‘Enchanted Princess’ is the fifth of six Royal Class ships built for Princess Cruises (a seventh with slight amendments is P&O’s ‘Britannia’). The Class began with Royal Princess in 2013 and ended with Discovery Princess, launched in 2022. ‘Enchanted Princess’ should have been launched in 2020 but the COVID pandemic put it back until November 2021.

She carries 3600 passengers in total, with 90% capacity on our cruise. Features on board include a ‘Sea Walk’ (a 60’ long enclosed cantilevered glass walkway that juts out over both port and starboard sides of the ship. It is found on Deck 16 and as you walk over it you can watch the ocean glide by 128’ below), a larger central atrium (Piazza), a more open’ Princess Live!’ venue, new (to Princess ships) restaurants, the Princess favourite ‘Movies Under the Stars’ and 80% balcony cabin accommodation.

Her summer season in the Mediterranean (2023) involves itineraries that circumvent the whole area, meaning that it is possible to sail 7, 14 or 21-night itineraries without visiting the same port twice. Many American guests will also add on 3 or 4-night pre and post cruise extensions in embarkation and disembarkation ports. As a result of the itineraries and rather less convenient is their fly cruise programme from UK regional airports. Princess Cruises only use scheduled flights and layovers offered on indirect flights can be in excess of 5 hours.

Although Princess Cruises as a cruise line likes to encourage the family market, on board features for children are similar to those offered by P&O – a Kid & Teens Club (Camp Discovery) and dining modifications but no climbing walls, zip wires or other such features and no designated family swimming area (as with some Royal Caribbean or NCL ships for example). Princess has a partnership with Discovery Communications and Animal Planet which sets the stage for many of the Camp Discovery spaces and activities (found on deck 17). The minimum age to sail is 6 months (12 months on itineraries with two or more consecutive days at sea). The age groups available are The Treehouse (3-7 years), The Lodge (8-11 years) and The Beach House (over 12 years). Some of the pools on board are appropriate for all ages, ‘Movies Under the Stars’ has family friendly showings and there are lots of Kids Corner food stations in the buffet restaurant.

We stayed in an MF category mini suite, forward on deck 15 (Marina deck). It had a double sofa that made into a single sofa bed at night and had curtains which could be drawn to create 2 separate bedroom areas (probably as close to the true definition of a suite as cruise lines go these days). The suite was approx. 320 sq ft but this was mainly inside space as the balcony was too small to accommodate three people, even if there had been enough seats! Therefore, not somewhere we could have room service deliver afternoon tea, breakfast or a balcony dinner to.  In comparison the balcony cabin we had on P&O Cruises ‘Iona’ in 2022 was larger in all respects. Our mini suite bathroom on ‘Enchanted Princess’ had a shower over a bath with combined shampoo & conditioner (doesn’t work for me, I’m afraid) and shower gel dispensers. There are up to 6 power points in the suite with USB ports and US and European voltages. The only mini suite ‘perk’ we took advantage of was the bottle of bubbly upon embarkation. Other accommodation types on the ship include 39 adapted cabins for wheelchair users, inside and oceanview cabins, balcony and deluxe balcony cabins, Reserve Collection mini suite cabins (with exclusive dining options), suites and 2 Sky Suites (accommodating up to five guests, there is nearly 1900 sq ft space including a 100 sq ft wrap round balcony and butler style service).

‘Enchanted Princess’ has 25 bars and restaurants with a mix of included and specialty (extra cost) eateries. There are 3 main dining rooms – Santorini (the largest, midships on deck 5), Capri (midships on deck 6) and Amalfi (aft on deck 6, but only accessible via aft stairs on decks 5 or 7, as the main galley – one of 15 on board- is situated between the Amalfi & Capri restaurants). All three offer the same menu, but hours vary. At least one of these restaurants will be open for breakfast, lunch is only available on sea days, but they are all are open for dinner. Fixed (same table each night) and more flexible eating times are available either by booking a table via the Medallion App (see later) or just turning up at the restaurant in the good old-fashioned way.  Sea day lunches were extensive from brunch dishes to Ploughman’s lunch, soups and salads, burger and fries to soup and salad or sandwich combos. There were 2 pasta choices and lighter mains like chicken curry, fish and chips, bangers and mash or burritos. The meal is rounded off with desserts like trifle, ice cream and pudding and custard.

