Review-Sapphire, 10/15 Mexican Riviera

[seabass23]

Thanks for the review JulieU89. I look forward to viewing the Patters on your website. By chance do you have any of the menus you can add?

[JulieU89]

The people onboard the cruise tended to be older (because on every cruise, they are older, older people either have more vacation time or are retired) however there was a good mix on this cruise. Better than other cruises.

Evenings featured an awful show in the Princess theatre (awful in my opinion).

There was plenty of live entertainment in all of the lounges. There was a trio with a lady singer, another group that had a guy leading in an easily mocked lounge-y singing style. There was also a piano player in midship that tended to play a lot of billy joel (He was accompanied by a strange hippy passenger that did this weird drunken swaying-dance that wasn't really in time to piano man, but it was entertaining)

We went up to Skywalker's one night...it was pretty dead up there, but we went there right as the place opened. One thing, the couple we traveled with are dancers and the wife noticed the mirrored floor in skywalker's that could lead to a revealing situation...if you know what I mean. Do yourself a favor and wear pants if you plan on hitting the dance floor at skywalkers.

People were having fun in various places throughout the ship. We made sure to catch the 'Liar's Club' game at the Lounge in midship. It was a lot of fun. Billy (cruise director) and Scott (assistant) are a great pair. Make sure to watch their morning show that is broadcast on the ship's TV channel. They are pretty funny.

The casino staff is pretty blah. On Norwegian, we kept winning bottles of champagne on this quarter game and the girls in the casino were watching us play. It seems that we were such 'fun' that other people started playing the game. By the end of that cruise, we gave the girls in the casino (servers) 2 bottles of champagne. They were very nice and personable before our gift tho'.

On princess, the roulette wheel people weren't really that interested (even when you tipped them) and one of them was a bit snippy in my opinion. The slots people seemed to be quick about refilling the machines (and they seemed nicer too). The girls at the cashier's window seemed bored. I know they can't be 'up' all the time but if I wanted a depressing casino experience, I'd go to the casinos here in Detroit.

 

As you probably know, or have surmised from doing any reading on this board, you make your own fun on a cruise. Also, the types of entertainment and nightlife hotspots can change depending on staffing as well as passengers. Clubs that are dead on one cruise can be hopping on another. My advice to you is to try every spot that interests you at least one, maybe even twice, just to see what its like.

Personalities aside, the ship is nice, it is well staffed and you get what you put into it (being nice to staff will get you better service, which is a universal truth).

[meemeec]

(being nice to staff will get you better service, which is a universal truth).

All together now........AMEN!!!!

[JulieU89]

Thanks for the review JulieU89. I look forward to viewing the Patters on your website. By chance do you have any of the menus you can add?

Nope, and you'll be hard pressed to find any menus anywhere, unless someone wrote them down longhand. The menus are printed and slid into covers or posted outside the dining rooms that day.

I can tell you what they have on their 'always available' list (for nights when you don't like the main menu's offering)...

Shimp Cocktail, Caesar's Salad, Fettucini Alfredo, Broiled Chicken Breast, Torenados of Beef (steak), Salmon, Ice Cream Sundae, NY Cheesecake.

 

I had the shrimp cocktail a couple of times as well as the caesar's salad. Both decent. Also, my husband liked the chicken breast and I dug the fettucini alfredo (comes in an edible parmesan bowl--edible bowls RULE). Our friends liked the Salmon and the Torenados of Beef. The cheesecake was a bit dry but any cheesecake is better than having no cheesecake. I also had a sundae one night and that was good.

 

All the food was good and although I am a very picky eater with a sensitive stomach, the only night I couldn't find ANYTHING to eat was the 'Chef's Choice night' where everything on he menu was a bit too adventureous for me. That was my fettucini night.

 

Also, remember if there is something else on the menu that has a side dish you would prefer, ask about it, your server will bring you some of it. Lots of nights I substituted the potato from another dish instead of a vegetable from my dish. If one dessert features berries, you'll probably be able to get a nice plate of berries (on their own) if you ask. Our server (MIRKO) did this for us.

