Enchantment 7/22 Cruise + Wedding Review

We had a FABULOUS time! I'll try to make this as short as I can... for the quick notes see the "Notes" section at the end.

We got married with just the two of us on this cruise. I wouldn't have done it any other way, we had a wonderful time. Royal Romance (RR) treated us so well and we didn't have a single glitch.

EMBARKATION:

We were met in the terminal by our wedding coordinators, Debbie and another (I can't remember her name :( ). They walked us through the ceremony, we gave her the CD with our music and then sat with us until the ship cleared customs. We were then escorted through the terminal and sat in security until that opened up. We were the first through security and to get our SeaPass cards, escorted by the coordinators the whole time. They walked us onto the ship and to our room where we got ready. He got ready and left and then I got ready.

WEDDING:

He went to the Viking Crown Lounge and waited for me to be escorted up. Took a few pictures, then the music started and he met me half way down the aisle. I cried immediately! The ceremony went by in a blur, but was wonderful. They cued the music perfectly and after we were pronounced husband and wife, kissed, and walked down the center, we had our first dance. We then cut the cake (which tasted great!) and had a champagne toast. We rushed outside to take a few pictures because it was about to storm. Our photographer, Armen, was awesome. He was so energetic and knew exactly where to go. We did add one picture that he wasn't going to take, one with DH dipping me back and kissing me, and it is by far our favorite picture. We then walked around after taking pictures for about 1 hr and 15 min. No extra charge. We literally ran from eating a sliver of cake and drinking champagne out to the deck because it was about to storm... luckily we got all the pictures in before the downpour!

AFTER:

Our champagne was in our room a few hours later and the cake was supposed to be brought to the dining room for dinner but didn't make it. We ended up with it cut up neatly and in our stateroom. We had just gotten back to our room right after the champagne was delivered and we walked right by it. We're glad we did, because not even 30 seconds after we walked by the cork exploded off. That could've been extremely dangerous!

We walked around the ship for a bit and I fell, flat on my rear end (thankfully not in my dress though!). Needless to say, wear good shoes with good grips wherever you are on the ship. I was on the upper pool deck and slipped while walking. Luckily, not much beer spilled! My tailbone was dreadfully sore for the rest of the trip though.

We went to dinner in our wedding attire. No one really seemed to notice or care, but we had a great time anyways. We were at a table for 8, but the other 6 were all from the same family.

Royal Romance was WONDERFUL. Extremely organized and I don't have a single bad thing to say about them.

Towel animal: Swans kissing

DAY 2: At Sea

We got up and ate in the Windjammer (great food!) and met with the photograher at 11. That put a cramp in our day because we both REALLY wanted to be at the pool! We spent the rest of the day at the pool and had a few drinks. They had a honeymooners party after dinner in the Viking Crown Lounge... we got VIP Tender tickets, champagne, and more cake!

Towel animal: Elephant w/ sunglasses

DAY 3: Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We're glad we went here first. Neither of us really cared for it. DH was offered drugs 3 times, and the people flat out asking for tips got really old. DH was also harassed by a store owner when we started to walk out of a store without buying anything... she was just downright rude. We went on the Reggae Party Boat to Dunn's River Falls and had a great time climbing. The only thing we didn't like was that people flat out asked us to tip everyone. I have no problem tipping, but I want to do it on my own accord and where I think it was deserved and not with people asking me for one. Different culture, I guess.

We also rented a jet ski... loved it! I had never been on one before. We bought some rum while we were there but didn't notice any outstanding deals on jewelry.

Towel animal: Pig holding remote watching cartoons

DAY 4: Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Loved, loved, loved the Caymans! So pretty! We went parasailing once we FINALLY got off the ship. Those VIP tender tickets were crap for the most part. We were told just to go down to the person in charge and we could get on any tender boat at any time. WRONG! We went down at about 8:45 because we wanted to do some shopping before our excursion at 11. We were told no and to come back at 9:30. We told her what we wanted to do, but to no avail. We showed her the tickets, no luck. This part wasn't explained to us at all... even with a VIP tender you can't leave before your time. We were also told that if you had a RCCL scheduled excursion that was your tender ticket and you could leave at any time. NOPE! Anywho, we went back down at 9:30 and were ushered to the front of the line and waited on the lifeboat that also served as a tender boat. Those things can move!

Parasailing was so much fun! We loved it! Very pretty views... great guides on the boats. We found a t-shirt for DH, but no great deals on jewelry.

Towel animal: Animal hanging from a hanger w/ sunglasses

DAY 5: At Sea

We spent the entire day at the pool. YAY! Back in the dining room after skipping two nights... dinner was good.

DISEMBARKATION DAY:

We thought we'd try to eat breakfast in the dining room, but we were under the false impression we could sit anywhere we wanted. Once we found out we were going to be sat with other people, we made a beeline for the Windjammer. We really wanted a table to ourselves for a nice close to our wedding/honeymoon, but oh well. The Windjammer was just as nice.

