Just Back From Enchanted Princess

[Wakepatrol]

We just returned from seven days on the Enchanted Princess. I must confess we were underwhelmed. The ship was beautiful at first glance. The atrium is stunning. 

 

For starters, the ship was oversold and we sailed with 4,043 passengers. This was the 3rd and 4th person sail-free cruise. Too many kids and too many people were probably first-time cruisers. 

I witnessed backward ball caps in the dining room

every evening. Then on formal night, they got their act together turned the bill around, and complimented it with shorts and a fishing shirt with a flap on the back and Crocs. Men in the Lido with no shirt on was the norm. Are you supposed to eat and chew with your mouth open? This I saw constantly. It seems some of these cruisers had never ridden an elevator before and how they work. They’re running and cramming into the car, while passengers are trying to get off.

The Captain made several announcements not to bring any food ashore for it was against the rules of the local authorities. As I got off the first port of Cozumel I looked ahead of me and there was a Mexican customs agent with a Golden retriever sniffing everyone’s bags. I walked a little further and there was a table of sandwiches, pastries, bananas, apples, etc. 

 

The ship was too hot in many areas and cool in other areas. The pools were never clear, they were milky at best and uninviting, but with the hot sun I ventured in and they were hot as soup and nonrefreshing. There’s very little shade unless you wake up at some crazy hour to reserve a lounge 

 

I‘m sorry to sound like such a downer. The food was great. The selection was great. The crew was fine but not overly outgoing. It seemed like most of them were counting the days till their contract ended. We had Joseph in the Amalfi dining room as our waiter who was outstanding. 

 

The entertainment was Meh. We got a great deal on this cruise. Celebrity would have cost us a little more. We tried to roll the dice and save a few bucks and I guess, you get what you pay for.

 

Any questions feel free to ask

[ldubs]

I'm sorry to read about this experience on Enchanted.  Other than the food, it sounds like your cruise fell somewhere between bad and it sucked.  

 

Doubly bad if you first Princess cruise.   

[d9704011]

Sounds OK to me for a seven day cruise in July out of the US.

[LACruiser88]

This is one of the reasons we avoid cruising during the summer months with kids out of school.

 

And, you would have a whole different experience on longer voyages.

 

So sorry you had such a bad experience.  

[Wakepatrol]

Oh no- We had a good time, it just wasn’t a memorable cruise . Just a little too casual for us. The ship is beautiful, the vibe was off

[mtnesterz]

Regarding your experiences in the dining room, last week our CVP said Princess will redefine their dress standards soon. He would not tell me details of the new policy. If anyone knows, many here would be interested to know.

[edspec]

My guess is that dress code will go to wear whatever you want with dress to impress optional. 

[Wishing on a star]

I have heard that some think that the new three tiered dining program will not only have three different types of dining. (Traditional, Reservation, Walk-in) but will also involve three different levels of dress-code.

This might actually be a good way to address the snobs-vs-slobs differences.

 

Wakepatrol, I am sorry to hear about these 'less-than' aspects of your cruise.

I think that there is some truth to the idea that the time of year and the itinerary make a very noticeable difference.   We also ONLY vacation/cruise when it is not the middle of summer, holidays, or other overcrowded busy 'family' vacation times.  Our experience has not been what you describe. (Even so, the last few vacations, even off-season, the number of kids, many below school age, is just incredible.  I do not know why families with children do not choose more family friendly vacations.

 

The one thing that would bother me, and I would not want to simply look the other way...  your description of the pools.

[1025cruise]

My only complaint about the dress code is that if they are going to have one, to actually enforce it.

[Wakepatrol]

My wife is a teacher, so unfortunately we can only go on cruises, on winter and spring break plus summer. We went on the Rotterdam on Spring Break this year and we witnessed nothing like this. We went on the Celebrity Beyond the Spring Break before and were wowed every step of the way.  I realize once upon a time they rented tuxes aboard and formal nights everybody dressed to the nines.

Those days are long gone, eating in the dining room now, is simply “Stopping For Gas”

but showing up like Tom Hanks in Castaway 

just appears strange to us

[SCX22]

Sailed on the Enchanted last October/November in Europe.  At that time, I was told the ship let crew go because they weren't up to snuff, so the ship was understaffed, and their replacements weren't coming until the ship crossed the pond to Fort Lauderdale in December.  Not good to hear a lot of staff is still just going through the motions. 

