Mexican Riveria Sapphire review

[llund]

Iwant to read both good and not-so-good reviews of the ships and cruises. Yes, everybody has their own opinions and I think it is important to hear all sides. I never decide for or against a cruise based on each review as I do make up my own mind. But, it is nice to know pros and cons. Your review was just fine, cruiserfan.

[rwl3]

We returned last Sat. from the 10/08 sailing of the Sapphire and we have a few differing opinions of the cruise than you do. This was our 4th cruise, 2nd with Princess, and we were very happy with it. I suppose part of it is that people are looking for different things. In the past we have taken one with RCL, one with Carnival, and two with Princess. Our experience has been that Princess has been the the best experience for us so far.

 

We did have a major problem when we flew into Los Angeles airport, our transfer bus did not arrive for several hours later and it was frustrating to us and about 100 cruisers waiting around at LAX. On our way home the transfer person said that the problem was due to a change in contracts with bus companies. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this, but yet we all decided that if we cruise out of San Pedro again, we will hire our own taxi out of the Los Angeles Airport, instead of waiting for a Princess bus, or try the Long Beach Airport. The process on the way back was perfect though.

 

Once on the ship, we were happy campers. We did anytime dining and that was great for us, since we do not like to dine early, especially on port days. We never had to wait. We did make reservations ahead for the Italian restaurant, Sabitinis, and also for our Ultimate Balcony dinner, which was probably the most amazing meal we have ever had in our life. We were on the cruise with my in-laws, and never had a problem with our 7:45 or 8:00 PM arrival. My husband said that he really prefers this, it's nice not to be tied to a clock on vacation, other than your excursion times.

 

We loved our excursions, especailly the one to Las Caletas in P.V. which was amazing. The jungle, beach, snorkeling (unexpected since we knew it couldn't compare to Hawaii) Actually we found all of our tour guides to be fantastic and wondered if Princess was very picky about their excursions.

 

To be truthful, we noticed, but did not pay much attention to the musician out at the main pool, although he did sound good. We tended to go to the pools in the Lotus Spa that did not allow children (our last cruise was with kids, so we were going for the more quiet experience this time), or the pools at the aft of the ship which were not busy early in the day. My husband loved that this ship had so many pools and hot tubs to go to. We are music people, but it seems that not was our focus of this trip. We do remember a Caribeean style band on a previous RCL trip, which we loved, but by the 4th day were ready to pull our hair out with the same old tunes minute after minute. Maybe thats why we didn't miss it on this trip?

 

Other than that, we love the show Piano Man, and the comedy in the Explorers Lounge........he was a black man who wrote for the Cosby Show and was just amazing (I promise to pull out my Princess Patters and post here later with his name but it's late now and I am tired!)

 

We loved our balcony on the Caribe deck since it was half covered and half not covered. We would pick this again in a second, but when looking around wondered how comfortable it was for people around us to deal with the balcony rooms that were totally open.

 

Also, we were lucky encough to get an amazing room steward, she remembered out names from day one and kept our room and requests taken care of immediately. We were also suprised that we seemed to always gets great waiters with our anytime dining, just lucky I guess on this trip. We were suprised how personal the service was on an Anytime Dining trip

 

I was amazed at how much my husband loved this ship, I thought his first preferece would be one that we took to Alaska, but he did love it. And I had to agree that it was a fantastic vacation.

We love the Sapphire Princess and will take it again whenever possible.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at Soqel15@earthlink.net

 

Happy Crusing!

[rwl3]

We returned last Sat. from the 10/08 sailing of the Sapphire and we have a few differing opinions of the cruise than you do. This was our 4th cruise, 2nd with Princess, and we were very happy with it. I suppose part of it is that people are looking for different things. In the past we have taken one with RCL, one with Carnival, and two with Princess. Our experience has been that Princess has been the the best experience for us so far.

