My Opinion of Sapphire C753 & the Aft

[gargoyle999]

Well, I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things after a wonderful cruise on the Sapphire last week. But wanted to talk about the cabin we had.

 

I did a lot of research on CC regarding what cabin to pick. At first had to decide between a mini-suite or just a balcony. While I'm sure a mini-suite would be nice decided to just go with a balcony. Originally had a cabin midship booked. Then started reading about aft cabins and what people thought about them, both good and bad.

 

Decided to go with an aft balcony cabin. Some of the cabins have the "dreaded beam" and when DW saw pictures didn't like that too much. I think I changed about three times before finally deciding on C753 based on comments I read here.

 

Once we boarded the ship we went right to our cabin. I thought it was nice. Obviously it is not huge. But it has a king bed, desk and chair and another sitting chair. There is room to put things under the TV and there is a small round table as well.

 

I was really happy with the size of the balcony. There is plenty of room for four chairs, two of which recline, and a small table. No problem moving things around out there either. The balcony divider would open if you knew the people in the suite next door.

 

I liked that the balcony was fully covered and private. It is also open on the left side. You can't see around the ship at all, but there is no wall or divider on that side.

 

What can I say about the view that hasn't already been said, it is awesome.

 

There is no traffic back there as it's a dead end so that is nice. I would occasionally hear a door slam but that would be it. No foot traffic at all.

 

It is a long distance to the front of the ship. When you look down the hallway you feel like you are in the movie Poltergeist when the mom is trying to run down the hall and it just keeps growing and growing! :D

But it was not bad and I could use the exercise anyway.

 

I liked hearing the prop wash and we would leave our door open at night and I usually don't like noise when I'm trying to sleep (like a TV on). But when the door was closed it was quiet.

 

The bathroom is small but adequate. The shower is so tiny it made me laugh out loud! But it worked fine. I think the shower curtain should be about 2 inches longer though. A lot of water would get on the floor. I did bring some weights to keep the curtain down. I really wish the handle in the shower were somehow removable for those that did not want it. It really gets in the way in such a small space.

 

There was the one outlet in the bathroom and one by the desk and that was it. I did bring a multi-plug extension along but didn't use it much.

 

The fridge kept things cool but not cold, but again was fine for our needs.

 

In the cabin we would sit at the desk or on the bed and didn't even use the extra chair except to plop things down on. There is a lot of closet and cabinet space and storage under the bed for luggage.

 

There are a lot of mirrors in the cabin and for the most part that is fine. But for reasons I won't go into, I wish there wasn't such a large one above the headboard! :o Give me a curtain to pull over it or something! :)

 

About the only thing not so great about being in an aft cabin was the smoke cloud from the ship. We didn't have an soot on our balcony, but at times the smoke was thick back there. And while sailing south it would drop down to water level right by our balcony sometimes. Part of the deal being on the aft I know. But a negative I need to mention since it is so noticeable at times.

 

We had very calm ("slight" according to the bridge reports) seas the entire trip so I can't really comment on movement. I don't get motion sickness though DW does. I bought her a Relief Band and she used that when she needed to and said it worked really good. She wore it a little bit but not all the time. So with such calm water being on the aft wasn't an issue.

 

So I know there are bigger and fancier cabins on the ship. But C753 was a fine cabin and I'll be booking it again (or the sister cabin on the port side) next time I'm on the Sapphire.

 

Here are some pics of the cabin, balcony and ship I took last week. Click on the little picture of the ship to get to my webshots album.

 

[gargoyle999]

Another thing to mention is that I had Wi-Fi in my cabin. I guess it was because there is a suite next door. That was VERY nice!

 

It's also easy to get to the muster station, Club Fusion, during the drill. You go down the emergency exit stairs right outside the cabin and there you are. They didn't let us use it to get back up afterwards though. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the info. :)

We were in 752 on the Ruby inaugural.

 

Awhile back someone posted an extensive aft view photo of the grand class with arrows and such pointing to all the cabins back there with labels.

Does anyone know where that thread is??

If so please give me the link. ;)

[gargoyle999]

Something else to add (sorry can only edit for 15 minutes)... :rolleyes:

 

I liked that the shower has separate controls for turning it on and temperature. We have that at home. It is nice to just set your temp and forget it. Then just turn on the shower and not have to tweak the knob back and forth trying to find the sweet spot! A nice touch Princess!

[RickEk]

Something else to add (sorry can only edit for 15 minutes)... :rolleyes:

 

I liked that the shower has separate controls for turning it on and temperature. We have that at home. It is nice to just set your temp and forget it. Then just turn on the shower and not have to tweak the knob back and forth trying to find the sweet spot! A nice touch Princess!

 

I like that feature too!

 

Thanks for the comprehensive reviews. We were on the Halloween sailing and concur with your posts!

[Coral]

When I was on the Sapphire in October - they were getting ready to make the ship wireless (in more places then the atrium area). They didn't have it ready for our sailing but were close. They must have been able to implement it for your sailing.

[gargoyle999]

When I was on the Sapphire in October - they were getting ready to make the ship wireless (in more places then the atrium area). They didn't have it ready for our sailing but were close. They must have been able to implement it for your sailing.

