Enchantment of the Seas - 8 Day Bermuda/Northeast Trip Report 5/31/12

[Hunwolf]

We just returned home this afternoon from our 8 night cruise on the Enchantment. Below is a brief cruise report. Enjoy...

 

Enchantment of the Seas 8 Day Bermuda/Northeast Cruise May 31, 2012

 

Overall: We are a family of 3 (daughter turned 11 on the last day of the cruise) and this is our 7th cruise…5th with RCI. This was a good, but not great, cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas. For a relatively older ship, the ship is in very good condition with the majority of the public areas looking clean and well maintained. The layout of the ship allowed for one to acquaint themselves quickly, and you certainly won’t get lost. However, the service, IMO, was uneven with our room steward “Rocky” being the best we’ve probably had but other sub-par areas as well.

 

Room: We had interior room 8577 (deck 8). This is one of the additions during the cutting of the ship a few years back. It did have the enclosed shower which was nice, and the overall appearance was very crisp and clean. However, the layout was quite bizarre and you simply could not open the closet and bathroom doors as the same time. In fact, if one was drying their hair you couldn’t get out of the bathroom or into the closet. Just a weird design is about the best way I can describe it.

 

Food/Dining Room: We had requested a table for 6 in our reservations and the first night we were seated at a table for 5 but we were the only 3 there. Our waiter/ass’t waiter were fairly efficient and somewhat friendly, no real complaints. We did talk with the head waiter about being moved to a table with other folks. The head waiter went and checked and he said that there were no more empty tables. However, the next night we noticed several couples around us had been moved together or to new tables. In fact, our table was reduced to a table for 4 (a smaller table) and other tables around us were enlarged.

 

This was not a huge deal, but honestly we did dine in the WJ a few nights after this since we weren’t with any other folks at this point. Overall, the food was average to above average in both the main dining room and WJ. There is/has always been a lack of diversity in the WJ menu but that’s to be expected, and not a huge complaint. The menus in the main dining room for dinner were varied and the food to our liking.

 

Note: seating is VERY tight in the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch. Apparently when they stretched the ship they didn’t take into account the impact on the dining (and the Orpheum Theater) seating according to some of the staff. We noticed huge lines at times to get into the main dining rooms for lunch which pushed folks up to the WJ and caused more congestion. In short, if you’re eating at peak times “good luck”.

 

Entertainment/Activities: Some good/some bad here in my opinion. The evening shows were quite good in my opinion. The RCI singers/dancers had some very good shows and the guest entertainers were quite good. A specific highlight was the juggling of Mike Price. He was insane and not to be missed! The comedian, Al Romas, was also very good. He’s an equal opportunity critic to say the least.

 

Beyond the headliner shows however, I have to say that the overall entertainment on board was mediocre to poor. We’ve had Keith Williams as a CD before, and it was really more of the same. Keith is a super nice guy, but the variety of the activities is akin to a carton of vanilla ice cream. Trivia, trivia, trivia, mixed in with a little karaoke and uninspired salsa music.

 

Kudos to Crag in the Schooner Bar and Nite Flite. They were both life savers in terms of entertainment. In fact, Crag is a wealth of musical knowledge if you take the time to sit down and talk with him.

 

Also, kudos to the Adventure Ocean staff on the Enchantment. Our daughter really enjoyed going there, and she got to know the staff members really well. When she pulled out her own money to tip them at cruise’s end I knew they had made an impression on her.

 

Overall…I will say this…if you want to go on a cruise where you can just wind down and do nothing but relax this is probably the cruise for you. To be fair though, the weather this week was less than optimal, rendering the main pool area (and many of the outdoor activities) kind of limited. The Solarium was a warm oasis for sure. We are rather active folks and would have liked to have seen a few more people and group participation type activities like we’ve had on previous cruises.

 

Ports of Call:

 

Bermuda was wonderful despite a few showers here and there. Day 1 we did Horseshoe Bay by taxi. Tip: share a taxi with some other folks and save some serious $$$. The beach and water there is amazing. We hit the frog and onion for dinner as timing before our shore excursion was tight. That evening we did the night glassbottom boat tour. The dialogue and boat trip by night was pretty neat but the actual viewing mediocre. Overall, not a bad way to see the coast though.

