Live from Enchanted-Love Boat reunion 8/31-9/7- a Princess first timer!

[Scottdalfonso]

SO...a little background on us, then about this trip- our cruising experience will be a bit unique, so stay tuned.... 

 

It'll be just myself (46M) and my Wife (45F) sailing on our first non-Royal Caribbean cruise. I have 5 cruises under my belt, she has done 4 and our 12yo son, who we are leaving with his uncle this week, has done 3- all on Royal Caribbean. 

Traveling from Philly, so not a far ride, but we like to start our vacation the night before, so we have a room booked at the Hampton Inn Elizabeth with a park and stay package,  we will be taking a car share to Brooklyn in the AM. I found a new company called Revel, all EV cars and had some $10 off ride deals for new members, so I have one scheduled to pick us up, and after the coupon and the fact that they are just a little cheaper to begin with, the ride to Brooklyn ends up being almost $25 less than Lyft or Uber. 

We decided since we are going to be in the NY area for the night, that we would check out a game at Yankee stadium Friday night-they have standing room only tickets for like $25 and it includes a beer or soda- what a bargain!! The drink alone is probably pushing $15. 

 

But back to the cruise and how it came about- I decided to take some online Travel agent courses, and each cruise line has it's own online course that you can take to learn about the line. Once you complete the Princess course, they offer you a "graduation cruise" which is basically a comped interior room, with me being responsible for taxes, fees AND crew appreciation. So I always wanted to try a Canada\NE cruise, and this one was on the list- so we booked it. Shortly after we booked, we discovered it was the Love Boat reunion cruise, so that added a little more fun to the trip.  

Here is the unique part- even though this is my first cruise, the graduation cruiser gets all Elite perks once on board because they want us to get a full experience(I even got a black medallion!).    A few weeks ago we got the upgrade offer emails, so I put in for a balcony and BOOM, we won that- we went from interior to a balcony room right across the hall from the Retreat pool on "Sun deck". SO now the wife is REALLY excited for this cruise... oh and to top it off, the announced the band Air Supply would be doing two performances one night during the cruise!   

This cruise did have a few itinerary changes since we booked: we were supposed  to be going to Rhode Island on day 2, and to Rockland ME on day 4... they completely axed RI and turned that into a sea day, and moved us from Rockland to Eastport ME. Plus stops in Boston, Halifax and Saint John. 

 

Our only actual plans are to take a tour of Fenway in Boston, and to check out the water front areas in the Canadian ports. We weren't going to even get off in Eastport, look it up- there's not much there. BUT apparently the cruise coming to town is a big deal so they are having a big street festival for the ship that day. Food trucks, vendors and music. So now we may actually go check it out. 

Oh one more thing- I had been adding $25 OBC to the account almost weekly for a few weeks- we got up to about $400 obc now and plan on using that toward Plus packages for the two of us when we board (I don't drink, but she does and I'll still get my moneys worth out of it)

 

I think that's it for now- I'll drop in a few times before the cruise, especially once we check into the hotel Friday.  I can't promise I'll post a bunch during the cruise, but will do my best to at least do a daily recap, if not a few smaller ones as the day goes on. 

 

 

[Captain Funtime]

Following.  We are Enchanted next week (9/7)

[Crown Cruiser]

Scott,

 

How do you take the courses without working for a “travel agency”?  I’d love to take the courses, but when I go to the site it looks like they want a company name.

 

Thanks for any help.

[canadarocks]

WOW !! This all sounds AWESOME! Have the very best time!! Hopefully you will love the Princess experience. 🥳

Edited August 28 by canadarocks

[Scottdalfonso]

40 minutes ago, Crown Cruiser said:

Scott,

 

How do you take the courses without working for a “travel agency”?  I’d love to take the courses, but when I go to the site it looks like they want a company name.

 

Thanks for any help.

I did join an agency. You can't just jump on and do it. I signed up with an agency which then gave me access to various cruise lines and some other travel sites

[beshears]

I know the 31st of August is NOT here yet, but I hope to follow along, as I am "interested" in reading/learning about anything that has to do with the Enchanted. We did the Regal in February of this year and liked it so much, and found the Enchanted is very similar, only a newer ship, and decided to try the 10 day southern cruise.

[Honolulu Blue]

Thank you for committing to sharing your adventures on this cruise live.  I did a live a few weeks ago on a similar cruise, though we only share one stop (Halifax).  

 

Congrats on the graduation cruise!  Be sure to say hi to Allison and Ilana and their respective groups if you happen to see them.

