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

[Another_Critic]

11 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

 

Enchantment is not having good luck at all.  I think they've had at least 1 medevac a month so far this year.  We had one on our March trip and the previous 12 night also had a long range medevac in February.  

Typically an older crowd out of Baltimore.

[death_star]

7 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

And your now sailing upside down!  😄

Yeah no idea why it did that. 

[death_star]

9 minutes ago, Another_Critic said:

And your now sailing upside down!  😄

[death_star]

Now not expected until around 7.

[shipgeeks]

The February evac was a crew member.

[death_star]

Ongoing now. Basket and swimmer aboard Enchantment. Awaiting packaging and pick up. 

[death_star]

Another evacuation en route in about half hour

[BND]

15 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

 

Enchantment is not having good luck at all.  I think they've had at least 1 medevac a month so far this year.  We had one on our March trip and the previous 12 night also had a long range medevac in February.  

Actually very typical out of Baltimore.  On the 2 Apr (12 night) we had what we assume was a evac (boat) about two hours after leaving Baltimore as we stopped in the Bay while we were at dinner and there was a police boat (we've had that happen before also).  Then, on our way to St. Maarten we arrived at 1 am instead of like 8 due to a medical emergency.  One of the reasons cruises out of Baltimore and NJ do more helicopter evacs is they tend to have more sea days due to the distances traveled.   

Edited April 29, 2022 by BND

[Rogueperson]

7 minutes ago, BND said:

Actually very typical out of Baltimore.  On the 2 Apr (12 night) we had what we assume was a evac (boat) about two hours after leaving Baltimore as we stopped in the Bay while we were at dinner and there was a police boat (we've had that happen before also).  Then, on our way to St. Maarten we arrived at 1 am instead of like 8 due to a medical emergency.  One of the reasons cruises out of Baltimore and NJ do more helicopter evacs is they tend to have more sea days due to the distances traveled.   

 

I guess.  I've been out of Baltimore 7 times or more.  it was the first time I've had an medevac in March.  In fact, I think out of 25 cruises, it was the only time I've ever experienced an air rescue.  

[BND]

14 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

 

I guess.  I've been out of Baltimore 7 times or more.  it was the first time I've had an medevac in March.  In fact, I think out of 25 cruises, it was the only time I've ever experienced an air rescue.  

Most aren't air evacs but  having gone out of Baltimore 12 times and NJ 7 times those sea days make a difference.  We've had at least two evacs by boat when less than 3 hours after leaving Baltimore.  Not all are announced of course especially those at night because they really don't want to attract more people up on the outer decks.  Even on cruises where we haven't evacuated people at sea, we've seen a lot of ambulances meeting the ships in port.  In 34+ cruises we've seen at least 4 air evacs.

Edited April 29, 2022 by BND

[death_star]

Two in two days but at least this time we're much closer to land. SE of Hatteras

[Rogueperson]

16 minutes ago, BND said:

Most aren't air evacs but  having gone out of Baltimore 12 times and NJ 7 times those sea days make a difference.  We've had at least two evacs by boat when less than 3 hours after leaving Baltimore.  Not all are announced of course especially those at night because they really don't want to attract more people up on the outer decks.  Even on cruises where we haven't evacuated people at sea, we've seen a lot of ambulances meeting the ships in port.  In 34+ cruises we've seen at least 4 air evacs.

AHA!  I was using bad terms.  I was only counting air evacs and I've heard of more on Enchantment this year then usual!  and here' @death_star has had two.

[lovelife]

Yikes, I'm here on Enchantment too. In 121 cruises I've never seen an air evac. Now two!

 

 

[Rogueperson]

23 minutes ago, lovelife said:

Yikes, I'm here on Enchantment too. In 121 cruises I've never seen an air evac. Now two!

 

 

 

These are great shots!!!  They let you outside?  When they did the rescue on my cruise in March, they closed everything higher than 9 including solarium and Viking Crown Lounge.

