Sapphire Syd-LA Review 4/10-5/14/08

[Shelby Cruiser]

We booked this fabulous, once in a lifetime cruise approx. 1yr. in advance & were lucky to find a cabin available. We flew from Detroit to LAX on NWA & then had a 12hr layover prior to departing on United for Sydney. We arrived in Sydney for a 2 day pre-cruise stay @the Sydney Harbor Marriott Hotel @Circular Quay. We did sleep some on the flt., but it was still very long & a tiring 15hrs with little leg rm. We were fortunate to be able to check in @hotel upon arrival even though were there in the morning. It was a lovely hotel & close to everything & very comfortable.

 

Once we got our stuff settled into our room, we were off exploring Sydney with our travel partners, our friends & neighbors, Tony & Heather. We immediately strolled down to Circular Quay to view Harbor Bridge & Opera House & then to Royal Botanic Gardens. We were able to take a train ride through the gardens for only $10pp which saved a lot of time & gave us chance to save or legs for other sights. Then to Rocks area taking time for lunch prior to seeing Sydney Tower & shpg. Then back to hotel for nap prior to dinner @City Extra @Circular Quay. Very good & inexp. After dinner, more walking along harbor seeing sights prior to bedtime.

 

Next day after brreakfast back @City Extra, we took ferry to Darling Harbor & toured Sydney Wildlife Center & thoroughly enjoyed our time there seeing all the animals, especially koalas. Very nice place to tour. Then to Queen Victoria Bldg. for shpg. & tea prior to return to hotel to get ready for cc cocktail/dinner get together. Had a lovely time meeting the Koalas & had delicious dinner @the Marriott. Thanks to Hillary for organizing everything.

 

Next day after breakfast, walked Circular Quay again taking photos of the Sapphire, our home for the next 31 days. Then back to hotel to check out & take taxi to pier. We got onboard by 11:30am & were able to unpack our carryons & go to lunch @Horizon Court prior to our touring for photos of the ship. All bags arrived promptly & got everything put away prior to Muster Drill & dinner. We will miss our time in Sydney & wish it could have been longer so could have had more exploring time. It's a beautiful city & the sail out of port was spectacular. Don't miss it.

 

Sapphire - I will summarize our general feeling about the Sapphire now. It is beautiful. Our biggest complaint is that it never stops rocking. This is our 17th cruise & have experienced other vessels rocking ocassionally but this ship rocked even in fairly calm seas. I finally got sea sick on Mothers Day & had to call Medical to come to cabin & give me a shot in the bum. It cost $101 but was worth any price to feel better. The cost was high because it was prior to 8am. Also, we felt that the entertainment left a lot to be desired. The Princess singers & dancers did a lovely job with their production shows & the Westenders were absolutely fabulous, but the rest of the time it was lousy. We walked out of theater many times, even after waiting 1hr. for seats, it was that bad. Could have done much better in that dept. The food was ok to excellent @times, but for most part was acceptable. A few days had very exceptional tasting food & other times things were just tolerable. The lobster was extremely small & have never been served such a small portion on any ship. We tried to eat in dining room for breakfast but also tried the Horizon Court @times but preferred the dining room. Some lunches were also taken in dining room, @Horizon Court or @special buffet set up @Conservatory. Dinners were in the Pacific Moon Din. Rm. most of the time, but did go to the Savoy & Sante Fe din. rm. a few times. Sometimes the fruit was not good at all & the desserts that were the best were the ice creams. We ate @Sterling Steakhouse twice & @Sabitinis once. Sterling was outstanding & Sabatinis was just good.

 

CC Get Together - Thanks to Lorraine & Tom for all their hard work on organizing our group & doing fabulous job on her Webshots pages. We had or 1st. onboard get together @Skywalkers. Had a nice number attending. Would have been nice if everyone would have taken time to introduce themselves since many did not look like photos posted.

 

Melbourne - We didn't book a tour & just did this on our own. Left ship about 8am & got bus to Federation Sq. area & immediately went to tram station to purchase our tkts. for our return trip later in day. We walked all over exploring the St. Paul's Cathedral, Treasury Gardens, Fitzroy Gardens, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Parliament House, Carlton Gardens, Chinatown, Bourke St. Mall, Queen Victoria Mkt. & the Observation Deck of Sky Tower. Had a nice day with a stop for lunch along way. Got tram back to port & just a short walk to ship. It was nice but if had to do it again, would explore the outlying areas instead.

