My Sapphire Princess Alaska Review

[trvlagent]

Hi,

I love this website so I thought I'd contribute. I went on my first cruise last week on the Sapphire Princess to Alaksa (Whittier to Vancouver). Here is my mini-review:

 

Highlights: The ship is beautiful! It was not worn at all and was just very pretty. The ship was spacious too - at most any time you could find a ton of places onboard where you would be the only person around. The internet cafe was really nice. Our cabin steward was the best - so friendly! Lots of onboard activities every day. There were lots of kids on board, but you hardly ever saw them. The grill on the lido deck was yummy. Breakfast in the dinning room was nice.

 

For Excursions: We did a float trip in Skagway (through shoretrips.com) and it was nice. I did the ship's gourmet cooking tour and loved it. My husband did the bus ride up Mt. Roberts - so so. If you do it, do the long 3 hour train ride and buy your tickets in town. In Juneau: we did the helicopter/dog sled with Coatal Helicopters - THE BEST thing we've ever done. Seriously - my husband is the cheapest man ever and he even said it was worth every penny. I'm glad we didn't go through Princess for that one too, much less people. We did the Salmon bake too - NOT worth it. For $30 something per person, you could go in town, have 1 pound King Crab and wine. In Ketchikan: did the lumberjack show (cheesy, but fun. Great for kids) We also did the Zipline tour - awesome! I'm not sporty or active, but it was so good.

 

Bad:

I don't know if it's me, but I did not like the food on board at all. It really put a damper on my trip. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't amazing. It was just ho-hum. Sabatini's was the best, but again, I wasn't amazed. Sterling steakhouse - not worth it. The buffets were terrible. Dinning rooms were ok. I didn't find the staff (except our room steward) to be amazingly friendly. They would sit with each other and talk in foreign languages a lot and just didn't seem motivated to interact with guests. I even would ask them about where they were from, but I never really got any chatty folks. I felt nickeled/dimed all the time - they were always selling a million things on board. A lot of flyers were at our cabin all the time too.

 

Overall: the ship is great, the activities were great but I don't know about Princess overall because of the food. We are in our 30s and I just don't think cruising is the best option for us at this point in our lives either. It was about a 7 out of 10.

[dforeigner]

Thank you for your objective review. Regarding the food, I have also experienced a few bad nights in the dinning room. What I learned was to simply as the waitstaff. They will steer you away from the lesser tasting foods being served that night. If worse comes to worst, return the dish and ask for something else.

[Albino Mosquito]

Thank you for your review! I am going on the Sapphire Princess in January.

 

What specifically was wrong with the food?

[trvlagent]

It wasn't that the food was terrible, it just wasn't very good. There wasn't any meal that I thought "that was so great!" I found the food a bit bland I guess. Again, I don't think most people were bothered by it, but I just really like food. I love having a good meal. I was surprised that for desserts, there was never bread pudding or a choclate suffle or anything. I've had one lunch on Royal Carribean and one on Carnival when I was doing ship inspections and both were better than anything I had on board Princess.

[ehschief]

I was on this same cruise. Having been to Alaska twice before the ports are the ports, my sister and brother in law were with us, their first time to Alaska and loved it too.

 

What did you think was wrong with the food? We thought it was great, when cooking for 2900 people not everyone can be pleased.

 

We thought breakfast in the buffet was great, we were on a Mediterrean cruise on Celebrity in May and found the buffet to be the same everyday, no variation.

 

As for the dinners, the waiters make it happen, they suggest what to order and we found it to be fine. We had one lunch in the dining room and my sister did not like what she ordered and they gave her something else.

 

Maybe being in our 50s/60s we are easier to please?

 

Our room stewart was incredible, and found all the staff to be friendly and helpful.

 

I can give you any more info that you want but all and all it was terrific. (we have been on about 15 cruises and this was one of the best..

