Enchantment Review

[bostonlass]

We returned yesterday from the Enchantment of the Seas sailing on April 16 and here's my review. I went alone with my two daughters who are 8 and 9.

 

Pre Cruise -

 

We flew Jet Blue direct from Boston to Fort Lauderdale. I loved all of the legroom and the leather seats!! I would definitely recommend Jet Blue and hope they still keep their pricing low.

 

I got the Marriott at the Marina Bay via Priceline and it was "OK". I would never pay full price for this hotel though. The lobby was very nice and the pool was so-so but the rooms were in desparate need of repair. I love taking baths when on vacation and the bathtub was just too gross to do that. The balcony was nice in that we could see the ships. After signing up for our time to take the shuttle to the pier we took the water shuttle too the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was nice to see all of the mansions on the way to the restaurant. We had brunch in the hotel the next morning and then waited in the lobby for them to call our name for the shuttle to the pier.

 

Embarkation -

 

This was so smooth! We arrived at the pier at 11:15 and were on the ship by 11:20! We had a Junior Suite and were able to board with the suite passengers upstairs instead of having to wait with everyone else. Once onboard we had an hour before lunch was served and so we hung out at the pool taking it all in. I've read these boards for over a year now and still I forgot to have the kids put their suits on or even pack them in their carry on. Oh well...we put our feet in the pool and just relaxed for a bit.

 

Kids Club -

 

Sign up was that night at 8pm. My daughters are 8 and 9 and had the option of signing themselves out, though I chose not to take that option. I was suprised at how many kids even younger than them were signing themselves in and out! I was afraid that they'd get lost on the ship and without a walkie talkie I didn't want to chance that.

 

The kids had a lot of fun when they went. They had a pj party one night, a pirate thing another night where they invaded the shows and the dining room and pretended to take over the ship. They made a lot of friends and basically had a blast both in and out of the club. We didn't have much sun until the last day so that last day they only went to the club after dinner and spent the whole day in the pool. I was suprised that there were not many kids on the ship especially during April vacation. They still had enough to make friends but I was expecting a lot more.

 

Food -

 

I loved the food on this ship! I would rate the food better than what we got on Princess and equal to that on Disney. My favorites were the lamb, the omlettes, the artichoke salad and the duck. The asparagus was absolutely huge! The ones that I get around here are so thin and these were the thickest I have ever seen. I even liked the coffee most of the time. Sometimes it was too strong but more often than not it was just right. I spent some time at the champagne bar each night and fell in love with the Royal Caribbean champagne cocktail. It's made with a rose syrup which I"ve never heard of before and was really very good.

 

Staff -

 

This was the nicest staff I've ever seen. Everyone was very very friendly and talked to you like you were family. Our room attendant was excellent and brought whatever I aked for in record time. Room service was always prompt and friendly. Our waitstaff in the dining room were very nice but messed up a lot. Not a biggie since they always corrected whatever was wrong without hesitation. This was the most I've ever seen interaction with the head water too. Most of the time you just see them on the last night but he made the kids giggle every single night and was always asking how things were.

 

Room -

 

We had an aft Junior Suite. This was my first aft balcony and it was ok. I had heard so much about aft balconies so maybe my expectations were high but I actually prefer a side cabin instead. I didn't like the way the glass was slanted. I knew it was slanted ahead of time but didn't really think about it. Anyway the room was in ok condition but just seemed old, which was to be expected since it's not a new ship. Everything was very clean which was nice.

 

Ship -

 

It definitely needs to be drydocked due to some broken public sinks, broken couches in the bar, broken jaccuzzis (not all of them) and chipped tiles all around. Nothing to ruin a vacation over but noticeable nonetheless. On our way to Jamaica one of the propellers broke. We woke up at 8am expecting to see the island and instead we were still sailing. I think we ended up docking there around 10:30ish or so. Not sure if anyone missed their excursions or not since we didn't have any planned. Instead of the Caymans we had an additional day at sea since we wouldn't have gotten back in time on one propeller. We were all given $200 room credit for the inconvenience and were refunded any excursion money.

