Our August 2024 started off with a week on the immediate predecessor ship to Discovery Princess: Enchanted Princess. Notable for its launch delay of over a year due to pandemic restrictions, I expected the penultimate ship in the Royal class would have a very familiar feel to the vessel we were on earlier in the year. I hoped for a great kids’ program, decent dining and drinks, and be a nice way to disconnect from work.

I’m pleased to report that Enchanted Princess fulfilled these expectations, with a few noteworthy high points and only a couple shortcomings compared to other lines as well as our Discovery Princess trip earlier in the year. We had excellent dining experiences, and while OceanNow delivery was still a good way to stock the fridge with drinks, our beverages for hot tub delivery didn’t show up until we were off the lido deck and back at the cabin. As expected, the layout and smoke-filled casino were less than optimal, but the kids’ club still delivered for our family.

Booking and planning

In terms of timeline, we hadn’t yet completed our first sailing on Princess before making final payment for Enchanted Princess on this Eastern Caribbean itinerary. We knew we wanted this week due to summer camp arrangements, and there were still sailings with 4-person cabins available from Carnival, MSC, NCL and Celebrity in addition to Princess.

I ended up choosing Princess based on positive reviews from YouTube and CruiseCritic, as well as the total value of the base fare and Plus package. There were Carnival sailings that week for much less money, but on much older ships and without a drink/Wi-Fi/adult gratuities bundle; Cheers! alone on Carnival would have added just under $1000US to the bill.

Our May sailing on Discovery Princess then reinforced the decision to stick with the same cruise line. In many ways, Discovery and the Princess product had felt like a good fit for our family in a way that the bustling nature of Carnival Celebration had not. I was happy that even though there wasn’t a water park or Deco Deli or Dr. Seuss Bookville, there were still lots of things to look at, delicious new food to try, and plenty of opportunities to go swimming.

One thing I wish I had experienced firsthand before finalizing this booking was the cabin configuration and location on this type of Princess ship. We hadn’t yet sailed on Discovery Princess, and chose a standard Balcony cabin. Deluxe and Premium Deluxe balconies, the next types up from Balcony, all seem to have the same arrangement, with a pull-out loveseat and one Pullman bed that block the mini-fridge and balcony access in the “open” state.

In mini-suites, the next cabin class up, the Pullman bed is directly above and parallel to the sofa bed. Even in the smallest mini-suite, only the (easily movable) ladder is in the way of access to drinks and fresh air. Our travel agent was unable to locate an available mini-suite for four on this early August sailing when we checked in mid-May (while sailing on Discovery), so I bumped our upgrade bid to the middle of the range for $410 CAD total and figured whatever happened would happen.

For flights, WestJet had some good options into and out of Fort Lauderdale. With Enchanted Princess sailing round-trip from Port Everglades, we didn’t need to sort out much extra transportation. WestJet was $1200 CAD cheaper than Air Canada, on the same days, for flights within several hours – so I booked those even before final payment on the cruise. Our return flight was scheduled at an easily attainable 12:15pm departure. This was also unusual; on weeks we looked at, WestJet offered undesirably late flights back home from FLL to YYZ (eg: departing at 18:15 or 21:25). Even if available, the WJ planes departing closer to noon on disembarkation day carried a 3x price premium over the evening ones. WestJet also doesn’t directly fly out of MIA or PBI, and instead partners with Delta for these airports – so you’d probably have to transfer in Atlanta at least once.

Hotel options were good, and I got a reservation at the Hampton Inn Ft. Lauderdale Airport North Cruise Port – the same place we’d stayed prior to sailing Edge in April 2022. I also made an early evening reservation for the family at Old Heidelberg Restaurant so everyone could enjoy the delicious German food.