[cynbar]

We've done 6 Princess cruises now and occasionally repeated an itinerary, and I'm always amazed at how the passenger mix seems to vary from week to week -- and I'm not talking expected variations such as holidays, spring break, etc. We did the Mexican Riviera last January on the Diamond Princess and it was very lively, with a wild island night party and Skywalker's and the casino hopping into the early morning. But the reports here online about the following cruise were totally different. We also did the Eastern Caribbean two years in a row on the Grand, and again the weeks varied a great deal. It's just hard to predict, I guess......

[cbeach4]

Thanks for the in-depth reviews Golfette and JulieU89!

 

Julie - DH, DD and I have PC Dining so I especially appreciate the names of the waitstaff that provided an enjoyable experience for you.

 

Really looking forward to those Patters too!! :)

[cbeach4]

Oops :o - actually that was Il Professore that provided that names of the great waitstaff duo. Thanks to you too, Il Professore, for your review!!

[roohound]

Yes! Sapphire has the fettucini alfredo with the edible cheese bowl!

 

I found out about this last year and people were like you have to have it. And I trust the vast majority of CCers ;)

 

So, on our Sun cruise I ordered the fettucini alfredo one night. Not only did it not come in an edible cheese bowl :( but honestly, it wasn't all that good.

[il professore]

If you want the menus as a souvenir on any Princess cruise, simply ask your maitre d' and he'll give all of them to you in a nice folder. Though we didn't see the first theater show, Pianoman, I agree with J that the second show, Undercover, was not up to par. We almost left midway, but it improved a bit toward the end. Not the cast's fault. Simply a poor concept that doesn't work. We had afternoon tea with a retired Joffrey lead dancer, and he agreed about Undercover but said Pianoman was up to par.

 

A previous post said embarkation was crowded. Again, not Princess's fault. Port Secruity was checking passports and slowed things up, at least between 12 and 1. Got to watch out for those 65 yr old lady terrorists in wheelchairs, you know. i've got to believe Princess is correct in advising you to come after 2 if you don't want to wait. If you arrive before that time, there will be a line -- because ~90% of the 2700 passengers come before 2PM!

[JulieU89]

Ok, so I got to this tonight instead of waiting until the weekend.

 

Because of possible bandwidth issues from my web hosting service, I'm not going to post a new thread in the Princess area with what I've done...because lookie-loos will just go to my site to be nosey with no intention of taking this cruise or going on the sapphire princess.

 

However, feel free to mention me on any roll calls if you find that people are interested in the Princess Patters for the 2005/06 Sapphire Princess Mexican Riviera.

 

Honestly, I'm happy to provide the information, but I just don't want to waste bandwidth and have to take these down.

 

With that being said, here goes...

http://www.julieu.com/cruises/0510Sapphire.html

 

You'll see that I've also added reviews and pictures from our other cruises.

 

Lastly, if you don't want to click on all these files, I have them in one winzip file. My email address is listed just above the princess patters on the Sapphire Princess page so you can email me and I'll send you the whole kit & kaboodle at once. (Please make sure you mention Princess Patters in the subject line of your email. Since this email address tends to get a good amount of spam, I tend not to open emails from people I don't know.)

[JulieU89]

Guys-

While I didn't start a new thread, I did do a search for other sapphire threads and posted this information.

I just wanted to let you know just in case you are subscribed to other threads and keep seeing notices of my posting.

I wanted to be helpful (and an enabler for that matter) but don't want to tick anyone off.

Going to bed now, enough cruise 'work' for one night.

[kayred]

:) Wow what a wonderful gift, thank you. You did a great job scanning. To save you bandwith and because I want time to read (ok I am sure I will re-read) the patters I decided to save them on my pc. I saved them as a bmp (I was not worried about the size) and it is wonderful, I can even enlarge if I need to read the small print. I love your photos (all of them are great) and your review on your site was so much fun to read. I know all the work on your site takes time and effort and I appreciate it. What fun I will have staying up late tonight dreaming about Jan.........Thanks again.....

