REVIEW - Sapphire Princess to Hawaii, February 4-18

[dides]

My BF and I (late 30s/early40’s) took our third cruise on Sapphire Princess - a 14 day round trip from LA to Hawaii. This was the first cruise post dry-dock. It was a special trip because we had visited 49 out of the 50 US states in the past 7 years and Hawaii was to be our 50th.

 

 

Embarkation - We flew to LA from London the Sunday before and met up with friends/shopped for the rest of the week before dropping our luggage at the Doubletree San Pedro on the Friday afternoon, taking the rental car back to LA and getting Primetime Shuttle back to the Doubletree. We had eaten earlier at Ruby's Diner in Long Beach so only had nibbles that night with drinks at the bar. We booked the free shuttle that left at 11:30 the next morning to take us to the pier, it left a bit later than planned but we arrived around midday, dropped our bags off and went to check-in. We were on board within 20 minutes - smoothest and quickest embarkation ever!

 

 

Cabin - We had an aft balcony cabin on Baja deck - B704. Right across from the laundry and a few steps from the elevators. Perfect for trips up to the Horizon Court and Skywalkers and down to Club Fusion and Explorers. The cabin looked the same layout as before but this time there was a new flat screen TV. The mattress seemed ok at first but we had few rough sea days on the way over and asked for a mattress topper to help with aching backs and hips. Yet still found the bed too "hard" compared to our earlier cruises. Our room steward, Jocelyn, was happy to help with our requests for extra pillows, ice, laundering of a formal shirt but we didn't enjoy the game of tag when trying to get the room refreshed each day.

 

 

Dining - We were Anytime Dining and went back to the Savoy again - always booking a table rather than just turning up. Great food in the restaurant - can't think of a course that was lacking in any way. We did Sterling Steakhouse one night but were disappointed that the menu hadn't changed since we first went in 2009. Plus my BF thought the minute steak on the last night in the Savoy beat the Sterling's steak hands down.

 

 

We went to the Horizon Court for breakfast, some lunches and some evenings. It could be repetitive but also somewhat comforting. My BF looked forward to see what curry selections were available but there were not as consistently good as before. The new dessert station always looked lovely but I felt it limited your choices somewhat. There was always a hot dessert - like mango rice pudding, bread and butter pudding, apple strudel, cherry crumble and these were a bit hit and miss. The main desserts were on listed on a display panel but it was very hard to match up the description to the actual dessert. In many cases, the sugar free cakes looked the most enticing but would not hit the spot. There were some nice chocolate mousse concoctions, profiteroles/eclairs, cheesecakes and carrot cakes along the way but generally they were a bit bland.

 

 

We ate twice in Alfredo's and really liked the pizza. We both went for Tarantina's with toppings left off or replaced. The waiters were a bit unenthusiastic but it was always busy during lunchtime. The International Cafe wasn't really our thing - over the 2 weeks we ate a couple of their sandwiches (pleasant enough), tried their chicken salad (too heavy for me) and nibbled a few cookies (peanut mmmmm).

 

Entertainment - didn't do the shows but we attended a few trivia and karaoke sessions and saw a really good comedian (Kevin Jordan). Went up to Skywalkers once for some 80s music but was reminded that the US 80s scene wasn't the same as the UK 80s scene lol. Trivia was the usual fayre - we started off third, joint second and then won one or two. I also joined the Princess Pop Choir. I like to stand at the back and hide in the crowd. I'm British right?. Erm, they re-played the performance on screens around the ship afterwards and I couldn't believe how Glee-like I was. So do it - it's just for fun and they don't critique your singing. They also had hula classes, lei making, ukulele playing so lots to keep you busy.

 

 

Ports - We had gale force winds and roughs seas for about 3 days on the way over which meant the ship had to slow down and the ports re-jigged. This meant missing out Hilo and Volcano National Park totally which was quite upsetting. Honolulu was also rescheduled for 2 days later so we had to get online and re-book our rental car and ranch tour.

