Sapphire Princess Alaska 6/5-6/12/05

[Fairsailing]

Just back from an enjoyable cruise on the Sapphire Princess (Inside Passage Alaska). This was our first Princess cruise (2 Carnival, 10 RCCL), so now I can say that I've done the "Big Three".

 

Embarkation: Long, long line if you wanted to carry your luggage to the terminal. Tipped a porter and skipped the line - thanks fellow CCers!;) Still more lines inside but we were on the ship in about 45 minutes.

 

Ship: Sparkling new and clean, as it should be since it is only 1 year old. I used to wonder why RCCL did not send a Radiance or Voyager class ship to compete with the new Sapphire/Diamond to Mexico, but now I know. The Sapphire is a ship built in 2004 but looks like it was designed in 1992. The ship had a very chopped up compartmentalized feel to it. Sometimes I felt like a mouse in a maze. International dining room only accessbile through the aft stairs/lifts. Few transition areas into the public rooms. One minute you are in the stairwell, the next you are in the spa reception area. This ship, in terms of ship design, is about on par with RCCL's Vision class and Carnival's Fantasy-class. About the only innovative feature on the ship is Skywalker's, and we all know where they got that idea from... And no interactive TV (shore excursions, account review, room service ordering, pay per view, etc.) on a brand new ship:confused: ??

 

Cabin: E728 Covered mini with extended balcony as it is the furthest one aft on the port side. Good size and decor. The bigger balcony was great, especially for viewing the wonderful scenery in Alaska. Club Fusion could be heard pounding away below until about 12:30 am, but we didn't go to bed until then anyways. The bathtub was nice, but this 6 footer only had about 2 inches of headroom in shower mode. All in all, the minisuite is a nice compromise between balcony and suite rooms.

 

Dining room: We had great service in the International Dining Room on Traditional Seating. Food was about the same as the other two lines.

 

Sabatinis: Outstanding in every respect. 'Nuff said.

 

Sterlings: Brand new for this cruise, the staff converted the back of the Horizon Court to Sterlings at night and charged $15 per person. Compared to Chops on RCCL, the food and service in this version of Sterlings was abysmal. The steaks (and service) were actually better in the International Dining Room. The waiter even said that we shouldn't order the filet since it was the same as in the dining room. The sides consisted of a microwaved baked potato and what looked and tasted like canned corn. I know this is the first go around for this concept on this ship, but they have a long, long way to go. It's probably best to skip it for now.

 

Horizon Court: Ah, the Horizon Court. Quite possibly the worst buffet on the high seas that I have experienced. I remembered as far back as I could (1992 cruise on the CCL Jubilee) and still thought it was the worst. At least on that ship, you had a one-way flow of traffic. In the Horizon Court, the masses circulated in the pitifully small area, bumping and turning into each other like cattle in a pen. Come to think of it, they did have gates on the entrances. At peak times, it was near chaos. It didn't help that if you were lucky enough to join a stream of passengers that got near the food, what ended up on your plate was subpar compared to what I've had on CCL and RCCL.

 

Entertainment: The usual cruise ship fare. Nothing out of the ordinary good or bad.

 

Ketchikan: Did the Mountain Point Snorkeling and it was cold, but worth it. Saw some neat starfish and the like, but the highlight was when a pod of killer whales passed by about 30 yards from us. That is, until someone pointed out that we looked liked seals in our wetsuits:eek:

 

Juneau: Did a glacier landing helo ride w/ Coastal. Booked direct and was picked up by their van at the dock. Highly reccomended and the highlight of the trip.

 

Skagway: Did the Jeep tour and felt that it was a pretty good value. About 3 hours of driving time in the Jeeps, mostly on highway roads to Carcross. Just enough off roading to jar the fillings loose in your teeth Great scenery, and we even saw a bear on the way back.

 

Victoria: Did the Butchart Gardens tour through the ship for $55 US each. Talked with a taxi driver later, who told us that our group of four could have had a cab round trip for $80 Canadian. Admission to the gardens was $20 Canadian each. We did the math and felt ripped off (if the cab driver was right about the fare).

 

Disembarkation: Very good. Off the ship pretty quick. We took a cab to SeaTac for about $30. Bypassed the long lines to get on the Princess buses so cabbing it may be the way to go. However, no taxi vans were to be found at the pier(told earlier by a hotel concierge that none exist in Seattle:mad: ) so count on getting a sedan if you are in the planning stages and comparing costs.

 

Now that I've done Princess, CCL, and RCCL, I've come to the conclusion that the lines have far more similarities than differences. As with any cruise, there were good points and bad ones on this one. That being said, Princess didn't "wow" me enough to wean me away from the other two lines.

