Review of the Ruby by a Newbie (8/8/09)

[kendon]

Tony Draper is the other "Captain Tony".

[lizzy77]

I enjoyed your review especially the ports review as I have been looking at doing a cruise including some of the Greek Islands.

When we did our Med cruise we shared private tours with some CC members and we had a great time.

[chris_sufc]

Hi Friday, great review, very informative. We have just booked this cruise with exaclty the same itinary and dates next year for our honeymoon so im doing some serious digging for info!

 

We're on Baha with a balcony, room 250 i think.

 

I have a few questions if you would be kind enough to help me out!

 

What was the food like in the anytime dining area / what was typically on the menu?

 

Was it easy to get seats for the MUTS?

 

What were the bar prices like for wine / beer / cocktails in the bars and the main dining area? (typical yorkshireman watching the pennies!)

 

Finally, in terms of demographics what was it like age wise? A good mixture? Lots of families?

 

Cheers!

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Hi Friday, great review, very informative. We have just booked this cruise with exaclty the same itinary and dates next year for our honeymoon so im doing some serious digging for info!

 

We're on Baha with a balcony, room 250 i think.

 

I have a few questions if you would be kind enough to help me out!

 

What was the food like in the anytime dining area / what was typically on the menu?

 

Was it easy to get seats for the MUTS?

 

What were the bar prices like for wine / beer / cocktails in the bars and the main dining area? (typical yorkshireman watching the pennies!)

 

Finally, in terms of demographics what was it like age wise? A good mixture? Lots of families?

 

Cheers!

 

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for your comments! Are you a Sunderland FC fan by any chance? :D

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise. I am trying to figure out how to attach some pictures, so watch this space :D

 

In answer to your questions:

 

Food in anytime was a good mixture of meat / seafood / pastas etc. I can't really comment on much of it as I'm a veggie, so only ate a limited section. But what I had was good and my DH, who is not a veggie, enjoyed most of his (one of his steaks was a bit dodgy - he said it was full of gristle).

 

It wasn't always easy to get good seats for MUTS - you need to be there at least 20 mins early. Having said that, the couple of movies I watched, there were vacant seats around the edges, but these do not have as good a view.

 

Prices for wine were OK, they obviously vary by what type of wine you want. I didn't buy that much as I bought my own - 2 bottles of wine and one of champagne. This was just about enough, but DH doesn't drink alcohol, so that was all drunk by me :eek: Cocktails were around $7 dollars +15% tip. Unusually for me, I didn't drink any beer (was too busy drinking wine and cocktails :D)

 

In terms of demographics, there was the whole range from young babies right thru to senior citizens. Beforehand, I was concerned about the amount of kids that would be on board, being as we went at the peak of the summer hols, and I don't do kids, but although we saw a lot, none of them at any time were any trouble and in the end it really wasn't a problem at all.

 

Let me know if you want to ask anything else ;)

[ANYPORT]

Hi

Enjoyed your review, brought back many happy memories of our 1st in July, can't wait to do it again :D Like you we'll shop around for best prices, although we did get FCC so losing £75 is less painful than the standard 10%:eek: Quite fancy Alaska too (DH not so sure) however we met a few american & canadians who said the Baltic cruises were amazing for scenery etc. and in their opinion were better than Alaska. Hadn't really considered that, anyway whatever you choose have fun

Anyport

 

 

 

 

 

 

Price is a big issue you need to shop around, the best advise I can give

 

is us a FCC select your cruise and book it through Princess wait until last week before payment is due, then shop around for the very best price,

if good buy if not transfer to another cruise and do same.

 

yours Shogun

 

Hi

I'm not quite understanding this - can you book through Princess using a FCC and then transfer it to a TA if you find it cheaper? Is that not considered cancelling so you'd lose your FCC and the cabin. I thought only US guests were allowed to transfer to TA without penalty :confused::confused:.

