Review Sapphire -- Southbound 6/24/06

[skarletohara]

Please forgive the typos as I was typing so fast.

I left out a bunch of things, too. If you have any questions

please feel free to ask.

 

skarlet

 

 

 

This was our second cruise aboard Sapphire Princess, the first having been

3 months ago to the Mexican Riviera. This was my 6th cruise with Princess and

my husband's 5th! Obviously we enjoyed the ship enough to book it again. We had

originally planned a non-cruise vacation, but when the offer came through e-mail,

we couldn't refuse. The cost was $750 pp inclusive of port charges and taxes.

It was a flash promotion booked 10 weeks before sailing. Of course we had

to add on air fare ($429 pp) and 3 nights of hotels, Captain Cook in Anchorage,

$270 including taxes for a Jr. Suite which was well worth it. If booked through Princess

the hotel would have cost a lot more, but we booked directly.

 

Westin Bayshore hotel Vancouver was booked through Priceline for $125 a night plus taxes.

Lovely, lovely hotel and upgraded to a harbor view. Others have reported having

to pay an extra $30 for the upgrade. However, we didn't have to pay a cent, even though

we offered.

 

Okay. Now, the review of the ship only.

 

Because we did not book the Captain Cook through the Princess package, we were

not allowed to catch the Princess bus to Whittier with the others, even though

we DID purchase the Princess transfers for $50 pp. But we're rather glad we didn't

book through Princess since we would have had to have the luggage outside the

room by 8 a.m. and would have taken off at 11 a.m.

 

However, we were able to give the bellman a little tip so that they'd put our bags along

with those who were paying for the Princess transfer package. That was very nice

since we had to check in 4 blocks up the street at Egan Center and it would have

been burdensome to tote those bags all the way up there.

 

We showed up at Egan Center around noon and got bus passes for 2 p.m. I had heard

they started boarding at 1 p.m. from Egan Center, but was told that you have to

show up around 9 to 10 a.m. to get the passes for the 1 p.m. bus. I was also told

that the last busses run from the Center at 2:30 p.m.

 

It was a beautiful drive to catch the ship in Whittier. We had a crystal clear day which

made the drive all that much prettier.

 

By the time we arrived at the ship, it was about 3:30 or so. Embarkation would have

taken a while had it not been for our Platinum status. There were about 40 people

in the regular line and no one in Platinum line, so check-in took around 5 minutes

and by the time we cleared security it was only 5 more minutes until we got on the ship.

Apparently there had been a little Norwalk because the first thing we saw was sanitizer,

and all the salt and pepper shakers had been removed from Horizon Court.

 

CABIN: E-318, an obstructed view on Emerald deck. We had those barrel things blocking our window but were able to look to either side and have a view of some sort.

Nice location, a little forward of center.

 

FOOD: Very good once again except for a few klunkers such as the clam chowder which was a watery concoction of some sort. But we only ate in the dining rooms twice.

 

ANYTIME DINING: Oh god, WHY can't they get this right? This is our 4th time on the

Diamond and/or Sapphire and every single time the anytime thing is all screwed up,

even WITH RESERVATIONS. It only gets worse with each cruise which is why

we ended up in Horizon Court . Let me state that this anytime thing is ONLY a problem

with these two ships specifically. We had no problem on the Star or the Golden with

anytime.

 

Okay, the drill, you must call the DINE line and secure reservations for the first 3 nights,

and then on the 4th day you can make reservations for the remainder of the cruise.

I've talked to several people who've simply strolled in and had no problems, whereas

those of us who have made reservations seem to have worse problems. So of

course I was given the choice of 6:20 OR 8 p.m., choosing 8 p.m.

So, on the third night of the cruise we decide to finally go to our reserved DR called

Santa Fe, but arrive at 7:15 knowing full well we won't be able to get in, but decide to

try anyway where we're met by a very snotty maitre'd who informs us that HE has

120 people on the waiting list with pagers (these are the walk-ins with no reservations)

and informs us to come back at our assigned time. No biggie. We go to the

internet lounge and type a few e-mails. Oh, good, it's 7:57. Let's go DINE!!!

 

Hmm, we show up at 8 for our assigned TIME and lo and behold, so do about

50 other people. There's only one desk open instead of two, so we start asking folks

if they have reservations, because if they don't we're strolling to the front of the line.

