Just Off the Sapphire Northbound Alaska 9/5-9/12

[Kat in CA]

My husband and I just got home after a wonderful northbound cruise on the Sapphire Princess. We flew into Sea Tac and got on Quick Coach Shuttle to Vancouver, using the 2 for 1 coupon from Entertainment book. There was an accident on the freeway, so it was not so quick. Customs took 30 minutes and that included all the luggage off and on the bus. Total travel time was about 5.5 hours.
We had Pricelined the Hyatt Regency for $74 and got upgraded for some reason (I emailed that it was our anniversary) to a great room with a huge corner balcony. We did not eat dinner that night, just watched the lively street action from the balcony.
Early on embarkation day, Land and Sea picked us up in the small tour bus and put our luggage on too. We took a pleasant 3 hour tour of all the sights before being dropped off at the pier. I recommend this for a good way to see Vancouver and go directly to the ship. It was pricey though at $70 each but I enjoyed it.
The lines were long but moved quickly and we were onboard and eating a late lunch at 2:00. Our cabin was #307 on Caribe deck and was just fine.

The cruise:
First day at sea- relaxing, wonderful balcony viewing. I brewed up many cups of tea, hot chocolate and coffee with my new Black and Decker Brew N Go. Love that machine!! Especially nice in the cold of Alaska.
Ketchikan- Short port day, lots of people around. Booked Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour with a 2 for 1 Toursaver coupon. Excellent!
Juneau- Booked a whale watch trip with toursaver coupon- AK Whale Watch on the Kaytos. Just 11 people, great boat. Gorgeous Auke bay, lots of tails and blows, no bubble feeding. Fun. Some problems with transportation as they did not send their shuttle to pick us up afterwards on time. Went back to the ship for lunch, then took the $7 school bus to Mendenhall glacier. Spent an hour there hiking around, then returned on bus and walked around town.
Skagway- Rented a car from Avis and spent all day driving at our leisure up White Pass and into the Yukon. Ended up going all the way to Whitehorse because my husband wanted to see the Yukon River and the Klondike paddle boat. Ate sandwiches made from ham and cheese and rolls from the breakfast buffet. (I looked, there was no printed statement about taking food off the ship in the Patter this morning and no one checked or asked.) I was glad we had food, water, and the Murray's guide that told what we were looking at.
Glacier Bay- It was raining hard and we made our way to the first glacier, which was gorgeous. When out on deck around 10:00 that morning, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and told us about a large storm brewing that was 600 miles across. He said we would have to cut short our day in Glacier Bay to outrun the storm. We were disappointed of course, but believed he made the best decision when the waves kicked up, the swells increased and the ship rocked around through the afternoon and evening. Did not feel like dressing up for formal night, went to buffet for dinner and dodged flying drinks off the tables. Show cancelled-- too dangerous for dancers.
College Fijord- Rain goes away and we get a great day of glacier watching- hurray!! Show went on tonight instead and we packed up.
Disembarkation- Smooth and on time. A 40 minute wait at the tunnel on the Princess transfer bus but all in all a seamless way to travel. We stayed 2 nights at Clarion Suites in Anchorage, visiting my brother who lives there and going on walks on the Coastal Trail and to the wonderful zoo.
I still have my sea legs and had to take Bonine when I went back to work today. I loved the cruise, the destination, the scenery!

[Colo Cruiser]

Originally Posted by Kat in CA

My husband and I just got home after a wonderful northbound cruise on the Sapphire Princess. We flew into Sea Tac and got on Quick Coach Shuttle to Vancouver, using the 2 for 1 coupon from Entertainment book. There was an accident on the freeway, so it was not so quick. Customs took 30 minutes and that included all the luggage off and on the bus. Total travel time was about 5.5 hours.
We had Pricelined the Hyatt Regency for $74 and got upgraded for some reason (I emailed that it was our anniversary) to a great room with a huge corner balcony. We did not eat dinner that night, just watched the lively street action from the balcony.
Early on embarkation day, Land and Sea picked us up in the small tour bus and put our luggage on too. We took a pleasant 3 hour tour of all the sights before being dropped off at the pier. I recommend this for a good way to see Vancouver and go directly to the ship. It was pricey though at $70 each but I enjoyed it.
The lines were long but moved quickly and we were onboard and eating a late lunch at 2:00. Our cabin was #307 on Caribe deck and was just fine.

