Sapphire-Alaska 7/31

[mo'vakayplz]

We sailed on the Sapphire Princess from Seattle to Alaska inside passage. Hubby & are I 38; 3 children (DD 9, DS 7, DS 4) and niece 19...

 

This was our first Princess Cruise, having sailed Celebrity, HAL, Royal Carribean and Carnival; all of these cruises were to the Caribbean all were suite level or above (except Carnival which was an inside cabin).

 

We flew from Ohio to Seattle on Saturday. Embarkation went smoothly, we got to the pier in Seattle around 10 am & were in our cabins by 11. We were very pleased with this process especially because of the children and we weren't sure how long it would take without 'priority suite boarding'.

 

We had Aloha Deck 208 & 206. One a balcony and the other an inside cabin. My niece slept in the inside cabin with 2 children & we slept in the outside with our youngest on a roll-a-way.

 

Cabins were very clean & well taken care of. Beds were VERY HARD, almost to the point of being uncomfortable, definitely ask for an egg crate. The showers were VERY small also, but it was our own fault for not booking a 'true suite'. The inside cabin worked out great for the children, they did not complain about the beds, our niece did think they were pretty hard to sleep on.

 

Our room steward, Ford, took great care of us. Princess adds the tips right to your credit card for the room stewards, wait staff etc to share($10 per person per day, but he only gets 3.45 per person per day). But the amount of money that Ford would actually receive is too little for the job he did, so we tipped him more on the last day. $100 in an envelope.

 

The wait staff in most of the dining rooms left a lot to be desired, except for Ivo & Daniel in the SAVOY for dinner. We tipped them extra too. Most of the wait staff in the other dining rooms or even on the other side of the SAVOY were not too friendly, helpful or efficient. We just could not get "personal choice dining" to work for us, now most of that is our problem because of some deficiency on our part & not because of Princess.

 

On the nights when a large group of us wanted to eat together, we either could not get the time we wanted to eat or the dining room we wanted to eat in (our group when all together was 10). On the evenings when we just wanted to eat with our children & niece we could only get reservations for 6 @ 5:30 pm...Probably we should have just taken traditional dining because of our children and/or the size of the entire family group. Another suggestions is to try to book all your dining requirements on the 1st afternoon, but again we didn't get our act together soon enough. On other cruises our children enjoyed the wait staff, who would make puppets out of the napkins or sing or remember that they like chocolate milk & have it waiting on the table when we would come to dinner. Again, I think this is a function of 'anytime dining' & us not understanding how to make it work better.

 

Also, on most nights I did see people in jeans and/or sneakers in the dining rooms. In fact on the last formal night (Friday 8/5) my niece had this 'dressy jean outfit' on & when I went into her cabin I told her, "you cannot wear denim or jeans to the dining room, especially on formal night." So she changes, then she spent the rest of the evening pointing out all the people young & old is various jeans throughout the dining room we were in (the Sante Fe that particular night)....Such is life!

 

The food in any of the dining rooms (and Horizon buffet) was always very good, presented beautifully & the right temperature when it arrived. Sickness must have overtaken the ship at some point, for 4 days we were served dishes, silver ware & all food from the Horizon Court while on line by Princess Wait Staff & people who did not use the hand sanitizer were denied access if they did not comply. During that point I also noticed the room stewards all wore gloves while cleaning the cabins too.

 

Room service was also efficient, timely, courteous & accurate. We did have the champagne breakfast during Tracy Arm, it was good and we enjoyed it on our balcony.

 

We ate in the speciality restaurant, Sabatini's one night. The staff there was FABULOUS, very attentive, almost one to one service, but the food was not that good. It certainly wasn't any better than the pasta or lobster in the various dining rooms around the ship. But we had to try it once.

 

The naturalist on board, Pat, was very good. Her lectures, suggestions, tips & overviews added a tremendous amount to our trip. The excursions in Alaska also enhanced our experience, in Juneau, due to weather several excursions were cancelled. Our children enjoyed many of the excursions too.

 

We participated in many activities on board, golf, ping pong, paddle tennis, lectures, tours & some card games...We made several donations to the casino, but only danced one night. The work out area was also adequate. The children & DH loved all the pools and swam everyday!

 

Princess Shows were also very good, the cast really worked very hard to put on an excellent show & we were quite entertained.

 

The condition of the ship, pools, restaurants & decor were top notch.

 

The kids club and staff (led by Charlotte) was also an asset. Our children had a wonderful time & also got to see many dolphins & whales in the water as we were sailing. The bridge would notify the kids club when the children were there & they would be escorted to the appropriate side of the ship for viewing. We tipped the kids club staff on our last night.

 

Alaska is a beautiful place and something to see at least once. We would certainly make the trip again. But probably not on Princess.

 

The things I would suggest besides dressing in layers, is to definitely bring 'water-proof' clothes for the tours, it was quite rainy while we were in Alaska and the clothes I packed were not appropriately water-proof. YOU MUST HAVE GOOD LIGHT WEIGHT BINO's to see all there is to see! Stay out on your cabin in the eveing & night & see the whales & dolphins playing in the ocean. Buy the Alaska Cruise Companion Book, we spotted whales & the like in all the places highlighted by that book.

 

One evening after seeing a pod of 6 or 7 whales, we passed one lone whale who breached, went down, came back up & then SLAMMED his tail against the water, for the entire length of the ship passing him. We thought he was the finale to the whale show, the naturalist the next day said, "he was probably signalling a good eating catch to the other whales."

 

 

My final suggestion is: even if you have a balcony cabin, go to the upper outside decks to experience the true Majesty of places like Tracy Arm. The mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, everything is just so spectacular, you have get to the top of the ship to truly feel the awe.

[orhodes]

Thanks for your balanced review.

 

What prompts your decision/comment to exclude Princess as a cruise choice for your next Alaska experience? :confused:

 

 

Great cruise wishes for everyone!:)

 

 

Coral Princess--October 5, 2005--Panama Canal

Island Princess--September, 04--Alaska cruisetour

Disney Wonder--May, 05--LandSea

[mo'vakayplz]

Primarily, the itinerary and having enjoyed the experience on other lines a little bit better; I'd probably go HAL to Alaska next time...

[brunolvr]

Did you hear of anyone getting sick on this cruise? My brother and his wife both came down with the noro-virus on Thursday evening. They both were given shots Friday morning. My brother felt better Saturday but his wife was still pretty sick and dehydrated so they took her to the medical clinic onboard and she was there for over 6 hours on an IV to replenish her fluids. She was still not doing real well on Sunday so they were told to wait in their cabin until 10:30 and were escorted off the ship so they didn't have to wait in any lines.

 

Just wondering if anyone else came down with it?

[mo'vakayplz]

No, I haven't heard or thankfully known anyone who became ill on the ship. But we did see most of the wait staff wearing gloves & all food being served to you by the staff in the Horizon Court. Also, room stewards, wore gloves for those same 4 days while cleaning.

 

Sorry about your family becoming ill, hopefully they are on the mend now!

[brunolvr]

No' date=' I haven't heard or thankfully known anyone who became ill on the ship. But we did see most of the wait staff wearing gloves & all food being served to you by the staff in the Horizon Court. Also, room stewards, wore gloves for those same 4 days while cleaning.

 

Sorry about your family becoming ill, hopefully they are on the mend now![/quote']

Glad to hear you and your family had a great cruise with no medical problems. Hopefully this incident of norovirus was just an isolated incident.