Ruby Princess versus RCCL

[Ken Greco]

Thinking of taking the Ruby Princess for the first time. Have only been on Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises. Can you tell me the pros and cons on Princess?

[chrysalis]

One person's "pro" could be another person's "con".

 

Perhaps more specific questions would be in order:)

 

Even the larger ships on the line can be very different than the small "R" ships.

[Griff4AU]

chrysalis makes a good point.

 

It depends on which RCCL ships you've been on. I am far from a RCCL expert, but know them well enough to see the very different styles between their larger and smaller ships. I can't stand the RCCL mega ships (floating shopping malls), I very much enjoy their medium ships, and think the smaller ships are "just OK" with their postage stamp cabins (not as if we spend much time in there anyways)... I'd probably label them my 2nd or 3rd favorite line.

 

Although both owned by the same parent, I find nearly zero in common with Princess and CCL.

 

One of the many things I enjoy about Princess is the familiarity amongst all of their ships, big and small. While I haven't been on the Regal/Royal, I feel I can find my way around nearly any Princess ship in the fleet.

 

So maybe if you shared your likes/dislikes about some of your RCCL ships, that might help this group compare/contrast for you.

[OCruisers]

Totally depends on which RCCL ship. Oasis/Allure are quite different from other RCCL ships.

LuLu

[caribill]

In my opinion, the Ruby is close to the experience on the RCCL Voyager class ships.

 

Princess will not have:

A rock climbing wall

An ice skating rink

A flowrider

 

Instead of a long promenade with shops that RCCL has, there will be shops on two levels of the atrium on the Ruby. There will be no parade as there is on RCCL.

 

Instead of a three story high dining room, there will be three separate one story high dining rooms, all with the same menu and dress codes. One will be tradtional fixed dining times, one will be the equivalent of "my time" dining, and one will likely be early seating traditional and after that "my time". (Princess calls "my time" "anytime")

 

The International Cafe on the Ruby will be open 24 hours and have a better selection than the Cafe Promenade.

 

On Princess you will not have to pay for ship's shore excursions in advance nor will you have to pre-pay gratuities as you need to on RCCL if you have "my time" dining.

 

Once boarding starts on embarkation day (usually around noon), you can go directly to your cabin on Princess. You need to be out of your cabin on disembarkation day by about 8 AM.

 

Princess entertainment in the main theater now is about 35 minutes long. RCCL is closer to 50 minutes.

 

Both the Ruby and RCCL has many opportunities to enjoy live and recorded music and opportunities for dancing. Both have trivia and other passenger participation game shows.

 

On Princess you will have pool towels in your cabin. No need to check them out and return them at the pool.

 

Both Princess and RCCL have casinos that will happily take your money.

 

Hope this helps. Ask if you have more questions.

Edited May 13, 2014 by caribill

[hubofhockey]

Thinking of taking the Ruby Princess for the first time. Have only been on Royal Caribbean and Carnival cruises. Can you tell me the pros and cons on Princess?

 

We cruise on both Royal Caribbean and Princess. I enjoy the ships on both lines for different reasons. I like the feel of the ship on both lines.

 

I think the big differences are that Princess has more of a casual, relaxed, resort feeling to its ships. The Ruby Princess is a good sized ship with great public areas and rooms. It also splits up its pool areas in four distinct separate areas and each offers something different. Entertainment on Ruby Princess centers around three or four venues at night. Princess doesn't do big productions well like Royal Caribbean does and nothing Princess does can even touch what they do on the Oasis/Allure. Dining is solid on the Ruby Princess. There are two specialty restaurants in the Crown Grill (which I prefer over Chops) and Sabatinis (I prefer Giovannis on Royal Caribbean). As on every other cruise ship, you can always find a burger or slice of pizza somewhere. The buffets on both lines are good quality and offer nice settings.

 

I don't have too many cons for Princess or Ruby Princess, but here's my short list. No sofa in balcony cabins. Cannot check your folio on in room televisions. Explorers Club entertainment appears to be downsized from a few years ago. Main theater has inadequate space for guests and shows are too short.

 

I'd cruise on either line at any time. Have fun.

[Ken Greco]

Thanks for the comparisons.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Chrysalis and HofH pretty well summed it up, but I have just a couple more points:

 

-Princess has a more reasonably priced unlimited soda sticker

-Princess has passenger laundry rooms throughout the ship ($2 to wash and $2 to dry).

-Princess has what is similar to the Solarium on RC but it's $40 per person per day and it's called the Sanctuary.

- the buffet on a Princess stays open from early morning to late night. Each side opens and closes but one side and sometimes two is always open until midnight-ish.

[mskaufman]

Two years ago we did a Med Cruise on Liberty of Seas and last year on Ruby Princess. We had a great time on both ships. There were things done differently, but no big deal. As a previous poster said Princess does not have a rock climbing wall, ice rink or flowrider. RCI did not have Movies Under the Stars. We felt that entertainment was better on RCI (but that's personal and everyone will have different preferences). Food was great on both ships. Ship tours seemed more organized on RCI (again, not a show stopper). Both were modern ships. There were fewer children on Princess (but that might be due to it being a 12 day vs an 8 day cruise). No problems on either ship.