Robkat

Thank you for this great review.  Enjoying it so much as we'll be on the Enchanted for the first time next week.

We were on the Sky at the same time as you were back in December (the Porsche cruise, as we've taken to calling it in this household! 😅) and we thought it was funny that we missed being on the Enchanted at the same time by just a week.  Sounds like we're on a similar cruise schedule!

Hope you continue to have a fabulous time this week, and we'll be looking forward to hearing more of your impressions.

5 hours ago, Gimer said:

Just saw this on two Jr. Buffet Wait Tray, stuck on to their Medallion Ordering Device.  One ducks and one with an Alien.  

Oh wow! You're seeing cruising ducks everywhere!  Thanks for posting this ... utterly cute and it made me smile (as the ducks always do).  👍

Whenever we've tried to do the upgrade ourselves online (and this has always been pre-final balance payment), we get a message telling us to contact our travel agent.  The first time, we also tried calling and speaking to a CSR, and they said that if you are working with a TA, the transaction must be done through them.  We did that and the cost was added onto our balance payment.

We're wondering if it would be different if we tried doing it after final payment had been made.  But that hasn't suited our timing so far, so we're left to wonder.

But it was easy doing it through the TA.

@JGmf:  Thanks so much for doing this review of your cruise on the Enchanted.  We'll be sailing on her next month, and then again for a

14-nighter to the ABC's in August, so we really appreciate your insights and, of course, your photos.  

12 hours ago, Gimer said:

Off Crown in January.  Future Cruise Consultant Beulah is a big collector. 

Thank you for posting these photos ... they made me smile so hard when I saw them this morning!  Cuteness overload!

I'm not especially impressed when I find a really tiny one, but the littlest ones in the photo are adorable to look at.

Now ... I MUST find one of the ones with the Einstein wild "hair"! 🤞😂

12 hours ago, cruisepest said:

here is a better picture of my duck.

Your ducks are adorable!  They are really cute ones and I like that they're white, not yellow (don't ask me why 😂😂🤔).

Like someone mentioned above, when I first heard of this hiding and finding duck "phenomenon", I wondered why people were so into it.

Then I walked off an elevator and found my first duck ... I was pretty excited!  Then I thought "ooooh, I get it now!".

For some reason though, the 4 I've found, are all a little weird-looking!  They've all got some strange little features!  ( I still like having them though. 👍). 

But your ducks are extremely cute!  

13 hours ago, shiner6 said:

Robcat, Just wondering which part of Florida are you from? I will be in Cocoa beach visiting my sister soon--anywhere near there?

We're in South Florida, so not too close to the Central area (although we do really like finding cruises that leave from Port Canaveral ... it's a nice change from Miami and FLL!)

Enjoy your visit to Cocoa Beach, and if you get a chance over a weekend, you can go to see cruise ships departing from PC.  It can be fun to sit and watch them cruising past you! 

15 hours ago, shiner6 said:

I think we might be in the same situation. Our first TA is to Rome in November also. I  booked another TA from Barcelona to Florida in February.  So, today I stated looking for advice and found this thread. I always take a homemade first aid kit. I do not wear makeup (I have makeup tattoos) lol!  Our hair products are in bar form (they work really well).  Since we limit ourselves to one carryon and 1backpack, we also limit our clothing to mostly Merino wool which can be worn multiple times between laundering. A great site is called Wool & Prince. I take a few silk scarves and jewelry to dress up with. Hope this helps!

Hope you're finding this thread as interesting and as useful as I have!

The idea of makeup tattoos is intriguing ... like eyeliner and such?  

And what is bar products for hair?  Wracking my brain but can't remember ever seeing anything like that.

Oh, and thanks for the Wool and Prince suggestion ... will definitely check it out.

Enjoy your upcoming TA's ... we're really looking forward to them!

5 hours ago, rdsqrl said:

Suggestions From a High-Maintenance Traveler:

 

Shampoo/Conditioner:  I buy 5-oz tubes of Nexxus Therappe Shampoo/Humectress Conditioner (available at Target). That has lasted me for trips up to 4 weeks.  It's not my preferred brand (I'm an Aveda girl) but it treats my hair well with the ship's soft water.

 

Styling:  I use Aveda Invati Thickening Foam and have to take it with me; there's no comparison to anything else! 

 

Hairspray:  Buy in port city

 

My preferred hair spray, Ellnet, is readily available in Europe, along with plenty of high-end stying products.  I wouldn't hesitate to just leave them out and purchase them upon arrival.  Plus, I purchase sunscreen and hand lotion also upon arrival. 

