Sapphire Princess Dry Dock March 2018

[subaru94]

We are going on a cruise next year on the Sapphire Princess after her dry dock, does anyone know what they are going to do, I have heard replacing beds but not sure any information would be fantastic.;)

[easyboy]

Schedule for Princess Luxury Bed for Sapphire is on March 2018.

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/products/joyful-rejuvenation/the-princess-luxury-bed-coming-soon.html

 

 

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[Astro Flyer]

We are going on a cruise next year on the Sapphire Princess after her dry dock, does anyone know what they are going to do, I have heard replacing beds but not sure any information would be fantastic.;)

We're also sailing the Sapphire during Summer 2018 in Europe after the Singapore drydock & searching for any official information.

 

Besides adding the new Luxury Beds haven't read any official information about what will be done during the 2 week drydock. I've only read speculation about what may be done such as making changes similar to those made earlier this year to the Caribbean (modifying the pizzeria, ice cream & grill and making portions of the buffet into seafood & BBQ venues at dinner). I'd be happy with such changes to have new dining experiences & the $12 fee for the seafood or BBQ is reasonable to me.

 

But that's all unsubstantiated speculation & with the drydock 4 months away haven't read anything from Princess. As I recall, the changes to the Caribbean were promoted well in advance which has not happened with the Sapphire. It's just a guess but without promoting changes to the Sapphire it may only be new beds (yea!), maintenance and things such as new carpets & upholstery.

 

Just searched the Princess website but there's still no information about the Sapphire's drydock & only about the changes made to the Caribbean.

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/cb-caribbean-princess/drydock-2017/

Edited November 15, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[peety3]

Remember that the primary purpose of a drydock is to repair the stuff that's normally always wet. The cruise lines do try to make the most of the time that the ship is up on blocks, but they don't put the ship in drydock for the purpose of maintenance (that can be done while underway or in port) or repair (that could be done in a wet dock, for less money and probably with easier access).

[subaru94]

O.K. I'm happy about the beds, we will be the first in them, so looking forward to going on her again, thanks for everyones feedback.:D

[PriscillaT]

Sapphire Princess has new deck plans for sailings after 28 March 2018. Not sure what the changes are.

[minikiss]

I’ve been comparing the deck plans before and after the Dry dock and below is what I see to be different

The Plaza deck will be getting Alfredo’s, International Café, Vines and the Plaza bar. So the Grand plaza is getting a refit with the desks there moving up a deck.(loved Alfredo’s on the Grand and being able to get a pizza at lunch on the Island, also who doesn't like the IC?)

Fiesta deck will lose the cabins and the Chapel is being removed, I double checked each deck and can’t see it in a new location. (found this a little strange to get rid of it altogether but….). The captains circle desk, future cruise sale and library are to go in to where the cabins used to be.

On Promenade deck the only change is that Kai Sushi will become the internet café.

Sun deck will lose the Japanese baths and they are changing around the Teen lounge and youth centre and creating 2 outside play area’s.

On the sports deck the princess links becomes the lawn court.

It’s nice to see they aren’t expanding in to spaces they don’t already have in public use, also refreshing to see they are losing cabins rather than adding more in. Before we booked, we were comparing the changes due to the Indy as we were choosing between the Fjords on the Sapphire and a similar one RC are doing.They are adding a lot of new cabins in blank spaces and taking away a lot of nice quiet public seating area’s. The changes we thought weren’t good ones so although it was a longer sailing and was a tiny bit cheaper we choice the Sapphire mainly down to the layout of the ship.

So my thoughts on the Sapphire is that it looks like they are updating her to fit better with a market outside of Asia, ahead of her coming to us in the UK. Nothing to get worried about and changes for the better.

Jules

[Burgmeister]

I’ve been comparing the deck plans before and after the Dry dock and below is what I see to be different

The Plaza deck will be getting Alfredo’s, International Café, Vines and the Plaza bar. So the Grand plaza is getting a refit with the desks there moving up a deck.(loved Alfredo’s on the Grand and being able to get a pizza at lunch on the Island, also who doesn't like the IC?)

Fiesta deck will lose the cabins and the Chapel is being removed, I double checked each deck and can’t see it in a new location. (found this a little strange to get rid of it altogether but….). The captains circle desk, future cruise sale and library are to go in to where the cabins used to be.

On Promenade deck the only change is that Kai Sushi will become the internet café.

Sun deck will lose the Japanese baths and they are changing around the Teen lounge and youth centre and creating 2 outside play area’s.

On the sports deck the princess links becomes the lawn court.

It’s nice to see they aren’t expanding in to spaces they don’t already have in public use, also refreshing to see they are losing cabins rather than adding more in. Before we booked, we were comparing the changes due to the Indy as we were choosing between the Fjords on the Sapphire and a similar one RC are doing.They are adding a lot of new cabins in blank spaces and taking away a lot of nice quiet public seating area’s. The changes we thought weren’t good ones so although it was a longer sailing and was a tiny bit cheaper we choice the Sapphire mainly down to the layout of the ship.

So my thoughts on the Sapphire is that it looks like they are updating her to fit better with a market outside of Asia, ahead of her coming to us in the UK. Nothing to get worried about and changes for the better.

Jules

Thanks for posting that because, when I looked, both deck layouts were identical. I thought that was odd.

 

 

Didn't realise that the Princess didn't already have Alfredo's and the IC - learn something new everyday

[Coral]

I was on the Sapphire several years ago and there was an Alfredos, Vines and IC. This is not new.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Coral

[minikiss]

Looks like it's my mistake I was not comparing them both off the Princesses site but the current deckplan was off a 3rd party website. So it looks like all the changes I listed had already been done before and maybe there's no change in layout at all.

