Just off Enchantment--free cruise through MLife

[kfnesq]

I wasn’t sure if this was the appropriate place to put this (I put it in the Vegas forum on Trip Advisor as well). I haven’t seen too much info about it so I thought people might be interested to know how it really works.

Anyway, Mlife Platinum and Noir members (MGM Players Club) are offered a yearly free cruise through Royal Caribbean. I booked ours this summer by calling the Casino Club at RC. They were really nice and explained all the options. We are Platinum because of our spending at MGM properties, not so much from our gambling habits, so we only qualified for the 3-night cruise, but you can qualify for up to 7 nights, apparently. The cruise we took was a 3 night cruise to the Bahamas from Port Canaveral, FL, on Enchantment. The value came to be about $500, not too shabby. We also could have opted for a credit of $375 for ANY cruise, but it seemed more worth it to take the one being offered and since we live on the East Coast anyway, it was easy. I did have to pre-pay taxes and gratuity; I think it came to about $200 total. This was only our second cruise—our first was on Celebrity to Alaska.

We flew down to Orlando the day before the cruise boarded, just to account for any delays, etc. I booked a fly, snooze, and cruise package at the Comfort Inn at Cocoa Beach (thanks JosieCat for recommending in your TR, it made it much easier than renting a car). The package was about $200 and came with transport from the airport, overnight accommodations, breakfast, transport to the ship, and then transport from the ship back to the airport. Personally I thought it was worth it to have everything taken care of at once. The shuttle service is for multiple people, so you may have to wait a bit while they pick everyone up, but all in all it worked out well for us.

The driver on the way to the hotel mentioned that the Orion rocket was going to be launched the next morning (it had been canceled the previous day) and that we could just walk out to the beach and be able to see it. So, we got up at 6:30am and walked across the street to the beach and were actually lucky enough to see the launch! A great beginning to the trip, in my opinion.

The shuttle came to get us about 11:30am, and it was about a ten minute ride to the port. Embarkation was quick and easy, and since when I booked they automatically gave us Gold status for Crown and Anchor, we got to use the quicker line, too. We were able to get into our room at 1:30pm. I had a note from the casino host to meet her that evening, and also a confirmation that a reservation had been made for us for Sunday night at Chops, which is included comped in the Mlife package. There was also a “welcome amenity” in the room—a nice basket of fruit—from the host as well.

The room is an outside cabin, so it had a window but no balcony. I had the option when I booked to upgrade to a balcony, (about $300 extra) but I didn’t take it since I was trying to keep the cruise as free as possible. I think next year, assuming we still qualify, I will upgrade—I just really like having the option to open the door and hear the waves and breathe the air. Plus the balcony rooms are a bit bigger, too. Still, the room was fine, very clean, and fine for two people (at least, two people who are very close, ha ha)!

That evening we met up with the host, and she provided to us a card for ten free drinks in the casino bar, and a code for 30 minutes of free internet. She did mention that the 30 minutes had to be used all at once, not piece meal throughout the trip. However, I certainly made use of it! She also let me know that you get Mlife tier points for all your slot play, just insert your seapass card in the machine every time you play. According to the website, though, it takes about 6 weeks for those points to hit your Mlife account. You also get points for their casino player program, too.

My only complaint for the entire cruise, if I had one, was the muster drill. While they told us exactly where to go for the drill, they did NOT tell the majority of the people that they had to check in with another crew member before assembling. This lead to about 20 minutes of them calling stateroom numbers out to make sure everyone was there. A little bit of a cluster, but in the grand scheme of things, not too terrible.

The first day we docked in Nassau. My husband took advantage of a scuba excursion, while I visited the spa and sat around at the pool. I was particularly fond of the solarium (adults only). It was nice and quiet there so I spent some time there as well.

Dinner in the main dining room was good; we went to dinner about 7. It was formal night in the dining room, which I’m pretty sure is optional since people seemed to wear what they wanted. I like to dress up though, so we did. They automatically give you the MyTime dining option when you book (I think if you pre-pay gratuities that’s how it works, anyway), which suited us fine. You can also ask for the same time/waiter each night, apparently, but we weren’t pressed about it. We were seated with 6 other people, which I like—although you can ask for a table for just your party. I enjoy meeting new people though, so eating in a large group was great. The meal and service were both quite good. After dinner we went to the casino to play a little 3-card poker and some slots (we broke even), and then went to the piano bar, had a few cocktails and just relaxed. I forgot to mention we ended up getting a drink package when we first got on board—we did the math and figured out it was cheaper that way. It of course negated the free drinks at the casino bar, but we ended up giving those away to people we met, anyway, so they didn’t go to waste!