 

We did have a major problem when we flew into Los Angeles airport, our transfer bus did not arrive for several hours later and it was frustrating to us and about 100 cruisers waiting around at LAX. On our way home the transfer person said that the problem was due to a change in contracts with bus companies. I will give them the benefit of the doubt on this, but yet we all decided that if we cruise out of San Pedro again, we will hire our own taxi out of the Los Angeles Airport, instead of waiting for a Princess bus, or try the Long Beach Airport. The process on the way back was perfect though.

 

Once on the ship, we were happy campers. We did anytime dining and that was great for us, since we do not like to dine early, especially on port days. We never had to wait. We did make reservations ahead for the Italian restaurant, Sabitinis, and also for our Ultimate Balcony dinner, which was probably the most amazing meal we have ever had in our life. We were on the cruise with my in-laws, and never had a problem with our 7:45 or 8:00 PM arrival. My husband said that he really prefers this, it's nice not to be tied to a clock on vacation, other than your excursion times.

 

We loved our excursions, especailly the one to Las Caletas in P.V. which was amazing. The jungle, beach, snorkeling (unexpected since we knew it couldn't compare to Hawaii) Actually we found all of our tour guides to be fantastic and wondered if Princess was very picky about their excursions.

 

To be truthful, we noticed, but did not pay much attention to the musician out at the main pool, although he did sound good. We tended to go to the pools in the Lotus Spa that did not allow children (our last cruise was with kids, so we were going for the more quiet experience this time), or the pools at the aft of the ship which were not busy early in the day. My husband loved that this ship had so many pools and hot tubs to go to. We are music people, but it seems that not was our focus of this trip. We do remember a Caribeean style band on a previous RCL trip, which we loved, but by the 4th day were ready to pull our hair out with the same old tunes minute after minute. Maybe thats why we didn't miss it on this trip?

 

Other than that, we love the show Piano Man, and the comedy in the Explorers Lounge........he was a black man who wrote for the Cosby Show and was just amazing (I promise to pull out my Princess Patters and post here later with his name but it's late now and I am tired!)

 

We loved our balcony on the Caribe deck since it was half covered and half not covered. We would pick this again in a second, but when looking around wondered how comfortable it was for people around us to deal with the balcony rooms that were totally open.

 

Also, we were lucky encough to get an amazing room steward, she remembered out names from day one and kept our room and requests taken care of immediately. We were also suprised that we seemed to always gets great waiters with our anytime dining, just lucky I guess on this trip. We were suprised how personal the service was on an Anytime Dining trip

 

I was amazed at how much my husband loved this ship, I thought his first preferece would be one that we took to Alaska, but he did love it. And I had to agree that it was a fantastic vacation.

We love the Sapphire Princess and will take it again whenever possible.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at Soquel15@earthlink.net

 

Happy Crusing!

[bearette]

To the OP.

You mentioned that you did a horse back riding tour in PV. Can you tell me more about that and was it a tour from the ship? Thanks.

[bearette]

Sorry duplicate post.

[alexspepaw]

I too would like various opinions, including negative ones.

 

The poster inferring racism because you mentioned the "Phillipenes" was out of line...when the posters complained about the American crews on the NCL Hawaii cruises, were they being racist?

[Cruisin' Chick]

this thread points out how you can talk to different people about the same cruise and get different impressions. We loved the Sapphire. Because we've been on several different ships, we knew to study the little map and figure out early on which decks go straight across. Saves a lot of backtracking.

 

One thing I would question about the OP's review is the nationality of the crew. I understand you're not really saying that every crew member is Filipano. One great thing about going on cruises is meeting people from other countries and part of the experience is meeting the crew members from all over the world and asking them about their homelands. Two cruises ago, our room steward was from Romania which was where my fil was born. My hubby discussed with her the current and past conditions for quite a time.

[Alaska05]

The process of getting on/off was smooth. No real issues. We were delayed somewhat getting off. First group didn't get off until about 9:00. Some people missed flights but they had flights that were too early....

