Sapphire Princess Review- 9/4 to 9/11

[Screwbit]

This was our 10th cruise, 4th on Princess, 1st to Alaska. We arrived in Seattle on Fri.,9/2, and stayed at the Renassaince- great hotel, very well-placed for exploring the city. We hit just about every key tourist stop, and absolutely loved Seattle. By all means, spend some pre-or post cruise time there.

Arrived at pier at 10am on Sunday, and we checked in our luggage (use a porter-the luggage gets jumped to the front of the line!), checked in, and were on the ship by 11:40am. Had mini-suite E-712. We usually book mini's, so no surprises here- very good storage space for all the stuff we had overpacked ;-)). Cabin steward, Luis, maybe the least personable cabin steward we have ever had on any ship. However, he performed his job beautifully, and that was all that could be asked. He's been doing this with Princess for 21 years !! We had to order an egg crate cover for the bed, since I thought the mattresses were quite hard. If you prefer super-firm, you'll really be in luck. Off to explore the ship. Quite typical of Princess Grand-class, very understated elegance. Found the layout to Horizon Court to be terribly crowded, with very bad traffic flow. This is definitely an area that Princess needs to look at re-designing.

Monday at sea: Drizzle, breezy. Great day for relaxing.

Tuesday in Ketchikan: Rain, and fairly cool. We did the Rainforest excursion, which was wonderful, and actually better than many others from a weather standpoint, in that the tree canopy cut down on how wet we might have gotten. They do provide rain ponchos.Did some shopping in town, then back to ship.

Wednesday in Tracy Arm, Juneau: Dreary early, but the sun kind of broke thru as we turned around in Tracy Arm. Spectacular!!! Spotted some humpback whales, eagles. Total awe. No pictures will ever do justice to seeing it yourself. In Juneau, we did some shopping, and rode the tram up Mount Roberts. What a fantastic viewing area. Don't miss the Raptor (eagle) exhibit, along with the very intersting short movie on the Tlingkit natives.

Thursday in Skagway: Beautiful day- sunny and quite mild. Did the White Pass train. Wonderful scenery and history, great photo ops. The town couldn't be easier to walk around, as it is tiny. Great Christmas shop, with some wonderful buys.

Friday at sea: Another beautiful and relaxing day.

Saturday at sea, then in to Victoria: Gorgeous day. Victoria may be the cleanest city I have ever had the pleasure of visiting. We went to Butchart Gardens- absolutely gorgeous, a must see.

 

Debarkation was one of the smoothest we have ever experienced (our luggage was actually where it was supposed to be !!).

Some observations: Nice ship, but having also done Grand and Golden, nothing unique; entertainment was fairly standard fare- see "Piano Man", but I wish they would spare me the Liberace portion; good bar service; ship's personnel not overly jovial, but quite good.

We did Anytime Dining, and found the following: Service in Pacific Moon was the absolute worst I have ever encountered, Sante Fe slightly better, Savoy was very good- go with Savoy. Sterling's was terrific. Sabatini's was good, but we felt the overall quality and experience had taken a dip since 2003 on the Golden. I've already mentioned Horizon Court. Room service,which we used twice for breakfast, was good, and we wrote in items on the card that were not printed on there, and had no trouble getting them. Overall food quality was really nothing to write home about.

This cruise was, for us, all about the destination, and Alaska did not let us down. We can't wait to return.

Feel free to fire away with questions- I'll do my best to answer.

[johnlcruise]

Very nice review.

Thank you for taking the time to wright about it.:)

[AngelinaMaria]

Do you remember what movies were shown on the in-cabin TV's? We are going next week and I'm getting that "hard to sleep at night" excitement.

[Screwbit]

Angelina: Wasn't focused on movies, to be honest. I do remember flipping past "The Incredibles", "The Interpreter" (Sean Penn, Nicole Kiddman),"Sahara", and one other one, name of which I don't recall. Certainly nothing released in the last thirty days. They do run movies late at night in the Explorer's Lounge, as well, and sometimes in the afternoon, if it isn't being used for art auctions. Anything we caught on tv was while getting dressed in mornings or evenings, or before retiring, while reading Patter for next day. That was usually ESPN (when available), CNN, or one of the ship's channels. Have a wonderful trip.

[AngelinaMaria]

Thanks for letting me know about the movies. I know it sounds strange to be wondering about movies when you are cruising in Alaska, but we are the parents of young children vacationing without them and wanting to enjoy things that we don't get to do at home very often--watch a movie uninterrupted. Thanks.

[Screwbit]

Angelina: No problem, and I fully understand. I know what my kids go thru with the grandchildren!!. Enjoy.

[pamwinn]

We had a cabin steward named Luis on the Sapphire in 2004. We were not on the Emerald Deck though. Is he kind of stocky and grumpy?

 

We liked him once we got past his grouchy demeanor. He does a lot of it for show and can be quite humorous if it's the same guy. He did some things for us with the laundry that I've never had a steward do. He is able to get laundry done in 2 hours. I guess he has some pull down there.

 

Anyway, thanks for the review. We enjoyed the Sapphire and will be back on her in June.

[Coral]

I have a question - I read on another board that they removed the basketball court. Do you remember seeing it?

[Screwbit]

Pam: "Stocky" and "grumpy" would describe Luis to a tee. Very likely the same guy. I had a suit that came out of my garment bag looking like it had been slept in for a few days. He had it pressed and back to me in no time. As I said, he was very good at his job, but rarely missed an opportunity to tell you how busy he was.I suppose after 21 years, he should have some pull, but maybe that constant scowl has held back any promotions(??).

Coral: Come to think of it, I don't recall seeing a basketball court, but as we were in Alaska, with a bit of rain, certainly wasn't spending much time (none, frankly), on sports deck.

[Bob-A-Loo]

Hi Screwbit - we were on the same cruise - but - dinner in Pacific Moon for us was wonderful. Had super waiters. Dined a couple of nights in Santa Fe and the wait staff was alright. Our room steward Tito was wonderful!

For all the people getting ready to board this terrific ship, go to the casino and meet Ron the waiter. He is one of the most personable people you will ever meet. He was a coctail waiter on the Regal 1 1/2 years ago on our trip to Hawaii. This trip he remembered us from that cruise - our names, everyone in our group, and what we all drank. Gee, just maybe we spend WAY too much time in the casino. Ron is always smiling and happy! Tell him "hi" for us. Have a great cruise wherever you go on the Sapphire - great ship! Bobbi....

p.s. Went to the captains luncheon and actually sat with him - HE READS CRUISE CRITIC!!!

[Screwbit]

Bob-A-Loo: Welcome back! I really think the Anytime dining locations are only as good as the particular waiter you encounter that evening in that locale. Did find in talking to many others that they had the least success in Pacific Moon. Guess you really lucked out ;-)). And, I guess it's possible PM's waitstaff could be in Sante Fe this week, and vice-versa- don't really know. Savoy was much more in the Traditional Dining mode, and it was reflected in the staff. Oh, I also wanted to mention what has been noted on these boards before. Those tables for "two" are really elongated booths for six or eight, depending on location. Good luck having a "private" conversation. We did meet and talk with some very nice folks, though.