Live from the Enchanted Princess 02/28 - 03/10

[KLM3164]

10 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

March 10th cruise is more crowded, and service in the dining room has been absolutely awful....same table as last cruise be different wait staff. We will give them one more chance tonight or we will change. Other people eating in our area also agree.

 

The USVI again today.

 

Very crowded so the buffet this morning..

Do you know how many people are on the current cruise?

[chrysalis]

3 minutes ago, KLM3164 said:

Do you know how many people are on the current cruise?

Apparently 2600

[MissP22]

Mask wearing is very limited.  Although it's suggested for the show lounge,  very few people are complying.  Maybe 4 or 5 per aisle.  Even less in Princess live.

Hardly any wear them in the elevators Although they suggest limiting the numbers to 6 on the elevators people still pack themselves in.

[hllwdcruiser]

19 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I slipped before on the Lido deck by the pool and the only thing that kept me from falling is that I grabbed my friends arm. I almost pulled her down with me but somehow we managed to stay upright. We hadn’t even left the port of Seattle yet for our Alaskan cruise and I just about ruined it.  The first thing I tell new cruisers is how slippery it is.  

I'm so glad you didn't fall. Apparently it is all too common and many people end up in medical, some seriously injured. Many crew members literally begged me to write to Princess to urge them to do something about the pool decks. I promised I would and I will, but I doubt I'll have an impact. Especially during these difficult financial times. I just hope they choose a different surface for the new builds.

[hllwdcruiser]

9 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Mask wearing is very limited.  Although it's suggested for the show lounge,  very few people are complying.  Maybe 4 or 5 per aisle.  Even less in Princess live.

Hardly any wear them in the elevators Although they suggest limiting the numbers to 6 on the elevators people still pack themselves in.

You are on now? Did you get some chocolate donuts? I got one the last morning but it was pretty stale and I didn't get past one bite. The almond croissant, however, I had no problem inhaling the entire thing!

Edited March 14, 2022 by hllwdcruiser

[Buckeye10640]

8 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

You are on now? Did you get some chocolate donuts? I got one the last morning but it was pretty stale and I didn't get past one bite. The almond croissant, however, I had no problem inhaling the entire thing!

Ohhh the almond  croissant. Tried one on the Regal last week. Wow!

[hllwdcruiser]

11 hours ago, Lanz said:

Hope you’re home safe and sound and ankle beginning to repair.  Your review is excellent and mostly reflects our opinions too.  We loved this cruise, one of the best and we’ve been on quite a few..  We dropped our mask as soon as we could but of course empathized with people who felt more comfortable with masks on.  The only issue we had was communication, lack of, inconsistency or even worse WRONG.  As much as we hate paper the app/internet didn’t work thus they have to have a way of informing guests of issues especially when had new times for Debarkation.  We loved the catamaran tour in St Lucia.  Will definitely do this one again.

Thanks - we have an appointment on Friday with an orthopedist. He went to the ER this past Friday because he was in so much pain and they did give him a splint to stabilize it until he can get to see the specialist.

We ran into too many people who had issues with the app and/or medallion. Many just gave up and left their phones in the cabin. Steve had way more issues on his phone than I had on mine and we both have identical iPhone 13s. He had to keep going on medallion.net and reconnecting in order for his to work. The good people at Ocean Front did everything they could to try to fix the issue but to no avail. 

I will say that the internet on the Sky two years ago seemed faster and more reliable than we had on this cruise, but we did sail to different regions and that may have had an impact.

Edited March 14, 2022 by hllwdcruiser

[hllwdcruiser]

10 hours ago, chrysalis said:

March 10th cruise is more crowded, and service in the dining room has been absolutely awful....same table as last cruise be different wait staff. We will give them one more chance tonight or we will change. Other people eating in our area also agree.

 

The USVI again today.

 

Very crowded so the buffet this morning..

Silvio told us that if the passenger count went above 2,000 that they would open the Santorini dining room, but apparently, they have not. It seems they are struggling with each uptick of the count. Perhaps they are so used to running at 40-50% capacity that these higher numbers are just overwhelming.

Our steward told us that the crew were no longer eating in the Santorini but were back in the mess hall. He preferred the latter because the food is served to them buffet style and it stayed hotter in the mess hall.

Bad service in the dining room can have such a negative effect on your evening. I hope things get better for you soon. 

