14 Nights Mediterranean, Aegean & Adriatic Cruise

ENCHANTED REVIEW

Enchanted- 7 day Western Caribbean  The ship is well maintained  Embarkation and debarkation process is smooth  Love the special touches such as the cool towel and ice water they give you as you return from the port ROOM / MINI SUITE  Walls are magnetic and magnetic hooks / clips are so handy to hang bags, lanyards, waterproof pouches, important paperwork, hats and more  Spacious room (for a cruise cabin) for 4 people. Couch turns into bed and a bunk bed comes down from the ceiling. The room steward will set your room up for bedtime and then change it back in the morning.  Lots of shelves and drawers in the cabin including 3 bedside nightstands with drawers, desk with drawers, a cupboard of shelves next to the closet and additional spaces in the bathroom. The lamps have charging ports built in. Closet is a good size with hangers waiting on you. Robes are supplied as well.  Balcony is small and we really didn’t use it.  A refrigerator is also included inside the desk  2 TV’s with good selections both live and on demand.  The shower / tub combo has body wash and a shampoo/conditioner but we brought our own. The shower also has shelves and the water pressure is good.  Hair Dryer – interestingly the hair dryer is in one of the desk drawers hooked up already  Very few outlets are available, so we brought a power strip / phone charger which was perfect. CPAP: To preorder an extension cord and distilled water for a CPAP machine go to the Princess website and log on. Click on “Manage Booking” at the top of the page. Select “check in” then scroll down to “Guest Check-in Status” section. Click on “Dietary Requests” and tick the box next to distilled water. Then, click on the “Send Dietary Restriction” button. Your distilled water and an extension cord will be waiting for you. Our cabin steward assisted us in getting it hooked up.  I recommend a fan for both air circulation and white noise. We used our Woo Zoo fan and it was great. The room temp does stay nice and cool.  Damp Rid hanging moisture absorber – put in your checked baggage or you will be stopped in security. We really didn’t need the damp rid. Our room never really got humid.  The bed and pillows were perfectly comfortable. So soft and comfy. You can store 4 large suitcases under the bed ACTIVITES / ENTERTAINMENT  Many cruises try these trivia games and game show activities which many times can be cheesy however this activity staff was top notch. Every game was full of laughter, singing, dancing and having fun. The staff was hysterical.  Most every game and trivia had an element of music that I was able to connect with (I’m in my 50’s). There was 80’s Karaoke, 80’s music trivia, 90’s music trivia, TV theme songs trivia.  The variety of live music was astonishing. There’s a Crooners bar which caters to more of the older generation with a slick piano player and singer. Another area had your violins and soothing music. Irish music in the Irish pub, O’Malley’s. Then you got “Silent Disco” in the middle of the ship with the best music. We all danced and sang and bounced around to all the best dance music.  The main pool area always had something going on which at times got kind of loud for me so there are other pools you can escape to that are more chill  The evening shows were good. I get restless pretty easily, so a couple shows didn’t hold my attention, but the Rock Opera was a great show and they had a couple singers from The Voice and they were spectacular. The theaters for the evening shows were beautiful and comfortable.  The comedy shows were okay but to tell the truth the guys from the activity staff were funnier. They could make reading a phone book entertaining. FOOD / DINING  My husband and I love to find the best of deliciousness and we were greatly pleased with the offering of the Main Dining Room. The staff treated us like royalty, the atmosphere was beautiful, and the food was excellent. I highly recommend the French Onion Soup.  The first day on the ship we were puzzled why the buffet wasn’t bigger then we discovered they have 2 sections of buffet food to keep crowding to a minimum. There’s a vast array of food options including gluten free, vegetarian, vegan and sugar free.  The buffet isn’t your typical buffet. We thought the food was really good.  The casual dining options (Gigi’s Pizza and O’Malley’s) service wasn’t the best.  International Café: If you don’t see the almond croissant, be sure to ask for it. It’s awesome. They have pastries, sandwiches and coffee.  Salty Dog: by the main pool. The food is good, but you need to have patience because they are kind of slow  The pizza by the pool is really good especially late at night PLUS PACKAGE A MUST  Some think the PLUS package is mainly for the 15 alcohol drinks you get, which is nice but NO, it’s more than that.  Unlimited soda and juices were great but there’s more!  With the Plus package, you can be sitting at the pool and decide you want a drink. So, you pull up your princess app and order your drink at no additional charge and it comes to you. ANYWHERE you are they will find you. There are even some food items you can order. We got so spoiled. CONS  There are hot spots around the ship including the elevators.  At busy times the elevators can be really frustrating to get on. Our trick was to take the elevator going the opposite direction everyone was going and then just ride along. It might take a few minutes more, but it gets you on.  It was a full ship and at times it felt crowded but because the clientele is older and more relaxed, it didn’t feel chaotic like Carnival.  Because of the open concept, I had trouble finding a quiet corner which I need sometimes due to overstimulation. Over all it was fantastic and we plan on making Princess our go to cruise provider

