Some Enchanted Evening - A pictorial review of the Enchanted Princess in the Southern Caribbean

[CTGirl]

Thank you so much for sharing all your pictures.  I am following closely as I am on the Enchanted March 20th.  I believe my itinerary is the same as yours except we are scheduled to go to Grand Turk instead of Princess Cays.  We go to Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Grand Turk and St. Thomas.  Would you mind telling me if people were allowed off the ship in these ports if they did not have a Princess shore excursion.  I realize that things could change from your cruise to mine, but I would still love to hear of your experience.  Thank you in advance.

Edited February 22, 2022 by CTGirl

[scubacruiserx2]

5 hours ago, CTGirl said:

Thank you so much for sharing all your pictures.  I am following closely as I am on the Enchanted March 20th.  I believe my itinerary is the same as yours except we are scheduled to go to Grand Turk instead of Princess Cays.  We go to Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, Grand Turk and St. Thomas.  Would you mind telling me if people were allowed off the ship in these ports if they did not have a Princess shore excursion.  I realize that things could change from your cruise to mine, but I would still love to hear of your experience.  Thank you in advance.

 

Thanks for your question . We would have preferred your itinerary to ours if we were given the choice . We did visit Grand Turk on New Years Day on the Nieuw Amsterdam this year and will share photos of what we did if you would like . 

  Yes we were allowed off of the ship and did private tours of everywhere except Eleuthera ( Princess Cay ) . We had booked a private tour there but when we spoke to our tour provider on the day that we left Port Everglades we were told that  they were not allowed to meet us on our port day when we were there . It's on a day to day basis that people are allowed to leave the bubble of Princess Cay and tour the rest of the island .

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

These are not as clear as they are on our home computer

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[minnesotasisu]

In one of your photos you state that the parking garage next to the convention center is being torn down. That is where I was expecting to park for our upcoming cruise! Please give me more info!

[CTGirl]

3 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Thanks for your question . We would have preferred your itinerary to ours if we were given the choice . We did visit Grand Turk on New Years Day on the Nieuw Amsterdam this year and will share photos of what we did if you would like . 

  Yes we were allowed off of the ship and did private tours of everywhere except Eleuthera ( Princess Cay ) . We had booked a private tour there but when we spoke to our tour provider on the day that we left Port Everglades we were told that  they were not allowed to meet us on our port day when we were there . It's on a day to day basis that people are allowed to leave the bubble of Princess Cay and tour the rest of the island .

Thanks for your response. I don’t have any tours planned for most of the ports. I just wanted to go off on my own. I only booked one Princess tour in Barbados, but I don’t really want to do it.  I booked it because it says on the Princess website that you can’t get off the ship there unless you have a Princess tour.  It may also say you can go with a government approved operator, but don’t quote me on that. I would like to cancel my tour and just go off by myself in Barbados. It seems to me from your reply that that is doable. Did you find that he case?

 

Thanks for your offer to post pictures of Grand Turk. We have been there many times, so it is not necessary. I will say though that the water around Grand Turk is the most beautiful color of water that I have ever seen.  I look forward to seeing that. 

Edited February 22, 2022 by CTGirl

[CTGirl]

I must amend my previous post. I did not see your post with the picture of the shore excursion letter. It is very, very helpful. Thank you for posting it. 

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, minnesotasisu said:

In one of your photos you state that the parking garage next to the convention center is being torn down. That is where I was expecting to park for our upcoming cruise! Please give me more info!

 

Sorry for the delay but DW researched it and she found this :

https://www.porteverglades.net/articles/post/port-everglades-new-heron-garage-touts-solar-power-moving-walkway/

 

I believe that the new lot was completed before the old one was torn down .

 A number of years ago we found that our car had been shoved about 3 ' sideways when we were parked there on a cruise . Our tire and rim were damaged and no claim could be filed against the lot . We began using Park and Go instead at about 1/2 the price . It's closer to the the major freeways and they take you in a shuttle so we don't have to deal with the port traffic which can be difficult at times . After we returned from this cruise our battery was dead and we needed a new one . The roadside assistance want to tow our car . The owner of Park and Go jumped our car which still didn't work . He then took me to an off site car parts place to get a new battery . We gave him a nice tip for his time , trouble and gas money .

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, CTGirl said:

Thanks for your response. I don’t have any tours planned for most of the ports. I just wanted to go off on my own. I only booked one Princess tour in Barbados, but I don’t really want to do it.  I booked it because it says on the Princess website that you can’t get off the ship there unless you have a Princess tour.  It may also say you can go with a government approved operator, but don’t quote me on that. I would like to cancel my tour and just go off by myself in Barbados. It seems to me from your reply that that is doable. Did you find that he case?

 

Thanks for your offer to post pictures of Grand Turk. We have been there many times, so it is not necessary. I will say though that the water around Grand Turk is the most beautiful color of water that I have ever seen.  I look forward to seeing that. 

