LONG REVIEW: Sapphire Mexican Cruise - Oct. 17-24, 2009

Sorry for the length...

Sapphire Princess

Diverted Mexican Cruise – Oct 17-24, 2009

Well, I guess the topic of our cruise being diverted from Mexico to west coast ports has been beat into the ground, so this review will be about our time on the ship and our opinion of the Sapphire.

With that being said… we do appreciate Captain Binetti’s concern for the passengers, his crew… and his baby… the Sapphire. He did the right thing for all concerned by avoiding Hurricane Rick.

Who: Myself, wife, son, and girlfriend. We had side by side balcony rooms on the Aloha deck. It was our son’s first seven day cruise, and his girlfriend’s FIRST cruise ever.

This cruise was special for us, in that… our son was going to propose to his girlfriend during the cruise. A bit more about this later

This was our first time on the Sapphire Princess. We had previously cruise on Island and Dawn, and have cruised several times on Celebrity, HAL and others. This was the shortest cruise my wife and I had taken in several years. So we didn’t get a chance to do all the things we normally would do on a cruise. It was over before we even relaxed!

Embarkation:

We arrived around 10:00 AM and were aboard the ship by 12 noon. Everything went off without a hitch.

Since my wife and I have cruised with Princess in the past, we had a booking credit on file. So, when we initially booked the cruise, I booked one room with my son, and my wife booked the other room with his girlfriend. We had filled out all the usual paperwork and credit card info online.

At the time, it seemed like it would be a very easy task to just switch things around once we got on board. BOY, was I wrong! It took the service deck two days to straighten the rooms and credit card info out, and get us the proper room keys. They assured us the card charges would be correct at the end… well, they were not. Since we’re family, we decided to just settle up between us. Still… this is something that should have been taken care of correctly at the customer service desk.

Sea Days:

During the first few days we didn’t do much… it was a bit cool outside, so we utilized the indoor pool area. We really enjoy a ship with an indoor pool!

It was during the second day at sea that our son took his girlfriend to a quiet spot on an upper forward deck and proposed… of course she said YES! That really set the tone for the whole cruise.

I really enjoyed the variety of pools on the backside (Aft) of the ship. Although water temp is a personal issue, I felt the spas were not really hot enough and many times the bubbles were not working right.

Food/Service:

We found the food to be good to excellent.

We had anytime dining. It was nice to find several small themed restaurants on the Princess. We ate at the Santa Fe one night and the Savoy twice. I must admit, I do miss eating in a bigger dining room, but the small atmosphere was nice. The food in the dining rooms was very good to excellent. The dishes were well prepared and presented.

On previous cruises, there seemed to be more of a gala event for the last formal night… singing waiters, baked Alaska on parade, etc. There seemed to be none of that on the Sapphire. Why?? Cut backs?

The food in the Horizon Court was good to very good. A good variety and it usually tasted good. I wasn’t real fond of the shape of the buffet area. At times, it seemed to get very crowded inside the circle area.

I missed the omelet and pasta bars. On other cruises/ship, they have an area dedicated to preparing fresh omelets for breakfast and fresh pasta dishes for lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, the Sapphire had neither.

I tried the pizza a couple of times, and it was better than average. Missed having a hamburger at the grill. Maybe next time.

Servers and wait staff on the Horizon Court were all very good in cleaning off tables and getting them ready for the next passenger. There was always a clean place to sit and eat.

I realize there are cut backs being made, but there were no special late night “food buffets”, “desert buffets”, or any kind of themed food nights on the deck. For example… there was supposed to be a “Mexican Themed” deck party one night. We went up to the deck around the pool… and we very disappointed. There were no decorations and no food. Just the band and a hand full of servers selling drinks! We have been on many cruises where they will put out a full spread of food and elaborate decorations around the pool. All we got was a HAWAIIAN Lei when we walked into the area… I couldn’t believe it… And this was supposed to be a “special party”

Speaking of drinks… let me address the bar service… as usual the alcoholic beverages were extremely weak! I sure don’t mind paying for a good drink, but to pay for a half ounce of alcohol in a mixer is something I won’t do. Consequently, I bought very few drinks for the week. And fortunately, my final bill reflected that fact. If the cruise lines would serve a better drink, they probably wouldn’t have as many people smuggling booze on board! Oh wait… no one really does that… right?

