Just Off Sapphire 11/1/04 Cruise

We had a wonderful vacation. The ship is beautiful and huge. The crew was fantastic. The weather was superb.

If you have any questions, I can try and answer them. I was unable to do everything on board but hit every bar for which you get a prize.:D

I was unable to do everything on board but hit every bar for which you get a prize.:D

I would expect nothing less of anyone with "Irish" in their name. Well done! Welcome back.

Glad you had a great time.. Welcome back...

I do have sea legs though. I keep leaning to the left and can't stand still in one spot.:eek:

I'm glad to hear that you had a great cruise and loved the ship. I have no specific questions, but will follow this post to see what others ask and what your answers are. I will be on the Sapphire in 11 days!!!!

If you have a balcony cabin take slippers. The blue flooring on the deck was hard on our tender feet. I kept putting sandals on. Would love to have had my slippers. Laundromat was wonderful. Don't overpack like I did. Best item I took with me was a suction cup tray for the shower to hold a few items. There is a very small area for soap and 1 other item. Oh and shower head moves and you can adjust the spray.

Glad you had a good cruise, thanks for offering to answer questions.

I will be sailing the Sapphire in May; we are cruising to Alaska. We have a balcony cabin (B512), what cabin were you in? If you had PC dining, which dining room did you enjoy most and why? How were shops on board?

Thanks in advance for your response.

We were in A628 just below the Horizon Court by the last bank of elevators. Loved our location as we hung out most of the time in the aft bars and pools. You will love the indoor pool as much as the outdoor one if it is cool in Alaska in May. There is a roof that opens on the indoor pool.

We had 2nd seating Traditional with a table for 8. Our party was only 6. The other 2 chairs for some reason were not assigned so we were allowed to invite 2 people a night from our group of 37 who choose PC Dining. We were allowed to go to PC but we never did as we received menus from the other restaurants as well as the traditional. We had a kitchen tour and did get to see the other restaurants. All very nice. The only menu I was not impressed with was the oriental one. Sabatini's (extra charge) is a 3 hour experience with enormous amounts of food. You choose your entree and you get everything else on the menu. Others in our group did this. My DH can't sit still that long:D .

I was amazed at how reasonable the shops were. On the last sea day there were huge discounts of which I took advantage.

PS. I never felt crowded even with 2600 passengers. There are chairs everywhere. No worries about chair hogs.

Thanks much for the information, we are looking forward to our cruise with great anticipation.

Glad to hear you had a great cruise, we did also on the October 12th sailing. We thought the ship, food, service, entertainment and ports were just great. Our best cruise ever. Just one day of bad weather in San Diego. We sure miss that ship. :D

We were in A628 just below the Horizon Court by the last bank of elevators. Loved our location as we hung out most of the time in the aft bars and pools.

Yeah! It was great to hear this. We'll be in A730, picked a year ago just for its proximity to the aft areas. Did you visit the fitness center? If so, how was it, and what hours was it open?

I personally did not do the gym thing. I did do the Lotus Spa 4 times. The fitness center is right there. They also have a swim against the current pool and hot tub. In the locker rooms are wet & dry saunas. If you use the Lotus Spa for any treatments, they have luxurious hot beds and beautiful saunas to use. As far as hours, I think 6:00AM is the earliest you can get in there. In my opinion, I found it strange that anyone would want to be indoors on a machine in front of a TV when you have this great ship to explore. Believe me, we got plenty of exercise just walking around. This ship is longer than an aircraft carrier.

You will love your room location. Friends of ours had that room. Oh as far as movement goes, we felt very little. It just gently rocks you to sleep. Loved It.

One of the highlights of my cruise was Swim With The Dolphins 2 in PV. It was AWESOME!!!!! I would do it again. We got to swim with baby dolphins as well. The ultimate was hanging on to the adult dolphin fins and being pulled around the pool. One of the baby dolphins was nudging my foot with it's nose at times. It was an experience of a lifetime.

Yeah! It was great to hear this. We'll be in A730, picked a year ago just for its proximity to the aft areas.

Another thing I did was bring a small dry erase board with magenets on the back. It stuck to the wall above our mail slot. It was great for leaving messeges to whoever and other passengers and crew wrote fun stuff on it. Great conversation piece.

Embarkment was a piece of cake. We got to the pier around 11:00 and was on board at 11:15. We even beat the photographer. Went to our room, met our stewart, went to lunch and scoped out the patter. Our luggage was there after lunch and then we started to party.

Disembarkment went smooth enough. The rain seemed to slow things down outside.

Just got home from the golf course and talking about the cruise. Our next trip is Panama Canal 2006. TA is collecting names. Now I have something to look forward to. We are hooked.

Anyone else have any questions? Will let the thread die if not.

Do you recall seeing multi-day pricing for the thermal suite area of the spa? I will skip the spa treatments but I must be able to use the thermal suite!

What was your favorite meal, and favorite dessert (see....that's why I had to know about the fitness center hours! :o )?

How was the cruise director?

Were the hot tubs really hot (which I like), or more lukewarm?

Thanks!

Can't answer your first question about the spa. I had treatments so it was included. Check the Princess website. There are different prices for sea days and port days.

Favorite meal? Geeze they were all good. I will tell you what I really enjoyed.

Procutto and Melon

Any seafood appetizer

Filet Mignon

Lobster-- I had 4 of them

Turkey Dinner--Very Good

Prime Rib--Done to Perfection

Swordfish

Soups were fabulous-all of them/even tried DH's

Canolli

Crepe stuffed with a sweetened ricotta cheese--outstanding

White & Chocolate mouse dessert

Sorbe's any flavor

CD--Alistair Greener--He was great and even bought 6 of us a drink in Skywalkers at the bar.

Hot Tubs--They varied in temperature like the pools. None were lukewarm. We spent many a sail away in the aft ones with the drink of the day in our hand. We have a hot tub at home and I would estimate the hottest to be maybe 101 degrees. I keep ours at 104 and you have to ease into it.

Hope this helps.

Just read a thread "Just Off The Diamond" sister to Sapphire regarding sales pitches.

FYI

On the Sapphire I was never approached to buy anything. Not even the coke card. I asked for a coke at an aft bar and when he saw I didn't have a sticker he said compliments from Princess and didn't charge me. I had spa treatments and not 1 person pushed any products at me.

Well, that's good news. Nothing cheapens a cruise more than the high pressure sales tactics. I like a 104 degree hot tub too, but can live with 101. We are also going to live on those aft decks, I expect. I am sitting here getting hungry after reading your list of favorite food.