Disappointment with Sapphire Princess alaska 9/15-9/22/12

[bajarider]

The Vacations to Go site says the Horizon is open 24 hrs. on the Golden Princess. Is this a typo or are the Horizon hours different on the Sapphire and Golden Princess?

Regarding people being happier on Carnival, I doubt it. Try RCCL, the clubs are open late! And I hope the Golden Princess is in no way like Carnival.

[tarheelmjfan]

Op, I'm glad you brought this up. It looks like I'll need to do a little research to find the locations on Island that are open late. We're not early to bed early to rise people either.

[Astro Flyer]

The Vacations to Go site says the Horizon is open 24 hrs. on the Golden Princess. Is this a typo or are the Horizon hours different on the Sapphire and Golden Princess?

Regarding people being happier on Carnival, I doubt it. Try RCCL, the clubs are open late! And I hope the Golden Princess is in no way like Carnival.

Here's the dining info from Princess & if anyone wants another ship it can be changed on the right side:

 

http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/dining/dining_options/golden.html

[sherryf]

Despite being used to the vibrant carnival ships that party into the early hours of the morning, I would definitely look at Princess for certain locations in the world hands down first.

 

I have sailed both Carnival and Princess in Alaska, and believe me when I say that you wouldn't have found much more nightlife on Carnival than Princess. The overall demographic is pretty much the same for both lines (and probably most others) in Alaska. You were wise to choose Princess for Alaska since I think they do a much better job there. Too bad you missed the glacier sailing days due to bad weather. You will just have to go back again to see them!

 

BTW, according to my son (who was 18 when we took him) the place to be late at night on the Golden is Skywalkers.

[IECalCruiser]

Op, I'm glad you brought this up. It looks like I'll need to do a little research to find the locations on Island that are open late. We're not early to bed early to rise people either.

On the Coral and Island it is the Explorers Bar.

 

On the Golden in Alaska there was always a themed dance party with the DJ starting at 11:15 PM in Skywalkers. I have no idea how many attended or how late it ran as we were in our cabins by then. Most days the Casino was open when we were not in port and you could definitely get drinks and sodas at the bar overnight there. When the Horizon Court used to be open 24 hours the food available between midnight and 5:00 AM was not very appetizing and the IC options are much better IMHO.

[tarheelmjfan]

On the Coral and Island it is the Explorers Bar.

 

Thanks :)

[Coral]

The Vacations to Go site says the Horizon is open 24 hrs. on the Golden Princess. Is this a typo or are the Horizon hours different on the Sapphire and Golden Princess?

Regarding people being happier on Carnival, I doubt it. Try RCCL, the clubs are open late! And I hope the Golden Princess is in no way like Carnival.

 

In the past year or so, Princess has been closing the Horizon Court around 11 pm or midnight.

 

Vacations to Go website is outdated.

[lovevacadays]

Is this an alaska thing, extreme limited food and/or drinks after 12am? Seemed like it on Sapphire Princess. Which is a forewarning to all you future sapphire sailors. So just being back from the sapphire cruise 9/15-9/22...

 

No beverage service after 12am at any of the bars as they all closed at 12:00am every night. International Cafe was the only 24 hr thing aside from room service but they didnt serve soda or juice. Had to get that from room service for a fee. No thanks, passed up on it. Got my last drink every night at 11:55pm to last the remaining couple hours before bed.

 

I also noticed all food serving stopped by 11:00pm except international cafe and room service obviously. International cafe only had tuna sandwiches, ham and cheese on a croissant, and one other sandwich... then all the little desserts you can think of to choose from. Room service had the cheeseburger and fries. That's all there really was for food after 12am.

 

I am wondering if this an alaskan thing that princess does. Limits the food service and drink service because this alaskan cruise brought in an older age demographic that typically may not stay up til 2 or 3 am to eat. I would think in the carribbeans, princess would not get away with this. Never seen this lack of service on royal or carnival. They even had 24 hr pizza when I cruised with them. Something this princess didnt have.

 

I'm glad to see you came back and posted after your initial post. It's nice to hear you enjoyed most of your other cruise experiences on the Sapphire. I was going to say if needing alot of venue and alcohol venues open after midnight is important to you Princess might not be the line for you.

