Sapphire Princess Reviews

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Embark at the port of Los Angeles was a breeze. We have previously cruised out of San Pedro on Carnival and that was a nightmare. Princess has done a wonderful job with moving passengers quickly through this process. My husband dropped me at curbside with our luggage and a porter was there instantly and away went the luggage. We were boarding within 45 minutes of arriving. Upon walking on board my husband said to no one in particular" I wonder if our cabin is ready" We were met with a smile and a big "Yes, of course your cabin is ready for you". Our cabin, located on Aloha deck 12, had a completely covered balcony. We had changed our reservation previously to ensure this privacy. What a lovely cabin it was, clean and spacious with plenty of storage room. Our room steward was a personable young man with a can do spirit. He kept our cabin spotless for the entire week. The bed was comfortable and we both slept very well every night. The ship is beautiful and very clean. It has an casual elegance to it. We loved the Piazza area in the afternoons. What a great space, with the street performers and the pizza and wine bar, just wonderful. The art gallery was beautiful as well. The International Cafe was a favorite spot for delicious sandwiches and desserts.

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Okay, here's the scoop: my wife and I flew to LAX on 4/26, stayed two nights on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, hopped on the Sapphire Princess on 4/28 and sailed to Santa Barbara, San Francisco, San Diego and Ensenada. We had an inside cabin (B422) and Anytime Dining. Check-in at the San Pedro pier was pretty painless; we arrived at around noon and were on board in about 45 minutes. As far as the ship is concerned, I wasn't expecting much. I've never liked the exterior of these ships (although it grew on me....a little), and photos of Sapphire's interiors didn't really do much for me. To my surprise, she was actually quite nice inside....yep, some areas were a bit sterile, some a bit tacky, but others were downright beautiful. I was surprised how sleek and contemporary many of the remodeled rooms were...some would fit perfectly in a Celebrity ship. Overall, I had no problems with a bulk of the interior decor. I will say that Sapphire Princess is one of the best maintained ships I have ever been on. For a vessel built in 2004, she looks as if she came from the shipyard just yesterday. Of course I know she just spent some time in dry dock, but even areas they didn't touch looked brand-new. The one remodel that's a total failure is the Horizon Court buffet. This is, by far, the worst design I have ever seen (even worse than QM2's King's Court). On each side of the ship are eleven or twelve individual food stations....all within an area of about 30 by 20ft. During meal times it was always crowded, and people constantly ran into one another. There were really no lines, it was just a free-for-all. Unfortunately the food left a lot to be desired. Hot food in the Horizon Court was lukewarm at best, and the selection was completely whacked out: pork and bean SANDWICHES? Really? Rock-hard, golf ball-sized biscuits with nacho cheese sauce for breakfast? Really? Their attempt at Indian dishes was somewhat laughable...simply adding curry to something doesn't make it Indian food. The pizza, burgers, fries, etc. out on deck were very good and, throughout the ship, desserts were excellent. I did find it funny that, at the ice cream bar, called 'Sundaes', there was not one sundae to be had. The specialty pizza in the atrium was also very good. The Anytime Dining worked out well. The Sapphire has four anytime dining rooms (5:30-9pm) and we tried all four. We liked the decor of the Vivaldi Dining Room the best so we ate there multiple times. The menu is the same in all four dining rooms, the exception being that each one has its own signature dish. In all dining rooms the quality of the beef was disappointing; nearly every steak I ordered had 'silver skin' running through it. During the first night at dinner, our waiter noticed me struggling with my steak and he walked over and said, "Let me get you another one"; I didn't even say anything, he knew. On the flipside, the pasta dishes were very good....the veal-stuffed ravioli in a mushroom wine sauce was outstanding. We ate at Sabatini's on the first formal night ($20 per person), and it was only marginally better than the main dining rooms. Service was just about the same. All in all, I'm not sure I would pay the $40 again; it certainly wasn't anything like the incredible experience we had in Millennium's Olympic Restaurant. We sat through four tunes of the "Do You Wanna Dance" production show before the sharps and flats got the best of me; the lightshow, however, was pretty impressive. With the exception of the pianist, live music throughout the ship was very good. There were two live bands on board, a heavier rock band (Indigo) and another band (name escapes me) that played the standards. I really liked both, although Indigo seemed to be just a bit on the heavy side for the mostly 70-plus crowd. By far the biggest asset Princess has going for it (at least on the Sapphire) is the staff. Service throughout the ship was nothing short of excellent, and unlike some of the crew on our last cruise (Carnival), they were always smiling and very courteous. I have no qualms about the service at all. Since I now have Elite status with Princess I received a lot of perks: free mini-bar set up, free laundry, wine tastings, etc. I also received 150 free minutes of internet time. Problem was the internet service was so slow that I wasted probably a third of the time just waiting for the thing to move. However, the perks were nice to have, and since I always have my clothes pressed on board, I saved quite a bit. I have to say, out of 43 cruises, I have never seen such a concentrated number of walkers, electric scooters, canes and wheelchairs. At night, after most of the passengers had gone to bed (which was understandably early), at least one or two electric scooters were parked in every stair/elevator landing. I