Just back from Voyage of Glaciers - Sapphire Princess - not a happy chap!

[RD64]

18 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Not so fast IMO.  Princess is hiring and paying for the services, so they ought to be setting minimum service level standards.  And there generally is at least one PCL ship person down there supervising or whatever.  This has been my observation. 

 

I have no experience with Vancouver port, but as far as North America goes, I have had nothing but respect for the ground crews in Port Everglades.

I would agree with you, but the facilities at Canada place on a busy August morning when four ships have recently docked leads to hordes of people and immense confusion. It is not as if there is a separation of people from different ships - just a melee of thousands and thousands of people.

[sunviking90]

29 minutes ago, RD64 said:

I would agree with you, but the facilities at Canada place on a busy August morning when four ships have recently docked leads to hordes of people and immense confusion. It is not as if there is a separation of people from different ships - just a melee of thousands and thousands of people.

Agree, Canada Place was never designed to accommodate so many passengers. They are now using the old convention halls to process people, but nothing can help the fact that almost all those people will then have to file through US customs which is unique to Vancouver.

There is also almost no way to expand the terminal. The upside is that is is right in downtown Vancouver. There are not many cruise terminals in the world anymore where you can walk a few steps to your 5 star hotel or a world class dining and shopping.

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, RD64 said:

I would agree with you, but the facilities at Canada place on a busy August morning when four ships have recently docked leads to hordes of people and immense confusion. It is not as if there is a separation of people from different ships - just a melee of thousands and thousands of people.

 

2 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Agree, Canada Place was never designed to accommodate so many passengers. They are now using the old convention halls to process people, but nothing can help the fact that almost all those people will then have to file through US customs which is unique to Vancouver.

There is also almost no way to expand the terminal. The upside is that is is right in downtown Vancouver. There are not many cruise terminals in the world anymore where you can walk a few steps to your 5 star hotel or a world class dining and shopping.

I guess yah just have tah see it to believe it.

 

[brucedodge]

Interesting thread indeed.  I was on the same cruise for the same 14 days as OP but with a different perspective.  As we all intellectually know, we have different tastes, expectations, and perceptions.  

We thought the food was fine, but some meals are going to be better than others.  When on one evening my food was not hot enough, I had it microwaved (didn't take long) and on another occasion I changed my entree as what was served was poor.  No problem.  We ate twice during these two weeks in Sterling and once in Sabatini's.  Sabatini's was just as good as the OP described, but the steak house varied between the two times: the first time was acceptable; the second much better.  I've found over the years I am ahead if I order the filet mignon.  It's taller and easier to grill to expectations (which, for good or ill, for me is bleu! 😇).

We thought the crew was quite good and that the Captain did a nice job dealing with the weather, which in the circumstances may have had an overall negative effect.

I find comments on about the various ships to be similar to food, i.e. that we're all different.  Like Coral, and my friend Pescado Amarillo, we prefer smaller ships.  Now that the R ships are gone, Coral is our favorite, but Diamond and Sapphire fit the bill, as do the earlier Grand Class ships (before they added the extra passenger deck).  We find the crew on smaller ships much more involved with the guests. Our one experience on a Royal Class ship showed us "never again."

For those contemplating a future cruise,with the right attitude you'll have a great time.

Aren't these Boards lots of fun?  😀

Bruce

[kasowell2]

“I never once had a hot meal” 

That was our biggest complaint about our recent cruise on Discovery. 

[disneyochem]

25 minutes ago, kasowell2 said:

“I never once had a hot meal” 

That was our biggest complaint about our recent cruise on Discovery. 

I laughed out loud on reading this!  That was my biggest complaint when we would eat out as a family when our kids were young!  I don’t think I enjoyed a hot meal for 10 years!  🤣🤣. By the time I took care of the kids’ needs, my food was always lukewarm!

 
Yes, I can see why you would complain!