Unfortunately, we ran into a different set of issues with the Princess app. Somehow Kayla’s billing was unlinked from the rest of the family, and her Medallion wasn’t shipped to our home – even though she was the one who got the shipping confirmation email. Our other three Medallions arrived through Canada Post as expected. Looking back, for our sailing on Discovery Princess, the packages arrived 17 days in advance of sailing. The Medallions we received this time were shipped July 30 and arrived July 31, cutting it close to our departure of August 3. Prior to leaving Canada we hadn’t received another package with Kayla’s Medallion, so we sighed and expected to have to sort it out at the port or Guest Services line.

Travel and pre-cruise

There was less stress about travelling on WestJet this time around, as the strike had been resolved and flights were back to regular operation. We also received an unsuccessful upgrade email that morning (one day before embarkation) telling us that “Literally nothing!” would happen to our reservation, so I prepared myself to dodge an overhead Pullman bed for the week.

The flight arrived on time. I grabbed a pizza for the kids before exiting the gate area in Terminal 1 and ate it waiting for our checked bag. It was only about 20 minutes before the hotel shuttle arrived, a much better performance than the one provided by La Quinta in March that took over an hour to show up.

One mild concern was that the generic 12-person van didn’t seem to have any operational seatbelts. While the belts and buckles existed, the receptacles had been wrapped up with electrical tape. We could argue if this vehicle might be considered a bus under Florida law, but given that there were the appropriate safety devices present – just disabled – it was shoddy.

We arrived at the hotel just before 3pm, and after a moderate wait behind a group with some unique payment arrangements, we were able to get our room keys and head upstairs about 45 minutes earlier than the 4pm check-in time. The two-queen room was OK. Some of the furniture had seen better days and the bedding cleanliness was slightly questionable. The kids wanted to go for a swim, so we changed and headed out back to the outdoor pool for an hour.

Before this cruise, we’d ordered some small items on the US version of Amazon that were significantly cheaper than the Canadian site. We were able to select a delivery option at a locker or collection point, rather than having the package shipped to the hotel and potentially incur a handling fee. While there’s a closer option to the hotel at a 7-Eleven, the best choice in August seemed to be the Whole Foods on SE 17th street, about 1.7 miles away. I liked Whole Foods because I could pick up some snacks for later while there. I set off on foot, with a goal to try to beat the quoted walking time of 41 minutes and save myself the cost of a taxi or Uber ride.

The walk was straightforward, mostly through a residential area, although the neighbourhood has a similar issue to Doral, northwest of Miami: sidewalk access is extremely inconsistent. At various points along my trip, sidewalks:

• ended abruptly into lawns
• made 90 degree turns around corners, with no way to continue across the road without stepping on large grass islands or going down to the next driveway
• were present on both sides of the street, then one side, then ceased to exist within the same block
• made a path directly into private property
• were obstructed by cars, trucks, trailers, and boats
• changed material from standard concrete to whatever the homeowner had paved (or not paved) their driveway with

The best one I found on my route was what looked like a municipal sidewalk, but it began and ended entirely on someone’s property within less than a hundred feet.

While I knew it would be a hot day out, and applied sufficient sunscreen and wore a hat, there was one thing I didn’t consider when I set out for a walk. To the north of the hotel was an unused piece of land. I had barely made it halfway down the block when there was a very loud rustling noise and moving of shrubbery as I walked by. Even though the source of the commotion was most likely a green iguana, which were plentiful in the area and both very skittish and noisy, I couldn’t help thinking about another Floridian animal for the rest of my walk – a lumbering one with scales and sharp teeth.

I made it to Whole Foods un-alligatored, used the Amazon app and QR code to pick up the package, and selected some house-brand snacks that later proved to be underwhelming. While my walk from the hotel ended up 12 minutes shorter than the Google estimate, at that point it was already 5:15pm, so I took a 5-minute Uber back over to Old Heidelberg to make our 5:30 reservation.

Kayla and the kids met me there after a short walk from the hotel, but unfortunately it had started to rain lightly just as they were crossing the road, so we spent some time getting everyone back to a less grumpy state (beer for me, pop for the kids.)

