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Cruise ship Sapphire Princess to make Singapore its homeport in 2014

gibby_daebak

By gibby_daebak,
in Princess Cruises

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gibby_daebak

gibby_daebak

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Cruise ship Sapphire Princess to make Singapore its homeport in 2014

 

Hello! I'm new here in the Princess forum and totally new to Princess Cruises. I'm excited about a new cruise line (relatively new to Singapore) to homeport a ship here from November 2014-February 2015!

 

I'm really curious to know what I could expect with Princess Cruises and Sapphire Princess! It'll be great if you all could share your experiences with me and probably a few other Singaporean cruisers here on CC! :D

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FoghornLeghorn

FoghornLeghorn

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I just got back from a cruise on the Sapphire to Hawaii.

It is now my favorite Princess ship.

 

Beautiful, easy to navigate, love the 4 anytime dining rooms. Staff was fabulous.

 

The casino was smaller than I expected.

There was a place for some more slot machines, but it had chairs and small tables with ashtrays for people to sit and smoke. Surprised Princess wouldn't use this space for more slots for revenue.

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dides

dides

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Some more info from http://www.traveldailymedia.com/151071/princess-cruises-plans-major-asian-deployment

 

 

Princess Cruises will commence its largest ever Asian deployment in 2014, when the Sapphire Princess liner arrives in Singapore for a four-month winter season.

 

The cruise line, which forms part of the Carnival Corporation, will base the 2,670-passenger ship in Singapore from autumn 2014 to spring 2015, offering 15 round-trip departures that can be combined to create separate 25 itineraries. Cruise lengths will run from a three-day trip to Malaysia to 11-day voyages to Vietnam and back, with stops in Brunei and Bangkok. Other itineraries include a 10-day Indonesia trip and five-day tours of Thailand. All itineraries will include shore excursions.

 

 

 

 

Sapphire is the only ship we've been on so far and we love her plus Singapore is on our bucket list ...must be fate!

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runnerodb83

runnerodb83

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Bad move Princess, send one of your more amenity laden ships, larger ships to a homeport that is more than 12 hr flight from UK and over 20 from most mainland us airports...and requires a stopover. So now 2 of of the more modern ships are in the far east. I know the asian cruise market is hot but i think this is a mistake. I guess its good for australians.

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sassyredhat

sassyredhat

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Lucky Singapore. :) and welcome to the forum and Princess.

Sapphire is a very pretty ship. My favorite place to hang out is the IC--International Cafe. On sea days we head down there to play cards, grab a latte and some cookies, or just listen to music.

After shore excursions, we like to go get a quick specialty pizza.

I have only good things to say about Sapphire. ;)

 

PCL crew is great. I have special dietary issues which they handled wonderfully for our 14 day cruise.

Pat

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sunsetbeachgal

sunsetbeachgal

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This makes me sad. The Sapphire is my favorite ship. I went all the way to Australia and back on that ship and was looking forward to more cruises on the Sapphire. But I won't be flying to Singapore for a cruise. It's just too far away.

 

I agree...my favorite as well...she will be missed...too far for us to go..

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OceanPrince

OceanPrince

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Bad move Princess, send one of your more amenity laden ships, larger ships to a homeport that is more than 12 hr flight from UK and over 20 from most mainland us airports...and requires a stopover. So now 2 of of the more modern ships are in the far east. I know the asian cruise market is hot but i think this is a mistake. I guess its good for australians.

 

Dont worry, you will get couple even larger, even more modern, and even more amenity-laden ships around the U.K. and U.S. With the Royal and Regal coming out, couple of the Grand class ships has to go somewhere new. No matter which ship is it, there will always be fans of that ship saying "bad move, we love the Sapphire"... at least until they cruise on the Royal/Regal and then forgets all about Sapphire.

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caribill

caribill

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Dont worry, you will get couple even larger, even more modern, and even more amenity-laden ships around the U.K. and U.S. With the Royal and Regal coming out....

 

Larger is not necessarily better. The Royal and Regal will be very limited in where they can go and cannot have the great itineraries that the Sapphire has had in the past.

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bdjam

bdjam

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Larger is not necessarily better. The Royal and Regal will be very limited in where they can go and cannot have the great itineraries that the Sapphire has had in the past.

 

On this we agree - and I'm sure Royal and Regal will have a few years on them before they see Pacific waters.

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caribill

caribill

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On this we agree - and I'm sure Royal and Regal will have a few years on them before they see Pacific waters.

 

Having the Royal do the Baltic next year is from my perspective not as good an experience for the passengers as the smaller ships, even the ones as large as the Crown.

 

Its size means they do not get to do the entire scenic cruise to near downtown Stockholm but must dock outside of town and take a shuttle into town.

 

The additional number of passengers on the Royal can be too many to handle in some of the Baltic ports. Think of the number of Princesss excursion busses that show up at the same time at museums and other sites now. Now add some more.

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Cassicruiser

Cassicruiser

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This will be great news for Asians and Australians - a growing cruising population who have a fraction of the ships and choices that the US and UK have. We also have very few larger ships, so this will be a bonus.

 

Singapore may be far to travel for cruisers in the US and UK, but it's the same the other way too - the UK and US are just as far for Asians and Australians to travel to, yet we do it all the time. Those who can afford to and want to cruise this region, and see a different part of the world, will happily travel from wherever they live.

 

Thank you Princess for expanding our options.

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bdjam

bdjam

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This will be great news for Asians and Australians - a growing cruising population who have a fraction of the ships and choices that the US and UK have. We also have very few larger ships, so this will be a bonus.

 

Yes it will - unfortunately those in the US will lose out on a ship that we've grown accustomed to. Too bad the cruise lines just don't build ships for the Asian and Australian market instead of taking the fine ones from the US.

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runnerodb83

runnerodb83

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Dont worry, you will get couple even larger, even more modern, and even more amenity-laden ships around the U.K. and U.S. With the Royal and Regal coming out, couple of the Grand class ships has to go somewhere new. No matter which ship is it, there will always be fans of that ship saying "bad move, we love the Sapphire"... at least until they cruise on the Royal/Regal and then forgets all about Sapphire.

 

Not looking forward to Royal/Regal. I enjoy the variety of pools and layout of the grand class ships. Additionally, the crown is not a consolation prize in Alaska without a covered pool.

 

I wasnt really even that much of a fan of the sapphire. And as someone else noted, the royal and regal probably wont touch pacific water for a while, if ever.

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