 

I never heard anything about shipwide wireless last week. In fact I tried to connect via my laptop in the Internet Cafe and couldn't find any wireless network. When I asked the mgr about it he handed me the instruction sheet upon which he crossed off the Internet Cafe as a location where wireless was available! :rolleyes:

 

According to the sheet wireless is available in the Atrium area on deck 5,6,7,8; Teen Center on deck 15; Horizons on deck 14.

 

I did see crew using laptops at the front of the ship on the upper Promenade deck though.

 

So who knows...maybe they are getting it turned on, just not advertising it yet. :confused:

[Coral]

I never heard anything about shipwide wireless last week. In fact I tried to connect via my laptop in the Internet Cafe and couldn't find any wireless network. When I asked the mgr about it he handed me the instruction sheet upon which he crossed off the Internet Cafe as a location where wireless was available! :rolleyes:

 

 

That is strange - I used my laptop (with wireless) in the internet cafe many times. Maybe they are playing around with things. They indicated that they were going to offer wireless through out the ship but were not guaranteeing a signal in your room (though they said most would probably receive it).

 

Maybe they are still debating about offering wireless in more places.

[heisnuts]

Did you have a lot of vibration in the cabin during your days at sea?

[raydon]

When we were on the Sapphire in April for the Sydney to LA cruise we always used our laptop in the internet cafe. During that cruise the manager of the Sterling Steakhouse told us the internet cafe would be moving to deck 5 so the steakhouse could take the internet space on deck 7 and that the ship would become wireless. Don't know when that is planned to be finished. maybe next dry dock.

 

Donna

[gargoyle999]

That is strange - I used my laptop (with wireless) in the internet cafe many times. Maybe they are playing around with things. They indicated that they were going to offer wireless through out the ship but were not guaranteeing a signal in your room (though they said most would probably receive it).

 

Maybe they are still debating about offering wireless in more places.

 

It must have been having some sort of technical problem. It is listed on the sheet so it must normally work there, but not on my sailing, at least not on the first day. The mgr didn't say anything about what the problem was or if it was expected to be working. He just crossed of the internet cafe from the list and handed me the sheet when I told him I couldn't find a wireless network in there!

 

I went back to my cabin and just tried it and it worked! So I didn't go back to the internet cafe except the last sea day to print my flight boarding passes so I'm not sure if they wireless got working in there or not.

[gargoyle999]

Did you have a lot of vibration in the cabin during your days at sea?

 

You could feel a very slight vibration, but nothing that was close to being bothersome. Even when entering or leaving port there wasn't anything that would shake you out of bed but slightly more vibration was felt when they were using the thrusters. Again, nothing bothersome at all.

 

You can really hear the prop wash though but I liked it even though I normally need it quiet to fall asleep. With the door closed it was quiet though.

[gargoyle999]

Ok another thing. (I'll probably be remembering one more thing for the next month..sorry! :rolleyes:)

 

I really liked that the balcony door slides. So nice to have it all the way open or just slightly or somewhere in between whatever you want. Don't have to keep the furniture clear for it to swing out. Very nice.

 

I liked the little mailbox thing too. Sort of like getting mail at home, you'd come back to your cabin and see if anything would be there! :)

 

One thing I did not like was the blue tinted glass on the balcony. Wish it were clear.

[gargoyle999]

When we were on the Sapphire in April for the Sydney to LA cruise we always used our laptop in the internet cafe. During that cruise the manager of the Sterling Steakhouse told us the internet cafe would be moving to deck 5 so the steakhouse could take the internet space on deck 7 and that the ship would become wireless. Don't know when that is planned to be finished. maybe next dry dock.

 

Donna

 

Hmm...that is interesting. It would probably be just enough space to setup Sterling's in there then it could be an actual full time space. I know some people say they don't like that it is part of the Horizon buffet. But we went there one night and thought it was nice how they had it setup considering it was part of the buffet seating area. I could see where it would be a little more elegant to have it's own space though.

[cvw0]

We were in C753 the week before you. I went to the purser's desk and asked for 14 large paper clips and used them to extend the length of the shower curtain.

Saturday morning when we left, I removed them from the shower curtain but left them on the sink. Johnathan said he might use them if he didn't get the longer replacement shower curtain he had ordered.

We really liked that cabin and the large balcony. We bring tall directors chairs with us so that when we sit on the balcony we can see over the railing and not have to look through the glass.

[Seapixie]

Thanks for the info. :)

We were in 752 on the Ruby inaugural.

 

Awhile back someone posted an extensive aft view photo of the grand class with arrows and such pointing to all the cabins back there with labels.

Does anyone know where that thread is??

If so please give me the link. ;)

 

 

I think this might be what you were looking for?

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=808951&highlight=flvol77

 

Seapixie ~

[gargoyle999]

We were in C753 the week before you. I went to the purser's desk and asked for 14 large paper clips and used them to extend the length of the shower curtain.

Saturday morning when we left, I removed them from the shower curtain but left them on the sink. Johnathan said he might use them if he didn't get the longer replacement shower curtain he had ordered.

We really liked that cabin and the large balcony. We bring tall directors chairs with us so that when we sit on the balcony we can see over the railing and not have to look through the glass.

 

We didn't have any paperclips holding up the shower curtain, but I sure hope that was not the longer one he ordered. Still needs about 2 inches!

 

You must drive to the port! :)