Old Heidelberg offers a kids’ menu, so there was some initial fixation on the usual chicken fingers/mac and cheese options. Thankfully the soup of the day option (split pea) and the regular menu offering of German potato soup turned the tide. The whole family was then able to enjoy some schnitzel and stroganoff for the main courses. We will certainly be back again!

Embarkation day

Hampton Inn offered shuttle service to Port Everglades for $15/person (a premium of $3/person compared to what was indicated online.) For four people, this is probably 3 to 4x what an UberXL would cost, but we’re still trying to avoid the use of car seats. We picked a 9:30 departure time and were in the hotel lobby 10 minutes beforehand as advised – but there was a large group in front of us all wearing the same type of shirt. We couldn’t determine whether it was a religious or multi-level marketing experience, but there were enough people waiting that multiple shuttles were necessary to handle everyone. There was much debate about who absolutely had to go in which vehicle, even though all involved from that group were adults going to the same ship.

While the group’s antics delayed our departure about 10 minutes, we ended up on a much nicer mini-bus than the other vehicles, one of which looked like the No Seatbelt Express from the previous day. While the ride from the Hampton Inn to exiting the bus at Terminal 2 was only about 8 minutes, our driver made an interesting maneuver to avoid a traffic loop, which I certainly doubt was sanctioned by the port authority. Regardless, it worked out for us, and we ended up at the end of the rapidly growing line to enter the building by 10:07am.

Our security experience was also short but could have been easier, had we not been directed to a line behind someone with an oversized suitcase that should have been checked with a porter. It was also too heavy for the owner to lift properly. Kayla generously helped out and made polite conversation, while I internally grumbled about being the one to volunteer when you have your own kids and baggage and impending missing Medallion situation to handle.

Total time through the line into the building and security was still an acceptable 15 minutes, and then we were directed towards the Blue or Green Lane. Green Lane passengers were directed to an area with about 10 or 12 cylindrical podiums with agents wielding tablets, while the Blue Lane looked more like a conventional cruise check-in counter. I estimated about 30 people in the Blue Lane line when we arrived. Despite the missing Medallion, all parties on our mobile check-in indicated Green Lane status, so we went that way and were immediately directed to an available agent.

The port representative we had seemed to know how to handle the situation and went to check if the Medallion was available at the port. If it wasn’t there, Kayla would have been issued a conventional cruise card to board, followed by waiting at Guest Services to get a Medallion activated. Luckily, this wasn’t the case, and the agent returned quickly with a device for Kayla.

After that, it was less than a 5-minute walk to the boarding bridge, and we stepped on the ship by 10:35am. Even with the very inconsequential delays I’d have to rate this as one of the better boardings we’ve experienced. There were also helpful Camp Discovery representatives right as we embarked, who made sure we knew where to go and what to do for the kids’ club and mandatory wristbands.

Ship

Layout and design

Apart from the artwork and some of the furniture, I found the layout and venues on Enchanted Princess identical to Discovery Princess, and they get even closer as Princess continues to move and adjust onboard offerings. A lot of reports online talk about the Salty Dog Gastropub, which was a differentiator at one point, but this no longer exists on either ship; it’s now the O’Malley’s Irish pub on both in the same location on deck 5.

Discovery and Enchanted Princess are even closer to one another than NCL Breakaway and Getaway, which are also functionally identical ships – on these vessels, two bars on deck 8 have slightly different themes, with the biggest noticeable difference being a martini-centric bar on Breakaway and a mojito-focused approach on the Getaway. I might be able to tell the difference from an interior picture of those two NCL ships, but certainly not the Princess ones.

I won’t rehash the issues I have with the layout too much, other than to say we were slightly better equipped on this sailing to get to the correct dining room and avoid the dead-end on the port side of Deck 17. It’s also still confusing to try and determine port or starboard when exiting the lifts or staircases on passenger decks – there’s no carpet indicators like on some NCL ships, and you need to get close to the hall signs to determine whether it’s showing even (port) or odd (starboard) cabin numbers. A simple font size increase could help a lot here.

