We needed a few days away and this was the cruise. We were two adults and one teen. The staff onboard the Sapphire Princess is excellent; the food was fantastic; and we hit the one week without rain.
Embarkation at LA was fast and easy. We were asked to come after 1 pm and arrived at 1:30 -- only hitch was a newbie cab driver who couldn't find the freeway nor the cruise terminal and thank goodness for modern gps technology built into today's phones -- and it took ten minutes to drop off the luggage, fill out the form stating we were not ill, and walk on.
Since we were late-ish arriving, we decided to walk around first before having a cup of tea in the buffet area. The ship is newly refurbished and quite lovely. As we headed down the hall, we met our room steward, who was just wonderful throughout the entire trip.