Sapphire Review 9/26/09 to 10/03/09

[4cats4me]

I'll try not to be too garrulous with this review, but that is difficult for me.
LOL
The review will be focused on the ship and not so much on ports of call.

Background: We are a married couple, 45 and 50 years old. This was my
fourth cruise and DH's third cruise aboard the Sapphire Princess. This
was my 10th Princess cruise, and DH's 8th.
We have previously traveled on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Carnival
as well.
Princess usually wins out since we like the flexibility that their cruises
offer.

The Sapphire is still in excellent condition. Our last trip aboard her was
exactly one year ago. We were amazed at how sparkling clean the ships
still is. Everywhere we went, it seemed someone was either painting
or varnishing.

Embarkation: We drove into the parking lot in San Pedro and promptly
found a spot since we were the first cruise of the season out of that port.
Entry ticket was stamped 11:04 and we were on board the ship and in
our cabin at 11:45. We were among the first 50 or so on board since
we are Platinum status. There was absolutely no line when we arrived.
We wondered how many were remaining on the ship from the 3-day
cruise from Canada, because there was hardly anyone in the embarkation
terminal upon our arrival.

Cabin: E719, Category AD mini-suite on Emerald Deck. This is one
of the few "covered" balcony mini-suites on the ship. We always opt
for the covered balconies, especially at the hotter times of the year when
we know we don't wish to sit out in the blazing sun.
Cabin steward Freddie was wonderful. We would choose no other
deck than Emerald deck for a mini-suite. The only exception for us
is Caribe deck with the corner balconies [not mini-suites BTW]
The balcony did have a slight sulfuric smell which I also noticed with
E711 last year, but not enough to turn one's stomach or anything.

Robes were requested and we were told they'd be there the next day,
which they were. We would love it if somehow the steward could get
us robes on day one as we like to go to the hot tubs and a robe really
would have come in handy.
After retiring for the evening we realized that we forgot to ask for a top
sheet and egg crate topper, and OMG, we really needed the egg crate this
time. It's the first time we've ever requested and/or required one.
Those beds are very lumpy. It's time for new mattresses. We have a
rock-hard mattress at home, but this one felt just awful!
The egg crate helped a bit.

Weather: Around 85 or 90 degrees at sailaway. We had the opportunity
to enjoy the pool before muster drill, but amazingly, even though the
weather was hot, approximately 15 minutes into our sailaway weather
turned blustery as there was a nice fog bank just outside the San Pedro
channel, so we had chilly weather and fog banks for the next couple hours
with fog horns going off at 10 minute intervals. Very strange indeed.

The weather was quite warm/hot for the remainder of the cruise, however.

Food: This is the first time we've enjoyed Princess's new menus in the
dining room. We had grown so accustomed to the old menus, that it
was quite a nice surprise to see some of the newer options.
We had Anytime Dining and I am happy to say this is the first time
that we actually had a good experience with Anytime on board the
Sapphire and/or the Diamond. It the past we've always reserved
our dining times, only to be met at the door with still a long line just
to give our name to the maitre'd, but this time we tried something
new: No reservations to speak of. We decided we'd go on the later
end, 8:20 or 8:50, and one night we got brave and decided we'd
simply stroll down to the dining room at 6:20, and they got us right
in, but the DR filled up immediately after.
For some reason, they really seemed to have their act together in
the DR's this time. We also had excellent service, with the most efficient
service ever experienced. Cocktail service in the dining rooms was very
quick as well unlike last year where we had to wait and wait.
Kudos to the dining staff.

Please see part 2 of review below

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks, looking forward to the rest of the story.

[4cats4me]

Sorry, but I told you I'm wordy.

Cocktail service in the bars and on deck was efficient as usual.

Buffet: We've been big fans of the Horizon Court in the past, frequenting
it during breakfast, lunch and sometimes dinner. And because we've been
on a lot of Princess cruises, we also know the way the buffet is set up,
as stations, meaning there should not be one loooooong buffet line.

