7/4/10-7/11/10 Sapphire Princess Inside Passage Review

[mklein]

Overall, I had a great time. There were definitely high and low points of the cruise. My family traveled with a group of 7 for my parents' 30th anniversary. I'm 23 years old and my boyfriend is 20. My sister and husband (both 37) and year old son and my parents (56 and 57) were also with us. It was a great occasion, except some inconsistent service.

 

Embarkation:

 

We got to the airport via Princess transfer. Very easy to find. The process went by fairly quickly and we had very little waiting time during the process and even to wait to get on board. We actually boarded a little early, around 11:30am.

 

Cabins:

 

We booked an obstructed oceanview gty and got upgraded to P311 oceanview. My boyfriend and I found this room to be great for the two of us and really enjoyed having a full view. The beds were very firm but we both enjoy that. We did end up getting the egg crate mattress topper to see what we liked better by just leaving our room steward a note. It was definitely more soft and just depends on preference if you need them or not. Our room steward, Daniel, was very thoughtful and very attentive. He was always easily accessible and very friendly. My parents had D408, a mini suite. The room was very nice and the open balcony was not an issue. If you can afford a minisuite, the balcony for Alaska is worth the cost! They unfortunately never met their room steward, which was a shame. My sister had an obstructed oceanview E702. It was disappointing that her husband and her had to sleep in two twins because I guess it is a fire hazard if you have the beds together and one of the pull out beds (for their son) open because there is no open walkway. The view was decent though. The bottom was blocked by a lifeboat but you still had an OK view. Their room steward was excellent and would come to put up the bed out of the ceiling when they woke up so they could have more room. Also, the bed does have a side rail if any parents are worried that their child might roll off and get hurt.

 

Food:

 

Our first day we did the buffet for lunch. I must admit, as many have said, the organization is terrible. The small enclosed area just cannot handle the amount of people on the ship. It was better after the first day since the entire ship wasn't trying to get food at one time. Also, you CAN eat in the formal dining room for lunch on Day 1 (International Dining Room) even though some crew lead you to the buffet. The food in the buffet was OK. Some of it was good, some not so good. I personally think buffets generally don't have high quality. Food in such a mass production is difficult to maintain high culinary levels. This is no excuse, just my opinion about any buffet. Also, it was difficult to get drinks. You can get water and tea yourself but servers must go outside the buffet to get soda or any alcoholic drink. If you sit in the back overflow areas for the buffet, good luck finding a server.

 

We had formal dining at 5:30pm in the International Dining Room. Our servers were fantastic! Our lead server was Alejandro and our assistant was Phumsuwan. They remembered a lot of what we liked and didn't like and were attentive and friendly. Moreover, they made sure my nephew, 6, got his food quickly and often entertained him. The food in the dining room was much better than the food in the buffet. Every night had a wide variety of choices including salmon, chicken, beef medallions and fettuccine alfredo every night. You can order anything you want and as much of it. the last night they had a sirloin steak with green peppercorn sauce and my dad loved it so much Phumsuwan brought him a second one within minutes! The attire was varied through out the dining room. I wore a dress every night and my boyfriend wore slacks, dress shoes and button down. But I did see many people in jeans and even t-shirts for dinner. The Head waiter does not seem to enforce dresscode heavily at all. I think to each their own, I like dressing up so I was happy to do so.

 

Our lunches varied. We ate in the International Dining room twice. I like the service and the food was very good. They have great burgers there as well as well as a variety of other choices like salads, sandwiches, soups and main courses. I would recommend the dining room for lunch if you are hungry between the limited hours of 12-1:30. There was a pub lunch 3 or 4 days but we never made that. The other days we ate in the buffet and once in a port. Again, the food was OK and I always managed to find something.

 

We did afternoon tea once. It was nice but the lady at the door was VERY rude. If you have early dining, do not eat too much because I was so full I didn't really eat dinner that night. The pizza and burger bars by the pool on deck 14 are a great and quick option. The pizza is excellent and open from 11am-7pm. The burger bar is open from the same times and has beef burgers, chicken burgers, turkey burgers, hot dogs, french fries and some other choices.

