Sapphire Princess Coastal California Cruise

Just off the 4/6/13 Coastal California cruise. Fantastic ship, great crew, very enjoyable cruise. Everything was great from boarding (arrived at 11:30 am, on by 1:15 pm) to disembarkation (to lounge at 9 am, called at 9:20, on way to airport by 9:45). Best Princess cruise we have been on.

Glad to hear you had a great time!

We will be onboard in 2 weeks :D Cant wait!

We didnthe same exact itinerary in October on the Sapphire, our 15th Princess cruise, and count it among our favorites. Glad you loved it too!

glad it was a great cruise and you liked the ship We board in just 28 days.

Just got home too. We knew the only thing that could spoil this cruise would be weather. Due to a late start we were in San Francisco all day Monday. Any time you can wake up to full sun and NO clouds at 8am in San Francisco you know you've been blessed with good weather. Same in all ports, all week. Best cruise weather in six cruises we have taken!

We live on the west coast and have visited every itinerary port at one time or another either while cruising or driving.

We've considered taking this cruise, just because it's a CRUISE!! I'm curious as to how you enjoyed the itinerary ports? did you take any ship excursions?

can we expect a review??

We live on the west coast and have visited every itinerary port at one time or another either while cruising or driving.

 

We've considered taking this cruise, just because it's a CRUISE!! I'm curious as to how you enjoyed the itinerary ports? did you take any ship excursions?

 

can we expect a review??

I'm curious too

Srpilo

Thanks for posting. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise. We'll be taking our first cruise on the Sapphire on May 11th to Vancouver. Hoping for good weather, but will have fun regardless.

Just got back to Alabama after a long trip back from LA. I will respond to some of these comments tomorrow.

Thanks for posting. Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise. We'll be taking our first cruise on the Sapphire on May 11th to Vancouver. Hoping for good weather, but will have fun regardless.

Why don't you join our Roll Call?:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1381545

I will post a review later today. Until then ...

Quilter n Cruiser - you will love the Sapphire. The crew was the best of any of our previous cruises (4 on Princess and 5 on other cruise lines). The entire crew went out of the way to please everyone.

mikjt - We loved the itinerary. We were not too crazy about the ports of call before the cruise. Our traveling partners picked this cruise. But, we really enjoyed the ports of call, other than Ensenada. Sailed into San Francisco late on Sunday afternoon in sunshine. A brief shower Sunday night but cloudless skies on Monday. Did the Alcatraz tour, booked myself. In Santa Barbara, I booked a private tour with Santa Barbara Hotrod Tours. Beautiful day and a great way to tour the town, in a stretch version of an old hotrod. Another beautiful day in Catalina. Toured the port area on foot. Partly cloudy day in San Diego. Got off the ship and took the Hop on/Hop off tour. In Ensenada, we got off the ship and took a bus into town. Shopped and walked around for about 2 hours. Could have done without this port but understand the reason for stopping here. This was our 1st cruise without booking an excursion through the ship. We were very pleased with the excursion we did on our own. Great ship, great ports of calls.

The two winery tour in Ensenada (Princess tour) was lots of fun...had seen it recommended on CC and everyone on the tour seemed to have fun and drink lots of wine. They even gave each participant a bottle of wine at the end of the tour. ;)

I've done that wine tour a couple of times and always enjoyed it:D

The two winery tour in Ensenada (Princess tour) was lots of fun...had seen it recommended on CC and everyone on the tour seemed to have fun and drink lots of wine. They even gave each participant a bottle of wine at the end of the tour. ;)

That may have been me. Out of all the things I've done in Ensenada, that is by far the most enjoyable. You get out of the smoggy, packed, crowded and congested massive city of Ensenada, and get to see a bit of the 'real' Mexico. The winery tours are good, the wine and bread are better and it makes for a relaxing way to spend a half day. ;)

That may have been me. Out of all the things I've done in Ensenada, that is by far the most enjoyable. You get out of the smoggy, packed, crowded and congested massive city of Ensenada, and get to see a bit of the 'real' Mexico. The winery tours are good, the wine and bread are better and it makes for a relaxing way to spend a half day. ;)

I agree, it is such fun and an amazing deal!

The wine tour that Princess puts together in Ensenada is MORE then worth the $ spent. Of all the excursions Dh and I have been on, This was our favorite. :)

As we live close to all the ports on this cruise ( a few hours drive if that), The ports weren't important. In SF, dh and I just took the city bus. For $1.00 each, it took us all over the city. Even to the Castro district where we saw naked men. :eek: That was NOT a highlight. LOL

Thanks for the advice on the wine tour. I will try it next time we are in Ensenada.

Just off the 4/6/13 Coastal California cruise. Fantastic ship, great crew, very enjoyable cruise. Everything was great from boarding (arrived at 11:30 am, on by 1:15 pm) to disembarkation (to lounge at 9 am, called at 9:20, on way to airport by 9:45). Best Princess cruise we have been on.

So glad you had a great cruise! We are half packed and ready to go :D

Thanks for the advice on the wine tour. I will try it next time we are in Ensenada.

I'll be in Ensenada twice next April so I'll try a/the wine excursion. I'll try not to compare the wine with Napa or Sonoma wines.

Why don't you join our Roll Call?:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1381545

I did.

I'll be in Ensenada twice next April so I'll try a/the wine excursion. I'll try not to compare the wine with Napa or Sonoma wines.

I normally drink Napa wines and was pleasantly surprised.

I am also off this cruise and did the winery tour. Princess did not care when we brought back the 2 bottles of wine they gave us at the end of the tour. I had brought two bottles on at embarkation so it was not tracked as over and above the allotted 2 bottles. It was the last day of the cruise in Ensenada so that might be reason they didn't care since they deliver your alcohol purchases the last night anyway.