Princess Cruises Sapphire Princess

Overview

The décor of our Interior Cabin was conservative, and considering there was no view to enjoy, something with a little more flair or character would have been nice. There were real and veneer wood finishes, and mirrors took up almost the whole wall above the bed and over the desk, helping to open up the space visually.

Princess says Interior Cabins measure 168 square feet, and it felt snug. Other than the bed there was only one place to sit: a chair at the desk. But if the bedroom area was small for two, the closet was a very generous 6-foot 3-inches wide with a shelf overhead, ample room for storing all our frocks. There was no door on the closet, meaning everything on hangers was easily accessed (the closet had 16 hangers but there was room for many more, had we needed them). There was also a cabinet with five shelves (plus two more for the safe and life vests), and space under the bed for storing luggage.

Bedroom

The queen-size bed was made of two twins pushed together. The split between mattresses was apparent but otherwise the bedding was reasonably comfortable, with decent linens. Lights switches below the mirror/headboard (behind the pillows) handled the two main lighting fixtures—one for each side of bed—however, reading lamps on nightstands at either side of the bed were not ideal for reading.

Bathroom

The bathroom was small but efficiently designed, its floor elevated a couple inches above the cabin floor. There was a large mirror over the sink to the left of the door and the shower (no tub) was to the right, with the toilet in between. On one side of the mirror there were three shelves adequate for a standard travel kit; a makeup mirror would have been useful. The hairdryer was fixed to a mount above the desk, not in the bathroom.

The shower stall was level with the bathroom floor—a two-inch lip kept the water in its place; there was a fabric shower curtain and, inside the shower, a retractable laundry line. There was a bottle each of shampoo, conditioner and body lotion, branded to the ship’s Lotus Spa. While okay, we didn’t find these products worth pocketing at the end of the cruise.

Features

Our cabin was illuminated by two main overhead lighting options: There were two lights illuminating the closet area on one switch, and three lights that illuminated bedroom area on the other. These were controlled by switches at the cabin door another behind the bed-pillows. A third fixture provided ceiling lights illuminating the desk area. Combined, these were sufficient for lighting the cabin.

There were two nightstands with small drawers and a lamp on either side of the bed. By themselves the low-wattage lamps were barely adequate for reading in bed.

A desk was built into the wall, with three drawers on one side. Also built in was a minibar that contained four cans of soda (Coke, Sprint, including diet versions—$1.95 each) plus a 1.5-liter bottle of Crystal Geyser ($3.50). Above the minibar was a shelf where the ice bucket was kept, along with a pair of glasses; the ice bucket was refilled daily. The hairdryer was on a coil next to the bedroom mirror—another passenger noted this was not the best appliance. The bedroom had one set of electrical outlets, at the desk—110-volt.

Above the desk was a ViewSonic 27” flat screen TV. It could be adjusted a few inches left and right, which was fine for bedtime viewing.

Two beach towels were provided and were replaced when used. There were no bathrobes in the room but we later discovered (reading the room directory) that we could request waffle-weave bathrobes from our steward.

At check-in, nametags were posted outside all cabin doors, identifying the occupants and their status level in Princess Cruises’ Captain’s Circle.