Great ship and cruise
Enchanted Princess Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 9
7 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 19, 2024
Ship: Enchanted Princess
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 4 days ago
Review summary
Leaving and arriving in New York was surprisingly our favorite part. As far as ports of call, we did do enough to have positive or negative feelings about any of them. We were traveling with aging parents and they didn't want to leave the ship much. We loved Princess's dining rooms and food, but were underwhelmed on the number of activities during the day. Just comparing "equal" cruise lines, like Holland America, I would probably choose Holland America in the future assuming the Itinerary was the same. However, I wouldn't mind at all to do another Princess cruise.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
MDR: Best dining room experience and food quality he have ever had across 5 different cruise lines.
Speciality: We only utilized Crown Grill. Service and food also 5 stars.
Casual: We visited both Gigis Pizza and O'Malleys Pub. These were 1-2 stars. They weren't open during the day on Port days, so only could use at night. During our 1 day at sea, we lined up 15 min prior to opening - took over an hour to get in. Food quality and service were poor. Not the waiters, they were just understaffed. Venues were just too small and bad design and execution.
Salty Dog & Pizza by the slice: These places were convenient and fast. Food quality wasn't on par of same type of venues on other ship brands.
International Cafe: was probably the most utilized. Food was very good. Coffee process was a bit inefficient and slow, but I guess one could expect that with specialty coffee being served.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed the activities that were available. However, the number of activities was disappointing compared to other ship lines. With limited activities available, each activity was extremely overcrowded.
Entertainment
We attended all 3 Production shows. Although the dancers/singers were very good, both Rock Opera and 5-SKIES music list & show just did not suit our taste. So, maybe just a preference on our part, but we fairly underwhelming.
Spotlight Bar was by far our favorite show. Again, maybe it was just a song list preference, but that show had a better story line, better music and more entertaining.
Service and Staff
Every staff member we encountered was friendly and helpful. Our room steward was excellent.
Ship Quality
Very nice layout and clean. Most venues were extremely overcrowded, but again, I think it was more due to lack of activities across the ship. Everyone wanted to do the same thing at the same time.
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Get to activities and venues early if you want a good seat - or a seat at all.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
No excursion, but embarkation/disembarkation process was fairly smooth. The views of New York skyline and Statue of Liberty on the starboard side of the ship were amazing. We weren't expecting that with some of the pictures/videos we seen prior to our sailing. Prepare to soak that in!
Only went into town and did some shopping. So, my rating is probably not good to judge by.
Hard to judge because we enjoyed the port, but booked excursion was not great at all.
Historic Boston & Cambridge - booked through Princess. The following criticism is going to focus on tour guide, but I'm sure it has much more to do with setup of the excursion. I'm sure the guide is stuck trying to fit things into a schedule.
The problem was there is too little time on the historic portion and too much time at Harvard. The historic portion was a walking tour. Although the tour guide warned the group there were some inclines, declines and rough surface, the group was not prepared. The tour guide took off on a very brisk pace, crossing busy roads and crowded areas. The bus had to move to a pick up point, so group members figuring out they bit off more than they could choose had to stick it out. We stayed back with an older couple (one using a walker), because they would have just been left behind. At one of stops, I asked the tour guide to slow the pace because he just left slower walkers. He didn't even acknowledge me - just kept up the face pace without hesitation. There was zero concern about the group - it was all about maintaining a schedule.
I'm sure there are people who want to tour, shop and eat around Harvard, so may just be a preference thing. However, much of the Harvard time would have been much better served in the historic portion, especially considering the slower pace of the group.
Although the Old Port area is fairly touristy, it was nice to visit to get lobster and do a bit a shopping. Longer wait if you need a large vehicle for Uber/Lyft and cabbies charge a premium to take you less than a mile into Old Port. Just something to keep in mind if you have members of your group that can't walk that far.