travelin.sisters

exploring the ship After lunch & getting everyone settled in their rooms, it was time to explore the ship. I always like to spend some time on embarkation day wandering through all the public areas on any ship I have not sailed before. It helps me feel like I know where I am better for the rest of the cruise & get a feel for the uniqueness of the ship I am on. I was very uncertain what to expect from the Sapphire. I have heard people say she is their favorite & others that it is like the Grand. This is what I thought. I must say, I do like this ship. She does have the feel of the older class of ships like the Grand & the Ruby, but to me she definitely feels more spacious than the Grand & seems in much better condition than the Grand even since her most recent updates. Like the Majestic she has some interesting reminders of coming from the Asian cruise market, for example the first elevator I got in I couldn’t figure out what deck I wanted because the names of the venues were all in Chinese. One thing I noticed right away is that the Sapphire has the different colored accents on the port & starboard side hall carpets. A crew member told me that this is new carpeting & that he thinks Princess will be using this carpet going forward. After several seasons of hall carpet being replaced with those cues, this is good news for those of us who learned to rely on the carpet coloring to know if we were on the correct side. On the Lido deck, there is one covered pool which I know many people enjoy. The buffet is the typical Horizon Court layout except one section is set aside as the Stirling Steakhouse as there is no dedicated space built for that. The menu looks the same as Crown Grill’s was on the Majestic in February. I will let you know how it is after we eat there later in the cruise. Since I am speaking of the buffet, I do like that the Sapphire has actual sinks to wash in, not just hand sanitizer stations. Like the Grand & the Majestic earlier this year, whether there is someone stationed to remind people to use them is sporadic. The buffet still has a lot of single serving items but food is no longer being served by staff. Even more surprising was not always having someone to hand out plates & utensils, which was the norm in my experience even before COVID. Moving all the way down to the Plaza Deck, it is fairly typical although more spacious than some. There is the International Café which is open 24/7, unlike the Grand in January. Alfredo’s does not have the variety that was available on the Majestic, but it offers a variety of pizza options. Uniquely the main dining rooms are physically divided into two separate dining rooms each on this deck &the one above. I have been told that once upon a time they had different menu items unique to each dining room, but now like all Princess ships there is a standard MDR menu for all. They are packed tightly with tables, often causing waitstaff to have to tilt heavily loaded trays of plates at unwieldly angles. Dining has been slow the first two nights (2 hours tonight) & the waiters seem stretched thin. Part of the problems seems to be that so many people have drink packages & the junior waiters are all gone for most of the service getting drinks from the bar (or wherever they actually go). There also seem to be less experienced waitstaff & obviously the teamwork that comes from working many meal services together takes time to build. Moving up to the Fiesta Deck, the casino seems smaller than other ships. Beyond the casino there is a nice library well stocked with books & some games & the future cruise & captain’s circle offices. The Promenade Deck is nicely laid out with a good-sized internet café & Sabatini’s. You do have to go up to the Emerald Deck at the front of the ship for the full circuit, but it is not blocked off aft for crew smoking or any other purpose. There seem to be plenty of spaces, both inside & out, where you can find a space to sit & enjoy music (the music in the Piazza & other places has been very good), visit, meet new friends or just find some space for yourself. There are some great places for views, Skywalkers had great aft views & I think it was the Sun Deck which had space to be all the way forward (I would be afraid to be out there when the ship is moving) with great views in that direction as well. The Promenade Deck is also nice & wide to allow people to enjoy the deck loungers without being disturbed by promenaders. Next photos of the ship & then day 2—at sea. My posts in this LIVE: pre-cruise musing—post 1 photos of berth 46—post 2 ready to go—post 23 onboard & ready to report—post 60 embarkation day—post 67 embarkation photos—post 68 embarkation lunch photos—post 70 & 72

thanks to both of you, I did learn the lesson of not typing long posts directly to the website...the next one is already written & ready to copy & paste..last night it was literally 45 minutes of waiting to see if it posted, slooooowly refreshing finding it gone, try again ...repeat & eventually give up & go to dinner to try later....today we are in port so maybe

time to sleep...hopefully tomorrow posting will be easier...thank you to everyone who has shared kind words or answered questions

thank you for your kind suggestions...they were excellent ideas, unfortunately I tried them unsuccessfully multiple times during the 45 minutes of frustration...nevertehless, I appreciate that you took the time to make them & how clearly they were written.

