Sapphire Princess Sep 24, 2022 cruise report

[dhanakorn]

Background
 

I’m back on another Princess cruise again. I’ve been cruising exclusively with NCL for many years and never really considered Princess in the past for many reasons (traditional dining, strict dress code, different demographics). But this year the price has been low enough to tempt me from NCL. How do I like Princess so far? In less than a year this Sapphire cruise is already my fourth with Princess.

I’ve been on Royal-class ships 3 times so I’m very excited to try the mid-sized ship. When I booked this cruise, Sapphire is supposed to resume the operation in the early Summer. Then a wave of cancellations keep pushing the restart date to this cruise. I generally don’t like the inaugural cruise since many things could go wrong but I’m very glad that this cruise isn’t canceled. I’ve been lucky that since the pandemic none of my cruises has been canceled. 

I’ve done the Mexican Rivera cruises three times but never been to La Paz and Loreto so they’re the highlight of the cruise. 

 

Edited September 27, 2022 by dhanakorn

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (1)

 

My journey started with a short flight from San Jose. I’m glad to see that the situation at the airport is calming down. This summer has been very hectic for traveling with crowded airports and so many flight delays and cancellations. 
 

 

A short one-hour flight later we landed at Long Beach. LGB is much better option than LAX. Airport is relatively small. You can just walk off the plane to the terminal. Very nice but hot day in LA. 
 

 

 

There’s a huge confusion about what Terminal we have to go. Berth 92 and 93 at the Main Terminal were occupied by Majestic Princess and Celebrity Solstice. Sapphire Princess was docking at Berth 46, a couple miles away from the Main Terminal. Some people on this board said in the past you’d go to the Main Terminal for luggage drop and check-in then Princess would bus you to Berth 46. I was arriving late so I kept checking this board for latest information. Thanks to the update information on the Roll Call, we could go directly to Berth 46 for luggage drop and check in. With this information, I entered Berth 46 address in Uber app. $23 trip from LGB to Berth 46 (fare from LAX could easily double this price). 

 

Princess set up 2 white tents at Berth 46. One for luggage drop and another for check in. Check in process is very quick. 
 

 

This’s around 12:30pm. There’s no line at check-in. 

 

Less than 10 minutes from the luggage drop off to board the ship. 

 

You’re greeted by the crew clapping their hands to welcome you on board. 

By the way, I tend to post a lot of pictures so this report might take a while. There’s another Live thread by @travelin.sisters if you want to get a quick update information. 

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (2)
 

I headed to International Dining Room for lunch. Only this MDR was open for lunch on the embarkation day. Around 1pm, it wasn’t very crowded and I got seated right away. 
 

Lunch menu

 

Shrimp salad

 

Salmon for the main

 

Soufflé for dessert. It’s served warm and smelled really good. Papaya ice cream was already melting. The server said they’ve fridge issue in the kitchen. 

[dickinson]

Enjoy your cruise!  FYI -there is another Live from already that has about five pages.  You might want to post on there instead.  

 

 

[cruzin4us]

Please keep your posts separate, it's easier to distinguish your live report.    I enjoy reading both!

 

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (3)
 

I originally booked an oceanview room since I rarely spend time on the balcony. But the price kept dropping, and with no single supplement promo I could move up to a balcony with just small extra charge. 
 

The room looks almost the same as the balcony room on the Royal-class ships. Sapphire is almost 20 years old so I kind of expected a relatively old and outdated room. But I was surprised with the how good the condition of the room is. I think it’s about the same as the rooms on Royal and Majestic on my earlier trips. 
 

 

Same furniture, same decor and same layout as Royal-class. 

 

I think bathroom is a little smaller.

 

Balcony is the same size. Balcony door is a little hard to open or close. Good workout on your arm just by sliding the door 💪

 

Masks are provided but not required on the ship. Some indoor places in Mexico still require you to wear a mask to go inside. 


Safe doesn’t work yet. 

 

Overall I’m very happy with the room. There’s no annoying motion-activated lights (I think they only put it on Royal-class). 
 

My cabin steward on this cruise is also incredible. Turndown service is performed every night without asking. In the evening, when I go out for dinner, he’ll come in and tidy up the bed, close the curtains, adjust the lights, clean the bathroom and change the towels. I think he provides the level of service that Princess used to have. 

[CruzeQueen2]

4 hours ago, dhanakorn said:

Background
 

I’m back on another Princess cruise again. I’ve been cruising exclusively with NCL for many years and never really considered Princess in the past for many reasons (traditional dining, strict dress code, different demographics). But this year the price has been low enough to tempt me from NCL. How do I like Princess so far? In less than a year this Sapphire cruise is already my fourth with Princess.

I’ve been on Royal-class ships 3 times so I’m very excited to try the mid-sized ship. When I booked this cruise, Sapphire is supposed to resume the operation in the early Summer. Then a wave of cancellations keep pushing the restart date to this cruise. I generally don’t like the inaugural cruise since many things could go wrong but I’m very glad that this cruise isn’t canceled. I’ve been lucky that since the pandemic none of my cruises has been canceled. 

I’ve done the Mexican Rivera cruises three times but never been to La Paz and Loreto so they’re the highlight of the cruise. 

