Just back from 6/27-7/04 Sapphire

Hello,

I will start off by saying this was a very fine cruise, there were a few not so great moments but overall the cruise was very, very nice.

I will break down some of the basics.

CABINS:

We were in B750 the Grand Suite and it is fantastic; it could however, benefit from an extra half-bath, as other suites that we have been in had an extra guest bathroom. Also, we did not see many of the amenities that the brochure described: Butler service, afternoon hors d'oeuvres, etc... For instance, we called for hors d'oeuvres one day and the silence on the other end of the line told me they had no clue as to what I was talking about.

Other members of my family had cabins B743 and B734. The rooms were quite small, but, they did have a balcony. Obviously, as cruiselines try to add more balconies, the rooms must get smaller.

Beds in all cabins, very hard. Ask for an eggcrate this helps, somewhat.

Also, I agree with another poster, the air conditioning needs help. We had to leave the balcony doors open most times (during the day) to keep the room cool enough.

DINING:

We sampled most of the restuarants onboard. The only one that you don't get the second menu in is Sabatini's. On a side note, in our opinion, Sabatini's is quite an experience, but, if you don't care for seafood and other, I'll call them "different" types of food, you won't enjoy the food. Basically, how it works is you choose only the main course and then they bring you a bit of everything else that is on the menu. The experience was fun, as we had great servers, but I didn't care for too many things besides the main course. There again, depending on your taste, you may love everything!

Our personal favorite restaurant was the Pacific Moon, if you get a chance, go there and try the souffle desserts: "FANTASTIC".

All in all, the food quality was very, very good and excellent in some cases.

As a warning, the Horizon buffet is horribly designed. Try not to go in the busy times of the day. You will get very aggravated as people just run around like ants butting lines. "I just want some of this..." type of thing, well, so did every one else in line!

SHIP/ITINERARY/EXCURSIONS:

SHIP: Very beautiful and very big! Have fun exploring. Every staff member that we met was very friendly and went out of their was to please.

INTINERARY: The itinerary is good; However, I was disappointed in Tracey Arm. You can't get close enough to it to really see anything. Even with high powered bincoulars it was, to me, disappointing. Bear in mind, we have been on other lines that go to Hubbard Glacier and, in my opinion, that is the far better of the two glacier trips.

EXCURSIONS: We did the JNU-P (whale and wildlife quest). This was definitely the highlight of Juneau. We saw several humpbacks, seals, sea lions, bald eagles and are you ready for this: a pod of Orcas! There were 2 small calves, three females and one huge male. They put on quite a show for us: rolling on their backs and slapping tails and fins on the water, etc... Even the tour staff were grabbing their cameras!

Skagway: The White Pass Railroad is not to be missed. However, if it is a very cloudy, foggy day they will offer you a chance to get off and get a refund. The day we were there, we should have taken them up on the offer as you could see absolutely nothing! I have been on it before though and it is spectacular on a clear day.

Ketchikan: My cousins went on the KTN-R (sportfishing). They said that the way the captain did the poles was strange. You would sit and wait for a strike and then grab your pole. No problem there, but, after 20 minutes or so, he would have everyone switch positions and have a different pole. Basically, the way it worked out, one of them did not touch a pole all day and one of them lost a fish, while others caught 1 or even 2 fish. Not a big deal, but, just thought I would let those considering this excursion know. Also, it was stated on the excursion description that they would have drinks/snacks: they did not.

Victoria: We just got on a bus to downtown and walked around.

If you have specific questions regarding the ship, cabins, excursions, etc. I will try to answer them.

All in all, Tracy Arm was the only real disappointment that I had. After seeing Hubbard and being able to get so close to it, Tracy Arm was just so..so.

Steeler

Looks like you had a very nice suite.;) We sail November 1 Mexican Riviera in Aloha 628. This will be our first time cruising.:D I am so excited. My hubby is concerned about getting seasick.:eek: How was the movement of the ship where your cabin was? Also, I have read on the boards about some virus (noro) you can get from going to the buffet. Anybody that you know get this virus on your cruise?

Jayne

Hi,

I took 2 maraziene (sp? sea sick pills) and had absolutely no problem with the movement of the ship. It did get a bit rocky when we left Skagway in route to Victoria as we were pretty much in the Ocean once clearing the passage. Also, I didn't see/hear any other passengers complaining about it. My cousin did get a little bit sick, but, he is HIGHLY prone to seasickness. Even at that he didn't actually get sick, he just felt queasy. My advice to you would be if your planned route is mainly in the Pacific, I would just as a precaution, take something the day before you get on and then again on the day you board and see how it goes from there.

NOROVIRUS:

That was somthing that I should have mentioned in my original post. They have you fill out a questionaire before boarding regarding your exposure to any virus type illnessess (basically to cover themselves??).

But, at the buffet, they have automatic "no-touch" machines that dispense hand sanitizer! They have a sign up asking passengers to use the system to avoid spreading anything that they may have caught/brought on ship. This was a GREAT IDEA. The few times that we went to the buffet, I did see most people using it. I used it upon entering the buffet and upon exiting, just in case.

Steeler

Thanks for your response. Also read to get Flu Shots before we sail in November. I have never been a big fan of buffets. It is hard enough to keep the food at the right temperature.

