Any Questions? Off the Enchantment yesterday

[kruzerci]

We are in Palm Beach after a quick 4 night getaway on the Enchantment. I'd be glad to answer any questions since she has just recently started the 3/4 day runs. Overall it was a good cruise. It could have been better in ways, but it was a huge step up from the Monarch. I think I will stay away from short cruises from here on out, but it is good to have the option of a nice ship for weekend cruises if I stumble upon a deal. We were upgraded from a JS to a GS, then the Royal Family Suite upon arrival.

 

I'm not going to do a full review this time but I'll post some positives and minor negatives, with compasses coming tomorrow night when we get home.

 

Here are a few of the (many) positives:

-Embarkation: the crew already has this down even though we were one of the first Port Canaveral sailings. We were onboard by 11:15, within minutes of arriving.

-Park Cafe: it is a true gem. The roast beef sandwiches were hit or miss, but usually good. The salads and sandwiches were also very good. It had a nice selection of breakfast items, too. I was so happy to see they had all of our favorite pastries in the morning if we didn't feel like hiking up to the DL or CL.

-Our suite was great. There were 4 of us (DW 45, myself 46, and our 23 and 24 year olds). The two bathrooms were such a blessing when getting ready for dinner. We had 3 lounge chairs, a dining table, two small tables, 6 regular chairs, and a balcony that wrapped around 1/3 of the aft of the ship. Need I say more? ;)

- The Concierge Lounge and Diamond Lounge were huge assets to the ship. There were so many Diamond and above on our sailing that the DL overflow took over 2/3 of the so of the Viking Crown, so we used the CL on most nights. I'm glad we did, Reyno, the Concierge, was one of our favorites to date. He was fun, friendly, accommodating, and professional. We also had the captain come visit us on several nights.

- The food. This was the first time in many years I have been impressed with the food on any ship. The Windjammer had so much more variety than on other ships, it was very nice. They had Asian, Indian, traditional WJ fare, vegetarian options, the list goes on and on. They had a build your own stir fry option, which was beyond amazing. You pick the veggies, beef or chicken, rice or chow mein noodles, and sauce (sweet teriyaki, mild, medium, or hot teriyaki). They sautéed it and brought it to your table. It's the first time I have seen it since we were on Enchantment 5 years ago. We were shocked it was still there, but it was so good!

- The pool deck. It is absolutely huge. Even on the sea day, you could find chairs with no trouble on both the pool deck and the upper deck.

- Bar service. The bartenders seemed to be thrilled to have a younger party crowd on the 3/4 day cruises. The drinks were strong and the smiles were abundant.

- The Blairs. John Blair may be one of our new favorite cruise directors. It was so nice to have a married couple running the CD staff. They are perfect for the Enchantment, I hope they don't transfer to longer cruises again.

- The ipad in the room. You could go online, order room service, see the cruise compass, etc.

- The inside of the ship was stunning after the revitalization in December. Everything looked new and pretty.

 

Negatives-

- The Windjammer was a zoo during lunch. We never at there for breakfast and only one day for lunch. I couldn't believe how rude people are at a buffet :eek:. Slow down... There is plenty for everyone!

- Suite perks. Wow. We have had some above and beyond room stewards in the past, so my expectations may be too high, but wow. I will spare his name, but I never would have known we were in a suite, or had anything but turndown service, if it were not for our gold seapass cards an Reyno. Three of four nights, we did no receive so much as a cruise compass in our room. The menus in our suite folder were never updated. We had to go to the CL and look at the menu to order dinner in. No pillow chocolates, we never got our welcome aboard basket or coupon booklets until we finally went to the loyalty ambassador and asked for them on day 3. It wasn't because they didn't have our C&A numbers as they were on our reservation and the seapassss said Diamond. We were told they would deliver them, but we never got the Evian bottles that we always get with the basket. Anyways, slightly irritating, but not a deal breaker.

- The head loyalty ambassador was really unwelcoming and bitter acting. She made a mistake with our onboard booking (spelled our names wrong and listed our C&A numbers wrong) and had a really bad attitude about fixing it, even though we went out of our way to be nice. Oh well.

-The pool music and big screen was so loud and overbearing, people seemed to avoid the area completely when it was on. People were coving their ears and complaining at guest services, but it was never lowered. It has never bothered us on Freedom, but the rap and hip hop music was so loud it would literally hurt your ears. It was anything but relaxing and really threw a kink in people's last day at sea. A lot of the people around us were visibly irritated I was so glad we had the huge balcony so we could go down and lay out on the balcony when it was on.

- The hot and humid solarium situation. The sun bearing down on the hot glass in the solarium made it feel like a steam room during the afternoon. It was in the upper 80's outside and it felt like a huge relief when you walked outside from in the solarium. They opened the roof for most of the day in Nassau and it was so much cooler and nicer, but it was closed all day again on the last day.

