Enchantment 5/19 Review - From A Newbie

[SMN73]

Hello all. Thank you all for taking the time to read my short review of our very first cruise on the Enchantment of the Sea May 19, 2014. I want to first thank all the members of Cruise Critic for the amazing wealth of information. I learned so much from reading these boards, and all the reviews and helpful hints everyone provided. This review isn’t going to be a play by play and is by no means up to par with some of the ones I have read here. I am definitely not a Familygoboston…I read her Enchantment review about 100 times as she was in our exact room! What I hope to do is share my experiences from a newbie perspective, and little tips and tricks I did during the course of the cruise. It was a complete learning curve. There were lots of things I think we did right…and several things I will know better for next time.

 

Let me introduce ourselves. I am Shani (40). Traveling with DD Arianna (19) and DM Brenda (72). This was a 19th birthday present for Arianna. Her birthday was in February so it was a long wait for her. My mom was a tough cruise nut to crack. She originally wasn’t coming with us. But when then Kids Sail Free promo rolled around, I convinced her to go. I was very happy to have all three of us on this first time adventure together.

 

 

Pre Cruise: We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Titusville, FL. I picked that hotel for two reasons. One, it had amazing reviews on trip advisor. Two, and most importantly, if you stay there, you get a certificate for 40% off parking at the port. This brought parking down to $9.00 per day. I had enough Marriott points to take care of the room so it seemed like a no brainer. We had some cleanliness issues with the room (food left in the fridge, and a prescription pill bottle left in the night stand drawer). They moved us immediately. They either are great actors or our experience was not common because they seemed horrified. Kind of put a damper on the start to our trip but I kept reminding myself this wasn’t coming out my pocket and I was getting good money off port parking. I believe in 2nd chances, so I would give them one more opportunity and stay there again.

 

Check In: We got to the port around 10:30 and check in was a breeze. The lady that checked us in just moved to FL from 20 miles from where we live! Small world! We were seated in the waiting area with D+ and suite guests. We were in the 2nd row. The 1st two rows were called and in some weird twist, we ended up being the 1st people on the ship. Talk about blind leading the blind! However, we found our way up to the pool deck on the 9th floor. The Winjammer wasn’t open yet so while we waited I ordered a drink. Come to find out it was the first drink bought on the ship! Why I find that amusing I don’t know, but it was something I’ve enjoyed telling others. Muster was painless. We found this cool porthole on deck 5 after muster. It made for some really pretty pictures. I have a ton but thought I would share one of my DD. By the time we were done a line had formed of people wanting photos in the porthole. Hope they turned out great!

 

 

Windjammer: We enjoyed the Windjammer. We found the food to be a good temp and very tasty. It was crowded but manageable. For the most part, everyone we encountered on the ship was very polite and in good spirits. That helped so much. People also loved finding out it was our first cruise. They would offer advice and would ask how we were enjoying ourselves all week when they would see us. I really appreciated that.

 

Stateroom: We were in JS 8172 aft. The room was very spacious and the 3 of us never felt like we were on top of each other. The balcony was heaven. We ate breakfast out there the first two mornings. On the last sea day we were getting ready for dinner and water starting pouring off the roof of our balcony. We ran outside and pulled the chairs back. Come to find out they were washing the windows of the fitness area. Not good timing when people are enjoying their balconies on the last day of the cruise. I thought it was odd. We saw our room steward and told him and by the time we got back from dinner it was mopped up and dry. On the 2nd day we got a leak in the room from what appeared to be the tub. The carpet was wet and we started getting “the smell” that I’ve read so much about here. I heard a noise in the hallway and saw someone shampooing the carpet in another stateroom. I asked him to work on ours next. He did, and that helped with the smell. However, I asked him to shampoo around my bed and he said it didn’t need it because it wasn’t wet. However, for the rest of the cruise I would catch whiffs of the smell. I used Lysol spray but that didn’t work 100%. I wish I had brought some Fabreeze. That will be on our next packing list. Tuesday night, after the tub leak, our toilet started acting funny. We would flush, nothing would happen, then 5 minutes later it would flush on it’s own. After a few times however, it started working normally. Wednesday morning I flushed and everything flushed normally then WHOOSH...water started shooting out of the bottom of the toilet. I grabbed towels and ran to the phone and called maintenance. A man came quickly and fixed the toilet. I asked him why it came out of the bottom and in the best English he could manage he said he had to replace a part from the bottom of the toilet because it was “ahhhh KAPUT!!”. HAHA I told him I understood Kaput and we shared a laugh and went about our day. A couple things I’m glad we did – I bought a 2 pack of the Renuizet air freshener cones. I kept one in the bathroom and one in the stateroom. You couldn’t smell it in the hall but it kept the room smelling fresh. The young man that checked the mini bar commented on it every day, so at least he appreciated it. The bathtub in the Jr Suites have this weird lip at the back of the tub. I’d read several times that water rushes into the floor. I bought an 8 pack of sponges from the Dollar Store for $1.00. I put the sponges at the end of the tub. No water in the floor! The shower curtain also barely touches the edge of the tub. I bought a 4 pack of small clip magnets on Amazon. I clipped them onto the edge along the bottom of the shower curtain. The magnets stuck to the tub and we never had an issue with water or the curtain touching us. By the 2nd day our room steward started arranging the magnets and making decorations out of the shower curtain. We walked in one day to find our shower curtain made into a bow with the magnets! Our room steward was Ven. He didn’t have much to say but was very nice and kept things clean. That’s all I require. I bought a battery operated fan and that was a lifesaver. I sleep with a fan and that little bit of wind helped. My batteries were almost dead by the last night so if you take one pack two packs of batteries!

