Sapphire Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,020 reviews

Great First Cruise, Alaska A Place to Experience

Review for Alaska Cruise on Sapphire Princess
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llccmp
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: Jun 2010

This was our first cruise and overall it was a pleasure. Our itinerary was round trip out of Seattle with ports of call in Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway, Alaska, and Victoria, British Columbia. We also toured the Tracy Arm Fjord. In general we found Princess to be well operated, the staff pleasant and helpful, and the onboard experience very good.

Embarkation—Smooth, easy and efficient. We flew into Seattle the night before and returned to the airport the next morning to meet our transfer to the port. We checked it at the Princess desk at the airport, boarded a coach bus and were en route to the port within 20 minutes of arriving at the airport. When we arrived at the port terminal, several cruise personnel were on hand to direct you to where you needed to go. Check in was easy and efficient, and we waited no more than 5 minutes before we were allowed to board the ship. A nice thing about Princess is that they do not allow you to board until all staterooms are ready. We heard that other ships will board you, but you are required to stay in the public areas (dining rooms, pool, etc) until the rooms are ready. This requires you to hang onto your carry-on luggage the whole time. Since Princess has a well-organized disembarkation (more on that later), we were able to board, go to our stateroom and leave our luggage before exploring the ship.

Staterooms—We had an obstructed view stateroom, which meant our window was between two lifeboats. We could see scenery easily and it didn't bother us to not have a balcony. We were told by our travel agent to ask about their occupancy to see if upgrading was possible. Since the ship was sailing at full capacity, an upgrade wasn't available. The rooms are small, but comfortable. Our bed was very comfortable, you can easily control the temperature of the room, and the closet/storage space was ample. The only small space was the bathroom. My husband (who's 6 feet tall) could stand in the middle of the bathroom and place one palm flat against the back shower wall and the other palm flat against the bathroom mirror—a bit tight. The other important thing to note is that you really need to unpack. Often when we travel, we just live out of our suitcases. With so little room, you really need to unpack and store the suitcases in the closet. The room was well equipped with plenty of shelving, a big closet, hangers and dresser drawers. An in-room safe was also available to store passports, travel documents, other items of value.

Cabin Review

Small yet comfortable room. Tiny bathroom, but efficient use of space. Lots of storage for clothing/luggage. Decent size closet. Comfortable bed. Very clean.

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