 

Day 2: we did the trolley trip of the Dockyard and then walked around the Maritime Museum. This was fairly interesting, but the weather was hit or miss. If we had to do it over again, we would probably take the ferry into Hamilton. All in all, it was a very nice trip to a beautiful island.

 

On a side note...the night we left Bermuda a security guard appeared in our hallway outside of a neighboring cabin. They stayed there in shifts until a man was escorted off the ship in Boston. He apparently was confined to his cabin for 2 days while the rest of his part stayed through the remainder of the cruise. We did not see anything, but it was apparently related to altercations with other pax and/or crew members.

 

Boston: having been here a few times this was an opportunity to show the rest of the family around this wonderful city. We did the freedom trail narrated tour, and our tour guide was outstanding. It was a cloudy and cool day, but we saw a lot in a short period of time. We ended the day with yankee pot roast at Durgin Park and a stroll through Quincy Market. We only wish we had more time here.

 

Newport: We did the harbor cruise and Rose Island Lighthouse Tour. Honestly, this was a pretty good tour but fairly pricy. I wonder if you could get this same tour cheaper from someone on shore instead of going through the ship? The weather here turned nasty for a bit, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

 

In summary…we really loved Bermuda and would like to visit again someday. However, our next cruise is going to be on a larger ship with more offerings and variety. In fact, we’ve already booked the Allure for next year.

[hansolosmom]

Thank you for the nice balanced review. I'm still trying to get my mom to go on this trip with me.

I'm not much of a trivia person so I love the other activities.

And thanks for mentioning what you did in the ports. I always like to hear that too.

[Hunwolf]

Thank you for the nice balanced review. I'm still trying to get my mom to go on this trip with me.

I'm not much of a trivia person so I love the other activities.

And thanks for mentioning what you did in the ports. I always like to hear that too.

 

I believe she would enjoy the cruise a lot. The ports are actually very good if you're into history and such. I do believe the ship would have been hopping a bit more if the weather was better. That's just luck of the draw.

 

The only downside that is tough to address with this ship (and will continue when it moves to Port Canaveral) is the relatively small WJ and theatre relative to its pax size after the refit.

[macfin]

YES you could do the tours in newport thru a private tour group .

[emelvee]

Thanks for the review! We're on Enchantment, same itinerary, next month - with our 11 year old (sorry...she has reminded me that she's 11 1/2 in 4 days) daughter. She's very shy, so I hope she gets involved in some of the activities.

[Poorplaya]

Great honest review. Thank you for the balanced information about the ship and crowds.

[Hunwolf]

Thanks for the review! We're on Enchantment, same itinerary, next month - with our 11 year old (sorry...she has reminded me that she's 11 1/2 in 4 days) daughter. She's very shy, so I hope she gets involved in some of the activities.

 

They have a signup/open house the first day at Adventure Ocean around 4:30.

 

The staff there is really good. The number of kids aboard was pretty small this week, but the staff said the numbers are really looking up in the next few weeks.

 

Apparently this particular port has:

 

1. A very high % of local/commuter cruisers. Schools get out in that area here in a week or so.

 

2. The Baltimore cruises also have a very high # of repeat cruisers. There were over 1200 C&A members on our cruise, and IIRC approx. 300 Diamond or above

 

Because of that, make sure you set an appt time early on if you want to meet with James (the Loyalty/Cruise Consultant) or his assistant. They do take walk-ins as time permits, and James is really top notch.

[travelingla]

I will be on this cruise June 14 -- I've never been to ANY of these ports so am looking forward to the trip. I am doing everyone on my own with no prepaid excursions - they all seem like easy to navigate ports from my research.

 

I don't suppose you took advantage of any of the spa - or thermal suites while onboard since you did not mention those. With 3 sea days I am hoping to spend some time there.

 

I really appreciate your reviews of the entertainment -- thanks for sharing!

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to post a review of your cruise.

[KeywestK]

We just returned home this afternoon from our 8 night cruise on the Enchantment. Below is a brief cruise report. Enjoy...

