small. The balcony will be protected from weather...and to watch the world go by will be great for us. hope you are having a great trip and stay in touch

Does anyone know where we are docking in new york? I was waiting to book hotel room until i found out, but time is getting close to our cruise across the pond.

tom

Hi All,

Hopefully in the very early hours of tomorrow morning a car will arrive out side my home, and the start of another adventure will commence,as we head to airport and fly into Southampton a few hours before sailing, many will know we have taken a year off cruising to be with our new puppy, who is growing up fast, she along with Shogun have been collected by the pet sitter so are already on their holidays. I think there was a tear in DWs eye as she said good bye to puppy for the first time, or may relief as she is a very demanding dog requiring hugs constantly.

So we are joining our old friend the Ruby Princess out of Southampton heading back home, now some will ask why take a cruise back to your own home, we will be just 20 miles from home, or to ports you have visited before, well firstly a cruise is a cruise its time away from work which has been stressful recently court cases and all that.

http://50essentialexperiences.com/2010/10/18/steve-deas/

But a cruise is like any holiday its what you put into it that ensures you are rewarded with a holiday you can recall many years from now.

One place I plan on visiting is Pegasus Bridge Normandy, those who can recall the movie The Longest Day will know what I am talking about.

http://www.memorial-pegasus.org/mmp/musee_debarquement/index.php?lang=uk

So I will try and post most days from the ship, weather may be interesting as a low is moving south taking gale force winds from the artic so temperatures are going to fall sharply.

What will make a nice start to this holiday is a friend we have not seen for some time will board the Ruby and spent a little time with us before the ship sails,

As before any questions or information folks want please ask away and will try and find the answers for you.

Yours Shogun