Alaska, Sapphire Princess 08/09

[dejadestin]

Alaska

August 8-22

6 Day Land tour Anchorage - Copper River

7 Day Cruise Whittier - Vancouver Sapphire Princess

There were 4 in our party. One 22 year old and 3 over the age of 60.

We are not frequent travelers. Our last trip was three years ago to the Caribbean aboard the Westerdam (Holland America)

WE chose to arrive in Anchorage a day early and paid dearly for the extra night hotel stay through Princess. ($289 for the night) My sister was traveling with her grandson and requested a room with 2 double beds. When she went to her room they had given her a room with a Kind size bed. They did change her room. Our room was on the RD floor and looked onto a room and there was a large chrome vent obstructing any view. I went to the desk and voiced my displeasure and the gentleman said"Sorry to hear that". There was no offer to change my room. I then approached two Princess Representatives. The young fellow gave me the same response. When I became very persistent, the young lady then went to the desk with me and with some persuasion the clerk found us a room on the Th floor with a beautiful view. The hotel Captain Cook is very dark, poor service and definitely not worth $289 a night.

On the Monday we boarded a coach to Mt. Mckinley Lodge. Our land tour was exceptional. All the coach drivers, tour quids, staff at the lodges were Superior. We all learned so much and had great fun. I recommend this type of tour in Alaska to anyone that travels there.

We embarked the Sapphire on August 15. Embankment was well organized and went smoothly.

Our Stateroom was excellent and we were well taken care of.

Theater: I was very disappointed in the theater. I was expecting a different show each night but 2 of the the shows were repeated and the hypnotist was boring. The other lounges with entertainment were very crowded.

Internet: Very expensive to use just for e-mailing family

Pools and hot tubs well located.

Dining: Lido deck is poorly laid out and very congested. Food choices good but nothing special.

Main dining: We were bothered every night by sale pitches.

(champagne breakfast, special drinks, glasses, bottled water, art auction)

I wanted to enjoy my dinner and not feel pressured to buy something.

The head waiter appeared disorganized at times. He would forget to bring salads, and some desserts. His assistant was better organized. The food was good but nothing special.

The stateroom staff was the best. They were all very friendly.

Shore Excursions: We enjoyed all the excursions. I wish we had more time in Juneau and would have liked our tour in Ketchican (only one time offered) to be earlier so we wouldn't have been rushed returning to the ship.

Disembarkment: Disaster

WE had a flight at 10:30 am from Vancouver to Seattle. I had called Princess when booking the flight and was told there would be no problem meeting this flight. When I was on the ship I went to the desk and was assured there would not be a problem. When our tags arrived for our luggage they issued different tags for my sister and had us getting off the ship an hour apart. WE got these changed and agin reminded them of our flight time. We assured again there would not be a problem.

We were to disembark at 8:05am but at 9:05 we were still waiting. They had all the walk off passengers go off before us. If we had not pushed into line we would have still been there longer. When I voiced my concernes to the staff they just shook their heads and walked away. I got they feeling that, "your cruise is over and we don't care". When we got off we found our luggage with no problem but then had to keep asking for direction to our transfer bus. We had pre-paid for transfer to the airport.

I discovered later that the Americans with transfers and flights before 11:00am were off the ship at 7:25am and the others with flights after 12:00 were off at 7:50am. I do not know why.

Needless to say we were late for our flight. We did not arrive to the airport until 9:50am and due to the long lines at customs (1 1/2hr) we were not allowed on our flight. We had to make new arrangements costing us an additional $50 per person.

I would like to see all cruise ships offer a liquor card like the pop and coffee card.

I did not let any of the issues we had spoil my vacation. We saw so much and had an awsome time. Alaska is beautiful.

I would recommend smaller ships to cruise, such as Holland America. You get much better service for your money. Princess is all about selling, constant bombardment with sales. I will probably not choose Princess the next cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review.

 

I would never book a transfer if I had an early flight like that.

Do express walk off or get early bag tags.

Cab ride is only 20 minutes.

[Modeen]

What did the 22-year-old think of the cruise? Were there other people about his age? What activities did he try on the sea days?

 

Thanks.

[HarrietKC]

Sorry you had such a negative experience.

