Semi Live from Enchantment of the Seas 4/22-4/30/2022

[Rogueperson]

3 minutes ago, death_star said:

Will check when the shops open. Interesting enough the model outside the Windjammer is the jewel of the seas. No idea why. 

 

You mean this one? 

 

I was sitting next this at those chairs behind it waiting for our room and then said “I have to book the Greenland cruise on Jewel!”. Its a sign!!!

[DesireeC03]

will sail on her next summer - looking forward to your review

[lexmarkpr]

3 hours ago, death_star said:

Will check when the shops open. Interesting enough the model outside the Windjammer is the jewel of the seas. No idea why. 

I remember that cruise model at the buffet.  Wow still there.

[death_star]

Well we've just had our first alpha alpha alpha call. Hope it turns out alright for the people involved. 

[Merion_Mom]

1 hour ago, death_star said:

Well we've just had our first alpha alpha alpha call. Hope it turns out alright for the people involved. 

 

Oh dear.  😞 

[death_star]

Good morning from off the outer banks. Nothing like little kids for early mornings (not quite Radio dark 30). 

So last night we had my time dining and went down at around 545. Was seated promptly and had Jim and Delroy as servers and they did a great job. They brought fruit for the kiddos which they enjoyed and the medley seemed to be very heavy on watermelon. DW had a Caesar and I had the Waldorf salad and both were fine. For our main course I had the caribbean pork chop that I've had on my last couple of cruises. This one was the most spicy. DW had the prime rib which she did not care for. I tasted it and it did seem rather bland especially in contrast to my pork chop.

Dessert was key lime pie for me and a warm hazelnut cake for DW that lacked any wow factor.

 

After dinner and a sunset picture it was off to try to get 2 kids to bed and find everyone a comfortable place to sleep (more on that later).

 

I wrapped up the night reading the compass for today the old fashioned way,  by LED candle light.  

[lexmarkpr]

5 hours ago, death_star said:

Good morning from off the outer banks. Nothing like little kids for early mornings (not quite Radio dark 30). 

So last night we had my time dining and went down at around 545. Was seated promptly and had Jim and Delroy as servers and they did a great job. They brought fruit for the kiddos which they enjoyed and the medley seemed to be very heavy on watermelon. DW had a Caesar and I had the Waldorf salad and both were fine. For our main course I had the caribbean pork chop that I've had on my last couple of cruises. This one was the most spicy. DW had the prime rib which she did not care for. I tasted it and it did seem rather bland especially in contrast to my pork chop.

Dessert was key lime pie for me and a warm hazelnut cake for DW that lacked any wow factor.

 

After dinner and a sunset picture it was off to try to get 2 kids to bed and find everyone a comfortable place to sleep (more on that later).

 

I wrapped up the night reading the compass for today the old fashioned way,  by LED candle light.  

Good morning.

 

Did you able to find the cruise ship model in the store?

 

Thanks 

[death_star]

Just now, lexmarkpr said:

Good morning.

 

Did you able to find the cruise ship model in the store?

 

Thanks 

Is this it?

[lexmarkpr]

3 minutes ago, death_star said:

Is this it?

That's the one.

 

Can you buy it for me and I will pay you the ship, shipping and a little more for the favor?

 

Thanks 

[sandy toes]

On 4/22/2022 at 12:32 PM, BND said:

We just got off this morning.  We had 497 kids onboard and they are expecting over 300 for this sailing.  There were issues with the teenagers, including trying to steal and use an adult's seapass to buy drinks, climbing the fence at the water park at CC, sneaking friends into the DL and cleaning out the appetizers.  Just a lot of very rude behavior and parents who had no interest in parenting.  As Bobby said to us on the first leg of our b2b, some of these parents want to be 18 again and give up all responsibility for their kids. 

 

Otherwise we had a great 20 days onboard.  We were just careful where we hung out and made choices where we thought there would be less kids.

Always sad for me to read about the parents that display such a lack of parenting. In our family there are kids that have been cruising since they were 10 months old. I did a cruise with two that were 2 months shy of 5 years and they had a fabulous cruise. Kids don't know what they are missing unless parents whine about no slide, or race cars, or ice rink, or cool science experiment, or whatever else. The kids that took over the DL should lose their status at least for the rest of that cruise. Maybe, it should trickle up to their parents. That might make other parents be more responsible in the future with their run-loose banshees. 

[sandy toes]

9 hours ago, death_star said:

Good morning from off the outer banks. Nothing like little kids for early mornings (not quite Radio dark 30). 

So last night we had my time dining and went down at around 545. Was seated promptly and had Jim and Delroy as servers and they did a great job. They brought fruit for the kiddos which they enjoyed and the medley seemed to be very heavy on watermelon. DW had a Caesar and I had the Waldorf salad and both were fine. For our main course I had the caribbean pork chop that I've had on my last couple of cruises. This one was the most spicy. DW had the prime rib which she did not care for. I tasted it and it did seem rather bland especially in contrast to my pork chop.

