Enchantment Review - Mobility, Security, etc

[mtempelaar]

We just got off Enchantment of the Seas in Athens yesterday.  We had a wonderful time, but with some challenges and concerns.  
 

This ship is clearly showing its age, and needs a drydocking, but it was comfy, decently maintained given time since last drydock and the crew overall is excellent.  This was a Rome to Athens Med cruise, and traveling with someone in a wheelchair presents new challenges we aren’t used to.  
 

Food was decent, though their tendency to put mashed potatoes with everything got tiresome.   Steaks in main dining room were tasty and tender, though they need to look up a recipe for chimichurri because they clearly don’t know what it is.  Windjammer was ok but I think this is the first cruise I lost weight on.   The iced tea situation is bad.  There is no plain unsweetened ice tea.  I had to make my own.

 

Entertainment catered to the Latino community.  No pool parties at night 🤷‍♀️.  

Now to the items I really want to call put as few reviews mention these:

Port Days: Shore excursion were limited for us as we had someone in a wheelchair and our ports generally weren’t wheelchair friendly. The Ephesus shore excursion (Panoramic City Sights) was not exactly as described and a disappointing waste of money.   I had low expections but it was lower than I expected.  Pompeii wheelchair friend “Easy Exploration” was fantastic and kudos to the tour company.  Totally wheelchair friendly.  Kudos also to the crew - we could get the wheelchair on and off the tenders easily, HOWEVER the chair lifts to get the disabled person are not entirely functional and tend to break down. They cannot be relied upon.

 

My last two comments are items important security issues:

1) We had a connecting room but weren’t actually connected with the people on the other side of the door.  To our horror we discovered on the last night that the door was actually unlocked and we couldn’t lock it.  You could easily go from one cabin to the other even though it should have been locked.  
2) My brother in law left his ipad in our cabin to go to a massage.  While he was in the spa we went to the pool area and I texted him where to meet us.  Instead he went to our cabin, found the steward and convinced the steward to let him into our cabin to remove his phone and ipad, which could have easily been mine and the steward wouldn’t have known that.  My brother in law was quite proud of his “social engineering” to get in but I was NOT happy.  No one should ever be let into the cabin of a different guest.  
 

We have been fortunate in that 20+ cruises we have not had anything stolen, from the safe or otherwise, but these two security issues certainly give me great pause and will change my behaviors for future cruises.  
 

Again, great cruise overall, but there were issues. 

 

 

[shipgeeks]

m, thank you for posting.  I'm sorry your cruise was not as flawless as the five we did on Enchantment just before she went to the Med.  We did not, however, have to deal with a wheelchair; I imagine that can open up a lot of challenges in any part of the world.

I'm surprised at your mention of the Latino community. Are you referring to a large number of Latino passengers?  Entertainment in Bolero's?

I, too, would be unhappy with the two security issues you mentioned.  I've never heard of either happening, and we have been in several connecting (but not connected) cabins over the years.

 

[gail-s]

When we were on Enchantment in Europe over the summer there were no night time pool parties either.  Just the movies and even those were scarcely attended.  I think most people were exhausted from their day and went to bed early.  

[mtempelaar]

21 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

m, thank you for posting.  I'm sorry your cruise was not as flawless as the five we did on Enchantment just before she went to the Med.  We did not, however, have to deal with a wheelchair; I imagine that can open up a lot of challenges in any part of the world.

I'm surprised at your mention of the Latino community. Are you referring to a large number of Latino passengers?  Entertainment in Bolero's?

I, too, would be unhappy with the two security issues you mentioned.  I've never heard of either happening, and we have been in several connecting (but not connected) cabins over the years.

 

There was a huge Latino contingent on the ship so the entertainment seemed to cater to that mostly throughout the venues. Nothing wrong with that, just that I have two left feet if I try and salsa, though Halloween was more universal music to cater to all tastes. 
 

Even when it wasn’t salsa/latin music, other than 80s mix tape the entertainment was a bit off.  Pool music was slowed down Caribbean variations of Lionel Richie and Hall and Oates.  Even the spa playlist threw me off when they played a song that I typically only hear at a synagogue. It wasn’t that it was inappropriate given how it translates, just unexpected and I squirmed a bit on it.  
 

The security concerns though - I am dumbfounded by the fact that my steward let someone into our cabin.   I have been stewing on that one for a week now.    
 

i also forgot to mention that one of my brother in laws found plastic in his french onion soup.   This was called out to the head waiter and the chef came by.  They took my brother in laws cabin number “to make it right” but whatever they intended never happened.