shipgeeks

OP, What Experience are you booked on? That could affect your dining time.

I occasionally see a man at a podium, with a sign offering free cleaning of jewelry. Have any of you taken him up on this? Is it followed by a hard sell for the $$$ jewelry shop?

OP, I just want to say that I understand your desire to take what you want to take. DH and I can pack for a month in Europe with one medium suitcase between us, but for a cruise we don't put limits on it. My only consideration now is that after I unpack, I want to be able to push the cases under the bed. I learned that a soft-side that zips at the top, like a lid, doesn't go flat enough to do so. With hard cases I can close or leave open.

MDR, and traditional dining only, with the same table, same waiters, and same tablemates.

OP, Are you sure you want a balcony for enjoying the scenery? IMO, the views from the public decks, especially top decks, are far superior to the limited view from a balcony. We only used our balcony once in the 10 days of our AK cruise. If you eliminate the need for a balcony, you are able to book a cabin on a lower deck - as low as possible - and midships, for the least movement. (The medical center on a ship is always on the lowest deck, for this reason.)

That happened to us on a Princess cruise once. We were not allowed to leave the ship, but made to go to Guest Services, where we were given cash (a lot) to zero out the OBC we had not used. It took a while; fortunately we did not miss our airport transfer.

I sure hope it is not for the purpose of building an adventure/thrill park. The island is perfect the way it is.

Did you try getting reimbursed by your healthcare insurance at home?

OP, Where are you considering sailing from, on which ship, and what time of year? We regularly sail on RC out of Baltimore. During the school year there are very few children; in fact, primarily people in your (and our) age group. When we sailed on X previously, we thought the sophistication of some of the shows was way better than the shows we've seen repeatedly many times on RC; however, the ones we liked the best (Elysium and that group) were not popular among many other passengers. X had many flavors of ice cream in the Oceanview every day; RC has only vanilla and chocolate.

Parking is easy, and the process is well marked and manned. $15 per day, credit card only. Your baggage dropoff with the porters will be first, then pay for parking, then park. It doesn't take long, so I would not suggest getting there so far ahead of your selected arrival time that you have to wait around.

Coca Cola, chilled to the max. My childhood pick-me-up when I was willing to spend a dime at the ice cream shop, and still works now at home.

The white sneakers (usually trim, non-clunky ones) were mostly worn with short white summer dresses on White Night. Sometimes they wore them with other summery dresses, as well. Me, I get cold in any place with AC, so all my evening cruise clothes have long sleeves, even for Bahamas and Caribbean cruises.

We have sailed to C/NE in September a number of times. We had hard rain in Halifax once, for an hour or two. Otherwise fabulous weather. We have sailed in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Hawaii, and many other areas, including during the official hurricane season. Occasionally we've had some imperfect weather, but mostly just fine. I suspect the odds are highly tilted towards no hurricane.

When I was at the medical center once, I overheard them telling a patient to keep the copy of the bill they were giving her, to present to her medical insurance provider at home.

I recently read a couple of complaints from people who did not get towel animals every day. (We always ask our cabin steward NOT to give us any; they were cute years ago, but just get in the way now.) It occurred to me that if stewards have gone from servicing 12 cabins to servicing 20 cabins (I'm guesstimating), they are expected to provide 20 towel animals. One thing that is still extra work for them, regardless of when cabin is serviced.

While we were onboard Vision recently, we heard a passenger say the ship is so clean that it could pass for a new ship. We agree.

No, US, but I went to Australia in my 20s, and lived there for 12 years. My mother's meals, when I was a child, were fairly plain and non-exotic. Meat, potato, and vegetable for all dinners. Apart from a Chef Boyardee pizza kit for a slumber party when I was a pre-teen, my first venture into "foreign" food was Chinese and Lebanese restaurants with my college friends.

We were on Vision on the cruise before yours. A young man came into the MDR on a casual night in a tank top, was seated and had ordered, when he was told by the head waiter that he would not be allowed in again without a proper shirt.

When our ships always docked at Hamilton, it was very pleasant to walk off the ship and be right there for the parade. We had our Dark and Stormys on the ship at leisure. Those were the days!

We were on the Vision cruise just before OP's (Bermuda, Nassau, Coco Cay). We were really impressed with the ship, and especially with the crew. Two more Vision cruises booked. BTW, we appreciate that Bermuda does not have a Caribbean vibe, even though it has beaches and such.

When I was young I never heard of yogurt. Then, in my 30s and living in Australia, one day the milkman delivered a sample of a newly-available product, yogurt. I liked it. Eventually I started ordering litre tubs of their pineapple yogurt, then started making my own from a culture sold in the local health food store. Now I buy Aldi's plain Greek, and add my own fresh fruit.

Unlike some of the others, I would not see any value in having a balcony. If there is scenery, I will be on an upper deck, or if it's chilly, perhaps in a public room with big windows. But I more likely won't be expecting scenery anyway; not like Alaska's Inside Passage. There is the sea travel, and there are the ports. In either, an oceanview cabin will be my #1 choice.

Trinity Reservations has been recommended for into, and for booking.

Sometimes, if we're really craving the feeling of being aboard, I get the washer and dryer both going, and we sit in the room just above them, perhaps with a coffee or evening beverage, and imagine we are "asea", hearing the hum of the engines and feeling that bit of vibration. Not as good as the real thing, though.

We sailed on Enchantment five times in 2022-23. Service was excellent. Many of the crew we spoke to wanted to stay in Baltimore, but were kept on the ship for the Med. Of course, all our observations are based on the individual cabin stewards, MDR servers, etc. that we are served by. One poor one will certainly color our experience, so I'm glad you asked here. I agree with many of the above that some elements have changed, but not necessarily deteriorated. Cabin servicing is now once a day. Paper planners might need to be requested. We've never, ever, had a cabin that was anything other than spotless!