The cruise:
First day at sea- relaxing, wonderful balcony viewing. I brewed up many cups of tea, hot chocolate and coffee with my new Black and Decker Brew N Go. Love that machine!! Especially nice in the cold of Alaska.
Ketchikan- Short port day, lots of people around. Booked Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour with a 2 for 1 Toursaver coupon. Excellent!
Juneau- Booked a whale watch trip with toursaver coupon- AK Whale Watch on the Kaytos. Just 11 people, great boat. Gorgeous Auke bay, lots of tails and blows, no bubble feeding. Fun. Some problems with transportation as they did not send their shuttle to pick us up afterwards on time. Went back to the ship for lunch, then took the $7 school bus to Mendenhall glacier. Spent an hour there hiking around, then returned on bus and walked around town.
Skagway- Rented a car from Avis and spent all day driving at our leisure up White Pass and into the Yukon. Ended up going all the way to Whitehorse because my husband wanted to see the Yukon River and the Klondike paddle boat. Ate sandwiches made from ham and cheese and rolls from the breakfast buffet. (I looked, there was no printed statement about taking food off the ship in the Patter this morning and no one checked or asked.) I was glad we had food, water, and the Murray's guide that told what we were looking at.
Glacier Bay- It was raining hard and we made our way to the first glacier, which was gorgeous. When out on deck around 10:00 that morning, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and told us about a large storm brewing that was 600 miles across. He said we would have to cut short our day in Glacier Bay to outrun the storm. We were disappointed of course, but believed he made the best decision when the waves kicked up, the swells increased and the ship rocked around through the afternoon and evening. Did not feel like dressing up for formal night, went to buffet for dinner and dodged flying drinks off the tables. Show cancelled-- too dangerous for dancers.
College Fijord- Rain goes away and we get a great day of glacier watching- hurray!! Show went on tonight instead and we packed up.
Disembarkation- Smooth and on time. A 40 minute wait at the tunnel on the Princess transfer bus but all in all a seamless way to travel. We stayed 2 nights at Clarion Suites in Anchorage, visiting my brother who lives there and going on walks on the Coastal Trail and to the wonderful zoo.
I still have my sea legs and had to take Bonine when I went back to work today. I loved the cruise, the destination, the scenery!

Thanks for the review.

[Caribbean Sunsets]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[luvlake]

Thank you for the review. We were on the Sapphire in July and loved the ship.

[NotWthOutablcony]

Thank you for your review! We LOVE that ship! Who was your CD? What types of activities did they offer? We're hoping the Sapphire will be doing the 10 day Alaska in 2012, when we go. So the storm was that bad?! Geeze! We've been in some pretty bad storms but nothing has ever flown off of tables, though, just about every time we've been in our stateroom so it very well could have.

[wowsmom]

Nice review, thanks for posting.

Originally Posted by luvlake

Thank you for the review. We were on the Sapphire in July and loved the ship.

We were on the Sapphire in August and loved it, too!

[gertz]

Thanks for the review.

The Sapphire is a great ship.

Vancouver is a great city.

Jack
for the

[billet]

Thank you for the review. I was on the Sapphire last month and thought it was the best organized ship I had been on and the staff were outstanding.

[TuxedoMan]

Originally Posted by wowsmom

Nice review, thanks for posting.



We were on the Sapphire in August and loved it, too!

Got off Sapphire in early June from northbound...what a trip. Thank you for the review...good stuff

[Raven65]

My wife and I were on the same trip and although we were disappointed about Glacier Bay, we have found a new addiction with this first cruise.
To anyone who has not tried it yet, ziplining in Ketchikan was a blast!!!
And I have to mention that the stewards, servers and bartenders made this trip worthwhile...everyone went beyond the call of duty to make the trip enjoyable.
I also have to let everyone know that the most entertaining hosts of trivia, karaoke and gameshows were Christopher J. Walker, and Paul and Jason! Those guys put on a good show!

Can't wait for the next cruise!

[mmm4763]

We were on the Diamond SB at the same time as this cruise. We missed our port in Ketchikan but I did not realize that the storm was 600 miles across! It was rough ALL DAY for us; I couldn't believe how beautiful and calm it was the next day. Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review!