Entertainment:

Overall, there seemed to be less entertainment and variety of entertainers than on previous cruises. Many shows were run two days in a row! In the past, besides the stage shows… I can recall seeing comedians, banjo players, violinists, singers, pianists, acrobats and jugglers, just to name a few. But, not this cruise. After the sixth time, “Piano Man” gets to be a bit old!!

I have been a musician for over 40 years (20 years professional), and found the musicians on this cruise to be exceptional!! The house/show band was great featuring some excellent players. We have seen many production shows over the years, and have stopped going to most. I am glad we took a chance on this group.

The show ensemble (singers and dancers) were also some of the best we’ve seen in a while. The singers (2 guys/2 girls) actually sang in tune and were very talented performers. Although they did use some pre recorded tracks, it was nice to see a show with LIVE musicians playing behind the singers and dancers.

Billy London was the cruise director and did a nice job in leading each night’s events, but we didn’t see him once around the ship. His crew seemed to do a good job. We really didn’t take part in any of the late night events, so we might have missed seeing them all!

We were able to catch a couple of the bands and entertainers in other rooms. “Extasea” in the Wheelhouse bar was very good, and pianist Ray Coussins was amazing!

Other entertainment were comedians Darrell Joyce and Steve Moris, and illusionist Joel Ward. All were very good, but we really enjoyed Darrell Joyce

One issue was the D.J. We went up to the Skywalker lounge one night and found the music playing, but no D.J. to host the event… so we left.

We went to a movie in the Princess Theater one evening. The projection equipment and screen were very inadequate. Picture was blurry and the images were squashed. It made Sandra Bullock look like she was short and fat! If you are going to show movies… show them right! Holland America has a theater dedicated to showing movies.

Room/Room Steward:

We had a balcony room on the Aloha deck which was nice and clean, and fortunately, did not smell of smoke. Our room steward, Beethoven, was very nice and did a great job. The mattresses were extremely uncomfortable, even with the waffle top. My back hurt the whole week. They should really do something about their beds!

The showers on Princess are a joke!! Even the comedians make jokes about them. You’d think after all this time, they’d make the shower curtains long enough to keep the water from flooding the bathroom floor. And God forbid… you drop your soap in the shower… that’s a story for another time.

Ports of Call:

San Francisco/Catalina/San Diego/Ensenada. Not much to say… we live in Southern California… we’ve been there, done that. Enough said.

Overall Opinion:

Although the Sapphire is a bit larger than we personally like, we found her to be a very nice ship; very clean and well maintained. There was one issue with dropped food all over the indoor pool deck. We had to bring it to someone’s attention before it was cleaned up. I even saw some uniforms walk over it… without doing a thing… and I know they saw the mess.

Even with 2600 other people on board, it never really seemed crowded… except as mentioned in the food buffet line. There were always quiet places to sit and lounge. One nice cozy area we found was the little room downstairs in Club Fusion.

The last time we cruise Princess was in 2007. As already mentioned, I really noticed cutbacks in certain areas, especially in food and entertainment.

Based on our experience with this cruise, we will probably cruise Princess again in the future, but would prefer Celebrity or HAL as first choices. Any and all questions welcome...

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. We are on the Sapphire in one month, and hope we make it to the MR! Coming from the east coast, the "Pacific Coastal" change would be OK for us.

 

I really appreciate the details on the entertainment. I'll check out those that you listed.

 

I can agree on the weak coctails. I usually have some rum with us, so we will add an extra shot to our drinks we purchase when we are out by the pool. Now the martini's are pretty tasty, and usually don't need to tweak them.

 

Is the aft pool an adult only area? And, did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

 

RE: "On previous cruises, there seemed to be more of a gala event for the last formal night… singing waiters, baked Alaska on parade, etc. There seemed to be none of that on the Sapphire. Why?? Cut backs?"

There is no baked Alaska parade on anytime dinning rooms due to people coming in and out at different times.

Thank you for the review and congratulations to your son and fiancee.

 

On the Sapphire in August the first Formal Night was the Champagne Waterfall and this made the second formal night much quieter except for the Captain's Circle cocktail party. It seems they continued it on your trip.