mean I've been on cruises plenty of times when my fellow passengers were on the older side, but wow, not like this. To be honest, I don't think a good portion of these people should have been on a cruise....many looked like they could have kicked-off had a good, stiff breeze came by. Santa Barbara was pretty cool, although all we did was walk to the charming downtown area (about a 15 minute walk) and did some browsing in a few of the eclectic shops. While in San Francisco, Seven Seas Navigator and Norwegian Pearl were there. About Norwegian Pearl: much to what I'm sure was her passengers' disappointment, she docked miles away, near the Bay Bridge. Not much around it. Sapphire Princess and the Regent ship both docked right in the heart of San Francisco, very close to Fisherman's Wharf. The other thing is that Norwegian Pearl arrived after us and left before we did, so not only does the NCL ship dock far away, her time in port seemed pretty short. We had purchased a hop-on hop-off day pass (strictly as a means of getting around the city) and it worked out very well. We went to the Palace of Fine Arts (which was a personal goal for me as it was a favorite place of a dear friend who passed away earlier this year) and then hopped back on the bus and got off at the Golden Gate Bridge. We walked over the bridge to the first tower and then the vertigo took over. After that we headed to the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park, Chinatown (10 minutes of that was enough), Lombard Street and then back to Fisherman's Wharf. We went on an hour- long cruise of SF Bay and then headed back to the ship. On the way, we stopped at Frank's Nautical Collectibles and I found a treasure-trove of reasonably priced ocean liner items....among other things I bought a French Line CGT cup and a silver-plated ashtray from the second class smoking room on Europa (1930)... $30 for both! San Diego was a blast. A good friend, a fellow Cincinnatian who moved out to SD years ago, met us at the pier and we spent the day romping around the city. We visited Balboa Park and then drove to La Jolla to see the spectacular views. He also took us to Point Loma to see the Cabrillo memorial, which sits high up on a cliff....more incredible views. After lunch we made our way back to the ship, said our goodbyes and then my wife and I walked over to see the u.s.s. Midway. I was happy to discover the USO tribute to Bob Hope which, being a sentimental sap was quite emotional for me. Last stop was Ensenada. Since I had already been there, and my wife had no desire to head into town, we just walked around the dock and took some photos. While we were in San Diego and Ensenada, the Semester at Sea ship, the former Olympic Explorer (now just Explorer) was docked close by. It was my first time seeing one of the two ships in the class and, to be honest, I loved the exterior. It had such a sense of speed about it...very cool. Disembarkation back in San Pedro was a breeze. We purchased the transfer to LAX while we were on the ship and it worked out well. We were off the ship, on the bus and at the airport within an hour. Overall it was a great trip. The ship was nice, service was great, we loved the itinerary and I understand that food is always subjective. I do have to eat a little crow in that I had always believed that Princess was notorious for nickel and diming people to death...not so (at least not on this cruise). Sure they had the typical watch sales, spa specials, etc., but they were never in your face about it. In that regard, it was very 'un-Carnival'. One last thing: the Cruise Director was on the television, non-stop, telling people about what was going on, telling jokes, etc......but NOT ONCE DID I SEE THE GUY. I came away thinking that maybe he wasn't even on board. I mean out of seven days you'd think I'd see him at least once. Never. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining; the last thing I want to be subjected to is a totally obnoxious Cruise Director, but this was just weird.

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Sapphire Princess -- California Coastal Cruise -- April 28 --> May 5, 2012 First a little about me. This is my twentieth cruise overall, my second on Princess and my first on the Sapphire Princess. In response to someone who wanted more details I began writing my reviews while on the ship. Normally I begin my review while waiting to board the plane. But this time I am not flying. I started packing Saturday morning a little after 7:00am and finished packing a little before 9:00am. I use a packing checklist which makes it fairly easy. So the only thing I forgot were the luggage tags which I obtained at the port (note to self -- add the luggage tags to the check list). I left home at about 10:20am and was parked at the cruise terminal by 11:10am. So now I'm beginning my review after dinner on the embarkation day. One thing I don't like about this cruise is the first day is not a day at sea. And, just as bad, the last day is not a day at sea either. We will visit Santa Barbara on Sunday, spend Monday at sea, visit San Francisco on Tuesday, spend Wednesday at sea, visit San Diego on Thursday, visit Ensenada on Friday, and return home on Saturday. This is a group cruise. I haven't had the best of luck with my group cruises. The cruises have always been great, but one thing or another has popped up pre cruise. One of the two reasons I was interested in this cruise was I that I wanted to go on this cruise so I could meet the travel agent I booked with (the other reason is I want to sail into San Francisco under the Golden Gate Bridge). Although the travel agent I booked with is not my normal travel agent, I've had the chance to read her posts on one of the cruise forums I belong to and I've had the chance to speak to her on the phone. I have nothing but respect for her. Unfortunately, about a month prior to the cruise, she died. I'll never get the chance to meet her. She was a special person and while I'm richer for knowing her, I'm poorer for never having the opportunity to meet her. I spent a lot of time taking lots of pictures (over 1800) and I want to post many of them (over 200). So it is going to take me