This was also a full sailing with many rooms having 3rd and 4th passengers. You can get a good idea of this by walking down the hallways and seeing how many names are listed on each tablet outside cabin doors. As a result, the elevators continued to be quite busy in the early evening.

Take Five

A common complaint online was the partial conversion of the Take Five venue into a non-smoking casino, or more accurately, the addition of several banks of slot machines and the removal of jazz performances. This was fully in place by our sailing. The venue is still called Take Five, but the cynical side of me enjoys how you could say the same thing (“Take Five!”) to someone who’s just lost a lot of money gambling. You still end up in the smoking side of the casino for any cashier needs – there are no cash dispensing machines, and all winnings go on your casino account until explicitly withdrawn at the teller. It was also much more obvious on Enchanted Princess that Take Five was a venue you were permitted to walk through.

Jazz doesn’t make or break a cruise for me, but I also get that it would upset people – it’s a reduction in live music and free entertainment option, traded for the expansion of a very much extra charge offering. One point in favour of the Take Five bar is that it was a decent place to sit without a high-volume live performance behind or beside you, which happened many times in Crooner’s, Good Spirits, O’Malley’s, and the Crown Grill Bar. Over the course of the week I got to know Lawrence, one of the bartenders who worked both Take Five and Bellini’s – there was always a drink ready right away if he caught me walking by.

Maintenance and upkeep

Enchanted Princess is a year and a few months older (by ship completion date) than Discovery Princess – but Enchanted also only started revenue sailings four months before Discovery. I can’t say definitively that those four extra months of passengers or the previous year sitting around made a whole lot of difference, but Enchanted Princess is not as well-kept as Discovery Princess. A good example from our cabin is below, with the “bistro table” showing some wear from the elements and in need of a wipe down.

Similar wear and corrosion could be found in several exterior areas by the pool entrances, around the shower controls and grab rails in the cabin washroom, and with countertops and tiling in public restrooms – although never to the non-functional degree I saw in some bathrooms on Celebrity Edge. While by no means a rust bucket, there are certainly areas on the ship that don’t match the upkeep standards of the Piazza area. In the three-level concourse, crew were constantly polishing, vacuuming, and sanitizing. We did regularly see maintenance teams repainting and making cosmetic fixes, much like on NCL, but the sea is a harsh mistress.

We made great use of the pools and hot tubs every day. On this Caribbean sailing in August, they were much more popular than Alaska in May. Generally, we could find a small space in either of the main pools but had much better luck out in the shallower WakeView pool aft on deck 16. One nuisance was a large group of teenagers who would form an ever-expanding circle in the water and engage in some minor horseplay and colourful language. During one afternoon in the pool, there was a minor commotion involving them, a very displeased mother and an officer who didn’t seem to take any real action. Nobody got kicked out, but certainly nobody was happy.

WakeView was better in terms of overall calm and personal space but throughout the day there became a build-up of various things floating in the water – hair, oily sunscreen, small pieces of paper straw wrapper, and mysterious bubbly patches (probably snot) that were a good indicator to leave and take a shower. We don’t have a good grasp on whether this was just a build-up of debris over the day that was handled with an overnight cleaning, or whether it was more reflective of a malfunctioning filtration system, but it certainly didn’t lead to confidence in proper maintenance. There was never an obvious person in charge of the area, but it’s something I might take more direct action on next time.

Along the same lines, I noticed several fruit flies (mainly because they were buzzing around my drink) while in the Good Spirits venue, which speak to general cleanliness and appropriate pest control. The CDC Vessel Sanitation Program requires effective control for “the presence of insects, rodents, and other pests”, and Enchanted Princess did get a few points taken off the March 2024 inspection for the presence of small flies in several different venues. This was something we didn’t observe on the Alaska sailing, but Alaska and Seattle in May have a very different temperature range and climate than Florida and surrounding tropical climates in August. Regardless, this might be another area where a mention in the mid-cruise survey might help the matter.

