Review: Enchantment of the Seas Feb 14-18

[marle7]

We have just arrived home from a 4 day cruise on Enchantment of the Seas. We flew down the day before and arrived at the port terminal at 11:15 a.m. on the day of departure.

 

They were not quite ready for us, and had a wedding party to board first, so some German lady kept yelling at everyone to "fill up this row first" before the next one. :D At 11:30, they called the wedding party first, then Diamond, Platinum and Suites next. We walked right in and had our sea pass cards in about 10 minutes and were on the ship 5 minutes later. I'm going to break this review down into sections so it will be easier to follow, (I hope).

 

Stateroom We were in an Owner's Suite, 8022, and our friends were in a JS, 8636. We had Sylvia as our attendant and they had Max. Both were quite outstanding. Our friends who had never cruised before, were absolutely delighted with Max.

 

We asked Sylvia to have ice for us at 5 p.m. every day, and it was not a problem at all. We rarely saw her, but she always seemed to know when we'd left our stateroom, and it was always made up by the time we got back, even if we'd only been gone for an hour!

 

This OS was the biggest we have ever stayed in. Generally, on most ships the OS is large, but the balcony is smaller than a GS. This balcony was huge and had room for a table, two chairs, and two lounge chairs with a table in between them. The bed was closer to the door and had curtains that you could pull to separate it from the living area which was by the balcony doors.

 

The bathroom was quite large, with double sinks, a separate whirlpool jet bathtub and a separate stand up shower. The door didn't quite close on the shower, and it was a bit tight, so don't be thinking you're going to have romantic showers together in it. :D Most of the separate showers I've seen on RC bathrooms had a shelf in them to put shampoo and stuff, but this one didn't, and it was sort of a challenge to get to the stuff we had to put on the floor of the shower (it was really tight!), but the shower itself was great with a really good water pressure and plenty of hot water.

 

The stateroom is showing a few signs of wear, but nothing major. There was a stain on the couch, and the seams are separating a bit on the wallpaper, but really, not big issue at all.

 

Windjammer Marketplace

Was packed. All the time. I've never seen anything like it. It was hard to find a table at breakfast, even in the outside area, and people seemed to wander around not knowing which way to go in line. I'd say the food was pretty good. We only ate breakfast there, though. The first day, they did have the honey stung chicken which was lovely, and one of my friends fell in love with the ceasar salad. The made to order egg people were great and the omelettes turned out fluffy and creamy inside at the same time.

 

Dining Room

We had a table for 4. I have to say, this is the first dining room on RC that I've seen so many tables for 4! We were on the 5th deck, in My Fair Lady, by the railing overlooking the Captain's table. I heard the Maitre D telling people as they entered that even numbered cabins were on 5, and odd numbers were on deck 4.

 

Edwin was our waiter, with Christopher as his assistant, and Kitkat (hey, that's what he told us to call him!) as our head waiter, or Assistant Maitre D.

 

We only ate in the dining room two nights (more on that in a minute). and the staff were great. Edwin did have some trouble remembering my mushroom allergy, even though I reminded him each time we sat down, but when my dinner arrived with mushrooms on the plate, I sort of just looked at him, and he whisked it away immediately, apologizing profusely, and another plate arrived within a reasonable timeframe. Christopher, was great, and is going to make a great waiter someday when he gets promoted. Kitkat, as he likes to be called, was very friendly, helpful and stopped by both nights to chat, check on things, open wine and just generally offer helpful information.

 

Chops

We ate at Chops on the third night of our 4 night cruise. I want to commend Dave, the Maitre D, especially. He was funny, helpful, and anything we wanted, was ours to ask for. He made a point of saying if it wasn't on the menu and we wanted something in particular, we should let him know. We were quite content with the menu as it stood, so we didn't need to take him up on it though. Our friends loved it so much, they wanted to eat there again, so we asked Dave if he could accommodate us again the next night, and he was able to do so.

 

to be continued

[GrammyJill]

I'm patiently waiting for part 2! lol

 

Can't wait to hear all about the solarium. Your doing great so far.

 

Don't keep us waiting too long! :p

[GrammyJill]

oh jeeze, see I'm even impatient for the site to load!

[GrammyJill]

how annoying!

[marle7]

Casino

This was the busiest Casino I've ever seen, on all the RC ships we've sailed on. The slots were pretty tight for the most part, but the black jack tables were fun and the dealers were friendly. The formal night was non smoking, and unlike Brilliance, it didn't seem to impact the traffic in the Casino at all. I like the fact that on many of the slot machines, you could insert your sea pass card to collect points. At the end of the cruise you can cash in your points for different things, depending on how many you had accumulated.