several posts to completely post my review with the pictures. I don't know how many people will post while I am posting, but I figure it will take me 36 posts to finish, so bear with me. For those that are interested, the review is over 9700 words (14 1/2 type written pages). For those reading this review in the review section, I cannot post the photos in the review section. Instead at the end I'll provide a link to the photographs. I also took some video, and if I figure out how to post the videos, I will. Saturday, April 28 -- Embarkation day Check in was a snap. There was no one in line ahead of me. Princess assigns passengers a boarding number after you checked in. I was in group four. I don't recall how long it was until I was able to board because I found someone from the group and was talking to them the whole time (and thus not looking at my watch). Actually a person from the group found me. I was wearing a duck cap given to me by the travel agent I booked with and so I kind of stuck out. I've never meet any of the people in the group. Basically we are a group of people who post on a cruise forum. They are however a great bunch of people. At any rate my bad luck with group cruises continued. When I received my room key it had the wrong time for my dining (it shows early traditional and I want late or Personal Choice). As I'm walking away from the check in counter a Princess employee sees me shaking my head. She asks what is wrong and I explain the wrong dining time is listed. She tells me how to fix it. While I was not upset by this (I was only shaking my head because I noticed the error, not because I was upset) I do have to give this person (and Princess) credit for caring. Again, I did not go to her nor did I say anything. It was, at the time, simply an issue I would have to take care of once I boarded the ship. While waiting to board another member of the group came over to me and apparently the error in the dining time was not limited just to me. So he said he would take care of it, and he did. That said, I do have to say that I am not a fan of flexible dining and the two reasons for this will present themselves before the day is over. First of all, without a set dining time you have to get several people to agree on a time and place (there are four Personal Choice restaurants on the Sapphire Princess). Experience has taught me that this is not all that easy, and tonight was no exception. Finally we agreed on a time (more or less). The other reason I don't like flexible dining is that it has been my experience that the service is not as good, and tonight's service was not up to the standard I am used to when being served by the same wait staff for the entire week. Yes, I know it was the first night, but that is one of the problems with flexible dining. Every night is the first night with whichever waiter and assistant waiter team you end up with. Please understand, after all is said and done, the issues I have mentioned don't subtract from the cruise, they just don't add to the cruise. Positive experiences do add to the cruise, just like the lady who took an interest in me after check in. At any rate, once I boarded the ship I headed to my cabin. Yes, the cabins were ready and it was before 1:00pm (I don't recall the exact time, but it was before 1:00pm). After putting my carry-ons in the cabin I began to tour the ship. I started on the top most forward deck and worked my way aft. My goal at this point is picture taking. I knew I would eventually find the food and when I did I had lunch (more or less a little of several different things). Finally I found the pizza station. I asked for one slice and he gave me two. I held up one finger (if I had touched the plate he would not be able to take the extra piece back). I had already been grazing (some lunch meat, a couple of chicken wings, two sandwiches, some cheese, a milkshake and shrimp) so I wasn't all that hungry by the time it came to the pizza (which I ended up eating on my balcony). About this time the cabin steward showed up and said hello. I asked for ice (I always ask for ice). One of my two suitcases also arrived. Then the phone rang. Apparently the group was having an impromptu get together on deck five and down I went (my cabin is on deck ten). We have scheduled a get together at 5:00pm, but this meeting was a spur of the moment idea (and a good one at that -- as this is the first time we have all meet). Soon it is time for the muster drill. We carry our lift vests to our muster station (the Pacific Theatre for me) and get scanned in. After the muster drill I go upstairs to put away my life vest and head to the Outrigger bar for the first of two sail-away parties (two different roll call groups). While there I note that as we pass the break water we turn right -- a first for me (this is the eighth time I have sailed out of Los Angeles -- all of the other cruises headed south). Then at 5:00pm I head over to the Wheelhouse Bar to meet with the group I am traveling with, which apparently includes our new travel agent, who has convinced most of the group that she didn't get off the ship in time with the rest of the visitors. I too was fooled even though I should know better. I've been on several ship tours and the cruise lines keep tract of visitors the same way they keep tract of passengers. In fact, just like the passengers, visitors have to provide information to the cruise line in advance of the visit. You cannot just show up at the dock and visit for a few hours. While talking to someone the subject of fuel usage came up. The person I was talking to mentioned that the QE2 (I wonder if he meant the QM2 as the QE2 is retired) gets only six inches per gallon. I know this is false and I tell him. He is not convinced. So I explain, at six inches per mile that comes to over 10,500 gallons per mile (actually 10,580 gallons). It is about 3,500 miles from New York to London. So that would require over 35 million gallons of fuel. Even at fifty cents per gallon that comes to over $17,500,000. I don't know how many people the QE2 holds, but it is less than the 2600 the QM2 holds. At $3,000 per person (I am sure the average is less) that is only $7,800,000. That is less