Enchanted Princess Review (They are BACK!)

[k9hndler]

We just returned from our 10 day, southern Caribbean adventure on the Enchanted princess. Rather than provide a laborious and verbose review, I will put my review in bullet points for everybody to digest.

 

For background we are a family of four with two teenagers, and we had a mini suite located on deck 11 midship.

 

The Good 

 

1. Service on Ledo. Top notch.  Never had to wait for water, ice, tea or a plate to be removed. This is the biggest improvement we’ve seen since Covid.
2. Wait staff in dining room Amalfi. Jeff and Gladys from PI were great. The Amalfi dining room is hard to get to so many people didn’t find it till near the end of the cruise. We often had four or five staff to ourselves. We booked the 520 slot, and it was impressively underused.
3. Cabin Steward was amazing. Princess is still not offering to turn down service, but he did come twice a day to the cabin.
4. Football on lots of places. All the NFL games are played either on the cabin TV, MUTS or various bar throughout the ship.
5. Sanctuary and Enclave. MY WIFE LOVES BOTH AND THEY BOTH IMPRESSED AND DID WELL.
6. Passenger help desk.  Unlike on previous cruises we have taken during COVID , the main help desk always had at least four people working it and the lines were never very bad .
7. Dance shows were impressive and Aretha HOMAGE was great. Singer CiCi killed it. The cruise had the Most elaborate stage shows I have seen on board. Don’t miss the show called the spotlight bar. It’s as good as any I’ve seen a float.
8. Food quality all over the ship was good with a few exceptions (noted below). 
9. Pizza was good and still free for now on deck 6. 
10. Cabin steward. Ours was Manuel from the Philippines, and he was impressive. Especially since he has 18 cabins to take care of. We have course tipped him generously.
11. Service was good everywhere on ship. Again, a serious improvement since we cruised during the Covid era.
12. Kids club is good.  My daughter enjoyed it. However, there was a lot of teen drama in the 10 days. Typical.
13. Coffee Bar.  The crew that runs the coffee bar are sometimes overwhelmed by crowds, and few people find the one on the Lido deck until later in the cruise. Still, they did a great job and produce a great product.
14. We were happy to find that the lunches (only on sea days) and the breakfast in the dining room, which was the Capri, where exceptional. One of the sea days had lunch as a Pub lunch in dining room. Bangers and mash, fish and chips, pea, soup, and my favorite scotch egg done perfectly. Dessert was the bread-and-butter pudding with raisins and vanilla sauce, Unreal. We were happy to see they continued pub lunch tradition, even if it is in the dining room.
15. Every night as part of late night eats, they have the crêpe station and it is extensive. With one caveat mentioned below.

 

Not so good. 

1. AC was spotty. All over the ship people were complaining is either too cold or too hot. Our cabin was so stifling we had to open the slider numerous times to get some air, which was untenable for long periods of time and unadvisable as well.

2.      The princess favorites available every day in the dining room, has been shortened. No nightly steak option, No Alfredo options and other cost cutting measures noted. It seems a subtle but deliberate push towards the specialty dining. Our staff was able to produce Alfredo on occasion and it was on the menu at least once. Steak was an option on the main menu multiple times throughout the week, but the nightly option to get a New York strip is gone.

3.      Smoke from casino.  This is still an issue and I cannot believe it still is.  The casino is on deck six and it butts up to the atrium. The smoke is sometimes so bad that it permeates the atrium, plaza and deck seven the shops if you don’t like cigarette smoke it makes the atrium completely unlivable, which is a shame because the atrium is a huge hit being used from multiple venues and shows.

4.      No maps or excursion people on dock. This has been an ongoing issue during Covid, and even now. No one on the dock was from shore excursions, nor could anyone give us advice on taxis, beaches, or anything else.

5.      MJ smell.  Maybe this was a sign of the times, but often times we would walk through the smell of cigarette smoke or marijuana smoke as we made our way to our cabin. It is clear that people are smoking on their balconies, or in their cabins, which, of course puts the room Stewart’s in a very awkward position.