 

Hobart - Booked Taz Trek Adventure w/Princess & had marvelos time & great weather. We saw Bonorong Wildlife Park, Mt. Field Nat'l. Park, Mt. Tim Shea & had fantastic morning tea & scones. The area is very mountainous & lush & very pretty contryside w/panoramic views. @The animal park were able to feed the animals & get up close to them. Again, we loved the koalas & wallabies. We also had a grt. lunch along way & then to see Russell Falls. Truly enjoyed this tour. Welll worth the money. On return to ship passed Battery Point & Salamanca Place.

 

Dunedin - Missed port due to rough weather. All were so sorry to have missed this experience but knew with hurricane force winds coming, it was best to get out of there. We had scheduled the Taiere Gorge by train & Larnach Castle tour. We really wanted to see more of New Zealand.

 

Fiordlands - Up early to catch all the views we could. Knew that this would be a spectacular sight & were really looking forward to lots of beautiful photos. It turned out very cold, windy & rainy. It got so thick w/fog & rain could hardly see anything @times. It made it difficult to take good photos but tried our best & got many lovely waterfalls through the mists. It got very rough so missed seeing the 3rd fiord. Many of our photos are dark due to extremely poor weather conditions. What a shame to miss such beautifull sights.

 

Balance of summary w/continue.

 

Larry & Donna

[dforeigner]

Cool review so far, thanks.

[cactusrose]

Shelby Cruiser......thanks for posting your review. We were on the original DUSTS cruise and were wondering if this one would be as eventful. I can't wait to read the rest of your review. You have already mentioned several people that were also on the DUSTS cruise and they are great. We still stay in touch.

[cricketdog]

Waiting for more, great review.

 

cricketdog

[Shelby Cruiser]

Auckland - Again we did this port on our own. Once off ship we walked over to ferry terminal & took ferry over to Devonport. We had read that it was a very quaint town to walk around & had good views back over to Auckland. It was a nice ride over there & enjoyed our walk around town. Didn't walk up the mt. due to husband's bad back or would have had much better views across harbor. We then made way back on ferry & began exploring Auckland & got bus to Sky Tower & had wonderful panoramic views from top. Were there to see bungee jumpers propel themselves from top. They are crazy. Then got bus to Parnell & walked this very cute area checking out the shops, churches & having lunch before getting bus back to downtown area for more sightseeing. Then back to ship.

 

Suva, Fiji - We booked with our cc grp. a day @Uprising Resort w/lunch. Thanks to TGBarbie, it was a wonderful day. The food was good & enjoyed the pool & beach w/some shpg. time. Only complaint is there were not enough chairs for lounging. Suva is very lush & mountainous.

 

Pago Pago, Am. Samoa - Booked w/Princess Essence of Tutuilla. The buses wre colorful but very hard wooden seats. Saw beautiful sights & liked better than Suva for cleanliness. Lots of high mts. & lush vegetation & crashing waves on shoreline. Picturesque. Stopped @lovely home on waters edge that had fantastic views out to sea w/majestic crashing waves on rocks. Great sandwiches & fruit to snack on.

 

Rarotonga, Cook Isl's. - Booked w/Princess Circle Isl. Tour. This is a beautiful spot. Very lush & montainous again. The bus had padded seats this time & saw many sights. Once back to port, went shpg. in town & for lunch before return to ship.

 

Bora Bora - Booked w/Princess Highlights of Bora Bora since there were not many tours to pick from. We were greatly anticapating exploring this port after looking @beautiful photos of all those bungalows out over the water with breathtaking colors of water. It did not live up to our expectations. The people were not as friendly as other isl's. & were very poor. The tour was a total waste of our money & time. In the 2 1/2hr tour, only stopped 3 times. Two times for 5min. & the 3rd for 20min or so @Bloddy Marys. (Beer was $6 for 4oz glass, coke @$10 & Bloody Mary @$16.) Those people sitting on rt. side of bus saw absolutely nothing. When asked tour guide if could possibly stop once in a while so those on rt. cold get a view & photos, got no response. Once back on ship told Princess rep & only got answer that they were sorry & would make a note to inform someone about our complaint. We tried shpg. but everything utterly expensive. In evening were invited to share in the joyous 38th anniversary of Hillary & Mick from Australia. Again, congrats to you both.