 

Cruiserfan -- I'll be on the Sapphire Princess for April 1, 2006 sailing. I just found out that Delta has changed our departure flight & time from LAX. It was originally 3:12 and is now 12:19! Guess with their bankruptcy status our mid-afternoon flight got cancelled. With the delay you experienced disembarking, do you think it would have been possible to make a 12:19 flight? Our tickets are freebies using FF miles. Since it's still pretty far out, I don't know whether to try to change to a later flight with connections (we were originally on a non-stop) or hope they re-instate the mid-afternoon flight. It's so hard to use FF miles anymore, I was thrilled when we were able to book a great non-stop flight. So much for planning ahead. Thanks in adavance for your insight. :(

[Once Upon A Time]

We were on the 1st Sapphire 10/01 and experienced similar disembarkation problems. I would suggest you go to the purser's office and tell them your flight was changed and ask to be in one of the first groups to depart the ship(they will give you a disembarkation flyer that shows the expected time of departure from the ship for each color bag tag)... there should be no problem. Or, since you haven't left yet, have your TA advise Princess that your flight departure is ...maybe....10AM.

[AkSusan]

Cruiserfan -- I'll be on the Sapphire Princess for April 1, 2006 sailing. I just found out that Delta has changed our departure flight & time from LAX. It was originally 3:12 and is now 12:19! Guess with their bankruptcy status our mid-afternoon flight got cancelled. With the delay you experienced disembarking, do you think it would have been possible to make a 12:19 flight? Our tickets are freebies using FF miles. Since it's still pretty far out, I don't know whether to try to change to a later flight with connections (we were originally on a non-stop) or hope they re-instate the mid-afternoon flight. It's so hard to use FF miles anymore, I was thrilled when we were able to book a great non-stop flight. So much for planning ahead. Thanks in adavance for your insight. :(

 

Alaska05 not sure if you want to change yet. Currently, my Mom is scheduled for a 12:20 p.m. flight (it was 12:30 p.m.) and I think we're going to have no problem making it. We're sailing this Saturday and coming back the 29th.

 

I also booked a free FF ticket on Delta and my itinerary changed 6 times from the time I booked it until I say 2 weeks ago. It was either flight number changes or time changes and then the big one is they dropped a flight from Salt Lake to Anchorage and now instead of a 2+ layover in Salt Lake I have a 5 hour layover.

 

Hate for you to change it and then they'd turn around and they change everything again on you. I know it's hard but I'm convinced some little person sits in a little room messing with people's lives because he's changing their flights around :eek:

 

Susan :)

[Alaska05]

Once Upon A Time and AKSusan -- Thanks for your replies. Do you think I would be better off booking the Princess transfer to airport or an outside company if I decide to keep my current 12:19 pm flight? I've never had such a tight connection before.

[AkSusan]

Alaska05,

 

I'm planning to make reservations with Primetime Shuttle so they'll be waiting for us when we get off. Last time we did this cruise (different line, same itinerary) we had reservations with Supershuttle. Got off the ship, found their representative, he checked off our names and directed us to a van. Think we waited like 5 minutes to load a few more people and off we went. Know some people plan to take a taxi but with the taxi and LA, if you get stuck in traffic the meter keeps going while the van is a set schedule.

 

Susan :)

[Alaska05]

Alaska05,

 

I'm planning to make reservations with Primetime Shuttle so they'll be waiting for us when we get off. Last time we did this cruise (different line, same itinerary) we had reservations with Supershuttle. Got off the ship, found their representative, he checked off our names and directed us to a van. Think we waited like 5 minutes to load a few more people and off we went. Know some people plan to take a taxi but with the taxi and LA, if you get stuck in traffic the meter keeps going while the van is a set schedule.

 

Susan :)

 

Susan, thanks for info. I'll be anxious to hear how things go for you on your cruise next week, especially disembarking and if your mother makes her 12:20 flight (I'll keep my fingers crossed). Happy cruising!

 

Kathy:o

[AkSusan]

Thanks Kathy.

 

This last day at work is just going way too slow!