& the desserts, surprisingly the souffle had a pudding-like topping rather than the usual poured sauce...it is always interesting to me how the same recipe can come out so very differently on different ships

I love cruise food photos so will probably post a bunch! As I said dining room lunch on embarkation day is a nice routine for us...don't often eat lunch in the dining room the rest of the cruise because it is always so slow but the first day is fun...here are the menus (I somehow never get really good photos of the menus) & our food

So I tried for like 45 minutes to post the previous post along with embarkation photos without sucess, so I am going to post text & photos seperately for the rest of this live. These are some embarkation photos.

embarkation day Woke early & put luggage in the car & then decided to go out to reconnoiter. Beautiful sunrise over the port. The Sapphire was already at her berth. I stopped to talk to the security guards who were letting the longshoremen in to work our sailing & it was still unclear where we were supposed to go to check-in. The called & were told that if we didn’t need to park, we could go straight to berth 46 & check-in there. Drove to the main terminal where there were two ships (Celebrity Solstice & Majestic Princess) getting ready to disembark passengers & then reload. There was no further info to be had there…sounds like they will take passengers either place with a shuttle between the two, but no one is certain. Back home for last minute packing, breakfast & wait for our ride. Our ride came early, so we were at berth 46 by 10AM & checked in by 10:15 with just a little delay to get on the ship as we waited for a wheel chair. It was the easiest embarkation I have ever done & getting on the ship without the whole terminal ramp experience reminded me of the days when you walked across the tarmac & climbed stairs to board an airplane. Talking to people I know that getting to the right place was not as easy for everyone. Even the Princess shuttles were taking people to the main terminal & I have heard that 4 people did not make it in time to board. Watching out our balcony there was a group sent away in a taxi (maybe they were supposed to sail on the Majestic, or maybe they were denied boarding for some reason) & there were 2 people who appeared to be waiting for someone who were left behind. Princess &/or the Port should have done better planning early & communicating that plan. As we walked & rolled aboard there was a huge group of crew cheering & shouting welcomes (I have seen videos of other ships doing this on their return to service & this was just like those—I am sad I only got photos & not a video). One advantage of being the first sailing was there was no wait for our rooms to be ready. I steward was there to greet us & like almost everyone I have met on this cruise so far was delighted to be back & to welcome us. Cabins (we have an inside & a balcony) seem comparable to any of the older ships I have sailed (Grand, Ruby, bigger than the Island) & I like the orange & green colors). For us, lunch in the dining room on embarkation day is one of the things that makes it feel like the vacation has started, so we were glad that the International Dining Room was open! A delicious lunch & we felt like we were at sea even though there were quite a few hours before we actually departed. Next post: exploring the ship My posts in this LIVE: pre-cruise musing—post 1 photos of berth 46—post 2 ready to go—post 23 onboard & ready to report—post 60

onboard & ready to report So, yesterday was a long, but good, day—I tried posting from my phone but even though it said I had posted it isn’t there so I will start now. This has been a bury thread even without me! Great work people! I am just going to go ahead with what I would say anyway even if I am repeating what someone else has already posted or answered. Not that I want to be repetitive, but with the connectivity challenges onboard it’s sometimes hard to track what has been posted & I learned from my last live not to type directly into cruise critic (I lost the “best ever in the history of cruise critic post” by doing that). So I hope I don’t bore anyone with repetitions. I also apologize it there are too many details or photos, but it is what it is. I will try to get to all the questions that have been posted today or tomorrow while we are at sea so please wait a day or two & then if I haven’t (or someone on the thread hasn’t) answered don’t hesitate to aske again. I will do my best to give the good & the bad, but to be honest, I try not to focus much on the negatives when traveling. Every trip, certainly every cruise before COVID & more so since, has had issues that could become big & suck the joy out of being at sea & out in this beautiful world but I want to enjoy my trip. Next post: embarkation day! (I am putting a list of my main posts & photos at the bottom of each one in case anyone wants to find them. My posts in this LIVE: pre-cruise musing—post 1 photos of berth 46—post 2 ready to go—post 23

