In keeping with the baby boomer penchant for cruising! and my wife's gentle persuasion(she had done a cruise to Europe);I decided to go on a cruise on the Sapphire Princess in April of 2016!
quite a few setbacks e.g. embarkation,visa problems,lack of communication, shore excursions.
Embarkation: endless wait,form filling;chaotic! a young staff member suffered a seizure! mass confusion! no ...
Chose cruise for fabulous ITINERARY-Beijing China, Busan South Korea, Nagasaki and Kagoshima Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong China, Ho Chi MInh City (Saigon) Vietnam, Bangkok Thailand and Singapore. Weather changed from 60F to 100F, cool to uncomfortably hot and humid, and no rain except in Singapore. Some did pre cruise to Xian and Terracotta warriors but said they were worn out! We had 3 days in ...
We typically travel suite class. Because it has been going where we want to go, when we want to go, we've been traveling Princess. The Sapphire Princess is a large ship! The disadvantage is that it often is berthed in a cargo area of the port Vs. "in/nearer town".
Despite the number of passengers, there is enough space on the ship so you don't think it is crowded. The dining rooms serves good ...
We went with Princess again largely because of the 5-day pre-cruise land content in Beijing (for the Great Wall and other attractions) and Xian (for the Terracota Army). We enjoyed the experience with an excellent guide, top hotel accommodation and many fine meals. Well organised and highly enjoyable,
Unfortunately the cruise that followed was not up to our past Princess experiences. High ...
For the most part, liked the remodeling, especially the closet - more room and ease of unpacking. Did not like losing the hand held shower nozzle though in the tiny shower. Found the food less enjoyable - seemed like too much mushy stuff - though there were a few good nights with prime rib and lobster.
Cannot complain about service. Excursions were ok but quite expensive. Drink prices ...
Just returned from a 14 night cruise on Mariner of the Seas.
I should have realised what we were in for at the embarkation fiasco at Bejing, to say this was horrendous is putting it mildly.
However worse was to come.
The ship has been given over to the Asian passenger market to the detriment of all other nationalities.
Many crew members did not speak fluent enough English to be ...
Firstly we are very seasoned cruisers and usually do not make comments on cruises however we found this cruise as being run mainly for a specific market which left it lacking.
The trip to Tianjin from Beijing was organised by our travel agent and was a joke with insufficient buses for the number of passengers and also no organisation, with some buses turning up and others not.
We left from ...
I have to agree with other comments regarding mariner of the seas , the scene was set from embarkation to disembarkation queuing what a way to spend a holiday either at customer services or for tours. appalling logistics ,organisation, management skills. I have never been on a cruise where after only 3days basic food and beverages had run out ie no butter. entertainment diabolical very poor ...
Please think very carefully before booking this cruise. This was our first ever cruise and all I can say is so very disappointed. As a part of our cruise we were given a tour before embarking the cruise to the forbidden city,and the Great Wall of china. Yes fantastic experience seeing these places but being given the hard sell at a jade factory we were taken to then on route back to the hotel we ...
The cruise started off with a long wait to get on the ship, but we barely had to line up for anything else afterwards, although a lot of older guests seemed to complain about lines to us. We only had to wait at Guest Services for about 10 minutes the entire time of the cruise and even less for our shore excursion. I guess you just have to pick the right time of day to go.
This ship has been ...