[MercedMike]

It wasn't that the food was terrible, it just wasn't very good. There wasn't any meal that I thought "that was so great!" I found the food a bit bland I guess. Again, I don't think most people were bothered by it, but I just really like food. I love having a good meal. I was surprised that for desserts, there was never bread pudding or a choclate suffle or anything. I've had one lunch on Royal Carribean and one on Carnival when I was doing ship inspections and both were better than anything I had on board Princess.

 

No souffles? I am amazed! I love those souffles on Princess and they are usually on the menu several times a week! I particularly adore the Grand Marnier one.

 

I will be seriously saddened if they are no longer there.:(

[hubble]

I was on the Sapphire last month Southbound, I had three of the BEST chocolate souffles in the dining room (on different nights of course). The Grand Marnier one Merced Mike refers to, a Hazelnut one and an almaretto one. All fabulous! I look forward to the Hazelnut one, which has been on every ship I've cruised with Princess. If you've never had it give it a try on your next cruise. I'm know it's still on the menu!

[ehschief]

Yes there were souffles on the menu, just as indicated above

[wizard-of-roz]

Amazing, eh? How food can be such a personal thing.

My friend and I were on the Diamond Princess together....I loved the buffet; she hated it. I thought the choices were wonderful; she thought they were minimal.

I'm glad to hear that the Sapphire is a beautiful ship....she's our choice for September, 2008.

To each his own.......

[Host Caroline]

We were on Sapphire in June and there were souffles on dining room menu at least 4 nights and bread pudding with warm vanilla sauce in the buffet at least twice (can't recall if lunch or dinner).. I think lunch. As for the food it wasn't outstanding every night but better than RCI IMHO... to each his own though.

[Guava26]

Thanks for the review, we are taking the Sapphire this weekend, never been on Princess and very last minute booked two weeks ago. Thanks again.

[fathercop]

Thanks for a brief, but a very direct and objective review. How did you enjoy the overall sites of Alaska? That was my favorite part of our Alaskan cruises. I know food is very subjective - my DW see absolutely nothing wrong with generic foods and she thinks they taste as good as anything gourmet. (I later found out, as she was eating jelly beans, that she could not taste the difference in the jelly beans, except for the licorice. The brand was Jelly Belly, BTW.)

 

I have for the most part enjoyed all of Princess' dinners, with a few exceptions. It is great, though, to have choices since if we do not like one think we can pick something else.

 

Again, thanks for the review!

[lthomas]

Just sailed Sapphire as well. We were not impressed with the food either. I think it is a personal thing for sure. The pizza was good near the pool. We did the buffet once........didn't go back except for breakfast. The dining room food at night was okay. Nothing was fabulous but okay. We tried to go with waiter recs if it was something we liked but not always good. We never left hungry........I just was looking for a little more in the food department. As STRANGE as it sounds, I think my favorite food has been on Disney. We love Palo's though. It would not keep me from sailing again but I do agree with the food analysis. We did have souffles several nights. As for crew, our steward was fabulous and we had traditional dining and liked our head server (not his assistant). Other than that, no one went out of their way. I think previous poster was correct about several of them being unhappy.

[twnkltoz]

So funny how subjective food is, even among people who really like food! My husband and I are foodies and he's a retired chef. We loved the food on our first cruise on the Grand, although I don't remember there being souffles. Can't wait to get on Sapphire next weekend!

[ggprincess2004]

We found the food on the Sapphire to be good, sometimes very good. But there definitely are souffles on the menu in the dining room - like four of seven nights. And sometimes there are even souffles in the dining room at lunch.

We were addicted to the fajitas in the Santa Fe dining room.

[gwdancer]

I'm hungry.

[twnkltoz]

Is there sushi?

[ehschief]

yes there was sushi, it is out by the pools in the afternoon. I am not a sushi lover but my husband thought it was good

[twnkltoz]

yay! I love the stuff.

[bdwyer]

Have faith Princess cruisers! We were on the Sapphire last year and thought the food was good, not great. We were on the Emerald last month, where they've started serving the changed menu, and the food was terrific! Hopefully they'll get the new menus rolled out to all ships soon. :D

[gazzas127]

Does anyone know if the Sapphire has the new menus yet or when are they due to get them.

 

THX Gary & Bev