Since I utilize Cruise Critic to determine future cruises, I thought it only fair to also submit my personal experience on the Sapphire Princess.

Background: I'm married (no children), my husband & I are in the 35-50 age group and we travelled with another couple (family) in the 50-60 age group. This was my 3rd cruise (previously cruised on RCCL & Celebrity), this was my husband's 2nd cruise (previously cruised on Carnival) & this was the first cruise for the other couple.

Embarkation: We live locally, so we drove to the pier, dropped our things off at the port entrance & parked the car (easy). We were handed appropriate forms & entered the building & checked through fairly easily although at some doorway we were to be handed a number (for boarding order) & nobody gave it to us & we didn't know until we finally got a clue watching other people around us with them, that we needed it. I approached someone about it & they were nice enough to give us a current number that was currently boarding so we didn't have to wait any longer. Read more