Tks

Anyport

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Hi

Enjoyed your review, brought back many happy memories of our 1st in July, can't wait to do it again :D Like you we'll shop around for best prices, although we did get FCC so losing £75 is less painful than the standard 10%:eek: Quite fancy Alaska too (DH not so sure) however we met a few american & canadians who said the Baltic cruises were amazing for scenery etc. and in their opinion were better than Alaska. Hadn't really considered that, anyway whatever you choose have fun

Anyport

 

Hi Anyport

 

Thanks for your comments :) DH and I are also considering the Baltics. He has a contact that may be able to get us a good deal for that area, but it would be with NCL rather than Princess, and I haven't done much research on them, so I'm not sure what they are like.

 

But it is a little nearer to us than Alaska, so that might be worth bearing in mind. Decisions, decisions :D

[Shogun]

Hi anyport,

 

Princess is happy to let you book first with them and allow your TA to take over the booking later.

 

yours Shogun

[Megsdad]

For UK passengers you just register on the ship and the Future Cruise Consultant will give a reference number. No money changes hands. When you next book a cruise with Princess or via a TA you will only need to pay the £75 pp deposit instead of the normal 10%. You also get obc depending upon the length of the cruise

 

Should you change your mind for whatever reason before final payment you will only lose £75pp and not 10%.

[ANYPORT]

Hi anyport,

 

Princess is happy to let you book first with them and allow your TA to take over the booking later.

 

yours Shogun

 

Thanks for that Shogun, certainly would make sense to book earlier then. We booked so early last year and paid the penalty, prices plummeted:mad: We were considering leaving it until fairly late to hopefully get a good price, but your info changes that. Just have to work on DH (said I spent too much this year!)

Anyport

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

am going to do again (sorry)

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Here is the link to my photo album on Photobucket

 

http://s696.photobucket.com/albums/vv327/pinkbit/

 

I'm hoping that I am pasting the right link, and not the entire access to my account with Photobucket? :eek: (That's why I re-did it :D)

 

Anyway, I hope you find the photos interesting, they are only a few of the many that we took :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Beautiful photos!!

[redwinegirl]

Hi Anyport

 

Thanks for your comments :) DH and I are also considering the Baltics. He has a contact that may be able to get us a good deal for that area, but it would be with NCL rather than Princess, and I haven't done much research on them, so I'm not sure what they are like.

 

But it is a little nearer to us than Alaska, so that might be worth bearing in mind. Decisions, decisions :D

 

Hi Friday

 

Excellent review, well balanced thank you.

 

We are doing the Baltics in 10 days so I will let you know how it is.

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Double post

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Hi Friday

 

Excellent review, well balanced thank you.

 

We are doing the Baltics in 10 days so I will let you know how it is.

 

Thanks, redwinegirl, would appreciate that :) I hope you have a wonderful cruise ;)

[cruiserbabes]

Hi Friday

 

Read your review and thoroughly enjoyed it! I am having serious withdrawals from the beautiful Ruby as are the rest of my family! I am already looking around for next year, if not before! I didn't know what to expect but it exceeded my expectations totally. Beautiful ship, service very good, ports of call fab, food plentiful!! I even went to the piazza one day and the lady pianist was playing the theme from Titanic!! Not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but a surreal moment for me!

Only 2 things that I had problems with - cabinn fever by the end of the 12 days - 4 of us in 1 cabin was very tight to say the least - especially once the rollaway bed was put out at night....had to climb over it to get to the dressing table and balcony! Next time I think I would book 2 cabins or a suite. And I have got to say that I encountered many rude people.....simple things like letting people pass in the hallways, not a word of thanks or acknowledgement. People walking at you in the horizon court at breakfast, a man even pushed in front of me at passenger services to ask if he could play the grand piano...????

Overall, a fab holiday!!!

