Sapphire Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
The cruise began with a killer day in transit from Virginia to Los Angeles. The day started around 3:30 am in order to catch a 7:00 am flight from Raleigh/Durham. After boarding and about 8 hours of airports and airplanes, we finally landed in Los Angeles. We had purchased transfers to the ship but I have to say the transfer process was very slow and disorganized, as was the entire embarkation process. Princess usually does a much better job with embarkation, especially for Elite/Platinum passengers. We were finally on board about 2:45 pm -- just in time to drop of carry-ons by the room, grab a very quick lunch (which was actually dinner to our East Coast bodies), and head to the life boat drill. The ship left Los Angeles at 4:00 pm and we began our four day leisure transit to the islands. I LOVE sea days -- one reason I booked this cruise -- so the sea days were very nice. It was a little rough 2 of the days but nowhere near as rough as it can get in the Pacific. We arrived at Hilo on the big island of Hawaii on the 5th day and did the Volcanoes National Park tour. It was very nice and we had the best tour guide we've ever had on a shore excursion. Second day we were in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. We did the Pali Coast drive, very nice with a great guide. Third day we docked in Nawiliwili (cute name huh?) on the island of Kauai and did the river and fern grotto cruise. This was a little disappointing. The fourth day we were in Lahaina on the island of Maui but we had to tender. Evidentally, Lahaina still doesn't have a dock that will accomodate ships even as large as the Sapphire. Tendering was tedius and by afternoon it was windy and choppy. We left Maui and headed back towards the mainland US by way of Ensenada, Mexico, where we stopped very briefly the last evening of the cruise.
All in all in was a very nice cruise. The dry dock work on the Sapphire turned out very well. The new Piazza is great -- includes the Vines Wine Bar, Alfredo's Pizzeria, and the ever popular, International Cafe. There were other areas around the ship that showed signs of refurbishment but many that didn't.
Our room was great. It was at the middle of the ship, near the main bank of elevators and stairs. We got an unobstructed view at an obstructed view price and we had the best cabin steward we've ever had in our almost 30 cruises.
Cabin Review
We stayed in E412 -- an outside cabin sold as obstructed view. The good news is there's no obstruction. It's a great cabin at a great price. It's also located in the middle of the ship on the 8th floor -- very convenient to the floor where most of the activities take place. It was also located near the main bank of elevators and stairs. Very convenient. The bed is in the "under the window" configuration.