Princess
Ruby Princess
Two parallel scores from 384 z-qualifying reviewers and 447 raw-average reviewers. Cohort: Princess · 16 ships.
Photos
Ship at a glance
Entered service
December 2008
Class
Grand Class
Ship type
large ship
Passengers
2,630
1,200 crew
Staff ratio
1 : 2.2
passengers per crew
Typical voyage
7-day to 12-day
For kids
good
Last inspection
2026-03-07
96/100 · Excellent
CDC VSP
Entertainment onboard
- Broadway-style shows
- casino
- theater
- nightclub
- live music
Room categories
- Interior
- Oceanview
- Balcony
- Mini Suite
- Suite
- Yacht Club
Family features
- kids club
- teen club
- water play areas
- youth activities
Ship specifications are AI-curated from public sources and confirmed against Princess marketing copy. Rankquant's 31th percentile is computed independently across 384 z-qualifying Cruise Critic reviewers — see how percentiles are computed.
Life onboard
What it actually feels like to sail Ruby Princess— entertainment, food, and the crowd you'll find onboard.
Entertainment
The Ruby Princess keeps you entertained with Broadway-style shows in the main theater, live music across multiple lounges, comedy acts, and a steady stream of deck parties and trivia contests. You'll find a solid theater program and evening shows that draw decent crowds, plus quieter piano bars and casual lounges if you want to tune the energy down. It's busy without feeling frantic.
Food & dining
The traditional main dining room offers multi-course dinners with assigned seating—it feels more elegant than you'd expect on a midsize ship. Specialty restaurants like Sabatini's (Italian) and Crown Grill (steakhouse) are solid if you want to upgrade beyond the main menu. The buffet is reliable for lunches, and you'll find enough variety that most people find something they like each night.
Atmosphere
Ruby Princess is built for mainstream families and couples seeking good value with a balanced mix of activities, dining, and relaxation. The ship has enough amenities and entertainment to keep everyone occupied without feeling like a megaship mega-crowd experience. There's a welcoming, casual-but-slightly-dressed-up atmosphere—accessible and friendly, not pretentious.
The ship & service
A closer look at Princess as a line, Ruby Princess as a ship, and the service and deck quality to expect onboard.
- The line
- Princess Cruises is a mainstream premium line that sits a notch above pure budget brands like Carnival, aimed at couples, multigenerational families, and older travelers who want classic cruising with solid dining and enrichment without luxury-line pricing. It's known for Alaska and the original 'Love Boat' heritage, plus its Medallion wearable tech for keyless cabins and onboard ordering.
- The ship
- Ruby Princess is a Grand-class ship from 2008, now a mature mid-life vessel in the fleet that feels large but navigable rather than megaship-overwhelming. Signature Grand-class features typically include a central Piazza atrium used for live music and casual dining, multiple pools, and the line's Movies Under the Stars poolside LED screen.
- Service
- With roughly 2.2 guests per crew member, service is solid mainstream-premium: attentive in the main dining room and cabins where the same staff see you repeatedly, more transactional at the buffet, bars, and pool deck during peak hours. Expect friendly, well-drilled crew rather than the highly personalized service of a true luxury line.
- Decks & spaces
- As a 2008 Grand-class ship that has been refurbished over the years, public spaces feel well-kept but clearly of their era, with a multi-story Piazza atrium as the social hub, a traditional wraparound promenade deck, and a busy main pool deck centered on the outdoor LED screen. Materials lean warm woods, brass, and patterned carpets rather than contemporary minimalist finishes.
Book this ship
Compare sailings on CruiseCritic · Booking.com · CruiseDirect. Rankquant doesn't set prices — these links open the third-party booking results for Ruby Princess.
Z-normalized corrects for reviewer bias (every reviewer re-centered onto their personal scale). Raw average uses simple mean across the broader pool including stddev=0 reviewers.
Where this ship sits
Z-normalized percentile · 16 ships in Princess
| Mean reviewer z-score | -0.097 |
|---|---|
| DB1 raw-mean | 4.19 |
| DB2 raw-mean | 4.22 |
| 90% CI-floor (z) | -0.181 |
| Reviewers (DB1 / DB2) | 384 / 447 |
Similar percentile · Princess
