7/14 Enchantment 4-day Trip n Ship from a Royal Newbie

[BSQ]

We had early seating downstairs in the My Fair Lady dining room. Tables 454 & 456, our waiter was Johnlee and his assistant was Mecklin. Now these guys I give kudos to. There were 12 of us total seated at two tables. We warned them on the first night that we’d be switching seats and tables through out so we could all visit with eachother. This may have hindered them learning our names, but in the end they knew us all along with our quirks, and we all had an enjoyable dining experience. On the final night, the boys table may have started the trend of taking group pictures with our wait team.

 

I took more pictures of my drinks than my food ... this will have to tide you over.

 

 

If you're still keeping score ...

Bar Service - CCL (hands down, no contest)

Bartenders - CCL

Soda package - RCCL

Main Dining Room - RCCL

Shows/entertainment - RCCL

Edited August 3, 2014 by BSQ

[BSQ]

Just realized I've been using the wrong abbreviation for Royal Caribbean Cruise Line. I have my next vacation already on the brain which happens to be at a resort with a similar name ... hence the wrong abbrev.

 

Apparently this isn't so short after all .. next up Ports o Call. But first off to do some Sunday chores around the house. (oh joy!)

[Littlefox925]

Loving this review! I sail on enchantment in October with the bf who's a newbie at cruising. I share your love for cocktails so this is quite helpful as far as where the best service is and drinks to avoid!

[cruiseapril]

Want to mention that we had very good MDR service on our Enchantment cruise in March.

 

Also enjoyed the Park Cafe for lunch- for a lighter lunch.

[BSQ]

BEACH DAY! YAY! As I've already mentioned, part of the success we have in travel as a group is we don’t do things as a group. We pick certain times or places to meet up and go from there.

 

 

Coco Cay the plan was to head for the snorkel beach and who ever was up earliest get a few seats. We’d reviewed a map ahead of time and decided on a general area. One that was near a bar, had some trees for shade, near the bathrooms, and near food. On the map it looked a ways from where the ship would dock. I’d overheard someone say it was a long walk, but really? The island was a lot smaller than I realized. It was a short walk. Where we were at looked crowded, but when you take out the Fifteen factor, it really wasn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

One of our friends had gotten the snorkel excursion ticket for us all, so we all had that to enjoy. I was a little creeped out by the size of the fish that were swimming up to you and goosing you when you were close to shore in the swimming area. But that’s a me thing, I actually have issues with sand, salt water and don’t even get me started on sea grass, sea weed and fish! (perhaps now I’ll mentioned I used to live at the beach).

 

Our day in Cocoa Cay was relaxing and just want we wanted from a beach day. The weather was warm and humid, the water temperature was cool. The beer was always cold, and the BBQ lunch, was OK. The lines leading to the food were not marked well and as a logistician, I felt they could have been makred way better to alleviate some of the general chaos and congestion.

[BSQ]

And then there were the Fifteens.

 

We were seated in a row of chairs behind this group. The goal of the day became if we were going to do anything, do it ahead of the Fifteens.

 

The fifteens were a group of about 300 15-17 year old girls from Argentina. We kind of wished Royal would have given us the heads up that this group was going to be on our sailing. They booked some of the lounges for private parties so somethings didn’t take place, but mostly when it’s feeding time … they took over the buffet and the tables.

 

Let’s just say manners would have been a nice review for this group. Lines meant nothing, forget those tongs at the buffet for picking up food, let’s just use our hands, OK? And yes, I’ll brush my hair right here around all the food. Yeah, I’m good. And then I’ll fall asleep at this table even though it’s crowded and others have yet to eat.

 

As someone who traveled internationally when I was 16 – our chaperones were always reminding us of our manners. On the lighter side, I’m sure every teenage boy on the ship was wishing they had paid better attention in Spanish class. ;) We ran into a second group of Fifteens in Nassau, leading us to wonder if there were any teenage girls in Argentina.

 

We were traveling with a teen who was invited to one of the Fifteen’s dances. We learned this cruise was just their after party. :eek: They’d been traveling for about three weeks thus far. So while I don’t begrudge them the trip or the experience of traveling abroad. I do wish we would have been warned.

 

If I ever take a cruise again in the summer, you can bet I'm going to google this group and see if they are on the ship I'm thinking of sailing.

Edited August 3, 2014 by BSQ

[BSQ]

Quite by accident we kept meeting up for breakfast. The girls would sit at one table, the guys at the other. I dunno why, but we seemed to do this a lot. Guess we all really just needed to connect . We'd been through a lot in the year or so leading up to this vacation.

 

Sometime in the early morning we docked in Nassau. It started out a rainy morning but the showers passed quickly. Leaving behind and incredibly humid afternoon. We had no plans for Nassau. Two in our group when off to Atlantis to swim with the Dolphins, and other than that we would be heading to Effy at 11am for a drink discount and then meeting up as a group in front of the pier by the taxi stands, to head to lunch at the Fish Fry.