 

Like I said, there were a few small negatives, but there many more positives. We had a great time overall. I just like the more upscale feeling of the longer cruises than the "fit it all in" feeling of short cruises. For that reason, I cancelled our August Enchantment cruise and booked a long weekend at the Cove in Atlantis.

 

For all of you sailing on Enchantment in the near future, put your minds at ease. Rest assured, despite the minor shortcomings, I am glad we chose the Enchantment for our "mini vacation." She is a great ship and is such an upgrade from the Monarch. I am glad to have her as an option close to home! I am sure they will work out the few kinks in the next few cruises. They are probably still adjusting to the new schedule.

 

I will add more as things come to mind and I will post compasses when we return home, but for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of our time at the beach! Like I said, feel free to ask questions.

[T&JCruisers]

We have 8166 booked for the 24th, is this the one you had?

 

I will not tell my husband that you got upgraded to this suite, we had to pay a small fortune to take our daughter and her family on this cruise booking the RFS!

[Fla Mike]

Thanks for your review, all in all sounds like a good time.

 

This will be our first RCI short cruise, but we have done a few Carnival shorts out of Miami, so I was kind of expecting loud music by the pool.

 

Was the music by the pool live or a DJ?

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the food, when we were on Liberty in January the food was hit or miss, mostly miss for myself, but DW enjoyed it.

 

Did you dine at Chops?

 

We planned on Majesty of of Miami, but it looks like we made the right choice with Enchantment! :D

[kruzerci]

We have 8166 booked for the 24th, is this the one you had?

 

I will not tell my husband that you got upgraded to this suite, we had to pay a small fortune to take our daughter and her family on this cruise booking the RFS!

 

Yes I have 20 pictures or so of it. It's a great room, it has a DVD player and huge TV in the living room, which would be great if you have younger kids. The balcony is absolutely unbelievable. It's huge. Your family will love it. The only thing is that there are so many windows, you have to keep the curtains shut during the day of the sun is shining or the room will be so hot. Take advantage of ordering dinner to your balcony one night. It is a suite perk and it is so relaxing. You can order off the MDR menu and they will set your table with a tablecloth and silverware.

 

I feel your pain on the cost. This was an upgrade, but the space was addicting. We are going to be upgrading to a RFS for Allure and it looks like it will run over 10k. The price makes me want to cry, but as long as we can afford it, I can't pass up the extra space and bathroom, not to mention the double points and CL lounge.

[kruzerci]

Thanks for your review, all in all sounds like a good time.

 

This will be our first RCI short cruise, but we have done a few Carnival shorts out of Miami, so I was kind of expecting loud music by the pool.

 

Was the music by the pool live or a DJ?

 

I'm glad you enjoyed the food, when we were on Liberty in January the food was hit or miss, mostly miss for myself, but DW enjoyed it.

 

Did you dine at Chops?

 

We planned on Majesty of of Miami, but it looks like we made the right choice with Enchantment! :D

 

You certainly made the right choice. We have been on Majesty and like I said, the Enchantment feels like a step up. The rooms are larger and the ship has a lot more to offer.

 

Believe it or not, this is the first time we have not been to a specialty restaurant in a long time. The food was so good that we ate on the balcony twice and the Windjammer once for dinner. I do recommend Chops though. We eat there twice a week or more on longer cruises and it is well worth the surcharge. I did walk through it this week and Enchantment has a big Chops with lots of windows.

 

The pool music was played from their music video channel, but for 4-5 hours a day there was a live calypso band. It was quieter, like background music, and we enjoyed it a lot. They also had live bands in the centrum each night. They were very good, too. They would take requests and there were always people down there dancing.

[LisaGoeke]

Looking forward to seeing the compasses. I finally convinced DH to let me book this cruise in October when our kids are on fall break. We'll be combining it with a trip to Universal. We've never done a "short" cruise, and always on bigger ships, so he's afraid he won't like it, especially without a "Promenade" area. But, I convinced him, he's happy there is a Diamond lounge, and hopefully there will be enough to keep all six of us entertained for four days (I have no doubts but he does). ;) Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to be upgraded to the royal Family Suite too. :D

[kruzerci]

One other thing I meant to mention was the Coke Freestyle machines. We only saw two on the ship and they weren't in good locations for during the day. There was one in front of the NextCruise office on Deck 6 Centrum and one on the left part of the Windjammer, which was useless unless the WJ was open. On a positive note, the bartenders never acted annoyed or put out about having to pour a coke like they were on Navigator in December.

[kruzerci]

Here are the compasses-

 

http://db.tt/nxaqwdDE

[Clamett]

We just got off the Enchantment this morning and were also in a suite. We had the same problem with no Evian bottle, but we had the fruit basket. Our wonder room attendant made several towel animals, but told us they had stopped the chocolate and pillow menu. By Saturday afternoon a bottle of water arrived. We had a good cruise and staff was very friendly and eager to please.