 

Enchantment of the Seas 8 Day Bermuda/Northeast Cruise May 31, 2012

 

Overall: We are a family of 3 (daughter turned 11 on the last day of the cruise) and this is our 7th cruise…5th with RCI. This was a good, but not great, cruise on the Enchantment of the Seas. For a relatively older ship, the ship is in very good condition with the majority of the public areas looking clean and well maintained. The layout of the ship allowed for one to acquaint themselves quickly, and you certainly won’t get lost. However, the service, IMO, was uneven with our room steward “Rocky” being the best we’ve probably had but other sub-par areas as well.

 

Room: We had interior room 8577 (deck 8). This is one of the additions during the cutting of the ship a few years back. It did have the enclosed shower which was nice, and the overall appearance was very crisp and clean. However, the layout was quite bizarre and you simply could not open the closet and bathroom doors as the same time. In fact, if one was drying their hair you couldn’t get out of the bathroom or into the closet. Just a weird design is about the best way I can describe it.

 

Food/Dining Room: We had requested a table for 6 in our reservations and the first night we were seated at a table for 5 but we were the only 3 there. Our waiter/ass’t waiter were fairly efficient and somewhat friendly, no real complaints. We did talk with the head waiter about being moved to a table with other folks. The head waiter went and checked and he said that there were no more empty tables. However, the next night we noticed several couples around us had been moved together or to new tables. In fact, our table was reduced to a table for 4 (a smaller table) and other tables around us were enlarged.

 

This was not a huge deal, but honestly we did dine in the WJ a few nights after this since we weren’t with any other folks at this point. Overall, the food was average to above average in both the main dining room and WJ. There is/has always been a lack of diversity in the WJ menu but that’s to be expected, and not a huge complaint. The menus in the main dining room for dinner were varied and the food to our liking.

 

Note: seating is VERY tight in the Windjammer for breakfast and lunch. Apparently when they stretched the ship they didn’t take into account the impact on the dining (and the Orpheum Theater) seating according to some of the staff. We noticed huge lines at times to get into the main dining rooms for lunch which pushed folks up to the WJ and caused more congestion. In short, if you’re eating at peak times “good luck”.

 

Entertainment/Activities: Some good/some bad here in my opinion. The evening shows were quite good in my opinion. The RCI singers/dancers had some very good shows and the guest entertainers were quite good. A specific highlight was the juggling of Mike Price. He was insane and not to be missed! The comedian, Al Romas, was also very good. He’s an equal opportunity critic to say the least.

 

Beyond the headliner shows however, I have to say that the overall entertainment on board was mediocre to poor. We’ve had Keith Williams as a CD before, and it was really more of the same. Keith is a super nice guy, but the variety of the activities is akin to a carton of vanilla ice cream. Trivia, trivia, trivia, mixed in with a little karaoke and uninspired salsa music.

 

Kudos to Crag in the Schooner Bar and Nite Flite. They were both life savers in terms of entertainment. In fact, Crag is a wealth of musical knowledge if you take the time to sit down and talk with him.

 

Also, kudos to the Adventure Ocean staff on the Enchantment. Our daughter really enjoyed going there, and she got to know the staff members really well. When she pulled out her own money to tip them at cruise’s end I knew they had made an impression on her.

 

Overall…I will say this…if you want to go on a cruise where you can just wind down and do nothing but relax this is probably the cruise for you. To be fair though, the weather this week was less than optimal, rendering the main pool area (and many of the outdoor activities) kind of limited. The Solarium was a warm oasis for sure. We are rather active folks and would have liked to have seen a few more people and group participation type activities like we’ve had on previous cruises.

 

Ports of Call:

 

Bermuda was wonderful despite a few showers here and there. Day 1 we did Horseshoe Bay by taxi. Tip: share a taxi with some other folks and save some serious $$$. The beach and water there is amazing. We hit the frog and onion for dinner as timing before our shore excursion was tight. That evening we did the night glassbottom boat tour. The dialogue and boat trip by night was pretty neat but the actual viewing mediocre. Overall, not a bad way to see the coast though.

