20165

4 minutes ago, MJU said:

Are you in a suite?

yes, Forward S5

Does anyone have recommendations or history tipping the concierge on a per request bases and how much per request?  We are sailing next month on Enchanted and will most likely use them quite a bit given we are having a hard time getting dinner reservation, the spa times we want,  and we are going to ask them if they can get us a cabana which i know is a tall order but if they are successful, how much would you tip for that kind of request?

I read online that the recommendation for a regular concierge at a hotel is $5-20 depending on complexity of the request so would that apply here?

And before we go down a rabbit hole, i know some people dont use or tip the concierge, we are going to and would like to try per request this time vs. the end of the cruise tip like we usually do.

thanks

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I'm a little confused.  How can B102 be an aft balcony suite if that number reflects a bow cabin?

Sorry, i meant forward.  We are bidding on a aft so i have that on the brain, but alas i dont think its going to happen to im settling in with our forward...

Hi, does anyone happen to have any pics of B102 or one of the other aft balcony suites on Enchanted Princess or one of her sister ships?  I found some older ships aft balconies but havent been successful in finding any on enchanted.  

Thanks in advance.

this may have already been answered so apologies in advance, but has everyone that has or hasnt been upgraded for a past cruise been notified one way or the other?  Its not going to break my heart if we dont get upgraded, but i would like to know.

Thanks

1 hour ago, Moondogy said:

I have never had any problems sneaking to cabin before 1 and sitting carry on out of stewards way and letting him know it's there and to be sure it's ok with them.

Thats interesting. If i remember correctly, RCL, NCL, and i think celebrity all have their hallway doors closed until around 1 so you cant even get to the cabins.  That would be wonderful if we can drop our stuff off right when we board.  Not fun having to drag your carry ons around with you if you board too early.

Thanks

31 minutes ago, mpdog42 said:

More Old Fogies and Stogies...and less Family's with kids!!!!

That is going to be awesome.  Last kid just went off to college so we are back to just the wife and I on vacation. We use to cruise Princess all the time before kids, but that was also before carnival bought them so it will be interesting to see if its anything like we remember.

12 minutes ago, Globaler said:

us retiree boomers are paying up and spending the kids inheritance 😂

I think there some real truth to that.  Im a GenXer so still working and take a couple vacations a year, but my sisters are 10-15 years older than me and retired so right in that boomer age range and the amount they spend on vacations is staggering, at least in my view.  

15 hours ago, galensgrl said:

I understand this. I don't eat meat at home, but I will have something like a beef filet or a lobster on a cruise. I hope I can look at the Vegan menu in the MDR though, as I know I would prefer veg/vegan meals most meals. The vegan menu shown on this thread is very appealing. Fingers crossed it's on the Enchanted Princess when we sail in August.

Lorie

We'll let you know, we are on enchanted next month and plan on at least looking at the Vegan menu if they allow it.  Our plan is not to scrutinize everything for dairy, eggs, etc.  However, were not going to eat a big steak, probably go into meat shock...  But we will eat some seafood.  Im sure the  buffet will have vegan options which will keep us on track for at least some of the meals during the day.

31 minutes ago, doghog said:

How do you know how this person will feel? 🙄

I have this gifted psychic ability that makes me all knowing...

On 3/17/2024 at 10:20 PM, Thrak said:

 

While one can dress more casually at dinner these days one will never be "overdressed" if you dress up on a Formal Night. If you like to dress up feel free to do so.

That may be the case for a cruise out of japan, but i wouldnt recommend it for a regular 7 night cruise out of the US.  Im pretty sure if you walk into the main dining room in a tux or formal dress on that type of cruise you will feel overdressed.  I havent seen a tux on a 7 day carrib cruise in years.  I did it a couple of times back in the 90s, but wouldnt even consider it today. 

50 minutes ago, rideev said:

Not saying you didn't have to on MSC, but I have never had to get a charge corrected on any of my cruises.  And I feel I have been on enough different lines and ships to have a decent grasp.

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.

20 minutes ago, jackyfromwyk said:

Good luck! The Sanctuary is one of the highlights of our cruises.as well.  We tried again on our October 2023 cruise on the Sky.  Arrived at the port 9:30m, boarded as the first in the platinum group right after elites.  Ran up the stairs to the Sanctuary and it was completely sold out.  There were a lot of back-to-back cruisers that took ALL the spots.

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

10 hours ago, Elvis1209 said:

I've been on NCL Escape and Breakaway and it's always been packed!  I hate to see the industry going in that direction!

 

Elvis

 

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...

35 minutes ago, SpareBrew said:

We also bid the max for an Aft Penthouse and Owners Suite on Enchanted.  1 day to go and we’re not hearing anything one way or the other.  Don’t think it’ll happen. 🙁

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

3 hours ago, DiRonT said:

We always arrive at Port at least 1 day prior to sailing.  Day of embarkation, we sleep in, have a late leisurely breakfast and arrive at ship after vast majority have boarded.  No lines, no muss, no fuss.  Very relaxing.  Great way to start the vacation.

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

On 3/10/2024 at 4:14 PM, chrysalis said:

We are just home from 40 days on the Enchanted, and 10 sea days in the  Sanctuary. Not sure that I ever saw all the Cabanas full.

 

However, service levels were not as good as previous voyages on the ship. Examples:

 

On one of our last days, at 9:30am and never having been asked if we wanted breakfast, I asked one of the crew if it was "too late for breakfast?"....I got a "Maybe"...so I asked if that was a yes or a no, and I got another "Maybe", and the guy walked away.

 

Another day, at tea time....there were still 7 guests to be served and they only had 1 pastry left on the cart with no refills underneath. When I saw that, I suggested that maybe some days they should start the service from the other end, and that just drew blank stares.

 

Some days, coffee service in the morning, came in cups from the buffet area, and was cold when it arrived.

 

Anyhow, standards we experienced in the past were lacking for sure.

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.

1 hour ago, cnice515 said:

I don't necessarily disagree with you as far as resolutions and paperwork, but I am able to get more OBC, and an occasional unsolicited "gift", from a TA so there is some financial incentive for me to use them.

 

And BTW, I work in GSO.

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

7 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

dlp 1000 - I am not an expert on all this, but from my limited experience, no matter what you initially paid for the category you booked, I think the upgrade minimum bid for the next level will be the same as everyone else in your current category.  And no - your loyalty status does not factor into the biding, nor do the packages.

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. 

2 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Here you go, from this past Mov/Dec.

 

 

 

 

 

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