They may have to consider opening the Horizon Bistro as well as the World Fresh Marketplace if the buffet continues to be crowded.

Have you noticed the 60 children that were supposed to be on this sailing?

[hllwdcruiser]

21 minutes ago, Buckeye10640 said:

Ohhh the almond  croissant. Tried one on the Regal last week. Wow!

Indeed. They are downright dangerous!

Edited March 14, 2022 by hllwdcruiser

[capriccio]

16 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

Silvio told us that if the passenger count went above 2,000 that they would open the Santorini dining room, but apparently, they have not. It seems they are struggling with each uptick of the count. Perhaps they are so used to running at 40-50% capacity that these higher numbers are just overwhelming.

Our steward told us that the crew were no longer eating in the Santorini but were back in the mess hall. He preferred the latter because the food is served to them buffet style and it stayed hotter in the mess hall.

Bad service in the dining room can have such a negative effect on your evening. I hope things get better for you soon. 

They may have to consider opening the Horizon Bistro as well as the World Fresh Marketplace if the buffet continues to be crowded.

Have you noticed the 60 children that were supposed to be on this sailing?

We are on board now.  They finally opened The Santorini MDR yesterday evening  (day 3 of the cruise) but only 1/2 of it.  
 

I really can’t see how they will handle public areas when they hit full capacity.  My first thought on entering the theater is that it appears smaller than the theater on the Caribbean Princess which we sailed in January.  Tonight’s 9 pm show (5 Skies) was almost full but I don’t know about attendance at the early show (7 pm) which is traditionally more popular. How will they accommodate 40% greater crowds?
 

We’ve seen some kids at the shows but 60 in a crowd of 2500 are barely visible. 

[hllwdcruiser]

This was an unusual cruise ~ Steve's injury prevented us from doing so many things that we normally do, but on the other hand, it forced us to relax, rest and enjoy many aspects of a quiet ship during busy port days. 

 

The ship is undeniably beautiful and we never get tired of the "sameness" of the brand that some YouTubers complain about. We actually feel a comfort in the familiarity and still get excited the moment we walk into the Piazza for the first time.

 

I do feel that they could be more innovative in their choice of new restaurant venues. I think Bistro Sur La Mer and the Salty Dog Gastro Pub are just a waste of space. We tried to get into The Crown Grill but all reservations were taken except for very late ones. We were not alone in this predicament, so clearly, Princess is leaving $$ on the table (pardon the pun). On the other hand, there was rarely anyone in the Salty Dog and there were always plenty of reservations available at the Bistro. Why not expand the Crown Grill to accommodate all passengers who wish to eat there? 

 

I wish they would bring back the British Pub atmosphere of the Wheelhouse Bar. Seriously, who didn't love the pub lunch? I'd be willing to pay for a good pub lunch, but certainly not $18 a head. I also think that a good asian fusion restaurant would go over well. Emphasis on the word "good" because, yes, I have read the reviews of Harmony on the Majestic.

 

On the subject of food, we really, really, really (!) liked being served the food in the buffet. This surprised me because I initially thought I was going to hate it. The servers were great at giving the exact amounts desired and this worked well for me because I like to try a little bit of almost everything! It was just mentally reassuring to not have multitudes of hands touching the same serving spoons. I hope Princess continues this forever. We also figured out that it is perfectly acceptable to take the little grab and go items and pour the contents onto our larger plate so we didn't have to balance multiple plates at one time. The servers had no problem taking the little plates from us.

 

I touched on this on earlier posts, the MDR service improved greatly by the 5th evening and was flawless in the Amalfi dining room. The food was generally good to excellent but we did notice cutbacks on their appetizer and dessert offerings. I hope these cutbacks are only due to the pandemic and will improve as the financials improve. 

 

I'm not really sure what is going on in the many bars onboard but things just seemed a little disjointed. I liked the location of Good Spirits bar on the Sky much better than where it is on the Enchanted. Crooners lacked enough bar stools so it was difficult to form the camaraderie with other passengers as you would on other ships. We never did make it to Take Five so I can't comment on that venue. Perhaps I'm just pining for the old Wheelhouse bar, the old Crooners, the old Vines. I really can't put my finger on it but we couldn't find a favorite hangout on this cruise.

 

Service was impeccable across the ship. Everyone in every venue looked at us with smiling eyes (remember, they all wore masks) and an eager to please attitude. Our cabin steward was one of the best we've ever had. He even found a large clear bucket so he could give Steve extra ice for his ankle every day. 