The folks DO NOT have reservations, and the maitre'd is very snotty and informs us

that we just have to wait in line with all the rest, even though they're checking to just

see if they can even get in!! Oh, no. This will not work.

 

So we defect and go next door to Pacific Moon, where Antoine, the wonderful, wonderful

maitre'd who we'd met 3 months earlier, is very eager to oblige us. He has a big

smile, and also hardly anyone in his dining room, and he shows us to (shock...)

a table for 4 instead of those infernal tables for two that line the walls (which we

don't really dig) Of course we told him our thoughts about anytime dining, and

he acknowledged that it's just a problem that seems to get worse as time goes on.

So my husband leaves the DR to go to the washroom and informs me that

the line was as horrendous as ever over at Sante Fe (by now it's 8:20 p.m.)

 

Pacific Moon was wonderful. But Antoine will be leaving July 15th. Too bad. He's a

good maitre'd.

 

Okay, it was not my intent to go into a diatribe, but to simply post a nice, nice review.

So I get a little sidetracked. What can I say?

 

The food quality was the same as usual. You can read all my previous reviews and

see what I had to say about that. Usual whip-cream heavy deserts. But the

Peach thing was to die for in the DR. I can't remember the name, but it's marzipan

and peaches and vanilla cream sauce. Salmon was good. Beef was good.

Horizon court was good, as were the hamburgers, pizza.

 

Oh, our cabin bed was the hardest bed we've ever slept on. I'm not sure if I loved it

or hated it. It had no give at all, but my back didn't hurt the whole week. And now since

I've been home sleeping on my pillowtop mattress, I have a perpetual backache.

but I didn't like the feel of the hard as a rock bed, even though I didn't seem to

mind it a year ago.

 

We've had two mini-suites and two regular cabins sans balconies in the last couple

years and I'm not quite sure if I really need a balcony or not. It would have been a little

nice in Alaska since we had good weather days. But in Mexico it seemed to be a waste

since we were on the open sea so much and it was too cool... but that's a personal choice. For our next cruise on the Golden we will be having a balcony though.

It is rather nice having the mini-suite just for the extra bathroom space. I was

really getting irritated when I dropped my razor 4 times the other day and kept

bumping my head everytime I tried to pick it up, so perhaps that's the deciding

factor of why we'll probably change our cabin type for the Golden cruise!! LOL

 

Entertainment: Did not see any since it's all repetetive and have seen all the shows

previously. How many jugglers, comedians, reviews, ventriloquists can one see?

 

Spa: only bought the thermal pass and it was the most unrelaxing pass since

everybody seemed to think this spa was a coffee shop, and even though it's a meditative

quiet place with signs stating "be quiet" EVERYONE kept carrying on conversations

in the quiet room. I couldn't believe the ignorance. I mean, on the last cruise, no

one talked.

 

This cruise was primarily first-timers. We went to the repeaters' party and only

354 Gold members and 64 Platinums were there. ON past cruises it's usually

been around 1,200 repeaters.

 

Itinerary:

This was our second trip to Alaska, but the first southbound. We LOVED the itinerary.

Our entire week was good weather except for one crummy rainy day at 44 degrees in

Juneau.

 

College Fjord was simply amazingly beautiful. We had blue sky and rainbows and

sea otters, and clouds with sunlight streaming through. Really gorgeous.

 

The Glacier Bay day was fabulous with 60+ temps, bright blue sky and calm water

that was azure-colored. It WAS chilly originally, but then heated up to the point we all

had to take off some layers. They're not kidding when they say layers are the key.

 

Skagway: We did the trip to the Yukon through Princess and enjoyed in immensely.

We went to Carcross and had a good barbeque lunch and got to pet the huskies and

hang out with the dogs, and we saw a lot of pretty lakes. In the future we will do this

on our own with a rental car since being with all the bus people can get pretty

annoying, and you can't stay in any one place for too long.

 

Juneau. No tours. Love Juneau. Ugly day there though.

 

Ketchikan: Lumberjack show. Corny. Cute for kids though.

 

We had over 500 kids on this cruise and you never would have known it except

for the fact that we were all relegated to the indoor areas because of the temp except

for the very last day, but we had Youth Security on board and they did a great job.