6.      Oddly, the ship often ran out of things and items that you would think were vital, or at least popular. After the second night, there was no Nutella for the crêpes for the rest of the cruise.  When I pointed out to the head chef that I really enjoyed the Buffet, but it was troubling that they ran out of Nutella so quickly, he stated that it was a very popular item and that’s why they ran out. Cruise ships aren’t supposed to run out of popular items I pointed out. On the line, they would often produce some delicious nuggets, such as coconut fried shrimp, Samosa’s,  and other tidbits, but they were often in limited quantity, and people would load up their plates, in an effort to get some for their family’s, which is often the response when people see things running out.  Not to sound spoiled here, but we’re not used to cruise ships running out of the best items they have. Ordering and planning seem to be lacking especially on the Lido deck. This is a shame because it’s the best Ledo we’ve seen afloat in many years.

 

7.      Screaming children.  Listen here, I am a dad of three kids and I understand and can relate to people who have the occasional problem or children having an issue (tired cranky etc). That is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the permissive parents that allow their children to run around in public areas screaming yelling, knocking things over and bothering everybody around them without a hint of any discipline or self-control being administered. Being that this was a Christmas cruise. We expected a lot of children, and there were, and some of them were delightfully well behaved, but the ratio of Bratz to good children on this cruise was exceptional. Again, is this our permissive parenting society, or cruising in general? The jury is still out. 

 

8.      Crowding/stopping/standing Elevators.  It was not a full cruise, but it was pretty close. The elevators often were packed, and many people had no idea how to operate an elevator with etiquette. People would crowd on before you had a chance to get off, push multiple buttons to get the fastest elevator to their location, overly crowd the elevators with little regard for personal space, or in a few cases, demanded that people get off because it was too crowded and COVID don’t you know. (don’t even get me started on the mask wearers on this cruise).  People would often pull up and stop in lanes of traffic, converse with each other, in the middle of aisles, and crowd around and in front of you in the small lines all over the ship. In many cases, this seem to be a cultural issue, and not deliver it rudeness. Either way it was notable.

 

9.      Again with the crepe station The crêpe station would make the pancake portion ahead of time and then put them in a warming tray. They would then assemble them as you asked for the ingredients.  The lukewarm crêpe was never put back on the wheel to melt the ingredients, which resulted in cold ingredients in a lukewarm shell. When I pointed this out to the Chef I also noted that I had never seen crepes made this way, he looked at me and asked rather sarcastically where I had eaten them before. I told him Paris, France, and they didn’t put them together the way he does.  He just looked at me. 

10.   The only time they had lunches and high tea in the dining room we’re on sea days. It would be nice to see these return to win every day offering.

 

To sum up the enchanted, princess is amazing ship with lots of incredible features, clean, new and beautiful. The Medallion app worked GREAT, with ship mate locator and daily activities a big hit.   The staff has improved greatly since the scourge of Covid wreaked havoc on the industry. The itineraries, for the southern Caribbean was great, and overall, we had a fantastic cruise.  Princess is well on her way back to being the Line we all know and love!

[isosika]

Thanks for the post.  We are Enchanted next week for 10-day B2B.

[Tyskie]

@k9hndler  Thank you for your review/observations.  We'll be on the Enchanted Princess in a few weeks.

 

Taking the Alfredo off the daily menu is "just not right"!!!!!  That was always my go-to on the menu.  From the menus that have been posted, choices are less than stellar.  JMO

[PacnGoNow]

58 minutes ago, k9hndler said:

We just returned from our 10 day, southern Caribbean adventure on the Enchanted princess. Rather than provide a laborious and verbose review, I will put my review in bullet points for everybody to digest.

 

For background we are a family of four with two teenagers, and we had a mini suite located on deck 11 midship.

