Sapphire Princess

The 2004-built Sapphire Princess cruise ship is the 5th Grand-class Princess Cruises liner, with sisterships Caribbean, Crown, Golden (Pacific Adventure), Grand, Emerald, Ruby, Star (Pacific Encounter) and Diamond.

The vessel (IMO number 9228186) is currently UK-flagged (MMSI 235103357) and registered in Southampton.

History - construction and ownership

Princess Cruises is a USA-based passenger shipping company headquartered in Beverly Hills CA. A former subsidiary of P&O Princess Cruises (1977-founded), in 2003, the company merged with Carnival Corporation - the world's largest cruise shipowner. Among Princess Cruise Lines Ltd's assets is the Caribbean private island resort Princess Cays (on Bahamas Eleuthera Island's southern end), located approx 80 km (50 mi) from Nassau.

The 2700-passenger ship Sapphire Princess and nearly the same sister Diamond Princess have some Grand-class variations in terms of size and facilities. Distinctions aside, over the past half-decade, Princess has been busy standardizing this class of vessels - adding poolside jumbotrons (Movies Under the Stars), "Piazza-style" atriums and adult-only deck areas (the Sanctuary) originally found only on the line's newest vessels, Crown, Emerald and Ruby. Sapphire Princess emerged from a month-long overhaul in February 2012, gaining signature facilities. The formerly dull atrium has been reorganized into the effervescent Piazza, a public zone with a wine and tapas bar, bakery, pizzeria and performance place. And after years of dedicated service, the rest of the vessel benefited from the refurbishment, too. Throughout Sapphire Princess cruisers will find new bar countertops, tiling, teak decking around the major swimming pool, furniture in the casino, an upgraded buffet and a new top-deck "lawn court" (artificial grass) for putting, bocce and croquet.

Decks and Cabins

Most Sapphire Princess staterooms (1339 total, in 33 grades) are 170-ft2 balcony cabins (522). Almost 75% of the ship's outside staterooms have private step-out balconies. Wheelchair-accessible cabins are 27. The largest accommodation is the Grand Suite (615 ft2 / 57 m2, with terrace sized 115 ft2 / 11 m2).

The boat has 16 decks, of which 13 are passenger-accessible and 7 with cabins.

Shipboard dining options - Food and Drinks

Nearly all dining options onboard Sapphire Princess are complimentary, including the five main dining rooms: Vivaldi, Pacific Moon, International, Santa Fe and Savoy Dining Room. There is also a free-of-charge buffet, pizza place, ice cream counter and grill. All main dining rooms offer the same menu items, though each has a small selection of signature items, most of which can be made in appetizer size. On cruises that are not full, certain main dining rooms will not be open. On some of the sea days, Savoy opens for a special British-style pub lunch featuring fish and chips, steak and kidney pie.

Follows the complete list of Diamond Princess restaurants and food bars.

• Savoy Restaurant (ship's aft Dining Room; offers traditional dinner at 5:30 pm, as well as Anytime Dining between 8-10 pm, and British pub lunch)
• Pacific Moon Restaurant (ship's forward Dining Room for Breakfast 7-9 am, Lunch 12-1:30 pm, Afternoon Tea 3:30-4:30 pm; features Anytime Dining for Dinner between 5:30-8 pm or 8-10 pm)
• Vivaldi Restaurant (dinner only aft Dining Room; offers traditional dinner at 5:30 pm, as well as Anytime Dining between 8-10 pm)
• Santa Fe Restaurant (forward Dining Room, Anytime Dining/dinner only)
• International Restaurant (aft Dining Room, with 2 dinner seatings at 5:30 and 8 p.m.)
• Sabatini's Restaurant (Italian speciality restaurant; reservations recommended)
• Trident Grill & Prego Pizzeria (self-service, complimentary fast food bar)
• Horizon Court (self-service buffet restaurant, complimentary)
• Sterling Steakhouse (specialty restaurant for seafood, grills, steaks)
• Alfredo's Pizzeria (complimentary)

In April 2024 Princess Cruises announced that starting September 14th (2024) fleetwide would be introduced 3 distinct main dining/dinner table service options – Traditional, Reservable, and Walk-in Anytime. By the new program (introduced with Sun Princess) on each ship are allocated 3 separate dining rooms - one for Traditional dining (offering early and late dinner seating), one with Reservable times, and one for Walk-in Anytime (open-seating). The new options are integrated with the OceanNow service, allowing anything to be ordered anytime, and delivered anywhere onboard.

Shipboard entertainment options - Fun and Sport

The 2-deck Princess Theater serves as ship's main entertainment venue. There, guests can catch one of the traditional song-and-dance Princess Cruises' production shows. The theatre also offers a variety of other acts, including magicians and juggling comedians. At night, virtually every bar offers some kind of music and enough room for dancing: from Latin and ballroom music in Club Fusion and DJ dance music in the Skywalkers Nightclub to light piano at Crooners. Theme nights (50s rockabilly, Country & Western and Caribbean deck party) are also common.

Follows the complete list of Sapphire Princess lounges, clubs and other entertainment venues for kids, teens and adults.