Evening meals included the Sailaway Dinner, Captains Welcome Dinner, Italian Night and the Farewell Dinner. For each there was a choice of 5 or 6 starters (including soups and salads. My favourites were usually the chilled soups), 2 pasta dishes, 6 main courses (including fish, meat and vegetarian options) and 6 desserts (including creating your own sundae with ice cream, sorbet and toppings, a cheese board and fruit). Every night there was almost a second menu of ‘Princess Favourites’ (shrimp cocktail, Caesar Salad, French onion Soup, Salmon, and New York strip steak (with the option to add on an 8oz Filet Mignon +/- 6-7oz Lobster Tail), followed by Princess Love Boat Dream (chocolate mousse with raspberry cream on a heart shaped shortbread biscuit) or lychee, raspberry and rose mousse).

Other included eating places are the World Fresh Marketplace and Horizon Buffet (difficult to tell these two from each other, other than signage and some dishes unique to one or other of them) and The Pastry Shop (does what it says on the tin): making up the 900 seater buffet restaurant area on deck 16. Despite its popularity, there were always spare tables, especially at the very aft on deck (350 seats). The area is set out with different food stations both in terms of food items (eg extensive salad and bread options) as well as regional and ethnic favourites, catering for the diverse guest make up on board. At both lunch and dinner, there was always a choice of curries and accompaniments as well as noodle and satay dishes, a wide variety of fish items, lots of Mexican inspired dishes and a large pasta counter. The ‘East Meets West’ street food section featured a mix of well know items like French crepes, Asian noodles, and German sausages. At lunchtimes, in particular, there was a huge choice of sandwiches (both bread types and fillings) and charcuterie, as well as two types of roasts, sauteed veg and potato accompaniments, soups, casseroles, hot dogs and burgers (and not just at The Kids Corner), vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. The Pastry Shop showcased a large selection of desserts and there was a changing array of milk puddings available as well, along with fresh fruit and cheese. Post COVID there remains a lot of pre plated items, which helps cuts down on food waste and queuing, as well as crew members serving you from behind glass screens – all good from the hygiene point of view. I particularly enjoyed the grab and go premade salad options as well as the salad bowls, put together with items of your choice by a member of staff. Of particular note was the last day Seafood Bar – a never ending supply of oysters, crabs claws, shrimps, mussels and mixed seafood. There was a long queue for this obviously!! All in all I found the standard and variety of food and the level of service to be much higher in the World Fresh marketplace than the main dining rooms.

On the same deck are the other al fresco options of The Salty Dog Cafe (named after the renowned Hilton Head restaurant, serving burgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches and fries), Alfredo’s Slice (the largest complimentary pizza option at sea, with 121 seats) and Swirls for soft scoop ice cream and popcorn (both essential when watching ‘Movies Under the Stars’ with or without a blanket). Deck 7 is the Promenade deck and whilst you are unable to walk right round it, there are al fresco eating spaces for the Piazza positioned restaurants Gigis and Sabatinis (see below).

The Piazza is at the heart of the ship and is an elegant multilevel space (decks 5-7) inspired by marble floored European piazzas. There are restaurants and bars surrounding the central space with shops and other public areas on upper levels. There is always some activity going on in the Piazza from line dancing to disco parties, live musical acts and jugglers, Officers v guests games or just somewhere to sit and take on the daily sudoku and puzzles. There was never a shortage of places to sit. It is also the home of Gigi’s Pizzeria by Alfredo (the open kitchen makes hand tossed individual pizzas to order along with antipasti and salad) and the International Café (open 24 hours for a changing array of breakfast, lunch and dinner snack items including croissants, sandwiches, pastries, quiches, soups and salads and little pot pies) and specialty (additional cost if you don’t have a drinks package) hot drinks. As drinks are made barista style, queues can build up here whilst waiting for your order.

There are 4 specialty restaurants on ‘Enchanted Princess’, which are best pre booked:

Repositioned during the latest ship refurb on deck 7 is Sabatini’s Trattoria (upscale Italian with an extensive menu, typically 5 courses), Crown Grill (reputedly offering the best steaks at sea as well as other meat and seafood choices), The Catch by Rudi (replacing Bistro Sur La Mer earlier in 2023, the concept is a partnership with Princess’ Head of Culinary Arts – Rudi Sodamin and serves mainly fish and seafood but with surf and turf and vegetarian dishes as well) and The Chefs Table (a multi course tasting menu for 10 – 12 guests, paired with wines, situated in a curtained off area in the middle of The Amalfi Restaurant). All specialty restaurants incur varying additional charges. Typically, Sabatini’s Trattoria costs $35pp and one main course at Crown Grill $39 pp (with additional main course $10 each).