 

Moisturizer:  Lancome (or your preferred brand) free gifts!  They almost always include moisturizer in a perfect size for travel, sometimes eye cream, too.  The secret is buy something and get the free gift every time the promo is offered; that way, I have a stock of little pots of cream ready to go.

 

Foundation:  I ask at the make-up counter (when I'm buying the aforementioned free-gift eligible purchase) for a couple of the tiny little plastic bottles they put foundation samples in.  I fill 'em up at home and take 2-3 with me, depending upon the length of the trip. 

 

Toothpaste:  This is a problem I have.  I run out on every trip, and have a lovely collection of toothpaste containers from random ports around the world.  So my advice here is don't be like me:  bring more than you think you need!  But I never have any trouble finding Crest or its equivalent in some far-flung region.  

 

 

Thanks so much for this great reply!  Very useful info! 

Had to laugh at the "Gift with Purchase" suggestion ... for years, I'd always have store schedules for all my favorite brands of when they were having their promos!  Too bad for me if I ran out of something I liked when a promo wasn't running ... I'd wait to get those goodie bags (and soooo many make-up bags!) 

8 hours ago, Mississippian said:

I've taken four transatlantic cruises over the past two years. They are my favorite way to do nothing, catch up on my reading, and see a few ports.

 

It is very substantially cheaper to by a round-trip ticket from Europe to the USA than the other way around. In fact, the round-trip can be cheaper than a one-way ticket. Add to this the fact that most airlines now allow free ticket changes, and the best strategy is to take a USA to Europe cruise in the spring, then buy a round-trip ticket home. In July or August, search cruise fares for a cheap Europe to USA cruise, and if you find a deal, see if you can change your airline ticket dates and take advantage of the bargain. I've done this the last two years and am doing it again this year.

Wow ... this is unique (at least to us).

DH makes our air arrangements and is the cruise itinerary researcher, so I'm sure he'll be really interested to hear this.

Thanks for your reply!

10 hours ago, aladin said:

One modern option is to take photos of prescription bottle labels with one of the pills next to it.  I also take a quick photo of my ID and passport. Cell phones have certainly cut down on carrying paperwork. We did a west bound transatlantic in Oct 22 and are excited to do an east bound on Sky Princess in a few days. We enjoyed the sea days and were never bored. Have a great time.

Thanks for the reply.

Hope you post on how you like the eastbound vs the westbound you already did.  

Enjoy the Sky ... she's pretty ship.  Have a great cruise!

All of this info has been so useful (even when answers have been contradictory! 😂) and we're now clearer how we'll handle things with pills/meds/vitamins, etc.  

Along slightly different lines, how do you all handle toiletries and make-up ... As I mentioned, I normally transfer creams, etc into smaller jars and put them in toilet bags, that we carry on in our backpacks.  Obviously, there would be additional "small jars and/or bottles" for a longer cruise, which we can't carry in the backpacks,which we bring on the plane with us.  Does anyone just leave all that stuff behind and purchase new stuff at your destination?  I mean, we normally have 4 good sized travel bags, and I'm can't help but worry about that extra weight in our checked luggage.  

In any case, would love to know how you all go about that aspect.

Again, this is such a great community with such a wealth of experience and info, and we're grateful to all of you who share your "learned from experience" knowledge!

Thanks so much everyone, for your replies.  All good info that we can use.  We're definitely looking forward to seeing whether we prefer eastbound or westbound!  

I guess our biggest concern is still arriving at an International airport with medications and assorted other vitamins and supplements.  Thanks to @Steelers36 for your feedback, but we see that you're on a self-imposed pause from cruising, so we're wondering about recent experiences.

Appreciate hearing any further responses!  Thanks.

Thanks for the replies and advice.  Appreciate it.

We're cruising on a repositioning from Fort Lauderdale and ending the cruise in NYC (not sure yet whether it'll be at the cruise terminal in Brooklyn or Manhattan).  

We have flight options back to FLL from LaGuardia or Newark.  

Any advise /recommendations on which is the better choice for us to select?

And, just on the off-chance that someone reading this may have the answer, does Princess do transfers to both airports?

43 minutes ago, Cruisegirl6 said:

Hello,

 

My hubby just surprised me for a cruise on the Apex for our anniversary in April.  He was unable to get anytime dining and we received late dining.  I realize there are four dining rooms on this ship, which dining room would we be assigned in for late seating, does anybody know?  I assume that we are assigned a table that we get every night?   Thank you.

Just off the Apex on Saturday.