 

Spa -

 

I had two full body massages and the girls had a manicure and a pedicure. I had different people each massage. One was from South Africa and was awesome. The other was from China and was ok but spent a lot of time trying to sell me some detoxification pills. The spa area is going to be completely redone during the stretching so I can only imagine how beautiful it will be.

 

Entertainment -

 

I'm not a show type person but I did go to the one that had the two comedian jugglers. They were very funny and I'm glad I went. We had main seating and after I dropped the kids off at the club around 7:45 there wasn't much for me to do until 10ish. I found that disappointing but made do. I ended up going to the Casino and then to the champagne bar until the kareoke, etc. started around 10ish in the back bar on the 6th floor. The waiters were not pushy at all for the drinks and I found myself having to hail them down each night to get something.

 

Passengers -

 

Overall there was a good mixture of ages on this ship. I only saw some bad behavior on two occasions but other than that people were very very friendly and well mannered. There were kids unchaperoned (ages ranging from 7 to about 12) but they were very well behaved and I only entered one elevator with all of the buttons pushed.:p

 

Disembarkment -

 

I don't think there's any good way to leave a ship. There were cranky people complaining about how the white tags were leaving with the red tags but people who have to leave a ship on which they've been pampered for 5 days are gonna be cranky no matter what. :rolleyes: We got off the ship by 9am and were at the airport by about 9:15. Our flight left at 11:30 and again was a great flight on Jet Blue.

 

Overall -

 

I haven't really digested it all and I'm actually still feeling the movement of the ship which has never happened before! I think our next cruise will be back on Princess only because I want to have the freedom of eating alone instead of with a group if I want. Our table mates were kind of downers (the husband hated cruising and they kept talking about how they weren't going to pay for the tips for their kids:mad: ) and I"d rather not be stuck in that situation again. I think if I were sailing with another adult it would have been different and if I ever hook up with anyone I would definitely consider this ship.

 

I'll answer any questions as best I can but just know that it's all probably going to change once it's dry docked.

[TheWog]

Welcome back Bostonlass. Glad overall you had a great time. I noticed the same thing about the head waiter. It was the first time I had GREAT interaction with him. He was personable and funny. He came by several times each night. Were you upstairs in the dining room?

 

Great review and thanks for putting it up. I want to try Jetblue as well. Have only heard good things about them.

[Ches94]

Thanks for the great review. This will be the first vacation that DH and I have ever had in the 10.5 years we have been together (I don't consider traveling to see family a vacation ;)). Our DS will be staying with my parents, so we have decided that regardles of what happens, weather, etc. we are going to just enjoy being together and not at work! :p

[bostonlass]

Welcome back Bostonlass. Glad overall you had a great time. I noticed the same thing about the head waiter. It was the first time I had GREAT interaction with him. He was personable and funny. He came by several times each night. Were you upstairs in the dining room?

 

Great review and thanks for putting it up. I want to try Jetblue as well. Have only heard good things about them.

 

Oh we definitely had a good time. We were upstairs in the dining room and our head water was Harry. I forget our waiter's name. I don't think we could have a bad time on a cruise!!!!

 

Here are our pictures:

 

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeCNmbRm4atnPQ

[bostonlass]

Thanks for the great review. This will be the first vacation that DH and I have ever had in the 10.5 years we have been together (I don't consider traveling to see family a vacation ;)). Our DS will be staying with my parents, so we have decided that regardles of what happens, weather, etc. we are going to just enjoy being together and not at work! :p

 

You know....we only had sun on the last day but we still had a very good time. I'm not a sun worshipper anyways so as long as I could find a lounge chair and have my book with me (read the DaVinci Code this trip...highly recommend it!!!!) I was golden!

[TheWog]

Oh we definitely had a good time. We were upstairs in the dining room and our head water was Harry. I forget our waiter's name. I don't think we could have a bad time on a cruise!!!!

