Sign up to our newsletter for all the latest cruise news, reviews, photos and answers...
All these Sapphire Princess Cruises Reviews are written by REAL cruise passengers & we DO NOT moderate or change any of the review. You can agree or disagree by posting up your own comment. If you write your own review we will send you a Fodor's Guide to Cruising for FREE, Visit Some Fantastic Places On APrincess Cruise
We have cruised with Cunard, P & O, Celebrity, Thomson, Ocean Village, Carnival, Princess and Royal Caribbean and it is against this background that this review is constructed. All these lines have their good points as far as we are concerned.
In September we cruised on the Sapphire Princess on a seven day cruise from Seattle to Alaska. Prior to the cruise we spent 3 days in Las Vegas. We chose this cruise for a taste of Alaska as it visited Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway as well as Victoria on the way back to Seattle.
We arrived in Seattle at 9.30 am from Las Vegas and made our way to the Shuttle Express desk in the airport. We had booked a shuttle on line for $36. The shuttle left at 10.20am and arrived at Pier 91 approximately 30 minutes later. We were able to check in immediately and then waited until 11.30am approx when we queued to get on board. The queue was allowed on board at 12 noon. We were allowed to go to our cabin immediately and the cases arrived at about 2pm.
Whilst awaiting our luggage we had lunch in the Horizon Court and found our way around the ship. As in most of these cafeteria areas this was normally very busy and it was a struggle to find a table although on the first day it was relatively easy. It was also badly designed in the food areas as customers had to queue at various stations with limited space. The only ship that we have travelled on that did not have an overcrowding problem in this area was the Celebrity Summit which had island areas. The food in the Horizon Court was good especially the carving station at lunch time.
We chose anytime dining and had the choice of four restaurants to eat in. As we chose the Savoy restaurant on the first evening and were perfectly happy with the service and food we did not bother to try any of the other three. The menu was the same in each restaurant with a speciality dish extra. The speciality dish in the Pacific Moon (Ginger Prawns), The Savoy (Pork chops) and the Santa Fe (Faijitas) and the Vivaldi’s special dish is Osso Bucco. We were able to book a table for 2 which we did on one occasion but found that there was no waiting on any other night although pagers were available. We sat with four different teams of waiters in our week and all were excellent both with the service levels and friendliness.
The choice on the menus was good but there was a section with shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, filet mignon, salmon and chicken breast always available. Interestingly P&O have removed this facility recently (we cruised on Ventura in June). The food waiters also dealt with wine orders which meant that the wine was always ready to drink with the starters. This was an improvement on P&O where the wine waiters appeared to have too many tables to deal with.
We breakfasted in the Horizon Court on 5 days, once in the MDR and once on deck where waffles and omelettes were available. Lunch was taken in the Horizon Court on four occasions but we also had burgers from the deck bar. Another choice was the service on Sea days in the Savoy restaurant of British Pub lunch. We had very nice fish and chips once; I had steak and kidney pie on another day which was very good although my wife’s ploughman’s was disappointing.
Waiter service for drinks in public areas was patchy and considering that the drinks were relatively expensive even before the mandatory 15% service charge this should not be the case. Also a bar promotion started the day we joined the ship which 50% of the bar and waiting staff did not understand from day 1. A minus point in comparison to P&O is that there are no wine packages available.
The cabin that we occupied was outside on a low deck. It was similar to Ventura as there was the separate wardrobe area which we liked. The beds were hard but we asked for egg crate toppers that had been suggested by former cruisers during my research. This made the difference. Cleanliness was good and the steward was very friendly and introduced himself on the first day.
The entertainment team was led by Kelvin Joy (who we discovered lives in Bognor Regis like ourselves). His assistant Matt comes from Portsmouth. They were both funny guys who were very approachable. They had a programme on the cabin television every morning where people from different departments were interviewed and the day’s activities were outlined. This was very amusing.
The main production shows were disappointing as the singers were not good in our opinion. The dancers were good and the costumes and stage sets were impressive. The two groups on the Sapphire Princess that played in the other three entertainment areas were good. One of them, Retrospect was on the Ventura in June. There were two cabaret acts on the cruise which we enjoyed – a comedy magician and a comedy musical act from an ex member of the Beach Boys backing band.
The Ports
Ketchikan – We took a cruise ship tour to Totem Bight Park. This was very interesting and the tour guide also drove the coach. She was very enthusiastic and did not stop talking for the three hours of the trip. The weather was not good here as it rained – luckily not much during our tour of the park but when we arrived back in Ketchikan it was raining heavily. This deterred us from looking around the town which had been our original intention.
Juneau – After researching we decided that we wanted to have a whale watching tour in a small boat. We chose Harv and Marv after reading very good reviews of this organisation. The trip was better than our expectations. The skipper, Shawn was very knowledgeable and took us to an area where we saw 6 Humpback whales and later a mother and baby. This experience was phenomenal as the whales were very close to the boat. The boat itself was very modern and even had leather seats!!! We also were taken to the Mendenhall Glacier for a photo stop – the glacier was pure blue in colour. We saw evidence of a bear at the glacier – the dismembered carcase of a salmon but unfortunately did not see a bear.
We were told that the best time to see bubble netting, orcas, bears and salmon running was June or July. However this trip was amazing.
Skagway – We took the train to the White Pass summit and passed by some tremendous scenery. As the train just comes back without turning around there was a mandatory swapping of seats to the other side of the train to ensure that the customers had equal views – we liked that. The commentary was very good and informative. The conductor shouted that there was a bear by the river but by the time we looked it had gone – perhaps this happens on every trip? After the tour we stayed in Skagway to look around. It is a fascinating town which has aspects of what one would expect in a Western Movie. We had a drink in the Red Onion Saloon which used to be a brothel and our waitress, who was in the costume appertaining to the 19th century and the ambience of the saloon, was from Swindon!!!
Victoria – this was our most disappointing stop. We booked a bus tour that was supposed to start at 7.30pm but did not start until 8pm when it was dark. The tour was poor because we could not see anything apart from street lights. This tour should not be sold this late in the Alaska sailing season.
Embarkation was very smooth. Different categories of customers ( those that wished to self embark, those going on a tour, those who had booked transit to the airport etc and those staying in Seattle) were assigned to different lounges and were then told when to disembark. The cases were in a large hall and were disorganised compared to P&O. However we found our cases and made our way to the organised tour coach. When everybody was on board the coach driver could not start the coach. Another coach was sent for which took half an hour. The tour was around the city, to the Space Needle and then Pike Place market. This took roughly 3 hours before we were dropped at the airport with our luggage.
We enjoyed the cruise overall and would sail in this size ship with Princess again because there was plenty of room overall, service levels and food were good. The ports were good and most of the tours were value for money. We like Princess but prefer Celebrity for the spaciousness, Thomson for their entertainment and P&O for their drink prices.
Quality of Food
Savoy Restaurant at night, Horizon Court for breakfast and lunch
Entertainment
Comedy magician and comedy musician good - resident groups good - singers in show poor
Shore Excursions
Private tour with Harv and Marv excellent - Victoria bus trip poor
Staff
Three of them Pala and Patchie waiters in the Savoy - Emilio cabin steward P207
Children's Facilities
n/a
Onboard Activities
Trivia quizes were good but some people were very competitive
Comment
by Goodison, Maidstone (14 Jan 12 15:41)
about
this REVIEW
Could you give me details of Harv and marv as we ourselves are going from Vancouver on the 26th sept on the shapphire princess. Very interesting and informative review thank you
.jpg_thumb.jpg "Santorini sunset")
Previous Cruise Reviews