 

I am glad to see you made the most of it despite the deviations!

Is the aft pool an adult only area? And, did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

 

I don't remember if the aft pools were adult only, but that seems to be the only ones I saw there. most of the kids were either in the indoor pool or the main pool area.

 

We did not make it to any of the specialty restaurants, although I did hear from others that both Sterling and Sabatini's were excellent

I do agree with you about the quality of the entertainment. The house musicians and show casts on my five Princess cruises have all been excellent. The only weak performance was on a night where the seas were so rough they really should have cancelled the show. I felt the dancers were in danger. There may have been shows that were not to my taste (country for instance), but they were still done very well.

 

I am also a professional musician and feel fairly well qualified to judge.

Thank you very much for your detailed review.

 

I too have noticed cut-backs from prior Princess cruises. As I was going through my files to look for notes to help in planning my upcoming Sapphire Mexican Riviera cruise, I found my invoice from a 2001 cruise on the Sea Princess. Same itinerary. Price was more than double what they are charging now.

 

Glad to hear that there were areas of the ship where it was easy to get away from everyone. My S.O. will be cruising with me (I usually cruise Princess with my sister). The Sapphire will be the largest ship he has ever been on. He's not looking forward to it, hates crowds. I hope he likes the extra amenitiess and entertainment a large ship provides.

 

Jackie

Thanks for posting a review!

Thanks for posting a review. Being diverted can be a big disappointment and you seem to have had a good attitude about it. I agree about the bar drinks, they are REAL weak......I guess that is one reason why they charge a little less than other lines. You would think by now on newer ships that Princess would build cabins with shower doors:rolleyes: Are you sure they didn't have an omelette station in the Horizon Court?

 

To the poster who asked about the aft pool, that is adults only.

We were on the Oct. 10 cruise. I have to agree with you about the entertainment. There seemed to be more repetition of shows and less variety on this cruise compared to past cruises. They billed this as a plus (we want to give everybody a chance to see the production shows so therefore we repeat them). It's been a longstanding complaint that the theatre isn't big enough to accomodate everyone who wants to see the shows, so in that sense I can see an advantage to repeating them. But on the other hand the end result is less variety. And Piano Man has been around forever!

 

We also noticed the absence of any themed food buffets (e.g., Mexican) out by the pool deck. But the truth is that we paid a bargain price for the cruise, so I guess they have to make that up somehow. And I was quite pleased by the overall dining experience (MDR, Horizon Court, room service, poolside pizza and grill).

Is the aft pool an adult only area? And, did you go to any of the specialty restaurants?

Yes the aft pool has a sign 'adults only' and I did see a pool attendant ask some children to get out. We went to Sabatini's and it was excellent (Aug 09)

Are you sure they didn't have an omelette station in the Horizon Court?

 

To the poster who asked about the aft pool, that is adults only.

 

No there is no omelette station. You have to ask, something I found out by accident on the third day of our cruise.

 

OP- thanks for the review. The cocktails are a joke:p

The trick to the shower is soap the wall and turn around in circles. Wine helps with falling asleep in the bed.

I was quite impress with the food in the buffet and the overall look and feel of the ship.

No there is no omelette station. You have to ask, something I found out by accident on the third day of our cruise.

 

Thanks....I remember always seeing a sign in between the stations for ordering omelettes, who knows they may purposely not put it up at times.:D

Our family loved the omelette bar last year on Sapphire Princess. It was just outside the doors of the horizon court in the indoor pool area. Is that really no longer???

Our family loved the omelette bar last year on Sapphire Princess. It was just outside the doors of the horizon court in the indoor pool area. Is that really no longer???

 

It was there on the Diamond, Sapphire's sister ship just last July. The made to order omelettes are at the grill where the hamburgers and hot dogs are served at lunch by the outdoor pool. And there are freshly made waffles at the pizzeria as well. They usually serve them until around 10 a.m. everyday. I think many people tend to look for it inside the buffet and never realize it's actually outside by the pool.

Our family loved the omelette bar last year on Sapphire Princess. It was just outside the doors of the horizon court in the indoor pool area. Is that really no longer???

 

We never saw omelette station set up outside the HC in the pool area.

