Dutchie13

Thank you for posting! I love reading patters 

We did not get the cups on the Grand in July, but about 4 days into the cruise we found 2 bottles of water in the cabin with a note to apologize for the missing cups.

Yep, getting the same message...

Alfredo's pizza! I usually have the veggie and ask for roasted garlic to be added.... yummie 

The Grand has one of the best outdoor smoking areas that I have seen on a ship. It is on Deck 15 aft outside the wedding chapel. It has lounge chairs with cushioned seats. Really nice to just hang out, talk to fellow cruisers or just sit and read. The opposite side of the deck looks the same, but is smoke-free. 

There is also a cigar lounge "Snookers" that has bar service in the evening and sports on TV. It wasn't very busy in there on our last cruise (Alaska in July).

There are also the usual places to smoke, like deck 7 Aft, outside the Vista lounge, Casino (only dedicated slot machines, not on Formal nights) and the night club after 10pm.

Have fun!

On the Grand to Alaska in July, they did distribute the bags

We were on the Grand in July and had a great cruise. Yes, it is an older ship, but she seems to be in fine condition. We had no problems with plumbing or otherwise.

We like the layout of the Grand as it is not too big and doesn't feel crowded.

I must say that we were dissapointed with the food in the Horizon Court (buffet restaurant). It was very repetitive and also a bit bland. Not what we would expect from Princess as we usually like the food.

We love the pizza at Alfredo's! They don't have it on every Princess ship, so we try to pick ships that have it onboard :-).

The seating area on Deck 15 aft (outside of the One5 bar) was our favourite hang-out. One side is smoking and the other side is not, but I must say it is one of the nicest smoking area's I have seen on a ship. And off course the non-smoking side is just as nice :-).

We just returned from a 10-day Alaska cruise on the Grand (sailing July 15th) and there was a happy hour BOGO for $1 every night at 10pm in the wheelhouse bar. They also had the same offer occasionally, for wine only in the Princess theatre before the start of a show.

We just came off the Grand on a 10-day Alaska cruise and a happy hour was offered every night at 10PM in the wheelhouse bar. Also in the theatre they would occasionally offer wine on a BOGO for $1 basis before the show started.

We sailed on Sapphire Princess out of Singapore in March 2016.

Check out my review with photo's:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2426204

I am sure you will enjoy, we loved the ship!

Sapphire princess , my Father in law is interest where you can smoke on this ship please?

We sailed Sapphire Princess out of Singapore in March 2016.

Smoking areas were:

- Churchill lounge (closed of area with full service bar)

- Nightclub (designated area of the bar, after 10pm)

- Casino (designated slot machines, not on formal nights)

- Tradewind bar (on one side of the bar)

- Promenade deck (Outside, next to club fusion, I believe starboard)

Maybe we missed one, but these are the ones we know of :-)

Enjoy your cruise!

When it was time to get back to Singapore, DH got up early and took a picture of our arrival

Arrival in Singapore

We spend a few more days in Singapore after we got off the ship. We stayed at a friend’s place who took us around Singapore to show us the sights. One of the nice places we went to was Supertree Grove. It is an area near the Marina that has these amazing (artificial) trees that light up in the evening for a show with music and lights. Very nice to go there. It also has a botanical garden and a foodcourt.

Supertree Grove

Another nice place is the Marina Bay sands hotel. It is quite a distinct building with, what seems to be a replica of a ship on top of it. We did not go there, but a colleague of mine took his wife to the roof-top terrace for a drink and he said it was very nice!

Marina Bay Sands hotel

As I mentioned before, the idea of coming to Singapore was because of a piano festival DH wanted to visit. It opened the day we arrived back from our cruise. The festival is called “Play me I’m yours” and is organized all over the world. Pianos are decorated by local artists and they are placed all around the city for everyone to play. It is really nice. You can google it; the festival might be organized in your town sometime soon!