 

Day 2: we did the trolley trip of the Dockyard and then walked around the Maritime Museum. This was fairly interesting, but the weather was hit or miss. If we had to do it over again, we would probably take the ferry into Hamilton. All in all, it was a very nice trip to a beautiful island.

 

On a side note...the night we left Bermuda a security guard appeared in our hallway outside of a neighboring cabin. They stayed there in shifts until a man was escorted off the ship in Boston. He apparently was confined to his cabin for 2 days while the rest of his part stayed through the remainder of the cruise. We did not see anything, but it was apparently related to altercations with other pax and/or crew members.

 

Boston: having been here a few times this was an opportunity to show the rest of the family around this wonderful city. We did the freedom trail narrated tour, and our tour guide was outstanding. It was a cloudy and cool day, but we saw a lot in a short period of time. We ended the day with yankee pot roast at Durgin Park and a stroll through Quincy Market. We only wish we had more time here.

 

Newport: We did the harbor cruise and Rose Island Lighthouse Tour. Honestly, this was a pretty good tour but fairly pricy. I wonder if you could get this same tour cheaper from someone on shore instead of going through the ship? The weather here turned nasty for a bit, but it didn’t dampen our spirits.

 

In summary…we really loved Bermuda and would like to visit again someday. However, our next cruise is going to be on a larger ship with more offerings and variety. In fact, we’ve already booked the Allure for next year.

 

Very nice review. Regarding a private tour in Newport, the answer is Yes. DH and I took the Canada/NE cruise on Explorer a few years ago, and originally, the itinerary included Newport. By the time we sailed, however, Newport was replaced with New London, CT. We rented a car at the port (pre-arranged) and drove one hour to Newport. When we were walking around the harbor there were private tours offered, which we did. Newport is a lovely place to visit and we were happy we made the effort to drive there.

[Lady Hudson]

Thank you for posting your review -- I am going on the same trip on July 14. Can you tell us how many formal, semiformal, casual nights? That will help with packing. Thanks.:)

[LBumb]

good job

[Starry Eyes]

I will be on this cruise June 14 -- I've never been to ANY of these ports so am looking forward to the trip. I am doing everyone on my own with no prepaid excursions - they all seem like easy to navigate ports from my research.

 

I don't suppose you took advantage of any of the spa - or thermal suites while onboard since you did not mention those. With 3 sea days I am hoping to spend some time there.

 

I really appreciate your reviews of the entertainment -- thanks for sharing!

I'd like to hear about the thermal suites, too. please let me know how they work out for you, travelingla...I will be going in July.

[Starry Eyes]

Thank you for posting your review -- I am going on the same trip on July 14. Can you tell us how many formal, semiformal, casual nights? That will help with packing. Thanks.:)

 

Is July 14 a typo? Did you mean July 12? Or June 14? Don't miss that ship;).

[Hunwolf]

Thank you for posting your review -- I am going on the same trip on July 14. Can you tell us how many formal, semiformal, casual nights? That will help with packing. Thanks.:)

 

The first sea day (night #2) and the 2nd sea day (before you get to Boston) are formal nights. Technically there was supposed to be one "semi formal" night somewhere in there with the rest casual but I didn't notice any difference in dress other than the 2 formal evenings. In general, most folks were pretty dressed up on this ship though.

 

As to the earlier question about the spa services, no we did not do anything in the spa. We did go to a couple of the seminars which were ok but ended up being mostly product pushes (which is somewhat understandable).

[Hunwolf]

Also...thx for the suggestions concerning Newport.

 

Honestly these 3 ports are very doable on your own and you will save some serious $$$ that way. For example, we estimated that we saved about $50 (or half) by sharing transportation to Horseshoe Bay versus using the ship transfer/tour.

[Hunwolf]

Also, we asked our room steward on night #4 about the laundry fold/wash special and he went ahead and brought us the sheet/bag. We had our stuff back by day 5 which was nice.

 

Don't forget the coupon in the book for that (platinum and above?).

[Lady Hudson]

Is July 14 a typo? Did you mean July 12? Or June 14? Don't miss that ship;).