 

Sabatini's was excellent. The service was really great. Everyone starts with a wide variety of appetizers both cold and hot as well as bread and oil/vinegar. You choose soup or salad. Everyone gets 2 pastas. And you select your main course and dessert. I was so full by the main course I barely touched it. But you must try the tiramisu and creme brule. $20/person.

 

We used room service once. We ordered a club sandwich and flan. The menu is limited but does the job if you are hungry. We got our order in 15 minutes and enjoyed it.

 

We got the coffee card which was excellent for my boyfriend and me because we love lattes! The morning of the scenic cruising, I got 4 regular coffees, 2 lattes and 2 hot chocolates for 2 punches. So it was a great deal.

 

My parents, sister and family all coke the Ultimate Coke Card which includes sodas as well as smoothies, virgin drinks and milkshakes for like $10/day. It's not worth it, unless you really use it. I only ordered like 4 sodas the whole trip which are like $2-3/each. For kids, I think it could be worth your while. But unless you are an avid soda drinker, It maybe cheaper to just stick to ordered drinks where you want them. Watch your alcoholic drink orders because it can get pricey. From 8pm-close there were happy hour specials for $2.99 which included certain bottled beers, Pina Coladas, Long Island Iced Teas and Singapore Slings as well as "well drinks".

 

Entertainment:

I went to two of the shows. The Piano Man was pretty good in my opinion. It was entertaining and featured songs from Billy Joel, Elton John, Liberace, Neil Diamond and others. The show repeats so everyone can see it. Get to the theater early to get seats. We made the mistake of coming only 10 minutes before and sat in the front but others came later and sat in the stairways. The second show I saw was a bit cheesier in my opinion. "I Got the Music" featured a wide variety of songs from Cher to Britney Spears. It was entertaining but nothing fabulous. Some of the dancers were great and the singers were OK. Although, I did think once of the female singers was really good. My parents saw one of the comedians (Kevin) and enjoyed him. They also watched the last production show something about dancing. They liked it because it showcased all types of dancing styles from hip hop to riverdance. It really just depends what you like as far as you being entertained. Arny G, a pianist and singer, was quite popular and played in the Crooners Lounge. Many of the other locations featured live music but I didn't check it out.

 

As far as other things to do, make sure you check the Princess Patter they deliver to your room daily. For an Alaska itinerary, it was nice to have an indoor pool. Many people took advantage of this and on the warmer days some swam outside. There were all kinds of demonstrations and activities including fruit carving, ice carving, cooking, dance classes, lectures and workshops, shopping, Bingo, Wii tournaments (video games), tours of the galley and backstage the theater, movies in the Princess theater. My boyfriend and I did the couples massage class for $52/couple. We really liked it and got a free massage oil.

 

I used the gym 5 of the days. There were surprisingly many people there. They do have a variety of classes available on seadays including stretching and abs classes and pilates, yoga and spinning for $12/class or $30 for three classes. They have freeweights, weight machines, plenty of treadmills and ellipticals. It's not a huge 24 hour fineness gym but you can get a good workout.

 

Ports/Excursions:

 

Ketchikan: My sister, husband and son went on the Bering Sea Crab Excursion. They LOVED it and would recommend it to anyone. They also bought the video since there was a camera man on board. We (parents, boyfriend and me) didn't prebook anything. We walked off the boat and ended up buying a tour for $48/person. We went to the totem park and drove most of the island. We also stopped and walked around some beautiful river areas. We returned to downtown to eat lunch at the Fish Pirate's Saloon. The food was decent. Mostly fried stuff like fish and chips, fish tacos, fried clams, ect. We then walked around the shops. If you like jewelry, you can find tons of it at every port.

 

Tracy Arm Fjord: The scenic cruising was nice. We saw a lot of ice in the water. Didn't get so close to the glacier but it was beautiful. There was an excursion in which a small boat pulled up the side and took passengers closer. It was advertised in the Patter like the first or second day and was $200/person or so. We all gathered on my parents' balcony which was really nice. We also just ran up to the buffet and brought plates of food and snacks for everyone.