• The Piazza Atrium (3-deck open floor area; features live performances entertainment and lobby Bar Piazza)
• International Cafe (24-hour specialty coffee bar and patisserie)
• Princess Fine Arts Gallery; Photo Gallery & Shop; Platinum Studio
• Library (with Internet stations); Internet Cafe (24-hour)
• Princess Diamond Theatre (2-level musical and show productions; hosts workshops, seminars, game shows)
• Churchill Lounge & Bar (smoking lounge and sports bar)
• Calypso Cove Shop; Essence Shop; Meridian Bay Shop; Facets Shop
• Princess Sapphire Grand Casino
• Crooners Lounge & Bar (live music; also used for seminars)
• Explorers Lounge & Bar (disco/show lounge; hosts karaoke, comedy, game shows and art auctions)
• Wheelhouse Bar (piano bar during the day and an English pub nightly)
• Club Fusion Lounge (hosts dance classes and quizzes, after 7:30 p.m. becomes Disco Nightclub)
• Scoops Bar (Sundaes Ice Cream Bar, complimentary)
• Vines Bar; Outrigger Bar (poolside bar); Tradewinds Bar; Wake View Bar
• Lotus Spa complex; Beauty Salon; Fitness Center (with Aerobics Studio)
• Hearts & Minds (Wedding Chapel)
• Movies Under the Stars (LED screen outdoor cinema)
• Video Games Arcade; Teen Center; Youth Center with Paddling Pool and outdoor playing areas
• The Conservatory (recreation area); The Oasis relaxation area
• The Sanctuary (adult-only sundeck/open-air area)
• Calypso Reef & Pool area; Neptune's Reef & Pool area
• Jogging Track; Sports Court (volleyball, basketball, European football); Deck Chess, Shuffleboard; Princess Links mini-golf course, Cybergolf simulator
• Skywalkers Disco Nightclub

Itineraries

Sapphire Princess itinerary program is based on voyages to Alaska (7-day between Whittier and Vancouver, and 14-day B2Bs/roundtrips from Vancouver), South America/Antarctica (fly-cruises from Buenos Aires with roundtrip cruises from Punta Arenas), and Europe (Mediterranean roundtrips from Civitavecchia-Rome, Baltic roundtrips from Copenhagen).

Previously, the ship offered seasonal South Asian cruises departing from Singapore and China (Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong). The itinerary lengths varied between 3- and 13-days.

In summer 2019, the liner was relocated to Europe via 37-day Suez Canal repositioning cruise from Singapore to Southampton UK (homeport). After ending the summer European season, the ship returned back to Asia for a 6th Singapore-homeporting season (2019-2020).

Sapphire Princess is scheduled to enter drydock in April 2020 and then to cruise on two "Grand Asia" voyages between Shanghai and Singapore. The liner was to be homeported in Shanghai (May through October 2020) when was planned to depart for Melbourne to start an inaugural Australian season.

Due to the Coronavirus crisis, the Sapphire Princess ship was paused for ~2,5 years (March 2020 thru September 2022). Operations were scheduled to restart on August 28, 2022 (repositioning voyage from Asia to Australia/Hong Kong to Sydney). However, this program was canceled (the liner was redeployed from Australia to the USA) as well as the summer 2022 season (Mexican Riviera and Hawaii) based on homeporting in Los Angeles/Long Beach California. The ship restarted services on Sept 24th.

Princess Cruises Sapphire ship is of company's Grand-class vessels, with sistership Diamond. The other fleet mates from this class are Caribbean, Crown, Emerald, Golden (now Pacific Adventure), Grand, Ruby, Star (now Pacific Encounter). Sapphire is the fleet's second liner built by a Japanese company - MHI (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation). Both vessels have no spoilers across the stern.

Sapphire was delivered to Princess Cruises on May 27, 2004. The christening ceremony was held on June 10th, in Port Seattle WA and led by godmother Nanci Gore Murkowski (First Lady of Alaska/the wife of Frank Murkowski, Alaska's Governor between Dec 2002 - Dec 2006). Sapphire became the first ever ship to be named in Seattle.

Sapphire Princess' inaugural cruise started on May 16th. nearly a month before the naming ceremony. The inaugural season included voyages to Alaska (roundtrips from Seattle), followed by Mexican Riviera itineraries (out of San Francisco, in the autumn), then a deployment in the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) for winter 2004-2005.

The hull of what is today Diamond Princess was initially named "Sapphire Princess". Fire damaged the decks of the other ship in the Japanese shipyard (with hull name "Diamond Princess"). Princess Cruises wanted to have first a ship called Diamond, so Sapphire was renamed to "Diamond Princess" and completed first. Diamond was renamed to Sapphire and completed soon afterward.

The ship's engines can work with either HFO (heavy fuel oil) or MGO (marine gas oil). MGO emissions are much lower, but it is also rather costly. However, some cruising destinations, as Alaska for instance, have very high emission standards, so MGO is a necessity.

Sapphire ship's flag-state (registry) was changed from Bermuda (Hamilton) to UK (London) in 2014. The first Master was Captain Paolo Ravera - brother of Diamond Princess' Master (Captain Stefano Ravera).

Sapphire Princess 2018 refurbishment review

The ship's drydock refurbishment in 2018 (2-week project conducted in Singapore) resulted in a new bow livery.

All cabins were upgraded with custom-made Princess Luxury beds.

Also renovated were the wellness complex (Fitness Center and Lotus Spa), all retail shops, all corridors and hallways.

Princess Theatre (indoor show lounge) received a new LED screen (15x5 m / 49x16 ft). Theater's show program was upgraded with the new production show "Bravo". The musical is offered on formal nights.

A new category cabin (Club-Class Mini-Suite) was introduced with VIP amenities and a reserved dining area. Price-inclusive amenities also include expedited dinner seating, priority services (embarkation/disembarkation), complimentary wine, expanded menu, premium bathrobes.

The ship's last drydocking was in April 2023 (conducted at Vigor Shipyard in Seattle WA USA) and included mainly regularly scheduled maintenance works, as well as hull cleaning and painting.