ready to go Finally have everything packed (except the last minute, tuck in the corners bits & bobs! Even the Stanley Bears are packed & ready to go. Hoping for a decent night’s sleep, but it's always iffy the night before a trip, so we’ll see—either way tomorrow I will be sleeping on the Sapphire Princess! We decided to do home COVID tests today after reading some very unpleasant experiences of people who had tested positive while on previous cruises. All of us are negative so are good to go. This afternoon I was double checking our Medallion apps to see that we were all still Green Lane & Boarding Group A & got a nasty surprise when the app had kicked one of our party out! I tried logging back in with the email & password, then with the boarding number & birthdate, then with a different phone but nothing worked. I decided to wait a while & see if it was just a temporary glitch but an hour or two later it was still not letting me log in. Expecting a long wait on hold & little help I called Princess & was happily surprised. I was connected almost immediately to a very pleasant & helpful young lady who was able to solve my issue. The call was less than 15 minutes total & most of that was waiting for the system to update with the changes she made. Apparently, Princess did updates to the Medallion system which somehow switched some users' info. The birthdate for the account we were having trouble accessing had been changed so it didn’t match what was on the reservation. Once she had restored the correct birthdate, we were good to log in & back to Green Lane & Boarding Group A! We think we know where to go for check-in tomorrow, but there is still no word from Princess & conflicting info from what people on our Roll Call have been able to gather. I will probably drive out to the berth in the morning & see if I can get a definite answer, but whatever happens I am confident that Princess will eventually get us all on the ship & ready to sail. I just wish they had communicated the plan to us as so many people are very stressed not knowing what to expect.

congrats on the grandbaby!!!...live in this case does not mean taped live, it means a series of updates & photos & answers to people's questions as the cruise is going...I will hopefully be posting at least every couple of days (although, I have read here that the internet is not as reliable as it was in January so we will see what I can do)...it will all be able for you to read whenever you want...I haven't been on the Sapphire before but have been on the Grand several times so I should be able to answer that question after we have been on for a day or two

yes I will...how soon will depend on the internet & such but I will post it

thank you for that info & the good wishes

thank you! yes for us it is easy to get one of our family longshoremen to give us a ride, just way harder for those driving in & the local hotels didn't know of the berth change...but no matter what happens we will be cruising & we figure it is better to let go of any frustrations (& there is always something you can be upset about) & enjoy sailing!

The outer harbor (berth 46 area) going from empty space to tents for embarkation on Tuesday.

