Sapphire Princess review - 5/15-22

[Xoe]

We were on Sapphire’s first Alaska cruise of this season (R/T Seattle, 5/15-22).

 

The ship has many lovely features, and a few drawbacks. I loved Skywalker, a marvelous place to go for the highest views in all directions, and in early morning to about mid-day, I often had it to myself. I did my morning yoga there, and did some reading at other times. No “elevator music” background -- silence is greatly appreciated. It was a great place to watch port arrivals and departures -- you are situated higher than the bridge, a true bird’s eye view.

 

Contrary to plans, we most often ate at the Horizon Court, and found the food to be very good (making careful selections of course), and the seating areas behind the buffet toward the back of the ship were nicely situated with good views and quiet, tasteful décor. We had planned to go to the various restaurants, but were told that they have abandoned their earlier format and all of them (Vivaldi, Santa Fe, etc.) have a menu with identical offerings to the main International dining room; and the Horizon Court had largely the same offerings, sometimes with others as well (although for lobster one must go to the dining rooms). The buffet had sushi, huge mounds of shrimp, nice scallop dishes (ours weren’t overcooked as reported on Diamond Princess), good cobblers for dessert. We liked the flexibility of the buffet, and my husband found that his back bothered him after we’d sat through an otherwise most enjoyable 2-hour dinner in Santa Fe one of our first nights on board. So, buffets worked best for us.

 

All crew were uniformly courteous, cheerful, and helpful. Our steward, Beer (E615) was terrific. Ship was sparkling clean always.

 

Embarkation was good. We arrived early (10:15) since we live near Seattle and drove & parked at the Princess parking lot, and were in our room by 11:30. The only slow part was waiting for security to open, after we’d done other checking in.

 

Disembarkation was a slow, crowded affair, since it seemed to take forever for the ship to get clearance and everyone was standing in a massive crowd on Deck 7 waiting to get off. We’d signed up for express disembarkation and had our luggage in hand, but as well as the express people, everyone with early flights -- well maybe everyone on the ship! -- was standing in a huge crowd. Good no emergency took place as it was impossible to wiggle much, and it‘s a sour note at the end of a nice week.

 

Things I did not like about the ship: no game room, a marginal library, no movie theater, and no promenade deck all on one level for walking “laps”. To play games you had to snag a table in the back of the ship behind Horizon Court; these tables worked pretty well but not at meal times, and there was annoying static-y music (which we ended up asking them to turn down or off), and the naturalist’s announcements were very intrusive to a game requiring concentration. They showed movies in the Princess Theater, which is a great theater for movies or for the shows -- but it meant the movies were shown at odd times since they needed to be scheduled when nothing else was going on there. There weren’t very many places to sit comfortably to read; certainly the library was short on good seating. And for 20-30 minutes of walking deck laps, the Promenade Deck 7 went around the bow on Deck 8, so there were stairs up, and then it was incredibly exposed and windy. I ended up using the treadmill, whereas always in the past I’ve done a couple miles on the deck each day. There was a jogging track up top, but it took 10 times around for a mile -- enough to make you dizzy! The gym equipment was fine and never too busy, although the scale was a joke: a floor scale that on sea days showed your weight jumping around in a 15# range.

 

This ship’s itinerary is not nearly as good as others we’ve had, in that it goes OUTSIDE Vancouver Island rather than up through the inside passage, and on the return trip it goes OUTSIDE both the Queen Charlottes and Vancouver Island. The inside passage has glorious scenery, and usually is smooth as it’s protected from the rough open ocean. The outside route is faster for a ship’s longer journey out of Seattle, but offers no scenery except open ocean, and often gives a rather rough ride, resulting in seasickness for some.

 

The ports are the usual ones, and we like them, although they tend to be overcrowded in recent years as more and more ships go to Alaska. Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier is not as good an itinerary choice as Glacier Bay or College Fjord or Hubbard Glacier, especially early in the season when, as on our cruise, there is too much ice floating in the water to be safe for the ship to go all the way in to the glacier. This disappointed some people severely -- although not us as we’ve been there before.

 

Overall, it was a good vacation for us, but not what I’d recommend for someone who’s never been to Alaska before. If you are a first-time Alaska cruiser, make sure you find an itinerary going up and/or back on the INSIDE PASSAGE (between mainland Canada and Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands), and choose an itinerary that goes to Glacier Bay (first choice), or College Fjord and/or Hubbard Glacier. And if on a one way, take a land extension that includes Anchorage, Denali, and Fairbanks, or even more.

 

In summary: we would sail on Sapphire Princess again, but not on that itinerary. A year ago we were on Coral Princess north- and south-bound, back-to-back Vancouver-Whittier-Vancouver. That included Glacier Bay and College Fjord, and the inside passage both ways, and is a marvelous choice. We did the land extension on an earlier cruise, and recommend that highly too. For travelers coming to Alaska from far corners of our country, or other countries, make sure to see as much as you can in the best way possible!

[49er]

Thanks for your review. My wife and I will be sailing on the Sapphire on July 3rd. We have been to Alaska once before on the Westerdam via the inside passage and were lucky enough to witness a giant slab of ice (in Glacier bay) calve and send a mini tidal wave at our ship. Pretty exciting stuff. We picked the Sapphire primarily because it was a new ship and never sailed on Princess before. I am a little suprised that Princess has eliminated the "theme menus" in their resturants. We planned on having dinner at Sabitinis one evening and hope it still is an option.

