questions about Princess Sapphire to Catalina/Ensenada

Hello, first time cruiser here. :) We are going on the Princess Sapphire Catalina/Ensenada cruise in March and I have a few questions to those more cruise savvy than I am. ;) Would like to know what to expect, such as age range of other passengers, what the best activities are to do on the ship, and what are the best things to do while in Catalina and Ensenada. Also curious if there is a more formal night on this cruise, I have heard that there is on some cruises, and just how formal is it? Also what to pack for clothes? Are we allowed to bring any alcohol on board, such as a bottle or two of wine? Is the food good? We are pretty healthy eaters, although on vacation we don't mind fudging a bit! Sorry for all the questions but like I said, first time cruisers, and excited and nervous at the same time! We are not expecting or wanting anything super fancy, just looking forward to getting away for a few days, and having some fun. We are 37 and 43.

For information specific to Princess cruises, I would repost this on the Princess board, under Cruise Lines P-Z. Lots of experts there to tell you about these cruises. EM

Go here and pick out 'Princess', 'Sapphire Princess', 'March 2014' and your date (down below). Some of the sailings in March have few signed up so far, but may see more as it gets even closer.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/rollcalls

I live not far from Catalina and I will tell you the weather is being particularly hard to predict this year! It was 83F today here at noon! Very unseasonal! All I can say is keep watching on a site such as Weather Underground (wunderground), looking at the predictions as far out as they go, but be prepared for sudden changes -- bring layers (not to include longjohns! but cardigans and/or windbreakers for going outside) -- better to have them and not need them than the reverse!

Princess does have formal night(s), but if you are not into dressing up (nor packing extra clothes just for evening) I believe you can dress 'resort casual' and eat in the buffet on those nights. It was that way on HAL some years ago. If you like to dress up and maybe get a formal photo taken, it's a great opportunity for that as well.

Here is the Princess forum, to get all your questions answered:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=197

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

This is the link to the Sapphire Roll Calls -- just scroll down until you find the date of your cruise. It is a good place to see what others are doing on your cruise.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=307

thank you!

No formal nights on princess cruises less than 7 days. 1 bottle wine per passenger (additonal bottles incur an upfront corkage fee), no booze or beer and you can bring as much non-alcoholic as you wish. Food is good, overwhelming amount of choices. I hope you enjoy your first cruise!!! :D

While you're on board, stop by the Future Cruise office. There should be some brochures or other info about other itineraries. We haven't done the 3 or 4 day cruises to Baja California on Princess (just on Carnival), but they are very short and will only give you a taste of what cruising is like.

You will tender off of Catalina, which means the ship will anchor off in the bay and passengers will use small boats to get to shore. I can't remember what month it was when my dorm floor got on the Big White boat to that island, but it was overcast that day. On our 4-day cruise (the 3-day ones usually don't include Catalina) was in early June and it was overcast at that time too. So it just depends on what you want to do.

As have many other Southern Californians, I've been to Ensenada too many times (I'm not a fan). My last three cruises have been the Hawaiian cruise from LA, which involves a stop in Ensenada to satisfy the PVSA law, and we stayed on board. Years ago, when I was on a weekend Baja cruise while pregnant, we booked a city tour.

The age range may be on the low side in March if during spring break (colleges tend to stagger their breaks so that only a group of schools are out at the same time). Because a four day cruise fits during a school break, it's a lot easier for kids to take this kind of cruise. My preggers cruise did fall during a heavy duty spring break weekend (Easter), so tons of college students. It was pretty amusing as many of them were doing a lot of drinking, and I suspect the morning following our Ensenada port day and no doubt a trip to Husseins bar, many of them were worshipping the porcelain god.:D The amusing part was being up on deck watching kids staggering out of taxis to get back on the ship. Easter day was extremely quiet.

If you go on the "cruise personalizer" on the Princess website and sign in, there should be info about your cruise and whether there are any formal nights, which it sounds like there aren't any. If you have traditional dining,you will be assign to a table (in the International dining room). My hubby and I prefer traditional dining as we'll have the same waitstaff for the whole cruise (which did make a difference on our 14-day cruises).

If you eat dinner in the International or the other dining room, you'll wear smart casual. If you want to dress down (shorts, for example) the Horizon Court is the buffet and the requirement is no wet bathing suits (and wear a cover up over a bathing suit), sandals or shoes, just follow common sense other than that. You can also grab a pizza or hamburger by the pool between 11ish AM to 11 PM. There's an indoors pizzeria on the Sapphire (wasn't yet on it when we were on the Sapphire in 1994) and the International Cafe, which isn't an enclosed eatery, but a set of display cases with food for a light meal and great desserts and that's open 24/7.

It was pretty amusing as many of them were doing a lot of drinking' date=' and I suspect the morning following our Ensenada port day and no doubt a trip to Husseins bar, many of them were worshipping the porcelain god.:D The amusing part was being up on deck watching kids staggering out of taxis to get back on the ship.

The name of the bar is Hussongs, and there is also another called Papas and Beer.

When I was there many years ago, I saw a girl literally being poured back on the ship. She was so wiped they had to use a wheelchair to get her to her cabin.