Shogun Live From Ruby 24th April to 16th May

[pascalburns]

enjoy reading your review.

how are the sea's?rough or smooth.

[Ula]

Shogun,

When we had our Meet and Greet on Ruby last summer I was shocked Captain Tony Yeomans came. An invitation was sent him, but never figure the Captain has time. Such a nice man. The only Meet and Greet Mr Ula has ever attended, I was jumping up and down and pointing. Get over here and meet the Captain. You love this stuff dear.

Have a wonderful cruise.

[NSWP]

Thanks again for your 'lives' Shogun, can you rate the food/entertainment, thus far, I mean they are the some of the most important parts of a cruise for some. i.e. 'How is the Haggis, Scotch Eggs, the Porridge, the Highland Dancing, for a start !

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Last night was first formal, not many Tux's about only one kilt, however most did wear a suit and tie.

 

Captain chatted to us we he spotted us well the kilt does stand out,

 

Seas are rough, well for us that have been at sea before its a nice rocking movement, for those stuck in bed going green, may be a land based holiday would have been better,

 

wind across the decks near gale at times,

 

now rough to me is when your drink gets spilled, very rough is when the glass falls over, just now its only a gentle rock, but again some are saying never again.

 

Service in dining room is normal Princess standard we can have our meal in a hour if we want,

 

Food again is normal Princess standard, not outstanding, but good, food is hot, looks good, some times an item may be a little dry or may be standing to long, but this is mass produced food and for that it is very good.

 

Room service was very fast, and again food hot and was what I ordered

 

 

The international cafe is still the star of takeaway food.

 

Due into St Marteen we are running a bit late, so captain is keeping us in port a bit longer to make up, nice captain.

 

Weather is nice around 29c a few showers

 

 

Casino being nice spent a few hours there last night, walked away with a little bit more than I walked in with.

 

Still not heard of any real issues from fellow pax.

 

Nigh club bars appear dead at night, which seems odd as there is a good age range on board.

 

Royal wedding will be shown live then repeated so no escape.

 

Vines is full every night.

 

The new look patter is a lot better than old style.

 

No dining room open for lunch today or tomorrow, may be not enough folks

 

to make it cost effective to stay open, would be nice if this gives crew a little more free time.

 

Crew as good as any Princess ship, room steward very good, we have had a bottle sitting on ice since day one, every day he replaces the ice in the bucket with out us asking,

 

again he does our room when we are away for breakfast, does not matter what time we go, he knows and room is made up.

 

Met Maitre D again today, such a nice man stops talks to as many people as he can, same with captain people were stopping him asking for photos again no problem, with so much work it is so nice to see senior staff taking time to talk to us passengers.

 

 

yours Shogun

[grandmaa]

Shogun...Thank you for your "Live From".

How is the new "Patter" different from the old one? Did not know that a new format was being introduced. Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks. wishing you calm seas and blue skies.

[Megsdad]

It has a contact section for men who wear skirts:)

[meemeec]

It has a contact section for men who wear skirts:)

Hysterical!!:p:p

[tequilasunrise]

Thanks for the "Live" Thread. I've been enjoying, but reading at work where I can't post. Appreciate your time tho!

[Megsdad]

Now at home?:p

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Megsdad you should try wearing the kilt, you attrack lots of young ladies,

captain can spot you in a crowd so comes over for a chat, other officers stop and chat invite you for free drinks, then there is the photos, the invites for diner, oh yes and those free drinks from your fellow passengers,

 

 

Formal night again folks so quick after last one, in St Thomas today weather looking good could be 30 if lucky, what happened to US passport control, was looking forward to standing in line for hours again at a silly time in the morning.

 

Movie selection is good wide selection so all should find something to watch if they want

 

Bars disco appear dead at night only two or three folk in each not sure where everyone goes ,

 

The casino seems to be the only place full every night, may thats the way the ship wants it,not heard of any big wins heard of a few big losses, never carry 100 dollar bills in a casino and have a few drinks, not a good idea.

 

Still a few folk complaining about charges, you do not need to pay for ice cream if you can wait to diner time. Same with coffee and drinks its our choice folks.

 

Many tours did not run in St Maarten due t rough weather yesterday, where did all the casinos come from, appears to be at least 6 now.

There was three ships in port including monster of the seas, but many many shops had not a single person in them those that did I saw very few buying is it the end for all these shops,

 

Over all crew is as good as any Princess ship, still trying to find the rude, unhappy crew that others talked about,

 

Plenty of senior officers about the ship, happy to stop and chat to passengers, same with captain seen him every day .

 

Internet can be fast, but slows down badly in the evenings so you need to pick your times.

 

 

Well off now for some fun in the sun.

 

yours Shogun

[RoRothman]

hi ... good to hear all your comments.. we'll be seeing you soon.. who is in the piano bar..( my favorite spot)..hope he knows jazz standards!..

Rona

[Tinious]

Hi All

what happened to US passport control, was looking forward to standing in line for hours again at a silly time in the morning.

 

Someone asked the Captain about that on Ruby a few weeks ago. He just smiled and noted that there was a lot of information being shared well in advance to make sure it's not usually necessary any more.

[moosepond]

Well the RUBY GEM'S CC page is slowly shutting down:(

 

All the typing is over and we will all come face to face:eek:

 

Hope you and Donna had a great week and we will see you at DRINKAWAY!!:)

 

Look for a giant RUBY GEM on my finger!!!:D

 

 

Marcy;)

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

The new hand scanners seem to make getting on and off the ship so much faster than the old slot machine,

 

Grand Turk first time was not expecting much, so whats it like what I expect Princess cays will become a custom built stop for cruise ships, yes there a Di store and quite few others, a pool, flow rider etc, bars etc, all very clean new looking beach one side good the other to much rocks to get into water a few tried and fell over, its coral with deep holes to easy to break an anckle.