The second day was in CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. The tender boats started about 8:30am and went til 4:30pm, so you could go over whenever you wanted. They serve a BBQ lunch on the island from 12-2. We ended up going over about noon, and snorkeling for a couple of hours. I had to rent equipment ($30) but my husband already had his with him. We did see a LOT of fish and sealife, so in my opinion, it was worth the $30 to me. Lunch was ok, BBQ chicken, ribs, potato salad, etc. They did also have some fresh salad things, and fruit. It was ok. Not great, but I didn’t go hungry. I was also happy to find out that the seapass card worked on the island as well, for drinks.

We went back to the ship about 3:30 and napped, then got dressed for dinner –that night we were eating at Chops. It was AMAZING. I wish I had known and we would have eaten there every night and happily paid the extra price. The service and the meal were fantastic, I can’t recommend it enough. We were quite full afterwards and walked around on deck for a while, then had a few after-dinner drinks and hit the casino again (we are nothing if not predictable). The best part of that night was that in the casino, they do a drawing the last night of the cruise. Anyone who has played slots is automatically entered, and the winner gets their portfolio paid off, up to $1000. So basically anything you have charged to your seapass card for the trip. The first name they called, the lady wasn’t there, so they drew again. And yup! They called my name! I couldn’t believe it. So they paid me for everything on our seapass, including our drink package, my spa treatments, and my snorkel gear rental, about $500! So—it really WAS a free cruise!

The next morning they get you off the ship pretty quick, I presume to get the next batch of cruisers on board! We got off about 9am, easy process, went through immigration/customs, and then found our shuttle right away. They had also called me in the morning to confirm a time and to tell me where to meet them, so that whole process was fairly simple as well. Got to the airport, flew home (to 30 degree rainy weather) and came back to reality.

Final thoughts—it’s definitely a GREAT perk to have as a Platinum member, especially if you’re already on the East Coast. I had a great time and hopefully will be able to do it again next year. Thanks for reading!

[Rocknsoul]

Thank you for the great review! We get a lot of perks from MLife, so it was good to see what may be in our future.

 

Congrats on winning the drawing! That's awesome!

[cruzsnooze]

What a fabulous trip for you. Now go buy a lottery ticket quick!

[flpab]

We loved Chops also. I could have eaten there every night as well. You are one very lucky person. I live close to the port and didn't see the launch, It was in the clouds quick by the time I heard it go off.

[SC_Floaters]

Dennis & Sue Here From the Charleston, SC area.

 

GREAT Review....

 

The Bahama 3 and 4 day cruises out of Port Canaveral on board the Enchantment are our favorite getaways. A half days drive and we are there.

 

 

We really enjoy the Enchantment, for a seventeen year old ship that sails with up to 4,800 passengers each week, we think She's great... We are booked in October and December...

 

 

We've sailed the Sovereign 3 times, Monarch 11 times and Enchantment 6 times to the Bahamas out of Port Canaveral since 2007... We've visited Nassau 29 times and CoCo Cay 21 times.

 

I've got to mention the New Years Eve Cruise on Enchantment...

 

We did this cruise December 30, 2013, New Years Eve in CoCO Cay and New Years Day in Nassau... We have it booked again in 2014...

 

 

The Enchantment knows how to Party on New Years Eve. Parties about the Ship for any taste, they had two combined bands in the Centrum doing Pop/Rock. They had a Latin band in Boleros, They had the Ship's Ochestra doing Big Band music in the Spotlight Lounge and a Pianist in the Schooner Bar. Every host/hostess started bringing out trays of complimentary Champaign about 11:45pm. There was a Buffet on the Pool Deck at 12:15am and if you were wondering what was happening in the Viking Crown Lounge, well, they started a Disco Party about 12:15AM (The First Party of 2014) that went, I'm Told, until 5AM... Reyno, the Concierge, had a party in his lounge too...

 

The Enchantment is just a FUN ship.

 

Dennis & Sue...

[cruiseapril]

Enjoyed your review.

 

We also liked the Solarium (and the Park Cafe.)

 

Found the Oceanviews on the Enchantment comfortable.