Dessert was key lime pie for me and a warm hazelnut cake for DW that lacked any wow factor.

 

After dinner and a sunset picture it was off to try to get 2 kids to bed and find everyone a comfortable place to sleep (more on that later).

 

I wrapped up the night reading the compass for today the old fashioned way,  by LED candle light.  

Shame, seems DW had a less than stellar first meal in the MDR. Hopefully y'all were able to find a balance and slept well. The dark cabin, and the rocking motion, maybe the kids slept all night and even a bit longer than usual.  Hope everyone has a great day. Waiting for next posts. Sailing on Enchantment in a few weeks and am excited to see how a family does. 

If you can, find out what happened with the Jump Zone, the bungee trampoline center. Will have kids that were really looking forward to it and were told by some friends that exited on Friday(yesterday) that is was "just not there". Any update would be appreciated. Thanks.

[death_star]

45 minutes ago, sandy toes said:

Shame, seems DW had a less than stellar first meal in the MDR. Hopefully y'all were able to find a balance and slept well. The dark cabin, and the rocking motion, maybe the kids slept all night and even a bit longer than usual.  Hope everyone has a great day. Waiting for next posts. Sailing on Enchantment in a few weeks and am excited to see how a family does. 

If you can, find out what happened with the Jump Zone, the bungee trampoline center. Will have kids that were really looking forward to it and were told by some friends that exited on Friday(yesterday) that is was "just not there". Any update would be appreciated. Thanks.

Hi just a quick note it is not there. Also randomly heard a guy ask the lifeguard station about it and they said it's been gone for a while. It's just a closed off deck area at this point.

 

So first night sleeping. kids under 6 can not use a Pullman so I ended up in it for about half the night. DD slept under me in the queen with DW. We put the wee DS in the other room in his crib by himself but I ended up in that bed the other half of the night. He was up a few times and since we were in closer quarters had less of a patience for letting him try to settle himself back to sleep as we would at home. Our closest neighbors on this side of the hall are 5 cabins away so we're not waking anyone else. We will see how tonight goes on that front. 

 

The crib they have is a small narrow pack and play style,  same we had on freedom in February. Our son is 9 months old and not very high on the length percentile and he might have a couple of inches tops of clearance. I don't know what we would put him in in future cruises. 

 

We did put up a shower curtain around it so he wouldn't be hit by the light from the other cabin. 

[shipgeeks]

Sadly, Bungee trampoline was removed during dry dock last year.

[Jenglish711]

55 minutes ago, death_star said:

 

The crib they have is a small narrow pack and play style,  same we had on freedom in February. Our son is 9 months old and not very high on the length percentile and he might have a couple of inches tops of clearance. I don't know what we would put him in in future cruises. 

 

 

Our 2.5 year old is in the 97th %ile for height and for travel for the last year and a half we've been using the Baby Bjorn/Lotus style travel crib (a perfectly good knockoff can be found here: https://*****.com/54wt9s8z). Because they are flat on the ground and the legs splay out at the bottom, they are less easy to knock over. Of course, this is if you're willing to bring your own travel crib. But we loved it. He still can't climb out or knock it over from inside if he tried, but he's just so huge when he lays in it that we have no choice to transition him to a Big Boy Bed this summer. 

[sandy toes]

35 minutes ago, Jenglish711 said:

 

Our 2.5 year old is in the 97th %ile for height and for travel for the last year and a half we've been using the Baby Bjorn/Lotus style travel crib (a perfectly good knockoff can be found here: https://*****.com/54wt9s8z). Because they are flat on the ground and the legs splay out at the bottom, they are less easy to knock over. Of course, this is if you're willing to bring your own travel crib. But we loved it. He still can't climb out or knock it over from inside if he tried, but he's just so huge when he lays in it that we have no choice to transition him to a Big Boy Bed this summer. 

There are several really good travel beds for toddlers. Do a google search and there are many that come up. We used both a Ozark Trail Kids Camping Airbed with Travel Bag, under $30, and before that a from the Asani Store an Inflatable travel bed with an electric pump, fits kids up to 4 ft tall, for $50ish. Both are still available (I just checked). They travel well on planes and work great for cruise cabins. They are a good fit between cribs and the bunks. 

 

[sandy toes]

1 hour ago, shipgeeks said:

Sadly, Bungee trampoline was removed during dry dock last year.

Thanks so much for the information. Sad. They need to add something else for the kids. 

[BND]

1 hour ago, sandy toes said:

Thanks so much for the information. Sad. They need to add something else for the kids. 

The trampoline had very limited times it could be used.  It was affected by weather. It really only added a minor thing for them to do once or twice. Our previous time on EN they had the trampoline but had very limited hours. The ship just wasn't built for that many kids.  AO can handle about 150 kids and even then there are those that are bored by that.  I think parents need to know their kids and decide on a ship based on their needs if they're going to take them on vacation and not on drive proximity or cost alone.  There's a reason the larger newer ships cost more per day.  Vision class was built when families did not cruise as often as now or have the expectations of full time entertainment being provided for their kids.  Then, there's the issue of staff to run extra activities.

