Enchantment out of Panama: We've Been Immersed!

[lacruiser]

Well, friends, having just returned from the inaugural sailing of Enchantment's new Central American route, I thought I'd share our perceptions of the good, the bad and the ugly. Just for background, we are in our mid 50's, like port intensive itineraries, snorkel anywhere we can, and prefer independent shore excursions. DH was born in Cuba and grew up in South Florida, so he's fluent in Spanish; on a 1-10 scale, with fluent being a 10, I'm about a 6.5. We'd had this trip booked since last December, so when we got the notification that it was officially classified as an "immersion" cruise, we weren't put off, figuring we could handle the language issue. So, enough about us -- here goes!

 

The Ship

Enchantment overall is in very good condition, as I've generally found all RCI ships. The lengthening process was a great idea, specially as it provided for a Concierge Lounge on one side that has great views. The pool deck is great, and the arches are definitely cool. We didn't spend a great deal of time out on the pool deck because (1) we had a port almost every day, and (2) I'm finally out of the "must spend as many hours as possible catching rays" phase, but the area was lovely and didn't feel crowded. I thought the art was particularly nice on this ship.

 

Having said this, I must say that some of the ship seems "tired" in terms of decor, color scheme, etc. We were in a Grand Suite and then an Owner's Suite (and more about that later!), and I peeked into as many cabins as possible up and down the halls, and the cabin decoration could certainly use freshening. Hall carpeting often looked as though parts of it were wet (although they weren't -- I checked), and our sofa in the Grand Suite had a really nasty-shaped stain on it. All cabins that I saw had the new bedding. It’s nice, but I wish that comforter wasn’t quite so heavy.

 

Here's what happened about the room: we were originally booked into an aft jr suite. After seeing rates go down, I ended up upgrading (and getting $$ back!) to a Grand Suite. However, upon arrival, we discovered that several things in that room didn't work properly (sliding glass door latch wouldn't close & lock properly, lamp above one side of bed was falling out of the wall, and seems like there was something else that I don't remember now). We informed Guest Relations and were told that we'd be moved after everyone had gotten aboard. Sounded good, so we walked around, had lunch in the Windjammer, checked out our table, etc. Round about 8:30 p.m., 2 out of 3 bags had still not materialized and we hadn't heard from Guest Relations, so DH is getting aggravated. Went down to see what was up, and eventually found that 2 bags had been held by security, which no one had bothered to tell us. Here's what happened with that: DH had stuck a couple of bottles of champagne into the bags (no flames, please) so they were held. I might add that this was a first -- the bags being held, I mean -- as we'd always brought bottles onboard. No problem; they were welcome to keep the bubbly, but it would have been nice if they'd called our room to say "hey, we've got your bags and you need to come down so we can open them and find out what you've smuggled!" You must be present for them to open your bags. The staff claimed a call had been made, but that was not true.

 

At any rate, once we sorted that out they moved us into an Owner's Suite since there were no other Grand's available -- nice! Tons of room and a wonderful bathroom complete with jacuzzi, bidet and lovely glassed in shower. This was a fantastic upgrade, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Food

The Windjammer has the “marketplace” redo, with multiple stations. We found the food to be about the same as we were accustomed to; some hits and some misses. (Did make a point of trying the Honey Stung Chicken on the first day – come on, folks – it’s just breaded chicken!) One negative here: the service in the Windjammer was absolutely non-existent. We NEVER had a server come by to ask if we needed drinks (always had to get up and get them) and tables were slow to be cleared. We finally said something to one of the supervisors, who appeared surprised, but the situation never improved. We generally eat breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer, but it was such a zoo that we finally opted for the main dining room by about the 4th day.

 

Food in the main dining room was excellent. We noticed several different items on the menu, and enjoyed them. We were placed at a table for 2, which was not our preference since we like big tables. We had emailed RCI to ask for a large table with some English speakers, but when we checked with the maitre d’ about why we had the two top, he told us that they didn’t have any tables with English speakers for the late seating to put us with!! Hence our deuce. It was a great table, though, right next to the Captain’s table, so we got to watch the action there.

