Sapphire Princess Review
Beautiful Norway Scenery, Below average food and cabin
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this 14 day cruise because of the itinerary covering the entire west coast of Norway traveling all the way to the North Cape. Not too many cruises go that far north or cover so many ports. We have taken about 10 Princess cruises and are platinum status giving a few perks such as free internet.
This cruise receives mixed reviews from us. The ship on this cruise was completely full with every cabin booked. Of course that places a heavier burden on the ships facilities. We had 3 days at sea and very cool weather most of the trip which means that everyone is inside. It was difficult to find a table in the buffet and in order to get a seat at the 8:00 pm show we had to be there at 7:15 and eat at 5:30. The entertainment was very good and one of the highlights of the cruise. Princess food has gone very far downhill. Our first Princess cruise was in 2006 and the menu selections were much better than now. A number of people we spoke to agreed with that. Beef entrees were terrible. The television news offering for U.S. news was only Fox which we don't consider news. Previously Princess offered MSNBC and CNN. The library on the ship had very few books and most of those were checked out. It was very inadequate for the number of passengers.
Our cabin E521 was worn and shower had some mold in the corners. It needs a thorough renovation. I think some new carpet and refurbishing of public areas had been done fairly recently but our cabin needed a complete renewal.
Cabin Review
Oceanview (obstructed view)
Princess cabins are smaller than similar category on Holland America. There was no room for even a small table and bed blocked window. May be smallest cabin we've every had
It was very worn and needs refurbishment.. Also, shower and bathroom are very tiny.
Port Reviews
Southampton
stayed 1 night before cruise at Novotel and it was terrible
Stavanger
we went to interesting petroleum museum and walked around on our own. It was very cold that day.
Skjolden
Very nice scenery. We walked around on our own
Geiranger
Beautiful fjord scenery
Bergen
Bergen was my favorite port and time was too short. We had to be back on the ship at 1:30 We prebooked a walking tour with the Bergen Museum which was very interesting. Don't miss fish market! We couldn't even eat lunch because of short time in port. Bergen was only place I would be interested in a return trip.
Alesund
They had 6 ships in port and everything was too crowded for size of town. We took Hop on Hop Off and it was terrible because there were so many busses at the view point that we sat on the bus not lmoving for more than an hour. Don't take that bus in Alesund