Sapphire Princess October 19-23 semi-live

[donswife]

I am currently on the Sapphire.  I'm going to try posting in small chunks.  We booked the 4 night when the summer/fall schedule first opened up with the $1 deposits.  This is a 3 generation  "girls" cruise with my 26 yo daughter and 84 yo m-i-l.  After the first group of Diamond Princess cruises were canceled we were worried that this would be too, since it showed "unavailable for about a month. 

[donswife]

We booked through my Princess vacation planner. At the time we booked, no pair of connecting balcony cabins showed available,  but I gave my PVP some possible cabin numbers and she found an available pair. We are on Caribe in the 600 section. We have the larger balconies and it is very close to the aft elevators.  Everything in our cabins is clean and in good working order. I had to ask our steward for ice, and we now have it.

[donswife]

We flew to LAX from 2 different left coast airports. We chose to take a well-calculated risk and fly in the same day. I booked air and transfers through Princess. Between the 4 flights, we must have had 5 flight changes.  I received an email notification each time, and the changes were all due to Alaska airlines messing with the schedule. Both flights arrived on time,  and there were a lot of SMS (Shoreside contracted staff) available to help us get to the bus. Our luggage was taken separately and we didn't see it again until it was delivered to our cabins.

[donswife]

Mom's flight landed in LAX at 11:30am, and we were sitting down to lunch in the International dining room by 1:15.  Greeters on the ship actually told us we could go there, rather than send us to the buffet 😁.  It was the usual 1st day lunch menu.  We each ordered soup, an appetizer,, and orange souffle 😍.  Our luggage arrived shortly after we went to the cabins. The steward had to get a key to unlock the connector doors,  but opened the balcony right away. 

The captain informed us that our departure would be delayed due to supply loading issues.  This actually worked in our favor because we sailed out at sunset, and it was gorgeous.  I'll try to put pictures in the next frame. 

[cr8tiv1]

48 minutes ago, donswife said:

We flew to LAX from 2 different left coast airports. We chose to take a well-calculated risk and fly in the same day. I booked air and transfers through Princess. Between the 4 flights, we must have had 5 flight changes.  I received an email notification each time, and the changes were all due to Alaska airlines messing with the schedule. Both flights arrived on time,  and there were a lot of SMS (Shoreside contracted staff) available to help us get to the bus. Our luggage was taken separately and we didn't see it again until it was delivered to our cabins.

 

Loved your terminology.  Something I can understand!

 

Looking forward to reading of your generational adventures.  

[fpsphil]

Love to hear some last minute reviews. We board on Sunday!

[donswife]

[Mike45LC]

I hope the maintenance staff got the Sapphire fixed up during the Hawaii cruise and your four day.  Traveling Sisters reported some issues, and I want them to have been fixed!!

 

Leave Sapphire in good shape for us, don't drink all the booze, and don't eat all the chocolate!!  We will be sailing out of San Pedro in roughly 70 hours!  

 

Phil, see you on board. I'll be the guy wearing a polo shirt and slacks.😉

[donswife]

10 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

I hope the maintenance staff got the Sapphire fixed up during the Hawaii cruise and your four day.  Traveling Sisters reported some issues, and I want them to have been fixed!!

 

Leave Sapphire in good shape for us, don't drink all the booze, and don't eat all the chocolate!!  We will be sailing out of San Pedro in roughly 70 hours!  

 

Phil, see you on board. I'll be the guy wearing a polo shirt and slacks.😉

So far, no buckets or dripping water anywhere we have been. A couple of individual elevator call buttons don't work.  Wifi continues to be inconsistent. 

[fpsphil]

11 minutes ago, Mike45LC said:

I hope the maintenance staff got the Sapphire fixed up during the Hawaii cruise and your four day.  Traveling Sisters reported some issues, and I want them to have been fixed!!

 

Leave Sapphire in good shape for us, don't drink all the booze, and don't eat all the chocolate!!  We will be sailing out of San Pedro in roughly 70 hours!  

 

Phil, see you on board. I'll be the guy wearing a polo shirt and slacks.😉

I’ll have my red discovery princess shirt on. I won’t be missed lol

[fpsphil]

8 minutes ago, donswife said:

So far, no buckets or dripping water anywhere we have been. A couple of individual elevator call buttons don't work.  Wifi continues to be inconsistent. 

Has the air conditioning been consistent?

[donswife]

Look who joined us in San Diego!

[donswife]

In case you can't zoom, it is Discovery Princess 

[donswife]

32 minutes ago, fpsphil said:

Has the air conditioning been consistent?

Public areas are all quite cool. My cabin is fine. I tend to run warm and have it one bar from the bottom. 

[fpsphil]

2 hours ago, donswife said:

Look who joined us in San Diego!

Watched them both sail in this morning and will watch both sail out tonight.

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, donswife said:

Public areas are all quite cool. My cabin is fine. I tend to run warm and have it one bar from the bottom. 

 

Would you take a photo of "your" thermostat?  On the Grand, it was those awful round knobs that were difficult to turn.

[travelin.sisters]

6 hours ago, donswife said:

So far, no buckets or dripping water anywhere we have been. A couple of individual elevator call buttons don't work.  Wifi continues to be inconsistent. 

everyone was working so hard on the first cruise...I know the captain & crew wanted it to be good for the passengers, so I am glad to hear yours is starting with things working well, have a wonderful family adventure & thank you for sharing it with us.

[donswife]

The future cruise consultant told me that there are about 2,000 passengers this trip. Another told me that this is the first cruise on the ship that masks are optional for crew. Oh, the smiles!!!! Maybe 20% still wear them. Same with passengers.  

[Pluto_fan]

19 hours ago, donswife said:

We are on Caribe in the 600 section. We have the larger balconies and it is very close to the aft elevators. 

 

Thanks for bringing us along!

We'll be in C63x next June and I can hardly wait 😊

[fpsphil]

45 minutes ago, donswife said:

The future cruise consultant told me that there are about 2,000 passengers this trip. Another told me that this is the first cruise on the ship that masks are optional for crew. Oh, the smiles!!!! Maybe 20% still wear them. Same with passengers.  

Mind asking how many are expected for Sunday?

[donswife]

[donswife]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

Would you take a photo of "your" thermostat?  On the Grand, it was those awful round knobs that were difficult to turn.

 

[SClakeliving]

3 hours ago, donswife said:

Are Cruising Ducks back?? I have a bunch that were going with me on a Carnival cruise in April 2020 that was cancelled due to Covid. I would love to bring them on the Sapphire in January !!

 

[cr8tiv1]

Thanks for the photo.  How hard would it be to exchange these out.  Seems like they are user friendly.

 

Yes, ducks are back...got one on the Grand.

[donswife]

We had dinner at Sabatini's the first night.  It was included as a perk when we booked, and I was able to reserve our table through the medallion app prior to the trip.  We enjoyed the meal, but it was really just too much food for us, and we would not have paid extra to eat there.  The servers seemed very busy, but pleasant.  

    We toddled off in our food coma to see the production show, "Do you want to Dance?". which is the only one this trip.  Seeing a lone stool on the stage gave me pause, and sure enough, the show had been rescheduled do too technical difficulties.  Carlos Oscar performed instead, and had me laughing until I cried.  I have seen him before, and have really enjoyed his style.  The production show is now supposed to be tonight.