 

We ate in Chops one night, and had the usual excellent service and food. The one negative was that we had a very dour waiter, who complained about how few people were eating in the restaurant. Which brings me to…

 

Immersion Items

When RCI says immersion, by golly they MEAN immersion! I wasn’t prepared for how little English I encountered. The announcements were done first in Spanish, and then in English, but all printed materials were in Spanish. (And the captain and cruise director were both easier to understand in Spanish than in English!) I did see an English compass, but our room steward always brought Spanish ones to us, and the port handouts were not available in English. Entertainment was geared to the Spanish-speaking audience as well. Charo was featured (and I have to say that she is really amazing!! An incredible guitarist and funny as can be). We had a really nice lunch laid on for Platinum, Diamond and Diamond Plus members where we sat with two of the officers, the hotel director and the head financial guy whose title I don’t recall. They gave us lots of interesting information about the planning that went into this cruise; RCI is making a push to develop into the Central/South American markets. They shot for 60% of the crew being native Spanish speakers, and ended up with 66%, and the vast majority of passengers were from Mexico, Panama and Colombia.

 

I also hadn’t really considered the fact that this was the very first time for this route to be sailed. There were lots of dignitaries on board, including Panamanian government officials, the fellow who is running for president, Martinelli, who stayed on board all week; the Colombian president’s wife (president came down with an ear infection and couldn’t come), and various and sundry others, plus television and media crews from Panama and Colombia. Made for an interesting mix in the Concierge Lounge! We were also given a fireworks display as a sailaway sendoff from Panama, Colombia and Aruba.

 

The Ports

Cartagena was our first stop, and one I’d looked forward to probably more than any other. We had planned, based on info from the Ports of Call board here, to find an English speaking taxi driver and do our own tour, since we wanted to see the monastery, the fort, the old city, and maybe eat somewhere, with no shopping. Taxi drivers will descend on you like locusts as you exit the port there (which is very nice, btw), and we rejected a few before one finally walked up and asked, with lovely diction, “may I help you?” Do you speak English, we asked. “Yes, I do”, was the answer. Cool, we thought, and off we went. Well, those two phrases were the only English words he knew! And he was much more interested in talking about his career playing minor league baseball!! Sigh. So – it’s a lucky thing we could deal with Spanish or we wouldn’t have found out much. The old part of the city is charming, and we were sorry that it was some kind of feast day, because the majority of shops were closed. We still had a great day there, bought a couple of nice things. I’d love to go back when everything was open. The architecture was gorgeous.

 

We weren’t able to go into Santa Marta because the winds were so strong. We tried to walk on deck that morning, and I think I remember the captain saying it was a 50 knot wind. I can tell you that it would blow the shoes off your feet and the spit out of your mouth if you tried to talk! So, we had a sea day, which was nice, but a bit of a disappointment to us.

 

Aruba and Curacao were lovely; we have favorite beach spots and went to them (we rent a car on these islands). We had looked forward to great snorkeling in Bonaire, and were really disappointed there. However, I think this is more our fault, since we didn’t really do enough research on where to go. Bonaire has miles of rocky beach (and when I say rocky, I mean really rocky; water shoes are a must) and the sites are not well marked, so you can’t tell where you are most of the time. I’d love to go back and book a snorkeling tour that goes out. We snorkeled at 1000 Steps, but were unimpressed.

 

Disembarkation

This was the ugliest of all, which after experiencing embarkation we’d been afraid of. Suffice it to say that more practice is needed! We were able to hang out in the CL, which was nice, but then were herded down to wait literally cheek to cheek in a crowd waiting to get off. Since we were boarding the transport bus back to Panama City, we’d been told to be ready to exit the ship by 6:30 a.m., so we were up and in the CL by 6 so we could have time for coffee. Let me just say that the bus didn’t leave until 11:30…

 

All in all, it was an incredibly interesting experience. We had a great time, and I did have an “ah ha!” moment on the last day: at dinner, my waiter came hurrying back with an English menu for me. I looked up in surprise, because I hadn’t realized the menu I had was in Spanish. So, guess I was finally immersed! I thought this cruise had much the same “feel” as those out of San Juan on Adventure.

 

This is long, and I apologize. I’ll be happy to answer any questions if you have them.

[spbflseas]

Thanks for the review. Very interesting insights. I will be curious how successful RCI will be over the long run in tapping into the Central and South American markets.

[cruisePRN]

I don't speak a word of Spanish so I would not have fared well on this cruise. Did they label your cruise as an immersion cruise?

