Another Ruby Princess Review July 5 - July 17(long)

A little background and pre-cruise: we are a family of 4, my husband and I, our 14 year old daughter and 11 year old son. We are first time cruisers. We flew into Rome, spend two days there, took the train to Venice, and spent a day and a half before boarding the ship. We took tours with Walks of Italy for the Vatican (Pristine Sistine), the Colosseum, Forum and Palantine HIll (including the underground and top tier), and St. Marks Square and the Doges Palace in Venice. All the tours were excellent and I highly recommend them. The train between Rome and Venice was easy, fast, and pleasant.

Embarkation and Sail away: embarkation was somewhat confused but that may be because we didn’t hadn’t done it before and didn’t know how it worked. I was surprised how far we had to drag the luggage from the People Mover. It wasn’t difficult for us but I would think that it could be very hard for some. Sail away was at 1am. My husband and daughter went to bed and missed it but my son and I managed to stay up. Unfortunately you couldn’t really see much. My pictures of St. Marks Square are mainly shadows with scattered lights.

The ship and crew: Great. The ship was beautiful and the crew was helpful and pleasant. We loved the cruising experience and the ship.

Our cabins: we had two balconies next door to each other. Our cabins were B739 and B743, which are the last two cabins on the starboard side. We had the steward unlock the door between the balconies so for all practical purposes we had connecting cabins. We thought the location was very convenient and would love this location on future trips. We thought the beds were very comfortable and in good shape. No one had any complaints. Also, I expected the cabins to be tiny but found that they were much larger than I expected. We had plenty of room.

Demographics: Based on what I read here I expected that the cruise would be about half older couples, and the balance made up of younger couples and families. This was completely wrong. The vast majority of cruisers were families. Kids outnumbered people with gray hair. I never heard the total number of kids on the ship, but I know that there were 367 kids in the Remix age range (13 to 17), and there were 60 11 year olds and similar numbers in all years of the 8 to 12 year old group so there’s another 300 or so. There were also lots of young kids. There were 5 strollers on our tender returning from Monte Carlo. I would guess there were almost 1000 kids on the ship.

Another surprise was the number of Americans on board – or maybe I should say the lack of Americans. Americans were a minority. In addition to people from other the UK, Australia and Canada, there were a lot of Japanese (an organized group traveling together), and huge numbers of Spanish and Italians.

Kids Club – this was a bust for us. I had read so many things about how kids love the kids clubs and disappear for the trip. Not my kids. We signed both kids up the first day. My son is 11 and therefore was in the 8 – 12 age group club. But, he normally hangs out with older kids at home and he took one look at the kids club and said “You expect me to play with 8 year olds? Are you serious?” and never went back. On the other hand my daughter really wanted to go but it never seemed to work out. Once we stopped by and no one was there (literally not one person other than the staff). Once it was just a bunch of boys playing foosball and video games and no girls there. One night she went to a party but only stayed for an hour because she couldn’t find anyone she felt comfortable hanging around with. After three attempts, she gave up.

Dining: we had early traditional seating at 6:00. This worked well for us. I thought we would have trouble making it some nights due to long shore excursions, but we always were back in time to get there. My husband thought the food was excellent. I was a little less impressed. Things were on the bland side for me – I like spicier food. My daughter was happy with it. My son does not like fancy food at all and ate almost entirely off the kids menu supplemented by pizza later in the evening. My son loved the fact that he could get a pizza or burger any time he wanted it. Plus we got him an ultimate kids package sticker so he had lots of slushies. He was in food heaven.

Dress in the dining room: I know this is controversial so I just will report what my impressions were and what we were told. On formal nights almost everyone dressed up. I would say 95% of the people on the ship were dressed. We did not bring formal clothes and ate in the buffet on formal nights. Our waiter tried to talk us into coming to the dining room anyway but we did not feel comfortable with this. Much to our surprise, even most of the people eating at the buffet were dressed up. We felt underdressed even at the buffet. Why would people put on suits and cocktail dresses and then go to the buffet?

