My review Enchantment of the Seas- 1/21/08 to 1/26/08

[onelifetolive2]

DH’s and my first cruise. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale a day before and stayed at the Gallery One. Very nice hotel… poor customer service. I am writing a detailed review through Trip advisor if anyone is interested. We woke the next morning about 8 am and got ready to leave. We were at the port by 10:45 am and on the ship by 11:15 am. This was a very easy process. We didn’t have to wait in line since we were in a suite.

Our first impression was good. The staff was very nice and explained how the rooms weren’t ready until 1 pm (already knew) and that we could walk around the ship and have lunch if we wanted. We first did a quick walk through to get our directions head out, then I went and made Chops reservations for the formal night. We were in the Windjammer by 11:45 am sitting and eating. The food was good, but not a lot of choices the first lunch. I am very picky when it comes to food, so I am probably just nit-picking here. My husband loved the food and the service. Thanks to you guys we knew not to take the drinks assuming they were free. A lot of people did than complained the next day that their bill showed the “free” drink really was $7.15.

After lunch (approx 1 pm) we headed to our stateroom GS 8034. We met Syliva, our stateroom attendant, and she told us she wasn’t quite ready yet. No worries, we headed down stairs and people watched for a ½ hour. When we finally got settled in we crashed. We were very tired already! Our room was wonderful. Huge, clean, and comfortable. It could use a little updating, but it was very nice. We had a bottle of champagne (I ordered) and chocolate covered strawberries waiting. We also had a big bottle of Evan. We unpacked and stayed in our room until the Muster. It went by fine… maybe 20 mins tops? After that we went back to the stateroom for our personal bon voyage party. It was nice sitting on the balcony watching the ship leave port. It was VERY windy that day and we felt every inch of that ship move.

After the ship left port I went down stairs and waited for the Madre D. There was a long line and it was pretty un-organized. Anyway, I got to see him and changed our table assignments to a table for two… no problems. We had second setting and our table was right next to the captain’s table, but we never saw him. After that went back to the room and had a nap. Woke up in time to get showered and changed for dinner.

Our waiter was wonderful, Rafael and assistant waiter Chris, took care of us tremendously. Unfortunately, we had to end dinner short (didn’t even get to the salad!) because DH was really sea-sick. We ended back in the room and I ordered room service for myself. Cheese pizza and the salad were very good. DH crashed and I put the patch on him. He is sooo stubborn sometimes. I was smart and started taking Bonine the day before! Anyway, that was our first night!

The next day was a sea day. I woke up at my normal time, 5 am. DH was still sleeping so I walked around the ship and got some coffee. It’s so quite this time in the morning. We had breakfast delivered to our room (quite good also) and just hung out on the balcony. DH was feeling better by lunch so we stopped at the Windjammer and had a nice lunch. We walked around more and decided what we were going to do that evening after dinner. Our Chops reservations were at 6 pm so around 4 pm we showered and changed. Around 5:30 pm we introduced ourselves to Julian the concierge and enjoyed a drink and appetizers. We would have spent more time in the concierge lounge, but we felt quite uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong Julian is wonderful and extremely nice, but we were the only couple under 30 in the whole room. Not that this was a bad thing… I just felt out of place that is all. Anyway… we went to Chops and had a fabulous meal! Our waiters Jamie and Chorzon(?) were wonderful. Truly the highlight of the evening. Well worth the $100 extra added to our bill ($50 for the meal and $50 for wine and after dinner coffee). We added extra tips to our tab as well because it was well deserved. I don’t remember if we saw the show or not. Nothing else to report this day. Oh, we did get a cheese and cracker plate delivered this night.

The next morning was Belize. We had a tour scheduled (the ATV tour) and were told to tender about 9 am. Well we wanted to get off earlier to do some shopping so got the VIP tender tickets through Julian and we were the 2nd tender off. We walked around Belize for an hour a so. Didn’t impress us much. As the adult comic said that night, “Nothing but a huge garage sale!” We left for our tour about 10 am and really enjoyed ourselves. Our tour guide was excellent. The only part I didn’t like was climbing into a steep cave. Not mentioned on the ticket in anyway… It rained the majority of the time.

