Ruby, Jan. 5-9, plus home movie

[Mississippian]

A large family group (20 of us) cruised on the Ruby Jan. 5-9. We had a good time, of course.

 

They were checking for alcohol pretty aggressively just after passing through security, and paying the $15 charge could be time consuming. I didn't have my boarding pass, which could have caused some problems, but I did have a copy on my phone (I was just never able to get to a printer). If you don't have a boarding pass they have a problem charging you, since they don't have any proof that you aren't lying about your stateroom number. Don't know how they handle this.

 

I ended up taking one of my "free" bottles to the dining room and having to pay again. Meanwhile, I drank one of the ones that I paid for in our room. I do have to admit that the Princess wine prices aren't that unreasonable, and for more expensive wines are actually reasonable. I don't always like the selection, though. Next cruise I think I'll take two bottle of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay to consume in the stateroom and just buy everything else on board.

 

The past few Princess cruises I sailed have had prime rib on the first night. Princess has a reputation of not doing so well with beef, but that prime rib has been excellent. I wish the horseradish sauce had a little more "kick" to it. The food on the first and second night was great. The third night was the worst. I do wish they would put the cheese plate back on the menu as a dessert. You apparently can still get a cheese plate off-menu, but there is no identification of the cheeses.

 

We were in mini-suite E730. This stateroom and E731 have extended balconies that are about twice the size of a standard balcony. You get the benefit of a side balcony plus most of the benefits of an aft balcony. I was not bothered by any noise from Club Fusion.

 

The seas were slightly rough a few times, but not really bad. After our stop at Grand Cayman the captain announced that we were cancelling our call at Cozumel due to gale-force winds and rough seas and that we would stop instead at Ocho Rios. I wasn't looking forward to the Jamaica stop, but we had a great time, and lots of people said they were glad they visited Ocho Rios instead of Cozumel.

 

In Ocho Rios we just walked off the boat and rented a mini-van and driver for $150. We ended up taking boat to get to our van, which I'm sure had something to do with the van owner not having to pay some fee of some sort. It was a pretty crappy mini-van, but the weather wasn't too hot and we liked out driver. We visited Dunn's River Falls, had lunch, and then spent an hour or two on a beach at Bamboo Beach Club. Admission was free, and I think the driver got a little kickback on our drink and food orders, but that's okay. If I were doing it again I would skip the lunch we had and just eat at Bamboo Beach Club, too. They have plenty of food options. (Oh, and a word of warning: To exit Dunn's River Falls you have to walk through stalls belonging to the most aggressive salespeople you will ever encounter. They will grab you, try to put "gifts" into your hand (and then insist that you pay for them), and so on. You've just got to put your head down and plow through).

 

I would say overall the food and service was good in traditional dining. There were 10 of us at each table, which can be hard on the waiters. I do wish they would explain to the staff that the very second people sit for dinner they need to have their drink order taken without a lot of shilly-shallying about.

 

We paid the future cruise deposit while on this cruise. We paid $599 each for our mini-suite and put down a $100 deposit on a future cruise. So we have $699 to spend on a future cruise. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of choices that appeal to me right now, but I'll keep looking.

 

For those of you who like watching other people's home movies, I've attached a link to my Youtube upload. It has some footage of Dunn's River Falls as well as photos of Stateroom E730, for those who might want to see the extended balcony.

 

Edited January 19, 2014 by Mississippian

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

 

Nice video too. :)

Edited January 19, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[matisse2]

Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed the video!

[greenie082756]

Thanks for the review and pictures! Seems like you all have a fantastic time together!

[pusywillow]

Enjoyed watching the video. Thanks for the link.

[caribill]

I ended up taking one of my "free" bottles to the dining room and having to pay again. Meanwhile, I drank one of the ones that I paid for in our room.

 

They are only "free" as long as you consume them in your cabin. Need to pay corkage fee on them in the dining room.

[Mississippian]

They are only "free" as long as you consume them in your cabin. Need to pay corkage fee on them in the dining room.

I was aware of that. It just worked out that one of the bottles I wanted to drink in the room was one I had paid the corkage on, and then I ended up taking a bottle to the dining room that I thought I was going to drink in the room.

 

The best course of action is probably to just bring the two free bottles for the room and no more unless there is some specific wine that you want.

 

The Princess wine prices are a little steep on the cheapest wines, but once you go up a notch they are more reasonable. And I did a price check on Opus One and found that the Princess price is lower than the Costco price. I don't drink expensive wines, but for those who do, there's your deal!

[riansgrammy]

Thank you for sharing. Great video and pics. What a wonderful memory for all of you.

[Mississippian]

Oh, one real inconvenience we suffered.

 

When we left Ft. Lauderdale the Ruby sailed out of Terminal 21, so we parked our van there. When it returned it docked at Terminal 2, which I think is the Ruby's usual docking point. We had to take "shuttles" from Terminal 21 to T-2, and there was a long line, it was raining, and it just added more than an hour of standing around and toting luggage following disembarkation.

 

We survived it.