hllwdcruiser

This has nothing to do with a blood test, but DH was misdiagnosed in medical on a Princess ship last year. He was given X-Rays and nothing was seen, so he was diagnosed with a torn ligament and was given a compression sock. The swelling and pain were unbearable. Once we were home he went to an orthopedist. Turns out he had a hairline fracture and needed a boot to stabilize his ankle. The doctor said he couldn't even read the x-rays that were taken on the ship and the sock probably made his condition worse. After our experience I think Lady Arwen gave you very sound advice. If you are traveling for a longer length of time, perhaps you can find a hospital at a port of call and have them email you and the doctor the results?

Have you received an email to bid for an upgrade? If not, is there someone else who works with your TA who can contact Princess? I am also booked on the Enchanted in December, and I've noticed that the available cabins are disappearing quickly. I did receive the upgrade email for the December 8th sailing. Good Luck! A balcony in the Caribbean is so worth it - I hope you get it!

Thank you for this great review, I'm loving it. We almost booked the Ruby for a partial transit, but then decided we needed a relaxing holiday instead and just booked a 10 day eastern. Ruby was the first Princess ship we sailed on in 2009 and we were sold. A lot has changed since then. It was changing even before the shutdown especially in the food offerings. I'd be interested to hear your comparisons to the other brands you have sailed, especially Celebrity.

When we don't have a beverage package we always order an Arnold Palmer at lunch time in the buffet. It's free and we haven't had a server yet who didn't know what it was. As others have already answered, water, lemonade, unsweet iced tea, hot coffee and tea are the only beverages that are available for free.

My guess is the OP is in a comped cabin and is getting less than stellar service. But we'll never know unless the OP actually responds and gives us a reason.

Looking forward to your report and so happy to hear the ship and staff are still excellent. If you have a chance, would you mind checking to see if the have completely replaced the original Winemaker's Dinner with the $140 Caymus Winemaker's dinner? We've really enjoyed the original one on past cruises, but I don't think we will be partaking in the Caymus one if that is all that is offered. I know you said that you may not do any fact finding, so no worries if you don't have the time!

The minute they eliminate the gratuities from their package is the minute we stop purchasing Plus. As it stands right now, we barely break even at $60 per day. We aren't big drinkers and can easily forgo or pay a la carte for all the other "extras" included in the package.

I'm really enjoying your review, photos and videos. Regal is one of my favorite ships!

We prefer the buffet for breakfast. We like the variety and being able to choose from so many options. We almost always hit the omelette station or they usually have some form of an eggs Benedict, you just have to wait for the ones they freshly make. I'm a huge fan of smoked salmon and capers which is almost always offered daily. We take our food to an outside table and enjoy a leisurely breakfast al fresco. After breakfast DH usually sneaks back in to grab a pastry or two, his "excuse" being that he's on vacation! The thing is, we tend to like the more casual side of cruising and the MDR for dinner is enough for us. We've tried breakfast and lunch in the MDR a few times and it just takes too long and we like to be out and about. From your post, it sounds like you enjoy having the table side service once in a while. As others have said, you should try them both and see what suits you best!

Is it a Galveston/Texas thing?

100% agree. We were "upgraded" once from a forward to a mid ship in one of those cabins. One of the tenders was right below us and when in port we'd often find a crew member standing on top of it with a full view into our cabin. Our forward cabin had no obstruction and from that moment on we always mark our bookings as "no upgrade." I also make sure to double check where the lifeboats are before choosing a cabin.

I can't wait to hear your impressions, especially on all those days at sea and also because you and I have a similar sailing history. This is our second time on the Enchanted although the itinerary is a little different. We are going mostly for the ship experience. It's been a tough couple of years and we need some Princess coddling!

We had our first transatlantic booked pre covid but then life got in the way and we had to cancel. We had planned a 2 week land vacation in the Uk and Italy and then we were going to sail back from Civitavecchia to our home port in Fort Lauderdale. It looks like we may not be able to do this bucket list trip for another year or two and until then I can only live vicariously through these live reviews. So thank you and I'll be following along! We'll be boarding the Enchanted for a 10 day on the day you disembark.

I agree with the OP and I think that Princess should look at how they are now offering the Plus and Premier for longer voyages and for ships that don't offer as many or as interesting casual dining venues. Granted, the casual dining perks aren't what would entice me to purchase a package, but for others it may. One could argue that the Premier offers unlimited casual dining, but that still doesn't help in the Grand Class or older ships such as Coral and Island. If they offer more OBC for a shareholder and FCCs on longer voyages, why can't they adjust the amount for casual dining and exercise classes? My guess is that they want to push you into choosing Premier if those things are important to you.