On non-formal nights, though, dress was considerably less fancy. I saw many men in the dining room in shorts. The first night we made our son wear long pants and a collared shirt. When we got there, he was the only kid in our part of the dining room dressed that way. We asked the waiter and he told us that the dress code was only for adults and the kids did not need to follow it (I know that many here disagree with this but this is what we were told). The rest of the cruise my son wore t-shirt and shorts to the dining room and no one said anything. Most kids and teens in our section were dressed the same. My daughter wore shorts a couple times but felt less comfortable with it and she put on skirts most days.

Entertainment: Since the kids weren’t going to the kids clubs they were with us all the time, and we ended up doing Movies under the Stars almost every night. We really enjoyed this. Some nights it was a bit chilly but the blankets they supplied made it comfortable. Only one night was it too cold even with the blanket. Movies we saw were Man on a Ledge, John Carter, Wrath of the Titans, This Means War, Captain America, The Hunger Games, and Mission Impossible. They usually show the same movies the next day on the TV if you miss one or want to watch it twice as my kids did with the Hunger Games. We never went to the evening entertainment at the bars, clubs, casino or Princess Theater so I can’t comment on any of that.

Other ship activities: we didn’t do much. My husband and son went to the gym to lift most days. They enjoyed it. They also tried to play basketball a few times but had trouble because it was so windy up on the top deck that it made it hard to shoot. My husband and I attended the cook off followed by the tour of the kitchen which we really enjoyed.

Excursions: We did almost entirely Princess excursions. My husband has not traveled much and was very worried about missing the ship. During the planning process I tried to talk him into private tours or sharing with others on the roll call but he was too nervous. We did a private tour in Kusadasi with Ekol Tours. It was excellent, but my husband was so nervous the entire time that I don’t think it was worth it. The Princess tours we did were Acropolis and Time on your own in The Plaka in Athens , Topkapi Palace Harem and Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Pompeii, Sorrento, and Cheese Tasting in Naples, Orvieto from Civitavecchia, Florence and Pisa on your own from Livorno. There was only one time when we were held up because someone was late and that was because they got lost getting back to the bus. Overall we were pleased and would have no concerns about doing Princess tours again. The guides were all excellent, buses were comfortable, and we felt the quality was quite good. In Istanbul, the tour was a half day that ended at the Grand Bazaar. Princess was running a shuttle to and from the Grand Bazaar all day and let those on tours take back any shuttle they wished instead of staying with the tour. This allowed us to visit Hagia Sofia (we bought tickets ahead of time) and the Underground Cistern before catching a shuttle bus back. We really appreciated this flexibility.

Disembarkation in Barcelona: We elected to self disembark and take a cab to our hotel. Princess tried to scare people with stories of long lines for cabs and tell you that you needed transfers. This was completely untrue. We got off the ship at about 8:00 and there was no line for cabs and we paid 30E to get to our hotel instead of the $72 that Princess would have charged us.

Weather: the seas were calm almost the entire time. There was only one stretch where we had anything but perfectly flat seas and that was in and out of Livorno. Weather was hot – most days were in the high 80’s or 90’s. There was not a drop of rain the entire trip.

Internet: I need to comment on this since this was the worst thing about the trip. I knew it would be bad, but we didn’t realize how bad. This is how a typical session went: it took about 5 minutes to get a log in screen to come up to get on line. Then we would go to e-mail which would take several minutes to load just so you could see it. Finally, we would scroll through our e-mail for 2 or 3 minutes. Then, almost every time, we would lose signal before logging out. We would then go nuts trying to get the signal back so we could log out, BECAUSE THE TIMER KEEPS RUNNING UNTIL YOU LOG OUT EVEN IF YOU LOSE YOUR CONNECTION. Each session ended up using about 15 minutes even though only 2-3 minutes were actually spent doing anything. We actually left 11 minutes unused at the end of the trip because we figured it wasn’t enough time to get in and out.

Summary: In sum, we loved it. We definitely will be cruising again. We also really like Princess and would like to cruise with Princess again in the future.

Loved your review. We did the same tour at the same time in 2010. Loved the Ruby. We also did a lot of Princess excursions and felt the guides were well informed. We went to the head of the lines many places and I liked the headsets so you had no problem hearing the guide. So glad you had a good time...I know your children have great memories.

Great review. We loved the Ruby!