[Wakepatrol]

2 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

Sailed on the Enchanted last October/November in Europe.  At that time, I was told the ship let crew go because they weren't up to snuff, so the ship was understaffed, and their replacements weren't coming until the ship crossed the pond to Fort Lauderdale in December.  Not good to hear a lot of staff is still just going through the motions. 

We’ve sailed on all of the mass market lines. In my opinion nothing can even come close to the Holland America crew. Hands down they are the best. The first night on this cruise we were sat at the worst table in the restaurant. The next night the waiter brought everything at once soup

salad,entree etc. I asked for coffee with my dessert and you’d think I asked the guy for a kidney. He explained to me they are closed at 9:pm. Well our reservation was at 8pm and that’s when we showed up?????

 

We then found Joseph in Amalfi and dined with him the rest of the cruise. He was a consummate pro who has worked on Princess for 26 years. 

 

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

In all fairness, comparing to Holland and Celebrity to Princess is at an imbalance when you look at the costs of those 2 cruise lines.  I've wanted to jump ship from Princess, but have a difficult time paying 25% to 50% more for the experience.  

 

I am not defending Princess.  Did you find the Enchanted experience acceptable minus the passengers?  This is why I do not choose to cruise on a Royal Class ship.  Too many passengers and not enough public venues.  Your major complaints seem to be passenger related (dress code/social manners/behaviors/entitlement:oops, sorry).

 

I was a teacher.  I would avoid summer travels.  Last summer, I was on a New England cruise.  It took me about 5 days (out of the 13) to realize that the reason I was having such a difficult time getting adjusted was the summer vibes.  

 

Your time with Princess will come when your wife retires and you can take a cruise to Hawaii.  Longer cruises have a totally different make up.

 

Thank you for voicing your concerns.  Next time, try a Reserve Collection MiniSuite or a Suite on a Grand/GEM class ship.  Your dining experience will be so much improved.  If you want a true Suite experience, you will need to be on a Royal Class ship that will have a Suite Concierge's Lounge.

 

1 hour ago, Wakepatrol said:

My wife is a teacher, so unfortunately we can only go on cruises, on winter and spring break plus summer. We went on the Rotterdam on Spring Break this year and we witnessed nothing like this. We went on the Celebrity Beyond the Spring Break before and were wowed every step of the way.  I realize once upon a time they rented tuxes aboard and formal nights everybody dressed to the nines.

Those days are long gone, eating in the dining room now, is simply “Stopping For Gas”

but showing up like Tom Hanks in Castaway 

just appears strange to us

 

[Wakepatrol]

32 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

In all fairness, comparing to Holland and Celebrity to Princess is at an imbalance when you look at the costs of those 2 cruise lines.  I've wanted to jump ship from Princess, but have a difficult time paying 25% to 50% more for the experience.  

 

I am not defending Princess.  Did you find the Enchanted experience acceptable minus the passengers?  This is why I do not choose to cruise on a Royal Class ship.  Too many passengers and not enough public venues.  Your major complaints seem to be passenger related (dress code/social manners/behaviors/entitlement:oops, sorry).

 

I was a teacher.  I would avoid summer travels.  Last summer, I was on a New England cruise.  It took me about 5 days (out of the 13) to realize that the reason I was having such a difficult time getting adjusted was the summer vibes.  

 

Your time with Princess will come when your wife retires and you can take a cruise to Hawaii.  Longer cruises have a totally different make up.

 

Thank you for voicing your concerns.  Next time, try a Reserve Collection MiniSuite or a Suite on a Grand/GEM class ship.  Your dining experience will be so much improved.  If you want a true Suite experience, you will need to be on a Royal Class ship that will have a Suite Concierge's Lounge.

 

 

Yes exactly- The ship was beautiful, the gang aboard not so much. We are by no means hoity toity. We sailed on the Caribbean Princess  two summers ago which everyone wants sent to the scrapyard. We loved the ship and the vibe was great. 

Edited July 21 by Wakepatrol

[555]

8 hours ago, Wakepatrol said:

My wife is a teacher, so unfortunately we can only go on cruises, on winter and spring break plus summer. We went on the Rotterdam on Spring Break this year and we witnessed nothing like this. We went on the Celebrity Beyond the Spring Break before and were wowed every step of the way.  I realize once upon a time they rented tuxes aboard and formal nights everybody dressed to the nines.

Those days are long gone, eating in the dining room now, is simply “Stopping For Gas”

but showing up like Tom Hanks in Castaway 

just appears strange to us

We've been on the Enchanted many times and have yet to experience anything close to what you describe. Unfortunately if it's your only option, a longer cruise and more expensive cruise line might alleviate some of the bad experiences you encountered.