 

From vague recollection, I took a smaller group on an abbreviated walking tour of the town, winding back to Effy for our shopping experience. We received a gold star sticker on our sail and sign cards, which gave us a 25% discount on drinks at the Schooner Bar or Boleros for the remainder of the cruise. Since we had a sea day coming up, this was worth the 20 minutes we spent at Effy. And it was air conditioned. We briefly split up for a little solo shopping. Rendezvousing again to head over to hard rock (we collect pins), and being all hot and everything, we needed to rehydrate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BSQ]

a lil snack from Hard Rock

 

 

A little more walking around. Probably should have skipped the appetizer we shared at the hard rock. Oh well. Time to head back to port to rendezvous because ...

 

 

 

time to meet up for lunch.

 

We took a taxi over to the Fish Fry and had a nice family meal. I had jerk chicken. It was a little spicy but not overly so. Everyone commented that their food was good. We all got snack plates, which left us wondering if these are snacks, how the heck big are the lunch plates! Give us some icy cold beers and it was an afternoon well spent.

[jfstorm]

Glad I found your review! Fellow career retailer heading out on the Enchantment in just over a week. Vacay starts on Thursday on the Gulf Coast then moves on to Enchantment then to Diagon Alley. We are staying in the OV on deck 3 as well.

[BSQ]

Our taxi driver retuned for us about an hour later, our next stop, the girls headed off to the straw market and the boys headed off to Senor Frogs. The boys have a history with Senor Frogs. This had the potential to go very very wrong. LOL.

 

Once in the hot stuffy straw market with row after row of the same cra … err stuff, suddenly Senor Frogs was sounding kind of good. Instead I headed back to the ship, because we had a special celebration I needed to get ready for.

 

Let me grab a couple tissues (reaching in bra), this is an emotional story for me to tell.

[BSQ]

please note, I am sharing this next part because it is part of my story. YMMV in planning any celebrations on board any ship.

[BSQ]

 

What I did not mentioned at the start of this, is the planning for this cruise started on the night one of our friends had gotten home from the hospital after having had surgery to remove breast cancer. Her diagnosis a few weeks earlier had leveled us, and brought us closer together as friends. It had been a long year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. She received her clean bill of health on Valentine’s Day of this year, and is doing well. She is my bestie and and one of the strongest, women I know.

 

A couple months before the cruise I had sent a note to everyone except her suggesting we all wear pink one night to honor our friend and celebrate her victory.

 

The plan was in motion. Two weeks before we left the e-mails, texts and pictures flew. One thing we have always done well is plan events.

 

Not wanting her to feel left out, we packed pink leis for the girls and mardi gras beads for the boys. Decorations, balloons, and streamers went into our suitcases. One in our group was staying in the Royal Suite and had offered her suite as our gathering place. She had mentioned what we were doing to her concierge, I actually don’t know the details of what she told him, but we’re told not much. We requested some pink champagne, and pink lemonade and some crackers for our fruit and cheese baskets.

 

 

 

[BSQ]

The girls all arrived at the appointed time (without the boys since they came back from Senor Frogs muy happy and muy sloshed), to find out our concierge Reyno, had made everything perfect and beautiful. And then I saw this taped over the TV in the livingroom…

 

 

Reyno had taken this sheet of paper around to every department head on the ship the night before, and everyone had signed a note of congratulations and celebration to our friend. Pass me a dang tissue, just thinking about it, I still get emotional. This one man, with one simple gesture, captured the essence of why we were on this cruise. Whether I sail on Royal Caribbean again or not, I will never forget how they helped us make this moment special, and the memory will be with all of us forever.

Edited August 3, 2014 by BSQ

[BSQ]

Later that night, as we were gathered in a bar having non-pink drinks, the head of Guest Services was walking by our table and asked us if we were enjoying our cruise. (yes) and asked us if we were celebrating something special – we still were wearing our pink leis and beads.

 

I said yes, we’re celebrating our friend being a breast cancer survivor!! She asked if we were her Royal Suite Guests, and then took time to chat with us. She relayed how personal it was for her to sign the banner, with a lump in her throat, she shared with us as her mother and two of her aunts had all been affected by breast cancer. Quietly she walked over to the bar, and covered our round of drinks.

 

Thank you to every single person on board the ship who helped make Pink! night one of the most special moments imaginable.

[BSQ]

The rain and wind kicked in about 2pm . After that it became a lazy afternoon finding shippy things to do and bar hopping. (mostly bar hopping)

 

At our final dinner, we sat as a girls table and a boys table. The girls are the planners, the boys come long cause we invite them. :) Plans were put into place for our next big vacation, and some smaller ones.

 

I may have tried to see if the boys were further along at solving the toothpick puzzle than we were (they weren't girls rule!)...