[Lynda90]

Julie, thank you so very much for scanning the Patters. I read every page and I am so excited to leave next month. You really did a wonderful service for all of us going to Mexico. Such an informative website. Thanks again!:D ;)

[JulieU89]

You guys are welcome. I'm always the enabler in our group of friends (Friends tend to buy more when they shop with me, go on more vacations and just generally act out more). My opinion is that any information about a cruise is better than going in blind.

 

Glad you guys liked my site and the info.

[roohound]

Thanks a bunch Julie!

 

You're going to make these next few weeks waiting even harder since seeing your Patters makes me want to get onboard right NOW LOL

[cbeach4]

Yes, awesome work! I printed the patters and bookmarked your website. Only had the opportunity to scan your review and pics during lunch break... but Wow!... I can't wait to get home from work tonight!! GRACIAS, Julie!! :)

[travelling fools]

Thanks for the patters.Now I know which day should be the cheapest for facials etc.

My husband now knows what movies not to rent before we go just incase they have the same ones as you.

[seabass23]

JulieU89--Thanks for the jpg's of the Patters! I placed them all in one 34 page PDF document (4.7 MB). If you're interested in posting it on your website for downloading, I can e-mail it to your Hot Mail account. Just let me know...

[WHYTSHLDRZ]

Thanks for sharing,Julie!! Great info! I APPRECIATE ALL YOUR HARD WORK! It gave me a real idea of what I have been dreaming of the past couple months!!!

 

Did you do the ceramics activity?? If so, how was it and what could you make??? Also, did you do the arts and crafts, were they entertaining or hokey????

 

Thanks again!!

[tnf]

I was also wondering about the ceramic class, how much did it cost?

[JulieU89]

I was also wondering about the ceramic class, how much did it cost?

 

I didn't do the ceramics but they previewed it a a lot on the ship's morning show with Billy and Scott as well as on the Ship's preview show.

I think the cost was the cost of materials. I think the prices varied per piece. You had to be finished with your item my late wednesday or early thursday so they could fire your piece (in the onboard kiln) and get it to you.

 

The crafts were ok. The first craft was the mexican woven baskets with Irma. I forced my friend into going with me and I think most of the fun was in the crappyiness of our own attempts. (Since the cruise, I went out and bought some materials and made her another one as a joke, it's now her 'ring keeper' for her cruise nightstand).

I skipped the watercolor stuff (cards I think and something else) because I can't even paint a wall, much less something that's supposed to look like something!

 

I did go to the ribbon roses craft class with Sam. That was pretty good and she kept the materials out so that if you screwed up or wanted to try again, you could. I even made some of these once I got home.

 

The way I see it, if the class is free and interests me, I go. I figure I've learned something that I may use one day. If not, well, it kept me out of the jewelry shop for a while!;)

[tnf]

Julie89, thanks for the info on the ceramics.

[Moondawgie]

They don't sound like ceramics to me!

[JulieU89]

They don't sound like ceramics to me!

 

No, I don't think they were ceramics in the traditional sense. My mother did ceramics in the 70s (and hand rubbed an entire nativity set in metallic paint for my grandmother...simply incredible ceramics).

These look like fired pottery pieces. I think they are white, you paint them and glaze them and they are fired. So, no, from what I can remember about the firings my mother did on the nativity she made...I don't think these are 'real' ceramics. I could be wrong... I was 7 or 8 at the time my mother made the nativity.

[Fell In Love]

hey i had a couple questions for you, actually a favor. i fell in love with a crew member aboard the ship named stevie. i was unable to get any of his contact info and am now regretting it, if you could help me out in maybe giving him my e mail adress or phone # i would be so apprecitative! for any of you hopeless romantics going aboard the sapphire princess, i need your help too! please e mail me at caliqtpie17@hotmail.com. helpme find him please!!!! thanks so much!