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They dropped about $3k in charges because they couldnt provide any documentation on what they were for. I thought it was odd i didnt get final bill at the end of the cruise, and then say 20+ different charges on my AMEX for misc amounts. It was stressful dealing with that, but in the end, turned out to be a very inexpensive for me... If you would like to read the full review here it is.

This is a great read and good to know there are options on cruise ships. We are vegan, but cheat when we are on vacation. We do it for health reasons, not because we are against eating animals or animal products like some vegans are. That being said, when we retire and cruise more often, we may get a little more strict with staying vegan on the cruises. Now its once or twice a year so we dont worry about it, but if we were on a 14+ day cruise while retired, we would probably be more strict about it. thanks again for the read.

Yikes, that exactly our fear if we do decide to get on early. We also prefer to get on later, closer to the time our room will be ready, but that darn Sanctuary reservation thing is enticing us to get on early. We there also sold out on port days or can you even get one on a port day? We dont plan on getting off the ship so if they do have them available while we are in port, we would be interested in that. thx

We were on Getaway, but over the summer so more families which may have accounted for less people in there. I wasnt complaining, it was great having it to ourselves most times we were in there. Also, if i remember correctly, it opened up to the deck which was a really good design to keep the smoke out of the interior areas, although most have really ventilation systems. I was hoping that since Princes has more old fogies that enjoy stogies like myself, they would have one, but no such luck for our cruise next month on Enchanted...

Enchanted doesnt, they turned it into an arcade... Bummer. I think thats the direction most are going though unfortunately. Im an avid cigar smoker and fully support cigar lounges on ships, but it doesnt surprise me they are reclaiming that realestate for something more profitable. We were on NCL a couple years ago and they had one but there was rarely anyone in there besides my son and me with the occasional cigarette smoker and they dont buy cigars from the lounge...

Darn and oh well. Like i said, we are good with out current cabin, but the balcony isnt great so we will probably do the early morning thing on saturday and race to the sanctuary. Are you guys also on the april 20th cruise?

I know this question has a lot of variables, but i wanted to get others thoughts that have gotten upgraded in the past on our chances... We have a S5 forward suite, but are bidding on a owners and Penthouse aft balcony suites. Max bid on both. However, the cruise is showing sold out. April 20th on the enchanted. I know people cancel, but has anyone been in a similar situation and if so, were there any upgrades? We like our current cabin, but we prefer one of the aft cabins with the large balconies. Our current cabin has a small balcony so we would most like opt for a cabana which means we have to get on early and make the mad dash to the sanctuary We would rather get on the ship later in the morning or early afternoon and not have to deal with that. Thx

This is really what we want to do next month before we board, but we keep debating on making the Sanctuary run and get there early. Does anyone know if the concierge can make these bookings or do you have to go the Sanctuary to do it? thx

Yikes, thats concerning. We are on Enchanted next month for a 'rebound' from our MSC disaster of a cruise last year so im hoping for some good service. Ive spent as much as i could, or at least got the highest cabin category that was available last month when we booked so fingers crossed.

Ha, small world. im actually in Summerfield, but if you are familiar with the area, pretty much the same. I should have also said ive really never had a true personal TA that knew everything we liked, booked multiple cruises, etc. I would love to find one of those, just havent had any luck with that over the years. We were using the online ones which gave us a different person each time we booked. If you know of a good one in our area, pls sent them my way. thx

I would tend to agree, but we arent bidding to save money but rather trying to get the cabin we really wanted. When we book, its usually a few months from the sailing because we really cant plan out our vacation schedule any longer than that, at least not without it changing. So when we booked this last cruise the highest cabin category we could get was a S5 premium suite and we would prefer the owners suite or Aft penthouse.

Just my 2 cents, we have been booking direct with the cruise lines for our last couple of cruises and it seems to be less of a hassle to get issues taken care of. Example, we had an issue getting our medallion order to go through and when i called, they just cancelled everything out and i reentered the order no problem. Im sure a TA could have also done that, but they would probably have to call Princess. Paperwork seems cleaner too. When i used a TA, i would get their branded receipts/cruise docs which for the most part matched the ones they got from princess, but sometimes they didnt, missing drink packages, wrong packages, etc. There is usually a cost savings using a TA, especially the online ones, but its not significant enough for us to go back to using a TA.