10 days on Enchanted using a mobility scooter

Enchanted Princess – March 10-20, 2025 One day prior to this cruise we drove to Comfort Suites Fort Lauderdale on Federal Highway. It was in a very high traffic area and didn’t have a fast food restaurant that I could walk to. I did walk next door to 3 Sons Brewing Company and got a delicious chicken sandwich to take back to the hotel for dinner. Next time I would plan to go there to eat in and try one of their brews. The next morning we ate at the included buffet breakfast before heading to the port at 9:15. We entered from 17th Street which made it very easy to drop off our bag at berth 2 and to park in the Heron parking structure. By 10 a.m. we boarded the ship and headed directly to the Princess Live café. Unfortunately the coffee machine was not working so we got some bottled water and settled in at the Princess Live lounge. We watched the safety video and got the medallion up and running with some help from the Ocean Front staff. At 11:30 we dropped off our carry on bags in our cabin and headed to the Amalfi dining room for a lovely beef tenderloin plate and glass of wine. Glad we got there early. Passengers that arrived later had to wait a while to be seated. We spent the afternoon unpacking and enjoying our balcony. At 5 p.m. we headed to the Platinum and Elite Lounge for musical entertainment and drinks. Still full from lunch, we made a meal from the chicken wings, veggies and dip, fruit cups and cheese and crackers. That evening we had fun at I’ll Take Trivia for $100 then listened to some tunes with DJ Doza. A great first day. We were in a handicapped accessible cabin. The room and the balcony were both spacious. The only complaint I have is that the room only has a chair at the desk. On the Grand class ships, the accessible balcony cabins have a small table and barrel chair also, making it easy to have coffee and pastries in the morning or watch a movie in the evening. I ended up moving the balcony table into the cabin most days. We had the plus package and throughout the day I took advantage of this getting bottled water, San Pelligrino, coffee, tea, Coke Zero, Sprite Zero and once a frozen drink called Black Forest Freeze. Over the course of the evening, we usually ordered 3 drinks each. We like the Plus package because I never have to think twice before ordering a drink I want or trying something new. Who knew I would enjoy a Sour Apple Martini? The weather was nice for much of this cruise, however Princess Cays was cancelled due to high winds. We spent many hours on our balcony reading and relaxing throughout the cruise. At the ports we got off at St. Maarten for a mudslide at Sharky’s, had a nice quiet lunch at Sweet Cane, a quaint restaurant in Port Zante at St. Kitts, and finally had beverages at Seven Restaurant in Tortola. We found the Enchanted Princess very enjoyable. The Vista lounge, Crooners, Crown Grill lounge, Princess Live and the Double Down Bar were all easily accessible. We already knew from experience that the pool deck, World Fresh Marketplace and piazza are too difficult to navigate a mobility scooter during the busy hours. We enjoyed Gigi’s by Alfredo and O’Malley’s for our two casual meals. Even though we went to O’Malley’s at 4:45 p.m. for dinner service that started at 5:30 it was already jammed. Shout out to our favorite waiter Louis for spotting us and finding someone already seated that would share their table with us. The Killarney Stout Stew and Drunken Mussels were delicious and we had a great seat to enjoy set one of the band A Pint of Plain. We found the entertainment on this ship to be varied and fun. Some of the best shows included Strings of Rock, Robbie Printz at the laugh lounge, Reggie Rice, and a Prince tribute by Kwayme Micheal Remy. Cruise Director Alejandro Tortorelli really stepped it up by entertaining us prior to the Princess Theatre shows and by having two fun comedy shows featuring himself, Captain Raffaele di Martino and the activities director Papisito. On the last sea day I still had $30 of onboard credit so I ordered an indulgence Seafood Salad for $24 ($28 with the service fee) at the dining room for lunch. It was delicious but at that price I probably could have ordered it at my favorite seafood restaurant at home. At the end of the cruise we did the walk off disembarkation and were headed home by 7 a.m. Another great cruise in the history books!