As many of you know, on day one the center gates in the buffet are kept
closed during lunchtime so that they can funnel everyone into the buffet.
I've never really quite understood the rationale for doing that, but we
were ESPECIALLY pleased to see that on this particular cruise, some
rocket scientist made the decision to keep the center gates closed for
the entire cruise, hence, making an already congested buffet situation
even MORE congested. For example, on day one you can always expect
a long line at the buffet during lunchtime, because everyone flows into
the place by 1:00 o'clock, and understandably, everyone is a little confused and mesmerized by the food at the same time. That is perfectly
understandable. However, what my husband and I could not understand
is why someone made the decision to create such chaos in the buffet.
They gave you one way in and one way out; only the one way in and out
changed places throughout the day, no rhyme, no reason, so that if
one way in was at the end with the salads, then people were lined up from
the space where the pasta is located in the corner, but everyone snaked
through the space where the salads and fruit are kept
And because there was only one way out as opposed to the usual two
or three ways out, it was just so congested.

On day two I went there to get my husband ONE piece of pineapple, only
to be met with a rude buffet lady who insisted that I get in line [at least
50 people long because of what they had created with this new buffet
system] so I explained to her that I only need ONE piece of pineapple.
"I will get it," she says, and I said, "No, I will get it." And I did, and I
left -- you see, I'd already eaten breakfast, so I didn't wish to cut the
line. Enough about that. LOL

Ice cream: Yes, it's true, free ice cream cones for all, chocolate, vanilla
and combo cones, come one, come all... step right up, get your FREE
ice cream cones! The line was constant all day long because that's where
we'd hang out by the pool.
Speaking of pools:
The temperature of all the pools were too warm and not very refreshing
for the first several days. It was only on day 5 that the temperature
was more refreshing. we wondered if by accident they kept the pool
temps warmer since the ship had come from Canada?

Entertainment: I think this was some of the best entertainment I've ever
seen on Princess. We'd seen Steve Moris before, and he's good,
but the best comedian was Derrick Cameron who did two different shows.
We attended both and he had the crowd rolling. He appeared in Explorer's
Yes it's true, it seems that they're utilizing fewer entertainers. We had
Steve Moris for 3 nights. Last year he was there for two. It did seem
like we had much more repeating of shows. Nonetheless, we really
enjoyed them . 3 production shows: Do You Wanna Dance [loved it]
I Got the Music, and of course, Piano Man!

Wheelhouse Bar: We enjoyed listening to XTASEA! We also had
Los Brilliantes aboard as well. They played music by the pool and in
the lobby, as did many musicians throughout the week.

We enjoyed listening to the horn section of the Princess Orchestra
in the Atrium ... that was a nice touch.

Ray Coussins was the pianist at Crooner's but we never sat in.

The usual 1970s, '80s music, country night, Pop Idol, Newlywed Game
and lots of Movies in the Princess Theatre and Explorer's comprised
the rest of the entertainment.

Spa: We did not partake of this option, however, they were running
some nice specials. I have the list and prices if anyone has any questions.

Elite Lounge at Skywalker's every night: We received an invitation
every day to attend the elite hors d'oeurve function at Skywalker's.
We never went, but were curious as to why they invited us since
we're not Elite. There didn't appear to be that many Elites on board,
so that is probably why. You could buy cocktails for $5 instead of
$6.75 too.

Purchases: We purchased nothing on board except for two packs
of Tee Many Martoonis playing cards from Crooner's. I asked the lady
how much? she stated $5, so I bought two packs and was surprised
to see a 15% gratuity had been added to my purchase of non-drink
items, so I questioned it and she told me the playing cards weren't
duty free. Huh? So I persisted in questioning her and she went
on and on telling me there needed to be the %15 tip, so finally she
asked the bar manager who said, no, there is no15% gratuity,
so they tore up the bill and rewrote it, for $10, not $11.50.
Guess what? When the final statement came on the last day, we were
charged $11.50 anyway. Go figure. has this every happened to any of
you?

