Any Enchanted good reviews?

[villauk]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:10 PM, MissP22 said:

That's not unreasonable for 7:30 PM. 

 

That’s fine if you haven’t pre-booked, but if you have reserved on the App, and Princess offers you the available times which you adhere to, then you shouldn’t be expected to have the waits that some cruisers have experienced. A one off is fine, but not night after night.

[MissP22]

11 hours ago, villauk said:

 

That’s fine if you haven’t pre-booked, but if you have reserved on the App, and Princess offers you the available times which you adhere to, then you shouldn’t be expected to have the waits that some cruisers have experienced. A one off is fine, but not night after night.

I may very well be wrong, but the way I intrepid it is that you make a reservation for a particular time but it's still not a guarantee that the minute you walk in a table will be waiting for you.

They really have no control of the speed others are eating or having after dinner drinks.

Their reservation system only holds your place to be seated at the next available table, ahead of those that arrive randomly at the door. 

Since you selected thee busiest time to dine, you shouldn't be to shocked at a 15 minute wait. 

[villauk]

6 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I may very well be wrong, but the way I intrepid it is that you make a reservation for a particular time but it's still not a guarantee that the minute you walk in a table will be waiting for you.

They really have no control of the speed others are eating or having after dinner drinks.

Their reservation system only holds your place to be seated at the next available table, ahead of those that arrive randomly at the door. 

Since you selected thee busiest time to dine, you shouldn't be to shocked at a 15 minute wait. 

 

They offer the times that are available to book, not the other way around. As I said, you don’t mind the odd night but it appears many have been waiting far longer than those 15 minutes, according to the reviews here, on several nights. We all know the problems they appear to be having with insufficient staff, so why are they sailing at full capacity when they can’t fulfil the requirements - well, we all know why 🤑💵💰 and it’s a shame for those staff onboard who have to deal with the constant fallout.

 

We can only hope the situation improves.

[jdacombe]

Have also posted this elsewhere.

FWIW here are some of my thoughts on our 5-12 August cruise.

Embarkation:

Taking into consideration the number of passengers, it was pretty efficient and seamless. The only real delay was going through security.

The Ship: 

As you would expect from a new ship it did not have that "tired" look and was lovely in keeping with other ship of this group (Regal etc;). I liked the new design of Princess Live and the Vista Lounge. The stateroom (Deluxe Balcony) and bathroom was just a bit on the small side but perfectly adequate. No problem at all with the shower having a curtain, pretty flow of water and very hot. My wife said that she found the decor quite bland, but I liked how understated and bright it made the room look.

Food:

We ate in Capri MDR, IC, GiGi's, Buffet and had Room Service breakfasts a couple of times. Was very impressed with the quality of food in all these areas, the steak with the surf 'n turf was one of the best I've had, although the Room Service Breakfast menu I though was rather small. The buffet was now back to virtually all self service.

My son is a vegan and had a problem in the IC where there was a lentil pie advertised as vegan, but when he asked about it he was told that it had egg wash on the pastry, he politely pointed out that this wasn't vegan, and to their credit future pies did not appear to be egg washed and not advertised as vegan. First night and last nights in the MDR he had very attentive waiters who produced a vegan menu and saw to his needs, great credit to both of them - he had two very enjoyable meals, sadly he had problems on one of the formal nights, his first main dish contained cheese, and also had problems with the alternative that was offered, in the end one of the two original waiters appeared and arranged for him to have a very good pumpkin pie. 

Drink: 

Again a good selection of various types, we were on the Plus option and did notice that quite a lot of the wine selection was in the Premium range, but I found that what was in the Plus section to be perfectly acceptable. Good range of cocktails, especially in Good Spirits at Sea and Take Five. 

Apart from a couple of Bars we did not have to wait all that long to get drinks. I did notice that in one bar those seated at the bar seemed to get preferential treatment (but I suppose if you tip the barman a tenner, as I saw on one occasion you would expect that)

Entertainment:

Impressed with both 5 Skies and Rock Opera, although 5 Skies may not be to everyone's taste in fact an elderly couple next to me got up and left half way through. Saw Phil Tufnell, absolutely loved his session even if you didn't like cricket. Enjoyed the addition of Take Five, great music (if you like jazz) and ambience. Good selection of live music across all areas of the ships.

