Ruby Princess Review

Wonderful, with annoyances

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Ruby Princess
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Neapolitan
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Aug 2009

Having very much enjoyed our first Princess cruise last summer to the western Med on Sea Princess, my wife and I responded to a bargain offer from Princess to go to the Aegean this summer on its newest ship, Ruby Princess. The itinerary was a history teacher's (that's me) dream, calling at Naples, Santorini, Ephesus, Athens, and Venice, all of which have some connection to the curriculum I teach.

The cruise departed from Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. We had four days in Rome beforehand and took the train from Rome's Termini Station to the port. It was an easy trip, as we had purchased reserved seats for a direct train the day before. I would strongly advise doing so, as many passengers who hadn't were unable to sit together. From the Civitavecchia station, it was an easy four-block walk to a free shuttle that took us to the ship. Embarkation went smoothly and efficiently. It is our experience that Princess is very good at moving people on and off.

We were in a minisuite forward on the port side. It was spotless, spacious, with plenty of storage. However, when we went out onto the balcony we experienced the first of a number of annoyances we had with the design of the ship. Dolphin deck (Deck 9) is made up entirely of minisuites, and its balconies look down directly onto the sea, which is good. However, its balconies also are looked down on by all the other balconies above, which is stupid. You have absolutely no privacy. Because our balcony extended farther out than those above us, on four separate occasions we found ourselves dealing with rubbish that had fallen on our balcony from those above. Once an orange peel, once a sodden newspaper, and twice cigarette ash. The first problem with ash required cleaning of two of the balcony chairs, and on the second occasion a chunk of still-burning ash fell on my wife's bare arm. The orange peel, newspaper, and first problem with ash occurred during the night, so finding them on the balcony does not at all reflect badly on our room steward, who was excellent. The problem is with the ship's design. Considering that Ruby Princess is the last member of this class of ship, you have to wonder why Princess didn't deal with this obvious design flaw.

Cabin Review

Cabin AC

D228 minisuite on Deck 9, "Dolphin"

Cabin was spacious, with a large bathtub and massage showerhead. There was ample storage.

The balcony, while large, was looked down on from all balconies above it, as well as from some public deck space and the bridge. There was no privacy, and we were frequently driven from the balcony by cigar and cigarette smoke. In addition, on several occasions we found cigarette ash and other trash on our balcony.

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