than half of the alleged fuel consumption. Simply put the ship gets a lot more than six inches per gallon. I believe the figure is actually about 50 feet per gallon, which is one hundred times better than the alleged figure, bringing the fuel costs down to a more reasonable $875,000 (at $2.50 per gallon - I don't know how much the ships pay, given that they buy in bulk - kind of like shopping at Costco). At any rate, here is where the fun begins for dinner. We decided to all eat together. But of course not everyone agrees on what time. Eventually we agree to meet back in thirty minutes and see what the restaurant can do for us. When I return to the cabin I note that my second bag has arrived and I unpack both bags, which pretty much fills up the half hour for me. Then I head back down for dinner. As I enter the elevator the push buttons are to the right. To my left is a three year old boy who is very excited to have an ice cream. However, I'm looking to the right and I don't see him. Suddenly there is this (for lack of a better term) scream to my left. This startles me and I jump a bit, which of course gives everyone else in the elevator a good laugh. Now I am looking to my left and I see this small boy with a chocolate mustache and beard holding out his prized ice cream cone for me to see. No question that he is enjoying the cruise. In fact I am pleasantly surprise at the number of kids on this cruise (I would guess thirty to forty), which is a lot for Princess during a school time cruise. My last cruise was pretty much devoid of kids as it was twelve nights during March. The kids add a little extra energy to the cruise and I enjoy a little extra energy. Unlike most school time cruise passengers, I don't mind being splashed in the pool (given that I am already wet) and sometimes have a little fun retaliating. I have taught myself how to put my hands together under water then bring my hands completely out of the water and by squeezing my hands together I can squirt the water about twelve feet. Most kids have never seen this before and are quiet surprised when I get them back that way. At any rate soon we have two tables (an eight top plus a four top) for the twelve of us. Most of us enjoy dinner. However, one member of the group orders what he believes is a Cajun dish and when it arrives it has none of the Cajun spices. He describes it is like having the food in brown gravy. He asks the waiter, who of course is not American, for some Cajun spices and the waiter doesn't understand what Cajun spices are. So the waiter gets the head waiter who doesn't understand what is being asked of him either. Doing his best under the circumstances, the head waiter offers anything else on the menu. However, everyone else is at least half way done with their dinner and our group member doesn't want to start all over and hold everyone up. Finally someone suggests adding some Tabasco sauce. That is something the head waiter knows about and off he goes to get a bottle of Tabasco sauce. I'm eating a very small steak (two very small filet mignon steaks shaped like a hamburger) from the alternative choice menu. I didn't realize that the alternative menu is the one that appears every night; nonetheless it works out well for me, since I am not that hungry. The steak is okay, not great and not bad. At any rate I look up to see the head waiter returning with one small bottle of Tabasco sauce on a silver platter. I'm not kidding; he is carrying this one tiny bottle of Tabasco sauce like it was the featured item of the meal. After dinner I check out the shops onboard. All I am really interested in doing is checking out what is available and getting back to my cabin to work on this. I have been running around most of the afternoon in the sun taking pictures and I am tired. So, until tomorrow morning -- good night. Sunday, April 29 -- Santa Barbara I wake up at 6:00am and the sunrise is nothing special. However, it is happening just outside my balcony door so I take a few pictures just to prove I was there. I've got an 8:30am wine tasting tour so after working on this for a while it is time to get ready. First I have a power breakfast consisting of one banana (no monkeying around). Then it is off to the Princess Theater where we meet before getting on the tender to the pier. This is our only tender port. Once on shore we are directed to a white bus where the tour guide informs us that we are at the wrong bus. There is another white bus and again we are told it is the wrong bus. Finally it takes a Princess employee to get everything straightened out. The people on the first white bus somehow convinced the tour guide that they belonged on that bus and they didn't. So they had to off load and then we loaded on the bus and began our tour. The tour was one of the best tours I have ever been on (and one of the most expensive at $155). We visited two places, both very different and both very enjoyable. First was a wine club operated by someone who obviously enjoys fine wine. His club features very highly rated wines and provided the best advice I have heard for pairing wine with food. Eat what you like and drink what you like. We were able to sample six wines (one white the rest red), all from California. He grows grapes but does not bottle them himself. The area he lives in is beautiful. I noticed that someone in our group had a very nice camera setup and seemed more interested in taking pictures than participating in the tour. I asked if he was one of the ship photographers and he is. I asked if his footage would end up in the Reflections DVD and he said yes, so I'll likely buy it. Next we visited a commercial winery. The growing season just started so no bottling was going on. It is interesting how little is involved in making the wine. There is a press for squeezing the graphs and big vats where the grape juice turns into wine -- and that is it. We were given the chance to sample eight wines, three white, three red and two desert wines. After that we enjoyed a nice trip back to the ship. Given that Santa Barbara is only about one hour from where I live, I really was not interested in doing any souvenir shopping (which I did on an earlier land visit about two