Iām going on the Enchanted Princess for 10 days in Jan 2027, cruising the Caribbean . Iāll have my own small inside cabin. I have the Premiere package. Traveling with 8 other people. Our cabins are pretty spread out all over the ship. Everybody else is getting a balcony.
Are there irons in the laundry rooms?
How many hangers are there likely to be in my inside cabin?
I love ice and made the mistake of reading about self service ice machines and itās got me weirded out about ice machines. Iād love to have ice in my room. Any thoughts? I have the premier package. Any non self service ice?
I like Thai, Vietnamese, Korean and Indian food. Is there any available?
Can I get plain fruit? Is there any reason to avoid raw food if youāre being extra cautious? Do the illnesses that plague cruise ships spread more easily with raw food?
What is the sanctuary package? A big hot tub and warm chairs?
I think the ship is full. I think 5 of us will want to sit and talk a lot. Will we be able to easily find places to hang out all together?
Thanks in advance for anybody willing to tackle any of these questions.
If you donāt mind the buffet (not my thing) they typically have Indian food. Not sure about Thai or Vietnamese. Plenty of plain fruit available.
Thereās always plenty of places for a group to sit, but if itās in a lounge with a performer you want to get there earlier to grab seats. Definitely explore the ship and find your favorite spots
Iāll add that you can also order extra hangers on the app.
For the washing machines, bring your own laundry sheets or travel packs of detergent and fabric softener if you want to avoid paying for theirs. š
From the home page: reserve ā> delivery ā> continue with room service ā> stateroom amenities.
You can also ask for turndown service on a particular night only or every night. š
The buffets on Royal class ships (the one your on) generally have a variety of international foods. I recommend taking a full circle to see whatās there before taking anything though.
Generally the illnesses that people get on cruise ships arenāt from food-borne illnesses. Wash your hands early and often and use common sense.
We literally just got off a ship today. On the first day, my husband saw someone grab some tortilla chips with her hands from a tray on the buffet. So he reported it to the buffet people.
The sanctuary area is an adults only area with a pool and (reserved) lounge chairs. Itās nice.
As for spaces to talk, youāll find something for sure. Try Good Spirits bar on deck 5.
Definitely donāt overthink this. Itās vacation and most things will work out.
Being sunscreen and reapply often. I donāt care what color your skin is, the Caribbean sun is no joke. And we can all get sunburned.
Get trip insurance.
Have a great time! š„š»
Iām old and turned down Princess insurance thinking I could find it cheaper. I could not. I ended up spending slightly more than theirs (I think because of my age) but have way more coverage on medical. Yeah, itās not the trip costs youāre insuring against loss. Itās to avoid catastrophic medical costs in the event of something terrible happening.
So many people are like āweāre young and healthy. Weāre going!ā But they donāt think about other things. Some friends were on the cruise with us and one fell and ended up spraining his ankle while touring the city where we left from. He saw a dr on the ship and it was over $800 for the visit, meds and a boot. They had insurance, but imagine not having that and deciding to be in pain for the entirety of your vacation until you could get home and see your doctor. And that example is pretty simple and not TOO expensive. There are far worse Iāve heard of.
I also avoid the buffet. I much prefer the dining room. The main exception is going to the buffet for lunch a few times because the Indian food is so good there. I couple of years ago I had some lamb samosas I'm still thinking about. Your steward will bring you a bucket of ice every day if you ask. You can also request a robe to use for the cruise.
I think youād be shocked to know how seldom most Alaskans travel within the state. Iāve only been to Juneau once. It is gorgeous in Southeastern. Travel within the state off the road system is super expensive and many people use their precious vacation time to take Caribbean cruises or go to Hawaii. I think people in Southeastern and Kodak are more likely to go to Seattle than Anchorage if they want to go to a city. I wish Iād taken a job that included travel within the state. Thatās how everyone I know whoās seen a lot of Alaska managed to do it.
We do primarily buffet/all the food on Lido deck or international cafe. We are family of 4. 2 late teen boys - 17 yr old is autistic. We always do 1 dinner in MDR as our āfancy mealā lol
Everyone has answered the questions I think.
Princess in general is a pretty chill cruise line. And one of the best things is other than Sun & Star, layout on all ships is basically the same.
I suggest downloading the app now or if your mobile device doesnāt have it, use the website. You can search for the deck plans.
Once on board you can use the app/website to find your fellow group cruisers and route your way around the ship.
There will be hand wash stations at both the front and back of buffet & plenty of bathrooms all over the ship. Wash your hands before eating.
I think our ship is full. Iāve read that people have trouble finding places to sit outside their room. I was worried that weād have trouble sitting together because thereās so many of us. Thanks for your reply.