You just wrote my review for me! We loved the ship..we had the early traditional as well..enjoyed the 3 princess tours we did..etc..etc....

We spent 5 nights in Rome prior and 1 in Venice before boarding the ship and they actually had a Princess free shuttle bus waiting to bring pax to the ship around 4 pm on embark day right from the peoplemover..we were pleasantly surprised that we caught it.

We toured the Etruscan ruins, Lake Bracciano, Ceri and Ceveteri with Stefano from Rome Cabs on our Civita port day

Went to Capri and all the way up to Monte Solano

The lights went out for about a minute during our Underground Cistern tour...everyone remained calm but cound have really been a huge issue had they not come back on...our guide joked that they sometimes like to scare the tourists by shutting the lights:eek:

We did a private tour of Ephesus so we could do the Terrace Houses as the PCL tour of them was way overpriced....and we were none too thrilled with our guide...while he was most competent and knowledgable..he had an "agenda" and I didn't like some of his comments...which I won't go into here....but only a fool would not notice them..just too many references to too many politically incorrect..as in 9/11:eek:..sort of things.

The PCL tours we took were well priced, cheaper than private and very enjoyable.

Loved the MUTS and spent most nights at the early movie. Loved the International cafe. Loved how they handle the seating at the buffet...they seat you and bring you your drinks,

All in all...the best cruise we have ever taken...and one of my top 2 trips that I have ever taken...and just like last time..back in 2008...when we got off that cruise we said..in 4 years let's do it again....and we did....so now we will be doing it again..in 2016!

one thing I am not to too thrilled about is that I got my final bill...checked in out on the ship and all was perfect....but now that I am home...I am seeing my final charges posted to my Visa card...but there are also 2 pending PCL charges...I am hoping that they just put a temp hold on funds in case they missed something and that they will fall off before final posting......this is the kind of stuff the ship doesn't need to do. Just upsets people especially if it is just a temporary charge...just in case they missed something.

but now that I am home...I am seeing my final charges posted to my Visa card...but there are also 2 pending PCL charges...I am hoping that they just put a temp hold on funds in case they missed something and that they will fall off before final posting......this is the kind of stuff the ship doesn't need to do. Just upsets people especially if it is just a temporary charge...just in case they missed something.

During the cruise they may put temp holds for the daily charges. That protects Princess in case a passenger later exceeds their credit limit.

The temp charges are not just in case they missed something, but put in place before the final charge was actually made. They should disappear from your account at the speed your card issuer normally removes such holds.

It is much like when you buy gas with a charge card at the pump. A temp hold is put on your card for up to the maximum allowed charge which could be $100 or more. Then the actual charge is made, but the temp hold may take a day or two to disappear.

This can be a big concern to thsoe who use debit cards as the temp holds may use up their available funds.

During the cruise they may put temp holds for the daily charges. That protects Princess in case a passenger later exceeds their credit limit.

 

The temp charges are not just in case they missed something, but put in place before the final charge was actually made. They should disappear from your account at the speed your card issuer normally removes such holds.

 

It is much like when you buy gas with a charge card at the pump. A temp hold is put on your card for up to the maximum allowed charge which could be $100 or more. Then the actual charge is made, but the temp hold may take a day or two to disappear.

 

This can be a big concern to thsoe who use debit cards as the temp holds may use up their available funds.

In my case the final bill I received before debark was correct and my credit card has been charged for that amount already and is not pending. What I am now seeing is an additional pending charge for about $200. The final charges covered up until midnight on the night before debark. Could be that PCL just wanted to cover themselves for any after midnight charges...but they specifically said any embark morning costs would have to be paid in cash by the pax...like the cappucino, bottled water, etc.

I am keeping my eye on this pending charge...but am expecting a call to PCL will be on my to do list by next week..ugh. Might get lucky though.

The final charges covered up until midnight on the night before debark. Could be that PCL just wanted to cover themselves for any after midnight charges?

No, as nothing could be charged after mid-night. The hold is one that existed a day or two before the final bill was charged.