[grimace95120]

Looking most forward to your experiences. You are on the inaugural cruise of the new premier package rolling out a full day ahead of any other ship. My curiosity is piqued to see how the specialty dining is managed with what could possibly be unprecedent demand and limited supply 

[di234]

I took that same course when I worked for AAA. I also upgraded to a balcony, then they upgraded me to a complimentary full suite. This was in 2010. I told my husband enjoy it, because we probably won’t be in a suite again. The courses were quite intensive. I remember it taking quite a few months to finish. Enjoy our cruise.

[freecruiser2]

We're on this cruise as well!  The Eastport street festival is welcome news.  We were just going to stay onboard.  Thank you for posting, this will be fun to read.  

[phabric]

Looking forward to your review

[Scottdalfonso]

Got an email from Princess warning us about the US Open being in town. Don't think it'll affect us much since we are staying over at EWR and already have a carshare scheduled.... I think it'll be more of a impact on JFK and LGA travelers.  Tonight will be final packing and getting the kid all set up.  

I mentioned our son wasn't coming, luckily we live in a the city and his school is only a block away AND even luckier that my brother is also only about 2 blocks away. SO we are moving all of my kids school clothes, computer and snacks to my brothers tonight so he will be all set up to hang out there and go to school from there. He will basically get home from school, swing by our house to take care of the kitty, give him some play time and what not, then walk over to my brothers to stay for the evenings.  

Plan is to leave Friday morning around 10 to head to the hotel, I paid an extra $25 to get an early\all day check in. Seemed worth it to me so we can get there, relax, grab some lunch all before heading up to Yankee stadium. 

[beshears]

Grimace95120, we are to do the Enchanted the 28th of February next year. We are "wondering" as you mentioned about the NEW Premier package, as the cost has gone up, and sort of like you said, with specialty restaurants and the BIG demand, and "limited" supply.

[grimace95120]

24 minutes ago, beshears said:

Grimace95120, we are to do the Enchanted the 28th of February next year. We are "wondering" as you mentioned about the NEW Premier package, as the cost has gone up, and sort of like you said, with specialty restaurants and the BIG demand, and "limited" supply.

Hi there, yes with the new premier including unlimited specialty dining, my hypothesis is that there will be an even greater demand on the Specialty Dining restaurants now that they are all included.

 

Take my situation for example. I had the previous  premier package that included 2 SD meals. I booked them. Then i upgraded to the new package ( unlimited) and booked SD meals for the rest of my trip. Now I've just taken 5 more spots up that 2 weeks ago i wasn't considering. If the package allows me unlimited SD, I for one will take advantage, and I'm sure I'm not alone I suspect the attraction to the new premier for most people will be the unlimited SD vs unlimited drinks, hence the greater demand. 

 

On the capacity side there are only "X" number of hours the restaurant are open, "X" number of tables at those restaurant, staffed by "X" number of crew, and it stands to reason that the the constrained capacity of the restaurants will be outpaced by the unconstrained demand on them.

Maybe they will get creative and extend hours and/or add additional tables, but either of those will put further strain on the dining system. That's my logic anyway, only time will tell.  

[Scottdalfonso]

Cruise day tomorrow...Checked into the Hampton inn around noon, had some lunch at the Ruby Tuesday right next door then headed out to Yankee stadium. Originally said it was a 45 minute ride...but turned into almost 2 hours because of multiple accidents.

Ready for this..while we were sitting at one of the tables in the concourse, my wife recognized a woman that we had met last month on a bus in Bermuda! What are the chances!? So I ran up to her and said "hey...didn't we meet last month in Bermuda" and she was so shocked,lol. We exchanged Facebook info and agreed to meet up before a concert We are all attending in Philly next week. Just repacked our bags and made them a little easier to carry tomorrow.  We have 1 suitcase and one back pack.. we're pretty light packers,but had to rearrange what we wanted in the carry on backpack. Hoping our re-scheduled car comes tomorrow on time, and my next update will be after we board!

 

[555]

16 hours ago, grimace95120 said:

On the capacity side there are only "X" number of hours the restaurant are open, "X" number of tables at those restaurant, staffed by "X" number of crew, and it stands to reason that the the constrained capacity of the restaurants will be outpaced by the unconstrained demand on them.

It should be interesting to see what happens. 

[grimace95120]

Have a great cruise Scott ! If you get a chance would love to know how Princess handles any alcoholic beverage "sales" in the port of New York. Their website says even with a package full price will be charged, until reaching international waters. Most cruisers are saying that hasn't been their experience, some say its only NY sales tax added....consistently inconsistent seems to be the actual experiences.  Thanks and have a great one !

[dog]

Following!  Great cruise & ship!

Let us know how many reserved seats are for Theatre productions, if possible.