[NorbertsNiece]

OK.... so am I right..... get caught with a couple of bottles of champagne get upgraded to an owner's suite!!! Hehe.... hope you got your bottles back at the end. ;)

I'm interested in that you were subsequently advised that this was an immersion cruise..... how often does that happen do you think?

[senrab]

(president came down with an ear infection and couldn’t come)

 

Hopefully he had travel insurance...

 

Glad you had an enjoyable trip. After experiencing the Owner's suite, would you book the OS in the future for the extra money, or do you feel that the extras don't justify the aditional cost?

[GMoney]

Great report - thanks for taking the time.

[lacruiser]

Did we know it was officially tagged "immersion"? Yes, but not until about 4 months prior to sailing -- and we'd had it booked since last December! There was a little flurry of comment about that on the boards around that time, as I recall; most people seemed to be pretty bent out of shape about it. We weren't, but then we're okay with Spanish. Now, had we been on an Asian itinerary...:eek::D

 

One thing is a little curious to me about that, though: at our lunch the officers we sat with talked about how much planning had gone into this route, etc. If so, why didn't they call it immersion from the start? Unless they were waiting to see how the passenger demographic worked out?

 

Would we book an OS again? Nah, probably not. Now, would I take it as an upgrade? You bet! But frankly, we love our aft JS and agreed that we'd be just as happy there. If this had been a newer ship, I might have fallen harder for the OS, but it just wasn't that much better to me.

 

Now we have to wait another year...:(

[lisiamc]

Thank you for your great review. I've been wondering what the immersion cruises were like.

 

I love your writing style - informative and funny at the same time. :)

 

Lisa

[lacruiser]

:oThanks!:o

[Mocorobabe]

Hi. Very interesting review. Reading it brought back memories of a flooded cabin and the most uncrowded CL we have ever experienced.

 

We really enjoyed meeting you and your handsome husband!!!! Hope we have the opportunity to cruise together at some later date.

 

Mocorobabe

[Pistol Packin Mama]

Great review. I was in Italy while my DH was working for 6 weeks, and a Med cruise came available thru Special Services (Military Base). Although my DH couldn't go, I opted to go alone and spent 7 days on a great cruise. I will say that I was only 1 of 20 Americans aboard the ship and they did have menus in English, and make the announcements in English as well as 5/6 other languages, but it really gives you new insight into being in the minority.

[lacruiser]

Hey, Martha!

 

I hoped you'd see my review.:D We enjoyed our visits with you and John, and hope we'll sail with y'all again. Yes, I'm thinking that CL was probably the least crowded we'll ever have!

 

I do hope that your trip home was easier than ours: we got stuck in Houston and ended up having to spend Monday night there, then got up at 5 a.m. to catch a 7 a.m. flight, and IT was delayed!:mad: We could have rented a car in Houston when we arrived Monday afternoon and been home by the time we ended up leaving the airport.

 

I hope your Explorer (it is Explorer, right?) cruise is great, and here's hoping you have a very Merry Christmas and a New Year full of more cruises!

 

Best,

Nancy and Eliot

[lacruiser]

Pat,

 

We also did a Western Med cruise last spring, and got used to hearing the announcements in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German! Took forever. There was no shortage of English materials on that cruise, though, which I guess was one of the reasons why I was so unprepared to find literally everything in Spanish on this trip.

 

As far as finding yourself in the minority, it's a humbling experience! We used to say when we'd visit DH's family in Miami that we were going to Cuba, since everyone spoke Spanish, the stores/clerks/gas station attendants/ etc. all spoke Spanish, signage was in Spanish, EVERYTHING was in Spanish. Those first few days were always rough. But, when you think about how many people come to the US, many as adults, who learn English -- which is a very difficult language to learn (I'm a former Spanish/French teacher, so I can talk about this!:D) it makes me realize how arrogant we as Americans can be about our language.

 

Okay, I can't resist this: think learning English is easy? After all, we did it, right? Look at these words and say them out loud to yourself: rough, bough, though, through, cough. Only 1 (or 2) letters are different in each one, yes? But they all sound completely different. English is NOT a phonetic language -- one of the main reasons it's hard to pick up.