 

Papeete, Tahiti - Booked w/Princess Papenoo Valley & Waterfall by 4WD. This was a fantastic tour. Loved it. Very beautiful & saw 6 or 7 waterfalls & beautiful mts. Once back in port, went shpg. prior to boarding ship.

 

Honolulu, Hawaii - No tour booked since have been here several times & seen everything. We got through immigration & were off ship & in taxi on way to Waikiki area by 9:15am. We checked out our old hotel, Hyatt Regency, across from Waikiki Beach, then did slow walk back towards port shpg. along way & seeing the beautiful sights. We kept crossing back & forth across the street & seeing hotels & shops. Had lunch @Hilton Hawaiian Village & then walked to Ala Moana Shpg. Mall. Checked out the shops prior to getting taxi back to Aloha Mkt. Place. Did more shpg. prior to boarding ship.

 

Hilo, Hawaii - Booked w/Princess Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. This was a fantastic tour. The only complaint is could have stayed there longer. Absolutely beautiful plants, flowers, trees, walkways, waterfall & crashing waves on shore. Once back to pier, waited for shuttle to town for 1/2hr & did not show, so took free shuttle to Hilo Hatties & then to Walmart. Not much here & a waste to go there to shop. Returned to ship after lunch disappointed & resigned ourselves that our cruise was over even though 4 more sea days were to come.

 

Mothers Day - Thanks to the cc grp. organizers for a beautiful Mothers Day Brunch. Even though I was still recovering from my motion sickness shot, we got there with only minutes to spare. Wish I could have been able to eat more since everything was wonderful. Had a nice turn out of approx. 84 people.

 

Summary - The cruise was a dream come true for us. To have the opportunity to sail for 31 days & to destinations have both long dreamed about. If had chance to do something like this again, would just go to Australia & New Zealand & spend more time there. The last 4 days at sea were sort of boring since weather not agreeable & ship sailing too fast to get out on deck to enjoy anything. Everyone was clammering for chairs inside & with no entertainment to keep you occupied, it could get tiring. We do have many fond memories of our long voyage & friends we met along way & approx. 3000 photos to remind us of our adventure. I will be adding some of these photos to Webshots if anyone would like to see them shortly & will let eveyone know when available.

 

Larry & Donna

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Thanks for the great review and bringing back great memories of our SPORTS cruise in September:D :D

We missed the Fjords completly on our trip as they were expecting some rough weather and the captain decided not to chance it but did get to Dunedin:D

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[Alessandrina]

Interesting review, thanks.

[Pam in CA]

Larry & Donna, thanks for posting your review. I've been procrastinating about posting my own so forgive me if I add my review to yours.

 

First, I want to thank Lorraine and Tom, Ron and Carol, Wayne and Trudi, Sissy and Robert, Jeff and Anni, Mick and Heather, Linda and Mark, Pat, and Nancy and Ed for organizing transfers, tours, get-togethers, book swaps and parties on behalf of the CC group. You were all awesome and helped make this cruise the trip of a lifetime. I also have to thank my sister, Nancy, who organized needlework/knitting get-togethers every sea day (19 of them); between 20 - 30 (sometimes 40) ladies showed up every day and exchanged patterns, tips, techniques and some even learned to knit. It wasn't the ship, the itinerary or the tours -- it was the people on this cruise that made it so special. Several were friends from previous cruises and there are many who I hope will be my friend for years to come.

 

I'd been on the Sapphire before so I knew what to expect, and I wasn't disappointed. Even though this is a larger ship than I prefer, she's nicely kept up. My cabin steward, Marvin, was excellent and very professional; my late Traditional seating waitstaff of Pepito and Joel (pro: jo-elle) were good. It was very difficult at times to understand Pepito but he tried very hard to make sure we had good service. He also was very amenable to any special request we made. Joel was always smiling and happy, whether you saw him in the dining room or in the buffet at breakfast.

 

We had incredibly smooth seas throughout this cruise. We never had anything more than 4-7ft seas and there were a couple of days when there weren't even any waves -- it was as smooth as a bathtub. Even the Tasmanian Sea was practially smooth which is very unusual. There were a few times when the ship rocked but they were very few and far between. Heck, it was 31 days across the Pacific and I was amazed at how little movement there was on the ship.