 

Coco Cay, Key West and Day at Sea

 

Coco Cay was fun, although it was cloudy and breezy all day. That didn't stop a number of people returning to the ship with sunburns though! My husband and my friends did the wave runner thing, while I just relaxed on the beach.

 

We've been to Key West several times, but my friends hadn't. We did have to clear immigration on the ship beforehand. Because we are Canadian, and made up about 1% if the people sailing, it was a breeze to get through. We were called by deck, and being on the 8th deck, we were called first. I think it took all of 5 minutes to get through. Once through, they punched a hole in our seapass cards and we were free to leave the ship. The two husbands went parasailing and we just walked around and shopped a bit. We tried to have lunch at the Hogs Breath, but it was way too busy, so we ended up at the Hard Rock Cafe which was decent enough.

 

The day at sea was extremely busy on deck. We walked around the top and bottom decks and through the Solarium about 11 a.m. and were unable to find chairs anywhere. We did notice that several chairs had been "saved" with no one in them for some time.

 

We gave up on that and spent some time on our balcony until it was time for hubby to play in the blackjack tournament. There was no slots tournament on this cruise which was a little disappointing.

 

Concierge

I had received an email from Julian before we left, and I emailed him back with some spa and Chops reservations. He never replied to me, so we had no way of knowing whether he'd made them or not. Unfortunately, both reservations were messed up. We had asked for Chops for Sat, but got a notice in our stateroom for Friday night. We took the email we had sent to Julian down to Chops and they were able to change the reservation immediately.

 

We had booked hot stone massages for the day at Sea. We blithely went to port in Key West on Sat, only to return to a message from the spa that we had missed our appointments that morning and would be charged for them. Again, we took the email we had sent Julian up to the spa, and I said I would not be paying for them since that was not the day we had booked. They were able to change it to the Sunday, but not at the time we had originally requested.

 

We didn't use the lounge much as we were travelling with people who could not use it, but we did drop in one night to catch one of Julian's "performances". He was highly entertaining and it was fun to watch.

 

Staff

The staff on Enchantment were far and away the best staff we have ever encountered on a Royal Caribbean cruise. In fact, we were so impressed, that when we saw the Captain dining in Chops the last night of the cruise, I made a point of telling him how impressed we were with the staff. Everyone was cheerful, helpful and ready to do whatever it took to make a person's vacation the "best". There was a definite "can do" attitude on this cruise.

 

The captain was Srecko Ban, and the Cruise Director was Marc Walker.

 

We didn't participate in most of the cruise activities, but Marc was funny, and not intrusive with his announcements.

 

Disembarkation

Was easy and painless. We had white tags and were called promptly at 8:30. We were off the ship and had our bags within 10 minutes and at the airport 15 minutes after that.

 

We have sailed on several RC ships. This was (next to the Mariner) one of our very favourite ships and cruises, and we would not hesitate to sail her again.

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions if I can!

[marle7]

I'm patiently waiting for part 2! lol

 

Can't wait to hear all about the solarium. Your doing great so far.

 

Don't keep us waiting too long! :p

 

This site is driving me crazy! It takes so long to load.

The Solarium is beautiful. It has a retractable roof and is done in teak. The staff strictly enforced the no children rule in the pool and hot tub, but unfortunately, we could never get a chair in there! Our friends did though, and they loved it. (ok, they rise a little earlier than we do, especially on sea days):D

[el_matador]

Sorry if this is a repost, but I got timed out.

 

Thanks for the review! I'll be taking a cruise on the Enchantment leaving this coming saturday the 23rd! I can't wait, as it's my first cruise. We're going to spend 2 nights in Miami/Ft lauderdale first, so that should be awesome.

 

A couple questions -

 

1. how are the drink prices? Im aware of daily specials, but generally for a domestic beer, or bar rail drink, how much do they run?

 

2. Did you notice if there was any poker going on in the casino?

 

Thank you!

[marle7]

1. Drink prices. I will check our sea pass account and get back to you on that one. Mostly my husband signed for the drinks. I do know they have a Martini happy hour at the schooner bar, when martini's were a special price with the house vodka.

 

2. There was one poker table as I recall, plus there was a texas hold em table and there was also a texas hold em tournament during the sea day.

 

You picked a great ship for your first cruise. My friends were first time cruisers on this one and they liked it so much they are looking at booking another one.

[marle7]

A few other things I should note for interest's sake. :D

 

The safe in the room is operated by a credit card rather than punching a code in. This is a bit of a pain, since you need to keep your credit card out at all times, which was one more thing to make sure we didn't misplace since we rarely carry wallets on the ship.

