Live From the Sapphire Princess! (29 April - 10 May)

[CruzeQueen2]

1 hour ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@EDVM96 Congrats! Well-done. Curious to know, how many ships in port today? Bon voyage to everyone!

One ship in town today, lucky you! 

[new2cruise]

What time were you allowed to board?

[Mingus]

1 hour ago, new2cruise said:

What time were you allowed to board?

10:30

[Orange Yuzu]

Following your journey as well! We will be on the Sapphire in June for Alaska and can't wait. First time on grand class ships. 

[c-boy]

On 4/27/2023 at 8:41 AM, cruisingrob21 said:

The Sapphire is finishing drydock in Portland this week and is sporting a new touch on the seawitch livery.  It looks like its a play on the "I love this boat" slogan.

 

 😕   I'm sooooo confused..  every time I see  "I love this boat" I think of Toby Keith..

Edited April 30, 2023 by c-boy

[3 WI Cruisers]

Following along, we're thinking of possibly sailing on the Sapphire to Alaska May of 2024 in an inside or obstructed ocean view cabin.

Have a wonderful cruise!

[Drdarkknight]

It’s embarkation day! We wanted to sleep in but the universe had other plans and we were basically up and at it by 8:30. We went down to Preston’s for breakfast but all I really wanted to do was get on the Sapphire Princess already! 

 

We lounged around until 10:45 before walking to the cruise terminal. We were in Boarding Group A, which should be called at 11:30, but there’s no harm in being a bit early…especially when you have no patience 🙂 This turned out to be absolutely the right call! We were pointed towards where we dropped off our suitcases and between that, checking in/getting our medallions and going through customs we were on the ship at 11:34. 

 

Because the ship had just been in dry dock even the rooms were ready for us, which was excellent since we really wanted to drop our things off. The room is cozy but not as claustrophobic as I was expecting. I’ve never stayed in an inside cabin before but this isn’t bad at all. Our schedule and shore excursions were laid out on the table. 

 

First things first - food! We headed to the International Dining Room, which was open for lunch. We had an enjoyable meal of antipasto, some delicious spinach and ricotta ravioli and lemon-dill salmon. My husband was incredibly overwhelmed at this point, telling me ‘this is so extravagant. I’m just a poor kid from the streets’. (He is not and has never been ‘from the streets’). 

 

We then walked the levels of the piazza to get the lay of the land before taking the elevator up and doing the same with the upper levels. It was a nice day so we had our swimwear on. We grabbed some lounge chairs by the outdoor pool and settled in. We had a couple coronas and watched Journey: Live in Manila on Movies Under the Stars. We debated going in the pool until we watched a dad with his daughter get in and immediately leave telling his wife it was freezing. 

 

The Sailaway Celebration was fun. I always find them a bit corny but I enjoy them nonetheless. My husband really enjoyed himself. By this point we were supposed to be on our way but we were delayed by about an hour. This was a bit of a bummer because I love Sailaways and really wanted to sail under Lions Gate Bridge but we had dinner at 6pm. 

 

To kill time we stopped at Good Spirits at Sea for a drink. I had the Baked Alaska Martini which was delicious. Getting into the International Dining Room for our dinner reservation was a breeze. Dinner was phenomenal. The salmon gravlax was just *chefs kiss* and the baked potato soup was delish. The Alaskan cod was alright and we split the gelato baked Alaska for dessert which was to die for. 

 

We actually ended up finishing dinner in time to make the 7:30 show at Princess Theater. A Night of Comedy and Magic with Nathan Phan.  He was alright. My husband really enjoyed him. I was surprised that the theater wasn’t very crowded. From there we went to Explorers Lounge for a game show before finishing the night off with a glass of wine of Vines. I can’t believe it but we are ready for bed at 10pm. Never thought I’d see the day.

[nini]

@Drdarkknight Thank you so much for sharing this adventure with us! It is really fun to heart about a newbie's experience and reactions for their first cruise.

We have enjoyed an Alaska cruise 5 times and I know you will both love it as well.

He sure to get out and about looking for whale spouts. 