 

The Good 

 

1. Service on Ledo. Top notch.  Never had to wait for water, ice, tea or a plate to be removed. This is the biggest improvement we’ve seen since Covid.
2. Wait staff in dining room Amalfi. Jeff and Gladys from PI were great. The Amalfi dining room is hard to get to so many people didn’t find it till near the end of the cruise. We often had four or five staff to ourselves. We booked the 520 slot, and it was impressively underused.
3. Cabin Steward was amazing. Princess is still not offering to turn down service, but he did come twice a day to the cabin.
4. Football on lots of places. All the NFL games are played either on the cabin TV, MUTS or various bar throughout the ship.
5. Sanctuary and Enclave. MY WIFE LOVES BOTH AND THEY BOTH IMPRESSED AND DID WELL.
6. Passenger help desk.  Unlike on previous cruises we have taken during COVID , the main help desk always had at least four people working it and the lines were never very bad .
7. Dance shows were impressive and Aretha HOMAGE was great. Singer CiCi killed it. The cruise had the Most elaborate stage shows I have seen on board. Don’t miss the show called the spotlight bar. It’s as good as any I’ve seen a float.
8. Food quality all over the ship was good with a few exceptions (noted below). 
9. Pizza was good and still free for now on deck 6. 
10. Cabin steward. Ours was Manuel from the Philippines, and he was impressive. Especially since he has 18 cabins to take care of. We have course tipped him generously.
11. Service was good everywhere on ship. Again, a serious improvement since we cruised during the Covid era.
12. Kids club is good.  My daughter enjoyed it. However, there was a lot of teen drama in the 10 days. Typical.
13. Coffee Bar.  The crew that runs the coffee bar are sometimes overwhelmed by crowds, and few people find the one on the Lido deck until later in the cruise. Still, they did a great job and produce a great product.
14. We were happy to find that the lunches (only on sea days) and the breakfast in the dining room, which was the Capri, where exceptional. One of the sea days had lunch as a Pub lunch in dining room. Bangers and mash, fish and chips, pea, soup, and my favorite scotch egg done perfectly. Dessert was the bread-and-butter pudding with raisins and vanilla sauce, Unreal. We were happy to see they continued pub lunch tradition, even if it is in the dining room.
15. Every night as part of late night eats, they have the crêpe station and it is extensive. With one caveat mentioned below.

 

Not so good. 

1. AC was spotty. All over the ship people were complaining is either too cold or too hot. Our cabin was so stifling we had to open the slider numerous times to get some air, which was untenable for long periods of time and unadvisable as well.

2.      The princess favorites available every day in the dining room, has been shortened. No nightly steak option, No Alfredo options and other cost cutting measures noted. It seems a subtle but deliberate push towards the specialty dining. Our staff was able to produce Alfredo on occasion and it was on the menu at least once. Steak was an option on the main menu multiple times throughout the week, but the nightly option to get a New York strip is gone.

3.      Smoke from casino.  This is still an issue and I cannot believe it still is.  The casino is on deck six and it butts up to the atrium. The smoke is sometimes so bad that it permeates the atrium, plaza and deck seven the shops if you don’t like cigarette smoke it makes the atrium completely unlivable, which is a shame because the atrium is a huge hit being used from multiple venues and shows.

4.      No maps or excursion people on dock. This has been an ongoing issue during Covid, and even now. No one on the dock was from shore excursions, nor could anyone give us advice on taxis, beaches, or anything else.

5.      MJ smell.  Maybe this was a sign of the times, but often times we would walk through the smell of cigarette smoke or marijuana smoke as we made our way to our cabin. It is clear that people are smoking on their balconies, or in their cabins, which, of course puts the room Stewart’s in a very awkward position.

