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Review: Enchanted Princess - 11/23/23, 15-day TA Civitavecchia to Fort Lauderdale

Kmkub

By Kmkub,
in Princess Cruises

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MissP22

MissP22

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1 hour ago, PacnGoNow said:

The worst was the Enchanted!  Felt like Carnival.  Huge piazza and filled starting at 9  am line dancing, games, etc.  So loud, the bar hostess couldn’t even hear our orders, nor GS could hear us.  So bad, all three levels.

Too bad.  Loved the ship, otherwise.

Now that's really bad as they're down the hall & around the bend. 

I hate to get a drink at the bar during those times. 

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snoozecrooze

snoozecrooze

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@Kmkub thank you so much for your review! It was great to read that despite the shortcomings, you still had a relaxing time that a cruise aims to achieve.

 

Speaking of shortcomings (like in the buffet), I really feel that they're going to be long-term. I'm reading elsewhere that the vendors Princess had been using for food are either not there (COVID destroyed them) or just not the same in quality now, so it's been clearly established that corporate is ramming down newer stricter mandates that are geared towards compromising with what they have (the only reasonable reason I could come up with for your disappointing veal dish).

 

This isn't a new thing either, but perhaps I'm getting more sensitive to it these days. I'm not a fan of how they're expecting the crew to deal with the shortcomings by making them do their part in attempting to save the face of the brand; that's simply not the type of day-to-day psychological burden they signed up for because they also have little to no recourse to act on the problems when corporate is making all the overall decisions. It's very uncomfortable. They can only say so many apologies before their minds go numb. Never mind what Princess did and how they treated the very loyal destination expert they had hired part-time for the ship, but that's a tale I reserve only for them to tell.

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MissP22

MissP22

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54 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

@Kmkub thank you so much for your review! It was great to read that despite the shortcomings, you still had a relaxing time that a cruise aims to achieve.

 

Speaking of shortcomings (like in the buffet), I really feel that they're going to be long-term. I'm reading elsewhere that the vendors Princess had been using for food are either not there (COVID destroyed them) or just not the same in quality now, so it's been clearly established that corporate is ramming down newer stricter mandates that are geared towards compromising with what they have (the only reasonable reason I could come up with for your disappointing veal dish).

 

This isn't a new thing either, but perhaps I'm getting more sensitive to it these days. I'm not a fan of how they're expecting the crew to deal with the shortcomings by making them do their part in attempting to save the face of the brand; that's simply not the type of day-to-day psychological burden they signed up for because they also have little to no recourse to act on the problems when corporate is making all the overall decisions. It's very uncomfortable. They can only say so many apologies before their minds go numb. Never mind what Princess did and how they treated the very loyal destination expert they had hired part-time for the ship, but that's a tale I reserve only for them to tell.

I'm still hoping that Kmkub's post was a fluke with the ship not getting supplies delivered in Europe and not an ongoing thing. We were on the ship in March and didn't find the buffet to be any way's near that bad.

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Kmkub Great Review Rare

Kmkub

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2 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I'm still hoping that Kmkub's post was a fluke with the ship not getting supplies delivered in Europe and not an ongoing thing. We were on the ship in March and didn't find the buffet to be any way's near that bad.

You said you had a similar experience on the Ruby. I, too, hope it’s not a trend. Having almost every meal in MDR was a perfectly acceptable workaround, but it’s certainly not our preference. It seems to me the real cost savings is having more people eat at the buffet. they won’t, though, if it continues down this path. 

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MissP22

MissP22

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13 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

You said you had a similar experience on the Ruby. I, too, hope it’s not a trend. Having almost every meal in MDR was a perfectly acceptable workaround, but it’s certainly not our preference. It seems to me the real cost savings is having more people eat at the buffet. they won’t, though, if it continues down this path. 

I have no problem eating in the DR but at lunch it just takes much to long especially if your at the pool in the morning plus the DR was closed for lunch most of our 14 day cruise. (port days).

We'll be on the Enchanted for Christmas, so I'll report back as to the variety & quality of food available. 

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MissP22

MissP22

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2 hours ago, DavidsNana said:

@MissP22Looking forward to your review/comments on your Christmas sailing on the Enchanted as my family and I have 2 cabins booked on that ship for late April.  I know things can change in 3-4 months but all info is good info.  Always good to be prepared.

 

The cooks can change from cruise to cruise but a lot depends on how the Executive Chef runs things. I know the one on board right now- same guy (Florin) as last Feb/March and he does a great job. 

I'm not reporting about everything on the ship= Only the food. 

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Ombud

Ombud

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I thought that the 4th production show (Silliness) should've been in the theater instead of Vista Lounge but I had a great view from the raised bar seating! Suggest getting there early as a lot of ppl stood20231204_015505.thumb.jpg.f5f5d3e49fc3ee4bec6d8931d2f467f9.jpg

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loge23

loge23

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On 12/10/2023 at 8:38 PM, Kmkub said:

With the ability to look up everything online and price compare, you’d think people would opt for the less expensive price at home, even with the duty free. My at-home, walk out the door price for Hennessy XO is $30 less than what the Princess shop was offering. Sheesh.