For that matter, we never saw the Mexican buffet or the Asian food

buffet set up at the indoor pool on our most recent trip as they've

always had on the Sapphire in the past, but food selection was still

plentiful

Thanks for posting - we just got off the Sapphire after it's first MR cruise of the season. Luckily we did make it to all the ports and had fabulous weather and a great time. Having said that, the review you posted could almost have been written by me since there was so much that you mentioned that we also experienced.

 

The front desk were next to useless - we also have had issues with the switching of rooms ( we book our baby as the 2nd person in the room with our cruising friend so that she doesn't have to pay the single supplement) every time we cruise Princess. The buffet on Sapphire is a nightmare - very poorly set up in terms of flow and why they continually close off one or other end of it is beyond me.

 

For the poster that asked about the aft pools, only one of them is adult only. The other allows kids - we took our toddler (yes, she is completely toilet trained and out of diapers) in the aft pool every day since it was not as deep as the two large pools.

 

I also questioned why they repeated the same shows over and over - apparently so that everyone gets a chance to see them since the theatre cannot accomodate all guests in just two sittings. I did enjoy the shows, but didn't want to see them 3 nights in a row! We never saw the cruise director either!

 

I, too, noticed a difference in the food/buffet selections on this cruise. There was no omelette station, but they happily made omelettes to order if you asked. I was quite disappointed not to have the "themed" nights for food but the food was great all the same.

 

Glad the OP made the best of the diversion. I've been reading a lot of posts about folks wanting compensation for missing the ports...guess I would rather know that I was safe and not have to worry about seasickness and rough seas!

We never saw omelette station set up outside the HC in the pool area.

For that matter, we never saw the Mexican buffet or the Asian food

buffet set up at the indoor pool on our most recent trip as they've

always had on the Sapphire in the past, but food selection was still

plentiful

 

I really question what's up with the food issue... is it just a cost cutting measure? Is this going to be industry wide??

 

As you said, there was plenty to eat... but those specialty food days are really nice, Asian, Mexican, Italian... and the desert night... And there used to be a pasta bar... ALL were non exisitent

Glad the OP made the best of the diversion. I've been reading a lot of posts about folks wanting compensation for missing the ports...guess I would rather know that I was safe and not have to worry about seasickness and rough seas!

 

One thing I haven't seen mentioned regarding the diverted ports is the savings Princess realized by not going to Mexico. PV is 1200 miles south, San Fran is 350 miles north. The way I figure, Princess saved at least 600+ miles, plus related fuel charges!

Sorry for the length...

 

Sapphire Princess

Diverted Mexican Cruise – Oct 17-24, 2009

 

 

Who: Myself, wife, son, and girlfriend.

 

Your wife is very open minded allowing you to bring your girlfriend along. :D

BTW -Nice review. Thank You!!

Are you sure they didn't have an omelette station in the Horizon Court?

 

We were on the Diamond to Alaska in June, and they had an omelete station. The pizza place and grill (by the open pool) were used for omelets and waffles at brekfast time. I would think that the Sapphire would be doing the same.

Sorry for the length...

 

Sapphire Princess

Diverted Mexican Cruise – Oct 17-24, 2009

 

Well, I guess the topic of our cruise being diverted from Mexico to west coast ports has been beat into the ground, so this review will be about our time on the ship and our opinion of the Sapphire.

 

With that being said… we do appreciate Captain Binetti’s concern for the passengers, his crew… and his baby… the Sapphire. He did the right thing for all concerned by avoiding Hurricane Rick.

 

Who: Myself, wife, son, and girlfriend. We had side by side balcony rooms on the Aloha deck. It was our son’s first seven day cruise, and his girlfriend’s FIRST cruise ever.

 

This cruise was special for us, in that… our son was going to propose to his girlfriend during the cruise. A bit more about this later

 

This was our first time on the Sapphire Princess. We had previously cruise on Island and Dawn, and have cruised several times on Celebrity, HAL and others. This was the shortest cruise my wife and I had taken in several years. So we didn’t get a chance to do all the things we normally would do on a cruise. It was over before we even relaxed!

 

Embarkation:

 

We arrived around 10:00 AM and were aboard the ship by 12 noon. Everything went off without a hitch.