 

 

 

Here is a gorgeous picture of the sunset from our balcony. It was wonderful enjoying that with a drink in the peace and quiet.

 

 

Room Service: We ate breakfast on our balcony the two port days. It was right on time with a call a few minutes before to let us know they were on the way. Orders weren’t perfect either day. However, after a quick call the missing items were brought up within a couple minutes with apologizes so no problems.

 

Coco Cay: We were in line on deck 1 by 7:45 and were the 2nd family on the tender boat. It was a bit of a rough ride over. About 4 times people yelled out at the rocking and rolling of the boat. They made an announcement at lunch that we barely made the port day due to the wind. It was a very relaxing day. We spent the day at barefoot beach. There were less than 10 people around us all day. Very peaceful. I would suggest that if you go to Barefoot Beach, that you wear shoes and take the nature trail. We walked there along the beach and it was very difficult for Mom and me. I fell on an (unmarked) wet floor at a hotel 4 years ago, tearing every ligament in my ankle and foot. I am in daily pain. The walk over in the deep soft sand really hurt. On the way to lunch we took the nature trail and it was much easier. It was hard ground and was shaded. Lunch was good and they handled the crowd well with 6 lines of food. Here is my view for the day. I pulled a lounger right into the water. It was heaven. DD and DM thought I was crazy until other people started doing the same!

 

Edited May 27, 2014 by SMN73

[SMN73]

Nassau: We did the Blue Lagoon Beach Day. It was a great excursion. We loved the boat ride over. The island was not crowded at all and again we had a stretch of beach to ourselves. We did the “guest photo”. For $19 each, we got into the water and a dolphin kissed us. We got to keep the photo. We really lucked up. We timed it perfectly. At 11:00am the trainers were coming off of break and the encounter and swim people were up doing their training. So after our picture, the trainer let us stay in the water and interact with the dolphin. We got to pet it, rub its belly and rub its teeth. We more than got our $19 worth! As we were waiting for the boat one of the dolphins started a game of catch with Arianna. He would take a ball and throw it with his mouth to her on the dock. She would catch it and throw it back. It was adorable. She says it was the highlight of her trip. Lunch on Blue Lagoon is included in the beach day and was very good. We were very happy with the day. We came back to the ship and showered and changed. We went back to Nassau for shopping. We used the free shuttle to and from the ship. Thank goodness because it was a LONG walk from the shopping area to the ship! I did not enjoy the straw market. I am a bit Closter phobic and it was just too much - Too crowded and too pushy. I got a couple things but didn’t spend much time there. I bought rum cake for coworkers and a bottle of Ricardo Coconut Rum for myself. Now wishing I’d bought two bottles!

 

Here is a link of Arianna playing catch with the dolphin. It was totally unplanned and so cute!