All the kids were fantastic! Apparently we had 2,900 on board. We noticed that

most of the cabins had 3 or 4 to a cabin which was a shocker for us, since

we usually travel at off-peak times when there' s only two to a cabin, so perhaps

that impacted the dining situation somewhat.

 

The service was once again impeccable. We do feel the Carnivalization of Princess

happening with each successive cruise, though. There's always just a little more upselling, a little more, with each cruise. This time took the cake though,. When we

went back to our room, underneath the little chocolates on our pillows was another

upsell item. I can't remember what, but thought that was getting to be a bit too much.

Our cabin steward was a bit lax. Usually our stewards have been great, over the top,

address us by name, et cet, but this guy just did the bare minimum. Forgot

to bring us beach towels, then forgot drinking glasses another time, had to write

notes asking for them; just little things like one bar of soap for the whole week.

Princess used to give it to us every day if we wanted. I only needed two bars for

the week, but one??? Come on.

Anyway, we always have tipped extra money to the stewards in the past up and

above the auto tip, but this time we did not. And they're no longer putting signs

on the door along with balloons. Thought that was another sign of their cheapness.

Oh, well. I'm not trying to sound too particular, but it's those little things that sometimes

make a difference when cruising and when they start trying to cut corners it shows.

 

Oh, since this was my first Platinum cruise, I was entitled to free internet. And guess

what, they charged $50 of internet to my credit card on the last day, even though I

addressed this with them on day 3 of the cruise making sure I wouldn't be charged

for it and they assured me no. So apparently it will be refunded to my CC. I sure

hope so, because I would have never used the internet if I knew I'd be charged for it.

 

Well, that's about all I can think of right now. We really did have a grand time.

 

Also, we swam a lot in the lotus pool and hot tubbed a lot too. Pool water temp was

warm.

 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... the last day of cruising was splendid! The inside

passage has got to be one of the prettiest places on earth. We were all outside and up on deck enjoying the rather warm weather and the view.

 

Also, when we arrived in Vancouver, they were having the most marvelous

weather, probably 80 degrees or so. Embarkation moved a little slowly.

We were supposed to debark at 9:45 and our number was called at

10:15. We located our luggage quickly and did not want to wait in

the long taxi lines at Canada Place, so we proceeded upstairs to the Pan

Pacific to try to hail a cab there, but guess what? It was Canada Day

and there were no cabs since the place was packed with bandstands

and people for some festival, so we thought, hey, we'll just walk to

the Westin (one and a half miles away) while toting our now heavier luggage,

and thought we'd be able to summon a cab on the way. Well, that

did not happen so we toted all of our heavy stuff directly to the Westin.

Gosh, at that time we were wishing we'd booked at the Pan Pacific or the

Fairmount, but we absolutely loved that Westin. They are so nice there.

And Vancouver was the most amazing city I've ever been to. It's so

clean and the people are so nice. We want to just go back there and

stay for 5 nights sometime. We stayed over 2 nights this time.

 

It was fun watching the Sapphire sail away with a new boatload of folks.

 

As an aside, the constant sunlight on this cruise kept us energized and amped

up. It was very hard contemplating sleep before 11:30 p.m. So for those

of you who have trouble sleeping, you might wish to consider an inside cabin.

 

Questions are welcome.

 

skarlet

[Lynda90]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us. I will be on the Diamond b2b Alaska in Sept., so I really enjoyed your review. Glad you had a great time. I will also be staying, along with several others in our group, at the Westin Bayshore, so I especially enjoyed hearing how much you enjoyed your stay there.

[skarletohara]

Lucky you Lindabaker, a B2B. Also, you and I are only one sailing apart

for the Golden's run out of SF next spring!!!

We might end up switching to the 4/22 sailing though...

[bdwyer]

Wow, what a difference a week makes in Alaska. We were on the Sapphire northbound the week before you and the only good weather we had was in Juneau and the afternoon at College Fiord. However, nothing can ruin this cruise!

I find your take on Anytime Dining very interesting. I'm wondering if it's all timing. We never had to wait for dinner or had any problems getting seated whatsoever, but we made our reservations for 8:30 or later each night. The one night we forgot to make reservations (Juneau) we went down late, about 9, and both the Santa Fe and the Vivaldi were jammed. We went to the Pacific Moon, and you're right, the maitre'd was charming - put us at a table for 4 by ourselves right at the window immediately. We ended up eating at the Savoy most of the week - we loved the decor there.