 

Since my wife and I have cruised with Princess in the past, we had a booking credit on file. So, when we initially booked the cruise, I booked one room with my son, and my wife booked the other room with his girlfriend. We had filled out all the usual paperwork and credit card info online.

 

At the time, it seemed like it would be a very easy task to just switch things around once we got on board. BOY, was I wrong! It took the service deck two days to straighten the rooms and credit card info out, and get us the proper room keys. They assured us the card charges would be correct at the end… well, they were not. Since we’re family, we decided to just settle up between us. Still… this is something that should have been taken care of correctly at the customer service desk.

 

 

 

 

Sea Days:

 

During the first few days we didn’t do much… it was a bit cool outside, so we utilized the indoor pool area. We really enjoy a ship with an indoor pool!

 

It was during the second day at sea that our son took his girlfriend to a quiet spot on an upper forward deck and proposed… of course she said YES! That really set the tone for the whole cruise.

 

I really enjoyed the variety of pools on the backside (Aft) of the ship. Although water temp is a personal issue, I felt the spas were not really hot enough and many times the bubbles were not working right.

 

Food/Service:

 

We found the food to be good to excellent.

 

We had anytime dining. It was nice to find several small themed restaurants on the Princess. We ate at the Santa Fe one night and the Savoy twice. I must admit, I do miss eating in a bigger dining room, but the small atmosphere was nice. The food in the dining rooms was very good to excellent. The dishes were well prepared and presented.

 

On previous cruises, there seemed to be more of a gala event for the last formal night… singing waiters, baked Alaska on parade, etc. There seemed to be none of that on the Sapphire. Why?? Cut backs?

 

The food in the Horizon Court was good to very good. A good variety and it usually tasted good. I wasn’t real fond of the shape of the buffet area. At times, it seemed to get very crowded inside the circle area.

 

I missed the omelet and pasta bars. On other cruises/ship, they have an area dedicated to preparing fresh omelets for breakfast and fresh pasta dishes for lunch and dinner. Unfortunately, the Sapphire had neither.

 

I tried the pizza a couple of times, and it was better than average. Missed having a hamburger at the grill. Maybe next time.

 

Servers and wait staff on the Horizon Court were all very good in cleaning off tables and getting them ready for the next passenger. There was always a clean place to sit and eat.

 

I realize there are cut backs being made, but there were no special late night “food buffets”, “desert buffets”, or any kind of themed food nights on the deck. For example… there was supposed to be a “Mexican Themed” deck party one night. We went up to the deck around the pool… and we very disappointed. There were no decorations and no food. Just the band and a hand full of servers selling drinks! We have been on many cruises where they will put out a full spread of food and elaborate decorations around the pool. All we got was a HAWAIIAN Lei when we walked into the area… I couldn’t believe it… And this was supposed to be a “special party”

 

Speaking of drinks… let me address the bar service… as usual the alcoholic beverages were extremely weak! I sure don’t mind paying for a good drink, but to pay for a half ounce of alcohol in a mixer is something I won’t do. Consequently, I bought very few drinks for the week. And fortunately, my final bill reflected that fact. If the cruise lines would serve a better drink, they probably wouldn’t have as many people smuggling booze on board! Oh wait… no one really does that… right?

 

Entertainment:

 

Overall, there seemed to be less entertainment and variety of entertainers than on previous cruises. Many shows were run two days in a row! In the past, besides the stage shows… I can recall seeing comedians, banjo players, violinists, singers, pianists, acrobats and jugglers, just to name a few. But, not this cruise. After the sixth time, “Piano Man” gets to be a bit old!!

 

I have been a musician for over 40 years (20 years professional), and found the musicians on this cruise to be exceptional!! The house/show band was great featuring some excellent players. We have seen many production shows over the years, and have stopped going to most. I am glad we took a chance on this group.

 

The show ensemble (singers and dancers) were also some of the best we’ve seen in a while. The singers (2 guys/2 girls) actually sang in tune and were very talented performers. Although they did use some pre recorded tracks, it was nice to see a show with LIVE musicians playing behind the singers and dancers.

 

Billy London was the cruise director and did a nice job in leading each night’s events, but we didn’t see him once around the ship. His crew seemed to do a good job. We really didn’t take part in any of the late night events, so we might have missed seeing them all!

