This was a total cruise time of 21 days with short cruises either side of our 11 day cruise from Singapore, and is our third time with Princess. The embarkation was smooth and efficient as you would expect in Singapore.

Sapphire Princess was a much larger vessel than we have been on before which offered plenty of choice but significant differences to the Australian market. The passengers were mainly Australian, British, European and Chinese, but this vessel is run on the American system. All prices are in US Dollars, all plug sockets are American requiring an adaptor (US$11.95) and judging by the performance of my wife's hair dryer 110v. The stateroom dryer was perfectly adequate. There is an US$11.50 service charge per passenger per day added to your account unless you get in the long queue at the service desk and make it known you want it withdrawn before the ship sails. All drinks purchases attract a 15% gratuity charge, with a typical Heineken beer costing US$5.25 and vodka mixer US$6.00 (plus 15%). It may be good to accept that all cruise lines are ruthless money making machines and you just have to make the best of it as you see fit.

As normal there are dedicated smoking areas on the promenade deck but unusually there are smoking areas within the vessel. The Churchill Lounge is a smoking bar and duly reeks of stale tobacco so you may want to avoid it. The casino has a smoking area with smoke permeating throughout and the nightclub has a smoking area adjacent to the bar. I can't remember the last time I was in any establishment in Australia that allowed smoking, so clearly the aim of Princess Cruises entering the lucrative Asian market outweighs any passive smoking issues of staff and fellow passengers. Read more