Live from the new Enchantment, 12/22/12

[Merion_Mom]

Here I am.

I have used up all of my free minutes researching my own OBC because they "have no record of it". I had to go online, look in my mailbox back three years, and trace the booking number.

Like a lot of you, I change cruises all the time. But the booking number remains the same. And the invoice is dated that the reservation was made on 12/29/09 on the Navigator, and their records would tell them that I was, indeed, on board NV at that time. But it took me a very very very long time to have my OBC verified by Miami. It finally appeared on my SeaPass account today, the penultimate day of the cruise.

Was anyone else booked on a Mariner cruise that was cancelled when they decided to redeploy her back east? Did you get your redeployment OBC? Please write to me at MerionMom at aol dot com.

Two sea days to get home. Already chilly.

Have been having decent luck in the casino - I am about even for the cruise.

Reyno is great.

He was sick. Captain Gus and F&B mgr Michael Landry are now apparently under the weather. Reyno attributes it to the dust and dirt and toxins in the air from the drydock.

Have lunch, galley tour and bridge tour tomorrow.

Am #3 on this cruise. Got a nice crystal diamond. Good picture with the two abovementioned gentlemen, too.

Comedians not funny.

Juggler mildly entertaining.

If you stuck pins in my eyes, I wouldn't go to the magician.

Both production shows were good.

Love & Marriage was very good. Some new questions. Newlyweds apparently had never met. I am not sure that they got a single question right.

Quest was great. Just the right mix of total newbies. I never bring stuff, but I am sort of always ready for "the usual". Here was a new one: Luke asked for EXACTLY a dollar and thirtysix cents!

I happened to have just come from the casino where I had a weird amount on my voucher, and sure enough, I had the exact change. We were the only ones who got points for that!

He was mean. He asked for a guy with a mustache. If the guy with the mustache also had a beard, Luke wouldn't accept that. It had to be JUST A MUSTACHE. wth???


Gotta get some sleep. Early bridge tour.

Hugs to you all.

Tell my daughter "Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!"

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='TPKeller']Curious, was this lecture about all the benefits that we have received from the inventions that NASA has produced?

If so, probably the same guy on my cruise last February (the infamous engine trouble cruise.)

Perhaps he does have a lecture voice, and not a Cruise Director voice, but due to the extra days at sea, they ended up drafting him for several extra lectures that he was not planning to give, and each one that I attended (several!) was well attended, and well received - obviously since the Cruise Director staff kept giving him more lecture slots.

As with all other aspects of what you can find on a cruise, we all have things that we enjoy more or less than others. No doubts your observations were genuine, but if it was the same guy, many passengers thoroughly enjoyed his lectures on a very wide variety of topics.

Thanks very much for your entertaining review! Making many notes for my cruise next month!

Theron[/QUOTE]

Doesn't sound like the same guy. He just talked about the space program itself. The history, the timeline, the people. He showed us the autographs of astronauts that he has.


P.S. I LOVE lectures. I would love to GIVE them myself. :)

[patrioticgirl]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']Here I am.


Was anyone else booked on a Mariner cruise that was cancelled when they decided to redeploy her back east? Did you get your redeployment OBC? Please write to me at MerionMom at aol dot com.

[/QUOTE]

Hi Carol! Glad to see you back and to hear that your cruise has been enjoyable thus far. For those of us sailing after you, your posts have been greatly anticipated.:)
I was not scheduled on a Mariner cruise, but did have a cruise on Enchantment booked when they decided to break a 12 night Enchantment Southern Caribbean cruise into a 5 night Bermuda and a 7 night Bahamas voyage. The original booking number eventually became this weekend's Enchantment cruise, and supposedly, there is to be a redeployment credit along with a next cruise credit waiting for me. I will be curious to see if the paperwork trail exists since it's been a couple of years. I'm prepared though because of your post; I just forwarded the original email to myself so it will be easy to find if needed. Thanks bunches!:D

[beachbuddy]

Enjoy your last few days Carol!!!

Patty

[JMG]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']

"He was sick. Captain Gus and F&B mgr Michael Landry are now apparently under the weather. Reyno attributes it to the dust and dirt and toxins in the air from the drydock."



