Sapphire Princess - Far East Cruise Feb 2016

[blueeyes007]

Hi

 

We have booked to go on the Sapphire Princess next Feb sailing from Singapore. We visit Bali, KL, Penang, Phuket then back to Singapore. Has anyone been to any of these ports and done their own trips? I know KL is quite far from the port and wondered if you could get a taxi/bus? Princess excursions are bit pricey and I don't always want a full day trip. We wanted to do a boat trip to Bond Island in Phuket but the trip they offer is all day - just wondered if you can get boat trips (say 3-4 hours) yourself when you get off the ship. Any information on these ports would be really appreciated. When we get off the ship with our flight being at 9pm - we were thinking of taking their excurions tour as they will take you to airport at the end of the day - has anyone done this or has anyone got any other ideas what we can do all day before our flight. Also is the drinks package worth it at $56 per day once the gratuities are added. Thanks Val & Stuart

[CruiserBruce]

For specifics of non-Princess options, a good place for some research would be the Asia ports board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=70

 

As to the drinks package, it all depends on how much you drink. Discussed here daily.

[retiredbrit]

We did the 21 day Christmas / New year Cruise from Singapore last year and for a number of reasons we are repeating it this year. We took all ships tours but will be more selective this year

If you scroll back through the roll call 18 December forum people have posted about both private and ships tours

To find information on the ports look at http://www.whatsinport.com/

It is important to be aware of the distances from where the ship docks or tenders to the attraction, and of course the heavy traffic, and I believe public transport - if it exists can be unreliable

We didnt take a drinks package - there is somewhere on the forum a detailed analysis of the value. You cant share a package so you need one each - it does of course depend on how much you want to drink - the analysis said if you go ashore most days its difficult to see its value. For us the 24 hour tea / coffee in the buffet was acceptable and we drank water from the tap in our bathroom filling bottles and keeping them in our refrigerator, or filled a water bottle from the buffet

 

Alan

[stone882009]

Greetings I'm on the same cruise and whilst I'm not a fan of Princess excursions I've already pre-booked the Elephant Safari in Bali, by all accounts its good value. See you in the sun.

[caribill]

We have booked to go on the Sapphire Princess next Feb sailing from Singapore. We visit Bali, KL, Penang, Phuket then back to Singapore. Has anyone been to any of these ports and done their own trips? I know KL is quite far from the port and wondered if you could get a taxi/bus?

 

If you want to go into KL, then take a Princess tour. It takes at least an hour to travel there each way, much more if there are traffic problems.

 

No taxi or bus can guarantee you will be back on the ship in time.

 

A reliable private tour could get you back to the ship on time, but might cut your touring short in order to deal with possible traffic problems.

 

Even on a Princess tour we were over an hour late getting back. They sailed as soon as our tour group boarded the ship.

[Mikie12]

We are also booked on this cruise with a group of 6 folks. Did the vendors in the ports take euros, dollars or American Express?