[dalsnibba]

Thanks again for sharing.
Excellent start !
I was following the path, at this moment…
how come it's sailing west of vancouver island and not east...
maybe it depends on the period ... tides .. or other ..
I knew that Royal-class ships sailed west....
the smallest in the east

 

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by dalsnibba

[BamaVol]

Thanks. Especially for the menus. I giggled at the “Bering seafood stew”. On the CB in March, that same dish was “Bahamian seafood stew”. I’m onto you, Princess. 

[c-boy]

7 hours ago, dalsnibba said:

Thanks again for sharing.
Excellent start !
I was following the path, at this moment…
how come it's sailing west of vancouver island and not east...
maybe it depends on the period ... tides .. or other ..
I knew that Royal-class ships sailed west....
the smallest in the east

 

 

North bound traffic.

[SleepyBunny]

A few notes for followers on this Live. Currently on this ship as well!  Super friendly staff, ship is super clean and in great condition.  Does not feel very full, but I haven't heard the total pax count yet (maybe at the M&G we will find out).

 

Coffee has not transferred to the Lavazza brand deal yet. 

 

Dinner was delicious at our slightly later visit to the International Dinning Room also, but our waiter & his partner had a rough day. Slow, no drink orders, took forever to even put our order in, water glasses stayed empty for long times, had to get a HW twice to be looked after.  2h30 minutes for dinner ☹️ Going to try a different dinning room tonight for formal night.

[PescadoAmarillo]

8 hours ago, dalsnibba said:

Thanks again for sharing.
Excellent start !
I was following the path, at this moment…
how come it's sailing west of vancouver island and not east...
maybe it depends on the period ... tides .. or other ..
I knew that Royal-class ships sailed west....
the smallest in the east

 

 

Yeah, that’s not what I expected to see. We cancelled the Majestic and changed to the Sapphire for this reason (predominately, there are other pluses too). 

[EDVM96]

But it was cleary shown in the Princess journey mini-map that we would go outside of Vancouver Island.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Our sail away was scheduled for 4:30 but we didn’t leave until 6. We were told there were delayed flights. We lost 1.5 hours of daylight sailing thru the San Juan’s. But we still had a great sail away. 
 

The meet and greet was really wonderful this morning thanks to loves2cruise (I think I spelled your handle wrong please forgive me!) 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

This morning was really cold wet and dreary. Full parka to walk the decks. It’s cleared up nicely and am now wearing leggings a thick tshirt with a tank under. Seas are smooth, smooth, smooth. 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

This is our itinerary and dress codes. The Alaskan Cod ( my appetizer yes I had an entre as an appetizer don’t judge me lol) and beef short ribs as my main were both excellent. 
 

Here’s the officer board too. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

Our naturalist has been with princess 20 years or so and I had a very nice time chatting with her prior to her 9 am well attended talk this morning. Here’s a map with key information about our particular sailing on it. 
Princess has the best Alaskan programs!  

[PacnGoNow]

2 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

Our naturalist has been with princess 20 years or so and I had a very nice time chatting with her prior to her 9 am well attended talk this morning. Here’s a map with key information about our particular sailing on it. 
Princess has the best Alaskan programs!  

Was it Kerry?

[Set to go]

14 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

This morning was really cold wet and dreary. Full parka to walk the decks. It’s cleared up nicely and am now wearing leggings a thick tshirt with a tank under. Seas are smooth, smooth, smooth. 

What stateroom is this?  The balcony looks great.

[EDVM96]

It looks like we will have to tender in Skagway. Cruise Personalizer didn't show this prior to the voyage.

[c-boy]

1 hour ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

This is our itinerary and dress codes. The Alaskan Cod ( my appetizer yes I had an entre as an appetizer don’t judge me lol) and beef short ribs as my main were both excellent. 
 

Here’s the officer board too. 

😄  so tonight I could wear my sport coat and tie and, next saturday  just a shirt and sport coat. That quess the wieght and win gig 🤔.  What if more than one quesses correctly 😀

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, Set to go said:

What stateroom is this?  The balcony looks great.

This is it

 

Edited April 30, 2023 by HaveDogWillTravel

[HaveDogWillTravel]

1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

Was it Kerry?

Sandra Schemmp

[fpsphil]

6 minutes ago, HaveDogWillTravel said:

This is it

 

Walked through that cabin back in oct. still unsure about the bathroom configuration but always book the equiv on Crown class since it’s standard mini suite config