Wasn't aware of any Norwalk on our cruise, but we had the hand stuff and no salt/pepper shakers from the get go in the Horizon Court and the hand stuff everywhere, so maybe it's just policy now.

I agree with you. Thought I'd hate the hard beds and ended up loving them.

Also found the solution to your shower/shaving situation here on cc - sit on the toilet with the lid down, the shower curtain pulled aside and the shower going - worked like a charm!

And pray tell, what did you do to get such nice treatment at the Westin Bayshore? We were told an upgrade to a harbor view room on a Priceline booking would be $70 and when we turned it down, were given a closet!!!

[skarletohara]

Bdwyer: Yes, the weather is so changeable in Alaska. I notice right

now on Bridge Cam that the Sun is probably being tossed about in

some rough seas as well as the Regal. It's fun to check http://www.oceanweather.com to see the different wave heights.

 

Yes, that anytime thing is timing, I believe. One thing I neglected to mention was on the second and final time that we did decide to eat in the dining room,

it was formal night #2 and we'd been to the repeater's party and then

when that ended at 8:00, we hightailed it to the Pacific Moon, where Antoine was happy to oblige us even though we had NO reservation, and he gave

us another table for 4 even though we were two. There was no one waiting in line when we arrived either. Immediately after we were seated, we could see a sizable line forming

and the restaurant proceeded to fill up once again.

 

We had always been told that there would be no problem simply walking in

at 8:30 or after. I believe the problem with the Santa Fe is that maitre'd

just cannot keep his line moving. There was a problem there when we were

there this past March, too.

 

We too like the Savoy, but didn't try it this time. Vivaldi we figured would

pretty much be a mess too since they don't even open until 8 p.m. and everyone has 8 p.m. reservations! Oh, well, next time we're on the Golden

where the system truly works, so no worries.

 

One thing I did notice, people tended to dine later on this cruise than

the cruises to Mexico, and I truly believe it's because of the extra daylight hours and people feel like it's normal dining time at 9 or 10! Also, we did

have so many kids, that I figured they'd all eat earlier and then the

late dining wouldn't be a problem.

 

We were so lucky with the weather. We had heard on our sailing that those

of you on the previous sailing had had uncooperative weather.

 

As for Norwalk, I saw them walking around in the Haz-Mat looking suit on

the disembarkation day and signs were on cabins stating that a fumigation

was in progress.

 

A few of us smelled sewage smells at different points throughout the cruise,

not in our cabins, but up on deck over the bridge during Glacier Bay day

after leaving Margerie Glacier, and I smelled it again while in the restroom

near Sabatini's wafting up through the grate in the floor. Some other CCer's

who were with us on deck also commented on it, as did others.

 

Oh, as for the Westin Bayshore, perhaps they took pity on us because we told them we'd just toted all our luggage on

foot the whole mile from the cruise ship terminal since we couldn't get a cab up at the Pan Pacific due to the

Canada Day celebration going on, so we figured we'd find a cab along the way, and there weren't any, so we ended up walking

the whole way, and it was hot out compared to where we'd come from (80 degrees or so), and so maybe

they felt sorry for us. Also, I had signed up for the Starwood club and they put us on a preferred Starwood floor, even

though that was our first time at the Westin. we paid $125 a night plus tax, so maybe they base it on the

rate you get it??? We even offered to upgrade to the tower for $30 and they said, oh, no, no, you already HAVE a harbor

view. Go figure. The gentleman who checked me in told me that he'd had 150 people check in the day before

with Priceline and or Hotwire reservations. I saw some of those rooms that looked like they faced a wall or something and

would not have been thrilled with that.

 

Well, it's probably back to a mini-suite for the cruise next April. I did the toilet shaving thing last year when we had the

same type cabin. I kind of like those cute, cozy bathrooms, but that shower thing, and I did use the showers in the

spa sometimes, but it's hard to get there all the time. I did really enjoy our little room and the location was great, too,

but those mini-suites keep calling me back!!!!

[pamwinn]

Great review! It took me back. :D