Enchanted Princess Review 4/20-27. Spoiler alert, it was Excellent!

[20165]

Enchanted Princess
April 20-27, 2024
Suite B102 S5 Premium forward suit

 

We've been on over 30 cruises, and the Enchanted ranks among the best so far, albeit as the priciest single cabin we've ever booked.
A bit about us: we're in our early 50s and were avid cruisers before our kids came along, primarily with Princess (before its Carnival days) and Holland America. With our kids, we leaned towards Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. Now that our children are in college and less inclined to join us, we've been exploring Celebrity and returning to Princess to find our favorite for future trips as a couple, while building loyalty status.

 

This recent cruise was booked somewhat spontaneously at the end of February, and we set sail on April 20th. The best accommodation available to us at that time was a premium suite (S5) on deck 11, forward cabin B102, featuring a bedroom with a large picture window overlooking the ship’s front and a separate living room with a balcony. It was spacious, and though forward cabins tend to have some movement, it wasn’t bothersome for us. Despite its distance from the Concierge lounge, the extra walking was probably good for us. We've had similar suites before, like on the NCL Getaway, but Princess's seemed more expansive with higher ceilings, even accommodating my 6'3" frame despite the sloped ceiling.

 

Before cruising, we stayed at the La Meridien hotel near the airport, a great choice given its proximity to the port and its appeal to business travelers, ensuring it wasn't too crowded on the weekend when we stayed. The on-site restaurant was excellent, especially for fans of tequila and Latin cuisine.

 

Boarding was astonishingly swift—the quickest we've ever experienced. We were on the ship in less than 10 minutes after arriving at 11 AM, thanks to the efficient Medallion system, which streamlined everything from room access to ordering services, despite initial difficulties navigating the app. Our suite was ready for us to drop off our luggage almost immediately, although the usual setup was completed around 12:30 PM.

 

Although we faced issues booking dinner reservations through the app pre cruise, the concierge was very helpful in securing our desired times. We tried booking a cabana at the Sanctuary, but initially found them sold out. Surprisingly, by 4 PM the same day, we were offered a cabana for any of our preferred days during the cruise, likely thanks to our suite status so we choose 2 of the 3 sea days.

 

We dined at all the specialty restaurants, including the remarkable 360 experience, and would happily search for that lemon pasta recipe! While the other specialty restaurants were included in our premium package, the offerings would have been worth additional payment. The Main Dining Room (MDR) provided decent meals with no wait, thanks to a separate section for suite guests.

 

Our ports of call included Princess Cays, Puerto Rico, and St. Thomas. Since we've visited these before and it was a last-minute booking, we opted out of excursions, choosing instead to briefly explore and then enjoy the nearly empty ship pools.

 

The onboard entertainment was mostly comedians, which we preferred over typical Broadway-style shows. All performances were enjoyable, particularly a memorable duo.

 

The ship itself, launched in 2019, was well-maintained and easy to navigate after a short period. The bridge tour, likely another suite perk, was a highlight, with personal introductions by the captain.

 

The only downside was the small and smoky casino, which was crowded and left our clothes smelling of smoke—thankfully, suite perks included free laundry.

 

Disembarkation was as smooth as embarkation, facilitated by suite privileges and ending in the concierge lounge.

 

In summary, this was possibly our best cruise yet, setting a high standard against which we'll measure future experiences, especially in comparison to Celebrity suites.
 

[Crown Cruiser]

20165:  Were you invited to tour the bridge through the concierge or did you request a tour?

[20165]

9 minutes ago, Crown Cruiser said:

20165:  Were you invited to tour the bridge through the concierge or did you request a tour?

we got a letter in our cabin, i think tuesday moring, for a tour at 10am thursday.  Definitely didnt ask given i didnt think they did those anymore and i think the letter referenced a suite perk. 

[MarcsSharon]

We were on the week before you and agree entirely with your review. I feel like Princess turned it up a notch.

Also was very disappointed with the ,”Smoking Lounge/Casino”. Worst smoke filled experience ever. Princess needs to open a lounge for smokers and let everyone enjoy the casino.

 

[nini]

6 hours ago, MarcsSharon said:

We were on the week before you and agree entirely with your review. I feel like Princess turned it up a notch.

Also was very disappointed with the ,”Smoking Lounge/Casino”. Worst smoke filled experience ever. Princess needs to open a lounge for smokers and let everyone enjoy the casino.

 

 

Sadly, Princess is closing the "Churchill's" smoking lounges and transforming them into arcades.