[Scottdalfonso]

So we got to the port at 1015ish...the security line was already long, took about 30 minutes to get through.  I wasn't going to use the Elite lounge since I'm not technically elite, BUT walking toward the waiting area, an employee noticed my black medallion and told me to go to the lounge...so of course we did!  It's nothing super special, just a smaller waiting area with some bathrooms and water, I assume we will get some priority boarding once it starts, but not really sure! Its 1105 now and I think we are getting close to  boarding...hopefully. They did announce about 20 minutes ago they were still waiting on a 0 count from the previous cruise.

[Scottdalfonso]

We boarded about a minute after my last post. We were one of the first people on, so it was nice to get some pics of the piazza area pre-crowds. Definitely going to take a bit to adjust to getting around, but so far the crew has been REALLLY friendly and helpful. We've also met quite a few friendly,happy cruisers so far. When we boarded we found a crew member and added our plus packages so we could apply the OBC we had. Unfortunately the system was down so he wrote us a handwritten receipt and told us to use that until the package kicked in. Well..of course after we stopped at Good spirits , hit our muster, had another drink from one of the othet bars, then hit the buffet...we checked the folio and that first drink was charged. So I'll go deal with that in a few. Our room was ready by like 12, it's nice...love the location right next to the retreat pool. Bathroom is TINY...but it'll do the job! Off to enjoy the ship a little more before sailaway with Jill Whelan of the love boat. Oh I'll post some pics in a bit, too. 

[Scottdalfonso]

 

[canadarocks]

How awesome to be onboard with the original cast! Have a blast!!

[grimace95120]

4 hours ago, Scottdalfonso said:

we checked the folio and that first drink was charged.

please let us know if indeed that drink charge gets reversed. Website explicitly says drinks in the port of NY ( amongst others) are fully charged until the ship reaches international waters, regardless of a package being held or not 

[Scottdalfonso]

14 hours ago, grimace95120 said:

please let us know if indeed that drink charge gets reversed. Website explicitly says drinks in the port of NY ( amongst others) are fully charged until the ship reaches international waters, regardless of a package being held or not 

All charges on our folio are cleared. The only thing that shows on either of our accounts is the package charge. Got the drink removed and they refunded 10 each for the medallion delivery. So as far as I can see, there were no additional charges at all for the drinks while in port at NYC.

[Scottdalfonso]

Having a lazy first sea day..have breakfast delivery set for 930, the wife is sleeping in and I'm on the balcony looking at some overcast skies. 

To wrap up day 1: We did the sailaway party which was fun, had the Love boat cast there..actually met Doc in the elevator on the way up to the party. Also got spotted by someone who recognized me from Facebook groups (i'm easy to spot with my giant red beard)and knew I was doing this blog, so hi Marty, if you're reading!  After sailaway we wandered around a little, wife smokes so we checked out the back of 17 which was the much nicer of the two smoking areas..set up like a little lounge back there.  Headed up to experience the Elite lounge at Vista lounge before dinner. That was nice, a few snacks (fried shrimp, pretzels, chips and salsa, fruit and veggies cups and some desserts).. then we walked across the ship to dinner. We had 6pm reservations,  got there at 6 on the dot but still had to wait almost 20 minutes for a table..unless we were willing to share, which we are not, which we definitely did not regret when we heard the shared table next to us talking politics the whole time...that's exactly what we were looking to avoid while on vacation.  Dinner was good, I had fried chicken and the wife had the pork tenderloin... oh she had French onion soup as well,  and believe it or not...it was the first time for both of us. It will not be the last!

Our server was super fun so even though we ended up at not the best table (against a little wall separating us from server station)...we will still request him nightly. Wrapped up the night with a stop at the Yes/no game then right over to the Comedy/magic show. That had its moments..a little corny but ok enough to stick around. 

Something i may not have mentioned...I don't drink,but my wife does. She tends to have a few various types of margaritas over the day with a glass of wine or a mixed drink here and there. I run on a few red bulls, mocktails and sparkling water most of the time.  We do have to take advantage of some desserts today, as we didn't use any if the perks from the package yesterday other than the drinks. So far we've really liked the bartenders at Omalleys, Good spirits and the Princess Live bar.  

Plans today..not much planned at all until dinner.. maybe a little tshirt shopping, ordered our elite Canapés for 4pm, and just taking advantage of not having the kid to keep entertained. 

Ohhh I forgot..we did stop at the casino twice. I put a 20 in, played for about 20 minutes and cashed right back out at 20 buck...even so far. Went back right before bed, played that 20 for about 10 minutes and got it up to 55..cashed out and left.  I made the mistake of finding blackjack on the room tv..lol.  so of course I had to try thar, put 10 in...won 20 and cashed out. So the 20 bill is now at 75 in the casino account. That's a win in my books.

Sorry about my rambling posts, I try to remember everything and sometimes they come back out of order or randomly and I just type as it happens,ha. I didn't take many pics but I'll post a few more next...