Planning for Alaska 2025 - Caribbean Princess vs Sapphire Princess

[Sparky74]

DW and I are Australians. Last year we flew to Seattle and really enjoyed a 7 night Alaskan cruise on HAL but were disappointed that our helicopter flight to Mendenhall Glacier and dog sledding excursion was cancelled due to the weather. 
 

We're hoping to return to Alaska next year, 2025 when we will have the luxury of 8 weeks vacation, but not unlimited funds. Our current plan is to cruise for 7 nights from Vancouver to Whittier, spend 2 weeks exploring the Anchorage/Denali/Fairbanks area, then cruise for 7 nights from Whittier back to Vancouver. I have been posting questions on the Alaska board. See link below.

 

I've come over here to ask about the Caribbean Princess and the Sapphire Princess. Although they are both Grand Class ships, I understand that the Sapphire Princess is larger (115,875 gross tonnes as apposed to 110,894 gross tonnes) yet she hold less passengers (2674) than the Caribbean Princess (3110). Have I got this right?

 

We're leaning towards the Sapphire Princess as we’d prefer a ship with less passengers. Is there any reason we should be drawn towards the Caribbean Princess instead?

 

 

 

 

 

[memoak]

I haven’t sailed either since restart but in the pre pandemic times really enjoyed the Sapphire 

[snoozecrooze]

Not really seeing any reason to prefer the Caribbean IMO except maybe for her being outfitted with the aft Skywalkers in a special way and for the specially located window suites on deck 6. I really encourage the Sapphire for its flexibility (such as a covered pool) and you'll be endlessly thankful for less overall passengers onboard.

[Sparky74]

1 hour ago, snoozecrooze said:

Not really seeing any reason to prefer the Caribbean IMO except maybe for her being outfitted with the aft Skywalkers in a special way and for the specially located window suites on deck 6. I really encourage the Sapphire for its flexibility (such as a covered pool) and you'll be endlessly thankful for less overall passengers onboard.

Yes, we tend to prefer slightly smaller ships. We’re on the Coral Princess for a 3 night "Seacation" next weekend. 😁

[Coral]

Sapphire definitely. Less passengers, covered pool, wider promenade deck.

[mtnesterz]

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

Yes, we tend to prefer slightly smaller ships. We’re on the Coral Princess for a 3 night "Seacation" next weekend. 😁

I've got some time so I looked it up. According to Cruisewatch, the Coral you'll be on has just over 46 cubic feet of enclosed space per passenger, the most of any Princess ship. The Sapphire has 43 and the Caribbean has 36 which is the least amount of space per passenger in the Princess Fleet, currently.

However, for those considering the new Sun Princess, Cruisemapper is giving it a 34, which compares with passenger space on MSC and Carnival ships.

[Saint Greg]

51 minutes ago, Coral said:

Sapphire definitely. Less passengers, covered pool, wider promenade deck.

A roof over the pool deck is a huge plus in Alaska. Without it that deck can be basically unusable depending on the weather.

 

[Coral]

1 minute ago, Saint Greg said:

A roof over the pool deck is a huge plus in Alaska. Without it that deck can be basically unusable depending on the weather.

 

I agree. It seems to spread people out on the ship a little better during bad weather.