Thread: Ruby Princess; November 4 - 14, 2009

As usual, I'm a little late in starting this Trip Report 2009 has turned out to be a very busy year.

I was asked to be Talkstostrangers roomie for this cruise. She was already booked with the Group from CLF and had cabin B406.

The cruise embarkation was in Fort Lauderdale and I normally would have flown down to Fort Lauderdale from Philadelphia on the day of the cruise, as there are plenty of non-stop flights from Philadelphia to Fort Lauderdale or Miami, but I wanted to meet the rest of the group ahead of time.

I arrived in Fort Lauderdale the evening of November 3rd and had no cell phone service This created problems for me because I needed to contact the hotel for the shuttle, my roomie and Hanna to let them know I arrived since they were staying at a different hotel than I was and I also planned to call home once I landed in Fort Lauderdale so that DH would know I arrived safely. I did have the hotel's phone number saved in my phone to call for the shuttle, but since I had no cell service, I made my way to the Information Kiosk and called the hotel from there. Thank goodness the hotel had a direct line to the airport and it was right by the luggage carousels, or I'd have been looking for a pay phone, if they still have them? I thought, well this trip is getting off to a rocky start

The shuttle arrived about 25 minutes after I called and I hopped in the van for the ride to the Hotel while trying everything I could to get my phone to find a signal, but I had no luck Once at the hotel, I checked in and made my way to my room. I needed to call DH because he was probably very worried, I had landed around 6:30 pm and it was now almost 8:00 pm. I had DH look on the internet to see if TMobile had any announcements regarding service issues and he didn't see anything. He then tried to find a customer service number for me, since no cell phone signal equals not being able to dial "611" to get help DH finally found a couple phone numbers for me to call and I was finally able to reach someone at TMobile who explained that they were having a Global Outage and the area I was in was being impacted. They hoped to have the service back up ASAP. In the future, I will have their Customer Service number with me!

Now that I was checked into the hotel (Comfort Inn & Suites), called DH and knew the cell phone problem was my provider and not my phone it was time for me to make my way down to the pre-cruise party. The party started at 7:00 pm and it was now 9:00 pm I was looking forward to meeting everyone I had chatted with here, if they were still down in the courtyard I also was hoping to see Hanna and Talkstostrangers since I hadn't touched base with them yet.

This was my first time meeting the Group, so I walked around asking all the people in the courtyard if they were part of Janice & Ziggy's group I finally found the right group and introduced myself. At this point, I was still looking for my roomie and Hanna and didn't see them and Reggie asked me if I talked to either of them and I explained my cell phone issue. He then informed me that they wouldn't be making it to the party, my roomie was sick He called Hanna on his cell phone and gave me his phone (thanks again Reggie ) so I could let her know that I was in Fort Lauderdale, didn't have a cell phone at the moment, and then we made our plans to meet up the next morning to head to the port.

I hung out by the Pool with the group until midnight and decided it was time to get some sleep, it had been a long and slightly frustrating day. I had no problem with the hotel room, it was neat and clean, but the pillows weren't what I refer to as "bed pillows" they were more like "sofa pillows" they were half the size of a standard bed pillow This was my first encounter with trying to use that small of a pillow to sleep on so I didn't have a great night's sleep, especially when you add that my cell phone service came back on around 3:00 am and I had my phone on vibrate so it bounced along the night table when my voicemail messages finally came through and woke me up wondering what that noise was! I hoped that Day 2 of this trip was going to be less eventful than Day 1!

Day 2; Embarkation

After getting showered and dressed I headed down to the Continental Breakfast that the hotel offers. They had an assortment of breads, cereals, waffles, fruit, juices, coffee and tea. I bumped into some the people in the group and chatted with them over breakfast and told them I'd see them all onboard the ship since I would be meeting with my roomie and Hanna and then heading to the port. The Hotel also had a free cruise port shuttle so the Group was using that.

I checked out of the Hotel and asked them to call me a taxi so I could head over to meet Ruth and Hanna at their hotel. We met at the Renaissance and there was a lovely sitting area outside the Hotel's lobby. I was so excited, I was finally getting to meet Hanna! For those not familiar, I went on a Brilliance of the Seas cruise last November and we had a roll call thread going from around July or August of 2008 and Hanna had stopped by the thread regularly. We chatted for a bit and then decided we should probably head over to the port.
Someone asked the hotel staff about getting to the cruise port and they said we could get a shuttle that would cost $6 per person so we decided to use the shuttle vs. a taxi.

We loaded up in the shuttle with some other hotel guests that were going to the port to board a Carnival cruise. We dropped them off first so we kept track of the luggage to make sure ours stayed inside the shuttle and didn't get taken off at the Carnival ship. We finally got to the Princess Terminal and stood in line for embarkation. There was a slight line outside and we were given the "have you been sick" questionairre" to fill out while waiting. Once inside the building and past security, the various decks have their own check-in sections. Ruth and I headed to the Baja deck lines while Hanna and her DH headed to their deck lines. After getting our onboard cards, it was time to head for our embarkation photo and then the identification photo. Since we spent most of this time chatting, I really have no idea how long the embarkation process took?

This was my first Princess cruise and one of the nice things I've encountered is that all the cabins on the Ruby were ready for us upon embarkation so we could head to our cabins right away. Since Hanna and her DH booked a Suite, we opted to head to their cabin first so we could check it out After seeing their cabin, and me thinking I probably shouldn't have looked at their's first since mine is just a regular balcony cabin we headed up to the Horizon Court for lunch. No matter what cruise line you're on, this first day buffet is always nuts! The lines were going in every direction while at the buffet so you had no idea which way was correct? I wanted a salad, but I have to say that the Ruby's salad dressings left a lot to be desired. They seemed watered down and didn't have much flavor.