 

Speaking of cabins - we liked this cabin but being all the way forward and high really turned into a hinderance once Steve couldn't walk without difficulty. Walking aft to the Vista lounge or the Amalfi dining room became a painful marathon rather than an easy sprint. Then walking all the way forward to the theatre for the production show and afterwards mid ship to Princess Live for the game show... you get the idea. These new ships are not easy for the mobility challenged and we certainly have a new perspective and respect for those who deal with such issues every day.

 

We struggled a bit with the internet (it was slow at times) and the medallion app throughout the cruise. One of my biggest frustrations was trying to post on this CC site. My posts would disappear and/or my photos wouldn't upload. I finally figured out to copy the text before I hit "submit" and to edit my posts after submitting to add the photos. Fortunately, I am not a luddite, and was able to figure out workarounds most of the times we experienced issues.

 

We only ordered room service off the TV once and used the app to order food poolside once just to test them. Both times they worked flawlessly. It's a great concept, but we always felt like we were two steps from a bar or food venue and didn't feel the need to use the technology. I did find it odd that we couldn't order the same breakfast items off the TV or App that we could on the door card. What's up with that? Some things just didn't make sense.

 

We met some great people on this cruise and had a lot of fun with our new found friends who we hope to meet again onboard one day. Our cruise critic meet and greet was well attended and it was truly great to finally meet some of the posters I have seen on this site for years. 

 

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment. I'm sure more things will come to me later, but I'll just have to save it for the next cruise. Thanks so much for traveling along with me!

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2022 by hllwdcruiser

[hllwdcruiser]

1 hour ago, capriccio said:

 

I really can’t see how they will handle public areas when they hit full capacity.  My first thought on entering the theater is that it appears smaller than the theater on the Caribbean Princess which we sailed in January.  Tonight’s 9 pm show (5 Skies) was almost full but I don’t know about attendance at the early show (7 pm) which is traditionally more popular. How will they accommodate 40% greater crowds?

I agree 100%. I questioned the same thing while onboard. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

3 hours ago, hllwdcruiser said:

I'm so glad you didn't fall. Apparently it is all too common and many people end up in medical, some seriously injured. Many crew members literally begged me to write to Princess to urge them to do something about the pool decks. I promised I would and I will, but I doubt I'll have an impact. Especially during these difficult financial times. I just hope they choose a different surface for the new builds.

Thank you.  I am always really nervous walking around now. With as many people that have been hurt I really can’t believe they have not done anything about it.  I hope your husband is doing better.  Please keep us posted on your response from Customer Service. 
 

I really enjoyed your review!  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

On 3/12/2022 at 7:31 PM, hllwdcruiser said:

I thought of you often during this cruise! 
I had been able to sample little bites of dairy desserts with no ill effects so I got brave (translation- stupid) and ordered a regular cappuccino one night after dinner. To say I suffered for the rest of the night would be an understatement. 
I did have a soy latte every morning which was so good. I’m not a fan of almond milk but they had that as an option too, as I’m sure you know. I think they had another option too. 
I wish I had seen your request on the Chia pudding while I was still onboard - I would have definitely asked for you.

They have so many options for sugar and gluten free now - an entire section in the pastry shop on Lido was dedicated to them - but nothing dairy free. I know so many people who have dairy intolerance - hopefully one day they’ll have a special section for us too!

Aww, thank you!  Unfortunately, I don’t have an intolerance I have a rare severe allergy called FPIES.

 

On my December cruise I had problems getting something to eat and I was close to being HANGRY, lol.  I sent a letter to customer service and they called me.  I let her know that it would be really nice if I could find something to eat on the Discovery.  I even suggested that they left cheese off of a few sandwiches in the IC and told her that I bet they would save a ton of money if they did that.  Why do you need six different sandwiches with cheese on them all?  I also suggested that they have a sign for dairy free items too.  I don’t know if you’ve seen me post this before but every time I go to the IC they always tell me that there is nothing for me and I have to eat in the MDR, which would be great if it was open.  Maybe they will follow my suggestions and you and I will have something to eat too. 😊😊😊

[caribill]

On 3/11/2022 at 11:54 AM, suzyed said:

Good question..I went back to find where I had seen it and haven't found it yet....I will let you know when I do.
Also, if you keep your TV on the Bridge Cam supposedly you will get the messages in the room..