 

Juneau: We went on the whale watching excursion through Princess. We had about an hour and half before and quickly walked around downtown to look around and peek in the Red Dog Saloon. Very cool place but so crowded because there were 7 ships in port! At 4pm, we hopped on a coach bus for a 20 minute ride to our boat. Juneau is the capital of Alaska and very beautiful. The government buildings and very small and you pass by the Governor's house. The whale watching was fantastic. We saw 4 or 5 humpbacks and started to return to the shore when we ran into an Orca (Killer Whale) pod. There were like 12 orcas, including some babies. It was really amazing. One of the workers was a little rude. My mom asked if there were any dolphins in these waters and she responded saying Killer Whales are dolphins in a haughty voice. That was annoying, but the wonderful sights far outweighed that little point.

 

Skagway: I went on the Eagle Preserve River Float Wildlife Adventure that goes into Haines. I would not recommend it. It was nice but they do not tell you that it low time for Eagles. The high season is October. So we saw 3 eagles, 3 nests, 1 moose for $200/person and 6 hrs. It was fun but I think worth half the cost. The town was very quaint and quite lovely. We didn't walk around much because we were exhausted. My parents loved the area and shopped quite a bit.

 

Victoria: Very beautiful. We just walked through the Empress hotel and around downtown. It's a bummer that the time is so short! 7pm-11:30pm is not the best time. If you want, there are a few organized tours, but we found walking around to be fine. Also, you take a shuttle from the ship for $7/person. The area was very crowded because the Holland America Oosterdam and NCL Pearl were in port.

 

Disembarkation: We did the walk off because we had an organized tour of Seattle after. We brought our luggage to Club Fusion by 8:25am and they told us we were free to go. It took about 10 minutes from the ship through customs. Very easy.

 

Overall

 

I enjoyed the cruise. Some crew members were inattentive and others were superstars. Hopefully Princess will weed through some of the less friendly or attentive crew members and maintain a better staff. However, I honestly think some of it is due to staff cuts. It seemed in the Horizon Court many of the servers were overwhelmed because there were understaffed in the area.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions. Again, this is my opinion and I am a first time cruiser. I would sail Princess again but I definitely want to try other lines as well.

 

OH and we almost hit a whale! During our dinner one night we suddenly felt the whole ship shaking and then a sharp turn. All kinds off stuff was falling everywhere. The servers were running around to try and catch stuff. The captain came on to tell us he avoided a whale the was directly ahead. It was scary for a moment though!

[RickEk]

Thanks for the review!

[xoxmusicxox]

Thanks for the review. I am going on the same cruise next week, and its definitely helped me out, especially with the tour information and such (we haven't pre-booked tours either). Glad you had a nice trip :)

[senior lady]

It always amazes me how people can have such "different" reviews of the same cruise????

 

thanks for your review, someone else didn't have a good time and basicaly criticised the whole cruise:eek:

[Woobstr112G]

Overall, I had a great time. There were definitely high and low points of the cruise. My family traveled with a group of 7 for my parents' 30th anniversary. I'm 23 years old and my boyfriend is 20. My sister and husband (both 37) and year old son and my parents (56 and 57) were also with us. It was a great occasion, except some inconsistent service.

 

Embarkation:

 

We got to the airport via Princess transfer. Very easy to find. The process went by fairly quickly and we had very little waiting time during the process and even to wait to get on board. We actually boarded a little early, around 11:30am.

 

Cabins:

 

We booked an obstructed oceanview gty and got upgraded to P311 oceanview. My boyfriend and I found this room to be great for the two of us and really enjoyed having a full view. The beds were very firm but we both enjoy that. We did end up getting the egg crate mattress topper to see what we liked better by just leaving our room steward a note. It was definitely more soft and just depends on preference if you need them or not. Our room steward, Daniel, was very thoughtful and very attentive. He was always easily accessible and very friendly. My parents had D408, a mini suite. The room was very nice and the open balcony was not an issue. If you can afford a minisuite, the balcony for Alaska is worth the cost! They unfortunately never met their room steward, which was a shame. My sister had an obstructed oceanview E702. It was disappointing that her husband and her had to sleep in two twins because I guess it is a fire hazard if you have the beds together and one of the pull out beds (for their son) open because there is no open walkway. The view was decent though. The bottom was blocked by a lifeboat but you still had an OK view. Their room steward was excellent and would come to put up the bed out of the ceiling when they woke up so they could have more room. Also, the bed does have a side rail if any parents are worried that their child might roll off and get hurt.