Disembarkation: We had Express Walk-Off and it was the BEST!!
We were off the ship at 8 a.m. and driving out of the parking lot at 8:18!
This is the first disembark from L.A. where we've not had to wait at
least 45 minutes from disembarking to getting to our car in the parking lot!

Final thoughts --- We really loved the Sapphire and had a wonderful
cruise and would hate to see them add MUTS during a refurbish. I thought someone had mentioned that that was to be the plan. I hope
not. I like MUTS; I just don't think it belongs on this ship, that's all.

We would love to see more inventiveness with the buffet food. Truthfully,
this was some of the worst buffet food that we can remember. Don't
get me wrong, there were some winners, but a lot of klunkers this time.
As long as I have salad, fruit, bread and pasta, I'm happy, and we had plenty of the aforementioned items. But the dried-up potatoes every day
and the rice with dried up peas in it just tasted so bad!
The deserts [desserts?] seem to have the usual emphasis on whipped cream.. But the bread and breadsticks are always a winner. Lots
of coldcuts this time, more than I can ever remember. We couldn't
quite put our finger on what's missing in its place, but there was
just so much in the way of lunchmeats, both for European breakfast,
and for lunch. Strange sandwiches such as mackerel , and creamed
salmon on wheat bread. Lots of mortadella. They must have gotten
a sweet deal on mortadella this month. LOL

We were just so very impressed with the diligence of the employees
on this ship. They truly appeared to enjoy their jobs and were among
some of the hardest working we've ever seen on a cruise ship.

We hope to be back on board a Princess ship in the very near future.

If you have any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

[4cats4me]

Forgot to reference the ports of call:

Puerto Vallarta

Mazatlan

Cabo San Lucas.

Only got off the ship in PV and did a Princess sponsored trip, Beach
Break. They took us to the Melia near the marina which was a nice
resort, but $69 pp was just too much. The tour guide was awful.
We've done the beach breaks before and the guide has always given
us an orientation. However, this guide gave us to "guide" ance. lol
We were never told when to return to the ship or even given basic
info such as where the restrooms were.
I asked the Concierge people at the hotel, but I'm just sayin', the
guide should have done that.
He also was NOWHERE to be found to even ask a question. I truly
believe he left us on our own there.

Also, the hotel was literally a hop, skip and a jump from the port,
and there was no nice beach as described in the princess brochure.
I didn't care about being on the beach, but FYI, for those who love
a pretty beach, it's not at the melia. However, the Melia itself is
beautiful, with all-inclusive amenities. The rot-gut alcohol gave
me a headache and I only had two very small margaritas. They
tasted good while going down, however.

I thought the food was adequate and somewhat palatable. Another
lady who went on the tour said the food was awful. We didn't
find it that bad. But there is no Mexican food there. It was
shish kababs and fish and chicken, salads, soups, and even
Chinese food, yes, Chinese food.

We didn't get off the ship in Mazatlan or Cabo due to very extreme
temps. we've been there before several times and just decided to
stay on board.

February and April are definitely better times of the year to go.

We had a little rain on island night, but it ended within half an hour.

[NotWthOutablcony]

Thank you so much for your review! We LOVE the Sapphire and agree with you 100% about MUTS being put on her, we'd much rather they left MUTS off of the Sapphire and Diamond, its a great idea and all, but just doesn't belong on those ships. We also go for the Emerald deck minis. We'll be sailing on her for our 2011 Hawaii cruise and landed E731, just can't wait! You and PizzaLady both had the same cabin steward, Freddie, how funny.
My only question is, did you order room service at any point, and if so, how long was the wait? Our CB cruise never took more than 10 minutes for a pot of coffee, and were midship, Baja balcony, our last cruise on the Star, we were in an Emerald mini, and it took well over 30-45 minutes each time, I'm just trying to figure out if maybe it has something to do with the location of your room. Thanks again!

[tequilasunrise]

Originally Posted by 4cats4me

Lots
of coldcuts this time, more than I can ever remember. We couldn't
quite put our finger on what's missing in its place, but there was
just so much in the way of lunchmeats, both for European breakfast,
and for lunch. .