I am trying to get copies of the sapphire princess anyway I could ask you to email them to me at inurseer@aol.com. I am traveling with my elderly parents and it would decrease the stress if I could show them they will have things to do.

thanks,

Becky

Thanks Steeler for the excellent post. We leave on the Sapphire in seven weeks and like everyone else, looking forward to seeing this beautiful ship.

Currently, we are on a waitlist for traditional dining. Did you notice if anyone was able to get traditional dining once on board?

Hello,

I am sorry, but, I did not save the Patters. However, I can tell you that there were a lot of Seniors on the ship. The indoor pool even had a device that can lift people that are immobile into the pool. (A chair like device) I know that they have pottery classes, bingo (4 or 5 sessions), needle point kits, afternoon tea, card room, cyber golf, putt putt, culinary demos, galley tour, ice carving demo, etc... Many of the shore excursions are suitable for older persons, infact, if they are in good health, I don't think that there is anything that they CAN'T do. Also, I would imagine that they would enjoy the shows, comedy (the newlywed game was hilarious, one couple playing was on the cruise for their 43rd anniversary) and, if they like wine, there are two wine tastings.

All of the older people that I noticed seemed to be having a grand time. All smiling faces.

Steeler

I did not notice, as we only ate lunches in the main dining room. We used the PC option. Basically, in all but Sabatini's you can get what they are serving in the main dining room in the PC room of your choice. They give your one specialty menu for the restuarant that you are in and one which is what they are serving in the main room. For instance, on the Gala night, many of our party had lobster in the Pacfic Moon.

Hope this helps!

Steeler

We too are just returning from the 6/27 sailing of the Sapphire. We had an absolutely wonderful time and will post more details later. We actually liked Tracy Arm the best of the cruise and it was spectacular!! Beyond belief. This was our first time to Alaska so we were overwhelmed by the beauty. We did the Clover Pass kayak and that was just fantastic. We also did the bike and brew in Juneau and I loved the scenary and Mendenhall lake and Glacier.. Both of our excursions were well worth it. We didn't make the Skagway White pass railroad excursion but the other 3 couples we were travelling with did. They came back saying that was 3 hours of their life they will never be able to regain. Unfortunately it was quite foggy in Skagway and the further up you went the worse it got. So as fair warning if it is pretty foggy in Skagway - be prepared to see nothing. We had heard it was supposed to burn off by noon - but that didn't happen. The Sapphire was very nice and we did have about 3 or four negative experiences, and will let the dear wife determine if she wants to tell. Overall we both felt like the cruise was a 10 out of 10! We did the international dining room and the food was VERY good. More later...

Pittsteeler,

We were on the same cruise as you and I agree with your assessment of the ship. I can't believe that they can't develop a better buffett layout than that. I often opted for pizza or something at the Trident Grill rather than fighting through the buffet line. Also, we found the food in the buffet to be mediocre.

I really enjoyed Tracey Arm although you are right, the ship does not get very close to Sawyer Glacier. About 7/10 of a mile away if I remember correctly what the naturalist said. I have been to Glacier Bay and in my opinion the trip down Tracey Arm is much more spectacular and the ship is much closer to the mountains than in Glacier Bay. However the glacier viewing is far superior at Marjorie Glacier in Glacier Bay.

My wife and I just returned as well. It was a womderful cruise and the ship is something to behold. I agree with the air in the rooms. Our sons had an inside and the cabin got stuffy at times. My wife and I had our balcony door open most the day and almost always at night. Made for some good sleeping at night. Our bed was quite comfortable. However a couple of our friends asked for the egg crate cause thier bed was hard and they slept better after that.

the buffett needs help badly. Nothing worse then getting bumped with a plate full of food.

Thanks for your short review.

FYI - Princess hasn't had butlers for years. Not sure which brochure you were looking off of.

We have had several suites and the room steward always leaves a list of hordourves (sp?) that we can choose from the night before on our pillow. We were instructed to fill it out and give it to our room steward the following morning. Did this not happen?

Welcome back!

Hello,

Maybe I saw it on a really old brochure, as I did look again on the website and found no mention of it. But in regards to the hors d'oeuvres, we did not recieve any info on them, we did get forms for breakfast, but I never did see anything else. I figured that it was just the newness of everything and it really wasn't a big deal. Lord knows you can always get more than enough food!

Also, I found the quality of room service excellent. Mind you I really don't expect a lot from room service, but, everything we ordered always arrived hot or cold, whichever was appropriate. One thing that I could not believe was that anytime you ordered a hamburger or cheeseburger, they put two (2) fairly large patties on the bun. That really surprised me.

All in all, it was a great cruise and I would definitely sail Princess again.

Steeler

How close you get to a glacier depends on how much ice there is in the water to navigate around. You were very fortunate at Hubbard. There are times you can get no closer than 3 miles to it. So perhaps Sawyer Glacier was the same situation.

As for the buffet, I know there seems to be a lot of confusion with Princess' set up which I don't understand. The reason for the "islands" is to avoid lines, so I don't understand why there was a problem with lines and people jumping them. Never saw lines or had such a problem when I've sailed Princess.

Hey CP! Just got back and we loved the ship and the cruise! I'll email the details to you. Wife and I did an open booking on the ship and are planning on the Grand in January out of Houston. When is your next trip?

As for the buffet, I know there seems to be a lot of confusion with Princess' set up which I don't understand. The reason for the "islands" is to avoid lines, so I don't understand why there was a problem with lines and people jumping them. Never saw lines or had such a problem when I've sailed Princess.