6.      Oddly, the ship often ran out of things and items that you would think were vital, or at least popular. After the second night, there was no Nutella for the crêpes for the rest of the cruise.  When I pointed out to the head chef that I really enjoyed the Buffet, but it was troubling that they ran out of Nutella so quickly, he stated that it was a very popular item and that’s why they ran out. Cruise ships aren’t supposed to run out of popular items I pointed out. On the line, they would often produce some delicious nuggets, such as coconut fried shrimp, Samosa’s,  and other tidbits, but they were often in limited quantity, and people would load up their plates, in an effort to get some for their family’s, which is often the response when people see things running out.  Not to sound spoiled here, but we’re not used to cruise ships running out of the best items they have. Ordering and planning seem to be lacking especially on the Lido deck. This is a shame because it’s the best Ledo we’ve seen afloat in many years.

 

7.      Screaming children.  Listen here, I am a dad of three kids and I understand and can relate to people who have the occasional problem or children having an issue (tired cranky etc). That is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the permissive parents that allow their children to run around in public areas screaming yelling, knocking things over and bothering everybody around them without a hint of any discipline or self-control being administered. Being that this was a Christmas cruise. We expected a lot of children, and there were, and some of them were delightfully well behaved, but the ratio of Bratz to good children on this cruise was exceptional. Again, is this our permissive parenting society, or cruising in general? The jury is still out. 

 

8.      Crowding/stopping/standing Elevators.  It was not a full cruise, but it was pretty close. The elevators often were packed, and many people had no idea how to operate an elevator with etiquette. People would crowd on before you had a chance to get off, push multiple buttons to get the fastest elevator to their location, overly crowd the elevators with little regard for personal space, or in a few cases, demanded that people get off because it was too crowded and COVID don’t you know. (don’t even get me started on the mask wearers on this cruise).  People would often pull up and stop in lanes of traffic, converse with each other, in the middle of aisles, and crowd around and in front of you in the small lines all over the ship. In many cases, this seem to be a cultural issue, and not deliver it rudeness. Either way it was notable.

 

9.      Again with the crepe station The crêpe station would make the pancake portion ahead of time and then put them in a warming tray. They would then assemble them as you asked for the ingredients.  The lukewarm crêpe was never put back on the wheel to melt the ingredients, which resulted in cold ingredients in a lukewarm shell. When I pointed this out to the Chef I also noted that I had never seen crepes made this way, he looked at me and asked rather sarcastically where I had eaten them before. I told him Paris, France, and they didn’t put them together the way he does.  He just looked at me. 

10.   The only time they had lunches and high tea in the dining room we’re on sea days. It would be nice to see these return to win every day offering.

 

To sum up the enchanted, princess is amazing ship with lots of incredible features, clean, new and beautiful. The Medallion app worked GREAT, with ship mate locator and daily activities a big hit.   The staff has improved greatly since the scourge of Covid wreaked havoc on the industry. The itineraries, for the southern Caribbean was great, and overall, we had a fantastic cruise.  Princess is well on her way back to being the Line we all know and love!

Thank you for the great review.  And thank you for your service!

 

Did you notice if they had the wine makers dinner?

 

Was the crepe station during dinner time or later?

 

TIA

 

[cruzin4us]

You pretty much summed up everything as I've experienced for my last 7 post covid cruises.   The good as well as the bad. 

 

It's a pretty standard well rehearsed response when they run out of an item.   "Lack of supply chain due to covid".   For example running out of Hendrik's Gin, Premium Whisky or Reposado Tequila at Good Spirits Bar on day one is BS in my opinion.   They are substituting much cheaper versions of liquor, but the price doesn't change.    

 

We have also noticed the MJ smell......watched a lady light up a joint and smoke it on deck 17 without a care in the world.    

 

 

 

 

[Honolulu Blue]

1 hour ago, k9hndler said:

We just returned from our 10 day, southern Caribbean adventure on the Enchanted princess. Rather than provide a laborious and verbose review, I will put my review in bullet points for everybody to digest.

 

For background we are a family of four with two teenagers, and we had a mini suite located on deck 11 midship.

Thanks for sharing.