 

Food:

 

Our first day we did the buffet for lunch. I must admit, as many have said, the organization is terrible. The small enclosed area just cannot handle the amount of people on the ship. It was better after the first day since the entire ship wasn't trying to get food at one time. Also, you CAN eat in the formal dining room for lunch on Day 1 (International Dining Room) even though some crew lead you to the buffet. The food in the buffet was OK. Some of it was good, some not so good. I personally think buffets generally don't have high quality. Food in such a mass production is difficult to maintain high culinary levels. This is no excuse, just my opinion about any buffet. Also, it was difficult to get drinks. You can get water and tea yourself but servers must go outside the buffet to get soda or any alcoholic drink. If you sit in the back overflow areas for the buffet, good luck finding a server.

 

We had formal dining at 5:30pm in the International Dining Room. Our servers were fantastic! Our lead server was Alejandro and our assistant was Phumsuwan. They remembered a lot of what we liked and didn't like and were attentive and friendly. Moreover, they made sure my nephew, 6, got his food quickly and often entertained him. The food in the dining room was much better than the food in the buffet. Every night had a wide variety of choices including salmon, chicken, beef medallions and fettuccine alfredo every night. You can order anything you want and as much of it. the last night they had a sirloin steak with green peppercorn sauce and my dad loved it so much Phumsuwan brought him a second one within minutes! The attire was varied through out the dining room. I wore a dress every night and my boyfriend wore slacks, dress shoes and button down. But I did see many people in jeans and even t-shirts for dinner. The Head waiter does not seem to enforce dresscode heavily at all. I think to each their own, I like dressing up so I was happy to do so.

 

Our lunches varied. We ate in the International Dining room twice. I like the service and the food was very good. They have great burgers there as well as well as a variety of other choices like salads, sandwiches, soups and main courses. I would recommend the dining room for lunch if you are hungry between the limited hours of 12-1:30. There was a pub lunch 3 or 4 days but we never made that. The other days we ate in the buffet and once in a port. Again, the food was OK and I always managed to find something.

 

We did afternoon tea once. It was nice but the lady at the door was VERY rude. If you have early dining, do not eat too much because I was so full I didn't really eat dinner that night. The pizza and burger bars by the pool on deck 14 are a great and quick option. The pizza is excellent and open from 11am-7pm. The burger bar is open from the same times and has beef burgers, chicken burgers, turkey burgers, hot dogs, french fries and some other choices.

 

Sabatini's was excellent. The service was really great. Everyone starts with a wide variety of appetizers both cold and hot as well as bread and oil/vinegar. You choose soup or salad. Everyone gets 2 pastas. And you select your main course and dessert. I was so full by the main course I barely touched it. But you must try the tiramisu and creme brule. $20/person.

 

We used room service once. We ordered a club sandwich and flan. The menu is limited but does the job if you are hungry. We got our order in 15 minutes and enjoyed it.

 

We got the coffee card which was excellent for my boyfriend and me because we love lattes! The morning of the scenic cruising, I got 4 regular coffees, 2 lattes and 2 hot chocolates for 2 punches. So it was a great deal.

 

My parents, sister and family all coke the Ultimate Coke Card which includes sodas as well as smoothies, virgin drinks and milkshakes for like $10/day. It's not worth it, unless you really use it. I only ordered like 4 sodas the whole trip which are like $2-3/each. For kids, I think it could be worth your while. But unless you are an avid soda drinker, It maybe cheaper to just stick to ordered drinks where you want them. Watch your alcoholic drink orders because it can get pricey. From 8pm-close there were happy hour specials for $2.99 which included certain bottled beers, Pina Coladas, Long Island Iced Teas and Singapore Slings as well as "well drinks".