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Hi Friday

 

Read your review and thoroughly enjoyed it! I am having serious withdrawals from the beautiful Ruby as are the rest of my family! I am already looking around for next year, if not before! I didn't know what to expect but it exceeded my expectations totally. Beautiful ship, service very good, ports of call fab, food plentiful!! I even went to the piazza one day and the lady pianist was playing the theme from Titanic!! Not sure if that was a good or bad thing, but a surreal moment for me!

Only 2 things that I had problems with - cabinn fever by the end of the 12 days - 4 of us in 1 cabin was very tight to say the least - especially once the rollaway bed was put out at night....had to climb over it to get to the dressing table and balcony! Next time I think I would book 2 cabins or a suite. And I have got to say that I encountered many rude people.....simple things like letting people pass in the hallways, not a word of thanks or acknowledgement. People walking at you in the horizon court at breakfast, a man even pushed in front of me at passenger services to ask if he could play the grand piano...????

Overall, a fab holiday!!!

 

Hi cruiserbabes,

 

Thanks for your thoughts :) Didn't hear the lady playing Titanic, agree it might seem a bit weird :D

 

I agree that there were quite a lot of rude people on board (i.e. other passengers), I don't want to be rude to any race, but there were a lot of Southern Europeans (I'm not going to be more specific than that!) who clogged up the walkways on the Lido deck by the pool, very noisy, chain smoking, and who made it extremely difficult for even able bodied people to walk by, let alone those with wheel chairs or push chairs.

 

I also was queueing at the passenger service desk once, for over 15 mins, when a Southern European woman just completely bypassed the queue and went to the next person available. Luckily the passenger service person saw this and said in a loud voice to the passenger that there was a queue and would she kindly like to join the end of it :D

 

These were all niggly things, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment of our holiday :)

[cruiserbabes]

Hi cruiserbabes,

 

Thanks for your thoughts :) Didn't hear the lady playing Titanic, agree it might seem a bit weird :D

 

I agree that there were quite a lot of rude people on board (i.e. other passengers), I don't want to be rude to any race, but there were a lot of Southern Europeans (I'm not going to be more specific than that!) who clogged up the walkways on the Lido deck by the pool, very noisy, chain smoking, and who made it extremely difficult for even able bodied people to walk by, let alone those with wheel chairs or push chairs.

 

I also was queueing at the passenger service desk once, for over 15 mins, when a Southern European woman just completely bypassed the queue and went to the next person available. Luckily the passenger service person saw this and said in a loud voice to the passenger that there was a queue and would she kindly like to join the end of it :D

 

These were all niggly things, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment of our holiday :)

LOL, yes funny enough the piano man was a southern european too!

And I know exactly the group you are talking about clogging up the area by the bar? Isn't it funny how some people think that for some reason they are the only ones onboard regardless of the other 3,000+ passengers also onboard?

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

LOL, yes funny enough the piano man was a southern european too!

And I know exactly the group you are talking about clogging up the area by the bar? Isn't it funny how some people think that for some reason they are the only ones onboard regardless of the other 3,000+ passengers also onboard?

 

Yes, they did get quite annoying after a while. They just didn't seem to have any awareness of any others around them. But I'm sure there are rude and ignorant people wherever you go, so the best thing is to ignore it :D

[cruiserbabes]

Yes, they did get quite annoying after a while. They just didn't seem to have any awareness of any others around them. But I'm sure there are rude and ignorant people wherever you go, so the best thing is to ignore it :D

Yes, the rude people were not just limited to one particular group :D

What is quite hard though is that my girls also picked up on the rudeness and they are well mannered little girls. Hard to have to explain why people can't say a simple thank you when you stand aside to let them pass in the hallway...:( Manners cost nothing. But you are right, it didn't spoil our cruise one bit and there are people like that wherever you go!

[DP]

Does Crooners Bar on the Ruby have a bar with bar stools around it? Is it popular in the evening pre-dinner?

[fridaythecat.u.k.]

Does Crooners Bar on the Ruby have a bar with bar stools around it? Is it popular in the evening pre-dinner?

