galensgrl

3 hours ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Sunday pasta with marinara sauce is just that, marinara sauce.  Once you factor in the addition of meatballs or sausage, it becomes gravy because of the introduction of meat.  

It's the same in Boston, Sundays meal is pasta with meat and gravy. I don't know when or why the Italians started calling Sundays meal pasta and gravy but to each their own. There's really good Italian food and Italian pastries in Boston.

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

I should also add for white wine drinkers, the Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio included on the Plus package is Canyon Road for cruises from North America. That is really swill and undrinkable for me (and nope not a high end wine drinker).

 

For cruises from Europe, on the Plus package, they were offering Adesso Chardonnay and Tini Pinot Grigio and I found those much more palatable.

If I have to settle for swill wine, I would rather have a cocktail or nothing. I'm not a wine snob,

it's just that trying to drink harsh wine ruins the whole wine drinking experience. If harsh wine is being served I'd rather order a cocktail. 

3 hours ago, doghog said:

Agree. Plus having limited smoking areas in the casino is a big joke. 🙄 Doesn't help with the smell. 

Trying Princess for the first time this Summer on the Enchanted. I am excited to try a newer ship, but it was very disappointing to find out about the smoky casino. Not sure I will spend much time there now due to smoky atmosphere so bad that the stink clings to ones hair and clothes, a common complaint here on the boards. But I'm all set to cruise and just know the casino on Princess won't be a good place for me. Hopefully Bingo is not held in the casino.                                                                                                                                                         

2 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

Just to answer one of the questions of this thread.  We are currently on Enchanted on our second week of a 14 day cruise.  We booked it as one cruise with premier package, though it was also bookable as 2 seven day cruises.  We only got 2 specialty dinners each for the entire 14 day cruise. 

We booked a 3rd night of specialty dining just to see if it would be charged, (we were prepared to pay if charged) and yes it was charged to our account.

It makes no sense that a 14 day cruise only gets 2 Specialty Restaurant meals when a 7 day cruise also gets 2 Specialty dinners. I think it should be 2 Specialty meals for each 7 day segment of the cruise. It doesn't seem fair and equitable the way it's set up. 

On 4/2/2024 at 2:29 AM, TheMichael said:

I think you're confusing a blanket policy for what Princess HAS done, which is make specific mains - lobster, filet mignon, and a combination of the two - an upcharge, and limited THOSE items to one each on formal night when they're on the included part of the menu. But from what I've seen, you can order anything else in the Mains section along with your one surf & turf.

 

As recently as January, a server offered to bring me two entrees when I couldn't decide between them.

 

It's a bit baffling to me that this is a huge deal to some folks - many people who order multiple entrees end up leaving a substantial amount of food behind. Sure I'd like to try two different things from the menu sometimes, but it doesn't seem like I should have a right to that or that not being able to do it is going to lessen my "experience" in any way.

Some of the portions are small, but there are so many courses included that it makes up for a big full plate at each course. My husband and I would sometimes skip the apps and dessert to share a third entree to our meal if there were several entrees that appealed to us. It's not fun being full like you can get at Thanksgiving on a cruise. 

Lorie 

2 hours ago, memoak said:

It always looks like some oil based thing to me

I recently bought a stove top popcorn pan, and the website sells lots of different types of corn and toppings. The butter flavored topping they sell consists of a mix of corn oil, palm fruit oil, butter flavoring and salt. But it's mostly the corn oil and palm oil. I think this is the type theaters use. 

Lorie              

On 3/31/2024 at 8:22 AM, 555 said:

Can you blame them?

Other people take their time getting what they want but throw a fit when they have to wait behind someone else. I can't blame them but I can ignore them.                                                                                                                                                                

4 hours ago, mamafun said:

My husband has mobility issues due to a head injury.  He currently uses a wheelchair for anything but very, very short distances.  We are considering getting him a Rollator to try to give him a little more independence.  We currently have an accessible inside cabin booked for our November cruise, but in the event he gains more steady mobility, I'd hate to take that cabin away from someone who needs it more.

 

Can anyone weigh in on whether a folded Rollator could fit through a normal cabin door?  And, he definitely will need a shower chair and hold bars in the bathroom (shower and toilet), so I don't know if that is even a possibility in a regular cabin. 

 

I will be asking this on the disabled travel forum, but they don't get a lot of traffic and it's obviously not Princess-specific.  If anyone can weigh in, that would be great.  I think he would be most comfortable in the accessible cabin, but again, I know there are folks who might need it more.  Maybe I'm overthinking things?  TIA

How kind of you to think of others, but it sounds like your hubby needs the accessible room to be safe and comfortable. He may not be totally handicapped as some other guests, but it sounds like he needs the accessible bathroom with hand-rails so he can shower more safely. The last thing anyone needs is to fall and injure themself while taking care of everyday health and hygiene, at home or on vacation. Please enjoy the chosen room without guilt, your husband needs that extra care and comfort right now. No worries and safe and happy travels.

