I've only been on 8 cruises. I'm certainly not an expert, but the cruise on the Ruby Princess was by far my least favorite. We found some of the staff to be warm and welcoming, but others were surprisingly curt and almost condescending. There were 4 of us traveling, we are self-employed, in customer service and upper management positions. We are polite and courteous to all. On the Ruby Princess, we all experienced being cut off mid-sentence when asking for something with “YES MA’AM or YES SIR”. Some staff even turned and walked away while we were still talking.

SPA - We paid $400 to use the thermal suite and it was below par. One day everything worked, another the lights and saunas were broken, another day the saunas were way too hot. I mentioned this to a spa employee who didn't seem to care. I also mentioned it to a ship officer (in white uniform) at the thermal suite and he responded rather exasperated "YES, we're going to fix it just for you". Two ladies at the thermal spa at the same time as me left and said they were going to complain and get a refund. SANCTUARY - We always look forward to relaxing in the serenity area of the ship, but the Ruby Princess charges $20 to use it on a regular day and $60 on the day we cruised Glacier Bay? It was a ghost town!

ROOM - Our steward was great about cleaning our room and did a great job. However, the bathroom smelled like urine from the time we boarded the ship. I don’t think it was from it being unclean, more likely urine underneath the surface. My sister came into our room and smelled it right when she walked in also. The beds and pillows in our stateroom on were extremely comfortable. I read that Princess is replacing them on all their ships. Great call! Read more