 

We did want to go to the surfing beach and have flying fish for lunch so we booked a tour . We remember see other tours and taxis available before exiting the port but we had to meet our guide outside of the gate . No one asked us for proof of our tour but we had it and a copy of our passport and vax cards .

  For those who haven't been to Grand Turk we would like to share photos of our best lunch ever . We have always ate lunch at this place after SCUBA diving but our usual dive company was closed on New Years Day - so we just ate lunch and wanted to get away from the busy cruise port . 

 Conch fritters

 

 

Fried shrimp

 

 

The lobster was bigger than my wife's hands

 

 

 

There was only 1 other couple here . A video of the lunch spot and another lunch spot where people were snorkeling . The dark blue line on the horizon is where the sea drops to 6 thousand feet deep !

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

For my wife the best day begins with coffee and for me the best day begins with breakfast . So breakfast at Sabatini's it is .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

Early on day 2 I was up early and took the camera for a walk while Pat slept so that I could take lots of photos of the ship . We looked for photos of the Enchanted Princess before our cruise and found few so I wanted to take quite a few . I also picked up coffee and real cream for Pat for when she woke up . I'll show the photos later unless there are any requests so that we don't get too bogged down . At Brecky we decided that due to the cancellation by our tour guide and overcast sky and predicted rain to just stay on the ship and enjoy a quite day and a nap . Thus we watched the water taxis coming and going .

 

 

 

 

 

It was about a 15 minute ride to shore and about 30-45 minutes to load the larger water taxis .

 

 

HAL calls these ferries and the Diving industry calls them Cattle boats . We prefer to avoid these kind of crowds in light of the current health issues .

 

 

We saw some of the people on the boats get some rained on but would rather focus on the rainbow photo instead .

 

 

Next time around we will show what we would have done if we could have and this is where we would have done it .

 

 

Collison course ?

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[mjceditor]

5 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We did want to go to the surfing beach and have flying fish for lunch so we booked a tour . We remember see other tours and taxis available before exiting the port but we had to meet our guide outside of the gate . No one asked us for proof of our tour but we had it and a copy of our passport and vax cards .

  For those who haven't been to Grand Turk we would like to share photos of our best lunch ever . We have always ate lunch at this place after SCUBA diving but our usual dive company was closed on New Years Day - so we just ate lunch and wanted to get away from the busy cruise port . 

 Conch fritters

 

 

Fried shrimp

 

 

The lobster was bigger than my wife's hands

 

 

 

There was only 1 other couple here . A video of the lunch spot and another lunch spot where people were snorkeling . The dark blue line on the horizon is where the sea drops to 6 thousand feet deep !

 

 

 

 

 

PLEASE tell us the name of the restaurant! 

[scubacruiserx2]

14 minutes ago, mjceditor said:

PLEASE tell us the name of the restaurant! 

 

We usually do our reviews chronologically , but because you said the magic word . 🙂😉

There may be better  places and closer but we do like this place and it was in our tour route about 30 minutes from the port.

 

 

Local brew

 

 

Patty likes the sweet potato fries

 

 

But I prefer the local Macaroni Pie . This lunch with the carbs reminds us of a Hawaiian plate lunch .

 

 

 

[mjceditor]

5 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We usually do our reviews chronologically , but because you said the magic word . 🙂😉

There may be better  places and closer but we do like this place and it was in our tour route about 30 minutes from the port.

 

 

Local brew

 

 

Patty likes the sweet potato fries

 

 

But I prefer the local Macaroni Pie . This lunch with the carbs reminds us of a Hawaiian plate lunch .

 

 

 

Thank you so much! I appreciate the additional pictures! We are sailing a Back 2 Back on Enchanted Princess beginning March 20th.

Mike

[scubacruiserx2]

19 minutes ago, mjceditor said:

Thank you so much! I appreciate the additional pictures! We are sailing a Back 2 Back on Enchanted Princess beginning March 20th.

Mike

 

Wow , that's a great cruise Mike . We may look into it . We have never been to Dominica and it's been a LONG time since we went to Grenada . We may have to dust off our old SCUBA gear !

  We did do Aruba and Curacao on the Grand Turk cruise on HAL in January . If you would like to see the full review , find it at :

 

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[mjceditor]

24 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Wow , that's a great cruise Mike . We may look into it . We have never been to Dominica and it's been a LONG time since we went to Grenada . We may have to dust off our old SCUBA gear !

  We did do Aruba and Curacao on the Grand Turk cruise on HAL in January . If you would like to see the full review , find it at :

 

 

 

I will read your Trip Report. Thanks for the link.

[scubacruiserx2]

These photos are from a couple of previous visits to Eleuthera and a small piece of it owned by Carnival called Princess Cay . First up was Princess Cay on the Regal

 

 

 

Returning to the Regal .

 

 

And enjoying Pat's beloved Alfredo Fettuccine in a Parmesan bowl . How we miss the good old days !