Another Successful Princess Cruise

Recently cruised on the Enchanted Princess for 10 days (1/29/25 – 2/8/25). We departed from Port Everglades and the planned stops were: Princess Cay, St Thomas, St Maarten, Antigua, St Kitts, and Grand Turk. Note: Grand Turk was cancelled due to high winds. We had a sea day followed by Nassau added as a replacement stop. We have cruised 20-ish cruises across multiple lines We booked an inside guarantee cabin with the standard package. Our cabin was assigned on the M Marine deck forward just above the bridge and 1 deck below the Lido. It was a good location with easy access to the pool and food. Overall: We determined 10 days was the right length of cruise for us. At 7 days the cruise still felt new. By day 10 we were ready to disembark. The ship was very clean and the staff consistently attentive and polite. Our fellow cruisers were older than I anticipated. I would guess the median age was 75. We are late 50s so were clearly some of the younger people on the ship. My guess is this was because it was a 10 day cruise and working people may not get that many consecutive days off. There is no public access to view from the front of the ship. You either need to have a front facing cabin or pay to be in the Sanctuary. I enjoy watching the ship come into and leave the harbor. No arrival/departure viewing for me this cruise from the bow. Bring cough drops and some type of cough medicine. About day 6 the massive, uncovered coughing began and was spreading. Food The food was outstanding. Although we had booked main dining room reservations prior to embarkation, the time never seemed to work for us. We ate 8 dinners in the World Fresh Marketplace (buffet) and 2 dinners in the main dining room. The service in the main dining room was very rushed and took A LONG time. We were glad to have our meals at our own time and pace in the buffet. The main dining room menu is mostly offered in the buffet and the buffet includes a lot of additional choices. The pizza and chicken sandwich served poolside were very good. Pools Through Cruise Crutic I learned about the FREE Retreat adult-only pool on Sun Deck 17 forward. It is tucked away and I needed to seek it out. It “looks” like a private pool for some guests but it is accessible to all. It is just in front of the for-fee Sanctuary area. I enjoyed sea days here. I am up early and every day watched the same folks arrive on deck about 7am to reserve their lounge chairs next to the main pool. In my experience I always found a lounge chair available but I was not looking for a chair in the direct sun near the pool. Entertainment The dance band and electric violins in the atrium were good. The Irish singer duo (now left ship) were excellent. The rest of the music entertainment was very sedate background music. There were only a few comedy shows. In June 2024 while on the Grand Princess in Alaska it was announced that Princess was making a commitment to adding more comedians and branding it “Laugh Lounge.” (The logo and introduction are copied and modified from their sister cruise line Carnival.) I anticipated more comedy. I hope Princess continues to invest in this comedy entertainment. ALL shows were standing room only and some folks could not get in. Lots of game shows and trivia. Movies under the stars were good. We watched 2 or 3 of the movies.