Random Thoughts on Sapphire Princess Cruise to Hawaii 11-17-2022 to 12-2-2022

[DougandEric]

Here are some random thoughts in no particular order:

1.       Ship nice and clean, constant maintenance. 

2.       Miss the bigger bathrooms with shower doors on the newer ships

3.       Buffet still a mess – bad design which isn’t likely to change.

4.       Staff and crew were great – no complaints at all.

5.       Fastest boarding time in history – 15 minutes from arriving to drop luggage to being on the ship at 11:30AM.  Rooms not ready until close to 1PM. 

6.       We watched the muster video on my phone but it didn’t record that Eric had so we let it play again in the room then checked in at our muster station.

7.       Had lunch at Alfredo’s after boarding and they offer a salad which isn’t on the menu.  Pizzas great there and by the pool.

8.       Medallions are great – app not so much nor the WIFI.  Medallions worked great but I think mine had a low battery since my husbands would register to open the door when he was well behind me in the hallway.  Towards the end I had to hold mine up to the display to get into the room.

9.       WIFI – not impressed.  Coverage was everywhere but service was frequently slow so no better than prior to Medallions.  We did have coverage all the way to and from Hawaii from what I saw but I would be knocked off the service at random times and have to log back in.

10.   VPN’s – I have Norton 360 VPN on all my devices.  My experience on using it was this:

a.       Turn on airplane mode

b.       Select Medallion WIFI

c.       Turn off the VPN

d.       Open your web browser and type in MedallionClass.com to log in to your account (instructions in the Princess Patters each day)

e.       Once connected, you can turn your VPN back on.

You will have to do this each time you switch devices if you have the single device plan.  I found that you could not log in to your wireless account if the VPN was turned on.

11.   No one even asked about the arrival group you’re supposed to select in the app.  Check in time at the desk was 3 minutes max and she just verified our passports since we were green lane.

12.   Security in LA would not let you through to the ship with water which was new to me.

13.   Food was good to very good.  A few things to mention. 

a.       We ate in Sabatini the first night and they sang to us and banged plates which had never happened before.  Could do without that!  We ate there again towards the end of the trip but I recommend making your reservations early on as they do book up.

b.       We ate in Sterling’s once.  It was good but steak isn’t my thing.  Service in both restaurants was excellent.

c.       The TV food list for dining room menus didn’t always match the actual menu, close but there were some differences

d.       The TV menu for the hot dog/burger place showed bratwurst as available but they never were

e.       I usually made reservations for the next evenings dinner in Savoy at 7PM the afternoon or night before and only had two times we couldn’t get in.  Ate once in Pacific Moon and once had a 7:20 reservation at Savoy instead of 7.  I wish the app listed the menus as well.

f.        Fettuccini Alfredo was a little claggy and thick but tasted good.  Had it several times for either appetizer or main depending on what else was on the menu.

g.       The grilled chicken sandwich at the hot dog/burger grill was good but the description said it came with lettuce, tomato and onion.  It actually came with sliced cucumber and tomato.  Just go into the buffet and get the other fixings from the salad bar and add it.

h.       Having the Plus beverage package was great and I had server café mochas in the afternoon after lunch.  We ordered off the Premier package for wines by the glass and paid the difference.  I wasn’t overly impressed with that selection either but it was all drinkable.

14.   There were 1955 passengers per the CD and the ship didn’t feel crowded.

15.   There were a total of 77 active/recovered Covid cases during the entire cruise including crew per the captain.  Most passengers and crew did not wear masks.  We did the first few days and again the last few when the captain said cases were on the rise. 

16.   The theater was PACKED to overflowing for the cooking demonstration towards the end of the cruise with maybe < 5% people wearing masks.  We left after more and more people chose to stand in the back with us – too crowded.

17.   The Covid cases had small tables in front of their doors so you could go up and down the halls to see them.  I didn’t hear much coughing at all but there a couple.

18.   We had a champagne waterfall but we were at dinner when they did it.  I think it was at 8PM one night.  No balloon drop.