years ago). So I took the first tender back and then had lunch. After lunch I uploaded my photographs and then worked on this. It is around this time that I realize that I am so confused by all the dinner switching around that I have no idea what or where I am now assigned. I may just go buffet tonight. Tomorrow night our travel agent has arranged a dinner at the Sterling Steak House, at which time I'll find out what is what. Speaking of pictures, I am traveling light this time (if you don't count the tripod). On my last cruise I realized that I took most of my pictures with the 16 -- 85 zoom lens. So I bought an 18 -- 105 zoom lens and left the 55 -- 200 zoom at home. I want to see how it works out. For travel off the ship I take a point and shoot camera that is small enough to fit in my pocket. I am not real interested in lugging around a DSLR with me while on a tour. I hope to put the tripod to good use much later tonight on the ship. While I am spell checking my review the phone rings. Now I have a new plan for dinner. One member of the group I am with made reservations for 8:00pm at the Savoy Restaurant and I have been invited. One of the things I like is that the embarkation Patter (the ship's newspaper) lists the dress code for the week, the dining room hours for the week and the itinerary. This is very helpful in my opinion and I referred to it at each port. So, with my evening now planned, I'm going do some photo editing. If I feel up to it, I'll catch the production show after dinner. It starts at 10:15pm (given that I'll be eating during the earlier show). Dinner in the Savoy restaurant was great. Good service and good food. I had the Surf & Turf. Apparently one of the waiters recognized one of the couples I was eating with. They said he was a great waiter, so now we have reservations for his table at 8:00pm on Tuesday (San Francisco). Monday is a sea day and we will be enjoying dinner in Sterling's Steakhouse at 6:00pm thanks to our travel agent. After dinner four of us head over to the Princess Theater for the production show, Do You Wanna Dance. The show was very good, though I prefer a little more energy. After that it is back to the cabin to update this and edit a few photographs. Then I have plans to sneak out around 1:00am with my tripod and see if I can get some good photographs. The seas are fairly calm, and we are not moving that fast. Also, the fog has rolled in which makes it rather nice in my opinion. I'm not sure why I feel that way. Maybe because of the mystery, 'cause I can't see a thing outside. It is gray on top and black on the bottom, except right next to the ship where the lights highlights the waves the ship is making as we move through the water.

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Sapphire Princess -- Our First Princess Cruise -- Very Pleasant Hawaiian Experience This cruise was our 17th in the past twelve years and our first on Princess. The cruise met our expectations and makes us want to cruise Princess again. Our overall impression is that while Princess doesn't discount its prices too much, and although other cruise lines offer better deals, we ended up feeling that Sapphire delivered a better experience in selected areas ... from the very good food in Horizon Court (Lido) buffet, and excellent entertainment ship-wide, to the very friendly and responsive cruise service. Hotel- Night before cruise/shuttle to ship: We flew into LAX from Philadelphia the night before and stayed at the Travelodge LAX on Century Blvd. which was an outdated, very run down property. We woke up to a completely flooded bathroom and hallway floor because a pipe in the wall from the upstairs room had burst. Since we checked in at 1 am and had spent less than 8 hours there, the hotel should have offered some form of decent discount. William the manager, offered only $12 off the room for the aggravation and we told him to keep it ... he obviously needed the money more than we did. We took the Super Shuttle from LAX (thirty four dollars for two) and got to the ship in about 25 minutes ... pretty quick because it was a Saturday and there was little traffic on the freeways. Embarkation: While we walked right in at 11:00 am and checked in immediately, we were held in a waiting area for an hour and a half before we were allowed to walk onto the ship. This long wait was unacceptable, and much more time than we have had to wait for entry onto other ships. The only positive is that we were allowed to go directly to our cabin, without any other waiting time. First Impressions of Ship: Our cabin on deck 10 (Caribe) aft, near the aft elevators had not been updated during the recent dry-dock ... and we were disappointed that it had not been part of the makeover. Furniture, bedding (slightly swayed) carpeting, etc. look to be from the 2004 timeframe. Layout was ok ... square room, no couch, two chairs, very large closet in hallway adjacent to bathroom which is the old style, with very tight shower. All was very functional and acceptable especially the great amount of storage. We had a very large balcony which is half covered; half open to the deck above. Aft location is very convenient for access to Horizon Court, directly above on Deck 14, and the International Dining Room (deck 6) if you have scheduled seating's at dinner. If you have anytime dining, aft cabin location is not as convenient as the aft elevators have blockages on decks 5 and 6. You have to go to deck 7 midship and take a second elevator to floors 5 or 6 where the four available anytime dining rooms are located. A mild pain, but we got used to it. Everything, except phone service in our room was very acceptable. Our hand set kept malfunctioning and had to be replaced. Our cabin steward Carlito, gave us great service except the last night when he forgot to make up the room completely. We still gave him a great rating on the ship's post cruise questionnaire we received by email. The recent dry-dock renovations were mostly to common areas on decks 5, 6.7. The ship's dining rooms and lounges were nicely updated and looked like those of a new ship. Horizon Court Buffet: Horizon Court is actually two, split rooms, each with its own serving stations on