After lunch, it was time to check out our cabin. We were on Baja Deck, cabin B406. It can be a little confusing looking for your cabin on the Ruby if you're used to other cruise line's numbering systems. We started out at B700's or B600's, but each 100 is not complete. You think you'll be real far away and it ends up that each hundred only has about 40 or 50 within it, before the next hundred starts.

We should have looked at our cabin first It was a balcony cabin, but it was the smallest that I've ever stayed in. The ones I stayed in prior, had a vanity/desk area with a chair and then a loveseat or sofa. On the Ruby, we had the vanity/desk area with a chair, but then just a small chair in addition to that. The area where the beds were seemed a little small vs. other cabins I had stayed in. The closet area seemed larger on the Ruby, but there were no doors on the closet so that may be why it seemed larger. What I noticed the most seemed to be a lack of drawer space. So it almost felt as if there was a learning curve to use the storage space. While we were at our cabin our luggage arrived so we decided to get unpacked and see if what type of space we would have.

Here are some pictures of our cabin, and the closet/storage space. I forgot to take them before we started unpacking so I took them either later that night or the following night.

Picture of the Balcony, the Balconies below (the Ruby has those tiered balconies) and the bathroom.

As a side note, if I cruise on Princess again with the tiered balconies, I would want to book the balconies 2 decks down from ours. They had an outside area and also an inside area that was covered so it was like that had two balconies Not sure if these are the mini-suite balconies? Also, the 2 cruises I was on prior to Ruby I stayed in Grand Suites so I missed having all that extra space. While the balcony category worked out okay, I am spoiled and wouldn't book just a regular balcony again It would have to be mini-suite/junior suite categories or higher for me. The cruise lines have created a monster

After getting unpacked, Ruth and I were trying to decide where to go for Sail-away. We called Hanna to see what they were planning to do and she invited us to her cabin for it! She had an awesome cabin. It was a Suite with an Aft balcony so we had an awesome view. I loved her cabin! Sign me up!

Here are some pictures of Fort Lauderdale & Sail-Away...

Hanna & Ruth, chatting on Hanna's balcony Notice the VIEW! And that was only part of it.

And here are few pics of Hanna's awesome suite.

Another detailed review with lots of pictures
Love the stuff -Keep it coming

OOPS! I missed Muster Drill. Our Muster Drill had us in a hallway on Deck 7. It seemed our cabin's air conditioning wasn't working all that well and the hallway where Muster was being held was no better. It was awfully hot Ruth wasn't feeling 100% so the heat and crowding during Muster was getting to her. We were really looking forward to it being over Of course while they have you there being quiet, they decide to go through a huge amount of announcements or notices in addition to the safety issues. I wish they would rethink this aspect. If you're all crowded together and it's hot, you really don't have everyone's undivided attention for a long period of time, even if you think you do!

**********************

We had read about the Seafood Buffet that was being held at 6pm. We went in search of it and found it at the Horizon Court. I don't eat seafood, but the others did and there were things other than seafood at the Buffet. I think I remember ham and beef.

After eating we went out on deck to check out the ship. This is where we found another item that Princess does differently. They do not give you a receipt for your drink purchase. I guess they think since you're on vacation you shouldn't worry about it But for those of us who keep track of our onboard accounts, it was a little strange.

We were scheduled for Second Sitting for dinner in the MDR. That time was 8:15 pm Way too late for me to eat dinner, especially with early morning tours on some of the days and my issue is that if I eat that late, I won't be able to sleep with a full stomach. We decided even though we went to the Buffet at 6pm, we'd go check out our table in the dining room anyway. Then we sat down and decided we were going to order food too! The first thing that I ordered was some type of pineapple soup. I thought it would be served in a bowl and I would use a spoon, but it came in a glass with a straw While it was very good, it just seemed so odd to be eating soup with a straw. I don't remember what else I had, but it was way too much food for me that first day I knew I couldn't eat like that every day and function

After dinner we walked around, I was trying to burn some calories hoping the food would digest quickly We also talked about switching to Anytime Dining so we could eat earlier

We headed back to the cabin to try to get some sleep since tomorrow we would be at Princess Cays.

Originally Posted by hanna

And here are few pics of Hanna's awesome suite.

Thanks Hanna It really was an awesome suite

Princess Cays

There were some things already planned by the time I joined this cruise. One of these was the rental of Bungalows on Princess Cays. The Bungalows are air conditioned, and it's a place to get out of the sun and into a/c if the heat is getting to you. The cost of the rental is $199 and they can accomodate up to 6 people in each one.

We had priority tender tickets, but we didn't use them. We woke up this morning with Ruth not feeling all that great. I ran up to the Horizon Court to get us some tea and made a second run for some croissants. We met up with Hanna and her DH and headed down to the tenders to make our way over to Princess Cays. We arrived on Princess Cays and asked which way to go for the Bungalows and were told over the Bridge. We got over the Bridge and asked which way and were told to go back over the Bridge the other way We finally found the right place to ask and hopped into a shuttle bus type of vehicle for the ride to our bungalow. It was a pretty long ride and I was glad we weren't walking since it was very hot. Our bungalow was right next to the rest of the CLF Group's other 2 bungalows so we were introduced to the people we hadn't met yet.

Lunch is served on the island and we had the option of taking it back to the bungalow or eating at the pavillion area. The food was good We spent the day just talking and relaxing with a couple dips in the ocean. It was a very relaxing day.

Here are some pictures of Princess Cays from the Ship and while on the beach