Princess Cruises, Sapphire Princess Review

Overall Rating

Service throughout the ship was fantastic, no language barriers, great food, lots of entertainment choices.

Tours a little overpriced.

We are a 30ish couple and we cruised on the Princess Sapphire in June 2007 from Whittier Alaska to Vancouver BC. Overall it was great and we'd highly recommend it for anyone. We regret not taking the time to go inland and if we had to do over we would, probably prior so that jet lag was over before embarking. Here are the highlights:

Rooms:
We booked the least expensive room category and our only real complaint was the bed being hard. We paid 1/5 the price that the balcony cabins were going for at the time of booking. We saw only a handful of people out on their balconies at any given time and since it's light 20 hours a day, the lack of windows was a plus for sleeping.

Service:
Service throughout the ship was fantastic - no language barriers.

Food:
Also fantastic. The 24-hour buffet is for real - a full selection of foods whenever you want with plates that are temptingly big. The dining room food was a notch above and a great opportunity to try new things. Pizza is good - especially the 4 cheese. I am a vegetarian and it was heaven for this - dedicated vegetarian station at the buffet and a designated section on the dining room menu.

Tours:
Overpriced and in some ways disappointing. Having said that we would still go on some tours if we had to do it over, we'd just do more research on which ones are worth it and of course book it ourselves once we got off the ship rather than through Princess. Special Note: The Yukon Suspension Bridge is not in the Yukon. We went on this tour specifically to go to the Yukon and in fact you don't leave British Columbia.

Nightlife/Entertainment:
Lively until a little after midnight and a sparse crowd after that. There are lots of choices for all ages so you won't be bored. A newsletter is delivered to your room daily outlining the next day's events and they are broadcast as well for a reminder. We loved this.

Demographic:
Mostly Americans, a few fellow Canadians and about 50% over the age of 40. You wouldn't feel out of place at any age.

Attire/Weather:
Don't let other reviewers make you think you need to dress up all the time. Other than the formal nights (on which jeans were still sparsely noted) people can and do wear whatever they want including tracksuits.

It was an average of 12 degrees each day with partial sun and we were told this was great weather for Alaska. Depending what climate you are used to you may even need a light hat and gloves. You'll want closed toe shoes mostly and a warm waterproof jacket.


Extras:
We underestimated how many extras there would be to pay for on top of alcohol, tours and service charges. Eg: Bingo, Yoga, wine tasting, bottled water, hot chocolate, internet - which was crazely expensive. The formal night photos are $25 each.