19.   We did have a pub lunch in Savory heading back from the islands.  Fish and chips, chicken curry, breaded prawns and chips and scotch Egg & salad.  I had the curry which was very good and Eric had the fish and chips.  He asked if they could do ½ and ½ with the shrimp but they brought him both entrees.  Trifle was tasty.

20.   We docked at pier 2 in Honolulu instead of Aloha Tower even though there was no other ship in port with us.

21.   The lecturer was excellent.  We went to every talk on the way back about Route 66.  We missed the lectures heading out about volcanoes but that would have been very interesting considering Mona Loa went off 3 days after we were there.

22.   Princess canceled our Kona snorkel excursion a week and a half before the cruise which left us with no tour options as everything was booked.  Ended booking a Viator tour which was subsequently canceled as well (it was Thanksgiving and I guess they couldn’t get enough people).  I got my refund quickly so no complaints.

23.   We missed Hilo because of a storm system moving through that would have taxed the mooring lines in port and was to cause 18-20 meter swells.  Captain decided to head back to LA with a more southerly course to avoid the worst of it and suggest people who got sick to start taking their medication as we left Kona.  It was rocky but not really any more than we’d experienced sailing from LA to Hawaii in the past.  It was also much cooler on the way back and we wore jeans and sweaters the last three days.

24.   We were on the port side in C244 and had the sun on the way to Hawaii and none on the way back to LA.

25.   We got off the ship earlier than expected but then had to wait for a taxi for almost 20 minutes.  Norwegian Bliss was in port as well and it was raining lightly.  We used the Platinum/Elite lounge and barely sat down when they called our group.  We have Global Entry but they didn’t have any lines for it since they use facial recognition instead of checking your physical passport.  Very quick and easy and the line moved fast, literally seconds.

26.   We finally got disembarkation information the 2^nd day before we to back to LA.  Pre Covid it would have shown up several days earlier.

27.   We didn’t take elevators too often.  If several people gathered while we were waiting, we’d just walk up/down the stairs. 

28.   If you can, fly in/out of Long Beach – it is so much easier.  It is small without any seating inside exception for the gates and they get crowded.  We sat outside for almost an hour when leaving but it was cold and wet so we finally had to go inside.

29.   Used Airtags but one of them died after we got to LA but all our luggage arrived regardless.  Nice to see if makes to the plane with you.  TIP: Replace your batteries in all of them at the same time.

30.   The only problem I had was ordering flowers.  Ordered them the evening we got onboard (Thursday), didn’t get them by Saturday so checked and they couldn’t find the order.  They re-orderd them again for Sunday.  On Monday we still didn’t get them so went back.  They think they were delivered to the wrong cabin so the front desk promised to have them to us that day by 4PM at no charge.  They were in the room within the hour.  Frustrating but it worked out well in the end.

 

[t&atravel]

25 minutes ago, DougandEric said:

I wish the app listed the menus as well.

It does.  It is under dine my way, explore dining options.  Not sure if there is another step. Because I’m not on a ship I can’t check,

[rocklinmom]

Thank you for posting this! We are headed to Hawaii on the Royal in 2 weeks. Was it warm there? And were the taxi's available at the Honolulu port (Pier 2)? 

[DougandEric]

I must have missed the menus then.  I thought I'd checked everywhere but the best I could find was to make the reservations.

 

Yes, the weather was fine in the islands, just to and from was cooler than I expected and this was our 4th trip.  There were plenty of taxi's at the pier.  We got off around 8:30AM so availability may have been less later in the day.  At the airport after dropping off the car, you just walked to the departure taxi line across from the rental return building.  Traffic in Honolulu proper is very busy but outside the city it's fine.

[rocklinmom]

Thank you! Will be strange to pack shorts and T-shirts in December. And good to know plenty of taxi's at the Honolulu port, we need one to get to our helicopter flight. 

[rocklinmom]

One more question if you don't mind...did they do Hawaiian themed activities on the ship on sea days? And if so what were they? 

