Liveish from the Enchanted Princess

[1025cruise]

So, I’m a little late to the party.
I’m cruising with my wife while we celebrate our birthdays from last week. As a splurge, I booked us in an aft wrap around balcony suite. This is our first return to Princess in 12 years. Timing just hasn’t worked for a Princess cruise so we’ve gone on other lines. 

We flew in to Fort Lauderdale on Friday evening. There is a small airport near our home with a daily flight to FLL. For once, we were early. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street. For a place to rest our heads for one night, no issues. Picked it due to the fact that they have a shuttle and were right next door to the Princess GO lounge which we were invited to. Once we got to the hotel, we walked to carrabas next door for dinner then called it a night.

On Saturday morning, we enjoyed the free breakfast that was mobbed. I then ran an errand to Walgreens before we headed to the lounge. The entrance is hidden, you need to walk in to the garage to find out. This was a great perk. We got checked in, our luggage brought over to the port, and even had our medallions brought over from the port. When we were ready, we were brought over in a nice shuttle. Once we got there, we were escorted straight to security, cutting the line, and then straight to the ship to embark.

Once we got on, we found a quiet spot to watch the safety video and then checked into our muster station. Afterwards, we headed to the Capri dining room for lunch (being in a suite we get to enjoy the reserve collection). By the time we were done, we went up to our suite to get rid of our carryons. Wow what a suite. We ended up just staying there for a bit. I headed down the hall to the concierge lounge to see what it's about. Free non alcoholic drinks, some snacks, and a happy hour. For dinner we ate in the Crown Grill since it was complimentary. More to come later.

[Cruz4Sun]

Sounds like a great start to your cruise!  The Princess GO lounge really cuts some corners and must be a wonderful beginning for flyers.  We drive to the port so it doesn't sound like I will get to experience this.

Enjoy your suite and I'll look forward to seeing your additional posts.  I will be on the Enchanted for the first time early next year.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Sounds like a great start to your cruise and your suite sounds fantastic.  I have a friend on this sailing and it sounds like it's been going well so far. 

 

Have fun!

[1025cruise]

Yesterday, we got up and went to the suite breakfast. On this ship the suite breakfast is held in the Crown Grill. It's a very nice experience. As it was a sea day, we just relaxed. We attended a q&a with the captain. In the afternoon we had time scheduled in the spa. One thing to note, since this ship has the smaller enclave and not a thermal suite, the suite perk of access to the thermal suite is not offered. Our massages were great and my wife's hair looks excellent. 

 

This was the first formal night. There was also a suite reception in the concierge lounge, but we didn't make it. We are dinner in the Reserve collection in Capri, and then went to the comedy show after donating to the casino. Afterwards, we went to the gelateria for a sundae that was included in the plus package. 

[1025cruise]

Now onto today. We're in Costa Maya. We'll be staying aboard. No interest in the beach or the ruins. My wife has a mani/Pedi scheduled for this afternoon. Today was also a ship drill. I find it interesting to watch. No abandon ship today. We might have lunch at GiGis. 

 

As of yesterday, there has been no change due to Berle, but obviously things are being kept an eye on.

[arizonaperson]

@1025cruise great following along on your Liveish cruise.  Sounds like a nice start to your voyage with plenty of relaxation & pampering.

Enjoy.

[1025cruise]

I got to say, this is the busiest I've seen a ship on a port day. Not sure if it's the weather.

[JamieLogical]

I am glad to hear you didn't have any issues with your stay at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th. When my husband and I were there in May, our bathroom was so dimly lit that we ended up trying to shine our cell phone flashlights into it to shower. Then there were so many issues with the water pressure and temperature that it took my husband 45 minutes to get a full shower. The two towels they gave us were the size of the ones you usually see used as bath mats in hotels. The bed was very comfortable though!

[gsmith2424]

3 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

 

As of yesterday, there has been no change due to Berle, but obviously things are being kept an eye on.

Cozumel/Belize looks like it could be the sticking point based on the latest forecast. Based on the 2PM forecast the storm will be at the far eastern edge of Honduras on Thursday morning after just skirting Jamaica on Wednesday night and hitting Costa Maya head on early Friday morning. With that said I think Roatan may be good but after that could be a question mark.

[1025cruise]

We just had an announcement that Belize is gone, Cozumel is a day early, sea day, than adding in Nassau. Personally, I think Cozumel might be a crap shoot. 