 

Here are our pictures:

 

 

Harry was our head waiter as well. He was the greatest and took wonderful care of us. He even brought us more lobster when we needed it and our waiter had his hands full. He sat with us one night when we were the only table in our section that had arrived for dinner and told us about himself. He is a great guy. I think we were table 89.

 

p.s. great pictures.

[Garycruz]

Harry was our head waiter as well. He was the greatest and took wonderful care of us. He even brought us more lobster when we needed it and our waiter had his hands full. He sat with us one night when we were the only table in our section that had arrived for dinner and told us about himself. He is a great guy. I think we were table 89.

 

 

Harry was the head waiter on our Enchantment cruise last August. He was the best! Usually the head waiter only shows up on the last day to collect his tip. Not Harry. He visited our table every day asking us if we needed anything.

 

On the last evening on our cruise, while Harry was making his rounds, I tried to hand him the envelope with his tip. He told me that he was just there to see how we were doing and that he would be back later and we could give it to him then. He never did show up again and we actually had to track him down to get the envelope to him. Have you ever heard of a head waiter doing something like that before?

 

I wish they could all be like Harry.

[TheWog]

 

On the last evening on our cruise, while Harry was making his rounds, I tried to hand him the envelope with his tip. He told me that he was just there to see how we were doing and that he would be back later and we could give it to him then. He never did show up again and we actually had to track him down to get the envelope to him. Have you ever heard of a head waiter doing something like that before?

 

I wish they could all be like Harry.

 

He did the same to us. I tried and then we had to find him as he was not just around looking for his envelope. He certainly earned it as far as we were concerned. He was great.

 

How about the Booze Man???? Was he there??????? He remembered everything without writing it down and we tried to mess with him a little and he still got it all right. He too got a little extra from us.

[Garycruz]

He did the same to us. I tried and then we had to find him as he was not just around looking for his envelope. He certainly earned it as far as we were concerned. He was great.

 

How about the Booze Man???? Was he there??????? He remembered everything without writing it down and we tried to mess with him a little and he still got it all right. He too got a little extra from us.

 

I don't remember the Booze Man although we didn't order many drinks with dinner.

 

Now, by the pool is another story.

[bostonlass]

He did the same to us. I tried and then we had to find him as he was not just around looking for his envelope. He certainly earned it as far as we were concerned. He was great.

 

How about the Booze Man???? Was he there??????? He remembered everything without writing it down and we tried to mess with him a little and he still got it all right. He too got a little extra from us.

 

I wanted to use the booze man but opted only for a glass of wine for dinner and then the shots they were passing around. My tablemates didn't want to drink because it was too expensive so I didn't wanna look like a lush!!!! I did get all of the shot glasses though. :D

 

The waiter on the 4th floor by the atrium knew my name by the second night though and knew to bring me my champagne cocktail. I got to know the guy at the casino bar too. They definitely made money from me and I have the slips to prove it! I think that next time I'll smuggle some wine onboard though since there were many times where I just wanted to read my book on my balcony in peace with a glass of wine but didn't feel like ordering it from room service.

 

I also loved those coke containers! I actually used them for ice water a lot of the time since it kept it nice and cool.

[whale-watcher]

Thanks for posting the pictures! We are planning to try an aft Family Suite on the Enchantment in September, after drydock and stretching. Didn't realize that there was mini golf on the Enchantment -- my kids will enjoy that. Did your daughters use the climbing wall at all?

[PAGA]

We sailed on the Enchantment in March '05 -- we were in the upstairs dining room, too and our head waiter was Ajay -- he too was absolutely fabulous, spent tons of time with us throughout the 4 nights, and always went above and beyond what was expected.

 

We also had the opportunity on our Enchantment cruise to meet the food & beverage manager and the hotel manager at the C&A Platinum/Diamond cocktail party. Both of them were from the US and the food & beverage manager had worked at land-based Disney properties -- I definitely think their training and customer service attitudes contribute to the overall high quality of the dining room experience onboard the Enchantment.