 

Any questions, just ask...

[SF]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise and thanks for the review. We sail in 3 weeks and can't wait.

 

 

 

Tipped a porter and skipped the line - thanks fellow CCers!;)

How did you skip the line, doesn't everyone have to wait or was that a line for people carrying on their own bags? We always give our bags to the porter and tip him but is there some other secret?

 

How were the sea conditions, did you have any rough days?

 

Thanks for mentioning the costs in Victoria. It just confirmed what I researched so now I'm glad we didn't take the ship tour as it's almost double plus we can get more time at Butchart plus see the fireworks.

 

Did you find disembarkation on the ship for the various ports to go smoothly or was everyone waiting outside in the lobby to get off at Juneau?

 

Who was scheduled for the entertainment? I already know the shows were Piano Man and Curtains Up which I already saw.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post so fast as I know you're probably tired....isn't vacationing exhausting ;) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all we have planned I'll probably need a vacation from my vacation.

[Fairsailing]

How did you skip the line, doesn't everyone have to wait or was that a line for people carrying on their own bags? We always give our bags to the porter and tip him but is there some other secret?.

 

It was kind of odd. On the Caribbean and Mexico cruises I've been on, you practically are attacked by a herd of porters. In Seattle, I think there aren't that many, so you have to work on flagging one down. I think the vast majority of people kind of fell into line automatically since they weren't approached by a porter.

 

How were the sea conditions, did you have any rough days?.

 

The only rough days were the sea days, when we were in the Pacific. You definitely felt the rocking but it wasn't terrible. The rest was pretty smooth.

 

Thanks for mentioning the costs in Victoria. It just confirmed what I researched so now I'm glad we didn't take the ship tour as it's almost double plus we can get more time at Butchart plus see the fireworks. .

 

The fireworks! Thanks for reminding me that we missed them. Now I feel even worse for taking the ship tour!:D

 

Did you find disembarkation on the ship for the various ports to go smoothly or was everyone waiting outside in the lobby to get off at Juneau?.

 

In Juneau we got right off, but then again we did so about an hour after docking. The only problems we experienced were getting back on the ship. Waited in line for about 15 minutes in Ketchikan during a non-peak time.

 

Who was scheduled for the entertainment? I already know the shows were Piano Man and Curtains Up which I already saw..

 

Right on the shows. As far as the other entertainment went, I can't really remember the names of the acts. The comedian/magician wasn't that great, but there was a good band (Prophecy I think?) that played in the Explorers lounge almost every night.

 

Thanks again for taking the time to post so fast as I know you're probably tired....isn't vacationing exhausting ;) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all we have planned I'll probably need a vacation from my vacation.

 

You might be surprised, this one was one of the most relaxing cruises we've been on. It was nice just sitting on the balcony watching the scenery go by. Pictures really don't do it justice. Have fun!

[SF]

I see you're another "night owl" like me..... posting at 2:54AM!!! :D

 

Didn't mean to upset you about the fireworks. I just read about it on line the other day. It's kind of late 10PM and by the time it finishes and we get out of there it will be more like 10:30PM so we'll have to rush to get back to the ship. Do you remember how long the drive was? I'm sure we'll learn something we should have done or shouldn't have or what we missed when we get back.

 

We've been to Alaska before and also Victoria. Last time we left from Vancouver so we took the ferry over to see Victoria and Butchart Gardens.

 

For us this will be a more tiring trip as when we do Caribbean we stay up late and usually sleep in and just get off the ship for an hr or two after everyone's disembarked as we've been to those ports many times. Plus we have almost a 7 hr. flight. On this trip we'll be up most days by 6:30am too! :eek:

 

Once again thanks and I'm sure several more questions will pop into my head the minute I sign off of the boards.

[Fairsailing]

It's kind of late 10PM and by the time it finishes and we get out of there it will be more like 10:30PM so we'll have to rush to get back to the ship. Do you remember how long the drive was? .

 

I remember the bus ride taking about 45 minutes, so a cab would probably be about 30. We were supposed to be back on board by 11:00 so you'll be cutting it close. However, we did watch the stragglers run down the pier to the ship at about 11:45, so you have a bit of a buffer. As long as you are okay with the purser's desk paging your name over the intercom:D

[Coral]

None of Princess' ships have the interactive TV. I never used this on RCCL so it isn't a big deal for me.

 

It is funny when you talk about the Voyager class ship - I guess everyone has a different preference. I didn't like the layout on the Explorer of the Seas. It reminded me of a shopping mall. I much prefer Princess' softer colors and not having a Royal Promenade which reminds me of a mall.