 

Entertainment:

I went to two of the shows. The Piano Man was pretty good in my opinion. It was entertaining and featured songs from Billy Joel, Elton John, Liberace, Neil Diamond and others. The show repeats so everyone can see it. Get to the theater early to get seats. We made the mistake of coming only 10 minutes before and sat in the front but others came later and sat in the stairways. The second show I saw was a bit cheesier in my opinion. "I Got the Music" featured a wide variety of songs from Cher to Britney Spears. It was entertaining but nothing fabulous. Some of the dancers were great and the singers were OK. Although, I did think once of the female singers was really good. My parents saw one of the comedians (Kevin) and enjoyed him. They also watched the last production show something about dancing. They liked it because it showcased all types of dancing styles from hip hop to riverdance. It really just depends what you like as far as you being entertained. Arny G, a pianist and singer, was quite popular and played in the Crooners Lounge. Many of the other locations featured live music but I didn't check it out.

 

As far as other things to do, make sure you check the Princess Patter they deliver to your room daily. For an Alaska itinerary, it was nice to have an indoor pool. Many people took advantage of this and on the warmer days some swam outside. There were all kinds of demonstrations and activities including fruit carving, ice carving, cooking, dance classes, lectures and workshops, shopping, Bingo, Wii tournaments (video games), tours of the galley and backstage the theater, movies in the Princess theater. My boyfriend and I did the couples massage class for $52/couple. We really liked it and got a free massage oil.

 

I used the gym 5 of the days. There were surprisingly many people there. They do have a variety of classes available on seadays including stretching and abs classes and pilates, yoga and spinning for $12/class or $30 for three classes. They have freeweights, weight machines, plenty of treadmills and ellipticals. It's not a huge 24 hour fineness gym but you can get a good workout.

 

Ports/Excursions:

 

Ketchikan: My sister, husband and son went on the Bering Sea Crab Excursion. They LOVED it and would recommend it to anyone. They also bought the video since there was a camera man on board. We (parents, boyfriend and me) didn't prebook anything. We walked off the boat and ended up buying a tour for $48/person. We went to the totem park and drove most of the island. We also stopped and walked around some beautiful river areas. We returned to downtown to eat lunch at the Fish Pirate's Saloon. The food was decent. Mostly fried stuff like fish and chips, fish tacos, fried clams, ect. We then walked around the shops. If you like jewelry, you can find tons of it at every port.

 

Tracy Arm Fjord: The scenic cruising was nice. We saw a lot of ice in the water. Didn't get so close to the glacier but it was beautiful. There was an excursion in which a small boat pulled up the side and took passengers closer. It was advertised in the Patter like the first or second day and was $200/person or so. We all gathered on my parents' balcony which was really nice. We also just ran up to the buffet and brought plates of food and snacks for everyone.

 

Juneau: We went on the whale watching excursion through Princess. We had about an hour and half before and quickly walked around downtown to look around and peek in the Red Dog Saloon. Very cool place but so crowded because there were 7 ships in port! At 4pm, we hopped on a coach bus for a 20 minute ride to our boat. Juneau is the capital of Alaska and very beautiful. The government buildings and very small and you pass by the Governor's house. The whale watching was fantastic. We saw 4 or 5 humpbacks and started to return to the shore when we ran into an Orca (Killer Whale) pod. There were like 12 orcas, including some babies. It was really amazing. One of the workers was a little rude. My mom asked if there were any dolphins in these waters and she responded saying Killer Whales are dolphins in a haughty voice. That was annoying, but the wonderful sights far outweighed that little point.

 

Skagway: I went on the Eagle Preserve River Float Wildlife Adventure that goes into Haines. I would not recommend it. It was nice but they do not tell you that it low time for Eagles. The high season is October. So we saw 3 eagles, 3 nests, 1 moose for $200/person and 6 hrs. It was fun but I think worth half the cost. The town was very quaint and quite lovely. We didn't walk around much because we were exhausted. My parents loved the area and shopped quite a bit.

