Princess Cruises
Sapphire Princess Cruise Review

Shirley Randall
Age: 61
Number of Cruises: 2
Sailing Date: May 13th, 2006

We arrived at the Los Angeles airport and to our surprise we were able to get on the shuttle bus to the ship immediately. We had neglected to book the pre cruise pickup, make sure you book it if you are arriving in Los Angeles as it is a long ride to the ship from the airport and a taxi would be quite expensive. We had visited some of the ports before so didn't do any of the tours offered. We really enjoyed Catalina Island. The town is within walking distance with many lovely shops to browse through. My friend and I purchased a few lovely clothes for the cruise. I only wish we had a few more hours in that port. When we arrived in San Francisco I couldn't wait to see Fisherman's wharf. I was extremely disappointed. The prices were very much inflated and as it was our anniversary we wanted to have a memorable seafood lunch. We asked where the best place to have Fish & Chips was and went to the small restaurant indicated (sorry I forgot the name, it was on the left hand side, on the water right behind the fish & chip stand with the green awning outside). We were very disappointed in our meals. I had heard other cruisers uttering the same words about the seafood they ordered at pier 39.
One of the ports was Astoria, Oregon, once again I was not impressed with the town. Leaving Astoria the seas were a little rock, as it is the Oregon Coast. Victoria was our next stop. It was nice to be back where we were familiar with the surroundings. Unfortunately the weather was not as warm as one might have liked at that time of year

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Vancouver was the point of departure, we were supposed to get off the ship at 8:45 so we didn't have breakfast as we woke up late and thought we didn't have time. Had I known that we weren't going to get off until 11:15 I sure would have gone and got something to eat. I have to say that the wait to get off the ship was pretty well the only disappointment on our cruise. There were a couple of small annoyances like not knowing that ice cream was available free of charge between 3 and 4 each day on the 14th floor in the 24 hour buffet restaurant. Apparently we had missed it in our news letter. The staff was very friendly and what I most appreciated is that the cruisers seemed to be of a middle class. There were a few children on board but we never were bothered by their presence. All 4 of us bought into a 2nd cruise with Princess so you can tell we weren't disappointed.
 

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