Review-Sapphire, 10/15 Mexican Riviera

[Alaska05]

Another question I have is that disembarking went extremely slowly. Is it customary to wait 1-1/2 hrs. after your posted disembarking time? As I said, we had a party of 10 & everyone had a different disembarking time & all were apx. 1-1/2 hrs. later than posted.

 

Golfette -- Do you remember what time it was when the first group finally got off the ship? I'll be on the Sapphire in April and have a fairly early flight due to changes by airline. Thanks.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Alaska, it really does vary from cruise to cruise. Usually the delay is due to how the immigration dept. is handling things. On some cruises, we've gotten off quicker than we thought or usually not too long after (we just go with the time they have given us as usually we're not dealing with a flight that day).

 

I'm not knowledgable about golfing excursions. I just booked some excursions thru Princess for our upcoming cruise and one excursion ended up costing more than what had been listed in the shore excursion descriptions on the website. We still booked it and looking at the pre-reserving page a few days ago, I noticed there's now a waiting list. It would seem that if you pre-booked an excursion, the price should be locked in right there.

 

I do remember people recommending the traditional dining to Golfette. I would imagine if you booked Sabatinis or the other for-fee dining rooms for a big party, that's one thing. We always go for traditional on Princess so I don't know how many big tables are there in the PC dining rooms. But it seems it may be unfair to expect to get a big table for the more popular dining shifts for every day of the cruise if there are only a few that size. As someone said, maybe the TA could have explained that better and at least helped get them their big table for one of the days (if they still wanted PC) and then they could break up into smaller parties for the rest of the cruise.

[Cruisin' Chick]

golfette, maybe you should read the fine print in the shore excursion info you were mailed in your pre-cruise docs and see what it says about price increases. If there isn't any disclaimer about prices subject to change -- and you booked directly thru Princess -- maybe you should complain to Princess. If there is a disclaimer, then...

 

BTW, we loved the Sapphire and didn't feel it was crowded at all. But to each his own. That's why Princess has different size ships and why there's several cruiselines competing for our business.

[suep]

We were on the Sapphire the week of October 15th also. The only time it felt crowded was when we were at the photo gallery trying to look at all the pictures. We didn't think the pool was that crowded, although the deck chairs around the pool area were at a premium on the 2nd day at sea. However, there were plenty of deck chairs available, just not in the pool area.

 

In that it was our first cruise on Princess (out of 6 others, 4 on RCI), we, of course, found ourselves comparing. We liked being able to order drinks in small, medium & large! And the freshwater pools were also a nice plus. Service in the dining room and by the room steward was great, but bar service in the lounges and especially the pool area was pretty much non-existent. It was also nice to order multiple main dishes in the International Dining Room and have them all brought out at one time. Our server, Daniela, was amazing! Very efficient, very nice, and brought us whatever we asked for.

 

The rooms seemed smaller to us than what we had on RCI or Carnival, and we did miss not having towel animals at night when we returned to our rooms (I know, you're probably saying no big deal, but we did like them on Carnival and RCI!)

 

Because my brother celebrated his 60th birthday on this cruise, he took us to Sabatini's for dinner one night. My husband doesn't believe in going to a restaurant where you have to pay extra while on a cruise, but because we were invited, we went, and were very disappointed. We felt the service was slow, and the main dishes mediocre; one person in our group ordered scallops and she said they were brought out cold. Another person had chicken and said it was just "ok". I had lobster and thought the lobster served the next night in the Dining Room was better. We probably should have complained, but we didn't. As far as food in the international dining room; some nights were good, and others were just ok. We thought the food in the Horizon court was just "ok" too. We were with a group of 6 young people (aged 17 to 25) and asked them how often they used the Horizon court after dinner, and they told us only once because they didn't care so much for what was being served. If the ship had the pizzaria or hamburger/hotdog grill open later into the evening, I'm sure the kids would have eaten more. The food in those two venues (we felt) was very good.

 

We would go on Princess again, but my DH still likes RCI, and he's already booked a cruise for next year on the Adventure of the Seas.