 

 

On another visit we went off the property and this is where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do this trip .

 

Although it's not a private beach and Princess would run a 4 wheel drive shore excursion here , we like the remoteness and the natural beach feel of the Lighthouse Beach at the Southern tip of Eleuthera . That is when the noisy 4 wheelers weren't here and we were the only 7 people on the beach .

 

 

 

 

There's the old lighthouse in the center of the photo and on the green horizon in the distance about 1/3 of the way from the left you will see a white speck . That's the Regal Princess .

 

 

 

There's a peninsula that juts out toward an island and a small cliff here . On the Leeward side there was a place that only Pat and I went snorkeling .

 

 

 

 

 

To cap it off our guide made lunch and brought the rum punch . We tried to tell some of the others to be careful with sun and the punch but a couple of people got decked by a Rum punch . Unfortunately Disney has bought this property and is Disneyfying it . We had really hoped to see it one last time before the change has come , but alas we were not allowed . Maybe the change has come already .

 

 

Edited February 22, 2022 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, mjceditor said:

I will read your Trip Report. Thanks for the link.

 

We hope that you enjoy it and it will be helpful for you .

[scubacruiserx2]

We didn't go ashore but we had a nice quite lunch at GiGi's

 

 

The Minestrone

 

 

 

 

Rollota di Melanazane

 

 

Calzone

 

 

 

Out on the Promenade

 

 

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

13 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

And enjoying Pat's beloved Alfredo Fettuccine in a Parmesan bowl . How we miss the good old days !

 

gosh, that was our most favorite dish on Regal. Our kid and I had it every night. It's magical.

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

gosh, that was our most favorite dish on Regal. Our kid and I had it every night. It's magical.

 

DW and our oldest grandson love it . But when we took him on a Baltic cruise he fell in love with shrimp cocktail . He wanted and got 2 every night and he still loves shrimp and lobster . 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

16 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

DW and our oldest grandson love it . But when we took him on a Baltic cruise he fell in love with shrimp cocktail . He wanted and got 2 every night and he still loves shrimp and lobster . 

my 10 yo refuses to try shrimp, lol, while I luuuuurve it. He has some texture sensitivities, so he won't try anything he suspects will be rubbery or chewy.

But he sure surprised all of our friends on his first cruise at 3 yo. He ordered a cesar salad every night and loved it. When we got home, though, he said that he hated salad and never ate it again. Judging by the meme below, he is far from being alone on that category. 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Bistro Sur la Mer near Table # 1

 

 

The Piazza is like a beautiful lady . It's hard to keep your eyes off of her .

 

 

 

 

An afternoon siesta . The Medallion doesn't open the door  - but it does unlock it .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

11 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

my 10 yo refuses to try shrimp, lol, while I luuuuurve it. He has some texture sensitivities, so he won't try anything he suspects will be rubbery or chewy.

But he sure surprised all of our friends on his first cruise at 3 yo. He ordered a cesar salad every night and loved it. When we got home, though, he said that he hated salad and never ate it again. Judging by the meme below, he is far from being alone on that category. 

 

 

 

We tried things differently with our grandsons then what we did with their parents . When our 10 y.o. grandson was crying because he didn't want to eat King Crab we told him that he only had to eat 1 bite . The tears turned to tears of joy and he said " I LOVE King Crab ! ". 😍

[Itchy&Scratchy]

15 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

We tried things differently with our grandsons then what we did with their parents . When our 10 y.o. grandson was crying because he didn't want to eat King Crab we told him that he only had to eat 1 bite . The tears turned to tears of joy and he said " I LOVE King Crab ! ". 😍

We've had a deal with DS for years where he has full freedom to eat whatever he wants for breakfast and lunch (and he does make reasonable choices, whereas he jokes it'll be ice cream and cookies galore), but I order a dinner for him. Something I know he will eat and like, like fruit salad, steamed or grilled veggies, maybe, an appetizer like spring rolls, and he may even try something off our plates when we ask. His appetite is not a problem and he loves that cruising offers many choices.

 

But by far, our favorite was the parmesan bowl pasta alfredo. It was simply magical.

 

I can't wait for our Enchanted Princess cruise! I hope the food is just as great as it was on Regal.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Itchy&Scratchy

[scubacruiserx2]

After nap time we were still taking passengers onboard in the rain and we were out and in between rain clouds as we sailed away .

 

 

 

As we were taking some photos we noticed 3 sprinkler heads on the balcony with 1 near every sliding glass door .

 

 

We imagine that it's to prevent accidents like on the Star Princess in 2006 

 

https://emmacruises.com/star-princess-fire-2006/

 

Sailing past Lighthouse Beach we saw it from sea .

 

 

We played tag with the sunset  and rain clouds before dinner

 

 

 

 

We probably got our best sunset photos on the way to dinner .

 

 

 

Edited February 23, 2022 by scubacruiserx2