Sapphire Princess Short Review

As we love to cruise we decided to take a two week vacation this year to Alaska. We were fortunate to find an excellent last minute deal on the Sapphire Princess. We booked it about three weeks before the cruise and went about quickly planning the rest of the trip so all the details would fall in place before we left. It worked out beautifully.

We set out on our second cruise to Alaska (as a family, my wife is on her third) on a Thursday at dinner time in Houston. That is not the ideal time to head to the airport because leave too early to ensure traffic is not an issue and you will get plenty of wait time at the airport, but leave too late and you could just miss your flight. We were on our hometown airline United, which is an easy choice here since we are home to their largest hub in the entire world.  The flight was uneventful, I suppose in part because it was a Continental aircraft and crew operating the flight (the merger has not settled well for all employees).  We made it safely to our hotel around 1am or a bit before.

We had a day to enjoy Vancouver before boarding the ship on Saturday. This was fun because we got to see the Celebrity Millennium come and go on the Friday. (We saw her again a couple of times during the next couple of weeks as well.) Sadly it was a rainy day, but that passed by late afternoon so we got a chance to enjoy the area around downtown. Then we were really revved up for the cruise the next morning.

I first saw the Sapphire Princess as she came around the building and into her berth just below our hotel room window. That is one reason I picked the hotel I did. We scurried about taking care of business until it was time to head on down and board the ship. We knew we would be in for a fun filled couple of weeks.

Overall this ship is a lot like the Island Princess, so different from other cruise lines. That is a good thing as if all cruise ships were completely alike life as an avid cruiser could get very boring quickly.  Again we have found that crew are trained to the C.R.U.I.S.E. standard and serve as much as hosts as they do crew/hotel staff making sure the ship sails safely and guests are served properly.

Again I am pleased with my choice to sail Alaska on a Princess Cruise ship. In fact my impression is that Princess probably is the best choice for sailing to Alaska based on a comparison to the Royal Caribbean sailing on the Serenade of the Seas three years ago, almost to the day. Princess seems to have more locals come aboard to enhance the Alaska experience than we recall on the prior cruise and Princess has half of the slots to sail into the Glacier Bay National Park.

The ship’s various venues are all in good shape. I only noted rust in a couple of spots that are more difficult to maintain on a regular basis. Of course, the ship was recently renovated so everything would be expected to be in good shape. I was pleased with the condition of the ship and attention most crew paid towards keeping it neat and clean.

We did not see tons of hand sanitizers. I suspect the fact that really they do little to help with norovirus leads to reduced placement of them around the ship. It would be nice if everyone would wash and dry their hands after using the bathroom. However, I saw often where people didn’t do so for whatever reason.  I’d love to see more crew cleaning the handrails on the stairs thru the day and also the inside of the elevators. That is my biggest beef with cleanliness.  

The crew are quite pleasant. They typically did whatever they could to make guests happy while aboard the ship.  I saw several crew members go out of their way to assist guests even in areas of the ship they normally do not work. We also saw and personally experienced several times teamwork not spotted on most other ships or even in everyday life. It is amazing to see how well oiled things can run when there is teamwork, especially in dining venues.

As we really like cruising, we often are less picky about some things than are those who have never cruised and expect total perfection. Just like with any encounter total perfection is seldom achieved 100% of the time.  It is possible also that others on the same cruise could have had a different experience from what we had. I saw that in a review someone posted about a prior cruise where sitting at different tables in the same dining room we had very different experiences.

I have a longer review based on a daily journal from the cruise and also post much of what comes to the cabin in the form of the Princess Patter and other handouts. I know many cruisers looking at Princess, Royal Caribbean, or Celebrity have commented how helpful the reviews and information are for them.  This review was purely to give a very quick overview of the ship.

We were so glad to have come back to Alaska via cruise ship on a two week round trip cruise from Vancouver.  We were fortunate to get a great room at the Pan Pacific above Canada Place and will stay there again when we need to stay in Vancouver in the future.  We will continue to cruise Princess when the itinerary fits our cruise needs and desires as Princess does a great job caring for the passengers and delivering a good cruise product.

Princess is definitely a great way to cruise, especially when in Alaska!

What should I do in Skagway?