WiFi/Internet:

Certainly a bone of contention with many, me included. It was very patchy to say the least, could not access things like emails for a lot of the time. The App was pretty flaky some of the time. a bit disappointing compared to the service on our last trip in September on Regal (although to be fair it did sail at reduced capacity)

Final Thoughts:

The ship was apparently sailing at full capacity, and at times it certainly felt like it, virtually impossible to get a sun lounger from mid morning onwards, but did manage to get in the hot tub a few times. Big thumbs up to the waiters, bar staff, chefs, Gracey our lovely stateroom steward who all worked extremely hard and tirelessly to keep things running as smoothly as possible, they did certainly seem to be understaffed for the number of passengers.

It look from this cruise that cruising is nearly back to normal with hardly a face mask amongst the passengers to be seen and a virtually full self-service buffet.

On the buffet matter, one thing that I did find quite disappointing was the amount of passengers that went into the Buffet without washing their hands or even sanitizing them, a basic hygene necessity in my opinion.

Overall I enjoyed the cruise, good weather, good company, good service and had many chats to other friendly passengers, wasn't too disappointer at missing Guernsey as I've been there before

 

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, villauk said:

 

They offer the times that are available to book, not the other way around. As I said, you don’t mind the odd night but it appears many have been waiting far longer than those 15 minutes, according to the reviews here, on several nights. We all know the problems they appear to be having with insufficient staff, so why are they sailing at full capacity when they can’t fulfil the requirements - well, we all know why 🤑💵💰 and it’s a shame for those staff onboard who have to deal with the constant fallout.

 

We can only hope the situation improves.

Since the staff shortage will be with us for a while, the cruise line has to do their best to still continue sailing while pleasing the greatest number of people.

We sill go with the flow and modify our schedule to avoid the crowds. ie. dining times, pool chairs, show schedules, etc.

[rbtan]

1 hour ago, jdacombe said:

Have also posted this elsewhere.

FWIW here are some of my thoughts on our 5-12 August cruise.

Embarkation:

Taking into consideration the number of passengers, it was pretty efficient and seamless. The only real delay was going through security.

The Ship: 

As you would expect from a new ship it did not have that "tired" look and was lovely in keeping with other ship of this group (Regal etc;). I liked the new design of Princess Live and the Vista Lounge. The stateroom (Deluxe Balcony) and bathroom was just a bit on the small side but perfectly adequate. No problem at all with the shower having a curtain, pretty flow of water and very hot. My wife said that she found the decor quite bland, but I liked how understated and bright it made the room look.

Food:

We ate in Capri MDR, IC, GiGi's, Buffet and had Room Service breakfasts a couple of times. Was very impressed with the quality of food in all these areas, the steak with the surf 'n turf was one of the best I've had, although the Room Service Breakfast menu I though was rather small. The buffet was now back to virtually all self service.

My son is a vegan and had a problem in the IC where there was a lentil pie advertised as vegan, but when he asked about it he was told that it had egg wash on the pastry, he politely pointed out that this wasn't vegan, and to their credit future pies did not appear to be egg washed and not advertised as vegan. First night and last nights in the MDR he had very attentive waiters who produced a vegan menu and saw to his needs, great credit to both of them - he had two very enjoyable meals, sadly he had problems on one of the formal nights, his first main dish contained cheese, and also had problems with the alternative that was offered, in the end one of the two original waiters appeared and arranged for him to have a very good pumpkin pie. 

Drink: 

Again a good selection of various types, we were on the Plus option and did notice that quite a lot of the wine selection was in the Premium range, but I found that what was in the Plus section to be perfectly acceptable. Good range of cocktails, especially in Good Spirits at Sea and Take Five. 

