Live from the Sapphire Princess May 19th - May 26th Vancouver to Whittier

Live from the Sapphire Princess May 19th - May 26th Vancouver to Whittier

This is the 2nd leg of the cruise for us. Weather in Vancouver if gorgeous!

We had to report to Pacific Moon at 8:40 to go through Customs/Immigration. We left quite a bit longer then that - last time I looked at my watch it was 10:00 am. We left about the same time as those who were going to the Diamond Princess. We were escorted to either the Canadian or US Customs (not sure which) and then the very nice lady from the Purser's Desk dropped us off and had been told we would be able to get right back on. We went through Customs and then were directed to a huge room with hundreds of people. We kept saying "we are in transit and were told we could get back on the ship immediately" and the pier ladies were extremely rude and told us to sit down and shut up and that we had to wait with everyone else. Eventually (45 minutes later) a gentleman with a Princess badge stopped by and we said "we are in transit, do we need to be here". He got on the radio and found out that we could indeed get on the ship right away. He escorted 3 of us (there were many more but we were all separated by then) back on the ship. His name was Robert and he was extremely helpful! It was just frustrating as the pier people had no clue what in transit people were. The lady from the Purser's Desk was appalled when I ran into her later and told her what a mess it was.

When getting back on the ship, we saw dozens if not hundreds of employees lined up leaving the ship today for the end of their contract.

I have no clue how many ships are here. I was told 5, someone on another thread mentioned 3. The chaos of the pier are probably due to a lot of people here today and the pier people being somewhat inexperienced with it being early in the season.

We did get to the dining room for dinner. We have a different table this week and met our waiter. His name is Fernando from the Phillipines and has been with Princess for 12 years. He comes across as very considerate and very proud of his years with Princess. He was our waiter for lunch and informed us he is our waiter for dinner. Our room steward Freddie is the same and he is wonderful also. We periodically stop by and see William who was our room steward from the last cruise.

David Cole is now onboard. He definitely has a cheerful voice on the intercom. I have never been on a ship with him as CD.

You will enjoy David Cole as CD. He was our CD on our Mexican Riviera cruise in April. Hopefully Bex will be his second in command. They made a great team. Have a wonderful cruise continuation.

The Captain just came on the intercom. We were supposed to sail at 4:30 but it has been pushed back to 7:30 (due to chaos at pier IMO). We still have 1500 passengers to embark!

You will enjoy David Cole as CD. He was our CD on our Mexican Riviera cruise in April. Hopefully Bex will be his second in command. They made a great team. Have a wonderful cruise continuation.

So far, I am impressed with him!

Hope the 2nd leg is as much fun as the first. Guess you should have told Flo to growl at the rude lady on the pier. Is Adventure Bound on this leg?

You will enjoy David Cole as CD. He was our CD on our Mexican Riviera cruise in April. Hopefully Bex will be his second in command. They made a great team. Have a wonderful cruise continuation.

Bex's contract is supposed to end around July 1 . We had her for the April Sapphire cruise . She was a hoot.

Enjoy part 2 of your cruise!!!!!!

Debbie

I continure to enjoy your commentary and look forward to reading more as your cruise continues.

Did you have to change rooms or were you allowed to stay in the same room?

I have always wanted to do a B2B cruise and thought it would be so convenient if you could keep the same room.

Thanks.

Did you have to change rooms or were you allowed to stay in the same room?

I have always wanted to do a B2B cruise and thought it would be so convenient if you could keep the same room.

It is not a matter of "allowing". You can book a b2b using the same cabin or different cabins.

Unless the same cabin is not available for both segments at the time you book, it is your choice.

Some b2b voyages are offered as a single cruise (one booking number) as well as two seperate cruises (two booking numbers). If booked as a single cruise, the same cabin will be assigned to both segments.

Just wanted to post that they are using a different Alaskan Cruise Companion book this year. Previously they were by Joe Upton (sp?) and this one is by Kathleen Cartright (or something similar). I will try to get the author later today. This book is larger and looks very nice. It is $18.99.

Just wanted to post that they are using a different Alaskan Cruise Companion book this year. Previously they were by Joe Upton (sp?) and this one is by Kathleen Cartright (or something similar). I will try to get the author later today. This book is larger and looks very nice. It is $18.99.

We're going on an Alaskan Cruise in 2013. Does the information change much? I see older versions listed on Amazon.

Thanks for continuing to do live updates.

Have they started to do 3 (30 minutes) shows in the theatre on the Sapphire ?

Enjoy your cruise!

Coral,

So excited you are doing this live review. I can not wait another 400 days to go to Alaska!

Just remember, no detail is too small.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much for posting your experiences! We are on the Sapphire on July 28th. Can't wait Can't wait!!! :)

Thanks for continuing to do live updates.

Have they started to do 3 (30 minutes) shows in the theatre on the Sapphire ?

Enjoy your cruise!

They are doing 2 shows per night though I haven't gone to any of them.

