Sapphire Princess Cruise

Unfortunately, 2025 was a slow travel year for me so it has been awhile since I have posted a new blog. This year is starting off busier though! We recently returned from an amazing Mediterranean cruise. It was our first Princess cruise. We typically sail on Royal, but I wanted to try a different cruise line. Our cruise started and ended in Civitavecchia and included the following ports Sarande, Albania, Katakolon, Greece, Valletta, Malta, Catania, Sicily, and Naples, Italy.

The ship was very nice and the staff were excellent. We had a balcony stateroom. I liked the layout of the room and there was plenty of space for walking around. The bed was extremely comfortable, and our room steward was very attentive.

The cruise did have some scheduled activities throughout each day, but not as much of a variety as we are used to when we sailed on Royal Caribbean. The weather was good for the most part. The temperature was a little too cool for me to swim on the ship, but it was nice enough to sit up on the deck and enjoy the sunshine.

We ate at each of the 3 specialty dining restaurants- Sabatini's Italian Trattoria, Makoto Ocean and the Crown and Grill. They all had excellent service and the good was delicious. I had my first taste of sushi at the Makoto Ocean on our first night at sea. Not the biggest fan of the seaweed rolls, but the shrimp rolls were amazing. My husband was a huge fan of the salmon. We ate at Sabatini's twice while on the cruise. My husband loved the chicken parmesan, and my favorite was their lasagna. The Crown and Grill was good as well, but I am not as much of a steak eater.

Our time in each port was amazing. The prettiest port was definitely Valletta, but my favorite excursion was visiting the Pompeii archeological site. I also enjoyed the Catania local market. I loved the umbrellas hanging across the streets as we walked around.

Overall, the trip was wonderful! Check back for future blogs on our time in Rome and in each port on our cruise!