Lorie

On 3/18/2024 at 10:13 AM, 20165 said:

This is a great read and good to know there are options on cruise ships.  We are vegan, but cheat when we are on vacation.  We do it for health reasons, not because we are against eating animals or animal products like some vegans are.  That being said, when we retire and cruise more often, we may get a little more strict with staying vegan on the cruises.  Now its once or twice a year so we dont worry about it, but if we were on a 14+ day cruise while retired, we would probably be more strict about it.

thanks again for the read.

I understand this. I don't eat meat at home, but I will have something like a beef filet or a lobster on a cruise. I hope I can look at the Vegan menu in the MDR though, as I know I would prefer veg/vegan meals most meals. The vegan menu shown on this thread is very appealing. Fingers crossed it's on the Enchanted Princess when we sail in August.

Lorie

22 hours ago, Snaxmuppet said:

Is that a typical price? I am on Sky at the end of April on a Norway Fjords cruise. At that price I'd do it 🙂 

My first time on a Princess cruise so I'm not sure if the $149 per week is fleetwide or not. I imagine it would be the same, but who knows with the pricing schemes cruise lines are coming up with since restarting after the Covid virus. I can't blame them, imagine how much profit they lost when cruising was shut down. I'll be doing my best to support them going forward. In August, in the Caribbean 🧜‍♀️🐬🐳 and hopefully next year too, if Princess is a comfortable fit. Happy travels!                                                                                                              

I just booked the weekly pass for our Summer cruise on the Enchanted Princess. It cost $149 for the week.

Lorie

9 hours ago, TRLD said:

Considering that Holland did away with their song and dance production shows (that were pretty low energy and very Lawrence Welkish)  replacing them with dance shows when they focused their entertainment on music walk, and have only recently added singers beck into their production shows, your comment seems at odds with many others.

We sailed on Holland twice and had the best time with them. We sailed with Hal back in 2012 and 2014.I don't believe we went to any production shows because singing/dancing production shows in general are Lawrence Welkish it seems, so I wouldn't say their production shows were best. I wouldn't know. My apologies for any confusion.                                                                                                   

56 minutes ago, Strauss1020 said:

If you need to pay the royalties for a current Broadway hit, you're absolutely correct. Those costs can be enormous. However, there are many shows from the "golden age" of Broadway that wouldn't have those prohibitive costs. Just as RCL is currently staging "The Wizard of Oz", and staged "Grease" in the past there are many, many shows of Rogers and Hart, Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, Kander and Ebbs which could be adapted into a 45 to 60 minute show. 

Well if other lines can find a way, perhaps Princess and the lines that don't do shows with a story might re-evaluate their entertainment offerings. Our first Princess cruise in August is on the Enchanted Princess. I'm curious to see if it's as good as I imagine it to be. Our favorite so far has been Holland America, but again we have the urge to try Princess this time to see what our overall satisfaction will be. Happy travels!

Lorie

My husband and I cruised starting in 2009, and rather than sticking with one line for loyalty/perks, we tried several ships across three lines - NCL, HAL, and Celebrity. The shows varied in quality, and none seemed story oriented like a Broadway play. Production shows are invariably lots of music, singing and some dancing too. I've learned that most are musical revues, musical medleys and the like. So when I go to the theaters I go for the music. Sure I would love seeing a Broadway story type show. I have a feeling it would be cost prohibitive for the cruise lines to afford a huge Broadway show type production on the average cruise ship. Now I go for the music, if I like it I stay and listen. If I don't like it I discreetly leave and find music I like in one of the lounges. Easy enough fix for the situation. 

Lorie

On 3/9/2024 at 10:29 AM, Paula_MacFan said:

We were on the Regal in January and there was a section in the 'buffet' for kids, with chicken fingers, French fries, and other kid-friendly foods.  Maybe that's part of what they are referring to?  'Something for everyone' in an easy to access venue.....

 

Edit to add -- here's the same notice we got on the Regal that I posted in my semi-live from thread.  Same terminology as the one posted by the OP for Sapphire.  

I do like the way this flyer states what each nights theme/specialties are in the buffet, so we can see if any favorite foods are being offered each evening. 

Lorie 

Thank you for your informative responses. You helped me understand how it works on Princess and what to expect on Formal nights. Us girls probably won't bring formal ball gowns but we will bring nice cocktail dresses with fancy shoes, that's easy enough. I also was able to adjust our dining reservations so our specialty dinner and formal nights don't overlap. On our past cruises DH and I always enjoyed the MDR on Formal night and I don't want to miss that on my first ever Princess cruise. We're so excited it's coming together, Yay! Thanks again fellow cruisers, happy travels.