[suep]

Oh yes -- and as far as embarkation and debarkation, embarkation was very smooth! We arrived at the ship about 1:30 PM, got our cruise cards and walked right on - no lines, no waiting. Very organized. As for debarkation, it was approximately 1 hour behind schedule. This wasn't much of a concern to us, as our flight did not leave LAX until 3PM. (It was about a 25 minute ride from the pier to LAX). I did talk to a gentleman who was in line just behind us while we were waiting to get off of the ship and he mentioned he was on the Diamond earlier this year and everyone was off of the ship by 8:30. Everything depends on customs and when they will release the ship.

[MaryPoppinz]

I don’t know of any Concierge service on Princess ships,

 

Not all of the ships have it, but in general, I think it works very well.

 

It's really just a centralized reservation system for the entire ship.

[Golfette]

To those who ask why we didn't do Traditional Dining with our group of 10, the reason is the brochure & website of Princess explained Personal Choice as "dining when and where you want..." in 4 different restaurants with 4 different menus. Also, we didn't want to eat at "traditional" hours. We had 3 golfing excursions booked which would take all day. We would arrive back at the ship in the late afternoon & wanted time to relax, have a leisurely drink up on the ocean-viewing decks & go to dinner around 6:45 - 7 p.m. Our golf excursions (which were the main reason we booked this cruise) required us to disembark at 6:50 A.M. in the morning, so we wanted to catch a few lounge shows & retire reasonably early. It was only after we all chose PC that I found this message board & learned that PC dining did NOT mean "any time" and the menus were the same in all DRs. By that time it was too late to book traditional & since we booked only about 4 months before sailing, it might have been too late already when we booked.

[Golfette]

bdjam, Concierge Service is alive (if not well) on the Sapphire Princess. It is listed in their "phone # directory." It has been mentioned countless times on this message board. I don't know how many times I have to say it, but there was NO "The" Maitre'd to speak to. We asked for the Maitre'd when we called Concierge - "No Maitre'd." When we asked to speak to "The" Maitre'd when we arrived at the Santa Fe Room & they didn't have our reservations, the tuxedo'ed man at the desk said HE was "The" Maitre'd and that they didn't have our reservations & he was "very sorry" but we would have to come back after 8 p.m. I'm glad your problems were resolved on Princess. Ours never was. We didn't go on the cruise to spend all our time fighting so we just gave up. In general it's no biggie, there are lots of other cruise lines to choose from & this time, I will plan the trip (I was not the planner on this one) & do my research BEFORE booking.

[coo359a2]

Can you tell me what the names of the PC dining rooms are?

[devinc]

Golfette,

 

What time were you allowed to disembark when you arrived at San Pedro?

 

I have a 12:46 flight at LAX.

[Lynda90]

I think one good thing we all learned from Golfette's experience and others on this board, is that "anytime" dining is definitely not "anytime" dining. Especially with a large group. I wonder who gets to eat in those restaurants after 6 and before 8? Is it just the walk-ups and then they take their chances. I guess if the wait wasn't too long, that wouldn't be too bad. Kind of like the Outback where they give you a pager. Definitely not for large groups, though. As I said earlier, if you want to eat at 5:30 or after 8, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

One questions I have is if one restaurant is too busy to accommodate you, can you ask someone to find out if one of the others can? Since the menus are basically the same, it shouldn't really make much difference which room you are in.

[Happy2cruise]

We were on the 10/15 sailing and disembarkation was extremely slow. The reason being, Princess offered Express Disembarkation...if you can carry your luggage off yourself, you leave first. In my opinion and several others that morning, this is the worse idea. It delays passengers who have early color tags and need to be off to make their flights. It looked to us that half the ship carried their own luggage. Bad, bad idea.

[Coral]

bdjam, Concierge Service is alive (if not well) on the Sapphire Princess. It is listed in their "phone # directory." It has been mentioned countless times on this message board. I don't know how many times I have to say it, but there was NO "The" Maitre'd to speak to. We asked for the Maitre'd when we called Concierge - "No Maitre'd." When we asked to speak to "The" Maitre'd when we arrived at the Santa Fe Room & they didn't have our reservations, the tuxedo'ed man at the desk said HE was "The" Maitre'd and that they didn't have our reservations & he was "very sorry" but we would have to come back after 8 p.m.

 

Usually on the first day, there is a message in the Patter indicating that you can meet with the Matride/head waiter to switch dining assignments around. I have done this a few times including my last trip.

 

I think Princess's use of "Concierage Service" on the Diamond/Sapphire is different then most think of when they think of cruises.