 

http://s1374.photobucket.com/user/smn73/media/dolphin_zps682e6409.mp4.html

 

Sea Day: Based on our first experience, we are a port family, not a ship family. Our day at sea was nice, but nothing special. I wasn’t much of a Judy Joiner this trip and didn’t do much of the trivia, etc. It was about just being lazy and relaxing for me. We did watch the 70s party and the parade of flags. Both were enjoyable. My DD did several activities and enjoyed it, including the Nassau sail away, the quest and the rock climbing wall. None of us spent much time at the pool that day. It was just too crowded. I noticed that on the evening of the sea day that the younger people started getting rowdy. I can’t say that I blame them. There were hardly any activities for the 18-25 crowd the entire cruise. So really all they had to do on the sea day was drink at the pool. I would have liked to have seen more things for that age group to bust up the drinking all day. I think it would have changed the atmosphere that evening. One thing I was disappointed in the entire cruise was the casino. I enjoy gambling, as does my mother. One reason I chose Royal was because my DD could gamble at 19 years old. However, with the entire casino being smoking, we really couldn’t enjoy it. Smoke gives me a terrible headache and after 30 minutes I would feel a headache coming on and have to leave. I’m not saying make the whole casino non smoking, but either ventilate it better or make part of the casino non smoking. Having a non smoking sign on one slot machine 2 inches from a smoking machine is not going to fix the issue either, which is what we saw.

 

MDR: We ate dinner in the MDR every night. We really enjoyed the food. I tried escargot the 2nd night and thought it was awesome. We went by after we boarded and requested a table by the window. We got the same table each night. It was nice being out of the main isle and looking out over the ocean each night while we enjoyed dinner. Our waiter Mario was great and Albert kept my wine glass full. Both knew us by name by the 2nd night. But the star of all the service staff was the assistant waiter Li. She was from China and an absolute joy. She kept drinks full but beyond that she was just fun to get to know. Each time she came to our table she would talk about her home, and her family and what she enjoys. When we left the last night she ran over and hugged each one of us. She not only got a WOW card but an extra tip. She was just wonderful. Here we are on formal night. We didn’t feel out of place in how we were dressed. It really ran the full spectrum. We saw dressy Capri pants all the way to tuxes.

 

 

Overall, we really enjoyed our first cruise. It was exactly what I had hoped for in a relaxing vacation. I wish we hadn’t had the maintenance issues we had, but it certainly didn't ruin anything and I am reserving judgment. I want to find out if it was due to this being an older ship or just a general cruise ship issue. We are planning on going on the Indy next year with my sister to San Juan. I look forward to obsessing over that one for the next 12 months! LOl Again, thank you all for being so helpful!

[SMN73]

OH! I wanted to add. (I may add several things...I didn't keep a journal and think of things randomly)

 

The drink package: I got the $55 drink package. I thought I more than got my money's worth. I am not a coffee drinker so I drink a coke in the morning for my pick me up. With a couple cokes per day, a couple glasses of wine (or 3) with dinner and a few frozen cocktails, I feel I either broke even or was a little ahead. It was very nice not to have to worry about it! The bar staff was awesome everywhere I went. Lots of smiles, and great service. There WERE limes. I know that seems to be an issue with some. Also, on Coco Cay, I got the coco loco in the plastic sports cup. I was told it was $9 and was willing to pay for it since I wanted the cup. But I wasn't charged. I am assumming because it was under my $9 limit? At any rate, it was cool to get the glass at no additional charge!

 

Mom got the 8pack water package. We were expecting small bottles of water. Imagine our surprise when 8 of the big 1 liter bottles showed up! We had more than enough and took 2 bottles home!

Edited May 27, 2014 by SMN73

[Darkwolfe]

A very good first review!

 

Amusingly, I had 8172 some years ago. You had a much better TV than I did! :D

[SMN73]

LOL. The TV was nice. I got so amused at my daughter. All this stuff to do and she watched the same episode of House two days in a row! The room was in good condition overall. Everything was clean and in good repair. Except for the KAPUT toilet. :) We enjoyed using that word the rest of the cruise. I've seen some reviews of the ship showing age. I guess I was looking through newbie eyes, becuase I found the ship beautiful. It was a perfect size for our first time. I think I would have been overwhelmed on a bigger ship straight out of the gate.

Edited May 27, 2014 by SMN73

[Darkwolfe]

LOL. The TV was nice. I got so amused at my daughter. All this stuff to do and she watched the same episode of House two days in a row! The room was in good condition overall. Everything was clean and in good repair. Except for the KAPUT toilet. :) We enjoyed using that word the rest of the cruise. I've seen some reviews of the ship showing age. I guess I was looking through newbie eyes, becuase I found the ship beautiful. It was a perfect size for our first time. I think I would have been overwhelmed on a bigger ship straight out of the gate.

 

Not a thing in the world wrong with the Vision class ships. Of course Enchantment is the oddball in that class. You do know they cut her in half and stuck in another 70-odd feet of ship in the middle, then put her back together? That was done in 2005. The newer portion is where the two "bridges" are on the pool deck. Can't really tell the difference anywhere else.