which you wait in line. Seating is not ample for the size of the ship and without fail you had to share a table at each and every meal. What does work nicely in Horizon Court, and like no other ship is that napkins and tableware are on the table and you are served your beverages, which usually came soon after you sat down. It was a blessing not to have to go and stand on line to get beverages, after being on line for food service. Because the seating area in H.C. is limited, wait staff does a terrific job of cleaning plates, tables to make way for passengers. The best we have ever seen on any cruise ship. The quality of preparation, variety of food in Horizon Court was uniquely the best we have ever experienced on any of the 17 cruises. Even breakfast managed to be creative (with as many as five different ways that eggs were prepared). There is literally a bakery shop across from the main food buffet which is more than tempting. While breads were terrific, desserts were disappointing in taste. Most had chocolate flavoring. There were a few exceptions ... terrific, plain Napoleons ... real deal with buttery filo and real French cream. If you like quiche, you'll be in heaven as it is usually offered at every meal, and the warm version in small, one person baked cups is sensational. Frequently, they offered real Genoa salami and on the last formal night, real prosciutto -- great quality. Pastas are also a strong suit at Horizon Court. Terrific sauces (pomodoro tomato and Alfredo), pasta cooked al dente. At lunch and dinner there were carving stations, twice with divine, encrusted tenderloin and many other cuts of pork, turkey, chicken, lamb. Great, thin crust pizza is served until 11 pm on deck 14, Lido. While there is a separate Pizza restaurant on deck 5, this is dedicated to personal pan pizza, which is just not as good as the pizza on deck14. The most important take-way from Horizon Court is that it delivered wonderful, creative dishes, and a terrific variety that kept you coming for 14 days, and not feeling it was the same old, boring repeated dishes as happens on other ships. Thanks to Horizon Court, this cruise was truly an "eat-a-thon". Formal Dining Rooms: We selected anytime dining rather than fixed seating. While the system worked, we had to learn that it is better not to follow explicit instructions. There are four anytime dining rooms Vivaldi, Savoy, Pacific Moon, Santa Fe and each is smaller than the usual dining rooms on most ships, but more intimate and each is decorated in a completely different style. All except Vivaldi were available for dining from 5:30 to10:00 pm. Vivaldi is fixed dining, up until 8 pm, then is anytime dining, afterwards. You are encouraged to call and make a reservation each night. However when we called the first three nights, we could not get a reservation until after 8 pm in any of the anytime dining rooms. We quickly learned that it was not necessary to call ahead and you could be seated almost immediately, at the time you wanted. There is obviously a flaw in the reservation system ... so avoid it. Food in the formal dining rooms was not as good as Horizon Court, something we have never experienced on any ship. Entrees and desserts were very disappointing. However, breads (ship wide) were among the best we have ever experienced. Things to do aboard ship/entertainment: Since there were eight sea days, the Princess Patter (daily newsletter) was extremely important guide to the large amount of offerings of things to do. From free Zumba classes to lectures to Movies under the Stars (day and night) there was something for everyone. We only wished that there was more of a selection of movies, especially in the Princess Theatre, daily. Shopping was subpar compared to other ships, including quality and variety. There were too many cheaply made items that made it hard to buy even if one was tempted to spend money. This is an area that needs to be improved. Billy and Bex (Director and Assist Cruise Director) are very visible as is their staff. They honestly tried very hard to provide terrific entertainment and a lot of fun when you visited the ship's common areas. There were three terrific major song and dance productions, which was clearly not enough for 14 days of cruising. However, there were also great forms of entertainment in the lounges (Indigo -- Irish and Bulgarian singers who drew large crowds and Linda Gentile (Fabulous pianist -- Liberace protegee), among other acts that filled in nicely for the lack of enough major productions. As swimmers, we always cringe at how small the pools are on most ships. Not so on Sapphire. The Calypso Pool, under a permanent glass roof is at least 16' x 32' and delivers a wave action on sea days. The other pool, Neptune, is a little smaller and is in the adjacent, open air area on the Lido deck. Each day there were very interesting lectures and port reviews prior to landing were excellent including great maps and written details. The only problem is that they never had enough hand out to attendees and if you were late, you were out of luck, because you could not get the same handout at guest services, nor the eve before the port arrival (delivered to your room). The best port maps were only handed out at lectures/ Ports: Having been to Hawaii before, we did not do any of the ships tours, which like other ships. are outrageously priced. In Honolulu, we did book the Hop ON Hop off bus on line with Viator ($52 for two) before sailing and took the pleasant bus ride all over Oahu which included transportation to Pearl Harbor. Note: we did not visit the Arizona, which we did years earlier. Had we wanted to go we would have booked the free tickets that are available on line, many weeks before the sailing. Getting in the last minute to this memorial is tough to do. You can also take a local bus from the mall in Waikiki for only$1 for seniors that provide a 3-4 hour ride all over Honolulu, which we also did not do. In Hilo and Lanai there is not much to see in town or nor to shop for. Tours are highly recommended there. We went to the local beach right by a shopping mall in Lanai (right in front of Marriott-Lanai) and were somewhat disappointed by the greenish, cold