 

[newtampagirl]

We were on the same cruise and had the same wonderful experience. It had been five years that we had sailed on Princess. We were in Penthouse suite R616 which was a great location for us. We toured the Bridge on Friday. We are booked for a 10 day on this ship over Thanksgiving and are looking into booking in July as we liked it that much.

[20165]

1 hour ago, nini said:

 

Sadly, Princess is closing the "Churchill's" smoking lounges and transforming them into arcades.

 

Yep, already done. I went in there and you can still smell the cigars.  

[mistyPA]

We were on the same sailing and after 22 cruises it was the best cruise for me. We had a row of balconies where we had the dividers removed and made good use of the balconies. Absolutely loved the Retreat Pool. We were Premier which was great. We dined at Rudi's, Crown Grill (staff was amazine, Pub, Gigi's and Santorini our MDR and everything was great. Simply, the best, most relaxing vacation in a long time. We just booked the 10 day 4/9/25 we liked it so much!

[20165]

11 hours ago, mistyPA said:

We were on the same sailing and after 22 cruises it was the best cruise for me. We had a row of balconies where we had the dividers removed and made good use of the balconies. Absolutely loved the Retreat Pool. We were Premier which was great. We dined at Rudi's, Crown Grill (staff was amazine, Pub, Gigi's and Santorini our MDR and everything was great. Simply, the best, most relaxing vacation in a long time. We just booked the 10 day 4/9/25 we liked it so much!

The premier package was wonderful for us.  Drinking Johnny Walker Blue for about $8 per glass and Caymas at the crown grill for about $9 a glass was great.  Also, the wine tasting was very good on this cruise as well.  They had about 7 sommelier present each variety of wine and it was pretty informative.  We have been to others on other lines, but they took a more serious approach on Enchanted which was nice.  

[takevtr1]

Can I please jump in with a few questions.

Quick background - first time on Princess - sailing Enchanted Princess soon (keeping the actual sail date private) - but have sailed most other cruise lines before.

• Regarding the Enchanted Princess out of FLL, any idea what deck we board on? And the location? (mid-ship, aft, forward etc.)
• I have some nice OBC from my travel agent. Can this be used in the casino? If so, how?
• I have the plus pkg, so no free specialty dining. I want to reserve in advance of sailing but it wants to charge me for the dinner, BUT we want to sue some of our OBC to pay. I heard you can get a refund once on the ship and they will remove the charge and then use the OBC, BUT, they won't refund the dining charge but only give it back as OBC which I don't want/need. Any way around this?

Thanks very much - I may have follow-up questions.

Mitch

 

[20165]

10 hours ago, takevtr1 said:

Can I please jump in with a few questions.

Quick background - first time on Princess - sailing Enchanted Princess soon (keeping the actual sail date private) - but have sailed most other cruise lines before.

• Regarding the Enchanted Princess out of FLL, any idea what deck we board on? And the location? (mid-ship, aft, forward etc.)
• I have some nice OBC from my travel agent. Can this be used in the casino? If so, how?
• I have the plus pkg, so no free specialty dining. I want to reserve in advance of sailing but it wants to charge me for the dinner, BUT we want to sue some of our OBC to pay. I heard you can get a refund once on the ship and they will remove the charge and then use the OBC, BUT, they won't refund the dining charge but only give it back as OBC which I don't want/need. Any way around this?

Thanks very much - I may have follow-up questions.

Mitch

 

To answer your first bullet, i believe we boarded on deck 5 and there were two different entrances open that we relatively close. One on each side the atrium. 

 

Cant answer question 2, we didnt have any on board credit, but the money we used in the casino did go on our onboard account so i assume your credit would go toward that.

 

Not sure what cabin category you are in, but if you have a suite, i would just have the concierge do all of your reservations.  We had no problems getting in wherever whenever we wanted.  We did book one restaurant online prior to the cruise, but if we had it to do over, we would have just had the concierge do it all for us once we boarded and will do that next time.  There was no reason to stress about it pre cruise if you have access to the concierge.

 

[kywildcatfanone]

10 hours ago, takevtr1 said:

Can I please jump in with a few questions.

Quick background - first time on Princess - sailing Enchanted Princess soon (keeping the actual sail date private) - but have sailed most other cruise lines before.

• Regarding the Enchanted Princess out of FLL, any idea what deck we board on? And the location? (mid-ship, aft, forward etc.)
• I have some nice OBC from my travel agent. Can this be used in the casino? If so, how?
• I have the plus pkg, so no free specialty dining. I want to reserve in advance of sailing but it wants to charge me for the dinner, BUT we want to sue some of our OBC to pay. I heard you can get a refund once on the ship and they will remove the charge and then use the OBC, BUT, they won't refund the dining charge but only give it back as OBC which I don't want/need. Any way around this?