I can relate to this! Mid cruise I started coughing and head was stuffy. Allergies kicked in and I usually have no problems on ship. Finally figured out it was most likely from all the dust/dirt that was still in the ventilation system. Still had a great cruise.

Agree about the entertainment. Juggler kept saying he was entertaining the crowd one person at a time. That was the truth! The Drifters were on board for our cruise. Great show...unfortunately, many people had not clue who they were so the theater was not full for early or late show. Maybe after the Juggler and comedian they figured it was waste of time!

Enjoy your last days at sea! Your live report has increased "my time" on board!

[gingerma]

[quote name='JMG'][quote name='Merion_Mom']

"He was sick. Captain Gus and F&B mgr Michael Landry are now apparently under the weather. Reyno attributes it to the dust and dirt and toxins in the air from the drydock."



I can relate to this! Mid cruise I started coughing and head was stuffy. Allergies kicked in and I usually have no problems on ship. Finally figured out it was most likely from all the dust/dirt that was still in the ventilation system. Still had a great cruise.

Agree about the entertainment. Juggler kept saying he was entertaining the crowd one person at a time. That was the truth! The Drifters were on board for our cruise. Great show...unfortunately, many people had not clue who they were so the theater was not full for early or late show. Maybe after the Juggler and comedian they figured it was waste of time!

Enjoy your last days at sea! Your live report has increased "my time" on board![/QUOTE]

Hopefully the vents will be cleared out before the 14th! We always start hit C, 1000 mg. every day, 30 days before cruising, to build up our immunity system. Works well.

Have enjoyed everyones posts, on this cruise. Hope the DRIFTERS are still on, when we sail. Wonder which ones are there. There were so many in the group, through the yrs. There were actually 2 Drifters groups: Clyde McPhatter Drifters (early 50's), & in 1958, they all got fired & manager started a new group, The Five Crowns, renaming them The Drifters. This Drifters group had a lead singer, Ben E King. Actually his real name is Benjamin Nelson! So much for your music history lesson, for today!

Don't expect a heat wave when you return, to Baltimore, as a coastal storm will probably be greeting you! You may have a "bumpy" ride, tonight! If so, enjoy it & think of me. The rougher, the more I like it & is why we always book a forward cabin!:eek:

Thanks again, for all your posts!:)

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

[LoneStarJeffe]

[quote name='CarpeCerevisi']His name is Danny Beal and I thought him to be one of the best piano bar players I've seen. He is scheduled to be on through mid April, up until the reposition to Port Canveral.[/quote]

Thanks! I love hearing a good piano player at night. Always fun.

[denamo]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']Here I am.

I have used up all of my free minutes researching my own OBC because they "have no record of it". I had to go online, look in my mailbox back three years, and trace the booking number.

quote]

[B][COLOR="Navy"]There has been a fairly active thread here on CC about OBC not being on accounts once cruising. How appropriate for you to chime in! ;) Glad to hear it was resolved, but sorry you had to spend time doing the research for it.

Thank you for posting your live comments from the Enchantment. We were on her last May, and we completely enjoyed our cruise on her. It's great to hear of the enhancements. Hope to cruise on her again.[/COLOR][/B]

[spookwife]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']Today's Cruise Critic Seminar:

Is it ruder to cut off a passenger who walked in and is booking a cruise, or to keep the person WITH an appointment waiting for 20 minutes???

Discuss.[/QUOTE]

we walked in( no appointment, but just needed a quick check on something. couple in front of us waiting.. she asked them if they were her current appointment) they said no, she said she;d have to wait a few to make sure they didn't show before she'd take them.. turned to us, we said no we aren't your appointment either bit only want you to look something up .. she was fine with that. took her maybe 2 minutes. when we left the first coupe was still the only one in the room so I assume she may have taken them at that point.

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='gingerma'][quote name='JMG']

Hopefully the vents will be cleared out before the 14th! We always start hit C, 1000 mg. every day, 30 days before cruising, to build up our immunity system. Works well.