 

As for the MJ thing, I haven't noticed it on either of the two previous Princess cruises I've taken so far.  I've heard it's getting out of hand in Las Vegas, but it's legal there.  And I've heard reports of it on Carnival ships, but that's a younger, less experienced, and more fun-loving crowd.  You'd think the passengers on Princess would know better.  They should lobby their Congressperson and John if they want it to be legal and not take the law into their own hands - even if they can get by with it.

 

Sorry.  I'll step off my soapbox now.

[EllieinNJ]

When we were on the Enchanted in November it took three days before any "beef" was on the menu.

[memoak]

24 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Thanks for sharing.

 

As for the MJ thing, I haven't noticed it on either of the two previous Princess cruises I've taken so far.  I've heard it's getting out of hand in Las Vegas, but it's legal there.  And I've heard reports of it on Carnival ships, but that's a younger, less experienced, and more fun-loving crowd.  You'd think the passengers on Princess would know better.  They should lobby their Congressperson and John if they want it to be legal and not take the law into their own hands - even if they can get by with it.

 

Sorry.  I'll step off my soapbox now.

What law exists out at sea ?  If I am off the west coast all the states I am off of have legal MJ ?     

[k9hndler]

2 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Thank you for the great review.  And thank you for your service!

 

Did you notice if they had the wine makers dinner?

 

Was the crepe station during dinner time or later?

 

TIA

 

Good morning to you.

 

I’m not sure what the wine makers dinner is but it was an offered to us but then again, I don’t drink alcohol.

 

The crêpe station is open most of the evening during dinner and closes down around 10 PM each night. It’s on a specialty side of the main Buffay close to the salad station and the cheeses. 

[k9hndler]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

What law exists out at sea ?  If I am off the west coast all the states I am off of have legal MJ ?     

Whether the US states the ship cruises from or near have legal recreational marijuana, use or not is really immaterial.
 

Marijuana is not allowed to be smoked in cabin, state rooms, balconies, or anywhere else where can affect other people. As far as I know, marijuana is illegal to have on the cruise ship at all.

 

I’m not debating legal or non-legal use of marijuana, I’m simply stating that smoking of any product, cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana, in or around your cabin that permeates the walkways is rude, uncivil, and immature.  The poor people that have to occupy that state room next!
 

As far as the laws, i.e. rules of the ship go, you can be thrown off at the next stop if you’re caught with drugs or smoking in your cabin, can result in a very serious fine. 
 

for the record, the smell of cigarette smoke was just as strong as the marijuana smoke.

[memoak]

9 minutes ago, k9hndler said:

Whether the US states the ship cruises from or near have legal recreational marijuana, use or not is really immaterial.
 

Marijuana is not allowed to be smoked in cabin, state rooms, balconies, or anywhere else where can affect other people. As far as I know, marijuana is illegal to have on the cruise ship at all.

 

I’m not debating legal or non-legal use of marijuana, I’m simply stating that smoking of any product, cigarettes, cigars, or marijuana, in or around your cabin that permeates the walkways is rude, uncivil, and immature.  The poor people that have to occupy that state room next!
 

As far as the laws, i.e. rules of the ship go, you can be thrown off at the next stop if you’re caught with drugs or smoking in your cabin, can result in a very serious fine. 
 

for the record, the smell of cigarette smoke was just as strong as the marijuana smoke.

My point exactly these are rules not laws so I didn’t understand your comment about making something legal

[MissP22]

I agree about the irrating kid problem but you picked the absolutely most crowded time of year for children.

This week most of them are home.

Thank goodness.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

4 hours ago, k9hndler said:

No Alfredo options and other cost cutting measures noted. It seems a subtle but deliberate push towards the specialty dining. Our staff was able to produce Alfredo on occasion and it was on the menu at least once.

that's quite a change from our Thanksgiving cruise on Enchanted. We had Fettuccine Alfredo every day - it was on the every day menu. So was the steak.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

5 hours ago, k9hndler said:

I also noted that I had never seen crepes made this way, he looked at me and asked rather sarcastically where I had eaten them before. I told him Paris, France, and they didn’t put them together the way he does.

I bet you had to pay for the crepes in Paris, France.

