Fully Illustrated: Just Returned From SAPPHIRE Southbound....

[RMMV Aureol]

and had a wonderful time! Great staff, food and entertainment. Princess manages to exceed expectations, once again! Been posting updates and will add more soon. In the meantime, here is my blog:

 

http://maritimematters.blogspot.com/2009/06/sapphire-and-ice-southbound-alaska-on.html

 

Peter

[mjbelen]

Your pictures are just beautiful. Thanks for posting.

[RMMV Aureol]

Thank you. :)

 

I'm trying to get more up in the next couple days. The weather continued to be flawless, making the ship look even better in photos.

 

All the best,

 

Peter

[Clutterlady]

Wow...enjoyed the blog and pictures were wonderful! Good job:)

[Colo Cruiser]

and had a wonderful time! Great staff, food and entertainment. Princess manages to exceed expectations, once again! Been posting updates and will add more soon. In the meantime, here is my blog:

 

http://maritimematters.blogspot.com/2009/06/sapphire-and-ice-southbound-alaska-on.html

 

Peter

 

Thanks Peter, Rich Joseph says Hi!! ;)

[Janie1111]

You did a great job with the pictures and captions. I really enjoyed it. Thanks.

[Coolmama_1]

You did an excellent job with your blog! Thanks for sharing.

[SwKnight]

Thank you for taking the time to do it RIGHT!

 

:cool:

[MaryPoppinz]

Very nice. Beautiful photo of the promenade at midnight-ish!

[Alli Cruiser]

Spectactular--thank you for posting.

[Atomica]

Fantastic pictures & blog, Peter!

[kaseyoz]

what magical photos you have,

That is one cruise on our to do list but have a couple of years till the kids can be left at home. I cannot wait.

[Putterdude]

Great blog and pictures. I remember the Princess Patricia very well and had some buddies sail on her, not many people realize that she was chartered to Princess in its fledgling years. If you look at the picture above that I think you pick out the Prince George which is the ship I sailed on in the summer of 1963; it was owned by Canadian National Steamships in competition with Canadian Pacific Steamships and together they were the precurser of the Alaska cruise industry that we know today. Albeit our ships were only in the 5500 ton range and we carried all of 300 pax, max. Here is a picture of the SS Prince George in her finest hour.

[RMMV Aureol]

Putterdude, you have an eagle eye! PG was one of my all-time favorites. I never sailed in her but spent two very strange nights on board when she was laid up at Howe Sound in 1995. She caught on fire and burned from stem to stern a few weeks later, a victim of arson. It was all rather spooky and I returned the following year to photograph what was left of her. She sank en route to the breakers in China off Unalaska Island. I'm glad she went down somewhat near her familiar waters.

 

That is a wonderful photo of her -- did you take it? Just superb! Many thanks!

 

Peter

 

PS. Sadly, I never got to see the PAT, although a few friends of mine sailed in her and thought she was magnificent. She has an amazing legacy and, for that matter, so do the two ex CP EMPRESS OF CANADA and EMPRESS OF BRITAIN, but that's another very long, well covered story....

[Putterdude]

No the picture is or was a stock photo that my brother sent me, he sailed/worked on her two summers after I did.

Yes I am aware of the history of the Prince George after she left the livery of the CNS, it was a sad way for her to end her life; as a frequent visitor to Whistler I often stopped at Britania Beach and looked at her . There were two Prince Georges this one being the second. It has often been said that she had habitual engine problems but I think they are confusing her with the first ship. The second one often went a ground frequently in Wrangel Narrows but the bottom of the narrows were soft so no damage was ever done and they would just wait for the tide. The summer I worked on her we didn't have the problem but the year my brother worked on her she did.

[pompeynanny]

Peter

 

Thanks for the post and great pics.

 

One question: How did you get into the Sabatini's breakfast for suite passengers if you were in a standard balcony cabin?

 

Derrick

[TorontoTL]

What a wonderful blog, thanks for posting it here for us cruise addicted people to enjoy.:D

[sherman931]

Great pictures and an interesting blog...thanks for sharing.

[Southern Bell]

Just fabulous! We sail on the southbound on August 15th so this documentary was a perfect introduction!

 

Thank you.

[Southern Bell]

Did dinner really take you 3 and a half hours?

[Woobstr112G]

Thank you for the blog. Nice reading and pictures....

 

Bob

[cruzendude]

Peter

 

Thanks for the post and great pics.

 

One question: How did you get into the Sabatini's breakfast for suite passengers if you were in a standard balcony cabin?

 

Derrick

 

LOL, I was wondering the same thing......:D

[RMMV Aureol]

Thanks to everyone for their kind comments -- very much appreciated! I'm a doing a ship of the month feature on SAPPHIRE P for a cruise-oriented magazine, so they wanted me to sample as many aspects of life on board as possible. Of course, we dined in Horizon Court as well. And, yes, dinner took a leisurely 3.5 hours -- my mother is a slow eater, LOL!

 

Peter

[Putterdude]

I blew up that pix of the rock wall in Skagway and it is the SS Prince George and the Capt. noted on the rock is Capt Eccles who was the skipper when I was in her in 1963.

[wowsmom]

We're sailing on the Sapphire the first week of August. I loved your blog and pictures - especially the picture of the Princess Patricia "logo" on the rock wall. My parents sailed on the Patricia for their 25th wedding anniversary. (They will be celebrating their 55th anniversary this coming September. :) )