We did see signs at Normandie DR , one saying Traditional Dining, the other one saying Select Dining, indicating where people should line up.

It does help to make reservations, because on many evenings when the line ups were quite long (for us, at around 6:45pm), people without reservations were given buzzers, and we were always brought right in to a table.

I'd say if you find a table and time you like, speak to the Maitre D to see if you can be accommodated each evening at that tIme and table.  But, as I mentioned, Normandie did have  a TD sign, so there's a good chance you'd be initially assigned there.  

Enjoy that surprise cruise!

1 hour ago, 4Nathan said:

Were there loungers on the SV balcony or did you have to request ($) them? Any soot issues?  We have an SV booked for our very first Celebrity cruise on Apex .  So excited. Thank you

All the SV's had a lounger, 2 smaller regular balcony chairs, and a small table. 

We didn't ask for another lounger as we liked the walk-around space and the existing stuff out there suited us fine.  We did notice that all the balconies on our deck had the same configuration and no one had a second lounger.  So, whether that was because they also liked the roominess of the balcony, or whether they'd been told it wasn't possible, we're not sure.

Yes, there was soot flying around out there.  We brought pool towels and put them on top of the seats, changed them out a couple of times during the week, and it worked great.  Just be careful to check where you're about to sit.

Enjoy your SV!

Was also on this cruise, in a Sunset Verandah, so slightly different perspective.

The cabin is excellent and that huge verandah is a dream.  If you opt for an SV, know that you will get lots of steps in, when heading to either of the elevator banks.  We didn't mind and actually kind of enjoyed it.

The ship is gorgeous.  We've been on the Edge and we thought the Apex was even prettier.  The layout is similar, but we did note some differences that seemed like improvements for the flow.

We did feel, though, that they could use at least an additional bar ... on a busy, full ship like we had on this cruise, it's needed.  Think we've read that they've addressed this on the subsequent E class ships, and we bet it helps.

We love that this class of ship has 4 MDRs.  It "should" help to disburse people a little more than the larger 2-story MDRs of the Solstice class.  That, however, is not always the case.  Most evenings we arrived at one of the MDRs to find a long line.  

We always make reservations for dinner ... of course always for specialty dining, but also for the MDR.  Lots of people who choose Select, don't want to bother with reservations, feeling like they prefer to "play it by ear", which is great if that's their preference.  The problem is when everyone lines up in one line ... so those with reservations are stuck waiting behind those who are just showing up.  This seems like it would be an easy fix, if they just had two lines: one for Reservations/ one No Reservations.  It's done this way on another cruise line, and for the most part, works well.  Then there wouldn't be such a log jam at the front entrance.

Once in though, the food was very good.  We had many memorable dishes and were impressed with the taste and consistency.  One thing that we didn't love though (and this is prevalent on most cruise lines) was the pacing of the dinner.  One course would be barely finished and the next would immediately appear.  We always tell our waiter that we're in no rush, but they're trained to be quick and efficient and to move things along.  But since our preference is for a more leisurely pace, we take it upon ourselves to deal with this issue, and it seems to help.  

Also, in recent reviews,  some people have been commenting about the service from the Sommeliers ... we found it quite spotty and inconsistent.  On some evenings, he would be Johnny on the Spot, quick and efficient and keep an eye on each table.  And on other nights, the Somm looked like he was walking through molasses and appeared to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off.  We understand that when there are large groups (which there were a lot of on this cruise), they are very time consuming.  But, in that case, let the Assistant Waiter take a wine order, or have the Somm ask for temporary assistance.

We ate in the buffet for a couple of lunches, and we continue to think that X ships have great food in their buffets.  We also like how the different food kiosks/areas are set up.  But here I would implore people to be a little more focused and aware of their surroundings in the buffet, especially at really busy times.  There are so many people walking around in a dither, almost bumping into others all over the place, gazing distractedly at all the food choices, stopping unexpectedly in crowded pathways.  I can't tell you how many times I'd be in front of a kiosk and turn to find someone almost with their chin on my shoulder, checking out the choices!  guess it's easy to pick up on the fact that crowded buffets aren't our favorites. LOL. But people could help by being more aware.  

Nuff said on that particular pet peeve!

Will concur that the walking/jogging track on these E class ships are excellent!  So much more interesting and varied that almost all others!!!  The layout through the 2 decks and the incline are great.

We also agreed with many of the OP's other remarks and grading, but hope that this different perspective was also interesting.