Opening of the Piano Festival: "Play me, I'm yours"

Iwould like to end this review with a few words to summarize:

In general, we loved the Sapphire princess. The size was just about right and the ship never felt crowed. Sometimes I missed the evening entertainment that we had on NCL or RCCL but it was quite nice to just have a quiet drink and join a quiz in the Explores lounge as well. The food was great and ship was in good shape. Staff was friendly and very accommodating. I can even say that, Princess is my favorite cruise line of the 5 lines I have sailed on (HAL, NCL, RCCL, Carnival). If you go with a group of friends or with small children another cruise line or even ship might be better suited, but for us, a couple in our forties without children, it was perfect! Looking forward to my next cruise and this could very well be on Princess again!

The third stop on our cruise was the port of Phu My in Vietnam.

Also an industrial port, so not much to do in the area. DH and I decided to each do our own thing that day. I went on a tour to Ho Chi Minh City and he stayed on the ship. DH did end up taking a shuttle bus to a nearby shopping center to catch some Wi-Fi. The shuttle bus did not need to be booked; he could just hop on after leaving the ship. Like in Laem Chabang, not much to do in the port itself:

Phu My

My tour to Ho Chi Minh was a “Explore-on-your-own” tour. This means only transportation to and from the city is included. We did have a nice tour guide though, who told us a lot about the country and the city on our way there, so that was very nice. One of the advices she gave us was, to watch out when crossing the road! This was good advice, since traffic was quite heavy in the city and cars did not really seem to stop for pedestrians. :)

We were dropped off (and picked up again) at the Union Square shopping center.

This shopping center is in a very nice part of town. It does not seem like an area where the average Vietnamese person does his shopping… You can find shopping centers with American and European brands here and fancy hotels and cafés. Usually I don’t mind a bit of shopping and a nice café, but since it was my first time in Vietnam, I wanted to see something more authentic Vietnamese…

First thing I wanted to do when I got off the bus was to find an ATM, since I did not have Vietnamese Dong yet. I could not get this currency at the airport before we left for Singapore. In the morning before I left the ship, I saw some currency traders on the ship, but the line was long and I was not sure about the exchange rate, so I decided to just get the money in town. There is an ATM close to the Union Square shopping center. Just continue along Dong Khoi road (the main road heading towards the river) and you will find an HSBC ATM on your right-hand side.

Stocked up on Dong, I could start my day in Ho Chi Minh.

I wanted to visit the Ben Thanh Market. I love markets. Wherever I am, I always try to visit one, whether it is a farmers market in Europe or the US, or a colorful spice market in the middle east or Asia, I always enjoy the hustle and bustle of a market. On the way from Dong Khoi road to Ben Thanh Market, I walked past this statue of Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh

Just before entering the market, you need to cross a busy intersection. I decided to do as the locals and just start crossing the road while keeping an eye on the traffic. If you wait for a break in the traffic stream to cross the road, you’ll never make it back to the ship! ;-)

Ho Chi Minh traffic

I have to say, even though I did enjoy walking through the market, it was not colourful as I had expected. It was interesting to see, but not worth spending a lot of time there.

After leaving the market I walked back towards Dong Khoi Road and passed a Starbucks. As I wanted catch some Wifi during my time ashore, I quickly popped in, had a drink, while checking my emails.

After that I walked passed the Notre Dame Cathedral (yes, really, there is one in Ho Chi Minh city aswell!) and the Post office. Both nice buildings but they seem a bit out of place in Vietnam.

I continued my way along Dong Khoi road to see some shops, have some lunch and just catch the atmosphere. I guess this area is not typical for Vietnam as it is quite touristy and it seems the average local Vietnamese person would not be able to afford the shops here.