A few of the bars around the Piazza also offer food: O’Malleys Irish Pub (formerly The Salty Dog Gastropub) has a menu including fish and chips, Killarney stout stew, bangers and mash and boozy brownies or Irish Apple Cake all washed down perhaps with a pint of Guinness. Main courses cost $10 each and desserts $5. Ocean Terrace (by Takashi), facing into the Piazza, opens late afternoon for four hours or so and is a sushi bar offering appetizers, nigiri or sashimi and maki rolls. Items are reasonably priced and can be paired with Japanese beer, sake or Japanese inspired cocktails (maybe even a glass of champagne from Bellini’s the champagne bar situated just above the Ocean Terrace). Gelateria on board ‘Enchanted Princess’ is one of only a few venues outside of Italy that have been designated as Ospitalità Italiana. This means that the pastry kitchens on board have been certified as producing gelato with Italian certified ingredients, to an exacting standard. There are 12 flavours, changing daily, including sorbets, sugar free and vegan options to be served in a variety of cones and with a range of toppings (marshmallows, fruit, chocolate and sprinkles). For a fee (unless you minimally have a Premium Plus amenity package), it is also possible to try Premium Desserts –a trifle cum knickerbocker glory made from a choice of cake, liquor, vanilla gelato, sauces and toppings. Priced at $12, it’s good to know that gelato has a lower calorie content than ordinary ice cream before you tackle one of these mammoth offerings.

There are 12 or so bars on ‘Enchanted Princess’. They include Crooners (Princess Cruises staple martini bar), Bellini’s Bar (champagne in any form daily from 10am until midnight), O’Malleys and ‘Good Spirits at Sea’, all set around the Piazza. There are bars in The Vista Lounge and ‘Take 5’, as well as those adjacent to the Crown Grill and Princess Live! Many of the bars (and indeed restaurants) double up earlier in the day as venues for Scrabble and Sudoku competitions (‘Good Spirits at Sea’), Bridge and other card games (Santorini dining room), knitting and other crafts (Sabatini’s Trattoria) and LBGTQ+ and Single traveller meetings (Crown Grill and ‘Take 5’).

‘Good Spirits at Sea’ is the place for cocktails. Several times a day mixologists will mix one of their specialty cocktails, play a video of the destination of origin of the cocktail and serve it up to you on a coaster featuring the recipe. It’s a concept derived from the TV show of the same name, whereby cocktail chef Matthew Biancaniello travels round the world in search of uniquely created drinks from fascinating destinations.

The Vista Lounge is a large, self-contained lounge at the back of the ship on deck 7. It is typically in use from 11am until late with an array of art exhibitions, talks and seminars (Thomas Kinkade and Picasso), movies (eg ‘Bandit’ and ‘Babylon’), bingo, comedians, live music and craft cocktails. It is also home to the late-night DJ.

‘Take 5’ on ‘Enchanted Princess’ is one of the first jazz theatres at sea (a concept new to some of the later Royal Class ships). A long, spacious lounge with a variety of different seating arrangements, a large area for live performances and decorated with jazz style memorabilia. It has a bespoke cocktail bar featuring specialty crafted gin cocktails created by Master Mixologist Rob Floyd. There is live jazz every night, whilst the space is used for group meetings, private functions and spa-based classes during the day.  

Drinks are reasonably priced for an American ship – beer starts at $7/serving, with house wine and Prosecco, as well as spirits and some cocktails working out at about $11/serving. This includes Aviation and Hendricks gins, Absolut and Grey Goose vodkas, Captain Morgan rum, Jack Daniels and Wild Turkey bourbons and Chivas Regal and Glenlivet whiskies. Items up to $11/serving are included in the Princess Plus drinks package. Drinks up to $19 are included in the Princess Premier drinks package (NB. Going forward the Plus beverage package will include drinks up to $15 each and the Premier beverage package up to $20 each). Not all drinks are available in every bar, but Ocean Now (part of the Medallion App functionality) allows you to order drinks from your favourite bar for delivery anywhere on the ship.