 

 

Maui - We took a 10:30 tender over to Lahaina and as we got off the pier, high-fived one of the photographers after shouting out FIFTY STATES!!! It felt great. It was very hot and sunny - 75 degrees. We walked over to the lovely Banyan tree, found some free wi-fi and then looked in the shops down Front Street. We managed to walk all the way up to Hilo Hatties and decided we were too knocked out by the heat to walk back so used their shuttle back to the pier. Ate at the Pioneer Inn right near the pier - don't do it - the food was horrible. But got through some local beer/cocktails in the process.

 

 

Honolulu - We booked a rental car through Alamo in Waikiki. They had a shuttle waiting at the pier so it didn't take long to get it all arranged. We headed straight to Target as I needed a new rucksack (plus we love Target) and then drove up to the North Shore. We stopped off for photo opportunities at various Lost TV show locations, including the beautiful Byodo-In Temple and ended the day the Kualoa Ranch on their super movie locations tour. My BF wasn't feeling great - we think it was sunstroke from the day before - so we decided not to eat out in Honolulu. We dropped off the car and got a cab back to the pier for around $15 as the last shuttle runs at 5pm. Then discovered it was German night in the Horizon Court - quite bizarre.

 

 

Kauai - Kept this low key and got a free shuttle to Hilo Hatties for Hawaiian shirts, walked over to nearby Walmart (used McDonalds wi-fi) and bought lots more gifts and chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Then got the Walmart shuttle back to the pier.

 

 

Debarkation: We had 2 bags each so decided to go for an Independent Traveller debarkation slot rather than the walk off option. Our slot was for 9:05 in the Wheelhouse - we turned up and discovered they had called it at least 20 minutes before. Very strange and annoying but we got off quite quickly and were on the Primetime Shuttle by 9:40.

 

 

PS. – my new favourite cocktail is Macadamia Madness. So delicious!

 

 

Sandra

[jbobst]

Thanks for the review! Any photos you can share regarding the ship and refurbishment?

[dides]

Not many pics I'm afraid - just some random snaps of the International Cafe, Alfredos, Vines and MUTS (during Superbowl).

[Raamo]

Thanks for the review, this cruise is on my todo list :)

[sprinkles]

Thanks for the review, we will be on her in almost two weeks. How was the weather on the North Shore of Oahu? Did you do any swimming up there or check out the beaches. Thanks.

 

Tammy

[sassyredhat]

Thanks for the review Sandra. We will be sailing in April in this same cabin !!

This will be our 3rd cruise to Hawaii but our first on Sapphire.

Pat

[blueguy48]

Thanks for the review Sandra. First cruise with Princess is on the Sapphire comming up in a week, so the review was helpful. Our Balcony cabin is on the Lido deck so I will be checking on the Horizon Court frequently. Did you enjoy the new Photo kiosks? MUTS? David

[dides]

Thanks for the review, we will be on her in almost two weeks. How was the weather on the North Shore of Oahu? Did you do any swimming up there or check out the beaches. Thanks.

 

Hi Tammy, the North Shore was warm and in the low 70s, not too windy. We're not beach types but stopped off at Mokulei'ia Beach Park because of the 'Lost' connection (pic attached).

[dides]

Did you enjoy the new Photo kiosks? MUTS?

 

We saw the Photo kiosks but didn't use them.

 

MUTS - we enjoyed watching the first half of the Superbowl on the first sea day but it was really windy so we needed rugs. The sound and picture quality were pretty good.

 

They was a nice selection of movies and concerts shown on MUTS throughout the cruise but it was either too cold/windy or too hot with no chairs in the shade so we didn't watch any. They frequently ended up on Channel 21 a few days later so we caught them on the flat screen TV.

[lovevacadays]

Thanks for the review and pictures. While I'm very happy the Sapphire got all the nice upgrades and can't wait to try them I found myself a little sad looking at the pictures. I've cruised the Sapphire so many times and have so many wonderful memories and now it will be like being on a brand new ship (which is really good but a little sad)