After spending a bit over 4 hours in the city I went back to the Union square shopping center, where already lots of my fellow cruise passengers were waiting. Buses started pulling up and you had to find the bus you were on coming into Ho Chi Minh. As the guides came out of the bus, calling out the number, this was not very difficult. While we were waiting we were bombarded with all kinds of people trying to sell us sunglasses, souvenirs etc…. so if you want to spend your last Dong…. You can do it here… I had already spend my last Dong on a nice cold drink ;-).

After a nice leisurely bus ride, we arrived safely and on time back at the ship.

The next stop was the port of Laem Chabang. This is not near Bangkok, but actually a 2-hour drive away from it (depending on traffic)! Therefore, if you plan on going to Bangkok on this cruise, you best book your transport with the Shore Excursion desk. This way, if you are stuck in traffic, the ship will wait for you. There is a Shore excursion that only offers transportation to and from Bangkok and lets you explore the city on your own.

Alternatively, you can take a bus to Pattaya, which is only a 30 minutes’ drive away from the port. You cannot book this bus before your cruise. During the cruise, you will receive a request form in your cabin for transportation to Pattaya. If you want to use it, you fill out the form and put it in the Shore Excursion mailbox. You will receive your tickets the night before you arrive in Laem Chabang and a bus will be waiting for you when you exit the terminal building.

Off course you can decide to stay in port, but if you want to leave the ship, please bear in mind Laem Chabang is an industrial port, so not much to do and nowhere to go…

Laem Chabang

We went to meet DH’s ex-boss who had been relocated to Bangkok by his company. He had to be in Pattaya for business anyway and decided to come early to meet us there.

We took the bus to Pattaya, which was quick and comfortable. Our bus actually broke down on the way there, but before we had a chance to get worried, another, empty bus, had arrived to pick us up, so we could continue our journey. I was very impressed by this efficient solution!

We were dropped off at a nice hotel on the boulevard, where we could go to take the bus back as well.

I have to say, the lunch with DH’s ex-boss was very pleasant, good food, excellent company. However, Pattaya is not the nicest place you can find in Thailand.

When we walked to the restaurant to meet our lunch-date we saw many loud bars, shops, billboards, neon lights and people. Not a place to go for a bit of peace and quiet, but if you are looking for a party, this might be the place for you. I think we also saw more American Food chains then authentic Thai food. We ate at the Pattaya Beer Garden, which was very nice. The food was good, and the location (on a pier above the ocean) was even better.

However, to get to the restaurant, you had to walk through a bar, which was closed during the day, but was clearly offering some different style of entertainment during the night, judging by the boxing rings spread throughout the bar.

If you continue on walking along the boulevard, with the ocean on your right hand side, you will get to the (in)famous “Walking street”, the red-light district of Pattaya. During the day, it does not look that special, with lots of tourist shops and a few restaurants. However, during the night, it turns into the biggest party place in Thailand. Since we had to get back to the ship, we did not get to experience that.

Beach Pattaya

We had booked the AIBP before our cruise. It was nice and easy to get the sticker on our cruise card straight away at check in, so we did not have to go to a certain place to pick it up.

I think the Princess Beverage Package is very good value. Coffees, waters, canned sodas and all alcoholic beverages under USD10 are included without a limit. It was great that the bartenders would offer you closed cans, so we could put some Diet Cokes in our Cabin fridge. Also DH enjoyed getting his coffee in the morning at the International Café just around the corner from our cabin (and I enjoyed him bringing me back tea and a breakfast pastry :)).

I tried out lots of different drinks and did not really find my favorite as I do on most cruises. This was not because the drinks were not good, but I noticed the Appletini’s that I usually have on a cruise are becoming a bit too sweet for my liking... I had plenty of fun trying out those new drinks though!

It was also nice we did not have to sign for our drinks… everything was quick, easy and efficient… just the way I like it.

When people ask us where we are going on our cruise, DH and I always say: The ship is our destination. This is definitely the case in the Caribbean where I have visited most ports and itinerary is not the main consideration in choosing a cruise. However in Asia are a few ports, I had never been to, and I was curious to explore…

Our first Port of call after leaving Singapore was Koh Samui.

