Sapphire was Unexpected!

I have just returned from a lovely morning onboard Sapphire Princess. It was my first time on a Princess ship and wow it was so unexpected! Now I know why they say that when you set sail on a Princess cruise you experience a cruise like no other.

Sapphire Princess is an older mid-size ship which holds 2678 passengers. She has a central atrium which is basically the hub of the ship. We were treated to a 20-minute show by the ships entertainment team before we commenced our tour of the ship. Unfortunately, we were not able to see any cabins as she was fully booked for her next cruise.

There are quite a few bar areas onboard that have stages and we were told that some of the larger productions that are shown in the theatre would have a second or third mini show with more passenger participation. There are 2 speciality restaurants onboard – Sabatini’s and Crown Grill. A $29.00 dollar supplement is payable when dining here. I was quite impressed to see that there were actually quite a few other snack areas located around the ship which were included in your fare.

Sapphire has more than 2 pools. A covered pool area for those colder itineraries, an open pool area and some smaller pools aft which looked fun. There is an adult only area called the sanctuary which looks lovely but there is a fare of $20.00 for half day or $40.00 for the full day. I feel if you need to pay to stay away from the crowds and children like that then you should possibly be looking at a more luxury cruise line.

She has all the other normal venues like kids club, spa and gym. What I was most impressed by was their movies under the stars program. Now I have been on Royal and P&O which have big screens at the pools, Princess just takes it a little further. In the evening all the sunbeds have new thicker cushions put on with blankets for those chilly evenings. The smell of popcorn is in the air, ice cream and cookies are available and it is all included!

It is these little things that are unexpected that make a cruise line stand out. I have not yet been on a Princess cruise but I think it is now on my future cruise list.