 

The CD, Josh Dayboll and his assistant, Peter, were excellent. They had many activities planned throughout the day so that there was always a wide choice of things to do. Even though the production shows were the same old, same old, I thought the Princess singers and dancers were the best I've seen on any cruise ship. I didn't go to many shows but those I went to were very well done. As we sailed from HI to LA, a group called the WestEnders were scheduled for a couple of shows one night. They were so fabulously good (INCREDIBLE!) that a matinee was scheduled for the next day and three more shows a couple of days later. I told Josh that I thought that whoever had booked the WestEnders was a genius. He told me that it was the regular scheduling company. If you ever see them listed as entertainment, GO! Get there an hour early if you can because it'll be standing room only long before the show. The WestEnders (http://www.westenders.com) are a group of performers who all were in major shows in London's West End. There are six touring at a time and the arrangements are fabulous -- well-known show music sung in six-part harmony.

 

The food was good to excellent. We got tired of rich meals at night and several times, pre-ordered Cobb or Chef's salads as our entrees for dinner. My friend Pat and I also went to the buffet several times; we also just ordered room service and ate on my balcony. With 31 days, the food can get very tiresome no matter how they try to mix it up.

 

Things Princess could have done better: open Skywalkers during the day (they didn't even have the escalator going) or for cocktails at night. It didn't open until 9PM and by much later, the ship was pretty dead. In the buffet in the morning, there was no way to get a fresh-prepared egg unless you wanted an omelet. I asked, I begged, for a couple of eggs over easy but all I got (even from the buffet Maitre D) were a couple of flat eggs swimming in oil. On the other hand, they had Eggs Benedict every four days in the buffet. I went to breakfast in the dining room a couple of times but most of the time, I got a bagel and cream cheese in the buffet. FYI, the fruit was amazing on this cruise. I've had unripe, hard melon and pineapple before but all of the fruit was fresh, juicy and ripe.

 

Since I live in the LA area, I few from LA to Sydney from LAX on Hawaiian Airlines with a stopover in Honolulu leaving very early on 4/10 and arriving during the evening of 4/11. There were several CCrs on this flight which made it fun. I had upgraded to Business Class and I can state categorically that I would never, ever pay for Biz Class on Hawaiian Airlines again. The seat barely went back and the footrest barely lifted, making it just as though I were in Coach. Wayne had arranged transfer for those of us staying at the Marriott Sydney Harbor from the airport: $11/pp -- couldn't beat that!

 

The next morning, Ron had arranged an all-day tour to the Blue Mountains. We had fun getting to know our fellow CCrs and the tour was nice. I have to admit that while the Blue Mountains were beautiful, I wasn't incredibly impressed. I WAS impressed when Pat and I took the trolley down the side of the cliff. By the time we realized what we were in for, we were at the bottom. We were taken to a Chinese restaurant for lunch which was... well... bad. The food was soggy and tasteless but the company was great. :) Then off to a wildlife center where we saw kangaroos, pandas, emus, etc. There was a Cruise Critic dinner this night at the Marriott that was incredible -- good thing we were hungry. Again, had a great time with the CCrs.

 

On the 13th, Pat had booked a city tour and harbor cruise, which was fantastic! Most of the CCrs had backed out of taking this so that there were only about 8 of us, and we had a ball! We were driven all over the city and given a chance to shop for wine. Boy, did we shop for wine! A whole shopping basked that was overflowing. We stowed it in the tour van and were dropped off at the pier for our harbor luncheon cruise. Lunch on the cruise was good and while we were on the boat, a thunderstorm rolled through and turned everything black outside. Quite exciting. By the time we were back at the pier, it was over and we toured Sydney's suburbs, going to Manning beach.

 

April 14th -- embarkation day! Since the Marriott was only about a 5-minute walk from the end of the pier, several of us decided to head on down to the luggage drop off with our suitcases at about 10:30AM. Our luggage was out of our hands and we were back at the hotel to check out within about 20 minutes. After checking out, we hung out in the lobby until after Noontime, when we could check in. All we had to do was to roll our carry-ons with us. I was in my cabin, C722, by 12:30PM and met up with my sister and brother-in-law during the afternoon. They had gone to Sydney on the Princess pre-cruise package so we weren't together until we were on the ship.

 

April 16th -- Melbourne. I'd elected to take a Princess tour here, "Puffin Billy & Homestead." The train was fun and the homestead was interesting. We took a "hayride" (bales of hay around the edges of a trailer), got to see a sheep being sheared and they demonstrated sheep dogs herding sheep. We were given a very good, hearty lunch. A nice day, good weather.