 

5 hours ago, k9hndler said:

The crêpe station would make the pancake portion ahead of time and then put them in a warming tray. They would then assemble them as you asked for the ingredients.  The lukewarm crêpe was never put back on the wheel to melt the ingredients, which resulted in cold ingredients in a lukewarm shell.

you could have just asked for a fresh one instead of being PA.

 

The crepe station was the highlight of our cruise a month ago. We each ate at least 3 Nutella crepes after MDR dinner every night, and they were more than happy to make fresh crepes for us, without even having to ask - probably, because they could tell how excited we were.

[EDDY0827]

And you paid for the crepes onboard- It's called "Basic Cruise Fare".

NOTHING is free.

[Fa-Li]

Thank you for this review!  We are looking forward to this itinerary on Enchanted in February.  One question:  How was the internet?

[MissP22]

41 minutes ago, Fa-Li said:

Thank you for this review!  We are looking forward to this itinerary on Enchanted in February.  One question:  How was the internet?

It's poor. Just barely ok for email.

Don't count on downloading movies.

[Guest ldtr]

On 12/31/2022 at 6:59 AM, memoak said:

What law exists out at sea ?  If I am off the west coast all the states I am off of have legal MJ ?     

The ships operate under law of the country in  which they are registered. They are also impacted by the of countries, in which the ports are located. In the case of the US it is federal law, not state law. As such taking it on board a ship from a US port is a violation of law.

[k9hndler]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:53 PM, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I bet you had to pay for the crepes in Paris, France.

 

you could have just asked for a fresh one instead of being PA.

 

The crepe station was the highlight of our cruise a month ago. We each ate at least 3 Nutella crepes after MDR dinner every night, and they were more than happy to make fresh crepes for us, without even having to ask - probably, because they could tell how excited we were.

Yes, I paid for them in Paris, and I paid for them on ENCHANTED, to the tune of a pretty hefty price tag for my family of four.  What's your point? If they are prepared improperly or missing key ingredients. should I just suck it up and show them how "Excited" I am (that they did not meet my expectations?)because they are part of the basic fare?.  

 

My review notes Good and NOT so good, Things that I personally think should be improved.   Cold crepes as STANDARD with cold ingredients is how they are serving the product does not meet my expectations for fresh crepes. I shouldn't have to ask them to be prepared correctly, but I DID, and got the attitude I described in my review.  By the way, since you enjoyed Nutella on every night of your cruise, I really can't relate to that because they ran out on day 2 of my ten day cruise, also noted in my review. Maybe if I had acted "excited" they would have sent a life boat out the nearest island and returned with some Caribbean Nutella.  

 

Funny, ever review I have ever posted on CC has at least ONE person that wants to argue why my opinions and experiences are "Wrong".   What Gall.  Thats why the call them opinions Itchy.   

 

[PacnGoNow]

On 12/31/2022 at 7:33 AM, k9hndler said:

We just returned from our 10 day, southern Caribbean adventure on the Enchanted princess. Rather than provide a laborious and verbose review, I will put my review in bullet points for everybody to digest.

 

For background we are a family of four with two teenagers, and we had a mini suite located on deck 11 midship.

 

The Good 

 

