Cruise Review – Princess Cruise Vacations on the Ruby
Princess
Princess Cruise Lines is well known for their vacation value as is
witnessed by the number of awards they receive each year.
Caribbean cruise
vacations offer winter breaks for many snow ridden passengers every
year. Such was the case for us this year.
Our Table Stewards Arif and Eliud (in middle row)
The snow started in November and just never stopped. It was almost
uplifting just to plan and think about our Ruby Princess cruise.
The new
Ruby Princess Itinerary was perfect for “beach bums” like us. Sun, sand,
sea – what more could you ask? You can review the itinerary by following the
link above.
The ship itself was sparkling. Not as elegant as other newer
Cruise
Ships
that we have been on but very comfortable and accommodating. There were a
good variety of amenities including the many lounges with interesting themes
and decors. And the dining…
We had chosen the “Personal Choice Dining” feature on this cruise. The very
first night we were seated at a table for our party of six with table
stewards Arif Williams from India and Eliud Caribe from Mexico. This
“dynamic duo” proved to be extremely polite and efficient as well as
friendly. We asked for their table each night only missing them once. And on
one occasion we actually waited for two hours to have their table.
Waiting to dine on board is not a hardship (unless you are starving :-)).
You receive a pager and are told approximately how long it may be and you
are free to wander away. In our case, the dining room was next to the piazza
which is three floors high and has entertainment and shops to browse in. And
across the piazza is the Casino. Time (and money) can fly in there.
We found the dining room food to be excellent. Our wait staff had
recommendations most evenings and they were never wrong.
There were four Lido Deck buffet lines. These were often congested as we
have found on most cruise ships. The food here however was also very good.
We also tried pizza a couple of times and the burger concession. Both were
fine as well.
|
|
| |
| Please
first so that you can return and enjoy more information! |
| |
We did not try the optional dining areas (we didn’t need to) but we did
take a look at them. The ambience of the steakhouse was excellent. Which
leads me to our comment on the main dining rooms.
Most of the cruises that we have been on had very elegant dining rooms. This
ship seemed to lack that pizzazz in the dining rooms. The rooms were neat
and tidy but did not seem to have any interesting or sparkling décor.
The 3 floor piazza was somewhat elegant but did not have the punch that the
full atriums had on other ships. I was disappointed when I entered the glass
elevator and found that it was open for view on the three floors.
The staterooms were well equipped and organized. And the balconies on the
Princess cruise ships are larger than on many of the other ships. We tend to
use our balcony a lot during cruise vacations including our quiet late
afternoon glass of wine before getting decked-out for dinner. We did find
that the showers were exceptionally small.
There was a nicely appointed area at the very back of the ship that was
unfortunately difficult to get to from the sun deck area. It was accessible
only from one side of the ship and once you had gone down the wrong side you
had to back track all the way around one of the lido pools.
We found that when the sun was shining and warm, it was difficult to find
lounges. There were stacks of them available but were chained together. And
of course, many people went out in the early morning and claimed/saved
chairs for later in the day which the cruise lines frown upon.
In terms of a vacation destination, Princess Cruise Lines’ Ruby Princess is
a wonderful choice. The floating hotel has all of the amenities that you
could ask for and a great itinerary for the sun or shopping lover.
For more information on our Ruby Princess cruise to the
Western Caribbean, check our
Caribbean Cruises Article map often.
Browse through some of the other informative cruise pages. Check out
the great deals from the merchants on our
Discount Cruises page. Then book your cruise on-line and get
excited!.
For more information about cruise specials, discount
cruises, other cruises and products choose from one of the following links:
Related articles for special cruises, cruise itineraries, cruise ships,
romantic getaways and many other topics!
Caribbean Cruises
|
