We are still on the Sapphire Princess cruise to the Inside Passage of Alaska. We won this 7 day cruise through the Venetian. They will have a similar promotion starting in Sept. and running to Dec. with a Caribbean Cruise as a prize to the top 50 or so coin-in players. We had less play, actually we were lower than 100 on the list, but since a lot of people don't take the prize or cancel we got this trip.
The Venetian was very nice and besides giving us a stateroom with a balcony and a charter flight, we received free laundry onboard, free internet, some appetizers each night, some soda/booze in the refrigerator to start, and a free meal at the upgraded Italian restaurant that normally costs $20 per person extra. Also they gave us 2 sets of binoculars, 2 vests, hats, and a clock.
The VP is poor as you might expect. At present there are no tracking mechanisms, but Princess will eventually add them, so you can get cashback. I was able to collect cashback I had accumulated on a previous Carnival cruise (same slot club). The 10-coin VP machines turned out to have proper payouts with 5 coins. The best paytables are at the $1 and up level. At .25 and .50 paytables are lower. The best paytable is 9/6 Double Bonus. At DDB it is a bad 7/5. JB is 6/5. Deuces have a strange paytable that pays a bit more than ugly but not as good as NSU.
Food on Princess is now a choice of Traditional, fixed time dining, or "Anytime". Anytime doesn't work all that well, since "reservations are suggested" which doesn't make much sense. We like to share our table, but since we eat early, there are not enough people who want to share, or enough large tables, so at dinner we sit at 2 person tables which are quite close to other 2 people tables. We were unable to book Traditional, which we prefer, because we booked into the trip so late. At breakfast and lunch the seating is "open" and we can share with other people.
Dinner at Sabbitini's special Italian was odd. The Venetian had booked a seating at 8:30 pm - too late for us since we like to eat at 6pm. But we went. They had an enormous amount of courses, first cold appetizers (about 4-5 of them on one plate), then hot appetizers, then cataloni (sorry about spelling) as a separate course, then a course of gnocci, then a course of spegetti, and by then we were pretty stuffed. (I forgot the bread to start with, followed by bread with a tomato topping). Then came choice of fish stew or salad, finally the entree (I had lobster tail), and then desert. The meal lasted 3 hours and was far too long for us. The food quality was very good, but probably no better than in the regular ship restaurant, though more food.
The quality of food in the main ship's restaurants is excellent. They have several different restaurants, including Pacific Moon, Sante Fe, Savoy, and others. But the menus are the same, except each restaurant has 1 extra specialty dish which they serve every night (same dish each and every night). Service generally excellent. Last night they had lobster tails (2), beef wellington, and more. Beef and fish dishes have all been excellent quality. Quantities are moderate, but you can ask for more.
The downside has been the upstairs 24 hr buffet, which is quite small as cruise buffets go. Breakfast is the worst, with no ommlette station, so eggs are pre-cooked and sometimes hard. Selection is small, and therefore small. Most food for dinner is the same (but not as complete) as the main dining rooms. But sometimes items differ. They had lamb chops there last night, for example, which were not in the main dining room, but the beef wellington was there. The buffet also has NO hot cocoa. Also juice only available at breakfast. So the rest of the time the choice is tea, hot or ice, or coffee.
Most passengers were also displeased to learn that the ice cream shop costs extra. Ice cream is available in the main dining room for lunch or dinner though.
Ship tour personnel were not very knowledgeable or helpful, but the usual cruise tours are available and well-run. If you have a problem or question for the purser, they are not very knowledgeable either, but are able to ask others and get info and they do get the info to you quickly. I asked about the TV schedule and within minutes one was brought to my room. The room steward is excellent and very quick to clean the room. Dining staff are generally friendly and efficient.
The Sapphire Princess is a beautiful ship. Decor is excellent. Many beautiful lounges and areas and bars all over the ship. It is quite large, over 2600 passengers. The ship is 4 years old. Lots of shipboard activities such as lectures (including colorful talks on Alaska and a naturalist on board), bingo (not a good game), art auctions, wine tasting, culinary talks, backstage and galley tours, movies in room and in theater, many musicians, comedians, big production shows (2), etc. Announcements are kept to a minimum - which is a blessing. The daily newsletter is not the best I've seen though, but does provide a lot of information. Internet cafe has been out of order a lot but is available for 35 cent a minute (and you can use your own wireless computer too - at same cost). Photographers are not too obnoxious, but are available. Two "formal" nights on the cruise - but you can get away with a suit for a man and a pantsuit for a woman.
Inside passage is not nearly as beautiful as going the whole way up to Ancorage, so I would recommend you take the longer cruise if you want to go to Alaska. Staying longer for a ground trip to Denali is also worthwhile (unfortunately with a free cruise you take what you can get).
This is the second Princess cruise we've taken, the last being in 1999. Their seems to be a noticeable downgrade in the food quality, given the poor buffet. I thought the overall level of entertainment also is lower.
Still if you eat in the dining room, the food is good to excellent; and there is a lot of entertainment so you should be able to find something good.
Overall, I liked 2 recent cruises on Carnival better, and one on Norweigan was worse.
I can't complain much though, since the cruise was free. I won some $ at the Venetian before we left, thankfully, and lost it back in the ship's casino.
The casino runs several tournaments, and the Venetian had some special extra tournaments. Generally these are not worthwhile to play.
Though the ship is huge and has 2600 passengers, it never felt crowded. There are so many separate dining rooms, that each one seems intimate. Also passengers are spread around. The only bottleneck is that the main showroom only holds about 1/3 of the passengers, so they repeat the big production shows 3 times, instead of 2. This results in fewer big productions shows, I think. The early show fills up so you need to arrive early to be sure of a seat.
There are so many activities and entertainment, it is impossible to do everything. There is a covered pool, which actually is fairly warm (pool is heated) so you can go swimming if you want. There are several hot jacuzzis which are popular even in Alaska. There is a spa and beauty salon. Also jogging track, putting area, virtual golf, kid's program, arcade, shops, exercise program and gym, and more.
The most major disappointment - poor buffet area. The best thing about the ship - beautiful decor and large number of public areas and musicians.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]