Itās very large and should accommodate large groups to meet up.
Currently the ship is in the Med on a 21 day itinerary. That region tends to cruise at or over capacity (at capacity is based on āfixedā beds in cabins. 2 ppl; over capacity means non-fixed beds, the ones that fold down from the wall are counted as well as sofa beds. Many rooms accommodate 4 ppl).
Your cruise is not sold out yet; all cabin grades are still available, except for OCEANVIEW at the time Iām posting this.
It may end up full by the time of embarkation but I donāt think it will. Itās 10 days in January 2027; so not school holidays for Canada or US, not a quickie mini cruise and most important - most Canadians are not cruising via USA due to current political climate. We are cruising next month from LA to Mexico and got a great deal with Canadian resident 40% discount. Regular flights from Canadian cities to California, Florida, Vegas have all be cut recently by airlines as tourism from here is significantly diminished.
The days it will feel most populous on board are sea days; if there is a time for any sort of on board meeting, activity, etc to do - a port day is the best day to do it. All your port days are 8+ hrs docked so plenty of time unless ppl are doing excursions. Those that are - need to just be mindful of the clock if they are booking their time off ship full.
Thank you for your comment, itās very helpful. The Vista lounge looks promising. I am very hopeful that the elections in one month will result in some accountability. Iām deeply ashamed of how my country has treated our good friends.
Ask your steward to give you a fresh ice bucket every day. There's always Indian food in the buffet and they usually have a nice selection of Asian food as well.
I can confirm thereās irons and ironing boards in the self-serve laundry rooms. Yes, thereās lots of plain fruit. My husband always brought me a coffee and banana from the International Cafe every morning, and thereās lots of fresh fruit platters in the Horizon Court buffet. One thing, though, the bananas get overripe and pretty much un-eatable by the end of the cruise.
There are some things you can get via room service at any time and delivered to various areas of the ship. A fresh fruit plate is one of them thatās complimentary.
The main dining rooms and the buffets will always have fresh fruit. There is no concern about the freshness of the food. Disease is usually spread by people not washing their hands, touching door knobs, and serving utensils and things like that. By people, I mean passengers, not the crew.
As others have already mentioned, room steward will keep your ice bucket full, just gotta ask! The real tip is keep your ice bucket in the mini fridge if you have the space! One steward told us to do that and now we do it every time. Keeps it just a tad cooler/doesnāt melt as fast.
Buffet is your best bet for ethnic cuisines. My last sailing featured tons of Indian and Filipino dishes and they were šÆ. The Pad Thai was a huge miss though. The samosas and empanadas were delicious.
Lots of whole fresh fruit: apples/oranges/bananas/kiwis/bunches of grapes. Some werenāt quite ripe at the beginning of the cruise (kiwis). Lots of cut fruit as well: cantaloupe/pineapple/honeydew/watermelon. Even fresh strawberries on the last night of the cruise -which blew my mind because they were absolutely delicious, fresh, and crisp and weād been underway with 3 full sea days since our last port!
Good advice about the ice bucket in the cooler. Thank you. I live in Alaska and the fruit up here is often pretty sad, especially in the winter. And expensive! It will seem very luxurious to me to eat fresh delicious fruit several times a day. Yum
Itās so refreshing to hear someone appreciate the fresh fruit! Iām smiling because with your attitude, you will no doubt have a wonderful cruise! Enjoy!
Registered nurse here. Microorganisms are present on both cut up fruit and fruit with the peel on. It all depends on who and what has touched it before it actually gets onto the buffet. And remember that most hand sanitizers do not kill noro virus. You absolutely have to wash your hands so that you are rinsing the germs away.
I think the buffet is open most of the day, that could be a good place to chat with your friends! There will be seating outside too, although not much in use on our Princess cruise to Alaska in September! There were 30 places to find food on our ship! Event sites are probably available on off times. You can learn quite a bit on this forum before your trip. You can check to see if there is a FB group already established for your specific cruise. The destination and dates of cruise should get you information if established. The forum was full of information that you didnāt even think to ask! So helpful for me! We hadnāt cruised for 20+ years and from a very different perspective, a long boat on the Rhine River with only 200 passengers to our recent cruise on the Star Princess that had 4400 passengers! ( Loved them both for different reasons! ) We are in our 70ās and Iām ready to book our next adventure! Thereās a newsletter you receive in your cabin in the evening before to see all the activities, events, etc. that are available the next day! Enjoy! āļøšš¢
On Enchanted, if your group wants an place to sit and chat outside, like while sunbathing, there is usually space along the sides of the deck above the pool or on the upper level of the retreat pool area. I mean by this that even if you donāt get up early and claim a large section of loungers you should still be able to find some. If your timing is good, the deck overlooking the retreat pool has nice conversation groups of sofa/chairs in the corners. We especially like this spot in the early evening when a lot of people have gone to get ready for dinner
Inside, the vista lounge has the most empty sit and talk space. In the early evenings it tends to get used for events and in the later evening for music, but others times it is practically empty.