[Sandyren]

I was on the same voyage as OP and found the food was great. We ate in Savoy nightly.  My wife wasn’t thrilled with the lasagne (said it was tasteless) but everything I had was just great, and a few items were downright excellent! (Braised beef short ribs, baked salmon) We had intended to get to the steakhouse but never made it…we might have also tried Sabatini’s but folks we met were underwhelmed so we stuck with Savoy. 
On the first night (with no reservations) we had luck to be seated in Ahmed’s section, and enjoyed his attentive and humorous service so much that we asked for his section the next night, By night 3 “our” table was saved for us for the rest of the 14 nights. 
My only wish is that they’d have a 14-day menu, instead of repeating the 7-day menu exactly. 

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, Sandyren said:

I was on the same voyage as OP and found the food was great. We ate in Savoy nightly.  My wife wasn’t thrilled with the lasagne (said it was tasteless) but everything I had was just great, and a few items were downright excellent! (Braised beef short ribs, baked salmon) We had intended to get to the steakhouse but never made it…we might have also tried Sabatini’s but folks we met were underwhelmed so we stuck with Savoy. 
On the first night (with no reservations) we had luck to be seated in Ahmed’s section, and enjoyed his attentive and humorous service so much that we asked for his section the next night, By night 3 “our” table was saved for us for the rest of the 14 nights. 
My only wish is that they’d have a 14-day menu, instead of repeating the 7-day menu exactly. 

Did you have a nice 2 Top away from others or against the wall?

If so, do you remember the table number?  TIA

 

[RD64]

3 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Agree, Canada Place was never designed to accommodate so many passengers. They are now using the old convention halls to process people, but nothing can help the fact that almost all those people will then have to file through US customs which is unique to Vancouver.

There is also almost no way to expand the terminal. The upside is that is is right in downtown Vancouver. There are not many cruise terminals in the world anymore where you can walk a few steps to your 5 star hotel or a world class dining and shopping.

Canada Place was designed in the early 1980s and opened in 1986, when maybe 2 1000 passenger ships - say the original Pacific Princess and Noordam - were docking. Sadly, now, it cannot meet the demands of the current cruise industry.

 

That being said - location wise - other than Trieste - I cannot think of a better situated cruise terminal.

[Coral]

1 minute ago, RD64 said:

Canada Place was designed in the early 1980s and opened in 1986, when maybe 2 1000 passenger ships - say the original Pacific Princess and Noordam - were docking. Sadly, now, it cannot meet the demands of the current cruise industry.

 

That being said - location wise - other than Trieste - I cannot think of a better situated cruise terminal.

When I first cruised to Alaska - it was on RCCL in 2002 and they used Ballatyne pier. They later must have expanded Canada place because Ballatyne pier is no longer used (and ships are larger now).

[Sandyren]

20 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did you have a nice 2 Top away from others or against the wall?

If so, do you remember the table number?  TIA

 

Sorry I can’t recall whether the table # was 145 or 245. Against the wall, yes and tucked into a corner for privacy. To the immediate left upon entering,

[PacnGoNow]

1 minute ago, Sandyren said:

Sorry I can’t recall whether the table # was 145 or 245. Against the wall, yes and tucked into a corner for privacy. To the immediate left upon entering,

Awesome! Thanks.

[BamaVol]

25 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Did you have a nice 2 Top away from others or against the wall?

If so, do you remember the table number?  TIA

 

We were given a 4 top (for 2) nights 3-7 in Dean’s section in Savoy. We had a window to watch the whales from. It was right beside the Chef’s table. We couldn’t have been more pleased. Sharon was the Savoy host who made it happen. 

[sunviking90]

26 minutes ago, Coral said:

When I first cruised to Alaska - it was on RCCL in 2002 and they used Ballatyne pier. They later must have expanded Canada place because Ballatyne pier is no longer used (and ships are larger now).

Yes, our first cruise on RCCLs Sun Viking in 1991 was also out of Ballantyne pier. RCCL often ended up there as Princess and HAL had priority at Canada Place. Canada place increased their berths about 20? years ago. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by sunviking90

[PacnGoNow]

5 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

We were given a 4 top (for 2) nights 3-7 in Dean’s section in Savoy. We had a window to watch the whales from. It was right beside the Chef’s table. We couldn’t have been more pleased. Sharon was the Savoy host who made it happen. 

That’s great! Thanks.  Do you remember the table no?

Edited September 25, 2023 by PacnGoNow

[BamaVol]

13 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

That’s great! Thanks.  Do you remember the table no?

