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TRAVEL
242
June15
Sailing Away
Boarding is a straightforward and fairly
quick exercise. Also departing today is
a Celebrity ship, rather dwarfed by the
floating behemoth that’s going to be
our playground for the next four nights.
Our 4pm departure is celebrated
with the mandatory sail-away party in
the main pool area, featuring vigorous
line-dancing led by a red and perhaps
unnecessarily furry Mr Octopus,
together with a no doubt equally sweaty
Mr Pelican. As Roy surprisingly refuses
to join in, we watch the fun from the
outdoor bar while I cheer myself up
from a menu of no less than six different
varieties of margarita.
Sleeping
We recommend our own cabin
unreservedly: on Deck 12, and aft, its
balcony is shaded – ideal for travel in
the tropics – and it’s not overlooked by
any of the other cabins, which is the case
with the lower decks.
Though not as big as in some other
ships, our stateroom is quite large
enough for comfort; but I certainly
wouldn’t recommend the option of
sharing it with one or more of those
short, noisy people.
The queen-sized bed is super-
comfortable, and that’s so important.
Plenty of storage room is provided,
including hanging space with lots of
hangers (which makes my day); there’s
a safe, a big television and a mini-
bar. Though the shower-room is very
small indeed, as is the shower, it’s well
designed, with excellent water pressure
that puts a smile on my husband’s face.
And though we never need to call on
the services of the steward assigned to
us, it’s nice to know he’s available at the
other end of a phone line.
Demographics and Drinking
Sapphire Princess
has been plying this
and other routes in the region since
November 2014, and I’d estimate a more
than 90 percent Asian passenger list:
mainly Chinese-Indonesian, Chinese-
Malaysian, Chinese-Singaporean, other
Southeast Asians, Japanese, Koreans
and so on.
But with so many passengers, there
is still a good smattering of Aussies,
Europeans, Americans and other
Westerners. It’s easy to find them, too:
they’ll be at thebar –one of themany bars,
usually one that’s outdoors – or on a sun-
lounger at oneof half-a-dozenpools. As it’s
term-time, there are relatively few children
on board; it’s a good idea to check that
aspect of things before booking.
A predominantly Asian passenger
list means that many of the bars are
conspicuously empty and the wine
waiters sadly under-employed, though
Roy and I are doing our level best to
remedy that. Finding ourselves the only
customers at the lovely Wheelhouse
Lounge on several occasions, we spend
hours chatting up manager Alex from
Bulgaria. He’s been in the cruise business
for 21 years and is a mine of information
(and gossip) about shipboard life.
The basic cruise price includes food,
soft drinks and everyday coffee and tea
– but not proper coffee and not alcohol.
Happily, just US$50 per person per day
buys you the all-inclusive beverages
option.