Figuring out what to do in various cruise ports is always something folks who love to cruise must face. It can be an easy task to accomplish or difficult depending on how you approach the situation. One thing is for sure, though, it is nearly always a good idea to have some of it figured out ahead of your cruise. Booking independently or thru the cruise line does take advanced planning because once on board you may find your first pick tour is already booked up.

Skagway, Alaska is a great port for those who like natural beauty. It is also great for those who want to see part of the Yukon Territory of Canada.  Skagway is located North of Juneau on the inside passage essentially at the far North end of an area cut out be a glacier many years ago. The area is accessible via roadway connected to Alaska, Canada, and the lower 48 states. In fact from here you can even get all the way to where the road ends South of the Panama Canal.

Skagway was a gold mine oriented town. It was set up primarily as a transportation hub in and out of the Yukon area where gold mining operations were rampant. In fact there is still Gold mining there, but with modern trucks and roadways the Skagway area is less critical than before to those mining operations.  Skagway of present day is mostly a tourist oriented town, in part because there is no fish processing plant there so fishing in that area is primarily for subsistence instead of for commercial purposes.

Skagway is a neat small town with a small group of year round residents. I suspect a visit there in the Winter, one would find many of the stores shut down at the end of tourist season and only the year round shops are open for the locals. To that end, it also means not everything is always right available right when you need it year round.  

Because of the proximity to the Yukon and specifically the White Pass many visitors latch on to the folklore of the gold rush heading out into the mountains to see where the gold rush took folks decades ago. Back then it was quite a hike as compared to now where vehicles make the trip far more palatable. There are both railroad based tours and minibus tours. There are even some full size motorcoach bus tours up the highway into Canada to see the gold rush area.  While at outposts in the Yukon many other activities are available including panning for gold and dog sledding in the Summer training buggies. Both are fun activities, although for me my next dog sledding adventure will be a 2-3 day tour thru the wilderness with outback cabin camping.

In addition to the White Pass railroad and vehicle based tours, there are tours around town and even rafting trips available. The Famous Red Onion Saloon offers shows as well to keep guests in town entertained. Cycling tours down the mountain roads also exist. There are not too many tours from which to choose and several are many hours in length. Overall there is plenty to do there if you want to be active but not so much you can’t get a lot done while there. The helicopter tours are quick and can be coupled with other tours to the White Pass area to make for an enjoyable day.

Tours can be purchased independently or thru the cruise line. Often the prices are not very different between the two unless you do some research ahead. Calling the visitor center and some of the tour shops may get your best deal by booking yourself onto the early tours due to depart immediately after ships arrive.

Overall Skagway is a great place to visit. I’d love to spend a few nights there when we decide to take a month or two to drive the Alaska Highway stopping in various towns along the way. For those going up via cruise ship, there is plenty to do or you can just kick back and walk around town to see what is going on. It is just one of the several fun ports of call on the Alaska Inside passage so go there looking for adventure and enjoy your time there.  Of course we are always here to help you plan the best Alaskan Cruise Experience.

Do all travel insurance policies cover the same things?

Travel Insurance is varied in what it covers. Different companies and even policies within companies may offer different levels of coverage and different exclusions. Of course various riders can be added to enhance coverage but not all riders are available on every policy.  Thus, a simple summation is that all travel plans are not created equally.

Price alone is not a good way to determine what policy is better than the next policy either. Pricing of travel insurance usually varies with age, sex, destination, length of the trip, and of course the cost of the trip. The next level of differentiation is the coverage itself. Coverage is a function of what is explicitly covered along with what is explicitly excluded from coverage.

When choosing a policy you need to make sure the limits of coverage are at a comfortable level along with the exclusions. For example it is worth deciding will missed connection coverage offer you enough money to cover a hotel in connecting cities along with extra meals and taxis to and from the hotel.  Will medical evacuation allow you to come to a hospital of your choice? Will it cover two evacuations, one to the nearest place for appropriate care and then a second transfer back to your hospital of choice?

It is a good idea to examine the features of the plans you like and if there are more than one compare them to make sure you are getting the coverage you want or need. Onesite I like will help with the comparison.  By comparing policies you can pick one that covers adequately the things most important to you. A very good overall plan though, especially if travelingwith your children under age 18 is the Travel Guard Gold policy. One feature I really like with the Travel Guard Gold plan aside from the good rates and more than adequate coverage for most items, is that kids living in the same household as the traveling parents are covered for free. When you have three or four kids going with you this can really bring down the average cost of excellent coverage.