Cabin

Layout and configuration

At booking, we paid the going rate for a BF-class balcony cabin (which are all at the far forward end of the ship) and were able to select a BB-class cabin, mid-forward cabin on deck 9 (Dolphin) for the same price. D306 was close – but not too close – to the elevators and stairs. This was a decent 4-category bump, although there are a lot of these type of rooms on the ship, and I’m sure we would have been fine in any one of the BD cabins located closer to aft; most BE and BF are in worse enough locations that I’d have to be selective.

In terms of size and layout, this cabin was identical to our obstructed balcony (BW) E535 on Discovery Princess – no additional interior or exterior space, and no loveseat. Apart from our 4-person cabin occupancy requirement when sailing with kids, I think this really emphasizes that there are savings to be had in this cabin category. Even though most BW and DW cabins seem to be on deck 8/Emerald, we never had any noise issues, and it was close to the indoor amenities on the lower decks.

This cabin also featured a functioning motion sensor light by the closet/bathroom area, which was not operational on our Discovery Princess sailing. I can confirm that the intensity in the middle of the night, with a darkened cabin, is far too aggressive and more likely to wake other people up. Next time I will do the painter’s tape trick on the sensor. In the opposite vein, the under-desk motion sensor light did not seem to be functional. I found that light more useful on our previous cruise and probably wouldn’t try to intentionally deactivate it if it was working.

There was also some additional metal hardware mounted to the shower wall on the opposite side of the controls and shower head. It seemed like it was supposed to offer some additional accessibility, but there’s no way you could get a wheelchair or mobility device in this bathroom.

For a 7-day cruise, I was still OK with the sleeping arrangements. They are certainly not conducive to any type of snuggling with your significant other. Even if children are at the kids’ club, the upper Pullmans are securely in the ceiling, and you want to take a nice afternoon nap together, the lower beds are still in the separated twin configuration which would require some literal furniture rearrangement. This is truly a cost-versus-comfort trade-off, and I don’t think it’s spoiling anything by saying that the next Princess cruises we have planned were deliberately booked in mini-suite cabins. If you book far enough ahead and are willing to settle for a smaller one on deck 8, they go for about $100 CAD/day premium over a standard balcony.

Service

A key improvement over the Discovery Princess sailing was the effectiveness of our stateroom steward, Kumar. When he introduced himself on the first day, he took the time to explain about the Pullman beds and let us know that he would be taking them down at evening service and bringing them back up in the morning each day. This didn’t happen on our last sailing, and the beds were in the down position all day, causing a slight hazard when you’re trying to move around and get out of a swimsuit or ready for dinner.

I sometimes get concerned about the timing on Pullman operations, especially if the kids are ready to sleep early, but Kumar was absolutely on top of things. We left the cabin at 7:30am or shortly afterward each day, had breakfast in the main dining room, and were back less than an hour later to get ready for Camp Discovery. Every time, the beds were back up in the ceiling and the room had been serviced. The same thing happened in the evening – we left between 5 and 5:20 for dinner, and on our return the upper beds were always pulled down and made up. Due to his efficiency, we never had a situation where Kumar was halfway through service and had to be interrupted to get something from the cabin.

Some of this might be attributable to our ever-present Medallions giving off our location, as well as pre-booked dinner reservations each night, but this was a situation where I really did appreciate having the consistency of a good room steward. Our ad-hoc request for “fuzzy blankets” for the kids was fulfilled promptly. Kumar also brought all the paperwork we expected, including a letter to the children about Camp Discovery, the camp program guide, and mandatory muster station wristbands – none of these things were in the cabin on Discovery Princess on Day 1. I was glad that I was able to mention him very positively in the mid-cruise survey.

