Sapphire Princess

[deejay6870]

I would appreciate comments from people who have cruised aboard the Sapphire Princess. We are contemplating a twenty nine day cruise from Sidney, Australia to Los Angeles in 2007.

[Cruisin' Chick]

What do you what to know? I took a 7-day cruise on the Sapphire thru the Inside Passage in Aug. 04. It is a beautiful ship, fairly new (first cruised in June '04). It's a big ship, which we happen to like. A major feature it has that apparently many Princess ships do not have is a retractable roof over one of the pools.

[mummsie]

She is beautiful. We sailed from New Zealand to Sydney in January. We would have loved to do the cruise from Australia to the USA but its just out of our price range now.

[deejay6870]

Iwould be interested to know how embarkation and disembarkation was handled. Did the ship seem crowded?

[kimba_99]

I didn't think the ship felt crowded at all and we had just over 2800 passengers on our cruise.

Embarkation was awful, took about three hours, but we felt that it was not Princess' fault but the Sydney Port Authority who seemed overwhelmed with that many passengers all lining up waiting to get on. Hopefully this season will be much smoother.

I have written a ports of call review which can be viewed here, and my pics of the ship and ports between Sydney and Auckland are in my signature.

Cheers,

Kim

[mii]

I have been on the Sapphire for a 10 day to Mex. Riviera r/t from San Francisco and it is a BIG ship(2700) passengers. It took us a few days to figure out where to go but then it became easier and easier. Embarkation really depends on where the cruise starts. Some ports are easier than others. As for disembarkation is the same thing. I really had a good time on the Sapphire but my DH and I prefer a little smaller ship like the Coral Princess. But hey it was a cruise. If you go to the Princess site and look under ships there is all sorts of info there and do a search on this fourm for the Sapphire Princess. Alot of stuff comes up. Have a great cruise.

 

Marilyn

[Screwbit]

Just did Alaska IP on Sapphire this September. We breezed thru embarkation and debarkation, but as was mentioned, that can be a product of the port, time of day,etc.. Our mini-suite on Emerald was terrific. Service most everywhere on ship was very good. We did Anytime Dining, since we like a 7-7:30 dinner time. Service , however, we found to be generally mediocre in the Anytime dining rooms. The Horizon Court traffic flow is quite poor, IMHO.That said, room service was quite punctual, and the Main Dining Room is a great option for breakfast as well. Never felt crowded on a sold-out ship. We've done the Grand and Golden also, and that was our experience on them as well. Princess does a good job on these three with space. We prefer the big ships, and traffic on Grand-class is much better than on RC's Voyager-class, with the notable exception of the buffet area. I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

[Once Upon A Time]

Just got off the Sapphire 10/01 cruise. Embarkation took only 20 minutes once we got to the ships terminal. Very efficient process. However, we did sit at the airport 2 1/2 hours waiting for the Princess bus to pick us up. Disembarkation took about an hour longer than we had expected, but this was mainly due to US immigration and customs, not really something Princess has any control over. I think that if you have a flight out at 1pm or earlier, you'd best make sure you have one of the bag tag colors that are called very early in the process. If all passengers filled out their immigration forms properly, things would probably go a lot faster, but we all know that's not going to happen....so be prepared.

[deejay6870]

Thanks everyone for all your help. I will still welcome other opinions.

[Cruise38]

I cruised for 47 days earlier in the year from Bangkok thru Asia and then across thru Alaska to Seattle. Embarkation was a snap - disembarkation not as good. She is a beautiful ship with all the amenities but just a little to big for my taste. My main complaint about her size is the fact that in many ports she cannot get into the cruise terminals - must use cargo terminals which are often far away from where you want to be. As an example - 5 years when I stopped in Hong Kong I walked off the ship and there I was. This time we docked at the cargo terminal and had to drive a little over an hour. Some docks are fine - but others are not. Just a heads-up if this is a concern.

 

Barbara

[deejay6870]

The docking was something I had not considered. Do you know anything about ports in Sidney, Christchurch, Bora Bora, Pago Pago? I wonder if it is necessary to tender in any of them.

[GFLeeper]

deejay6870 - We are booked on the cruise you are contemplating. The Princess itinerary we received from our TA lists only two tender ports; Rarotonga and Bora Bora.

I gather this cruise is fairly well booked up. Don't contemplate too long. Come join us on the roll call and on board.

George

[Sandy R]

We've sailed 3 times on the Sapphire sister ship, the Diamond. Because we're familiar with the layout, we just booked the Sapphire for a 27 day cruise next year, Whittier to Osaka. The ship is large, which we feel will be a plus on a long cruise. Also, there's lots of entertainment going on at night, another plus on a long cruise. Don't know what type of cabin category you're contemplating... we went with a mini-suite because it's so roomy and the bathroom is larger... again a plus on a long cruise. While on the Diamond... 2 cruises to the Mexican Riviera and 1 cruise to Alaska, we personally never had a problem getting on and off the ship in ports. And, as far as embarkation, if you fill out the Princess personalizer online, you'll have a fast track toward the process.

 

Sandy

[deejay6870]

George, we have already booked the cruise while aboard the Island Princess when we cruised to Hawaii a few weeks ago. Maybe we will see you aboard.

 

We have booked a cabin with a balcony - can't remember which deck right now but I figure we have plenty of time to cancel should we deem it necessary.