Thanks very much - I may have follow-up questions.

Mitch

 

You will board in deck 5, but you can't use it prior to boarding for specialty dining.  It's a hook, if you will. You should be able to use OBC in the casino, but I'm not certain.

[takevtr1]

4 hours ago, 20165 said:

To answer your first bullet, i believe we boarded on deck 5 and there were two different entrances open that we relatively close. One on each side the atrium. 

 

Cant answer question 2, we didnt have any on board credit, but the money we used in the casino did go on our onboard account so i assume your credit would go toward that.

 

Not sure what cabin category you are in, but if you have a suite, i would just have the concierge do all of your reservations.  We had no problems getting in wherever whenever we wanted.  We did book one restaurant online prior to the cruise, but if we had it to do over, we would have just had the concierge do it all for us once we boarded and will do that next time.  There was no reason to stress about it pre cruise if you have access to the concierge.

 

Hi 20165, 

thanks for all your responses. Very helpful.

we booked a dlx balcony, but put in a bid for upgrade to a D4 balcony and won!! Very Happy with that.

[takevtr1]

4 hours ago, kywildcatfanone said:

You will board in deck 5, but you can't use it prior to boarding for specialty dining.  It's a hook, if you will. You should be able to use OBC in the casino, but I'm not certain.

thanks for the information.

Can't understand why they won't allow you to reserve dining in advance using OBC - oh well we will just have to take our chances and hope for the best. We are a party of 6, so hopefully they can accommodate us.

Thanks!!

[mistyPA]

17 hours ago, takevtr1 said:

thanks for the information.

Can't understand why they won't allow you to reserve dining in advance using OBC - oh well we will just have to take our chances and hope for the best. We are a party of 6, so hopefully they can accommodate us.

Thanks!!

We were in the same position, a good amount of obc and wanted to book the restaurants and were unable to. We did upgrade to Premier once onboard, so we had 2 specialty restaurants included, so we wanted to take advantage of the package. We were a party of 7, so we went to Rudi's Catch the first night and had no problem getting a table. Then we went around to see if we could book another restaurant and did get a table at Sabatini's but never went. The maitre d wasn't great. He was the only negative for us on the cruise. We stopped by, he said he could give us a table at 5:00 on the day we were in St. Thomas, however, they put the reservation on San Juan day(we did the food tour so wouldn't be hungry enough for a big meal). When we stopped by to make the change he was very confrontational. At the end, he said he would give us whatever we wanted, but we canceled the reservation. We did stop by the Crown Grill and was told by maitre d to return the next day and he could get us a table and lo and behold he did. Giovanni, Alexa and assistant were all great in the Crown.

 

So, they will likely be able to accommodate you, but you may have to be flexible in dining times. We dined around 6 in both restaurants.

 

Also, you are able to use the credits in the casino. When you sign in the machine asks if you want to charge to your account, if you say yes, it asks how much, they transfer the funds to the machine you are on and you play. If you have obc, it just deletes from the amount. 

Edited May 4 by mistyPA

[takevtr1]

On 5/4/2024 at 11:59 AM, mistyPA said:

We were in the same position, a good amount of obc and wanted to book the restaurants and were unable to. We did upgrade to Premier once onboard, so we had 2 specialty restaurants included, so we wanted to take advantage of the package. We were a party of 7, so we went to Rudi's Catch the first night and had no problem getting a table. Then we went around to see if we could book another restaurant and did get a table at Sabatini's but never went. The maitre d wasn't great. He was the only negative for us on the cruise. We stopped by, he said he could give us a table at 5:00 on the day we were in St. Thomas, however, they put the reservation on San Juan day(we did the food tour so wouldn't be hungry enough for a big meal). When we stopped by to make the change he was very confrontational. At the end, he said he would give us whatever we wanted, but we canceled the reservation. We did stop by the Crown Grill and was told by maitre d to return the next day and he could get us a table and lo and behold he did. Giovanni, Alexa and assistant were all great in the Crown.

 

So, they will likely be able to accommodate you, but you may have to be flexible in dining times. We dined around 6 in both restaurants.

 

Also, you are able to use the credits in the casino. When you sign in the machine asks if you want to charge to your account, if you say yes, it asks how much, they transfer the funds to the machine you are on and you play. If you have obc, it just deletes from the amount. 

thank you so much for all this information. Greatly appreciated!!