 

Captain is good, chatted to him again at circle party, he has a great style comes from many years at sea, been there done that, would expect if we ever hit an ice berg and start to sink, he would say only a small technical hitch, no need to panic so long as the band is playing.

 

 

Ship made a special meal for four at our table last night which was nice of them,

 

 

Ballon drop tonight and party, ship decked out in wedding stuff loads of ballons strimmers etc.

 

Overall a very nice cruise, weather has been good, crew very hard working.

 

Spoke with a junior officer what was nice was the way he talked about the room stewards, the long hours hard work they do, he was very happy that it was not his job.

 

Captain spoke about the new Royal Princess, also about us passengers not fuly understanding how hard it can be to dock a ship of this size.

 

chat more later

 

 

yours Shogun

[cnd crsr]

Would be interested in knowing more about the special meal made for your table:)

 

Have enjoyed reading your live from.

[caber]

Hi Shogun,

 

Glad the first cruise has gone well. I too would like to know more about the special meal made for your table.

 

George agrees with you that you get lots of photos taken when you have on the kilt but he is very jealous as nobody got him a free drink when he had his on.:p

 

Hope you transatlantic goes as well. See you in September.

 

Off on Ventura in 4 weeks.

[Megsdad]

young ladies?;)

[Shogun]

Hi Caber and all

 

The kilt got a lot of interest as it was the only one onboard

 

Well first week over part two ready to start,

 

First onboard today after zero count was Shogun.

 

Overall a very nice chill out cruise, captain has a great style, he should write a book when he retires from the sea I am sure we here would all buy it, and may be the 10 million captain circle folk would buy it and make it a best seller.

 

Ship switched power of today for a minute or two, not a problem, so long as you were not in a loo at the time boy is it dark with no lights.

 

Small problem last night no new cruise card but ship got me one this morning.

 

So one lady making a lot of noise that her duty free was not outside her room this morning, may be it was and someone who got of early took it with them.

 

Ship has a great crew

i like to see hotel manager, maitre d captain out and about the ship, get up early and you will see them.

 

the other I like if you meet ships crew the guys you do not see, the ones below decks that do the hard work, they all smile wave and say hello to you.

 

well sail away soon, been watching us navy leave port.

 

 

yours Shogun

[Dietemann]

well sail away soon, been watching us navy leave port.

 

 

yours Shogun

Hi Shogun, we watched your sail away on the web cam. Do you know you were preceded by a U-boat? (Okay, someone just posted that it had been there as part of Fleet Week.)

Take good care of the Ruby, we will get on in October in Rome to take her to Venice and then back to Fort Lauderdale.

[FritzG]

I'm so happy that someone is doing a "live from". We were on Ruby's first two spring TA's, and we loved it. I watched her sail from Port E. this evening, and it brought back wonderful memories.

I hope you all have a wonderful cruise. I'm glad Princess finally changed the sailing date for the spring TA. We were in Rome on May 1st, a major national holiday, both last year and in 2009. Many of the major attractions including the Sistine Chapel were closed.

[retiredtimes2]

Hi Shogun,

 

Glad to hear you got back onboard without any issues!!;)

 

Thanks for taking the time to 'bring us along' with your updates.

 

Make sure you & the Mrs. have some extra goodies at Vines for

us too!

& and extra scoop of that yummy shrimp salad from the Cafe please!;)

 

Tell Spunks we'll be looking out for them on the Emerald in September!

 

Cheers,

Dawna & Rick:D

[curlerguy]

What are the hand scanners? We were on the Crown last August and they still had the slot machine

[sunsetbeachgal]

Shogun,

 

Just found this thread as we were out of town...and have had more than a few morning chuckles! Thank you for doing a Live From.

 

I am glad you are cruising again after a hiatus for puppy raising. We lost out beloved miniature schnauzer last fall at the age of 15+, just prior to spending three weeks in Europe including a Med cruise on the Ocean Princess..after returning we bought a 2 year old schnauzer from a breeder...our cruise last month on the Star was our first time away from her so I know that you miss the dog, but know she is doing well back home! Life is back to normal!

 

Cant wait to hear about the TA...would love to do one but husband says too many days at sea in a row for him...

[wishful thinking]

Hi Shogun. Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise. Hope you're enjoying every minute.

[Sunviking]

Shogun,

 

Just found this thread as we were out of town...and have had more than a few morning chuckles! Thank you for doing a Live From.

 

I am glad you are cruising again after a hiatus for puppy raising. We lost out beloved miniature schnauzer last fall at the age of 15+, just prior to spending three weeks in Europe including a Med cruise on the Ocean Princess..after returning we bought a 2 year old schnauzer from a breeder...our cruise last month on the Star was our first time away from her so I know that you miss the dog, but know she is doing well back home! Life is back to normal!

 

Cant wait to hear about the TA...would love to do one but husband says too many days at sea in a row for him...

 

I know I'm OT but I saw schnauzer, Ocean Princess and couldn't help posting. We too had mini-schnauzers - lost the last one right after a t/a cruise on the Ruby in 10/09 - got a standard schnauzer and are now booked on the Ocean Princess next September (2012) from BCN to VCE. I remember seeing some of your posts from your Ocean cruise; because we're from eastern VA I noticed your location. We've never been on the small ships but I loved reading your posts. Thank you!

 

Again sorry for being OT.