 

FYI - The hotel manager was departing the ship for his vacation after our sailing in March. We were told that the female food & beverage manager would be his replacement while he was gone...so not sure who the food & beverage manager is right now, but they are obviously all still doing a wonderful job!!

 

- PAGA

[bostonlass]

Thanks for posting the pictures! We are planning to try an aft Family Suite on the Enchantment in September, after drydock and stretching. Didn't realize that there was mini golf on the Enchantment -- my kids will enjoy that. Did your daughters use the climbing wall at all?

 

My daughters are the exact opposite of tomboys. I wanted to do soooo many things in Jamaica but they didn't want to get sand on their skin........they didn't want to go in the ocean because there are squiggly fish in it.....they didn't want to climb the rockwall because they're afraid of heights.....you see where I'm going with this. :rolleyes: Instead....they both booked a manicure and a pedicure and spent the vacation planning what color to pick and looked forward to going to Jamaica to get their hair braided so that they can go to school with the braids and show all of their friends.

 

I hope they either do well in college or marry rich because they are destined to be high maintenance!!!!

 

Just a disclaimer.....I'm the opposite of them and have NO idea where they get all this from!!!

[whale-watcher]

That's why a cruise is such a great family vacation -- there truly is something for everyone! Did you notice much motion in the aft cabin?

[tipster42]

My daughters are the exact opposite of tomboys. I wanted to do soooo many things in Jamaica but they didn't want to get sand on their skin........they didn't want to go in the ocean because there are squiggly fish in it.....they didn't want to climb the rockwall because they're afraid of heights.....you see where I'm going with this. :rolleyes: Instead....they both booked a manicure and a pedicure and spent the vacation planning what color to pick and looked forward to going to Jamaica to get their hair braided so that they can go to school with the braids and show all of their friends.

 

I hope they either do well in college or marry rich because they are destined to be high maintenance!!!!

 

Just a disclaimer.....I'm the opposite of them and have NO idea where they get all this from!!!

Boston

 

Your comments on your kids was hilarious. Thanks for the review. We will be on the Enchantment in August. I'm definately going to request a table in Harry's area.

[Z3PML]

Great review - geesh, i feel bad because you beat me with your post and were on the sailing after ours! :-) A comment on Head Waiters - our Head Waiter was Francis. Top level of the dining room. He was wonderful! We had a particularly fun table of 6 (3 couples who did not know each other before the cruise) and we were always the last table to leave the early seating. Not once did we feel rushed or that we overstayed our welcome --- actually the exact opposite! Great experience!

[bostonlass]

That's why a cruise is such a great family vacation -- there truly is something for everyone! Did you notice much motion in the aft cabin?

 

I didn't feel any motion except the first day and that was only for about an hour. I think it was just the normal motion of a boat though and after that first hour I got my sealegs. In the theater, however, I did notice the motion. I think it was more noticeable in the front of the ship.

 

I'm feeling more motion in the last two days here in Boston than I did the whole trip!!! Can't figure out why since this has never happened to me before but yesterday I actually had to lay down for a bit and wait for the room to stop spinning!

[TheWog]

I wanted to use the booze man but opted only for a glass of wine for dinner and then the shots they were passing around. My tablemates didn't want to drink because it was too expensive so I didn't wanna look like a lush!!!! I did get all of the shot glasses though. :D

 

I also loved those coke containers! I actually used them for ice water a lot of the time since it kept it nice and cool.

 

We have all the shot glasses as well. Even when we left ours one night they saved them for us and had them waiting when we came back the next night. The shots were real good and we got to ordering the entire table shots and someone different picked up that tab each night. We had great tablemates from Ohio as well as our friends we travelled with.

[nc_roberta]

That post-ship motion got to me, too! We were on Enchantment in February and could feel the swaying quite a bit, but got used to it. However, I felt it for almost a month after we returned home, especially in small spaces like the shower. It was very strange, but eventually the sensation went away.

 

Glad you enjoyed Enchantment--we did, too!