water. Marriott does have a lovely site, and like all other beach areas in all of Hawaii, all beaches are considered public and allow access to anyone. In Maui, we walked up and down the streets of Lahaina, viewed the local craft show by the 150 year old Banyan tree and simply enjoyed the ambiance of this great area. In retrospect, we wished we had taken the local bus to Kaanapali beach, just three miles away and spent the day there. For some reason, the ship is required to stop at a foreign port before landing back at Los Angeles (San Pedro). It stopped in Ensenada for a few hours. We took the shuttle bus to town ($3 pp RT) and walked the streets filled with vendors. It was very run down and didn't feel safe. We gave it an hour and went back to the ship. There were some nice shops right at Port and in retrospect we would have just shopped there. Disembarkation: Since we had an 11:15 am flight we chose the walk-off option and got ourselves assigned to the first group. This turned out to be organized chaos. We had to drag our bags mid-ship to Explorers lounge which was a nightmare of people (we were told that 700 chose this option) and many could not fit into the lounge, yet one of the crew harangued the crowd and constantly forced people to drag their bags into the already filled lounge as to not cause blockage of the walkways. We were left with the feeling that unless and until people forced themselves to go into the lounge, the crew was not going to let anyone off???? Sequestering the first group --- walk-offs - to mid ship made no sense as we actually left from the aft door immediately outside Fusion lounge, at the back of the ship. Although it was announced that the ship was cleared for disembarkation at 8:00 am they did not let the first group go off until 8:45 am. Had it not been for the fact that it was a Saturday and the traffic on the freeways back to LAX was light, we would have missed our flight due to this 45 minute wait in the Explorers Lounge... We had to take a cab (not Super Shuttle) to get to the airport in time. Cost $57 ... which by the way can be split by 4-6 people, depending on the size of the cab? Princess needs to improve both Embarkation and Disembarkation. This clearly is a weak point for Sapphire. Overall the ship delivered a pleasant experience .... But at a price, since Princess does not discount very much these days, compared to other lines. In retrospect, because the food was so good in Horizon Court, we would consider taking another cruise on Princess, especially since the service was so good, especially since the crew seems to go to great extent to ensure a pleasant cruise. One final word about a Pacific Cruise. This was our first Pacific Cruise ever. We were so surprised that the seas were so rough, in April. The first two days going and coming from Hawaii were extremely rough, beyond our expectations. While we had read less than positive reviews about January and February Pacific transits, we thought that by April, the seas would be settled. Not the case. It was nice to have a covered pool (Calypso) on those rough days, although the crew had to shut both pools down for several hours each of those days due to the rough seas.

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This was our 14th cruise, and our 3rd cruise to Hawaii. We sailed with our deaf son, age 44, and his deaf wife, age 35. We are in our mid 60's but we are pretty lively, personality wise. We booked through our friend/TA, and all our shore excursions were ships tours. I really want to commend PCL for their outstanding customer service with regards to assisting our deaf DS and DIL. Their stateroom was set up with the telephone and signaling devices prior to our arrival, and PCL provided sign language interpreters for them for some of their shipboard activities and the shore excursions. Outstanding. We drove to San Pedro the day prior to the cruise and stayed at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Great place to stay. We left our car in their underground, secured parking for the cruise at $10 per day. The hotel provided a shuttle to and from the cruise terminal at no cost. They were waiting for us. We never had to wait for them. We did arrive at the terminal early-at 11 AM, as we had to check out of the hotel then. I do have mobility issues. Sitting for long periods, alot of walking, or standing is a problem. I brought my DVM issued paper designating me as a disabled driver ( I can walk, and don't use a cane, walker or wheelchair for cruises). Don't use the blue placard, use the official paper from DMV. This allowed me to get into boarding group 1. Wedding parties boarded first, then Elite and Suite passengers. After them, Group 1 boarded. We were called at 1PM. Our staterooms were ready and our luggage arrived within 20-30 minutes after we boarded. Exceptionally fast ! We went up to Lido buffet for lunch, even though I had wanted to eat at Sapphire's new International Cafe. The IC was to become my favorite place to be. We had a balcony cabin--category BD B701. Yes the Baja deck balconies are smaller, but I wanted a fully covered balcony in Hawaii due to a sun sensitivity. We did use the balcony alot even though this was the roughest crossing we have had, and some days very windy. We actually didn't think it was that bad, but others did, and there were some 'barf bags' by the elevators coming home. B701 is near the aft elevators, which was great for dinner but most of our activity was near the bow. I would choose a mid-ship balcony next time. Also, there is a gap and some decks that don't go through which was confusing. We learned that deck 7 goes all the way through and used it mostly. We had the queen bed confiquration. There was enough storage in the room and bathroom, and a nice closet between those 2 rooms. No sofa or loveseat, but a chair. Also a vanity/desk with a huge mirror and chair. Two night stands. The hairdryer was by the desk, but I didn't like it. I was happy I brought my own. Bathroom was adequate, but small, and had enough space for us. PCL has tiny showers, and unlike HAL, no tub in the balcony cabins. It was good enough. Bathroom amenities were shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and