Sapphire Princess Northbound

[3 WI Cruisers]

We booked our first Princess cruise on the Sapphire May 17-24 northbound Vancouver to Whittier! We are in a forward balcony cabin on deck 10, the Caribe deck. It looks like these balconies are a bit deeper with part of the balcony covered by the balcony above and a portion of the balcony uncovered. Is this a good type of balcony to have for Alaska or would we be better with the shallower balcony that is completely covered? We booked a forward cabin because when we did a round trip cruise on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam in 2017 they opened the bow of the ship when we were in Glacier Bay and we really enjoyed that. Do they open the bow on the Sapphire when cruising Glacier Bay?

[NothingBeatsBaseball]

We had room E731 on the Sapphire last summer. It was big and was fully covered. It was great for a few foggy/drizzly days. Extra space and it being completely covered a a huge plus. 

 

I didn't wander down to the bow in Glacier Bay ... but I do think it was open. I can't remember now. Someone else could speak to it better than I. 

[Coral]

The Sapphire is a great ship for Alaska. The Caribe balconies are excellent though I am not a forward fan - prefer to be more center or aft as forward has the most motion. Yes - the balconies on Caribe are half open and half covered and double the depth of other balconies, so nice choice on choosing Caribe.

 

E731 is the best mini suite cabin IMO. It is aft, double the length of other mini suite balconies and fully covered. Minisiuites on Emerald are covered. Minisuites on Dolphin are not covered. E730 is also good but you can get more sound noise from the band below. The remaining 12 mini suites on Emerald are covered.

 

Princess doesn't have an open bow the same way as HAL does. Though there are plenty of good viewing sites on the ship. There is a place that is often often forward as I remember being there in Norway but it is not like the HAL ships.

[3 WI Cruisers]

Thank you both for the great information, you have given me more to think about and I'll need to call my sister and brother in law this evening and get their input as they are cruising with us in thecabin next to us. Our fare went down slightly since I booked it online on black Friday and I had tried getting it refared by calling the 800 Princess number but after spending 45 minutes on the phone with someone I had a very hard time understanding who finally said he had gotten the price adjusted the new price is not reflected on my booking when I log in. Maybe it would just be easier to cancel and then rebook with a CVP in a cabin more mid to aft. 

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, NothingBeatsBaseball said:

We had room E731 on the Sapphire last summer. It was big and was fully covered. It was great for a few foggy/drizzly days. Extra space and it being completely covered a a huge plus. 

 

I didn't wander down to the bow in Glacier Bay ... but I do think it was open. I can't remember now. Someone else could speak to it better than I. 

 

The bow on Princess ships is the crew's open deck space. You may have seen people up there, but they will have been crew members.

 

On Sapphire, the Monkey Island up above the Bridge was open to pax on our last cruise on her. This was a great spot for GB and arrivals/departures.

Edited December 14, 2023 by Heidi13

[Coral]

57 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The bow on Princess ships is the crew's open deck space. You may have seen people up there, but they will have been crew members.

 

On Sapphire, the Monkey Island up above the Bridge was open to pax on our last cruise on her. This was a great spot for GB and arrivals/departures.

That is the space that is above the bridge that you can often walk on. We were out there in Norway.  It is not well known so it is not that crowded.

[3 WI Cruisers]

Heidi and Coral, thank you so much about the info about the Monkey Island! What deck would we be able to access that area from if they do open it?

 

[Coral]

9 hours ago, 3 WI Cruisers said:

Heidi and Coral, thank you so much about the info about the Monkey Island! What deck would we be able to access that area from if they do open it?

 

@Heidi13 can confirm but I believe it is Deck 15 (Sun). You walk outside like you are doing laps on the deck and walk forward. Here is a picture

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Coral

[Coral]

9 hours ago, 3 WI Cruisers said:

Heidi and Coral, thank you so much about the info about the Monkey Island! What deck would we be able to access that area from if they do open it?

 

I walk around a lot on glacier day. I personally like Deck 7 (Promenade). Sapphire has a wide promenade deck with teak lounge chairs which is nice on non glacier days - just watching scenery go by. Deck 7 is covered (so if it is raining you are protected) and I think pictures turn out better from a lower stand point (something I learned in photography class) than high. You can easily go from side to side by jumping inside and walking through the ship or you can walk around.

 

I think the people who miss out are those who stay in their cabin on their balcony.

[Heidi13]

9 hours ago, 3 WI Cruisers said:

Heidi and Coral, thank you so much about the info about the Monkey Island! What deck would we be able to access that area from if they do open it?

 

 

Sorry, can't remember the deck number, as our last cruise on Sapphire was 2014. Since the Bridge is on Dk 14, I believe Coral is correct.

 

However, it's easy to find as it is accessed by a couple of gates at the fwd end of the deck.

[Coral]

Here is the best picture I can find right now (from this website):

 

[3 WI Cruisers]

Thank you both again for the information about this and for the pictures! Even though our cruise isn't until May of 2025 we are really looking forward to this cruise and for the land portion that we are researching that we will put together ourselves.