 

 

Quite a review and much appreciated! We were only on the Enchanted once and that was the really the only time on Princess that we were not pleased at all with the ship, so we can concur with much of your observations.

We always look to replenish our premium spirits on Caribbean cruises either on board or at a port - St. Lucia I recall is a good one for this task - and always, as you noted, have our local prices ready for comparison. For the Hennessey XO, we can only get the 750ml size locally so you have to be aware of the Duty Free offerings which are usually 1 liter. Also, there are often sales on these items onboard that you have to catch - usually towards the end of the cruise. On our last cruise, on MSC, I found a Hennessey XO 1 liter marked at $309.90 - no bargain, no sale. But! A friendly chat with the shop keeper revealed the discounts which lowered the price substantially to $232.42! That's lower than our local 750ml price! The gentleman told us that it "today only, 25% off" on the next to last day of the cruise - and they let us take it with us! Of course, all of this was covered by our OB credits which really made it a steal! The JW Blue wasn't a good deal btw, so you really do have to shop around and know your prices. 

Cheers!

 

 

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sunviking90 Holiday Sharing Rare

sunviking90

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Thank you for your review. We had almost booked this cruise and decided on a different one. 
Our best Princess cruises in recent years were also the early pandemic restart ones, such as yours in January 2022. Those of us who were able to take these sailings experienced great personalized service and Princess really pulled out the stops to make things good for returning passengers. It sounds like the buffet has really gone downhill. Hopefully it is just a one off for this ship. 
I agree about the Piazza. It has become a horrible, noisy, chaotic environment. We avoid it completely. 
We just returned from a Holland America cruise, and while I prefer many things about Princess, I loved the peaceful and quiet environment on HAL.
 

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Kmkub

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57 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

Thank you for your review. We had almost booked this cruise and decided on a different one. 
Our best Princess cruises in recent years were also the early pandemic restart ones, such as yours in January 2022. Those of us who were able to take these sailings experienced great personalized service and Princess really pulled out the stops to make things good for returning passengers. It sounds like the buffet has really gone downhill. Hopefully it is just a one off for this ship. 
I agree about the Piazza. It has become a horrible, noisy, chaotic environment. We avoid it completely. 
We just returned from a Holland America cruise, and while I prefer many things about Princess, I loved the peaceful and quiet environment on HAL.
 

That is an excellent point.  My early 2022 review was off the charts. I recall (maybe the head waiter,) someone higher up stopping by our table and thanking us for his job. For all of their jobs. 

 

That certainly explains some of it, but there’s no real cost to ensuring a chafing pan doesn’t run dry or the corned beef hash doesn’t get crispy. 

 

As shareholders, I understand the cost saving measures. As a product consumer, I don’t understand the dip in quality where no savings are realized. 

 

'

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MissP22

MissP22

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16 hours ago, Kmkub said:

Yes. I spelled it correctly in my review. 

I wasn't correcting you.

Any time he introduced himself, he would always say his name was Jayson with a Y. It got to be a standing comment hearing it everyday.

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PacnGoNow Holiday Sharing Rare

PacnGoNow

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8 hours ago, sunviking90 said:

Thank you for your review. We had almost booked this cruise and decided on a different one. 
Our best Princess cruises in recent years were also the early pandemic restart ones, such as yours in January 2022. Those of us who were able to take these sailings experienced great personalized service and Princess really pulled out the stops to make things good for returning passengers. It sounds like the buffet has really gone downhill. Hopefully it is just a one off for this ship. 
I agree about the Piazza. It has become a horrible, noisy, chaotic environment. We avoid it completely. 
We just returned from a Holland America cruise, and while I prefer many things about Princess, I loved the peaceful and quiet environment on HAL.
 

You are spot on!  I remember the crew clapping, as we entered the ships!  The crew thanking us for sailing again and saving their jobs.

Of course, don’t forget those ships were only about 50% full.

 

Great memories.

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shamrockace

shamrockace

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9 hours ago, snoozecrooze said:

This is really disappointing. Do you happen to remember his name? (Or if you would prefer not to name drop, would you provide some hints?)

No I don’t. A tall English chap. We had Angela teaching our line dance classes and she was wonderful and well loved. She trained under Jayson. The first day of the new CD, he was the dance instructor and told us to get used to the idea that he was rotating his staff and it was too bad if we didn’t like it. After a day or two of everyone complaining, Angela was back and I rarely saw the new CD again. Cole was everywhere and the new one disappeared except on the morning show each day. The difference was night and day. Even his staff seemed effected by the change in CD’s. 

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Kmkub

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4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

I wasn't correcting you.

Any time he introduced himself, he would always say his name was Jayson with a Y. It got to be a standing comment hearing it everyday.

Thank you. I don’t recall him saying that. Maybe he stopped.

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