 

Susan :)

[Once Upon A Time]

I was on the Princess shuttle and it was quick and efficient. It was a full size bus and was partially full when we boarded, so I don't know how long those other passengers had been there. We got on and the bus left with 5 min. (It was about 3/4 full when it left) I have no experience with any other type of transfer service.

[JulieU89]

Here's what I posted to another thread...hope this sheds some light on the sapphire.

Ok, so I got to this tonight instead of waiting until the weekend.

 

Because of possible bandwidth issues from my web hosting service, I'm not going to post a new thread in the Princess area with what I've done...because lookie-loos will just go to my site to be nosey with no intention of taking this cruise or going on the sapphire princess.

 

However, feel free to mention me on any roll calls if you find that people are interested in the Princess Patters for the 2005/06 Sapphire Princess Mexican Riviera.

 

Honestly, I'm happy to provide the information, but I just don't want to waste bandwidth and have to take these down.

 

With that being said, here goes...

http://www.julieu.com/cruises/0510Sapphire.html

 

You'll see that I've also added reviews and pictures from our other cruises.

 

Lastly, if you don't want to click on all these files, I have them in one winzip file. My email address is listed just above the princess patters on the Sapphire Princess page so you can email me and I'll send you the whole kit & kaboodle at once. (Please make sure you mention Princess Patters in the subject line of your email. Since this email address tends to get a good amount of spam, I tend not to open emails from people I don't know.)

[AkSusan]

Susan, thanks for info. I'll be anxious to hear how things go for you on your cruise next week, especially disembarking and if your mother makes her 12:20 flight (I'll keep my fingers crossed). Happy cruising!

 

Kathy:o

 

Kathy,

 

Well we're back and had a great trip. Sometime during the week in the Patter they will ask you to come down and register if you have a flight before 12, between 12-12:30 etc. That got us Red 4 which was the 3rd group called off the boat. They have Express which was the first group called, but it's suppose to be limited and you had to haul all your own luggage off. They were going to start calling Express at 7:45 and we were to go at 8:20 but didn't quite clear at that time but was off the boat about 9, through immigrations, found our luggage, customs and then out to the island where SuperShuttle and Primetime are. I had made a reservation before we left, I wasn't on the list but they had my payment confirmation so that's all that counted. Had 4 other pairs of 2 (2 already with reservations and 2 without). They loaded us up and I say we sat less than 5 minutes and then were off for the airport. Got to the airport and was through the airline check in line by 10:03 and at the gate about 10:15 and my Mom made it about the same time as we had gone to Terminal 4 and 5 as she was flying American and I was flying Delta. So no problem making the 12:20 or 1:00 p.m. flight though both our planes were late then so we had plenty of time at the airport.

 

Have a great trip and any other questions, just ask away!

 

Susan :)

[DeltaOne]

They have Express which was the first group called, but it's suppose to be limited and you had to haul all your own luggage off.

 

Can anyone elect Express and carry off their own luggage? Or is it for those with early flights only?

[AkSusan]

No anyone can do Express, but they do say that it will be a limited amount of people that they allow to do it and you have to sign up for it also. But you will be hauling all your stuff off yourself.

 

Susan :)

[Alaska05]

So no problem making the 12:20 or 1:00 p.m. flight though both our planes were late then so we had plenty of time at the airport.

 

Susan,

Thanks so much for letting me know how things went regarding disembarking and making your early flights. I feel a whole lot better now about keeping our non-stop flight.

 

Did you use Super Shuttle or Primetime Shuttle?

 

Kathy

[AkSusan]

Kathy,

 

We used Primetime Shuttle. I think when I researched they were a couple of dollars cheaper than Supershuttle. They are both in the same area when you get off and there were plenty of porters to help you if you wanted with your luggage to the shuttle area, just have those extra dollars handy :D

 

Susan :)

[cruiserfan]

I was on the 1st week of october and had no problem getting to the airport for my 12:20 flight. We were delayed getting off but even with the delay we had plenty of time. Just be sure to get the Red tags to get off first!

