Sapphire Princess 2/18/18 to 2/25/18 Review

We returned from our 7-day cruise on Sapphire Princess from Singapore which departed Singapore on 2/18/18. Ports of call: Koh Samui, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

We live in Los Angeles and decided to arrive Singapore a couple of days before sailing since it's a 17-hour plane ride and we have never been there! The plane ride was great even though it was long. Flight arrived on time. Immigration was a breeze. Bags came out pretty quick. Customs was no issue.

We took a taxi to our hotel (Orchard Parade Hotel). It was about 25 minutes and approximately US$20. Please note that there are two taxi lines at the airport; one for regular taxi and one for premium taxi. We took the regular taxi.

Pre-cruise hotel: Orchard Parade Hotel - booked on our own. Excellent hotel in a central location and close to shopping centers, restaurants and MRT station. Hotel staff was very friendly. Service was excellent. We got a Deluxe Superior room and it was very roomy, comparable to most hotel rooms in the US. All rooms were recently renovated! My room was very clean and bed was very comfortable. It took no more than 15 minutes to get the pier using Uber and it was ~US$10 on Sunday.

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier around 2pm and were surprised the check-in line was still quite long. We got on the ship around 3ish and were instructed to go to our muster station for the drill right away. We were pleasantly surprised that the drill was done inside one of the bars which was GREAT because it was hot and humid that day!

Ship - The ship was built in 2004 and I believe it was renovated a few years back and due for dry dock in the next couple of months. So it is a little older but it was obvious that the maintenance staff does a great job maintaining condition of the ship. Ship was clean throughout.

Cabin: We got an inside cabin and first impression it was larger than other cruise lines we have been on. I think it is because there was no sofa. Everything worked great in the cabin.

Public areas: Well maintained and clean.

Staff: This is the best cruise staff I have ever encountered and I have been on about 9 cruises. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. Mgmt level staff were "on the floor" working w/ the staff and I think that might have made a difference in the service level. We were impressed with the service level.

Food: Overall, we thought the food was great on this cruise.

Horizon Court - the Buffet: We thought food was great for a buffet. Very flavorful. We tried late night snacks once and were surprised how great the Indian dishes were! There is congee for breakfast too! During the times we went, we found most dishes were fresh.

Dining room - We had Anytime dining and it worked out great for us. Food and service in the dining room was great. During busy times, service could get a little slow. We only had breakfast in the dining room. Breakfast menu is kind of limited so we went to the buffet for better selections.

International Cafe - We bought a coffee card and found it a good value. You get 15 specialty drinks and unlimited premium tea and coffee. Service at the cafe was excellent.

Pizza on deck 14 - Best pizza! I had one slice everyday.

Burgers, brats and hot dogs on deck 14 - also great!

Entertainment - we attended two shows both on formal nights and both were great! We also saw performers in the Piazza in the afternoon and before dinner.

Port of calls:

Koh Samui - great island. We hire Mr. Samui for a private tour and it was the highlight of our trip. It was a 5-hour tour of the island. We visited all the main attractions and a 30-min elephant ride (cost not included in the tour). Driver spoke good English and very pleasant. We would definitely use them again.

Bangkok - The bus ride to the city was about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We did the Bangkok on Your Own through the ship. There are two BoYO options; one w/ a stop at Wat Po for $10 extra and one without. If I have to do it again, I would definitely pay $10 more for the Wat Po stop. The bus drop you off at Asia hotel downtown on one side of the river. Most main attractions we were interested in were on the other side of the river which was no easy task to get to. It took a metro ride and then water taxi! The water taxi was a great experience and you feel like you are in Venice! We barely have enough time to visit the Grand Palace. Water taxi is 50Baht one way or you can buy an all-day pass for 180Baht. We made a mistake of buying the all-day pass since we were able to utilize it due to time constraints. Bangkok is an amazing city, beautiful and impressive skyline!

Ho Chi Minh City - The bus ride to the city is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We did HCM on Your Own and it was more manageable than in Bangkok. Bus dropped us off in downtown and it was a walkable distance to most attractions. The tour bus provides a local map which was very useful. For shopping, I'd recommend the Ban Thanh Market as vendors are willing to negotiate with you. The vendors by the pier will not and their prices are higher.

Disembarkation - Very well organized. We were scheduled to get off the ship at 9:30 and it was on time. We got through immigration and got our bags in less than 30 minutes. Easy taxi ride back to Orchard Parade hotel for a 2-night stay before flying back to LA.