Location

What I was less happy about was the forward location of this cabin, despite being classified as a mid-forward by Princess. On Enchanted Princess and ships in the same class, going down from the forward elevators leads to the theatre and shops, lower theatre and Take Five/Princess Casino, or the spa/Guest Services/specialty seafood restaurant. For someone who spends lots of time in the casino, or takes advantage of the adult-only Retreat/Sanctuary area, forward might be a good choice – but we found we had to traverse half or the full length of the ship before going up or down to get to key midship or aft venues:

• dining rooms
• Piazza and mid-ship bars
• WakeView pool
• Swirls, for ice cream and popcorn
• Camp Discovery

I had easy access to Bellini’s bar from our cabin by going down two decks, although there was a fleeting moment where I thought double-fisting drinks, wearing a t-shirt and shorts, walking through the shiny Shops of Princess area was perhaps a touch low-brow. I quickly scanned all the other patrons doing the same thing and regularly made the same trip on a few nights.

I don’t know why staying forward was such a downside on this type of ship – we’ve stayed in all types of cabins along the longitudinal axis, with the most troublesome being a front-of-the-ship Oceanview on NCL Getaway. That one, however, was more of a problem due to noise and less about the length of time it took to get to venues. Regardless, for future family cruises with Princess, on Royal class, our cabins will also be more aft than not when the choice is available.

Food – main dining

Since we weren’t travelling in a larger group, our dining reservations were not spuriously adjusted and the app generally behaved as expected. I did alternate between both bookable restaurants each night (Amalfi and Santorini) as we don’t put a whole lot of value on having the same waitstaff every evening. We like to see the different dining venues and sit in different spots. Honestly, I also don’t want a situation where you get a wait team where there’s a vibe mismatch or who maybe aren’t up to service standards, and then you must deal with that every evening unless you make a request to switch – which could be perceived as a complaint.

I’m glad we did this, because one of our nights in Santorini was one of the most well-conducted main dining room experiences we’ve had on a ship, and we might have missed that if we’d done traditional dining. Ritchie and Rommell – who knew some of the team from Discovery – were funny, gracious, prompt with food and drinks, excellent with the kids, and basically made our whole evening.

While I’d been dreaming of the spaghetti aglio olio with shrimp for lunch ever since disembarking Discovery Princess – and had a strong desire to eat it as many times as possible – I was able to reconfirm that there are at least three variants of the lunch menu. The first day luncheon does indeed have a hamburger and fries, but also a limited selection of appetizers (4), mains (3 plus a pasta), and 4 dessert choices. I guess a reduced set of choices makes sense for embarkation day, but I wasn’t totally into any of the options.

On most other days, the standard lunch menu makes an appearance. There are still two rotating mains each day this menu is offered; on this version, they are the two bottom-right entrees: Indian Shrimp Curry and Chipotle Roasted Striploin, Gravy. The soup option (left side, third item) also rotated each time. Besides the Hungarian Goulash Soup in the photo below on Day 5, there was a Country-Style Lentil Soup with ham on Day 2 and a Creamy Potato Soup with bacon on the last day.

In between these two on Day 3, was another luncheon menu with a brunch offering. This contained the pub lunch offerings such as the Scotch Egg, Ploughman’s Lunch, Fish & Chips, Bangers & Mash, and Chicken Curry.

Food – other dining

We were able to use both Princess Plus casual dining credits on Enchanted Princess. For the first of these meals, as on Discovery, the adults did an early lunch at Ocean Terrace while the kids were in camp. The experience was nearly identical in terms of quality and quantity of food, which is to say, a nice light lunch that left room for a mid-afternoon snack or larger dinner.

Our second meal was at Gigi’s Pizzeria by Alfredo, which is a highly confusing name since there’s also free pizza on Lido Deck 16 at a counter called Alfredo’s Slice. The pay/casual venue is called Alfredo’s Pizzeria on Sky Princess (the ship built immediately before Enchanted), whereas the free venue is just called Slice.

Anyway, the paid/casual dining pizza, regardless of what the place was called, was good and a good value. For the dining credit (out-of-pocket rate $14.99US/person) you get one appetizer, one choice of pizza or pasta, and a dessert. I especially enjoyed the antipasto offering and the capricciosa pizza (tomato sauce, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, ham, black olives, basil.) The pizzas are personal-sized, but two of them plus the appetizers were sufficient for the two adults and two young kids to share. We were not charged for the kids, even though we fully expected to pay for their sodas. And unlike Ocean Terrace, I didn’t need a 3pm snack – the Italian food kept us full until our regularly scheduled dinner.