Perfect, Thank you

Sorry, i know they are out there, i just cant find them for some reason. Does anyone have any recent pictures of the cabanas on Enchanted they can send me or post here? We are debating on whether or not we want to rush on the ship to try to reserve one. Also, are port days easier to reserve them? We dont plan on getting off the ship in any of the ports so we may not have to rush on the ship if its easier to get the on port days. Thanks

Ok so all you math wizards out there, how many $3 slot plays would $1k get you? Example, 333 when you run through the first round with your $1k, but assuming you get paid back 95%, i think someone said that is the pay back on the slots, then the next round would get you roughly 316 $3 slot plays and so on. Can anyone think of the formula off the top of your head that would give you the total plays for that $1k assuming a 5% loss per run through of that money? Sorry, its early and hurting my head thinking about it...

Great review. We actually have the room opposite of you, B102 next month on Enchanted. We have been debating on upgrading to a Penthouse, but they seem smaller than the one we have. Our only concern about our current room is the slant in the bedroom given hubby is 6.3. Do you think that height would be a issue? From your pic, the bedroom seems pretty large and it doesnt look like a tall person would have an issue. thx

Exactly my thinking and im not sure i would want to risk $54k in hopes of a free cruise. Also, if you play $3 per slot pull, it would take you roughly 15 hours to put in $54k if you assume 3 seconds per slot play. I think i did the math correctly...

So novice question here. On the slots do you earn1 point per play or is it determined in how much you bet and if so any info on how that works? Thx.

i asked a similar question a couple of weeks ago and i think the consensus was its not how much you spend but rather how many times you play. My wife plays roulett and will drop $100 with just a couple play where should she just be playing the penny slots and betting a little at a time like mentioned above to get he number of plays up. The reason this explanation resonated with me is because we have relatives that do exactly that, play penny slots on RCL and i dont think they have paid for a cruise in years other than the occasional upgrades. Now the down side on Princess is can i convince my wife to spend a couple hours in a smoky casino... Im not even sure im up for that if its too bad.

Amen, original poster here and this has gone way off the rails. Got what i need, thanks everyone.

I dont think its that uncommon. I get $250 in $5s before i leave and come back with very few left, but in the overall cost of the cruise, air etc its not a lot of money and greatly enhances my experience at the bars, around the pool, etc. Believe me, its a noticeable difference from when we didnt do this years ago to the point where my wife is telling me to start tipping day 1...

I dont think anyone is saying you have to tip, but as a tipper, i can definitely see better service, especially in the bars. I usually tip $5 when i order a drink for my wife and I and by about night 2 or 3, they usually have our drinks waiting for us before we even sit down or if the bar is crowded they bring them out to us. Ive definitely gotten some dirty looks from others, but i had my drink...

We are on Enchantment next month in a suite so we should have a concierge. And we are going to lean on them heavily because we are having issues making all of the dinner reservations we want so we plan on using them pretty extensively. thx

I think i need to be a little more specific with my initial question. We always tip the cabin steward and the MDR wait staff extra at the end of the cruise for excellent service which they always have provided for us. My issue is this particular cruise, we will probably only eat in the MDR once or twice because we are going to try as many speciality restaurants as we can and are signed up for the 360 experience. So what do you tip those folks at the end of dinner since we will only be there once? Also, the concierge is always a mystery for me. I have tipped by the request on some ships and it seemed was odd given no one else was, and ive tipped at the end of the cruise in one lump sum and that also didnt feel right. Any thoughts on this as to when and how much to tip? thanks

Yes, another tipping thread, but the one i was going to reply to was closed... Since most of our dinners are going to be in a different venue every night, what do people tip the wait staff for that particular night they eat in that restaurant? Also, do you tip the concierge daily or at the end of the cruise? I usually do it at the end, but on on last NCL cruise the seemed to want it daily or at least we saw others doing it as they requested something. Thanks and sorry, i know this is a touch subject but wanted to brush up on the norms...