Overall it was a great cruise! Glad we did it even though it was a long way from home for a 7-day cruise. Wish we had time to do the 17-day version. Next time :-)

Great review - thank you!

One bit of advice for the future - take a smaller ship which would take you up closer to the city center. Of course you are trading size for convenience.

We returned from our 7-day cruise on Sapphire Princess from Singapore which departed Singapore on 2/18/18. Ports of call: Koh Samui, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

 

We live in Los Angeles and decided to arrive Singapore a couple of days before sailing since it's a 17-hour plane ride and we have never been there! The plane ride was great even though it was long. Flight arrived on time. Immigration was a breeze. Bags came out pretty quick. Customs was no issue.

 

We took a taxi to our hotel (Orchard Parade Hotel). It was about 25 minutes and approximately US$20. Please note that there are two taxi lines at the airport; one for regular taxi and one for premium taxi. We took the regular taxi.....:-)

Thanks for the great review!

Just a couple of questions regarding the taxi. How did you pay? Did you arrive with Singapore dollars already in you wallet?

We are arriving with no Singapore dollars, we were planning on using an atm at the airport to pull out some cash but if we could pay by credit card that would be our preference.

So looking forward to this trip!

Thanks for the great review!

 

Just a couple of questions regarding the taxi. How did you pay? Did you arrive with Singapore dollars already in you wallet?

 

We are arriving with no Singapore dollars, we were planning on using an atm at the airport to pull out some cash but if we could pay by credit card that would be our preference.

 

So looking forward to this trip!

We did not have any Singapore $ when we arrived. We exchanged US$50 at the airport currency exchange. For taxi, we paid by cash w/ local currency but most taxi accepts credit card and apple pay. There may be a nominal fee like S$1. But it's a good idea to withdraw money from ATM at airport or get some from Currency Exchange counter. I found the best rate is by using my credit card which has no foreign transaction fee.

Great review - thank you!

 

One bit of advice for the future - take a smaller ship which would take you up closer to the city center. Of course you are trading size for convenience.

Thanks for the tip! I will also do better research next time on where the ship docks and tour drop off location.

Terrific review.

Thank you for writing and sharing it.

Keith

Great information! Thank you!

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

The only time I have noticed the air quality was in Beijing a year ago January. Went back in August and there was nothing. Quite surprised.

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

Hi JueauGal,

No, I didn’t hear anyone being bothered by air quality in the ports. It wasn’t an issue for me. Sorry to hear that you had to cancel your trip and hope you will have a chance to it in the future.

Thank you for the helpful review! Could you tell us if the Princess menus were the same on the South East Asia cruise as on other destinations? Someone told me it's mostly Asian seafood dishes.... I was surprised as we've been on a few different cruises and the menu has always remained the same.

Thanks for the great review. Wondering about air quality in the ports. Was it bothersome to anyone on the ship that you talked to? We were supposed to be on the 17-day cruise but had to cancel at the last minute. Happy to hear it was good for you!

Sorry for the late reply. I did not have any issues w/ air quality in the ports. It was definitely hot and humid but manageable. If you haven't gone on your cruise yet, it will be great. If you have already gone, hope you had a great time!

Thank you for the helpful review! Could you tell us if the Princess menus were the same on the South East Asia cruise as on other destinations? Someone told me it's mostly Asian seafood dishes.... I was surprised as we've been on a few different cruises and the menu has always remained the same.

Hello,

I think there were some standard dishes like salmon, chicken and NY steak that are available on most destinations. On this cruise though, there were definitely more Asian dishes which was probably due to 80% of the passengers were from Asia. But there are also enough western dishes to choose from.

I can tell you that there was always a local dish on the dinner menu and at the buffet. For example, I had surprisingly good Hainan Chicken, steamed fish with ginger and scallion. At the buffet, they offered Pho which looked really authentic but unfortunately I didn't find it until it was closed :-( They also offered congee in the morning with all the trimmings. I had it most days. In the dinning room, they offered grilled salmon with miso soup and rice.

Happy Sailing!

Excellent review, thanks

Did Mr. Samui meet you at the cruise terminal?

He quoted 4000 (I assume Thai money) for 6 hours for 6 people. That is about $125 total for the group. Not per person. Could that amount be correct?

We returned from our 7-day cruise on Sapphire Princess from Singapore which departed Singapore on 2/18/18. Ports of call: Koh Samui, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City.