[1025cruise]

As I'm waiting for the comedy show, here are some interesting tidbits.

Service has been wonderful. 

The Internet is starlink, but it's not better or worse than other Internet service on a cruise. When I attempted a speed test, I was only getting 1mb.

This cruise is the current production casts last cruise. 

For us, food had been good, but we know that can be subjective. 

For those with plus or premium, the only available premium desserts are the huge sundaes at the gelateria. I know I can't eat 2 of those a day. Heck, I'm not sure I could do one daily.

The take 5 lounge is now a non smoking casino with a bar. I had been looking forward to the jazz.

Having been on older princess ships, the location of sabatinnis is terrible. It's on a overhang of the Piazza. Not an intimate area. I guess Rudy's took over it's space when it was put in. What a shame.

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

As I'm waiting for the comedy show, here are some interesting tidbits.

Service has been wonderful. 

The Internet is starlink, but it's not better or worse than other Internet service on a cruise. When I attempted a speed test, I was only getting 1mb.

This cruise is the current production casts last cruise. 

For us, food had been good, but we know that can be subjective. 

For those with plus or premium, the only available premium desserts are the huge sundaes at the gelateria. I know I can't eat 2 of those a day. Heck, I'm not sure I could do one daily.

The take 5 lounge is now a non smoking casino with a bar. I had been looking forward to the jazz.

Having been on older princess ships, the location of sabatinnis is terrible. It's on an overhang of the Piazza. Not an intimate area. I guess Rudy's took over it's space when it was put in. What a shame.

The whole issue with the piazza on Royal class ships is a problem. Way too many venues open to the that area and the noise level is deafening 

[Canuker]

9 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

The take 5 lounge is now a non smoking casino with a bar. I had been looking forward to the jazz.

 

OP: is there jazz elsewhere on the ship, or has the music also been buried along with the Take 5 lounge?

[Thrak]

19 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

The take 5 lounge is now a non smoking casino with a bar. I had been looking forward to the jazz.

 

This is so very sad. We've only had one cruise with Take 5 and we were there every night. It was our favorite venue by far. We were so happy to have a jazz venue. This seems likely to be another JP stupidity.

Edited July 2 by Thrak

[wallyj]

28 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

As I'm waiting for the comedy show, here are some interesting tidbits.

Service has been wonderful. 

The Internet is starlink, but it's not better or worse than other Internet service on a cruise. When I attempted a speed test, I was only getting 1mb.

This cruise is the current production casts last cruise. 

For us, food had been good, but we know that can be subjective. 

For those with plus or premium, the only available premium desserts are the huge sundaes at the gelateria. I know I can't eat 2 of those a day. Heck, I'm not sure I could do one daily.

The take 5 lounge is now a non smoking casino with a bar. I had been looking forward to the jazz.

Having been on older princess ships, the location of sabatinnis is terrible. It's on a overhang of the Piazza. Not an intimate area. I guess Rudy's took over it's space when it was put in. What a shame.

I was on Enchanted 6/15-6/29. I had Premier Pkg. At the Gelateria, they offered I could have ‘any’ gelato in cup or cone . They also have the 3 different premium ‘cakes’, in addition to the giant Sundaes, so surprised this policy has possibly changed? Please ask if this is a new policy as I had no problem getting scoops of any Gelato.

 

Yes, Rudi’s The Catch was moved to the former Sabatini’s location. I believe Princess also moved The Catch to the former Harmony location on the Majestic which was the same location as Sabatini’s on Enchanted before the swaps. I believe Gastropub was replaced by O’Malley’s on Discovery and they also moved Catch to Sabatini’s space on deck5 swapping spaces.

 

Yes the open area where Sabatini’s is now is not very intimate and gets Piazza events noise.

 

I understand on 5/18, the Enchanted now offers Late night Bites at O’Malley’s from 9-11pm. which is a limited menu of the regular menu AND is NOT covered if you have Plus OR Premier. I shared my displeasure with the Hotel GM and they said it was a pilot program. I do not think I saw any passengers partaking in the Late night bites, so will be interested if it survives.

[wallyj]

On the 6/22 sailing, one of the female cast dancers was injured so the shows had to be reblocked and substitutions implemented. Was informed current cast is scheduled for only 3 more weeks, so replacement dancer will not be joining and they will make do till new cast comes aboard.