 

April 18th -- Hobart, Tasmania. Ron had arranged a Wildlife and Winery tour that was excellent. We first drove to the top of Mt. Wellington, then across the island to the Meadowbrook Estate winery where we saw the vineyards and tasted three different types of wine. After the winery, we went to Richmond where we stopped for lunch (on our own.) I had a fabulous chef's salad and the food others were getting looked equally delicious at the little restaurant we stopped at. We also went to a wildlife center where we saw Tasmanian Devils, kangaroos, and all sorts of wildlife. On our way back to the ship, we stopped at a vantage point across the harbor and had an incredible view of Hobart, Mt. Wellington and the harbor.

 

April 22nd -- Dunedin. Disappointment and grumbling that the Captain was a wuss but the seas were pretty choppy and apparently the winds at the entrance to the harbor were already 40mph and expected to increase to 60+mhp later in the day. I think the Captain made a good call on this one.

 

April 24th -- Auckland. Pat and I elected to take the Princess "Auckland Countryside Experience" tour. This was fun... an nice tour. Again, we saw some sheep shearing and dog herding at a working farm. We also stopped at a bird sanctuary. It was a nice day in the country and I loved seeing New Zealand; would love to go back.

 

April 27th -- Suva, Fiji. Again, took a Princess tour to a "firewalking" demonstration. Fiji struck me as a very poor island with little to do here. The firewalking demonstration was ho-hum. It was interesting to see them walk across the burning logs but other than that, I'd seen better dances, etc. at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. Perhaps I should have gone to the resort beach area but I'm not a beach person and I couldn't see myself hanging around a resort when I could see the countryside.

 

April 28th -- Pago Pago (Samoa). Nancy & Ed had organized a tour of the island with lunch at Tisa's Barefoot Bar. This was a great tour; we saw some amazing sights, it's a beautiful island. And, what can I say about Tisa's? The site is gorgeous, right on the beach and they had a covered area where we sat and had lunch. If people wanted to go into the water, they could. Lunch was delicious: grilled swordfish kebobs with vegetables and rice. Drinks were huge -- the beer came in bottles that looked like half-gallons -- and by the time we left, few were feeling any pain. We had a little bit of excitement when a lady got caught up in a riptide and started going out to sea. Tisa and her husband immediately reacted: he lept in with a flotation device and swam to the woman, Tisa followed in an inflatable canoe to help tow her back in. She was safe, thanks to Tisa. On the way back to the ship, we sang native songs (probably frightening the locals, and took a quick side tour to see the "Whale Wall," a wall painted by Wyland. Did I mention that CD Josh and ACD Peter showed up and joined us at Tisa's? They like to party too!

 

April 30th -- Rarotonga, Cook Islands. Ron had arranged a 4x4 Jeep Adventure and it sure was! We got into Jeeps and went up a very, very rugged road to the top of the highest point on the island. Lots of fun, beautiful sights. We stopped for lunch where they gave us ceviche (made on the spot), pork, chicken, plantain, and, I believe, taro. It was a nice lunch. :) Then we drove around the rest of the perimeter of the island. There are some gorgeous resorts here and I suspect this will become popular with tourists in the future.

 

May 2nd -- Bora Bora. Oh, my. What can I say? Took a tour arranged by Sissy that was without a doubt, the best tour and the most fun I've ever had on a cruise or perhaps anywhere. It might not be everyone's idea of fun but here goes: there were sixteen of us on the tour, eight per boat. When we got off the tender, we were met by Patrick and his helpers with two native boats, each with one outrigger. We took off and went to the reefs, with Patrick and the others singing and entertaining us. Once we were out at the reef, we dropped anchor and prepared to snorkle -- with sharks! OK, so they were lemon sharks, but still! We were warned to stay within the area between the outrigger and the boat, which was fine with me. We saw beautiful fish, and sharks. They were right there, swimming past us. Before going into the water, I wondered aloud what happens when you scream while snorkling. I found out: it goes up the tube. :) After about a half-hour with the sharks, we got into the boat and headed off to another section of the reef... to be with the stingrays. I didn't get out because I hadn't brought water shoes. My bad. Also, I've swum with stingrays before so it wasn't a new experience. These stingrays were very tame, taking food directly from Patrick and his helpers. After leaving there, we headed off to another section of the reef but on the way, saw dolphins! They were all around! Then we anchored in a spot and Patrick broke out the champagne and poured it into glass flutes. It was lovely to be there with good friends, beautiful scenery and toasting to us and the future. Then, off we went to our Motu lunch, a pig that had been roasting in the ground for hours, chicken, ceviche, vegetables, etc. The tables and chairs were in the water; no tableware or napkins: just put your hands in the water and swish. :) Oh, and lots and lots of wine: red, white and rose. It seems impossible but we couldn't finish it all.