 

We live in Los Angeles and decided to arrive Singapore a couple of days before sailing since it's a 17-hour plane ride and we have never been there! The plane ride was great even though it was long. Flight arrived on time. Immigration was a breeze. Bags came out pretty quick. Customs was no issue.

 

We took a taxi to our hotel (Orchard Parade Hotel). It was about 25 minutes and approximately US$20. Please note that there are two taxi lines at the airport; one for regular taxi and one for premium taxi. We took the regular taxi.

 

Pre-cruise hotel: Orchard Parade Hotel - booked on our own. Excellent hotel in a central location and close to shopping centers, restaurants and MRT station. Hotel staff was very friendly. Service was excellent. We got a Deluxe Superior room and it was very roomy, comparable to most hotel rooms in the US. All rooms were recently renovated! My room was very clean and bed was very comfortable. It took no more than 15 minutes to get the pier using Uber and it was ~US$10 on Sunday.

 

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier around 2pm and were surprised the check-in line was still quite long. We got on the ship around 3ish and were instructed to go to our muster station for the drill right away. We were pleasantly surprised that the drill was done inside one of the bars which was GREAT because it was hot and humid that day!

 

Ship - The ship was built in 2004 and I believe it was renovated a few years back and due for dry dock in the next couple of months. So it is a little older but it was obvious that the maintenance staff does a great job maintaining condition of the ship. Ship was clean throughout.

 

Cabin: We got an inside cabin and first impression it was larger than other cruise lines we have been on. I think it is because there was no sofa. Everything worked great in the cabin.

 

Public areas: Well maintained and clean.

 

Staff: This is the best cruise staff I have ever encountered and I have been on about 9 cruises. Everyone was very friendly and helpful. Mgmt level staff were "on the floor" working w/ the staff and I think that might have made a difference in the service level. We were impressed with the service level.

 

Food: Overall, we thought the food was great on this cruise.

 

Horizon Court - the Buffet: We thought food was great for a buffet. Very flavorful. We tried late night snacks once and were surprised how great the Indian dishes were! There is congee for breakfast too! During the times we went, we found most dishes were fresh.

 

Dining room - We had Anytime dining and it worked out great for us. Food and service in the dining room was great. During busy times, service could get a little slow. We only had breakfast in the dining room. Breakfast menu is kind of limited so we went to the buffet for better selections.

 

International Cafe - We bought a coffee card and found it a good value. You get 15 specialty drinks and unlimited premium tea and coffee. Service at the cafe was excellent.

 

Pizza on deck 14 - Best pizza! I had one slice everyday.

 

Burgers, brats and hot dogs on deck 14 - also great!

 

Entertainment - we attended two shows both on formal nights and both were great! We also saw performers in the Piazza in the afternoon and before dinner.

 

Port of calls:

Koh Samui - great island. We hire Mr. Samui for a private tour and it was the highlight of our trip. It was a 5-hour tour of the island. We visited all the main attractions and a 30-min elephant ride (cost not included in the tour). Driver spoke good English and very pleasant. We would definitely use them again.

 

Bangkok - The bus ride to the city was about 2 hours and 20 minutes. We did the Bangkok on Your Own through the ship. There are two BoYO options; one w/ a stop at Wat Po for $10 extra and one without. If I have to do it again, I would definitely pay $10 more for the Wat Po stop. The bus drop you off at Asia hotel downtown on one side of the river. Most main attractions we were interested in were on the other side of the river which was no easy task to get to. It took a metro ride and then water taxi! The water taxi was a great experience and you feel like you are in Venice! We barely have enough time to visit the Grand Palace. Water taxi is 50Baht one way or you can buy an all-day pass for 180Baht. We made a mistake of buying the all-day pass since we were able to utilize it due to time constraints. Bangkok is an amazing city, beautiful and impressive skyline!

 

Ho Chi Minh City - The bus ride to the city is about 1 hour and 30 minutes. We did HCM on Your Own and it was more manageable than in Bangkok. Bus dropped us off in downtown and it was a walkable distance to most attractions. The tour bus provides a local map which was very useful. For shopping, I'd recommend the Ban Thanh Market as vendors are willing to negotiate with you. The vendors by the pier will not and their prices are higher.

 

Disembarkation - Very well organized. We were scheduled to get off the ship at 9:30 and it was on time. We got through immigration and got our bags in less than 30 minutes. Easy taxi ride back to Orchard Parade hotel for a 2-night stay before flying back to LA.

 

Overall it was a great cruise! Glad we did it even though it was a long way from home for a 7-day cruise. Wish we had time to do the 17-day version. Next time :-)