[ladylynne]

I'll be posting a review as well... please find it if you are interested. I used the prime time shuttle service... 6 people for 120 round trip. They were to pick us up at LAX and take us to our hotel, and then pick us up at the ship to transfer us to LAX. Pick up was slow... the number they gave us was disconnected. We finally found the shuttle representative and, because we hired, and prepaid for a private van, we had to wait maybe 30 minutes for that. Getting off the ship, we found a shuttle right there waiting. Even though another couple was on the shuttle, we hopped on to the airport. They didn't mind and we didn't care if we had a private one or not. They were actually very enjoyable to chat with.

[joyceyw]

I wasn't sure if everyone would want to read my review but here goes... This is my 5th cruise, 4 with RCCL and 1st with Princess (this will also be my last with Princess). First of all... the room was very nice, nice layout however the balcony looking over other balconys was bad. We were lucky as we had no one above us! The ports were all very nice. We did horseback riding in PV. We did a tour of the area M. Had no specific plans in Cabo and just walked around. Weather was great. Very hot. Most in the 90s. The ship layout was not what I expected. Not being able to get to one end of the ship to the other easily was sometimes very confusing... The crew was all from the Phillipenes. Not nearly as friendly as the crews on the RCCL ships. The drinks were watered down and when asked to add more alcohol they seemed like we were asking for way to much!! One of my biggest complaints... no band by the pool! The days at sea were somewhat dull for lack of anything to do. No music or dancing by the pool area. Just a guy on a guitar singing love songs. The crowd was complaining that they were falling asleep. We did hear alot of complaints about that. Most things going on were all in doors. The food for the most part was good but if something wasn't done right they did not want to do anything about it!!

 

My experiences on both cruiselines is that I prefer the RCCL line. Much more attentive and friendly staff.

 

I would be happy to answer any questions. I realize most on this site Love Princess but in my opinion and what I was looking for was not what I got on the Princess Line.

 

Thanks

 

My husband and I just got off the Sapphire this Sat. and your review was right on. We pretty much experienced the same things you did. While we enjoyed ourselves, we much prefer RCCL.

[ladylynne]

quote=cruiserfan The ship layout was not what I expected. Not being able to get to one end of the ship to the other easily was sometimes very confusing...

 

I was on the same cruise, and am interested in other people's point of view. i don't feel anyone's opinion is wrong, but I have wrinkled an eyebrow or two in what you drew in as a conclusion. I haven't been on another cruise line, but how different can you lay out a ship's interior without utilizing as much space as possible? On Floors 5, 6 and 7 the resturants and lounges were on either end. it's a direct pathway on portside or starboard from one end to another. i think at one point a walk through a lounge was required, but not hard to follow.

outside, follow the ship's railing to get from one end to another... maybe a flight of stairs may be required.

 

The crew was all from the Phillipenes. Not nearly as friendly as the crews on the RCCL ships.

 

All from the Phillepenes? Perhaps you only spoke to the room steward or bartenders~ Erica was from Romania, Daniel from Argentina, many many staff from Canada, I saw Japan, Whales, GB, Mexico, Australia...I'm sorry, the list goes on and on.

 

 

One of my biggest complaints... no band by the pool! The days at sea were somewhat dull for lack of anything to do.

 

I did miss the band music I experienced on other cruises. I wondered who we'd have since it wasn't a carribbean cruise. The guy with the guitar was good...but more relaxing then "party". And the days at sea...oh my, if you wanted to go in.. there was always something to do! Art auctions, bingo, trivia games, tours, lectures, movies, line dancing lessons, ceramics...need I say more? Outdoors was meant to enjoy the poolside and relax.

 

No music or dancing by the pool area. Just a guy on a guitar singing love songs. The crowd was complaining that they were falling asleep. We did hear alot of complaints about that. Most things going on were all in doors.

Thanks

 

so that was my view on the whole thing.