Sapphire Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,020 reviews

Just Lovely!

Review for Alaska Cruise on Sapphire Princess
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Hoygoya
2-5 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2011
Traveled with children

My husband, 15 year old son and I just returned from the Sapphire Princess Alaska cruise July 3-10th. We joined my brother and family and my parents to celebrate my father's birthday.I have cruised with Princess one other time as well as been on Celebrity, Disney, and Royal Caribbean (Explorer). Our entire group were on the RC Explorer together in 2008. Enough background on us!We left out of Seattle and the boarding process was quick and very well organized. I don't think we could have moved through any faster. They advised us to wait until 1pm for faster boarding...but we were too eager and ignored them and showed up at noon. Yes, there were lots of people- but Princess was so well organized we zipped through all lines. Very friendly as well. Once we were on the boat, our luggage arrived at our room very quickly- we were able to get unpacked before the muster station drill.Our room steward, Mark G was terrific. Very sweet. Has been with Princess for 8 years. Our room had tons of storage-very adequate for the three of us. Our balcony was beautiful- extra wide for 4 people. Our son's bed folded out from the ceiling- we kept it open. I slept underneath him and actually liked my sleeping set up. The television stations on Princess are outstanding. They have many movie channels with current movie titles. We watched True Grit (2010), Gnomeo & Juliet, Tangled, 127 hours...even Toy Story 3. While we are on the cruise, the verdict for the Casey Anthony trial also occurred...I appreciated being able to watch CNN while that was unfolding. Of all cruise lines I have been on, the television programing on Princess is the best. We enjoyed hanging out in our room with the beautiful scenery floating by our balcony door. At one time I saw two whales!The food on the ship was terrific. We had traditional dining for our group of 9 at 5:30. The first night was not as impressive...but it kept getting better and better. The three teens we were with always had good choices on the menu. Some of the desserts were just outstanding...and my father loved the sugar free options. Many nights I tried the vegetarian dishes and my family was jealous. The "eggplant fritters" were particularly surprising...I loved them. My husband had some great steaks (always cooked to his specification) and the lobster tail and prawns were heavenly. We never had a bad meal. We ate at the British Pub lunch once and tried the fish and chips which was fun. The horizon buffet. Pretty terrific. I was surprised at the great variety of choices they had at lunch. Hot and cold foods...Asian choices, Indian food selection, seafood. I think I ate five meals a day during the trip! I never tried the pizza but was told it was good as well. For breakfast, they could make custom omelets for you. Their breakfast pastries were surprisingly good...I expected them to be a bit stale, but they certainly were not. The croissants were great. I enjoyed the unusual choices they would throw into the buffet...one day I tried my first fried banana and peanut butter sandwich. I loved it! On another day they had grilled shrimp that any restaurant would be proud of. The only foods I wasn't impressed with was the sushi at their Taste of Alaska pool side buffet and their version of a "chocolate malt" which was really just a ton of chocolate ice-cream mixed with a small amount of milk. Way too intense and no malt at all.We made reservations at Sabatini's one evening and had the three kids with us. We were told our meal would take two hours and we were prepared for that. We were not prepared for 3 and a half! The service took way too long and some of the food was a bit too scary for our American background. Our 12 year old ordered the langostinos...which we thought were going to be prawns. We were not expecting huge crustaceans still in their shells splayed out on the platter with eyes, antennae, etc. Probably common in Europe, but we would have appreciated a bit more explanation on the menu. She could not eat them. The seafood pasta of the night was the same...more crustaceans in the shell...my husband couldn't eat them as well. It was an adventure...but it really did take too long for the meal. The restaurant was only half full...we have no idea why it took all night.The negatives...the crew was obviously pushing for people to sign up for their wine tasting and champagne breakfasts. It was way too heavy handed...we had at least four people tell us about that wine tasting. My husband and I do not drink (the other adults in our party do) but we all grew tired of having them try to push it on us. They need to figure out a way to strategically only have one person have to tell you about it. Plus, we can read the flyer.The ship entertainment was lacking. However, we didn't mind skipping it in favor of relaxing in our room. The entertainment on the other cruises we have been on was stronger. My mother, nieces, and I all took the glass at sea jewelry class-what a great option! We loved it and it was a bargain. My two $5 necklaces turned out fantastic and looked like $30 pieces from an art fair. Great idea!I'm not going to get into the ports in this review...though I will say all of our excursions were through Princess and turned out great. I will end the review with a call out to the teen club "Remix". My son absolutely loved hanging out there. They had an even number of girls and boys and the two counselors Laura and Tristen were a huge hit. All of the kids got along great and some are still in contact through Facebook. My son said it was the best cruise ever and he was so sad when it ended. They had a ton of fun and he loved being able to stay up later than he can when we are at home. The activities ran until 3am, though his curfew was midnight.All in all, we had a lovely time as a family. my parents had been on two other Alaskan cruises and said this was the best one they had ever been on. I'm dreaming of the next...

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