I just stopped by to say hi - my dive group and I will be on the November 4, 2009 Ruby Princes Eastern Caribbean Voyager also!
We just got off the Emerald Princess a few weeks ago - this year's scuba cruise - and had a blast! Most of the group booked next years cruise while on the ship to take advantage of the FCC perks.
Just thought I would let those of you know going as a group - the people connected to the cruise line in Southern California did an awesome job with our group amentities and pre-dive orientation - two big thumbs up for Princess!
The Emerald is Ruby's sister ship and was wonderful! No compalints from any one - and lots of great things to see, eat and do in the 10 days we were on the cruise.
I just stopped by to say hi - my dive group and I will be on the November 4, 2009 Ruby Princes Eastern Caribbean Voyager also!
We just got off the Emerald Princess a few weeks ago - this year's scuba cruise - and had a blast! Most of the group booked next years cruise while on the ship to take advantage of the FCC perks.
Just thought I would let those of you know going as a group - the people connected to the cruise line in Southern California did an awesome job with our group amentities and pre-dive orientation - two big thumbs up for Princess!
The Emerald is Ruby's sister ship and was wonderful! No compalints from any one - and lots of great things to see, eat and do in the 10 days we were on the cruise.
Have a great week!
Suzi, thanks for popping in to say Hi. We'll see you onboard!
I'm sailing Emerald the week before this cruise with my crazy singles group; glad to hear you all thought the ship was great. I'm looking forward to my first Princess cruises!
Suzi, thanks for popping in to say Hi. We'll see you onboard!
I'm sailing Emerald the week before this cruise with my crazy singles group; glad to hear you all thought the ship was great. I'm looking forward to my first Princess cruises!
We were all very impressed with the Emerald Princess; my understanding is the Ruby is pretty much identical to its older sister. We did the southern itinerary with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica and St. Thomas. Despite the fact that November can be somewhat rainy in the south, we got virtually no rain except for one day between Nov 10-20, 2008. The staff on the ship treated my group like royalty and the food in all venues was better than expected.
I had a group of 126, but limit my divers to only 16; I expect around the same numbers for next year. My non-divers generaly do their own thing, but they do attend a sail away party. I know there is a large group going from this message board, so I would like to touch base with one of the group leaders to insure there's no issues in reserving meeting space on the ship.
As an FYI (hoping someone from the message board group is reading this posting), our Bon Voyage party is always scheduled for the hour before the life boat drill. This past November, we reserved the Outrigger Bar in back aboard the Emerald, which we will not do again, as the area is way too small for a group our size; it's probably a good choice for any group of 20 or less, though. Anyway, I will be reserving another area for my Bon Voyage party and felt the group here would appreciate knowing about our plans. I'd be happy to work with your group leader and let him or her know our plans so as to not conflict with theirs.
Since we also utilize the conference room and the sports bar during the voyage - I can let you know the date and time when we plan to reserve these venues if you like. I don't know the nature of your group- mine is a dive group, and we plan several group activities during the course of the cruise, that includes a pre-dive orientation (which is always in the conference room) and a few underwater photo workshops. We also have a large snorkel group (of non-divers) that also attends.
Anyway, this is just a brief heads up. The group leaders are welcome to email me for more input.
We were all very impressed with the Emerald Princess; my understanding is the Ruby is pretty much identical to its older sister. We did the southern itinerary with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica and St. Thomas. Despite the fact that November can be somewhat rainy in the south, we got virtually no rain except for one day between Nov 10-20, 2008. The staff on the ship treated my group like royalty and the food in all venues was better than expected.
I had a group of 126, but limit my divers to only 16; I expect around the same numbers for next year. My non-divers generaly do their own thing, but they do attend a sail away party. I know there is a large group going from this message board, so I would like to touch base with one of the group leaders to insure there's no issues in reserving meeting space on the ship.
As an FYI (hoping someone from the message board group is reading this posting), our Bon Voyage party is always scheduled for the hour before the life boat drill. This past November, we reserved the Outrigger Bar in back aboard the Emerald, which we will not do again, as the area is way too small for a group our size; it's probably a good choice for any group of 20 or less, though. Anyway, I will be reserving another area for my Bon Voyage party and felt the group here would appreciate knowing about our plans. I'd be happy to work with your group leader and let him or her know our plans so as to not conflict with theirs.
Since we also utilize the conference room and the sports bar during the voyage - I can let you know the date and time when we plan to reserve these venues if you like. I don't know the nature of your group- mine is a dive group, and we plan several group activities during the course of the cruise, that includes a pre-dive orientation (which is always in the conference room) and a few underwater photo workshops. We also have a large snorkel group (of non-divers) that also attends.
Anyway, this is just a brief heads up. The group leaders are welcome to email me for more input.
Thanks.
Suzi
Suzi, our group leaders are Janice and Debbie; they'll pop up here I'm sure in the not too distant future.
