Princess is one of the best cruise line choices for casino players who want to maximize their comp cabin benefits while enjoying a solid cruise experience. If you’re not traveling with kids and don’t need waterslides and other family-focused entertainment, you can’t go wrong with Princess. The Enchanted Princess is one of the most popular ships in the fleet and it’s also one of my favorites.
This Enchanted Princess review covers my July 19-26, 2025 sailing through the Western Caribbean. I’ll focus on the casino experience and overall value for the comp cruisers who are trying to spend as little money as possible.
First Impressions & The Interior Cabin Reality
I sailed solo on a 7-night Western Caribbean itinerary with stops in Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. The cruise was in an interior cabin and with over 4,000 guests onboard, it was a completely sold-out sailing. I tried to upgrade, but didn’t have any success with my minimum bids. That’s not a problem for me, and I was perfectly fine being in an interior cabin.
The Enchanted Princess is a solid ship with good bones. Having sailed her before, I had no trouble navigating this time around, but be prepared for some wrong turns if it’s your first visit. The design of the ship makes sense once you figure it out, with everything centered around the Piazza, but I kept getting myself turned around on my initial sailing. I think it was more of a user error than anything else.
Unfortunately, my cruise got off to a rocky start with a cleanliness issue. My interior cabin looked like it hadn’t been properly cleaned before arrival—dirt and dust covered the carpet and closets, hair was scattered across the bathroom floor, and both towels and sheets looked dirty.
I took some photos and braved the long lines at Guest Services – the last place you want to spend time on your first day. To Princess’s credit, they responded quickly. Within 30 minutes, they sent housekeeping to my cabin for a complete deep clean and fresh linens. The room was in much better shape afterward, but having to request a cleaning right off the bat didn’t leave a great first impression.
Interior Cabin Tip: If you’re in an interior cabin, one of my favorite tricks for making it more bearable is a sunrise alarm clock (here’s a link to the one I used). The gradual light simulation in the morning makes waking up in a pitch-black room much more pleasant.
Hitting the Tables: Enchanted Princess Casino
The casino was my primary focus for the week, and Princess continues to be an excellent choice for casino comp cruises. I started by converting my $200 in casino free play to cash using my preferred method: 3-hand Jacks or Better video poker at max credits with standard strategy. Princess now limits free play chip payouts to 1:1, so video poker is the way to go. I made sure to only play through my credit once and turned my $200 free play into $210 cash. Good start.
The big news on this sailing was the new crapless craps table—a change Princess is making on a few of their ships as part of a pilot program. I spoke with multiple dealers and the casino host, but no one could provide a definitive timeline for how long crapless craps would remain or plans for a fleet-wide rollout. All decisions apparently come from shoreside management.
The consensus on the crapless format was mixed. Some of the regular players weren’t fans of the change, but others didn’t seem to mind. If you don’t like crapless craps, make sure to voice it in your post-cruise survey—I was repeatedly told that surveys play a major role in shipboard changes. Since I play mostly a hybrid craps strategy, I played less than I normally do on this sailing, but the table was in good spirits and the ratings were fair.
I played more conservatively than I usually do, sticking with mostly place bets on 6 and 8, occasionally pressing with controlled shooters. A couple of long rolls put me up my first night, but the rest of my time was a slow bleed back to break-even. I was rated better than I expected, securing more free play for my next cruise, but didn’t earn enough points for an instant cabin offer.
The host on the Enchanted Princess sailing was Ashley, and he was fantastic—friendly, attentive, and checked in multiple times throughout the cruise after our initial chat.
Table game minimums were reasonable for blackjack, starting at $15 (continuous shuffle but paying 3:2), but craps is on the high side with $15 minimums as well. You can check out a complete tour of the table games on the Enchanted Princess in the video below.
The casino was undergoing some construction during my sailing, adding more slot machines to the non-smoking section. Rumors are that the non-smoking area may eventually become the smoking casino, with the main casino going completely smoke-free, though I couldn’t verify this.
One other small change: they removed some slots behind the craps table to make room for a new host desk. Hopefully, this area won’t become too congested.
Enchanted Princess Dining Without the Extras
When I travel solo on casino comps, I stick with a budget-conscious approach. I typically avoid specialty dining add-ons and just eat in the included dining venues. I found the quality of food on the Enchanted Princess to be quite good, and I ate in the Main Dining Room much more frequently than usual. I was happy with nearly every meal; the only notable miss was the beef wellington, which was heavy on flavorless pastry and light on actual beef.
The World Fresh Marketplace buffet continues to impress me on the Enchanted Princess. Real standouts include:
- Fresh smoothies at breakfast
- Solid selection of freshly-baked breads for lunch and dinner
- Regional daily specials like “Flavors of the Caribbean” and “Taste of Bavaria”
Princess’s breakfast orange juice remains terrible—calling it “juice” is generous when it tastes more like orange powder mixed with water. It’s easily the weakest part of the dining experience. Breakfast is also super crowded in the buffet, so it’s a good time to use the free room service if you just want a pastry and some fruit.
Service across all dining venues was excellent—quick and attentive throughout the cruise.
Entertainment & Crowded Ship Realities
Even though this was a packed sailing, I didn’t have a problem finding a seat at shows. Spotlight Bar was my entertainment highlight—I’d go see that one again. Other shows were either not my style or not worth seeing again. I would usually arrive 10 minutes before showtime because I’m not picky about seats, but if you want good seats for popular shows, you’ll probably want to get there earlier. Overall, I think the entertainment on the Enchanted Princess is solid.
Elevators were a hot topic during the cruise. I can see why people were frustrated; the waits were incredibly long, and the cars were stuffy and crowded. The system definitely struggled with the number of people on the ship, and oftentimes folks would get annoyed and just use the stairs. Ironically, this made the waits for the elevator even longer, as cars would stop on every single floor. I only took an elevator twice and just used the stairs for everything else. Luckily, I had that option. For those who don’t, be prepared for an unpleasant experience.
Enchanted Princess Service & Staff
Overall, the service was excellent across the board. Oddly enough, the Guest Services staff seemed the least friendly of the entire crew—perhaps exhausted from constant complaints—but they handled issues quickly and efficiently.
Final Thoughts on the Enchanted Princess
The Enchanted Princess is a great ship. It was launched in 2021 so it’s still fairly new. The casino is solid, and the food is good.
Strengths:
- Good casino that keeps expanding
- Excellent included dining options
- Good entertainment variety
- Reasonable taxes and fees on comp sailings
Areas for Improvement:
- Elevator management issues on full ships
- Room cleanliness standards could use some attention
- That terrible orange juice
For casino players looking to maximize comp value while enjoying a quality cruise experience, the Enchanted Princess delivers. Just be prepared for crowds on sold-out sailings and don’t hesitate to speak up if your cabin isn’t properly cleaned.
Read more: Princess Casino Program
I’ll be posting a full breakdown of the Princess Casino Program shortly