 

May 3rd -- Papeete, Tahiti. Ron had arranged a tour with Patricks (not the same as on Bora Bora) 4x4 adventure. I have to admit that this was pretty much of a dud. :( Four jeeps had been reserved but one of the drivers arrived over a half hour late. This held up everyone and the other jeeps because they did it together. We went into the mountain but it wasn't much of an adventure -- all sorts of cars were on the same road. The most excitement was Patrick (who we had as a driver) racing through Papeete to catch up with the other jeeps. We saw the reservoir and got to see the eels (not exactly exciting) and stopped at a point where people could go swimming for a few minutes in the river but only one did. We were dropped off at the scheduled time so that essentially, we had a 3 1/2 hour tour condensed into 3 hours. That might not sound like much but I felt we were rushed, didn't see much and it sure wasn't an "adventure."

 

May 8th -- Honolulu. I've been here several times so I didn't have a tour planned. My sister, brother-in-law and I met friends for lunch at a wonderful Chinese restaurant right near the ship in Aloha Tower, called the Hong Kong Harbor View. I then did a little local shopping, went to Wal-mart (needed more toothpaste) and went back to the ship.

 

May 9th -- Hilo. I've been here several times as well but decided to take the Princess tour to Mauna Kea. This should have been a fabulous tour, but it wasn't. We were met at the pier and taken to a van, where the driver proceeded to tell us that he needed to drive us around because they had only two vans capable of going to the top of Mauna Kea and they were already in use. So, that's what we did: drive around. We did see a beautiful waterfall that I hadn't see before. After a couple of hours, we then drove towards the middle of the island, towards Mauna Kea. We went as far as the Information Center at about 2,000 ft. We were to meet the other vans there. To explain this a little better, the company had only two 4WD vans capable of going up the mountain. The other vans (like the one that met us) wasn't 4WD and while it could go up the mountain, it couldn't do so with passengers. At the Information Center, we were fed disgusting sandwiches and little bags of Doritos and Cheeze-Its. (Real healthy.) Then we switched to the other van and took off up the mountain. Just before we got to a photo op stop (maybe at about 9,000 ft), the other van called to say that their axle had broken. The driver then dropped us off (where there was no protection from the wind and cold) and went back to pick up those from the other van. She dropped them off, then picked us up and took us up to the observatory, dropping us off there. Yes, there was a building (the public area was open, not heated) and we were at 13,796 ft with little to no protection. If someone had had a breathing problem, it was in the van and a long way away from us. The driver picked up the other people, took them to the summit, came back and picked us up and took us to the summit, leaving us there. She then took the others to the observatory. A few minutes later, the owner of the tour company showed up in another van to take us back down the mountain and to the ship. He apologized for the "minor" inconvenience and wasn't it wonderful that he had another van. Yeahsureright. We finally got back to the pier almost an hour late so there was no time for the people who wanted to to go shopping. I made my way to the Shore Desk and yes, they refunded a little bit of the tour price (which was $159). The views were amazing and if we hadn't been dumped in these places without being able to get back into the van if we got cold, it would have been an excellent tour.

 

Mother's Day -- Ron and Mick organized a Cruise Critic brunch that was fabulous. Princess did an excellent job and gave us a dining room to ourselves and set everything up. I'm posting photos of the menu below.

 

In summary, this was an amazing cruise. Several of us are already booked on the Diamond in two years. Can't wait! I've uploaded a bunch of photos to Webshots but haven't sorted or titled them yet. I'll link them into my signature when I get around to it.

[pedirn]

Larry and Donna and Pam...It was very interesting to read your reviews of our recent Sapphire Princess cruise. Art and I agree with much that you said. Food was acceptable...some nights great and others okay. But that is always the way of a long cruise. It must be hard for the cruise line to feed everyone with all the different cultures and tastes.

 

We felt the service this time was very sporadic. Sometimes it was excellent but not always. We had the worse room steward (Carolina) that we have had in 37 cruises. While she was very personable, she was a scatter-brain. We often had one towel for the two of us to shower with (necessitating a call for more towels), or one glass for the two of us to share. Chocolates on our pillow...maybe tonight...maybe not. All we really requested was daily servicing and once daily ice for our ice chest.