[lovelife]

59 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

 

These are great shots!!!  They let you outside?  When they did the rescue on my cruise in March, they closed everything higher than 9 including solarium and Viking Crown Lounge.

Thanks. These were through a window in the Solarium. Outer decks nine and ten were closed off. 

[death_star]

 

Hello all, 

 

When we left off we had left the port of Charleston and had some great final views of Castle Pinckney and Ft Sumter.

 

Off to Port Canaveral! We had a nice seat at the Windjammer to pass both the Carnival liberty (our first cruise with DD) and independence of the seas (first cruise with my DW) on the way to terminal 10. We arrived just after 9 and watched the gangway get raised into place. 

 

Heading back to the room to get ready for the day we discovered our toilet wouldn't flush! A call to maintenance led to them coming down within a half hour or so. I got to see what was behind those walls in the hall and how our cabins were plumbed into the rest of the ship.

With this minor set back we were already start to get fairly late in the day. We had a rental car booked with Avis so our original plans were to try to go to Seaworld for the day. Luckily I had not booked any tickets yet but knowing what would happen with little ones. DD and I set off the ship to catch the shuttle to get our car. We made our way through the terminal with mostly MSC signage to the bus pickup area and waited. 

 

Within about a half hour the shuttle showed up and took us to the Avis location a few miles away. The driver was nice and pointed out the SpaceX unloading operation in the port that we had missed on the way in. He also told us about a nearby beach and where to park for free. He also told us about the restaurants there in the port area. After arriving they had my paperwork ready and DD picked out her car seat and off we went. 

 

We collected DW and DS back at the terminal and had to come up with a new plan as it was going on noon at this point. We decided to grab lunch at fish lips first across the way. DW and I both had grouper with hers being some sort of coconut crusted thing and mine being tacos. They were delicious as was my wife's margarita and my local cider. We also got a decent view of the Falcon 9 booster across the water and it was lifeboat drill day. Interesting seeing those things motor around the basin.

Having scoured the posts on the Florida departure boards about what to do in port canaveral I remember several suggested the Brevard zoo. It was about a half hour drive there with a quick stop at CVS for supplies that we needed. Parking was free and ample. We are members of our zoo in Baltimore so we got a 50% discount on admission which was a nice plus. 

 

The zoo has some nice exhibits including meerkat, giraffes zebras and rhinos, alligators and crocodiles, and on a limited basis displays of giant sand sculpted sea scenes. We closed our visit there with a stop in their water play area which is well sized for little ones with a couple of small lagoons. It was plenty to make our DD and DS happy. 

We headed back to the ship and I dropped the family off and returned the car. The shuttle has stopped running at that point but it was a very quick Uber to get back. 

 

Dinner was great but the best part was sailing out past the SpaceX operation with an up close view of the barge, support vessel and the booster. Pretty cool.

 

After that it was an early night for all of us with CocoCay coming up the next day. 

[perfect match]

Lunch at Fishlips and a few hours at the Brevard Zoo sounds like a great day to me, especially with young kids. 

[death_star]

Saw this posted online by the coast guard of the first evacuation they did this week. https://fb.watch/cMbiSCwAPy/

[OnTheJourney]

On 4/29/2022 at 10:41 AM, lovelife said:

I've never seen an air evac.

Gives me the willies just watching the FB video that was posted. I was evac'd off a ship a few years ago, along with 400+ other pax. Rather frightening experience for sure. 

[sandy toes]

On 4/23/2022 at 9:29 PM, death_star said:

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

Thanks for the info. Always enjoy knowing the mix for sailings in different month. I enjoy stats and even find myself figuring out something to "make mathy", as a middle schooler said to me, even on ship. 

[sandy toes]

On 5/2/2022 at 8:14 PM, death_star said:

Saw this posted online by the coast guard of the first evacuation they did this week. https://fb.watch/cMbiSCwAPy/

WOW!Thanks for the USCG link. That view really made my stomach roll over. I have worked on the choppers before but , thank God, never basket lift into one.