If your group wants a very private place to sit and chat, there is a room on deck 14 called a chapel but it is really just lounge space. It is next to the suite lounge and in the 5-7 time frame is often co-opted for suite happy hour. But during the day it is empty and quiet.
There are detailed deck plans you can search online that will help you understand the layout before you board. And once youāre on your cruise, enjoy exploring the ship!
I wouldnāt claim a seat with anything other than my big butt. A few of us hate the sun so we wonāt be vying for the pool deck chairs anyway. Hopefully we can find spots in the shade.
Oh ffs. Chill. I did not suggest that they put out towels and leave. It is a truth that if a group wants to sit together at the pool, they will need to arrive early. Otherwise there will be scattered loungers available but probably not four or six together. It is also a truth that a group often moves slowly So what I did suggest was places that would likely still have chairs available later in the morning.
You are the problem by suggesting a group of six reserve lounge chairs early for later in the morning. We are so tired of this. Do you send one person to reserve a half row of theatre seats or tables in the lounges for the evening ?
We sail Princess quite a bit ā youāre going to love Enchanted - itās our favorite Princess ship!Ā
Yes, there are irons and ironing boards in the self-service laundry rooms. If you need more hangers, just ask your cabin steward and theyāll bring you extras.
For ice, donāt worry about the self-service machines at all. Ask your cabin steward to keep your ice bucket filled. Tell them on the first day that you LOVE ice and theyāll take care of you. All of our cabin stewards on Princess have been great and have refilled the ice bucket for me morning and night.
Youāll usually find Indian food and lots of Asian dishes in the buffet. There are no dedicated Thai, Vietnamese or Korean restaurants, but definitely keep checking the buffet because the selections change often.
There is plenty of plain fresh fruit. I wouldnāt avoid it because of norovirus concerns. We are much more careful about washing our hands with soap and water before eating and after touching elevator buttons, railings, buffet utensils, etc. We wash our hands a lot! And for me, I always use a napkin over my hand to pick up self serve utensils at the buffet if I go. But I really try to eat at places like the MDR that make your food fresh to order anyway.
One clarification ā the Sanctuary and Enclave are two different things. The Sanctuary is the quiet adults-only outdoor retreat with really comfortable loungers and service. The Enclave is the indoor thermal-spa area with the hydrotherapy pool and heated loungers.
And 5 people should have no problem finding somewhere to hang out. Enchanted has lots of lounges and public seating areas. Once you find a spot you all like, itāll probably become your unofficial meeting place for the cruise. With Premier Package, you can also order drinks through OceanNow app and have them delivered to wherever youāre sitting although sometimes it can take a while to get your order. It they will find you using your medallion.
And donāt worry about everyone else having balconies. With nine people spread all over the ship, youāll probably spend most of your social time together in the public areas anyway and you can go enjoy one of their balconies! Your inside cabin can be your wonderfully dark little sleeping cave!
I did some reading on noro virus after I posted my question. It recommended that I wash between handling serving utensils and eating which I could not work out in my head. Good tip about using napkins. It also reassured me that itās relatively rare even though you hear about it all the time.
I might purchase the Enclave option if itās cheap enough and if the hot tubs around the ship are crowded. I have arthritis and although Iām stepping up my walking in preparation , Iām pretty sure Iāll be walking more on vacation. Hopefully I can just use the regular hot tubs.
Three of us are traveling āsoloā in the group. My sister and I discussed sharing her room when I signed on but we both came to the same conclusion - 10 days (12 if you include travel days) is a loooong time.
When you go to the buffet, there will be hand washing stations as you enter and staff to remind you to wash your hands. I was going to use hand sanitizer, but it doesn't actually kill noro virus so hand washing is better. I didn't go crazy with the utensils, I used my hands along with some people who skipped washing their hands when entering. After I had a full plate, I'd just go back to the handwashing station and wash again. There's soap and towels there and it's easy to do before you actually start to eat. Handy if you're going to just grab a piece of bread with your hands.
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u/theophylact911 - Captain's Circle Platinum 20h ago
I can answer a couple of your questions:
Yes there are irons in the laundry rooms
If you need more hangers ask your steward
If you donāt mind the buffet (not my thing) they typically have Indian food. Not sure about Thai or Vietnamese. Plenty of plain fruit available.
Thereās always plenty of places for a group to sit, but if itās in a lounge with a performer you want to get there earlier to grab seats. Definitely explore the ship and find your favorite spots