In my case the final bill I received before debark was correct and my credit card has been charged for that amount already and is not pending. What I am now seeing is an additional pending charge for about $200. The final charges covered up until midnight on the night before debark. Could be that PCL just wanted to cover themselves for any after midnight charges...but they specifically said any embark morning costs would have to be paid in cash by the pax...like the cappucino, bottled water, etc.

 

I am keeping my eye on this pending charge...but am expecting a call to PCL will be on my to do list by next week..ugh. Might get lucky though.

We had this happen too. The final bill was correct but it looks like there is an additional charge pending on our credit card. I am hoping that it just goes away but if not, I also will be calling Princess. I would hope they e-mail you a statement so at least you know what they are trying to charge you for if it doesn't go away.

Thanks for the nice review:)

One thing to keep in mind that while Princess puts a hold on your card, your bank should drop any hold once the final amount on your folio is charged. Some banks don't drop a hold for several days. In other words, once your final bill is paid, if the hold is left on your account, it's a bank issue. I'd call my credit card company to make sure the hold is dropped.

Great review! Thanks for sharing!:)

Great review! Thanks for sharing your wonderful cruise!

We had this happen too. The final bill was correct but it looks like there is an additional charge pending on our credit card. I am hoping that it just goes away but if not, I also will be calling Princess. I would hope they e-mail you a statement so at least you know what they are trying to charge you for if it doesn't go away.

Glad I am not alone with this issue...and if I recall correctly this too has happen on other cruiselines we have taken.

Wasn't this cruise fabulous!!!!!!??????

Loved the MUTS...the pax...the crew...the ports...everything!! We are already planning the 2016 Med cruise. We were thinking about the Baltic...but I don't know if we could honestly forgo the Med!!!

btw, did you ever have the meet & greet? We passed on it.

btw..deedee..not sure but I think we might live near each other...NY by any chance?

Glad I am not alone with this issue...and if I recall correctly this too has happen on other cruiselines we have taken.

 

Wasn't this cruise fabulous!!!!!!??????

Loved the MUTS...the pax...the crew...the ports...everything!! We are already planning the 2016 Med cruise. We were thinking about the Baltic...but I don't know if we could honestly forgo the Med!!!

 

btw, did you ever have the meet & greet? We passed on it.

 

btw..deedee..not sure but I think we might live near each other...NY by any chance?

I agree, the cruise was fabulous. We can't stop talking about it. We are also talking about going back in a few years.

We did go to the meet and greet. I would say there were about 30 people there. It was great to meet people but most we never saw again after that.

We live in central MA, not NY.

Fun review, thanks for sharing!

1st off... Welcome to Princess cruising, you need to becareful lest you become addicted like many of us here :)

Sound like a very nice time was had by all, thanks for making us all part of your first cruise

Srpilo

Thanks for your informative review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.:)

deedee...enjoyed your review...glad you love cruising as much as all of us do...:)

Thank you for your review.

Glad you had a great time.

Thank you for your review.

Glad you had a great time.

DeeDee I totally agree with everything you wrote. We found the food in the Horizon at night was every bit as good as the dining rooms. This was a pleasant surprise.

I choose private tours instead of the Princess ones, as they were smaller and less expensive. Here is a quick summary of what we did.

Venice - no tours but the vaporetto is a must. Used it daily and the last night, we did an after dark trip all the way to the very end and back. Beautiful. Be sure to go to the end near the entrance to the harbor, as there is lots to see.

ATHENS - Athens by Taxi Half-Day Tour with Konstantinos. FABULOUS!!!

KUSADASI- EKOL Travel and Tour #2. Include the Terrace Houses. Excellent tour

ISTANBUL - EKOL Travel and Tour Excellent. Missed the Topakapi Palace which was closed that day, but the rest was wonderful. Princess has a tour that includes the Palace.

MYKONOS - did it on our own. Would suggest that take the Princess tour to the beach that provides chairs and umbrellas. Taxis were no where to be found.

NAPLES - since we had previously done the Amalfi coast ( which is a must) we went to Capri by hydrofoil where we went our on a boat for three hours, sailing around the island and swimming. FABULOUS. Contact gianni tedesco at giannite@hotmail.com. Paulo was our captain and was really wonderful We celebrated our anniversary there. Couldn't have been more perfect.