I do not. It doesn’t show up in any of my pictures. Sharon just referred to it as “your table”. Enter the dining room and turn right as soon as possible. There’s a waiter station nearby. And usually you pass a large table set up for 8 or more for Chefs Table on the way. Deans section seemed to be that entire front right corner (facing aft). He was fantastic. 
 

Don’t hold me to it but I feel like it was a low number, like 25 or 26.

Edited September 25, 2023 by BamaVol

[PacnGoNow]

36 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I do not. It doesn’t show up in any of my pictures. Sharon just referred to it as “your table”. Enter the dining room and turn right as soon as possible. There’s a waiter station nearby. And usually you pass a large table set up for 8 or more for Chefs Table on the way. Deans section seemed to be that entire front right corner (facing aft). He was fantastic. 
 

Don’t hold me to it but I feel like it was a low number, like 25 or 26.

Where was the embarkation lunch held?  

[BamaVol]

28 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Where was the embarkation lunch held?  

I think it was International Dining Room on deck 6. I can look on my patter tomorrow if I kept day 1.  I’ll let you know.  We did not have lunch in the MDR embarkation day.  I think we grabbed a sandwich at the IC. First priority after boarding is a drink.

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, brucedodge said:

I've found over the years I am ahead if I order the filet mignon.  It's taller and easier to grill to expectations (which, for good or ill, for me is bleu! 😇)

 

We had problems when we ordered the filet. We ask medium rare.The outer quarter inch is perfect and the rest is extremely rare. Bleh. Someone here on CC said once that I should just ask them to butterfly the thing. D'Oh! Don't know why I hadn't thought of that myself but, after ordering it that way it has been cooked to perfection every time. (I would actually prefer the rib eye but it's too darn big for me to eat anymore and I'm not an "eat a little and let them toss the rest" person.)

[PescadoAmarillo]

4 hours ago, RD64 said:

That being said - location wise - other than Trieste - I cannot think of a better situated cruise terminal.

Sydney, Australia .

[cr8tiv1]

7 hours ago, brucedodge said:

Interesting thread indeed.  I was on the same cruise for the same 14 days as OP but with a different perspective.  As we all intellectually know, we have different tastes, expectations, and perceptions.  

 

I find comments on about the various ships to be similar to food, i.e. that we're all different.  Like Coral, and my friend Pescado Amarillo, we prefer smaller ships.  Now that the R ships are gone, Coral is our favorite, but Diamond and Sapphire fit the bill, as do the earlier Grand Class ships (before they added the extra passenger deck).  We find the crew on smaller ships much more involved with the guests. Our one experience on a Royal Class ship showed us "never again."

For those contemplating a future cruise,with the right attitude you'll have a great time.

Aren't these Boards lots of fun?  😀

Bruce

 

I can't agree with you more!  And I have yet to step foot on a Royal Class ship.  I don't know what I will do when they send my Precious Grand to the "farm in the country".  Nor when they port only Royal Class ships out of San Pedro.

 

Thank you for a well composed post.

[JimmyVWine]

22 hours ago, ldtr said:

Princess charges based upon the demand for each itinerary. If they charge the same then the demand is similar. If the difference was perceived as being as stark as you say then the demand would be less for the Grand Class ships and so would pricing.

True, but a large percentage of people on any given cruise are Blue Medallion Cruisers.  They don't know what they don't know, so the difference in the quality and condition of the ships is not a factor in driving their demand.  Only itinerary is.  And based on the pricing and booking capacity of the Alaska season this year, I'd say that we are starting to see an impact.

[BamaVol]

14 hours ago, BamaVol said:

I think it was International Dining Room on deck 6. I can look on my patter tomorrow if I kept day 1.  I’ll let you know.  We did not have lunch in the MDR embarkation day.  I think we grabbed a sandwich at the IC. First priority after boarding is a drink.

Yep. Says right here it was the International Dining Room. Deck 6 aft. 

[Nebr.cruiser]

11 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

Sydney, Australia .

We were so astounded in February to open our balcony curtains and see the opera house right there!  Almost felt like within reaching distance!

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, BamaVol said:

Yep. Says right here it was the International Dining Room. Deck 6 aft. 

Thank you again.  Very helpful.