 

I took Princess for the first time (Diamond which is identical to Sapphire) the week before your trip and found the opposite was true. There is some selling, but not any more than other cruise ships and when we politely declined they went away. I was never approached about buying anything during dinner, nor did I see anyone else bombarded with a sales pitch - especially art auction.

 

Embarkation was a little slow, but once it got going went extremely fast and the luggage was already loaded on the bus. We had a flight booked that was too early for the transfer and Princess called my TA to tell him that I didn't have enough time. So we changed the flight to leave 4 hours later than shown. Although we were headed for Seattle, I was impressed that - when the traffic was backed up on the highway, the driver found an alternative route and there were Princess employees there to meet us when the bus arrived at the airport. I know that Seattle is different than Vancouver, but there were a gazillion posts on cruisescritics coaching people who booked their Vancouver flights too early on how long it would take to clear customs (all said plan for at least 1-1/2 hours).

 

Did you put your flight schedule on the Personalizer? I did (I booked the flights myself to save money) and that prompted them to call our TA.

 

My only complaint is that $20 per photo was a bit pricey so we declined most. Other than that, we had a fabulous time and were treated well by all of the staff.

 

Other than the photo prices being more expensive ($20 each); I had a great time. I wouldn't condemn an entire line for the actions of a few people.

 

Someone on the boards posted the link to the documentary on HAL's profit quotas for staff. I'm sure that applies to Princess and other lines as well. Discount the cabins, make up for it other ways. But, again - I was on the sister ship and we didn't get solicited very often - even in public areas. We mostly got written solicitations delivered to our room (Spa, etc.) which was fine.

 

Sometimes a positive attitude goes a long way and the staff responds appropriately.

[TuxedoMan]

Awesome review...thank you for taking the time

[TuxedoMan]

Alaska

Theater: I was very disappointed in the theater. I was expecting a different show each night but 2 of the the shows were repeated and the hypnotist was boring. The other lounges with entertainment were very crowded.

 

 

Dining: Lido deck is poorly laid out and very congested. Food choices good but nothing special.

Main dining: We were bothered every night by sale pitches.

(champagne breakfast, special drinks, glasses, bottled water, art auction)

I wanted to enjoy my dinner and not feel pressured to buy something.

 

The stateroom staff was the best. They were all very friendly.

 

Alaska is beautiful.

 

 

 

 

Agreed about the theater. In June we had the same experience.

Also have to agree about the Lido deck layout...but all large Princess ships are similar.

Sales pitches continued into the HC as well...but we just said no thanks and realized that they we doing their job (and if enough other people purchased...our future cruises would stay cheap;))

Cannot wait to go back to Alaska...DW & I are taking my parents who have been to all of the other 49 states but not Alaska..

Thank you again for the review

[NotWthOutablcony]

Thanks for the review, sorry you had a bad experience, the Sapphire is our favorite ship! I believe everyone about the sales pitches, because many have mentioned them, though on our last cruise on the Star (which we weren't too fond of) we didn't get ANY sales pitches, it was weird! We had to hunt down the coffee cards, and the soda cards were really only being advertised at the little stands they set up. It was crazy! A liquer card? How does that work? Is it good for X amount of drinks? Shots only?

[billet]

Thanks for the review. Just back from the same trip. I thought the Sapphire staff were excellent and we were only once asked about the Champagne breakfast. It seemed to be a well managed ship. We were anytime dining and never had an issue with any of the wait staff, food was served quickly and IMO was excellent. Sabatini's was the best I have been in. We alternated between the Princess theatre, Club Fusion and Explorer's lounge and found lots to entertain. I have no idea about the hypnotist since I was on stage :) The Wheelhouse had an exceptional band (Xtasea) and a busy dance floor. I somehow missed all the congestion, our stateroom was on Lido deck and travelling with a wheelchair from stateroom to HC was painless other than opening the double doors at the forward end of the pool which are not automatic like the Crown Princess.

 

There was an issue with Canadian Immigration that delayed disembarkation. The onboard process was well organized and it was a shame it then got completely screwed by a third party. We were due to disembark at 9:45 and disembarked on time, then hit the long immigration line. The wheelchair saved us standing in line too long but there was certainly a significant and unusual delay.

 

The scenery was spectacular and I would do the cruise again at the drop of a hat if someone will cover my onboard bill!