 

Have fun with your new addiction. How's your PCD (Post Cruise Depression) this week? ;)

[Crossfitmama09]

Great review! We have cruised on Enchantment and loved it! It was our first cruise and now we're hooked. Next time I think we will try a larger ship, but not too large. ;)

[Kim4]

Beautiful formal night picture! Everyone looks lovely!

[Melicious23]

Great first review! My husband and I will be taking our first cruise in June on the Enchantment so I like seeing it through another newbies eyes :)

 

Did you do MTD? That is what we selected and I was wondering if we would be able to reserve a table in the MDR too.

[SMN73]

Thank you all for the kind words. It's just an extension on all the nice people we met on board.

 

We did MTD. We made reservations for 6:15 each night but Nassau. It was a great time frame... Not too crowded and we never had to wait. We originally made an 8:15 reservation for Nassau in case we were out late. But we were done early, my DD went to the dining room and got a 6:30 reservation with no issues at our regular table.

 

I really suggest going the first day and asking for a table by the window. I'm so glad we did that. There was no traffic by our table and it was so pretty. There were plenty of tables for 2 and a couple for 4 by the windows on the 5th floor dining room.

[SMN73]

I'm fixing my addiction by booking our cruise for next year! Lol My sister is coming this time for her first cruise so we are booking two rooms. It's been fun planning before this sale ends! I will say that I do believe they added 10 miles of road between my house and office while I was gone... It sure seemed like a much longer drive this morning!! ;)

[SMN73]

I told you I would think of things randomly. I was reading another review about towels so I thought I'd address the pool towels on Enchantment.

 

Towels: We had no issues "checking out" towels. Through obsevations I think several people did have problems getting multiple towels at a time. Although I think their issues had a lot to do with 2 things. 1.) Who was working. Mom heard workers twice refuse to give people more than one towel. 2.) How you asked. I saw so many cruisers be quite rude to the people working. Walking up with no smile and blurting out "I need 3 towels" then looking off while they do your bidding might not get you very far. However, both mornings I went up and was the first one to smile and say "Good morning, how is your day so far? May I have 3 towels please? I don't want my mom to have to walk up the stairs if she can help it. Thank you! Have a great day!" worked like a charm everytime. Maybe I just got lucky, who knows, but I would like to think being polite to the people that are working hard helped. On Wednesday morning they didn't have towels available until about 8:00am. Several people expressed their displeasure about that, but it was no biggie to us. We had already had our morning excitment with the KAPUT toilet and flood so waiting 5 minutes for 3 towels seemed like a piece of cake! :D

[nicstress]

Perfect review! So many people would have written a purely negative review if they had experienced what you did! That is what I call 'rolling with the punches!' I love the Enchantment too. I sailed her in 1999 when she was very new, then after the stretch, and now have her booked (in a JS) in December and then I will be Diamond (after almost 17 years of cruising!) The Rhapsody hooked me! Welcome to the Crown and Anchor Club!

[Ctrinh225]

We will be sailing in July on EOS. I hope my aft JS don't get a KAPUT! (7666) I will be bringing concentrated air freshioners. I have allergies and a very sensitive nose. I've read soooooooo many reviews about the sewage smell and such. Great review. Thank u.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review and photo's.:)

[dna529]

Loved your first review! We can't wait to sail on her in June!

[cb at sea]

You get more flies with honey than vinegar.....old saying, but it's the truth! A "please" and "thank you" goes a looooong way!

[cruiseapril]

Interesting review.

 

Especially enjoyed your review of the Blue Lagoon. We were on the Enchantment in March and did the Dolphin Encounter at Blue Lagoon-

it was one of the best excursions we have done. Blue Lagoon Island

is beautiful, we thought.

 

Totally enjoyed our Enchantment cruise.

[SMN73]

Interesting review.

 

Especially enjoyed your review of the Blue Lagoon. We were on the Enchantment in March and did the Dolphin Encounter at Blue Lagoon-

it was one of the best excursions we have done. Blue Lagoon Island

is beautiful, we thought.

 

Totally enjoyed our Enchantment cruise.

 

 

I was very impressed with Blue Lagoon. I liked that they had paths with some sort of artificial surface to get around the island. It didn't take away from the natural beauty, but made it much easier than walking on sand. I was most impressed with the staff. For the most part they are all very young. Lots of time with a young staff you can have service issues. But every person working on that island was professional, courteous and very accommodating. I saw some of them while they were on break and they acted like young people :). But when it came time to interact with guests, they were spot on. I would recommend Blue Lagoon to anyone. I'm glad you enjoyed it also. It was so worth the money!

