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Semi-Live Enchantment of the Seas! (Solo!) 8 Night, Southeast Coast and Bahamas, Jan 26-Feb 3

Cruise Kay

By Cruise Kay,
in Royal Caribbean International

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fpcruiser

fpcruiser

Posted
Posted
On 1/26/2023 at 1:08 PM, Cruise Kay said:

Onboard!
The ride back to the empty Baltimore airport was uneventful and I quickly found the long line of taxis sitting there waiting for somebody to come along. The ride to the cruise port took about 15 minutes and cost a little over $40 in cab fare, plus tip.

 

My giant, somewhat intimidating driver never asked me which cruise line or ship I was on, so I assumed we were the only ship in Port today and I was right about that. It is a cold grey day so everybody is inside wearing their coats.

 

boarding was easy. I arrived at five minutes after 11 and I was on board by 1130. Just as I was stepping onto the ship the smell of sewage hit me. It hit me so powerfully I thought for a moment the guy in front of me had an accident in his pants. It was quite bad. It's faded inside but it's very prevalent in the centrum area. I'm hoping that will pass once we get out to sea.

 

it didn't take long to explore the ship. Yes, she is small and dated as I knew she would be, but she is in very nice condition and has beautiful touches and lovely art all throughout.

 

I did muster drill, then got sandwiches and coffee at Café latitudes, but discovered that all of the sandwiches have mayonnaise on them, which I am allergic to. I came up to the solarium for a salad and pizza and pretty soon this place filled up. There's not a single table available in sight. Just for kicks I did take a peek in Windjammer and my goodness. What a zoo. There was literally not one single seat to be had, not even the single seats barstool style facing the windows. And even though all of the tables were full there was tons and tons of people wandering around filling up their plates so I have no idea where they intended to sit.
 

The pools are currently empty and being scrubbed or worked on in someway by several crewmembers down in their depths working with some sort of tools. There is one hot tub on deck bubbling away just daring anyone to get in it but it's awfully cold out there and nobody is jumping in. Down here in the solarium, the two indoor hot tubs are chock full of people.

 

My lunchtime salad was crisp and fresh and made to order, and the pizza is hot and delicious. If you like your pizza extra cheesey and extra greasy, this is the place for you.

 

Rooms are ready (1 pm!)  but I'm in no hurry to get down there and start the unpacking process. We have a full schedule of events today, including shopping, free gaming lessons in the casino, trivia, a comedian this evening, and of course tons of live music. I saw the Schooner bar and it is beautiful, though it was occupied by two parties of three women each and they were all just shrieking at the top of their lungs and slamming down the drinks.
 

So far the most beautiful place on ship is the spotlight lounge on deck six. It is just gorgeous and it's right at the end of the ship so you have lovely views looking out.

 

 

 

A year ago we were on Enchantment and there were 3 or 4 big wigs walking through the Spotlight Lounge looking at the carpet. They were saying they needed to replace it because of some bad spots. I didn't notice these areas until they pointed to them.

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schlimazel_traveler

schlimazel_traveler

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Cruise Kay said:

PS, internet is super!

Yes!!!!

Never lost the signal.

Looking forward to having this upgraded service added to other ships!

 

If you see the British Night dessert (sticky toffee pudding) anywhere -- I think it turned up in the WJ the following day-- be sure to try it. I have my complaints about the food but that was great.

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Cruise Kay "Live from...." Rare

Cruise Kay

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Today I ran into a lady in the gym who was there for her second workout of the day. She said, "honestly, I'm just trying to find things to fill up the day." She said she and her husband were on their 1st cruise ever with extended family. She said they were bored out of their minds because they don't do casino or drink. She said there is nothing to do on the ship. She said she was very disappointed in the quality and portions of the food.
 

Since her main complaint was there was nothing to do on the ship, I started to tell her about the Oasis class ships. She cut me off with, "we will never cruise again."

 

tonight the casino was packed, and the bars were hopping with various live music. I listened to a live jazz ensemble in Boleros for a long time and there was an adorable elderly couple shuffling around the dance floor very elegantly together. They got a round of applause when they finished dancing.

 

there was a lively looking game show on the books this evening in the atrium but I missed it. 

Edited by Cruise Kay
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shipgeeks

shipgeeks

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Posted
8 minutes ago, JamesEM said:

As for the order in your bathroom, try wetting two face cloths and putting one on the shower drain and the other on the sink drain.

Order = odor?  If so, find the small floor drain (not in the shower) and pour a glass or two of tap water into it.

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azureblue50

azureblue50

Posted
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On 1/24/2023 at 3:24 PM, Rogueperson said:

 

I miss the 9 nights they used to have.  I'm actually reading one of my old live threads i did on Grandeur from Baltimore.  I've always enjoyed going to Charleston.  I think that port is underrated.  The 9 nights used to stop in Charleston, Canaveral, Miami, Nassau and cococay or Freeport.  They do 8 nights now, but i thought 9 nights had a better schedule.  8 nights seems rushed.

I found Miami to be a great port as well.  I've usually used Miami as a boarding post and never really explored it until I visited on my 2 solos out of Baltimore.  With uber/lyft, you pretty much have the freedom to go wherever you want.  You're still in the states, so most people have data on their phones without extra hassle.