[DougandEric]

There was a husband/wife 'ambassador' team that played music, danced and held classes in ukulele and crafts (jewelery/lei making kind of things) but I don't remember their names.  We did not attend any classes but did see some of their performances on deck or in the piazza.  I personally didn't think the 'Hawaii' feel for this trip was as intense as the past three trips which could be because the previous ambassadors 'Elua' are on the Crown now.  They did a hula dance one night on deck we watched and they handed out fabric lei's.  We aren't really into attending these kinds of things so we're not a good one to ask.  We did see a number of people practicing their ukulele's around the ship.  They did play 'Blue Hawaii' one night at Movie Under the Stars and the lecturer did a whole series on volcanoes outbound to the islands.  The CD and staff were very visible.  You might check your rollcall to see if anyone has advance knowledge of who will be on your ship

[dns65]

3 hours ago, t&amp;atravel said:

It does.  It is under dine my way, explore dining options.  Not sure if there is another step. Because I’m not on a ship I can’t check,

 

That is where you find it but we noticed that you couldn't actually view the menu until you booked a dinner reservation.  This was on the Diamond during Thanksgiving week. 

[newdinndo]

Thank you so much for this very detailed review - we will be traveling on the Royal in a couple weeks for our first ever trip to Hawaii (out of SF) so it's great to hear your experience about the weather, trip and what to expect (even being on a different ship).

 

Thanks again!

[LawDog61]

Thanks for posting such  a great review.   We were on that cruise also and have a similar high opinion.  As you said, the crew is exemplary.  Such great service with a smile.   The covered pool was great for lap swimming (and nice and warm).  Club class was wonderful.  WiFi was in our opinion pretty good.  Certainly much better than a recent experience on a coastal with Discovery.

 

 My night time activity is listening to music and I greatly enjoyed the party band “Ocean Blvd.” and the “extravaganza duo”. (Violins)

[NownZen]

I am puzzled by the comment about the buffet. We are on the Sapphire now and have had no issues with the buffet. The food is great and there is lots of choice.

[DougandEric]

My issue is that instead of a line one moves down, there are two central 'stations' that usually hold salads and the like in the middle and are not spaced very far from the outer stations on the perimeter making it congested.  There is no flow from left to right so everyone is walking in all directions and bumping into each other.  It's not that big an issue if it's not busy but during peak times it's frustrating.  I also wish they would post some kind of menu like HAL does (or did) so you had some idea what was on offer.  We would have to walk through and try to read the labels while people were getting food adding to the congestion just to see what was available that day to determine if we wanted to eat there, at International or the restaurant.

 

I had no issues with the food or quality of it.  I thought the food in general was very good.

[shipfriend_max]

@DougandEric thank you very much for the very good summary! Pleased to read that both Champaign waterfall and Pub Lunch were served. Was the Pub Lunch advised in the daily program? And did they also provide a sperate lunch menu aside the pub lunch menu or was the pub lunch the lunch for that particular day you had it?

Tea time only on days at sea?

[DougandEric]

Yes, the pub lunch was listed in the program as an event and was from 11:30AM to 1:00PM.  It was busy but we didn't have to wait but a few minutes for a table for 2 and we went about noon.  The International dining room showed as open for lunch from 12:00PM to 1:30PM that day as well.  We never attended afternoon tea but it shows up on sea days in Pacific Moon from 3:00PM to 4:00PM.

[NownZen]

2 hours ago, DougandEric said:

My issue is that instead of a line one moves down, there are two central 'stations' that usually hold salads and the like in the middle and are not spaced very far from the outer stations on the perimeter making it congested.  There is no flow from left to right so everyone is walking in all directions and bumping into each other.  It's not that big an issue if it's not busy but during peak times it's frustrating.  I also wish they would post some kind of menu like HAL does (or did) so you had some idea what was on offer.  We would have to walk through and try to read the labels while people were getting food adding to the congestion just to see what was available that day to determine if we wanted to eat there, at International or the restaurant.

 

I had no issues with the food or quality of it.  I thought the food in general was very good.

We always do a pass to see what is available before getting anything. a menu would be nice though and also one way flow.

I have to be careful as I eat so much that I almost gain weight.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Thank you for sharing. We will be doing a Hawaii cruise soon, and it’s nice to know some tidbits of what’s currently happening on them. 

[beach_fever_4ever]

We noticed there are 5 dining rooms on the Sapphire. Is one preferred over the others ?

[DougandEric]

It’s just decor.  The menus are the same.