 

I agree - Chops is better then Sterlings. Though we didn't like Portofino on RCCL but I haven't tried Sabatinis.

[Fairsailing]

I agree - Chops is better then Sterlings. Though we didn't like Portofino on RCCL but I haven't tried Sabatinis.

 

I've never tried Portofino because we were scared away by all of the seafood items on the menu. Took a chance on Sabatinis (which has a similar menu) and told our waiters that we didn't like seafood. They made everything without seafood and it was fantastic.

 

As for Sterlings, I find it hard to believe that our experience on the Sapphire is consistent with the rest of the fleet. It was that bad. I'd try it again if it was on a more established ship.

[seattlekckckc]

As far as Sterlings goes, you are right. When it is more established, preferable on the Star where it has its own set retaurant area, the steak and service are AMAZING! We are steak fans (we eat out alot), and I have to say the one I got on the star was the best I have ever eaten! And DH loved the dessert (chocolate pecan pie), even the side dishes were great! I think they are still working the kinks out on the Diamond/Sapphire. I think the Dawn does it on the buffet side at night, and it works really well. Better than I expected actually.

 

Casey

[scooterdoxie]

Fairsailing,

 

Do you remember which side of the ship faced the ports when the ship was docked?

[honeymoon*cruise]

I also just got back from this cruise and would be glad to answer questions, as well. This was my first cruise, so I have nothing to compare it to, but we enjoyed it overall. Two bad comedians but the entertainment was good, overall. We enjoyed our Cruise Director and Deputy Cruise Director. We had Personal Choice dining and found the service in The Savoy to be the best.

[Trinity333]

:D I also just got back from this cruise. We stayed on the Aloha Deck Room 628 and loved it. It was close to the Horizen Court so we never had to use room service. We just walked up a flight of stairs and brought some food back to our room.

We had 2nd seating in the traditional dining room which we thought was very good. There were a few things on the menu that were not as good as they could have been, but all in all I thought the food was good. We did go to Sabitini's and were not impressed. We have great Italian food where we live so maybe we were expecting something a bit more special. The food was good but we felt rushed and thought that the service was just not what it should have been. We had expected something special for dessert (not that we needed it at that point) but there was nothing that we saw that excited us. As a matter of fact, I think most of the desserts offerred you could get in the traditional dining room.

One to other things, the weather...it was great! We could not have asked for anything better. The ship did have some movement during the sea days and I did take the Bonine and I'm sure it helped. I would recommend that you take a half a pill early in the morning and then the other half before you go to bed. That's what worked for me. I also would suggest that you try the pill before you take the cruise to see how it affects you.

I found that most people were in jeans for most of the cruise. Jeans with nice tops and capri casual pants. The 2 formal nights attire ranged from very formal to jcocktail party formal. The formal nights occurred on the 2nd night of the cruise and then on the Friday night with the champagne waterfall happening on this night as well.

Any questions let me know

[Flintstone]

We had Personal Choice dining and found the service in The Savoy to be the best.

 

I thought the restaurants on the Sapphire were Santa Fe, Pacific Moon, Vivaldi & Sterlings. What is the Savoy?

[Coral]

As for Sterlings, I find it hard to believe that our experience on the Sapphire is consistent with the rest of the fleet. It was that bad. I'd try it again if it was on a more established ship.

 

I actually like Sterlings and have had it on several ships. The steaks there are pretty good. The atmostphere is more cowboyish and I am not a fan of the side dishes

 

I prefer the upscale feel of Chops.

 

------------------------

 

My comments that I prefer Chops to Sterling more refers to the atmosphere. The steaks I had on both are actually comparable.

[Coral]

I thought the restaurants on the Sapphire were Santa Fe, Pacific Moon, Vivaldi & Sterlings. What is the Savoy?

 

Sterlings has been renamed Savoy.

[Flintstone]

Thanks!!!!!!!!

[scooterdoxie]

okay the rest of you guys on last week-what side of the ship faced the ports/towns if you can remember? Thanks!!

[Fairsailing]

okay the rest of you guys on last week-what side of the ship faced the ports/towns if you can remember? Thanks!!

 

To the best of my (fuzzy) knowledge:

 

Ketchikan: Starboard side faced the port for city views

 

Juneau: Dock was slightly away from town but port side faced dock. I don't know if the town was in view from the starboard side.

 

Skagway: Port side faced dock but the town is more to the front of the ship

 

Victoria: Port side faced town but was blocked by another ship.

 

Keep in mind thing like this change, depending on which ships get to port first and whether or not the pull in head first or back in.

[billyzmtn]

Not to worry, orcas aren't the least bit interested in eating humans, even if they do look like seals....