 

For me, there is always enough food if for some reason I decided I needed a midnight snack and the few times I've stayed up past midnight I was up in Skywalker's where they serve alcohol until everyone decides to leave. Perhaps on an Alaskan cruise Skywalkers doesn't have many folks who stay late. On my last cruise, my niece stayed up in Skywalker's until 2am every night. I guess it was very active up there.

[Coral]

 

to who posted above, The bar next to IC closed every night at 12:00am so I was just surprised to see no soda service at the IC since it was 24 hours. The pizza was available by room service but for a 3.00 delivery fee. I think it said it comes in "whole" pizzas too, not like slices.

 

One pizza can feed 2 people and there is a $3 fee and it is also limited in hours, something like 12-2, 5-?.

 

It is not the same size as what is in the Horizon Court.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Is this an alaska thing, extreme limited food and/or drinks after 12am? Seemed like it on Sapphire Princess. Which is a forewarning to all you future sapphire sailors. So just being back from the sapphire cruise 9/15-9/22...

 

No beverage service after 12am at any of the bars as they all closed at 12:00am every night. International Cafe was the only 24 hr thing aside from room service but they didnt serve soda or juice. Had to get that from room service for a fee. No thanks, passed up on it. Got my last drink every night at 11:55pm to last the remaining couple hours before bed.

 

I also noticed all food serving stopped by 11:00pm except international cafe and room service obviously. International cafe only had tuna sandwiches, ham and cheese on a croissant, and one other sandwich... then all the little desserts you can think of to choose from. Room service had the cheeseburger and fries. That's all there really was for food after 12am.

 

I am wondering if this an alaskan thing that princess does. Limits the food service and drink service because this alaskan cruise brought in an older age demographic that typically may not stay up til 2 or 3 am to eat. I would think in the carribbeans, princess would not get away with this. Never seen this lack of service on royal or carnival. They even had 24 hr pizza when I cruised with them. Something this princess didnt have.[/quote]

 

I still have my Funtimes from my Carnival Splendor cruise last October. I will say that I like to eat 24/7 so if theres food, I can find it:). The Deli closed at 10:00 PM. There were Late Night Snacks at the Buffet area until 12:30 AM. but I remember that there was never anything that looked or tasted very good (late at night). The Pizza Bar was open 24 hours but it was just ok, not great.

 

I have yet to go on my Princess cruise but I did go on the Sapphire Princess BVE. I will say that IMHO the IC (which is open 24 hours) blew away the late night food that I found on the Carnival Splendor.

 

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Carnival Splendor but I have to give credit where credit is due.

[MTJSR]

I did whale watching and glacier flight seeing in juneau. The whales were amazing, tons of them to see! First time I ever did it, with Harv and Marv too - Highly recommend. The glacier visit with Coastal Helicopters was amazing too. A once in a lifetime experience and definitely recommend coastal.

 

The shows that princess put on in the princess theater I think sometimes blew away Carnival's shows. So I enjoyed it and looked forward to them nightly. The dining room food was amazing as was the ship as a whole. I think it was much better than carnival food which I always swore that carnival was the best, over royal for example. But now i swear to princess. Just seemed always more fresher and filling then carnival's food. Maybe im dreaming and its the same food, same company they order from, just the difference if portion sizes. I dunno. Couldnt get an answer from anyone on the ship working for princess in the dining about that because would be curious to know.

 

Very nice, having never sailed Carnival I have no comparison like you, with that line, but it does seem to me even at 54 yrs young that Princess's clientele like me is getting older. I too notice the late nights are pretty dead.

[caribill]

Even despite having Hubbard and Glacier Bays wiped off the itinerary it was a dream trip come true for me.

 

I knew Glacier Bay had been skipped due to late departure from Whittier, but I had no realized that Hubbard was also scratched.

[IECalCruiser]

Nice to get your burger and mac'n'cheese served by a good team of waiters!

This is really bothering you, isn't it Griller? Can't imagine why. I for one love those new enhanced choices.