Pre-cruise musings Looking forward to being back on the ocean in a few days & thought I would do another live as this will be the first sailing for the Sapphire since the pause. It has been a lot of waiting & wondering to get to this point. We booked when Princess first announced that the Sapphire was changing her itineraries to sail out of LA instead of Asia & Australia this fall, but then! First the 11 summer cruses on the Sapphire before ours were cancelled due to delays in getting her ready to sail. That was not too bad but being the first sailing always makes you wonder if they will have all the bugs worked out & everything ready for us. Then, the Diamond Princess, after arriving to our port & about a month before she was set to sail canceled her cruises cancelled her first 2½ months of sailings due to crew shortages. Since the Sapphire was following her by about a month, this led to questions about whether our cruise would meet the same fate. This concern was heightened by the fact that both ships had closed bookings for these cruises very early & Princess had now information they were willing/able to share. Finally, after the Sapphire arrived at the port of LA & had been here for a while, we decided that this cruise would be sailing. Our most recent stressor has been the total lack of information from Princess about boarding since we are leaving from an alternate berth that is only used when there are more than two cruise ships departing from the port on any day. For weeks, people’s calls to Princess have resulted in everything to nothing to instructions to go to the main terminal, check in & take the ramp onto the ship (which will be almost 3 miles away). My TA was told that we should go to the berth in the outer harbor but that there would be no buses (even though the only available parking is at the main terminal). Our roll call has is not very big or active, but we have supported each other through Princess’ lack of communication. People have accessed all their contacts, made calls to Princess, the Port of LA, the parking vendors & anyone else they could to gather information so that we would know what to do come embarkation day. Princess has had nothing to say, no email (well yesterday there was an email with super important boarding information! which was just the generic info sent for every cruise & nothing specific to how to board at the outer harbor), no answers when called…we board in less than 2 days & I guess they think it is enough to have signs & directions at the port (if they do). I have been driving by the outer harbor & yesterday they did start putting up tents for boarding & today people have heard from various sources that we should go there, check in & then if we need to park go to the main terminal, park & take the shuttle bus back. It would have saved a lot of stress & time for a bunch of people if Princess could have just communicated that to us instead of having to hunt for the info. I guess I should get all of us packed & ready to leave Saturday morning! I usually have all the clothes & everything except last minute done long before this, but with all the uncertainty it has been hard to get excited about this cruise. It will be nice to be aboard & sailing again. Hoping for a dining room lunch on Saturday & being able to go straight to our rooms as they won’t have to redo rooms from a previous cruise. I will update as time, events & internet allow.

have never sailed with Celebrity but sail out for San Pedro fairly often. As everyone has said use the map program (I use google maps but whichever you prefer) when I moved from AZ back to LA people asked me about the traffic...it isn't necessarily worse here but It is less predictable you can have bad traffic any day, any time, however there are lots of options to reroute...I would personally start with the 10 to the 91 to either the 710 or 110 & then let my GPS reroute me as it adjusts to traffic. Princess who we regularly cruise with will start boarding shortly after disembarkation is done...we aim for getting there about 10:30 usually as we like to have the vacation start as soon as possible. The will let people in regardless of boarding times & then will board depending on status but everyone gets on quickly...sometimes we have been delayed (our last sailing they had their annual surprise Coast Guard inspection so we had to wait until everything was cleared & one time we were delayed getting off because they (maybe immigration or police) had to escort someone with a fugitive warrant off first) mostly it is quick & easy but like any travel be prepared for the unexpected & don't let it ruin your trip.

we did LA r/t to Hawaii in January...it was the first sailing back to Hawaii since the pause & some things were limited because covid restrictions were still in place, but here it the thread I did of our cruise if you are interested my biggest recommendation (have been on 2 & planning on a 3rd Hawaii r/t) is if you have Hawaiian ambasadors on your sailing (someone on the rollcall for your sailing should know) do whatever they offer...'ukulele & hula lessons are fun even if they wouldn't be a thing you normally do.

we (sister, BIL & I) have just had them program the medallions to open both doors, works very well for us

you can still get it printed at the kiosk if you need to,,,but saves paper if you can look in the app...however only the "owner" of the credit card will be able to see both your transactions (this is why I always use my card for our family so I can monitor throughout the cruise without having to sign in to each account)...supposedly you can also see it on the inroom TV, but as I remember it was not working when we cruised in Feb.

with the new premium fare plan I imagine it will get harder & harder to book specialty dining (we already have 2 free (one from TA & one was a booking perk) if we upgraded that would be a total of 4 on a 10 day cruise...hope they figure this out

active duty or veterans (I know some countries other than the US are included but I am not sure which) ...you only have to give them your info once & they will automatically credit it for future cruises...the amount varies by length of cruise...it is refundable credit so if you don't spend it you can get it as cash at the end of your cruise oh sorry to repeat I guess all these were already answered