ROME - Rome Cabs. Great guide but didn't go to sites with us. Suggest taking Rick Steve's Mediterranean cruising book with section on Rome torn out. Wish we had done that. You can then be your own guide.

Buy tickets for Collosseum and Vatican. Not sure about getting a Vatican tour guide, as ours told us way too much. We didn't have chance to enjoy the Cistine Chapel as she talked extensively. I suggest a leisurely walk through where you can read signs or an audio if they have it.

LIVORNO - missed this one Stayed back to chill for a day.

MONTE CARLO- Toured with Sylvie Di Cristo. Fabulous. Book her early. Ship wasn't in port long enough, so tour was only half-day day.

BARCELONA - If you don't see anything else, visit SAGRADA FAMILIA. It was the most beautiful church that I have ever seen. Buy tickets ahead of time so you won't have to stand in line. We enjoyed the beach tremendously. I suggest to take the Hop On Hop Off bus for a tour around the city. For us, a one day pass was plenty.

This was a trip of a life-time for us and I was able to mark a lot of things off my Bucket List. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

Yes this was a great trip and we enjoyed meeting so many at the Meet and Greet--this was a fabulous opportunity to share tours and we made so many great, new travel friends. Does anyone have the email address for Ivan and Lynette from New Zealand? I have a message from our Athens tour guide for them. Please let me know.

msk1/Martha

ms.msK1@yahoo.com

Thanks for your great review! Upbeat, cheerful, and thorough.

I especially appreciated your comments on the demographics. So interesting!

Thanks, too, for your good comments about Princess shore excursions.

Fab!

To the OP:

We were on this cruise. I agree with your comments about the kid's club, although my daughter, age 12, did use it some. There is just a world of difference between 8- and 12-year-olds. There were some events that were just for 12-year-olds. I visited the club once to pick up my daughter, and I was appalled and how young and immature some of the children were.

Be aware that when your son turns 13 and is old enough for Club Remix it is going to be a whole different story. My son refused to go to the kid's club at age 12 and at age 13 we could not tear him away (he wasn't on this cruise, though).

As for the excursions, I hope you can convince your husband to be a little more confident. The Princess tours are a ripoff. For example, we booked an private tour in Athens for 7 for 400 euros. We had the right to add five more people at no additional charge. In fact we had a 16-seat luxury van, a great guide, and we dictated what we wanted to do. The bottom line on these excursions is that if you can do it yourself, you will enjoy it more and save money. If you can't do it yourself then hire your own guide. You will enjoy it more and save money.

About the food. I thought the dining room food the first two nights was wretched. The prime rib was awful; nine months ago on the Ruby it was great. The fillet medallions were like shoe leather. After that the dining room food was very good, so I don't know what went wrong on the first two nights. I don't think I ever ate a night time meal in the buffet, but I found the breakfasts and lunches to be very poor, but filling -- trough food. Tremendous variety and quantity, but poor quality in my view. I will say Princess now cooks the bacon rather than serving it raw as they used to do, but it is a very low quality of bacon. Someone needs to treat these people to a slice of Hormel bacon so they can know what a good piece of bacon tastes like.

I took this cruise 10 years ago -- same dates -- and there were very few young people aboard. I remember dining with an under 25-couple and they were having a good time, but they were the lone rangers. Not on this cruise. Lots of kids, and lots of young adults on board. I did note on the first formal night that the dining room was almost empty, or more precisely there was no problem getting a table at any time and I saw lots of empty tables. There weren't the huge lines for formal photos that I've seen on other cruises. On the second formal night things weren't just hopping. The atmosphere on the whole cruise was almost that of a Caribbean cruise, when usually a Med cruise is far more formal.

Yes this was a great trip and we enjoyed meeting so many at the Meet and Greet--this was a fabulous opportunity to share tours and we made so many great, new travel friends. Does anyone have the email address for Ivan and Lynette from New Zealand? I have a message from our Athens tour guide for them. Please let me know.

 

msk1/Martha

ms.msK1@yahoo.com

I need Bill and Linda's email so that I can send them the anniversary photos.

I need Bill and Linda's email so that I can send them the anniversary photos.

check your email ;-)

msk1