 

Climbing down off the soapbox now...thanks for giving me airtime. :rolleyes:

[Darkwolfe]

Sounds like a very cool cruise over all. I'd have stumbled along a good deal, but I might have learned something too. I can read Spanish, but I don't speak it hardly at all.

 

Given some time for experience, I expect things will get smoother.

[Fran Harp]

Well, friends, having just returned from the inaugural sailing of Enchantment's new Central American route, I thought I'd share our perceptions of the good, the bad and the ugly. Just for background, we are in our mid 50's, like port intensive itineraries, snorkel anywhere we can, and prefer independent shore excursions. DH was born in Cuba and grew up in South Florida, so he's fluent in Spanish; on a 1-10 scale, with fluent being a 10, I'm about a 6.5. We'd had this trip booked since last December, so when we got the notification that it was officially classified as an "immersion" cruise, we weren't put off, figuring we could handle the language issue. So, enough about us -- here goes!

 

The Ship

Enchantment overall is in very good condition, as I've generally found all RCI ships. The lengthening process was a great idea, specially as it provided for a Concierge Lounge on one side that has great views. The pool deck is great, and the arches are definitely cool. We didn't spend a great deal of time out on the pool deck because (1) we had a port almost every day, and (2) I'm finally out of the "must spend as many hours as possible catching rays" phase, but the area was lovely and didn't feel crowded. I thought the art was particularly nice on this ship.

 

Having said this, I must say that some of the ship seems "tired" in terms of decor, color scheme, etc. We were in a Grand Suite and then an Owner's Suite (and more about that later!), and I peeked into as many cabins as possible up and down the halls, and the cabin decoration could certainly use freshening. Hall carpeting often looked as though parts of it were wet (although they weren't -- I checked), and our sofa in the Grand Suite had a really nasty-shaped stain on it. All cabins that I saw had the new bedding. It’s nice, but I wish that comforter wasn’t quite so heavy.

 

Here's what happened about the room: we were originally booked into an aft jr suite. After seeing rates go down, I ended up upgrading (and getting $$ back!) to a Grand Suite. However, upon arrival, we discovered that several things in that room didn't work properly (sliding glass door latch wouldn't close & lock properly, lamp above one side of bed was falling out of the wall, and seems like there was something else that I don't remember now). We informed Guest Relations and were told that we'd be moved after everyone had gotten aboard. Sounded good, so we walked around, had lunch in the Windjammer, checked out our table, etc. Round about 8:30 p.m., 2 out of 3 bags had still not materialized and we hadn't heard from Guest Relations, so DH is getting aggravated. Went down to see what was up, and eventually found that 2 bags had been held by security, which no one had bothered to tell us. Here's what happened with that: DH had stuck a couple of bottles of champagne into the bags (no flames, please) so they were held. I might add that this was a first -- the bags being held, I mean -- as we'd always brought bottles onboard. No problem; they were welcome to keep the bubbly, but it would have been nice if they'd called our room to say "hey, we've got your bags and you need to come down so we can open them and find out what you've smuggled!" You must be present for them to open your bags. The staff claimed a call had been made, but that was not true.

 

At any rate, once we sorted that out they moved us into an Owner's Suite since there were no other Grand's available -- nice! Tons of room and a wonderful bathroom complete with jacuzzi, bidet and lovely glassed in shower. This was a fantastic upgrade, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Food

The Windjammer has the “marketplace” redo, with multiple stations. We found the food to be about the same as we were accustomed to; some hits and some misses. (Did make a point of trying the Honey Stung Chicken on the first day – come on, folks – it’s just breaded chicken!) One negative here: the service in the Windjammer was absolutely non-existent. We NEVER had a server come by to ask if we needed drinks (always had to get up and get them) and tables were slow to be cleared. We finally said something to one of the supervisors, who appeared surprised, but the situation never improved. We generally eat breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer, but it was such a zoo that we finally opted for the main dining room by about the 4th day.

 

Food in the main dining room was excellent. We noticed several different items on the menu, and enjoyed them. We were placed at a table for 2, which was not our preference since we like big tables. We had emailed RCI to ask for a large table with some English speakers, but when we checked with the maitre d’ about why we had the two top, he told us that they didn’t have any tables with English speakers for the late seating to put us with!! Hence our deuce. It was a great table, though, right next to the Captain’s table, so we got to watch the action there.