The International Cafe, Salty Dog Cafe, and World Fresh Marketplace continued to provide good casual food options. I can’t think of any real hits or misses in any location, although I felt like there were a couple items available at the International Cafe on Discovery that weren’t on Enchanted. Service at Salty Dog was very quick, and we had prompt drink delivery right at the outdoor table from the roaming servers.

Swirls was a hit with the kids once again for soft-serve ice cream and made Kayla very happy with their complimentary evening popcorn option.

Drinks

All the same tactics as on Discovery Princess were employed on this sailing, especially the one to stock the fridge with some beverages. The first night OceanNow delivery of several sparkling waters and Strongbow ciders came in less than an hour – a good improvement. Because this wasn’t an Alaska sailing, the drink menu was missing some of the regional beers offered on Discovery. The beer and cocktail options were even more reduced than the ones published by ProfCruise. I will have to make sure to get screen captures of the menus day to day next time – I could swear some of the drinks in the app on Day 1 started disappearing later in the cruise, even if they were still readily available at the bars.

The OceanNow drink service does get points deducted for an inappropriately long delivery time while we were sitting in a hot tub on deck 17, while our movie-averse children were both curious and concerned by the live-action Little Mermaid playing on the large screen. We had ordered two standard Piña Coladas and waited over 45 minutes, while people and servers were rapidly served from both the Mix and Seaview bars just one deck below. Both locations were busy and had long lines, but patrons were getting processed quickly. Eventually, we had to get out of the tub without our drinks and headed back to our cabin to change out of our swimsuits.

It was maybe 5 minutes after arriving that there was a knock at the cabin door – the drinks (slightly melted) had followed us, thanks to the Medallion tracking. There doesn’t seem to be a good way to cancel the order once it’s moved to an in-progress state – you could try the in-app chat feature, but that seems like more effort than I want to put in if the drink delivery eventually solves itself.

On the standard bar menus, most of the mixed drinks and cocktails are within the Princess Plus package, but you’ll want to watch out for those mixed in that are next to an “RF” symbol (indicating a Rob Floyd signature drink), as nearly every one of them is over the $15 Plus cap. In print format, the “R” character appears stretched so it is easily confused with the letter “A”, which makes this easy to remember in retrospect: don’t order the expensive AF drinks.

Ports, or lack thereof

The three ports scheduled on this sailing were Princess Cays (Bahamas), San Juan (Puerto Rico) and St. Thomas (USVI). We only had plans for Princess Cays, and had pre-booked a clamshell for some shade and a short beach day, but unfortunately, we were unable to make the port due to high winds. None of the ship-offered excursions in San Juan or St. Thomas were especially appealing, so we didn’t end up leaving Enchanted Princess for the week.

Camp Discovery kids club

While I didn’t manage to locate the exact numbers, in what should be obvious on an August sailing, the Camp Discovery program was much busier. We never were turned down due to capacity or anything like that, but pick-up and drop-off did take longer to complete.

The Tree House area on Enchanted Princess was slightly less appealing to our kids than the version on Discovery- there were no books at the front area, and it had a somewhat smaller indoor playground. They did get to use the outdoor area with a small slide and trikes, though, and spoke highly of that. They also discovered a Paw Patrol video game that drew their attention during “free play” sessions. We really appreciated the Camp Discovery staff on this sailing, especially Miss Susie who had formerly taught in an Ontario school board within driving distance of our hometown.

One event that differed from our Alaskan sailing was a Family Fun Fair, held on the first official sea day (Day 3) in the Piazza from 2-4pm. All the Youth Staff and a few other crew members set up craft stations, games, a spa demo, a snack area with popcorn and a chocolate fountain with fruit, and other kid-friendly activities. It required parental supervision so you didn’t get the afternoon block of childcare that day, but the kids really enjoyed the activities – and it was a great chance to talk to the program staff if they had a free moment.

