It was our (myself, husband and 2 kids aged 18 and 7) first time cruising, and were really looking forward to what sapphire princess had to offer after hearing such good things about it from various people. As an overview the food was good, service was sometimes a little hit and miss in the anytime dining although all staff were very pleasant. Apart from receptionist when we asked how to go about removing tips. (we tipped individuals separately). Breakfast in Horizon court was excellent infact the choice of food In this dining area was excellent most of the time. We don’t really drink we took 3 bottles on board but came back with 2! But whenever dining or sat in entertainment areas we felt a little bombarded by the promotion of buying drinks (Because this is a great money earner). The onboard entertainment didn’t really appaal to my 18 year old as he fell Out of the youth bracket and there weren’t many, if any young people his age to interact with. Although he had a fantastic time off board, when we visited the different cities and really enjoyed the food onboard. The shows were inconsistent in quality and some were funny for the wrong reasons although entertaining! The places visited were all exceptional apart from Gibraltar. The cabins were good we had 2, 1 double and 1 with 2 singles. They were adequate in size and had great storage. Bathroom adequate and clean but it could do with a refurb. The main problem for us whilst onboard was the pool, and lack of life guards and supervision. Adults and children alike ignored the no jumping and diving signs and it made pool time with my son unbearable. It caused numerous rows around the pool with parents and younger children complaining about others to staff who eventually showed up to take a look after having had so many complaints from different people. 2 kids landed on me, on separate occasions, bruising and cutting my leg, and as I couldn’t stand up in the pool areas because they were too deep (I’m 5’3) it felt really unsafe for my 7 year old, who wanted to spend as much time in there as he could because the kids club staff put him off on his first visit. They refused to call us to collect him when he wanted to leave, after they said they would with it being his first visit and we remained unpacking in our cabin so they could. We returned after an hour for him and from that point he refused to attend again which is a shame, because he was looking forward to dipping in and out of certain activities, which is why he wanted to go in the first place. Staff didn’t deal with the pool issues and the kids and parents of those kids spoilt it for us and others, particularly when they somersaulted over your head, dive bombed people or threw their kids towards other people who were trying to cool down. It was actually horrendous, so I recommend not going during school holidays on this ship. I’m a teacher so needless to say I won’t be going again, which is a real shame. After asking if they can make an announcement and have staff presence around the pool, they provided staff for 2 days but they had so many complaints on the poolside, they didn’t bother after that, whilst there they didn’t stop them all of the time anyway. The captain announced that all must abide by the rules but doing this 2 days before the cruise ended when the weather became cooler as we hit the Atlantic back to Southampton, it was too little too late. Going from Southampton, you do tend to lose about 4 sunbathing days, although some people were on sun loungers in all weathers wrapped in towels. So you could do with cardigans / jumpers for part of this stretch. On the last day we saw two people vomiting violently, one in a corridor and the other in a bar... and now my 7year old seemsto have the same symptoms and is lying on our couch! Unfortunately, in all, the few things which we found as issues really put a dint in our vacation, and although you can’t please everyone all of the time, there were quite a few disappointed passengers both with and without children who said they wouldn’t be returning.