 

The only non smoking bar, for those who care, was the Champagne bar. I found it a bit strange, that the smoking area for the schooner bar was at the front, so all the non smokers had to walk by all us smokers to get to the non smoking section.

 

The formal night was the second night, (Coco Cay day), all other nights were casual. I saw lots of suits but a lot less tuxes on this cruise.

 

Room service takes about 30 minutes. They once sent us two pizzas instead of two cheese plates. :D It was very nice to see Carr's water crackers served with the cheese plates instead of the usual soda crackers. We were also able to order drinks through room service. The rooms actually had a cruise directory book which included the room service menu, rather than just having it on their TV channel.

[el_matador]

Thank you for the reply, We leave Thursday night! I can't wait.

[marle7]

I checked with my husband, and he recalls that Canadian Club and coke, (my drink of choice, mostly) was $5.95 and his McCallen 12 yr old was $8.00.

[marle7]

double post.

[tngirl1979]

Did they have post on TV also for the menu or was it just in the books? Did you have access to your seapass on tv???

[rjfitz]

How about the water temperature in CocoCay? We will be there next week on Enchantment! :D

[ChoosinCruisin]

I completely agree about the casino staff. The best in the fleet as far as we are concerned. Did anyone stand out? Are you a Club Royale member?

[marle7]

Did they have post on TV also for the menu or was it just in the books? Did you have access to your seapass on tv???

 

 

They did have access on the TV as well for both the menu and the seapass.

How about the water temperature in CocoCay? We will be there next week on Enchantment! :D

 

 

The water was pretty cool while we were there. Of course, it was a cloudy, rather breezy day so that made a difference.

 

 

I completely agree about the casino staff. The best in the fleet as far as we are concerned. Did anyone stand out? Are you a Club Royale member?

 

My husband spent more time at the tables than I did, so I'll ask him if anyone stood out. We are not Club Royale members, because we've never been asked. We certainly spend enough in the Casino though, but probably not at their minimums.:rolleyes:

[debshomespun]

A little note about the safes on the Enchantment. Rather than use a credit card to open and close them, you could use an old gift card. You just need to use something with the strip on the back like a credit card. Also, maybe an old gas card.

 

The Enchantment is a very intimate ship. I also agree their crew are one of the friendliest and best of the RC Fleet. We had a wonderful time on our B2B! I sure do wish I was back on board now!

[carol-lamb]

Marle7,

 

We were the wedding party who boarded the ship first on the 14th!! It was my oldest son's wedding and it couldn't have been more perfect!! Everything went smoothly - from boarding the ship, being able to get in our staterooms to get dressed, the ceremony, and a beautiful buffet lunch.

 

This was my first cruise and I had a blast. I definitely have the cruise bug. I have to agree with you on your comments about the crew. Of course, I have nothing to compare it to, but I have never been treated so nicely. The personal attention was great. Our stateroom attendant Joel was fantastic and he really was nice to my other son and daughter who had a cabin across from ours. My 15 year old daughter was so taken about how he would always use her name. She slept in late one day and when my husband went back to wake her up, we saw Joel in the hallway and he was apologizing to us for knocking on her door and waking her. I told him he should have dragged her out of bed to get her moving. She felt so bad because he actually just knocked on the door and she thought it was us and she got up and yelled "What" as she opened the door. Joel quickly apologized to her and she said she just kept telling him how sorry she was that she yelled at him!!

 

The service in the dining room was also excellent. Our waiter was Joe and Joey was our assistant waiter. Enrico from Italy was our head waiter. We were always addressed by our first names and treated like royalty.

 

We had breakfast everyday in the Windjammer and although it was very crowded, we never had trouble finding a seat. I agree, the made to order omelettes were so good - I had one every day.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise as much as I did!!

[marle7]

That was a large wedding party! We were sitting in the Schooner bar when the bride went by. She looked absolutely lovely.

 

 

I think so far, Enchantment has been one of my favourite ships, although we loved Mariner as well.

[carol-lamb]

That was a large wedding party! We were sitting in the Schooner bar when the bride went by. She looked absolutely lovely.

 

 

I think so far, Enchantment has been one of my favourite ships, although we loved Mariner as well.

 

 

 

There were only 9 of us from our side of the family and 50 something from my DIL's family. Most of us were from Michigan and some of her family lives in Florida.

 

I have to agree, she did look lovely. Her name is Kim and she and I are especially close - more like best friends. Her parents are wonderful and her Mom told me on the cruise that she is glad her daughter found a friend in me because I like to do things with Kim that she really doesn't like to do, like shopping!! That's not too hard to talk me into doing!!