Sapphire Princess Review

Good service, bad food, too many missed ports.

Review for Trans-Ocean Cruise on Sapphire Princess
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MGBark
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2019
Cabin: Oceanview

We choose this cruise as a family vacation that would take us half way around the world, Southampton to Singapore, in 37 days. We had some good times and some not so good times, and met many new friends, but I can not recommend the Sapphire. The service is good, but the food is not good. You can always find something to eat, but as a rule, the overcooked meats buried in tasteless brown sauce, the cooked to death vegetables, the fried foods too hard to cut with a knife, just did not do Princess proud. The Sapphire is an older ship needing repairs and a new WiFi system. You could spend hours not getting emails. We missed the port for Paris and Normandy, and Sicily without a real apology or credit. And the shore excursion to Petra was a total ripoff. We spent as much time in a non scheduled over priced souvenir shop where the guide probably got a kick back than we did at the treasury in Petra. It took 14 days of complaints, but I finally got a credit on that. It wasn’t all bad, about half the shows were top notch and the cruise staff was fun, but after 20 Princess Cruises, this was probably at the bottom. Last year, when the Royal missed two ports due to a Hurricane, everyone got a 20% credit. On the Sapphire, complaints went no where, even though this storm wasn’t even a hurricane, We’ve missed several ports with several cruise lines over the last three years. I think this is a trend. If there is somewhere you really want to go, take a plane.

Cabin Review

Oceanview

We liked our outside cabin, it was comfortable and the cabin Stewart was fantastic even though he was assigned 19 cabins and rarely had time for a break. Oddly enough, our friends in a balcony cabin did not like the configuration and found it cramped.

Port Reviews

Southampton

Great town, stay over night if you can, Lots of history and an easy bus ride from Heathrow

Lisbon

Lots of history here, took free walking tour and cheap 4 Hour tour in a Jeep we hired on shore.

Gibraltar

Lots of great shopping in this duty free port, but better to go see the monkeys, the ship will take your booze away from you.

Barcelona

Fabulous town, had a great free walking tour around Las Rambla, also time for the Cathedral by subway.

Toulon

Cute little French town, but a ripoff because Princess does not port in Toulon, but across the bay. The ship charges $25 to go to Toulon. We used public ferry, $4. Shops close around 1pm so get an early start.

Florence (Livorno)

Took the train to Florence, fantastic, really watch your time though, don’t miss the ship. By the way, Piza is much closer but book the leaning tower in advance.

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Have been to Rome. Rented a HERTZ car and had a nice easy drive on good roads to some ruins near the airport......fantastic. $50 for four people.

Naples

Love Naples, just like to walk and shop. Always eat across from the Opera House, see an Opera if you get a chance, oldest house in Europe. Don’t wear a lot Of jewelry, never had a problem, but why tempt fate. Fabulous bargins for ladies clothes.

Rhodes

First time in Rhodes, really liked it. Had a four hour taxi tour for 4 we picked up at the port. Plenty of time to see the island and the town. If you want to swim, just taxi to local beaches, maybe 15 minutes.

Abu Dhabi

Great town. Be sure to tour the Mosque, it is so beautiful. On a taxi tour we stayed as long as we wanted, our friends on the ships tour couldn’t go inside. They were very unhappy. Also toured the town, the Palace, the beach......but do see the Mosque. Oh, ladies must cover arms, legs, shoulders and head.....not face, You can rent clothes there, or think ahead and take a scarf.

Dubai

Love this town, better than Disneyland. A visit to “the Frame” is a must. Do a quick town tour and check out the tallest building in the world. Buy a skip the line ticket if you go up. Be sure to see the light and fountain shows starting around 6pm, if time allows.

After writing my review I received an advertisement for another Princess Cruise. Instead of an itinerary they listed Possible ports. I guess they have been missing so many ports and receiving so many complaints, they are not going to promise to get to listed ports anymore. I realize the fine print of every cruise contract allows a ship to skip ports, but cruise customers should demand an automatic credit every time they miss a port. No one books a cruise with bad weather in mind, they want to visit the advertised far away places. Its only common sense that if you dont get what you pay for you should get part of your money back, or at least a credit for a future cruise, so the cruise line insures future business. In the last 2 years weve missed 8 ports. Two lines gave us future credit, which costs them nothing, unless we use it.....the Sapphire gave us around $12 port charge back for missing Paris. And not even a real apology, just that overused phrase, Thank You for understanding. Well, I dont understand. Give me what I pay for, or give me part of my money back.

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