 

Technology must have really changed if Princess can individually select which cabins get the announcements, especially since, as you point out, they are available on the cabin TV.

 

As I understand it, there is an option on the bridge to broadcast an announcement to all cabins or to none. A lot of programming would be needed to allowed non-emergency announcements to just go to cabins that opt-in.

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, hllwdcruiser said:

You are on now? Did you get some chocolate donuts? I got one the last morning but it was pretty stale and I didn't get past one bite. The almond croissant, however, I had no problem inhaling the entire thing!

yes we are.

The chocolate donuts are OK but still not as good as the other ships.

So far the food in general hasn't been near as good as the Regal or Royal.  The selections have definitely taken a hit since the ships have returned to service. 

We'll make a final judgment at the end of our cruise.

[suzyed]

19 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Technology must have really changed if Princess can individually select which cabins get the announcements, especially since, as you point out, they are available on the cabin TV.

 

As I understand it, there is an option on the bridge to broadcast an announcement to all cabins or to none. A lot of programming would be needed to allowed non-emergency announcements to just go to cabins that opt-in.

I hear ya but if they can manage who get's what paper ads and patters in your cabin, maybe they can do this.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, suzyed said:

I hear ya but if they can manage who get's what paper ads and patters in your cabin, maybe they can do this.

 

Your cabin steward takes care of the paper Patter requests, but has no ability to control in cabin announcements.

[suzyed]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Your cabin steward takes care of the paper Patter requests, but has no ability to control in cabin announcements.

Well glad for that! He/she has more work to do than add that.  
But the request for what you want in your cabin IS available to chose on the app.

[loge23]

On 3/12/2022 at 11:51 PM, hllwdcruiser said:

So let’s talk about chair hogs. This would be called Chutzpah in the old country:

OMG! We were on the 2/08-2/28 cruise on the Enchanted and those chaises, with the obnoxious "signs", were right there at the same exact place as your photo everyday! They must actually live there! As rude a scene as we ever have seen onboard.

Your review was well done, and we agree completely with your assessment of the Bistro and Salty Dog space. We rarely saw more than one or two tables taken at the Dog, in a space that is familiar to many of us as the very popular Vines, Jan Schwartz's favorite Princess venue btw, which makes it a real headscratcher as to why it's being eliminated on new vessels.

We ate in the Bistro one night - as forgettable a meal as we have ever had on Princess. The waiter talked us out of two of the four entrees. He should have kept going. 

You mentioned familiarity as a comfort on Princess and we agree, so eliminating the popular Wheelhouse (with the Salty Dog as a pop-up as it should be), Explorers, and aforementioned Vines really goes against that grain. Of course replacing them with even more popular venues would be fine, but that clearly wasn't the case as we observed. We did spend a couple of late evenings at the Take Five club. We're jazz fans so the live entertainment there was welcome, but the club has an awkward layout - kind of a long hallway between the theatre and the atrium. The bar was very good there though. We did enjoy our cruise overall. 

Happy cruisin' in the future!

Edited March 15, 2022 by loge23
Addition

[caribill]

5 hours ago, suzyed said:

Well glad for that! He/she has more work to do than add that.  
But the request for what you want in your cabin IS available to chose on the app.

 

Also available on the App is whether you want to dine from a choice of three different speeds.

 

Nobody has reported that option actually means anything once on board.

[MissP22]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Also available on the App is whether you want to dine from a choice of three different speeds.

 

Nobody has reported that option actually means anything once on board.

You've got that right. 

What does work is  celebration request. Even without saying a word they were ready with a cake and song  at the end of  our meal.

[caribill]

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

 

What does work is  celebration request. Even without saying a word they were ready with a cake and song  at the end of  our meal.

 

That is a feature that worked in pre-app times.

 

The dining speeds and in-cabin announcement options seem to be someone's idea of what might happen once on board, but not implemented in reality.

[MissP22]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

That is a feature that worked in pre-app times.

 

The dining speeds and in-cabin announcement options seem to be someone's idea of what might happen once on board, but not implemented in reality.

Except that you had to present them with a card. Now, no matter where you dine they know automatically. 

[caribill]

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Except that you had to present them with a card. Now, no matter where you dine they know automatically. 

 

That is indeed an improvement.

 

It had always worked for us because we always had traditional dining and thus the waitstaff knew what day to do the celebration.