Apart from a couple of Bars we did not have to wait all that long to get drinks. I did notice that in one bar those seated at the bar seemed to get preferential treatment (but I suppose if you tip the barman a tenner, as I saw on one occasion you would expect that)

Entertainment:

Impressed with both 5 Skies and Rock Opera, although 5 Skies may not be to everyone's taste in fact an elderly couple next to me got up and left half way through. Saw Phil Tufnell, absolutely loved his session even if you didn't like cricket. Enjoyed the addition of Take Five, great music (if you like jazz) and ambience. Good selection of live music across all areas of the ships.

WiFi/Internet:

Certainly a bone of contention with many, me included. It was very patchy to say the least, could not access things like emails for a lot of the time. The App was pretty flaky some of the time. a bit disappointing compared to the service on our last trip in September on Regal (although to be fair it did sail at reduced capacity)

Final Thoughts:

The ship was apparently sailing at full capacity, and at times it certainly felt like it, virtually impossible to get a sun lounger from mid morning onwards, but did manage to get in the hot tub a few times. Big thumbs up to the waiters, bar staff, chefs, Gracey our lovely stateroom steward who all worked extremely hard and tirelessly to keep things running as smoothly as possible, they did certainly seem to be understaffed for the number of passengers.

It look from this cruise that cruising is nearly back to normal with hardly a face mask amongst the passengers to be seen and a virtually full self-service buffet.

On the buffet matter, one thing that I did find quite disappointing was the amount of passengers that went into the Buffet without washing their hands or even sanitizing them, a basic hygene necessity in my opinion.

Overall I enjoyed the cruise, good weather, good company, good service and had many chats to other friendly passengers, wasn't too disappointer at missing Guernsey as I've been there before

 

I hope you know Pumpkin pie has cream in it. The pies are NOT made from scratch on board. They are purchased on shore & cooked on board. Vegan is a choice, not a requirement. This is one reason vegans have a hard time eating out.

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, rbtan said:

I hope you know Pumpkin pie has cream in it. The pies are NOT made from scratch on board. They are purchased on shore & cooked on board. Vegan is a choice, not a requirement. This is one reason vegans have a hard time eating out.

Is that why they're so terrible?

[richsea]

44 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Is that why they're so terrible?

Are you saying they should bring pumpkins on board and make from scratch?

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Is that why they're so terrible?

 

To me, all pumpkin pies are terrible.  With the exception of the hollow ones with candles inside, anything with pumpkin is terrible.   😀

[ldubs]

At the good advice of a fellow CC member some years ago, I've stopped making decisions or being influenced based on negative reviews.   

 

[MissP22]

49 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

To me, all pumpkin pies are terrible.  With the exception of the hollow ones with candles inside, anything with pumpkin is terrible.   😀

Most of Princess's pies are not good, especially their pie they call "pecan pie".

Thankfully there other desserts are pretty good.

[jdacombe]

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Most of Princess's pies are not good, especially their pie they call "pecan pie".

Thankfully there other desserts are pretty good.

I quite enjoyed the Steak and Ale pie in the IC

[MissP22]

5 hours ago, jdacombe said:

I quite enjoyed the Steak and Ale pie in the IC

I never heard of Steak and Ale pie. 

It must be something they only serve in Europe. 

************************************************************

I just checked Google. It looks different for sure.

It's something I would al least like to try...at least one time. 

Edited August 15, 2022 by MissP22

[MissP22]

BTW- Do hey still have the monkey bread at the IC ??

[jdacombe]

7 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

BTW- Do hey still have the monkey bread at the IC ??

Pretty certain I saw it on at least one occasion

[MouseBerry]

Monkey Bread, yes, saw it in IC

[jdacombe]

8 hours ago, jdacombe said:

I quite enjoyed the Steak and Ale pie in the IC

The actual name of this pie is Beef and Guiness pie

[Fa-Li]

These are helpful updates, thanks to all who are sharing their experience.  We are booked on Enchanted in February.  Two things I'm wondering about based on comments: 

 

1 - do servers not wander around anymore to take drink orders?  Is it either medallion app or stand in line at a bar?  We've always had wonderful experiences on Princess ships with the drinks crew.  It seemed anytime/anywhere we plopped ourselves down, someone materialized within moments to take our drink order.  Do I need to seriously adjust my expectations?

