This was our 13th cruise together. Being a Southern California resident, it was by far the simplest and easiest in so many ways. HIGHLY recommended for those living in Southern California. A perfect 1st cruise or a simple and easy cruise for seasoned Southern California Cruisers. No long flights or transfers to worry about. Just drive right up to the ship and board. As you can probably tell, we were excited about this. Being a "Christmas Vacation" cruise for most families on board, the cruise director wanted to be sure that everyone knew there were 700 children on board. Though noticable - especially those bouncing and jumping from the beds in the cabin next to us - it wasn't a complete take-over. Many of those falling into this (700 children) category, were teenagers. They seemed a little more "tame". We loved our balcony cabin for this cruise as the weather and temps were warm enough for us to enjoy out time using it. We also thought the itinerary was just right as far as ports vs. sea days. Usually, we are not "sea-day" type of people. But, for this cruise, having the 1st two days and the last day at sea was a nice thing. Here is a scenario of our cabin, the ship, service, and ports...

The Sapphire Princess is a very large ship. It keeps people spread out and only during meal times and mid-day at the pool do you recognize the "crowds". However, if you happend to be "early eaters" at any meal, it makes it much easier to manuever amongs the people - especially in the buffet area. The warm sea days also made the "pool-deck" VERY crowded during mid-day as well. Though the ship seems to have a thousand pool chairs, they all seem to get taken by 11am. If you are a "sunbather", getting on the pool deck prior to 10am is recommended for a better choice of chair. The entertainment and shows were not very good on this cruise. Again, being our 13th cruise, this was the over-all worst entertainment we have ever experienced. Basically, it was just boring. The comedians were lousy. To be honest, I think it's just too hard to find good entertainment to come aboard cruises. We were not impressed. That was the only part of the cruise we found unsatisfactory. As we continue to cruise and as the years go by, it has become more and more noticable and evident of the "cut-backs" in the ship's service and staff. Understanding this seems to be a trend in many business areas due to the economy, it has definitely impacted service times especially. From the dining staff to the room stewards, the number of "employees" are deminishing and it makes some areas have slower service. Example,...It takes about 90 minutes to get through a sit-down dinner meal because "your" waite staff has so many tables/people to serve.

Our Cabin...The only interesting thing we found about the cabin is that it did NOT have a "love-seat/sofa" as it shows and is advertised on the ship's web-site. If you actually look up the room diagram and "view", it shows a small sofa. It did not have this. No big deal. All other aspects of the cabin were typical and fine. TAKE NOTE,...The cabins on decks 11 and 12 do NOT have decks above them looking down on you - they are directly above you. The cabin decks are tiered. So, it is possible to look directly onto the balcony's of BOTH deck's 10 AND 9 from deck 11 and 12. If you are on a balcony on deck 9 or 10, you WILL have 2 to 3 decks above you looking down on you. Something to be aware of. Read more