I wonder if they are replacing the smoked fish at breakfast? Our last cruise had less of this and I'm thinking this may go away with budget cuts...although I hope not.

Thanks for a great review...I for one like wordy reviews because they tell you something!

[jsiegel]

Thank you for your very thorough review. Looks like I'll try to avoid the buffet on my upcoming cruise.

I was nervous about booking the Sapphire but it sounds like we will enjoy her a lot. So looking forward to my sailing in January.

Jackie

[4cats4me]

Notwithoutabalcony, if you're asking about continental breakfast
for room service, it was always delivered promptly. If we put 7:30 to 8:00
on the card, it would come at either 7:25 or 7:30 and once time
7:45.
We never ordered just straight room service though, so don't know the
answer.

As for the smoked fish at breakfast question, I can't recollect right now
if they had that or not? I do remember seeing smoked fish, but can't
remember what time of the day....

Less smoke! We were able to enjoy the Wheelhouse several evenings.
I believe this is attributable to the lack of smoke. I seem to recall
smoking at the Wheelhouse on previous cruises. Definitely not on this
cruise. In fact, I didn't notice many smokers at the pool or anywhere
else.

this is a direct quote from the Patter: "Smoking Policy"
As a courtesy to your fellow passengers and in keeping with the greater awareness of the effects to health of secondary smoking, please be guided by the following information. These areas are designated Smoking Areas: Churchills and the port side of Promenade Deck 7 [Outside]
Cigars and pipes are permitted in Churchill's Bar only."

[kooljamming]

I am glad I had the chance to experience Princess on Sapphire before Muts. A vessel of sheer elegance and beauty.
We did breakfast in HC but lunch and dinner in the MDR

[tequilasunrise]

Originally Posted by 4cats4me

Notwithoutabalcony, if you're asking about continental breakfast
for room service, it was always delivered promptly. If we put 7:30 to 8:00
on the card, it would come at either 7:25 or 7:30 and once time
7:45.
We never ordered just straight room service though, so don't know the
answer.

As for the smoked fish at breakfast question, I can't recollect right now
if they had that or not? I do remember seeing smoked fish, but can't
remember what time of the day....

Less smoke! We were able to enjoy the Wheelhouse several evenings.
I believe this is attributable to the lack of smoke. I seem to recall
smoking at the Wheelhouse on previous cruises. Definitely not on this
cruise. In fact, I didn't notice many smokers at the pool or anywhere
else.

this is a direct quote from the Patter: "Smoking Policy"
As a courtesy to your fellow passengers and in keeping with the greater awareness of the effects to health of secondary smoking, please be guided by the following information. These areas are designated Smoking Areas: Churchills and the port side of Promenade Deck 7 [Outside]
Cigars and pipes are permitted in Churchill's Bar only."

Wow, I've been hoping for a smoke free music venue for a long time! I'm excited about that...thanks for the info!

This is a beautiful ship, and it sounds like you had a great time

[calsnoozie]

Thank you for spending the time writing the review.

We are on the 10/31 Sapphire cruise. Just counting the days!

Spa question for you: Any good facial specials offered?

Thanks,

Sue from Richmond

[4cats4me]

Originally Posted by calsnoozie

Thank you for spending the time writing the review.

We are on the 10/31 Sapphire cruise. Just counting the days!

Spa question for you: Any good facial specials offered?

Thanks,

Sue from Richmond

In the Patter one day they had a Passport to Value 15% off Oxyderm
Facial. I also received some other coupon books from my TA which had
$40 off a spa treatment

reading thru the spa literature right now:
La Therapie Corrective lifting facial : $119 [50 minutes]
Oxydermy Facial 50 minutes $169 [sea day]
$143 [port day]

I just looked in my coupon book and there's a coupon for $35 off STANDARD pricing [sea day pricing] while the ship
is in port, so that would cost a little less than the $143

there's a coupon for $40 off aroma stone therapy while shipis in port
$40 off Exotic Lime Ginger Salt Glow with Massage while ship is in port

If you want my coupon book I could mail it to you U.S. snail mail? Good until 12/31/09
It's a different book than the usual ones they always give out with many other good
deals.
himmerz at comcast dot net if u are interested in having me send it to you

[calsnoozie]

Great - sending you an e-mail right now!

