Lady Arwen

Yay….congratulations! Nice to hear these stories.

We love them! Only had them on Caribbean Princess, but I’m sure the same as the Grand. We didn’t miss the balcony at all. The bathroom is lovely and very large with a separate glass shower stall and a bathtub. Nice full size sofa. We liked the location, too. Down a separate little hallway, so very quiet. We enjoyed breakfast in Sabatini’s each day. I would not hesitate to reserve one of these cabins again, but they do book quickly. Go for it!

Princess will monitor the situation closely. Your excursion could be cancelled if Princess deems it unsafe to take passengers. They always err on the side of caution, so no need to worry you’ll be in harms way.

Delightful reading…..thank you!

So happy and relieved for you and your family! Persistence pays off and your dad did remarkably well. Congratulations!

Shows how long I’ve not visited the buffet. I believe trays were eliminated quite some time ago. My bad.

What everyone needs to realize is that the germs from a person’s hand contaminates the serving utensils that touches the food, which is now contaminated. You can wash YOUR hands, use wipes, wash down the table, the tray, the floor and bring your own cutlery and napkin. It doesn’t matter, because the food you are eating is full of germs because of cross contamination from that person who did not wash their hands. Bacteria and germs travel quickly from one host to another. The only way to prevent this from happening is for each and every person in the buffet, passengers and crew alike, to wash their hands thoroughly before touching anything, especially serving utensils and trays. Very difficult to monitor everyone. The other alternative is to switch to food being served by crew and not allowing passengers to touch anything except the tray they’re using. Salt, pepper, sugar and all condiments should be individually packed, not in communal dispensers. Cutlery should be wrapped completely in a napkin and not exposed. HAL has been doing it the right way for years. Does it take longer to get through the buffet line? Maybe a little. However, those few minutes are worth the sacrifice to know your food is relatively germ free.

I’ve got news for everyone. In late June into July it can get very hot on the east coast with extreme humidity. I laugh when Americans say they want to go north to get away from the heat. The OP may be very disappointed in his choice.

Deck 18 is the Sanctuary. A crew member will be in attendance to help you. If you’re late getting there, unfortunately you will be turned away. It books up very quickly. We try to get there by 10:30 to 11:00 am and even then we’ve been disappointed. A 6pm boarding time is very late, but it’s worth trying. Good luck!

That’s awesome to hear! Fingers crossed for us, too……cannot wait!

We never, ever eat in the buffet. Over the years we’ve seen so much disgusting behaviour. There’s many other places on the ship to eat, so we don’t miss it one bit. People can be so ill mannered!

Thanks for sharing your experience on Enchanted. We’ll be sailing on her in August and looking forward to it so much. We pre purchased the Premier package and were able to book our two complimentary Specialty Restaurants and 5 more paid in advance reservations without a problem. We didn’t want to be disappointed waiting until we board to make reservations. We’re hoping to book the Sanctuary for our entire voyage, but you just never know how successful you’ll be. Sounds like you enjoyed the Retreat pool, which is a great option. It may be our option, too! We booked one of the far forward cabins with a huge balcony just in case. Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise and I wish you many more lovely days at sea.

You have absolutely no problem whatsoever! Happens to us every single time. Please relax and enjoy your cruise.

You certainly can! Easily exchanged at any Canadian bank.

Me, too. I used to enjoy reading his posts. Didn’t always agree with him but always respected his opinion.

Thank you for the update. I completely understand your frustration with this entire debacle. I sincerely hope your dad can finally get a resolution and a refund. Please keep us in the loop!

If I’m in an interesting port that I’m enjoying walking around, why would I feel the need to run back to the ship to eat an average, at best, meal in the buffet or grill, when I can enjoy the local cuisine at a lovely restaurant with great food and wine? Just because I feel the need to eat the free stuff onboard? That would be a hard “No”!

I was thinking the same! Zaandam was our first HAL cruise 22 years ago.

The balcony cabin would have to be assigned to one passenger. One inside cabin to one passenger. BOTH would pay double for solo occupancy. The other inside would be assigned to two people and would pay standard double occupancy rate. So, double the price for the balcony, double the price for the inside and double occupancy for the other inside. You are virtually paying for six passengers. This would be expensive, but if’s that’s not an issue, go for it.

Unfortunately, seniors and those with compromised health issues, cannot afford to be quite so blasé. Easy for you, perhaps, but not so much for many others.

We wash our hands always before eating or drinking. We avoid the buffet completely. Rarely eat in the MDR. Take the stairs when possible. Avoid the showroom if crowded. We generally stay to ourselves as much as we can. We try to get loungers in the Sanctuary, which is quite effective when you desire distance from others. Happy to say we have never had Noro or Covid on land or at sea. We’re very aware of the possibility of viral and bacterial cross contamination, so we do what’s necessary to mitigate our exposure.

I assume you would have to ask your steward for the use of their vacuum cleaner so that you could pack them flat again to take them home.

We have Premier for our upcoming Enchanted sailing and the app recognized our package and we did not have to pay. It zeroed out amount to pay. Some people report a glitch when they tried it and others had no problem.

We don’t eat meat, so we have fish at the CG. It’s actually quite good. Sometimes, we skip the fish and just get a table full of sides. Yes, we pay the same, but we’re happy with the service and the ambiance. It all goes well with a bottle of Whispering Angel! lol

Yes, you are right. We always book our specialty restaurants prior to our cruise to ensure a reservation. With Premier we get two included and the rest we pay for when we make the reservations. For our upcoming on Enchanted we have Crown Grill first night, three at the Catch, two at Sabatini’s and back to Crown Grill. All reserved and paid for. Works well for us.