Just off the Sapphire

[joeyddog]

We just got home from a 12 day cruise tour(Fairbanks,Denali to Whittier for a 7 day cruise ending in Vancouver. We had absolutely gorgeous warm weather inFairbanks and did the Goldmine tour(lots of fun panning for gold, train ride and sing along) and Riverboat cruise(very relaxing and informative). Only negative was Princess put us up in the River Edge Resort- definitely not on the same level as their other accomadations. However it was air-conditioned and had a great breakfast buffet.Then a 4 hr train to Denali.Denali was amazing. The Denali Princess was charming and reminded us of a ski resort. Gorgeous views of the mountains and a rushing river. That day we took a shuttle to Horseshoe Trail where we got up close to a female moose and 2 calfs grazing in a pond. The next day we took the Tundra Wilderness Tour where we saw many brown bears(Grizzlys)(one was walking right in front of our bus and circled us sniffing the air). Also had a fox sitting on the road. Saw many rabbits and prairie dog like squirrels. Several caribou right near the road. All in all a great tour tho it was raining on and off, it didn't dampen the trip. Then a dreadful 9 hr train to Whittier(very uncomfortable). The positives: had many views of Mt Mckinley(gorgeous), saw some distant Dall sheep, food was good in dining car. The ship was gorgeous. Food was very good in the dining room(traditional dining- early seating). Our waitress and busboy were efficient but reserved. On our previous cruises we had very personable waitstaff. The buffet had limited choices but what they had was well prepared. Loved the comedian Cary Little(?)- laughed so hard we couldn't breathe. Enjoyed the 2 production shows :Piano Man- a review of Billy Joel,Barry Manilow, Liberace, Neil Sedaka) and Undercover-James Bond, Mission Impossible, Pink Panther and other spy movie themes. Enjoyed another comedian-magician.Mixed reviews on a female singer, comedian juggler.We did an unbelievable whale-watch w. Harv and Marv( got caught in the middle of a bubble feed). Did the Misty Fiords flight-see with Island Wings(awesome) and then Mendenhall Glacier. Did Eagle Preserve riverboat(fun but only saw 3 eagles far away). Both embarkation and deembarkation went smoothly- all in all a very well run cruise.

Any questions?

[Albino Mosquito]

Thank you for your review. I am going on the Sapphire in January of '08.

 

Could you give me more details on the ship itself and what it was like please? =)

 

Thanks

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[joeyddog]

The ship is beautiful with an open atrium. There are many bars and clubs with varied styles of music(piano bar, classical, big band, disco, oldies). There is one enclosed pool with plenty of comfortable lounges. The other pools are open to the air. My favorite is the aft pool which is underutilized- there is shaded seating, view is gorgeous and if you will be in a warm climate in January, it's possible to bring food from buffet there and sit at the tables enjoying the scenery. I believe there are 5 dining rooms- during my cruise there were so many requests for traditional that one of the anytime dining rooms was converted to traditional. There are 2 specialty restaurants(steak house and italian which charge a surcharge). I've heard they are great but the food in the dining rooms was good enough for us. The shows are in the Princess theater which tends to fill up early so you need to get there about 30-45 mins early. We saw people almost come to blows over saving seats. There was standing room only at all the shows. The internet cafe is spacious and modern and barely used- probably d/t the $.75/min charge. I found it to be very slow and only used to print out my boarding pass(that alone cost almost $9). You can buy blocks of time which is worthwhile if you spend any time on it. There is a place to plug in your own laptop there or can use wireless areas but will be charged to your account. There are several shops on board with limited selections. Several art auctions take place with beautiful artwork- don't know how the prices went.

[dixonge]

We did an unbelievable whale-watch w. Harv and Marv( got caught in the middle of a bubble feed).

Wow. I would think they would all come up under the boat! Did you get good pictures?

[PescadoAmarillo]

Thanks for bringing back great memories of the Sapphire. Your description of the scenery and wildlife on the land tour was great. As for the comedian...could it have been Cary Long? He is a riot, talking about marriage and cruising, I swore he had been peeping in our cabin, it was hitting so close to home. As the the Princess Theater...there WAS a fight that broke out on our Diamond month-long cruise over seats in the theater. Princess Theaters definitely don't have enough seats!

[joeyddog]

Yep, the comedian was Cary Long- he was definitely looking into our cabin!!

 

My son got amazing close-ups of the whales as they surfaced. So close you could see the warty details on their heads. I haven't downloaded it onto my computer yet but think it may be good enuff to enter into a local photo contest. I missed 2 whales breaching cuz I was scanning the water when the breaches occured behind me. My son got so pissed he took over camera duty. I would have loved to have seen it. We did see lots of tails, did I mention sea lions on a buoy? We also saw from the buffet window a large pod of dolphins or porphoises? leaping through the wake.

[Happyladi]

I'm on that ship southbound on August 13th. Thanks for the great review. :)

[MercedMike]

Thank you for your review. I am going on the Sapphire in January of '08.

 

Could you give me more details on the ship itself and what it was like please? =)

 

Thanks

 

Check our pics of Sapphire Princess at

 

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/sapphire.html

 

also check

 

http://cruiseclues.com/shipstips/sapphireprincess.htm

 

for lots and lots of information on Sapphire Princess.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[joeyddog]

Make sure you bring a warm jacket, gloves, headband/hat for the glacier days. It is really cold especially if you stay on deck to view. We ended up wearing the same casual outfits over and over. I'm sure you are going to enjoy the cruise. It's amazing

[Happyladi]

Check our pics of Sapphire Princess at

 

http://www.elite.net/~thehalls/sapphire.html

 

also check

 

http://cruiseclues.com/shipstips/sapphireprincess.htm

 

for lots and lots of information on Sapphire Princess.

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

 

Thanks so much. :)