Enchanted Princess - Booking Sanctuary for sea days, Captain’s table and 360 Experience for Spring 2023 cruise

[Koliver63]

Hello friends who have cruised on the Enchanted Princess! ! I apologize if this has been asked/answered before…we would like to book 2 full day loungers for the 3 sea days on the Enchanted 4/22-5/6 sailing to Italy, Turkey and Greek Isles. We would also like to reserve a seating for 2 at the Captain’s table for one night during our 14 day cruise.  I am also intrigued by the new 360 Dining Experience as well!  I think I understand that these experiences need to be booked once you are onboard? We have priority embarkation with our Club Class Mini Suite booking if that helps. Guide us as to the best way to secure these reservations. 

 

We are fairly new to cruising as we have only done 2 prior cruises…both with Princess on the Crown in 2018 and 2019 and both were in a Club Class Mini Suite but I am pretty sure we didn’t know what we were doing, lol.  We kinda just showed up and loved it! I’m trying to plan a little ahead for this 3rd cruise! We did have a hard time finding loungers by the pool on sea days on prior cruises and have a ton of OBC for this cruise so thought it might be best to just reserve loungers for the day at The Sanctuary.  I didn’t even know about the Captain’s Table back then but now I know and it sounds amazing! Would love to experience that and also the new 360 Dining Experience that is supposedly brand new to Enchanted! 

Can we just go to the main customer service desk (not sure what it’s called) once we are onboard to book these experiences? Or do we need to go straight to the Sanctuary itself to book the loungers and then perhaps go to the desk to ask to be put on the list for a Captain’s Table waitlist for a  reservation and also the 360 Experience during our cruise? Thanks in advance if you can share any advice!

[startedwithamouse]

360 is invite only at this time (we were contacted prior to our cruise). May be something you can book in the future. 

[memoak]

What the heck is the captains table ?  The captain does not eat in the MDR

[reedprincess]

Sanctuary can only be booked aboard. Head straight to the Sanctuary and reserve for the days you 2ant.

Chef's Table can only be booked aboard. Call DINE line or see maitre'd and sign up.

360 is currently by invitation only.

 

There is no "Captain's table", btw. There's Chef's Table, Winemaker's Dinner (definitely try for this one also, excellent, assuming you enjoy wine).

 

 

[Koliver63]

Oh ok! yes…it’s the Chef’s Table! Thank you so much for the clarification! We are so new to cruising…I’m not even clear on what it is called, lol. Thank you! 

[Koliver63]

56 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

360 is invite only at this time (we were contacted prior to our cruise). May be something you can book in the future. 

Thank you so much for the info! 

[Koliver63]

39 minutes ago, memoak said:

What the heck is the captains table ?  The captain does not eat in the MDR

I called it by the wrong name…it is the Chef’s Table experience…not the Captain’s Table. Thanks. 

[nini]

2 hours ago, Koliver63 said:

I called it by the wrong name…it is the Chef’s Table experience…not the Captain’s Table. Thanks. 

As soon as you board, call the Dine Line and ask to be on the list for the Chef's Table. There is no guarantee that there will be one. they will let you known if and when as well as the price, which is about $99.00 per head.

[startedwithamouse]

10 hours ago, Koliver63 said:

Thank you so much for the info! 

You're welcome. It is an amazing experience. Come with an open mind to try any foods offered. 

[Hlitner]

Where to start (sigh).  To book the Sanctuary you need to head directly (as soon as you board) to the Sanctuary and just hope that those who have boarded before you (and those on the previous cruise) have not already booked all the available slots.  The Sea days are the most popular not to mention that some folks will book for the entire voyage.  The reality is that if you do not have some kind of priority embarkation, it is likely you will not get your slots...but good things sometimes happen.

 

As to the dining with the captain, this just does not often happen on mass market lines (like Princess) anymore.  The captain may opt to dine with some VIPs, but this will generally be done in a private dining area.  If you truly want to dine with a Captain, you can generally do this on some small ship upscale lines such as Seabourn, where the crew still interacts with passengers on a routine basis.

 

But when it comes to dining with Captains (which we have done quite a few times) I cannot post without relating this old cruise line tale.  Many decades ago, a Lady was invited to dine with the captain on the old Queen Mary!  Her reaction was, "Sir, I do not dine with the hired help!"  DW and I have had numerous opportunities because we have been cruising for over 50 years and times used to be different.  In fact, at one time Celebrity guaranteed that those with "Elite" status would get an invite to dine with a "Senior Officer" at least once per cruise.  This is no longer done.  These days, most Senior Officers on mass market ships prefer to avoid many passengers (the theory is that they got tired of hearing all the complaints).  

 

When we recently cruised on Seabourn and got invited to dine with the captain (a charming Greek gentleman) we were surprised that it was a dinner in their Thomas Keller Grill at a table of 6.  There was only one other couple (from Whales), us, and the captain.  He told us he actually enjoyed dining with passengers since it can get boring dining with the same few senior staff every day.  He also explained that Seabourn "encouraged" all their senior staff to dine with passengers at least twice a week (several we met did it more often).  But this is truly the exception in an industry where the sheer numbers of passengers and increased workload on senior staff have made interaction much more difficult.  

 

Hank

[Koliver63]

1 hour ago, Hlitner said:

Where to start (sigh).  To book the Sanctuary you need to head directly (as soon as you board) to the Sanctuary and just hope that those who have boarded before you (and those on the previous cruise) have not already booked all the available slots.  The Sea days are the most popular not to mention that some folks will book for the entire voyage.  The reality is that if you do not have some kind of priority embarkation, it is likely you will not get your slots...but good things sometimes happen.

 

As to the dining with the captain, this just does not often happen on mass market lines (like Princess) anymore.  The captain may opt to dine with some VIPs, but this will generally be done in a private dining area.  If you truly want to dine with a Captain, you can generally do this on some small ship upscale lines such as Seabourn, where the crew still interacts with passengers on a routine basis.

 

But when it comes to dining with Captains (which we have done quite a few times) I cannot post without relating this old cruise line tale.  Many decades ago, a Lady was invited to dine with the captain on the old Queen Mary!  Her reaction was, "Sir, I do not dine with the hired help!"  DW and I have had numerous opportunities because we have been cruising for over 50 years and times used to be different.  In fact, at one time Celebrity guaranteed that those with "Elite" status would get an invite to dine with a "Senior Officer" at least once per cruise.  This is no longer done.  These days, most Senior Officers on mass market ships prefer to avoid many passengers (the theory is that they got tired of hearing all the complaints).  

 

When we recently cruised on Seabourn and got invited to dine with the captain (a charming Greek gentleman) we were surprised that it was a dinner in their Thomas Keller Grill at a table of 6.  There was only one other couple (from Whales), us, and the captain.  He told us he actually enjoyed dining with passengers since it can get boring dining with the same few senior staff every day.  He also explained that Seabourn "encouraged" all their senior staff to dine with passengers at least twice a week (several we met did it more often).  But this is truly the exception in an industry where the sheer numbers of passengers and increased workload on senior staff have made interaction much more difficult.  

 

Hank

Thank you so much for sharing your story! We do have priority embarkation with club class so we should be able to get onboard quickly and RUN to the Sanctuary and hope there are available loungers. There will be cruisers on board from the week before we get on so hoping we can get lucky!  I mistakenly called the Chef’s Table the “Captain’s Table” so I apologize for the confusion. But I at least got to read your Captain story!! 

[MissP22]

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