1. Service on Ledo. Top notch.  Never had to wait for water, ice, tea or a plate to be removed. This is the biggest improvement we’ve seen since Covid.
2. Wait staff in dining room Amalfi. Jeff and Gladys from PI were great. The Amalfi dining room is hard to get to so many people didn’t find it till near the end of the cruise. We often had four or five staff to ourselves. We booked the 520 slot, and it was impressively underused.
3. Cabin Steward was amazing. Princess is still not offering to turn down service, but he did come twice a day to the cabin.
4. Football on lots of places. All the NFL games are played either on the cabin TV, MUTS or various bar throughout the ship.
5. Sanctuary and Enclave. MY WIFE LOVES BOTH AND THEY BOTH IMPRESSED AND DID WELL.
6. Passenger help desk.  Unlike on previous cruises we have taken during COVID , the main help desk always had at least four people working it and the lines were never very bad .
7. Dance shows were impressive and Aretha HOMAGE was great. Singer CiCi killed it. The cruise had the Most elaborate stage shows I have seen on board. Don’t miss the show called the spotlight bar. It’s as good as any I’ve seen a float.
8. Food quality all over the ship was good with a few exceptions (noted below). 
9. Pizza was good and still free for now on deck 6. 
10. Cabin steward. Ours was Manuel from the Philippines, and he was impressive. Especially since he has 18 cabins to take care of. We have course tipped him generously.
11. Service was good everywhere on ship. Again, a serious improvement since we cruised during the Covid era.
12. Kids club is good.  My daughter enjoyed it. However, there was a lot of teen drama in the 10 days. Typical.
13. Coffee Bar.  The crew that runs the coffee bar are sometimes overwhelmed by crowds, and few people find the one on the Lido deck until later in the cruise. Still, they did a great job and produce a great product.
14. We were happy to find that the lunches (only on sea days) and the breakfast in the dining room, which was the Capri, where exceptional. One of the sea days had lunch as a Pub lunch in dining room. Bangers and mash, fish and chips, pea, soup, and my favorite scotch egg done perfectly. Dessert was the bread-and-butter pudding with raisins and vanilla sauce, Unreal. We were happy to see they continued pub lunch tradition, even if it is in the dining room.
15. Every night as part of late night eats, they have the crêpe station and it is extensive. With one caveat mentioned below.

 

Not so good. 

1. AC was spotty. All over the ship people were complaining is either too cold or too hot. Our cabin was so stifling we had to open the slider numerous times to get some air, which was untenable for long periods of time and unadvisable as well.

2.      The princess favorites available every day in the dining room, has been shortened. No nightly steak option, No Alfredo options and other cost cutting measures noted. It seems a subtle but deliberate push towards the specialty dining. Our staff was able to produce Alfredo on occasion and it was on the menu at least once. Steak was an option on the main menu multiple times throughout the week, but the nightly option to get a New York strip is gone.

3.      Smoke from casino.  This is still an issue and I cannot believe it still is.  The casino is on deck six and it butts up to the atrium. The smoke is sometimes so bad that it permeates the atrium, plaza and deck seven the shops if you don’t like cigarette smoke it makes the atrium completely unlivable, which is a shame because the atrium is a huge hit being used from multiple venues and shows.

4.      No maps or excursion people on dock. This has been an ongoing issue during Covid, and even now. No one on the dock was from shore excursions, nor could anyone give us advice on taxis, beaches, or anything else.

5.      MJ smell.  Maybe this was a sign of the times, but often times we would walk through the smell of cigarette smoke or marijuana smoke as we made our way to our cabin. It is clear that people are smoking on their balconies, or in their cabins, which, of course puts the room Stewart’s in a very awkward position.

6.      Oddly, the ship often ran out of things and items that you would think were vital, or at least popular. After the second night, there was no Nutella for the crêpes for the rest of the cruise.  When I pointed out to the head chef that I really enjoyed the Buffet, but it was troubling that they ran out of Nutella so quickly, he stated that it was a very popular item and that’s why they ran out. Cruise ships aren’t supposed to run out of popular items I pointed out. On the line, they would often produce some delicious nuggets, such as coconut fried shrimp, Samosa’s,  and other tidbits, but they were often in limited quantity, and people would load up their plates, in an effort to get some for their family’s, which is often the response when people see things running out.  Not to sound spoiled here, but we’re not used to cruise ships running out of the best items they have. Ordering and planning seem to be lacking especially on the Lido deck. This is a shame because it’s the best Ledo we’ve seen afloat in many years.

