Missed the Disney magic on Princess

[penelopej]

I went to Alaska a week ago on the Ruby Princess. It was a last minute decision at a great price for a couple adults. The food was terrible, the service was terrible, cigarette smoke was inescapable, the dining rooms and entertainment were boring, the ship was rusty, and our clothes have soot all over them from the outside decks. I just can’t imagine this is their normal.
I have never missed Disney so much!
(And we came home with covid. Womp womp)

 

[tidefan]

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Ruby. We cruised on the Regal Princess in the British Isles earlier this summer and it was one of our favorite cruises ever. One thing to note, like other lines, the type of ship can make a difference. We prefer the Royal Class ships on Princess (you will see others saying similar things with other lines, such as "We prefer the Oasis class on RCCL" or "if you are doing Carnival, make sure it's the Mardi Gras or Celebration").

Unlike DCL, on other lines, there is a good bit more variability from ship to ship. In your case on Princess, the buffet, especially, is markedly better (IMHO) on the Royal Class ships when compared to the Grand Class ships like the Ruby...

 

[algae]

I would say that Princess is targeting a different crowd than DCL. We were on the Golden Princess some years ago in Alaska. That sailing was definitely geared toward the crowd who wanted to lounge around in the serenity of Alaska without a bunch of younger people running around making noise. We actually heard more than one cruiser complain about the large number of younger people on board despite there being almost no younger cruisers on board. The kids' clubs were basically empty the whole time and they allowed adults to go in whenever we wanted (!).
At the same time, we did see the Magic in the distance on that sailing and really wanted to leave the Golden and hop over to the Magic for a bit more fun, but that wasn't going to happen.
The food on the Golden was just ok, although the 24-hour cafe was a huge plus. The entertainment was just ok. DCL shows are a much better production in terms of visuals and audio for sure. And the smoke from the casino was awful so we kept going out of our way to avoid going through the casino. Of course, Princess is way cheaper than DCL...