[lalalisa]

I have a question...I had read that The Enchantment was one of the 5 ships that were getting iPads in every stateroom by 2014. Does she have them yet? I will be sailing in September. :D

[kruzerci]

I have a question...I had read that The Enchantment was one of the 5 ships that were getting iPads in every stateroom by 2014. Does she have them yet? I will be sailing in September. :D

 

Our suite had them and it was awesome. I don't know if all the cabins do or not n

[lalalisa]

Our suite had them and it was awesome. I don't know if all the cabins do or not n

 

Thank you for the reply! We will be in a JS, if that makes any difference. Funny, I've searched this forum and the net but couldn't find anything saying they were onboard...just past reports that they are going to be.

[tamtot]

We are in cabin 8166 this weekend! I've been so excited , but that makes me a little apprehensive about the cabin steward. Any suggestions as to what I should look for right off the get go? I had heard that coupons would be going onto your sea pass card, but I gather that hasn't happened yet. Did you ask him for them and they never showed up? Also , were there robes in the cabin? When we were In a grand suite last year we had a tray of some sort that they brought us every afternoon. I gather that didn't happen?

I'm really not a diva, but did pay a chunk of money to upgrade so those traveling with me could have the suite experience, but now I'm a little worried that we won't :( appreciate your posting all this great info:)

[Clamett]

We are in cabin 8166 this weekend! I've been so excited , but that makes me a little apprehensive about the cabin steward. Any suggestions as to what I should look for right off the get go? I had heard that coupons would be going onto your sea pass card, but I gather that hasn't happened yet. Did you ask him for them and they never showed up? Also , were there robes in the cabin? When we were In a grand suite last year we had a tray of some sort that they brought us every afternoon. I gather that didn't happen?

I'm really not a diva, but did pay a chunk of money to upgrade so those traveling with me could have the suite experience, but now I'm a little worried that we won't :( appreciate your posting all this great info:)

In our GS, we had deliveries of choc. covered strawberries, a cheese plate, and the fruit bowl. The only issue we had was the missing free water bottle which was later corrected. It was a very nice room and if you get Sandra as a suite attendant you will be looked after quite well.

[poncho1973]

I have a question...I had read that The Enchantment was one of the 5 ships that were getting iPads in every stateroom by 2014. Does she have them yet? I will be sailing in September. :D

 

We didn't have a fancy room and the couple we tagged-along with didn't either. No iPads in either interior stateroom on the 7th deck.

[sunnysavannah]

We didn't have a fancy room and the couple we tagged-along with didn't either. No iPads in either interior stateroom on the 7th deck.

 

I'm wondering if they ever updated the bedding in the interiors. Do you know, poncho1973?

[poncho1973]

I'm wondering if they ever updated the bedding in the interiors. Do you know, poncho1973?

 

This was my first Enchantment trip, so please identify what would make it updated and I can tell you.

 

If updated means:

 

Pillowtop or some fancy bed. No. These were plain beds.

 

New style sheets. No. These were the plain white sheets, white thin comforter, aqua runner thing across the end of the bed during the day.

 

Taller beds with storage underneath. No. While mostly comfortable, these beds were the ultra-low style I've seen in the older ships. There wasn't a lot of space under them, just a few inches. Not enough for a suitcase, unless it was really thin.

 

 

 

If you mean something else, I'll try to answer.

[bbgordon]

We just got off the Enchantment this morning and were also in a suite. We had the same problem with no Evian bottle, but we had the fruit basket. Our wonder room attendant made several towel animals, but told us they had stopped the chocolate and pillow menu. By Saturday afternoon a bottle of water arrived. We had a good cruise and staff was very friendly and eager to please.

 

What night was quest on the weekend cruise? We leave this weekend and can not wait.

[Clamett]

What night was quest on the weekend cruise? We leave this weekend and can not wait.

Saturday

[OnTheBrink]

I love seeing this information!!

 

What is Quest?

[kruzerci]

I love seeing this information!!

 

What is Quest?

 

It's just a funny adult game/show that the audience competes in. YouTube it, it's pretty fun.

[TPCRUISER2]

Did you have them on your sailing?

[kruzerci]

Did you have them on your sailing?

 

Have what?

[poncho1973]

Have what?

 

They wrote it in their title (subject) line for some reason.

 

"New Menus" Not sure why people do that.

 

 

Regardless, the answer is yes. Enchantment got the new menus at the end of 2012.

[cjdixon4]

I was on the 5/10 sailing...stayed in cabin 8600 (Panoramic Oceanview), and there wasn't an Ipad in there. This is actually the first time that I heard of them in the suites. Wonder where I've been :confused: ???