Enchanment Review-April 16-22

[mit01]

Before getting to the review, allow me to answer a couple of concerns from previous posts. We were on deck 3, portside forward, and we had no..NO..sewage smells there. The only strange odors we encountered were in the cabin hallways on deck 4 near the Centrum. I’m not sure what the odor was, but I would not describe it as “sewage.” Also, though the ship is indeed showing her age, I found her if good shape. The only complaint I could find about the cabin is that the window could use some new calking.

 

Day 1-Embarkation Day

 

We arrived at the port about 10:50. The parking attendants were lining cars up waiting until it was time to start unloading luggage. We waited about 20 minutes or so and then the cars started moving to the luggage area. Cars were formed into two lines and two cars from each line went to the baggage handlers. From there we moved off to pay to park, then to the parking area. Very quickly we were checked in and on-board. It was about one hour and ten minutes from the time we arrived at the port to the first pina colada in the Windjammer!!

 

Things took a bad turn just after sail-a-way. Just after we left the dock at 4:00, the captain came on and said we returned to the pier due to high winds. He did not feel it was safe to navigate the bay in those conditions. He kept us informed throughout the evening. We did not leave port until after midnight. The delay caused us to spend the first two days at sea, arriving at Port Canaveral on Tuesday, missing Coco Cay and arriving at Nassau on Wednesday as scheduled. The final two days were sea days, as scheduled.

 

We got into our cabins about 1:30. We had two ocean view cabins, group H, port side forward, 3020, and 3018. Our luggage was at our rooms by 3:00 or so. Our cabin steward was great.

 

We had early seating for dinner. Our wait staff was fine and the headwaiter was very attentive. We went to the show that evening, which was very crowded, probably due to the fact that the casino and shops were closed since we were still in port.

 

Day 2-Sea Day

 

We had breakfast in the Windjammer. The first thing that struck me was there was no lox on the buffet. I’m guessing it’s a cost thing. There was nothing special there..it is what it is.

 

We spent the day as one should at sea, playing games, walking around, sipping cocktails, laying in the sun, etc. We had lunch in the Windjammer. There were a variety of sandwiches, hot entrées, salads, burgers and hot dogs.

 

It was formal night for dinner, then the show, etc.

 

 

 

Day 3-Sea Day

 

Pretty much the same as day 2, except that diner was not formal and we had breakfast in the dining room. There was lox on the menu (yay!)

 

Day 4-Port Canaveral

 

We spent the day in the sun and surf of Cocoa Beach. We had read about a complimentary shuttle to a surf shop, but that shuttle wasn’t running the day we were there. There were quite a few shuttles that charge $10.00 per person that runs between Ron Jon’s, the mall and Wal Mart, so we grabbed one of them.

 

The rescheduling of the itineraries caused us to arrive in Canaveral a couple of hours later than scheduled. We heard from a couple of people that they never got word of their excursions having time changes, and they ended up missing them.

 

We got back to the ship too late for the dinning room, so we had dinner in the Windjammer. We did not enjoy it at all. The food was fine, but it’s just too rush-rush. Also, on other RCCL ships we’ve been on, the Windjammer was done up nice for dinner. The tables were set, the lights were dimmed. There was none of that this time. They might have done it another night, but we only had dinner there one evening.

 

Day 5-Nassau

 

We bought a day pass at the Sheraton Resort. We took the #10 bus, which cost a $1.25 per person each way. The passes cost us $25.00 for my wife and me and our 16-year-old daughter, and $12.50 for our 13 year old. The pool was great, the beach really nice and the water clear. Four burgers and four sodas cost about $78.00 with tip (ouch!) The burgers were good, and they were big enough that two people could split one.

 

Days 6 and 7-Sea Days

 

One day we went to the dinning room for lunch and we finally got a Tutti Salad. Yummy.

 

Debarkation Day

 

Everything went smooth. We were scheduled to leave between 9:00 and 9:15. Our number was called on time. We were off the ship, through customs and in the car at 9:30.

 

Notes

 

There was a brand new music and dance cast on this cruise. Since they were so new, they only performed once. They did a rock-and-roll show, which was very good. Other shows included a magician, a stand-up comic, a juggling act and something that I can’t remember. The shows were pretty good, with the exception that the comic was a little too risqué for a family show. He did an adult show later, but he should have toned things down a bit for the family show. There were a few families that walked out.

 

Our biggest gripe has to do with late-night snacks. The Windjammer closed at 9:00, and the Solarium wasn’t setting up snacks until 11:00, which left the Ben and Jerry’s the only place to get a snack. Besides ice cream, which is an additional charge, they also had cookies and cakes, but they said we had to buy one of their coffee drinks to get something. We thought that was very unfair. They begrudgingly gave us one the first time we asked, but we never asked again.

 

That’s all I can think of. If anyone has any specific questions I’ll be happy to try to answer them

 

Steve

[CincinnatiGal]

Thank you for your review I will be on the Enchantment this fall going to New England/Canada. So sorry to hear about your port troubles. My goodness I hope you all were not too bored being on board cruising so much! I have an 8th floor D1 room on my upcoming trip. I look forward to coming to Baltimore for my cruise.

[mit01]

Thank you for your review I will be on the Enchantment this fall going to New England/Canada. So sorry to hear about your port troubles. My goodness I hope you all were not too bored being on board cruising so much! I have an 8th floor D1 room on my upcoming trip. I look forward to coming to Baltimore for my cruise.

 

TOO BORED!!! :eek: I don't think it's possible to be too bored being on a cruise!! :D

[cruisenfever]

We got back to the ship too late for the dinning room, so we had dinner in the Windjammer. We did not enjoy it at all. The food was fine, but it’s just too rush-rush. Also, on other RCCL ships we’ve been on, the Windjammer was done up nice for dinner. The tables were set, the lights were dimmed. There was none of that this time. They might have done it another night, but we only had dinner there one evening.

 

 

Steve

We disembarked the Enchantment on April 16 (as you were getting on) after doing 2 consecutive cruises.

 

We ate in the WJ several times during our two consecutive cruises and always found the tables set and the lights lowered. We never felt rushed at all.

 

We also did a NYE cruise on Enchantment last December and found the setting in the WJ in the evenings to be the same.

[elhenry]

Hi Steve:

 

We never got to meet, but every time I saw Andrew (without us), I saw Emily, so I feel bonded. LOL

 

I don't think they ever "prettied up" the WJ on our cruise because of the number of kids on board. It would have been impossible to maintain any kind of evening ambiance, so why try?

 

el henry (Linda)

[cruisenfever]

Hi Steve:

 

We never got to meet, but every time I saw Andrew (without us), I saw Emily, so I feel bonded. LOL

 

I don't think they ever "prettied up" the WJ on our cruise because of the number of kids on board. It would have been impossible to maintain any kind of evening ambiance, so why try?

 

el henry (Linda)

Oh my, I forgot about that. We were told on our 4/11 cruise that there were going to be 900 children on your sailing.:eek: Hope they all behaved themselves.::D

[F27TW]

What is the Tutti Salad? I read it in another post too.

[cruisenfever]

What is the Tutti Salad? I read it in another post too.

It is a salad bar that has everything you can imagine. It is set up in the MDR for lunch on sea days. They make it up for you as you go along selecting the ingredients.