Enchantment 9-11-06 review part 2

[goingtocruise]

Ship was beautiful. I will try to give a little rewiew of this, but I don't pay alot of attention to my physical surroundings. I'm very detail oriented on every other aspect of my life, but probably couldn't tell you if someone had flowers or trees planted in their yard. To my defense I will say, that I am usually looking at most things through the lens of a camera. Things I did notice. The curtain in the theater. It is truly a work of art. The seats in the theater and around this ship are not made for comfort. I never really found one you could sit upright in, they all leaned back. Spotlight lounge, had rows of chairs that faced the stage and rows with the back to the stage, so most of the time only half of the lounge was used. To get to the Spotlight lounge, you had to walk through a smokey Schooner Bar. You had to walk between the piano player and the audience. Not a great setup and everyone stares when you walk past while interupting the performance. The casino was very interesting. When you walk up the ramp, the floor is clear and there is treasure and fake fish under your feet. I walked up on deck one day when mom was resting. Took a few pictures and even ran over to the bungee trampolines to snap a pic. Don't remember much about it except the kids seemed to be having fun in the splash pool. Missed the elevator floor telling us what day it was (voyager class). If you want tea, coffee or lemonade after hours, the machines are on the pool deck, just outside the Windjammer on the right. Bring a glass as they rarely had empty cups stocked there. The centrum is a nice place to sit and wait for the dining room to open. Couldn't look up seapass account on tv's, must go to pursers desk. Our luggage arrived before the safety drill. All unpacked and put away before supper.

 

Dinner in My Fair Lady dining room. Wonderful. I have always loved visiting with our tablemates on my other cruises and have always enjoyed them. But this time, we had the best tablemates anyone could ever have. They were interesting, funny and had such a great attitude. Being a small ship, we ran into them everywhere and sat together at many activities. We sat at a table for 8, and everyone showed up on time each night. Everyone always looked nice. Our waiter was Cosmin (best I have had). He actually did magic tricks for us. He was leaving to go home to Romania that week. Our assistant waiter was Wayne. While he was nice and friendly, he was very quiet and never did catch onto the drinks we each had. I think six of us had tea everynight and 2 had soda, so by the last night, he should have remembered that. Didn't affect anything. just an observation as compared to other cruises. Our head waiter was Mirage. He was at our table every night for awhile. He was trying to find a food one of our tablemates would like. This was frustrating for our waiter. The menu seemed to have a lot of choices, and if you didn't like them, there was always pasta, steak, or grilled chicken. Granted, I don't try new food, but I was very pleased with the grilled chicken and pasta side the first 3 night. The 4th night was veal parmaissan & lobster and the 5th was turkey, potatoes and dressing, with a ceasar salad served family style. Do not miss the mashed potatos in the dining room, or Windjammer, they are to die for. You can order 2 desserts and they don't blink an eye. (Which is why my pants are just starting to fit again). Dinner took a lot longer on this cruise. Maybe service was slower, or maybe we were just having to much fun. Missed most of the captains reception, but did get a picture with him another night, because he was very visible everywhere. Also very humorous.

 

Had breakfast and lunch in the dining room one time. Met some great people there also. I will make some personal comments here. I'm not putting anything down as I have enjoyed everyone of my cruises. The people and staff on this cruise were the best of any I have taken. Everyone was always calm, polite, friendly and fun. It was older crowd. Only 200 and some kids on board. All well behaved. Never saw any really intoxicated people. There was no shoving to get on the elevators, which always seemed to have enough room. Remember, I usually go on the Voyager Class, so I am comparing apples to watermelons. This cruise was perfect for my mother and I to go one. The smaller ship, older people, 5 days, less walking, etc. My teens however would have a lot more to do on the Voyager ships. I don't mean the kids clubs, as they no longer use them, or the pools. There seemed to be less activities. The only day that they had much going on was the sea day (which they should have more), but can usually find something more on port days.

 

We did the napkin folding, scrapbooking, towel folding and the backstage tour. They were all very good. Of course we saw the Quest and Love and Marriage Game. Other ships we were on, the audience picked the contestants for the Love and Marriage Game. This time, they picked out of a hat. Therefore, there was one couple that should not have been picked. The lady didn't have a clue as to what was going on. The mind may have been going a little. The comedian was a riot. Went back to see the adult version and it was still just PG. Joey from the activities staff was much more obscene. He could tell a lie every minute. Never knew what to believe. Saw the activities staff everywhere. They must never rest. You couldn't walk from one side of the ship to the next without running into one of them. Paul the cruise director always had a joke at the beginning of a show. Wrote 2 of the down to tell the family when I got home. He tells them better than I do, but still got a laugh.

 

The evening shows. What do I say? I've seen better, but still thought they were good. The first one, Stage to Screen was better than Rock on Broadway(?). Enjoyed the backstage tour and talking with the performers. Couldn't stay awake for the magician, but caught parts of it and it sounded good. Did you know the performers have a camera and monitor so they can zoom in on audience members before the performance and see what they are doing? They do, and they entertain themselves that way. After hearing about this on the backstage tour, I thought about taking a sign so they knew that I knew they were watching. They also know when you sleep though their performance. They can see the audience, so keep that in mind.

 

Shore excursions...not as many good ones offered as Carnival has. Have known this for awhile, but thought I would mention it. Not a good enough reason to go back to Carnival. It didn't really matter this trip since moms activity level dictated what we could do. We had prebooked the Mexican Folkloric Show and The Everglades tour at departure. Cancelled the Everglades tour since we did that on our own before boarding. The night before Cozumel, we got a note saying the Mexican Show was cancelled for lack of interest. Have heard of this one being cancelled several times and had a backup plan. Hired a taxi $50.00 to take us to San Gervasio Ruins. Of course the ground is rough and mom couldn't walk far, so we were back in the cab withing 45 minutes. He waited for us. Not more that 2 minutes after entering the cab, it poured. He dropped us off downtown for shopping and it rained again. Didn't buy anything, but shopped a long time.

 

Private island of Coco Cay. Didn't stay long, hot and not much to do. Mom couldn't get in water. Not much to buy. Went back to ship on next ferry. I wandered over to take a few pictures, would have stayed to see the island. I will say, that Labadee has Coco Cay beat many times over. Labadee is much prettier, has a lot more shopping (not just t'shirts) and much better coastline. We usually spend the better part of the day at Labadee. Did not have lunch on the island of Coco Cay, so I can't really comment.

 

Overall, this was a great vacation. Cruise great, people great, Ft. Lauderdale ok and air transportation uneventful (best kind). Had a nice, relaxing time and had a chance to spend time with mom. This was a different way of doing a vacation. My idea of a vacation is to almost kill yourself doing everything and then come home to relax, ( I feel like I get my moneys worth). The next cruise, I will take the kids again. They are teenagers that couldn't get away this time, so they stayed home with my husband. It will probably be on RCCL(Voyager Class), but would like to try Princess at least once. Movies under the stars with popcorn. I have popcorn daily and there is no place to get it on RCCL.

 

Any questions? I'd be happy to answer.