 

We were able to catch a couple of the bands and entertainers in other rooms. “Extasea” in the Wheelhouse bar was very good, and pianist Ray Coussins was amazing!

 

Other entertainment were comedians Darrell Joyce and Steve Moris, and illusionist Joel Ward. All were very good, but we really enjoyed Darrell Joyce

 

One issue was the D.J. We went up to the Skywalker lounge one night and found the music playing, but no D.J. to host the event… so we left.

 

We went to a movie in the Princess Theater one evening. The projection equipment and screen were very inadequate. Picture was blurry and the images were squashed. It made Sandra Bullock look like she was short and fat! If you are going to show movies… show them right! Holland America has a theater dedicated to showing movies.

 

Room/Room Steward:

 

We had a balcony room on the Aloha deck which was nice and clean, and fortunately, did not smell of smoke. Our room steward, Beethoven, was very nice and did a great job. The mattresses were extremely uncomfortable, even with the waffle top. My back hurt the whole week. They should really do something about their beds!

The showers on Princess are a joke!! Even the comedians make jokes about them. You’d think after all this time, they’d make the shower curtains long enough to keep the water from flooding the bathroom floor. And God forbid… you drop your soap in the shower… that’s a story for another time.

 

Ports of Call:

 

San Francisco/Catalina/San Diego/Ensenada. Not much to say… we live in Southern California… we’ve been there, done that. Enough said.

 

Overall Opinion:

 

Although the Sapphire is a bit larger than we personally like, we found her to be a very nice ship; very clean and well maintained. There was one issue with dropped food all over the indoor pool deck. We had to bring it to someone’s attention before it was cleaned up. I even saw some uniforms walk over it… without doing a thing… and I know they saw the mess.

 

Even with 2600 other people on board, it never really seemed crowded… except as mentioned in the food buffet line. There were always quiet places to sit and lounge. One nice cozy area we found was the little room downstairs in Club Fusion.

 

The last time we cruise Princess was in 2007. As already mentioned, I really noticed cutbacks in certain areas, especially in food and entertainment.

 

Based on our experience with this cruise, we will probably cruise Princess again in the future, but would prefer Celebrity or HAL as first choices. Any and all questions welcome...

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.....

 

Bob

We were on the Diamond to Alaska in June, and they had an omelete station. The pizza place and grill (by the open pool) were used for omelets and waffles at brekfast time. I would think that the Sapphire would be doing the same.

Thanks, that sure is an odd place and it is no wonder why passengers would not know about it. Karatemom also mentioned it was on the Diamond this way but so far no one has seen it on the Sapphire set up outside of the Horizon Court.

Nice review,, thanks.. love reading them.

 

As for singing waiters with desserts on their heads,, we LOVE that Princess does not do that,, I think its tacky and one of the reasons we purposefully have chosen Princess over other lines( we tried Carnival three times,, didn't like the dancing waiters at all,, most of the poor fellows HATE doing that you know)

 

I know I seem to be in the mniority,, but I love the way they set up the buffets,, in little disjoined islands,, you can easily pick and choose instead of getting stuck in a line if you just want some fruit or something.. best set up in my opinion,, but it does seem to drive some people crazy.. LOL

Nice review,, thanks.. love reading them.

 

As for singing waiters with desserts on their heads,, we LOVE that Princess does not do that,, I think its tacky and one of the reasons we purposefully have chosen Princess over other lines( we tried Carnival three times,, didn't like the dancing waiters at all,, most of the poor fellows HATE doing that you know)

 

I know I seem to be in the mniority,, but I love the way they set up the buffets,, in little disjoined islands,, you can easily pick and choose instead of getting stuck in a line if you just want some fruit or something.. best set up in my opinion,, but it does seem to drive some people crazy.. LOL

 

 

That's a great idea in theory and would be my preference if it actually worked. Unfortunately, folks seem to automatically get in line regardless and on the few occasions when I did attempt to bypass the stations I had no interest in I was yelled at for "cutting" by fellow passengers. That's one of the reasons I dislike the buffet on the Sapphire - there seems to be no easy way to get around without standing in a line, even when you know exactly where you want to get to!