[Lynda90]

Usually on the first day, there is a message in the Patter indicating that you can meet with the Matride/head waiter to switch dining assignments around. I have done this a few times including my last trip.

 

I think Princess's use of "Concierage Service" on the Diamond/Sapphire is different then most think of when they think of cruises.

I just got out my copies of Princess Patter from the Diamond. Coral is correct about this being handled differently on Diamond/Sapphire. All it says about who to contact on first day is: "For your convenience, a dining room inquiry desk is located in front of Sabatini's Restaurant from Noon-4:00pm."

[bdjam]

Usually on the first day, there is a message in the Patter indicating that you can meet with the Matride/head waiter to switch dining assignments around. I have done this a few times including my last trip.

Thanks. I think that’s what was being suggested. Maybe the suggestions weren’t clear.

[il professore]

We, too, just returned from the 10/15 Sapphire cruise. There were only the two of us, and our PC dining was a pleasant experience, as always. Our second night in Vivaldi we had a super pair (Ramona and Daniel), so we reserved the same table for the rest of the cruise. From then on, we would walk right to our table, no lines, no fuss, whenever we wanted to after 8:00PM. There was a table of about 10 who were there next to us every night. There were also a lot of empty tables. I imagine that, as at any popular restaurant, there is limited opportunity for larges parties to reserve tables whenever they want to. Options would have been to eat later or to break into smaller groups.

 

Staffing at all levels was very good. For a new ship, there were a lot of annoying glitches: steam room didn't work one day, no aromatics in steam most days, out of items and sizes in shops, simple annoyances. All promised mini-suite promised perks were there.

 

Maybe it's because the majority of passengers were casual Californians, but the relative lack of formality, especially among the males, on formal nights was disappointing. And on the other nights, you had jeans, hoodies, and haltered tops allowed into the PC dining rooms. Men in sport coats were few and far between as were women in smart casual wear. Perhaps the fixed seating crowd was a bit classier.

 

The back-up at disembarkation was not Princess's fault. They were efficient as always. The problem was with the good, ol' US Customs. (Got to keep those terrorists out of the country, you know!) I was scheduled to disembark at ~8:15 AM and actually cleared customs around 10-10:30. Even so, I made my 12:45 PM flight to Phoenix with plenty of time to spare.

 

What was it like to play golf in Puerto Vallarta when it was 95 with 96% humidity?

 

Anyone east of the Mississippi and thinking of this cruise, by all means come out a day early. We had to get up on the 15th at 1:00AM PST for our flights and went to bed on the ship at about 10:00PM PSt. Really tired and still groggy on the 16th. Two days semi lost.

 

Finally, with 5 Princess cruises in the last 3 1/2 yrs., their menus are getting a little boring. Wish they would change them more than they do. Maybe it's time to try another line out of FLA. But we really like our Princess experiences for the most part.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Sapphire is not brand new. We were on it in its third month in August 2004. But I'm sure it's still beautiful.

[SLU Billikens]

Golfette,

 

We sailed the Sapphire October 8-15 and had a 12:30 flight out of LAX. We were off the ship by 9:30 and at LAX by 10:00. Of course as has been mentioned the time you get off varies due to US Customs. I was also concerned as you are. Just make sure you have the Red disembarkation tags and I think you will be fine.

 

Sue, we also had Daniela as our waitress and I agree she is excellent.

[Alaska05]

We sailed the Sapphire October 8-15 and had a 12:30 flight out of LAX. We were off the ship by 9:30 and at LAX by 10:00. Of course as has been mentioned the time you get off varies due to US Customs. I was also concerned as you are. Just make sure you have the Red disembarkation tags and I think you will be fine.

 

How did you get to the LAX airport? Book on your own or Princess transfer? Thanks. I'm feeling a little better about keeping our 12:20 flight but still know there can be delays due to Customs.

[suep]

How did you get to the LAX airport? Book on your own or Princess transfer? Thanks. I'm feeling a little better about keeping our 12:20 flight but still know there can be delays due to Customs.

 

We had Princess transfers. Transfers were $25 per person. Once past customs, everything went smooth and quickly.

[Lynda90]

How did you get to the LAX airport? Book on your own or Princess transfer? Thanks. I'm feeling a little better about keeping our 12:20 flight but still know there can be delays due to Customs.

