LA to Sydney - Sapphire 30 Days - Review Part 2

This is part 2 of a 3 part review of our 30 day trip.

Part 1 can be found here : http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=2635738#post2635738

Sapphire Review Part 2

Princess Theatre

The Theatre was a nice room, and there really wasn’t a bad seat in the house. The only real issue on our cruise with this venue was the capacity. The room held 750 people, and with most shows, there were 3 performances, that means that if no one goes to a show twice, 2250 of the 2760 passengers could get in. There were 3 shows that were 1 off, ‘Folkloric’ shows in Hawaii, Tahiti and New Zealand. Because these shows were 1 off performed by locals in the ports, there was no way that everyone who wanted to see the show could get in. The Tahiti show was particularly crowded and there were quite a few disappointed people, it was an evening show, therefore far more popular.

Most of the time the 3 performance thing worked well, and the 3rd performance on the second night always had a few empty seats. The theatre far exceeded our pre cruise expectations. It was a great room and the shows were far more professional than we had expected.

This room was also used for the daytime movies.

Explorers Lounge.

Explorers was a great venue. There was a resident band ‘Amante’ and a number of the comedians and singers did smaller shows here after their run in the Princess Theatre. The room is tiered over a number of levels so that those at the back can see over those in the front. At times the room did get kind of crowded, I’m not sure of the capacity. The main drawback we found in Explorers was that it was open to on of the main walkways and there was no kind of soundproofing - so as people made their way through the ship, you could hear the constant murmur of their conversation as they made their way around the ship. At times that was a little distracting, it was more noticeable towards the rear of the room.

Crooners Bar.

Crooners had a nice atmosphere. Brendan Jones was the resident pianist / singer. He developed quite a following through the cruise, and at times he played Explorers to let a few more people hear him.

Lobby Bar.

We found the lobby bar was nice for a morning or afternoon coffee, and a pre dinner drink. As it was in the Atrium it was great for sitting with a drink for a quiet chat, or some people watching.

Wheelhouse Bar.

This was a really nicely decorated bar with leather wing chairs an lounges. It was set up in the style of an ‘old English gentleman’s club’. We didn’t spend a great deal of time there. The entertainment was Ballroom dancing to ‘The Cruisetones’ early, and then the ‘Jackie Harrison Trio’ later. We didn’t spend a great deal of time in the Wheelhouse so we can’t comment much more. Daytime trivia was held here and we did attend that a few times.

Churchill’s Cigar Bar

Churchill’s had big screen TV’s for sport and obviously the cigar smoke was quite thick in the air. We only passed through here a couple of times.

Casino

We played in a couple of the tournaments in the casino. They were well organised and well attended. There was only a cash prize for first place, and this was fixed, regardless of the number of entrants to the tournament, generally at $500. Entry fee was $20, they did special offers where if you entered 3 times you got a 4th entry free. Progression in the tournament was by being place on a leader board where the first 7 or 10 progressed to the final.

Ports.

Ensenada - We took the City, Shopping and Bodegas tour with the ship which was $18 each. It was a half day tour. We took a drive around the city, visited the town hall which was an old casino, did a tour of the winery and then had some shopping time. The tour guide was nice and informative. Overall the tour was good value, with a margarita and wine tasting included in the price. Ensenada itself wasn’t great in our view, and we were constantly approached by people begging or street vendors. I guess that is just Mexico though.

Hilo - We took the ships tour ‘Hilo & Kilauea Volcano’ tour. It was a full day tour, and we decided that we would not take a full day ship tour again after this. (we decided maybe we aren’t really organised tour people… as others we spoke to seemed to love it…) Hilo is a rainy place all the time, and it didn’t let us down. The volcano tour was fine, and the rainbow falls were quite spectacular. The orchid gardens and macadamia nut factory were just opportunities to spend money in the gift shops. Lunch, in our opinion was terrible. We got there after about 4 other buses and there was nothing to choose from on the buffet. Other people thought lunch was fine, but I think they were people who arrived earlier. We never saw the buffet being restocked after we had been through, so those who came later had even less to choose from. The Hilo tour was $82 each.

Lahina, Maui - We didn’t have a tour booked for Lahina, and although it was very nice and generally the people were welcoming, the taxi drivers did not want take anyone who wasn’t doing a long trip. We walked around the town and down the coast a little. Lahina was really great place and we’d both like to go back there and spend more time there.

Honolulu - We rented a hire car and took a drive around some of the island, then went shopping. The area around Waikiki kind of reminded us of the Surfers Paradise here in Australia. It was an OK place to visit.

Bora Bora - This was the stand out port for us both. It was such a picturesque place. We had a pretty full day here. In the morning was the Aqua Safari with the ship, where we put on a diving helmet and walked along the bottom of the lagoon. It was spectacular, and the best tour we did all trip. We were underwater for about 30 minutes and saw so many fish. It was good value at $79 each. In the afternoon we had independently arranged a jet ski tour around the Island through a company called Top Dive. This was really great. We got to see a lot of the island and so many overwater bungalows which look so great to stay in. We stopped about halfway on a motu and opened fresh coconuts. We will be back to Bora Bora. Our only concern was that they were building a lot more overwater bungalows and in a couple of years it may lose some of its charm and become over-run by tourists.

Moorea - We did the half day 4WD tour off the ship. This was a beautiful island - but when we return I think we’ll look to do more water based activities. The scenery was great and the guide was really interesting.

Papeete - Louise was ill the day we reached Papeete so we cancelled the independent tour we had booked. Those who went on the tour loved it. We took a short walk around the town and were not really impressed. Everything was so expensive, and we didn’t feel particularly welcomed. The reception from the locals did improve when we took some local currency out of an ATM and started paying for things with that. Although everywhere took US $, they showed a lot more respect, and you got a lot better value with XPF.

Pago Pago - We did a taxi tour of the Island which was spectacular in parts and not so good in others, but when we reached the town, we had to head pretty quickly straight back to the ship as Louise was quite distressed by the number of stray sick dogs that were in the streets. It was quite a sad site to see, and really not very nice. The Cruise Director on the ship headed to the ‘Barefoot Bar’ and recommended this to us for next time.

Apia- was wet, we had torrential rain all of the time we were there, but despite that we really enjoyed ourselves. It was a nice and friendly place. We were quite embarrassed that in one of the stores we visited, the shop assistant stopped serving a local woman and brought us to the front on the queue to be served first. We just took a walk around the town and really liked the atmosphere. It was a huge contrast to Pago Pago in our opinion. So much nicer.

Suva - We hired a 4WD with another couple and toured the island a little. It was really lovely. We stopped at a resort called Carusoe’s for lunch and a swim. The resort was truly an idyllic setting. The locals were so friendly and happy to assist in any way. Fortunately we were in a four wheel drive as it was about 3miles via dirt tack to get there, and we plan to visit Fiji again for a land vacation in the future.

New Zealand ports to follow…..

Jim & Louise:

Thank you for your comprehensive review on the Sapphire and your ports. We have been to Hawaii so that part was interesting.

We will be leaving for Australia Saturday and staying in Cairns 2 days prior to our cruise tour of 6 days which starts in Cairns, then Uluru, then Sydney and the Sapphire Jan 18 - 30. Then 2 days in Auckland.

We are looking forward to your review #3 which should have some of the ports we will be visiting. I hope it comes before we leave. Saturday. We leave here about 4 p.m. Our first plane (of 3) is at 7:10 p.m. to LAX, then LAX to Sydney, then Sydney to Cairns. Long way.

Regards,

Johanna