We're going on an Alaskan Cruise in 2013. Does the information change much? I see older versions listed on Amazon.

You can probably buy one that is a few years old with out a problem. Some of the real older ones have more black and white pictures as opposed to color ones. I would stick with one that is just a few years old. This new one is a larger format than the one I bought 5 years ago and looks impressive.

I continure to enjoy your commentary and look forward to reading more as your cruise continues.

Did you have to change rooms or were you allowed to stay in the same room?

I have always wanted to do a B2B cruise and thought it would be so convenient if you could keep the same room.

Thanks.

We have the same room. I booked this cruise a year in advance and booked the same room for both weeks not sure if we could go. At the last minute, I added the coastal and eventually saw my room available for that leg and grabbed that.

I have done b2b cruises where i had to change rooms and while not convenient, it wasn't the worse thing in the world.

Thanks for the shows info. We were on the Sapphire to Hawaii in March & Dave Cole had mentioned the anytime entertainment may start later this year. I hope it will continue to do two 45 min shows when we cruise in the summer. Back in March we had to get to the theatre 40-45 min before the show started if we wanted to sit together (30 min if we were to sit separately).

Enjoy the Sapphire ! It is a beautiful ship.

Thanks for posting daily.

Happy to see Part Deux has now started.:)

Live from the Sapphire Princess May 19th - May 26th Vancouver to Whittier

 

 

I have no clue how many ships are here. I was told 5, someone on another thread mentioned 3. The chaos of the pier are probably due to a lot of people here today and the pier people being somewhat inexperienced with it being early in the season.

 

If there are a lot of ships in port, then Canada Place in Vancouver can be a zoo. It took us hours to get off the ship one year, since there were four ships docked, and too few customs agents.

Live from the Sapphire Princess May 19th - May 26th Vancouver to Whittier

 

This is the 2nd leg of the cruise for us. Weather in Vancouver if gorgeous!

 

Do you know if you can buy a pass for the Sanctuary for the whole cruise? On the Princess website they mentioned $10 for a "period" (morning or afternoon).

Do you know if you can buy a pass for the Sanctuary for the whole cruise? On the Princess website they mentioned $10 for a "period" (morning or afternoon).

Yes, at a rate of $20/day.

It is more than a pass. You select your lounge (shade or in the open) and it is yours for the entire cruise!

Greetings from Ketchikan

We were in Ketchikan at 6:30 or so this morning and I believe we have to be back on the ship by 1:30.

We are docked farther out then I have ever seen ships docked at. It has been 3 years since I have been to Alaska. There are 4 ships docked here and we are the 4th ship. The NCL (Jewel?) has the best docking position followed by a HAL ship and then the Island Princess and the Sapphire is last. Best way to describe it is 2 ships pass the tunnel. I had never walked past the tunnel on my previous 8 or so cruises to Alaska. Our side faced town which was unfortunate as there were a ton of sea planes taking off from the other side.

It was steep to get off the ship and the guys at the pier were helping those who were disabled so they could get off the ship. It was quite a jaunt into town along a nicely built walkway. It wasn't until I got back from town that I saw a bus that said "to town for $1". There is also a van that goes to Walmart at this pier.

I would say the weather was cloudy and gray. It was probably in the low 50's with at times, a slight mist. I wore a rain jacket into town but never put the hood on. I found the temperature refreshing. Others had heavy jackets and umbrellas up.

I didn't do a tour but just walked about the downtown area. With 4 ships, it was packed and the shops were indeed busy! A lot of people were buying jackets.

Santuary - I haven't made it up there to see about booking it. Maybe during glacier days but I can't imagine booking it during the rest of the week. I will see if I can find out about it in the patter.

Most Traveled Party is Friday and I did qualify on this trip. There are only 42 or 47 Elite people but when I asked the first day, they were unsure if I would make the cuti so I was sort of surprised to get the invite today. It will be the day we are in college fiords.

There is a lot of international people onboard as passengers. We have met several from the UK,, Australia and several places in Asia.

The crew continues to be fabulous - no complaints about anyone on the ship. Everyone has been wonderful.

We did get a recliner for our balcony today. Our room steward had it in one of the suites and they didn't it so he asked us if we wanted it as we have a bigger balcony. We of course accepted it.

Tomorrow I am doing a boat ride into Tracy Arm with AdventureBound.

Yes, at a rate of $20/day.

 

It is more than a pass. You select your lounge (shade or in the open) and it is yours for the entire cruise!

Wonderful!

Thanks....

Ih Theresa. I docked at that pier on one of my last trips and it is a pretty good walk from the center of town. If you go left instead of right there is a small enclsoed shopping mall but it relaly has nothing in it. Glad o here you make the cut for the luncheon, you mom will probably like it. Hope you have a great day tomorrow, take lots of photos. Say hello to the crew on the Adventure Bound, there is a cute girl with blond hair that has worked for Steve for a couple of years. She is the daughter of a family friend of Steves.