We were off the ship before 9 and at the airport by about 9:30 and had hours to wait for our 3PM flight. You should not have any problem with your flight. We had reservations on the SuperShuttle that we made before we left home and there were lots of them waiting outside the terminal. We gave them our name and got right on. I think it was $34 for the two of us or close to that. Much cheaper than the Princess transfers for the same exact product. You can either go on line or call them direct for the reservation and they will email you a confirmation. You don't have to pay anything until you are on the bus.

[JulieU89]

First, let me say that I had time to read the original post and SOME of the posts following but I have not read this entire thread, I do not intend on dissing or flaming anyone and please read my post understanding this...(don't want to offend anyone).

 

Ok, so another couple, my husband and I (all in our 30s and childless) were on the Sapphire on 10/15 and here are my observations...

 

OUR ROOM:

The larger balcony (Caribe) offers you double the balcony space of a standard balcony room but not more cabin space. (You can figure that out yourself if you look at the room layouts, we did as well but decided to try a smaller balcony room for the heck of it) I have sailed Celebrity on the Concierge class as well as RCL's balcony rooms and found that my husband and I (and the couple we were sailing with) missed the additional couch found in the Mini-Suites on the Sapphire. Next time we'll do a mini-suite. If you are a balcony person used to a bed area and a couch/tv area, do yourself a favor and do the mini-suite.

 

There is a door between all adjoining balconies. This is perfect for couples traveling together that don't want to surrender privacy but don't want to go out into the hallway in their pajamas to get something from their friend's cabin. If you are traveling in a group, and are balcony people, ask your room attendant to unlock that door.

 

My husband and one of our friends had a horrible time trying to sleep on the mattress in our room. By the time we figured out that it was the mattress causing his neck/headache pain, we felt it rude to ask for an egg crate mattress. Do yourself a favor, if you like soft mattresses, order one ahead or speak to your room steward immediately upon embarkation.

Our room steward was nice, efficient and did all that we requested.

 

PUBLIC AREAS:

The public restrooms were poorly maintained. While all the personal service that one would expect from your room attendant and dinner server was up to par, the general service (waiting in the bars for an attendant, cleanliness of bathrooms, demeanor of casino staff) was a bit off. While this didn't deter us from doing a $100 deposit on a future cruise, it does raise questions of a cruise after that...I think our next cruise will be the deciding one.

 

EMBARKATION:

Embarkation, in my mind was not very efficient. Both couples had input all our information into the Princess website and my husband and I were tagged for 'express' embarkation, however this put us in the same line as everyone else. At least at the LAX dock it did, I can't remember if there was an express line in Vancouver but that really isn't the point.

 

Furthermore, Princess Circle members, in my mind, because they are experienced cruisers, should have preferential treatment (as I have seen on other lines).

 

FOOD/DINING/DRINKS:

The food at the buffets was just that, buffet food. Dinner was much better. The drinks were still probably the strongest and cheapest among all the cruise lines. The ability to get a small/medium/large drink of the day at a special price in unique.

 

My husband and I, as well as the couple we travel with, are die hard traditional diners. After having experienced personal choice on Norwegian, I choose to have the same waiter and server. Personally, I think 'personal choice' should be "Do we get dressed for the dining room or wear our shorts to the buffet?" but that's just me. While I understand that assigned seating isn't for everyone, I really feel that by making dining less formal on ships, you make lousy service more acceptable and the waitstaff less accountable.

 

Dinner: When we input our info into the princess site, we indicated that we wanted the late assigned seating and that we wanted a table for 4. Upon arriving at our table the first night, we found that we were at the very far side of the International dining room (which is a lesson in navigation to get to in the first place) and that we were sharing the table with 4 other ladies. I was not pleased. We had a nice time the first night but decided to express our preferences again to the maitre d' the next night. He was more than accommodating and moved us to a wonderful table near the entrance where we could people watch.

 

NOTE: If you are traveling in a large group (sorry but the largest group I've traveled in has been 6), you will want to make arrangements 2-3 months before your trip. Call Princess and when you arrive on the ship, make a b-line for the dining room. There should be someone there to handle your request the first day. After the first day, it becomes difficult for the maitre d' to move people.

The dinners were very good.