 

Our meals varied.  Most nights everything was hot but when ordering beef, I like medium well so I either got medium rare or well done.  We gave a lot of leeway because even though passenger counts are back up near 80% staffing is at about 50-55%.  Most crew is supposed to rotate off in June/July but many think they'll be extended.  Then, there's the two guys who are in Cafe Latitudes in the morning who voluntarily extended.  Pretty sure they are single and like that they can stay on and make more money.  They really seem to enjoy their job.  

 

 

[mskaufman]

On 4/22/2022 at 4:15 PM, friendliest_flower said:

I’m also on this ship. Our check in time was 11, but we ended up getting to the port about 20 minutes early. They let us through without an issue. This is my first cruise so I don’t have a frame of reference on how long lines could be. The whole process took us about 15 minutes. From check in, to walking onboard. 
 

MDR was not open for lunch. They had the Park Cafe open and then WJ open at 11:30. 
 

We have an ocean view on level 2 and our room was available at 1:30pm. Bags got there between 2:45-3:15. Now we’re just waiting for sail away! 

How is the OV on level 2?

[death_star]

So some numbers from the top tier event and head waiter today:

1900 pax, 100 less than last week. 

1188 C & A
403 Gold
260 Platinun
127 Emerald
180 Diamond and plus
20 pins
Top cruiser 1401 points

[cruiselvr04]

I’m interested in knowing about the Oceanview too.  We’re thinking of booking 34 nights in one.  Not sure I can do 126 sq ft, no cooler and a shower curtain that long.  There’s a big difference in price from a balcony which is why we are considering it.  However it such an older ship and there are many more OV and interiors then suites and balconies so I guess we’d be in good company.  We get a balcony at least usually.  

[death_star]

Update on the frozen milk issue. Instead of the glove box sized cooler they gave us an actual black and decker mini fridge. Seems to be doing alright so far fingers crossed. 

[Merion_Mom]

28 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I’m interested in knowing about the Oceanview too.  We’re thinking of booking 34 nights in one.  Not sure I can do 126 sq ft, no cooler and a shower curtain that long.  There’s a big difference in price from a balcony which is why we are considering it.  However it such an older ship and there are many more OV and interiors then suites and balconies so I guess we’d be in good company.  We get a balcony at least usually.  

 

Take a look at the Category M oceanview cabin.  There are only 16 of them on the ship, so they go fast.  They are the size of a balcony cabin without the balcony.  HUGE windows.  They have a fridge.  

[cruiselvr04]

10 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

 

Take a look at the Category M oceanview cabin.  There are only 16 of them on the ship, so they go fast.  They are the size of a balcony cabin without the balcony.  HUGE windows.  They have a fridge.  

They are all gone!  It’s either the cracker box room or don’t go.  Still trying to decide if we can handle it or not.  As a couple we’d be fine, fair amount of storage but we’d miss fresh air that long.  We’ve been on Enchantment for a short cruise, pre covid.  We had a balcony and it was fine so although the ship is older, I’m okay with that. But the tiny room….

[death_star]

Hi everyone, 

 

Had a nice sea day yesterday with lovely weather and sunshine. We kept pretty close to the coast of NC passing both Diamond Shoals and the Frying Pan towers which was neat. I often watch the frying pan tower videos so it was cool seeing it from a distance. There were a lot of sport fisher boats out there and at one point they actually sounded 2 blasts to overtake one. I chuckled at the thought of being down there just making my way along and have a huge cruise shop honk to pass you. 

 

Breakfast was the Windjammer and it was fine. We've been able to find tables and most foods we like. 

 

We did lunch in the MDR and I ordered the Mediterranean lamb pita. This is what showed up that had me left scratching my head

 

it had a look similar to the bbq pulled pork that was also on the menu and the similar drippings. It tasted along the same lines but was definitely lamb and not pork. An unexpected twist as I thought it was going to be more like a gyro. Nevertheless it was still tasty. 

 

The afternoon was spent on the pool deck and the kids loved the splash pad and DD loved the mini 1' deep section of the pool. They don't really mention that but it is a great thing for smaller kids to play in. 

 

will pick up more later,  time to head into Charleston!

[shipgeeks]

12 hours ago, cruiselvr04 said:

I’m interested in knowing about the Oceanview too.  We’re thinking of booking 34 nights in one.  Not sure I can do 126 sq ft, no cooler and a shower curtain that long.  There’s a big difference in price from a balcony which is why we are considering it.  However it such an older ship and there are many more OV and interiors then suites and balconies so I guess we’d be in good company.  We get a balcony at least usually.  

We book OV cabins on Enchantment all the time.  The only time we felt the cabin was too small was when we had the first cabin in the bow, on deck 2.  The extra porthole reinforcement layers took away some of the room space. Otherwise we've been quite happy with the room.  We were most recently on deck 4, a first for us, and the cabin was large enough that we had a sofa.

Perhaps cabins become larger on higher decks?