Disembarkation: What a process! We were told to wait in the Spotlight Lounge. Our color/number was called second, easy process through showing our SeaPass and off the ship. Where the misery starts is when we tried to find our luggage. Everything was organized by color, which is fine, but we found 1 bag after 10 minutes of searching and couldn't find the other bag. Went and asked a worker, got a rude response. Went to another, she was much more helpful. Showed us where the baggage was without tags, ours wasn't there. There were about 5 other people w/ lost baggage... so everyone started looking through other colors to find theirs. Just our luck, everyone else EXCEPT us found their luggage at another place than it was supposed to be. We filled out a claim, still no word. They said someone probably took it and it will eventually show up. This part was my fault: there were two tags on it, one from RCCL for the disembarkation color/number which had DH's name and our new address. The luggage tag (thick plastic) still has the old address (we recently moved) and I completely forgot to change it. It does have a corrrect phone number though. We are still waiting for a phone call... that bag had our swim suits, the t-shirt from GC, and all of our clothes. Things that are replacable, yes, but a pain in the but nonetheless. Cross your fingers it shows up!

The claims process was confusing, the lady who helped me fill out the form explained nothing. I called the 800 # and they were a bit more helpful. They did tell me to not expect to hear anything for 24-48 hours. We'll see... my next call is to contact the travel agent because DH thinks he got travel insurance but isn't sure. I'm pretty sure he did though...

OTHER NOTES:

-We were in 7670, a JS. Huge balcony! Comfortable room and bathroom... all efficiently laid out.

-Food: Great! Always great presentation.

-Staff: Can't say enough good things about them. They were so kind! If there was something that couldn't be done, they apologized and tried to make it better in any way. We weren't thrilled with our dining room waiter, but that's ok.

-Things we packed but didn't need: Jeans, long sleeves. It was warm all over the ship... I had read on here that it can get chilly in places on the ship, but we never encountered that. Also, extra hangers... we had plenty in the room!

-Overall appearance: Incredibly clean. Never dirty anywere! Staff were constantly picking up trash and cleaning up empty glasses, etc.

-Solarium: Staff WERE in there kicking kids out. WONDERFUL!

-Pool deck on sea days: Busy, busy, busy. We didn't get out there until about 12:15 on the first sea day and had a horrible time trying to find a lounge chair. We finally found 2 together and had to keep moving because of shadows. On the second sea day, it got busy around the same time, but I had been out there since 10 so we got great seats. It does get quite windy on the upper deck though.

-Music: The same stuff playing over and over got really old really fast.

-Things we're glad we brought: Sunscreen in a variety of SPF, extra chapstick, a backpack for sea days, travel steamer, extra batteries for digital camera, underwater camera, nail polish remover.

-Things we forgot: an alarm clock, a hat for DH.

-Things we thought the room had: DH thought he read somewhere that all rooms had controlable music (either radio or on TV) and an alarm clock.

-Things that got really old really fast: Weird CNN, the music on the ship (one morning in the Windjammer we heard an instrumental "Let It Be" 9 times in a row!)

-Other: We loved how clean the ship was, how the staff was so curteous, and how when you went from one place to another it felt like you were in a different building. The pool showed some signs of wear (chipped areas), which surprised me because that part was new during the stretch.

-Travel: We did everything through a travel agent, DH took care of the planning and wanted everything to be right. He did a FABULOUS job (and so did the travel agent!). We did cruise air and had transportation from the airport and to the pier. We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. We had to pay for transportation to the pier because we had to go early due to the wedding. After disembarkation it was relatively easy to find the bus to take us to Miami. No problems with travel.

Sorry so long, this was our first cruise and we LOVED it. I tried to comment on a few things I usually don't see in reviews. We went to one show and pretty much relaxed the rest of the time, so I don't have any reviews on shows or programs really... sorry :(

Feel free to ask any questions... I'll be in and out all day!

Congratulations on the wedding and thanks for such a well written review. My family and I will be on the Enchantment next month and I've been searching the threads for a good review and I've finally found one! I'm sorry to hear about your missing luggage and I hope it turns up.

I'm glad you had an enjoyable time on the Enchantment; will you be posting any pictures? I'd love to see them! :)

Thanks! I'll try to post pictures when I sort through some... hopefully it won't be too long!

First, congratulations on your wedding. Glad to hear everything went well!

Second, I noticed you mentioned that you stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. We have this hotel in September and we're wondering how it is?

Congratulations and thanks for the wonderful review!! :)

First, congratulations on your wedding. Glad to hear everything went well!

 

Second, I noticed you mentioned that you stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. We have this hotel in September and we're wondering how it is?

thanks!

the embassy suites is right by a grocery store, liquor store, and up the street from a walgreens. convenient if you forgot something! it was raining, so we didn't do much, but the pool area was ok... a little run down for the middle of the summer. the outdoor bar looked like it hadn't been open at all all summer. check their website because i believe they start remodeling the pool in august or september.

the manager's reception is a don't miss... FREE DRINKS and popcorn, pretzels, nachos, etc. yay! the breakfast is awesome too... another don't miss!

we had a great room, 10th floor. overall, one of my better hotel stays recently. good pillows too!