Also, when looking at vendor provided insurance make sure you are looking at that travel insurance policy and see how well it stacks up to the likes of Travel Guard Gold. Usually, the vendor provided coverage does not, unless they are using a branded product that essentially is the Travel Guard Gold plan. 

When traveling it is usually a good idea, especially when traveling outside the country, to ensure you have travel insurance. Buying from an independent travel insurance carrier you ensure you don’t put all of your money at risk should the tour operator fail, unless that vendor is on the do not insure list of the travel insurance company.

Should I buy the video put out by the cruise line while aboard?

I write from aboard the Island Princess where I am enjoying myself and thinking about how nice it would be to have a good DVD related to my transit of the Panama Canal. Also, it seems I may end up in one of the videos produced as I ended up a few times on the camera while they were shooting on the ship’s excursion we took today.  These DVDs are somewhat expensive compared to what you would pay for a movie when shopping at Target or Wal-Mart. The DVD typically is a mix of stock video collected over many cruises and updated periodically and lots of events collected on your specific cruise. 

The video is one great way to memorialize the cruise. If you have friends who likely will want to see the cruise it also serves as a great way to show them what you saw and what happened on the ship. Of course unless you are followed constantly by the ship’s videographer all of what you do and see will not be on the video, but given the amount of video you could create think of the editing that you would have to do to make it palatable to the general audience.

Yes, you can shoot all your own video, but the time it takes to edit it all down to one or two reasonable length shows can get lengthy. That said, do you really want to spend hours creating one or two videos that you can show your friends?  Yes when you make it yourself you are able to then go put it on Youtube etc… but unless you plan to post your video out there having a nice DVD from the cruise often is much easier to have.

Prices vary from really not too bad to fairly expensive depending on exactly what you purchase. The longer more involved cruises often have special packages that provide more than one DVD which allows you to tailor your presentation of DVDs to the audience you have watching them.  Overall in most cases if you want a unique and nice souvenir from the cruise, getting the DVD tends to work out to be a nice idea.

Should I buy my air thru the cruise line?

Air from cruise lines is one of those things that over time, has really changed.  Years ago, it was usually a good idea because they would get you essentially the same price you could find for your own air. Also, you could pack your bags and check them right thru to the ships at no extra cost.  Times have changed, especially in the post September 11^th days.

These days buying your air thru the cruise line is more, dicey.  You may save money or you may end up paying quite a bit more. Regardless you don’t get to check your bags straight thru to the cruise ship cabin.  You also no longer even get free bags on most airlines unless you happen to be one of their elite flyers.  Buying air thru the cruise line, unless you pay more for specific choices in the air reservation can easily yield you flights on non preferred airlines and at bad times. Also, unless you specifically pay the air portion at the time of booking, the air price may fluctuate up or down.

Paying for what is called an air deviation will allow you to select the airline and specify the time of day you want to fly. This can help at least get you on a preferred airline etc….but does not necessarily help with the airfare.  A new program offered by some airlines allows you to actually pick your own flights. In most cases you also pay a surcharge for this service. It does however offer some protection that just letting the airline pick does not offer.

Buying your air thru the cruise line does not guarantee you will arrive at your ship on time, nor does it guarantee they will get you caught up with the ship if a problem occurs while you are flying in. A common myth is that buying air thru the cruise line will have them holding the ship at departure dock or paying for connections to catch you up with the ship. That is simply not true, unless you also have unlimited travel insurance coverage.

Some of the new air programs, where you pay a fee of as much as $50 per passenger included special protections. They have a center monitoring all flights on which they have customers heading to cruises. When they see problems develop they try to work out rerouting where necessary to ensure you make the ship (your luggage may have to catch up later) on time. They also work with the cruise lines where possible holding ships to ensure slightly late passengers sail from the embarkation port.  When things go terribly wrong, they will reroute you to the next port of call where they can embark passengers. They cover the cost of the reroute also, but other costs such as extra hotel nights are on your own thus the need for travel insurance still exists.

It is worth looking at various factors when you are booking before picking if you will plan the air on your own or if you want to have the cruise line plan it for you.  Be sure you know what the benefits and costs are for choosing cruise line air.  We are here to help you with the entire cruise experience booking process.