We did not feel like taking a tour, so decided to go and have a look around ourselves. We had a leisurely breakfast while we waited for the crowds to disappear at the tender docking station. When there was no queue, we took the tender to Nathon pier, leaving behind our home away from home…

Arriving there, we saw lots of fishing boats and I knew I was in Thailand:)

Koh Samui

I love being on the ship, but it is also nice be able to leave the ship sometimes to get a sense of where in the world you actually are. The small town is quite touristy, with all your normal tourist shops and a few bars. You can stock up on things you need at the 7-Eleven and catch some Wi-Fi at Coffee Island, the first bar you see on your left-hand side when you leave the pier.

It is not a pretty town, so we had a walk around and went back on the ship.

I enjoyed spending some time in the Sanctuary. I would not go there every day, but once or twice in cruise, you want that quiet time away from the crowds.

When we came in for our afternoon session, we were being welcomed with a cucumber or lemon water and escorted to the lounge chairs we had booked on embarkation day. They were in a nice shady place, with a view of the ocean. In the afternoon, around 3pm, the staff came by with afternoon tea. I think it is the same as what is being served in the MDR in the afternoons. Some nice cakes, sandwiches and sweets, accompanied by a good cup a tea.

The sanctuary

In the Sanctuary you have your own reserved lounge chair, but you can also use some of the other seating that is in there, so it was nice to move around a bit, especially when the sun caught my lounge chair (it was just too hot in the sun for me). The Sanctuary was quiet and I don’t think it was ever sold out on this cruise.

It is also possible to book massages in the Cabana, but I did not see this being used at all. Off course, I was only in there for 2 afternoons, so it could have been used at the other times.

Sanctuary Cabanas

Thank you all for your nice replies! I am glad you are enjoying the review. I enjoy writing it :).

So, I found some time on a Sunday afternoon to finish off this review, so here it goes:

During sea days we usually occupied ourselves with a bit of reading on deck or in the Sanctuary, walking around the ship, a bit of eating & drinking, taking a nap… just being on holiday… and the good thing was: we did not get bored at all! This is what holiday is all about for us!

In the evenings, we were a bit more active. We regularly went into the Explorer’s lounge to watch a show or to join in a game show hosted by the Cruise staff. We also enjoyed having a drink at Crooners or the Piazza and listen to the music. I watched a MUTS once, which was a nice experience. On the first night of the cruise, we checked out the Karaoke in Club Fusion. I am not a good singer, but I enjoy singing along… unfortunately for me, many of the songs and performers were Chinese, so not much possibility for me to sing along… We occasionally went to the casino, but the machines are very tight (as on most cruise ships). Being used to the slot machines in Las Vegas, this rather takes the fun out of the Casino experience. Even though we were not bored, I do think the evening entertainment on Princess does lack a bit. Our previous cruise was on the NCL Epic and even though I found the Sapphire Princess to be much better in many ways (food, service, cabin, lay-out of the ship etc.), the evening entertainment was excellent on NCL and I kind of missed it on Princess. We are not party people, but we like the occasional comedian, sing-a-long Piano players or impressive musical acts, but unfortunately, we did not find this on the Sapphire Princess. However, this is the only point of criticism I have on this ship, so overall not too bad, I reckon. 

We spent quite a bit of time in the evenings in the Churchill Lounge. This is the inside Cigar bar. We always found the atmosphere to be really good in there (it was usually packed in the evenings) and the service was excellent. I am not a regular smoker, but I do enjoy the occasional “holiday cigarette”. Even when I was not smoking, the smoke did not bother me. However, I do think that if you are not used to being around smokers, it might be a bit unpleasant to go in there.

One of the pools I have not mentioned yet is the Lap pool. This pool is outside the Spa and underneath the Sanctuary. It is a nice quiet area, but seating is limited, so hard to get a lounger there. However when you are in the Sanctuary, you can also use it.