Our group will likely not be anywhere near as large as yours. We're more a social group; we enjoy cruising together and don't have much in the way of scheduled activities. Our idea of a "group activity" generally means hanging out by the aft pool or being seated together for dinner.
There's a bunch of snorkelers in our group (myself included). Would love your opinion of the best places to snorkel!
Suzi, our group leaders are Janice and Debbie; they'll pop up here I'm sure in the not too distant future.
Our group will likely not be anywhere near as large as yours. We're more a social group; we enjoy cruising together and don't have much in the way of scheduled activities. Our idea of a "group activity" generally means hanging out by the aft pool or being seated together for dinner.
There's a bunch of snorkelers in our group (myself included). Would love your opinion of the best places to snorkel!
I will have island specific information on snorkeling for my group in the weeks to come and would have no problems sharing the info with you. The best islands for diving are St. Lucia and St. Kitts - both volcanic islands with excellent water clarity. Probably the most cruise tourist friendly - DYI - place to snorkel is in St. Thomas at Coki Beach. I don't know too much about Barbados or Antigua as far as snorkeling goes. We have been to both islands, but divers don't often go where people snorkel, and visa versa, so my experience is limited in that regard.
As I have a significant number of snorkelers tagging along, I'll be posting information for their benefit - I'd be happy to cut and past some of the info onto to this site. Your group forum also has some good information about your ports of call - maybe there's stuff there on snorkeling also.
We were all very impressed with the Emerald Princess; my understanding is the Ruby is pretty much identical to its older sister. We did the southern itinerary with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica and St. Thomas. Despite the fact that November can be somewhat rainy in the south, we got virtually no rain except for one day between Nov 10-20, 2008. The staff on the ship treated my group like royalty and the food in all venues was better than expected.
I had a group of 126, but limit my divers to only 16; I expect around the same numbers for next year. My non-divers generaly do their own thing, but they do attend a sail away party. I know there is a large group going from this message board, so I would like to touch base with one of the group leaders to insure there's no issues in reserving meeting space on the ship.
As an FYI (hoping someone from the message board group is reading this posting), our Bon Voyage party is always scheduled for the hour before the life boat drill. This past November, we reserved the Outrigger Bar in back aboard the Emerald, which we will not do again, as the area is way too small for a group our size; it's probably a good choice for any group of 20 or less, though. Anyway, I will be reserving another area for my Bon Voyage party and felt the group here would appreciate knowing about our plans. I'd be happy to work with your group leader and let him or her know our plans so as to not conflict with theirs.
Since we also utilize the conference room and the sports bar during the voyage - I can let you know the date and time when we plan to reserve these venues if you like. I don't know the nature of your group- mine is a dive group, and we plan several group activities during the course of the cruise, that includes a pre-dive orientation (which is always in the conference room) and a few underwater photo workshops. We also have a large snorkel group (of non-divers) that also attends.
Anyway, this is just a brief heads up. The group leaders are welcome to email me for more input.
Thanks.
Suzi
Hi Suzi,
Wow, thanks so much for the heads up on meeting places! Our group is smaller (60-80) people. We are a group of cyber friends who get together on a cruise ship once a year to meet, make new friends and make good memories!
We only reserve a one time meeting place and that is usually set up with the ship as we like to invite the Captain & Ship staff. But we do appreciate your willingness to work with us.
Most of our planned events do not require a long meeting place, we usually just show up to a place and take it over LOL (in a nice way).
We plan things like a Cabin poker crawl, "Bar take over" night, ship scavenger hunt, group photo, and eating contest in the buffet on king crab night.
We also plan a few on shore beach days as a group. We usually spend sail away on the aft of the ship at the bar area.
We as a group, we have gathered allot of info on this cruise and have posted it in our group threads section, please feel free to stop by and read our info and share your own with us as well. We also have a general chit chat thread if you just want to stop by and chat Not all our members post so it gets quite at time, but our offer stands for all your members who post on CLF.
I will have island specific information on snorkeling for my group in the weeks to come and would have no problems sharing the info with you. The best islands for diving are St. Lucia and St. Kitts - both volcanic islands with excellent water clarity. Probably the most cruise tourist friendly - DYI - place to snorkel is in St. Thomas at Coki Beach. I don't know too much about Barbados or Antigua as far as snorkeling goes. We have been to both islands, but divers don't often go where people snorkel, and visa versa, so my experience is limited in that regard.
As I have a significant number of snorkelers tagging along, I'll be posting information for their benefit - I'd be happy to cut and past some of the info onto to this site. Your group forum also has some good information about your ports of call - maybe there's stuff there on snorkeling also.
Take care.
Thanks for the info Suzi! I sent you an email so we can share info.
Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers
-
Sun Deck
-
Princess Cruise Line
-
Princess Roll Call
-
Ruby Princess Roll Call
-
Ruby Princess--11/4/09--A November to Remember
#
And the more "Live" reports and reviews that come in on this new fabulous ship, the more excited I get!! 
#
Linear Mode