There was a great objective review of new menu items by VibeGuy on the thread. Gourmet mac and cheese can cost $20 to $30 in LA or Vegas. This was a replacement for Cajun Spiced Crawfish Crockpot with Black Mussels and Tomatoes formerly on the Sailaway Dinner. The Princess version was better than a lobster version I paid $25 for at Caesar's Palace earlier this year with a light cheese sauce and lots of bay shrimp, baby scallops and bacon bits. Definitely not your mother's Kraft mac and cheese and not an anytime available entree.

[FunShipCruiser05]

I knew Glacier Bay had been skipped due to late departure from Whittier, but I had no realized that Hubbard was also scratched.

 

 

Yes and a lot of disappointed people as there were many first time princess cruisers and first time alaska cruisers. I say I came to alaska for 50% of the reason being the glacier scenic cruising days. But despite them wiped out, i fully understand and appreciate the professionalism of the captain, princess water traffic control towers :D, the national weather service in their best forecast available to princess and the ship, and so on... to make this a safe overall cruise and waiting every last minute to make a change ( They announced this change at 6pm when ship was set to sail at 8:30pm)...

[NeurosurgeryNP]

A couple of years ago, our friends, in their 20's, did a CB cruise from NY to New ENgland. They said the demographics were older, and that they wound up being the only couple in the Skywalkers after 11:30 PM or so. A couple of weeks later, were were on the CB for a repo cruise, and the demographics were younger and Skywalkers was open much later. The crew said it had been really slow at the bars with the older demographic groups for the New England cruises.

[tarheelmjfan]

On the Coral and Island it is the Explorers Bar.

 

 

Do you know what time Explorers Lounge closes? I can't find the hours anywhere.

[IECalCruiser]

Do you know what time Explorers Lounge closes? I can't find the hours anywhere.

There is no set closing time. On our three day Coastal last week there was a party with the DJ starting at midnight the first night, 11:45 PM the second night and 11:30 PM the third night. In the Patter the times for the Wheelhouse Bar, Crooners Bar and Explorers Lounge were listed from an opening time "onwards". The bands and piano player will typically stop before midnight but the DJ will play beyond then if people are there. I thought there would be some partying on this cruise as a number of people were going to spend a few days in Vegas before returning home. That is not our scene, but when we walked past Explorers on the last night it appeared fairly quiet at 11:00 PM. There is a thread from the current Coral cruise. You might ask what it is like on the Panama Canal cruise now.

 

It can vary by cruise however. We had a great dance instructor, one of the dancers, on our Hawaii cruise in 2009. About 10 couples took classes throughout the cruise and we met the last night in the Wheelhouse bar to have a few drinks, talk and dance. They finally had to get us to leave at 1:00 AM by turning on the lights :eek: The band had continued playing to the end but maybe they played longer because our instructor and several of the other dancers were with us. It was a great way to end a great cruise :)

[WeBeGone]

When we sailed on the Sapphire to Alaska, we were so tired from our wonderful shore excursions each day we barely made it through dinner. :cool:

[tarheelmjfan]

There is no set closing time. On our three day Coastal last week there was a party with the DJ starting at midnight the first night, 11:45 PM the second night and 11:30 PM the third night. In the Patter the times for the Wheelhouse Bar, Crooners Bar and Explorers Lounge were listed from an opening time "onwards". The bands and piano player will typically stop before midnight but the DJ will play beyond then if people are there. I thought there would be some partying on this cruise as a number of people were going to spend a few days in Vegas before returning home. That is not our scene, but when we walked past Explorers on the last night it appeared fairly quiet at 11:00 PM. There is a thread from the current Coral cruise. You might ask what it is like on the Panama Canal cruise now.

 

It can vary by cruise however. We had a great dance instructor, one of the dancers, on our Hawaii cruise in 2009. About 10 couples took classes throughout the cruise and we met the last night in the Wheelhouse bar to have a few drinks, talk and dance. They finally had to get us to leave at 1:00 AM by turning on the lights :eek: The band had continued playing to the end but maybe they played longer because our instructor and several of the other dancers were with us. It was a great way to end a great cruise :)

 

Thanks for the additional info. We're hoping they'll be open until 2 am or so. We're very much late to bed late to rise people, unless we have an early excursion.

[buffalobobcat]

I agree with WeBeGone, such wonderful excursions...we were tired. While on the ship, we were so busy looking for whales and other wildlife that food was an afterthought. We did enjoy the food and entertainment.