 

On our 6/15 sailing , guest Tenor had to leave for personal reasons, so for 6/22 sailing, Rock Opera was performed with one of the casts lead Male singer filling in for the guest Tenor songs. They did a decent job and unless you knew which songs were supposed to be performed by the guest Tenor, you probably did not know there was a change.

[Grego]

10 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

We just had an announcement that Belize is gone, Cozumel is a day early, sea day, than adding in Nassau. Personally, I think Cozumel might be a crap shoot. 

This is a real interesting hurricane season already.  Living in southeast Florida we are constantly on top of the storms forming.

We sail on the Enchanted at the end of July and out itinerary is the same as your was scheduled. Since we have been to all these ports many times and as recently as in May, we really don't care if there if there are port changes since we are most likely staying aboard the ship anyway.  What we do have concern about are the ports themselves and the people there. It looks like Beryl will weaken before it gets to Belize and Costa Maya, but it is still a hurricane and there is an Invest right behind it that hasn't formed as of this writing.

We are certainly ahead of the hurricane schedule as predicted being in a La Nina condition, so we have our hurricane preparation underway so we can leave for the voyage with our home in a safe condition.....fingers crossed.

Be safe all aboard the Enchanted Princess and enjoy your days aboard her.

[1025cruise]

The port changes don’t bother me, though Belize was our only new port. My plan had been to enjoy my extra large balcony, but the rain had dampened that. Though I wish there was some sun cover. 
After we had breakfast yesterday, we sat in the promenade to watch the crew drill, after making sure we weren’t in the way. We attended a couple of trivia sessions, then headed for lunch. Gigis was full with a line, so we headed up to the buffet. We had a slight time crunch due to my wife’s mani/pedi. For a port day, everything was mobbed. Most likely due to weather. While my wife got her nails done, I rested in the cabin. We then headed to the comedian. If you ever get Robbie Printz, highly recommend it. We’re going to try to stay up for his late show. Then dinner, then bed ( yeah, it was early).

 

 Currently en route to Roatan. 
 

I’ve not seen any jazz in the patter. The information about the desserts came from the concierge. He said the cakes didn’t count, just the sundaes. I guess I can ask at the gelateria. There had been live music nightly, but at least three venues are in or around the piazza. 
 

Other information, there have been 2 time changes, one before Costa Maya, and one before Roatan. Then 2 time changes on the way back. I think the time changes ate screwing with me. 
 

Also, a major annoyance. The photographers are setting up in the midship elevator lobbies, effectively blocking access to the elevators. On the formal night, we could barely get off the elevator.

[avonlady6390]

Check at the IC those cakes maybe there in a display case and they are part of the special desserts.

[muffydawg]

13 hours ago, Canuker said:

OP: is there jazz elsewhere on the ship, or has the music also been buried along with the Take 5 lounge?

Jazz band played at a section of the Crown Grill bar area adjacent to the Crown Grill open "wine room"--needless to say the music was just too loud for dinner conversation.

[1025cruise]

1 minute ago, muffydawg said:

Jazz band played at a section of the Crown Grill bar area adjacent to the Crown Grill open "wine room"--needless to say the music was just too loud for dinner conversation.

On this cruise, that area has rotated amongst the different music acts. 

[wallyj]

3 hours ago, avonlady6390 said:

Check at the IC those cakes maybe there in a display case and they are part of the special desserts.

On Enchanted, the ‘special cakes’ are located at the Gelateria and there is a sign. My experience on Enchanted last month, they have pre sliced portions ready to go in a holding area below the display cases.

[beshears]

I'm enjoying reading the different comments in regard to the Enchanted which 7 or 8 of us plan to do in February. Our son and wife left a couple days ago for Cancun with the storm brewing, but they said they arrive, and everything seemed to be fine in their area. Also the trip that is being posted about right now, we did this on the Regal in February of this year.

[memoak]

3 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

On this cruise, that area has rotated amongst the different music acts. 

On ships without a Take 5 we have always looked for the house band playing in various venues several times a cruise like Adagio or Wheelhouse or Piazza. The are very talented musicians really love playing jazz rather than backing up guest singers 

[1025cruise]

Well, made it to Gigi's today for lunch. Not a huge minestrone fan, but it was good, as was the pizza. 

I also went down to the gelateria and confirmed the cakes are included as premium desserts. Wasn't hungry for any, but it looked good. 

Weather is nice today.