There are 4 bars on deck: The Seaview Bar, The Mix and Wake View Bar (all on deck 16). They service the main pool area on this, the Lido deck. The Sky Pool is actually two pools, connected in the centre and flanked by 3 hot tubs. It is suitable for adults and children and has shaded and full sun lounge type chairs, as well as semi-circular settees and rattan style chairs and tables. There is additional seating on the overlooking sun deck (deck 17), which has an additional 4 hot tubs. The Wake Bar serves a smallish infinity style, adult only pool at the aft of the ship, complete with great sunset views. Whilst there was always plenty of availability for sun loungers and chairs on our cruise, forward of the main pool area and a deck up is the secluded and adult only Retreat Bar and pool. It soon became a firm favourite, with a freshwater pool and 2 hot tubs. A short walk further forward takes you to The Sanctuary, an adults only retreat on deck 18. Here there are plenty of luxury chaise loungers, hot tubs, eight cabanas and a spa menu. Half ($20 pp) or full day ($40 pp) passes can be bought, but these are very popular on sea days in particular and include Serenity Stewards catering to your every need be it chilled face towels, water atomizers or an al fresco massage.

There is lots of entertainment on ‘Enchanted Princess’ spread round multiple venues and with a choice of activity levels. Particularly in the evening, guests tend to gravitate to the area and genre of their choice.

Most of the bars are open plan and all offer multiple types of music from an Irish duo (The Ramblin Rovers) in O’Malleys to singer/pianists in the upscale, intimate Crown Grill bar or Crooners. ‘Take 5’ is mainly jazz based featuring The Philippe Laviopierre Trio, the house band or on themed nights, Toda La Noche - Afro-Cuban Jazz with salsa lessons thrown in. There are guitarists and violinists in the form of ‘No Strings Attached,’ as well as the ‘Virginia Trio’ and ‘Excite’ – the excellent party band, performing in the Piazza and by the Sky Pool.

A stand-out feature on Princess Cruises ships is ‘Movies Under the Stars’, a poolside amphitheatre with a large screen (now copied by other cruise lines).  There is a daily offering of 4 films typically (classics to present day and for children too), musicals (like ‘Mama Mia 2’ and ‘West Side Story’) and musical concerts (think Shania Twain, Michael Buble and Crowded House).

The second venue peculiar to Princess Cruises is ‘Princess Live!’ – a concept introduced on the first Royal Class ship in the form of a TV studio with the ability to record and screen events. This has evolved into a more open plan lounge with screens and a stage and home to almost non-stop quizzes and game shows. It is a very lively and popular area of the ship and passers-by often pause to watch from the side, perhaps with a coffee from the adjacent ‘Princes Live! Café’. Get there early if you want a seat!

There is a Vegas style Casino on ‘Enchanted Princess’ which allows smoking. It also offers a Sports Book at sea, whereby you can bet (currently only) virtually on any sports games being played anywhere in the world (think NBA, EPL soccer and beyond).

The Princess Theatre is two decks high and can seat 922 guests at any one time. It featured 2 different Production shows during our cruise (2 shows/night on 2 nights), each of which had been specially curated for Princess Cruises and also showing on other ships in the fleet. They were both excellent. They were ‘Rock Opera’ and ‘5-SKIES’ and were a mix of modern music and older hits with dazzling costumes and amazing special effects. ‘Rock Opera’ features classic rock, musical theatre and opera. The songs are performed in a variety of languages, including sign language. ‘5-SKIES’ is set in a Virtual Reality Video Game with the lead character moving through different levels of the game. Whilst the plot confounded me somewhat, the costume design and digital effects were phenomenal especially when you remember you are actually on a ship!

On non show nights other acts including singers, comedians and magicians performed in the theatre. During the day the theatre hosts Destinations seminars and other talks. This included the Culinary Demonstration and Galley Tour hosted by the Executive Chef (Daniel Tanchev) and the Director of Restaurant Operations (Francisco Patricio). There are over 340 staff involved in food service on ‘Enchanted Princess’. Prep rooms are on deck 3 with each of the main galleys serving 1000 meals/hour and using 1000 dozen eggs/day. During the Galley tour there were over 40 different ways of serving potatoes on display.