 

We ate in Chops one night, and had the usual excellent service and food. The one negative was that we had a very dour waiter, who complained about how few people were eating in the restaurant. Which brings me to…

 

Immersion Items

When RCI says immersion, by golly they MEAN immersion! I wasn’t prepared for how little English I encountered. The announcements were done first in Spanish, and then in English, but all printed materials were in Spanish. (And the captain and cruise director were both easier to understand in Spanish than in English!) I did see an English compass, but our room steward always brought Spanish ones to us, and the port handouts were not available in English. Entertainment was geared to the Spanish-speaking audience as well. Charo was featured (and I have to say that she is really amazing!! An incredible guitarist and funny as can be). We had a really nice lunch laid on for Platinum, Diamond and Diamond Plus members where we sat with two of the officers, the hotel director and the head financial guy whose title I don’t recall. They gave us lots of interesting information about the planning that went into this cruise; RCI is making a push to develop into the Central/South American markets. They shot for 60% of the crew being native Spanish speakers, and ended up with 66%, and the vast majority of passengers were from Mexico, Panama and Colombia.

 

I also hadn’t really considered the fact that this was the very first time for this route to be sailed. There were lots of dignitaries on board, including Panamanian government officials, the fellow who is running for president, Martinelli, who stayed on board all week; the Colombian president’s wife (president came down with an ear infection and couldn’t come), and various and sundry others, plus television and media crews from Panama and Colombia. Made for an interesting mix in the Concierge Lounge! We were also given a fireworks display as a sailaway sendoff from Panama, Colombia and Aruba.

 

The Ports

Cartagena was our first stop, and one I’d looked forward to probably more than any other. We had planned, based on info from the Ports of Call board here, to find an English speaking taxi driver and do our own tour, since we wanted to see the monastery, the fort, the old city, and maybe eat somewhere, with no shopping. Taxi drivers will descend on you like locusts as you exit the port there (which is very nice, btw), and we rejected a few before one finally walked up and asked, with lovely diction, “may I help you?” Do you speak English, we asked. “Yes, I do”, was the answer. Cool, we thought, and off we went. Well, those two phrases were the only English words he knew! And he was much more interested in talking about his career playing minor league baseball!! Sigh. So – it’s a lucky thing we could deal with Spanish or we wouldn’t have found out much. The old part of the city is charming, and we were sorry that it was some kind of feast day, because the majority of shops were closed. We still had a great day there, bought a couple of nice things. I’d love to go back when everything was open. The architecture was gorgeous.

 

We weren’t able to go into Santa Marta because the winds were so strong. We tried to walk on deck that morning, and I think I remember the captain saying it was a 50 knot wind. I can tell you that it would blow the shoes off your feet and the spit out of your mouth if you tried to talk! So, we had a sea day, which was nice, but a bit of a disappointment to us.

 

Aruba and Curacao were lovely; we have favorite beach spots and went to them (we rent a car on these islands). We had looked forward to great snorkeling in Bonaire, and were really disappointed there. However, I think this is more our fault, since we didn’t really do enough research on where to go. Bonaire has miles of rocky beach (and when I say rocky, I mean really rocky; water shoes are a must) and the sites are not well marked, so you can’t tell where you are most of the time. I’d love to go back and book a snorkeling tour that goes out. We snorkeled at 1000 Steps, but were unimpressed.

 

Disembarkation

This was the ugliest of all, which after experiencing embarkation we’d been afraid of. Suffice it to say that more practice is needed! We were able to hang out in the CL, which was nice, but then were herded down to wait literally cheek to cheek in a crowd waiting to get off. Since we were boarding the transport bus back to Panama City, we’d been told to be ready to exit the ship by 6:30 a.m., so we were up and in the CL by 6 so we could have time for coffee. Let me just say that the bus didn’t leave until 11:30…

 

All in all, it was an incredibly interesting experience. We had a great time, and I did have an “ah ha!” moment on the last day: at dinner, my waiter came hurrying back with an English menu for me. I looked up in surprise, because I hadn’t realized the menu I had was in Spanish. So, guess I was finally immersed! I thought this cruise had much the same “feel” as those out of San Juan on Adventure.

 

This is long, and I apologize. I’ll be happy to answer any questions if you have them.