 

Edited August 3, 2014 by BSQ

[BSQ]

If you know the 80's you'll get this reference ...

 

At the end of the final production show, we realized our time together was coming to a close. As one friend whose husband is new to the group told us “he says we’re just like St. Elmo’s Fire,” tears were in her eyes. We know we are blessed to have such a long time friendship. Most people go their separate ways after college. We’ve done that, and we have had a few years where we’ve not seen eachother. Four years ago I moved briefly back to California. That’s when we realized we need to be together. Through all life has thrown at us, without our friends, we’d never have made it through.

 

Today’s lesson, make sure your friends know they are a special part of your life.

[BSQ]

Last day! :( The door decorations have come down, our last breakfast on board eaten. Soon we would be going our separate ways. I was in one of the last groups to debark, and while it was a little congested getting to our luggage and waiting for it to be put on the carousel, going through customs went quickly.

 

Even for me, miss no passport and photo copied hospital birth certificate.

 

A short walk back to our cars, load em up, and I would be staying one more day near Disney since my not quite into details friend missed all our planning meetings and thought we were coming home on Sunday. (He also thought we were going to Cozumel). He also overpacked a bit with a suitcase that was nearly as big as my car!

 

it's a good thing I'm a logistician.

 

Attitudes properly adjusted, it’s time to head home.

 

[BSQ]

Quick Comparison Royal vs Carnival

 

Since this always seems to be a hot topic or an often asked questions from cruisers who sail one line or the other, I thought I’d give my view on some comparisons. I went in to this cruise expecting a pretty comparable experience. In the end I felt like there are some things where Royal excels over Carnival, and others where Carnival excels over Royal. Will I sail Royal again? Probably. If there’s a ship I’m curious about, going some place I’ve never been and the price is right – sure.

 

This is obviously from my experience on this one Royal Cruise and I’m sure could vary from ship to ship.

 

Embarkation – Royal

Muster Drill - Royal

Main Dining Room - Royal

Buffet - Carnival

Buffet Service (busing tables) - Carnival

Bar Service - Carnival (hands down, no contest)

Bartenders – Carnival

Martinis – Carnival & Me (I learned from the best :D )

Soda package - Royal

Shows/entertainment - Royal

Promenade Deck - Carnival

Port Shopper experience - Royal

Overal Ship Décor – Royal though I missed the gaudy a little

Staterooms (space utilization) - Carnival

Adult pool area - draw.

Stateroom Stewards - draw

Excursion desk - draw

Guest services - draw

Senior Officer Visibility - Royal (the officers were everywhere)

Debarkation - Carnival (especially luggage handling)

Private Island - Half Moon Cay (though there was better snorkeling from shore at Coco Cay)

 

And this brings to a close my trip n ship of this sailing. If you've made it to the end, I hope you have enjoyed our journey.

 

Cheers to Friendships!

 

[BSQ]

Loving this review! I sail on enchantment in October with the bf who's a newbie at cruising. I share your love for cocktails so this is quite helpful as far as where the best service is and drinks to avoid!

 

Thank you! I hope you enjoy your sailing! The R Bar didn't live up to my expectations. Avoid the Schooner Bar when the piano man is playing. He's not bad, just way too loud for that space.

 

Want to mention that we had very good MDR service on our Enchantment cruise in March.

 

Also enjoyed the Park Cafe for lunch- for a lighter lunch.

 

Glad we had similar experiences with these two venues!

[BSQ]

Glad I found your review! Fellow career retailer heading out on the Enchantment in just over a week. Vacay starts on Thursday on the Gulf Coast then moves on to Enchantment then to Diagon Alley. We are staying in the OV on deck 3 as well.

 

:D enjoy your vacation! the "season" is rapidly approaching! I had wanted to go to Univesal more than WDW but we were there the weekend Diagon Alley opened. The crowds looked worse than a Florida Wal-Mart during a Black Friday early Bird Special run. :eek:

[Realtor at Sea]

Really fun and poignant review! Thanks!

[maureencruiser]

 

Cheers to you and your friend!

[BSQ]

Really fun and poignant review! Thanks!

 

you are too kind, thank you!

[BSQ]

 

Cheers to you and your friend!

 

Thank you Maureen! :)

[Scotty G]

The girls all arrived at the appointed time (without the boys since they came back from Senor Frogs muy happy and muy sloshed), to find out our concierge Reyno, had made everything perfect and beautiful. And then I saw this taped over the TV in the livingroom…

 

 

Reyno had taken this sheet of paper around to every department head on the ship the night before, and everyone had signed a note of congratulations and celebration to our friend. Pass me a dang tissue, just thinking about it, I still get emotional. This one man, with one simple gesture, captured the essence of why we were on this cruise. Whether I sail on Royal Caribbean again or not, I will never forget how they helped us make this moment special, and the memory will be with all of us forever.

 

Kudos to Reyno. He is the best!!!!!!!