Lorie

Hi everyone. My sisters and I have booked on the Enchanted Princess to the Caribbean later this Summer. We're looking at our dining plan to figure out where to have dinner and when. What I remember is that the first Gala night is usually the second nights dinner in the MDR. But I just read that It's usually held on a sea day evening. The second day of our cruise is actually the Day at Princess Cay, technically not a sea day. Does this mean the first Gala night will be held on the third night, which is a sea day? Trying to figure out where and when to make reservations at a Specialty restaurant and want to dine at MDR's Gala nights. Thank you and happy travels.

One of my sisters and I enjoy gambling. I haven't been on a ship since 2018 with my husband when we travelled on the Celebrity Summit. We are cruising with Princess on Enchanted this Summer. My sister doesn't want the gambling to go on her credit card. I can't for the life of me remember how we paid for gambling on a cruise ship. Can we bring a cash amount and put that on our casino account to gamble with? Thanks to anyone who can give me a quick reminder of how it works to pay for gambling. Happy travels!

On 10/30/2022 at 5:43 PM, Upper Bob said:

Just off the Caribbean Princess and (with the Princess Plus Package) my wife was not charged extra for the Espresso Martini in the Wheelhouse Bar. The Tropitini was still available in Crooners. I'm attaching Crooners menu from the Enchanted back in April before the addition of the "Premier" package, so some prices may have changed. If anyone is interested, I have pdf menus of most every venue on the Enchanted Princess.

 

Crooners menu.pdf 60.22 kB · 78 downloads

I'd love to see more menus from the Enchanted Princess. If there's a link to them or you mean to share them here, that would be great. Thank you and happy travels!

16 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Princess has a really strange place to select Standard or Plus/Premier.  It is when you first enter the search window...yes, when you are setting your filters.  

Thank you for solving this mystery. It drove my sister crazy for a minute until she decided to call and add the packages after booking standard fare. Maybe we should have waited to upgrade to packages onboard after embarking but oh well, live and learn. Safe and happy travels everyone.

1 hour ago, CruisinFinsUp said:

This doesn't work for me.  No matter what I click, what cabin type I choose, only standard price appears.  

Mea culpa. Duplicate post.

2 hours ago, brynmelyndavid said:

We also have Premier but when I booked speciality dining on the app it recognised my package and at checkout didn't charge me anything.  I have heard of people booking the dining then having the charge refunded on board. 

Hi. My sisters and I booked a mini suite and we each bought a premiere package. They are new to cruising and they want to try it all. We each got 2 of the premiere specialty dining credits. I booked a specialty for us 4 for the last night of the cruise. 2 of us had booked both of their specialty dinners already so I booked for the four of us. The system "knew" that there were 2 credits for specialty dining still available, so I was charged for 2 meals and also the last 2 available credits were used. I was charged for two dinners and I paid for those on my card. Thanks everyone, safe and happy travels.

Hi everyone. My sisters and I are going to the Caribbean in August on the Enchanted Princess. We each get two specialty restaurant dinners with our premier packages. My sisters are foodies and want to try the specialty and the casual restaurants. My question here is, is it worth it to try all three specialty restaurants on the ship, specifically wondering if Sabatinis is a good place to eat? I live in New England and there are Italian restaurants all over the place. If we go for Italian food, I of course want it to be "Good" Italian food and not taste like frozen meatballs and Stouffers lasagna or what have you. If you've dined at Sabatinis, did you enjoy it? The two restaurants we are definitely trying are CG and Catch by Rudys, they seem popular and hopefully those two have fine beef and fish. Either way, it is highly unlikely we will go hungry. Thanks all. 

That is bad. I could do a better presentation serving me by myself at home.  They could have at the very least use a small scoop to make a rounded dome of pate on the plate, and cut the crust off the toast. I'm new to Princess and I doubt I'll order any pate on our cruise in August because that picture looks worse than hospital food.   

Hi everyone. Me and my sisters and one BIL just booked a cruise on the Enchanted Princess for August of this year. I took about a dozen cruises with my husband in the past on Norwegian, Holland America and also Celebrity. This is my first cruise with PCL. The rest of my family is cruising for the first time. We had to decide if we were going with the Plus or the Premier. We've decided to go with the Premier package, in part because it's about a $20 a day difference between Plus and Premier, which is doable. But mostly we looked at what it covered and my foodie sisters like the idea of eating and drinking where we want and not racking up individual cover charges and ala carte pricing charges. The expanded beverage menu with top shelf liquors is a draw. We're not big drinkers but it's nice to have pleasant adult beverages during the trip. The other perks are nice too. We're excited for our first cruise with Princess!