It was always possible to find a quiet spot in a favourite lounge or part of the ship to sit and read a book or just people watch, especially during the day. Whilst waiting staff were always attentive, you did not feel compelled to order a drink.

For those of a more active disposition there is a Fitness Centre (deck 17) with the usual range of cardio machines, weights machines and free weights areas. The ships wifi is good enough to do a Peloton class if you are a fan! There are a few free classes (typically held away from the Fitness Centre), but most are at additional cost. The wrap round Jogging Track is on deck 18 where 7 laps is 1 mile. Also on deck 18 is Center Court– a multi-purpose area used for basketball, volleyball and soccer etc but predominantly for pickleball (small tennis) during our cruise. Above the court is The Greens, a small astro turfed putting green with about 9 holes. 2 table tennis tables are nicely sheltered on deck 16.

Also of note is The Lotus Spa: found forward on deck 5 (thereby saving space om higher decks for luxury accommodation). It offers the usual array of ship-based spa treatments. The best part is probably The Enclave – Princess Cruises largest ever thermal suite (up to three times larger than other spas), accessed by either a one day or duration of the cruise pass. A 7-day pass costs $170 pp or $299 for a couples pass. Book early, as it is very popular. It has a large thallasotherapy pool circled by thermal loungers, as well as 3 thermal rooms: a hamman (Turkish steam bath), a caldarium (herbal steam), and a laconium (a dry, heated chamber), steam rooms, sensory showers (rain shower, tropical rain, cold mist and Siberian shower) and saunas.

The ‘Enchanted Princess’ was one of the first ships to launch with Medallion Class technology fully integrated, despite Princess Cruises debuting the technology on ‘Regal Princess’ in 2017. Medallion Class is a triad of an onboard internet facility (oh for the time when ship based wifi is included as standard in all cruise fares), Medallions (coloured quarter shaped discs put into watch type straps or lanyards, replacing the traditional Sea Pass card, but which UK guests cannot get until check in prior to embarkation) and the Medallion Class App which integrates these two features. Similar App based applications are used by other cruise lines with their roll outs being greatly accelerated by the necessity for COVID paper free environments. Upon booking a cruise with Princess Cruises you are encouraged to download the App and upload personal data etc. This is the OceanReady function which sort of works.  You can add useful information on dietary needs, room configuration and accessibility, but I found the sections on lifestyle choices and personal preferences rather unnecessary. The JourneyView section allows you to bookmark events of interest and keeps a tally of numbers attending. Unfortunately, I was unable to book any dining times until I was on the ship, by which time popular times had all gone and there was little availability for the specialty restaurants. Similarly, you can only access Port Guides once on board. It was rather a ‘clunky’ operation to keep going back to the home page in order to progress or move between different dates. This section is also where you can book Shore Excursions. Once on board, the actual Medallion came more into its own – operating a hands-free cabin door opening (recognition from about 15’ away), as well as helping you find your way around the ship and locate other members of your party (OceanCompass).

OceanNow is probably one of the features that Princess Cruises is most proud of, but from my experience was the most inefficient. It allows you to order drinks and food from a range of (but not all) bars and eateries, to be delivered directly to you, wherever you may be on the ship. The idea of ordering hot chocolate and coffee, for example, whilst watching a movie on deck, was appealing, but there are endless choices of inclusions, all of which have to be registered to actually order the drink. When they arrived some 30 minutes later, none of them were actually as ordered. We used this and room service on four separate occasions and there were always either timing issues or incorrect orders received, which was a shame. Additionally, there are a few other functions like watching films on the App/phone and playing games which didn’t really interest me.

MedallionClass functionality is still very much a work in progress to my mind and staff don’t seem to be completely on board with it either. This is based on the number of times we were asked for our suite number when ordering items, which reportedly should have been picked up by our proximity to the staff member and the fact that there were three of us in the suite and not just two, but everything that was delivered was based on multiples of two.

Nevertheless, we had a very nice cruise on ‘Enchanted Princess’. She has a sophisticated elegance about her and delivers a breadth of activities, both inside and on deck, to suit a wide variety of tastes and ages. The environment is inviting and relaxing and the ship is designed so that passenger flow is seemingly effortless. Accommodation is comfortable and the food, especially in the World Fresh Marketplace is very good. I should be happy to sail with Princess Cruises again.