 

The dining room service was the same. Some really great waiterstaff but other times very poor. We often did not get things we ordered. They seem to have a problem with a glass of milk at breakfast. Every morning Art would order a large glass of skim milk. If he got milk at all it was usually a 3 ounce juice glass.

 

We did not feel the ship rocked anymore than we had noticed on the Diamond Princess (SYD-SFO 2006). But we didnot buy the cruise line telling us seas were 4-7.5 Ft. They were for a a day or so about 15-17 feet. The information on the tv was only updated once a day so it didnot reflect the changes in the weather or the seas.

 

The entertainment was poor, We too walked out at times. We had seen Bobby Dennis on the Diamond (2006). The show he did on this cruise was the exact same show he did then. Same old tired jokes. We did enjoy Dan Ware and found him to be a refreshing change. Same old production shows so only saw a couple. We did enjoy the afternoon movies at sea.

 

We enjoyed the tours we booked (two through Princess and one with Ron). I am glad we cancelled the tours we did cancel after reading reviews. We had originally booked Bora-Bora tour and Rarotonga (the one they changed the prices on after we booked). Did our own thing in both places and it was fine.

 

We also enjoyed meeting everyone. It is always great to finally meet and talk. I love hearing about everyone's previous travels and experiences. We have made many travel decisions after talking to our fellow cruisers.

 

We would love to look at the Bangkok to Alaska cruise in 2010 but right now are concentrating on an Alaska cruise for 2009 to please the grandson. I would love to plan more but work just keeps getting in the way.

 

Chris

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks for the detailed reveiw.

We did the same cruise on the Star some years ago in the reverse, LA to Sydney. One thing we found was it was so easy to book private excursions for every port, I don't think we booked even one through the ship. The results were amazing, we got exactly what we wanted, and the price was less than half for excursions when all was said and done.

We did have a slight edge as we were traveling with friends from AU. So, we rented cars in those ports where laws required driving on the right hand side, they rented the cars in the ports where driving on the left was needed. Definitely had a edge on the driving this way and it gave us the freedom to see exactly what we wanted to see.

The ports visited on this itineary are so very simple to arrange on your own, and even though excursions cost less booked privately, most are better excursions where you are able to see more of what you came to see.

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

[GBeret]

Thanks for the reviews! It was a great Voyage! :D

[PescadoAmarillo]

I have really enjoyed reading these reviews, especially since we were originally scheduled to join you, and since we've done this cruise twice already. It was fun to see the familiar names...Lorraine, Sissy and Chris and others. I'm glad it was a good cruise for all of you. I do love that cruise and that ship!

 

Pam, I was especially interested in your thoughts about the Bora Bora excursion (I've done that one twice, and could do it 10 more times and still feel the rush that comes from the beauty of that island), and Patrick's tour. It sounds like Patrick disappointed, and I'm sorry to hear that. If anyone who was with us in 2006 was with you, they can tell you that it definitely WAS an adventure, particularly the jumping off of rocks 12-15 feet into a rushing river below, which we did in several places. Patrick is a character, but I know from having done that tour twice now that he does gear the tour to make sure no one feels left out...we did things the second time that we didn't do the first time.

 

Shelbycruiser (I know where that is!)...I think the final 4 days at sea after Honolulu ruined my husband for ever doing that cruise again. I have to admit that I enjoyed it more going from east to west (plus all the 25 hour days we had!), but it was also nice to get that long flight out of the way at the beginning of the trip when we went from west to east, and do a week's sightseeing in Sydney that we might not have had the enthusiasm to do after 4 weeks at sea. The four sea days before and after Hawaii were a lot easier to take when we were new in our cruise and our excitement levels were still sky-high.

 

Again, I loved the reviews, and thanks for taking the time to post them. You all did really well getting them posted. When we did the cruise in 2006, it was September before I really felt caught up with things at home and at work.

[Ethel5]

Thanks for the reviews. It was nice having both takes on the same cruise.

[Shelby Cruiser]

If anyone is interested in looking at some photos of this voyage they are now available on Webshots. There are approx. 780 photos & they are all listed with Sapphire as the heading & then each port, such as "Sapphire - Sydney", "Sapphire - The Ship", & the last one is "Sapphire - Hilo". Sure hope yo enjoy them.

 

The link to my Webshots page is: http://community.webshots.com/user/shelbycruiser.

 

Larry & Donna