Ruby Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,975 reviews

Thanksgiving 2008

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Ruby Princess
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mainelycarib
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Dining
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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2008
Cabin: Balcony
Traveled with children

I think I'll write this review from the perspective of a loyal RCCL cruiser who wants to offer his best effort at an objective comparison between Princess and RCCL. I cruised with my wife and 2 daughters, ages 10 and 13. This was our 4th family cruise and 6th cruise for my wife and me, with previous cruises on RCCL, Celebrity, and NCL. This was our third annual Thanksgiving cruise, a tradition which will end due to higher cruise and air fares during the holiday weeks, in addition to our children missing some school days. We'll now cruise annually in April.

Embarkation: We arrived from our hotel at the ship around 11:00AM, and waited until our number was called to board the ship. Platinum level and suite passengers enjoyed very quick entry once boarding started around noon. We got onto the ship around 1:00pm, and, to our surprise, our rooms were ready. My wife and I had a balcony room and our girls were in an interior room across from us. This was the first time we cruised in separate rooms, and will now be the way we cruise from here on out. Overall, embarkation seemed as organized as it could be, especially given that we arrived a little early.

Rooms: As you know, the Ruby is a new ship and this was it's third week-long cruise. The rooms and public areas were, obviously, in fantastic shape. The rooms are typical cruise rooms, with size and layout pretty traditional. I will give a slight nod to Princess for how the closet is kind of separated from the rest of the room. It runs perpendicular to the rest of the room so that it has it's own little entry way. Makes you feel like the main room is really a living room. Our room steward was reliable, timely, and thorough, though not particularly effusive in his service. He wore way too much cologne, which remained in the room for hours after he serviced the room. This was an issue for me because of my sensitivities to any chemicals and he failed to correct this concern after I asked him not to wear cologne. I give RCCL the edge in the room service category.

Cabin Review

Balcony

The rooms are typical cruise rooms in terms of size. I will give a slight nod to Princess for how the closet is kind of separated from the rest of the room. It runs perpendicular to the rest of the room so that it has it's own little entry way, which is also shared by the bathroom. Makes you feel like the main room is really a living room with bathroom and closet separate. We've heard Princess mattresses are kinda' hard. We agree! Like the flat screen tvs, but no access to ship board account to keep track of expenses. Very clean!

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