Lap pool

Your card kept dying because you put it in the phone case (bet it had a magnetic closure), not because you put it next to the phone.

Magnets are cruise card killers.

Yes, you are right! It does have a magnetic clip on it! Thanks for the tip, won't be doing that again :-)

We usually at the Horizon Court. The food was good and always lots to choose from. In my opinion, compared to buffet food on other Cruise lines (and I sailed on most of them), this was one of the better buffet experiences. It was not just the food, but also the set-up. It was never crowded and the buffet is divided over different stations, so you don’t have to line up for something that you don’t want, only to get to the bit you do want. The dessert station is outside the main buffet area, so you don’t have to go “back in” to grab a sweet at the end of your meal.

Here are some pictures of the Horizon court as it is being set-up for breakfast. DH especially loved the breakfast because of the Asian dishes (noodles) that were always available!

Gotta go now, but more review and pictures to follow later!

As I mentioned before, even though the ship was fully booked, it never felt crowded. There was always place to sit in a bar or on deck chairs. I do not remember long waits in restaurants or bars. Overall a very pleasant experience.

The passengers were mainly Australian, British and Asian, which is largely due to the itinerary. There were not many children on this cruise.

On the first Formal night of the cruise, we had dinner in the MDR. We had Anytime dining, but only had dinner at the MDR twice. Not because the food or service was bad, but we usually just enjoyed a more casual dinner on most nights. On the first Formal night of the Cruise, there was a champagne party with lovely chocolate lollipops and off course the famous champagne fountain.

Champagne party

Champagne party

We did not take any pictures of the food in the MDR… except the dessert… it was so pretty, it deserved a picture…. In addition, it tasted great aswell!

Dessert MDR

We did not spend much time in the Terrace Pool. I do not know why to be honest, because it seems like a nice area, maybe the lack of shaded deckchairs… I guess there were just too many nice places on the ship to spend time.

Terrace pool

Terrace pool

This is a picture of the Skywalkers nightclub. Also did not spend any time in here. Need to save something new for the next time :).

Skywalkers nightclub

The pizza at Prego was truly fantastic! I could have had a slice every day, but I managed to control myself and only had 2 slices every other day ;-). The veggie burgers at Trident grill were also nice, but not as nice as the pizza.

You might wonder why you do not see any people on these photos but they were taken in the middle of the night (DH could not sleep). However, even though the ship was fully booked, it never felt crowded at all.

The Calypso pool is covered which is actually quite nice in the hot Asian climate as it is a little cooler in there than outside. A great place for an afternoon nap:).

Calypso pool

Calypso pool

Here is a picture of the Neptune pool with the MUTS screen:

Neptune pool and MUTS

And a picture of the Neptune pool taken from the other side. In the background, you see, at the bottom from left to right: Prego Pizza, Mermaids tail bar and Trident grill. Upstairs is the Tradewinds bar.

Neptune pool bars

I usually carry my phone with me on the ship to take pictures. It has a cover with a little pocket for cards, so I put my cruise card in it. However, twice I arrived at my cabin door to find my cruise card could not open the door anymore. Both times the nice people at guest services provided me with a new cruise card, but still it was a pain… so do not put your cruise card with your phone if you don’t want to end up in front of a closed door.

Here are some pictures of the Piazza with Alfredo’s Pizzeria in the background. It is a great and buzzing place. During the day, it is nice to drop by the IC or bar for a quick drink or snack. In the evening, there are always musicians playing and it is a great place for a drink and people watching.

Piazza & Alfredo's

Piazza

We also went to the Sanctuary to book 2 half days for USD20, - each. There were no other passengers making a booking at that time and the staff told us the Sanctuary was usually not fully booked on Asian itineraries.

We watched the Sail Away from deck and said goodbye to Singapore and the Marina Bay Sands hotel for a week.

Marina Bay Sands hotel

Departure Singapore