Great time aboard Sapphire Princess -July 18-25

[lilacbirman]

I originally posted this under "Alaska" but I think it probably should be under "Princess". Eeek, sorry for duplicate!

CRUISERS: Me, husband, son-13, my mother, sister and her husband. Cruising newbies were my son, sister and her hubby.

 

EMBARKATION: We got to Pier 91 around 2 p.m., it took about 45 minutes to get through the lines and onto the ship. When my sister saw the atrium for the first time she said “I’m gonna like this!” She always has a positive outlook so she was definitely excited and enjoyed the entire experience.

 

CABIN: I requested the Starboard side but ended up on Portside cabins C 600, 602 and 604. The attendant removed the balcony barriers so we could visit each other easily which worked out great. The cabins were nice/clean and found the balconies to be a good size compared to the A and B decks which were half the size. Plus our balcony was half covered so we could sit out there without the upper decks being able to see us. The balconies below us were fully exposed with no privacy.

 

Although our personalizer had requested egg crate pads noted for all rooms, none had them so I asked our attendant who placed one there that evening. No one else minded sleeping on the very firm beds but I‘m kinda whimpy about those things. Also, the shower stall was really tiny, I don't recall it being THAT tiny on the old Crown. I am a petite person but found it interesting to maneuver without getting the floor outside the shower wet. Then I hit my bottom lip one night when I had to used the facility in the dark. Don’t ask. Nothing like a sore lip for four days.

 

Our cabin attendant was great. It was wonderful to come back to our room which seemed magically clean and neat all the time. I brought bags of Macadamia nut candies from home to give him and he really enjoyed and appreciated.

 

SHIP: Reading some of the previous reviews, I was a tad worried about the condition of this ship but found the Sapphire to be a lovely inside and out. The areas were clean and although not brand new, in very good condition overall. The entertainment areas that we actually sat in were the Princess Theater, Explorers Lounge, and Wheelhouse bar, all very nice. The library is smallish but nice for sitting and reading. Our 13 year old son enjoyed the quartet in the Atrium as he had taken violin lessons last year and knows the difficulty of making the instument actually sound good. ;)

 

DINING: We requested anytime dining but for some reason got traditional dining at 5:30 which was actually too early for my taste but it worked out fine for us. The International DR was very nice, our waiter and assistant were friendly and efficient. They were flexible in that when two from our group were a half hour late one night, our waiter asked if we wanted to go ahead and order or wait for the others. The food was very good, I especially liked the mussels on the last night, YUM! The only dish I didn't like was the venison, but my sister enjoyed hers. The desserts were fine but the souffle was a bit of a disappointment.

 

Horizon Court is the standard buffet, we normally ate breakfast around 7:30 and 8 a.m. and there was rarely a line. The big coffee debate...none of us four who drank it here liked it but we tolerated it.

 

We tried International DR once, the food as well as the coffe was better. My mom and son preferred the HC because of the larger selection so that we ate breakfast and lunch there the rest of the cruise. Since I did not like the coffee at HC I asked the waiter to make a mocha for me by mixing the coffee and hot chocolate which turned out pretty good. We took plates of food up to the room at times when we got the muchies at night.

 

Since our Juneau stop was 2-10 p.m., I asked our waiter about dining options. He suggested going to one of the “Anytime” restaurants so that’s what we did upon our return to the ship at 8:30. We ended up at the Savoy and the food there was pretty good but I felt that the waiters were a bit pushy on the alcohol.

 

ULTIMATE CHAMPAGNE BREAKFAST: We celebrated my sisters big 6-oh birthday belatedly by giving her this as a surprise during our time in Tracy Arm. Unfortunately it was too cold to sit outside so we all squeezed into one cabin. Although several posters here mentioned about one order being a LOT for two, I got worried because another poster said they wouldn’t take a chance. Well, two orders for the six of us would have definitely been fine. We had almost a full order untouched. We saved it and our son finished off the rest as a late night snack. One misstep, one of the three orders was delivered a half hour later than the first two.

 

As suggested by a poster, I bought my sister a tiara to wear for her b-day brunch which she loved. We decorated the room with balloons, stickers and garlands. Another bonus was passing by the Golden Princess during our transit through Tracy Arm. Passengers on both ships were hooting and hollering, it was so cool! My sister will definitely remember this birthday!

 

ENTERTAINMENT: We only saw comedian Jim McDonald, he was okay. My sister went to the "Do you Wanna Dance", they enjoyed that. We just got busy enjoying the ship and each others company so we pretty much missed all the other entertainment onboard. We passed through the casino once and the smoke smell was something we steered clear of from then on.

 

SHOPS: Bought the souvenir T-shirt for the neice back home, not bad price since it was on sale. Also bought a watch then checked online later at home to find the same one at Nordstroms for $60 more, that made me feel pretty good.

 

SPA/FITNESS: When there was a special on the Elimis Aromaflex massage I went for it. I totally enjoyed it but couldn‘t say no to buying two of the lotions they were selling…and they were very expensive! I'm a whimp at saying no. :p My sister got the Ionithermie Duper Detox and lost 4+ inches around her waist! Everyone in the spa was so nice and polite. We actually heard a woman complaining about not receiving a spa brush in her cabin and threatening to cancel a session because of it. The receptionist was very calm and defused the situation. One thing I didn't like was that during my massage, I could hear the pounding of the joggers above us. Not condusive to relaxing.