 

2 - Are the long dining room waits also happening in club class dining?  

 

Thanks for any insights!

[bradleyr1]

Yes there were plenty of servers walking around but it still took over 30 minutes generally for them to bring the drinks back (if they came back at all, which on a number of occasions they didn't so we just gave up and left). 

[jdacombe]

As stated already drinks waiters do walk around and take orders, depending on the orders being taken at that time it can ometimes take a bit longer to receive your drink.

We had one occasion where we booked for 8 10pm in the MDR and was told to come a bit later as it would be less busy, came back at 8.25pm and had a 25 minute wait. The next time we went for an 8.10pm sitting and only had about a 10 minute wait. The last time we booked for 6 15pm and went straight in. Possibly if you can it may be advisable to book earlier time

[MissP22]

8 hours ago, jdacombe said:

As stated already drinks waiters do walk around and take orders, depending on the orders being taken at that time it can ometimes take a bit longer to receive your drink.

We had one occasion where we booked for 8 10pm in the MDR and was told to come a bit later as it would be less busy, came back at 8.25pm and had a 25 minute wait. The next time we went for an 8.10pm sitting and only had about a 10 minute wait. The last time we booked for 6 15pm and went straight in. Possibly if you can it may be advisable to book earlier time

I believe it's the answer for eliminating the wait many people are experiencing on a lot of the ships.

Princess never claimed there wouldn't be a wait if you had reservations for any particular time.

It only allows people to queue up for the next available seat as they really have no control over how quickly people vacate their tables.

[dides]

18 hours ago, Fa-Li said:

These are helpful updates, thanks to all who are sharing their experience.  We are booked on Enchanted in February.  Two things I'm wondering about based on comments: 

 

1 - do servers not wander around anymore to take drink orders?  Is it either medallion app or stand in line at a bar?  We've always had wonderful experiences on Princess ships with the drinks crew.  It seemed anytime/anywhere we plopped ourselves down, someone materialized within moments to take our drink order.  Do I need to seriously adjust my expectations?

 

2 - Are the long dining room waits also happening in club class dining?  

 

Thanks for any insights!

 We got off Enchanted Princess this morning. 

 

1. We did a full bar crawl on the first full day and most of the bars do have servers who take drink orders but it can be patchy especially at busy times e.g. on the Lido deck or around the Piazza. The more traditional bars like Crooners, Take 5 and Crown Bar are better served here.

2. Barely any waiting at all for Club Class - you have a separate line and we have always been ushered straight in. 

[MouseBerry]

Last week in the GoodSpirits bar we experienced waiting time depends on the drink. DW ordered a simple cocktail and me one of the more fancy specials. DW was served in 5 min. while me had to wait 20 min.

 

Waiting time depends on the demand from people sitting directly in front of the bar tenders or the people walking directly to the bar to grap a drink. To me it seemed bar residents had low prio.

[Fa-Li]

Thanks @dides and @MouseBerry  It's always better to have expectations set realistically going in, I think 🍹

[4x4bob]

On 8/15/2022 at 2:18 PM, Fa-Li said:

These are helpful updates, thanks to all who are sharing their experience.  We are booked on Enchanted in February.  Two things I'm wondering about based on comments: 

 

1 - do servers not wander around anymore to take drink orders?  Is it either medallion app or stand in line at a bar?  We've always had wonderful experiences on Princess ships with the drinks crew.  It seemed anytime/anywhere we plopped ourselves down, someone materialized within moments to take our drink order.  Do I need to seriously adjust my expectations?

 

2 - Are the long dining room waits also happening in club class dining?  

 

Thanks for any insights!

My wife had an interesting event happen to her.  We sat down at a open table in the Buffet.  Then she placed an order for drink on her Ap.  Then she got up to get a plate.  The poor waiter was following her medallion around trying to find her to give her the drink.  Next time she left the medallion laying on the table, problem solved.

Bob