We came back after the tour and showered since we were covered from head to toe in mud. We ordered room service for lunch and just crashed. We did a lot of sleeping on this vacation! We had our first full dinner in the main room. Our waiters were generally happy to see us and concerned for my husband’s health. He was feeling much better, but still felt the boat move a lot. The food was fabulous. Again, I am really picky but this was great! Our dinner ended about 10:30 pm that night. I think this night was the Quest. We saw it, but weren’t impressed. A lot of overgrown children doing really silly things if you ask me. This is my opinion only, so don’t be mad because I didn’t care for the show. We also stayed up for the adult comedian, again, weren’t too impressed. We left before the end. We called it a night and went back to the room to get ready for Cozumel.

I loved Cozumel. We did the Passion Island tour and it was great. The beach and water were so pretty. The food was terrible and the drinks were gross, but I didn’t go to the beach to eat and drink. I got fried that day. I put on so much sunscreen so I’m not sure how that happened. I just wish we were at the beach longer… 3 hours really… the other two hours are transportation to and from the island. The weather was wonderful this day. That night we had another wonderful meal and saw the show. The singers were really great. I think we spent our only time in the hot tub this night. We never did make it to the pools at all.

The next day (and last) was Key West. It was ok. We had to go through “customs”. We waited in the Casino for over an hour to have someone look at our passports… We were off the ship by 12:30 pm. Too busy and congested for my taste. We had never been there before so we just walked around for a few hours. Had some really good Key Lime pie though. We also ate lunch at a nice restaurant by the water. I had a salad with steak and it was surprising good. The weather was wonderful as well. We went back to the ship and packed. We decided to carry off our own luggage so we just kept them in the room. After that we went to the casino and won $45 on the slots then went to the show. We had our last meal in the dining room and tipped our staff above and beyond the “requested” amounts. They really deserved it! We called it a night after that and got ready to leave the next morning.

We had breakfast in the dining room the last morning and spoke to an older couple who cruised quite frequently. They told us they felt the boat move a lot too and wondered if the stabilizers were working properly. To be honest, we were quite relieved hearing this and felt much better about being sick. We were required to wait in the Spotlight lounge. This, in my opinion, was nuts. Why keep all these people two decks above the disembarking deck? Anyway, we carried our own luggage off and were off the boat by 9 a.m. All I am going to say is there are a lot of rude people in this world! We caught a cab and went to the hotel. Sheridan Yankee Clipper (HORRIBLE). I have a review coming for Tripadvisor if interested.

To summarize: The cruise was great! I’m not sure if we will do one anytime soon because we prefer the land based vacations a little better. The staff was truly wonderful. Couldn’t ask for more! For five days our bill was just over $200.00. Not bad I’d say. We don’t drink much, and when we did we drank in the concierge lounge. We also pre-paid our tours and hotels. When we do cruise again it will defiantly by on Royal Caribbean.

I have pictures if someone wants to see... questions just ask!

[Ardrossin]

Great Review !!! Was on the ship with you !! I didn't find the motion that bad, considering that a couple times there were 10 -12 ft seas. I did see a few others that were affected, but hey, what can you do about the waves ??? I overheard someone speaking to one of the engineers in the stairwell, and he said the stabilizers were out and operating, but can only do so much. Personally, that rocking motion puts me right to sleep. I am with you on the food...even good restaurants pale by comparison. And I agree with the big garage sale comment. My DD's bought key chains and stuff, but thats about it.

We spoke to some folks in Cozumel who were on the Carnival ship docked beside us. What they told us has reinforced that we're going to stay with RCI...I'll leave it at that!

[Schplinky]

We were on with you, too. Someone in our group actually made a comment that you can barely feel the ship move. Guess that goes to show we all have different sensitivity to it. We thought it was a faily average cruise, motion-wise.

[phillychick]

Thanks for the review. I've been on the EOS & I'm sailing her again on 3/3 but a different itinerary then my prior cruise. Did you make it to the Schooner's Bar - how was the piano player? Also, it says that we dock in Key West @ noon, what time do you go through customs? Were people off the ship by 12? earlier? I see that you didn't make it off the ship until after 12.

 

I'd love to see you pictures.

 

Thanks,

 

Barbara from Philly

[Conanc]

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a nice time!

[tanyanubin]

We were on your cruise, also. I posted a review yesterday (I think). It was kinda rough seas. We all felt it. We were in an aft suite, and the beds vibrated like in the Exorcist! lol...Still, they were very comfortable. I'm sorry you felt out of place in the concierge lounge. We are some of the 'older people' you saw in there, lol, and there were plenty who were older than us. Julian did more than the concierge on my other cruise (Im a newbie, too). Did you see his shows on the last 2 nights? We had fun on our excursions, too, and felt the same way about Key West....touristy. Sorry your H was sick, but glad you had fun.