 

Hi DP - those were my initials before I got married. off topic, sorry :D

 

Back to Crooners, yes it does have a few bar stools. It was fairly busy in the the evenings but we never saw it packed out. Of course, it would vary a lot throughout the evening as the time spread of "pre-dinner" can vary hugely from person to person :D

[SingerEsq]

Hi cruiserbabes,

 

Thanks for your thoughts :) Didn't hear the lady playing Titanic, agree it might seem a bit weird :D

 

I agree that there were quite a lot of rude people on board (i.e. other passengers), I don't want to be rude to any race, but there were a lot of Southern Europeans (I'm not going to be more specific than that!) who clogged up the walkways on the Lido deck by the pool, very noisy, chain smoking, and who made it extremely difficult for even able bodied people to walk by, let alone those with wheel chairs or push chairs.

 

I also was queueing at the passenger service desk once, for over 15 mins, when a Southern European woman just completely bypassed the queue and went to the next person available. Luckily the passenger service person saw this and said in a loud voice to the passenger that there was a queue and would she kindly like to join the end of it :D

 

These were all niggly things, but not enough to detract from the enjoyment of our holiday :)

 

I had to chuckle at this ... we have a new appreciation for proper manner here in the colonies, at least. The lack of simple manners on this cruise was astounding to us ... and loud?!!! Why was everyone yelling at each other even in simple conversation? I finally had had it at the Rome airport as we were trying to get off a shuttle bus and just screamed at the people rushing to get on to get back while we unloaded our luggage off the shuttle. :eek: Don't know if they were Italians, Americans or what, but I got their attention and they backed off. :D Should have done it on the ship when people would rush into an elevator, rather than letting those on board exit first.

 

Sorry about your trip to the Acropolis. We also did it for just the price of the train ($1 Eu each way) which was very easy to navigate and the gate admission. Plus, we were not tied to a group and just wandered around at our own pace. Now, our tour of the Colosseum by their in-house guides was excellent.

 

I have not been to Egypt, but the ruins in Ephesus are amazing. If you are ever back in Kusadasi, I highly recommend a small group tour.

 

It was fun to read someone else's review. Thanks for posting.

[cruiserbabes]

I had to chuckle at this ... we have a new appreciation for proper manner here in the colonies, at least. The lack of simple manners on this cruise was astounding to us ... and loud?!!! Why was everyone yelling at each other even in simple conversation? I finally had had it at the Rome airport as we were trying to get off a shuttle bus and just screamed at the people rushing to get on to get back while we unloaded our luggage off the shuttle. :eek: Don't know if they were Italians, Americans or what, but I got their attention and they backed off. :D Should have done it on the ship when people would rush into an elevator, rather than letting those on board exit first.

 

Sorry about your trip to the Acropolis. We also did it for just the price of the train ($1 Eu each way) which was very easy to navigate and the gate admission. Plus, we were not tied to a group and just wandered around at our own pace. Now, our tour of the Colosseum by their in-house guides was excellent.

 

I have not been to Egypt, but the ruins in Ephesus are amazing. If you are ever back in Kusadasi, I highly recommend a small group tour.

 

It was fun to read someone else's review. Thanks for posting.

I am so glad it was not just me that thought that common courtesy on this cruise was lacking! Some of it astounded me!

There was also this one woman that I kept on seeing aorund the ship and we had the pleasure of encountering her in Santorini as we got off the cable car. If you went on the cable cars you will know that there is no 'on and off system' so you basically have to wait for everyone to get off before you get on. We were making our way down the stairs and this woman cut straight across us to get into the cable car shouting out 'we are trying to get on'!"!! My husband shouted back to her 'we are trying to get off'!! So rude. She also nearly pushed a fellow passenger out of the way to look at the cream cakes at the International Cafe. :o

[jillybabes]

Wonderful review...We are on the Ruby next February and can't wait...Can you tell me who the Cruise Director is on the ship...Thanks, Jill