[Kayla103]

Can't wait to sail on her in a few weeks! It'll be my first review too! So we will see how this goes. It will be my second cruise and my fiance (then husband's) first!

[Sweet Carolina Girl]

Loved your review! We have only sailed the bigger ships and are sailing on the Enchantment in less than 2 weeks! :D Is there a place on the ship later in the evening to get a sweet treat and a cup of hot tea? It's a tradition for me to sit on the balcony and enojoy these before bed every night. There is usually a cafe that serves small sandwiches and sweets and has different teas and coffee. Wasn't sure if this ship had one as well. Thanks! Oh and thanks for the tip about the free shuttle to shopping in Nassau!

Edited May 29, 2014 by Sweet Carolina Girl

[momof4_tn]

Did you book your Blue Lagoon excursion through the ship or independently? I leave in 2 weeks and I'm torn between that and the British Colonial Hilton for the day. My kids just want to spend the day on the beach just in case we miss Cocoa Cay.

[SMN73]

Loved your review! We have only sailed the bigger ships and are sailing on the Enchantment in less than 2 weeks! :D Is there a place on the ship later in the evening to get a sweet treat and a cup of hot tea? It's a tradition for me to sit on the balcony and enojoy these before bed every night. There is usually a cafe that serves small sandwiches and sweets and has different teas and coffee. Wasn't sure if this ship had one as well. Thanks! Oh and thanks for the tip about the free shuttle to shopping in Nassau!

 

On deck 6 is the caffee lattitudes. There is a Ben and Jerry's there. You pay for the ice cream and coffee concoctions. But they also have several cookies, cakes and brownie selections that are free. It's not advertised that the sweets are free, so I think many people thought you had to pay for them. I also saw muffins in the mornings. The only thing I can offer on the tea is this. At dinner our assistant waiter Li came around with a wooden box. In that box were several varitites of tea bags. She gave my daughter a couple and she used the coffee pot in the room to make herself a cup of hot tea. If there isn't a coffee pot in your stateroom, I would think you could find a cup of hot water at the cafe lattitudes when you are getting your evening sweet! :)

 

The shuttle was a complete accident. We were with the blue lagoon group in the morning and the walk didn't seem to bad at 8am. LOL But boy oh boy was it a long walk at 2pm after we were tired!!! I didn't think mom was going to make it. I made the comment to the person checking us in that I would have paid $20 for a shuttle. After we showered and were heading back out into town we stumbled on the van. Well, he about ran us over and honked at me. LOL But when I saw FREE I was all over it. When we were done he was waiting outside the building where you come through (customs maybe?). I tipped him a couple bucks each time. I would definately look for him. I had joked to mom that I had found my future...that I was going to retire early and move to the Bahamas and start a shuttle service becuase I'd make a mint. I was bummed he stole my retirement, :p, but it made all the difference. He kept yelling out the window at people that it was free but I think people thought it was a scam because they kept looking at him crazy and walking on. He was a TERRIBLE driver...lol...he did not yield to pedistrians and I held my breath most of the trip. But not having to walk made up for almost flattening a dozen walkers.

Edited May 29, 2014 by SMN73

[BillOh]

I enjoy almost all reviews and I like the reminder of what my first cruise was like. I like the shot of your daughter through the porthole with the ship behind her. (for the artistic value of course!) Good luck on Independence!

[SMN73]

Did you book your Blue Lagoon excursion through the ship or independently? I leave in 2 weeks and I'm torn between that and the British Colonial Hilton for the day. My kids just want to spend the day on the beach just in case we miss Cocoa Cay.

 

We booked through the ship. We met outside at 8am. Since we pre-booked it online our tickets were waiting for us in our room. There was a Blue Lagoon employee there to greet us that morning.

 

The "ocean side" of the island was closed due to wind. But it didn't look too kid friendly anyway as you can see by the photo. We didn't realize it was closed until my daughter had already gone out to the ocean. WHOOPS!

 

I found a picture online of the more kid friendly part of the island. You can also go over and observe the dolphins and sea lions without an encounter. It's a really cool place.

 

 

Here is where you can observe the dolphins. The trainers came out and fed them and played with them. Then of course there was the fun game of catch. The trainers were great about answering questions even if you weren't part of the encounter.

 

Edited May 29, 2014 by SMN73