 

Victoria: Very beautiful. We just walked through the Empress hotel and around downtown. It's a bummer that the time is so short! 7pm-11:30pm is not the best time. If you want, there are a few organized tours, but we found walking around to be fine. Also, you take a shuttle from the ship for $7/person. The area was very crowded because the Holland America Oosterdam and NCL Pearl were in port.

 

Disembarkation: We did the walk off because we had an organized tour of Seattle after. We brought our luggage to Club Fusion by 8:25am and they told us we were free to go. It took about 10 minutes from the ship through customs. Very easy.

 

Overall

 

I enjoyed the cruise. Some crew members were inattentive and others were superstars. Hopefully Princess will weed through some of the less friendly or attentive crew members and maintain a better staff. However, I honestly think some of it is due to staff cuts. It seemed in the Horizon Court many of the servers were overwhelmed because there were understaffed in the area.

 

Please feel free to ask any questions. Again, this is my opinion and I am a first time cruiser. I would sail Princess again but I definitely want to try other lines as well.

 

OH and we almost hit a whale! During our dinner one night we suddenly felt the whole ship shaking and then a sharp turn. All kinds off stuff was falling everywhere. The servers were running around to try and catch stuff. The captain came on to tell us he avoided a whale the was directly ahead. It was scary for a moment though!

 

Thanks for posting your review. Sounds like you enjoyed your cruise.....:):):)

 

bob

[wilfros]

First, thanks for the review, we sail on her for 14 days from LA to Hawaii and back, end of Jan

 

I have studied the deck plans for the Sapphire but the info is limited. Did you say there was an indoor pool and if so which one is it?

 

We can find photos of the public rooms for the Sapphire but little info or photos of the pubic decks.

 

Thanks for the help and hope we have as good a cruise as you seem to have had.

[geoherb]

We sail in 19 days. Thanks for posting. It's great to have a positive review to balance out the negative one that someone else on your cruise posted.

[Raamo]

Thanks for the review! You mentioned the Lady at the door for Tea was rude - in what way?

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

[mklein]

First, thanks for the review, we sail on her for 14 days from LA to Hawaii and back, end of Jan

 

I have studied the deck plans for the Sapphire but the info is limited. Did you say there was an indoor pool and if so which one is it?

 

We can find photos of the public rooms for the Sapphire but little info or photos of the pubic decks.

 

Thanks for the help and hope we have as good a cruise as you seem to have had.

 

 

Yes, there is indoor pool (retractable roof) on Deck 14. The Calypso Pool by the Horizon Court Buffet is indoor and the opposite Neptune's Reef and Pool is Outdoors. Hope this helps.

 

Do you know where your room is? I found it pretty easy to get around from almost anywhere on the ship.

[mklein]

We sail in 19 days. Thanks for posting. It's great to have a positive review to balance out the negative one that someone else on your cruise posted.

 

You'll have a great time! I think everyone is looking for different things. There are so many different activities and excursions that I really think you can create a great experience for most cruisers!

[mklein]

Thanks for the review. I am going on the same cruise next week, and its definitely helped me out, especially with the tour information and such (we haven't pre-booked tours either). Glad you had a nice trip :)

 

If you are looking for something in Skagway I hear the White Rail Pass was excellent. I didn't get a chance to do it but many other passengers found it fantastic. Do go whale watching in Juneau if you can.

[mklein]

Thanks for the review! You mentioned the Lady at the door for Tea was rude - in what way?

 

I think she was a bit overwhelmed because there was a very large crowd at the door and many did not have their entire party. I guess the policy for tea is you need your whole party to be there. I understand they have to follow the rules but the woman was being pretty snarky about not saving seats and brushing people off to the side. My parents came a little earlier than I did so they had to wait off to the side. When my boyfriend and I got there she seemed upset that we interrupted her line but we were just following what she had instructed us to do. It wasn't anything terrible where I would draft a formal complaint but I could tell many passengers were a little put off with her attitude.

 

For the most part, everyone else was very friendly. The only service issues really happened when it seemed that crew were overwhelmed by the number of passengers they were to serve (specifically in the Horizon Court).