 

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azureblue50

azureblue50

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Posted
Just now, azureblue50 said:

 

The do have 9-night sailings out of Baltimore.  It does not go to Miami.  We will be on Vision of the Seas May 25, 2023, it goes to Cococay, Nassau, and Bermuda.  Also, RC has a 9-night cruise to Canada in the fall.  As previously mentioned, it does have a 12-night itinerary to Southern Caribbean. 

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VTSKIandCRUISEGUY

VTSKIandCRUISEGUY

Posted
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11 hours ago, Cruise Kay said:

Today I ran into a lady in the gym who was there for her second workout of the day. She said, "honestly, I'm just trying to find things to fill up the day." She said she and her husband were on their 1st cruise ever with extended family. She said they were bored out of their minds because they don't do casino or drink. She said there is nothing to do on the ship. She said she was very disappointed in the quality and portions of the food.
 

Since her main complaint was there was nothing to do on the ship, I started to tell her about the Oasis class ships. She cut me off with, "we will never cruise again."

 

tonight the casino was packed, and the bars were hopping with various live music. I listened to a live jazz ensemble in Boleros for a long time and there was an adorable elderly couple shuffling around the dance floor very elegantly together. They got a round of applause when they finished dancing.

 

there was a lively looking game show on the books this evening in the atrium but I missed it. 

I'll never understand people who can't find anything to do on a ship.

Didn't you just love the high socks on the gentleman in that dance couple?

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Cruise Kay "Live from...." Rare

Cruise Kay

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Spent the day at Universal. No big surprises here, it's a touristy theme park that's super crowded and expensive. Didn't matter to me, this is exactly what I was in the mood for today. I enjoyed myself very much and now we're on the bus on the way back to the ship.

 

The shuttles all arrived around 930 this morning. I counted seven shuttles to take people over to the Kennedy space Center. There were four additional shuttles to take people either to universal or Seaworld. We piled on the bus and we were all given a wristband to help identify us when we came back. The bus was not full. We left close to on time. We stopped at Seaworld first and dropped off a family and then 10 minutes later we were dropped off at Universal. The ride was just over an hour. Of course this is Sunday and there was very little traffic until we got close to the park.

 

we arrived just before 11 and this gave us six hours to explore the park, which is exactly what was advertised. We were told to be back in that exact same spot to meet the bus at five.

 

Here's something I find quite interesting. There was no head counting of people on the bus or getting off the bus, there was no cross check of your name against any kind of list, they just let you off at the park, told you to be back by five, and counted on you to do that. When 5 o'clock rolled around, we pulled away. Nobody driving this bus has any clue if anybody got left behind. So I guess if you're a person or family that took too long to get back to the bus, you're going to be calling an Uber. 
 

I think it's great they did that but I feel a little anxious at the same time, because it's almost certain that some people took their time getting back to the bus and were shocked to find it gone. It's an hour drive back to the port and we are supposed to all be back on board by 630.

 

We are in port today with a few other ships, but they are too far away to get a good look at them. One of them is the Wonder of the seas, and one is an MSC ship that's very big. I know this because we drove past them on our way out.

 

I enjoyed the drive to the park. Of course we drove over multiple bridges and saw lots of sea birds, pelicans skimming the surface of the water, and I saw two alligators in little bitty ponds beside the freeway.

 

Lines were long at the park and six hours was plenty of time to see everything I wanted to see. Can't wait to get back on board and eat! I haven't had anything since breakfast. Tonight is the Bengals game and I'm a Bengals fan. They are showing it poolside but it's also available in our rooms.

Edited by Cruise Kay
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Biker19

Biker19

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, VTSKIandCRUISEGUY said:

I know it might seem unlikely, but it's blazingly fast. Upload is a bit slower though.

Sure, if you were used to crappy old shipboard internet, the new Starlink may seem great, but if you actually measure the performance (against a land based 5G connection), the numbers say otherwise.

 

Biker, who experienced Starlink on Enchantment recently and yes, it is good.

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Cruise Kay "Live from...." Rare

Cruise Kay

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Well I am just as happy as can be with the Internet here.
 

Today was perfect day at Coco cay. Oasis of the Seas is here and she docked about an hour ahead of us, so there were thousands of people debarking before we got off the ship. This did not bother me at all because I wasn't intending to get off the ship anyway. But it may have wrecked a few plans for some people who wanted prime lounge chairs.

 

I spent the morning being lazy, found a puzzle buddy and we worked a puzzle for a while at the communal puzzle table, and then I played name that tune, with a classic rock theme. I won!

 

 I made myself get off the ship just to get a few photos of the ships side-by-side. More laziness this afternoon and a massage.

 

Today the sewage smell disappeared from my bathroom. It did resurface in a random pocket of the ship elsewhere but I am relieved to have it gone.

 

People began returning to the ship in droves about 2 o'clock and everybody was tired and sunburned. Looks like they had a great day though. And of course, the pools and sundeck we're heavily utilized all day as well. It was really a lovely day. There were two princess ships anchored nearby at their tiny little private island and it was fun watching the tenders go back-and-forth.

 

Last night they had several shows and events, 15 minutes apart, one after the other well up until midnight. I think they wanted everyone to stay up super late. Tonight, there's not a lot going on beyond live music. I think they want everyone to end up in the casino.

 

Had breakfast in the main dining room this morning for the first time and it was really great. It was the first time on this cruise that I had really hot food. I will be eating there the rest of the time.
 

Tomorrow is Nassau. Not planning to get off the ship. So today was my last walking around on land until Friday!

Edited by Cruise Kay
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