Even at Christmas time when the ship was filled to capacity were things that bad. It make me wonder what you really expected of a cruise during the summer vacation season. 

[skynight]

What is described is kind of what I would expect on a one week July/August cruise from a U.S. port. In the past Princess would remove their ships from the Caribbean in the summer months. But, I guess there is just too much revenue there. 

[Wakepatrol]

13 hours ago, edspec said:

My guess is that dress code will go to wear whatever you want with dress to impress optional. 

Yes - This must have just been implemented 

[Lady Arwen]

We’re sailing on Enchanted next month Canada New England.  We’re going to take a break from Princess for the next year or so.  Other cruiselines may be more expensive, but you really do get what you pay for.  It seems Princess is going in the direction of Carnival and RCI.  That’s just not for us anymore. 

[WisCruiser2]

13 hours ago, SCX22 said:

Sailed on the Enchanted last October/November in Europe.  At that time, I was told the ship let crew go because they weren't up to snuff, so the ship was understaffed, and their replacements weren't coming until the ship crossed the pond to Fort Lauderdale in December.  Not good to hear a lot of staff is still just going through the motions. 

We were on Enchanted for 20 days in February and thought the crew was great! Wonder if there was a lot of turnover (contracts ending) between then and now or if just overwhelmed by number of passengers? 

As far as dress code, well, lots of people don't think the rules apply to them...

[555]

1 hour ago, Wakepatrol said:

Yes - This must have just been implemented 

Actually it's been the same for a while now, but you wouldn't think so if reading the Princess web site. 

I believe they want people to believe it's more formal than it really is on all their ships, which might come as a shock to some.

Perhaps it's time that their web site agrees with the actual dress code that's tolerated on their ships.  

 

[Lady Arwen]

49 minutes ago, 555 said:

Actually it's been the same for a while now, but you wouldn't think so if reading the Princess web site. 

I believe they want people to believe it's more formal than it really is on all their ships, which might come as a shock to some.

Perhaps it's time that their web site agrees with the actual dress code that's tolerated on their ships.  

 

Exactly 

[Wakepatrol]

2 hours ago, 555 said:

Actually it's been the same for a while now, but you wouldn't think so if reading the Princess web site. 

I believe they want people to believe it's more formal than it really is on all their ships, which might come as a shock to some.

Perhaps it's time that their web site agrees with the actual dress code that's tolerated on their ships.  

 

Right now, we’re veering towards ,just show up in a diaper

[Wishing on a star]

OMG!!!!  an adult-diaper...  NO...  I will not post what is going thru my head!!!!  HAHAHAHA!

 

I do think and hope that the new dining system also involves three dress-codes that are enforced.

This might help with these disagreements.  But, then again, there will still be the entitled and disrespectful hold-outs that want traditional white table cloth and full service dining, in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.  Uggghhhh.

Edited July 21 by Wishing on a star

[dmcfad2]

i@Wakepatrol We were on Enchanted June 8-22 and had exactly the same experiences you did. (It was our 4th Princess cruise and we have loved them all.) This was the first time it was like this. Overbooked, too many people, milky pools, over 700 kids, some polite but many were not. Parents not paying attention to what their kids were doing because they were too busy looking at their phones. No dress code was enforced. We also saw shorts on dressy nights and in the steakhouse. It was the first time I have ever seen that. It didn’t ruin my dinner by any means and once people sit down, you can’t see it anyway. I just think they should enforce the dress code or don’t have one. I actually like being able to wear shorts to dinner and once we saw that many were doing it every night, we did, too. But, we drew the line on dressy nights. 
We thought the crew was fine, but they didn’t seem overly helpful. Several told us they were ready to go home. We normally sail Holland America and their crew is the best. They all seem to love their jobs. I think it sets them apart from other cruise lines we have been on.

Entertainment wasn’t up to the previous entertainment we saw on our other Princess cruises.

Food was the best we’ve had on Princess so far.

All in all, we chalked our experience up to being in the Caribbean on a back to back in the summer. We won’t do that again. LOL

[555]

48 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

I do think and hope that the new dining system also involves three dress-codes that are enforced.

This might help with these disagreements.  But, then again, there will still be the entitled and disrespectful hold-outs that want traditional white table cloth and full service dining, in shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops.  Uggghhhh.

I haven't heard about any dress differences yet with anytime or traditional dining rooms. I really hope that they don't segregate people and then have different menus in each DR or we'll be back to the same old problems we had before.