 

Thank you for all the information - we sailed Enchantment in July and heard about the trips out of Colon. I have booked for January, and heard from some of the crew that I'd better start practicing my Spanish, which is non-existent - hopefully I will learn some.:D

 

If you have any more suggestions for where to go and what to do in the ports, I'd love to hear them. Both of us have never been to any of these ports before, so it will all be new - except the ship of course.

 

Either on this thread - if others want to hear, or via my email - franota at rogers dot com.

 

Fran in Toronto

[Fran Harp]

OK.... so am I right..... get caught with a couple of bottles of champagne get upgraded to an owner's suite!!! Hehe.... hope you got your bottles back at the end. ;)

 

I'm interested in that you were subsequently advised that this was an immersion cruise..... how often does that happen do you think?

 

We booked our January cruise back in September, and our agent told us right off the bat it was an immersion cruise. We also heard that from the crew.

 

Fran in Toronto

[lacruiser]

Fran, here's what we did; the original review has some comments about what we wish we'd done, so you might go back and see those.

 

Colon: Yes, it's technically a port, but you won't want to do anything but get on the ship and stay there. Colon is not a safe city to wander around in. There is (what appears to be) a pretty cool duty free zone (you'll see the billboards advertising all the stores as you approach the city by car), but at this present they are closed on Sundays, so you can't go there. I expect they'll wise up pretty soon and get it open so that cruise passengers can leave some $$ before they sail. There's a little "mall" with the usual junky stuff in it at the dock; we walked around but didn't see anything worth buying. See the Ports of Call "Colombia" thread for more info.

 

Cartagena: See original review. If I went back I'd want to spend more time in the old city, which is lovely and we felt completely safe walking around in.

 

Santa Marta: didn't get to go, so can't help you here.

 

Aruba: We are beach/water/snorkel people. Have been here 3 times, and have taken a beach day each time. We rent a car and do our own driving; very simple. Went to Eagle Beach (walked thru the Radisson) the first two times, and this time went to Manchebo Beach (parked & walked through Manchebo Beach Resort). On Eagle Beach we rented chairs, there are plenty of vendors with water sports things if that's your preference, and the Radisson has a neat little outdoor restaurant/bar. At Manchebo we used their chairs and nobody appeared to mind in the least. One caveat: it was NOT crowded, so if there are more people around you might have a different experience. We walked down to Matthew's Beach Restaurant and it was excellent. 2 for 1 drinks!:D

 

Curacao: Again, we rent a car and head north, then work our way down the western coast stopping & snorkeling at a couple of beaches (we like Cas Abou, Grote Knip) but our favorite place is Playa Portomari. It's heaven.

 

Bonaire: see original review.

 

We are not shoppers, but we do cruise around the downtown areas. Bonaire has a cute downtown, small but cute. There is lots of expensive shopping available in Curacao and Aruba if you're so inclined.

 

Have fun, and let us know how your trip goes!

 

Nancy D

[cruiserbryce]

(Did make a point of trying the Honey Stung Chicken on the first day – come on, folks – it’s just breaded chicken!

 

oooh...dont let my wife hear you say this:rolleyes:

 

Glad you had a good trip:D

[Mocorobabe]

Nice write up Nancy. We did the "UGH! ride" from Colon to PTY and had a 4 hr wait at the airport. Flight to Miami and Ft Myers were unadventful. Got home about 11PM

Hope you and Elliot had fun on your travels in Panama

Marry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Maybe see you on another Sail. John and Martha

[mmadhatter]

Wow, finally a review! We are on the Jan 11th cruise and I think we are the only CC members. We found a driver (Marco's) on Craig's list that will take us from the Airport to the hotel, provide a tour of the city and then in the morning take us to Colon. He will also be there to pick us up upon return. So looking forward to this new experience. PS We do not speak a lick of Spanish.

[MrPete]

Thanks for the great read, and lesson. It was interesting after the immersion uproar a couple of months back.

[lacruiser]

mmad, I'd be curious to find out how much your driver/guide is charging you for the pickup, tour & trip to and from Colon. Our contact at the Wyndham had someone she had lined up to do something similar, but we ended up going with the RCI transport. And of course she was the one touring us around Panama City. She was appalled that we were paying $90 per person ($45 each way) for the transport, which was the RCI cost.

