Sapphire Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,020 reviews

three young at heart senior ladies

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Sapphire Princess
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Ginnyd
First Time Cruiser • Age 80s

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Sail Date: Feb 2010
Cabin: Balcony

I will try not to repeat what other reviews have mentioned, i.e. good food, good service, friendly staff, clean ship, etc. This was all expected with Princess and we were not disappointed. We lucked out with the weather, every day was gorgeous. We had flown in from the East Coast a day before departure so that we could avoid possible weather related delays and booked the Princess transfers from the Airport Marriott which all went smoothly. Breakfast at the Marriott was expensive and we wished we had just had coffee and a bagel at the Starbucks in the hotel. Embarkation quick and painless. First two days at sea good way to start a cruise, to unwind and relax. We found the cruise directors on this ship to be mediocre. DJ Mark from Australia would be a good candidate for cruise director, wonderful personality, great dancer, friendly with everyone. (He made me wish I was about 40 years younger.) Sabatini's and Sterling Steakhouse restaurants were well worth the extra charge. Photos way too expensive, $ 20 each, they would sell more if they reduced the prices.

In Puerto Vallarta we chose the "Hideaway at Las Caletas" excursion from the ship and would highly recommend this one; we had a fabulous day. It started with a one hour boat trip on a launch which was a 5 minute walk from the ship. The "cruise director" of this tour named Emilio had such a great personality and was so entertaining that the hour seemed too short. The open bar all day and the great music were contributing factors as well. We stopped to do some whale watching and were lucky to see a mother and a baby whale who actually flipped their tails in unison - awesome sight. Las Caletas is a private beach, set up with an outdoor Mexican buffet lunch (with tablecloths)which was excellent. There were beach chairs, kayaks, and tubes for our use as well as snorkeling available. We booked a half hour massage for $ 25 which was also relaxing and terrific. On the boat ride back to the ship, Emilio and his crew of 6 entertained us again singing hilarious songs from "Grease". In Mazatlan we had booked horseback riding on line after reading the good reviews on Trip Advisor for Ginger's Bilingual Horses. Ginger's is located a half hour from the port and we were lucky to meet Pedro who offered to drive us around for the entire day for $ 50. His open air taxi accomodates up to 4 people so splitting the fare it's a good deal. The bus and/or the pulmonia red pickup trucks can be slow and unreliable and this tooke the worry out of getting back to the ship on time. Pedro first took us to the shopping area and waited while we walked around, but unless you are looking to buy jewelry, the stores sell the usual tourist stuff and it's a waste of time. Pedro then took us to Ginger's and we were too early for our ride so we went to the nearby open air restaurant to wait. We had the best mango margaritas ever, huge and made with fresh mango, to die for. The beach is wonderful and we enjoyed sipping our margaritas and watching the surfers. A strolling guitar player also serenaded us with Mexican songs. The horseback ride for an hour was just $ 30.00 and it was an experience not to be missed, riding on the beach. Pedro was waiting for us after our ride and drove us back to the ship with time to spare.

On board the ship we especially enjoyed Paul Burton's piano playing and entertainment in the Crooners Lounge. One night he played all Broadway show songs and we had to guess the name of the song and the show it was from, which was great fun. Another night we had a singalong of old standards. Paul is an incredibly talented piano player and not to be missed.

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Balcony

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