 

Yes -- I did mean June 14 -- on July 14 I will be sailing to Norway -- don't want to miss either trip!!:)

[C_hasRedBottoms]

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts on this cruise. My family members are leaning toward this ship as our Annual Family Vacation. Having sailed on the NOS I would rather go on the EOS for the Bermuda destination. However, your review put many of my concerns into perspective. This trip is about relaxing, nothing more and from what you've reported that it very much possible. Thanks again.

[GreytRacer]

Thanks for the review! I enjoyed reading your perspective, as my DH and I were also on this cruise.

 

Regarding the person under "house arrest" on deck 8: We were told by a woman we were standing next to, watching the final sunset, that the man was the stepfather of the woman they were paging before we left Bermuda. She was late getting back to the ship and he beat her up when she got back on board. Her mother (his wife) called security and he was confined to his room until Boston, where he was escorted off the ship and arrested. The mother and daughters (there were 2) were supposedly seen in the dining room that night drinking champagne.

 

The person that told us this story was staying on Deck 8 and when she asked the security guards what they were doing there, they said they were guarding someone.

 

Now, I have no idea if this story is true, but that's what she said a Diamond + (or Pinnacle?) member told her that they were told by a crew member. So, that makes this a 3rd-hand story, for whatever it's worth. :rolleyes:

[emelvee]

They have a signup/open house the first day at Adventure Ocean around 4:30.

 

The staff there is really good. The number of kids aboard was pretty small this week, but the staff said the numbers are really looking up in the next few weeks.

 

Apparently this particular port has:

 

1. A very high % of local/commuter cruisers. Schools get out in that area here in a week or so.

 

2. The Baltimore cruises also have a very high # of repeat cruisers. There were over 1200 C&A members on our cruise, and IIRC approx. 300 Diamond or above

 

Because of that, make sure you set an appt time early on if you want to meet with James (the Loyalty/Cruise Consultant) or his assistant. They do take walk-ins as time permits, and James is really top notch.

The AO staff did a great job encouraging kids to get involved on our first RCI cruise - our daughter stayed at AO more that cruise than any other. Since we're cruising mid-summer, I'm sure there will be lots of kids there. She always is hesitant to make friends - I think more because she doesn't want to get close to someone who she'll likely never see after the cruise.

 

We've enjoyed sailing out of Baltimore, have done so twice with Carnival.

[sunsetbeachgal]

We are doing the six day Bermuda itinerary in august, and just did the Freedom in May. I had already planned to lower my expectations of the ship, and sounds like I would be wise to!!

[scorpioncrawl]

Hello to all : ) We are avid cruisers, and I am ashamed to say that this was only our 3rd RC cruise out of 24 cruises. With that being said, we LOVED this ship!! We also had the unusual layout of the room on the 8th floor, but we loved it as well. Felt very spacious as you walked in. Our bed was to the right, separated by tied back curtains, middle of the room was the desk, tv and chair, and to the left was bath and hallway behind that, along with the closets. It worked so well for us, as compared to most ships, rooms always seem to be the same ole format. Again, we were excited about our fabulous room!

 

Embarkation: Absolute breeze : ) Debarkation: The same : )

 

Food: Is relevant.....so again, with that being said, we loved everthing from the WJ to the dining room each nite. Soooo many choices, and PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE AFTERNOON TEA TIME, i think it's from 3-5? Scones, with yummy toppings and light snackage! This is great if you have late dining, come in from the pool, and want something light before you get ready for the evening! or what ever the reason may be, it was just a great little mid afternnon delight : )

 

LOVE loved loved all the entertainment!!! No complaints from me on this one. : )

 

Ya know, when it comes to cruising, i am very easy to please. I love it so much, and while it's so easy to complain about this, that and the other I choose tho enjoy the experience, meet new people and have great conversations and best of all, being with the love of my life!!! My fabulous husband : ) Any questions? Just ask.

 

HAPPY SAILING........

[knittinggirl]

Thanks for the information. We're booked on this cruise later this summer. I'd really be wondering if two security guards hovered outside my room for two days.

[edjny]

Soooo many choices, and PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE AFTERNOON TEA TIME, i think it's from 3-5? Scones, with yummy toppings and light snackage!

 

Where is the "Afternoon Tea Time" located at? The Windjammer?