questions!!

[soexcited31]

Hi everyone! My husband, 2 children and I are going on a cruise in December over the xmas period on the Ruby Princess I have never been on a cruise before and have a few questions I was wondering if anyone could answer? I am flying from the UK on the 19th and stay over night in Miami before we board on the 20th.

 

I am a bit confused as to what we will be paying for on the ship! I am trying to budget and work out how much spending money we will need, this for us is a holiday of a lifetime we have been saving for 2 years to go on this cruise and I dont want to go on it worrying that we wont be able to afford things! It would be so much help if someone could let me know rough prices etc

 

Also as we are travelling over the holiday period and will be spending xmas day on board do princess do anything special for that day? I would love to make this trip as magical as possible for my children (8 and 10).

 

Any other tips - advice greatly appriciated!

 

Thanks you!! :)

[j!m]

hav nevr been on ruby but was on caribbean last xmas

 

you will have to pay for sodas, alcoholic drinks, some coffees, photos etc

 

food is included in your price

 

dont know for sure about uk travellers but there is a daily service charge (tips) for staff $10/11 for adults not sure about children

 

the ship will be decorated, there will be activities for your children and of course santa will pay them a visit (and give them a gift) on the ship, they will hava ball (hope u do to)

 

hava great cruise

[alabama ghost]

Shore excursions, specialty restaurants and the internet are also extra costs items. The cost of shore excursions vary greatly depending upon the length of the excursion and of course, what you're doing. The specialty restaurants range from $15-$25 pp. The internet will cost you approximately .75 per minute but there are packages available for less.

 

Of course, you don't need any of these to have a wonderful trip. They just make it wonderfuller!:D

[redwinegirl]

Hi

 

We have just been on the Emerald and they are the same ship (I think). The extras you need to budget for are drinks, shore excursions, specialty restaurants (Crown Grill & Sabatini's, at $25.00 per head), the auto tip (including the children), spa treatments, sanctuary (for adults only) and obviously anything you buy from the gift shops.

 

However you do not have to go to the specialty restaurants (even though I would recommend), or have a spa treatment or even do shore excursions which would be a huge saving. It will only be the gratuities and drinks on your account and that will depend how much you drink!! Our 10 day account came to $1700 (£1100) which included 2 nights at the crown grill (with very nice wine and fantastic company), 3 trips, duty frees, spa treatment, gifts, auto tip and copious amounts of wine for two of us. Which I did not think was bad but we could have made it a lot cheaper if we had wished to.

 

This is the Ruby Princess website for the UK, I recommend you do your homework to enhance your cruise:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/ru/index.html

 

Have a great time, it will be fantastic.:D

[paul929207]

Princess will charge your onboard account $11 (for a suite) or $10.50 for other cabin types)per person per day. This is a service charge for the housekeepingstaff and the wait staff. It can be adjusted if you wish.

 

Everything else that you pay for is optional. This includes alcoholic drinks, sodas, spcialty coffees, excursions, specialty restaurants.

[regnig]

If your kids are soda drinkers there are cards (stickers that get placed on their cruise card) for unlimited sodas that could/would save you many $$s. I don't remember the exact cost but it is not unreasonable and someone else here will post it for you.

 

What a marvelous Holiday you and your family will have, ENJOY!!

[TuxedoMan]

Hi everyone! My husband, 2 children and I are going on a cruise in December over the xmas period on the Ruby Princess I have never been on a cruise before and have a few questions I was wondering if anyone could answer? I am flying from the UK on the 19th and stay over night in Miami before we board on the 20th.

 

I am a bit confused as to what we will be paying for on the ship! I am trying to budget and work out how much spending money we will need, this for us is a holiday of a lifetime we have been saving for 2 years to go on this cruise and I dont want to go on it worrying that we wont be able to afford things! It would be so much help if someone could let me know rough prices etc

 

Also as we are travelling over the holiday period and will be spending xmas day on board do princess do anything special for that day? I would love to make this trip as magical as possible for my children (8 and 10).

 

Any other tips - advice greatly appriciated!

 

Thanks you!! :)

DW and I have been on 7 day cruises where we spent as little as $90 each above and beyond the original cost of the cruise, but most cruises we spend about $200 each, shore excursions, and sodas.