 

If you like to look at silver jewelry, find Silver Desert in Loreto. Rosanna Yanez (sp?) makes lovely pieces. Be prepared to buy! I was there in 2017..and she has a FB page. Her shop is facing the city square. She graduated from Art college if I remember correctly. Love to buy local wares. Enjoy her shop. 

Thank you for posting. I followed you before and enjoy your perspectives.

Edited September 28, 2022 by CruzeQueen2
Adding info

[CruzeQueen2]

55 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Please keep your posts separate, it's easier to distinguish your live report.    I enjoy reading both!

 

Yes. Keep this page. Thank you! @dhanakorn

[seagunthera]

Thank you for this trip report- keep it coming!

[travelin.sisters]

thank you for doing this lovely review, your photos are great & I really admire the way you get them neatly inserted in your narrative...I so much appreciated your Jan of the Majestic as we were doing our first cruise on her the next sailing, you are very informative & somehow manage to get the right info that future sailers (or armchair dreamers) need & want...

[EDVM96]

 

5 hours ago, dhanakorn said:

Balcony is the same size.

Hm, what? The standard balconies on Royal Class ships are 30% smaller compared to Grand Class ships.

Take a look.

Edited September 28, 2022 by EDVM96

[latebloomer56]

Thank you for taking the time to post, both reviews are great. Two different experiences. Plus different food shots 😊.

Enjoy and stay safe.

[srpilo]

More Please 🤩

[Sunset329]

We love the photos and your report. We board the Sapphire when you return. Thanks for taking time from your busy cruise to do your report.

[Yehootu]

What, no barrel chair. Oh NO.😀

[CruzeQueen2]

@dhanakornWant to update the info about Silver Dessert in Loreto. Silver Desert has loads of fun stuff to see  - books, jewelry, bags, all the usual suspects, but local designs of course! Rossana Yanez is the artist. Are you in Loreto today? Her store is in an orange building. Enjoy the city and the square. I remember it as one of my favourite new ports.

Hope you see this in time.

Edited September 28, 2022 by CruzeQueen2
typo

[JF - retired RRT]

13 hours ago, dhanakorn said:

Overall I’m very happy with the room. There’s no annoying motion-activated lights (I think they only put it on Royal-class). 

We had motion-activated lights on the Ruby before the pause.

Edited September 28, 2022 by JF - retired RRT

[Rocking Waves]

Who is the current Captain?

 

[Mike45LC]

2 hours ago, Rocking Waves said:

Who is the current Captain?

 

Travelin Sisters reported this.  See their live report.

 

[sunviking90]

Looking forward to following along. We really enjoyed your reports from the Majestic earlier in the year as we were boarding her soon after.

Our first Princess cruise 20 years ago was on the Sapphire Princess. She was a beautiful ship then. Hopefully she has stood up well.

[Vexorg]

Good to get another view on this cruise, since I'm on the October 23rd sailing of this same itinerary.

[dhanakorn]

5 hours ago, Rocking Waves said:

Who is the current Captain?

 

 

Here’s the list of senior officers on this cruise. 

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (4)
 

From my balcony, you can see the view of Cabrillo Beach - it looks like a very nice beach not too far from the port. Many people enjoy the water activities here. 

 

I stayed on Deck 12 Aft. I like this location - within a few steps you can get out to the Terrace pool. 

 

Around 2:30pm, the check in area looks very empty. 

 

 

Sail Away party started a few minutes after 4pm. 

 

 

 

We had quite a crowd at the Sail Away party. Similar set of music and dance as the ones I saw on my previous trips. It’s much more mellow than Sail Away party on NCL. 

 

 

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (5)
 

We started moving around 4:30pm. There’re 4 ships departing LA tonight. Carnival Panorama was the first one to leave from Long Beach.

 

Followed by Celebrity Solstice. 

 

We’re next and Majestic was the last one to leave the port. Just about the time for our turn to leave, a small boat was heading toward us. Patrol boat was chasing him away. 

 

It was quite fun to watch. The coast guard kept telling the boat to turn away. 

 

We finally headed out of the harbor. 

 

 

 

Video clip when we’re sailing out of the harbor. 

 

 

 

 

[dhanakorn]

Day 1 Los Angeles (6)
 

After that I went to explore the ship. The Sanctuary area is empty every day. I’m not sure if anyone is paying to use this area on this cruise. It’s very hot up here.

 

The Lotus pool

 

The gym - lot of equipments and weights here. 

 

The main theater - although it’s smaller than the Royal-class it never gets full on this cruise. 

Back to the Terrace pool on the aft of the ship. 

View of the sunset from my balcony. I think it’s around 6:45pm. 

 

 

Tonight I went to Vivaldi MDR for dinner. Menu looked the same as previous trip - maybe a sign that I probably cruise too often. 

 

Banana foster was very delicious 😋

Tonight main entertainment was the comedy show by AJ Jamal. I’ve seen him so many times - some sketches are new but some are repeated from previous shows. 

 

This concludes the Day 1 report. So far so good. We don’t have anything broken down on the ship. Only A/C in one side of the buffet room was a little too warm. A/C becomes an intermittent issue on this cruise (some areas of the ship is getting warmer than other) especially when we get down to Mexico. Captain just made some announcement about the A/C but I didn’t pay attention. Hopefully it’ll get better soon.