 

7.      Screaming children.  Listen here, I am a dad of three kids and I understand and can relate to people who have the occasional problem or children having an issue (tired cranky etc). That is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the permissive parents that allow their children to run around in public areas screaming yelling, knocking things over and bothering everybody around them without a hint of any discipline or self-control being administered. Being that this was a Christmas cruise. We expected a lot of children, and there were, and some of them were delightfully well behaved, but the ratio of Bratz to good children on this cruise was exceptional. Again, is this our permissive parenting society, or cruising in general? The jury is still out. 

 

8.      Crowding/stopping/standing Elevators.  It was not a full cruise, but it was pretty close. The elevators often were packed, and many people had no idea how to operate an elevator with etiquette. People would crowd on before you had a chance to get off, push multiple buttons to get the fastest elevator to their location, overly crowd the elevators with little regard for personal space, or in a few cases, demanded that people get off because it was too crowded and COVID don’t you know. (don’t even get me started on the mask wearers on this cruise).  People would often pull up and stop in lanes of traffic, converse with each other, in the middle of aisles, and crowd around and in front of you in the small lines all over the ship. In many cases, this seem to be a cultural issue, and not deliver it rudeness. Either way it was notable.

 

9.      Again with the crepe station The crêpe station would make the pancake portion ahead of time and then put them in a warming tray. They would then assemble them as you asked for the ingredients.  The lukewarm crêpe was never put back on the wheel to melt the ingredients, which resulted in cold ingredients in a lukewarm shell. When I pointed this out to the Chef I also noted that I had never seen crepes made this way, he looked at me and asked rather sarcastically where I had eaten them before. I told him Paris, France, and they didn’t put them together the way he does.  He just looked at me. 

10.   The only time they had lunches and high tea in the dining room we’re on sea days. It would be nice to see these return to win every day offering.

 

To sum up the enchanted, princess is amazing ship with lots of incredible features, clean, new and beautiful. The Medallion app worked GREAT, with ship mate locator and daily activities a big hit.   The staff has improved greatly since the scourge of Covid wreaked havoc on the industry. The itineraries, for the southern Caribbean was great, and overall, we had a fantastic cruise.  Princess is well on her way back to being the Line we all know and love!

Thank you for the review.

 

[k9hndler]

On 12/31/2022 at 11:46 AM, MissP22 said:

I agree about the irrating kid problem but you picked the absolutely most crowded time of year for children.

This week most of them are home.

Thank goodness.

Agreed, we like to cruise when the kids are in school as well.  As I said, I don't mind kids, it's the lack of PARENTING that gets to me

  

[k9hndler]

20 hours ago, Fa-Li said:

Thank you for this review!  We are looking forward to this itinerary on Enchanted in February.  One question:  How was the internet?

It was fair, but movies and streaming was very slow.  DOWNLOAD everything you can before you board.  

[memoak]

19 hours ago, ldtr said:

The ships operate under law of the country in  which they are registered. They are also impacted by the of countries, in which the ports are located. In the case of the US it is federal law, not state law. As such taking it on board a ship from a US port is a violation of law.

That is because the port area is considered y to be administered by the federal government and that is where customs agents are. Ship rules are ship rules not laws especially when they are in international waters

[MissP22]

Just now, k9hndler said:

Agreed, we like to cruise when the kids are in school as well.  As I said, I don't mind kids, it's the lack of PARENTING that gets to me

  

You can almost count on any lack of control when there on a ship with those type of parents .

[Itchy&Scratchy]

45 minutes ago, k9hndler said:

What's your point? If they are prepared improperly or missing key ingredients. should I just suck it up

no, you ask for fresh ones, like I said. When you get a bad meal at the restaurant, do you send it back? Yes. Since you "paid" for these crepes, just ask for fresh ones instead of being passive aggressive.

 

45 minutes ago, k9hndler said:

I shouldn't have to ask them to be prepared correctly, but I DID, and got the attitude I described in my review.

you were very PA about it instead of just asking to cook them fresh, and you still are very PA in your post.  Ask and you shall receive. Ask nicely and you get a whole more niceties in return. Be PA and get the same attitude right back at you.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Itchy&Scratchy