Sapphire Princess

[pathi]

Any news on the Sapphire? No posts good, bad, or otherwise in a while. We are sailing her in late Sept. 

[mjmalino]

She is not yet back in service. She is currently making her way to the west coast for her first sailing with passengers in September.

[msmoger]

19 minutes ago, pathi said:

Any news on the Sapphire? No posts good, bad, or otherwise in a while. We are sailing her in late Sept. 

 

That's because the first cruise on the Sapphire is a 10 day Mexican Riviera on September 24th. 

[kiwimum]

Someone on the Sapphire Roll Call for December 2 posted her web cam shows transiting the Suez Canal today.

[JimmyVWine]

Out of curiosity, (not that anyone knows Princess' reasoning), but why wouldn't they market and sell that repositioning cruise?  Or at least legs of the cruise.  Sounds like it would have been a pretty cool itinerary.

[msmoger]

34 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Out of curiosity, (not that anyone knows Princess' reasoning), but why wouldn't they market and sell that repositioning cruise?  Or at least legs of the cruise.  Sounds like it would have been a pretty cool itinerary.

 

I'm guessing, and I really mean guessing, that staffing the ship would have been to difficult.  There are still lots of shortages. 

[LACruiser88]

They are bringing on crew, providing crew training and getting the ship into shape during the journey.  This info comes from a friend (high ranking crew member) that is joining the ship in a couple of weeks.

[jy0ung1]

They had other cruises slated for dates prior to the Sept 24 sailing and had to cancel them because of labor shortages and getting paperwork (work permits) submitted and approved.   I just hope they can get it sorted out so the September sailing can happen. 

[DiRonT]

Going thru the Suez today and headed to Singapore.  Then on to Phillipines to pick up crew assuming she will follow same schedule as Diamond which will be sailing from San Diego a few weeks before Sapphire sails from San Pedro.

[Grammy J]

We will be on her when she sails on September 24🤞🏻🤞🏻

Edited July 12, 2022 by Grammy J

[LACruiser88]

4 hours ago, Grammy J said:

We will be on her when she sails on September 24🤞🏻🤞🏻

We will be onboard in March for 32 days, Buenos Aires to Los Angeles.

[seagunthera]

I booked an 80's theme cruise out of LA on 10/19 and am thinking to change my cabin to E730.  This is a Vista suite but I have a few concerns and am wondering if anyone has any info they might share with me: 

1- the cabin is above Club Fusion so I'm wondering if I should be concerned about noise issues. 

2- does anyone know if the smoking section is directly below this cabin or if it is on the starboard side of deck 7?

 

Thanks so very much for any insight!

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@seagunthera  This thread might be useful. The sapphire has not had passengers so it may not have the same issues with regards to aft promenade.  The noise issues should be similar and the starboard aft has been the smoking area on all Princess ships with a promenade that I’ve been on. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by HaveDogWillTravel

[latebloomer56]

9 hours ago, seagunthera said:

I booked an 80's theme cruise out of LA on 10/19 and am thinking to change my cabin to E730.  This is a Vista suite but I have a few concerns and am wondering if anyone has any info they might share with me: 

1- the cabin is above Club Fusion so I'm wondering if I should be concerned about noise issues. 

2- does anyone know if the smoking section is directly below this cabin or if it is on the starboard side of deck 7?

 

Thanks so very much for any insight!

We have been in E723 and E727 but pick this side because the band stand is on the port side. We have only felt a little bass on occasion, but love these covered balconies.

[BigTimeCruiser]

22 hours ago, pathi said:

Any news on the Sapphire? No posts good, bad, or otherwise in a while. We are sailing her in late Sept. 

As of this moring, the Sapphire has made her way through the Suez Canal and is heading south through the Gulf of Suez.  Tracker

[Papa Yoda]

 

I won't book Sapphire since every time I do -- those voyages are canceled!!!

[seagunthera]

1 hour ago, Papa Yoda said:

 

I won't book Sapphire since every time I do -- those voyages are canceled!!!

Don't jinx us!

[Caribensun]

LACrruiser88, like your connections, please keep us posted.  
agree with Papa Yoda and booked on the cruise.

[srpilo]

On 7/12/2022 at 8:38 PM, LACruiser88 said:

We will be onboard in March for 32 days, Buenos Aires to Los Angeles.

 

Onboard Sapphire Nov 2nd, and finally getting back to Hawaii after all the Grand cancellations as you may recall last fall 😎

[Vexorg]

My wife and I have the October 23rd (10 night Baja Peninsula/Sea of Cortez) sailing booked, so we're hoping to hear more soon. I will say that Sapphire is my favorite Princess ship that I've been on.  I've always liked the older Grand class ships over the newer ones for having one less deck of cabins and the covered pool, and Sapphire comes with some quirks like the 4 smaller midship dining rooms instead of the 2 larger ones most Princess ships have, forward facing cabins on Baja and Caribe decks and a wider promenade deck.  I'm looking forward to a chance to take another trip since it's been quite a while since she's been on the West Coast.

 

I will also say that we sailed on a cruise on Caribbean Princess just a few weeks after her return to service from the shutdown, and although food and service was excellent during that cruise there were definitely some issues with our room, mostly with the plumbing.  Mechanical systems don't like to sit around doing nothing for long periods of time, and on a ship of that size it's probably impossible to test every single thing, so it's possible you could run into some issues.  

Edited July 15, 2022 by Vexorg

[beg3yrs]

Just a musing about restarting the ships after being out of service for so long. Seems to me that it would have done Princess well to have a couple of short "dress rehearsal" sailings out of the home port before starting full itineraries. Maybe only two nights each but they could load up the ship with experienced past passengers for a very low price (if not free) and have a trip to nowhere. A requirement would be the passengers must provide critical feedback. In this manner the cabins get used, the crew gets to practice with actual passengers and even the shoreside staff gets a couple of run-throughs for embarkation and disembarkation procedures.