[ANYPORT]

[quote=soexcited31;21264073]

I am a bit confused as to what we will be paying for on the ship! I am trying to budget and work out how much spending money we will need, this for us is a holiday of a lifetime we have been saving for 2 years to go on this cruise and I dont want to go on it worrying that we wont be able to afford things! It would be so much help if someone could let me know rough prices etc

 

 

 

Hi

We had our first cruise on the Ruby in July...., its fantastic you'll have such a great time.

When budgeting obviously it depends on the exchange rate. Incidently when did you book? We were fortunate and got the $2/£1 offer from Princess which made purchases less painful :D

As others have said, a soda sticker for the children/adults is worthwhile if they'll drink more than 2 cokes/sprites/day. Costs about $4.50/day + gratuity. If you like decent coffee, get a coffee card. Costs about $28. (Syrup type Coffee and tea are free) Cocktails around $7. Bottle decent wine $20-35. You are allowed to take a bottle of wine/champagne each & soft drinks/water on board at embarkation & pick up extra in ports if you need to. Entertainment on board is free. Ship excursions can be expensive, check princess cruise personaliser to find cost. Check your Roll Call for the cruise & find out what others are doing & possibly share costs. Sanctuary/spa/speciality restaurants carry an additional charge, but only if you use them.:)

Over 12 days we spent $2500 (family of 3). That covered everything.... gratuties, wine, few cocktails, photographs, lots & lots of shopping :eek: & speciality restaurants. Basically you can spend as much or as little as you want.

 

Have a great cruise

Anyport

[Cruisin' Chick]

Do budget for the autotips (many people will decide to take off their kids' contribution, but the waitstaff and cabin stewards are working just as hard for the little ones too -- we have never removed or reduced them, and will give extra for crew members going the extra distance). If your children do use the kids' program, consider putting some cash into a tip envelope (available at the front desk) for the counselors to share.

 

You will get a packet of info on the kids' program (incl. a day-by-day schedule of the activities) in your cabin when you first get there. I'm guessing they'll both be in the same group, but there should be plenty of kids on the holiday cruise so they both hang with their own group of kids.

 

We went on a holiday cruise a few years ago and the program had many holiday oriented arts and crafts. There will also be services onboard (we went to the first night of Hanukkah menorah lighting one) and people will decorate their cabin doors and cabins. The second week included New Years Eve so we got to celebrate that onboard too. On Christmas Day, the creative director got on the PA to announce that they spotted "something" on the radar in the sky. That was during the party for the kids. Each kid got a beanie baby and candy.

[NotWthOutablcony]

Hello and welcome aboard! I have never been on a Holiday cruise so can't help in that area, but alcohol based drinks start around $4.50 (U.S.) and up, blended drinks they have a small, medium and large option for adults we budget about $40 per person, per day, that's a few drinks plus your $11 tip per person, for the kiddies you'd be safe about $20 per child per day, you may opt to purchase the soda sticker for them though I can't remember the cost as we have never purchased one. Budget for your shore excursions, figure out what excursions you'll be doing and come up with a total and add that into your budget. Roughly all in all, with shore excursions, drinks, extras like ice cream, coffee card, tips, specialty dining, a little onboard shopping, we average about $100 per person per day. We always add on the shipboard credit prior to our cruise so that we have no bill to pay at the end, and usually get refunded a few hundred.

[hansi]

Hi everyone! My husband, 2 children and I are going on a cruise in December over the xmas period on the Ruby Princess I have never been on a cruise before and have a few questions I was wondering if anyone could answer? I am flying from the UK on the 19th and stay over night in Miami before we board on the 20th.

 

I am a bit confused as to what we will be paying for on the ship! I am trying to budget and work out how much spending money we will need, this for us is a holiday of a lifetime we have been saving for 2 years to go on this cruise and I dont want to go on it worrying that we wont be able to afford things! It would be so much help if someone could let me know rough prices etc

 

Also as we are travelling over the holiday period and will be spending xmas day on board do princess do anything special for that day? I would love to make this trip as magical as possible for my children (8 and 10).

 

Any other tips - advice greatly appriciated!

 

Thanks you!! :)

 

Please be aware that you can remove the auto-tip if you wish and pay cash direct.