 

Sorry

[majortom10]

I asked on here recently and Princess on Facebook about what to expect in the refit in March 2018 ready for the UK 2018 season and didnt get much response on here. Princess replied to me and all they said was that they were replacing all the beds with new beds, some soft furnishing and carpets around the ship will be replaced and most of the work is in the child areas of the ship. Nothing more was said.

[Coral]

Looks like it's my mistake I was not comparing them both off the Princesses site but the current deckplan was off a 3rd party website. So it looks like all the changes I listed had already been done before and maybe there's no change in layout at all.

 

Sorry

 

I can't remember the other things you listed but I am pretty sure some of the other things were there - for example, this ship has always had a huge Internet Cafe. Not by choice, but I have sailed the Sapphire more than any other ship in the Princess fleet. I just looked and have sailed on her 9x with a 10th time coming up.

 

Maybe they used an old floor plan up there. I have a friend who sailed on the ship in Asia recently. He did mention that the stores were all changed for the Asia market and the Future Cruise sales person was in a different location. He did say Alfredos was there over Christmas so it wasn't removed.

[Astro Flyer]

Looks like it's my mistake I was not comparing them both off the Princesses site but the current deckplan was off a 3rd party website. So it looks like all the changes I listed had already been done before and maybe there's no change in layout at all.

 

Sorry

 

And based on your previous comparisons, you also compared the Diamond deck plans to the Sapphire deck plans. The Sapphire has never had Kai Sushi & Japanese Baths which were added to the Diamond before deploying to Asia. The Sapphire has had Alfredo’s & an IC for many years.

 

I rechecked for your changes & none are shown on the Sapphire’s post-drydock deck plans. And comparing the current printed deck plans in the Princess 2018/2019 Cruise Atlas to the after 3/28/18 online deck plans there are no public area changes.

 

It’s been my experience that most of the deck plan change dates are merely changing some cabin categories.

 

As I wrote in post #3, Princess has not promoted any changes for the Singapore drydock beginning on 3/14/18 which they do when venues are being changed. So it still appears to be only replacing beds, ship’s maintenance and replacing things such as carpeting & upholstery. The post by ‘majortom10’ indicates that’s accurate although the youth center in both deck plans do not show any changes in the location of the youth center but apparently will have the interior modified.

 

The Sapphire sails for Europe at the end of the month & hopefully there’ll soon be information about what was done during the drydock.

Edited March 8, 2018 by Astro Flyer

[Coral]

And based on your previous comparisons, you also compared the Diamond deck plans to the Sapphire deck plans. The Sapphire has never had Kai Sushi & Japanese Baths which were added to the Diamond before deploying to Asia. The Sapphire has had Alfredo’s & an IC for many years.

 

I rechecked for your changes & none are shown on the Sapphire’s post-drydock deck plans. And comparing the current printed deck plans in the Princess 2018/2019 Cruise Atlas to the after 3/28/18 online deck plans there are no public area changes.

 

It’s been my experience that most of the deck plan change dates are merely changing some cabin categories.

 

As I wrote in post #3, Princess has not promoted any changes for the Singapore drydock beginning on 3/14/18 which they do when venues are being changed. So it still appears to be only replacing beds, ship’s maintenance and replacing things such as carpeting & upholstery. The post by ‘majortom10’ indicates that’s accurate although the youth center in both deck plans do not show any changes in the location of the youth center but apparently will have the interior modified.

 

The Sapphire sails for Europe at the end of the month & hopefully there’ll soon be information about what was done during the drydock.

 

I think the ship got pretty beat up during the Chinese charter and a lot will be spent on replacing things back to normal. A friend was on it over Christmas and they were replacing hundreds of chairs or parts of the chairs in the theatre as the wood was all scratched up. Every day he would go in there and hundreds had been replaced overnight. He thought the wood (and not the whole chair) had been replaced but not sure.

 

I thought that was correct about the Japanese baths as I thought that was a Diamond Princess thing but wasn't sure.

[tankmc]

We will be on the first sailing out of dry dock. We didn't realise this but looking forward to sailing on a refreshed ship. I also hunted around to see what the changes are going to be and all I have been told is they are replacing the beds, repainting the livery, refreshing some of the furnishings and changing the kid's clubs.

[oskidunker]

Is the Saphire sister ship of the Grand?

 

 

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[Coral]

Is the Saphire sister ship of the Grand?

 

 

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Sister of the Diamond. Similar to Grand class but built at a different shipyard (Mitsubishi/Japan). I think these ships are built/designed slightly better than Grand class. For example, the Promenade deck is wider. She has Club (con)Fusion instead of the Vista Lounge.

 

They were built after Grand/Golden/Star. Better space ratio than Caribbean/Crown class. Doesn't have the extra deck of passengers like Caribbean Princess/Crown Class.

[Astro Flyer]

Sister of the Diamond.

Thankfully the Sapphire is not an identical twin sister after the Diamond was modified for the Asian market.

[Coral]

Thankfully the Sapphire is not an identical twin sister after the Diamond was modified for the Asian market.

 

Well, they started as twins. Heck, they even traded their names at one point.

 

They were (are?) my favorite Grand Class ships.

[Astro Flyer]

Well, they started as twins. Heck, they even traded their names at one point.

 

They were (are?) my favorite Grand Class ships.

 

Yes...the construction fire resulted in swapping names.

 

The Sapphire is probably my favorite Grand-class ship and also the Coral but no longer it’s modified former twin the Island.

[Coral]

Yes...the construction fire resulted in swapping names.

 

The Sapphire is probably my favorite Grand-class ship and also the Coral but no longer it’s modified former twin the Island.

 

We think alike!

 

I was booked on the Maiden Voyage of the Diamond Princess (a B2B) that didn't happen. Well, the first scheduled Maiden Voyage.