[lilacbirman]

Thanks for your post. We will board the ship this coming Sunday so we are excited! It's nice to read that your sister and husband enjoyed the Bering Sea Fisherman's Tour, we are booked for that and look forward to it. :)

[Amcdon]

Thanks so much for your review! Glad to hear you had a wonderful time. I'll be on the Sapphire on July 25th and I'm getting VERY excited! I've been to Alaska before, but not on Princess so that will be different!

[texasmelrose2]

Thanks for the review! We leave Sept 12 on Sapphire and cannot wait! Hoping these next 2 months fly by :)

[chipmaster]

My take on rude is that some of it could be cultural. My preception of rude or not helpful seemed to be centered mostly around the Eastern European, then again one of the friendliest people I meet was also eastern European. The makeup of this crew was different then my past more postive cruising experience. This is something Princess can do better at!

 

Thanks for the review! You mentioned the Lady at the door for Tea was rude - in what way?

[ClassAGirl]

Hello! I just wanted to say I enjoyed your review of the Sapphire Princess. I felt the same way about the service on the ship- some of the crew were rude and inattentive and others were wonderful! This is my first cruise where I have run into rude crew members so it was a bit of a shock and dissappointment to me.

We did the anytime dinning and found the Sante Fe Dining Room, The Savoy, and The Vivaldi were the best ones. The waiters in the Pacific Moon dinning room might as well have been working at McDonalds the way they served so we only ate there once and did not come back again.

If you ever go back to Skagway, do the White Pass Yukon Rail Road. It was worth every penny!

[PharmacyRx]

We just disembarked today (7/19/10)from the Sapphire RT Seattle and to comment on the dining services. The worst service we have ever encountered in all of our years of cruising was experienced in the Pacific Moon Dining room. Families and couples, as well as ourselves, walked out. Surly, smart-assed servers, unconcerned supervisors... that about sums it up.

[Clutterlady]

We just disembarked today (7/19/10)from the Sapphire RT Seattle and to comment on the dining services. The worst service we have ever encountered in all of our years of cruising was experienced in the Pacific Moon Dining room. Families and couples, as well as ourselves, walked out. Surly, smart-assed servers, unconcerned supervisors... that about sums it up.

 

Rude service is totally uncalled for. Hope you reported it to the proper people!

[michigan tim]

Something has really gone awry in the last month. We sailed her on 6/20 and had great service in the Pacific Moon on the 3 nights we dined there.

[TexBear]

Overall, I had a great time. There were definitely high and low points of the cruise. My family traveled with a group of 7 for my parents' 30th anniversary. I'm 23 years old and my boyfriend is 20. My sister and husband (both 37) and year old son and my parents (56 and 57) were also with us. It was a great occasion, except some inconsistent service.

 

Embarkation:

 

We got to the airport via Princess transfer. Very easy to find. The process went by fairly quickly and we had very little waiting time during the process and even to wait to get on board. We actually boarded a little early, around 11:30am.

 

Cabins:

 

We booked an obstructed oceanview gty and got upgraded to P311 oceanview. My boyfriend and I found this room to be great for the two of us and really enjoyed having a full view. The beds were very firm but we both enjoy that. We did end up getting the egg crate mattress topper to see what we liked better by just leaving our room steward a note. It was definitely more soft and just depends on preference if you need them or not. Our room steward, Daniel, was very thoughtful and very attentive. He was always easily accessible and very friendly. My parents had D408, a mini suite. The room was very nice and the open balcony was not an issue. If you can afford a minisuite, the balcony for Alaska is worth the cost! They unfortunately never met their room steward, which was a shame. My sister had an obstructed oceanview E702. It was disappointing that her husband and her had to sleep in two twins because I guess it is a fire hazard if you have the beds together and one of the pull out beds (for their son) open because there is no open walkway. The view was decent though. The bottom was blocked by a lifeboat but you still had an OK view. Their room steward was excellent and would come to put up the bed out of the ceiling when they woke up so they could have more room. Also, the bed does have a side rail if any parents are worried that their child might roll off and get hurt.

 

I'm booked on P237 for 8/7/11. The cabin window looks fairly small from the pictures I've seen. can you tell me approximately (or do you have pictures) what size the windows are?

 

Thanks!