Princess changed our ship from Ruby to Royal.

[sloopsailor]

Late last night I received an email from Princess that due to deployment changes we will be on the Royal Princess instead of the Ruby Princess for our Hawaii cruise early next year. I am familiar with Ruby but not Royal. What are the pros and cons of moving from Ruby to Royal? We had a Dolphin deck mini suite on Ruby. What might be different with our mini suite on Royal? 

 

Thank you for any advice and information. I am not sure whether this is a good change or not, but I hope it is a plus. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by sloopsailor

[DUCHESSRN]

I got 14 E Mails telling me the same thing .

Royal has Alfredo,s Pizza and better Enclave .No Skywalker's on Royal .

I am sure you will get lots of information from people who know both ships well.

We just got off Ruby she needs a little TLC but staff amazing and we had a great cruise .

[boom op]

Nice, can't wait to book a cruise on the Royal. Going on the Ruby next month. 

[suekel]

I'm doing Hawaii in November and same move.  I don't like the Royal as well.  Balconies are tiny, and there is a severe lack of pools.  I'm disappointed but we'll make do.  

 

[thinfool]

There is no exterior promenade on the Royal.  IMO Princess really dropped the ball when they approved this ship design.

I am a big fan of the Ruby, Grand design.  Will likely bail on Princess when they are sold off.

Edited March 17, 2022 by thinfool

[Sea Hag]

I'm a huge fan of the full, wrap-around Promenade deck on the Grand/Crown class ships. The walking/jogging track on the Sports deck of the Royal class ships makes an acceptable, if not quite as good, substitute for me. I like Alfredo's, and the Ruby doesn't have that. Not a deal breaker. Still like the Ruby. We had one of the small, standard balconies on the Majestic last summer, and that wasn't a deal breaker either. We had enough room for the two of us. The size of your mini balcony on the Royal depends entirely upon where it is. Some minis on the Royal have larger balconies than some others do. Do you have a cabin number? Also, your Dolphin deck mini on the Ruby was totally uncovered, while I think all minis on the Royal are covered. The exception to that is probably the forward-facing minis on Lido and Marina. The M6, club class, minis on the forward corners have very large balconies.

[TBfrPH]

On 3/17/2022 at 7:17 AM, sloopsailor said:

... What are the pros and cons of moving from Ruby to Royal? We had a Dolphin deck mini suite on Ruby. What might be different with our mini suite on Royal? 

 

Thank you for any advice and information. I am not sure whether this is a good change or not, but I hope it is a plus. 

You asked, so hopefully this is not too much information.

 

We've been on Royal once and Ruby twice.  Were also on Majestic, which is in same class as Royal.  Whether the switch is a plus depends on your personal affinity for the various things that set each ship apart. 

 

If food is important, I think you'd probably like Royal better.  Someone has already mentioned Alfredo (not available on Ruby).  You get a bigger menu of pizza, Italian antipasto, and tiramisu.  It also has Gelato if you prefer real ice cream over the soft serve imposter.  Royal also has the bakery in the buffet area, which pre-covid had a bigger spread of desserts.  These are +++ for Royal.  Ruby has Salty Dog Gastropub, which IMHO is not worth the extra charge for what's offered on the menu.

 

We do like the promenade on Ruby far better, but we're not out there doing laps every day either.

Royal is bigger and will have more people if both ships sail at full capacity (600 more).  Royal  has fewer pools, but I always was able to swim when I wanted in the afternoon.  You'd prefer Ruby if these things are priorities for you.

 

If you like live music and dancing, Ruby is probably better by a hair.  They both have Explorer/Vista Lounge, but Ruby has Club Fusion with a bigger dance floor, though it's not utilized properly currently because of covid.  The Wheelhouse on Ruby has a dance floor, albeit tiny, and WH on Royal has no space for dancing.  Princess puts dance bands in the piazza, which appears to be a bit bigger than the one on Ruby.  We enjoyed it, but some dancers don't like the marble floor.  Ruby has Skywalker disco, and Royal has Club 6.  We don't do that kind of dancing, so can't compare, other than to say that Skywalker is a nice place to sit and enjoy the view.

 

Royal has Princess Live specifically for hosting game shows (what a waste of space that is).  The game shows on Ruby are just as fun when done in either Explorer or Club Fusion.

 

Regarding accommodation, we wouldn't know what a suite looks like, so not very helpful there, I'm afraid.   Also not qualified to comment on alcohol and gambling-related topics.

 

Overall we had a great time on both ships.  What really affected our experiences were not the ships themselves, but the program of activities and the people (entertainment staff, guest performers, cooks) executing/delivering them.

 

 

[jeno]

On 3/17/2022 at 11:11 AM, suekel said:

I'm doing Hawaii in November and same move.  I don't like the Royal as well.  Balconies are tiny, and there is a severe lack of pools.  I'm disappointed but we'll make do.  

 

I remember when the Royal came out and one Cruise Critic member said, “They call it a balcony, but it’s really more like a shelf”.   Still makes me laugh. 

[pris993]

Ref differences on mini suites, all ships have the same mini suite layout.  

 

We will be on Royal for the Holiday cruise to Hawaii.  Sorry for the change, I prefer the Ruby over the Royal for reasons already stated.  But we will settle for the Royal.  We also book a mini suite because we like the extra space.  In the winter crossing the Pacific doubt we would use the balcony much anyway.  We did 1 cruise on the Royal a few years back, did a 15-day TA.    Have done a 15-day TA on the Ruby, plus a 7- and 10-day cruise.  Live near SF, so if Royal homeported out of SF, we will be on it.   

[tawlaw1526]

I’ve been on Ruby twice and Royal 3 times.    Royal is a newer ship than Ruby.   There are pros and cons of each ship but you won’t be disappointed on either ship.   The Piazza is larger and the buffet area is larger and laid out better on Royal.     I love the Explorers Lounge on Ruby way better then Princess Live on Royal.    Thankfully Princess heard everyone’s complaints about Princess Live because they completely changed the layout on Sky and newer ships to have the Explorers layout.  As others have mentioned, Royal has Alfredo’s which is excellent.   Royal is a nice ship.   Enjoy every minute of your cruise!!!  

[caribill]

On 3/17/2022 at 9:17 AM, sloopsailor said:

We had a Dolphin deck mini suite on Ruby. What might be different with our mini suite on Royal? 

 

 

Mini-suite on Royal is like one big room instead of the way it is on Ruby which sort of seperates it into two distinct areas.

  Royal mini-suite

 

  Ruby mini-suite

[modes]

It’s a very good change, enjoy!

[Akit]

Hi everyone, I'm on the same situation with the switch from Ruby to Royal, but for the Mexican Riviera cruise.  Princess emailed travel agents on March 22 to confirm the switch, but in my case, it became a guaranteed stateroom within a similar category; working with my TA to see if he can get me a specific room.

Also, Princess emailed me directly on March 23 to welcome me to Royal, however, the Medallion app and the Princess website to input and retrieve my cruise info isn't showing-up for Royal.  It still says Ruby on the app.

I'm very familiar with the Grand class ships, easily knowing my way around; will be a unique experience on the Royal class to see if it's better or not.