We used to do things like that. We would bring our own water, sodas and wine on board and then have those small bottles of alcohol delivered to our cabin. We would then mix our own drinks, G&T, Cuba Libre etc and be so proud that we were beating the system. I used to bring flavored creamer on board to make the old coffee syrup drinkable on the grand class ships. Of course, we didn't get to sit at the bars too often to try new concoctions because then we would put ourselves in the negative column. We limited ourselves to one or two alcoholic beverages a day from the bars. Forget ordering a drink poolside on a whim or grabbing a coffee at the IC when returning from an exhausting day at port. We had to watch our pennies! Once the alcohol package moved to the all inclusive, we started to purchase it and we couldn't believe what a huge difference it made to our entire, overall experience. To give you an example, I have to drink a lot of water during the day and I love a non alcoholic spritzer. I now had the freedom to go up to any bar and order as many cranberry juice spritzers as I like without worrying about the charge. If you think about it, in the same vein, we always choose a balcony over an ocean view or inside cabin simply because of the experience. We never sit and do the math as to whether it makes financial sense for us to do so. On the other hand, I do understand that if you don't drink much alcohol and you don't use wifi, then the all inclusive packages don't make sense. If you don't mind bringing your own soft drinks onboard or it is cheaper for you to order water onboard, then the all inclusive packages might not make sense. We are about to go on our 11th Princess cruise, so basically we are still newbies in comparison to most on this board. I have learned to pack lighter and love the fact that we don't have to bring anything but ourselves and a small suitcase each on sail away days!

You are correct. It isn't plexi. I don't know why I thought it was. Oh well. I doubt we'll win the bid anyway. Sorry for the misinformation! That cabin is huge though, as is the balcony. Now I'm considering canceling my bid.

I am pretty sure this is the case, but now that you are questioning me on it, I'm not going to say that I'm100%. I believe I've read reviews that have photos and the side balcony is plexi just like the other cabins in that location. We can search the cabin numbers and see if we can find a photo.

I, for one won't be taking part in the exercise classes, the ridiculous desserts (well, I might just try one) and I don't care about the medallion being sent to me. None of those factored in to us deciding that it made more financial sense for us to go with the Plus than the Standard. It is annoying that Princess is marketing them as a benefit, but that's a discussion on a different thread.

@MissP22 Haha - I haven't been on this site for quite a while due to personal reasons. In the past you and I have agreed on more topics than not, but I guess I should have chosen my wording more carefully. When I went on this site and saw all the changes, and then went on Princess to book a cruise, I have to admit I was a tad dismayed. Wait, what? They are starting to charge for things that were originally free? The Plus is now $20 more pp, pd than it was before? I know I don't have to go into the details. Still, I did the math and realized that we were within $5-$10 dollars a day for both of us on Plus as opposed to Standard. Seriously? A difference of, at most, $100 total for the both of us for a 10 day cruise?? For us it's a no brainer. A glass of wine with every dinner, maybe splurge with some Harveys in my morning coffee from the IC....the freedom to make choices without having to worry about that credit card bill at the end of the month. Instead of "feel", I should have said "know". I know that you choose Standard and are happy with your choice. To that I say, "Good For You!" Isn't it great that Princess offers us so many choices on how we cruise with them? Excuse me while I get my sea legs back as I navigate this site once again. I forgot how literal some on here can be! The latter said with absolutely no ill will.😉

Am I the only one who got tired of shlepping soda, bottled water and wine to the port? Unless I really wanted to bring an expensive bottle of vino onboard for a special celebration, I no longer feel the need to carry on bottles anymore. We never got the alcohol package before when it was just that, but the Plus is a no brainer for us. We like the unlimited internet, take advantage of the coffees, indulge in a few drinks a day and grab bottles of water for our cabin. Prior to Plus we used to get the coffee card and always paid for the gratuities up front. We used our free internet minutes, watching them carefully so we wouldn't go over. We also used most of our OBC to pay for whatever alcohol drinks were consumed, carefully watching our daily statements to avoid sticker shock at the end of the cruise. Now we use our OBC to indulge in things like the WMD or specialty dining. In the past, we didn't have enough OBC to cover any specialty dinners and had to pay at the end of the cruise. Now we often have credit left over and by our last day are looking for ways to spend it! We are not big drinkers, but with Plus I feel we either end up even or a little bit ahead. That being said, in answer to the OP's original question. Doing the math, I think even moderate drinkers end up being ahead, so I would think a high percentage would choose Plus. Now Premier is a different question....

I just bid yesterday for a forward facing CC mini and don't want to be placed in any of the midship CC minis. We are currently in an extended balcony on the Enchanted by the retreat pool. We've had this cabin before on the Sky and the Enchanted and really like the location and the cabin. We have been on the forward facing balcony cabins before and loved them, so would be thrilled to get the forward facing CC. It also has a regular balcony on the side of the ship and the forward balcony is huge. I can see where there would be an issue with wind, but honestly, on a Caribbean cruise it really wasn't a problem at all and the balcony doors were never locked. All that being said, we bid the minimum and if we don't get it, it's fine by us. I'll be interested to see the responses to your question, because like you, if we don't get what we bid on, we don't want any other cabin. From what I understand if we don't win, we just get to keep our original cabin.

We have a friend from Barbados who has a friend who drives a taxi. Before Covid he made a good living meeting the cruise ships, but unfortunately, not so much now with all the restrictions. He is Barbados Covid 19 Certified but not allowed to enter the port area. He thinks we are able to go outside the gate, no problem. He said that cruisers are doing it all the time and walking around Bridgetown. We would love to book with him but are obviously concerned about getting through the security to get out and then getting back in again to get back on the ship. Does anyone have any updates on the current protocols? We will be on the Enchanted Princess on Sunday, March 6th.