Thanks again for your review

 

49er

[Blamar]

thanks for the cool review. you gave me some good ideas.

[SF]

We are also on the July 3rd cruise aboard Sapphire. We've been to Alaska before and have done the inside passage so we thought we'd try this itinerary.

 

I was also looking forward to trying the different menus so it's disappointing they won't have them. As for Sabitini's that not one of the Personal Choice Dining options. If I remember correctly it's one of the Alternative Restaurants and there is a charge to dine there.

 

We're counting down the days until we leave. Hope others post reviews as it helps the time pass faster. Thanks Xoe for a great review.

[JanMD]

Thanks for the review, we don't get onboard until the end of Aug. Was waiting for some review, and you have started them. good job.

[spongerob]

Great comments about the itinerary and ship's course on sea days! That is very helpful information.

[Xoe]

Sabatini's is definitely a going concern and gets rave reviews. We did not go there this time, although we have in the past.

 

The "official position" seems to be that Sapphire offers the same menu throughout the ship's five dining rooms (International traditional 2-seating, and the four alternative personal choice venues) -- and indeed the menus posted outside each restaurant, and the menu put in your hands at your table, are all the same. However, it was mentioned by a few fellow passengers that if you ASK for specialty items that used to be offered in the alternative restaurants, they have them. I don't know if this is correct. But it couldn't hurt to ask!

[mo'vakayplz]

Thanks for your review.

 

We will be sailing her on July 31.

[NorcalGuy]

We had planned to go to the various restaurants, but were told that they have abandoned their earlier format and all of them (Vivaldi, Santa Fe, etc.) have a menu with identical offerings to the main International dining room

Is this really true? Can anyone else confirm that the theme menus have been eliminated on Sapphire/Diamond?

[myangel]

i am bummed.... we will be sailing on the Sapphire September18-25, and this is our first trip to Alaska. Did I really make a big mistake? The itinerary isn't that good for a first timer? PLEASE HELP!!

[bdjam]

and the naturalist’s announcements were very intrusive to a game requiring concentration.

:confused:

This ship’s itinerary is not nearly as good as others we’ve had, in that it goes OUTSIDE Vancouver Island rather than up through the inside passage, and on the return trip it goes OUTSIDE both the Queen Charlottes and Vancouver Island.

Given that the Inside Passage is tricky to maneuver – I learned from one naturalist on board that one area has wild currents with a rocky bottom and if the ship doesn’t reach that point at a certain time when the tides are exactly right, it cannot get past – I would imagine the size of these ships would have something to do with the different route.

i am bummed.... we will be sailing on the Sapphire September18-25, and this is our first trip to Alaska. Did I really make a big mistake? The itinerary isn't that good for a first timer? PLEASE HELP!!

I think you’re fine – you’ll be on one of the biggest and most advanced ships. The itinerary hits all of the same ports as most other Alaska itineraries. The only thing you’ll be missing is the Inside Passage…and that will give you a reason to go back!

[ModestMeans]

Norcal,

 

I'm afraid it is true -- at least that's what all returning passengers from both Diamond & Sapphire are reporting. I'm pretty upset -- we're on the 6/4 sailing and the dining options were one of the biggest reasons we selected the Diamond.

[bdjam]

Is this really true? Can anyone else confirm that the theme menus have been eliminated on Sapphire/Diamond?

There have been reports on other posts that this is a trial only…

[Xoe]

In 2006 Diamond and Sapphire will be joining Coral and Island, doing one-way north & south itineraries between Vancouver and Whittier. Coral and Island now take the inside passage route; we'll see if Sapphire and Diamond do the same. From Vancouver, the inside route is much more direct -- unless as suggested above, the ships are too big for that route. I can't tell from Princess or other internet agencies' web sites which route Diamond and Sapphire will be taking; maybe it's not decided yet. But they WILL be going to Glacier Bay and College Fjord, and that is excellent!

 

It appears that Dawn and Sun Princess will be replacing Diamond and Sapphire for the R/T 7-day cruises out of Seattle.

 

Stay tuned . . .

[Layla]

Xoe - thanks for your review. We are also sailing on the Sapphire on July 3rd. This will be our first trip to Alaska too. We've been on the Star so looking forward to seeing how the Sapphire compares. Our TA says that this is her favorite ship to-date. SF and 49er - I'm originally from the San Francisco Bay Area and we have two daughters who live in the Placerville area - looking forward to seeing you on board.

[CL-JW]

Thanks for your review. My partner & I have been wanting to go on either the Sapphire or Diamond for about a year now, but we will probably wait until we find a Mexico itinerary for next year. We were lucky to see the Sapphire in San Francisco last October and hope that Princess will bring her back to do some sailings from here.

[Mitchie872]

Thanks for the review. Thinking of doing Alaska again.

[cruzbabe]

Xoe,

Thanks for the review of Sapphire. I found it very useful. We're sailing on Sapphire doing Mexican Riviera in Decemeber so I found your review very useful.