Ruby Review - 5 Nt. West Caribbean

[olsonfive]

My wife and I sailed on the Ruby 5-nt West Caribbean cruise leaving Fort Lauderdale on March 29th. Thanks to all that offered advice and here are some highlights and thoughts from our cruise.

 

We arrived the night before and stayed at the Fairfield Inn by FLL airport - the hotel worked out fine from a location standpoint. Before catching the shuttle from hotel ($8 pp one-way), we took a quick walk to close-by Mobil convenience store to buy some soft drinks and water to take with us.

 

We took the 10:00 shuttle from the hotel to port - it did take a little while to get to Ruby as they had two other stops and the area was crowded at each. The check-in process was very efficient at Princess and everyone was nice and welcoming. At around noon we were able to board - and we were hungry so took a direct line to the Horizons buffet (at that point it was not too crowded and we were able to get a table with no problem).

 

Then it was time to find our cabin - we booked an outside obstructed, but a few days in advance offered an upsell to balcony ($69pp) so ended up with C718. Our one other Princess cruise was Alaska Southbound and we love the Caribe deck balconies. Although the location was far aft, it was convenient to stairs/elevators, horizon buffet, Botticelli dining room, and the Terrace pool (which we really enjoyed on sea days). We didn't experience any issues with motion at all, but arriving into Cozumel and Fort Lauderdale we could feel/hear the engines (thrusters?) a bit.

 

Overall I thought the ship compared very closely to Diamond Princess from a few years ago. The room was almost identical - again love the Caribe balcony space and room layout is efficient and well-designed with plenty of closet space to keep organized. We also brought two small fold-down closet "shoe" organizers which help to store extra toiletries and other small misc. items like chargers etc.

 

The itinerary worked out great to have stops in Cozumel and Grand Caymans sandwiched between two days at sea. In Cozumel we took the Princess excursion to Passion Island on the catamaran - we really enjoyed the beautiful and relaxing island (as others review the food was just ok there). The next day we took the Stingray City and Caymans highlights tour which was fantastic - the large Princess group split up into 3 smaller buses (each holding about 16 people) to visit Hell & Turtle Farm and then met up at end to all take boat out to see the stingrays. Although the boat was crowded, the crew did a great job making sure everyone had a chance to interact individually in small groups/couples with the rays. The photographer Dwayne did a great job in capturing pictures (which we appreciated as I forgot to bring an underwater camera).

 

All the ship entertainment was fantastic. We enjoyed the two shows with the Princess singers/dancers, Al Katz did a great comedy show, and there were tons of various other activities like trivia going on all the time. On our last day at sea, at 10:30 we attended the Cooking demo by MD and Head Chef which was excellent and ended with interesting galley tour. Because we were busy with other activities, we did not catch any of the MUTS movies. However, being from WI we did catch the Badgers "elite eight" game on the first night of the cruise - it was a great atmosphere watching on MUTS, but unfortunately they switched to Gravity movie at the end with no notice (other than Patter schedule I guess) much to the chagrin of many Badger fans! We were able to see the end of the game in our room though, the Badgers won in OT, but unfortunately lost last night in final four vs. KY which is another story.

 

On our first day at sea we had a couples cabana massage which was fantastic (very peaceful and relaxing, albeit fairly expensive at $269 - +15% gratuity was added). That night we also ate at Crown Grill. All the other dinners were at the Botticelli dining room for our 6:00 seating for two. Again we thought the food was similar to our experience on Diamond - Princess does a great job on that end (and attending the cooking demo makes you appreciate the magnitude of the operation while still cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients). Similar to other reviews, we found the Terrace Pool area very nice - on the first day we enjoyed that area while the ship left port. We were able to locate a couple chairs without much trouble when we went there (at times on upper level) and on the most part didn't seem to be a huge issue with chair "savers" on the cruise.

 

The entire disembarkation process was very smooth. We had a 11:30 flight at FLL - signed up to take luggage with us. We had 8:10 time and when we got to 6th floor dining room there was no wait and just walked right off and sailed through customs with little wait (they had 3 agents). Catching a taxi was no problem and we actually had a couple hours to wait at the airport with no worries of catching flight.

 

Thanks again to all the CCers for all the advice. Learned all about FCCs here so made our deposits onboard and already starting to plan a couple more Princess cruises.

[Bases5]

We were on the same cruise. We really enjoyed it very much.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review, great upgrade! :)

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. We were two doors down in C714 last month. The vibration of the engines bothered us a little bit, but never interrupted our sleep.

[bhopal21]

Thanks for your review.

 

We were onboard the Ruby for a B2B in February and although we don't generally like the larger ships were very pleasantly surprised. The staff on the Ruby was outstanding on our cruise.

 

Mike:)

[paradiselivin1]

Glad you had a great cruise & hope we are as lucky ~ we're almost single digits!:D

[greenie082756]

Thank you for taking the time to do a review! Seems like you had a great time!

[Ilovepj]

Thanks for review, I have a few days before we board the Ruby, so any information right now is great.

[gator582]

Too bad about the Badgers. Hard game to watch. Awesome they made it to the Final Four, though. Maybe next year..............

 

Really glad you enjoyed your cruise. Value your review since we leave in two weeks for our anniversary cruise on the Ruby in an aft cabin. I may copy the couples massage and the cooking class you did. :)

 

Thanks again!!

[gator582]

Correct, the Cabana Couples massage is in the Sanctuary? Are you able to stay there after your massages? I just reserved this for our 2nd sea day. :)

[olsonfive]

Hi Gator - hope that you have a fantastic upcoming cruise on the Ruby! Yes - the Couples Cabana massage is in the Sanctuary area. I may be wrong (since we didn't ask), but I don't believe you can stay after the massage. We were guided to the cabana by one of the therapists and she led us back to the changing room in Lotus Spa afterward. It's a perfect activity for day at Sea.

[Ilovepj]

HI,

 

Just one question, it said Grand Cayman and then Cozumel. But it looks like the ship goes to Cozumel first? Is that true.

 

The ruby ship left today and it said Grand cayman, but if you look on the webcam, its saids bounds for Cozumel.

 

Just wondering.

 

Thanks,

Helen

[olsonfive]

On our 3/29 cruise it was originally scheduled to stop at Grand Cayman first and then Cozumel, but a couple months in advance switched to Cozumel first. Seems like it does vary somewhat (not sure why, maybe flex based on number of ships in total at each port?). I assume for your 4/12 cruise will be Grand Cayman first per current itinerary.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review of the Royal.

[porkribs]

Hi,

 

We also booked a couples cabana massage. Do you have access to the Sanctuary after the massage for the rest of the AM or do they kick you out?

 

Thanks!

Andrew

[porkribs]

sorry! just saw the above was already asked and answered by a like minder cruiser. thanks

[Kmkub]

Thanks for the review! We love the Ruby

 

Do you have access to the Sanctuary after the massage for the rest of the AM or do they kick you out?

 

They don't kick.... but they do escort you out! :p

[olsonfive]

Good answer Kmkub:) And I thought it was just so we wouldn't get lost! I'm sure that all those planning the couples cabana massage will enjoy it - definitely one of the highlights from our cruise. FYI - for those that haven't been there the changing rooms work out very well and they have the programmable lockers for you to store anything.

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. The shorter cruises on the East coast seem to have better itineraries than the short ones on the West coast. At least, in my opinion.:):):)