soap--pretty good stuff too. Rolando was our cabin steward and he was great. Once our shower backed up and once we had no water in the toilet. He had those taken care of within an hour. Also, we never had that sewer smell in the bathroom that some ships have. There were very few of those annoying ship announcements, and photographers were around at embarkation, formal nights and shore excursions. One of the FEW issues I had was the lack of variety with the buffet meals, however the food was good. The buffet had the most awesome desserts !!!! My favorites were the bread pudding, the fruit tarts, and of course the chocolate chip cookies. We opted for early traditional dining, which was at 5:30. That was a bit early, but we couldn't wait until 2nd seating which was at 8:30. We like traditional, so I can't comment on the any time dining. Everyone in that dining room was great--from Rui the Maitre'D, Alice, the Food and Beverage Supervisor, to our fantastic waiter, Wanchai, from Thailand. I selected the Gluten/Lactose free dining on my personalizer prior to the cruise. Alice was there every night to help me select things I could eat. On the couple of times I didn't find anything I wanted, she had something special made for me. She was awesome. Most of the GF food was very tasty. The plain white bread was ok, but the GF noodles taste pretty much like paste. I did know that, as I eat them at home. I was just hoping for a miracle. LOL. Our tablemates agreed that the food was pretty good. They did serve Escargot for those who like it--not me--and there was lobster, shrimp, prime rib, lamb, and several fish dishes. We ate all of our dinners in the dining room, breakfast in the buffet, and lunch at the buffet, IC (International Cafe) of poolside pizza. Like I said, the IC was my favorite place to hang out, eat a snack, go to Alfredos Pizza, or to hear entertainment. DH and DS bought coffee cards--$39 I think---and it was well worth it. PCL dining room coffee is pretty bad, but the brewed and speciality coffees and teas were really good. Love that place. Try the chicken salad. It's great. This was our 3rd cruise to Hawaii and we had seen the 'must sees' before,so we opted for something different. Hilo was our first port stop. Hilo is my least favorite port, although DH likes it there. Our tour guide in our small van was Pat. She is so much fun. We repeated our tour of VNP--Volcanoes National Park--which is always informational. The visitors center had been redone since our last trip, and has very nice displays. Part of that tour was the Thurston Lava Tube which we didn't get to see last time. This tour is listed as 'moderate activity' and I wasn't sure I could manage, but figured if I couldn't, I could wait for the others. The Lava Tube is really interesting, but was difficult for me to manage. It is a bit dark with uneven walking surfaces, and water in places. There are some stairs to climb coming back up which were hard for me. DH had a hold of my pants waist and a kind lady was pushing my 'bum' helping me up the stairs. It was quite comical. All in all, this shore excursion is a good one. Honolulu was next, and we took the Oahu North Shore excursion. Much easier for me than VNP although both tours were 6.5 hrs. Darvin was our tour guide, and like Pat in Hilo, he was great. At Turtle Beach, there was a huge green turtle on the beach, sunning herself. Great photo op although I ended up getting a shoe full of seawater. The Dole Pineapple Plantation stop was fun. I'm always down for shopping. Try the pineapple ice cream. Good stuff. DS and DIL took the PCC excursion-Polynesian Cultural Center--and loved it. DS had been before. They had the luau which was great. Loved it. Kauai was next. DH had made plans with our friend for a private golf day. Kauai Lagoons is nearby the terminal. They both brought their own clubs and got back to the ship in plenty of time. His wife and I took the Waimea Canyon tour. Beautiful. It's like looking at a lush green Grand Canyon. We stopped at the Blowhole and saw more huge green turtles in the cove. During our scenic drive, I realized that I really like this island more than I had before. Maui was our last stop. Lahaina has always been a favorite of mine. Weather had been unusually cool this trip, but Lahaina was warm. We took the whale watching ships tour. We boarded our catamaran right from the ship instead of tendering in to the port. New experience for us. We did get to tender back to the ship, and that's always fun for us. Lucky us !!!! WE saw a mama Humpback with her newborn baby. It wasn't yet strong enough to make the trip up to Alaska, so she was hanging out here. There was also a male "escort" waiting around too. Orcas--killer whales--will attack other whales, which put the baby at risk, since most of the other whales had already gone to Alaska. Mama didn't do any big breaching as she was still recovering her strength from the birth. Ensenada was the last stop. We only had 4 hrs there, and only 3 tours offered. We didn't take any as we have been there numerous times. It was cold and very windy, but most everyone got off the ship. We did too, but only stayed in the port shops for awhile and re boarded. One other thing that bugged me, and it is SO SMALL--at our first port, PCL had these cool port photos with nice frames. All the other port photos were 2 crew members holding an anchor or something else. We like those photos for scrapbooks, so I wish they had them at all the ports. Like I said---SMALL !! We all have decided to return to Hawaii in 2015. DS and DIL were a bit bored. Alot of older people. None of us are pool people, and they don't drink, which limits some things. And just for info--there were only 40 children on this cruise. They all looked happy the few times we saw them. So~~~the cruise was very enjoyable. The crew was fantastic. I only had 2 minor, petty, complaints. Sapphire is beautiful and very well maintained. Unlike some other cruisers, I only ran into 1 disagreeable lady. Most people I saw were pleasant. We will go back. I'm sure you will have a very good time. Hope I haven't forgotten anything important. Aloha~~

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