Entertainment

This sailing overlapped some of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and some events were broadcast to in-room TVs, bars, as well as the Movies Under the Stars screen on the lido deck. The schedule wasn’t consistent because of the time offset, so you couldn’t count on seeing any specific sport, but it was nice to see a major athletic event rather than constant cricket matches (cough, cough, NCL.)

We saw a few theatre shows this cruise, specifically She Will Rock You (Stephanie Hodgdon) which was a solid performance and great example for our kids. I also was in Crooners many evenings but wasn’t as impressed with Anthony Michael who was the piano and vocal entertainer – his playing was proficient, but it just didn’t seem like he made a good connection with the bar patrons.

Disembarkation

We’d done the Princess transfers to FLL, and for a 12:15pm flight we were given bag tags that corresponded to an expected 7:35am disembarkation time (latest available option was 8:45 for airport transfers, or 9:00am for independent arrangements.) We were able to grab an early breakfast in the Amalfi restaurant and were at the theatre by 7:30, and then told we could immediately exit at midship.

Once off the ship, we went back through the terminal, collected our bags, did face-recognition customs and then found our way to the coach buses waiting outside. It was very clear where to go and it seemed like a lot of people had picked the Princess-arranged airport option (even though a cab would have likely been cheaper.)

On the coach ride over, the driver asked for tips twice over the PA, and then again directly to each person as they were exiting. I wasn’t pleased given that we’d already paid for these transfers, and the third time, the request was delivered in a tone that was most certainly intended to try and shame, along with a back pat. I was literally stepping off the bus with a child and carrying a backpack in front of me to avoid whacking anybody, so didn’t even have any free hands – even if I was going to grab my wallet once off the bus and out of the way, a tip sure wasn’t happening now. I get that these drivers are probably underpaid, but what a second-rate way to end a cruise.

Going forward

Enchanted Princess was a second, decent cruise on Princess that really solidified the way I talk about the experience and line to other people. It is now my “current favourite”, and a few years ago I would have been describing NCL in a similar position. Assuming that Princess continues to offer a consistent experience or gets better in future, I figure it’s probably worth trying to climb the loyalty ladder to Elite (15 cruises) where there start to be more useful benefits, even though they are nowhere near Norwegian’s perks on Platinum and higher tiers.

Putting my money where my mouth is, we currently have three more Princess sailings booked, including one on the Sun Princess in the next couple of months, and two returns to Enchanted Princess in 2025.

Sun Princess in particular diverges from previous-generation Princess ships, and I don’t hold nostalgia for the way Princess “used to be”, so this is a non-issue. Many of the reviews prior to October 2024 are when the ship was sailing in Europe earlier this year and arguably unfinished – since then, venues were relocated, the Sanctuary concept was firmed up, and Park 19 was scrapped. I’ve been heavily scrutinizing any commentary posted about this ship so far, knowing that many influencers and cruise YouTube personalities only got a three day preview sailing once it hit Fort Lauderdale and are basing content on that.

For one of the Enchanted Princess sailings in 2025, we got a solid chunk of non-refundable onboard credit. I’m not sure we’ll have a good way to spend it all, so I’ll cover how that went after the vacation. Some of these cruises also are longer than the 7-day trips we usually take, so I’m excited to see what, if any, changes in the onboard experience happen during extended sailings.

I still continue to keep close tabs on the industry and there are ships and voyages we’d love to explore outside of the Princess product in the next few years. NCL is still a line I want to get back to – we haven’t sailed on a Prima-class vessel yet, and I want firsthand experience with the More at Sea program changes. Virgin Voyages continues to sound compelling for an adults-only experience, with a good set of default inclusions, but the Bar Tab system and promotions mean I’m forced into non-refundable decisions prior to sailing, as well as the potential to go over budget during the cruise. I also feel I’m long overdue to experience Royal Caribbean’s mega-ships – but the Celebrity Edge-class experience with a visit to Perfect Day might be better aligned with how I like to cruise.