My family and I will be on the Enchantment next month and I've been searching the threads for a good review and I've finally found one!

I was on Enchantment in May 2006 and LOVED it. No problem writing a good review of that ship, it was great.

My trip log is posted at: http://mddottawa.googlepages.com/enchantment if you want to read more glowing comments about the ship.

Mike

I was on Enchantment in May 2006 and LOVED it. No problem writing a good review of that ship, it was great.

My trip log is posted at: http://mddottawa.googlepages.com/enchantment if you want to read more glowing comments about the ship.

 

Mike

Hi Mike, thanks so much for the link! I think people tend to shorten their reviews because they don't want them to be too long but I love long reviews because how else would I get all the goss and tips?! I hope they're still performing 'Stage to Screen' when it's time for my cruise because I love musicals.

You mentioned the people waiting in line to put their tips onto their onboard account. The last time we cruised with Royal Caribbean we had to run around the ship giving envelopes to people and if we can eliminate that and put the tips directly onto our account that would be fantastic. Also, this is a silly question but since you mentioned the casino it reminded me of something. Do you remember if the slot machines print out tickets when you cash out or do they give you coins? My mom loves hearing the coins falling out of the machines but I prefer the tickets.

Thanks again for the link!

We did the Enchantment of the Seas 7 years ago for our honeymoon. Thanks for bringing back all those great memories. It was one of my favorite cruises!

Do you remember if the slot machines print out tickets when you cash out or do they give you coins? My mom loves hearing the coins falling out of the machines but I prefer the tickets

They give coins!

They give coins!

mom 1, daughter nil! Oh well, the coins won't stop me from making daily (hourly?) contributions to the casino :)

Anyone stayed in a deck four oceanview cabin?

4000 4002 4500 4502?

Congratulations! What a way to start off a new life together!! I can't wait I will be on the Enchanment in a month! Yes, a month from today!! (I am jumping up and down right now, but I guess you can't see that on the screen...) Anyway, my question is, how important is it to have an alarm clock? We can get wake up calls, right??

T

You can get wake-up calls. For us, we just wanted something to be able to see what time it was when it was pitch black at night... nothing more than convenience!

not to be nosy but what did the wedding all include and what was the cost. am thinking of doing this with just me and my man as well on the Liberty of the Sea's 1st cruise May 19th. How many pics were included? Can you post some? Thanks so very much!

We stayed in JS 7170 for the same cruise. Congrats on the wedding.

I hope to do a review of the cruise from a parents point of view. However, no clock in the room was a big problem. I hated asking the wife for the time while we were in there.

not to be nosy but what did the wedding all include and what was the cost. am thinking of doing this with just me and my man as well on the Liberty of the Sea's 1st cruise May 19th. How many pics were included? Can you post some? Thanks so very much!

email me at uncharch7@hotmail.com, i can give more info there (and i'll remember to do it... i'm short on time right now!)

ok I will thank you so very much

Congrats on your wedding...we will be in 8670 in Jan and are looking forward to our 1st AFT JS...Later, Jill:cool:

<I hope they're still performing 'Stage to Screen' when it's time for my cruise because I love musicals.>

It was a great show. LOVED IT!

<You mentioned the people waiting in line to put their tips onto their onboard account. The last time we cruised with Royal Caribbean we had to run around the ship giving envelopes to people and if we can eliminate that and put the tips directly onto our account that would be fantastic.>

Oh honey, the people who are to be tipped are always hovering when payout time comes. You won't need to search for them (hee-hee). If you pay them on your shipboard account, you will get vouchers to hand out to the staff. They will get the money even if you don't give them the voucher as they know who your waiter, room attendant etc is.

<Do you remember if the slot machines print out tickets when you cash out or do they give you coins? My mom loves hearing the coins falling out of the machines but I prefer the tickets.>

You get the coins. There is a lots of tinkling of coins in the casino as people get paid out.

It was a great show. LOVED IT!

 

I was looking through someone's webshots album and I can tell that I'll love the Chicago bit because I could see the prison bars for Cell Block Tango and I love that song. Really looking forward to it!

 

 

 

Oh honey, the people who are to be tipped are always hovering when payout time comes. You won't need to search for them (hee-hee). If you pay them on your shipboard account, you will get vouchers to hand out to the staff. They will get the money even if you don't give them the voucher as they know who your waiter, room attendant etc is.

 

I've told my mom that we could put the tips onto our shipboard account but now she's changed her mind and says that she prefers the envelopes. At least now I know where my indecisiveness comes from..

 

Thanks for your help :)

-We were in 7670, a JS. Huge balcony! Comfortable room and bathroom... all efficiently laid out.

Congratulations to you both! :)

DH and I will be staying in this very same cabin in February - can I bug you for a little more info? One thing I'm a little concerned about is noise from the lounge below - did that bother you at night?

Also, you mention that you went up to the pool deck - does the balcony get much sun?

Thanks - and congrats again!