On 1/9/2024 at 4:16 PM, ILCruiser said:

Not to burst your bourbon bubble,  but we're on Silhouette right now and the only available bourbons are Makers,  Woodford (not double oaked), Buffalo Trace.  Maybe one other I cant remember.  Angels Envy is a $5 charge,  Eagle Rare is $10 charge.  i.e. $27 for a measured shot.

 

All the upcharging is ridiculous.  Premium is what Classic used to be. 

Thanks for posting this.  Bubble not burst ... it's definitely good to go into the cruise knowing what to expect!

Your comment/opinion about the upcharging is absolutely right.  Hasn't X now removed most of the incentive to upgrade to Premium.  The reason most given for the reason to do so is for the better wines!  Now what???

We are flying out of Miami to Rome, where we'll board a TA cruise, which will end in Fort Lauderdale.

So, we want to park our car in FLL, go to FLL airport and somehow get from there to MIA.

Anybody have experience with this?  Or suggestions for companies that do this shuttle?

We were able to find Red Coach, which does shuttles between the two airports, and wondered if anyone has used them, and how it went.

Any recommendations (besides Uber or Lyft) would be appreciated.

Thank you.

OP here:  thanks so much to everyone who has posted, shown menus, and reported on their experiences.

It's only been 10 months since we were on X last, and I've read this thread, almost in disbelief, to hear about these continued cost increases.

When we upgraded from Classic to Premium for this latest cruise, we couldn't believe how much that upgrade had gone up in cost! It was over $100 more than when we had upgraded previously, not so long before.  

But, like most of you, we liked the included bourbons, tequilas and wine, so we shook our heads, bit the bullet and went ahead.

Now, to hear that most of the nicer wines have been priced out of that (already paid!) upgrade range, and that we'll be charged an additional surcharge to have those same wines, is annoying and definitely has us going into this cruise a little up-in-arms.  Not to say that we won't have a good time, but who likes feeling like they're having surcharge upon surcharge thrust upon them???

(Now, please don't someone tell us that they've also increased pricing on bourbons to put them out of the Premium package!  Now that would be a bridge too far!!! 😂

Considering all this, could you tell us what the policy is about bringing wine bottles on.  We haven't done this for so long, thanks to the drinks packages, but now ... 

Thanks again everyone.

Have just read a thread talking about the price increase of many of the wines by the glass that used to be included in the Premium package.

I've tried looking everywhere (and I just don't seem to EVER be able to get an appropriate reply from the Search bar here!) to no avail.

For anyone who is cruising right now, would someone mind posting some photos of what wines (red & white) by the glass are now available in the packages, specifically the Premium package.

It would be really appreciated.  And, if someone has already done this, I apologize, but I just can't track it down.

Thanks so much in advance.

3 hours ago, FirstTeacher said:

I have a different phone # for EZ Air that I just used this morning- 800-252-7248. I was able to get right through to them (9:00 AM).

 

Also, we flew our return flight last June from Rome on ITA. We flew Business Class and had no problem with the experience (although the menu was not to my liking, but I’m a picky eater). We were able to choose our seats right at our initial booking with EZ Air, and there was no upcharge to do so. (Unlike my experience this morning with British Airways- to choose our seats early, they charged us almost $600 for round trip tickets for 2 in Business Class. I’ve had that happen before with BA, and I can’t believe I fell into that trap again!)

Thanks for the contact info... it's good to have as many options as possible.

Good to hear that your experience with ITA was alright, we were a little worried.  

10 minutes ago, wallyj said:

@Robkat, thank you for you reply. Airline bookings in general can be very complicated plus adding EZAir ticketing and it’s quirks such as possible consolidator fare codes, when it is actually ticketed, can make your head spin.

 

Would you confirm if your actual ITA record/booking now has seats assigned, or did EZAir just note ‘requested’ seats in your EZAir record? So going to the ITA website and pulling up your booking, does it now show your seats have been assigned?
 

In some of my past EZAir bookings, EZAir let’s you ‘request’ seats, but it is usually with the caveat of we just pass this onto the airline, but not confirmed.

 

Many airlines have the requirement the booking needs to be ticketed before you can select seats whether they are no fee to pick or still cost unless you wait till check in at 24 hours before flight.

 

I have a flight LAX to FLL on Delta booked on EZAir for May 2024. Delta will not allow me to select a seat till it is ticketed, which should be late March.

 

 

After working with the EZ Air agent, we called ITA Customer Service, and after giving the agent our locator number, he told us that we had the seats we selected on our record.

Once our cruise final is paid, we will contact ITA to pay the seat selection fee directly to the airline. 

So ... we feel OK about where things stand.