First time Princess on Saphire 10days out of Singapord

[mugtech]

Background:

 

My wife and I have taken 10 cruises on NCL, 2 on RCI, this is our first on Princess. Booked it because the timing and price were right, the ship is very much like the NCL Gem in size and capacity.

Precruise:

 

Flew in from Manila on PAL, nice 3 hour 15 minute flight, stayed two nights at the Bencoolen Hotel on Hong Kong Street, very comfortable and convenient for $245 including breakfast, free WiFi. The cab to the dock was supposed to take 11 minutes but took 30 mintes because of the preboarding traffic made worse by the RCI Mariner of the Seas embarking at the same time. Got out of the cab at 11 :45 AM and made it to our cabin at 1:20 PM. Part of checking in included getting a form and a receipt for our passports, for once we were all checked in and our group was called to board the ship then our passports were confiscated and we kept the receipts to get them back before we return to Singapore. A photocopy of our passport was dropped off in our cabin on the second sea day. I have cruised with people and read on CC there are people who would NEVER surrender their passport for any reason. There was no choice here if you were staying on the ship, sounded like an Indonesia thing.

[mugtech]

We are in A106, the Aloha Deck, which is deck 12 as far forward as possible, the most forward inside cabin, very quiet so far. Hanging out in Celsius Cafe using their free wifi, did not purchase any internet on the ship. We paid a total of $1,800 for the cabin, port fees and prepaid service charges back in June, price almost doubled after we locked in our purchase

 

I have found cruise lines to be very similar, the differences meaning little to us. We don't drink alcohol or gamble, so I cannot give any information on those topics. We found our way around the ship with no problems, it is well laid out. They told us there were over 900 US citizens on the ship, 600 from the UK, 400 from Australia, 350 from Canada and 50 from New Zealand. So that is all but a few hundred from other countries. The population had more of an Asian flavor than those numbers would seem to indicate. My wife was born in the Philippines and is a dual citizen traveling on her US passport. Met others in the same situation.

 

The buffet satisfied all of our food needs, as I eat to live, while my wife tends to live to eat. We went to the Savoy for anytime dining on the first sea day, a formal night. Formal now days for men means a shirt with buttons and a collar and pants that make to the ankles and are not jeans, have no holes. There were other Filipinos there who wore the traditional barong and gave me the thumbs up as I wore mine from 1994. The food was excellent, my wife loved her spicy prawns and I had beef medallions. We had to settle for 8 PM that first sea day, but on the second sea day we walked into Santa He and got a table immediately with more excellent food, as good as what one pays extra for on other cruise lines as specialty dining

 

Haven't done too well in trivia yet, no wins, but I do believe I was the only one who new Panama hats originated in Ecuador. It is still fun, meet very friendly people at trivia. Informational presentations in the theatre are more informative and more frequent than on other lines. Especially liked the 45 mi ute talk on the history of 3 enlightened cities, Athens, Florance and Edinburough. The info about upcoming ports was excellent, did not get the feeling I was being sold anything.

[mugtech]

Music and entertainment has been the only disappointment so far. The Callaway music was well done, but it was very low energy. Used to have a Carribean band do the party time music out of New York, even when we headed north to Canada. This time the song that caught the theme best was Sitting On the Dock of a Bay. The first night was a sax player who told music stories and also sang. He did his version of Georgia on My Mind very well, and even Johnny B Good, not written for sax, sounded acceptable but the guitar by the ship band was better. Second night skipped the hypnotist, have already seen too many of them. Birdy from the Philippines had a great voice, beautiful woman with some dance skills. She won the Future Superstars contest in Taiwan in 2014, and her 40 minute performance was all about showing the great ranges of her tablet. Many were songs one hears often these days, including a few Whitney Houston classics, the Tina Turner version of Proud Mary, some James Brown and a few love songs. She is quite the singer, even did some opera, but I would not want to hear her again.

N

[satxdiver]

... I have cruised with people and read on CC there are people who would NEVER surrender their passport for any reason. There was no choice here if you were staying on the ship, sounded like an Indonesia thing.

 

It is not only an Indonesian requirement for the ship to collect the passports. We have had them collected in South America and on a TA so far. Princess has to do it according to the different countries requirements. I too have read on here about pax swearing they would never give up their passports, but if they want to go on the ship, they WILL give them up! On one TA we had a couple from home meet us for the trip across the pond. They were not too happy about surrendering their passports but of course they did it anyway as required. So as they say never say never. Interesting information about a far east cruise.

[mugtech]

It is not only an Indonesian requirement for the ship to collect the passports. We have had them collected in South America and on a TA so far. Princess has to do it according to the different countries requirements. I too have read on here about pax swearing they would never give up their passports, but if they want to go on the ship, they WILL give them up! On one TA we had a couple from home meet us for the trip across the pond. They were not too happy about surrendering their passports but of course they did it anyway as required. So as they say never say never. Interesting information about a far east cruise.

On a Med cruise we had to give up our passports for Greece and Turkey, got them back for Italy, France and Spain. We have been told our passports are being held for Malaysia and Thailand also. We were reminded today to take the photocopies we were given to use as I'd if required.

[Cruisegroover]

What ports are visiting? I am on 10 nighter from Singapore 25 Feb going to Bali, Penang, Port Klang and Phuket.

[DougH]

I sailed on the Sapphire out of Singapore for 15 days in Dec 2017. Also stayed at the Hotel Bencoolen before the cruise. Nice location downtown, only blocks from the Chinatown area and many shops resturants etc. Took the inexpensive shuttle from the airport to the hotel and got a nice scenic tour of the city.

 

Enjoy your cruise

[mugtech]

What ports are visiting? I am on 10 nighter from Singapore 25 Feb going to Bali, Penang, Port Klang and Phuket.

Same itinerary, enjoyed each port, the Best of Penang and Best of Phuket were very good

[mugtech]

Our room steward returned our passports to us the night before disembarkation. Getting off today was quick and easy, walked off the ship with all our luggage at 8:40, were waiting for a taxi by 9:30 and got to our hotel by 10 AM, a $13 Singapore dollars cab ride, hardly any traffic on Sunday morning. Can't check into our room until 2PM, but with free wifi doing a lot of catching up sitting in the lobby of the Jayleen 1918 Hotel on Carpenter Street, just one block from where we stayed precruise.