steve4031

I signed up to have the medallion shipped for my June cruise when I booked in September.  It seems strange that Princess would randomly change.  The website is tricky to navigate.  If possible, I suggest playing around on the website to see if you can order them.  I have no personal experience arrive at the port without the Medallion.  Some have said it is easy to get it at the port, others complained about the wait.  

A group moves as fast as it least competent, slowest person.  Every group has one.  This will be the person that causes all of you to miss that flight or have a close call.  IMHO the cost of spending one night in a hotel would be a lot cheaper than the cost of staying a few nights until you all get accomodated on later flights after your group misses the first flight.  

I have a good travel agent and have actually contacted him to start the new booking. This was a problem of my own making in that I did not check the correct calendar out of 3 versions and assumed the last day of school was June 6th without double-checking carefully. I was going to join a friend who had already booked the 6/8/24 sailing of The Enchanted Princess.  We are now both investigating the process of switching to the 6/15/24 Enchanted Princess cruise to the western Caribbean.  My buddy was really looking forward to the private island and the beach time.

This TA charges 75 for booking, but he got perks worth more than that on my Cunard booking last summer.  

That was what I was thinking.  That is not a problem.  I will get it taken care of.  Thank you.  

Greetings,

I booked a cruise and paid the 125 deposit a couple of weeks ago.  I was trying to change my booking on the website and could not see how to do it.  Is it better to just call?

9 minutes ago, chrysalis said:

We have spent about 120 days on the Enchanted since the "restart"...love the ship and the crew has been great.

 

Try the Sanctuary if you can get a booking.

 

Enjoy an evening at "Good Spirits" in the Piazza, and the International Cafe in the morning.

 

A new seafood restaurant (The Catch by Rudi) has been added in the last dry dock and it is supposed to be excellent.

 

When are you sailing?

I am sailing on June 8, 2024.  I have read quite a bit about the ship and im pretty excited to try a new cruiseline.  I have been on Carnival, NCL, HAL, Cunard, and will be on Princess in June.  

Greetings,

I am curious as to what you would recommend for a first-time cruiser on Princess.  Thank you.  

This thread is helpful.  I intend to have laundry done on my Enchanted Princess cruise.  I am not an elite and will be paying.  What is the turn around time for paid laundry bags?

I am assuming it would be possible to print out documents showing that you are booked on the cruise and should be allowed entry into the terminal.  

1 minute ago, Lady Arwen said:

You could be assigned a deluxe balcony in a location that Princess deems to be a huge upgrade, which is dubious at best.  However, you do know that your CVP can override the system and get you your choice assigned immediately.  We just did this two weeks ago on our Enchanted booking.  Princess holds these cabin back hoping to get bookings for three passengers, but they will release them to their own CVPs.  To see which cabins are available, do a booking for  your sailing entering three passengers, not two.  You will now see which ones are available and you can then ask your CVP to snag it for you.

 

I booked in line and since this is my first cruise with princess I do not have rapport with a CVP.  Since I’m traveling by myself I should be ok in any cabin.  

Thank you.  That's about what I expected.  It is nice to know the range of cabins that I could occupy.  

I am more curious than worried.  I am looking forward to my first Princess cruise and am curious as to what could happen. I understand that the cabin probably will not be assigned until sometime after the final payment.  

This link has the menus for all of the restaurants. 

https://profcruise.com/new-princess-casual-dining-menus/

If you turn the lights of, is it ok to keep the curtains open to look out at night? 

I had the same question last week.  I googled it and it was not the fancy restaurants.  It was restaurants that appeared to be geared more towards lunchtime.  

30 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, but there are other Deluxes with higher sub-categories with presumably better locations, such as DD, DC, DB, DA.

I understand.  I could get an obstructed view or an unfavorable location.  I am traveling by myself.  So I think I should be ok.  

22 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

DE is a cabin category.  Deluxe Balcony Stateroom DE

22 minutes ago, hpeabody said:

DE is a cabin category.  Deluxe Balcony Stateroom DE

Thank you. That's what understood when I booked thstvi was getting a deluxe balcony.  

I just booked a guaranteed balcony on the Enchanted Princess for 6/8 departure from Ft Lauderdale. I received the confirmation and saw guarantee/DE.  I understand how guarantee works in that I'm guaranteed a balcony cabin someplace on the ship.  I was more curious about DE.  

This is all very helpful.  It makes sense to stay in the hotel as long as possible and then get to the pier after the other passengers have boarded.  Based on what I have read about the demographics of Oceania passengers, having them stand in the hot sun for two hours is a recipe for health challenges.  

I've done some hotel research and I think I would probably go with the Hilton.  

The ship would be the Insignia.  I've read reviews and some people like and some people don't.  The funniest review was titled "Oceania is like Amtrak" and had a few lines of vague complaints.  I enjoy Amtrak and have ridden every route.  Even on its best day, Amtrak could never approach Oceania's level of customer service.  It would not even reach Carnival's level of customer service.  

That being said, I am not to worried about the quality of life on board the ship.  I understand this ship is significantly smaller, 684 passengers IIRC) than any of the other ships that I have been on. Those have had between 2,000 and 3,000 passengers.  I am curious as to how the smaller ship would handle rougher seas.  

2 minutes ago, PirateShark said:

 

We went to Palette on Oceania in 2014 and took O's non-stop from LAX via a short hop we paid for using points from SMF.  At that time, flights to Tahiti were insanely expensive so that combo worked for us even with the deviation fee.  It is also the only time we've used O flights.  I would consider pricing your own airfare first then ask O about what they could offer.  Be aware the flights from SFO may be non-stop to Papeete or routed through Honolulu.  It will be whatever O's contact is which will usually be cheaper for them.

 

Do the same with your hotels.  I used my status with IHC to get a great rate on an over water bungalow for the price of an ocean view room for a few days stay before our cruise.  Os hotels are designed to make them money and while they do include transfers, DIY transfers on that small island will be much more reasonable.

 

Finally, we also had a PH on that cruise.  The butler saved us a couple of times from dressing for dinner due to us being out in the sun all day snorkeling, by serving us dinner in suite a couple of nights.  Something to consider.  Whatever you decide, you will have a wonderful time in paradise.

 

 

Pirate Shark, thank you for your detailed responses.  I am a teacher so I can book a year and a half out and get a balcony, but I don't know if I could afford a PH with a butler.  United did not seem too bad when I checked for June 2024.  The airfare was 1,200 per person in economy, and maybe 1900 for premium economy.  If O can beat that I would think about it.  If it was about the same I think I would just go with United.  

I am considering this cruise.  It would be my first on Oceania.  My first question is how to work the airfare portion from Chicago to Papeete.  I see United has a connection through San Francisco.  I probably would use United.   Would Oceania included air work better?  

What about hotels for the night before the cruise?  I looked briefly and it seemed most of the hotels were the expensive ones with overwater bungalows.  Does Oceania have competitive pre-cruise packages? 

Anything I should be aware of when booking this cruise?  I know about the many sea days.  I did a transatlantic last summer on Cunard and we enjoyed the sea days.   

I am having trouble resetting my password.  I have submitted a password change request in Chrome and in Safari from a Macbook.  I am checking spam too, but a reset email is not being sent.  

We had fixed dining times and the tables on each side were anytime dining.