Have enjoyed everyones posts, on this cruise. Hope the DRIFTERS are still on, when we sail. Wonder which ones are there. There were so many in the group, through the yrs. There were actually 2 Drifters groups: Clyde McPhatter Drifters (early 50's), & in 1958, they all got fired & manager started a new group, The Five Crowns, renaming them The Drifters. This Drifters group had a lead singer, Ben E King. Actually his real name is Benjamin Nelson! So much for your music history lesson, for today!

Don't expect a heat wave when you return, to Baltimore, as a coastal storm will probably be greeting you! You may have a "bumpy" ride, tonight! If so, enjoy it & think of me. The rougher, the more I like it & is why we always book a forward cabin!:eek:

Thanks again, for all your posts!:)

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2[/QUOTE]


Drifters debarked in Nassau.

[TPKeller]

[quote name='Merion_Mom'][quote name='gingerma']


Drifters debarked in Nassau.[/QUOTE]
Welcome home! Looking forward to your summary now that you're back.

Theron

[DIsneyDoc1895]

Hi all, new poster here - we have often done Disney (so I go to disboards more) but now the kids are getting older and the enhanced kids activities are less important. We just let them play in the elevators and push all the buttons. (Kidding!) And DCL is so freaking expensive that if we want to cruise more (and we do) other lines had to be considered. We found RC this year and are very pleased.

We were on the same taxi with Carol. (small world - we actually wondered to ourselves why someone would go to McDonalds, but when I saw this post I had the aha! moment when she mentioned wifi.) One of the other things the musician mentioned was that there were 700 kids on this cruise compared to the 200 last week! Like she mentioned, they added staff. I do think they need to add some activities for them though. My DD is 10 and left a couple times because there was only one activity for them to do. Our 13 y/o started to act up when she was not with us and we came down hard, I told her I would embarrass the heck out her with her new friends. Seemed to work.

Some general observations-
Several staff seemed new to their jobs, they did ok, but were timid, not as efficient. No big deal.
Danny Beal is an excellent pianist. My wife and I enjoyed listening to him several evenings. We liked when a few people joined him to sing and were not bad singers.
Ship looks nice - we were on board last June for Bermuda/New England. I do miss the library - it was good to go hang out there while my girls were hogging the bathroom for an hour doing only what teenage girls can do, but it wasn't a money making space so I see the business aspect.
I heard 2 excursions in Nassau never went/the excursion people never showed up. Not sure which ones. Hopefully RC will never use them again.
Nassau was wonderful weather, but the town was a bust on Christmas Day and before the festival (which we expected, but we walked around and stretched our legs.)
The gym was busy (yay people trying to be healthier) and machines all worked, no complaints there.
It was cold for days 1 & 2, and 6 & 7. Again, expected. Solarium was busy on the cold days. We liked the Park Cafe food (especially the roast beef sandwiches) and the selection seemed to improve thru the cruise. Pizza was not always available (which my waistline appreciated) but was late at night.

Anyway, we are going on the Freedom in August (18th I think) and then the Explorer next Christmas out of Bayonne. While that is the same itinerary and same issues of coming from a colder port, it is a bigger and different ship for us so we think it will still be good.

Happy New Year everyone.

Ken

[TPKeller]

[quote name='DIsneyDoc1895']
Some general observations-
Several staff seemed new to their jobs, they did ok, but were timid, not as efficient. No big deal.[/QUOTE]
Possible reason for this? If I am not mistaken, I believe a lot of staff use drydock time to end/begin their contract. Perhaps there was an unusually large number of new staff who had just recently come aboard?

I believe that normally the turnover is fairly constant - in small numbers, but with a drydock, perhaps a larger than usual number have just started.

Theron

[spookwife]

[quote name='DIsneyDoc1895']

Some general observations-

I heard 2 excursions in Nassau never went/the excursion people never showed up. Not sure which ones. Hopefully RC will never use them again.


Ken[/QUOTE]


you are correct. One was the Nassau See and Sea, which we were booked on. No, Roman will not be using that tour operator again. yes we got our refund before the end of the day. we had paid by CC before boarding, but it was returned as OBC. suited me just fine as it cut my final bill in half.