 

CHILDREN:

We did notice more children around than on other cruises however there were plenty of places where you could get away as an adult. The front pool, in the Lotus Spa is an outdoor, adults only pool. It was exceptional the 3 times we were there (only swam once though). The far aft pool was also quite good, with mostly adults. Since that pool is very small, it isn't the kind of place that kids will flock to.

 

TENDERING IN CABO:

CABO TENDERING WAS MADNESS! This was one of the 2 instances where I felt that I was on a ship with 2000+ people (the other being our last day at see that was chilly so everyone was indoors and in the center of the ship). The line for the tender back to the ship was long and in the hot sun. Furthermore, the tendering took so long, we were over an hour late leaving Cabo. If anyone heard the captain's speech, we had to leave on time, and sail at full speed to make it to LA in time for disembarkation. That's why I think things were a bit screwy on Saturday morning.

 

DISEMBARKATION:

We had red 4 tags, with an expected disembarkation of around 8:30 am. We were off the boat by around 9 or so and made it to LAX with ample time for our 12:30pm flight. I believe the delay was entirely due to Cabo. At 6:30 am we were coming into port! As most of you know, most ships are docked by 5-6am on disembarkation day.

 

SUMMARY:

While I do feel that Princess is still a good value, I am a bit concerned about their ownership and how that is effecting the service on the ship. The 10/15 cruise was the 2nd Mexican Riviera cruise for the season on the Sapphire, the first one having been effected by a hurricane. I also wonder if this was a factor.

 

We enjoyed our cruise and had a good time however I can see how the original poster had problems and is skeptical about Princess. This was our 2nd cruise with Princess, the first one being our first cruise ever taken, so my views may be a bit skewed as well. As you know, nothing compares to your first cruise, short of a hurricane, everything is wonderful and great and grand etc, etc. This, our second cruise, opened my eyes a bit more, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt because we had a nice time and there were no large issues, just little irritations that you'll find on any ship. Our third cruise with them (probably in February out of Galveston) will be the true tell.

 

ANSWERS TO ORIGINAL POSTER:

 

EXCURSIONS: Raising the price after you booked and while on ship is entirely unacceptable. I have NEVER heard of this and you should make a point to contact princess in this regard.

 

DINING: I think I've said enough, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience but I think this furthers my point that personal choice dining allows for poor service. While early/late seating times may not be ideal, it may be something you'll have to bear next time. Furthermore, it is never too early to indicate your preferences. Planning trips has taught me to call, call and call again to make sure my reservations are correct and to my satisfaction.

 

THE SHOWS: While traveling with a couple involved in ballroom dancing with one of them having a theater background, you get a different view of the shows. Personally, I thought they were horrible. But I've never liked a show on a cruise ship. That's just me. I found princess' live entertainment (in lounges) to be above average. You could find a lounge singer just about everywhere!

 

If you are interested, I've blogged about our cruise here:

http://www.julieu.com/blog/2005/10/love-boatexciting-and-newcome-aboard.html

 

And I plan on scanning and uploading all of the Princess Patters from the cruise. Since all the laundry is done now, I plan on doing this sometime over the weekend. I'll make a link or something obvious on my site:

www.julieu.com

Thanks for reading!

[JulieU89]

Ok, I'm a total idiot. We cruised on the 10/8/05 Sapphire. Sorry.

[calikak]

Thanks to everyone for their reviews! I'm planning to do this itinerary next year as a Girls' Cruise (we're all leaving our hubbies/boyfriends/children at home), so it's good to hear everyone's comments.

[MarsMc888]

Thanks for all the great reviews everyone! :)

 

Juile - Because you and your husband are around my same age, I wanted to ask you about the nightlife & types on people you found on your cruise.

I am going on my first cruise in Nov on the Sapphire to the Mexican Riviera with another single friend. I am 29 and she is 30, and though we are both professionals who are done with the college scene, that doesn't mean we want to be in bed every night by 10:00pm either!!

 

Can I ask what kind of entertainment was available later in the evenings? Also, how were the night clubs/lounges? Were people dancing and having fun after dinner or were they pretty empty? You mentioned that the people in the casino weren't great either, can I ask why?

 

I just wanted to get a feel for the entertainment options available so I can get a better idea of what to expect. And of course, if anyone else has any advice or experience to offer, it would be much appreciated - thanks!!

 

-M