 

I hope by the time 1/11 (my DD's b'day:D) rolls around they will have gotten the port handouts done in English. Just make sure to ask your room attendant to see that you get English Compasses, and it probably wouldn't hurt to check with the maitre' d about who your tablemates are. They know the primary language preferences of all guests. Also, I think you'd have a better shot at English-speakers at dinner if you have the early seating (early in this case being 7:30; late was 9:30 :eek:). We had the late seating and there were no tables available with other English speakers to put us with.

 

Bone up on a couple of quickie Spanish phrases -- you'll need please (por favor), thank you (gracias) and excuse me (permiso). Oh yeah -- "No hablo espanol" might come in handy, too! :rolleyes:

 

Buen viaje! and have a wonderful time --

 

Nancy D

[rubrrick]

Thanks for a wonderful review. We were in Cartagena a month and a half ago.........also toured the old city with a private guide, and felt very safe.

 

We have toured the ABC islands as well, and love Curacao the best!

 

Rick

[Maya57]

I was on the November 29 reprositioning cruise and thought I would add my comments.

 

You must be present for them to open your bags. The staff claimed a call had been made, but that was not true..

 

The excursion desk cancelled most of the excursion in Costa Rico and a few in Cartagena but did not call us or anyone else I spoke to. The manager claimed he called everyone but no one got the call. After your review I am starting to think that MAYBE the telphone system is the problem, but I don't think so.

 

The Windjammer has the “marketplace” redo, with multiple stations. We found the food to be about the same as we were accustomed to; some hits and some misses. (Did make a point of trying the Honey Stung Chicken on the first day – come on, folks – it’s just breaded chicken!) One negative here: the service in the Windjammer was absolutely non-existent. ..

 

We found the selection of the food in the Windjammer during lunch the same everyday. No variety. I enjoy Smoked Salmon for breakfast which they had on day 2 and then again the last 2-days but nothing in between. When I asked about this I was told that the kitchen has the whole smoked salmon but did not slice it.

The selection of food at dinner has been reduced. Their were two nbights when they had the same items with a little change like Duck with orangr sause and the duck Asia style, same duck with different.

 

The excursion in Cartagena was terrible. The tour guide took us to a area with 26 craft shops. Gave us 15 minutes but first took us all into a small shop and gave us a 10 minute lecture on how to pick emeralds. Now back to the bus, no time to look at other shops.

 

At the last stop which was a shopping area with vendors and stores we told him we would get back on our own. We got a taxi who not only took us back but gave us a great tour. Showed us much more than the ships excursion. Cost for all 4 was $10.00 plus $5.00 tip (worth it)

 

We had emailed RCI to ask for a large table with some English speakers, but when we checked with the maitre d’ about why we had the two top, he told us that they didn’t have any tables with English speakers for the late seating to put us with!! Hence our deuce...

 

We were a family of 4 adults, 2-cabins corssed reference. Yet we were assigned different table. The maitre d' fixed the problem right away and then told me they had some problems with their computers. He was up all night trying to fix all the table assignents. This was actually confirmed at Guest relations when we had sea pass problems. My daughters sea passes had trouble getting off the ship and unlocking the door. The pictures that came up were not them. One of my daughter went through 5 seapasses during the week. Guest Realtions told me that the computer breakdown caused about 50% of the seas passes to have a bad folio number.

 

As far a language is concerned I found it interesting that when the Cruise director repeated everything in Spanish. With the exception of Charo the enterainment including 2comedians were all in English. If you did not undersatnd English you would not have been at the show. So why repeat his talk into Spanish?

 

In Panama we took a 1-night post stay. Booked a tour and transfers with "My friend Mario" We went to the Canal whatched a ship go through and then went to an Indian Village. This was an excellent tour. In reposnse to your question "My Friend Mario" charges $20.00 for transfer only from Colon to the airport in Panam City.

[TP]

hey there, we have just confirmed a 7 night cruise roundtrip from Colon Jan. 18.

 

Does anyone have recommendations for Panama City. We arrive a day early at 7 pm and we need a hotel recommendation for the night (not too expensive). I believe that the cruise does not leave until 7:30 pm on the 18th ... is that enough time to do a tour?

 

Qs about the ship. Some ships have a Jonny Rockets, does this ship -- I don't see it noted on the website so I'm guessing not, but thought I would ask.