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='dixieva']We had #7666 in March of this year. Loved the room and balcony but had endless problems with the toilet! I won't elaborate here but it was bad and was pretty constant throughout our 12 day cruise. They worked on it a lot but never fixed it.

Hope it is fixed for you and that you are having a great cruise-despite the kids running everywhere![/QUOTE]

Toilet is now working fine. :D

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='dixieva']Oh my gosh! I can't believe how much furniture they have stuffed into that JS! When we stayed in that one we had the couch and one chair and that one chair was in the way of the sliding glass door. We even asked our room steward if he could remove it but he said sorry he didn't have anywhere he could put it. We were constantly moving it around. Now with two chairs it's really crowded!

The side JS are definitely bigger than those in the aft. We have a side JS on deck 8 in April and while I will enjoy the larger room I will really miss that corner aft balcony.

And those pics of the balcony of room 8666 brought back memories. We stayed in that Royal Family Suite once and boy was it great![/QUOTE]

Here is my conclusion after a week:


On the Bahamas run in cold weather, the allure of a large balcony with lots of loungers is rather limited. The only really warm days were the two in the Bahamas; and we were off the ship for a big chunk of those.

So, in retrospect, being obsessed with getting the corner aft was not so necessary. Would have been just as happy, or happier, in a side JS.

Out of Florida, on short cruises, the balcony still may not be as big a deal, but more useful than a cruise when several of the days are too cold to be lying around outside.

Use your own judgment and knowledge of your habits when booking the Enchantment from now on.

:)

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='Lady Hudson']I see you are in Pennsylvania. I teach in Chester County. How about you? Katherine[/QUOTE]

Delaware County. :)

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='jakenashleysmom']Could you verify the availibility of sushi in the Windjammer pre-late seating dinner (5:30-6:00 ish?). Would love to have sushi and cocktails before our late seating dinner. thanks![/QUOTE]

Had sushi for dinner a couple of times. But WJ does not reopen until 6:30. :( No before-dinner sushi for you!

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='CruiseDivaNJ'][COLOR="Magenta"][SIZE="3"]I SO wish RC would have added an Izumi to Enchantment! [/SIZE][/COLOR][/QUOTE]

I can't figure out why Enchantment did not get any new dining venues.

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='jakenashleysmom']6:30 works, actually that would be perfect! thanks! is there a "Jade" section on Enchantment? since they took the Champagne Bar away, we need a place to get some snacks with our pre-dinner cocktails.[/QUOTE]

Areas of the WJ are not labeled as such, but it is the first "island" as you enter the WJ, on the island's right side. :)

[jakenashleysmom]

[quote name='Merion_Mom']Had sushi for dinner a couple of times. But WJ does not reopen until 6:30. :( No before-dinner sushi for you![/quote]

aw thanks, we are late seating so we should be able to fit it in LOL!

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='JetSet2B']Thanks for the thread. I have a few basic questions about enchantment:

-how soon can we board on departure day?
-what food places will be open?

I remember reading about such strategies for Navigator but can't find something similar for Enchantment. Thanks![/QUOTE]

Boarding started on the 22nd at 11:30.

WJ and PC are open. (Windjammer and Park Café, for the uninitiated :))

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='dirtgirl']So, Carol, would you cruise at Christmas again? I'm thinking of it, but I'm not sure.[/QUOTE]

Carol, it depends on the ship and the departure port. I don't know if that sounds odd, but it would change somewhat.

There are fewer places for the crowds to disperse on the Enchantment, and there were cold days because of sailing out of a northern port. That led to everyone being inside most of the time.

Kids are more susceptible to "cabin fever" than adults, I fear. ;)

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='samj80']I've seen a trend that pizza is becoming more rare on-board outside of a Sorrento's.[/QUOTE]

Definitely confirmed for "late night snacks" until 2 a.m. at Park Café.

[Merion_Mom]

[quote name='patrioticgirl']Carol, what happened with the dining room seating situation?[/QUOTE]

We ended up eating in the dining room the final three of the seven nights.

At our original table.

With all of the correctly assigned guests.

A VERY nice table.

We enjoyed their company a lot. Six of the eight of us are from Philadelphia!

The final couple is from outside Pittsburgh.

:D