Thanks,

Sue from Richmond

[bighairtexan]

Thank you so very much for the review. My best friend and I are cruising on the Sapphire the first week of December. I noticed you once had Mini suite E711 which is where we are assigned. According to the deck plan it's the first mini next to the life boats. Did they obstruct the view much?
Thanks so much again. It was really helpful. I am a seasoned cruiser but this will be my first Princess. Looking forward to it. Although I wish "X" would go back to the Mexican Riviera.

[Lofty]

Wondered who the cruise director is on the Sapphire? Leaving in just over a month!

[sunshine426]

Thanks for the review. I hope they haven't blocked that center gate in the HC on our cruise. I love being able to scope out what foods are available before stepping into the correct line. Sounds like we might be eating in the HC less often this cruise. Of course there is always Princess Pizza.

[cruisetooz]

Hi all, have really enjoyed reading this thread, we are considering booking the Sapphire (Sept 2010 San Fran/Sydney) but cannot decide which cabin! We have been offered either a Standard Balcony Cabin on Caribe Deck which appealed due to the balcony being half covered so we get sun and shade (and a good price) but really fancy indulging and booking a Vista Suite on Emerald Deck , we love all the extras the suite offers but are worried the balcony will be shaded all the time?? has anybody stayed in a Vista Suite on the Sapphire and if so, did you get a fair amount of sun? Look forward to your replies...

[VibeGuy]

Originally Posted by Lofty

Wondered who the cruise director is on the Sapphire? Leaving in just over a month!

Billy London is on for a while longer.

[westham]

Thanks for the review

[ridolphi]

We were on this same sailing with 4Cats. We too had a mini suite, D319 and the BEST ever Room steward, Rex, We had been on the three day coastal in a suite, aft D739 and it was wonderful and our steward there Jay, let Rex know all our requests, including the egg crate and they arranged to move us on Saturday morning, so by the time we came back from the "transient proceedure" everything was moved and our room was ready. We just relaxed and waited for our friends to arrive.

We did not expierence any of the buffet lines 4Cats mentioned, in fact I was quite amazed everytime we did go to the buffet that there basically were not lines - guess we just hit the right time frame.

The ship was beautiful, and we loved it. Spent lots of time at Crooner's with Noki and Alan, and Wheelhouse, which turned out to be our two favorite bars. Also was very impressed with the two "smoke free" nights in the Casino - that was a real plus.

I too would hate to see MUTS added to this ship, but that is just my personal preference. We usually spent our pool time at the Spa pool as there was shade up there and the rest of the pools did not have shade.

I had a facial and a hot stone massage in the spa, and both were fantastic experiences and very nice.

We did go into all three ports, but as 4Cats said, it was miserably hot. Found a great restaurant in PV, Si Senor and the fish tacos were wonderful and six of us had a great time there and were treated very well. In Cabo we ate at The Shrimp Factory. In Matzatlan I did not care for the food at the restaurant at Las Flores recommended by the ship, but the setting on the beach was really nice.

We had anytime for the three night coastal and had no issues whatsoever eating at our preferred times. Ate in the Steakhouse and it was great.

For the 7 night the six of us had late traditional and we enjoyed our waiters very much. Ate one night in the Steakhouse and the last night at Sabatini's and loved them both. Overall, I/we found the food of good quality, good variety and our waiter brought us extra stuff for our table, for instance one night two of us special ordered escargot, and he brough 4 orders so we could all share (all I shared was the yummy garlic butter LOL) another night one of our party was debating about the noodle soup from Pacific Moon, so he brought us three orders to share. Just little things like that - we often had more than one entree or appetizer and Arthur our waiter was most accommodating.

Overall it was a great trip and having not cruised Princess in several years, my DH and I were very impressed and will definitely cruise again - but we were definitely spoiled by the full suite.