 

Hubby went to the fitness center, the first two days he said it was packed at 6:15 a.m., but the rest of the cruise he said that there were only five or six of the same people, LOL! He felt the Gym was very nice and adequate for his needs.

 

PHOTO: Thought the ships photographers did a pretty good job of posing us but the photo's are rediculously expensive. The lines on first formal night was crazy long, it took about 40 minutes for our turn. We bought the formal night photo’s and the Panraven album which was a good deal.

 

EXCURSIONS: There were some pretty good excursions but we only took the Bering Sea Fishermans Tour through Princess. I tend to prefer things like ziplining and kayaking but we wanted to do things as a family so I was careful to choose one's that both my mom and brother in law didn't have to walk too far for too long. We all did Mendenhall Glacier on our own and took Dyea Dave's Yukon Tour and saved big time on that plus it was such a great tour!

 

Part of the shore experience was shopping so we had gone to the shopping info “seminar” with Rachel. I wondered how much she gets when a pax from the ship buys something at one of the stores she recommends. We went into one jewelry store and the guy offered me a "deal" on a 3.6 ct Alexandrite for only $61k! And I could pay in six monthly installments of about $10 grand a month. I guess I should be happy that he didn’t judge me by my “cover”. :D

 

The time in Victoria was too short to really do much. We just visited the Empress hotel and stopped in some shops along Government Street. And by the time we wanted to take the shuttle bus back to the ship just before 10 p.m., the line went around the corner. The wait was about 15 minutes which wasn’t too bad.

 

PURSERS DESK: We wanted our son (13) and my mom to be in the middle cabin so my sister and hubby switched with them. Well, we never got things straight after that. Both cabins only had one card (they had been given extra blank cards) that would open their cabin doors. We went to the desk four times and never got it fixed. Oh well, it's a good thing we had our balcony dividers open as we went back and forth frequently.

 

LAUNDRY: I sent my gown to get cleaned and they did a great job removing a spot that I have no idea how it got there. We used the self serve laundry and it really wasn't that busy. We pressed our clothes upon boarding the ship and no one was in there. The room is tiny and has four washers & dryers, a small sink, two irons and boards. Note that the fabric cover on the ironing boards have seams which left marks on my softer fabrics. We brought our own detergent & softener, I suggest Purex 2 in 1 sheets since it's easy to pack and not messy.

 

OVERALL: We were just a little disappointed that we didn't see any whales, bears or dolphins but we did see an abundance of eagles and seals, and overall we all had a wonderful cruise. The coupon book that everyone receives in the cabin was useless to us. We really didn't miss out on the coffee card deal since we only ended up buying about five specialty coffee's anyway.

 

As for the weather, it was cloudy on our first sea day and drizzled a little in Juneau, but no rain or need for umbrellas at all. We enjoyed the ship and most everything on it. So much so that we signed up for a future cruise! :):)

[Cruisin Dave]

Great review. Can't wait to sail her. Did you know anyone to go on the Ultimate Ship Tour. Is it first come or a lottery.

Thanks,

Dave

[BayouGirlUSA]

Lila,

 

Great review. I am a little concerned about the Sapphire as I just got off the Golden Alaskan cruise on July 17th. I know the Sapphire is up to dry-dock in November 2011 and am just a little worried...but it seems as if you enjoyed the ship so that makes me feel a little better.

 

I wanted to let you know that I, too, purchased the Panraven book and actually finished it today. I have not yet clicked the "ORDER" button yet...you'll see what I mean once you start working on yours...LOL! The site is pretty user friendly and you'll get the knack of it as you go along. It's not hard but it is time-consuming dependent on the number of pictures you have to go through. I suggest you separate your pictures by port in different folders (this is an option) and makes it a lot easier to find a picture you are looking for!

 

As soon as I feel I have ALL the finishing touches in order and everything is A-OK...I will post my Panraven Book here.

 

So happy ya'll had such a good cruise and were able to make your sister's 60th birthday a memorable one. I will be celebrating my 50th birthday onboard the Sapphire for the Mexican Riviera cruise in March of 2011.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[lilacbirman]

Great review. Can't wait to sail her. Did you know anyone to go on the Ultimate Ship Tour. Is it first come or a lottery.

 

Thanks,

Dave

 

I scoured my Patters three times and never found it posted so I'm not sure if they "advertised" it some other way. In retrospect I wish we had just asked at the front desk as my sister and I reallly wanted to do this tour.

[Cruisin Dave]

Thanks for responding to my question. Each ship handles the UST differently. If enough people signed up early they may not have needed to post in the Patters. We plan on signing up as soon as we board. So far there is about 6 on our roll call that has shown an interest.

Dave

[lilacbirman]

Lila,

 

I suggest you separate your pictures by port in different folders (this is an option) and makes it a lot easier to find a picture you are looking for!

 

 

I've already uploaded all of my pics at Panraven, can I still separate them in different folders? I'm not very good with posting pictures and things of that sort. Thanks.